Chapter Text
He was here again. Sitting at the bar while Alastor chatted with Mimzy at their table. Alastor never looked, never indicated he was paying attention, but after Mimzy pointed him out the first day, Alastor had been watching.
The demon was a newer arrival, one with a funny little box for a head. Mimzy called it a television, said it was like a movie screen but smaller. One of her boyfriends was a new arrival himself and knew something of the technology, or so she said.
Alastor didn’t care about the technology, but he was interested in the Sinner himself.
Six months of stalking, and the man had yet to say a word to Alastor. He looked at him often, watched him from afar, but he never came over to introduce himself or otherwise indicate what exactly he wanted.
It was intriguing.
“Oh, is he here again?” Mimzy asked. She knocked back her drink. “I dunno, Alastor, maybe you should just ask him what he wants? Maybe he likes you. Maybe he’s shy!” She laughed like that was the best joke she’d ever heard.
Alastor hummed. “I have been considering the merits,” he admitted. “I do find myself curious.” He felt the man’s eyes on him again, his attention setting his hair on end. “And if he bores me, I can always just kill him.”
“That’s the spirit, Al! Lemme know how it goes.” She paused. “Oh, and I might be gettin’ lucky tonight, so don’t wait up.” Mimzy winked and fixed her dress before making eyes at a demon across the bar.
The demon in question responded quickly, coming to Mimzy as though she’d given him an engraved invitation.
“Have fun, dear. I’ll call you tomorrow if anything interesting happens.” Alastor slipped away, as her new beau approached, letting the shadows obscure his path.
As he approached the television-headed demon, his quarry was looking around, something almost frantic in the movement. After a moment’s fruitless search, he slumped on his barstool, disappointment carved into every line of him.
Did he look this crestfallen every time Alastor left? How charming. It wasn’t every day he met a Sinner who so clearly advertised their every emotion.
“Is this seat taken?” Alastor asked him, voice low and intimate as he slid into the seat beside the demon without waiting for an affirmative.
The demon yelped and nearly fell off his stool. His screen flickered before clarifying into a simple, yet handsome face. “Wh—Um, no, it’s not, um…” He cleared his throat. “It’s not taken,” he said, quiet and indeed bashful.
Alastor leaned on the bar and waved for a drink. The bartender slid him another Manhattan. “I couldn’t help but notice you watching me, and I must say, I find myself intrigued. What is it that you want with me?”
“Want?” the man asked, swallowing thickly. “Um, I don’t, uh, I mean—I’ve heard a lot of rumors about you, and I, um, I wanted to meet you for myself.” He shook himself, and a wide smile spread across his face as he thrust out his hand. “My name is Vox.”
“Alastor,” he provided, shaking his hand. “There. You’ve met me for yourself, so what happens now?” He let his grin turn a little sharper.
Vox’s screen turned fuzzy again. “Oh, I—I mean, I never actually… I don’t know,” he admitted. “I just really admire you and your work.”
Alastor blinked.
Six months of stalking, and he didn’t have a plan? No thought on what to do when he made his introduction?
He laughed, bright and delighted. “You are an odd one, aren’t you?” He leaned on one hand. “Most people who follow me around are out to kill me or else they want something they think that I can give them.”
“F-F-F-Follow you?” Vox’s eyes darted away, panic crossing his flickering features.
Alastor laughed again. “You are a dreadful liar. You really ought to work on that. Someone less indulgent might take advantage.”
Vox slumped, defeated. “How long have you known?”
“My friend noticed you watching me from this spot about six months ago, and I’ve noticed you in my vicinity frequently beyond that.” Alastor grinned when Vox paled. “So, based on your expression, I’ve known the whole time?”
“I am sorry. I was trying to work up the courage to say something, but…” Vox looked down, fidgeting with his glass. “You’re a little intimdating, being the Radio Demon and all.”
Alastor thought of Mimzy’s little trick, making eyes from across the bar, inviting someone over with only a flirtatious look. Perhaps it was a more effective trick than he realized. Perhaps it had even worked on him.
“Never you mind. You’ve given my friend and I something interesting to talk about these last few months, so there’s no harm done.” Alastor looked him over again. “Is that an antenna?”
Vox lifted a hand to his head and nodded. “Television is a broadcast medium, so the antennas pick up the transmitted images.”
Alastor’s eyebrows rose. “You mean to say that head of yours picks up radio signals?”
Vox blinked. “I guess? Hadn’t really thought about it.”
Alastor tilted his head to one side, pulling a song from the air and sending it curling toward his antennas. The music began to play from what must be built-in speakers.
Vox jolted, eyes wide, a spark shooting off one of his antenna. The scent of ozone rose and fell, a sense of power brushing just over Alastor’s skin, tingling whereever it touched. Alastor could almost taste it.
“What the hell was that?” Vox muttered.
“How very interesting.” Alastor finished his drink, mind racing as he came to an admittedly impulsive decision. “You’re new to Hell, aren’t you?”
“A bit, yes.” Vox blinked, thrown off rhythm. “Why?”
“Do you have consistent lodgings yet? A job?”
Vox winced. “Consistent would be a strong word.”
“Excellent. As it happens, I’ve been bored lately, and you, my dear, are interesting. If you’d like, I’m willing to take you under my wing for a time. Show you the ropes as it were.” Alastor’s smile stretched beyond rational limits. “Are you interested?”
Vox swallowed thickly, eyes dropping to Alastor’s mouth before he nodded, quick and eager. “Yes! I would really—I’d love that. You’d really help me out like this?”
“Only for as long as you interest me, my friend. Eternity is longer than even the poets could have imagined.” He pushed to his feet, tossing enough money on the bar to clear his and Vox’s tab. “Now, come along. I’ll get a room set up for you. You can pick up your things in the morning, and then we’ll see what you can do.”
“Thank you, Alastor.” Vox beamed, somehow brighter than any of his smiles before. “You won’t regret this!”
Somehow, Alastor thought as they walked toward his apartment, Vox chattering away like a floodgate had been opened, he didn’t think he would.