By The Light Of The Blood Moon

Suspicious Minds

"I can explain!" Alastor said as soon as they had walked a few steps from Angel's door.

"You're going to have to." stated Charlie, crossing her arms and looking up at Alastor, her eyes a mixture of confusion and accusation. "I gotta say, that whole situation looked pretty fucked up."

It was clear that she had misunderstood Alastor's intentions of being in Angel's room as a shadow. He knew that she was aware of his ability, but other than her, he was almost certain that no one else knew. Well, no one except of course, Husker and Niffty, but they weren't going to talk about it. They knew better. The problem now was going to be making Charlie understand what was going on so that she would know that he wasn't doing terrible things behind her back. They had almost made it all the way to her office before Alastor had managed to figure out the best way to explain this.

As she took a seat at her desk, she gestured for him to speak, not bothering to waste time with asking why.

"I know how it looked, Charlie, but I didn't do anything wrong." She tilted her head to one side, her mouth began to open, but Alastor held up a hand "please," he begged, "let me finish." She closed her mouth and nodded. "This has been a very long night for both Angel Dust and for me," he said, "and I think that we are both a little lost right now. I don't know all of what is going on here, but I can assure you that my intentions are pure, for once." He searched her face for any sign of recognition, but it was still unreadable. "I don't know how, but I have...feelings...inside" he began "for him. I think that I might be..."

"in love?" asked Charlie, comprehension spread across her face.

"I think that is a distinct possibility" he said, thankful that she had finished the sentence for him. Alastor wasn't sure that he would ever get used to the idea of feeling love for another soul in Hell. He had been here for longer than many of the demons that had been in and out of relationships. He had long ago, even as a human, written off the idea of romantic feelings for anyone. He had simply never met another person that made him feel these things. "I won't lie," he added slowly, even thoughtfully. "The idea frightens me a little. It makes me worry about being weakened." He realized as the words came out of his mouth that there was more truth there than he cared to admit. Alastor hated to lose at anything, and the only thing he hated as much as losing was being weak. He had spent his entire afterlife making himself not weak.

"Do you know when you started having these feelings?" asked Charlie gently, "was it tonight?" she added

"I am not...completely certain." he answered, not wanting to mention that he was feeling some of this prior to tonight. "I know that they have become stronger tonight, but I might have felt some attraction before now. Why?" he asked.

"Well," she said, drawing it out, "I think we need to have a meeting with Valentino, because I need to ask him some questions, and you and Angel should be there to hear his answers."

"I don't think that's very wise, Charlie" Answered Alastor, remembering the scene he walked into before the group pictures were taken. He hadn't had the chance to divulge that information to anyone, but he was certain that Angel was not going to be in the mental state to confront Valentino again this soon.

"If he confirms my theory," insisted Charlie "Angel will have to know."

"Let us speak to him first, then" offered Alastor, "and if need be, we can speak to Angel about it afterwards. There was an...let's call it an event...that you are not aware of this evening and if I hadn't been there to rescue Angel he would have had a much worse night."

A look of knowing crossed Charlie's face, mixed with anger, then calm. "Okay then. We can do that." she paused for a minute. "but this does not answer the question of what you were doing in Angel's room. Did he know you were in there?"

Alastor had hoped that she wouldn't come back to this again, but since she had, he decided to just tell her the truth. "Charlie" he said gently "I am going to tell you something that absolutely cannot leave this room. Not even Vaggie." He waited until she nodded her agreement before he continued. "I was watching Angel this evening, not in his room, this was earlier, he was outside with his pig, and I was outside on the roof, as is my habit of the night." Charlie looked surprised by this but nodded for him to continue. "Angel seemed very upset. I am almost certain that he was crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but something is wrong." He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I felt so empty inside, like part of me was missing, but when I was close to Angel Dust, that feeling went away, even if just a little. It became bearable. When I came back, I had to see him again, even if it was just to check on him and be sure he is alright. I had been in his room for a while, and yes, I watched him, which sounds terrible." he looked down for a moment, then continued. "He cried himself to sleep, Charlie. He was so miserable. I just couldn't leave him like that, so I stayed. When he started to mumble or shift, I would rub his head, and it seemed to comfort him." He looked back up at Charlie, his red eyes glistening a bit. "I just wanted to comfort him and myself. I will tell him tomorrow and if he is upset, then I will accept any consequence, but I had no choice. I had to be near him, even if just for a while."

Charlie smiled at him despite herself. "I can live with that. If it's any consolation, I think we will all have some answers tomorrow after we speak to Valentino, but I do want you to talk to Angel and let him know what happened. Okay?" Charlie smiled so sweetly. Alastor didn't like the idea of telling Angel, but she was right, he deserved to know.

"I will speak to him first thing tomorrow." he rose to leave. "And Charlie?" he waited until she looked up to him before continuing, "This stays between us, darling. Do we have a deal?" He held out his hand, the atmosphere in the room quickly changing and a wild breeze blowing through.

Charlie took his hand without hesitation. "Deal." she said simply, sealing the agreement between them.

With that, Alastor took his leave, roaming silently through the halls until he passed Angel's room, stopping long enough to lay his hand gently on the door, then continuing to his room, next door. He had enough time to freshen up before the day would begin in earnest. He decided to make the best possible use of the time.