In My Sights

A Night Out on the Town

As we approached her room I could hear Vaggie inside loudly pacing around with the occasional bang. Suddenly there was a loud bang that shook the floor followed by a crash. The commotion startled Charlie and she gripped my coat tighter and buried her face in my chest. She mumbled something into the red folds of fabric that I couldn't make out.

"What is it princess?" I spoke softly as we continued past her bedroom.

She looked up at me, her expression was a sea of mixed emotions. She looked back down the hall at her bedroom then back at me again. "W-where are we going?"

"Somewhere you can get away from all of this." I said holding her a little tighter. I heard her let out a small sigh of relief as we got further away from the fiery female down the hall.

I brought her to my room, I carried her inside and snapped my fingers to turn on a table lamp beside my bed. I gently set her down on my bed, she turned away from me and curled up in a ball, hugging her knees close to her chest. I took off my coat and tossed it onto the armchair in the corner. I took off my bowtie and unfastened the top button on my shirt. I laid down on the bed next to her so that she was facing me again, but her face was buried in her arms. I hummed softly and stroked her long blonde hair. She looked up at me, her eyes met mine and I flashed her a small smile. She moved in a bit closer to me and placed her hand on my arm, gave me a small sad smile, and spoke softly,  "Thank you for taking care of me Al."

"Of course my dear, if there's anything you need, just ask away." I stopped stroking her hair, smiled wider, and stared into her eyes, "And I do mean anything darling, truly."

Charlie's face was tinged with pink, her fingers squeezed my arm, she looked away from me and whispered, "A-Alastor?"

"Hmmmm?" I hummed and tilted my head questioningly.

She spoke so softly I almost didn't catch what she said next, "C-can I... Can I sleep w-with you tonight?"

I propped myself up on my arm and opened my mouth to speak but she quickly interrupted, "I just really don't want to be..." she paused and quickly glanced away, "alone in that room..."

"That's quite alright dear." I took her hand and stood up, "Come now, the day is still young! What you need is a night on the town!"

"Alastor, I'm no-" Charlie sat up to object to my proposal but I put my hand up and wagged my finger at her.

"Ah-ah-ah! That wasn't a request." I interrupted. She sighed and got up. "Splendid!"

"Follow me." I led her down the stairs and into the parlor where the usual lot were loitering about. Charlie followed closely behind me and continued sulking.

"Where are you two goin'?" Angel drunkenly shouted from the bar.

"Out." I called over my shoulder at the spider demon.

"Hey freaky face!" Angel stumbled over to us just as we reached the door and grabbed my shoulder. "So you're telling me, that all that shit just went down and you're just gonna leave and take the damsel in distress with yah to Satan knows where? I bet you're-"

My eye twitched with annoyance as I glared at his hand gripping my shoulder. "If you value that hand, you will remove it! Do you understand?"

Angel let go of my shoulder and backed up a couple steps, "Geez alright! Don't need to be so fuckin' hostile all the time!" He pointed his finger at me with a glare and continued, "Just bring 'er back in one piece alright? I mean look at 'er, she's a fuckin mess right now!"

"Ohh don't you worry about that, I wouldn't hurt a single hair on her pretty little head!" I said with a twisted smile, as I wrapped my arm around her waist and made for the door. "Now don't wait up! Who knows when we'll return!"