Daughter Dearest

thirty-seven

Two days later, Venus woke up and a note had been slid under her door. She could tell just from the writing on the cover that it was from Lucifer. . . And she smiled the entire time she read it. 

Picking you up at 7 on Saturday, you gorgeous goddess. Be ready. 
— Lucifer. 
P.s. it doesn't matter what you wear, you'll be the most gorgeous in the room regardless. . . Just be comfortable. ♡

Venus read it twice more before tucking it away in her dresser, putting on one of her usual outfits, and heading downstairs for the day to begin. 

She pretended not to see Angel Dust sneaking away from the trust exercises, until he appeared at her side, just as she was slipping out the door to run a couple quick errands. 

“Where ya headed?” Angel questioned, one set of hands on his hips while the other motioned to the crowded streets of Pentagram City.  

“Just grabbing a few things — taking care of some business. . . Aren't you supposed to be bonding with the new residents?” Venus looked at him briefly before slipping into a corner store just down the road from the hotel. 

Bullet holes and blood stains decorated the walls — some shell casings even remained on the floor. . . By the scent of gunpowder lingering in the air, she had to guess the most recent shootout had been that morning, no less than an hour before. 

It seemed nobody had died. Shocker. But someone did get shot. . . Regardless, she was on a mission of sorts. 

“Eh, Charlie ain't gonna notice for a bit. That old coworker of mine that ditched like twenty years ago is giving her a run for her money. . . And she didn't wanna hear my ideas.” He snorted. “Her loss.” 

Venus hummed in acknowledgment as she scoured the aisles for what she was looking for. How fucking hard was it to find products that had been there for months? 

“Unbelievable.” She sighed as she reached the section where the feminine sanitary products usually were. There was nothing but an empty shelf. 

“You're out?” Angel inquired. “I know a place that's never out of shit like this.” 

“Not out yet, but very close. . . I'm beginning to sense the reason why the walls have new bullet holes.” Venus sighed, deciding it was best to move on. 

Asgardian cycles were much different than the regular earthly cycles, and even the very same ones that carried on to Hell and allegedly became worse than when they were alive as a part of the ‘punishment for sinning’. . .

While humans on Midgard typically experienced the basic twenty-eight day cycle, Asgardians experienced a one hundred eighty-two day cycle and bled only approximately twenty days out of the year, as opposed to the earthly average. . . But along with the ten day flow and hormone change, the ones who bore the gift of magic, lost it for the entire duration. 

Venus's cycle was due to begin the Monday after her date with Lucifer. . . Which was a Saturday. . . And it was Thursday. 

She typically went home to Asgard for them, to be seen by experienced healers if it became too much for her to handle alone, or she stayed in the Avengers Tower cooped up in her room. . . But neither was an option. 

Even with her Asmodean crystal, she didn't feel like attempting to travel whether it be via portal to go back to New York or the Bifrost to arrive in Asgard. . . Both would force her to face everyone. 

So this would be her first one in Hell. . . In a place where the weakest links were weeded out; where people wanted her dead and she could only trust a select few demons. 

Venus groaned, already dreading the days that would come after her plans; dreading being virtually powerless. She hated it. 

“Would you mind taking me to that place you mentioned, once I'm done here?” She asked Angel. 

He trailed behind her as she swept through the snack aisles. She'd have no energy to cook, so anything she got would be stored in her room, away from anyone who would dare touch her stuff. 

“I'll take you down there — you gonna be alright?” Angel watched her with concern etched on his face. He'd never seen the Asgardian goddess raid the aisles of a store. It was new. . . And as equally terrifying as it was entertaining. 

“Oh, yes, I'll be fine. . . I'm just grabbing ten days worth of items I could treat myself with.” Angel Dust stared incredulously at the rapidly accumulating pile. 

Before he could get a word in edgewise, she noticed the look of pure disbelief that thrusted her full force into explaining the cycle of an Asgardian — even an adopted one or a half Asgardian such as herself. . . Minus the whole powerless thing. 

Once her explanation was finished, Angel looked as if he had more questions than he started with, but dropped it because that whole conversation made his head begin to hurt. 

He stood guard while she bought everything and then she waved her hand over the many bags of goodies, each of them depositing themselves into a secret pantry in her room's closet, before they walked out the door with Angel leading the way to the next establishment. 

“So, what's going on with you these days? . . You seem happy. Does it have anything to do with a certain girls dad that you fucked on an overnight trip?” Angel Dust questioned, wiggling his eyebrows at the goddess.

Venus almost choked on her own saliva. The question was blunt — she didn't expect it in the middle of looking at which products would best suit her needs. 

Her gaze turned to Angel and she muttered a response. “Maybe. . . Maybe not.” 

The spider demon only cackled as Venus grabbed the best she could find on the shelf. . . She sighed, walking off. 

“Oh it does! Two of ya fuck again?” He came up behind her, talking in her ear so that no one passing by them in the store could hear. “Gettin’ hot n’ heavy with the short king in his new office? Husk told me he disappeared with you the other day.”

“Ang, I love you, I do, but if you ask about my romantic life in this establishment again, I won't tell you anything that's happening. . . Are we clear?” 

Angel gasped at the threat of not knowing what was going on in his friend's love life. “Fine.” He crossed his arms. “But I'm askin’ at the hotel. You gotta give me somethin’. Cherri hasn't texted me back in a few days, which is the new normal. . . So basically, I'm the most bored I've ever been in this Hellhole.” 

Sighing, Venus turned to face him. “I'll tell you at the hotel. . . But you'll have to keep it quiet.”

Angel grinned with a glint in his eyes. 
Oh, how Venus didn't like the look he gave her.