By The Light Of The Blood Moon

No Knot Unties Itself

Alastor and Vaggie had checked at Cherri's, there was no Angel. On the bright side, Cherri was there and she was willing to assist in the search. She and Vaggie decided that they would go downtown and that left uptown for Alastor to search. He knew that he could go and pick up Valentino to assist, but at this point he could use the portals and move much more quickly on his own. 

Alastor didn't know anyone else that Angel might have gone to, so he started looking the in the clubs along the way that he knew Angel liked to frequent. Each time, he came up empty. He was wandering in the streets, checking in the back alleys that he knew Angel had been seen previously, but he wasn't in any of those places either. 

Alastor felt as if he had been combing the city all day and had no results. Everywhere he looked, no one had seen Angel. He was losing hope and had already lost patience. He opened a portal to the hotel to check in there. Maybe he should invest in a hellphone. He could see how one might be useful right about now, if he could figure out how to use it. 

When he arrived at the hotel, he was surprised to see Cherri and Vaggie were already there. They should have been searching for much longer than he was, seeing as how he was using his powers to move around and they were on foot. It was then that he noticed that the mood in the room was strange, and that everyone seemed to be looking at him expectantly, as if they might all be in on a secret that he was left out of. He looked to Charlie, who was standing behind the couch next to Vaggie. "What's going on?" he asked hesitantly, "has someone heard from Angel?" 

Charlie nodded her head, and it seemed like everyone in the room was still looking at Alastor. The tension in the room was palpable, and the static rising from Alastor was increasing in volume and becoming less defined, which was only making everyone else more tense. Charlie handed a note to Alastor. 

Alastor knew that absolutely every eye in the room was watching him, and although he could feel his heart pounding, and although even he was aware that the static was growing ever louder, ever more undefined, he could do nothing to stop his emotions. He folded the note and slipped it into his inside jacket pocket, then quickly walked away from the room full of people and made his way to Charlie's office, pulling Valentino right along with him. 

"What's he playing at, Val?" demanded Alastor, his patience sapped before he even began.

"Baby, I been here. I don't know..." Alastor had already snatched Valentino up by the throat with a thick, black tentacle that seemed to materialize from nowhere. 

"Don't" bellowed Alastor, before catching himself and lowering his voice to a growl, "don't waste my time with nonsense." When he was certain that Valentino understood his seriousness, the tentacle set Valentino on his feet, his hands immediately rubbing his adam's apple. "We have a deal, remember?" It might have been a question, but it was issued as a threat. "Now, what is he planning?" 

Valentino slumped into the chair in front of the desk. "He'll take me out, man, you know that, right? I ain't much help to you, even with a deal, if I'm dead." He looked at Alastor pleadingly. 

Alastor considered the words and quickly arrived at a decision. "I am capable of protecting you. We have a deal, so you belong to me." He leaned forward, his neck snapping to the left and his eyes and antlers changing into the more demonic form. "Furthermore, he can't kill you if I do it first. You need to remember the terms of our agreement, my dear"

Valentino's color had become instantly more pale, and his eyes went wide. "Okay...Oookay...let's not get too excited here." he stumbled, getting his thoughts together. "He needs for you two to undo the curse. He says it's too risky for you both to be linked to each other...something about the soul transfer having unintended side effects." 

This was a most interesting piece of information. If there were side effects that concerned Vox, then it must mean that somehow they would be stronger as a pair, threatening Vox and his plans somehow. Alastor was turning this over in his mind when Valentino opened his mouth to pass along more information.

"And as long as we're talking about side effects," he said, "you need to understand that when the curse is broken, you will both forget everything that happened at that dance. It'll be like none of it ever happened. Your feelings for one another will be exactly as they were before the dance." 

Alastor wasn't certain, but he thought that he saw the hint of a smirk crawling its way up Valentino's face. Little did he or Vox know that Angel and Alastor had already been developing feelings for each other before the dance ever happened. Alastor was certain that given the proper amount of time, those feelings would certainly blossom on their own. He wasn't worried about that in the least. He loved Angel then, he would still love Angel afterwards, and in either case, Valentino wasn't going to get Angel in any instance because Alastor was going to see to that himself. 

"Well then," he said brightly. "Looks like I need to prepare for a dance then, doesn't it?" He rose and made his way upstairs, sending Valentino back to the bar until it was time to leave. He had something important to attend to before it was time to rescue his Angel, and this task simply couldn't wait.