The Heart's Content

Chapter 79

"You and Alastor sure are close." She said.

"We're as thick as thieves." He replied. "Always have been, always will be."

'Yeah I noticed. But can I ask you something? How exactly does your friendship work?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well he just seems so conservative and you're obviously liberal, so how is it that you never drifted apart? What makes your bond so strong?"

"Well for starters toots, we're not as different as you think. We both grew up in a household of abuse, we both have a sister who we would give up anything for, we both love performing and music, we both have a rebellious streak, and we both struggle to connect with anyone romantically."

"How so?"

"When you grow up in abuse, it makes it hard for you to want to get close to enough new. Especially when you're young. Smiles and I didn't really want to fall in love when we were teenagers, so we avoided it. Albeit in different ways. He avoided it by never dating and I avoided it by only caring about sex. In truth, he's the longest relationship I've had with anyone outside my family. Arguably the healthiest. You know he never treated any different for being a pansexual, something my father and brother were guilty of, and then later he saved my life."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was an addict, I was a living nightmare. I stole money from my siblings, I got into fights, almost stabbed a man for his wallet, soon it got so bad that my brother threatened to call the police on me if my sister wouldn't throw me out."

"Oh my God." She said in horror. "Your own brother did that to you?"

"Yeah, but he was right to make Molly do that. If he didn't then it would only be a matter of time before I would try to stab her to feed my habit. For months I lived on the streets, eating garbage, willing to do anything to get high. I was a dead man walking, then one day I saw a nicly dressed man come out of the supermarket and I tried to mug him. I pulled a knife on him but he disarmed me and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was at his place and on his couch, and I realized that the guy was Al. I was too high to recognize him and I actually tried to kill him."

To this day it still made Angel shudder how far he almost went.

"I almost killed the only person besides Molly who ever gave a damn about me. That's what finally snapped me out of it. I expected to Alastor to call the cops but he didn't. Part of him suspected that I was a lost cause but he still wanted to help me. He could see beneath the filth, the drugs, and the booze. He saw me the way God sees me. So after convincing Molly to take care of Beth for awhile, he got me into rehab and moved in with me to make sure I'd attend every meeting, and he stayed by my side when I went through withdrawl. He talked me down, told me that I was a good person and that I was better than this. Stronger than this. Honestly I don't think I would have been able to get clean without him."

Vaggie suddenly felt a terrible amount of guilt wrap around her heart and squeeze it so tight that she could hardly breathe. That was the kind of man Alastor was? Someone who was so loyal and compassionate that he'd help his drug addicted friend get clean even after he tried to pull a knife on him? Vaggie couldn't possibly help Valentino trap a man like that. She'd never be able to live with herself if she did. Yes she and Husk would be free but their freedom would come at the cost of someone else's. Someone who, unlike them, was wise enough not to fall for Val's tricks. It wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't be right.

"Hey what's wrong?" Angel asked noticing that her eyes were now brimming with tears.

"Nothing." She swallowed a sob. "That's just a really sad and touching story. I don't really meet a lot of people like that in my world. They're all so selfish and dishonest."