A New Birth

Chapter IV

Being pregnant was proving to be more of a curse than a blessing for Angel Dust.

First, the morning sickness didn't let up for another solid month. It continued in the same pattern as it had before; there were good days when Angel wasn't sick at all and went about his day in a fairly normal fashion. And then, there were the bad days when he was too sick to even leave his bed. On the bad days, Alastor was once again glued to his mate's side, only leaving to get the fuzzy spider anything he desired. In response to finding out that his mate was pregnant, Alastor grew even more protective of him. If anybody ever doubted that such a thing were possible, the deer quickly proved them wrong.

Alongside the curse of the morning sickness was the fact that Angel had to quit his substance abuse cold turkey. This task alone was the hardest thing that the former porn actor had ever had to do. The scene that had unfolded was an ugly one, one that had reached an ear-shattering climax.

Angel had gone out with Cherri one evening on a friend date, taking her shopping before going out to dinner. (Alastor was finally able to prove to Angel that he no longer had to work. The two demons could live their afterlife to the fullest solely on Alastor's radio broadcasts.) On his way back to the hotel, he ran into one of his old clients who had hooked him up with drugs before on several occasions. He ended up coming home with a small baggie of his namesake shoved deep into the pocket of his jacket. Vaggie later caught the spider at the bar with Husk, persuading the drunken feline to try some.

"Angel Dust! What in the Nine Circles do you think you're doing?" she suddenly demanded.

Angel nearly jumped out of his skin and spun around on his bar stool. He licked the powder off of his pointer finger and smacked his lips. "Uh...what?" he said. "I'm jus' tryna get Husky to try this neat shit."

Husk scowled. "Don't fuckin' call me Husky, asshole," he grumbled. He took a long swig from his liquor bottle.

"Are you fucking insane?!" the moth screeched. She quickly marched over to the bar and yanked the baggie away from Angel. "You can't have this shit anymore!"

Angel jumped up from his stool, nearly knocking it over. He towered over Vaggie. "Hey, give that back!" he shouted.

"Angel! You are fucking pregnant, you dumbass!" Vaggie screamed. "You literally cannot put any of this shit in your body anymore! Don't you know that this can kill your baby?!" She held up the baggie.

Angel growled and lunged for the baggie of his namesake. "Vaggie, give it back!"

"No, Angel!" The moth turned on her heel and headed straight behind the bar. After pushing Husk aside, she searched for the spider's hidden stashes. She pulled out all sorts of baggies and pill bottles filled with various substances. She then grabbed the blender used to make cocktails and dumped the drugs down into it.

"Vaggs, stop! Don't do that!" Angel cried at the top of his lungs.

Vaggie put the lid on the blender, made sure that Angel was watching, and turned it up to the "pulverize" setting. "I'm cutting you off, Angel!" she shouted over the noise. "No more drugs, no more liquor! This is for your own good! And for the sake of your baby!"

Something snapped inside Angel at that moment. He let out a primal scream of fury and launched himself over the bar at Vaggie. During their scuffle, one of his fists connected with her nose and broke it. Blood poured down her face and dripped down her chin. The blender was suddenly chucked across the lobby, where it smacked the wall and shattered into a million pieces on the carpet.

The spider had completely lost his sanity. He soon had Vaggie suspended off the floor by her throat, pinning her to the wall. "You can't tell me what to do!" he shrieked in her face. "Stop tryna preach to me what's good for me and what's not! Who dafuq do you think you are... Valentino?!" He glared down at her, baring his sharp teeth. "You aren't the boss o' me! Not anymore!" He grabbed her head and slammed it against the wall.