Snow Angel (Alastor x OC)

•{Chapter 5}•

Trapped in Her Own Mind

Once everyone in the hotel was awake, Harlene decided to finally leave her room in one of the new dresses she'd gotten with Alastor the night before. The silvery-blue dress reached just past her knees and sleeves climbed down her arms to end at her wrists, but it was off-shoulder with tiered ruffles at the top. She had pale blue tights on alongside her usual brown boots. It hugged Harlene's body perfectly, showing off her curved hips as she wandered into the elevator. Although, since it was knitted like a jumper, Harlene felt entirely comfortable in it. In fact, Harlene could wear it to bed if she finally became too tired to avoid the inevitability of falling asleep.
Just as the elevator doors were about to shut, a pink-gloved hand shot through the gap and made the doors pull apart again so that the spider-like demon, Angel Dust, could slip into the elevator beside Harlene. Then, the doors closed, and Harlene peeked at Angel Dust as he applied a rose-gold eyeshadow to his eyelids whilst looking into a pocket mirror. He then spotted her staring in the mirror and snapped it closed, smirking as he rested his attention onto her.

"Hey, pig whisperer," he greeted playfully. "Ready for day one of being a goody-two-shoes for the big guy upstairs?"

"I hope so," Harlene replied with a nervous smile.

Angel Dust elated, "So ya can smile! Thank fuck. I thought I was gonna be stuck with some debbie downer for the rest of my time in this sappy hotel." As the doors opened, he then strutted out and added briskly to her, "Nice dress, by the way."

"Th-Thanks!" she mewed after him whilst stepping into the reception, then flinched as Vaggie blocked her path. "Oh. Good morning, Vaggie-"

"I was just going to go upstairs to wake you," Vaggie told her, then lowered her voice in a serious manner, "and talk to you."

"Really? Why?"

"Not here," she hissed, squinting towards the bar where Alastor was being meaninglessly slandered by a drunken Husk.

Instantly, Vaggie swerved around Harlene and headed towards the corridor where the offices were, with Harlene following as speedily as she could. She was brought into Vaggie's office, which was located opposite to Charlie's. It was much gloomier and emptier than Charlie's, consisting of only a work desk where important files were alphabetically ordered in a black desk holder. Plus, a seat that Vaggie didn't sit in. Instead, as soon as she locked the door once Harlene was in the room with her, Vaggie turned to the pale demoness with her hands pressed together and a concerned, disturbed look plastered over her face.

"I assumed that I wouldn't have to give you any warnings when you arrived because of the way you rightfully reacted to seeing the Radio Demon here in the hotel, but it seems like I was wrong," Vaggie mumbled. "But first, I need to make sure he wasn't lying when he was boasting about it earlier this morning. So, tell me: did you befriend the Radio Demon?"

Harlene held onto her own arm anxiously and uttered, "Yes, I did."

"¡Maldito sea!" she yelled, tugging at her white locks. "Do you plan on getting yourself killed - again?!"

Honestly, Harlene couldn't give Vaggie a straightforward answer. Somewhere in the darkest part of her mind, maybe she still felt the same numbness she had when she'd tried to get the exterminators to slay her all those years ago. Perhaps, Harlene did have a death wish. But Harlene refused to think too deeply on that thought, not wanting to admit the fact that she probably did have a severe inner problem because that would mean she would eventually have to admit this to the other demons at the hotel who were already going to be swamped with trying to get her soul to Heaven. She didn't want to be any more of a burden than she possibly already was.
Luckily for Harlene, the question had proved rhetorical as Vaggie gave her no time to actually respond.