We gave up on holding arms. We just stroll on the streets of Hell. I sometimes throw glances at Angel and marvel. He's quite attractive for a demon, with his freckles and shiny fur. His carefreeness only boosts it.
I feel like I should say something, anything, as we walked quite long in silence. But I don't know what. I'm always awkward about chatting.
"So," he seems as if he read my mind, "how long have you been down here?"
"A year," I bluntly respond. Then, to pull the strings of a conversation, I continue: "Actually, it's my first year anniversary."
"Really?" he wonders. "You're the youngest one so far. Vaggie came here some years ago."
"Yeah..."
Another moment of uncomfortable silence passes before I say: "I... am quite new, as in I don't know a lot of demons."
"Don't worry, babe, I don't know lots of demons either," he shrugs. "Well, I meet lots of demons, but I don't know them, as per se."
"I think I recognize you from some posters," I mention. "Ads with you are all over the city."
"Yeah, well, as I said, I'm quite famous," he winks at one Imp on the other side of the street.
"Right. Uhm..." I think of a quick question, "what's Cherry Bomb?"
I thought it was a kind of juice with cherries, but Angel suddenly giggles.
"Not a what, toots. Who. She's my girl bestie. She runs a territory not far from here. She's the best at blowing shit up."
"I suppose that's really exciting to have in a friend."
"We hang out sometimes, exploding buildings or fuck people up, but it's not the same as it was."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm staying at this hotel, don't I? I have to behave..." he sighs, rolling his eyes.
"Is Charlie punishing you if you do something bad?" I ask him.
I expect an answer, but he starts laughing heartily. I feel as if I missed something, or said something wrong. "What?"
"Sure thing," he manages to say. "Charlie delights in punishing us! Severely! Whipping is her specialty! She knows all the right places! And the occasional handcuffing..."
"Angel!" I cut him off. "I was serious!"
"That's the funny part!" he points out, still chuckling.
I stay silent until he stops.
"Haven't ya met her?" he asks incredulously. "She's like, the sweetest innocent demon down here!"
"How should I know?" I backfire. "She's, after all, the Princess of Hell."
"You think she's acting out to mess with ya?" his smile only grows.
I don't say anything.
"I guess you have a point," he shrugs. "Nothing here is what it seems."
"Are you what you seem?" I look intensively at him.
"Oh!" he puts his hand on his fluffy chest in a flattered way. "If you mean that I'm incredibly charming and sexy, then I guess yeah, I am."
"And incredibly modest," I mutter.
"Ya words!"
"How about the rest of you?" The more I know about them, the better.
"Well, Vaggie is really bitchy, but her bark is worse than her bite. I must warn ya, tho, her bark might deafen you. Now more than ever, since she's with Charlie and super overprotective over her."
"They're together?" I ask curiously. I underestimated their hug .
"For some time now," Angel rolls his eyes. "Honestly, it's so annoying. Like, during dinner, they make all these eyes at each other and I suddenly lose all my appetite! Or when I hear 'em some nights having fun. Lucky me I'm away most of the nights..."
"Where do you go?"
"Working," he says with subtle meaning. "Honestly, it might be the only way I have fun nowadays."
I hear a slight touch of sadness in his voice, but I can't figure out why. There are so many reasons to be unhappy in this place.
"Is it wearing out at the hotel?"
"Not really," he admits. "There are some times when Charlie hosts galas or parties. Sure, they are suitable for the cause, so no drugs." He then makes a miserable face and says: "I miss drugs..."
"So you're clean?"
"For almost five months!" he throws his hands in the air exasperated. "It's so exhausting!"
"Shouldn't it be easier?"
"I dunno!"
"But you can drink?" I ask him in the hopes he'll cheer up.
"Oh, yeah. At least that! Y'know, when Al got to this place, he summoned the bar and a sexy bartender alongside other things. It's the best thing that happened to the place!"
"Al?" I ask him, confused.
"Alastor," he clarifies.
"The cat demon that appeared when I was there?" I raise my other question.
"Yeah, his name is Husk. He's usually just drinking and rude, but get this! The other day I made him laugh!"
"Really?" I say with uninterest.
"Yeah! I was returning from my late shift, and he was drunk af on the floor behind the bar. I barely noticed him! I came to him, kicked him, see if he was dead. He looked at me and laughed."
He's all smiley
"Is he, like, an employee?"
"He would be if he'd have been paid," Angel reckons. "Maybe that's why he's so miserable all the time. I heard he was a great deal. Now, I guess he's good at being sexy. And listening to drunk people ramble ..."
"Drunk people, as in you?" I mock him.
"Ah, such an insult, babe! How am I gonna recover from that?"
"Tell me, Angel, how much do we still have to go? And where exactly are we going?"
We arrived on some of the busiest streets I've seen in Hell, with lots of lights that hurt my eyes. Ads that attract all kinds of demons inside.
"Diana, baby, we are having a tour of Pentagram City's center, of course!"
"How come? Weren't we supposed to only buy some clothes?"
"Hey, I know I complimented ya outfit, but it was a joke," he assures me. "Ya need real help with your clothing style!"
"I don't have a style," I point out.
"Exactly. That's why you need help."
I keep my eyes trained in front, emotionless.
"And," he keeps on, "I know the best dressing shops here."
"Are you offering your help to other hotel residents?" I wonder.
"Not really," he admits. "I don't have too many neighbors, to say. Only another girl, Kylie. She went to visit someone some days ago. And, of course, Kylie has style, so she needs no help."
"Isn't the hotel supposed to be crawling with sinners?" I opine. "It's a miserable place, Hell. Don't they want to leave it?"
"Ya forget that they ended up here for some reason, toots," he looks at me seriously. "Not everyone wants to leave Hell. And, if they do, they don't want it that much. I am honestly not sure why I'm still here."
"You don't want to redeem yourself?"
"I don't believe there's a way, really," he shrugs. "Charlie is a dreamer in a world full of nightmares."
"Then why do you still stay?"
"Free rent."
I sigh. Of course, there is this advantage.
"Ok, my turn," he stops me. "Why didn't ya come sooner?"
"I guess there was no reason to," I confess. "And I don't have any opinion on redemption."
"Vaggie said you're the Wild One. What does it mean?"
"I honestly don't know," I shrug. "It was the first time I heard it too."
"Really?" he gapes.
"I told you I'm not an outdoor person."
"No, ya told me you don't have too many friends," he points out.
"Isn't it the same thing?"
"Not really, no. And what did ya do before? You must have survived somehow in this hellhole."
"I hunted," I tell him. I suppose there's no hiding it. I will still hunt. "I sold my venison and got money."
"Oh, how precious you'll be to us then!"
"Why?"
"Because we all like some well-cooked venison. Or simply raw venison, in some cases. Dinner is quite the best time of the day."
"I was wondering about that..." I start by saying, but he stops. We're in front of a big shop. Lots of colors, lots of lights. My head starts to hurt.
"After you," he gestures.
I thank him and go inside. A deep perfume hits me and gives me nausea. My killer instincts fret me. In any case of danger, I hardly can rely on my smell.
"Come on, then!" Angel calls me.
☽
We wandered through the entire store. It looks like we came here mostly for him, as he picked an entire basket of new shiny clothes. I barely have any T-shirts.
Unfortunately, after one hour he notices that and focuses entirely on me. Spinning around me like Cinderella's godmother, he keeps on pestering me with loads of questions such as:
"What's your boob size?"
"What's your favorite color?"
"Do you like molded or loose clothes?"
I suppose I should be glad that my opinion matters.
I tell him that I like dressing classy when I don't have to be active, but I do it rarely since I am hunting the majority of the time. When he asks me about what I wear when I hunt, I say blue gear with lots of pockets.
"Why blue?" he asks, confused.
"Well, I hunt in the blue woods. I need to camouflage."
"Oh, my! You come from that part of town?"
"Is there something wrong with it?" I ask him provokingly.
"I heard that's quite empty," he recalls. "And there are lots of sinister demons crawling around there."
"It can't be that rural as I still got to see your posters," I mock him.
"I told ya," he puffs his chest. "I'm incredibly famous."
With what I told him, he soon chose items that are way more stylish than I'd ever seen, dead or alive. Still, I see he minded the pocket rule. And the camouflage rule, as there's no glitter.
"Wow, Angel, you do have talent," I marvel at a dark blue sweater with white shirt endings.
"D'you expect anything else from moi ?" his pink eyes are shining with pride.
"I suppose I expected everything to be... not me," I confess.
"You gotta trust me more, toots," he winks and then turns his back to another aisle.
I gather up the courage to check the prices and I almost faint. An entire week of hunting can pay for that one sweater. As for the others (some T-shirts, gym pants, cargo pants, a black top, and a jacket with pockets), they sum up to be pretty close to what I had in total before it burnt away.
That goat demon didn't suffer enough.
"Angel!" I yell at him.
"What?" he runs to me.
"I can't afford this!" I whisper-scream.
"Don't worry, babe!" he waves his hand. "I got you covered!"
"I won't let you buy this for me," I viciously say.
"Good thing, 'cause I won't," he chuckles. "I know the shop's owner. I have some discounts," he winks at me.
I don't want to know how he obtained those discounts.
"Still! You don't have to!" Then, I sigh frustrated: "Angel, why are we in the most expensive shop you could have possibly found?"
"Stop complaining. Have fun already!"
With that, he throws a black dress in front of me. A dress that is as long as me.
"How am I going to wear this without stumbling?" I raise one of the many questions I have.
"It's not for ya, toots! It's for me!"
"You wear dresses?" I ask him curiously.
"What?" he withdraws the dress from me. "You think that just because I'm a boy I can't wear dresses?"
"What, no!" I defend myself. "It's just that I'm surprised. Good surprised."
"Calm yourself, toots! I was just messing with ya!" he ruffles my hair before going somewhere else.
I stare behind him, trying to understand the mix of emotions I have regarding his persona. No matter how arrogant or inappropriate he seems, I find that I like this guy. And I don't like it.
People I like tend to use it against me.
Control yourself.
I follow him, not sure of what I can do all alone here. He compares that one dress with another red one. He soon discards the latter one.
"Why did you reject it?" I come to him. "It looked marvelous. I'm sure it'd look great on you."
"Everything looks great on me," he points out. "But red's not my color. You see all this pink?"
He gestures to his hair and... Tattoos?
"Pink and red don't go well. Besides, red's Smiles' color."
"Smiles?"
"Alastor."
"You do have a lot of ways of calling him," I mention.
"He has lots of names for calling: the Radio Demon, Radio bitch, the Deer Demon. My personal favorite is Strawberry Pimp. It's an original."
"The Radio Demon?" The sudden realization washes over me. That's why I recognized his voice.
Back when I was alive, I used to listen to the radio after each dinner, alongside watching occasional TV news or reading newspapers. When I arrived in Hell, my habits didn't change much in comparison with what I watched or listened to.
"Don't ya know 'im?" he asks me with big eyes. Then, he shrugs: "I'm one to talk. I didn't know him either."
"Should I know him?" I pretend I know nothing.
"He's one of the most powerful Overlords here. You should ask Vaggie for a complete mystic introduction, but in short words, he controls the radio."
Overlord. Oh my.
"So, each Overlord controls something?" I try to distract myself.
"I guess, but don't ask me. I don't do politics."
"Does Alastor look for redemption?" I ask him incredulously.
He starts to laugh heartily, attracting other demons' looks from all over the store. I have an overwhelming urge to hide in the clothes.
"Alastor might as well take Lucifer's place, fer all I know," Angel wipes a tear. "Nah-nah-nah, he's helping Charlie with the hotel."
He turns to his clothes, still laughing, leaving me with my thoughts. The Princess of Hell and an Overlord allied to make sinners good. I've never heard a more preposterous idea. I can't imagine in any way that this is real.
"Why does he help her then?"
"For fun, he claims. Watch sinners trying to reach Heaven only to fail. I s'pose it's more logical than what Charlie tries to accomplish."
If there's one thing I've learned in one year in Hell is that demons' minds are hella twisted. I gave up on understanding any of them the first week. That's one of the many reasons why I prefer my time alone.
"Y'know," Angel turns to me. "I've been meaning to ask ya something."
I look at him plainly. I would encourage him to be free with me, but I want to avoid any personal questions.
He, on the other hand, looks at me puzzled, as if he's searching for an adequate way to speak. Then he sighs:
"How d'you know he was behind ya?"
For a few seconds, I am confused about what he asked. I turn my head to see if someone is indeed behind me, but then I understand his question.
"You mean Alastor?"
"Yeah."
"Uhm..."
I try to think of the reason why I knew. I forgot to analyze my new ability, talking non-stop with Angel. It is as inexplicable as the first two are. It was my first time. I already dread the next time.
"It's just," Angel continues over the silence, "Smiles tends to come out at the perfect moments to scare the shit out of everyone. It's like his kind of prank. And nobody, even Charlie, can tell him to stop it. I seriously think there's gonna be a time when someone double-dies from a heart attack. Nobody can predict his shitty coming."
"Isn't it a general rule about teleporting?"
"You mean spatial warping? I mean, yes and no. Some demons can do it, but they leave a trail behind them if you know how to look. You can predict it. With Alastor, you can't. At least until now."
A trail... The black streak. But I don't think he means it that way.
Now I understand why they all looked so bewildered. Poor them! Being pranked so many times by that prick, not having any hope of getting back at him, only for me to waltz in and show it can be done.
But I can't reveal how I did it. Not only for my sake. I genuinely don't know either.
"It's... part of my hunting experience. I did hunt all of my life. I suppose I know where to look," I shrug.
"Hmm..." he regards me for a few seconds. Perhaps checking if I'm valid. Then, his eyes round, and a sudden boost of energy flows through him: "You gotta teach me!"
"Alright, but you have to keep it a secret!" I wink at him. Truth be told, maybe this will be my way to repay him for these clothes. Even if it's a sham.
"Let's get outta here!" he walks towards the payment point. I follow him nervously.
He leans on the counter with one waist hand and addressed the Cyclops lady cashier: "Hi, sweetheart! Call in Jaws fer me, would ya?"
"Jaws is not working here anymore," she bluntly says.
"What d'you mean?" Angel asks, bothered.
"I mean he died."
"He double-died? How?"
"How am I supposed to know?" the lady looks irritated at him.
"I have some discounts from him," Angel mentions.
"Whatever discounts you had, they died with him," she looks uninterested. "Now, will you give me your products to scan them?"
He hesitates for one second. I only see his back, but I know he's already plotting something.
"Gimme a sec!" he says and then turns to me. He leans his whole upper body to reach my ear on my head, seeming that he's two feet and a half taller than me, and then whispers: "How fast can you run?"
I immediately feel offended and whisper back: "I'm a fucking wolf."
"Good girl!" he pats my head. "Then, run!"
A/N: Hey, guys!
Srry for my one-day delay! I hope the longer chapter makes up for it ;)