The Crimson Wood (AlastorXAngel)

Cherri Bomb

   Angel sat back in one of the old couches annoyed by the turn of events. Everyone was was bustling around moving the equipment to get ready for the renovation team coming to start in the kitchen. He chewed on the tip of the cherry popsicle in his mouth murmuring under his breath that he wanted attention. Suddenly he looked up to see a looming shadow with long grey hair. Vaggie stood over him with an unamused frown, this was not the attention he wanted.

"What?" He popped the ice-cream from his mouth.

"You know you could give us a hand."

"And risk breaking these nails." He looked at his fingers in awe. "Sorry sweet cheaks I'm gonna have to take this one off."

   Husk appeared with a box of cutlery and a stern look simply saying. "You don't help us and you're sleeping alone tonight."

"What?!" He got up quickly. "No D?! Thats evil...... Maybe I'll go sleep with Alastor." He threatened.

"No thank you darling." Alastor called over a stack of plates.

"Just help us Angel." Husk walked off.

"Fine." The man gave in. "But I don't do anything for free."

   Angel soon joined in helping move the old flat tops, ovens, stoves, and fridges to another room. Luckily they were all on wheels so the job wasn't too hard. Somewhere in the midst of the cleaning the counter bell rang leading Charlie to help the customer. Angel leaned against the wall wiping the sweat from his brow as he took a sip from a bottle of water.

"This is going to scare the shit out of my kidneys." He joked to himself looking over the clear plastic before taking another drink.

  His quick break was soon interupted when a woman's voice startled him.

"Holy shit."

   His pink eyes flashed open as he turned around quickly to see a young woman with long wild yellow and pink hair. A playful grin crossed her lips as she looked the man over.

"Look at you, working hard, drinking water. You've really turned a new leaf." She walked closer.

"Hey, who let this hoe in!" Angel joked giving the girl a hug. "Cherri you little mynx what are you doing here?"

   Cherri's face grew grim for a moment as she remembered the nature of her visit. "Look Angie, Val-"

"Hey Angel." Niffty cut in. "Can you give me a hand moving the prep table."

"Hey I'll be right back, just go hang out somewhere I'll be quick." Angel said before following the young maid.

  Cherri bit her lip in concern until she was met up by Alastor. The girl raised a brow at the smiling man.

"Would you like to take a seat, perhaps a drink?" He said softly.

   She looked back at Angel still concerned feeling the need to tell him why she was there. Alastor followed her gaze tilting his head to the side.

"Or perhaps you could help me with picking out the new dishwear." He said taking her by surprise.

"Dishwear?" She turned back to him.

"It maybe better then sitting alone fretting for your friend." He said reading her expression.

"How did you..." Cherri paused watching the brunet. There was definitely something off about him but also something almost calming. "Maybe you're right." She agreed.

   The two left to sit at the bar with a large catalog while elsewhere Angel moved the large stainless steal prep table with the help of Niffty and Husk. They placed it down with the rest of the equiptment all letting out a sigh of relief.

"Are we done?" The blond sighed sitting on the table.

"I think we just need to sweep and start moving the food from fridge to the freezer." Charlie pointed out. The owner of the hotel saw her teams faces turn in exhaustion. "Well maybe we can take an hour for lunch." She recommended.

"Thank God." Angel leapt off the table. "But wait, all the equiptments gone." He looked to the stack of kitchen supplies.

"I'll order some Pizza." Vaggie said finally letting a smile cross her lips.

   This sentence lifted everyone's spirits as they all departed for the staff room. Angel split off in search for Cherri who he had almost forgotten about in the chaos. He went into the waiting room to find no one there. He then moved back to the front desk trying to think over where she would have gone. He walked past the balcony and soon found her sitting at the bar alongside Alastor. The two seemed to be having a good time. They were laughing and flipping through a large thick book.

"Well, well, well." He said coming up behind them. "Isn't this a surprise." He smirked as they turned around.

"Hey Angie, took you long enough." Cherri got off the stool.

"You were saying something earlier, you wanna go talk about it?" Angel pointed out.

   Cherri's expression changed once more looking back to Alastor. "Right, yeah. Let's go. It was good meeting you Alastor."

"You as well my dear. Oh and Cherri, don't forget about our little talk." He winked.

"No problem." She nodded.

   Angel looked at Alastor and back to Cherri wanting to ask what they were talking about but was soon swept away by the young woman. They left to the balcony where they both sat down and Angel got serious.

"Kay Cherri whats the deal?" He spoke up.

"Look dude, a lot happened while you were missing. Word on the street was that you were murdered and buried in the woods out do town. Arakniss told me otherwise and I knew you couldn't be dead." She began.

"Thinks I'm dead? Man that is gonna clear up a lot of problems for me." He chuckled laying back.

"Yeah, for you. That's what I'm saying Angie. You owe Valentino a shit fuck load of money." She reminded. "Valentino can't exactly go to the cops so he's gonna have to get someone else to come up with the money. And the only person he get get his grubby hands on is-"

"Molly!"