Part 9

Astrid worked well with the rest of the team. So far in a little less than a year, she had taken down an evil robot at an amusement park, helped out with a stupid challenge that Blitz had made with a particularly bitchy ex, and stopped a bunch of angels from preventing a man from committing suicide.***Astrid tossed and turned in her sleep as her nightmares became flooded with flashes of blood, her parents standing above her, pointing and laughing as she scrambled to fight off the knives and fire pokers, the priest chased her with a gun, while angry angels followed him. She awoke with a gasp and fell out of bed when she noticed 2 bright flashlight like eyes gazing at her.

"Blitz!" She gasped, covering up her shoulders and arms with a blanket. "How the fuck did you know I live here, and also how did you even get in here?" He tilted his head. "Nice place you got here." Astrid rolled her eyes and put on a hoodie that was sitting on the side of her bed.

"Hello? How did you get here?"

Blitz looked around. "What are all these little bottles? Wow you have a lot of plants, how do you keep those alive here? Oh mushrooms. Is that a Satan circle on the floor? Why do you have all of this? Spell books, do you do witchcraft?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yes I'm a witch, do you mind telling me why you're here?"

"Oh yeah, Stolas invited us to some harvest moon festival in the wrath ring." Astrid yawned and nodded. "Ok? Was this before, during, or after you two were hooking up?" Blitz rolled his eyes.

"Were you having nightmares?" He asked.

"How long we're you watching me sleep?"

"About 5 minutes, I came in and you started thrashing around I thought you were having a seizure."

"Yes, I almost never sleep, because of the nightmares." He nodded. "I understand, it goes the same way for me."

Astrid was surprised, she couldn't think of any reason Blitz might be having nightmares, though she learned a while ago that just because she couldn't think of a reason someone does something doesn't mean there isn't a reason.

"Anyways come on, we'll be staying for a couple days and wrath is really hot. Temperature wise, I mean you've seen Millie and Moxxie they really aren't the sexiest demons in hell."

Astrid privately thought that Millie was hot, not that she would date her because she thought Millie and Moxxie were perfect for each other as it was, but Millie wasn't exactly ugly.

She got dressed in a long sleeved dress and leggings, packed a few items in the bag she carried around with her, and headed out the door.

"Did you not hear me? I said it's really hot out there." Blitz said when she headed out into the cool night, the sun still hadn't risen but she rolled her eyes. "I don't like short sleeves."

"Why not?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"Not really... are you doing it to cover up scars?"

Astrid was taken aback by his guess. "Y- Um... yeah." She admitted, looking ashamedly at the ground. Blitz put his hand on her arm. "Hey, it's alright, I used to cover up my scars too." Astrid looked up at him. "What scars?"

He gestured to his face and arms, "did you think all these little white spots were just birth marks?" He asked, chuckling.

"I thought either that or Vitiligo."

"I don't know what that is."

"It's- never mind I'm not going to explain it."

"My point is, you don't have to hide them here, people may have judged you in the living world, but nobody is going to judge you here."

Astrid smiled shyly. "Or at least for having scars. Come on, let's go, Loona's in the car."***

They went over to Millie and Moxxie's apartment and woke them up.

"Mama, Papa!" Millie shouted when they finally reached the wrath ring.

"You all remember my husband Moxxie," Millie said proudly, easily picking up the suitcase that Moxxie was struggling with. "And this is the boss Blitzø, and his hellhound Loona."

"Hey she's not just my hellhound, she's my daughter!" Blitz said defensively. "Only one paper." Loona corrected.

"And this is the newest employee." Millie said, walking up over to Astrid and putting an arm around her waist in an attempt to one arm hug her.

"You're an interesting looking hellborn." Millie's mother remarked. Astrid blushed, "I- I'm not- I" Astrid stuttered. She impulsively wanted to go back to the van, to grab her hoodie and cover up her scars, but she stayed put.

"No mama, she came straight from earth. She was an assassin when she was alive."

Astrid was surprised by the look of shock on Millie's parents faces. "What?" She asked. "I thought Sinners weren't able to travel between the rings?" Millie's father remarked.

"Well Astrid's special all on her own so her traversing the rings really doesn't surprise us." Blitz said quickly before Astrid was too embarrassed.

"Why didn't you tell me? I've gone to the greed ring too and nobody, absolutely nobody, acted like it was weird."

"Well everyone just assumed that you knew you could do that, so nobody questioned it."

"Clearly I don't know anything about that then." Astrid snapped back, scratching uncomfortably at her arms.

"Oh yes, I want you to meet our new farm attendant." Millie's dad called, pointing somewhere behind the house. A horse ran out from behind, Astrid couldn't see the rider's face until he hopped off and she was surprised to see a strange looking snake person hop off.

"This is Striker, he's helping with the farm right now." Millie's dad said. Striker walked around and shook hands with everyone, when he got to Blitz he smiled and looked down. "So you're the bowlem who started his own killing business."

Blitz nodded, "yeah well when you're good at something you should probably capitalize."

Millie's father suddenly seemed to have an idea, "say, would you boys," he caught Astrid's eye, "and lady, like to join into the seasonal games?"

Astrid shook her head. "No thanks, it would be fun but I think I'm going to just watch from the sides."

"You're loss ms..." Striker prompted for her name. "Astrid, just Astrid. Anyways I don't consider it a loss if I'm watching Blitz kick everyone's ass in those games."

Blitz smiled, "Thanks for rooting for me As, that means a lot.""Never use that nickname again." Astrid muttered. "Hey what about me?" Moxxie asked, "I'm from wrath too, I've got some fight in me."

Millie's family and Striker laughed but Astrid walked up beside Moxxie. "Hey I think you could do it." She said, he looked up at her. "Really?"

"Sure, I've seen you kill before, these games shouldn't be terrible."

Privately, Astrid thought Moxxie really didn't stand much of a chance, but Mox really didn't have much support for this and she felt bad.***The games were a disaster, for Moxxie at least. For some reason a shark from the first round really had it out for him, and Stolas wouldn't stop being horny towards Blitz.

Moxxie sat on the bleachers at the end of the games, looking down at his feet. "Hey, it's alright. Just because you lost some dumb county fair games doesn't make Striker better than you." Astrid said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, there are loads of things you can do that Striker can't." Millie kissed him on the cheek. "Yeah, like singing, I can sing." He perked up and smiled as Striker got up on stage.

"I'd like to take a moment to sing a little song, about me winning" Striker said, grabbing a guitar from out of nowhere and beginning his song.

Of fucking course. Astrid thought bitterly, Blitz walked up the bleachers with a piece of paper clutched in his hand. "Isn't that guy great? It'll be a lot better once he starts working with us."

"You what!?" Astrid exclaimed, glaring at Blitz. "Yeah I asked him to come over to the i.m.p." He took a bite of the paper.

Astrid couldn't imagine having to work with this guy, he seemed too arrogant and boastful to be too bearable to work with.

"Come on Moxxie, let's just go home and clean up." Millie said, pulling him up and walking back. Astrid glared at Blitz before following them.***

Astrid was sitting with one of the baby hogs, scratching it gently on the head, when Striker walked up to her. "Hello little sinner." He jeered. Astrid looked glumly up at him, the baby pig squealed and ran off. "Great, thanks for scaring off my company."

"How long've you been in Hell?"Astrid looked away and muttered "a few months"

Striker held out his hand, Astrid looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "I just want to be friends, c'mon we'll be working together after all."

Astrid reluctantly took his hand, grasped it for a second, and let go. She didn't trust him, Alastor had taught her that Snakes were always the most untrustworthy animal.

  Striker smirked again and stalked off into the house. Eventually the little pig returned, and so did the others.

"Hey Blitz, isn't the blood moon thing going on right now?" Astrid asked when they came back. Blitz shook his head. "Not until around sunset, right now there's just a bunch of carnival games and farmers market shit." Astrid nodded and went to help out with some of the animals.

About an hour passed and everyone else had left while Astrid stayed behind. She had a bad feeling about Striker, and her theory was proven when she saw Striker rounding the corner of the house with a case that looked like it was for a weapon. It could've been a briefcase with papers or a suitcase cause he was moving out of the house, but that didn't really make sense so Astrid guessed it was a weapon.

She hid along the opposite side of the house when she first saw him, and as he was going through the front gate she ran around to the back and heard banging on the cellar door.

Astrid ran over and quickly unlatched the door and swung it open, suddenly hopping back to avoid getting hit by a bullet.

"Holy fuck, are you two ok?" She asked, peering into the cellar at Millie and Moxxie.

"We're fine." Millie said, wincing. Her leg was caught in a bear trap and her arm was bleeding.

"Moxxie, Striker's heading out with a we-" Astrid began, getting cut off by Moxxie.

"A weapon that can kill demon royalty, and sinners like yourself, I would advise you stay away from him."

Astrid shook her head. "You're out of your god damn mind if you think that I'm going to let you face him by yourself." Moxxie shook his head, "I'll just find Blitz to help me, I'll be fine."

Astrid rolled her eyes and looked over at Millie. "Well we're wasting time, I'll take care of Millie and help you when I can." Moxxie nodded and ran off. Astrid tumbled down the steps of the basement and dropped beside Millie. "Oh, oh that's bad. Ok hang on." She said, digging in her bag for bandages and a hair pin.

"You need a key to unlock bear traps but I'm not wasting my time looking for one." Astrid said to Millie, who winced when she began picking at the lock. "Are you ok? Do you need me to stop for a second?" Millie shook her head. "I'm ok."

"Hey why aren't you this nice normally?" Millie asked. Astrid shrugged, and let out a small laugh of relief when the lock clicked and the bear trap fell. She got the bandages and wrapped some around her arm and leg.

"It's the best I can do for now, I'll come back after we get striker to clean it and I have some things that can help fight off infection." Astrid stood up. "Are you completely sure your ok?" She asked one more time.

"I'm fine Astrid, go make sure that dumbass snake doesn't kill my husband." Astrid nodded and sprinted up the stairs.

She ran down the road and found Loona in the crowd. "Loona, where's Blitz?" Loona shrugged and pointed to a building across the small road. Astrid rolled her eyes and flew up to the window quietly.

She hopped through with a knife while Striker had his back turned, watching Blitz and Moxxie cowered in front of him.

"It's a damn shame Blitz, we might've actually made a good team." Striker was saying, Blitz's eyes flicked very quickly behind Striker at Astrid, and he smirked up at him.

"Actually, I have an ace up my sleeve." He paused for a moment while Astrid waited for some kind of queue. "Ok well actually the Ace is behind you but 'an ace up my sleeve' sounded cooler"

Striker turned around just in time to see Astrid slash the knife across his nose and kick him to the ground.

"I want to make this very clear," Astrid said menacingly, "Don't you ever think about hurting my friends, ever again." She drove the knife in between his shoulder and his arm, he growled and kicked her away.

"Ace up your sleeve, really?" She asked Blitz with a smile. "I mean, it made sense, because you know-" he was going to elaborate before getting kicked by Striker, Moxxie pointed his gun at him and was about to pull the trigger when the door slammed open and in stepped Loona, "I'm here, what did I miss?" Striker smiled and hopped out the window before Astrid or Blitz could reach him. "Damnit Loona!" Astrid grumbled, annoyed.***

"And if it does start getting infected, grind up these leaves until they are like a pulp and put it on the wound, it draws out infection so if you see pus, it's normal that means it's working." Astrid was explaining to Millie as Moxxie and Blitz packed up the car. "Come on guys, we've got the book back and we have 15 new clients so come on." Blitz called, Astrid moved to help Millie up but she put a hand out to stop her. "I can do this myself." She said, bracing herself on Crutches.

"Do you guys think we'll see Striker again?" Astrid asked. Moxxie shrugged, "probably, but we won't have to worry about that till we see him again."