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Chapter Text

If she'd known this was how this meeting was going to go, Charlie would've turned down her father's offer to take his place at the Heaven Embassy. Listening to Adam blather on and on about his sexual conquests while he tanked a plate of ribs hadn't been on her bingo card for the year, but here she was, doing exactly that. It was giving her a migraine. In the chair beside her, Vaggie was glaring daggers at the angelic duo and had been since they'd revealed themselves, but it didn't even seem to deter Adam in the slightest.

 

Charlie buried her hands in her hair and stared down at the gleaming table her elbows were propped on, looking unseeingly into the warped and slightly cloudy reflection of her own eyes as her sanity spiraled past even the Seventh Ring of Hell itself. She could tell he was getting heated about yet another woman he'd slept with, and she didn't know if she could realistically handle listening to his voice anymore if this was what he insisted on talking about.

 

“...and when you take a bitch out for the fifth fucking time, she still expects you to pick up the check, but you're like,” her eye twitched and her tail curled as he threw his voice into a mocking imitation of the female voice, “‘Hey, I thought you wanted equalit-’”

 

“No!” Charlie groaned, slamming her hands down on the table and pushing herself to stand, startling Adam into finally shutting up. “I'm talking about our shared problem. Of overpopulation in Hell!” She said, speaking slowly and enunciating as if he were a child. The angel blinked a few times before his eyes went wide and a quiet “ohhhhh” escaped him, like he was just now registering what she meant. Seeing that they were finally on the same page, Charlie's shoulders slumped with relief, and she smiled, retaking her seat.

 

“Oh yeah, no. That's not a problem!” He said with a chuckle, and although his tone was still light and cheerful as he spread his arms with a grin, something about it made Charlie's own smile melt slowly. “We got that shit handled already. Lute,” Adam snapped his fingers and turned around to address the exorcist standing behind him, “how many shit stains did you kill this year?” Cold dread ran down Charlie's spine when she realized that, no, they were most definitely not on the same page regarding the Exterminations and disgust raised her hair along her neck and arms, her tail shivering anxiously, at Adam's excitement when he heard the number. A somewhere in the multiple hundreds. “Awesome job, Dangertits! Pound it.”

 

“What? No, not awesome!” She snapped as she watched Adam and Lute fist bump, standing once more and ignoring Vaggie's gentle voice reminding her to keep her head. Charlie knew her appearance had changed to be more demonic if the slight incline of Adam's head paired with his slow blink and Lute's unimpressed stance, if Vaggie’s put-upon groan and soft sigh of her name, were any indication. Although she took a calming breath and forced her transformations to recede, her anger was far from quelled. In fact, this all just made her angrier. “Those are my people. You do know that, right?” Charlie hoped the emphasis was enough to get through to them both. Not that she thought being demon royalty would do much for her in angelic affairs, but maybe it'd keep Adam from being such a dick when he talked about Hell's denizens. Something she thought most often overlooked or forgot or ignored altogether because of her, arguably softer, features and bleeding heart was that she wasn't an average hellborn or demonic citizen; she was the princess, and, despite her holy blood, every death —from the youngest hellhound to the oldest overlord— hurt her to her core. Reminded her brutally of the punishment being inflicted on her people because of her parents’ choices, a punishment she'd been trying to rectify for years.

 

“Oh, yeah, that's right.” The First Man said, his voice seeming to be genuinely remorseful, before he snorted and covered his mouth. “Must suck for you!”

 

And now he was laughing, wonderful. Renewed anger made her gut boil, but Charlie curled her fingers into the polished metal table to refrain from further losing her temper, the knowledge she'd pass through his hologram and eat shit, and lose her fickle audience with Heaven being the only things that kept her from giving into the primordial urge to lunge at the other. Only once she felt the solid steel of the meeting table bend in her grip like wet molding clay did she finally feel calm enough to respond. “These are souls.” Charlie argued through gritted teeth, throwing her arm to the side to pointlessly gesture to the window, barely keeping from whipping her tail and gnashing her fangs. “Human souls, just like the ones you have in Heaven.”

 

“They are not the same.” Came a cold, nearly robotic response from behind Adam, the exorcist mask making the voice come out hollow and tinny and hard for Charlie to land on a gender for the petite soldier. The black LED screen was frozen in a cruel wide grin with matching crossed-out eyes, the white lines of the mock face jagged and exaggerated as if whoever had designed it had been in the middle of a fit of rage. The expression, coupled with the emotionless soldier wearing it, was no doubt horrifying to a scared demon in their final moments as they were slain during the Darkest Day. To Charlie, however, it evoked a different emotion. Anger. And a lot of it. “They had their chance to make the right choices, and they earned eternal damnation through their actions.” The angel said, mask glitching briefly as their tone shifted slightly to show their disgust. It was subtle, but Charlie had been around demons her entire life, had been around Sinners and hellborns alike, who mocked her for her angelic blood and hybrid nature, and she felt confident in her ability to guess when she was being viewed as the shit on the bottom of a shoe.

 

Her hands tightened into fists at the angel's words, at their tone, and she shook her head. “No. You're wrong.” Charlie growled. “Sure, Sinner made mistakes, but haven't we all?” When Lute's mask glitched once more, she knew her argument was falling on deaf ears.

 

“Angels don't make mistakes.” Lute said slowly, leaning in slightly and tilting their head to the side as if to look just off to Charlie's right, though she couldn't be sure with the stagnant mask. Charlie could name at least one angel that did make a mistake in the eyes of Heaven, but… considering how that angel was her father, she doubted using him as her defense would go over well. She thought she heard Vaggie make a noise at Lute's words, but it was too quick, too quiet, for Charlie to be sure, let alone be able to decipher the meaning. Before she could start to turn and check on her friend, to see if something was in fact wrong, Adam nodded in agreement and insisted that he'd never made a mistake, and Charlie rolled her eyes, snorting in disbelief at the First Man's words. Out of everyone to feign innocence-. The sight of her obvious contempt for their boss made Lute's wings fluff slightly in offense, voice noticeably harder than before even with the mask's filtering. “The only reason you're here, alive and well still, is because your daddy insisted on you being pardoned from the Exterminations.” The anger in Lute's voice, as well as their words, made Charlie's tail wrap around her leg with discomfort as the angel stalked toward her. She'd always suspected Lucifer had his hand in the Exterminations, he never went out of his way to stop them despite easily having the power alone to do so, but having it practically confirmed he fully allowed them made her chest burn with betrayal. After all, he had to have known about them for her to be pardoned, right? “How does that feel?” Lute sneered, circling behind her like a shark as they made their way back to Adam's side of the table. “Knowing how little your people truly matter?” Charlie flinched slightly at the jab, her words from moments before being thrown right back in her face. She swallowed but said nothing, folding in on herself slightly as her already fragile confidence crumbled further.

 

An awkward quiet filled the Embassy after Lute returned to their place behind Adam, holding their head up high as they obviously preened over the fact they'd beaten her down more. “Welp,” the seated angel sighed after a moment more, picking at his teeth nonchalantly and leaning back with disinterest, “almost outta time, sweetheart. You should probably get into it.” That had perked Charlie up instantly. Finally, a chance to speak without an angel shutting her down and sneering at her, and she bolted down to his side of the table within seconds, shoving a chair out of her way so she could stand even closer to the angel before he could change his mind. Vaggie’s kind but firm hands landing on her shoulders and physically walking her back a few steps was the only thing keeping her from practically crawling into Adam's rib cage with excitement and nerves for her pitch.

 

Charlie cleared her throat, took a slow grounding breath, and smoothed out any miniscule wrinkles in her blazer anxiously before twisting her hand in small circles over the table in front of her, as if she was stirring an invisible cauldron with her finger, to summon her various notes. Notes ready and hands now clasped before her, Charlie gave the two angels a smile. “I'd like to start off by saying thank you for agreeing to have an audience with me! I know you were supposed to meet with my- um, with Lucifer for this meeting, and just know, we both appreciate your understanding regarding the fact he couldn't be present today.” As she spoke, Charlie sifted through the pile and removed various sheets of paper quickly —a practiced move from all the times she'd rehearsed this exact scenario in the hopes she could get her father to give her, her dream, the time of day— before setting the small stack on the table and using a single finger to slide the reading material two and a half feet, leaning over as she did so and ignoring Vaggie's disapproving tongue click at the display, until it stopped inches from Adam's hand. His hand twitched minutely, and as his head angled downward toward the papers, she corrected her position quickly. “As for the context, I apologize for changing the course of this meeting in comparison to the past. I'll be the first to admit I'm not very up-to-date on what happens in these meetings, so I hope you don't mind me talking about a potential project I'd love the opportunity to get off the ground and could really use your, Heavens, help with instead!

 

“We're all aware Hell's population is a little… erm, overflowing, and the situation isn't exactly ideal regarding Sinners, but but! If there was a place these wayward souls could go without mockery, could gather with like-minded individuals, could bond over a shared goal, then I believe there's an amazing chance they could be redeemed and join you in Heaven!” Stamping down her embarrassment at using an image she'd drawn by hand, a drawing that she'd never intended to use with strangers, much less angels, Charlie presented a picture of smiling demons and angels holding hands under a rainbow. Not like not showing it would matter; everything she would be showing was in that stack she'd given him… that he couldn't interact with. Fuck. She'd forgotten he wasn't actually here again.

Nervously, and with her cheeks considerably warmer, she set the paper down face up halfway between her and the angels. “This could take care of multiple problems, both for Heaven and Hell. For starters, and most glaringly, Hell's population and, as a result, the damages post-Extermination. Obviously, if Sinner genuinely sought and gained redemption, the population would go down as a result, and the economy would get the stabilization it so desperately needs. From the decrease in mouths to feed to fewer repairs needed across Pride from post-Extermination Turf Wars, to even increased jobs for the Hellborns!” Charlie chirped, holding up multiple graphs, charts of data, and statistical analyses that showed the near neck-breaking increase in population of Hell since the nineteen forties, these sheets joining the drawing on the table. “On another note, you guys, the angels. I can only imagine how annoying the annual trip must be, especially since you said earlier that you don't like coming down here. I know it's just once a year, but none of you should have to fly down here and waste hours in a place you despise!” She gestured to Adam as she spoke, whose shoulders twitched slightly in a shrug at her words. “In short, if Sinner got redeemed and joined you in Heaven, you wouldn't have to even think about Hell or Sinner anymore, and that would be a chore you could put away for good, not just sweep under the rug. My proposal is the Hazbin Hotel, a sort of halfway house and redemption center for Sinners of all kinds, of every background and sin, to come and try for a chance at betterment!” Charlie unfolded a sixth —or was this the seventh at this point?— piece of paper and showed them a photograph of the hotel covered in stickers and glitter, a smile on her face. “We already have a patron working toward redemption right now, and he's making really solid progress. I think if you just gave us a couple-”

 

“I'm gonna stop you right there, baby-cakes. I think we've heard enough.” Adam interrupted pointedly as he got to his feet. If she was being honest, Charlie was surprised he managed to wait as long as he did before cutting her off, but it didn't stop the sting of mild embarrassment at both his nickname for her and obvious lack of interest in what she was saying. She chuckled softly, discomfort and anxiety keeping her silent as Adam continued. “Am I… hearing you right? Nah, I can't be because it almost sounds like you're saying that we should let Sinners climb the ladder of redemption and let them into Eternal Inheritance." He leveled her with a scathing look, then scoffed, causing her to flinch at the harsh sound. “You're actually implying we shouldn't kill these miserable pieces of shit because, what, you drew a couple of pictures and said pwetty pwease?” The angel let out a humorless chortle at the implication and shook his head, lifting himself in the air with a single flap of his giant golden wings to land on the table, leering down at her with a razor-sharp glare. “Sorry, sweetie, but you can't change fate. They had their chance to be good, to be better, to be deserving, and they fucking wasted it. The rules aren't just something we can ignore in favor of your fucking passion project.”

 

The once man leaned down and got in Charlie's face, forcing her to take a startled step back and a peal of cruel laughter left Adam. “Hell is forever, whether you like it or not, bitch!” As Lute came around the table, Charlie threw her arm out and dragged Vaggie behind her in a pitiful attempt at protecting her and scrambled away from them, skittishly backing away in time with both angels' advancements, her eyes flitting between the two as they walked along the table. “Chillax, baby. You know those old sayings? Y’know, ‘what goes around, comes around’, ‘an eye for an eye’, ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’? Yeah, those are just fun ways to say ‘actions have consequences’ and ‘you get what you deserve’.” Once he had nowhere left to walk, having led them back to where they'd started this entire mess of a meeting, he gave a single hard flap of his wings, the wind buffeting off them effectively pushing both Charlie and Vaggie back until they slammed into the door ten feet back. How a hologram managed to affect them, she wasn't sure, but she genuinely couldn't care less at that exact moment.

 

When the dizziness that accompanied her head bouncing off a solid metal object faded and she managed to figure out which direction was up, Charlie growled in annoyance at the sight of the two angels sharing a high five over her misfortune. Her horns sprouted from her skull in an instant as she clambered to her feet, glaring at the angelic beings in front of her even as Vaggie frantically pulled her back with whispered pleas before she could be nose to nose —fine, nose to chest, whatever— with Adam. “Oh ho ho, kitty's got claws, hm?” Adam spoke with a satirical twist to his mouth, tilting his head at the sight of her glaring up at him angrily. “Gotta say, you are sexy as fuck all pissed off and fiery,” he gesturing toward her face vaguely as he spoke, “but I seriously do not have the time for this shit. Lute.” He turned away from her and waved his hand, walking away as Lute stalked toward her for the second time in a matter of minutes, the LED of their mask eerie in the glowing sunset of Hell. She glared with pure malice at the exorcist, keeping her chin up and prepared to stand her ground. She was not about to be scared off by a hologram again.

 

That is, until said hologram physically opened the door, grabbed her wrist tightly while she was distracted, and bodily shoved her into the hallway hard enough that she landed heavily on her hands and knees. Vaggie followed a second later and toppled backwards over Charlie, sending them both sprawling on the marble. While Charlie's chin hit the hard floor and every ounce of air was expelled from her lungs once an entire person landed on her, leaving her gasping, the back of Vaggie's head must've cracked against the ground because she was groaning and squeezing her eye shut, rolling off Charlie to curl up in a ball.

 

The duo lay in a heap on the ground, surrounded by her notes and statistics and graphs, for hardly a moment before the door began to shut slowly. “No. No, no, wait, please!” Charlie shook her head and shoved herself to her feet to rush back to the door, not daring to touch it, her anger with the angels being replaced with fear at having messed up her only chance to change things and disappointment in herself for being the failure her father said she was. “Please, give me another chance! I'll make a deal with you, please! Anything just…” Just before the door could shut, a black-gloved hand appeared in the minimal open space left available and stopped it from closing, casting blood red light in an inch wide streak across her face.

 

“Charlie?” Vaggie whispered harshly from her place sitting, shaking, on the floor a few feet away, voice quivering with fear and anger. She understood, to an extent; Vaggie knew how dangerous these beings were. She'd lost an eye and had her back viciously sliced open by the Exorcists hands sixty years before, after all. She didn't want Charlie making deals with them, not that Charlie wanted to make deals with them all that much either. “What are you doing?” The princess of hell didn't have a chance to respond before the door opened slightly, showing Adam's unimpressed face as he leaned out toward her.

 

“I'm pretty sure making deals is something your kind does, with other demons. Angels don't make deals.” He said, smiling balefully down at her. Charlie's face twisted slightly.

 

“Oh? Then why'd you keep the door from shutting?” Adam's smile dropped abruptly and he leaned back sharply, causing Charlie to give a defiant grin. Not wanting to give him a chance to change his mind, she took a shaking breath. “Stop the Exterminations. I- I'll do… anything, just- just give me the time I need.” Her wording is dangerous; she knew that even before Adam's grin came back, more pointed and wolf-like than before, but she didn't care. Charlie needed to do this, needed it to work. For them.

 

The angel released the door, allowing it to swing open even wider, and leaned against the jamb with interest despite how Lute protested. “Anything? Really? You're that fucking desperate?” Charlie didn't humor him with a response and simply lifted an eyebrow, crossing her arms despite how stand-offish it made her feel because, yes, she was that fucking desperate. “Alright, damn princess. I can respect that. Hm,” Adam tapped his chin with a hum, “then give me her.” He looked over Charlie's head toward Vaggie with a sneer. She turned to look at her friend in confusion and was surprised to see that Vaggie, now on her feet once more, was pale and shaking as if she was freezing, and very clearly holding herself back from bolting, her normally stoic face showing unfiltered fear. Most people here feared angels, only the newest Sinners didn't, but this… this felt different. 

 

“What why-” Charlie asked, twisting to face Adam again.

 

Adam cut her off. “Oh, the bitch didn't tell you? Not surprised, but I guess that makes your little girlfriend a liar, huh?” Smirking, even as Vaggie quietly spoke, no, pleaded, the angel's name behind her, he continued. “This little cunt is an angel. And not just that.” He tutted mockingly as he reached out as if to grab her despite the distance between them and hummed with amusement as she hurriedly stepped back even further, the sound drawing Charlie's shocked gaze back to Vaggie. “Oh no, she was an Exorcist. One of my best. Isn't that right, Vaggie?” 

 

Charlie didn't want to believe him —it sounded like the shittiest joke she'd ever heard— but, despite how he pronounced it wrong, she hadn't said Vaggie’s name since entering the Embassy, and her friend hadn't bothered trying to deny it. She turned away from Vaggie quickly, not wanting to see the woman's face or any emotions filtering across it, and stared down at her shoes, clenching her fists until glittering orange blood dripped from where her nails pierced her palms. “No.” Charlie whispered finally, lifting her head defiantly and meeting Adam’s gaze. Her response seemed to surprise Adam because he pulled away from his casual lean on the door jamb to tower over her, like he thought he could loom over her and scare her into changing her mind. “No,” she repeated, louder in case he'd kidded himself into thinking intimidation would work, “you can't have her. As heir to the throne, everyone who resides in Hell is under my protection, and I won't sell one of my people out to benefit others.” The man's face twitched with anger, but he stayed silent. Charlie refused to look away from Adam, their eyes locked in a heated contest of wills, but her next statement made it clear she was addressing the other woman. “You should go. While you can.”

 

The sound of Vaggie's fast and ragged breathing, followed closely by hurried footsteps as she took off immediately, was the only noise to fill the deathly silent Embassy. She couldn't help the spike of betrayal in her chest that Vaggie hadn't even fought to stay here with her. Maybe she knew Charlie wouldn't listen, wouldn't let her stay no matter how much she demanded or begged for it. Maybe she thought nothing truly bad would happen to Charlie as Lucifer's child, that his Extermination pardon would continue to protect her even hours after the last angel returned to Heaven. Or maybe she simply thought it was better for Charlie to finally pay dividends at Adam's hand for escaping the horrors of the Exterminations in her plush cage. Charlie knew she wouldn't ask and may simply never truly know the answer. 

 

“You're really gonna sit there and protect someone who's slaughtered thousands of your people?” Adam spat cruelly and leaned into her space even further once the sound of the Embassy's heavy outside door slamming shut reached them, curling over her and forcing her to stare straight up to maintain eye contact. He was clearly past just being angry at the turn of events. Exactly what one needed when they were about to start negotiating… “There's nothing else you, or any of those other sniveling little fucks, can offer me that'll make me consider calling off the Exterminations!”

 

An idea struck her at that, a stupid one really, but she really was desperate. Adam seemed like a simple man, hungry for more than just mere food if his blathering and boasting was anything to go on. Most men were, she'd come to learn in her multiple millennia alive. It made sense in a way, what with him being the father of humanity and all, that she'd be able to find similarities between her people and this foul-mouthed angel. She'd just need to offer him something he hadn't yet had. Before she could talk herself out of this hair-brained scheme, before she could convince herself it wouldn't work because it had to, Charlie forced the words to leave her mouth even as bile stung her throat. 

 

“I'm pretty sure I made the offer that I will do anything.”

 

Charlie may have been upset that Vaggie apparently lied to her for decades, but she did understand, and she wasn't going to throw one of her oldest friends under the bus just for the maybe possibility of an extremely shaky extra year of reprieve from Exterminations. No, better it be her. This whole thing —redeeming sinners, the hotel, making this meeting about her plans instead of pretending she cared about what Adam was saying— was her stupid idea; she'd be the one to pay the price.

 

“In case you missed it, sweetcheeks, I'll be nice and repeat myself. I'm a fucking angel.” Adam spread his wings to emphasize the point. “I don't deal in souls like your lot does. What in the everloving fuck could I gain out of you!?”

 

Charlie looked at Lute hovering by Adam's shoulder and lost some of the meager scraps of confidence she'd scrounged together. She couldn't do this with them here. “Whatever deal we make, i-it stays between the two of us. I don't want it getting out. To anyone.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, trying to appear less anxious than she felt. Adam's face twisted with displeasure at this, and he made no move to grant her demand for privacy, but after what she was pretty sure was a hundred years, he snappily waved his hand at the soldier behind him in dismissal. Lute obviously wasn't happy about this if their hesitation was anything to go off of but they kept their mouth shut as their hologram disappeared from the room.

 

“Alright, Princess,” Adam finally growled, pulling the door open enough to allow her access back into the room, “I suggest you start talking.”

Chapter Text

As Charlie trudged up the hill toward the hotel, tail tip dragging uncharacteristically, only a single thought filled her head. Why, to all that is unholy, had she decided on the one building outside the city limits, at the top of the steepest cliff in the history of Hell, to use as her hotel? Ignoring the fact that the main reason she chose it was because it was the only foreclosed building in the Pride Ring that her father owned so it was more or less unscathed from looters and only needed to be gutted a little with minor remodeling to become habitable… for the most part… if you ignored the faulty electricity and drafty windows and- know what she was gonna stop while she was ahead. After her impromptu, ahem, extended meeting with Adam, her entire body ached in a way she hadn't felt in years, her legs shaky and unstable under her –he may be an angel in the barest sense of the word but that man was far from gentle and caring– and all she wanted was a hot bath to relieve the body wide tenderness she was suffering from. A tenderness this fucking hill was not helping with.

 

Unfortunately, everyone in the hotel had other plans, and her bath would have to wait a little longer.

 

As soon as Charlie opened the door, Angel was there, grabbing her to drag her excitedly toward the recreational area of the lobby. “Gods above, Char, took you fucking long enough. Th'fuck were you doin’? Actually, know what, don't answer that. Here, c'mon, we gotta show you somethin’.” Angel continued to go on and on about something her brain wasn't cognitive enough to process at that exact moment the entire time he tugged her along, never giving her even a millisecond to speak. By the time Charlie made it to the rest of the group, she still didn't fully know what they were all so excited about, but his energy helped renew some of her own and she happily allowed herself to be pushed onto the free space on the couch. Pain pulsed through her core at the accidental rough handling and Charlie nearly bit her tongue in half to keep from yelping, instead choosing to keep a strained smile plastered on her face as the pain slowly ebbed away.

 

“Cha-”

 

“Shut up, it's starting!” Angel snapped at Vaggie before she could get the first syllable out, waving his hand over his shoulder vaguely in the fallen angel's direction from his place sitting on the floor. The white haired woman gave Angel an unimpressed glare, crossing her arms and turning to the TV set with a grumble, apparently not deeming an argument with Angel worth it. Secretly, though, Charlie was thankful. She didn't think she could handle a heartfelt conversation with Vaggie right now. At least, not if she wanted to keep the details of her deal with Adam to herself. Her eyes landed on the TV finally as it blinked to life, and she smiled slightly at the sight of everyone on screen. “One of my better performances, if I do say so m'self.” She recalled Angel boasting through the cotton filter that was coating her memory. “Alastor pulled a few favors-” “I pulled a few limbs too, aha ha ha.” Charlie's smile widened and she wiggled in place, previous pain and exhaustion forgotten as she tucked her arms against her stomach and leaned in closer to give the television her undivided attention.

 

The commercial started with Angel grinning at the camera. “Hey there you naughty sinners,” a soft smile crossed her face at Angels words, far past being used to the flirtatious way the adult film star tended to speak, “and welcome to the Hazbin Hot-” The commercial cut suddenly, being replaced with an emergency 666 News broadcast and prompting everyone, besides Alastor of course, to groan in anger. Charlie snarled at the sight of Katie Killjoy filling her screen, their fight on air a week previous still vividly fresh to the princess, but her anger cooled somewhat as the sinner woman spoke. This wasn't quite how she wanted everyone to find out about the Extermination stall but, she supposed, this was easier. Less talking from her and less chance for her to spill the beans.

 

“Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word that the next Extermination has been postponed for an additional year!" The news anchor stated with false cheer as she stared unblinkingly into the camera until a shot of the Yearly Cleanse Countdown took over the screen, shown to be resetting, this time to seven hundred and thirty.

 

Seven hundred and thirty days.

 

Two years.

 

Although she was no longer on screen, it was as if Katie was staring unblinkingly into the camera, into Charlie's own soul, and taunting her. 'I know what you did, you little whore.’ The ghost of Katie's blistering red eyes were burned into her own retinas despite no longer being on screen and it forced Charlie to slump in her seat dejectedly despite how the other patrons of the hotel gawked —even Alastor's eyes widened and jaw dropped in clear surprise this time but his smile never wavered— at the TV in surprise as Katie continued speaking, continued sharing the good news while simultaneously bullying her gas mask wearing co-anchor, Tom Trench. Honestly, if Charlie didn't hate this bitch with a raging passion, she might be somewhat impressed at her ability to multi-task and stay professional on air, but she did so she wasn't. As if her head was submerged underwater, all sound around Charlie went distant and warped as what she did to earn this tiny victory for sinners, and the hotel, replayed in her mind. 

 

"Soooo, let me get this straight,” Adam said finally, head tilting curiously as she frowned up at him, “you're offering yourself in exchange for a measly extra year of no Exterminations?” He smiled wickedly and leaned into her space. “You must think pretty highly of yourself, huh, Princess? What, does your cunt drip gold or some shit?”

 

Charlie scoffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms defensively and steadfastly ignoring the jab. “I don't, actually. I just figured,” her shoulders slumped and she looked away, sighing, “I don't know. You said it yourself, angels don't deal in souls so the only other thing I have that I can offer is-”

 

“Your hot, tight body?” Adam snarked, biting his bottom lip as he raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times, clearly getting enjoyment out of this. She squirmed slightly at his continued vulgarity —seriously, how was this man an angel?— and tried not to let it show how bothered she was by it all, but she must've made a face because he snorted and shrugged. The princess shook her head and swallowed the knot in her throat.

 

“I was gonna say ‘myself’ but sure. That works, I guess.” 

 

“Hm,” the angel reached up suddenly and gripped her chin, twisting her face left then right with a click of his tongue, “ugh, this would be better if you looked less like–.” He cut himself off with a sneer before releasing her roughly, hologram flickering with the movement. “But I guess your face doesn't actually fucking matter in the end." With a very put-upon sigh, he flapped his hand at her. "Jesus, fine, you got a deal, Sugartits. How about we make it official?” Before Charlie could really question what he meant by that, Adam snapped his fingers and opened a swirling portal between them. Her eyes widened with wonder at the sight, even as she took a surprised step back. “Hurry the fuck up, I don't have all year for you to gawk at the pretty sparkles, sweetie.” Adam barked before his hologram disappeared. She bit back a smart retort in favor of quietly mocking him for a second before stepping through the oval of light and allowing herself a moment to spin and take in the Hell Embassy once she was through. It was almost a perfect copy of its Heavenly counterpart in Hell, aside from looking a little less worn down and significantly dustier.

 

Charlie had barely gotten adjusted to the lighting of the room, the white light of Heaven streaming into the Embassy momentarily blinding her, let alone the shock of being in literal Paradise —even if it was just an identical building to one in Hell— when suddenly her wrist was grabbed tightly and she was bodily turned to face the other occupant of the room with whom she was now nearly chest to chest with.

 

The first thing she noticed was his hand around her arm. It was big, his thumb overlapping his fingers to the second knuckle and engulfing nearly half of her forearm, and hot. The second thing was his height and how he absolutely towered over her. The princess felt like she was looking at Alastor or even Angel with how far back she had to crane her head just to meet his eye. She supposed she should've expected that, though. Her own mother, the first woman, was nearly nine feet tall even without her preferred heels on. “Listen, bitch,” and instantly, any curiosity she may have had was replaced with annoyance, “you can stare all you want some other time. Pretty sure we have a deal we need to seal.” Charlie ripped her arm from his grip and backed up a step. “What, changed your mind already?” Adam sneered but didn't grab for her again.

 

“No,” she seethed, rubbing her sore wrist, “but I'm not stupid enough to leave a deal so open-ended, especially not with someone like you.” Charlie internally smirked at the unhappy twist that took over Adam's face. “This deal,” she gestured sharply between them, “is only until the next Extermination. You go back on the deal, if you even indicate you're going to start the Exterminations again before the agreed upon two years is up, and the ‘deal’ off. I can come to the Heaven Embassy once a month an-”

 

“Once a month?”

 

Charlie just knew this man-child wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut long enough to negotiate things. “What, what's wrong with that? You don't have enough women flocking to you up here to stroke your ego in the meantime?” Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Charlie didn't even try fighting off her irritation. Despite this whole thing being her suggestion, she was already starting to hate it.

 

“That isn't worth the scrutiny of all of Heaven when they learn that the next Extermination is being postponed.” Adam gave a disbelieving scoff. “Nuh uh, Princess. Four times a week, at least.”

 

“Wh- Four times a fucking week!?”

 

Eyes widening with surprise, Adam looked over his shoulders in a panic as she shouted. “Jesus fuck, keep your voice down!” Whipping back around and bending nearly in half, Adam got in her face. “Believe it or fucking not, I'm breaking enough fucking rules just humoring you, you dumb bitch. Anyone hears you're up here and it's my ass on the line. So shut the fuck up!” Despite his insistence that she quiet down, Adam was on the verge of yelling. “Yes,” he continued, voice significantly quieter but no less hard, “or is that too often for your prude ass?”

 

“I have a life outside of being your… personal sex toy.” Charlie spit out, face flushing. “Twice a month, then.”

 

Charlie had been around her father with his wings out enough as a child —flying lessons around the house, learning how to properly preen, basking on the roof in the sunrise— and gotten decent at reading an angel's emotions through their appearance alone. By the looks of them, lifted away from his body with raised feathers, Adam was downright insulted, not that she even needed to look at his wings to know that. His repulsed face at the suggestion was enough of a giveaway. “Is that really all your people are worth to you?” Her horns grew another six inches with her anger at his manipulative words and she swallowed the urge to call off the deal completely. You're doing this for your people, Charlie, she reminded herself as she bit down on her tongue, you can handle this. While it didn't make her feel better, the pain in her mouth did ground her somewhat, and she exhaled slowly through her nose. She could, she would, handle Adam for them.

 

After a solid few minutes of charged silence, Charlie finally spoke. “Once a week?” Adam's tongue clicked with apparent dissatisfaction, but he must've realized he wasn't getting a better offer out of her, especially not after pushing her buttons for the last couple of hours, because he merely frowned and nodded once. “Okay,” the blonde grit out, demonic looks slowly ebbing away until Charlie was back to her usual look though her expression stayed pinched and unenthusiastic, “once a week, I'll come to the same room in the Heaven Embassy and wait for you to make a portal at… oh fuck, hold on.” Pulling out her phone to open the calendar, Charlie shook her head and groaned or hummed in consideration of her overbooked schedule. “Do… hm, Sundays at… noon work for you?” She asked slowly, stopping her pacing as she turned and looked back up at Adam, taking a startled step back at the sight that greeted her. Charlie had grown accustomed to the various angry or smug expressions the angel was prone to make anytime she spoke in the brief time they'd been in each other's company, so seeing Adam with a blank face wasn't what she was expecting. “Is that… insensitive? Asking to conduct that kind of meeting on Sundays, I mean. Outside the obvious reasons it may be, y'know, sinful, I know it's not outright a sin or anything like that but, um, it is frowned upon right? Since Sundays are a day of rest and… worship, right? If they don't work for you, I can figure something else out, but it'll take me a few mi-”

 

“Stop. It's fine.” Adam interrupted, rolling his eyes.

 

“Right... okay then. Sundays at noon. I'll block out a couple of hours,” seeing his mouth open, Charlie sped through the rest of her sentence before he could find something else to be unhappy about, “just in case! We don't have to use all that time; it's more of a precaution than anything. Y'know, in case one of us is running later or something. That way we can be sure everything is... going according to schedule and whatnot.”

 

The angel stayed silent, nodding only once she was finished speaking. “'Kay, sounds good I guess." Adam's face, a veil of disinterest up to this point, shifted into a guise of sharp teeth and sweltering intensity so quickly, Charlie tensed with distrust. “Since you had your rules for me regarding Exterminations, I have a few for you before we shake on it.” His hand shot out and grabbed her face roughly before she could react, digging his fingers into Charlie's flesh even as she wrapped her hands around his wrist and hissed in pain. “You'll get your extra time, but if you use it to plan a rebellion against Heaven then the deals off ,” her brows furrowed at his bad imitation of her voice, gritting her teeth, “and there won't be a single festering pusswad left in Hell for you to waste your time 'redeeming' when I'm done down there. And,” Adam's grip tightened somewhat and he leaned in closer as Charlie writhed in protest, “one more thing. As hard as it may be for you, miss cupcakes and butterflies, try not to let your emotions get the better of you by falling in love with me.”

 

A low, clicking growl forced its way from Charlie's throat. “Don't worry. I am as repulsed by you as a person with fucking eyes and ears can be.” Adam shoved her away with a sneer. Catching herself against the table, Charlie gently rubbed her jaw and glared at the angel before holding her other hand out. “I, Charlotte Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer Morningstar and heir to the throne, offer my body to you once a week —Sundays, at noon— for the next two years, and in return, Heaven will stop the Exterminations for the entirety of those two years. I will not be using this time to plan a rebellion against Heaven.” Silently, Charlie added, ‘Not that any of us have any intentions of starting an uprising against Heaven in the first place.’ No point in mentioning that she'd ‘refrain from falling in love with him’, that was a laughable thing for him to demand. Her? Fall in love with a psychopath like him? Yeah, right. She'd sooner fall in love with a feral Hell Hog than Adam. “Do you agree to these terms?”

 

Adam looked down at her hand, hovering between them, silently for a moment before tilting his head. For a terrifying moment she feared he'd say no or change his demands, but then he shrugged and clasped her hand roughly with his larger one. “I agree.” Painfully bright intertwining gold and red light emitted from their joined palms, splitting away from one another to wrap around their wrists —gold around her, red around him— and disappearing, signifying their struck deal. The lights hardly had a chance to fully dissipate when Adam's grip tightened to the point of being painful as he yanked her forward, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and twisting them both around to slam her face down on the metal table. All of the air in Charlie's lungs came out in a forceful wheeze, and as she struggled to her forearms purely to regain her breath easier, Adam lifted then slammed her down by her neck again. Her vision swam as she was bent fully over on the table, the toes of her shoes barely skimming the ground.

 

“Just so you know,” Adam murmured, draping his body over her own to speak against her ear, “I'm only agreeing to this so I can have the satisfaction of seeing Lucifer's face when he finds out how much of a whore his precious little brat is.” Ice danced across Charlie's skin at his words but she said nothing, staring up at the wicked grin across Adam's face from the corner of her eye as he chuckled.

 

“I am going to enjoy every second of this.”

 

“Charlie!” The sharp sound of Angel's voice brought Charlie out of her own head with a start and she blinked in surprise at the spider demon's face mere inches from hers, two of his hands lightly cupping her face. Oh, she must've been out of it for him to be able to do that without her noticing. “Fuckin’ finally!” Despite his tone, Charlie could tell Angel was worried about her. Everyone was, in fact, if their standing around and looking at her was any indicator. “Where'd you go to, Char, huh? We've been tryna get your attention for like twenty minutes.”

 

Heat bloomed across Charlie's face at that, and she gave a sheepish grin. “Oh, sorry, you guys! That meeting with Heaven just… took a lot out of me, is all! I must be more exhausted than I thought.” Gently, Charlie removed his hands and pushed herself to her feet, the lie making her mouth taste bitter. “I know it's still kinda early, but I'm gonna go take a bath and then head to bed. Thank you, all of you, for caring about me, though.” Charlie stepped around everyone carefully and headed for the stairs, hyper aware of how closely she was being watched.

 

It was only once she was in her room, where she knew nobody could see her, that Charlie finally dropped the act. With a wave of her hand, a fine layer of magic settled over the entire room as a precaution against unwanted or surprise guests. By this point, everyone was well acquainted with Alastor's habit of appearing out of nowhere and Angel's lack of care about other people's privacy. Locking the door to her room, she dragged herself to the adjoining bathroom to start drawing a bath. As the tub filled, Charlie turned to look at herself in the mirror and flinched back. Now she got why everyone looked so concerned, she looked like steamrolled shit that'd been set on fire with the dark bags under her eyes and extra redness of her face. And that's just what's visible.

 

“Don't be a little bitch, Charlotte,” Charlie whispered to herself when she hesitated in removing her clothes, meeting her own eyes in the mirror, “it surely can't be that bad. Everything just hurts because… it's been a while, that's all.” With a sharp inhale and a nod, she began undressing. It turned out it could be that bad. Her neck, an area previously covered by barely a hair with her suit, is a mottled mishmash of dark blue and purple bruising in the shape of fingers. Charlie's entire front, while not as bad as her neck, was turning a light blue color in the beginnings of the same vicious bruising as her neck, from being violently slammed down on a steel table twice. Even her entire tail, which she'd tried to keep out of his grasp, hurt with every twitch from how aggressively it'd been manhandled. Charlie's eyes drifted further down and she bit her lip at the shallow gouges and angry dark hand shaped bruises that decorate her hips, ribs, and thighs. Refusing to look further than that, knowing the sight between her legs is far less pretty if her heavy limping is anything to go off of, Charlie looks back at herself in the mirror. 

 

Moisture filled her eyes as she gripped the counter hard enough that the wood splintered under her hand, but she refused to let the tears fall. “I did it for them.” Charlie reminded herself quietly, nodding, and took a step backwards.

 

“For them. I'll be okay, for them.”

Chapter Text

In the weeks since their deal had been struck, Charlie had grown accustomed to Adam's… everything. Don't get her wrong Charlie still despised him, and Adam still acted like a huge dickwad whenever the chance arose, but he'd definitely let up on his aggression toward her between their first meeting and the third. From being pinned down and in pain, and just waiting for him to practically shove her through the portal back to Hell where Charlie would cry on the floor of the Embassy for twenty minutes before limping back home, to actually getting to walk herself back into the Heaven Embassy with her head up and barely feeling a twinge of discomfort.

 

It wasn't much but from Adam, it felt like a lot.

 

The one thing, however, that stayed consistent week to week was how he spoke to her. More specifically, how he'd pull her close with a loose hand around her throat so he could lean down to mock everything Charlie cared about directly in her ear as he slowly rocked into her. Her father, her dreams, her home. Of all of the things that Adam had done across their previous meetings, the mocking hurt the most. She suspected that was the point.

 

Rolling into meeting number four, Charlie hadn't been hopeful for it going much different than the past three, and it wasn't in the beginning. Same old arrival at the Embassy, jump through a portal, let Adam have his fun, sit on the ground contemplating her choices for a while once he'd send her home, leave. This time, though, when he pulled her back and leaned in, he didn't put his mouth to her ear and mock her. Instead, Adam pressed his forehead to her shoulder and let out quiet moans and growled curses, taunting her seeming to be the last thing on his mind that day.

 

In another twist of events, the noises he'd been making jumped straight down to her core in a way Charlie hadn't experienced in a while —least of all from him — and she bit her lip at the resulting fluttering. Her confusion notwithstanding, those were much more appealing than the insults.

 

So soft Charlie almost didn't catch it, Adam hissed as he lifted his head from its place on her shoulder and pressed himself closer until they were nearly cheek to cheek. “Fuck, Princess.” A startled gasp followed by a quiet moan left her when slim fingers appeared between her legs to tease her and, unbidden, Charlie found herself wishing she was bent over like times previous. Cautiously, she widened her stance as sparks of pleasure made her fingers tingle and her legs twitch reflexively. “Oh, sensitive, are we?” The angel taunted with a purr as he began rubbing slow, tight circles over her clit that pulled little whimpers from her. 

 

“F- fuck you.” Charlie growled in response before squealing when Adam roughly pinched her clit, a snort of amusement being Adam's response. It didn't so much hurt as surprise her and Charlie had to swallow a moan when Adam did it again.

 

A grin, different from what she'd become used to from him, crossed his face at her words. “Pretty sure you already are, babe, but I am always down for another round.” He whispered out, voice gaining a familiar strain. Now that was definitely new —usually he was quick to kick her out of here once they were done but this implied-. Charlie's train of thought cut short when Adam gave a particularly hard thrust and a deep growl that pulled a drawn out, throaty moan out of her and turned her knees to jell-o, making Charlie forget all about the comment in favor of regaining her breath.

 

It wasn't long before Charlie released the table and nudged Adam's hand out of the way to take over her own pleasure. She'd have thought he'd be offended but he simply hummed in her ear and replaced his hand on her hip, fingers digging into her flesh pleasantly. It wasn't that he was bad at what he'd been doing, Charlie was just so close to cumming for the first time in actual months —the last person she'd been with hadn't been keen on actually returning the favor of getting her off and she'd never been a fan of masturbating, not on her own at least— that she couldn't help but take over. Charlie didn't doubt Adam could do it, she just knew she could do it better.

 

Head falling back to rest on Adam's shoulder as he picked up his pace, Charlie's free hand slid off the table to wrap around the base of one of his horns. Adam's hold on her tightened ever so slightly when her voice turned needy and pleading, her hand speeding up until she finally came with a halting cry.

 

Adam let out a choked curse and a few hard thrusts later had him following her release with his own, panting heavily in her ear as he rode the rest of his orgasm out with shallow thrusts that had her mewling. After a moment of them standing there and regaining their breath, Adam pulled out and slowly uncurled his fingers from the meat of Charlie's sides, both of them hissing. As he started to move away, Charlie let his horn slide from her grasp and lifted her head off his shoulder, replacing her hands on the table to keep steady as her legs shook. Charlie stood there, half naked and shivering in the sudden cold that'd rushed to fill all the space Adam had vacated, for a second before pulling her panties back up from where they rested around her knees and tugging her skirt down from around her waist where Adam had hiked it to once she felt stable, body tingling pleasantly.

 

It was only when she turned to leave that Charlie realized Adam hadn't made a portal yet like he usually would've.

 

Her eyes flit over to him curiously, an eyebrow raised. “So I was just thinking,” voice still thin as he continued to catch his breath, Adam tilted his head as he spoke, “you wanna, I dunno, take a shower?”

 

Charlie tilted her head to mirror him and gave him a look. “Why?”

 

“Figured you wouldn't wanna traipse through that cesspit you call a kingdom reeking like an overused sex doll.” Came the deadpan response and, okay, she supposed he had a point. She did smell like sex. “Fucking christ, it was just a suggestion. You can say no.” He snipped out after a handful of seconds of silence, snapping his fingers to open the portal to the Heaven Embassy. Charlie's eyes land on the flame and gold rimmed oval before sliding back to the grumpy Adam.

 

Slowly, she looked down at herself. “It would be nice to clean up.” Charlie was far from put together right now, what with her rumpled shirt and askew skirt. Besides, she desperately needed out of these shoes as soon as possible, even if it meant kicking them off in an angel's home for a little while. “I was trying not to ruin another pair of pants by wearing the skirt but,” Charlie made a face and shifted uncomfortably as cold fluid slowly ran down her thigh, “now I have a different problem.”

 

The angel's golden eyes flicked down briefly and he grinned when their eyes met again. “Hot.” He said as the portal shut.

 

“No, not hot,” Charlie corrected with a sigh, “gross.” Adam didn't seem convinced but he simply shrugged at her and snapped again. The portal that opened this time showed a spacious room with floor to ceiling windows and her eyes glimmered at the prospect of seeing some of actual Heaven, not just the Hell Embassy. Without needing prompting, she happily stepped through the oval and directly into Adam's space.

 

“Some ground rules,” Adam started as he appears behind her through the portal, “don't fucking touch anything, stay away from the windows, and, for godsake, tone down the sparkles, alright?” The words were hardly out of his mouth before Charlie's gone and he shook his head as she flitted around his apartment but made no move to stop her.

 

Charlie learned quickly that he had a studio apartment with an open floor plan, if the minimal doors and lack of hallways is any indicator, a fact she enjoyed since her natural curiosity would've driven her absolutely crazy if there were doors to rooms she couldn't look in. Everything was out in the open and Charlie'd basically been given free reign to snoop as long as she kept her hands to herself.

 

At first, she hadn't understood why the center of his living room was indented down four steps from the rest of the room —Charlie had nearly broken her neck when she tripped and fell into the pit while looking around— but it made sense after she realized it was probably easier not to have bulky furniture when you had two giant appendages attached to your back, even if you could magic them away. On the plus side, his large black circular couch seemed comfortable, though she did bounce off of it when she'd tripped and was shot straight into the solid wood of his coffee table so maybe it was too springy? Upon recovering, Charlie did her best to keep her hands off things and stay away from the windows, as instructed, but there was simply nothing she could do about the sparkles.

 

With every new thing, Charlie's eyes lit up even more in wonder. There wasn't much decor around the entire room, though what there intrigues her immensely. A pristine giant golden guitar in a glass shadowbox, a floating glowing sphere surrounded by seven ever spinning and rotating rings, a large glass jar full of golden feathers in all sizes, a second giant guitar in the shape of an axe mounted on wall hooks. The only thing that seemed well and truly out of place, that she was well and truly very curious about, was the two purple-gray curtains dead center on the living room wall, twenty feet off the ground.

 

It was only when she was starting a fourth circuit of the room that Adam finally interrupted her. Impressive, all things considered.

 

“Fucking-” Charlie glanced over to him, “I brought you here to get cleaned up, not… prance around like a fairy.” He didn't look or sound upset at her running all over his apartment but she still wasn't the best at truly placing his emotions since they could flip on their heads in an instant. 

 

“Oh! Right.” Charlie made her way back toward him and smiled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “Sorry, it's just all so new.” She chirped, spinning in a happy circle with her arms spread. “I just wanna take it all in, while I can, that's all.” Adam shook his head and hummed but didn't comment.

 

“Right, well, bathrooms through that door.” He flapped his hand nonchalantly toward the black door to the right of the fridge. “Use whatever the fuck you want while you're in there, just don't take forever.” And with that, he walked into the kitchen, clearly done talking to her.

 

Charlie scoffed quietly at the dismissal then made her way to the bathroom. As she stepped through the door, she stopped short to stare in slight awe at what she saw, not even hearing the door shut behind her. “Wow.” 

 

The floor and bathroom counter was made of pearlescent marble with shimmering black veins streaking through each individual slab and glittering gold complimentary pieces on the facet. Jesus, even his toilet is gold. The shower is just as grandiose as the rest of the bathroom, with at least four black shower heads set into the marble and heavy crystal doors. It's far more lush than she would've expected out of Adam, if she's being honest. Charlie would've expected either everything to be the same but it's in solid black or a bare room with basic amenities, not… this.

 

It was, in a word, luxurious, like everything else in Adam's apartment. At least she knew where Lucifer got his flair for the extravagant. Apparently, it was just an angel thing.

 

Charlie shook her head after a moment of wide-eyed gawking and got to work starting up the shower then undressing while it warmed. She made a face at the faint white marks now staining the inside of the skirt and sighed, dropping it beside the rest of her discarded outfit, ruined underwear being tossed in the trash. ’So much for that.’ The blonde thought bitterly before stepping into the shower.

 

In spite of how quickly she'd initially planned on washing up, Charlie melted with euphoria while in Adam's shower. She wasn't sure how long she spent in there, simply letting the warm water cascade over her like a waterfall from the four shower heads before she finally began actually working toward getting clean, but she ultimately decided she couldn't care less. Having stable water pressure and consistently hot water was something the hotel wasn't always blessed with and Charlie wasn't going to apologize for getting to enjoy it.

 

It's while she was rinsing the suds from her body that a voice piped up from behind. “Hey, so I have a question.” A shocked scream left her and, on instinct, her wings erupted from her back to cover her body as she turned around to face Adam. “Calm down, it's just me. Sexy wings by the way, babe. So, anyway. Earlier, when we were fucking,” Adam said, leaning against the frame of the open shower door, “you slapped my hand out of the way.” His brow furrowed and he made  a face. “What was that about? What, was what I was doing not good enough for your royal pussy?”

 

“Oh my-” Charlie took a deep steadying breath to keep from losing her temper. “Can this not wait? I'm literally almost done.” She growled, glaring at the angel. Adam snorted as if she'd just told the joke of the century but made no move to leave. “For the love of Satan, seriously? Fine.” Reaching over, she turned the water off sharply. “Believe it or not,” Charlie hissed, “but it had absolutely nothing to do with you.” At Adam's affronted expression, she shrugged and turned her back to him so she could shake the excessive water from her wings without him leering at her chest, gently fixing the askew feathers after. “I haven't had sex in months and today was the first time since before my last relationship I got anywhere near actually getting off. I only took over because I know my body better. Simple as that.”

 

“Is that so?” Adam's response was terse with insult and Charlie rolled her eyes. Men.

 

“Yup.” She chirped happily, glancing over her shoulder at him. “There, I've answered you. Can I finish my shower now?”

 

Adam smiled. “No.” She didn't have a chance to question him because Adam fully stepped into the shower with her. Charlie's eyes widened in surprise and she closed her wings back around her body as she whirled around to face him. Her heart pounded in her chest, though not from fear, as Adam slowly approached her. Backed up until she was pressed to the chilled wall, Charlie stared up at him from under her lashes. “You may know your body better,” Adams murmured into the space between them with a smirk, hand reaching through her feathers until glove clad fingers made contact with the skin of her belly, drawing a breathless noise and a shiver from her, “but that doesn't mean I don't know how to make you cum.” Charlie's breath hitching as he slid his hand down her stomach slowly. As Adams fingers finally found their mark between her legs, he added softly, “I am an expert at all things pussy related, after all.” 

 

Normally, Charlie wasn't one to be embarrassed about her body, being several thousands of years old erasing most shame she may have felt, but there was just something different about Adam's sharp golden eyes that made her feel even more exposed than she'd ever felt before in spite of how her wings cover her. Charlie wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

 

Charlie breathing stuttered as his fingers first touched her but the longer his hand massaged firm yet gentle circles into her flesh above and to the left of her clit, the less she thought he was simply teasing her to be a dick and the more she thought he actually didn't know what he was doing. It was a far cry from in the Hell Embassy —where Charlie's nerves were alight and she'd almost cum from his fingers alone before she took over— and, as realization washed over her, she slowly released the breath she'd taken. Welp, there went any high she might've been building up. God, how could someone with supposedly multiple millennia of sexual experience be this... Charlie didn't want to be mean and say bad, but, bad? Not wanting to ignite Adam's hairpin sensitive temper or crack his extremely fragile masculinity while she was so so vulnerable, Charlie swallowed her pride —and some of that strange embarrassment she felt under Adam's eye— and gave a small whimper of faux pleasure. 

 

Adam's smug expression didn't change past a slight narrowing of his eyes so she assumed she would be safe. Feeling bolstered, Charlie did it again, longer and higher pitched this time. She tried to remember how she felt less than an hour before in the Heaven Embassy, when his hand had actually made her knees weak and her moans had been genuine, and aimed to copy those noises. The feeling is there but it's laughably dull.

 

Before the princess could make another sound, a hand latched around Charlie's throat and shoved her harshly against the wall, a grunt of surprise being pulled from her as her eyes flew open. “W- what the hell?” She could hardly get the words out before Adam squeezed his hand slightly, his expression having done a one eighty from moments ago, her adrenaline spiking so fast she felt dizzy from it. His other hand, the one that had been between her legs, is now painfully latched onto her hip.

 

“Do you think,” he growled, leaning in, “I'm stupid? I can tell when a bitch is faking it.” His tone was hard and his grip around her neck was like iron. “You're not even doing it well.”

 

The jab makes Charlie's cheeks heat. Jesus, she hadn't thought she'd been that obvious. Tight as his hold was, Charlie could still breathe relatively unhindered so she sucked in a breath before he decided to choke her out. “Adam.” Even with how his fingers twitch tighter slightly, her voice was surprisingly even. “I- I'm sorry, it's just…” She paused for a second but pressed on as his eyes narrowed, blood pounding in her ears. “Y- you weren't doing it right.” Instantly, his tight lipped cold glare becomes a snarl full of sharp teeth as his giant wings flap open with rage and fill the shower, drowning her under his shadow. “You were!” Charlie's own wings flared away from her body in a panic at the display and she reached up to grab his forearm with both hands before he could get angrier, tail whipping with anxiety. “The first time, I mean. You were doing it right the first time, I wasn't lying about that.” Adam's grip slackened marginally but he continued to glare at her skeptically.

 

Just as suddenly as he grabbed her, he released her. “Just hurry the fuck up.” He spit, wings snapping shut as he turned to leave.

 

Shit, had Charlie actually hurt his feelings? Guilt made her gut twinge and, without allowing herself the time to overthink it, Charlie blurted out the first thing that came to mind, internally smacking herself in the face once she registered what the fuck she'd said. “I can teach you!” Adam stopped dead at that and slowly turned to look at her. Confusion was written all over his face but so was wariness, distrust. “How to… do it properly.” Her voice was soft with uncertainty when he simply blinked, expression unreadable. “If… you want, I mean.” The longer he stared at her without speaking, the more aware Charlie became of her nakedness.

 

Finally, Adam broke the silence. “Why?”

 

Confusion filled her. “Why, what?” 

 

The man scoffed and crossed his arms. “Don't pretend to be stupid, bitch, it's insulting. I hate you, you clearly dislike me for some reason. So why offer?”

 

Blush made her face hot and she looked away from him. “It's… been a while since I've been with anyone who gave a shit about me during sex, even if you only started doing it to mess with me.” Charlie admitted, heart rate slowing. “Since this arrangement is going to last a long time like our deal says, I want to… actually enjoy myself. When you were doing it properly earlier, I did. Enjoy myself, I mean.” She turned to look at Adam again.

 

“So? Do you want me to show you or not?”

 

“Why the fuck should I care if some uppity bitch gets off or not?” Adam demanded hotly and Charlie barely refrained from rolling her eyes.

 

Instead, she copied his stance and let her wings cover her body, giving him an equally unimpressed look. “You don't have to, I guess, but sex is more fun when everyone involved is having a good time. Most women don't get off from just being fucked. Some can, sure, but the vast majority don't.” Against her better judgment, Charlie leaned over some and smiled sweetly. “I bet ninety percent of the women you've slept with went home and finished the job themselves.” His face twisted with displeasure at the jab.

 

“Alright, cunt,” Adam growled as he walked closer, “you've piqued my interest.” He stopped at the door to the shower and placed a hand on either side of the frame, leaning in toward her. “Let's see if you can keep it. How do you plan to, quote unquote, ‘show me’? What, gonna jerk off in front of me and just expect me to follow along?”

 

“God, you are such a child.” This time Charlie didn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, because, yes, that was her frantically taped together plan. Short of pulling up a porn video, what else could she do, though? Lord, she really was as stupid as her father, and also now Adam, said. “If you'll give me two minutes to dry off, I'll show you what I mean.” When Adam made no move to leave and instead looked her up then down, Charlie gave a growl. “I meant alone.” The angel let out a put-upon sigh but complied, leaving Charlie alone in the bathroom.

 

Once the door to the bathroom slammed shut, Charlie sighed softly and unwrapped her wings from her body, clicking her tongue sadly at the sight of her soggy and bedraggled feathers. Unfortunately, without more time, there's not much she can do for them so Charlie simply tucked them away for Future Charlie to deal with later.

 

After taking a few seconds to get lost in the softness that is Heaven towels, Charlie got to work drying herself off and, true to her word, she exited the bathroom a few minutes later.

 

“Um, what the fuck is this?” A voice asked from the kitchen and Charlie whirled around, dropping her shoes and soiled skirt as she tugged her shirt down to attempt to preserve some of her modesty with whoever this was, the strange voice putting her nerves on edge. Leaning against the island and staring her down like Charlie was a dead rat he found on the side of the road was an olive skinned man with coiffed short brown hair, a scruffy goatee with a five o'clock shadow, and dark yellow eyes set in a fiery glare at her. “Okay, now what are you doing?”

 

It took her a minute but Charlie eventually connected the dots. “Oh my God. Adam?” If he'd been wearing his robes or if she'd seen his wings, she may have caught on faster, but, as it was, the high collared tight black shirt he was wearing was the last thing she expected to see an angel, let alone this angel, in.

 

“No,” came an immediate answer, the tone so sarcastic and familiar she released her shirt with a relieved sigh, “I'm just some fucking guy he invited over so we could watch a demon bitch masturbate. Of course it's me. What, you thought I was just,” he gestured over to where his helmet sat, face now a matter black blank screen, “that?” Charlie put her hand on her hip and gave him a look which he snorted at, waving his hand vaguely. “Don’t fucking answer that. Back to my original question. What the fuck is this?” Adam gestured to her. “Why are you dressed?”

 

“Okay first off,” Charlie ignored him, holding up a single finger, “you sound completely different without the mask, you changed out of your robes, and I couldn't see your wings from this angle so excuse me for not instantly recognizing you, you pompous ass. Second,” another finger, “I'm not dressed. I just have my shirt on. I didn't wanna run around your apartment naked and give you another full show. And third,” she held up a third finger before dropping her hand entirely, “what does me having a shirt on have to do with anything?”

 

Adam hummed softly, mouth twisting in thought as he stared at her. Somehow, his human eyes made her feel more exposed than the LED screen of his mask ever did. In lieu of actually answering her, Adam merely smirked and rested his cheek in the palm of one hand, head tilting. “So what's this then? A three quarters show, because there's no way those A-Cup tits of yours are worth half a show on their own, babe.” His sneer may have been significantly softer like this but it didn't make his face any less punchable.

 

A growl of frustration exited her throat before she was able to stop it and Charlie could see the moment her horns came out plain as day on Adam's face. The man blinked and tracked them as they grew, eyes flicking between the two protrusions in what appeared to be heavily concealed curiosity, before he blinked once more and his expression went back to that smug sneer. “Oh ho, don't tease me now. You know what they say about horns, sweetie.” She didn't move away as he walked over to her, nor as he grabbed her horns at their base and leaned down to get in her face, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of reacting in any way. “Ya’know, that they're just handlebars for fucking? Always wanted to fuck a bitch with horns.”

 

That made Charlie slap his hands away and take a step back, glaring at his amused expression as her cheeks heated. “You're such a pig. Do you only ever think about sex when you look at a woman?” Charlie questioned hotly as she forced her horns to recede lest he try to grab them again.

 

“Of course not. I think about food sometimes, too.” Came his cheeky response. “Though, you should definitely try thinking about sex more often,” a poke between her eyes has Charlie hissing, swiping at his hand even as he quickly retracts it with a grin, “cause it might help that pissed off expression you seem to always have glued to your face. With all the extra additions you have —a tail, wings, and horns? Babe, c'mon— sex should be the only thing on your mind, sugartits.”

 

Charlie gave him an unimpressed look. “I repeat. Pig.” She inhaled deeply, rubbing her temples as she turned and walked away from the other. Adam was somehow giving her a worse migraine than Angel ever managed in his first few weeks at the hotel, and that was saying something. At least the sinner knew when to back off with his sex talk. Most of the time… “Ugh, let's just get this over with so I can go home already.” It was only then that she finally realized something was missing from the apartment. How Charlie missed it after exploring most of the available space, she wasn't sure. Charlie chalked it up to Adam distracting her. “Uh, where's your bed?”

 

“We don't need a bed to fuck, pink cheeks. I figured you'd know that by now.”Adam leaned over to speak in her ear, his voice soft. Charlie's eye twitched, regretting her offer more by the second. Before Charlie could try and respond, Adam gripped her chin gently between two fingers and angled her head in the direction of those shut curtains she noticed earlier.

 

The princess blinked a couple times. A loft? That… made sense, in a way, but Satan below was this man's apartment set up so weird. And she thought the hotel had problems. 

 

“Right.” Charlie chewed on her inner lip as she stared up at the curtains, anxiety gnawing her stomach out of nowhere.

 

Confusion at why she was so nervous all of a sudden washed over Charlie. The two of them had had sex multiple times now, she has the cumstained pants and the bruising to prove it, this shouldn't be any different. In fact, it should be easier! But, on the flip side, this felt significantly more… intimate… than the almost clinical coupling they'd done in the past. She was no longer going to just be standing there while he, to be blunt, used her like a cum sock to throw away. Charlie was going to be actually showing and leading him through what to do, was going to purposefully expose herself to him past what was necessary for their deal. She could already hear his redirective taunting and reactive anger when she tried correcting him about any little thing. A sigh of resignation left her and Charlie let her black and red wings come back out. They might look like a disaster but they'd get her where she needed to go. Thankfully the angel didn't comment despite how he eyed them judgingly and instead made a slow, languid sweeping gesture toward the curtains as if to say ’Ladies first.’

 

With a huff, Charlie made the short flight up to the loft easily enough and tucked her wings away just as Adam landed beside her, his wings disappearing with a flash of light.

 

The alcove itself is surprisingly large, and it made her wonder if all homes in Heaven were designed this way or if this is an Adam Special. It's deep enough to fit his king size bed, covered in bedding of the standard angelic gold she was becoming awfully familiar with, dead center on the right wall with more than a few feet of room to spare on the remaining three sides and tall enough the angel beside her can stand without slouching —a surprising feat on its own since he had to be at least a foot, maybe more, taller than her and she was already bordering the edge of seven feet tall herself. His bed faced a large, squat evangelical dresser made of some kind of dark wood —Mahogany? Or maybe it was just painted…— that sat against the far wall. On either side of the bed, there's two small tables that match his dresser, each with midsized lamps atop them that give the recess a soft glow once the curtains fully shut behind Adam. Beneath the bed and stretching nearly the full size of the occupied space was a soft, plush black rug. It almost felt… comfortable and homey up there. Other than those few things, though, there was nothing else in the little room to add personal touches like there is in the rest of the place.

 

“You sure like to stand around and gawk, huh?” Adam asked as he walked past her, stopping at his aforementioned dresser and leaning his hip against it to watch her. “Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Princess?” How many times had she been called that in her lifetime and it never affected her? Until now. There was just something about how he said it, Princess, that made Charlie have to bite her tongue. The subtle little growl in his voice that Adam probably thought intimidated her but definitely did not that was sending sparks through her that made her clit tingle.

 

“No, I'm not.” Charlie muttered once she could use her tongue again before sitting, nervously gliding her hands back and forth across the silky soft golden sheets. Keeping her eyes anywhere other than the other occupant of the room, anxiety made her skin prick uncomfortably as her confidence built much slower than she would've liked. It'd been a while since Charlie'd done this in front of someone and, if she remembered it correctly, that instance had been with a partner she'd been dating for months by that point. Charlie hardly even knew the imposing angel outside the stories she grew up with.

 

The longer she took, the more absolutely insane she felt for blatantly offering to show some misogynistic asshole —who probably couldn't find the clitoris nine times out of ten— how to touch a woman. Sure, Charlie would benefit from it in the end but how much mocking and belittling would she have to endure potentially before, during, and afterwards? Would dealing with Adam like that even be worth the potential reward?

 

’Though,’ Charlie thought wryly as her eyes slowly slid over to the aforementioned man to watch him from the corner of her eye as he picked at his blackened fingernails, ’I suppose it won't be much different than how he normally is.’ Thankfully, Adam was wholly unaware of her internal struggle and seemingly uninterested in making this any harder for now. Before Charlie could look away, however, his eyes flick up as if he can sense he's being looked at. Bronzing gold met blood red and narrowed a fraction, causing Charlie's brows to furrow and her lips to flatten as she looked away. In her defense, it's not like she was staring on purpose and she hadn't meant to be caught doing it!

 

Acutely aware of how his eyes were now boring into her, and fresh out of stalling ideas, Charlie took a slow, deep inhale and slid herself across the mattress until she was in the very center before scooting backwards and propping herself up with the plethora of plush pillows at the head of the bed.

 

There were a few false starts where Charlie would start to slide a hand down her body to touch herself, where she'd open her mouth to explain what she'd be doing, but stopped as she met Adam's searing and unblinking gaze past the hill of her knee. It was a little {read; extremely} disconcerting.

 

“Alright,” Charlie announced loudly after her fourth failed attempt, sitting up and looking over to the angel, “I can't do this with you just… standing there, staring at me like I'm a piece of meat or something.”

 

A sharp grin. “Well-”

 

“Don't.” Charlie bit out. “Just…” Dropping her head into her hand, she sighed, “either get over here so I can show you a different way or make me a portal and we'll do this another time.” She muttered, nerves making her cross her legs and look away. For a brief minute, all she heard was grumbling followed by a long drawn out, exaggerated sigh and naturally Charlie assumed Adam was bitching about her and getting ready to make a portal back to Hell until the clatter of a boot hitting the plush rug sounded.

 

Whipping her head around showed the angel standing beside the bed, angrily struggling with his other boot. “What-?”

 

“What, you think I'm just gonna get into my own bed with my fucking shoes on?” Adam gritted as he finally kicked the offending object off. “Fuck that, I'm not an animal. I have standards.” As he spoke, he clambered onto the mattress until he was beside her. In true Adam fashion, he crossed his arms in annoyance as she stared at him. “God, now what?”

 

“Nothing!” Charlie rushed to say and looked away. “I'm just… surprised is all.” The princess peeked up at him. “In a good way, though!” Adam's expression unpinched somewhat at that but he didn't comment and instead grunted as an indication for her to hurry up. “Right well, uh, anyway. Here…” Hesitantly, Charlie grabbed his arm. When he didn't pull away or fight, she continued by lifting until said arm looped around her back and his large hand settled on her thigh then angled herself a fraction so she was leaning back against his side rather than fully on his arm. Not being able to actually see him staring helped more than Charlie thought it would and she could almost pretend she was here with someone else.

 

Almost.

 

“Sooo, to start,” Fiddling with her own fingers and keeping her eyes downcast as her face heats, Charlie begins, “some women don't produce any natural lubrication but that's not necessarily an indicator of their arousal level so, um, sometimes you'll need to use an additional source of lube.” She curled her hand in toward her body and when she opened it again, a small bottle was perched in her palm. Charlie rolled the bottle between her palms nervously as she continued talking, trying to focus on anything besides the heat radiating into her thigh from where his hand sat. “I don't mean to sound so… clinical, I guess, about it but,” she murmured as she grabbed Adam's hand and turned it so his palm was facing upwards, gently straightening his fingers out, “it's just, this is important to know is all. As a note, if you're going to have penetrative sex, you should always make sure the person you're with is turned on, stretched, and acceptably wet. The less stretched and wet she is during sex, the less she'll be enjoying it, the more it'll… hurt, and the less enjoyment both of you will get in the end. 

 

“If someone needs a little help in the ‘getting wet’ department, that's fine. That's what lube is for. Lube also helps reduce friction between parties so it's always good practice to use it no matter what, in all honesty. Anyways, start with a small, but generous, amount of lube of your choice and spread it evenly.” Charlie popped the lid of the small bottle and squirted a healthy dollop onto the man's fingers, carefully spreading it across the digits and glancing up at Adam from the corner of her eye. She expected to see frustration across his features, had fully prepared for him to bitch and moan the entire time, at being given what is essentially a sex talk but is pleasantly surprised at his expression. Adams' own eyes are locked on their hands, pupils blown wide like watching as she worked the lube across his fingers was the next best thing to being created. Charlie's stomach flipped at the sight and she swallowed thickly before clearing her throat, looking away. “The clit has literally thousands of nerve endings and they extend past just the visible part you can see or feel. Use that to your advantage.” She said quietly as she flipped his now sufficiently prepared hand back over and slid it between her legs, pulling her feet toward her body and spreading her knees to make room for his larger hand.

 

“How do you expect me to actually know what I'm doing,” Adam said gruffly as his hand made contact with her, as if admitting he was lacking in something sex related hurt, “if I can't see where or how you're… leading my hand?”

 

A hum left her at the question and Charlie looked up at him again, lifting a brow when he scowled down at her, the apples of his cheeks a few shades darker with involuntary blush. “It's less about seeing what you're doing and more about paying attention to the person you're with, about using the queues they give you. You don't need to see to learn. If blind men can do this, Dickmaster, so can you." Charlie teased softly as she positioned his fingers, flicking her tail and looking away with a smirk as he scoffed in response to the nickname.

 

With her own hand curled over his, Charlie began leading him through the various ways to properly touch her. She'd tense and hiss, twitching away from him when he would be too rough, and relax against his body and sigh softly when he was back to using better pressure. The feeling of someone else's hand on her —even when the movements and touches were somewhat clunky and novice in nature– had her releasing small breathy exhales of approval, her eyes drifting shut. Adam is far from perfect at this, but, considering how they got in this position to begin with, Charlie wasn't exactly surprised. What did surprise her, however, is how quickly he picked things up now that he wasn't running his mouth and pretending to know everything. Maybe all that talk from before wasn't just talk?

 

After just a few moments of leading him, when she wasn't hissing in discomfort or pain from his touches, Charlie sank down and pressed back into the man's body, giving quiet words of encouragement and direction. Slowly, she removed her hand from Adam's and let out soft chittering purrs at the small tight circles he massaged into the sensitive skin on either side of her clit. A quiet curse left him when her hips started twitching and rolling in response to his movements and again when one of her hands reached back to tangle in the hair at the back of his head.

 

Charlie's not sure how long they stayed in that position, she was content to sit like that and just have him touch her for hours, before that familiar tingling that'd overtaken limbs spread further and heat filled her gut. Her tail, of its own volition seemingly, curls around his calf tightly as she slotted her hand back over his own, pinning it in place against her so she could grind against his palm until she came with a shuddered moan. As her orgasm washes over her, Charlie blindly turned her head toward Adam and tugged him down until their mouths connected, purring happily.

 

It took Charlie a moment to register through the fog of her release that Adam had fully stiffened, that he'd gone completely unresponsive and still, and then another second longer to realize exactly why.

 

They were kissing.

 

No no, that wasn't quite right.

 

She was kissing him.

 

Oh no, oh shit, oh fuck.

 

Hastily, Charlie separated their mouths and practically threw his hand away as she scrambled to put some space between them. The angel remained unmoving, though his eyes tracked her retreat. “Oh… my gosh, I- I- I am so so so sosososo sorry. I- I shouldn't have done that, I overstepped! I'm so-” She couldn't even get her full apology out before he twisted around and pushed her down into the mattress with a hand around her throat, effectively trapping her with a knee on either side of her body as he curled over her to get in her face.

 

“Shut the fuck up.” Adam snapped around a hiss. Charlie opened her mouth, prepared to apologize again despite his obvious anger with her, when his face twisted into a sneer and suddenly he was kissing her hungrily, hands buried in her hair and holding her head in place. Although her eyes widened in surprise at the angel's actions, Charlie didn't argue and instead let herself melt under his attention and kissed back with fervor. God, it's been months since she was kissed so forcefully.

 

The kiss is searing and electric and intense and it reignited the throbbing between her legs, and Charlie twisted her hands into his shirt to pull him impossibly closer. In response, Adam gave her hair a sharp tug of approval that had her whining into his mouth.

 

Their mouths disconnect after several heated minutes, a string of saliva connecting them for a handful of seconds before it breaks, leaving them both red faced and panting heavily.

 

Charlie's eyes darted back and forth between Adam's own. Neither of them seemed sure of what just happened. Testingly, she slid her hands down his front until she landed on the hem of his pants, a sly little grin crossing her face. After a kiss like that, this could go one of two ways. Adam would reciprocate what she was about to suggest and they'd have sex again, or he'd get mad and kick her out in a fit. Only one way to find out. “I seem to recall you mentioning something about a… round two?” It wasn't a question she wanted answered with words, that was obvious from how she kept her eyes locked with his as she slowly unbuckled his belt and popped the button on his jeans.

 

A grin split Adam's red face as he realized what she was implying and he shifted off his forearms to stare down at her as she palmed him into full hardness through his pants. As his eyes went half-lidded with pleasure and he leaned in to kiss her for a third time, Charlie gave him a playful squeeze, not enough to hurt but enough to dig the teeth of his zipper into the flesh of his cock, and pull a yelping hiss from the man as he reared back away from her. “I hope you know that you're a fucking cunt for that.” A genuine laugh was punched out of Charlie as she pulled the tab of the zipper down and finally fished him out of the confines of his jeans. 

 

Blinking up at him innocently, Charlie dragged feather light fingers up and down the length of his cock. “Is that so?” She removed her hand from him and rolled onto her front as if she was about to slide out from under his body, “Well if I'm such a cunt, I guess you… don't want help with this, then? And I can just,” Charlie arched her back and looked over her shoulder at him, lifting an eyebrow and hiding her amused smirk behind her shoulder at how his eye twitched, “go home?”

 

Adam slid his hands down her back lightly until they landed on her waist. “I never said that, you cheeky little minx,” he growled with a grin, “so you'd better flip that scrawny ass of yours back over if you know what's good for you.” Despite how his words sound like a threat, there's no heat behind them and Charlie narrowed her eyes in challenge.

 

“Oh? Or what?”

 

“You really wanna find out, Princess?” He asked, fingers curling into her hips slightly. She pressed her mouth into her shoulder and bit her lip at his words, but didn't move as she met his eye. They stared one another down for a few seconds, Adam's own eyes narrowing at her defiance, before she heaved a dramatic sigh and flipped back over. This time, however, Charlie pulled her legs out from between his knees and settled a foot on either side of him.

 

He purred. “Hm, good girl.”  Lifting a hand and lapping at his fingers until they were coated with his spit, Adam cupped her pussy. His touch was gentle but firm as he cupped her, her previously tacky release and the dried lube between her thighs becoming slippery once more from the moisture of his saliva, and he gathered the additional slickness on his hand. It wasn't long before Adam pulled his hand away from her —grinning as she hissed in frustration— and took himself in hand, stroking his length slowly.

 

Charlie lifted her hips and raised herself onto the balls of her feet, grunting as Adam smirked down at her. “Looks like someone's impatient.” He said as he grabbed her hips, rubbing circles into the mixture of bruises with his thumbs as he lined himself with her entrance and slowly sank into her.

 

Dual groans left them as the angel bottomed out in her, Charlie's walls twitching frantically at both the pleasant stretch and the new angle. As Adam shifted and began moving, a quiet jingling tune filled the air. It was hardly audible and she might've thought she was imagining it if Adam hadn't tensed at the sound. Despite how badly she wanted him to just fuck her and ignore whoever was calling, Charlie still pressed her hand to his chest to stop him. “Wait.” Adam made a face at her but did as she said. She listened for a moment before sighing. Yep. Angel. “I'm getting a call. I have to go answer it.” Adam didn't move and Charlie furrowed her brows up at him. 

 

“Seriously?” He tightened his hold on her despite how her eyes narrowed. “You're gonna make us stop over your phone?” Adam pulled out of her with an eye roll and waved his hand toward the curtains. “How the fuck are you getting a call from Hell up here anyway?”

 

Charlie scoffed in disbelief at the attitude change. She understood, really she did. It wasn't like she wanted to stop either, her cunt throbbed angrily at the sudden emptiness, but she wasn't just going to ignore the people in her life for sex with Adam, especially not when they'd already fulfilled the parameters of their deal for the week. Besides, Angel would've just kept calling until she answered, may as well find out what he wanted and if it wasn't important, and Adam wasn't pouting, maybe they could continue afterwards. Like he was a dog she was rewarding or some shit. “Don't be such a baby, Adam.” Charlie grumbled, shaking her head as she shifted to pull herself off the bed. “How I'm getting a call, I'm not sure but for someone to be calling me, it must be important.”

 

“The fuck you talking about important? Nothing is more important than me.” 

 

The response had her rolling her eyes but she didn't say anything in return, instead heading toward the curtains. Flying down to where her phone lay abandoned on the floor of the conversation pit from when she'd almost killed herself, Charlie answered it quickly. “Angel! Hey!” 

 

“Christ on a stick, Charlie! Finally! That was almost nine fuckin’ rings, you bitch.” She rolled her eyes fondly at Angel's snippy attitude about having to wait for her to pick up. 

 

“I know, sorry! I wasn't expecting to get a call and I didn't have my phone on me.” Charlie slotted the phone between her shoulder and ear as she lifted her skirt up, looking it over critically and trying to decide if it was worth the effort of saving. 

 

“You okay, Char? Do I gotta send the wingless wonder out to look for you, because I will. Don't think I won't.”

 

“I'm fine, Angie, I promise. I'll be home soon so there's no need to get Vaggie to track me down. And you shouldn't call her that, it's not nice.” She scolded lightly, putting her hand on her hip with a frown and taking her phone back in hand.

 

“Maybe I wouldn't call her that if she'd actually be more forthcoming with information about shit.” Angel paused. “Or if the bitch would stop snoopin’ around and clearin’ out all my drug stashes. I swear, she's like a fuckin’ blood hound when it comes to findin’ ‘em.” Before Charlie could respond, because Vaggie was only trying to help the sinner stay clean like he'd promised he would as part of his personalized redemption plan, Angel groaned. “Whatever, forget about that. I'm callin’ cause Vagina decided it'd be a good idea to let that slimy snake fucker into the hotel. Ya'know, the guy that attacked us this mornin’?” He went quiet for a second but she could still hear muffled arguing through his side of the phone. “Ugh, just get back here.”

 

As she opened her mouth to respond, Adam landed behind her with a frown, arms crossed. Pouty. “Angel, the whole point of the hotel is to redeem sinners. If he wants to strive for betterment, who am I to stop that? I'm sure Vaggie has this under control.”

 

“Toots,” the sinner sighed, “I was in the mafia. I know when someone's being an underhanded, two timin’ fuck, and this guy… he's settin’ off all my alarms. I'm doing you a courtesy by callin’ instead of just takin’ care of him myself. So get your ass back here.”

 

Charlie heaved a sigh and relented. “Fine. I'll be back as soon as I can be, just don't do anything drastic in the meantime, okay?”

 

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

 

“You're leaving?” Adam demanded, hands on his hips, before she could end the call.

 

“Wait, hold up, who the fuck was that?” Angel yelled just as she pressed the end call button. 

 

“Fuck.” She grumbled, staring at her phone as it lit up again with Angel's face. She swiped to ignore it and turned to Adam. “Yes, I'm leaving. I told you, I have a life outside of being your toy and I'm needed at home. Don't get your feathers in a ruffle, I've held up my end of the deal for the week so,” Charlie stepped into the skirt, shimmying it into place as she toed her shoes on and her phone started ringing for a third time, “one portal back to Hell, please.”

 

Adam made a face at her, clearly having expected her to say something else and not at all happy to learn she'd be leaving before they could finish, and recrossed his arms with a scowl. Charlie declined the call then mirrored his previous stance and put her hands on her hips, glaring at him until he growled with frustration. He snapped his fingers and turned away from her. “Just get the fuck out already.”

 

Charlie shook her head once more at Adam and stepped through the portal to Hell, barely getting her tail out before the oval closed. “Asshole.”

Chapter Text

The last thing Charlie wanted to do while wearing a skirt —especially when she was now going commando, no thanks to Adam— was fly but, based on her phone call with Angel Dust, she was expecting there to be an all out brawl going on between the two sinners any minute. She'd rather not push things further with the hour long walk.

 

Landing at the hotel only a few minutes after returning to Hell didn't show any destruction of property or noticeable violence having taken place to the outside recently, even the hole from that morning was patched up, but that didn't mean things couldn't change at a moment's notice. Assuring she was covered properly and tucking her now even messier wings away after her impromptu flight, the princess rushed inside.

 

While the outside of the hotel may have looked fine, the inside had been transformed into an absolute war zone.

 

The chandelier —which had been hanging precariously by two of its three cables ever since the cleanse of 1983— was now laying on the ground in pieces, debris from multiple destroyed decorations was scattered throughout the entire foyer, the couch a certain adult entertainer had claimed as his own was off to the side and upside down with a broken leg like it'd been lifted then tossed, and the bar was in shambles, every bottle in the bar shattered and filling the air with the nauseating smell of way too much alcohol. In the middle of all the destruction and chaos —screaming at and trying to kill one another because of course they were— was Angel and Sir Pentious, Vaggie standing between them with a hand on each of their chests and yelling as well with an exasperated expression, with Husk and Niffty off to the side watching, one disinterested and the other near feral and cheering with entertainment respectively. Alastor was strangely absent but Charlie figured that was for the best.

 

“What is going on here?” She demanded, voice doubling with her anger. Instantly, the arguing stopped and everyone turned to her. It was silent for barely a second before the room exploded with sound again, the numerous occupants all shouting at and rushing toward her. Charlie covered her ears and groaned at the volume. It was making her wish she'd never picked up her phone and had stayed with Adam. 

 

Her tail whipped at the brief thought and, with a sigh, Charlie dropped her head into her hand to simply wait for everyone to quiet down on their own. It took a minute —several minutes actually but who was counting?— but eventually it was silent once more.

 

“What,” Charlie said slowly, lifting her head and looking between the other five people in front of her, “is going on?” The sound of multiple people inhaling at the same time had her holding her hand up in a stop gesture to halt the onslaught of answers. “I am only one person, I can't understand you when you all speak at the same time, especially when one of you,” her eyes land on a smiling Niffty, who doesn't even try to look embarrassed at being called out, “isn't saying actual words and is just screaming to scream. So,” she inhaled deeply and looked at Vaggie expectantly.

 

“An hour after you left on your… mystery errand,” the fallen angel started, crossing her arms, “Sir Pentious showed up, claiming he wanted to be redeemed. I initially didn't want to let him in, he has attacked the hotel twice in as many months, but then I… I thought about what you'd want, what you'd do, and I just couldn't turn him away. Angel, on the other hand, wasn't too happy I agreed to let him stay here. Something about, I don't know, how he lived in New York in the sixties so he has a good ability to read people so I should just ‘trust his judgment’.” Vaggje gave Angel an unamused look. “He was kind of pointing a gun at me though, so I wasn't really listening.”

 

“Angel.” Charlie snapped her head to the side to look at the sinner, eyes sad with disappointment. Angel just harrumphed and turned away from her.

 

“Don't give me the kicked puppy eyes, Princess! I wasn't pointing it at her, I was pointing it at the slippery little coglione that was cowerin’ behind her!” He defended, gesturing to Sir Pentious with a snarl. The inventor stuck his tongue out at Angel in response and Charlie barely managed to put her arm out and stop the white furred demon before he could lunge, giving the snake a sharp look of her own.

 

“Yeah, well after I banned weapons from being used inside, they started finding random shit to throw at one another. All this,” Vaggie gestured vaguely around the hotel, “is from before the phone call. They've been trying to strangle one another since Angel announced you were on your way back.” Charlie rubbed her eyes and let out a whine of mild frustration.

 

“Okay,” she started, dragging a hand down her face while still barring her friend with the other hand, “I think tensions are running a little high right now so let's all just take a step back and calm down.” The princess looked up at Angel then to Sir Pentious and sighed softly, lowering her arm finally. “I want you two to shake hands, apologize for trying to kill each other, and agree to leave the other alone until tomorrow. No faces, no name calling, no underhanded comments, nothing. You don't have to become best friends, I definitely do not expect that of you, but I do expect you to be civil with one another and give yourselves time to cool down.” When neither made to do as she said, only continuing to give the other heated looks, she hissed. “Come on you two.”

 

Sir Pentious looked down at her and flinched back in surprise at the sight of her red eyes and horns before looking back to Angel and swallowing. Reluctantly, he held a hand out, though he said nothing. Angel Dust glanced at Charlie as well and scoffed at the sight of her demonic features, crossing all four of his arms and turning away from Pentious as if to walk away. “Anthony.” Charlie said, grabbing the back of his blazer and planting her feet, effectively halting his retreat. Angel threw his head back and groaned, slumping and dropping all four arms to his sides before turning around, slapping Charlie's hand off of him with a glare.

 

“Whateva’, just don't grab me like that.” Pride filled her as Angel held a hand out, bottom set of arms crossed while his other hand gripped the extended arms bicep tightly. “Sorry for throwin’ a couch at'cha. I promise I won't try an’ kill ya again… for, like, at least the next twelve hours.”

 

“Angel.”

 

“Ugh fine, twenty-four but that's the best you're gettin’ outta me, girlie.”

 

“I'll take it. Sir Pentious?” Charlie looked to the other demon with wide, hopeful eyes as he hesitantly reraised his hand and took Angel's in his own.

 

“I, too, am sssorry,” he said slowly as they shook hands, “for nearly dropping a chandelier on you and I will do my best to not look like a target for you to throw thingsss at in the meantime.” Despite how they both got their unorthodox apologies out, they continued to shake hands and glare at each other.

 

Charlie grabbed both their wrists and pried their hands apart after a minute of silence. “Oh my gosh, that was wonderful!” She announced, clasping both of their hands in her own with a thousand watt smile. “You both did so good. Thank you thank you thank you! Now, Sir Pentious,” Charlie turned to the taller demon, beaming up at him despite how he flinched back, “Vaggie will show you to your room and will go over all the house rules with you.” She released his wrist and held up a finger when he looked like he's about to protest. “To seek redemption, I insist that you stay on property. In the day, during the times when no activities are planned and so long as it doesn't affect your redemption, you're free to come and go and do as you wish, unsupervised, but at night, you stay in a room here and follow the curfew.” Charlie smiled at the sinner and placed a hand on his shoulder lightly. “Don't worry. It'll be an adjustment but I'm sure you'll adapt in no time!” Flapping her hand in a shooing manner, Charlie watched the two leave with a smile even as Pentious kept looking back at her nervously like he was afraid Vaggie would kill him once they were alone, before she turned to her friend.

 

From the corner of her eye, Charlie caught sight of Husk and Niffty cleaning the shattered glass and alcohol from the bar —and seeing how they both tried to sneakily watch her from the corners of their eyes, sure Alastor has given them clear instructions for when he's not around— as well as registering how small Angel seemed to be trying to make himself look, Charlie made a decision. “Let's go to my room.” She said softly, tugging him along by the wrist when he didn't move on his own. The trip was quick but awkward, neither speaking the entire way.

 

It's only once they were behind the privacy of her door, the privacy of her magic that kept intruders out, that Charlie finally took Angel's other hand gently and turned him fully toward her. “You don't usually start pointless fights with people, Angie, what's going on?” The sinner didn't say anything, refusing to meet her eye. “Was all of that really about Pentious attacking the hotel this morning? Or… is it something else?”

 

“Somethin’ else? What the fuck else would it be about, Char?” He snarled, whipping his head around to glare at her. He's angry, that much was obvious, but he hadn't pulled away yet so she didn't think he's mad at her.

 

Charlie tilted her head and rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles soothingly, leading him across the room to sit on her bed. She said nothing, sensing doing so may not be the right move then and there.

 

“What, you think I'm mad at some fuckin’ testa di cazzo that thinks he can just… waltz in ‘ere and pretend to wanna be better?” The sinner's shoulders deflated some and he threw himself back to lay down, keeping a hold on one of her hands. “Well, guess again ‘cause I ain't. It's just… I- I don't know, toots. We had a good thing goin’, didn't we? Just the three of us, before Al and his special brand of crazy came along.” 

 

The vulnerability in his voice makes Charlie's shoulders slump some. “Oh, Angel. We had a great thing going but… this is what we want. For the hotel to grow, for more people to stay here.” Angel made a noise of disagreement at her words but made no move to argue. “I know you don't like him but if Sir Pentious really wants to change then… I can't turn him away. I love you, Angel, you're an important part of the hotel and this family, it's just nice to have someone here willingly who seems like they want to change. Oh,” she squeezed the man's hand when he tried to pull his arm away sharply and gave her an affronted look, “don't act like that, mio amico. You know what I'm trying to say. I had to bribe you with money and a free room to get you to stay here for the first few weeks.” She flopped down next to him and stared up at the canopy. “I still believe in you and your ability to be redeemed, Angel. You're like a brother to me. Having another person here doesn't change that.”

 

Angel threw an arm over his eyes and sighed. The two lay on her bed in silence for a few minutes before the sinner spoke.

 

“You know, you could’a told me you were gettin’ dicked down when we were on the phone, girlie. I would’a understood and figured somethin’ else out for the legless freak. Is that where you've been sneakin’ out to on Sundays? To get some dick?” Charlie bolted upright immediately and looked down at Angel, forcing him to remove his arm from his eyes and look at her. “What, what'd I say?”

 

“I- I wasn't- what made you think-” Flames ate away at her face, embarrassment making her defensive and skittish, and she took a deep breath to collect herself. “I'm not sneaking out, Angel. We don't have anything planned on Sundays and everyone is free to come and go from the hotel when we don't have activities. You know that better than anyone.”

 

Angel gave her an unimpressed look. “So you have a new boyfriend and you don't wanna bring him around.” He translated. “I don't blame you, Char, this place is a fuckin’ circus on the best'a days.” The sinner waved one of his hands around nonchalantly. “I say good for you, toots, ‘specially after your last few disastrous relationships.”

 

That had her spluttering in surprise and shaking her head, eyes wide with disbelief. “Boyfriend? Wh- he is not my… no, Angel, you've seriously got the wrong idea. What's going on between us is…” Charlie looked away and bit her lip, brows furrowing. “It's… ugh, it's just ungodly hard to explain…” Slowly and all at once, the rest of the man's sentence registered and Charlie turned to look at her friend, eyes narrowing. “Wait, hold on. My last few disastrous relationships? What's that supposed to mean?” She asked hotly.

 

“Oh come on, cagna, you know what I mean!” The spider demon said, crossing his legs at the ankle, folding his top set of arms behind his head, and closing his eyes, unbothered by her reaction. “Maybe I don't know all the details or whateva’ but I know enough from shit you've told me and, let's just say, your track record is rockier than a motherfuckin’ landslide.” He peeked one eye open and smirked. “‘Sides, you don't gotta date the schmuck to enjoy what he's got to offer. So, is he good in the sack at the very least? I mean, he must be based on your…” He made a circling, waving gesture at her, “y'know… current appearance an’ all that.”

 

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows in response and glanced down at herself. Sure, her clothes were rumbled and a little out of place but it was hardly enough to come to that conclusion. “I'm not sure I follow. I flew back here, Angel. Of course my clothes are all-”

 

“So flying here made your bra disappear too, did it?”

 

Instantly her hands jumped to cover her chest, her face turning the same neon red as her shirt when she felt exposed nipples under the thin fabric. “Oh fuck off!” Charlie snapped as the pornstar cackled in delight.

 

“You also smell different.”

 

“Ugh, now you're smelling me?”

 

Ang sat up and gave her an unimpressed look. “Smellin’ you? On purpose? No. But everyone around these parts smells like brimstone and fire and a little like rot, it comes with livin’ in this shithole ring and it's hard to ignore, but these last few Sundays you've been comin’ back reekin’a sex on top of this… eh, I dunno how to describe it. Like, bein’ outside durin’a thunderstorm but… I dunno, more? It clings to ya ‘til ya wash up then you're back to the usual Hell smell. Today though?” The sinner shook his head and waved his hand under his nose. “Fuck, it's like you showered or rolled in the stuff.” Without waiting for a response, he flopped back again and returned to his previous position while keeping an eye on her. Charlie lifted her arm and sniffed herself, unsure if she should be offended or not. “Calm down, tits, okay? It's not bad, I doubt anyone else even notices it.”

 

Her friend stayed silent for a second before humming. “So, he's a good lay?” Aside from burying her hands in her hair with a groan, Charlie stayed silent. “I'm takin’ that as a yes.”

 

When she still didn't respond, he began trying to rile her up but Charlie was intent on ignoring Angel no matter what, even as he started poking her… up until he began using all six hands to do so after five minutes and she couldn't handle it anymore. “Unh, fine!” She barked out, slapping a hand away from her face. “He's not bad I guess but,” a forlorn sigh slipped from her and she fell back to lay next to her friend, “ugh, he's kinda clueless about anything that isn't about him.”

 

“So he's just a normal guy?”

 

“I mean…” Instead of elaborating, Charlie just shrugged as she curled up on her side. The image of Adam's scowling face covered in a dark blush came to mind and she smiled softly. “He was willing to be taught, though. Y'know, once he got over me calling him out on his… lack of skills.” 

 

“A man who's selfish in bed but willing to learn after bein’ told he's bad at somethin’? Yeah right.” Angel snorted. “I'll believe that when I see it, sweetness and then you'll have to share.” Before she could respond, he groaned loudly and sat up, glaring down at her. “You weren't getting fucked while we were on the phone, were you?” 

 

“What- Angel, no! I would never-”

 

“ Because your boy toy sounded awfully close to the phone when I heard him.”

 

She gawped in disbelief at him. “No, we stopped–”

 

“You made him stop? Why? You can tell a lot about a guy based on the noises they make in the sack, you should'a let him keep going so I could hear. I'd be able to tell you if he was worth keeping around.” Without waiting for a response, he extended all four arms up and stretched. “This heart to heart was fun and all but I'm gonna go. Val has me workin’ a twelve tomorrow and I need at least ten hours of beauty sleep before that.” He pulled Charlie up into a sitting position despite her whining and patted her head with a smirk. “Night, girlie.”

 

As soon as Angel left her room, she groaned and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes. Fuck.

Chapter Text

Lucifer was a damn coward.

 

He always had been, or at least he had been for as long as Adam had known him —which was close enough to forever but that wasn't the point. Especially so when it came to anything Heaven related. That was why it had been so laughably easy to convince the fucker to agree to the Exterminations.

 

Yeah, right.

 

Convince.

 

More like the sinners had been handed over to Heaven on a goddamn silver fucking platter without a second thought from the fallen angel.

 

Fighting for the sinners he ruled over, no matter how much he loathed them, would've been the honorable thing to do, and Lucifer was anything but that. From Adam's point of view, it had been simpler for the King of Hell to just let Heaven just do as they pleased. Let the survivors of the latest genocide clean up the aftermath themselves —he'd bet his afterlife that Lucifer wouldn't be caught dead outside the shitty carnival tent he called a home during or after the slaughter to help— then go back to living their pathetic little lives for another year like the stinking degenerates they were.

 

“I know better than to push back against Heaven when they want something, now.” Had been Lucifer's quiet excuse all those millennia ago during the very first, and only, pre-Extermination meeting. A meeting Sera insisted upon before she'd consider agreeing to Adam's idea of going down to Cleanse Hell yearly. “I won't do anything to stop you when you come down here each year. Do what you want to the sinners. They deserve it, anyway. But leave hellborns out of it.” The lack of fight or anger or anything outside meek agreement had made Adam see red, and not just because he was surrounded with the atrocious color. It was like that asshole really thought rolling over and showing his belly to the Elders would grant him and his pathetic ragtag family asylum in Heaven. It didn't, but it'd still been infuriating to witness such timidness from someone so powerful. Lucifer's only condition hadn't really been a shock —though it had initially been a disappointment. But, it also hadn't truly mattered in the end. Each year hundreds of Hellborns were slain when they were stupid enough to get in the way of an Exorcist's blade not even aimed for them, and Lucifer still did nothing to retaliate. Maybe he knew it was pointless. Surely he knew better than anyone else that his people were idiots.

 

So, hearing from Sera that Lucifer was pussying out of a post-Extermination meeting like the cock-sucking little asswipe he was hadn't been all that surprising. Well, okay, she hadn't said it quite that way. How she'd described the situation had been a lot… fluffier and gentler and way more forgiving than it had any right being but, ah well. He liked his way better.

 

Adam typically tried to keep his nose out of all things regarding Hell. Especially in the weeks post Extermination as that was prime celebratory fucking time for him and he wasn't giving that up for a stiffy ass meeting in Hell of all places. More often than not these days, Adam assigned Lute to take care of these types of things in his place. Lute was his best bitch, his second in command, his right hand, the Dangertits to his Dickmaster. If he couldn't trust her to handle these meetings in a way he'd approve of then, fucking Christ, he couldn't trust anyone. That, and he didn't think he'd be able to keep his temper under control if he was forced to sit in a room with Lucifer fucking Morningstar, the original wife stealer, for multiple hours on end while they discussed whatever the fuck they discussed at those meetings. He had other reasons but, y'know, those were the most important ones.

 

But learning the older angel's daughter would be attending the meeting in his stead? Oh, this he just had to see.

 

At first glance, Adam thought Lucifer was playing some stupid trick like he used to back in Eden. For Christ’s sake, if it wasn't for her shitty red suit and the nauseating waves of naivety rolling off of her, the bitch looked almost exactly like her father. But, then, he spotted her guard dog and knew the King of Hell wouldn't willing tote another angel around for a joke, even if she was a traitorous cunt just like himself. 

 

As far as Adam could tell, this girl didn't even know what her bean flicking pet was. That was fine, he'd hold that info close to the chest for when he needed it. Contrary to popular belief, Adam wasn't stupid —sure, he had his moments but didnt fucking everyone?— and he knew how powerful information could be, especially something this big.

 

While the blonde may not have appreciated him offering her the plate of ribs and the subsequent hilarity that ensued when her hand phased through his hologram for a second time —seriously, how do you fall for the same trick twice within a few minutes of each other?— Adam found it entertaining to fuck with her. The more he spoke, the more Chandler's —Chandelier? Chardonnay? Cagney?— eye twitched and the harder Vagina glared at him and Lute —like she had the right to be mad when they let her live for her treasonous actions against Heaven!— so he just continued to talk. Rinse and repeat.

 

It was only once Adam got to the story about the dumb bitch who thought she wanted drummer dick —really? really??— that she finally caught on to who he was and, suddenly, her whole demeanor changed. 

 

He'd admit, her nervous, “Adam, sir. Mister Adam, sir,” was… endearing, in a way. He might even go far as to say cute if only because she was awkward and anxious out of nowhere. It made sense, he was the Adam and she was just some filthy little Nephalem —or was she a Nephilim? Whatever, it didn't matter either way. Few demons got to experience his awesomeness and live to tell anyone about it.

 

Funnily enough, though, she didn't seem all that amused or awed when he told her to call him Dickmaster. In fact, that nervous twitching and twisting of her fingers she'd been doing completely stopped and was replaced with a peeved yet deadpan expression. Strange… Women usually loved to call him that when he told them to but, he supposed, she wasn't a normal woman.

 

When she went back to prattling on and on about sinners, the more he regretted coming to this meeting. Ugh, she was so fucking long winded. But he wouldn't lie, he thoroughly enjoyed her talking him up. At least someone down there seems to have sense. Charlie —and okay, yeah, that sounded right— had even gotten him excited when she started talking about his name being on shit —because, fuck, he really did like when his name got to be on shit. But then she brought up Hell's problems and she lost him. Genuinely not knowing what the fuck she was talking about at this point, Adam started throwing out random ideas for the hell of it, sure one of them would stick.

 

Nothing seemed to be right for this bitch, though.

 

What, did she want him to read her fucking mind? Jesus fuck, apparently because now she was just staring at him. Great, now she decided to stop talking? Like blinking them big fucking eyes at him would somehow tell him what she meant?

 

Fine. If she wasn't going to speak, Adam would. He leaned back in his chair, made himself comfortable, and just let loose. He talked about anything he could think of —from preening methods to the most recent bitches he'd scored to even instruments he knew how to play— barely holding back from howling with laughter as she slowly gave up and collapsed on the table. The princess was clearly trying not to be rude and interrupt him —though Vagasaurus continued to glare, as if working on boring holes through his skull— and he'd give her some credit, she made it through about thirty minutes of him chattering nonsense before she slammed her fists down on the table, barking at him about their, again, “shared” problem in Hell.

 

If anyone asked, Adam would deny it but she'd surprised him.

 

He realized quickly, after her declaration that the amount of demons Lute had killed was “not awesome” —somehow???— that Charlie was most definitely her father's daughter, through and through.

 

Hopeful.

 

A dreamer. 

 

Sickeningly sweet despite his lack of interest in anything she said.

 

Stupidly naive to anything outside her little bubble where everything was perfect and magical and consequence free.

 

Delusional beyond belief.

 

But the more he laughed and joked and redirected at her growing anger, the more of an edge he was discovering she had, a sharpness that Lucifer, even in all his millennia living in and ruling Hell, had never outwardly shown despite how his buttons got pushed. And he'd ignited it, at least for the moment. She had a temper, a fiery one at that, and it reminded him abruptly that she wasn't only Lucifer's. That she had to have gotten that familiar short fuse from someone. As annoying as miss sunshine and rainbows was, Adam was intrigued by her, like how a cat was intrigued with a mouse before killing it.

 

The change in her looks had him glad for the helmet because he knew without it, his reaction would've been hard to hide. She may be that two-timing fuck’s brat, and a half demon to boot, but fuck did she look hot like this —hair a wild golden mane, voice heavy with power, eyes almost solid red and glowing, fuck, even those damn horns. The thought of finding Lilith's kid attractive as fuck didn't outright disgust him like it probably should've. Deciding he didn't have time to unpack that train of thought, Adam did what he does best regarding these issues and shoved it to the back of his mind to deal with later.

 

Her demonic looks melted away —shame— and she did her best to try to make him feel bad for her by stating that these were ‘her people’. Sucks to be her, honestly. Adam didn't even try to stop himself from rolling his eyes when she argued that the sinners were just the same as the angels in Heaven. He couldn't even open his mouth to disprove that before the best girl herself stepped in, straightforward and to the point in how she tore down Charlie. Seeing the previously too big for her britches girl deflate and curl in on herself had him taking what some —just not himself— may call ‘pity’ on her.

 

Picking a bit of spare rib from between his teeth, Adam leaned back in his chair. God, he couldn't wait to be done and get out of this stuffy building. “Welp, almost outta time, sweetheart. You should probably get into it.”

 

Her mood brightened and Adam cringed slightly as she rushed toward him with a grin and sparkling eyes as she seemed to brush off all previous interactions with the angels like water on a duck's feathers. Against his will, Adam's eyes roved over in the shape of her body when she leaned over the table to slide him a stack of paper. She may be wearing an ill-fitted suit but it hugged her ass and tits surprisingly well. When Charlie sprang upright like she'd burnt herself, Adam found his eyes drifting down to the stack of papers she'd left for him rather than follow her. He listened to her with one ear, drinking in the information he could without touching the papers or making it obvious he was paying attention to her spiel, and with each additional graph or statistic she set down, Adam's brow furrowed. It was a lot. He may not like math much, and only has a very general understanding of English as it was understood and spoken nowadays, but even he could tell the numbers were crazy. The Exterminations were hardly making a dent in how fast the population seemed to grow each year. That was worrying and also a little… sad? Disheartening? Heaven's numbers grew, of course they did, but not like this. Adam looked up in time for her to address him directly and he hummed in mild agreement, shrugging slightly as his eyes were drawn downward to her notes again. The information was, to put it plainly, fascinating and his fingers itched to scoop up all of the papers. Truth be told, if Lute and Vaggie weren't there, he may have been more willing to actually look over everything and attempt to talk to her about it in depth.

 

The more she spoke, however, the more his skin pricked with irritation and offense.

 

Was this broad serious right now? Redeem… fucking sinners? It was like this bimbo didn't understand how shit fucking worked. If you lived a life of sin then you deserved an afterlife of torment. You couldn't just decide you hated the punishment you'd earned for your actions in life and choose to go to Heaven instead. Adam guessed he shouldn't be surprised at all of this coming from Lucifers waste of a creampie.

 

“I'm gonna stop you right there, baby-cakes.” Adam gritted out, enjoying how uncomfortable she seemed to be with the nickname. “Am I… hearing you right? Nah, I can't be because it almost sounds like you're saying that we should let Sinners climb the ladder of redemption and let them into Eternal Inheritance.” He scoffed at her, narrowing his eyes when Vulva stepped forward like she'd fight him when Charlie flinched back. “You're actually implying we shouldn't kill these miserable pieces of shit because, what, you drew a couple of pictures and said pwetty pwease?’” The implication alone made him want to go down to Hell and go on a rampage just to show her what he thought of her shitty idea. Instead, he flaps his wings and lifts himself into the air just enough to land on the table, giving her a sharp grin. “Sorry, sweetie, but you can't change fate. They had their chance to be good, to be better, to be deserving, and they fucking wasted it. The rules aren't just something we can ignore in favor of your fucking passion project.”

 

He leaned down from his place above her to sneer in her face and followed as she backed away in thinly veiled fear, Lute walking alongside him on the ground to ensure they went where the angels wanted. “Chillax, baby. You know those old sayings? Y’know, ‘what goes around, comes around’, ‘an eye for an eye’, ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’? Yeah, those are just fun ways to say ‘actions have consequences’ and ‘you get what you deserve’.” Once at the end of the table, Adam flexed his wrist and activated one of the few good things the construction of these bullshit twin Embassy buildings provided. The Tactile Hologram Unity System.

 

The Tactile Hologram Unity System –or T.H.U.S., as it'd been nicknamed— was a slim gold device with a round blue gem on the inside. It was worn on the wrist like a watch or a bracelet and ‘spoke’ with the software built into the device's home building —the Heaven Embassy— to perfectly copy and project an identical, almost physical, hologram of the wearer inside a predetermined designated area. In this specific case, the Hell Embassy conference rooms. The system's mate projector in Hell would then scan the partner conference room and cast a real-time, albeit regular, hologram back in Heaven. Speakers built into both rooms made it so people could comfortably speak to one another as if in a shared space rather than in two entirely different planes of existence. Anyone in the rooms could see, and hear, these holograms, of course, but only the T.H.U.S. pilots could utilize them. Despite its small size, the device gave the wearer the ability to physically interact with or manipulate anything solid—people, papers, doors, literally anything— so long as the system had logged and transmitted it back to Heaven as a projection.

 

The idea was to make it so Heaven and Hell diplomats could comfortably interact with one another while staying in their respective Embassy when they'd have meetings. From how little was actually able to be used in the T.H.U.S., it was clear the system's coding was still in its infancy, most likely due to how rarely it was actually used. From Adam's limited understanding, even after reading through the instruction manual five damn times, years of traveling to and from Hell had been put into getting this system set up and functional, so he'd been surprised it'd been more or less abandoned. The only people who used it were Lute and Sera during these meetings each year. In its current state, it provided Adam just enough physicality in Hell to flap his wings hard enough Charlie and Vagina got flung back several feet and into the door. Of course, that was all it could do before being too drained and went back to just being a pretty trinket. Upon hearing the painful sounding thuds of both their bodies hitting the door, Adam grinned and held a hand out to the side for Lute to high five, grin being overtaken by smirk as Charlie got to her feet and those cute little fuck handles of hers sprouted from her forehead.

 

“Oh ho ho, kitty's got claws, hm?” Vaggie grabbing onto the princess desperately, speaking too low and fast for him to hear, seemed to be the only thing keeping Charlie from storming over to him. Adam tilted his head, anger momentarily forgotten in favor of eyeing her. Half-breed demon or not, he could always appreciate when a bitch was hot. “Gotta say, you are sexy as fuck all pissed off and fiery, but I seriously do not have the time for this. Lute.” He turned away from the three women and began walking off to put away his T.H.U.S. wristband and be done with this entire shitshow meeting, smirking wider at the sounds of pain echoing into the room from the two girls as Lute handled them. 

 

“No. No, no, wait, please!” Something about her pleading made Adam pause in his retreat as Lute began pulling their door shut. Even if her frantically tone hadn't gotten him to stop, the next words out of Charlie's mouth surely would've done the job. “Please, give me another chance! I'll make a deal with you, please! Anything just…” A noise of intrigue left him and he turned around quickly, closing the gap between himself and the trio in seconds just in time to catch the heavy steel door before Lute could fully close it.

 

“Sir. She's a Nephalem. A lying succubus whore, just like her mother.” At that, Adam whipped his head around to glare at Lute, narrowing his eyes as she took a step back. “You can't trust anything she says.” His second in command continued, this time slightly more reserved. Adam scoffed at her and stuck his head out into the hallway, dismissing her concerns.

 

“I'm pretty sure making deals is something your kind does, with other demons. Angels don't make deals.” A look of consternation twisted Charlie's features and Adam felt a smile tug at his lips.

 

Her argument, however, had their expressions swapping instantly, his face now twisting with displeasure as she almost sneered up at him. What a little trollop, thinking she got the better of him. Adam was a second away from flipping her off and slamming the door in her face before she spoke, once more demanding they stop the Exterminations. This time, though, she made a dangerously open ended offer. Intrigue rising. He ignored Lute hissing behind him.

 

“Anything? Really? You're that fucking desperate?” Past crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow as if to say ’Yes, and?’, Charlie offered no response. “Alright, damn princess. I can respect that. Hm,” although he paused and pretended to think, Adam knew what he wanted out of this deal the second she offered and he knew all of his other girls would enjoy it too, “Then give me her.” Adam jutted his chin toward Vaggie, causing Charlie to spin around —and he'd be offended she turned her back on him if he wasn't distracted himself— and his mouth was now a wide crescent of shark teeth as their eyes met over Charlie's head. Even though she was behind him, Adam could practically taste Lute's excitement as she registered exactly what he was implying. He knew she'd been chomping at the bit to attack the traitorous twat since the duo had made their presence known and now that opportunity was within reach.

 

“What why-”

 

God, she was naive. One of the oldest beings in Hell and the damn princess couldn't even recognize an angel when it was sitting in her lap. Maybe it was all the rainbow stickers and tacky friendship drawings of angels and sinners being the same that clouded her judgement. “Oh, the bitch didn't tell you?” Without removing his eyes from the former exorcist, Adam spoke to Charlie. Palatable fear radiated off of her. Hell had turned her soft it seemed, if her quiet pleading of his name was anything to go off of. Ironic. His lip curled. No. Pathetic. “This cunt was, is, an angel. And not just that, oh no, she was an Exorcist. One of my best. Isn't that right, Vaggie?” Vaggie must've forgotten he was a hologram because she recoiled violently when Adam lifted his arm like he was going to grab her from seven feet away. The sound of shoes scuffing on marble drew Charlie's attention and Adam kept his eyes focused on her profile. 

 

Furrowed brows. Quivering lips.

 

A downward turn of her lips. 

 

Teeth gnawing on the inside of her cheek.

 

A sheen of wetness in her eyes, rapid blinking to clear it.

 

Inhaling slowly, turning away. Staring down at her shoes. Silent, thinking.

 

Watching the girl try and process this revelation quickly, Adam felt smug satisfaction fill his veins when she turned away from Vagina. His gaze flicked to the traitor in question and excitement thrummed through his limbs at the scared, betrayed look she was giving Charlie. Good. She should be scared. Adam had let her off easy and she, what, ran off to kiss up to Lucifer's bitch and tote on about redemption? Redemption, by the way, that she wasn't too keen on believing in when the other Exorcists had exulted her on shield and celebrated her one thousandth kill or when she proudly displayed her blood stained spear in the barracks each year. Simply falling was too good for a defect. Treason should always be punished with death.

 

Finally —hardly a handful of seconds later, truthfully— Charlie opened her mouth to speak and Adam was fully expecting her to agree, to shove the lying whore to the metaphorical wolves. Hearing her tell him no, however, had his feathers puffing  with rage as they stared one another down. Charlie lifted her chin defiantly despite how he crowded her personal space. “No, you can't have her. As heir to the throne, everyone who resides in Hell is under my protection, and I won't sell one of my people out to benefit others.”

 

This.

 

Fucking.

 

Whore.

 

Did she really think he gave a single fucking shit that she was the ’heir to the throne’ of Hell? He clenched his fists at his sides and gnashed his teeth, glaring down at the stoic faced princess as she spoke. The next words she spoke were clearly directed to Vaggie. “You should go. While you can.” 

 

Vaggie fled without an ounce of hesitation, didn't even spare Charlie a backwards glance. Coward.

 

“You're really gonna sit there and protect someone who's slaughtered thousands of your people?” Adam let out a rough bark of a laugh, rage making his throat burn as he continued to loom over her. He didn't care that he was currently a hologram to her, Adam'd force this stupid T.H.U.S. system bullshit to work long enough he could strangle Charlie with his fucking hands. “There's nothing else you, or any of those other sniveling little fucks, can offer me that'll make me consider calling off the Exterminations!”

 

A feral kind of desperation flitted across the girl's face before resignation smoothed her features. “I'm pretty sure I made the offer that I will do anything.” Her calm attitude made his teeth hurt and he clenched his fists until the claws of his gloves stabbed the meat of his hands painfully and threatened to pierce the leather.

 

“In case you missed it, sweetcheeks, I'll be nice and repeat myself. I'm a fucking angel.” Adam's wings flared open and spread around him in a halo of angry ruffled feathers. “I don't deal in souls like your lot does. What in the everloving fuck could I gain out of you!?”

 

Charlie shrank in on herself, confidence clearly waning. “Whatever deal we make,” red eyes swept past him to look at something at his shoulder, “i-it stays between the two of us. I don't want it getting out. To anyone.” He had to hand it to her, girl's got balls of steel to be willing to be alone with the leader of the angel army and not a witness in sight to protect her. Not that being alone with two Exorcists was much better. And, okay, sure, he was a hologram and could no longer do more than phase through her harmlessly but, well, she didn't need to know that, now did she?

 

Still, Charlie lifted her chin and tightened her crossed-arm grip on her biceps despite how anxiety rolled off of her. Without many other choices past just completely ending the meeting, Adam flicked his wrist and sent Lute away. He wanted to know what this big balled bitches plan was. His Lieutenant grumbled in disapproval at the dismissal but she saluted, tugged off her own T.H.U.S. wristband and ended her holographic connection in the Hell Embassy, and left the room obediently. Trusting Lute to have vacated the area and not be eavesdropping, Adam opened the door so Charlie could reenter the conference room.

 

“Alright, Princess, I suggest you start talking.”

 

Said princess shifted from foot to foot for a second after Adam widened the doorway, briefly glancing down the yawning hall of the Heaven Embassy. A moment passed, a moment that ticked at Adam's paper thin patience, as consideration seemed to cross Charlie's fair features before she made up her mind. Determination, now, screwed up her face as she scowled up at him then stormed into the room like she was on a mission. Adam supposed she thought her expression made her look tough or some shit but it honestly just made her look like a hamster with her scrunched up nose, those dumb ass cheeks spots not helping in the slightest.

 

The thud of the door shutting behind her had the girl's shoulders hunching up to her ears. She kept her back to him as she spoke, now fidgeting nervously with her hair. “What I want is… an extra year of guaranteed safety from the Exterminations.” Adam's eyes narrowed, heat gnawing at his stomach, but he stayed silent. “Meaning next year, when you'd usually come down here, you stay in Heaven. Leave Hell alone until the following year. Two years of safety, at the end of it.” She paused and hummed. “You asked earlier what you could gain out of me. I think I have an idea.” The princess released her ponytail and set her shoulders, turning around with furrowed brows. “How about me?”

 

“You?”

 

“Me.”

 

Adam sighed through his nose, the noise drawn out and loud with exasperation. “Explain.” He was… intrigued by the offer for sure but it had such ambiguity. Ambiguity that he usually wouldn't bother having clarified —because why the fuck should he?— but for an ask as big as postponing the Cleanse, he had to have more information. 

 

Charlie glanced away nervously as heat slowly overtook her cheeks, ears and neck turning pinker and pinker alongside her face. That's when her offer of herself finally clicked. Most of his anger evaporated at that and his eyes widened. Lil– no, no, Lucifer's little hottie, being Adam's newest fucktoy? He had to say, that did sound so fucking appealing! More than appealing actually, and he didn't really need Sera's approval or permission regarding the Exterminations. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Make any decisions he deemed necessary, so long as they stayed on the downlow and Heaven stayed in the dark. Sera preferred keeping her nose as far away from the dirty business that was the Cleanse and was happy to delegate responsibility of maintaining it to Adam. This could stay their little secret, assuming he wasn't somehow —unlikely— misunderstanding her.

 

Still, he had to make sure. He wouldn't be caught with his dick out —literally— due to a misunderstanding. Because then, well, he'd have to kill her to save himself the embarrassment of being wrong and he'd just hate to kill a bitch with such a bangin’ body… “Sooo, let me get this straight. You're offering yourself in exchange for a measly extra year of no Exterminations?” A smile crossed his face when she didn't answer immediately, face darkening even more, and he moved so he was thoroughly in her bubble. “You must think pretty highly of yourself, huh, Princess? What, does your cunt drip gold or some shit?” His eyes roved over her form hungrily as she recrossed her arms and looked away, muttering how the only thing she had to offer him other than her soul was– “Your tight body?” She gave him a disgusted look at that, clearly unimpressed.

 

“I was gonna say ‘myself’ but sure. That works, I guess.”

 

Adam hummed in consideration as he activated his T.H.U.S. once more to grab her chin between his index finger and thumb, rotating her head as he took in her looks more closely. “Ugh, this would be better if you looked less like—” He released her with a sharp flick of his wrist just as his device died again. She was far from ugly by any means but he hadn't been lying when he said she was almost identical to Lucifer. Uncomfortably so. Being a damn chick was her only saving grace when being compared to that fucking brown noser. “But I guess your face doesn't actually fucking matter in the end.” Because, honestly, it didn't. He wasn't planning on face fucking the broad, despite how the idea had electricity zinging down his spine. To be safe, though, he'd just make sure to keep her facing away from him. “Jesus, fine, you got a deal, Sugartits. How about we make it official?” He knew enough about deal-making to know this needed to be done in person and there was no fucking way he was going down there for this shit. Not that he had a single intention of upholding his side of this snowflake daydream of hers, anyway, so he didn't see any real harm in entertaining her for a while. What, did she seriously think her pussy was enough to save Hell? That he'd fuck her one time and just change his mind about the losers she loved so much? Yeah, okay. Despite knowing he'd definitely get his ass chewed out for what he was about to do if anyone found out, Adam snapped his fingers and opened a portal to Heaven for miss butterflies and unicorns to step through. She stepped away with wide eyes and simply stared at the swirling oval of light, pure wonder filling her eyes. Good God, what did he get himself into with her?

 

“Hurry the fuck up, I don't have all year for you to gawk at the pretty sparkles, sweetie.” Adam yanked the golden device off his wrist, shaking his head when it took her a few seconds still to join him on his side of the portal. He gave her just long enough to spin in a stupid little circle before he grabbed her wrist, yanking her around to face him. She blinked in surprise at the action, staring at his hand for a second with curiosity, then looked up at him with her big dumb owl eyes.

 

“Listen, bitch, you can stare all you want another time.” Adam grumbled, squeezing her wrist slightly when her expression shifted into one of aggravation. “Pretty sure we have a deal we need to seal.” When she yanked her arm out of his grip, he released her without a fight and simply sneered as she backed away. “What, changed your mind already?”

 

“No, but I'm not stupid enough to leave a deal so open ended, especially not with someone like you.” The pleased twitch of Charlie's eyebrow made his lip curl. “This deal is only for the next year.” Realization that this wasn't going to be a one time thing, that Charlie intended for this to happen at least a handful of times if her pouty lip and furrowed brows were an indicator, hit him like a ton of bricks and he bit his cheek to hide his grin. Maybe he'd be postponing the upcoming Extermination after all. “You go back on the deal, if you even indicate you're going to start the Exterminations again before the agreed upon two years is up, and the ‘deal’ off. I can come to the Heaven Embassy once a month an-”

 

An unintentional scoff of irritation left him. “Once a month?” God, did he seriously get tangled up with the one prude in all of Hell? Sure, he thought it was initially only going to be a one time thing but now that he knew her intentions, he wasn't gonna let her get away with the bare fucking minimum. Oh no, Adam would be getting his worth out of her.

 

Charlie's eyes lit up red at his words and her horns sprang into existence in an instant, growing longer the more she spoke. “What, what's wrong with that? You don't have enough women flocking to you up here to stroke your ego in the meantime?”

 

He couldn't even appreciate seeing her weirdly sexy demonic side again, she was seriously starting to actually piss him off again. “Once a month isn't worth the scrutiny of all of Heaven when they learn that the next Extermination is being postponed an entire year.” The lie made his stomach twist uncomfortably but he pushed it down. Now was not the time for guilt. “Nuh uh, Princess. Four times a week, at least.”

 

“Four times a fucking week!?” He flinched at her volume and the subsequent echoing that filled the Embassy.  

 

Fuck, he was so stupid, this dumb broad was going to get them caught in the first minute with her fucking screeching! Frantically, Adam looked around despite the fact nobody came within a hundred yards of the Hell Embassy's doors let alone inside the dumb place. Still. “Jesus fuck, keep your voice down! Believe it or fucking not, I'm breaking enough fucking rules just humoring you, you dumb bitch. Anyone hears you're up here and it's my ass on the line. So shut the fuck up!” Adam took a deep breath and glared down at her. When he spoke again, his voice was still firm but at a much more appropriate speaking level if not bordering on a harsh whisper. “Yes, or is that too often for your prude ass?”

 

Growling low in her throat —and fuck if that didn't go straight to his dick… what was wrong with him!?— Charlie's face twisted and reddened. “I have a life outside of being your… personal sex toy.” She clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes before speaking again. “Twice a month, then.”

 

The angel did his best to keep his expression neutral but could feel his wings fluffing in indignation at that suggestion. Judging by Charlie's suddenly tense stance and the narrowness of her eyes, he was doing a piss poor job at it. “Is that really all your people are worth to you?” He asked, voice low and gravely as he stared her down. It was a low blow and manipulative as fuck, even he could recognize that. But it did the job and he just barely resisted the urge to smirk at the rage that burst to life behind her eyes, taking great enjoyment out of her horns growing even longer, even sharper.

 

Her next offer is forced out between gritted teeth. “Once a week?” It wasn't… great but, eh, it was better than once a month, he supposed. Adam eventually gave his assent to her suggestion with a click of his tongue and a nod. The girl's shoulders sag ever so slightly with relief —clearly she was expecting a bigger fight from him. “Okay, once a week, I'll…” aaaaand he wasn't listening anymore, his attention disappearing alongside her demonic looks as she talked logistics. Maybe he should've been listening, this all revolved around the two of them and their fucking after all, but he really couldn't be bothered. Boredom filled him as she paced around the Hell Embassy with her phone out, muttering to herself and growling at the little glowing rectangle in her hands.

 

It took him a solid few seconds to realize that she'd halted her marching finally to ask him a question and he was just staring at her. Shit. Instead of flubbing through a response and agreeing to something stupid, he just blinked in the hopes she'd repeat herself. And, thank fuck, she did… kinda.

 

“Is that… insensitive? Asking to conduct these meetings on Sundays, I mean. Outside the ob-” Sundays? Why would that be– Oh, right, because they're fucking. That was… strangely considerate of her, to be concerned about that. Was this broad always like this, why the shit was she being nice? It made his throat prick uncomfortably for some reason, but he ignored it. “-est and… worship, right? If they don't work for you, I can figure something else out, but it'll take me a few mi-”

 

“It's fine.” His voice was sharp, even to his own ears, as he cut her off. Charlie was clearly taken off guard but simply nodded slowly instead of commenting.

 

“Right. Sundays at noon then. I'll block out a few hours.” His eyebrows make a halfway ascent attempt to join his hairline hearing that. Hours? Adam wasn't sure if he was supposed to be offended by that or not. On one hand, hours upon hours of sex? Okay, that sounded awesome to him, even with just one other person. On the other hand, what the fuck? Did she think he was inept and needed hours to get off? Before he could decide which he was —though he was leaning more toward not being offended— she continued quickly, “just in case! We don't have to use all that time; it's more of a precaution than anything. Y'know, in case one of us is running later or something. That way we can be sure everything is... going according to schedule and whatnot.”

 

Confusion flooded him. She was blocking out multiple hours as… a precaution? Huh? Instead of trying to figure out what she meant —because, Lord, this woman only knew how to talk in riddles apparently, what the fuck— Adam simply nodded. “Kay, sounds good I guess.” A smirk under the guise of a smile split his face as a thought crossed his mind. “Since you had your rules for me regarding Exterminations, I have a few for you before we shake on it.” Not giving her a second to question what he meant, Adam grabbed her face harshly and dug golden claw tipped fingers into her cheeks. Not hard enough to cause her to injure, but enough to hurt, and his smirk widened when she yelped in pain and grabbed at his wrist as he dragged her closer. “You'll get your extra time, but if you use it to plan a rebellion against Heaven then the deals off, and there won't be a single festering pusswad left in Hell for you to waste your time 'redeeming' when I'm done down there.” His fingers curl ever tighter, claws on the verge of piercing her plush cheeks, until he saw reflexive tears prick her eyes and heard her tail whistle as it whipped through the air behind her. “And, one more thing. As hard as it may be for you, miss cupcakes and butterflies, try not to let your emotions get the better of you by falling in love with me.”

 

While it was meant to come out as a joke, there was an underlying tone of seriousness in his voice. Adam has slept around a lot in his years being an angel and, more than once, ended up with a bitch or two —er, hundred— becoming kinda sorta maybe a little, okay a lot, obsessed with him after they'd fucked. He'd only just shaken his last stalker, he would rather there be a couple decades before his overly excitable fanclub gained another member, thank you very much.

 

“Don't worry.” Her response was rough with a heady growl that seemed to double her voice as she futilely dug her nails into his wrist. “I am as repulsed by you as a person with fucking eyes and ears can be.” The insult, while expected, set the angel's blood on fire and his face twisted into an angry snarl. Adam shoved her in the table, a sliver of enjoyment soothing his wounded ego as she rubbed at her bruised red cheeks with a glare.

 

Hesitantly, Charlie held a hand out for him. “I, Charlotte Morningstar, daughter of Lucifer Morningstar and heir to the throne, offer my body to you once a week —Sundays, at noon— for the next two years, and in return, Heaven will stop the Exterminations for the entirety of those two years. I will not be using this time to plan a rebellion against Heaven. Do you agree to these terms?” Adam's wings twitched as he stared down at her hand, contemplating. He wanted to say no, summon a portal, shove her back to Hell, then give her that initially planned nasty surprise in six months but…

 

“I agree.”

 

Something stopped him. As much as Adam would like to swing down in half a year, this deal was just slightly more appealing to him —even if he had to deal with a Nephalem princess. His girls wouldn't be happy but, well, those bitches were never fucking happy unless they got to spill blood, so they'd just have to suck it up. Adam took her hand finally and gave it one firm shake, watching as two lights curl from the space between their palms and twist around their wrists before disappearing.

 

The swirling colors had hardly faded into the gray leather of his bicep length gloves before Adam curled his fingers into the woman's petitie hand hard enough he could feel her bones grinding in his palm. A wince at the rough handling escaped her and he used her distraction at the pain to tug her toward him, snatch the back of her neck, and pin her to the table in the span of a blink. She barely made a squeak in response, too winded. A small hum left him at the sight of Charlie pushing herself unsteadily upright and, in a flash of anger at seeing this small act of rebellion or fight or whatever this was, he lifted her by his still iron grip on her nape just to slam her back down.

 

Satisfied she wouldn't —couldn't— try that again, Adam leaned over until he was fully covering her body with his own, pressing his mask to her ear so she wasn't able to even pretend to mistake the cruel whispering. “Just so you know, I'm only agreeing to this so I can have the satisfaction of seeing Lucifer's face when he finds out how much of a whore his precious little brat is.” Charlie said nothing in response, staring at him dazedly as he placed his hands on her hips. 

 

“I am going to enjoy every second of this.”

 

Leaning back until only his hands were touching her, Adam slid his hands inside the waistband of her pants to paw at her thighs excitedly, hip bones nestled perfectly in his palms as his fingers dug into flesh. Before he could get further than that simple act, though, Charlie's mind seemed to catch up to what he was attempting to do. Just as fast as he'd pinned her down, she righted her position to face him again and shoved his hands out of her pants,  “What do you think you're doing?” The blonde demanded hotly, voice doubling as her eyes glowed brightly in the shadows he cast over.

 

Adam smirked, too fascinated with her gumption at his wandering hands to be upset at that exact moment. Tough little cunt, wasn't she? “The fucks it look like?” As he spoke, he bent down to settle a hand on the table on either side of her until they were nearly nose to nose and he'd effectively trapped her in place. “Forget the deal we made already, baby? I didn't think I slammed you down that hard.”

 

“The deal is only for Sundays–”

 

“Doesn't seem very fair to me,” he interrupted with a half-hearted glare, “to give you an entire week for free just because we made this stupid deal on a Monday. Not my fault you didn't think to include a start date in your little terms and conditions. I'm just cashing in what I'm owed for the week, that's all sweetie.”

 

Charlie made a face like she hadn't considered that. “W- well– it's not fair to me if I have to come back before seven days from now!” Adam watched impassively as she looked at the window then winced when she remembered they were in Heaven before glancing back to him. “It'll be sooner than six days at this rate since it's probably well past sundown i–!”

 

Was this sneaky little shit trying to worm her way out of responsibility already? “I literally don't care.” Not on his watch she wasn't. The two stared one another down for a moment, neither willing to relent, despite how Adam slowly rose to his full height again until he could tower over Charlie again. “C'mon, Princess. Don't be a coward and pussy out of an agreement just because you're a little uncomfortable. One quick fuck to really make this whole thing official and I'll send you on your way until next time.”

 

With her hands gripping the edge of the table hard enough Adam could see the steel table bend like wet clay, heels of her palms supporting her weight as she leaned away from him, Charlie's eyes flit around nervously. “I- I- Let's um-” She bit her lip nervously and Adam's eyes jumped to her throat as she swallowed. “Alright.” That single word, said so softly after a minute of her struggling to come up with a reason to deny him, caused him to look away from the column of her neck finally. Charlie avoided his gaze. “Just, let's get this over with.”

 

With a satisfied smile, Adam lifted his hand and spun his index finger in a few slow circles, wordlessly telling Charlie to turn back around. With a scoff, she releases the table and does as directed.

 

Oh yeah, this was gonna be a fun arrangement. 

 

Taunting her hadn't been part of the initial plan but, to be fair, none of this was. And, well, he couldn't pass up this opportunity to really grind salt in the wound about her situation, now could he? Adam would insult something —her idea, the sinners, Hell itself, everything was free game as far as he was concerned— she'd snap back and tell him off, he'd dig his claws into her skin until she'd gasp, his dick would jump excitedly at that stupid fucking aound and he'd grind against her through their clothes. They did that for a while, trading barbs as he grinded into her ass and slowly got more worked up, until he thought every ounce of blood in his body was trying to escape through his dick and finally shoved her pants down. Then, he pinned her down and fucked her hard, reveling in getting her to shut up even if it meant listening to her muffled crying. 

 

When Adam first got his dick out and pressed it into her waiting pussy, there'd been some initial resistance and he could barely stuff the swollen head in. He'd chalked it up to both his cock probably just being bigger than she was used to —Adam was almost two feet taller than her, of course his cock would be too big for a scrawny little thing like her— and her not being quite as slick as he was used to. But then, he'd used his thumbs to spread her quivering cunt open wider and he'd managed to get his dick inside her easier, though it was slow going. Getting buried in the strangling tightness of her pussy —her walls seemed to pulse around him in a way he found strange but intoxicating— was the initial challenge he overcame. Finding his rhythm was another hurdle. Each thrust out had almost as much resistance as when he'd snap his hips forward and, embarrassingly enough, was pretty sloppy in the beginning. It took a few minutes of tuning out her sobbing —her regret at making this deal wasn't his problem and he refused to feel guilt over her changing her mind now that she saw what she was in for each week— before he was able to piston in and out of her smoothly. It seemed her body finally adapted to taking his cock like it was made for. The steady, rhythmic echo of their hips slapping together made him drool almost as much as the princess’ tight, clenched hole. But when he looked past her reddening ass to admire how his cock looked disappearing into her, his hips stuttered at the sight of shimmery orange clinging to him during a backward thrust and his stomach twisted painfully.

 

Charlie's pants were shoved down just enough to give him access to cunt but the minimal amount of her thighs he could see was streaked in the same iridescent shine. It wasn't a shade he was familiar with, and his helmet kept any smell from reaching his nose, but he knew instantly what it was.

 

Adam had had plenty of sex since his creation —hello? First Man, and all?— but he'd never seen or caused someone to bleed during it. He wasn't even really aware that… was a thing? Bile burned his throat and he looked away. Blood didn't bother him. It was a sign of a successful Cleanse after all and, as the leader of the Exorcist army, Adam would be fucking terrible at his job if he had an issue with the stuff. Seeing it like this, though… he suddenly felt squeamish. Even seeing the faint bruises forming on her skin from his rough handling, the same bruises he'd been getting hard over making a minute ago were now starting to make him uncomfortable. Maybe he should've just let her go home earlier and dealt with that lost week…

 

With a frustrated sigh, Adam pulled out of Charlie and stepped away from her, her knees giving out as soon as he was no longer holding her up. Guilt gnawed at his gut seeing her collapse on the ground at his feet so he turned away from her to tuck himself —sad, flaccid, and streaked orange— back into pants, still not looking at her as he fixed his cassock and made her a portal. 

 

“Go the fuck home.” He grumbled, avoiding meeting Charlie's gaze as she stared up at him with watery bloodshot eyes, her body vibrating as she shook. She made no move to stand. Whether from the inability to do so on her own or from surprise at how suddenly he ended things, he wasn't sure, so he reached down to grab the back of her blazer, haul her to her feet, and shove her through the portal bodily. The princess caught herself against the table at the last second and glared over her shoulder at him as the portal shut.

 

—––––——––––——––––—

 

It'd been a couple weeks since the incident in Heaven where he'd let a perfectly good fuck turn sour with his sudden inability to just ignore the woman below him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd completely tuned out the chick he was laying, after all, and he doubted Charlie was gonna do much in the ways of trying to talk to him like so many women did. Thankfully, whatever it was that had happened that first time never came up again and she didn't start bleeding for no reason again. No longer was she hissing in pain or silently crying under him either, which was good because it would've been really annoying if she did that everytime in the hopes of cutting these meetings short. It wouldn't have worked, anyway —that first time was a fluke. Their last two encounters were what he assumed the new standard would be between them; him getting off on ruling her up then sinking his dick into a tight, wet, hot hole and showing her her place while she took it like the good little Nephalem she was. Easy peasy, though a little mundane and boring, and he had doubts it'd keep him entertained for long…

 

Except this time, he had to go and lose his fucking mind. Adam wasn't sure what got into him. No, seriously, what was he thinking? God, he was stupid. 

 

One minute, Adam had her pinned in the same spot as the last three times he'd fucked her guts into a pulp, and the next, he was pulling her flush to his body and teasing her. Granted, hearing her breathing hitch and feeling her cunt flutter around him when he'd moaned in her ear went straight to his dick. And when she parted her legs for his hand? Well, Adam would be the first person to admit he was a weak man when it came to sex. Discovering how responsive she actually was, on top of everything, just made him that much weaker.

 

Breathily, Adam let himself tease her further. “Oh, sensitive, are we?” He was rewarded when her legs twitched and she whimpered needily, eyes catching how her fingers curled tighter into the table.

 

“F- fuck you.” Oh ho, so she wanted it that way, huh? Well, two could certainly play that game. A sharp pinch to her clit was her punishment for the attitude and Adam basked in her startled squeal, repeating the actions in the hopes of hearing that noise again.

 

For the first time since these meetings began, a genuine smile graced his lips. “Pretty sure you already are, babe, but I am always down for another round.” The honesty in that statement surprised him. It surprised Charlie too, if her quick side-eye was anything to go on, but he decided neither of them needed to think about it too hard. Based on the choked moan she let out and how much of her weight he was suddenly holding from her knees giving out, Adam was willing to give himself a pat on the back for a job well done at being distracting.

 

Pleasure-clouded eyes tracked Charlie's hand as it slid off the table, losing sight of the slim appendage past the curve of her body until he felt gentle nudging against his own hand. A silent yet polite demand to move. As Adam replaced his hand on the princesses hip, his thrusts become just a touch more pointed. Quiet whining told him that Charlie enjoyed the extra snappiness. When her head fell back to rest on his shoulder and her free hand journeyed upwards to wrap around the base of one of his helmet's horns, he'll admit he was shocked. Outside her increasingly unsteady legs, Charlie was more or less relying on Adam to keep her upright. That was a lot of faith to have in someone you hardly knew. With her new position, her body arched and, fuuuuck, did it take everything in him to keep from pinning her down and pounding into her until he burst.

 

Hearing her babble nonsensical words of pleasure and praise mixed with slurred demands for more, more, more please, more had an intense white hot feeling of… something zipping through his feathers. He latched onto her boney hips harder in response until he was sure she'd give a cry of pain, instead earning another round of happy keening from Charlie, her velvet soft walls squeezing his pistoning cock greedily. Their bodies were pressed so tightly to one another that when she began tensing up with her impending release, Adam felt it. In his chest through her back, through the minute tightening of her muscles under his hands. Mostly, though, he could feel it in the way her cunt fluttered and twitched around him, and he shuddered when she finally did orgasm. The experience resonated down to his core in a way he didn't think he'd ever experienced before

 

Feeling Charlie clench around his dick like she was trying to milk him for all he was worth —and then some— pulled a handful of pleased curses out of him and it was ultimately what sent him over the edge, his forehead resting on her shoulder as he came.

 

Adam wasn't sure how long they just sat there with his forehead on her shoulder and her body gathered in his arms as he ground into her lazily. It couldn't have been longer than a minute or two, though, before he finally pulled out of Charlie with a shaky exhale, his orgasm finally spent. When her head lifted off his shoulder and she stumbled forward to catch herself against the table on wobbly knees, he couldn't help but eye her body appreciatively. As many jokes and jabs as he made about the fact that she was a demon, she really was a fucking babe, especially like this —ass out, bare quivering thighs shining with her release, hand shaped bruising that covered the expanse of her body from ribcage to upper thigh. Fuck, Adam needed to stop staring at her, he was getting hard again. Charlie finally seemed to get her bearings because she released the table and made herself presentable just as a clear streak of fluid hit her knee. His own level of undress was easy enough to fix —even half hard— and by the time she turned around, clearly prepared to hop through a portal, he was back to normal.

 

“So I was just thinking, you wanna, I dunno, take a shower?” Where that came from, Adam wasn't sure but there would be no taking it back now. It'd be different, having someone in his personal sanctuary, but he found himself not… hating the idea. Well, until Charlie just gave him a look and asked… Why? How about ‘Thank you, Dickmaster’? What the fuck does she mean by that? Why else would someone offer their shower to another person? “Figured you wouldn't wanna traipse through that cesspit you call a kingdom reeking like an overused sex doll.” While he wasn't entirely sure if that was accurate due to his helmet's filters, Adam had no doubts that she did smell like sex. “Fucking christ, it was just a suggestion. You can say no.” Last fucking time he tried to be nice to her for no fucking reason. However, when he opened the portal to Hell and she didn't skidaddle on through, Adam glanced at her slowly to see her looking down at herself peculiarly. 

 

“It would be nice to clean up.” The princess said after a moment. “I was trying not to ruin another pair of pants by wearing the skirt but now I have a different problem.” He watched as she squirmed uncomfortably and a grin split his face.

 

It didn't take a genius to figure out her problem —the mental image of his cum sliding, sliding, sliding down her legs came unbidden to the forefront of his mind— and Adam found himself looking down as if he'd be able to see her ‘problem’ himself. Oh how he wished he could. Letting the portal shut, he bit his lip and nodded. “Hot.” Shrugging at her argument, he didn't bother responding and instead opened a second portal, this time to his home. Usually, Adam wouldn't use his powers for something this trivial —he may be a bigger guy but he wasn't so lazy that he couldn't fly the couple minutes it took to get to his apartment from the Embassy— but he thought this time warranted the triviality. He couldn't exactly go dragging a fucking demon around Heaven, especially not this fucking demon.

 

The portal was barely formed before Charlie's eyes lit up and she jumped through headfirst, not giving Adam a chance to explain anything. Maybe he should've done that before opening a door to another location… Whatever. He followed her a half second later and gave her the rundown before she could touch anything with her shitty little hands. It was pretty simple, really; don't touch anything and stay away from the windows. Sure, other angels could see into his place without trying all that hard, he had literal floor to ceiling windows and not a curtain or set of blinds in sight for them, but he was on the top floor of his building. It'd be difficult to ‘accidentally’ look in here, plus people were pretty good about respecting privacy here and not being nosy. If she went off and pressed herself against a window to look outside, that'd be a lot harder to ignore or overlook, no matter how respectful everyone was. 

 

Watching her dance around his place like a new angel testing their wings was the only thing that kept Adam from interrupting sooner. Better they got this out of the way now rather than later. Anyway, he wasn't sure why she was so excited. It was just his apartment. It wasn't like she was actually out on the promenade where the actual interesting shit was, and all she could see without going near the windows was clouds, rooftops, and advertisements. Well, unless that was what got her rocks off. She seemed more interested in his things than anything outside the windows, though, flitting between each piece of decor like she'd never seen something quite so interesting before.

 

Of course, the damn second Adam's gaze left her so he could look outside, just in case someone happened to be flying by, is when she decided to try and kill herself. A yelp of pained surprise found him and he turned just in time to see Charlie hit his coffee table in the middle of his conversation pit, having tripped over the back of his couch. Adam couldn't even consider taking a step to help, she was on her feet and giddily looking around once more. Charlie's eyes lit up at the sight of a large vase full of his shed feathers, hand reaching out to stroke a two foot long primary near the front. Adams' eyes narrowed at the sight but, as he opened his mouth to tell her off, her hand stopped and pulled away at the last second. She moved onto his battle ax next, but unlike with the feathers, Charlie's expression was closed off yet contemplative as she gave it a once over then moved on. Adam rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, watching warily as she bounded toward his baby grand piano in the corner.

 

When he finally put a stop to her exploring at the beginning of her fourth —fourth— attempt at looking at all of the same stuff, Charlie blinked up at him with those big round eyes and offered an unsure smile, spinning in a circle as she claimed she simply wanted to take everything in after walking over. Adam's eyes drifted around his apartment, looking at all the things that had her so strangely enamored, before landing back on Charlie.

 

With a shake of his head, Adam spoke. “Right, well, bathrooms through that door. Use whatever the fuck you want while you're in there, just don't take forever.” Effectively having dismissed her, he walked off without waiting to hear what she had to say. It was only when he heard the shower kick on that he turned and looked at the cracked open door to the bathroom. He lifted his hand, shifting his gaze down to stare at the dried residue from Charlie clinging to his glove as he rubbed his first two fingers and thumb together. The memories of her whimpers and moans flit across his mind and his eyebrows furrowed. “Hmph.” It'd been a while since he'd drawn such tantalizing sounds from a woman and, fuck, he wanted to hear more from her, but something was bothering him. 

 

“Why the fuck did she stop me?”

 

The archangel closed his hand into a fist and looked up at the bathroom again. It wasn't like he was doing it wrong —not like there was a wrong way to do it anyway— she'd been putty in his hands and could barely keep her legs under herself! So what was the problem? Whatever, he wasn't a bitch. It wasn't like it bothered him. He was a man. The man. And even if it did bother him, oh fucking well. He'd get over it like always.

 

Adam leaned on the counter and rested his head in a palm, glaring at the cracked open door as he tapped the metal claws of his free hand against the stone. Minutes ticked by before Adam growled. ”Screw this.”

 

He thundered away from the kitchen and barged into the bathroom, stopping short at the sight of Charlie in his shower. He couldn't see much of her through the steam fogged glass but what he could see had taken his gaze hostage. Drinking in the sight of her wet alabaster skin and long blonde hair, his eyes followed the curve of her spine as she washed suds off her body. Familiarity struck him despite —a woman surrounded by black stone and standing under a waterfall, unaware danger was lurking nearby, close and ready to take her— despite how the two of them had never been in this position with one another before.

 

Adam closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head to chase away that memory. Once he was sure he wasn't about to lose his mind again, he marched forward once more and closed the distance between the two of them. The glass door opened soundlessly.

 

“Hey, so I have a question.” As if he hadn't been about four seconds from having a mental breakdown over a stupid memory from quite literally hundreds of years ago, Adam felt as a cocky smile overtook face at her surprised scream. Black and red wings filled the space, wrapping around her body like a shield. To avoid being whacked, he took a half dozen steps back. “Calm down, it's just me. Sexy wings, by the way, babe. So, anyway. Earlier, when we were fucking, you slapped my hand out of the way. What was that about? What, was what I was doing not good enough for your royal royal?” Adam tilted his head as Charlie glared at him, getting comfortable leaning against the shower door jamb. 

 

“For the love of Satan, seriously? Fine.” His eyebrows popped up to his hairline at her tone as she turned the water off. “Believe it or not, but it had absolutely nothing to do with you.” Adam pursed his lips at that but she steamrolled his attempt at speaking, turning away from him to mess with her wet feathers angrily. “I haven't had sex in months and today was the first time since my last relationship I got anywhere near actually getting off. I only took over because I know my body better. Simple as that.”

 

What? Adam blinked at her. She thought she knew better than him? His eyes hardened. “Is that so?”

 

“Yup.” His lip twitched behind the mask at that single word. “There, I've answered you. Can I finish my shower now?” 

 

“No.”

 

Backing her up against the shower wall, Adam reached through the shield of feathers to touch her stomach. Charlie shivered and looked up at him through her lashes, eyes big and round and fearless. As he spoke, his hand traveled down, down, down her stomach and her breathing hitched the further he went, pupils dilated until he could no longer see the red of her iris. Anticipation for him to keep going had her sucking her bottom lip into her mouth as his fingers made contact with the damp mound of hair between her legs that was hiding what he was truly after. Finally, he reached her clit and a stuttered gasp was his reward. He leaned in to leer down at her, drawing a squirm out of Charlie that shoved her crotch firmly into his hand.

 

However, as he actually began touching her, the noises he'd been expecting didn't come. Instead, Charlie let out a slow breath and set her shoulders like she was about to overcome some impossible task before giving a small whimper. The corners of his smile dipped slightly and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. Did she really think she was fooling him with that? Charlie's own eyes shut and she gave another fake moan. What was her end goal here? Was she hoping that pretending to be enjoying herself would make him leave her alone faster? Was she mocking him?

 

His lip curled into an angry snarl. That must be it. Women loved him, why would she want him to leave? Did she think he was stupid and wouldn't be able to catch on? She had to be trying to get under his skin. Holy energy burned through Adam's veins as he grabbed her neck with his free hand and pressed her roughly into the marble. Removing his hand from her groin, he grabbed her hip and dug his metal claws into soft skin until he felt it split underhand.

 

Charlie's gasped out a startled ’what the hell!’ and he sneered at the fear he saw swimming in her red iris’. She didn't deserve to be scared for trying to make a fool out of him. “Do you think I'm stupid? I can tell when a bitch is faking it.” Adam spit, wings flaring behind him as he got closer to her face. “You're not even doing it well.” He wanted to squeeze her fucking neck until her head popped off, an all too familiar sting mixed with anger in his chest, but he reigned himself in. Her dead, headless body would be a little hard to explain to Sera so he settled for just tightening his grip until she whined with discomfort.

 

“Adam.” The evenness of her voice surprised him. He wasn't expecting such calmness from her and it made his fingers loosen marginally. “I- I'm sorry, it's just…” Charlie looked away from him like she was having an internal debate. When their eyes met again a half second later, she seemed to have gotten over her momentary dilemma but her next words make him recoil like he'd been slapped. “Y- you weren't doing it right.” Embarrassed heat bloomed across his face and down his neck at that and he was thankful for the full body covering. Oh, how he wanted to kill this little bitch! Him!? Not doing it right!? He began squeezing her throat, anger sufficiently reignited. Who cared how Sera would react to finding some dead succubus whore in his shower, she deserved it for thinking she could talk to him, fucking Adam, that way! He should've killed her the minute she suggested this stupid fucking- “You were!” She shrieked and grabbed his forearm with both hands as her wings dropped of their own accord, a seemingly subconscious act of submission in response to him spreading his own wings. Although he was no longer tightening his grip, he wasn't loosening it either. Her mouth opened and closed in search of the right words. “The first time, I mean. You were doing it right the first time, I wasn't lying about that.” He couldn't tell if this was a desperate attempt to not be killed or the actual truth, but, ultimately he decided he was done dealing with her today. 

 

He released her without a word and made to leave. “Just hurry the fuck up.” He'd barely made it across the silent bathroom before-

 

“I can teach you!” Adam froze. For the briefest of seconds, it reminded him of the Embassy and he wanted to laugh. So this kind of shit was normal for her. Offering absurd things to someone who was walking away from her just in the hopes of getting them to stop. He'd give it to her, she was two for two with him at this point. Dammit, now he was fucking curious. Cautiously, he gave her his full attention again. “How to… do it properly. If… you want, I mean.” Yeah, he understood that much.

 

“Why?”

 

“Why, what?” 

 

Was… was she serious? “Don't pretend to be stupid, bitch, it's insulting. I hate you, you clearly dislike me for some reason. So, why offer?” 

 

Charlie shifted from foot to foot at the question, refusing to meet his gaze as her entire face turned bright with embarrassment. “It's… been a while since I've been with anyone who gave a shit about me during sex, even if you only started doing it to mess with me. Since this arrangement is going to last a while like our deal says, I want to… actually enjoy myself. When you were doing it properly earlier, I did. Enjoy myself, I mean.” Red faced still, Charlie looks at him head on, a look of cautious optimism in her eye. “So? Do you want me to show you or not?”

 

Not having her useless life snuffed out at his hands seemed to have bolstered her. Jesus’ asshole, how annoying. “Why the fuck should I care if some uppity bitch gets off or not?” 

 

Lifting a brow as she spoke, Adam listened. He'd concede that the princess might've had a point, he certainly had plenty of fun when he was getting off so it'd make sense that the same must be true for the chick he was with. However, he did not appreciate the blatant lie she tossed in his face. “I bet ninety percent of the women you've slept with went home and finished the job themselves.” Who the fuck? Women didn't leave unsatisfied after they'd been with Adam, it just wasn't a possibility and he refused to entertain the idea.

 

The angel stalked back toward her, leaning into the shower but not fully entering. “Alright, cunt, you've piqued my interest. Let's see if you can keep it.” Despite him being completely serious about her jerking off to show him whatever it was she was blabbing about, she rolled her eyes at him and called him a child. He didn't think it was a childish thought,  personally. How the shit else did she expect to do it?

 

“If you'll give me two minutes to dry off, I can show you what I mean.” Dry off, huh? Although her wings having lifted to block his view once more, Adam found his eyes wandering to take in what he could of her. She growled at him —yes actually growled, like a feral dog or something— emphasizing she wanted to be alone, and drew a huff from him as he stepped away. Yeesh. Women.

 

Adam pulled the door shut behind him a tad more forcefully than needed as he left the bathroom, groaning with exasperation. If he'd known this would be how today was gonna go, he would never have offered to let her use his shower. Let her be attacked by the deprived fucks she claimed were redeemable. See if he cared.

 

With a sigh of frustration, the angel reached up and tugged off his helmet. No point in keeping it on at this point. Despite his preference to stay masked and covered when he slept with someone, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have his usual problem with Charlie. For starters, she was only allowed up here at his discretion so even if she did become obsessed with him, she couldn't exactly do much from Hell. Besides, he'd already broken his rule of not inviting bitches over to his place when he'd had a lapse in judgment earlier, what was one more by letting her see his face?

 

He set the helmet down carefully, dragging a hand along the length of the closest horn fondly, before working on removing the layers of his robes. Ever since their fuck in the Embassy, his skin had a layer of sticky sweat dried on it and the multiple articles of heavy clothing weren't helping the uncomfortable feeling that came with sex in his cassock. 

 

Once his discarded robes, as well as his thoroughly soiled glove, had been magicked away to be cleaned later, Adam leaned against the counter to wait for Charlie. Thankfully, it only took her a handful of minutes but when she exited the bathroom, his brows furrowed at the sight of her. “Um, what the fuck is this?” The princess yelped and threw down everything in her arms as she spun around, grabbing the hem of her shirt and yanking it down to cover her nudity. While he appreciated how the action showed off her nipples through the now taut fabric of her top, he didn't appreciate that she'd decided to get dressed. How was she supposed to show him anything when she had clothes on? “Okay, now what are you doing?”

 

Charlie stared at him with wide round eyes for half a minute before blinking. “Oh my God. Adam?” She asked, looking between all of his features curiously.

 

He couldn't help the sarcastic response he gave. “No, I'm just some fucking guy he invited over so we could watch a demon bitch masturbate. Of course it's me.” Despite his tone and words, she deflated with relief and released her shirt. “What, you thought I was just that?” Her expression shifted from relief to unimpressed, complete with an honest to God hand on her hip. “Don’t fucking answer that.” He had a feeling he wouldn't like her response. “Whatever. Back to my original question. What the fuck is this? Why are you dressed?”

 

When she sniped back at him that he sounded different, had changed his clothes, and that she couldn't see his wings, Adam could see her point. But still. She wasn't even supposed to be up here, why would he bring someone over and risk them getting caught? For a laugh at seeing her surprise? He could laugh at her anytime he wanted, for any reason he wanted. He didn't need to hear her ear piercing shriek to get a chuckle. That sound didn't make him laugh at all, in fact. At her insistence that she was not dressed, that it was just a shirt and she didn't want to give him another full show, Adam couldn't help the amused sneer he gave as he tilted his head at her. “So what's this then?” He asked, gesturing to her partial state of undress. “A three quarters show, because there's no way those A-Cup tits of yours are worth half a show on their own, babe.”

 

A chortle of laughter was bubbling in his throat —see? No banshee shriek needed to be amused— at how upset that statement seemed to make her but it died when he saw her demonic features. His gaze flitted between her horns as they lengthened, curious —and, dammit, a little turned on at the same time— at the sight. They were strange. Interesting. He found that the sight made his skin buzz in a way he was unfamiliar with but it was far from uncomfortable. Oh, how he hoped the day he pissed her off badly enough so he could rail her while yanking on those built in handlebars came sooner rather than later. Adam caught himself just short of gawking and forced his face back to one of smug neutrality as he met her eye. “Oh ho, don't tease me now. You know what they say about horns, sweetie.” Slowly, deliberately, he sauntered over to where Charlie was glaring at him from the other side of his kitchen island, hair a wild golden mane around her head as he approached. The princess stood her ground, jutting out her chin defiantly to hold his gaze and refusing to back down as he crowded her. He grabbed her horns as he leaned in until they were nose to nose and she had no choice but to look at him. “Ya’know, that they're just handlebars for fucking?” 

 

Amusement coursed through him at how her entire face turned cherry red. Charlie slapped at his hands until he released her horns and her demonic looks quickly faded away, hidden once more behind her faux angelic features. Not even her calling him a pig made his amused smirk go away. He was quick with a comeback, too, that of course he didn't only think of sex when he saw a woman, stating that he thought of food too. “Though,” he tacked on slowly, like the thought had suddenly occurred to him, “you should definitely try thinking about sex more often cause it might help that pissed off expression you seem to always have glued to your face. With all the extra additions you have —a tail, wings, and horns? Babe, c'mon— sex should be the only thing on your mind, sugartits”

 

It didn't give him quite the reaction he had been hoping for as she simply called him a pig once more and turned away. Adam's smirk dropped slightly, the corners of his mouth tugging into the beginnings of an annoyed frown at the sight of her rubbing her temples. After everything she had put him through since she got here, this bitch had the audacity to act like he was the one being a headache in this situation? Adam clenched his jaw as he watched her put distance between them. And when he heard her mumbled declaration of ‘Let's just get this over with so I can go home already’? This whole ‘let me show you’ bullshit plan was her idea, so why was she bitching? Before Adam could snap exactly that at her, she stopped abruptly and glanced around. “Uh, where's your bed?” 

 

Sensing another opportunity to push her buttons further, Adam closed the gap between them until he could lean over her shoulder, their positions not unlike in the Hell Embassy. “We don't need a bed to fuck, pink cheeks. I figured you'd know that by now.” She didn't react to his presence behind her, outside sucking in a slow breath, so he grabbed her face and directed it toward the curtains that hide his loft.

 

Charlie's wings came out after a minute of fidgeting and Adam had to force himself not to stare. They were messy, a disaster really, but they were no less sexy for it. Angels of all classes and across the three spheres didn't really come in such dark colors outside his Exorcists, and the combination of gleaming black and stark blood red made him want to take one of her primaries in hand just to feel the texture. How can one demon be such an enigma to him? She represented everything he despised, she was the daughter of the bastard he wanted to gut with his bare hands, he should hate her and want nothing more than to see her unnatural blood spilled. And yet, he found her alluring and —he'll deny he dared even think this until the day he dies again, so fuck off— beautiful. Annoying beyond measure but a top tier babe.

 

When she still made no move to, well, move after yet another minute of squirming where she stood, Adam stepped around her wings to stand beside her. Meeting her eye, he gestured toward the curtains slowly with a hiked eyebrow. ‘Any day now, tits.’ A moment after she took off, he followed, landing beside her soundlessly.

 

Charlie stood there, taking in the room as Adam passed her. “You sure like to stand around and gawk, huh? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Princess?” Although it was meant to be a tease, a callback to their initial meeting, there was an edge to his tone. It was a warning —he wasn't exactly in the mood to be mocked or played with— but seeing the shudder that rippled through Charlie on his last word made him blink. Humming internally in thought, ‘So she liked being called princess in that tone, did she? Good to know.’

 

Squeaking out a quick confirmation that she wasn't having second thoughts, Charlie sat down, mindlessly petting his bed as she avoided eye contact with red cheeks. Oh, she really liked that it seemed. Adam preened under the realization and dropped his gaze down to pick at invisible dirt under his nails. Of course little miss perfect liked being called that by him, because why wouldn't she? It was him calling her that, after all.

 

The feeling of having eyes on him was one he was used to, he was literally created under the watchful gaze of the Council of Elders in Heaven. So even though she wasn't being exactly subtle about it, Adam didn't let Charlie know right away that he was aware she was eyeballing him. When he finally looked up and met her eye, the princess startled —and, Jesus, wasn't she jumpy?— and her cheeks flushed even darker before her mouth flattened as she broke eye contact. The corner of his mouth twitched upward at the blonde's embarrassed display.

 

Just as he was about to look away again, because it was clear she's trying to work up the courage to not pussy out of this little arrangement like father like daughter, Charlie seemed to get herself together and scooted herself backwards on his bed until she was nestled into his pile of pillows. Curious, Adam's eyes stayed locked on her as her legs hesitantly opened. He tracked her every movement as she slowly began reaching down toward her cunt then pulled away twice as fast, ears perking each time her breathing hitched as if she was about to speak but didn't. If he wasn't sure she was just nervous, Adam might've snapped at her to hurry it up already.

 

Suddenly, she sat up and glared at him. “Alright, I can't do this with you just… standing there, staring at me like I'm a piece of meat or something.” His mouth was barely open before she stopped him, seeming to realize how her wording could be inferred. “Either get over here so I can show you a different way or make me a portal and we'll do this another time.” The princess folded in on herself, legs crossing as she looked away from him. God, she looked pathetic. He should send her back to Hell after that. Still, thinking back on her telling him he was touching her wrong and the embarrassment that came with that, along with wondering if she was being honest, made him bite his cheek to keep a smart retort from passing his lips. Bending down, Adam worked on getting his boots off. Once he dropped the first shoe, Charlie whipped around to stare at him in surprise.

 

“What, you think I'm just gonna get into my own bed with my fucking shoes on? Fuck that, I'm not an animal. I have standards.” She didn't say anything, simply blinking and staring at him as he made his way across the bed to her. “God, now what?” He snapped hotly, glaring down at her but getting minimal satisfaction when she looked away quickly.

 

“Nothing! I'm just… surprised is all. In a good way, though!” Adam could feel his scowl lighten somewhat at that. Instead of acknowledging her words, he simply hummed in response. “Right well, uh, anyway. Here…” He tensed some and settled just as quickly, at the feeling of her gentle fingers wrapping around the blackened skin of his forearm and lifting it over her head before she tucked herself back against his torso. His arm now coiled around her until his hand ultimately found its place on her milky thigh. The position was far more intimate than he was expecting.

 

“Sooo, to start, some women don't produce any natural lubrication but that's not necessarily an indicator of their arousal level so, um, sometimes you'll need to use an additional source of lube.” His eyes lifted from where he was staring at his hand on her leg to instead watch her hand as she summoned a small, nondescript palm sized bottle. “I don't mean to sound so… clinical, I guess, about it but, it's just, this is important to know is all. As a note, if you're going to have penetrative sex, you should always make sure the person you're with is turned on, stretched, and acceptably wet. The less stretched and wet she is, the less she'll be enjoying it, the more it'll… hurt, and the less enjoyment both of you will get in the end.” Partially lost in thought —remembering their first encounter where she'd left Heaven bleeding and crying— Adam only barely kept himself from pulling away when she grabbed his hand between her smaller ones and carefully worked on unclenching his fingers until they're straight.

 

“If someone needs a little help in the ‘getting wet’ department, that's fine. That's what lube is for. Lube also helps reduce friction between parties so it's always good practice to use it no matter what, in all honesty. Anyways, start with a small, but generous, amount of lube of your choice and spread it evenly.” How she's talking to him right now, he should be offended. But for some reason, he finds himself distracted rather than angry. Watching her slowly and methodically spread the clear liquid across his fingers, interlocking and wrapping her own fingers around the four digits to evenly coat them, has him thoroughly enthralled. When he finally registered the size difference between their hands, Adam bit his cheek to keep quiet. He only realized she was looking up at him when he saw her hair bob with the motion of turning away quickly. “The clit has thousands of nerve endings and they extend past just the visible part you can see or feel. Use that to your advantage.” Goosebumps cover his entire body at how she spoke those words as she slotted his hand between her legs. Fuck, that was hotter than it had any right being.

 

Under the pad of his middle finger he could feel the bundle where her clit resided, and even just the light movement of him brushing against the little pearl of nerves had her legs twitching. The sight of her reacting to such a delicate touch made his cock jump with interest in his jeans and he clamped down on his tongue to stop from groaning. “How do you expect me to actually know what I'm doing if I can't see where or how you're… leading my hand?” He panted out after a moment, feeling his face heat with arousal. Although the question stung his ego, Adam still didn't understand how this would help. Sure, he can feel her clit and see her reaction to him touching it but… was it really as simple as that? Touch her and watch? They looked at one another in tandem and he scowled at the little smirk on her lips once she noticed his red face.

 

“It's less about seeing what you're doing,” there she goes again with that breathy fucking whisper, her lithe hands stroking his fingers and adjusting how they lay on her, “and paying attention to the person you're with, about using the queues they give you. You don't need to see to learn. If blind men can do this, Dickmaster, so can you.” Okay, he didn't like her calling him that, after all. Or, maybe he liked it too much? Hard to tell exactly with how his skin buzzed when she cupped his hand and led him step by step what to do.

 

Oh, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

 

It was only once they really got into the ‘lesson’ that he understood what she meant by listening to the other person's queues. Charlie was a medley of noises and movements as Adam's fingers massage and stroke her, and he found himself entranced by it all. She was an open book when it came to her pleasure and discomfort. Hissing or growling or pulling his hand away with a squeeze when he did something unintentionally uncomfortable but switching into cooing or purring or giving the occasional aborted buck into his palm when he was doing something she enjoyed. 

 

In just a few short minutes, Charlie had fully relaxed into him, all the while muttering for him to keep going just like that as her body practically melted into his own. Soon after, her hand left his and this time he didn't stop from groaning as she rolled her hips up to press harder into his hand briefly and she chattered something his brain couldn't translate. A louder, lower groan of approval was pulled from Adam's throat when Charlie reached up and buried slim fingers in his hair, yanking on the strands in time with the movement of his hand. It stung, but it was far from painful.

 

With a move like that, this had to be an assassination attempt. He just knew she was trying to kill him.

 

The air was heavy with the heady scent of arousal and brimstone as Charlie's hand slapped over his once more, her tail staking its claim on him as it coiled around his leg to writhe almost as if possessed. Her hand curled into his and it was only once they were buried nearly to the second knuckle that Adam realized she was pressing his middle and ring finger into her needy little cunt, effectively cupping her clit as she humped his palm. If he wasn't hard before, he definitely was after that display. He hardly noticed her hot cum gushing past his fingers before his head was being wrenched forward and a mouth was on him.

 

Adam's entire body tensed though he didn't pull away. 

 

Kissing.

 

She was kissing him.

 

On his mouth.

 

It was the first true kiss he'd had since he was alive. 

 

It was… not awful….

 

Or, maybe it wouldn't have been if Charlie hadn't separated their bodies and flailed to the other side of his bed in half a millisecond while sputtering apologies. Oh no, she didn't. She didn't get to run away after getting him completely fucking hard and worked up.

 

Adam lunged after her, silencing her mid sentence with a hand around her throat and pinning her beneath his body. “Shut the fuck up.” Her mouth opened despite his demand. Catching a glimpse of her sharp canines and soft pink tongue and fuck he wanted to taste her. He lost any control he might've been trying to maintain and closed the gap between them with a snarl, kissing her. Keeping his hand on her throat felt wrong now that he was initiating so he buried them in her soft golden tresses and gave a few sharp tugs of approval when she deepened the kiss.

 

The hard-on he'd amassed from just touching her reminded him that it was, in fact, still there after she whimpered. He swallowed the sound greedily before finally pulling away, wheezing softly as he regained his breath. If this was how lessons went with Charlie, Adam was willing to let her show him anything she wanted because, good Lord, he couldn't remember the last time he had a kiss like that.

 

He's about to say fuck it and kiss her again, content to do that for the next three hours at this point, when she slid her dainty hands down his chest, over the curve of his stomach, until she reached his jeans where she playfully tugged at the hem. “I seem to recall you mentioning something about a… round two?” Charlie didn't wait for a response before she undid his belt at the speed of a fucking turtle, not breaking eye contact as she worked on opening his pants.

 

Between the change in position and his eyes going crossed when she stroked his cock, Adam didn't catch her sneaky little grin until she was squeezing his dick and the blunt metal of his zipper was digging into the engorged, hypersensitive flesh. Oh, she was such a cunt and she was aware of the fact based on her unapologetic laugh when he told her as much. Fucking bitch. He forgave her, though, when she finally, finally, opened his pants fully and took his cock in hand.

 

… Until she let him go to drag her nails along his dick while taunting him. Okay, he was back to wanting her dead, what in the fuck? “Well if I'm such a cunt, I guess you… don't want help with this, then? And I can just go home?” It took everything in him —and then some— to not grab her hips and destroy her pussy when she hiked her ass up and wiggled it at him. It would be so easy. She was lined up almost perfectly for him, he just needed to change the angle of his dick and his tip would be nestled between her folds, just waiting for him to give one nice thrust forward. Instead, he sat back so he was towering over her —he saw the shudder that went down her body when he did that, too— and copied her feather light touches, dragging his hands down her back until they landed at her hips. 

 

“I never said that, you cheeky little minx, so you'd better flip that scrawny little ass of yours back over if you know what's good for you.” It was an empty threat and they both knew it. She held her ground, simply lifting an eyebrow in challenge. “You really wanna test me right now, Princess?” Her head tucked down at that, hiding what he could only assume was a smirk behind her shoulder, until he tightened his hold on her hips and her defiance broke. As Charlie rolled over onto her back, his hands never lifted further than a couple inches off of her. This time, Adam's eyebrow arched when she pulled her legs from between his own and settled them next to his calves, the backs of her thighs pressing into just above his knees. With how her legs were spread now, he got a perfect shot of her nudity and he purred at the sight. “Hm, good girl.”

 

Licking fingers with dry cum and lube on them wasn't exactly ideal but he didn't know where the little bottle disappeared to in all the flailing so this would have to do for now. When he was satisfied he'd gotten plenty of his own spit on his hand, Adam settled it over Charlie's waiting pussy and gently touched her. Faster than he expected, she was wet again, both renewed slickness from his touches and the rehydrated residue from before.

 

Adam pulled away from her with a grin, stroking himself as she growled at him —oh, so she could dish the teasing but couldn't take it?— and lifted her hips. “Looks like someone's impatient.” He murmured but obliged her demand as he lined himself with her entrance, took her hips in either hand, and slowly entered her. He sank into her far easier than he had in the past and partnering groans of pleasure left them both. Their hips touch lightly half a minute later and Adam sighed quietly, staring down at Charlie's blissed out expression as one of her feet pressed into his lower back and the other locked behind his knee, hands in her messy hair. Right. He should move befo–

 

The sound of obnoxious bells and chimes found him through the haze of getting his dick wet.

 

There was no way. How in the actual fuck was she getting a call!? For a moment it didn't seem like Charlie even realized what was happening. He thought, maybe, that was his cue to get moving before she came to but then seemed to snap back to herself and told him to let her go so she could answer her phone.

 

No, he wasn't giving up that easily. Adam made what he thought was a valid argument —is she really going to stop what they're doing over a phone call?— but when she growled at him, and not the sexy one she was making when his hand was on her pussy, he relented.

 

Unbelievable. He was seriously getting blue balled by the universe right now. 

 

Adam pulled out of her with an angry sigh and released her hips, watching as she flew off. This was fine, he decided. They'd just pick this up where they left off when she was done. No big deal.

 

Still… He tucked himself back into his pants carefully and joined her on the ground floor of his home, crossing his arms in what may be considered a pout at the sight of her on the phone.

 

“Angel, the whole point of the hotel is to redeem sinners. If he wants to strive for betterment, who am I to stop that? I'm sure Vaggie has this under control.” She was still trying that, huh? Ignoring the fact that it was basically the backbone to their fucking, he would've thought she'd have given up by now. The fact she kept that traitorous lying bitch around was surprising. He really would've thought she'd have gotten kicked to the curb after the big reveal.

 

Whoever was talking to her on the other end didn't seem to understand how to shut up, huh? Adam was pretty sure Charlie hadn't responded in well over five minutes. Weren't phone calls supposed to be quick? This? This wasn't quick. This was… the opposite of quick. Slow. Very, very slow. She wasn't even trying to wrap this shit up, either, just standing there and letting some demon talk her ear off.

 

Charlie sighed and responded, finally, but…

 

“You're leaving?” 

 

Charlie twitched at that and ended her call. A second later, the screen lights up and she scowled, mumbling under her breath as she clicked ’Ignore’. “Yes, I'm leaving. I told you, I have a life outside of being your toy and I'm needed at home. Don't get your feathers in a ruffle, I've held up my end of the deal for the week so, one portal back to Hell, please.”

 

Consider his feathers ruffled. Adam watched her shimmy her skirt back on with a glare. He couldn't even enjoy seeing her bare ass and all the new marks he'd made on the skin of her hips because of this. He was half tempted to refuse her demand until they finished what she'd started. Charlie initiated this entire thing, she should have to follow through and help him get rid of the ache between his legs. But, just before he could utter the words, he bit his tongue.

 

“Whatever. Just get the fuck out already.”

 

—––––——––––——––––—

The portal had barely shut behind Charlie before Adam's calm facade cracked and he whirled around to slam his fist down on the kitchen counter, cracking the marble. 

 

“That little bitch!” He seethed, turning his gloveless hands to dig his fingers into the marble until his knuckles turned an ashy white with the strain. “I'm fucking Adam, she should be on her back begging for my cock, not running off for some damn sinners at their first fucking call.” The angel swept everything off the counter in a burst of rage at the reminder of her cheeky little ‘one portal back to Hell, please’ before he shoved himself backwards and stalked away from his kitchen, growling as he paced throughout his apartment. The beginnings of pin-feathers pricked at his neck, shoulders, and along his spine as he fought to control his temper. He would not transform into that cursed form over this little whore! “What could be more important than me? Fucking nothing.”

 

Watching her step through that flaming halo of light and slip through his fucking fingers, scurrying away back to Hell without even a second glance back at him, had been infuriating. Women never treated him like that. It pissed him off.

 

Before the portal shut behind her, Adam had just wanted to grab her, drag her back to his bed, and keep her there until he ruined every single one of her holes for another dick ever again. Until her legs were too numb to do anything other than lock around his waist and shake. Until the only word she knew was his name. He refused to acknowledge what that said about him as a person. He was sure it meant nothing.

 

Adam's cock throbbed painfully, twitching with intrigue at the thought, and he had half a mind to seek out that Virtue skank to take care of his blue balls. But, hng, he only just got her to stop fucking stalking him a couple weeks ago and he seriously did not want to deal with that for another forty years. Yeah, no, he wasn't risking it. He'd rather just suffer, thanks. 

 

It was as he turned back toward the kitchen, the red tint of anger previously blotting his vision having minutely ebbed away, that he saw his helmet on the ground with the glass face hidden from his immediate sight. The rest of his anger at Charlie left in a rush, replaced with cold horror. Shit, Sera would lose her head if she found out he broke another screen because of his temper. She'd already threatened to give him a standard Exorcist faceplate if he ever broke another one of his custom ones in, “A childish fit of emotion so fitting of you humans”. He made his way to it cautiously, as if it'd explode once he touched it, and lifted it by one of the horns until he could hold it properly.

 

It must've hit the ground hard because there was spiderweb cracks starting at the left temple and stretching across the entire face, turning the previously smooth charcoal gray screen white and jagged. Some larger pieces of the screen have even broken away completely to show the circuitry and wires beneath.

 

That was just perfect.

 

Adam growled at the sight and shifted his helm in his arms, wrapping his arm around it and holding it securely as he gingerly pulled on the face plate until it disconnected. Pieces of uneven glass caught on the tracks that hold the piece straight in the helmet and tinkle against the ground as he worked on yanking it free without bending the metal. He set the now faceless helm down lightly and tossed the broken screen on the counter with a huff, glaring at the glass littering the floor around his bare feet.

 

The angel turned to his helmet once more and made a face. Maybe he could convince her he knocked it off the counter with his wing by accident? Probably not, she was far from stupid and knew him too well for that. Plus, Adam hated lying about shit. His best bet was just being honest with her and hoping she forgot about that particular threat until after she handed over the new faceplate. 

 

He planted his palms on the edge of the marble on either side of the helmet, taking a step back as he leaned his weight into his hands against the counter. Conducting a one way staring contest with the blankness that watched him back and tapping his blunt nails to a thoughtless tempo, Adam sighed. Dropping his head with a whine of resignation, he pushed himself upright and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

 

While he didn't care if he smelled like sex and bad decisions, Sera always turned her nose up at him and was significantly less likely to do what he wanted if he wasn't perfectly squeaky clean. Why she never said anything to Lute and her actual blood stained armor but constantly griped about him if he had so much as a stain on his shirt —he could understand if it was his robes but, come on, his shirt?— he'd never truly know. Adam had his suspicions, of course he did, but until it started actually affecting him past being a nuisance, he decided it wasn't worth getting his feathers in a bunch about.

 

His shower was quick and uneventful, though he was momentarily tempted to rub one out from pure boredom more than anything else before he got out but ultimately decided against it. No point, considering where he was going, plus he wasn't really in the mood anymore. As he got out and made his way across the bathroom, something black in the trash caught his eye. He didn't make it a habit to dig in the garbage but, after peeking into the small bin, Adam smirked at the sight of Charlie's underwear. The princesses' proclamation of “Now I have a different problem.” came to mind and he leaned over to fish them out. He held the fabric up by the side straps and stared at the dried mess in the crotch, pursing his lips. “Yep. Definitely hot.” He said to himself with a shrug before tossing the soiled panties back down. 

 

Adam took his time drying off and dressing, choosing comfortable gray sweats and a soft, worn New World band shirt just to get on the elder angel's nerves. Though he wasn't in any rush to go see the head bitch herself. It's not that he hated Sera, she was his guide on the ins and outs of his new life as an angel and was who he ended up talking to {read; venting to  sobbing his eyes out to, and trying to keep himself from completely falling apart at every given moment for a century or two} when he realized none of those who'd died before him were in eternal paradise because he was the first human to make it there. He saw the older angel as more of a slightly strict older sister of sorts. He just preferred to keep their interactions to an absolute minimum since she had a hard time connecting with human souls and often treated them like pets in need of  constant reprimanding —Adam being her favorite human soul to get onto for every minor thing. 

 

He wasted time putzing around the apartment, picking up the princesses' apparently abandoned black bra with a scoff —what, was his place where her clothes went to die now?— repositioning decor, and even took time to clean up that broken glass from earlier until he couldn't reasonably put off leaving anymore. Any longer and it'd be too late to catch the head Seraphim before she went… wherever it was she went when she wasn't in the office. Adam picked up his faceless helmet by one horn, took a slow deep breath, and opened a small portal into her office. Only once he was sure nobody but the angel he came to see was there did Adam open it larger.

 

“Adam,” Sera said, not bothering to look up from her work, “what can I do for you?” Unlike most in Heaven, Sera and Emily didn't exactly take days off. Neither saw the point when there was always so much to do and that didn't just go away on Sundays. Seeing the sprawling papers covering the Seraphim’s workstation was far from a surprise to Adam. What did surprise him was not seeing the younger Seraphim attached to Sera's hip. But he didn't dwell on it and just counted his blessings at her being gone. Before the first man could even open his mouth though, the other angel looked up and sighed. “How many times must I ask you not to show up to my office dressed so… comfortably, Adam? It is disgraceful for an angel, even a human soul as old as yourself, to be seen in public in such unprofessional attire, and with your wings hidden at that.”

 

“Listen, Ser, I only came by for a quick favor. I'm not planning on staying long.” He answered, eye twitching at the jab about his age. “If you do what I want quickly, nobody but you will have to be disgraced seeing me like this and out of uniform.” Lifting his arm, Adam showed her his helmet. “I need a new faceplate. I broke the other one and since you insist on making it so I can't fix them myself for some reason, I need you to give me another one.” Sera's eyes narrowed when she saw the missing faceplate. “Please?”

 

The head angel huffed sharply and rose to her full height, hands placed on the desk as she glared down at Adam. “What is your excuse this time?” Adam squirmed uncomfortably as she stared him down and he looked away, dropping his arm back to his side.

 

“Come on, Sera. You know me and my human temper.” He groused, peeking at her from the corner of his eye. “I just got mad, nothing new.”

 

“If you want me to replace it, you will have to do better than that.”

 

Her statement made him want to roll his eyes. Sure, ‘better’. She just wanted him to grovel, in all honesty. He'd already admitted to her that he broke it because of his attitude, what else could he say? “You really wanna know, Phim? Fine. I had a bitch over and before things could get good, she bailed on me. I took it out on the shit on my kitchen counter. Happy now?”

 

“Happy? That you decided to act so brashly and destroy your belongings over a woman?” The Seraphim scoffed at him. “Why would that make me happy, Adam?” She paused, as if the rest of his sentence was finally registering. “You mean to tell me,” Sera started, lifting a brow, “you had a companion in your home? And she saw your face? I thought you despised being seen without your helmet on?”

 

An eyebrow quirked at her words, mirroring her expression. ‘A companion’ made it sound so… innocent. Adam couldn't blame her for being surprised though. He preferred to not let the women he slept with know where he lived in case they got crazy eyes for him. What? It'd happened more than a few times over the millennia. While he could typically care less what others thought of him, she had a point about his helmet. It was less about his face and more the anonymity that came with the mask. It was almost like a safety net, a way to keep him safe without needing all of his armor. He could probably walk outside as is right now and not a single soul would even recognize him. Sera and Lute were the only two who had ever seen him without his helmet since he'd started the Exterminations. “It's not that I hate it, Sera, it's just… easier to leave it on.” He shrugged noncommittally. “Inviting her over was a,” he pursed his lips as he searched for the words, “spur of the moment thing. Probably won't happen again.” The two stay silent for a moment before Adam huffed shortly. “So?”

 

“So…?” She repeated, a small smile worming its way across her face at his simmering.

 

“Jesus, do I really have to ask again?”

 

A hum of amusement came from the older angel as her eyes softened and she opened a drawer to her left, pulling a familiar glass screen out. “No, I won't make you ask again, Adam. Here.” She held it out to him, briefly lifting it out of his reach as his hand started to close around it and stopping him in his tracks. “Please be more careful with this one. I tire of cleaning up your messes.”

 

“Don't worry,” Adam grumbled, snatching the faceplate from her once it was within reach again, “next time I break it, it'll be for a good reason and not because I just lost my temper.”

 

Seras' mouth flattened into a displeased line. “I would prefer you not break it again at all but I suppose there is no stopping you. You are lucky I did not uphold my previous threat of giving you a standard mask.” She gave him a heated, meaningful look he didn't fully understand. “Do not make me regret that.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks Sera.” Adam said as he turned back to his portal, waving over his shoulder at her. “See'ya ‘round, boss.” 

 

Once back in his living room, Adam sat down on his couch and set about attaching the helmet's new face. It didn't take long but connecting the proper wires into the correct ports to power the screen is finicky due to how delicate it all is. He'd done this what feels like hundreds of times at this point so he made quick work of getting his new face set up once it's all plugged in and booted up. Custom this thing may be but that only applied to properly tracking his face, rather than the creepy blank grin on his girls masks, as well as his ability to eat and drink with it on. Like always, it took some tweaking to get the standard white facial features changed to his usual dark gold but he's fucking Adam so he got it done in no time at all.

 

Setting the reassembled helmet down gingerly twenty minutes later, Adam sat in the quiet of his apartment for a few minutes before he summoned his regular guitar with a wave of his hands, humming lightly as it landed in his open palms. It'd been months since he'd even held this thing and the familiar weight is comforting in the emptiness of his home. A moment passed as he thought before he set the guitar in his lap and lifted a hand once more, spinning his finger in the air to summon a worn notebook. The seams are close to bursting with how many extra pieces of paper Adam had shoved between the pages over the decades. The extra papers were mostly abandoned ideas, lyrics, and chords he'd never fit into songs but he was too stubborn to abandon or throw out. The occasional wine drunk doodle or embarrassingly reassuring personal note, though there were also numerous phone numbers he'd gotten at gigs across the multiple spheres of Heaven that he never got around to calling —partly due to not having a phone and partly from lack of giving a shit. Yeah, he definitely needed to clean this thing out some time.

 

Shifting himself to a much more comfortable position, he slid one hand across the modified harps body and up to the neck, smiling at the sound the strings make as his fingers journey up the fretboard before dropping his eyes back onto the notebook. It'd been a while since he'd written a song —his last attempt having been several years ago and not getting much further than him stumbling through writing a few bars and getting stuck on finding the proper words for over half a year before he gave up. The song never found its way to the strings of his beloved custom Fender— and even longer since he'd truly played something that wasn't mindless notes. Giddiness filled his chest as the idea of playing again and he got to work refamiliarizing himself with his guitar.

Chapter Text

“Okay, guys,” Charlie called out gleefully to her gathered companions from her place in front of the small stage Alastor had gotten built for her upon request, “today for our group activity, I thought we could do some…” she drew out the ‘m’ of some with a grin as she tugged on a rope above the stage until it unfurled to reveal a banner reading, “Trust Exercises!” She exclaimed while gesturing up at the yellow and blue banner happily despite how the only person that was even somewhat paying attention was Vaggie, and even she looked cautious.

 

“I have a quesssstion, Your Majesty. Why?”

 

“That is such a great question, Sir Pentious! Thank you for asking! I think this will be a really good opportunity for all of us,” Charlie began, looking from the half asleep Husker at her far left toward the fully feral with excitement Niffty at her far right, “to be a little more open with each other. Everyone's been a teensy bit irate lately,” she winced as a memory from a few days before surfaced of Pentious and Angel starting up a sudden screaming match sometime in the early evening —over what, she still wasn't sure— and it had ended in a physical altercation she had had to get in the middle of to stop. Their bickering had woken her up initially from where she'd been dozing off on the couch in the recreational area of the lobby while attempting to plan group and solo activities a couple weeks in advance, but things had quickly escalated in the short time it took for her to get to the study where they were. By the time she whipped around the corner into the room and separated them, the boys had both gotten more than a few hits in on the other as evident from their various injuries and quickly bruising knuckles. Angel had been barking something about Pentious being a snake and a liar, though it was hard to understand him through his drunken slurring and Italian, and Pentious had been cradling his bleeding nose and telling her the other sinner had just attacked him for no reason. She'd essentially grounded them both and sent them to their rooms for the rest of the night to cool down, “and I truly think this will help ease some of that uneasiness you feel around one another. You'll not only be sharing personal information and trusting each other with that piece of yourself, you'll be getting a piece of everyone else in return to hold onto and guard.”

 

“But I do not trussst anyone here enough to divulge sssuch sssecretsss to.” He hisses out, shooting a glare at Angel over Vaggie's head. Angel returned the look but thankfully didn't start anything. “I do not think I am comfortable doing thisss.”

 

Despite how she expected that to be how some, if not everyone, felt, Charlie's mood dimmed slightly at the sinner's admittance. “It doesn't have to be a major secret, Pentious, it doesn't even have to be a secret. It can be something we all know, even, but you feel like maybe you don't say it very often or, oh, perhaps something you've never said aloud to others? I'd never ask you to share something you're not comfortable letting others know about.” Quickly, she hopped onto the stage and smiled down at the five faces looking back at her. “The stage, here, is for the second half of this exercise. Once you've shared, you'll turn around, close your eyes, and fall back! Ah! What better way to form a bond with one another than with a trust fall. Here, I'll start!” Taking a deep breath, Charlie opened her mouth to share but choked.

 

The only thing she could think to tell them about was her deal with Adam and the words clogged her throat, trying to escape. They deserved to know, she reasoned to herself, but…

 

No. She couldn't tell them that, they'd hate her. Satan, she hated her. Letting the angel who threatened their lives every year treat her like an object because he knew, if she wanted her people to be safe for a while longer, she'd have to crawl back every time no matter what? Bile burned her throat and her vision blurred with tears. Maybe they'd understand if she just stressed that it was so she could redeem and save them? She'd never be able to go to Heaven —not in the same way everyone else can, that is— so she had no problem being the scapegoat if it meant they got to be saved. This was for them. A voice, one that sounded suspiciously like Adam, whispered in her ear and reminded her that it was her idea, her insistence, that this stay a secret between her and him, and she bit her lip because, dammit, she hated that he- it had a point.

 

“Uh, Charlie?” The hesitant voice of Vaggie snapped her out of her mental spiral and Charlie blinked, quickly swiping away the liquid brimming in her eyes. “Are you… okay?”

 

“Wh- n- yeah! I'm, I'm fine! I just,” panic filled her, how long had she been standing there!? She fought back a blush when she realized she didn't know, “I, uh, appreciate you, all of you! So much. And I love you!”

 

“Hows’at a s’cret?” Husk asked, words slurred from the, what she assumed is, spiked coffee in his grasp and Charlie blinked in surprise. He was the last person she thought would show any interest, besides maybe Alastor. The fact he's taking the initiative to ask rather than staying silent snuffed out some of her anxiety and she chuckled softly, rubbing away a tear track on her cheek.

 

“Like I said, Husk, it doesn't necessarily have to be a secret. It can just be something that makes you feel vulnerable.” 

 

“Vulnerable?” A bark of laughter spilled out of Angel. “Girlie, you tell us you love us all the time, how vulnerable can that make you?”

 

“Wel-”

 

“Yes I agree!” Charlie's eye twitched and she looked at Sir Pentious. “Thisss does not ssseem like a very good example.” Seriously? They only want to work together when they're ganging up on her?

 

“I say ‘I love you’ more as a friend all the time.” She started, twisting her fingers skittishly behind her back as everyone looked from Pentious to her. “This time I mean it as a family. I love you guys like you're my family.” Her eyes lit up and she bounced on her hooves, hands flying up under her chin as she clapped. “Oh! I've always wanted a big family and now I have it!” Without any warning she turned around and practically launched herself backwards with her eyes squeezed shut. Worst case, nobody caught her and she'd have a sore back for a few days. Hardly the most severe injury she'd have gotten in her life.

 

Fully expecting to land on the ground, Charlie was pleasantly surprised to find herself being caught by multiple arms. Blinking, she smiled up at Angel, Vaggie, and Sir Pentious, the trio looking down at her with varying expressions from genuine worry to frustration to exasperation. “That?” She sighed softly as she clambered out of their arms before twisting around to yank both the boys down to her level for a hug, glad they were able to come together for her health. “That felt great!” Charlie chirped, releasing them and smiling over at Vaggie as spider and snake gave each other a cautious side eye. At least they weren't glaring anymore, she considered that a win.

 

“Angel! Why don't you go next?” Charlie suggested after a moment, smiling at the tall male as she stepped back and took his spot standing beside Vaggie. 

 

Angel sighed but didn't argue, though he did grumble to himself as he stepped onto the stage. “Ugh, fine.” Once he was in place, he turned around slowly to face them all and tapped his chin in thought. “Vulnerable, huh? Let's see…” He stood there, bottom set of arms crossed as he propped the free hand from his top set of arms on a popped out hip. “Oh! I know!” Angel snapped his fingers and smiled. “This may come off as a shock to you all but I… am a fag.” He paused, closing his eyes and nodding as if everyone in the room had just gasped with shock. Of course. Charlie's encouraging smile melted into one of general acceptance. Angel was Angel, after all. Despite having now turned his back to them all, he continued. “And I love to suck on big, thick, dripping-”

 

“I swear,” she barely kept from jumping out of her skin at the sudden, angry voice to her right, “if you say dicks-” While she wished Angel would take this a little more seriously, Charlie knew the man's brand of humor well enough to suspect that that is exactly what he was going to say just because he knew it'd get reactions exactly like Huskers. That is, until she saw the expression on the spider demon's face from over his shoulder.

 

“I was gonna say popsicles, ya sicko!” He scolded lightly, turning his torso to glare half heartedly down at Husk while flipping him off. “Get'cha mind outta the gutter!” The unimpressed look Husk gave Angel in response made Charlie laugh quietly, though she tried to hide it behind her hand in an attempt to not be seen. Based on how the bartender's eyes snap toward her immediately, she didn't do a very good job. Before Charlie could offer an apologetic but genuine smile, Angel turned away from them again and tipped backwards. Charlie stepped forward and her arms flew out, prepared to catch her friend, but Husk more or less bodied her out of the way so Angel would fall into his arms alone. “But, ya'know,” Angel says once he's safely in Husker's arms, bringing a hand up to brush his knuckles down the sinner's feline face slowly with a grin, “dicks, too.” 

 

With a grumble of disgust, Husk released his firm grasp on Angel and dropped the lankier man straight to the ground before crossing his arms, growling with agitation. While not surprised with either of them for their actions, Charlie couldn't say she blamed Husk as Angel often overlooked or pushed others' comfort levels for his own amusement, especially if he wasn't getting the reaction he wanted. It seemed he was a glutton for punishment, though, because he would always pester Husker until the gambler would inevitably snap just to turn around to do it all over again a few hours later.

 

Charlie smiled fondly down at Angel as she leaned over and offered him her hand, a gesture he accepted with an eye roll. In the half a minute it took for her to turn and help Angel to his feet, someone shocking had made their way onto the stage. Clasping her hands in front of her with a wide grin, Charlie watched on as Sir Pentious wrung his fingers together trepidatiously as he slithered into place, seeming to steel himself.

 

“While I do not fully believe this sssilly little exercise will help,” the sinner said after a moment, folding his arms across his chest and tightly grasping his arms just above the elbow, “I- I do want to change.” The admittance is soft and he kept his eyes downcast at the stage. “I made mistakesss before I died and they- they cost me more than sssimply life. But to get… redeemed,” Pentious said the word slowly, like it hurt, “I believe I must be honest with you and I have not been.” His grip on his arms visibly tightened and he swallowed, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. In spite of this, pride filled Charlie's veins at the sinner's words. Well, not that he wasn't being honest, she wasn't exactly thrilled about that, but more because he wanted to be redeemed! “On my entry into thisss,” Pentious looked around the lobby cautiously, mouth twisting with disdain as he searched for the correct words, “crumbling and pathetic looking place, my initial purpose for being here was not as honorable as I made it out to be. I was to be ssspying on you all for the Veesss.” Ice floods across her body as her smile faded but, unlike everyone else who had summoned their respective weapons of choice in an instant, Charlie simply continued staring up at Sir Pentious. He hastily threw his hands up in front of himself in surrender at the sight of multiple weapons pointed toward him. “No, wait, pleassse! Allow me to explain. I- I haven't reported back sssince the first night, when Missss Charlotte returned and ssshowed me a kindnessss I did not dessserve and gave me a sssecond chance dessspite my trying to kill the who-” he caught himself before he could throw out the derogatory term, flinching, “other residentsss. I am deeply sssorry for my deceit. Truly.” Pentious slowly removed the sleek watch from his wrist and crushed it in hamd, dropping the destroyed technology on the stage with an echoing thump in the silence of the hotel. “I understand if you no longer wish to allow me to stay here, Missss Charlotte.” He said softly, finally meeting her eye.

 

Betrayal wasn't a new experience to her, she couldn't even count the amount of times her own father had done something to deceive or double cross her at this point, but it still hurt. Especially when it was coming from someone she truly considered a friend. Her eyes dropped away from Sir Pentious’ quickly and she looked down at her feet, folding her arms tightly across her chest as her tail coiled around her leg. Despite living in Hell, Charlie thought she was a good judge of character. She'd been around demons for thousands of years and had seen everything from depraved serial rapists to unfortunate souls who just made a few desperate decisions in life, but hearing Pentious admit that he'd been a mole for a trio of overlords made her rethink that. She didn't know what the Vees wanted that required sending in an undercover agent but she doubted it was good. Based on the small amounts of information Angel had told her, Velvette and Vox didn't seem that horrible on their own —she even thought she'd maybe be able to work with them in the future if they considered changing for the better— but Charlie knew Valentino was another story and, all together, the three didn't seem like the types to have pure intentions or others best interests at heart. 

 

Feeling a hand grasp her shoulder sent a jolt through her body and her head snapped to the side to look at who had grabbed her. Vaggie. She tried to speak but Charlie simply shook her head and took another step away. “U-um, that's enough for the day.” She mumbled, backing up toward the staircase. “You're in charge, Vaggie.” Charlie nearly tripped as the back of her foot hit the bottom step and, before anyone could say anything, she spun around and rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time until she got to her room.

 

Wards to keep anyone from entering without her permission leave her fingertips as she shuffled toward her bed, flopping on the mattress and wrapping herself tightly in the plush comforter. Despite it being barely a quarter past one in the afternoon, Charlie dragged the thick blanket over her head, squeezed her eyes shut in the hopes of falling asleep, and wishing that this was all a weird dream. That she'd wake up back before she ever started that day's activity. 

 

Charlie wasn't sure exactly how long she stayed in her room without leaving —having turned her phone off sometime within the first hour of entering her room when it wouldn't stop lighting up with ignored calls and missed texts— and hardly moving except to distractedly cycle through petting Razzle, Dazzle, and KeeKee as she ruminated over the new knowledge that was revealed to her. She did, however, know it'd been at least a full day before her sulking was interrupted by a faint knocking on her door followed nervously by someone saying her name. She made no move to get up or respond, simply clinging to KeeKee until the one eyed animal squeaked with pain as she waited for whoever was at the door to get the message she wasn't interested in talking. Minutes pass without another sound and Charlie relaxed with a sigh. Just as she released her iron grip on the soft black fur, giving KeeKee a gentle pat in apology, the knocking returned. It's stronger this time, as is the voice of the other side —and now she can tell it was Vaggie trying to talk to her— but before she can tell the other woman to just leave, the sound of a bug zapper followed by a sharp yelp and a thud echoed into her room.

 

Going by the tone of the yelp, Angel was outside too and had tried opening her warded door.

 

With a huff, Charlie threw her covers off and stood, cradling KeeKee against her chest as she stomped to the door. Waving away the ward, she gripped the knob a little harder than necessary and yanked the door open to look at the duo, who were now frozen in the middle of Vaggie hauling Angel to his feet.

 

“I don't want to talk.” She said, not giving either a chance to speak. “I appreciate the effort, honestly I do, but I just… I need time, okay?” As she was shutting the door, Vaggie stuck her foot out to stop it then leaned into her room to give her a concerned look. Not even her warning growl deterred the angel as she bodily kept the door open.

 

“Charlie,” Vaggie began, “come on. You've been locked up here for three days.” Although her tone was understanding and gentle, all Charlie could hear was an underlying belittling quality she was used to from her father. Was that the only way angels knew how to talk to her? “I know I'm the last person to vouch for the sake of sinners but I think you should forgive Pentious for lying. That's what this place is about, right? Forgiveness and growth?” Charlie softened some at that and Vaggie took that opportunity to push the door open a little further. “I mean, what he did is no worse than me. We both lied about who we were and you forgave me-”

 

“Who says I've forgiven you?”

 

The question left her lips before she could stop it —and, okay, seeing Vaggie flinch in surprise made her feel a little bad— but she made no move to apologize. Why should she? She wasn't the one who lied about who, what, she was for more than half a century only to be outed by her former boss. Charlie's sure if it wasn't for Adam, Vaggie never would've told her.

 

Silence stretched between them for nearly a minute before Charlie finally turned away, intent on walking back to her bed. She didn't get further than a few steps before Angel made a noise, a tittering laugh that told Charlie he was anxious but trying to hide it. She didn't turn to face him but she did stop. “Um actually, Char, there's another reason than…” He paused, she presumed to share a look with Vaggie, “that. There's… someone downstairs asking for you.” He said it with a curious lilt, as if to ask if she was expecting someone.

 

The answer to his unasked question is no, she was not expecting anyone. 

 

“Did they give a name?” She turned to look at the sinner and he shook his head. “A reason?” Another head shake. Of course not. Charlie growled in aggravation and put KeeKee down to run a hand through her hair. Probably a new sinner hoping she'd give free room if they handed her a sad enough sob story. It'd happened once, before Angel began living there, but the man didn't stick around more than a month once it was clear she was serious about redemption. “Fine. Let's just… get this over with.” She grumbled, slipping past the duo to trudge down the stairs to the lobby.

 

As she took her sweet time making her way to her mystery guest, Charlie pulled her phone from her back pocket and turned it back on. Seeing the influx of messages and missed calls from various people in the hotel once the device finished booting up made her cringe and she cleared them away quickly before shoving it back into her pocket just as she hit the bottom floor landing. That was too much for her right now.

 

Scanning the recreational area, Charlie's eyes landed on Sir Pentious, the snake sinner curled up on Angel's couch and peering at her from over the back with wide scared eyes like she may kill him for daring to still be in the hotel. She'd never do something so cruel, but seeing him shaking like an abused hellcat made her stomach twist. Continuing to look around, mostly so she wouldn't have to look at the shaking sinner since she definitely wasn't ready to speak to him yet, Charlie spotted her visitor standing off to the side and studying the family portrait from just before her parents officially split up. From when they were all happy. 

 

From behind, she didn't recognize them so, not wanting to be rude to a potential new resident of the hotel, she sucked in a grounding breath and plastered a smile on her face as she walked their way.

 

“Hello there!” She chirped in her friendliest voice once close enough, stopping a respectful distance away. “Sorry about that wait. I heard you were here to see me. What can I do for you? Are you looking to check into the hotel and seek redemption?” The sinner before her gave no indication they heard her, their tail didn't so much as twitch, so, assuming they must be hard of hearing or maybe wearing headphones, she stepped around their body so she was facing their profile, holding her hand out and inhaled in preparation to redo her mini speech.

 

“No need to repeat the spiel.” Came a very familiar voice from the very unfamiliar person before her. Charlie's eyes widened and she took a step back as he turned his head toward her. “I heard you the first time, Princess.”

Chapter Text

mmmm sinner adam

Chapter Text

Hey there! This chapter will be deleted eventually. Sorry for the jumpscare to everyone waiting on an update.

This is another "not a real chapter" chapter but I just want to tell everyone to give the story a quick reread. I've been editing the first few chapters to fix tenses, grammar, and any other issues I see. There's more than a few scenes that have gotten an overhaul and a rewrite but the core of each chapter remains the same!

Chapter 5 {the Adam POV Chapter} will be the only one where these rewrites will be very blatant and come across as inconsistent right now as I simply haven't gotten to it yet rip {its a 20k chapter, it'll take me a minute to edit once I get to it, too} but I beg you to hang in there and give me the time required to fix this. My writing has improved a lot since I originally posted this story almost two years ago enendnne and the upcoming release of Season Two is making me want to make this story the best I can get it.

I do have two chapters in the works right now and theyre both more than halfway written, I'm just struggling to find motivation to finish writing them {hence the edits and rewrites, it helps}.

 

Which, that leads me right into another thing! I am seeking an editor and/ or a beta reader. Someone who can help me keep the story consistent and make sure it all flows right. You don't need to have experience writing or editing but you must be fluent in English simply because thats the only language I speak. If this is something you're interested in, comment below if you want to be a beta, an editor, or both and send me a friend request on discord, grounddzeroo. I may potentially be willing to take on multiple betas and editors purely to have multiple fresh eyes. If i get no bites for an editor, updates will just continue to be few and far between.