Chapter Rating: Mature (Explicit in future chapters)

Warnings: Suggestive Language, Manipulation, Frightening Images

The Radio Demon didn't taste like you had expected. Instead of bitter ash or something similarly repulsive like you might have originally assumed, your tastebuds were met with fresh mint mixed with an oaky bourbon and cinnamon. The flavor was intoxicating and if you were being honest, you wanted to swallow him whole as his tongue intertwined with yours.

Wait… no. This wasn't right. He was a wicked and vile demon with ulterior motives and had no interest in a genuine relationship - not that you would want that with him anyway, considering his Jekyll and Hyde personality that drove you crazy. It was obvious that this was just another one of his twisted games.

Coming to your senses, you broke the kiss and planted your palms on his shoulders, pushing him away. His eyes remained closed for a moment as he swallowed thickly, seemingly savoring the taste of you before he finally opened his eyes, an apprehensive expression on his face.

Clearing your throat awkwardly, you blurted out, "What was that for?"

Hesitating for a moment, Alastor replied, "Did you not enjoy it?"

Scoffing, you protested, "Don't answer my question with a question. I'm getting really tired of your constant manipulation. You're obviously not the romantic type and physical interaction isn't your thing. That is, of course, unless you're the one initiating it."

"And I suppose you know all about me, hm?"

Glaring at him, you huffed in exasperation. "You're exhausting, you know that?"

The sound of glass bottles clinking together suddenly drew your attention, causing the both of you to look to your right. There, behind the front desk was Husk, eyes wide with shock, looking like a child who had gotten caught with his hand in the candy jar.

The blood drained from your face as you realized that he must have seen and heard everything. Fuck! Why were you always getting caught in these compromising positions with this guy? How did you not notice a giant winged cat behind the bar?!

At a loss for words, you turned to Alastor for help, who had a somewhat smug expression on his face. "Ah, Husker. Good evening, my feline friend."

Husk's upper lip twitched as his eyes darted around the room, clearly looking for an excuse to change the subject. "Uh… don't mind me. I was just… uh… leaving."

Desperate to remove himself from the situation, he darted out from behind the bar, making sure to take a large bottle of booze with him as he left.

The moment he rounded the corner, you snapped at the Radio Demon. "Do you purposely put me in these embarrassing situations? Do you get some kind of sick satisfaction from humiliating me?"

Looking slightly taken aback, Alastor furrowed his brow and tilted his head questioningly at you, as if he had no idea what you were talking about.

"Nevermind," you grumbled, crossing your arms in annoyance.

Ignoring your tantrum, Alastor decided to bring the topic of conversation back to where it was before the two of you were interrupted. "Darling, I'll be blunt. My desire to protect you is somewhat self-serving. Ensuring your survival is imperative in order to secure my own interests."

Wow. Well, at least he was honest about it. "Okay, fine. I get that," you confirmed, trying to mask your offense. "But that doesn't mean you have to constantly manipulate me with your weirdness and your seductive personality."

His smile widened at your words. "If I may be so bold, I think it's safe to say that you are quite emotionally and, dare I say, physically driven. Intimacy is something you crave as well as physical pleasure. I have attempted to stimulate both to put you at ease. I, for one, have no interest in such carnal desires, but for the sake of getting you back to your dimension, I have indulged you."

What. An. Asshole.

"What makes you think I want any of that? Why would you just assume that I operate that way? Just because we're in Hell doesn't mean that everyone here is sex-crazed. I mean, you yourself are an example."

"Ha!" he cackled, his eyes crinkling in delight. "Sweetheart, do you think I am truly that unobservant? Surely, even you must realize that you have a tell."

Quirking your brow, you waited for further explanation. He chuckled and shook his head in amusement before continuing. "The devil is in the details, my dear. Whenever I am near, your heart races, your skin burns, and you're often left speechless."

"You're mistaking lust for hatred, Alastor," you seethed, resisting the urge to punch him.

"Ah, but there is a fine line between the two, don't you agree?"

"You're thinking of love and hate," you corrected, still fuming. "Love is not the same as lust, and I neither love, nor do I lust over you."

"How curious that yet, despite these claims, you crave my company. Why is that?"

Getting more irritated by the second, you hissed through gritted teeth, "I do not ! Why do you always seem to be around? If anyone's obsessed with the other here, it's you!"

He hummed thoughtfully, giving you the urge to smack the grin right off of his face. "So you didn't enjoy the kiss?"

"N-no," you stammered, hating the way your own voice betrayed you.

"I see," he replied knowingly. "My mistake."

He took a moment to pace around you, seemingly inspecting you while he contemplated something. Luckily, you didn't have to wait too long to find out what he was thinking.

"So, tell me. Regardless of the fact that you're aware that I am an Overlord, you sought the help of another. Tell me why."

Fidgeting with your sleeve nervously, you answered, "I-I didn't know what he was. I just… Angel and I were talking and-"

"Ah. Yes," he murmured. "The effervescent spider. He told you to do this?"

His heated gaze was focused on you, making you feel smaller by the second. "No. Not really. He was just trying to help. He said that Valentino knew things that other demons didn't regarding strange and unusual happenings in Hell. I thought that if anyone knew anything about what happened to me, he might, so I pretty much forced Angel to set up a meeting."

"Oh, yes. I'm sure Angel was quite difficult to persuade," he quipped facetiously. "Again, you didn't think to ask me?"

"I've already asked you, Alastor. You never give me a straight answer, which just makes me think that either you don't know anything, or whatever it is that you do know, you're not willing to share with me. You can't blame me for getting a little desperate after the King of Hell threatened to take me as his prisoner."

His crimson eyes narrowed at you, fracturing his seemingly calm composure. "I assured you that I would protect you and that you had nothing to fear so long as you were with me."

"How can you expect me to accept that?" you barked. "I don't… I don't trust you."

A deafening silence filled the room after the words left your mouth, echoing through the air as the Radio Demon took a moment to absorb your words. Less than a second after, his eyes sunk into his head, revealing nothing more than a haunting red orb amongst an endless void of darkness. The fangs in his mouth elongated and his already horrifying grin spread into a chilling grimace as he somehow grew taller, towering over you even more so than before.

It had been awhile since you had seen this side to him. You had grown accustomed to his charming and witty personality that you had almost forgotten what he was capable of. However, it all came crashing back to you as you cowered before him, the air being sucked from your lungs as he transformed before your very eyes.

Through a mess of static and painful feedback, he snarled, "After all that I have done for you, you still test me?!"

A lump in your throat kept you from speaking freely as you began to instinctually back away, your entire body trembling, your legs threatening to give way beneath you.

Taking a stride towards you, he continued in his deafening demonic voice, "I have been so very generous with you, dearest , but I can be cruel if that's what you prefer!"

Tears began to fall down your face as you halted, closing your eyes in a desperate attempt to mentally escape the horror that was right in front of you. "I-I'm sorry," you choked out through your sobs. "I'm so sorry. I-I… I just want to go home."

A moment passed between the two of you as he considered your plea. Regardless of the unsure silence, you still refused to open your eyes. Finally, the static and painful feedback died down, leaving behind a faint ringing in your ears.

A gloved hand wiped away a stray tear on your cheek, causing you to instinctively flinch while thrusting your hands outward to push away whatever was touching you.

"Now, now, little one. None of that. I am true to my word. I will not hurt you."

Still shaking violently, you dared to open your eyes, somewhat relieved to see that Alastor had returned to his far less threatening appearance and was now offering you his hand. "Forgive me," he insisted, a tenderness to his voice that you hadn't heard before.

Hesitantly, you took his hand, unprepared for the quick tug he gave to lift you to your feet. He then began brushing your hair back from your shoulders, straightening out your clothes, and finally wiped the last of your tears away, tweaking your cheek endearingly when he was finished. All you could do was relent and allow him to do what he wanted to you while you stood in silence.

"Now then," he sighed, summoning his microphone in a cloud of smoke to lean on as he thought aloud. "Clearly we need to establish more trust with one another. I suppose I can understand you needing some assurance that guarantees that I will hold up my end of the bargain. You are, after all, in Hell. Skepticism comes with the territory."

Slowly regaining your composure, you simply nodded your head, wrapping your arms around yourself to help hold yourself together as he continued speaking as if he wasn't just one of the most horrific creatures that you had ever seen.

"Well, if you're open to the idea, I can offer you a deal-"

"No!" you replied instantly. Surprisingly, rather than getting upset at your outburst, the demon seemed unfazed - amused even. "I'm sorry," you added. "I can't."

Once again, he began to pace back and forth as he hummed to himself in thought. "This just won't do," he continued to think aloud as he placed a finger to his chin, contemplating his options.

After another few moments of silent reflection, his eyes suddenly lit up. Literally. They actually glowed for a second as an idea struck him. "I've got it!"

Before you could even bother to ask what he was thinking, he shoved his microphone stand into your hands. An overwhelming feeling of power washed over you as your skin connected with the staff. It frightened you, and you immediately tried to shove it back towards Alastor.

"Why would you give this to me? What am I supposed to do with this?"

Holding his hands up in refusal, his never-wavering smile beamed back at you. "That's for you to decide"

"I… I can't… I don't even know how to use this! What if I end up killing someone?"

"You just might."

"Alastor," you groaned, incredibly fed up with him at this point.

He released a fit of laughter at your defeated demeanor. "Do not fret, sweetheart. Possessing my microphone grants you ownership of my shadow."

You blinked at him, waiting for him to continue his bizarre explanation as you struggled to hold up the large and heavy staff, much to your embarrassment.

"You see, my dear… to have ownership of my shadow is to, in part, have ownership of me. You are in control. Do you understand?"

You released an extremely unattractive mix between a huff and a snort, emphasizing your baffled disbelief. "Why in the hell would you do this? You barely know me. You don't seem like the type who easily gives up even a sliver of control; this can't be easy for you."

"Exactly," he winked, placing a hand on your shoulder reassuringly. "To say that this is difficult for me is… an understatement," he noticeably grimaced. "But if this is what it takes for you to realize that I am more of an ally than an enemy, it is what must be done."

Wow. He must really want to get to your dimension. He was even willing to literally give up a part of himself for it. If anything, that terrified you even more. Why was he so adamant on coming with you?

"You're wrong, by the way."

Snapping out of your skeptical daze, you tilted your head questioningly at him as he had done to you so many times before.

Smirking, he continued, "I know quite a lot about you, darling. Don't forget, I've been inside your mind."

Oh. Yeah. How could you forget how violating that felt?

Not wanting to linger on the subject in fear of what he might have seen in your head, you continued to struggle against the height and weight of the microphone stand, which was just as tall as you were. "Um… Alastor. I appreciate the gesture. I really do, but how do I…?"

"Ah," he replied, realizing your predicament. He then stood behind you and pressed against you, cradling your arm and placing one of his hands over yours that was gripping the staff. "Allow yourself to feel the power inside of it. Open yourself up to it."

"I don't know how," you admitted. "There's no magic where I come from. I can't do what you're asking."

"Yes, you can," he countered, giving your hand a reassuring squeeze. "Sit still and close your eyes. Calm yourself."

Following his instructions, you stopped fighting and closed your eyes. Your breath caught in your throat when you felt his other hand grip your waist, forcing you even closer to him. "Do you feel that?" he asked, tapping his index finger lightly on the back of your hand that was grasping the staff tightly.

Just as the words left his mouth, you felt a warm sensation in the palm of your hand, tingling just beneath your skin. "Yes," you breathed in disbelief.

His lips brushed against your ear, his hot breath sending chills down your spine as he whispered softly. "Focus on that. Open yourself up to it and allow it to envelope you."

Concentrating on his words, you chased after that feeling in your hands, willing it to travel up your arms, into your chest and throughout your whole body until you felt an incredible sensation of what you could only describe as something… magical - something that you had never felt before.

"I-I feel it," you stammered, smiling to yourself while keeping your eyes closed as you continued to focus.

He hummed happily against the nape of your neck. "Very good, darling. Now, open your eyes."

Hesitant to comply, an audible gasp escaped you when you eventually did. The large microphone stand had somehow shrunk in size, and was now just the right height and weight for you. It had acclimated to your exact proportions and was no longer overwhelmingly large or heavy in your hands.

"Holy shit," you uttered softly, completely wonder-struck.

The Radio Demon beamed at your bewilderment, returning to huddle against your body once more, his hand still resting over yours on the microphone stand. "Go on, then. Summon me."

"But… you're right here," you observed, pointing out the obvious.

The feeling of his chest rumbling against your back with his breathy chuckle sent a thrill through your body that annoyed you. "My shadow, dearest. Summon my shadow."

At first you had figured that his 'shadow' was a figure of speech somehow. Were you seriously about to conjure another part of him. "Um, is there, like… a magic word or something?"

You could literally feel the eye-roll before he sighed heavily in vexation. "No. This is not a picture show," he grumbled, probably referring to whatever reference he saw in your head. "Use the energy you felt before and simply allow yourself to have what you want. In this case…?"

"Your shadow," you answered, exhaling and steadying yourself. "Okay, got it."

Shutting your eyes, you concentrated on the energy flowing through the staff and into your body once again. You weren't sure what to expect, but you told yourself that you wanted to see Alastor's shadow right at that very moment.

The energy flowed like a current, the strength of it fading in and out, but you weren't sure if it was working. After what felt like forever, you were about ready to give up when you felt a wispy tickle on your cheek.

Opening your eyes, you yelped at the sight of a black and somewhat transparent creature that adorned the very similar shape of Alastor and was staring right at you with what could possibly be an even more wicked smile than the actual demon himself.

"Well done," Alastor cooed, running his hands through your hair affectionately. "You're a natural."