CH 40: Chaos

Beams of green magic shoot back and forth across the parlor. Furniture being furiously tossed in Alastor's direction, while he effortlessly dodged each one of them. Little shadow gremlins scamper towards Esme to throw her off her game, but she slices through every one of them with her claws.

The two continue their tango, dodging one another's attacks. The room was filled with both radio static and strong melodic chants. The tension was high with two overlords having a war in the middle of the parlor. The rest of the residents within the hotel didn't know how to process what was going on, almost no one having a clue as to what the hell was happening.

"This is one way to handle marital disputes." Angel snickers, "Fuck!" He shouts, leaning in and pulling Nifty back from the crossfire, her body just narrowly missing another fling of green magic. He sighs and allows her to crawl up his body, hanging perched on his shoulder. 

"So, you're a little mad~" Alastor huffs,

"A LITTLE MAD?!" Esme shouts, "You coward, you pompous asshole, you damned roadkill!" She sneers.

"You never did listen to me, darling. Always in that temper of yours."

Through all of the screaming, Charlie calmly explained to the rest of the group that Esme had her memories restored while in Heaven, leaving her very venerable. The Siren disappears into a green mist. Alastor's ears perk at the sight. He had never seen that from her before, his eyes darting to find her new hiding space.

Well, that's new.

Suddenly, she latches on to his back, sinking her fangs into his shoulder. He tasted amazing, the fruit she had been longing to snack on. His metallic blood filled her jowls, spilling a little bit across her jaw. A strong record screech can be heard.

He flings her off, holding her down with his cane against her chest, "You bit me..." He growls.

"I'll consume every ounce of your flesh and relish in the taste." She hissed, her fangs still dripping with his blood. Her claws secure around his staff, pushing it away, but slipping from the crimson substance. 

"Is this an argument or an offer?" He smirks, wiping his shoulder with his free hand.

"You left me.." She growls, "You've been seeing her all this time. YOU'VE BEEN IN HE-"

A shadow wraps around her mouth, muffling her words, "Hush." He whispered sternly, "I kept everything from you to protect you."

She shakes her head back and forth, clawing at the shadow but her nails go straight through it. 

They both disappear in black smoke and reappear in the Radio Tower, finally alone. "Now, are you going to listen to me?" The shadow is released from her face.

Esme rubs her mouth, still feeling the lingering effects of the wrenched thing. "Nothing's changed, huh?" She stands up and cracks her neck, "What's next, Al, gonna drag me across the floor?" 

He shudders at the thought, "That was a long time ago..." He mutters.

"Ahh, yes, and now you're so changed of heart. My, Heaven has changed you, hasn't it?"

He narrows his eyes, "How do you know that?"

"What, I'm not a ditzy memory-less pathetic dame anymore? You can't fuck with me!" She points. At this point, she felt pushed to the side, not prioritized. All of this had been nothing but a game to him, at least in her eyes. The moments of them by the fireplace, her legs resting against his while reading together. The small intimate moments they had sneaked away against the bar or in their shared quarters, all for a man's entertainment. To think that the one man she trusted could have been using her for his own pastime was too much for her to fathom.

"I never did such a thing." He groans, "You're being overdramatic." Had she not known him well enough to assume that he would have her best interest at heart? Had he not proven himself time and time again? Yes, he knew who she was - but he would have destroyed her. Everything he did was for her benefit.

Her eyes glow brightly, "Overdramatic? Our daughter has been without me for decades and you knew!? You never once said 'Hey, Esme, you would like to come with me?'" As if it was that easy, as if any of this was his active choice!

"It's not that simple, I couldn't do that."

"And why not?" She hissed.

Ah, there was the question he couldn't answer. He couldn't, not for a second, allow her into the reality of his situation. He knew she would risk anything to free him, and as much as he wanted freedom, Esme was the one person he wouldn't consider playing - except for this moment, where manipulation would protect her, "Would you have rather her have no one?" He takes a step forward, "For her to be all alone for the rest of eternity?"

"Stop it..."

"For her to never understand why her parents are not with her?" He can feel her faltering.

"She's not alone," Esme whispered, "Your mother had a lot to say." His eyes widen at her words, taking a step back in shock. His ears fall back to lay flat on his head, his record skipping with pitiful silence.

"Just imagine what she would think..." Esme smirks, taking a step forward, "Knowing how I truly ended up here.." 

Alastor's jaw clicks. Don't go there, Esme. Don't go th-

"How her precious baby boy laid his filthy hands on a woman."

"Shut your trap." He growled threateningly. The two stand practically on top of one another, glaring with pure hatred for the other seeping through their eyes. His eyes flipped back and forth from radio dials to his regular gaze, one of them suddenly turning black and Esme catching sight of it. He quickly turns his face, squeezing them shut.

Alastor takes a moment to compose himself, "It was an accident. I would have never.." Esme rolls her eyes and goes for the door, but he grabs her wrist, "You tripped! You fell backward and that's how it happened. Your death was never on my hands."

She pulls her hand back furiously, "Don't touch me." She scoffs, "Do you seriously believe that? Is that what you've been telling yourself? A shameful excuse to play off what really happened."

"That is what happened..."

"No, Alastor. You threw me in the fucking river." His eyes widen at her words, his mind suddenly swarmed by the memories of him holding her body over that pier, how her face laid motionless surrounded by that black plastic, "I begged you to stop, pleaded with my love to send for an ambulance..." His breath gets lost and he feels himself slipping further into those painful memories, every sense coming back to him - the sounds, the scents, "I was alive, Alastor. I saw the whole thing."

He's silent. For once in his life, his voice is silent.

"You were remorseful, yes..." His wife continued, "You cried, you begged, you screamed - but your actions alone are the reason why I met my demise." She steps back and exits without saying another word.

"No...." He whispered to himself, feeling his whole body shaking. He could feel his very soul quivering. "Thä̸̬̜́t's not̸̍͟ ẗ̶͎́͌rue." his voice cracked, emptiness, shame, and sorrow leaking through the record.

Meanwhile, Esme hurries down to the lobby. Charlie and Vaggie can be seen arguing behind the stairs, but she doesn't care. She walks down in a huff and heads to the door.

"Wow, they're all pissy." Husk groans from the bar.

"Where are you goin'?" Angel questions in a worried tone, quickly coming to his feet and hurrying over to her.

"Out, ya comin'?" She grunts, swinging the door open so roughly that it slams into the wall. The streets were cold and uninviting, which was abnormal temperatures for Hell. While it was normally hot, blistering even, the wind and the chill in the air seemed to mirror the coldness of our poor Siren's heart.

Angel tries her best to keep up with her, but even with his long legs, she is still too fast. "He's an asshole, a bastard! He has always been an asshole, and he will always be one - there is no hope for him! Impossibile, il bastardo è impossibile! Questo lo stronzo that I remember!"

Angel's hands nervous fiddle with one another as he listens to her jumping back and forth between her native tongue and English. She quickly pivots and points her finger in his face, "Don't you ever trust that man, capisci? NEVER!" She turns away from him just as quickly as she turned to him. 

"Soo...uh...why are ya so mad at him anyways? He seemed to be happy when ya left for he-" 

"He was never happy! Not with me, not with his solitude before hand, not with our daughter - there always was a fuckin' issue with that ass-" 

"Daughter?" Angel stops in his tracks, causing Esme to realize his slip up, "Esme...heh....don't tell me what I think ya gonna tell me.." His jaw tenses and this eyes turn a pinkish hue with his anger. There was no way. He knew Esme had feelings for Alastor, anyone who was in the proximity of those two could see that there was chemistry, but Esme was killed by her husband! He was all for her starting a new life away from whatever dickhead decided to send her here so early.

Within their home, their culture, Angel - Anthony - was raised to be the protector of his sister. All the men in the family were. To him, Esme was his to protect as much as he was for her. He saw her as the one piece of family he had down here, never bothering to make much contact with the others. "Esme...dollface...heh...what?" He pulls her to him and leans down to her face, "You mean to fuckin' tell me that Alasta is the piece of shit you called a husband?!" "

"What? You think I married the pope?" She pushes him off, "You were 10 years old when I met him, and believe it or not, he was a decent man to me. He just was always in his head, keeping secrets. Nothing felt like it was good to him." Esme goes to walk away when she hears Angel's boots rapidly walking back to the hotel. She gasps and yanks him back, "Where do you think you're going?" 

"I'm going to shove my boot so far up his ass - and not in the enjoyable way either!" 

"No, you are not!" Walking in front of him, she twists his body and pushes him back down the hill, "We are leaving the tommy guns away, we are not calling a SPECTACLE TO OURSELVES - DO YOU HEAR ME?!" She screams. 

So much for no spectacle.

They eventually met back up with Cherri, who was still reeling from the effects of all the drugs she had indulged in hours prior. She convinced the two to join her for something to eat. The three sit at a sushi bar, Esme glances at all the fish in front of her.

"Damn, E that fuckin' blows." Cherri comments, being filled in on Esme's revealed life and current situation. Her eye widens and she leans in closer, "I always picked you with some tall piece of work, but uh...never that one. What was he like?"

"He's a fucking asshole," Esme responds, sipping on a glass of lychee soju. At this point, the words 'Alastor' and 'asshole' were synonyms for one another in her vocabulary. To be fair, most sinners would probably share that same dictionary. 

"It's Alastor, what did you expect?" Angel raises a hand, wiping his face. As much as he wanted to go back into that hotel and rip that poor excuse for a man a new one, he respected Esme enough to follow her wishes. If it was comfort that she needed, a familiar face to talk to, a arm to hold her close, he would do just that. "I'm just shocked ya had a kid with him."

"She's the only good thing about him..." She huffs.

"So, ya fucked him~" Cherri teases.

Esme sighs, "Yes, Cherri, that's how babies are made..." She begins to drink a little faster, finishing her glass.

"Bitch..."

"Can I have another one of these?" She asks the bartender, handing him some cash, "Thank you."

She was betrayed by Alastor, of course, but she was filled with mostly rage and disbelief. She could still taste his sweet blood in her mouth and could hear his sharp wince as she drank from him. If he had never flung her off of him, she would have drank him dry and feasted in delight. With all this pleasure, she couldn't forget his mother and her kindness. She felt guilt despite all that he had done to her. How could such a sweet lady birth and raise such a horrid creature? Where did it all go wrong? You know what, she didn't care. It wasn't her problem and she didn't have the emotional capacity to consider it.

Although, there was a part of her that didn't believe that he meant to do this. It was a feeling she couldn't shake.

A plate gets placed in front of her, a raw piece of fish on a bed of rice. "What's this?"

"Salmon, dummy." Angel laughed, "It's raw, a warning." He hands her two sticks, "Here, try it."

Esme looks at the sticks in confusion, placing them down and picking up the fleshy substance in her hand, raising it to her mouth and sinking her fangs in it.

Her eyes light up and she grabs the other side of it with her other hand. She looked stunned as if it was the most amazing delicacy she had ever experienced. She practically moans at the taste.

"Ha, that's ironic." Cherri laughs, smirking at the sight of Esme worshipping the piece of fish. She soon finishes it and orders several more.

The three stay there, laughing as Esme drinks and eats away her sorrows. Hours go by and the three stay there, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Esme places her head on Angel's shoulder, sighing peacefully.

She was safe with him. 

🖤Words: 2382🖤

~ Artemis🦌💗