By The Light Of The Blood Moon

Uncertainty

"You didn't!" laughed Angel Dust as they approached the pillory where Valentino was still trapped. True to Alastor's word, there was no way for the overlord to escape. He was still trapped there, exactly the same as when Alastor had left him the afternoon prior.

Val himself had seen better days. His signature hat and sunglasses were missing, as well as his coat. The remnants of his fabulous red coat were still clinging to his arms, but it was otherwise missing. He looked as if the citizens of this part of town had taken full advantage of his predicament and dispensed plenty of schoolyard justice, judging by the cuts, scratches, gouges and bruises covering what could be seen of his body. It looked as if he might have suffered some broken bones, which had healed up already, of course, but since they hadn't been set he would have to get them re-broken to make them heal properly. Since most of his clothes were missing, Angel guessed that he had been physically used as well, which would have bothered Angel Dust more if he could have counted the amount of times Val had done the same or even worse to him over the years. Angel Dust didn't feel sorry for his former boss, not in the least. After what he had done to them and to Alastor at the ball, he was lucky to be in this hell instead of the next one. Angel was concerned, though, that Val would take his anger out on the people that had exacted this justice on him. He leaned over and whispered something in Alastor's ear, too quietly for anyone else to hear, but Alastor nodded to his partner that he had understood the message.

"Ah, Valentino, my good friend!" Alastor called out, approaching the pimp as an old friend, his voice cheerful and light, his grin giving away the malice behind the words."How are you this fine afternoon?"

"Fuck you," spat Valentino, "I'll kill you when I get out of this thing." he swore at Alastor.

"I'm certain you would try." Smiled Alastor, ignoring the insults. "But what if you never get out of this thing?" he added quietly. "I might just decide to leave you here." He leaned over, his head tilting and his eyes changing. The air around them became charged with a dark static as Alastor's antlers began to lenthen slightly. "Perhaps forever."

Valentino began to lose his nerve and fidget, still trying to work his way out of his predicament. "Let me out of this you bastard!" Valentino half yelled and half begged.

"Perhaps we can come to an...agreement?" Alastor said, returning to his normal self. "What can you offer me, my good fellow?"

"Whatever you want." grunted Valentino, "Just name your price."

"What I want?" questioned Alastor. "Whatever could you have that I would want?" He turned to walk away, holding his arm out for Angel to accompany him. "You'll have to do better than that." he called out over his shoulder as he was leaving.

"But how the hell can I do better than whatever you want?!?" demanded Valentino, his voice beginning to crack. Alastor turned to face him once more, stopping where he stood.

"That's your problem, little man. Not mine." He resumed his walk, Angel strolling along beside him, leaving Valentino once more at the crowd's mercy.

Arriving back at the hotel the two split up to complete their respective duties. Although Angel technically had today off, he still needed to let Nuggets out again and he planned to assist Alastor in making tonight's dinner for everyone. There was a sense of calm that had descended over the hotel, it was as if the two getting things out in the open with one another solved a lot of the stress that had been building between them.

After dinner was over, Charlie called the two of them out to the back garden to discuss "things" with them, as she had put it. Once Alastor and Angel were seated at the table with her, she began.

"We all know what the situation is here, and since this was exactly what I feared it might be, I called in an outside expert for the situation." By the look on her face Angel just knew that he wasn't going to like this expert.

"Oh yeah?" said Angel, trying to play it cool, "I thought that the curse couldn't be broken? What good will an expert do?" Alastor sat idle, his hand under his chin as he listened.

Charlie let out a long sigh. "It's Vox." she said reluctantly.

"Oh fuck me." cried Angel. "You have got to be kidding. He was part of the set up that got us into this. How do you figure to trust him?" Angel crossed his arms and looked away into the side of the back yard. Alastor still remained silent, his fist still sitting just under his chin, smiling as always, but not looking happy in the least.

"I know." sighed Charlie, looking down. "I know. Beleive me, he isn't my first choice either, but he does have knowlege of something that might work to break the curse, but there's a catch." She waited for Angel to look back to her face before continuing. It'll be two months before we can try." she grimaced on the last word, then quickly added "if you want to try, that is. You don't have to, and there's no guarantee that it will work even if you do try, but there is the option."

Alastor hadn't said a word, and that was beginning to worry Angel Dust more than just a bit. He wished that they could go back to the way they felt when they were alone earlier in the wood. Things had felt right then, and now everything was wrong. Angel realized that he needed to get away, by himself. He stood up, excused himself, then bolted upstairs to his room. Once inside he fell directly into his bed, lying on his stomach and sobbing. He didn't know what he should do, on the one hand, he loved Alastor and had fallen for him before this whole dance business. On the other hand, if Alastor chose him just because of this moon stuff, how could he trust that Alastor truly loved him and wasn't just influenced by some curse? What if Alastor grew to resent Angel Dust? He was nothing to be excited about, just a sex worker, and who would want that?

As he heard Fat Nuggets snuggle down in his little bed on the floor, Angel curled up into a ball and cried. He felt so alone and wanted Alastor so desperately, but he was sure Alastor would need some time to think as well, and who wants a clingy boyfriend anyway?

Hell, thought Angel. I need a damn drink.