Author note: Welcome back my readers, hope all is well with y'all! I couldn't help but feel sneaky like Alastor speaking to Zestial when a reviewer gave their guess on the story ("That is for me to know. But please, do guess, I'd love to know the theories!"). Anyhow, thanks to my 15-18 favorites and followers, you hold a special place in my heart. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 32: More soul energy, more problems
Taylor sprung up in bed, clutching their face as they gnashed their teeth to suppress their screams. Their head felt like it was in a searing vise where their patron's blood was spread and their breathing came in heaves as the pain got more intense and all their muscles tensed up. A wave of nausea similar to when they were breaking chains crashed into them as images and concepts came forcefully into their mind, making it difficult to focus on any one thing as their attention was pulled in several directions all at once.
'It's like information is being shoved into my head!' they thought agonizingly as their eyes darted around to catch the whirlwind of images that came into view one after the other.
For what felt like forever they sat there, head in their hands, breathing spasmodically, and jaw clenched as they hissed in anguish and endured the pain of the invasion of knowledge forced upon them.
When the crush of wisdom and the tortuous burning finally subsided, they gave an unsteady exhale and wiped their face miserably.
'What did I do to deserve this?' they dwelled on as their body started to relax.
"Are you alright, my dear?" came a soft accented voice nearby.
Taylor's heart jumped into their throat as they startled and scrambled back onto the headboard. The lights were off so their eyes flickered all over the darkness to find the source of the unexpected visitor. They zoned in on several glowing red eyes with black pupils near their door, making their fear climb.
"Who's there?" They shouted as they put out a hand and summoned a fire ball to protect themselves.
"Ah! Wait! One moment!" The voice said hastily as they heard a flick of a switch and the room became illuminated. Taylor winced at the sudden brightness before peeking an eye open to see Sir Pentious looking equally spooked as they were. They sighed at the familiar face and extinguished the fire.
"Pentious? What are you doing?"
"Oh! Um, well, I was in the area and, I, well..." He said in a flustered tone. Taylor noticed that the door was closed behind him and something dawned on them.
"Were you watching me sleep?" They said incredulously.
The cobra's hesitant look said it all. Taylor shook their head as they climbed off the bed.
"Do I want to know why?"
Pentious started twiddling his claws as he looked ashamed.
"It's jussst… I'm not used to being around so many people who don't want me dead. It'sss… nice. I get lonely at night, so sometimes I visit the other residents."
Taylor tilted their head in understanding. They remember being pretty guarded around everyone when they first arrived, but in time they warmed up and settled into a sense that the hotel residents became their second family, despite the secrets they were forced to keep. They waved Sir Pentious off.
"I get it, I was the same way. Only none of the watching people sleep bit."
Pentious beamed at the comment, but their hood dropped as they asked uncertainly.
"Yes, well. I don't mean to pry, but did you have another night terror just now? You sssemed pretty unwell."
Taylor paled as they realized their hope to keep their episode under wraps failed. They had endeavored to stifle their outbursts enough to prevent a repeat of everyone fretting over them while they suffered through their patron's torture, but to no avail. Sighing in defeat, they sat back down on the bed.
"Yeah. But it wasn't as bad this time, thankfully." They looked up at a concerned Pentious. "Would it be possible that you not mention this to the others? I'd rather them not worry."
He seemed unsure about the request.
"Well, I suppose." He perked up suddenly and spoke excitedly. "I can do that if you keep mum about my nightly visits!"
Taylor chuckled, seeing no harm in it.
"Deal."
"Oh, but you did get in a little bit of a tumble there. Do you require the first aid?" Pentious offered.
Taylor froze.
"What now?"
Pentious indicated to his head worriedly as Taylor touched their forehead and then looked at the hand that had wiped their face earlier. It was covered in a black sticky substance that they realized was their patron's blood, which made them grimace in revulsion. They hastily stumbled to the bathroom mirror and their forehead had a black smear all over it.
'Why did it come off now but not before?' they asked themselves. They quickly washed their face and hands and went back to the cobra demon.
"No need to worry, it must have been some dirt or something. It came right off!" they said in a chipper voice to put him at ease.
He seemed relieved at the news before he started making his way to the door. At that moment, Taylor had an idea.
"Hey Pentious, got a minute? I have a proposition that might interest you..."
Breakfast was another lively affair. Most of it centered around the Dealbreaker Demon's latest attack on Club Hell 666 the previous night. Charlie was reading a news report of the event to the group with interest.
"Says here that the Dealmaker Demon planted explosives and smoke bombs around the club to go off during a show. While the audience was scrambling to escape the mayhem, the Dealbreaker Demon went after their target before they destroyed the ceiling aquarium and flooded the club to use as a cover to escape." She leaned back wide-eyed. "Wow, an overhead aquarium! That sounds amazing! Aww, but those poor fish!"
"See? They're dangerous! Destroying property and putting people in danger just to get to their mark!" Vaggie said accusingly as she slammed a fist on the table.
"But Vaggie, you got to admit it was conscientious of them to clear the club out before the aquarium fell." Charlie pointed out.
Taylor frowned into their glass of juice as they rubbed their temple. A lingering headache was still present from their episode and they had hit up Husk for more pain medicine before breakfast.
'Yeah, well, the aquarium wasn't exactly part of the plan.' they thought gruffly.
"Lemme guess, there ain't anythin' about Val in there?" Angel interjected knowingly.
Charlie kept reading.
"Nope, not a word. Why?"
With a grin, Angel gleefully showed off pictures on his phone of an unconscious Valentino sprawled out among fish and glass debris.
"Apparently Val got into a kerfuffle with the Dealbreaker Demon and this was the result! I managed to snag these babies before they got pulled off the sites! I oughta frame 'em!"
Taylor shivered a bit at the memory of their skirmish with the overlord, but smiled as they were glad to see Angel in good spirits. There were a few chuckles from around the table as Valentino looked all gangly and pathetic. Charlie piped up in his defense.
"Guys, we shouldn't be happy for someone else's suffering, no matter who they are!"
The table grumbled at that. Angel then sat up straighter and declared smugly with a toothy grin.
"Ya know what was the best part of the night? I got ta meet the Dealbreaker Demon in the flesh!"
The room went abruptly silent as a loud record scratch drew everyone's attention to Alastor. At the far end of the table, the deer demon was leaning forward in his chair with a ferocious smile and black scleras and his gloved claws had left scratch marks in the table. He noticed everyone's startled looks before his eyes returned to normal with a blink and his posture relaxed. With the soft music starting up again, he put on his charming smile and indicated to Angel cordially.
"Well, Angel, don't keep us at the edge of our seats! Do tell us how you stumbled across such a celebrity!" He said with interest as he put his head in his hands and tilted his head to the side.
'Damn it, Angel.' Taylor said in their head as they tensed.
Angel told them about how they had saw the concerned look one of the dancers gave them and decided to stick around. They heard some chains shattering in the smoke, but ran for it when Val showed up and cleared out the cloud cover. Later in the alley they heard a crash and the ground shook and shortly thereafter the dancer from before ran toward them.
"I stopped them and asked for their help. At first, they didn't say nothing, but then they refused to help. I got mad and grabbed them, but suddenly they made my chain and collar appear, scaring the shit outta of me. They set the chains on fire before they pulled hard. I thought I was gonna be double-dead for sure! But after a bit they let go and apologized for not being strong enough to help me. They looked really bummed about it too, so I waved them off and told them to come back when they were and they disappeared."
The group stared back wordlessly. Charlie chimed in cheerily.
"See? They can't be all bad if they apologized!"
"Hmm, maybe, but I'm still not convinced." Vaggie muttered.
"Was there anything interesting about our contract smashing friend, Angel?" Alastor inquired as stared with an expectant look in their eyes.
'Angel, shut up.' Taylor willed in their head, worried about Alastor's interest.
"Eh, not really. They looked like a wolf demon and had yellow eyes, but otherwise they were like any other person." Angel considered before they gave a cheeky grin to the deer demon. "What's it to ya, Smiles? Ya starting to shit bricks now that they're hitting higher up the food chain?"
Alastor's eyes shone brighter and his smile widened before a laugh track played. He sat back up and rolled his eyes.
"Ha ha ha! Of course not! What a ridiculous notion!" He laughed.
Taylor kept an impassive face, but they grew increasingly unsettled at the predatory changes in Alastor at their mention.
'I need to keep an eye out for him' they brooded.
Charlie stood up and addressed the crowd excitedly.
"Before we split up for the morning, I'd like to announce tomorrow's redemption theme. I'd like everyone to prepare something for "Show-and-Tell Day!" Bring something that's important to you and tell us about its significance!"
Some around the table groaned while Taylor turned contemplative. They hadn't had enough time in Hell to accumulate many things, but they decided that perhaps one of the gifts their clients gave them might work out.
'So long as I omit the real reason for it, it should be fine.' They decided.
The group started to get up to go about their mornings, but Taylor stopped Angel before he could leave.
"Hey Angel. Want to help Pentious and I out with something?"
He turned to them boredly.
"Depends. I ain't doing no manual labor or touchy-feely crap, I do enough of that thanks to Charlie."
"You'll get to use your Tommy guns~" Taylor said enticingly.
"Why didn't ya say so? I'm in!" He said excitedly.
Taylor, Sir Pentious, and Angel stood outside the front of the hotel in the pentagram field.
"Ya want us to shoot ya, Fuoco? Are ya nuts?"
Taylor shook their head and corrected him.
"Not at me, around me. I want to learn how to redirect bullets, but I can't easily fire guns at myself. Since you two love that kinda stuff, I thought you'd be perfect for the job!"
"Isn't shooting your friends not something you should do? What if the purple female sees us?" Pentious asked warily.
"Again, you're not shooting at me, just around me. And if Vaggie asks, it's a trust exercise. I'm trusting you two not to shoot me and you're helping out a friend!" They said as they took several steps back to the middle of the pentagram. They summoned a fiery target beside them and called back to the other two demons. "Just aim for that if it makes you feel better."
They saw the cobra and spider demon glance at each other before they brought out their weapons. Taylor gulped in apprehension despite it being their idea.
After their encounter with Valentino and the mobsters who attacked Clara and Odette, they determined they needed a means to make guns less of an issue. They recalled that guns had ignition powder inside them and that the bullets gave off sparks when they were fired or hit objects, so they hoped to be able to manipulate that to their advantage. They knew angelic steel tipped bullets would still pose a serious problem, but hopefully they wouldn't face many of those. As far as Sir Pentious's ray gun was concerned, they seemed to be able to absorb laser energy into their palm from before, so they guessed they could manipulate that as well.
They focused their gaze on the firearms and raised an arm up before calling out.
"One bullet at a time to start, please! Pentious, you first, on my mark!"
They lowered their arm and barely tracked the beam as it streamed past their head.
'Hm. This is gonna be tougher than I thought.' they mused. They raised their arm once more.
"Okay, Angel, your turn! On my mark!"
They lowered their arm and Angel fired his Tommy gun. They could more easily see the sparks around the bullets. They focused their gaze on the sparks, but didn't have enough time to do anything before they whizzed past their head.
'Okay. I saw it that time, I can do this.' they said excitedly.
"Okay! Pentious, once more!"
They heard the zap of the ray gun firing and were able to see the beam coming this time. They scrunched their face as they focused to alter the beam's trajectory. They felt the energy flow of the beam and instinctually raised a hand and flicked a finger it to the side. They heard a light ping and the beam minutely moved to the side and blew past their head again, but slightly farther away.
They exhaled in excitement.
'It wasn't much, but a start.' They cheered. They raised their arm once more.
"Good! Angel, you're up!"
They indicated again and saw a spark and focused on the oncoming bullet.
'Down!' they willed as they sensed the small spark move to the top of the bullet and blast, causing the bullet to land in the grass in front of the target with a thud. They stared at the ground with awe before they grinned.
'Ha, I'm getting the feel for it." they thought with renewed enthusiasm.
Within half an hour, Taylor progressively got better at redirecting the trajectories of the projectiles. When they felt ready, they dismissed the target and stretched out their hands at the two demons.
"Now I wantyou to shoot more rounds at once!"
The two looked at them askance before Taylor challenged them with a cocky beckoning hand gesture. After half hour, Taylor demanded they move around and shoot around them.
By the time lunch had rolled around, the three were having a mini battle where Taylor was flicking and redirecting volleys of ray beams and bullets around them up into the air, the ground, or away from them as the other two tried to catch them by surprise. They started to gather an audience consisting of Husk and then Niffty, with Alastor sitting on the balcony and watching amusedly at some point. Before long Charlie and Vaggie wandered over to see what the commotion was about and Vaggie was beside herself. She shouted at the trio, stopping the fun as she stomped over, spear in hand, with Charlie not far behind her.
"What the hell are you doing? We thought there was a shootout happened in the city, but it's you two going after Taylor? This is utterly unacceptable!"
Taylor ran over to the fuming moth demoness.
"Vaggie, don't get mad at them. I asked them to do it! It's a trust exercise!"
Vaggie turned on them, still fuming, and thrust the spear near their face.
"Since when is shooting people a trust exercise?"
Taylor laughed nervously and gently moved the spear away.
"To be fair, I asked them to shoot around me. I'm learning to redirect bullets for safety reasons and since they had the firearms and I trust them not to shoot to kill, I asked them for help." Taylor explained.
"Come on, Vaggie. It looked to be in good fun and no one was hurt. Plus, it could also count as a bonding exercise!" Charlie replied, trying to calm down the tense situation. She gave Vaggie some puppy dog eyes and the moth demon groaned.
"Fine. But don't do it again!" She said sternly to all three of them. Angel rolled his eyes and Taylor nodded.
"Yes ma'am!" Pentious gave a salute, but he accidentally discharged the gun and everyone but Taylor ducked. They flicked the beam up into the air with their finger on instinct.
"See? We were perfectly safe, Vaggie." They responded.
The group jumped when a voyeur scope drone crashed out of the sky and at their feet. The five looked and saw a VoxTek logo and their eyes widened. Vaggie looked to Taylor.
"Maybe you ought to work on that to keep those away from hotel." Vaggie said gravely.
The group nodded as everyone made their way back up the hill, a little unnerved at being spied on.
"Motherfuckers!" Vox screamed angrily as his visual feed of the Hotel was cut off.
"Vox, get your head out of your ass and focus! You called this fucking meeting, so run it!" Velvette complained as she texted furiously on her phone.
Valentino sulked angrily in his chair, bedazzling one of his guns and muttering to himself.
Vox took a calming breath before he sat back and bridged his fingers.
"I was content to let this Dealbreaker Demon run around and destabilize the overlord networks. Have them do us a favor so we can increase our sphere of influence in the city. And hey, if we lost a few subordinates in our circles, so be it, there are plenty of bodies out there. Better yet, if they went after that Radio prick, I'd even offer them a position in our trio. A small price to pay for a bigger dividend down the line." His screen glitched for a moment before he snarled. "But, now they've gone and messed with our image of perfection, and that I cannot abide by." He turned aggressively to Velvette.
"How is the deletion of all images of Val from the club?"
"It's a work in progress putting that fire out. The passed-out piss baby is still trending under multiple hashtags and has even become a meme! The Dealbreaker Demon too, they've gone viral on Sinstagram and HellTok." Velvette said in a blasé tone as she kept working on her phone.
"I'm gonna fucking kill that puta once I get my hands on them! No one makes a fool out of me and lives for long!" Valentino barked out as he threw his container of rhinestones at the wall in fury.
"All in good time. We can still use them to our advantage. Once we've exhausted all those avenues, then we can take our time wiping them from existence." Vox chuckled malevolently as his right-hypnotic eye gleamed sinisterly.