cupid clearly hates me.

[ 4 ]

"And here we are! The magical, graceful, icy wonder known as... waaait for it... Victor Aire Ice Arena!"

Although Alastor's voice was full of thrill and excitement, you were nothing but confused. Staring up at the broad, flickering yellow sign that sat above the metal double doors of the building, you combed your fingers through your hair and sighed quietly. "An ice arena?"

Alastor nodded, his head bobbing up and down like a bobble head. He took both of your shoulders in his hands and turned you so that you were facing him, forcing you to lend him your undivided attention. "Trust me, dearie. That's not all it is."

"Hang on, hang on. Why is there an ice arena in hell?" you ask with a frown, your eyes dancing from Alastor, to the building, back to Alastor.

"Just wait, my love, you will see. Come, follow me."

So you followed him. He opened the door for you with a gentlemanly smile, allowing you step inside.

It was indeed a place made for ice skating. There was a large metal counter top sitting right in front of you, which looked like it had once served as a sign-in area. It was blocking your view from the rest of the room, so you walked through a small silver metal gate beside the counter. The bottoms of your shoes found an ugly brown carpet, stiff with age, but that wasn't the first thing you noticed about the place. The first think you noticed was that it was totally empty... of people. The rink itself had been covered with a thin, see-through tarp, and the ice below it had melted, resulting in a pool only about half a foot deep. There was an assortment of benches, vending machines (for both food and drugs, oddly enough), and flickering florescent lights, but still, zero demons.

Alastor's voice came out of nowhere, emitting no further than an inch away from your ear. "It's abandoned."

Was that all it was? An abandoned ice skating rink? No, there had to be more.

"You know, it was only up and running for about a month, and then it shut down. You know why? Because nobody ever came! Can you believe that? Because I sure can," Alastor said, stepping around you to walk deeper into the vast room. "But here's the catch. Since it is, in fact, abandoned, nobody comes to search the place or anything! So... we have it all to ourselves."

It still didn't fascinate you nearly as much as it fascinated Alastor. Just as you were about to suggest leaving, he pressed a single finger against your lips and flashed you an all-too-charming grin. "Let me finish."

Right then, you felt your heart nearly burst with lust. In that quick moment, that single second when his finger had connected with your lips, you had a sudden acknowledgement of how impossibly attractive Alastor was.

So you decided that you would hear him out.

"This isn't all of it," Alastor continued, walking deeper into the place, staying on the carpeted area. You were staring at his back when the long, skinny cane materialized out of thin air and came to fall into the palm of his hand. At the end of it, there was what looked like an old fashioned microphone. Vaggie's voice rang in your head: He's known as the Radio Demon. He swiveled around, the trim of his flared red suit jacket twirling in the air. "It gets better!"

You followed him as he turned back around, going all the way to the furthest wall of the building. This area was much darker, for most of the few lights that were strewn about on the ceiling of the section were completely blown out, unlike the lights closer to the entrance. As you met Alastor's smug gaze, you saw that his eyes glowed like twin red bulbs in the darkness.

"Your eyes," you whispered, talking a couple of steps closer to him.

He blinked slowly. "Something you like about them, my love?"