Chapter Text
Alastor curled his lip in disdain as he looked at the other gathered sinners. The scent of so many in an enclosed space, the air practically buzzing with excitement and lust was nearly vomit-inducing. Really, there was only one reason he remained here and that was the chance to petition the Queen for aid. Occasionally the palace would be opened to the sinners of the city and those who wished to seek an audience would be allowed to bring forward their requests. The cost was said to be high and she would only choose a seemingly random few people out of all that showed up. Because of that, many only came here if they truly needed help or with the delusional hope to get close enough to somehow gain favor with the Queen.
His request... well, he had little hope of being chosen and even if he was, he wasn't certain it was able to be granted despite the Queen's considerable power. Still, he had to try, and even if it required selling his soul to make it happen, he had already decided it would be worth it.
Waking up in Hell had been a surprise, to be sure. Less because Alastor had believed he would go to Heaven and more that he'd thought it was all made up to control the religious. He'd gotten over that shock quickly enough but then he'd had to deal with the punishments laid upon him for his sins.
Most of it he'd found he could adjust to with little problem. The form he had been given was ironic given his methods of hunting his victims after he had lured them away from the safety of the city streets. Though he had resented it at first, he quickly realized it could be used to his advantage. Looking like prey made it so others underestimated him in the beginning, leaving him far more able to take down opponents that he would not have had they kept their guard up. Then there was the eternal hunger, which helped fuel his ambition, kept him hunting and moving and never becoming truly sated, never falling to the illusion of having enough.
However there was one thing he could not simply adapt to. Heats. He had gone from the comfortable state of being a beta to the awful existence of an omega. This meant two weeks out of every six months, he was driven mad by futile animal instincts to be bred despite the fact that sinners were sterile. Likely this was a punishment for the smug superiority he had felt over others that he believed were weak for being so enslaved by their hormones.
The only silver lining was that it wasn't as bad as some poor bastards that ended up going into heat far more often. Knowing that did not make the curse any easier for him.
In the beginning, the urges were easy enough to ignore. He went through the first few heats with little more than a mild fever, an unrelenting ache, and a need to make himself scarce. Blockers only did so much to hide one's pheromones but there was no covering an omega in heat. His orientation was nothing he kept secret, that only would have left chances for blackmail. However, heat pheromones could reduce even the most civilized to unseemly behavior and he refused to be seen in such a state or give anyone reason to think he would be amenable to their advances.
It was little more than an annoyance at the start. Then the years had passed and... the heats got worse. Unbearable. He'd already relented to debasing himself with his own magic in the confines of his well-guarded radio tower and the pocket dimension there that he was building as his power grew. The bayou was a large comfort during those days with what he refused to call a nest set up deep inside.
However, he was still lucid enough during them to tell that soon even that would fail to be enough, and feared that in his desperation for relief he might leave the safety of his sanctuary in search of a mate. Possibly willing to accept any mate, no matter how beneath his usual standards. The alphas he'd met down here smelled dreadful enough to his sensitive nose that he'd never normally consider them for assistance, even if they weren't all idiots who refused to listen to the word no. Most had learned by now to not hold him to the stereotype that being an omega meant one was weak and submissive.
Still, he refused to risk his heats making him end up bound to someone controlling and obnoxious like Vox.
Or worse.
Which brought him to this room full of other sinners, hoping to be chosen to see the Queen and find a way to reduce or completely nullify the power these blasted hormones held over him. Some of the others likely had legitimate reasons for being there too. A few of them... well, from the smell, they hoped to somehow gain sexual favors with the Queen. He would respect such ambition if it weren't for the fact that they were weaklings who smelled like they chose to use artificial methods of forcibly attracting carnal attention. He kept his distance from those ones and played the mental game of tallying the potential threat level of each person in the room out of boredom. Many were two's or three's, but there were a couple interesting ones that he tentatively ranked a five.
The lioness somewhat nearby was one of those. He wondered if her form was because she had been a poacher or perhaps an exotic animal collecter. Either way, he was pretty sure the scarf she wore was to hide the marks where one of the animals had killed her.
"Hey, you mind some company? This seems to be the least crowded area."
Alastor was pulled from his thoughts to find the question had come from a rather petite blond man standing at the edge of the clear space people were giving him. A careful breath through his nose brought with it the sort of neutrality that meant the man was probably on pheromone blockers too but his muted scent wasn't awful by any means. His appearance made the sinner think he might be another omega, but he knew better than to judge a book by its cover.
Intriguing that he would approach the one that many of the others were clearly giving such a wide berth. Either he was new to Hell and didn't know about the Radio Demon yet or he was somehow powerful enough to not care who Alastor was despite not being a known Overlord. He gave the blond one of his sharpest smiles, "I don't own this space so make yourself at home, friend! Be warned, however, I have been known to bite those who annoy me!"
The smile he received in return was equally sharp, a challenging but amused look in those glowing yellow and red eyes, "I'm Magne, and thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to only annoy you when I want to be bitten."
Despite the flirtatious tone and wink thrown his way by the blond, Alastor didn't feel any need to put distance between them. The words had been simply put out there and then the other man was casually leaning on the wall a few feet away, looking out over the milling crowd. He studied him for a moment before doing the same. This one might be an entertaining way to pass the time, "Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Magne. The name's Alastor! Perhaps you've heard of me?"
"Oh, I know who you are, Mr. Radio Demon. You have a very unique voice," Huh. So not a new soul, "Sensitive nose, I'm guessing?"
Alastor nodded. That wasn't any secret though many didn't realize just how sensitive it was, "How'd you guess?"
The shorter man nodded towards a pair of women across the room, "Your nose keeps wrinkling any time one of them gets any closer."
"Ah. Well, that would be because I find the scent of hormone enhancers and rut inducers to be quite offensive!"
That got him a blink and a raised brow, "You can smell that? From all the way over here."
Shit. He'd thought that was a fairly easy scent to catch. It seemed sharp enough to him that it would be clear to anyone in the room. Still, that shouldn't be anything that would give the other man something to use against him in the future. Alastor had gotten good at keeping from reacting to even the most overwhelmingly horrid smells if necessary, though he made sure to get away from them as soon as reasonably possible. "Yes? And why are you avoiding the scintillating conversations all around us, hm?"
Magne folded his arms over his chest defensively, "As I said, bit too crowded. I don't like that many people that close to me."
They both went quiet for a moment, watching as a guard called a name and escorted a lizard looking sinner into the throne room. The blond spoke up again after the door had closed, "I've never gotten picked to go in but I've been here a few times. I don't recall seeing you at one of these. First time?"
That was likely an attempt at fishing for his reason for being here. "True, yes! I can generally take care of my own problems!"
"Must be a pretty big issue then if you're here now." When Alastor refused to speak further on it, Magne wisely changed course to a more joking tone, "Especially since you're looking at everyone here like you're assessing how big of a threat they are."
"That would be because I am!" Alastor spun his microphone idly, "Not much else to do when one has a potentially long wait around a great many idiots."
"Am I among that generalization?"
"I'm not sure yet!" He quipped, "So far you haven't been too terribly moronic!"
That got a snort, "Thanks, I think." The blond eyed him for a moment. "Just out of curiosity, what's my rating?"
Alastor decided to be honest, "Currently an eight, though I'm leaning towards moving it to a nine."
"That's out of ten, right?" Magne waited until he nodded before continuing, "We've barely talked for five minutes. I'm kind of surprised it's that high. If I asked why, would you tell me?"
"Hmmm," he considered that and figured there was no harm and potentially something to gain from sharing his suspicions, "Despite your rather flashy appearance, I did not notice you in the room until you spoke. You showed no sign of wariness despite knowing who I am, which says you think you have enough power to either take me on or easily defeat me! However, you are not any Overlord that I recognize, which leads me to believe you are not simply a fellow sinner. My best guess is that you are likely working for the Queen in order to assess the people waiting to see her."
Magne gave him an approving smirk, "Impressive." He pushed off the wall, giving a lazy salute, "Well, I suppose that means I should take my leave then. Have a good day!"
Oddly enough, Alastor wanted to tell him to stay. He held his tongue though, and watched the deceptively small man as he left, catching when he suddenly vanished from sight.
Now to see if he had proved himself interesting enough to earn an audience with the Queen.
***
"Liiiillllyyyy!"
Lilith felt a fond amusement at her husband's whining tone as he rejoined her for lunch, "Hello, love. Found someone interesting?"
"Uggggh, even worse!" He flopped dramatically across a chair, limbs all akimbo in a way that made him almost look like a marionette with cut strings. "He's pretty! And smart! And mean! And did I mention pretty?"
"You did, yes," she leaned over to kiss his forehead. "Should he be the next one called?"
Lucifer though about that for a moment before grinning, "Maybe we should save him for last. That way no one will notice if we keep him a little longer than others!"
She narrowed her eyes at him, "If we keep him? And who is this person that has you interested enough to actually show yourself as the King to him?"
"You know that radio Overlord? The omega that Rosie keeps going on about?"
Lilith couldn't deny the curious excitement that she felt at that, "Really?! Thought she said he'd rather have all his teeth pulled out one by one than ever ask anyone for help."
Lucifer finally pulled himself up into a more proper sitting position, "I know! But I'm telling you, he's out there and holy shit does the man have a sensitive nose! He pointed out two people about forty feet away in a crowded room that had taken enhancers and inducers to try to seduce their way in to seeing you. Or maybe even to try to seduce you directly." He frowned then, eyes flashing red before he calmed himself and refocused, "Guards got them and there is no way that they'd had those drugs in their systems for more than thirty minutes when he pointed them out!"
Lilith took a bite of food, thinking as she chewed. Usually those sorts of drugs took over an hour to be detectable by scent. There was a reason they made everyone wait so long to be seen, but some people still managed to smuggle in things undetected to be taken when no one was looking. How in the world did that sinner deal with having a nose that sensitive? The city was certainly not anything pleasant to smell, even on a good day. No matter, that likely wasn't the reason the Radio Demon had decided to approach the Queen of Hell for aid. Maybe they could offer him a deal for their assistance that involved having him attend these days in the future to help screen out people like that. "Any idea what he wants?"
"Nope! He figured me out too quick to weasel anything out of him," He sounded really delighted about that fact.
Well now, that was interesting. Lucifer was pretty good at keeping up a general aura of insignificance, making people near him dismiss him as irrelevant or unimportant. It was a big part of how they could gather information from the waiting room to ensure those with the most pressing valid concerns were seen. Her beloved husband looked like he wanted to tell her more so badly that he was nearly vibrating while he waited for her to ask. He was far too adorable when he was excited, "How'd he manage that?"
"Well, it probably helped that people were giving him practically a five foot clearing on all sides so getting near him the usual way wasn't gonna work. When I asked if it was alright to join him, it was like he started picking apart every little thing about me that he could! I think he's wary enough that he doesn't dismiss anyone as irrelevant once he's aware of them." Lucifer took a truly impossibly large bite, trying to get through his food quickly, likely so he'd have more time to talk. Really, he was ridiculous at times! It was a good thing he was so lovable. "Sho I chried-"
"Swallow before you speak, dear."
He huffed at her but did, "So I tried a little flirting, a little casual conversation and did you know he has a threat level scale? He's pretty honest with himself about his strength versus other's. Put me at a nine out of ten that quick!" That was a good sign of the intelligence he had mentioned earlier. "He figured out I wasn't one of the sinner petitioners, though I don't think he realized exactly who I am or I'm sure he would have put it at a ten."
No surprise there. Lucifer avoided the city like the plague, and there were no really clear images of what he looked like so many sinners wouldn't recognize him when he went without his signature hat or cheek markings. Plus the height he kept himself at most of the time made anyone that might suspect dismiss the idea entirely, because why-ever would the powerful, shape-shifting King of Hell choose to appear small and unintimidating?
Lilith gave him a teasing grin as she picked up her wine glass, "So... he's pretty?"
"Oh fucking hell, Lils," Lucifer gushed, "He's soooo pretty! You'll see!"
Yes, she would. She was too curious not to at this point.