CH 16: Constraints

Esme walks quietly as the group followed Charlie down the block back to the hotel, a feeling of shame swirling in her stomach. There was an awkward silence that could only be filled by Vaggie and Alastor bickering back and forth as the rest of the members simply looked forward. Angel continued to maintain his strong grip on her arm, refusing to meet her gaze while looking straight ahead. Occasionally, he would scoff at a comment being overheard. He was mostly biting his tongue. 

"That made us look like a fucking joke!" Vaggie shouted, causing Esme to flinch with discomfort.

"Would you have rather our lovely Esme get brutally assaulted by those men?" Alastor responds calmly, but Esme can tell by the tight grip on his cane that his temper is at a slow boil. The overlord is trying everything in his power to preserve the composed nature of his being, but this one's attitude was irking him down to his core. 

"Of course not, but you didn't have to pull the stunt you did." Vaggie grunts. She turns to Charlie, who is walking holding her arm and looking down at the ground, "See?! This is what happens when you invite two overlords to represent you, they ruin our mission."

~ Flashback To 15 Mins Ago ~

The men at the table grew silent watching Alastor stand in front of them, looking down with such intensity. He took a step forward, his smile widened as he spoke, "Greetings, gents~" A sadistically cheerful tone filling the space, "Is there a problem here?"

Esme crossed her arms and pouted as she responded, obviously still under the influence, "These men are just pissed that I beat them at their little poker game..." The men keep their eyes locked on Alastor, frozen in fear, "𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷..." A small melody escapes her throat. Esme turns her side to Alastor, "They had the gul to touch little ol' me~" She narrows her eyes at the man, wiggling her eyebrows.

This was a amusing little game she was playing with him, using The Radio Demon to do her dirty work while she relished in the rewards. Perhaps she could use her small frame, the gentle curves along her, to convince him that she was indeed a damsel in distress. Oh, but he didn't need any convincing. In his mind, this lowlife had crossed a crucial line.   

"Is that true...gentlemen?" Alastor raises a brow at the silence from the table, 

How interesting, it seemed as if none of them wished to speak. Surely if they had the sheer boldness to lay hands on his wife, they would have the confidence to open their mouths - no?

"Hmm...not a talkative bunch are we, h̶̢̗̳͖̏o̷̫͕̥̥̽̉͑͛̿͆w̵͓̹͂̾̒̏̈́̎ ţ̸̬̇̌͐r̷͇̼͑́̌͂͝͡a̴͚̗͆̃̓g̶̢̰̤͓̻͖̈̎i̶̛̪͑̀̒̏̽ç̵̼̯̮͑͒̂͑͠"

There's another silence as other demons surrounding the group begin to take notice. "I just have three words for you, chaps..." Alastor mumbled.

"And what would that be, sweetest?" Esme hummed, smirking knowingly.

"B̷͈̠̪̪͔͈͗̈́͌͗̀̀̓͡ę̶̜̩̟͎̺͈̃̌̾̄̓̎̅̄̇ǵ̸̢̘͔͙̝͙̾.̵͚̣̻̱̬̺̩̈́͊̆̊̀͟͡ F̵̛͉̯͂͋̇̾̊̊̈́̚ô̶͔̱̤̰̎͆͟r̶̡̘̟̣̬̰̽͗̀̇ͅͅ.̵̺̦͍͎̠͙̟̟̱̦̓ Ḿ̵̛̦̩̟̫̌͋́͘ͅe̶̢̩̪̤͌̀́́̈̂̂̔̽̈̂̚ȑ̸̨͍̪̝̪̳͎̱̳͆̀̄́͑̓͝c̵̰͈̤̥̦͈̯͋̃y̴͈̣͓̣͖̏̉͂͒͌̈́̓ͅ.̷̙͍̦̍̋̓̓̆́͜͜"

Those were the last words that were spoken before chaos ensued. Alastor was focused on the specific man he saw have the audacity to touch what was his. Black tentacles snatched the man and pried him off the couch and into the air. It quickly wrapped around his throat as the air drained from his lungs, squeezing so hard that blood began to pour out of the man's throat.

It filled his chest with great pleasure to see this useless worm wiggle on a hook. He didn't deserve to breath the same air as his woman, roam the same ring, or even coexist. When he would regenerate, those vile eyes would never glance in her direction ever again. 

"Oooh lemme lemme lemme have a taste!~" Esme jumps up and down, fangs fully descending and her eyes glowing brightly. She didn't want to miss out on such a delicacy. It had been so long since she last fed and the rage she felt for this man would make him taste all that more scrumptious. 

Her hands rested on the demon's back, gripping his coat with a needy intensity, "C'mon, Al, give it to himm." 

She was such a devious temptress, encouraging him to unravel in his sadism. It was all for her after all. 

He was doing this for her.

It was his symbolism of his devotion to her. 

Charlie and Vaggie ran over, hearing the intense static in the air. It was even difficult to walk through it, "What is going on!?" Vaggie shouted, pushing past the building crowd and attempting to diffuse the situation. 

"Alastor, please! This is not okay!" Charlie yelled out, her eyes blown wide and concerned painted across her face. At that moment, he could feel something around his throat tighten, and as if on cue, he dropped the man.

Taking a moment, the gentleman adjusting his pinstripe coat and collar. The pride from watching his victim struggling on the ground was all consuming.

"Consider this a warning." He said, calmly twirling his cane in his hand, "You ever see this woman again.." He pointed it at Esme, who is just standing there in contentment giving a small wave, "You walk the other way. You don't speak to her.." He walked closer, "You don't breathe near her, understood?"

The men nodded.

"Lovely..."

And with that, they were both dragged out of the club, Esme being picked up by Angel and taken out against her will. She huffs as her stomach makes connection with his shoulder, scrunching her nose in annoyance, "This is absurd, let me go! Angel!" Her drunken blabber continued, growing softer as she was dragging outside.

And she didn't even get a taste...

~ Flashback Over ~

Esme sighs, walking alongside Angel, "In his defense, he was just trying to protect me." She softly interjects, "That man put his hands on me, he was disgusting and disrespectful." 

"An overlord like you can't protect yourself?" Vaggie snapped.

"Vaggie..." Charlie gasped, "That was a little harsh." 

She wasn't wrong, but her sarcasm still struck an uncomfortable cord within The Siren. Yes, she could have done that herself, but something told her the two would have had judgment towards that anyhow. The silence continued to drag on as the hotel became visible in the distance. Once inside, they all scatter to their respective rooms, a mutual understanding between everyone. Our darling rose can barely get a word in to anyone, being ignored completely. All from one who looks back at her from the stairs before disappearing into the floorboards.

The walk to her quarters was somber and reflective, filling her head with many questions as her mind sobered up. 

Why did Alastor appear to be so frustrated with her at the beginning of the evening, but by the end was cutting into sinners for her?

Esme turns to her door, opening it and sighing sadly as she walked inside. Overtime, she could hear noise coming from Alastor's room, small banging of furniture and mumbled voices.

Inside the room, Lilith appeared before him in a spirit form a far away realm, roughly yanking on the chains surrounding his neck. The pain around it wasn't unbearable, just a tight reminder of his expected obedience, but it still made his ears sit further back than usual. "You are weaker than I thought." She growls.

He groans and falls to the ground in front of her, "She was going to get hurt..." He mumbled, his eyes connecting back with hers with a narrowed expression.

"Is that your problem?" She questions, he doesn't answer. "Is that what you're supposed to be focused on?" He shakes his head. "You stay focused on making my daughter's plan work, use that siren to your advantage if you have to."

"I would never..." 

"You, will do what you're told. If you can't distract yourself from that nuisance, than make use of her. Manipulate, threaten, I don't care what you have to do. Now, make it happen." She demands. When he hesitates, she snarls loudly, being silenced by a knock on the door.

"Alastor? Is everything okay in there?" Esme spoke from the other side.

She vanishes, leaving him standing up rubbing his neck. Despite not being in this realm, her power was still as potent as ever. He opens the door. "Why hello darling, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He grins.

"I heard some noise coming from here, I wanted to make sure you were okay..."

"This is a large hotel, my dear. You probably heard some noise carrying over."

Esme shakes her head and pushes past him and into his room, looking around. She doesn't anything that looks out of the norm, but has an uneasy feeling. There was something in her gut that told her to follow her intuition on this one. Intensity hung in the air, becoming so thick you could cut into it with a knife. If she hadn't known better, Esme would have thought Vox had a camera on her. She felt like she was being watched, causing her eyes to carefully scan the room. 

"See? Everything is fine here, now you may return to your suite."

Her eyes land on the trees and forest in the back. "Oh my..." She slowly walks towards it, noting the fireflies passing by and the smell of swampy water, something she recognizes. "This is beautiful." She says, entering the grass. The prickly nature of it tickled her ankles as she continued to explore, finding a small pond. She wondered how his magic could conjure up such intense visuals. 

The lily pads nearly begged her to join them in the water. To stay for a while and make herself at home. 

"Ahh, yes, well it is fairly peaceful to rest by." He says from the front of the room, still waiting for her to exit. The only issue being that she wasn't budging. What was she doing? She turns around to face him, her shoes standing in the grass from the bayou.

"I wanted to talk to you actually."

He freezes, remembering his boss' words clear in his mind, but his heart pulls him closer to her. He lets go of the door, allowing it to close. He can't help himself, he walks towards her, "And what would that be about?"

Alastor and Esme slowly get closer to one another, she looks up to him with a sincere look on her face, her vacationed judgment slowly returning, "Thank you, for everything back there." She says in a soft echo. "That was very kind of you, you didn't have to do that."

"Oh, but I did..."

The woman raises an eyebrow at his certainty. 

"I couldn't allow that to happen to you, not ever. You deserve much better than that." He picks up her hand and gently places a kiss on the back of it. He should pull away, but he continues to speak into her skin, "We have such history, I couldn't possibly allow you to be disrespected in front of my eyes..." 

It's at that moment that his crimson gaze beckons her soul. 

"Y-You are like no one I've ever met before." She whispers.

"Are you positive on that one, mon amour?" He questions. Esme's can feel every hair on her body stand up at those two words.

What were they? Why did they seem so familiar?

She slowly removes her hand from his grasp, "Anyhow...thank you, truly."

He nods and she slowly walks towards the exit, looking back at him before walking through the door.

"Goodnight..." She says barely above a whisper before retiring to her own bedroom. 

~  Author's Note  ~ 

Ahh, it's happening...slowly ~ 

Also, look what my friends bought me, I love them so much! Def going to drink from the Alastor one while writing this book. 

P.S: This may be a clue onto who is coming soon....

I honestly might get started on writing it tonight, just because 🖤🖤

P.S.S: Shoutout to @FrozenAmbers for teaching me how to do the demonic font, you're the best! :)

🖤Words: 2014🖤

~ Artemis 💗🦌