Oneshot book

The deal for freedom

 Coming home far past midnight, bruised and battered. The downhill fall of the drugs wearing off, and leaving him wanting more. Only to crawl into his bed still cloaked in dried cum, sweat, blood and whatever else his clouded mind couldn't remember. This was a routine Angel Dust was all too used to. Some nights he would be worse off, and lucky if he made it back to the hotel. Sometimes he found himself on the sidewalk instead. Only to be woken up by Vaggie lecturing him, Charlie wondering if he was dead. Thankfully that didn't happen too often.

Tonight however, Angel Dust was lucky. He wasn't as doped up on drugs and alcohol as he normally would have been during shoots. So while he was dazed and craving another hit of his last drug, he was coherent enough to know where and when he was.

Right now he was in the hotel's lobby. It was somewhere past midnight, he wasn't sure exactly the time. But he knew it was probably early morning because the sky was darker than it was when it was daytime or noon. That and nobody was running about. It was empty and quiet. Angel actually disliked that. That there was nobody or nothing to occupy his attention and thoughts. He hated those quiet moments, being left alone to his thoughts like a slave.

He especially hated being left alone to those thoughts tonight. Eversince the hotel had been taken and Pentious with them, Angel had been thinking a great deal more than he wanted. Sure they had a shiny new hotel, but that didn't change what happened.

Seeing Pentious die before his eyes. It slapped him back to reality. It broke something in him.

He knew none of their lives were forever, including his. But if he truly wanted to try his chance at redemption whether it was real or not. He would have to stop fucking around with the idea and face it.

That's why on this night, Angel didn't just walk down the hall to his room. Instead he walked to the stairs and took them slowly. Weighing his options on final time. He'd been thinking about this ever since the meeting. He knew it was a bad idea. He didn't even know if it would work or if he'd agree. He hated the idea. He really did. It made him sick. He wanted to puke. But deep down, a part of him knew. If he wanted to truly have a chance to be redeemed. He needed to be free from Val first. He knew Charlie probably couldn't help. Not because she didn't want to, but because she was a peacemaker. And there was no making peace with Val. He didn't wanna involve her anyway. Not after everything that had happened. Besides, bringing Charlie in would just make things worse.

He knew that.

It wasn't her fault though.

No...he needed someone sneaky. Someone who could free him without him being torn to pieces in the process.

Angel arrived on the fourth floor sooner than he wanted. He asked Charlie a few days ago for the room he resided in. She had seemed curious then, about why he wanted to know. But she chopped it up to Angel trying to be friendly. Or hoping he wasn't trying to offer his services to him.

This is a bad idea.

His mind warned him.

He got closer to the end of the hallway.

You're going to get yourself killed.

He had to try.

By the time he reached the door at the end of the hall, he could feel his heart pounding against his ribs. There was no guarantee he was awake at this hour. But he doubted the radio demon slept, and he could hear soft jazz playing from beyond the door. Angel took a deep breath. Maybe he would regret this. Maybe the door would open and he would be torn apart for interrupting Alastor. Or...