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

Part 17

She worked with Angel for a year, meeting up with Cherri every now and then to work on how to get him out. Unfortunately he was too well guarded and they couldn't figure out how to get Valentino to release him.

On top of that, Valentino was getting a little... handsy... around Astrid. He'd grab her wrists and pull her close to talk with her, he'd speak about her to the others, even if she was also in the room, and any time he spoke to or of her, he'd speak as though she belonged to him.

Astrid endured it though, because Angel was still trapped and what Astrid went through paled in comparison to his pain.

The two got closer and he seemed genuinely worried, seeming to know all too well what Valentino was going to her.

"You need to leave before he tries to make any bigger move on you." Angel told her one afternoon as she covered a bruise under his eye with foundation.

"Have you seen yourself? Anthony, Valentino grabbing my wrist every now and then is nothing compared to these clients you're getting." Astrid huffed as she applied another layer to the dark purple mark.

"I'm just... worried is all. You know you can find another job right? You don't have to keep dealing with him for my sake."

Astrid made a small whistling noise, something they silently developed together to remind each other that Valentino was still listening in on them. Angel's mismatched eyes darted to the direction of the camera, his back turned towards it before sighing.

"Just please think about doing something else." He sulked.

She set the brush down and wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him into a hug. "I'm not leaving you to suffer alone."

In all honesty, Astrid began questioning when exactly had she become so soft towards others. It was out of character for her, typically she tried to be salty and rude towards other demons, but with Angel... it was different.

It's because he's hurting, you know better than anyone that being salty to those in pain doesn't get you anywhere. She thought to herself.

"Fine." Angel grumbled.

They finished up with angels cleaning before he was due on set. Before Astrid went Angel put a hand on her shoulder gently and whispered; "Run, don't go to Val's office today, please."

His voice was pleading, laced with some other meaning that Astrid couldn't describe. She nodded and left.

When she got to the front door, she rushed for it, ignoring Valentino's calls behind her and running down the street to her apartment.

Alastor was well aware of Astrid's discomfort at work, in fact the feeling seemingly plagued his mind in short bursts regularly, but he relaxed when he felt a sudden warm glow only a few minutes later, assuming that Astrid was ok and safe.

Today however, Astrid ran into the apartment and slammed the door, startling Alastor and Nifty who were in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

"Astrid? What's wrong my dear?" Alastor questioned, his permanent smile seeming to falter when he looked up.

"I- just had a rough day is all." She panted, pulling her bag onto the coat hanger by the door and sitting down at the island in their kitchen.

"Nifty would you go to your room for a moment?" Alastor asked gently to the smaller demon. She nodded vigorously and zipped off to her room.

"What's been bothering you? Almost every day for the past year you've been having seemingly random bursts of anxiety at the beginning and end of every shift. Who's been hurting you?"

The whole monologue was, Astrid assumed, supposed to sound gentle, but the last question came out as more of a growl, it came out defensive and angry. Not at her, at whoever was causing his adopted daughter discomfort and fear.

"I've been trying to help out a client, she hired me to kill Valentino but you know my policy against killing Overlords, so I refused and she asked me to at least help get her friend out."

"So this friend... has been hurting you?" Alastor inquired.

"No, no nothing like that." Astrid responded hurriedly.

"It's... I don't want to say." She curled up on the stool and brought her knees to her chest.

"Why not? Are you scared I'm going to hurt the demon hurting you?"

"No, when have I ever cared about demons being hurt?" Well there was a time when you weren't a ruthless ass who betrayed her friends, she thought before quickly shutting herself up.

"Then what is it?" Alastor pressed.

"I'm not starting a war just because someone made me uncomfortable!" Astrid shouted, before gasping, not intending to be loud.

"Starting a war?" Alastor asked... "starting a war... It's Valentino isn't it?" The runes started circling Alastor and his eyes turned to dials as he made the connections.

Astrid face palmed herself and grasped at her hair in frustration at herself.

"You don't need to do anything. If he got too far I would be able to fight it off." She lied.

"The connection goes beyond emotions, and I can tell you know you can't fight him off." Alastor replied, going back to the vegetables he was cutting before Astrid came home, trying to act normal though his knife hit the cutting board a little harder than he obviously intended and Astrid felt spikes of anger bubble up in her chest. She wondered briefly if Alastor detected her emotions with his mind before shaking her head and getting up from the stool to call Nifty back to the kitchen.

"You don't need to do anything, please don't do anything." Astrid whispered before heading towards the small hallway that contained their bedrooms and bathroom.

***

Astrid headed into work the next morning and braced herself to check in with Valentino.

"I told you the job wouldn't last." Valentino chuckled as she pushed the door open. Astrid vaguely wondered when he had said that as she watched him.

"What... what do you mean?" She asked innocently, severely hoping Alastor hadn't said anything to Valentino.

"Angel cakes has voiced to me that he doesn't like you, you're brash, brutally honest towards him, and you do a terrible job at tending his wounds." Valentino cackled when he said all this and Astrid grasped the strap of her bag and nodded.

**SA I'll put stars ⭐️ when it's over**

"I don't understand... I guess if that's what he wanted." She turned to leave before the door was blocked by Valentino, with a smile, he pushed her against his desk.

"I suggest you talk to him, carry out your last shift and then get the fuck out of my studio." He presses a kiss to her neck and faded back behind his desk.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Astrid quickly wiped away tears as she made her way to the top floor. She pushed open Angel's door and he looked up at her from his bed. He noticed the red that rimmed her eyes and rushed to the door, pulling her into an embrace.

"What did he do?" He whispered. She just shook her head and stayed there. It was a kiss... that's all it was... she shouldn't care so much.

"Look, I'm sorry, but if you weren't gonna leave I had to make you." Angel whispered.

Astrid stayed silent, wiping away the last of the tears, and got to work cleaning Angel up. She didn't say a word and ignored his apologies before getting up when the shift was over.

"Bye Anthony." She muttered quickly before running to the bottom floor and flying off to the apartment.

Ok so finally done with episode in between filler chapters! Next chapter will be the pilot and I think I might start doing story divergence from there. Also now is a good time to say that I will be shipping Radiodust in this fanfic so if you don't like the ship you can leave, I'd appreciate if you didn't leave rude comments about it. Thank you!

-Charlie <3