Demon with wings (a Hazbin Hotel and Helluva boss fanfic)

Part 4

8 years later...
February 13th, 1932
*******

"And that would conclude today's episode but we'll have more on the Torso murders tomorrow, and if you're open on Friday night, Astrid is starring in Wizard of Oz if you're in the area!" Alastor clicked off the equipment and looked over at Astrid who was sitting in the chair beside him. They had just finished up another episode in Alastor's crime talk show, where he covered different murder cases and/or missing cases, sometimes he also covered his own crimes with misleading evidence so nobody would be suspicious.  "You don't need to advertise every time I have a show" Astrid laughed. "Yes I do, the lead role, it's a big deal!"

"So, tomorrow's Valentine's Day, anyone special?" She asked playfully, though she knew the answer already. "No, I haven't met anyone so far that I haven't wanted to murder since 1920." He thought for a moment and said "and besides, didn't I already tell you-"
Astrid rolled her eyes. "You just said you didn't like sex. Not that you didn't want a romantic relationship."
He chuckled and looked over as mail came through the mail slot. "I'll get it." she told him, getting up.

She sorted through the mail until she reached the last letter, it was a target form for Alastor.
She and Alastor worked as hitmen that specialized in making deaths look like accidents or natural causes. Astrid handed it to him, "the client said he wanted to meet at around 3:00 this afternoon." He said, reading through the letter.

So at 3 they walked over to pine court, passing Jamie's house (her best friend who had a show coming up in 2 days), and in between an ally way. The man was wearing a trench coat and a fedora and had his mouth hidden, this really didn't strike Astrid as odd, as a lot of them wanted to keep their identities secret, if the crimes ever were discovered though, Astrid and Alastor always made sure that the crime would draw back to the person who sent them, side stepping their involvement.

"I need a guy dead." The man told them as he handed them a card with a name and an address. "Freddy Macmillan. Witness count doesn't matter?" Alastor asked suspiciously. "I want everyone to know what he did." The man replied. "What did he do?" Astrid asked. They typically didn't ask questions like that, just kill the person and get their end of the bargain, but Astrid got a uneasy feeling from this guy. "When people see him dead, they'll know, trust me." The man grunted.

They returned to their gloomy apartment and Astrid looked over the note card. "I've never heard of '3872 curds street'"
"Hm. Me neither. Something is definitely weird about that client." She nodded and set the card down, pulling a phone book off the bookshelf. "What're you doing?" Alastor asked. "I'm checking for that name, I mean, is the guy even a real person?"

"Good question, meanwhile I'm going to look at who the guy who hired us actually is." She nodded to show that she acknowledged him and began looking.
***

"I couldn't find anyone named 'Freddy Macmillan' he doesn't exist."

It was later that night, and Astrid had spent an hour checking the phone book for anyone with that name. "The man who hired us is named 'Laurence Gray' he's well known for being extremely religious." Alastor informed, his hand on his chin.

Later that night they had managed to track down Laurence and he was now dangling almost off of a bridge, only held on by Alastor. "Who sent you?" Astrid asked him. "Wh-What" Laurence choked out. "Someone must've sent you to expose us, coming up with a fake person and a fake address." Alastor almost growled, letting his hand slip for a brief second and grabbing on again. "O- ok alright, I'll tell you!" He cried. "It was father Robert Steinsen!"

Astrid stopped here, why did that name ring a bell? If sounded so familiar... but why? Alastor also seemed to have suddenly felt uneasy and his hand slipped by accident. He couldn't reach the back of the man's shirt again and Laurence slipped off the bridge and down into the rocky bottom of the cliff. "Oops." Alastor shrugged, "oh well we got our information so I think we should go before the police show up."
*****
"That name sounds so familiar... where have I heard it before!?" She was frustrated that she couldn't remember, until... "I know who he is!" She looked up suddenly. Alastor seemed shocked by the sudden realization and looked up quickly from the book he was reading, "ow, I think I hit a nerve." He said, rubbing the back of his neck, Astrid ignored him, though she could feel a small tingle in the back of her neck. "That's the priest who told my parents that if I wasn't blue eyed and blonde haired than I was a child of the devil."

Alastor just stared. "Are you sure?" He seemed skeptical.
"I think I would remember the man who's partially responsible for my ptsd thank you very much." She snapped, and sat back down.
"What else do you know about him?"
"He was apart of a church made for sinners, I suspect that my biological parents weren't the first pair he's ever told to abuse their child if it didn't come out perfect."
"Alright I'm gonna kill him."
"Alastor, no, we can't kill people just because they inconvenience us."
He looked back at her, "Not just us but a ton of other children most likely had to face the same life you did. It's hypocrisy is what that is."
Astrid thought a moment. "True..."
A sudden flow of memory came through her mind, memories of all the time her parents had harmed her, the slaps, the knife cuts, the white hot fire poker. It was too much.
"Ouch." Alastor said as it faded away, "I knew your parents were bad to you but I didn't think it got that bad."

"Fine, we'll kill him, but we need a plan, and we can't kill him tonight, it's too late."

Alastor nodded and turned to the kitchen. "You're absolutely right, I'm going to make some jambalaya." She smiled to herself and went over to the small kitchen to help.