Daughter Dearest

fourteen

The moment Venus got to her hotel room, she laid down on the bed, closed her eyes, and breathed out a sigh of relief. 

She felt bad for ditching Charlie and Vaggie. . . And turning down the opportunity to go to the zoo, but she needed a small break from everything. The cheerful energy was to be expected, but it was far more than she expected and it was draining. 

Venus tuned out the voices across the hall, attempting to rest until the meeting. She had hope that Charlie could get her point across — hell, Venus wasn't even sure why she was there other than for moral support. 

Just as she was on the edge of sleep, her phone vibrated, bringing her back from the edge. She groaned and fished both of her devices out of her pocket, just to figure out which one was the culprit. 

It became evident when she saw a notification with Lucifer's name lighting up the screen of the phone that she had for her Hellish contacts. Odd. 

Where are you? The message read. 

Venus furrowed her eyebrows and typed a response. 
Heaven.
Why?

She watched the bubble pop up and disappear a few times over the span of the next two minutes, before finally Lucifer's response came through.

We need to talk when you get back. It's urgent. 

She typed up her reply quickly, only becoming more confused as seconds passed by. 
How urgent? 

We'll talk when you get back. Came the reply that had Venus groaning in frustration. 

Okay? She sent in response. The message was opened immediately, but left unanswered as she finally clicked off the device. 

Venus dropped the phone on the silk sheets and groaned once again before shutting her eyes and hoping to get some much needed rest. 

★†★

Venus was woken up just shy of two hours later by Charlie knocking on her door. Looking in the mirror, she quickly noticed that her demonic features had made an appearance during her nap. 

For the second time in less than twelve hours, she forced herself to look more human — to look ‘normal’.

Slipping both of her phone's back into her pocket, she fixed her hair and straightened out her dress before opening the door to reveal Charlie, Vaggie, and Emily all waiting for her. 

“Sorry for the hold up.” She smiled nervously, the feeling of unease weighing heavily as they began to walk down the hall towards the elevator. 

“Oh! It's no problem!” Emily giggled, smiling broadly at Venus. The young seraphim was growing on her, much like Peter and Charlie did. . . Venus soon had the realization that there was a possibility that she could be a serial adopter, with as many people she cared for as her own. 

Once they were outside, Venus really looked at Vaggie for the first time since they parted ways, noting the way she was becoming more fidgety the closer they got to their destination. 

Trepidation ate away at both of them — some were more transparent with their worry than others. 

They entered another building not too far away and were soon seated in the angelic courtroom. . . Immediately, Venus put on her mask, per se, which allowed her to come off as cold and calculated on Asgard. 

She could only hope that her sharp steel eyes would give the right impression. . . That they were there on business.

“Oh no. Not him again!” Charlie groaned as a man walked past.