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Hello and welcome to my first ever fanfiction!I am not that good in writing English, so this is probably going to be bad. I'm sorry for that :-)I just wanted to practice my English skills, so feel free to correct me, if I make any mistakes (I'm going to make a lot of them, beware).Enough of that, I just wanted to say, before we start, that this fic is going to be about pretty heavy stuff, so please don't read it, if it's making you uncomfortable. I am also going to write the trigger warnings before each chapter, so you can always decide if it's too much and you want to read something different.I know, in the title it says Alastor x OC, but because I totally respect Alastors asexuality and also don't quite know, where this is going, i can't predict if Alastor and my OC will become a couple. I have very much fun writing, but I don't know if I'm good at it, so feel invited to give me (constructive) feedback in the comments.Also, feel free to correct me if I'm making spelling mistakes, that wold be awesome. If you like my writing style, you can also give me requests for other fanfics (but please, PLEASE no incest or something in the ships). This fic is the english translation of another fic I wrote, so the chapters may come irregular.I will also write many same gender- ships, if anyone feels offended by that and feels the need to spill that in the comment section, I suggest, you take all those comments, write them down in a book, wrap duct tape around it and please bury it far away, so we all can coexist peacefully and lovingly. Thank you.Everyone else I wish a great day/night and lots of fun with this fanfiction!All love and stay healthy)
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Red. That was everything I could see. It was on my hands, my feet, in my face and it soaked my formally white hair with metallic-smelling, deadly beauty. Cause this is what it was; beautiful. It was beautiful, because this red did not belong to me.My knife dug into another body and the extraneous red splattered into my face. I licked the delicious taste off my lips, spun around and plunged the knife into the chest of the man who had sneaked up behind me.I laughed hysterically as he screamed in pain, as I slashed open his chest. I delighted in the fear in his eyes. That was good, he should be afraid, he should suffer for what he had done to me. Every single one of them should suffer.I screamed as a knife at my back shredded, what was still left of my dress. I reflexively stabbed with the blade and followed up when I met resistance. The death scream of who ever I hit drowned in the thunderous roaring of the blood in my ears.I looked around, men with weapons, all dressed in black, rushed towards me from all sides. Through the slowly wearing off adrenaline I could feel something warm running down my bare back. I emerged just enough from my red frenzy of run, jump, dodge,strike, that I noticed that it was blood. My blood.With an animalistic scream, I lunged forward, hacking and stabbing my way through the crowd rushing towards me. I cried out shrilly as a blade pierced my lower abdomen and my vision swam for a moment. Another blow hit my leg and threw me to the hard floor of the warehouse.I lashed out blindly with the knife, as someone kicked me in the side. A foot in a heavy boot dug into my bare, battered chest and white hot pain took my vision. I thought I would suffocate miserably, when the leader's call interrupted my tormentor."Stop it! She had enough.". This voice, which I hated so much, interrupted my hellish torment and the boot lifted from my chest. I immediately gasped for oxygen and doubled over, coughing, as torrents of my blood ran from the corners of my mouth. The red mist that clouded my vision slowly cleared and I realized that I couldn't survive.I was too badly wounded, had lost too much blood and was trapped. This calmed my mind and made me so happy that I smiled up at the leader, leaning over me, with bloody lips. His palm hit my cheek with a smack and caused my head to hit the floor so hard that I briefly saw stars."You dirty bitch slaughtered my men! But now you're trapped. Look at how hatefully she looks at me! But what do you want to do little girl? You are surrounded, injured and can no longer move. Even your little knife can not save you from certain death. You are going to die!""You're right!", I said with a clear and confident voice. I giggled briefly, sending fresh blood down my cheeks. "But you are going to die with me.", i whispered. Before anyone could react, my upper body shot up and, with the last of my strength, I rammed my knife into the black-clad leader's chest.In a terrible caricature of a hug, I put my free arm around his shoulders and brought my bloodied lips with my last death-wisper up to his ear: "See you in hell.".Then my body went limp and the last thing I saw was the leader's eyes, wide in surprise and panic, from which the life drained.
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The first thing that I noticed when I came to, was, that I could not move and was laying on the hard asphalt of a street. Wait, wasn't I actually dead? I was bleeding very much, I couldn't had survived, but why didn't I feel pain?I shuddered as a wave of fresh air hit my naked body and tried to open my eyes or sit up. Nothing happened, I didn't even twitch. I just layed there motionless and tried to control my way too fast breathing.That continued for a while, and after what felt like an eternity i finally managed to open my eyes. I didn't trust my eyes; I was no longer on the floor of a cold, horrible warehouse, instead I was on the warm asphalt of a street and stared stunned at a blood red sky on whose firnament, instead of a pale moon, there was a glowing pentagram.I was also no longer surrounded by men dressed in black trying to finish me off; as far as I could tell from my position on the floor, I was completely alone.Where was I? I tried to sit up and suppressed a pained hiss, as the sharp edged pebbles dug into my bare back. Wonderful; I was obviously more or less safe and no longer deadly wounded, but of course I didn't got my clothes back.Suddenly I heard footsteps crunching closer to me and after a short while a face came into my field of vision. Well, if you could call that a face. The thing vaguely resembled a human, with leathery skin and strange proportions. The staring octopus eyes were fixed on me, but definitely not on my face."How lucky I am! Today the whores are already falling from the sky and such magnificent specimens too!", said the thing in a voice that sounded quite human. When a slimy octopus arm passed over my body, I immediately felt ice cold and terribly sick. It wouldn't try to...I desperately tried to move and found that I was at least able to move my arms, although whether I could walk was another matter entirely. I flailed wildly and realized because of a loud scream that I was still holding the knife.My triumph didn't last long, however; after a brief moment of shock, an arm wrapped itself around my wrist and squeezed so tightly that I dropped the knife in shock. "I'm terribly sorry princess, I had actually planned for us to move straight into the nearest back room and have fun together there while fully conscious, but since you're so stubborn, I guess I have no choice but to resort to the miracle cure from the good Valentino."With these words, the thing reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small bottle with bright pink contents. It poured all the liquid into its mouth, gargled with it, and spit the rest onto the floor. Then it leaned over me and, without warning, pressed its lips to mine. I was so surprised that I couldn't stop the creature's slimy tongue from sliding into my mouth.In addition to the incredible disgust, an overwhelming taste of blackcurrant, jasmine and bergamot immediately spread across my tongue and weighed heavily on my senses. As if through a pink mist, I felt my body go limp and my head roll uselessly to the side.A single tear of despair rolled down my cheek as more and more tentacles wrapped around my body, touching me in places I never wanted to be touched.Suddenly the thing was swept to the side, I saw in the edge of my ever-shrinking field of vision how its body was torn apart by shadow-like tentacles and the extraneous red that I was familiar with spread across the ground.Then my body realized that it was no longer being held and it slumped down limply. But instead of hitting the hard asphalt of the road, something red moved into my field of vision and a pair of arms held me tight.I could finally allow the pink mist to engulf my senses, because I was safe with extraneous red. Extraneous red was good.
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I snapped out of my unconsciousness and sat up abruptly. I immediately regretted that because I was so dizzy that I was briefly afraid of falling off the sofa I was lying on. Suddenly, out of the blur of colors that was my surroundings, an arm shot out to support me."Woah, slow down sweetie, no one will hurt you here!" Probably said the owner of the arm. "Angel, let her go, she just woke up.", a woman's voice came from my left, whereupon the arm moved away from my back."Relax Vagina, I just wanted to help her!" "Will someone please get a glass of water?" "Guys, shut up for a moment and don't bother her like that."The voices then fell silent, I took a deep breath and gave my eyes a chance to adjust to the new surroundings. I was sitting on a sofa in a large hall and was surrounded by a group of... creatures, all of which looked sometimes more and sometimes less human.I was afraid, what if everyone here was like that octopus from the street? I reached to my hip and was about to pull out the knife when I realized, boiling hot, that I had lost it on the street. Then I would just fight with my hands, I had fought against hundreds, I wouldn't lose to just a handful of monsters.I clenched my fists, bared my teeth and tensed up, ready to attack... Until I was snapped out of my panic by a hand on my arm. "Calm down sweetie, everything is fine. Nobody plans to harm you," said a spider-like monster with several arms."I have to agree with him, my dear; if any of us had planned to violate you, it would have happened long ago while you were unconscious. Of course that didn't happen, what would be the point of trying to raise a hand against you now that you are fully conscious? Exactly; none. What I'm trying to say is that you have nothing to fear from us."The second voice was slightly distorted, like it was coming from an old radio. "Wait Al, what did you mean by 'violate her'? We would never rape anyone, not even you, the big bad overlord, would even think about it!", said that... spider... thing."You're right, of course, my effeminate friend, but just because we wouldn't, unfortunately, doesn't mean that no one would. Luckily, I was on the way to Rosie and was able to intervene, who knows what this inferior sinner would otherwise have done to her."I turned around and looked at the guy with the radio voice. He looked mostly normal and human, except for fluffy deer ears and small antlers on his head and an unnaturally wide smile on his face.So he had saved me. And it seemed dressed too, because I was no longer naked but wearing an old-fashioned red frock coat that was a little frayed at the hem. It had the same red that I saw before I lost consciousness.They had saved me and even clothed me. They wouldn't hurt me. I breathed out and relaxed. Then I looked at the rest of the people present. Except for a blonde woman with ghostly pale skin and red cheeks and a gray-skinned woman with a red cross over her eye, everyone looked kind of like animals, especially one who looked like a cat with wings."Are you furries?" I asked. "Fuck, I'm too sober for this shit. You explain." grumbled the cat, taking a sip from a dusty bottle without a label. "I'll... get some tea from the kitchen, nothing helps you get to know each other better than a cup of tea and cookies, don't you think?"The blonde said excitedly and was about to storm off when she was stopped by the spider: "Leave the cookies away Char Char, Nuggsie ate them all recently, now there are only some of mine left and with them you get to know each other better than one is sweet.""Okay, no cookies then, I'll see if we have any other snacks. Do you like chocolate roses? Or just tea, yeah, I think that's better... Sorry, I talk too much, I... Just go get some tea. I'll be right back!", with those words she ran off, leaving the rest of us in awkward silence. "I'd better run after her and make sure she doesn't get hurt," the gray-skinned woman said goodbye."Okay sugar tits, I'll keep it short; you died and now you're in hell. You must have done something that didn't please those up there. Well, you asked if we were furries, we're normal human souls who died at some point and ended up in hell. Most of them get attributes from animals, I have no idea why that is. You got some too, if you feel ready, we can definitely find a mirror for you to look at yourself with," said the spider.So I was really dead. Well, I kind of expected that, but going to hell... My sisters and my father were probably in heaven, so I couldn't visit them. Maybe it was better that way, I had killed so many people and no matter how hard I tried, I didn't regret it one bit. They wouldn't understand anyway. I sighed; I probably really belonged in hell."Well... Uh, sorry for my freak out earlier. What's your name?" "No problem Babycakes. I'm Angel Dust, to you I'm Angel and to the strawberry pimp over there I'm Daddy." The spider said with a seductive smile towards the radio guy."Ha, never! Well my dear, I'm Alastor, it's a pleasure to meet you!" His smile got even wider, if that was possible, and he held out a gloved hand, which I took. "Thank you for the rescue, without you I would have been in a fix." I thanked him."Speaking of rescue, Al brought you here unconscious and was talking about rape earlier, but as far as I can tell you didn't have a bump, did you notice what knocked you out?" Angel chimed in."The... thing that was bothering me gave me some pink stuff, after which I couldn't move anymore and lost consciousness after a short time," I told him. "Pink stuff? Sorry if that sounds weird, but what did it taste like?" Angel asked."Pretty intense blackcurrant, a bit of jasmine and maybe vanilla, why do you ask?" I asked in surprise, the bare thought of it making me shake. "Fuck, Babycakes, I wish I could tell you otherwise, but that was probably Valentino's latest date rape drug." Angel patted my arm sympathetically."Wait a minute, Valentino? That... thing said something about a Valentino. Who is that?" I asked as Angel sighed and stroked his white hair: "Valentino is my... boss. One of the overlords, the most powerful sinners in hell. He always smokes cigarettes that smell exactly like the drug tasted.", suddenly he grabbed me with all four arms and looked at me intently from very close. He had pretty, mismatched eyes."If you smell that smell somewhere, then run away as quickly as you can. Go somewhere among people but please, you have to promise me never, never, do you hear, to get into a car and never to drink or eat anything, whatsoever smells like it.""Of course, you can believe me, I don't really want another experience like that. But you almost sound like you've been given this stuff before?" he gave me a disturbingly sad smile: "You have no idea.". I was about to follow up and ask what he meant by that when the blonde and the gray-skinned woman joined us with two trays full of teacups and snack bowls.The blonde immediately started talking into us, or me: "I'm sorry it took so long, I couldn't decide what to make for tea and Vaggie and I had to search for a thousand years for something to eat that didn't belong to either Angel or Alastor. I have to talk to you about that too! Fuck, I'm talking too much again, well I'm so excited! You're one of the first sinners in my hotel, assuming of course you stay here, which hasn't been decided yet-""A hotel you say?" I interrupted her carefully, "If that's okay, I'd actually like to stay here, I mean, I just got here and I have no idea where I'm going to sleep, so sure, why not."The blonde immediately threw herself at me and I jumped slightly before I awkwardly stroked her back, which earned me a dirty look from the gray-skinned woman. Oh dear, that will be cheerful times.The blonde let go of me with an embarrassed smile, her cherry red cheeks a touch darker. "Sorry, I didn't mean to attack you like that. I'm Charlie and this is my girlfriend Vaggie." she introduced herself and the gray-skinned woman."I'm pleased." I said as I sipped one of the teacups that said 'Oh Deer' on it. Angel looked at me sideways in horror. "Do I have something in my hair?" I asked him. "No, well, yes, and cute little ears, but Babycakes, that's Smile's cup."Oh. Oh God. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know-" "No problem my dear, as long as it doesn't become a habit I don't mind." Alastor said, still smiling widely.Shit, I've only been around people for half an hour and I've already made one mistake after another. I felt my cheeks turning red, so I tried to distract myself as quickly as possible: "Angel, what did you mean cute ears? Is there a mirror around here somewhere?""Sure!" said Charlie "Alastor, could you-" "Of course, my dear." Alastor said, snapping his fingers and a mirror formed from the shadows a few feet away. I stared at Alastor in shock. He could do magic? How cool was that!I slowly stepped in front of the large gold framed mirror and mentally prepared myself for the worst. Only to be surprised. I looked a lot like my old self, I was still quite tall for a woman, had the same pale skin, the same nose, the same lips.But I had, as Angel said, small ears with shaggy red and white fur on my head, along with small horns. My eyes also looked different, instead of dark blue they were now yellow, with strange, square pupils. Goat eyes.I also had goat hooves instead of feet and fluffy fur on my thin goat legs that merged into slim girl legs at the thigh. But the thing that changed me the most was my hair."Um, sorry to interrupt, but we've all introduced ourselves and are still curious to know your name." Charlie spoke to me from the sofa. "Well," I grabbed my white-red hair, "my parents called me Snow because of my white hair. But it looks like I'm not that anymore." Charlie immediately wanted to protest, but I interrupted her:"I don't mean that in an existential crisis way, I'm still Snow, at least in part. What I mean is that I'm more. I won't forget my life as Snow, I will also honor my parents' decision to name me after my hair color. From now on I guess I'll be Chrimson Snow, goat demon and resident of Charlie's Hotel. If I may.""Sugar tits, you can do anything, just let me touch these ears!" said Angel as I sat down on the sofa with him. I grinned and stuck my head out towards him. One of the ears twitched as Angel touched it lightly with his finger and I giggled, "Angel, that tickles!" "They're really shaggy! I bet the ones of Smiles are softer."With that he leaned over the table and touched Alastor's red and black deer ears. Alastor flinched at the touch, as if Angel's fingers were electrified, and for a second I thought I saw real fear in his eyes.Then he slapped Angel's hand away and stood up. "It's late, how about I make my mom's jambalaya to celebrate?" his smile was wider than before and now looked somewhat forced. I guess I was just imagining it."Oh Al, that would be amazing!" Charlie said enthusiastically and Alastor disappeared into the shadows. I looked puzzled at the spot where he had just been standing. "He can teleport? How cool!"I called.Angel chuckled: "Yes, believe me, you still think it's cool now, but that will change, at the latest when he shows up behind you exactly when you don't expect him and you have half a heart attack."I smiled, everyone here was really nice. Maybe it wasn't so bad that I was dead now.
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When Alastor called us into the kitchen to eat, I was a lot wiser about the history and structure of Hell, thanks to Angel, and a lot tipsier, thanks to Husk and his amazing cocktails. In the kitchen we were greeted by a delicious smell that made my stomach growl and a visibly proud Alastor taking off his apron.We all sat down at the surprisingly beautifully decorated table and handed our plates to Alastor. Vaggie eyed the delicious smelling food skeptically:"You don't plan to poison us, do you?" "Haha, no! Why would I do that, my dear?", he laughed then, but I couldn't help but see a hurt expression briefly cross his face. "Vaggiiiiie, he went to the extra trouble of cooking. You can at least try it, right?" Charlie tried to scare away the bad mood that was emerging.Vaggie shrugged and picked up her fork. I also took my cutlery and tried not to eat too quickly; I hadn't realized how hungry I was because of all the talking. It tasted amazing, I've been a big fan of spicy foods since I was a kid and Alastor's jambalaya had just the right amount of chili. I felt Alastor's expectant gaze on me from the other end of the table and smiled at him."The food is great, I didn't expect you to be so good at cooking!", I praised him and saw how his face brightened: "I'm very happy, my dear! It was very important to my mother that I learn to cook and her recipe for jambalaya is still legendary!"."Aren't you eating anything Al?" Charlie asked and I also noticed that Alastor was the only one who didn't have a plate in front of him. "Don't worry Charlotte, I made a good catch today that I'll cook later. I haven't had an octopus in a long time..." he grinned even wider while Charlie gave him a disturbed look."Speaking of later,", I changed the subject, ",where can I sleep?". Charlie sighed: "I completely forgot to mention this, but we don't have a free room right now. You know, I haven't had the hotel long and we've only managed to renovate a few rooms. So... unfortunately you have to sleep in one of our rooms.""Uh, no problem. Who can I sleep with?" I asked, surprised. I blushed, I had only known everyone here for a few hours and was already supposed to share a room with them? "Unfortunately there's no more room in mine and Vaggies, how about you Husk?" "Over my dead body.""And yours, Angel?" "Sorry, nothing personal, but how about you crash at Smiles? I need my beauty sleep, you know." "It's only for one night, tomorrow we can definitely prepare a room so that it's habitable." Charlie said, giving Alastor puppy eyes."Very well, if that's okay with you, my dear. I trust you won't mess anything up." Alastor said and I nodded: "I don't know you that well yet, but you saved me, I assume that I can trust you." "If you're not mistaken..." Husk grumbled."Maybe you'll find out what Smiles does in there at night," said Angel, leaning down conspiratorially to me: "Sometimes you hear noises from up there that sound like there's a distressed, injured animal in there. Maybe he's torturing people in there or something, he's capable of that." A cold shiver ran down my spine.We ate and talked for a while, I found out that Alastor and I both had a passion for jazz, endured a hug-filled crying attack from Charlie when I told her I supported her hotel idea, and ate 3 plates of jambalaya.As I began to realize how tired I was, Alastor stood up: "It's getting late, I suggest we all retire to our rooms so that tomorrow we can all be fresh and alert for the activities that our dear Charlotte is planning for planned tomorrow.""Oh yeah, tomorrow we'll definitely do a big round of introductions so we can all get to know each other better!" Charlie said excitedly, "We'll meet here tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., don't be late!"I also stood up, pulled Alastor's large but still uncomfortably short frock coat as far over my thighs as possible and took Alastor's arm, which he offered to me. He smiled before turning to the others:"I think I can leave the dishes to you guys, right Husker?" "Fuck you." said the cat demon and I smiled: "Good night!". "Good night!" Charlie shouted cheerfully while Vaggie gave me a dark look.Alastor snapped his fingers, I felt ice cold and briefly so dizzy that I had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, I found myself standing in front of a dark wooden door on a red carpeted floor.I shook my head to clear the dizziness and found myself hanging half on Alastor's shoulder, who was eyeing me curiously. "Sorry!" I said and hastily took a step backwards, which I regretted because the dizziness immediately took hold of me again."God, I'm dizzy." I mumbled as I braced myself against the wall. "Sorry, I should have announced this beforehand. It's always a little awkward the first time, but it's over in a moment.", Alastor said encouragingly and I closed my eyes and took deep breaths until the vertigo finally subsided."Okay," I said after a while, "I take it this is your room?" "That's right my dear, you are cordially invited to come in." He said theatrically, opening the door to his private quarters.I don't know what I expected, but the room pleasantly surprised me. There were no corpses or torture devices anywhere, the floor was covered with a beautiful deep red carpet, there were bookshelves and pictures on the walls, and in the corner there was a fireplace in which Alastor started a fire with a flick of the wrist.The only strange thing was that only the front part of the room was normal, towards the back the soft red carpet turned into a muddy swamp of which I could only see a few trees, the rest disappeared in the thick fog. I entered the room and eyed skeptically the deer antlers and rifles hanging in the corner. Wasn't Alastor a deer himself?But then my eyes were distracted by the huge red four-poster bed that stood in the corner and my skepticism was blown away. I would have loved to throw myself into the red cushions straight away, there was just one tiny problem..."Um, Alastor? I'm totally grateful for lending me your coat, but do you have anything else I could wear to sleep? I wouldn't like to ruin the coat." "But of course, how far-sighted of you." He said, snapping his fingers again.A pair of black pants and a red pajama top appeared on the edge of the bed, as if cast from the shadows, and I held them up enthusiastically. "You definitely have to show me how to do this tomorrow. Do you have a bathroom here?""Over there. There are towels in the top dresser drawer, there should be a spare toothbrush in the second one if I'm not mistaken." I thanked him, went into the clinically clean bathroom and locked the door.I sighed, slipped off Alastor's coat and looked at myself in the mirror. I still looked the same as when I was alive, except for the goat legs. Still the same pale skin, the terribly small breasts and the prominent collarbone. Only the scars where the black-clad men's knives had pierced my skin were new.I absentmindedly stroked the scar on my lower abdomen; this injury had killed me. The pajamas fit like a glove and hid my figure, which filled me with relief; I had never been particularly slim. Alastor was right, there were fluffy red towels in the top drawer of the dresser under the sink and a toothbrush in the second.Next to it lay a blood-covered knife. I shuddered, Angel had talked about horrible noises in the night, was that how Alastor tortured his victims? I decided not to think about it any further, closed the drawer and got ready for bed.As I closed the bathroom door behind me, I stumbled forward and threw myself onto the bed, burying my head in the soft red pillows. I could literally fall asleep right now. Alastor cleared his throat: "Well then my dear, I wish you a restful night. See you tomorrow!" he wanted to dissolve into his shadows. "Wait!" I called. He hesitated. I blushed, "Please stay. If you don't mind.".He smiled gently and covered me with the big red blanket. Then he snapped his fingers, sat down in the conjured chair, and pulled a book from the shelf next to him."Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Now go to sleep, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.". I smiled and relaxed. To anyone else, the demon with the wide, unnatural smile that stared at me without blinking would have seemed scary.The smile was reassuring to me, and knowing that someone was looking out for me made me feel truly safe for the first time since I arrived in Hell.
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I woke up because something was shaking my shoulder quite forcefully. But why? I was in a bed, everything was warm and soft and smelled like a strange mix of blood, sulfur, curry and something sweet that reminded me of strawberries and I felt hot breath on my face and- Wait what?!I opened my eyes only to let out a strangled squeak as I looked directly into Alastor's impossibly close face. I quickly backed away, face bright red, as Alastor straightened up and smoothed down the red coat he was wearing, which looked exactly like the one he had given me yesterday.Oh, that's right, yesterday. I was dead, in hell, in a hotel, and currently in the room of a grinning psychopath who had apparently just woken me up."Good morning, my dear! I didn't want to scare you, but you slept terribly soundly and we don't want to miss the getting to know each other of the princess!" he was in far too good a mood for me."Morning." I said in a hoarse voice and cleared my throat briefly: "What time is it?" "It's 9:00 a.m. sharp, we'll meet in the entrance hall at 10:00."His smile widened as I sat up, rubbing my eyes sleepily. "You didn't come for breakfast, so I brought you something." He said and placed a large tray on the bed with a cup of coffee, a glass of juice and a large plate laden with pancakes and fruit.I was about to throw my arms around his neck when I remembered how he had reacted to Angel's touch. So I left it, put my hands in my lap and thanked him instead: "Thank you so much, you have no idea how hungry I am.".He patted my arm and since he made no move to leave or talk to me, I took the small jug that was also on the tray and generously poured maple syrup over the pancakes. I took a sip from the glass and grimaced; Orange juice. I decided not to make a drama and drank the glass in one gulp.After coffee I finally wasn't so tired anymore and hungrily went for the pancakes. Alastor looked very pleased with himself as he watched me wolf down the food. He probably got up early to make pancakes."Did you sleep at all?" I asked with my mouth full, to which he gave me a disapproving look. "Chew before speaking! I don't need much sleep and I've had more than enough of it lately.". I choked up, so he really had been sitting here all night watching over me. Kinda... nice."I'm really sorry, I didn't know-" what didn't I know? That there was only one bed in this room? "You... You could have just given me a blanket, then I would have slept on the sofa, that honestly wouldn't have been a problem for me!""Nonsense, darling, you were exhausted and besides, you're a guest here. What kind of gentleman would I be if I let a young lady sleep on the sofa." he waved. "I have to feel honored, most others would have left if they had seen the swamp. What am I saying, no one would have gone into a lockable room with me alone. I am impressed by your courage, young lady. "I blushed: "Young lady? You don't look much older than me yourself." he laughed, "We may have died around the same age, but I've been here in hell for a long time." "When did you die?" I asked curiously.He looked at me skeptically, as if weighing whether I was worthy of an answer, before replying: "1933.". That was really a while ago. Suddenly a shadow grew out of the ground next to Alastor, whispered something in his ear and disappeared again."My dear, as refreshing as I find it to talk to you, the others are just waking up one by one and we didn't want to keep them waiting." I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom: "Right, I'll be ready soon!".As I closed the door behind me, I realized my mistake, but before I could open it again, I noticed the pile of fresh clothes lying on the edge of the bathtub. At least someone had thought of it.When I stepped out of the bathroom I was wearing a white T-shirt, red arm warmers and black pants with many pockets, my teeth were brushed and my red and white hair was shiny. I linked arms with Alastor and even managed to persuade him to take the stairs.Waiting in the entrance hall of the hotel was a jittery Charlie who happily wished me good morning, a disgruntled Vaggie who gave me a dirty look and a sleeping Husk who was drooling on the bar counter. He had probably sat there all night.Angel came down the stairs, 15 minutes late, disheveled and wearing a low-cut, oversized T-shirt that stopped just below his butt and, depending on his movement, revealed a pink thong. I blushed and Alastor next to me looked with great interest at a dry plant standing in the corner.Angel moved into his field of vision, grinning, "Sooo~ Do you like what you see, Al?" He wiggled his eyebrows and stroked his white fluff, which closely resembled breasts. Alastor cleared his throat: "Not in the slightest. Well then, with the exception of Niffty, we're all complete, I suggest we begin.""Did someone say my name?" inquired a small, one-eyed creature in a blood-spattered maid's uniform who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and was now standing next to the bar."Ah, good morning Niffty! How nice that you could come too. As you can see, we have a new guest, why don't you introduce yourself." said Alastor and at the sight of the one-eyed creature his expression softened and I thought I could see something like affection in his blood-red irises.'Niffty' scurried towards me and I realized with horror that she was holding a bloody needle in her small hands. "Hi! I'm Niffty, you can call me Niffty! I clean here." She said, before spearing a beetle crawling across the floor with a maniacal laugh. So that's where the blood was from, I was kind of relieved."Hello, I'm Crimson Snow, you can call me Snow, or Crimson, whatever you want." I introduced myself and Niffty fixed me with a wide grin. "You don't look so bad. Why are you here? You have to do something bad to get here. I like people who do bad things! What did you do?" she asked.I cleared my throat, "I... Well, I've... killed people." I said almost sheepishly, although the memory filled me with pride. They had deserved it. "Uuuuh, so evil! How many did you kill?" Niffty wanted to know. "I don't really know, I stopped counting at 15 or 20."Was it just my imagination, or did Alastor look kind of proud? Charlie's jaw dropped and Niffty looked thrilled: "I like you, we'll definitely be friends!". "Um, if I may ask, why did you kill them?" Charlie wanted to know. The mere thought of it brought tears of anger and sadness to my eyes."They belonged to the mafia that my father had fallen into debt with. We didn't have much and couldn't pay them back. That's why they kidnapped me and my sisters because they knew full well that father would come after us. He fell right into their trap."Hot tears ran down my cheeks and my clenched fists shook. "They... raped and killed my sisters in front of me and my father. They wanted to do the same to me, but father tried to fight them. He had no chance, they cut his throat. Then... I freaked out.", I said coldly."I took his knife from one of these disgusting pigs and started killing them. I wanted to punish everyone who had laid their disgusting marks on my family. Unfortunately, I couldn't kill everyone, there were too many. But when I died, I took the leader with me." I smiled mirthlessly.Angel looked shocked, but I could see a whole new respect in his mismatched eyes that made my chest feel warm. In Charlie's eyes I saw pity: "Do you regret it?" she asked quietly.I looked her straight in the eyes and put all my conviction into my next sentences: "No. But I hope that I can still be redeemed. I hope that what purity there is in my heart is enough to be able to see family again in heaven. But I'm not ready for that yet and I can't do it alone. Will you help me?"She swallowed: "Yes. I will do my best.". I gave her a smile that expressed all my gratitude and clapped my hands. "How was the getting-to-know-each other session?" I asked and Charlie's face lit up."You're right. I suggest we all say in clockwise order what our names are and what we can be called, what we like, what we don't like and what our favorite color is. Then we go together in pairs and interview each other, on our likes and interests. I'll start! Oh yes, Vaggie, please be so kind and wake up Husk."When Vaggie rejoined us with a scolding husk, we all stood in a circle. Charlie clapped her hands and began: "I'm Charlotte Morningstar, you can call me Charlie. I like Vaggie and cotton candy and I can't stand injustice. My favorite color is yellow, like the sun on the earth and the fluff of cute little Chicken chicks." She sighed dreamily."I'm Crimson Snow, to you Crimson. I like jazz and good books and I hate people who look down on others. My favorite color is white, like snow and the petals of daisies. I also like red, it calms me."."My name is Niffty! You can call me Niffty, or Niff. I like killing and collecting bugs and cleanliness. I don't like mess and my favorite color is transparent, like the blood of baby bugs." she giggled and we all looked at her disturbed."My name is Angel Dust, Angel or Angie to you if you ask. I love drugs and sex toys and I hate... captivity. My favorite color is pink, like strawberry flavored condoms and popsicles." he grinned while Alastor rolled his eyes."Husk. I like cheap booze and I hate expensive alcohol and headaches. My favorite color is black, like my soul." I had to grin, I liked him."My name is Alastor, or the radio demon. I like listening to jazz on the radio while cooking and going hunting and I hate television and dogs. My favorite color is red, like the 'On Air' sign on my radio tower and the blood of worthless sinners without respect." I swallowed."I'm Vagatha, Vaggie. I don't like much except Charlie and I hate Alastor and people who think they're trying to steal my girlfriend." she shot a venomous glare my way. So that was her problem with me! "My favorite color is gray, like... stones, I guess.""Hey Vaggie?" I asked "What?" she hissed. "I don't want anything to come between you and me and I can reassure you; I absolutely don't want to come between you two. I'm happy for you and I think you make each other happy. What kind of person would I be if I wanted to destroy such a beautiful, loving relationship? I like Charlie, yes, I respect her dream and believe in her goals, but I'm not interested in her romantically. I hope you can believe me."Her posture relaxed and for the first time I saw no hostility in her gaze. She gave me a curt nod and I smiled back. Charlie looked at us both proudly while Husk made gagging noises in the background."Unfortunately I have to say goodbye at this point," Alastor intervened, "I didn't make it to Rosie yesterday and she's probably terribly worried." "Okay, see you!" Charlie said and Alastor dissolved into shadows."As if anyone would care about him..." Husk grumbled. Charlie continued with her program: "Great, now it's working out! Angel, you're going with Crimson-" "I'm sorry sweetie, but I'm not that into women." Angel interrupted. "I didn't mean it like that!" Charlie shouted with red cheeks."Angel, you have a conversation about your interests with Crimson so you can get to know each other better. Vaggie with Niffty and I with Husk. The conversation should be about 5 minutes long and both of you should tell something about you. Have fun!".Angel and I sat down on one of the couches and he grinned at me with raised eyebrows, "So, what are your interests." I laughed, "Come on, you know she didn't mean it like that. But I had a question for you, can you tell me how you died? Well, only if you don't mind.""No problem Babycakes, I died of an overdose of PCP or 'Angel Dust'. And you?" "Well, the black jackets I killed had knives and there were a hell of a lot of them. I bled to death." I pulled up my shirt and showed him the scar on my lower stomach."Crazy. By the way, I was serious about your interests. You're single, right? I need to know what you're into so I can set you up, sweetie. Or are you a prude virgin like Smiles?""I don't know exactly, I think I'm Pan, I've been into women and men. Wait, seriously, Alastor is a virgin?!" I asked surprised. He didn't look bad, someone would definitely have been interested in him, right?"Probably every time you show a little skin or say something, he acts like a frightened fawn. I'd like to put him out of it and show him how much fun sex can be, but he won't let me. " he sighed exaggeratedly."I'm definitely not a virgin anymore. What do you do when you're not at the hotel?" I asked him. "I'm the most famous porn star in hell, so I shoot or I go clubbing with my friend Cherri Bomb. I definitely have to introduce her to you, you'll definitely get along.""Totally cool, I'd love to. You work at Valentino, right?" I shivered, the name brought back bad memories in me. Angel's face darkened, "Yeah, you know, if it were up to me I wouldn't work for him, but he has-""Time is up!" Charlie shouted. "It's so nice to see that you get along so well. I noticed that Crimson doesn't have any clothes or things of her own. How about we all go shopping together after lunch so we can give a little sightseeing tour through hell as well!""I'm in! I really need some fresh makeup." Angel said and smiled at me. "Without me." said Husk, "But bring some liquor.". "I found a big nest of cockroaches in the broom closet, I can't wait to-" "OK!" Charlie interrupted hastily, "Husk and Niffty are staying here. How about you, Vaggie?" "I'm happy to come with you, it's about time I got out of here. You two don't do any shit while we're gone, okay?" Vaggie growled menacingly."Clear." Husk grumbled, reaching for a bottle of cheap booze. "Great! We'll meet back here in three hours." Charlie said and disappeared up the stairs with Vaggie. Niffty ran towards the broom closet with crazy laughter and Angel pulled out his hell phone."I would take a shower before we go." I said goodbye and went up the stairs to Alastor's room. I was looking forward to the trip.
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Luckily, when I stepped out of Alastor's bathroom with a towel wrapped around my wet hair, I was still alone in the room. I still had time, we wouldn't be meeting for another two hours, so I sat on the bed and randomly pulled a book from the shelf.'Cooking and baking with offal' oh god no thanks. Another one was called 'The Horrible Murder of Amber Green' and it didn't sound that bad. I snuggled up in the red blanket and grinned at the smell; Alastor, the big bad radio demon, used strawberry shampoo.I hadn't expected him to pay so much attention to his hair, but in fact the bathroom cabinet was overflowing with various soaps, conditioners and hair masks, which I had generously used.After a while reading became boring, in fact the book mostly consisted of very extensive descriptions of the landscape of New Orleans and I really had nothing to do with that.More and more often my eyes wandered to the misty bayou on the other side of the room and with every minute that passed I became more curious. Should I? I pricked up my little goat ears, but there was no sound from downstairs.Fuck it, he wasn't there, what could he do? I carefully walked to where the room and the bayou met and leaned forward as far as I could. A dark shadow darted through the misty trees and I took courage and stepped from the warm wooden floorboards onto the cold muddy earth of the swamp.Mud was oozing between my hooves and I asked myself why I hadn't put on any shoes; I could have saved myself the shower that way. The chirping of the crickets was captivating and the misty gloom attracted me like magic.I took a few steps and almost slipped because the ground was so slippery. I turned around, the warm glow of Alastor's room slowly being swallowed up by the fog. If I went much further, I wouldn't be able to find it again.The thought scared me, what if there were dangerous creatures here? But I didn't want to go far away, just a little bit further.I suddenly saw something in the fog-shrouded distance. Was that a light? I went further. Yes, I was sure there was a light out there somewhere and the deeper I went into the bayou, the brighter it became."Hello?" I shouted, my echo echoing off the trees several times. Somewhere in the darkness a crow flew up; I must have frightened it with my call. The icy cold of the slowly moistening ground burned under my bare hooves and I began to run faster.The light seemed to get closer, the fog around it began to clear so much that I could almost see outlines around it - "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" a booming, static-filled voice suddenly sounded from behind me.I spun around, slipping on the slippery ground and preparing to fall face first into the muddy ground, when two gloved hands caught me in a tight grip, my wildly flailing hands finding purchase on a stiff red collar.Heart pounding, I looked into a pair of glowing red eyes whose gaze caused my little goat ears to flatten against my head. He was angry. Fuck.He grabbed my wrist with a painfully tight grip and snapped his fingers sharply.With my vision blurred by the teleportation, I sat on the edge of the bed before my jelly-like legs could give way beneath me. Another flick made my hooves clean again and another made the mud marks on the ground disappear.Just now, at this inopportune moment, I noticed again how handsome Alastor was. He had long black eyelashes, a sharp, narrow face and- oh fuck, I was still clinging to his collar.Embarrassed, I let go of him, his collar slipping slightly, revealing a small piece of his neck. What was that? He winced as I reached out and folded his collar down slightly.Now that there was nothing in the way, I saw it clearly; Alastor's neck had ugly blue strangulation marks and abrasions that looked like they were from a collar. I stared at him in shock until he batted my hand away, his ears folded back, and straightened his collar.I saw anger in his eyes, but it was too small to hide the fear that was there. "What is that?" I asked quietly. "Nothing." he said in a voice that sounded strangely vulnerable without his radio filter. He cleared his throat and immediately his next words were drenched in static again: "Just a small argument with an... acquaintance."I reached out to place my hand on his arm, but he backed away. "What were you doing in my bayou?" he changed the subject and I blushed. "I was just interested in what was in it. It's beautiful." I said sheepishly."Yes, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful that you go in once, get lost and, if you don't have the ability to teleport, you'll never find your way out again!" I jumped at his loud voice and he sighed, "I apologize, I shouldn't have raised my voice. I just sensed your presence in this room, but couldn't find you. I was worried.".I swallowed, "I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention." "It's okay, my dear." suddenly he stared at my wrist with wide eyes. I followed his gaze and spotted a thin trickle of blood coming from where he had grabbed me earlier.With his hands trembling ever so slightly, he took my arm and pushed back the sleeve. There were small wounds on my wrist where his claws had dug into my skin. Considering there was so much blood running down my arm, I felt surprisingly little.I suddenly felt him start to tremble even more, looked at his face and was frightened; his eyes were wide, his ears pinned back to his head, and his smile was smaller than I had ever seen before."Alastor?" I asked carefully, "It's okay, really. I don't even feel anything. Hey..." I touched his cheek lightly and jumped back when he flinched violently. "Everything OK?" I asked worriedly. He shook his head as if to compose himself and widened his smile, even though it looked terribly fake."Of course! Well, I'm sorry that-" there was a knock. "Crimson?" Charlie's muffled voice came from outside. I jumped up and opened the door. "Yes?""Oh, here you are. You didn't come downstairs when we were looking for you." Angel said. "Is it that late? Sorry, I totally forgot the time, I-" "Wait, is that blood on your arm?!" Charlie exclaimed in shock, taking my hand and inspecting my injury."Did Alastor hurt you?!" Angel asked in shock and Vaggie immediately held her spear to Alastor's throat, who was standing behind me. "I swear to you, if you harm even one hair of our guest, I'll chop off your head, maldito hijo de puta!" Somehow I was happy that they stood up for me like that, but it still went too far."Vaggie, it's okay." I reassured as I slowly pushed the spear away from Alastor's neck, "He didn't mean it, he was just worried!" "What concern justifies hurting someone?!" Angel looked beside himself. I sighed as my ears folded back in shame."I went into the swamp in Alastor's room and got lost. If he hadn't gotten me out of there, I would still be wandering there." Luckily my words managed to calm them down a bit. Vaggie made her spear disappear."You're lucky that she stands up for you, cabron. Next time I won't be so lenient." she growled and Angel gave Alastor a killer look. Charlie carefully took my arm and pulled me into the hallway: "Come on before the shops close. There should be a first aid kit in my office so we can treat you."I smiled gratefully at them and got into the elevator with my new family. I had never felt so protected.
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Finally Angel, Charlie, Vaggie and I stood in front of the hotel, all spruced up, in my case, freshly bandaged and ready for our little trip. Until recently, I had been so busy admiring the blood-red sky that it hadn't occurred to me how we were supposed to get there.My question solved itself, however, when Charlie narrowed her eyes in concentration and snapped her fingers; A huge white sedan appeared in front of us with an apple on the hood. My mouth was wide open in surprise."Oh, it looks really expensive. Is it yours, Charlie?" "No, it's from my dad." She sighed and murmured quietly, "At least something from him." "Great, is your dad famous or something?" "You could say so.", she said, scratching her head in embarrassment. "My father is Lucifer Morningstar.""Wait, Lucifer? Like the devil?" my eyes became as big as saucers. "I... I think so? It doesn't matter. He's never there... But I can use his car! Now get in there, otherwise the shops will close." Charlie said hastily, pushing Angel and I into the white leather back seat of the luxurious car.During the drive, Angel and Charlie took turns pointing out the window and naming a few places, like Cannibal Town, the place where the cannibals lived, Angel's porn studio, and Lucifer's palace.I kept looking out the window and taking in everything. The thick clouds of smoke in the air, the glowing billboards advertising prostitution and drugs, the bloodied corpses lining the streets and the sinners slaughtering each other for a better social status.But also the beautiful things, like the blood-red sky, the decapitated spider lilies in the front yard of a house and the cannibal couple drinking tea and laughing.Incredible. So this was my new home.There were many shops in the heart of the Pentagram, some of them for other Trues, but fortunately Charlie guided me around these. I even found a small bookstore in a winding alley where I stocked up properly.When we stood in front of the hotel again, we all had red cheeks and shining eyes and were fully loaded with bags and new things.I ran up the stairs to Alastor's room, grinning broadly, only to stop dead in the doorway.Alastor crouched on the carpeted floor with his hands desperately wrapped around his neck, where a bright green collar was restricting his breath. Amidst the static that filled the room, I could make out a melodious female voice, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. Her words seemed to frighten Alastor because my heart clenched at the panicked, ragged whimpers that came from his throat.I was frozen when a shadowy figure suddenly came into view and leaned down towards Alastor. She lifted his face almost tenderly and my breath caught. He was still smiling, but it was twisted into a grimace of fear, his eyes wide and filled with a senseless panic.Suddenly a smacking sound echoed through the room and Alastor's head was violently thrown to the side. His painful, high-pitched scream broke me out of my trance and I stormed into the room."Hey!" I immediately stood in front of Alastor to defend him from the shadowy figure. She stared into my face in surprise for a moment, then took one last look at Alastor, who was crumpled on the floor and disappeared.I let out a brief sigh of relief, then turned to help Alastor, who had begun to shake terribly. "Hey, Al... are you okay? What am I asking, of course not. Can I help you, what can I do?" oh god, I already sounded like Charlie, but I'd never seen him so vulnerable. Until recently, I had thought that nothing could hurt him.I approached him cautiously and flinched away when he let out a small whimper and curled up even tighter. "Hey...", I said quietly and gently touched his shoulder.He jumped so hard that he fell backwards and crawled away from me with big, frightened eyes. There was a red handprint on his face, his ears were flat against his head, and a thin trickle of blood was running from the corner of his mouth.I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. What had this terrible woman done to him?"Al, it's okay, she's gone." He shook his head frantically, his eyes were glassy and his gaze was far away, he didn't seem to notice me at all. "Please, I'll do anything you want. I didn't plan this, I was just worried I'll never do it again. Please... Please don't. I'll do anything, anything! Please don't hurt me."My blood turned to ice as I heard Alastor's broken voice begging for mercy. He never pleaded, he was a sadistic cannibal, Vaggie had told me. "No one will hurt you, Alastor. Never again. I won't let her near you again." I noticed with concern how his breathing became faster and more irregular."No, no. She's going to hurt me, she's done it so many times. She's going to punish me, I've done so much wrong, made so many mistakes. I can't do this anymore, I can't... No, please don't. Please. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" "Alastor! Breathe. I'm coming to you now, don't be afraid."I sat down on the floor next to him and took his shaking hand in mine. He flinched violently and continued breathlessly apologizing and begging for mercy. "Shhh. Look, your hand is on my heart now. Can you feel it beating? Totally calm. Focus on my breathing. Breathe in and out slowly. Can you do that for me?"He had stopped begging and was now staring at nothing with wide eyes. Luckily he seemed to hear me because his breathing became shakily slower."Very good. Your breathing is almost back to normal now. You're doing great, just keep breathing calmly with me." After a while his breathing finally returned to normal and his shaking lessened. He raised his head and seemed to finally be looking at me, even if his vision was fogged. I gently stroked his back."Maman?" my heart broke as Alastor spoke to me in a quiet, shaky voice. I was about to say something back when he wrapped his shaking arms around me and pressed his head into my chest."I'm scared Maman." "Alastor... I'm not your Maman. I'm Crimson Snow, remember? You're at Charlie's hotel? Alastor, let go of me, you don't want this.""I... Maman, don't go! Please, don't leave me alone." his quiet voice was desperate and I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone, so I decided to play along: "Alastor, I'm not leaving you. I'm staying with you."He relaxed at my words, slid down me and laid his head in my lap. I didn't know what to do, so I gently stroked his fiery red hair. "Maman, I'm tired.", he murmured. "Sleep, Alastor. I'll take care of you." Even though I knew how uncomfortable this would be for him later, I allowed him to snuggle closer to me and lightly petted the silky fur of his ears.He yawned softly. "Can you sing me a song?" he begged. I thought for a moment, then chose the song my father used to sing to me when I was little and began to sing in a quiet voice:"Vargen ylar i nattens skog,Han vill men kan inte sova.Hungern river hans vargabuk,Och det är kallt i hans stova."As I sang, I noticed that Alastor was now completely relaxing, closing his eyes, and the static around us became a steady hum. After the second chorus his breathing became deep and even and I could tell with certainty that he was now asleep. So I repeated again very quietly:"Du varg, du varg, kom inte hit,Ungen min får du aldrig.Sov, mitt barn, i bädden hos mor,Låt vargen yla i natten.Men jag ska ge'n en hönsaskank,Om ingen annan har tatt ′en.Du varg, du varg, kom inte hit,Ungen min får du aldrig."Then I gently pushed him off my lap, carefully picked him up and put him in bed. With a feeling of deep affection, I brushed some red strands from his forehead and covered him with the blanket.I quietly went out of the room and downstairs to help the others with dinner.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
In the kitchen, Charlie was about to throw away the soup that Angel had made while Vaggie was constantly berating him: "How did you, hijo de perra, come up with the damn idea to put your fucking powder in the soup? Just look what you did to Niffty!"The little cyclops girl was lying in a corner, her face was even paler than usual and she was holding her stomach. "I'm not feeling so well." she said in a weak voice. Husk barely managed to push a bucket towards her before she vomited loudly.Angel raised his four arms dismissively: "It was an accident, really! I had something up my sleeve and it must have slipped in there by mistake. I'm really sorry, Niff!" Niffty made a sort of 'it's okay' gesture from the ground. Vaggie waved her spear in the air and was about to launch into another tirade of scolding when Charlie intervened."Vaggie, calm down. Angel didn't do it on purpose, although I wonder why you were carrying drugs around in the first place, weren't you clean? It doesn't matter, Angel, after dinner all the drugs come from your room into my Office. We can forget about the soup, but I can make pancakes, even with fresh fruit! Don't be mad at him, Vaggie, he's still learning."Vaggie sighed and made her spear disappear. "All right, babe. Husk, you take care of Niffty and make sure she doesn't throw up everywhere, Charlie makes the pancakes, Angel helps her and Crimson, who's hiding behind the door, and I set the table," she ordered in Soldier's voice.I laughed tensely and stepped out from behind the door: "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything. Where can I find the cutlery?"After a while, in which everything fortunately went smoothly, we all sat at the table and helped ourselves to Charlie's delicious, just slightly burnt pancakes. But after all the excitement earlier, even Angel's soup would have seemed like ambrosia to me.I had decided to wait until Alastor woke up and I could confront him before telling the others about my experience. But you could still get information."Hey Charlie? What does it actually mean when a sinner wears a chain with a glowing collar around his neck, held by another person?""This usually means that the two have a deal. Until the terms of the deal are met, both wear a chain like this, after it, it disappears. Unless one person sells their soul, then the chain can only be broken with mutual consent, or the death one of the contractors. Why do you ask? Did something happen?""Oh, nothing special, I just saw a person while shopping who was wearing a chain like that and was beaten by the other person." That was only partially a lie. Charlie grimaced in pity. "This was probably a deal about the soul. Not all contracting partners treat each other well."Husk snorted. "Speaking of contract partner, where is the grin freak? I haven't seen his ugly face since this morning." "True,". Charlie remarked, "Where's Alastor? Crim, have you seen him? I mean, because you share a room.""He said he would come down later, he was lying down." That was again only a partial lie. "Well, he rarely eats with us lately, I hope that gets better soon." Charlie said worriedly."Oh, sugar tits, don't piss yourself off. Smiles has never done much with us, and besides, the guy is a cannibal, he'll probably sit up in his room and eat any poor sinners who looked at him the wrong way. But it is Better that way, then there'll be more for me!", with these words Angel grabbed another pancake.After clearing away, Vaggie had made Angel do the washing up because of the messed up soup and was watching over him with her angelic spear drawn. Charlie talked to Husk about more trust exercises and I went upstairs to Alastor's room to see if he had woken up yet.I was greeted by a very awake and definitely not happy deer demon with an unreadable expression."Uh, good evening.", God I was stupid, I could have kicked myself. He was silent, looking me up and down without blinking. His eyes were hard and cold as pebbles. "How much did you see?" he asked. His voice sounded as hard and emotionless as his eyes were.I swallowed, for the first time I was truly afraid of him. But I decided not to lie. "Everything," I said in a rough voice. I saw no emotion in his eyes. I almost trembled under his gaze."Let's make a deal," he said suddenly. "What?" I asked, surprised, breaking out in a cold sweat remembering what his contract partner had done to him. "You heard me, let's make a deal.", no 'my dear' or other salutations he had always used for me.Suddenly he was so close in front of me that I could feel his hot breath on my face. He grabbed my wrist and I noticed again that he was quite a bit taller than me. I had to tilt my head back a bit to look into his eyes.The desperation I saw in them almost broke my heart."I don't want your soul, all I want is that you never, ever speak to anyone about what you saw. Say, what do you want in return? I would give anything, do you hear me? Say what you desire.", he didn't want me to tell anyone? But then no one could help him when the shadow woman returned. My thoughts were spinning wildly, what should I do?He seemed to misinterpret my silence because he suddenly let go of me and backed away. His eyes darted across my face in panic. "I beg you, I was never cruel to you. I saved your life, don't you remember? I let you sleep in my bed, you can't deny me this one thing. No, you can't do that. You can't do it... I beg you, name your price! Please..."I had almost never seen him so desperate. "Alastor! It's all good, I won't tell anyone," I could help him if necessary, and I couldn't bear to see him so desperate. "I promise!" he shook his head frantically."No, no promises, I have to be sure, I... I'll give you something in return, just tell me what!", he didn't trust me. It hurt, but I had to admit that I probably wouldn't do anything differently in his situation."Okay, then... Let's make a deal. What I want in return is that you answer every question I ask you correctly, unless you are not allowed or unable to answer me. Also, you must allow that I help you."He nodded vigorously and held out his gloved hand, which began to glow with an ominous green light. "Very well, your silence, against my truth and... acceptance of help. Wonderful. Do we have a deal?"I nodded, placed my pale, delicate hand in his and shook it."Deal."
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The touch sent an electric spark through me, the whole room was now bathed in bright green light and the lights flickered. Alastor's antlers had grown to more than three times their size, the sclera of his eyes had turned black, and his red irises were replaced by rotating radio dials.What shocked me was his mouth. The smile was wider than ever, but now his lips were held together by thick, bright green thread. The yarn fixed the corners of his mouth in a perpetual upward direction and from there reached around his entire head. Like a mask.There were stitches all over his body, I realized with horror. They wound like scars around different parts of his body, as if he had been torn apart and put back together again.A red X glowed on his forehead. He looked like a monster.Suddenly, the bolts of green magic that had danced around the room converged and formed into two chains with collars attached to them. A green one wound around my neck and a light blue one around Alastor's. The ends of the chains ended up in each other's hands.As quickly as they came, they disappeared again and the surroundings returned to normal. Alastor let go of my hand, his antlers shrunk and the stitches on his body disappeared.Horrified, I reached out and he flinched violently, but didn't back away as I gently stroked his cheek with my thumb. "What happened to your face?" I asked quietly, but he shook his head: "I'm not allowed to say that." That's right, that was part of the agreement."Does it hurt?" he hesitated, but then nodded. "Yes.". Tears welled up in my eyes, but he gently removed my hand from his face and squeezed it lightly. "Don't worry, my dear. A smile looks so much better on you!"I sniffed but forced a small smile. He patted my cheek proudly. "Well, why don't we go downstairs and attend Charlotte's evening program? I'm sure that will take your mind off it.""Will you also be joining?" "If you insist.". My smile widened and I wanted to hug him, but stopped myself when I remembered how much he hated being touched. However, he surprised me by smiling gently at me and pulling me into his arms.After a short moment of shock, I relaxed and put my arms around him too. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent, which, since he probably hadn't killed anyone in a while, was free of blood and now more like that of a forest after a mild summer rain.After a while he pulled away from me and offered me his arm. I took it and was almost intoxicated, I felt so honored. He had allowed me to touch him and had even hugged me of his own accord.After a short ride through the shadows, we stood next to the others. This time I only had to hold on to Alastor's arm for a moment because of the dizziness. He was right, you get used to it.Charlie greeted us with an enthusiastic squeal: "It's nice that you came too! Today Angel prepared something for us."Angel scratched his head in embarrassment: "Yes, this is where we're supposed to get to know each other better, right? And I thought to myself, nobody tells anything voluntarily anyway, so why not with a good round of 'truth or shot'?""You have alcohol?" Husk's voice came from behind the bar, "I'll join you." Alastor sighed uncomfortably and I squeezed his arm encouragingly: "Come on, if you don't want to say anything, you can always drink."This seemed to calm him and we sat in a circle on the carpeted floor of the foryer. I sat between Alastor, who was hiding his discomfort behind a particularly wide smile, and Charlie, who was fidgeting excitedly. There was a sparkling clean shot glass in front of us each and in the middle of our group were several bottles of vodka and tequila."I'll start!" grinned Angel. "Allllllll~ Are you still a virgin?". Alastor choked on his own spit and coughed violently. "Pardon?" "You heard me right, tell me, are you still a virgin? Of course you can also drink if you don't dare."Alastor seemed to be struggling with himself, then his pride got the better of him and he grumbled, his face bright red, "Yes...". Angel almost threw himself laughing while I coughed to hide my giggles."Very well. Husker~ How much do you hate me on a scale of one to ten?" "A thousand. I'll drink anyway," Husk grumbled and poured himself a glass. I laughed as Husk turned to Vaggie."How did you lose your eye?" Vaggie gave him a withering look and downed her shot. I grimaced in disappointment, I would have liked to know that too. Vaggie turned to Angel with a serious face."Would you betray us and Charlie's hotel?" "Of course not! I... I honestly like you guys," he looked embarrassed, the pink spots on his cheeks becoming darker. "Sooo. Crim! What's your biggest secret?"I immediately became nervous. I trusted them, but should I tell them? Charlie gently placed her hand on my arm. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to," she said sympathetically. "It's okay, I want to tell you. I... Well, I'm trans."I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and played with the rings on my fingers. "It's great that you told us that, Babycakes," Angel said and I looked up into friendly, mismatched eyes. "To be honest, I thought so already, I mean, because of your horns."I smiled at him and felt warm at the understanding. "Thanks, that means a lot to me. So Al, I have a question... Who do you like most in the world?" I was hoping to find out if he wasn't in love with someone after all.His eyes grew wide and a strangled choking sound came from his throat. "My... mother.", his words sounded brittle and strangled and it felt like scales fell from my eyes; of course, Al couldn't lie to me! It was part of our deal that he answered every question I asked truthfully. I immediately felt terribly guilty, I had forced him to do something! I wasn't any better than the shadow woman."Oh God, I'm sorry!" I said in horror as he quickly straightened himself and straightened his mask-like smile. "Everything is fine, darling. Charlotte..."We played for a while until everyone of us was actually drunk or at least tipsy. I was so tired that my eyelids drooped like blinds. Alastor caught me as I fell against him. "I believe it's time for bed, don't you think?" Thankfully, Alastor was the least drunk of all and still able to think rationally."Alll~ You're really pretty," I giggled. He sighed and picked me up in his arms. "Yeah, definitely time for bed." "Wait a minute, oh no!" I heard Charlie's voice, "We completely forgot to prepare her room!" "Don't worry dear, another night with me won't hurt her." With these words everything around me suddenly went dark and I felt like I was being pushed through a tube.When I no longer felt like I was going to throw up, I released my tight grip on Al's neck and let him carry me a few steps across the room. Then I felt myself being gently placed on a bed and covered with a soft blanket. "Wait, don't leave me alone!" I slurred and heard soft laughter.Then I heard a chair being dragged across the floor and someone sitting down on it. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here and take care of you." "Promise?" I asked sheepishly. "Promised."And in the last remnant of my consciousness that was not yet asleep, I heard a soft voice singing;"Vargen ylar i nattens skog..."
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was standing in a warehouse I was all too familiar with, the floor was ice cold and my hands were shaking. Where were my sisters? Where was my father? I stood up, I hadn't even realized I was sitting.I felt like I was in a trance as I walked down a strangely long hallway that opened up in front of me. I thought I saw shadows dancing on the walls, but then noticed that there was some kind of black, syrupy liquid running down them.Behind me the liquid poured into the passage, covered the floor and slowly flowed towards me. I ran faster. At the end of the hallway a door opened and behind it I could see a green light glowing.Suddenly I heard a scream; Hazel! What was happening in there, I had to help her! In desperation I pushed open the door; what I saw there shocked me to the core.There were two bodies on the floor, my father's and my little sister's. Their motionless bodies oozed the same liquid as the walls, especially from the horrible, glowing green seams that ran across every inch of skin.My other sister, Hazel, stood with tears in her eyes under the dim beam of a light bulb, her naked, battered body also covered in green stitches. She clung desperately to a green collar that hung around her neck, a shadowy figure pulling on the chain. It was wearing a black jacket.Before I could do anything, the figure pulled out a knife and slit my beloved sister's throat. I heard her scream, as if in slow motion her body fell to the side, where it stared at me reproachfully with empty, dead eyes.I gave a bloodcurdling scream, threw myself at the figure, snatched the knife from it and stabbed it as if I were out of my senses. Black liquid soaked the red carpet and the figure toppled to the side.The green mist in the room cleared slightly, revealing something red lying in the corner. As if mesmerized, I walked up to it and turned it over. I look at Alastor's bloodied face in disbelief. His ears were flattened, his breathing was rattling, and his eyes were filled with fear. He was afraid of me.Black tears streamed from his eyes, blood dripped from his stitched lips. Only then did I notice that horrific stab wounds covered his entire torso. He whimpered and backed away: "You killed me," he said in a strangled voice, then his body went limp and he fell motionless to the ground. He was dead. And it was my fault.I stared in disbelief at my shaking hand that still held the knife. It was soaked in Alastor's blood. Gasping, I dropped it and stumbled back a few steps in horror. To my horror, I hit something soft, tripped over it, and fell.The shadow thing I had fallen over suddenly raised its head. With terrible, rattling breaths it stood up and crawled towards me. I was paralyzed with panic.Black liquid dripped onto me as it leaned over me, its ice-cold breath smelling of death and rot. The black, bloody claws dug into my jaw, forcing me to look the thing in the face.I looked into a pair of yellow goat eyes.No, I couldn't believe it, I desperately tried to wriggle out of the creature's grip, but it held me tight. Black liquid dripped onto my face and ran into my mouth. The taste made me gag, I couldn't breathe for fear, I couldn't hear anything but the pounding rush of my blood, and I couldn't tear myself away from those eyes.Those terrible, terribly familiar eyes that only allowed one conclusion. The thing brought its cruel mouth filled with rotten teeth close to my ear and spoke the words that ate through my skin like acid and nested in the holes in the shape of my loved ones that death had torn into my heart."You are me."I screamed, horrifyingly and deafeningly loud. I screamed as darkness enveloped me and I felt something shaking my shoulder. I heard a voice, but I couldn't hear what it was saying over the terrible volume of my own screams.Suddenly the darkness was lit by a small flame reflected in two worried, fire-colored eyes. My hands clutched the red sheets of a bed. It was just a dream.I felt Alastor's hand on my arm and my screams turned into quiet, shaky sobs. Thick, salty tears streamed down my face as new sobs rose from my throat.Two arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders and held me tightly to a bony chest in which a heart beat rapidly against the ribs, like the first beats of a young bird's wings.I cried and buried my face in Alastor's suit, breathing in the calming smell of forest and strawberries that it gave off. A hand gently stroked my hair and a quiet voice, lacking its usual radio effect, whispered to me:"Everything's fine. We all dream of our death after our transition to hell, that's completely normal.", trembling, I calmed my breathing and enjoyed the embrace for a few more moments before I pulled away."I... It wasn't just my death... Everyone died Al! They were all dead and you too, you were lying there in the corner, it was terrible and I killed you! I'm so sorry-" , I started sobbing again. "Shhh, everything is fine, my dear. You see," he looked genuinely surprised that I was crying because of him, "I'm fine! Absolutely nothing to worry about."My sobs had seamlessly transitioned into quiet hiccups and I placed a careful hand on his cheek, as if he would break if touched. It felt cold, but Alastor gave me a reassuring smile."How about you lie down again and I read something to you? There are still a few hours until sunrise and it would be a real shame if you couldn't enjoy the day tomorrow!", I nodded gratefully and snuggled up in the blanket, while Alastor pulled a book from the shelf.'The very gruesome murder of Amber Green', well, that sounded familiar to me.I didn't think I would be able to fall asleep again, let alone that this book could be anything other than boring, but Alastor's pleasant voice and the passion with which he read filled the landscape descriptions with life and the gentle static hum, what he said had a calming effect on me.My eyes closed and I dreamed of the forests and swamps of New Orleans for the rest of the night.
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Alastor POV:What was wrong with me? A few days ago I tortured sinners and then ate their dead bodies, then I saved the life of a young woman and now spent the nights so that she could sleep peacefully.I sighed, this hotel was really softening me. Luckily I only used her to get closer to Charlotte, otherwise I would have to worry about my mental state.I snorted mirthlessly; yeah, my incredibly perfect state of mind. My hunting knife was in the secret compartment in my closet, should I?No, she would notice, besides, what if she had another nightmare and needed help? "So much for just using her.", my shadow's voice whispered in my head.I muffled the angry static sound that had almost escaped me and left it with a glare at my shadow. Of course I used her, it couldn't be otherwise. I had learned my lesson, no one would ever come near me again.Then why did I find myself giving her a loving look again when she let out a quiet goat-like bleat in her sleep? No, not loving, possessive. Yes, I looked at her possessively.She hadn't sold her soul to anyone yet, I could feel the ice blue, magical warmth that I longed for. This warmth would be mine. I've been missing mine for decades. I felt Lonbraj, my shadow, wrap around my waist to give me comfort I would never feel.Why was I so weak in front of her? I just can't explain it. She knew about my deal, for Gods sake, I even told her the part about my smile. I noticed that I had started pulling my hair again.I pulled the claws out of my hair and realized I had ripped out a few strands. Annoyed that I still couldn't get this habit under control, I threw the soft red strands into the trash can.She knew too many of my secrets and had seen my vulnerable side too often. She could use all of that against me, but why didn't she already? I shook my head, I needed to get those thoughts out of my head.I would keep all the gruesome secrets I had left, I wouldn't tell her anything. Why was I even thinking about it, it wasn't like I needed her help. No, it was a done deal.Tomorrow she would get her own room, then she would no longer have a reason to show up at inopportune moments and look for my weak points. That had to be what she was doing because that I could handle.It would be much worse if she actually cared about me... No, that was downright laughable. Who cared how I felt? I wasn't weak, I didn't need this.These thoughts accompanied me through the night.Crimson POV:When I was woken up by Alastor I wanted to throw him through the wall, I had such a headache. Yesterday I probably overdid it a little with the alcohol.Alastor, however, was in as good a mood as ever, as far as you could tell with his permanent grin. But he presumably hadn't slept again and had already made breakfast for everyone.However, the guilty feeling it gave me was all that stopped me from strangling him as his loud radio voice tapped against the inside of my skull like a pickaxe."Alastor, can you please speak quieter, or with less static, that won't help my headache," I hissed as I massaged my temples. "Ah, that's because of the alcohol, my dear! You shouldn't have overdone it yesterday, then you would feel better now."I groaned: "Yeah, I know that myself. You're really good at this voodoo stuff, isn't there anything against headaches?" He leaned down and looked at me closely. My cheeks warmed under his piercing gaze.Suddenly he raised his arm and placed an ice-cold hand on my forehead. I winced briefly, but then I noticed a pleasant cooling tingle spreading through me and my headache disappeared as if it had never been there.I sighed in relief as Alastor pulled away. The X on his forehead, which had started to glow gently during the action, faded again and I thanked him. Then I took his hand, even though he made a interference noise at the touch, and squeezed it lightly."Your hands are ice cold, I can feel it even through the gloves." His eyes briefly looked as if he was fighting an internal battle with himself, then he shook his head and pulled his hand away."Everything's fine, my dear. Come on, let's go downstairs before the others wake up. I have something that I definitely have to present to you later."