Chapter 24 The Day You Laughed

*

You were eating a meal very quickly prepared in front of your television set, a strange demons wave had arrived in hell, the news spoke of a wave of death on earth but for the moment he had no more information.

Certainly perhaps a wave of attacks, who knows? Only few things could surprise you on this subject.

You picked up your plate and began to do your dishes silently. You hesitated to get dessert, but you weren't very hungry. All you wanted to do was go to bed.

Suddenly someone knocked on your door. You rolled your eyes in annoyance. It must have been the neighbor this time. You sighed and dried your hands before you went to open your door.

"Yes ?" you asked wearily.

But the only answer you got was some kind of red package that seemed to contain... uh... some kind of flowers right in front of your face.

Mechanically you picked up the package and looked up to see who was in front of you. Unfortunately, whatever that thing was, it was now gone.

You raised an eyebrow in confusion and then looked at the package in a confused state and went home.

You went to your kitchen rather dubious about the contents of the package.

"Why rose stems? "you asked yourself as you looked at them in more detail.

The rosebuds were completely burnt, there was nothing left of them. After a moment's reflection, you wondered if it was a stupid prank by Alastor.

Suddenly you saw a little paper stuck in the stems.

You gently pulled it out and your eyes wandered boredly over the little note.

... Wait ... Did you read it right?

"Is He serious?" You asked aloud as you read the word again.

*

"My dear,

I anticipated what you were going to do, so I took the liberty of relieving you of this arduous task.

Hoping it might soften our "thorny" relationship.

See you soon,

Alastor"

*

"..."

You read the letter again.

Meanwhile, a certain shadow was discreetly watching your reaction. It was quite surprised, why hadn't you torn the bouquet yet? What could its master have written down?

Suddenly it noticed that your shoulders had started to shake... What happened to you?

The shadow slowly approached you hoping to read the note its master had left for you, but suddenly you burst out laughing. The shadow became frightened and hid under a piece of furniture, oh Lucifer, had you seen it? Why were you laughing out loud?

"Excellent! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! "You laughed " what a- ha ha ha... ho fucking... moron!"

You had to lean back on your kitchen counter to calm yourself but as soon as your eyes looked at the letter again you couldn't stop laughing again, so much so that you started crying and your cheeks started to hurt like hell.

The shadow looked at you completely bewildered. Yes ! you were really laughing! It saw you laughing! And from all the laughter it had heard with its master, it knew it was not a false laugh. No, it was a sincere laugh, even if it could feel a bit of mockery.

It lasted about five minutes before you started to calm down. You wiped away your tears without losing your smile.

"Is he really that desperate or what?" You asked out loud as you looked at the bouquet...

You had to admit that you were a little disturbed by this action, you could hardly imagine "the great and almighty radio demon" lowering himself to having to buy you flowers, and burning them to bring a little surprise through a ridiculous little letter.

It was so absurd! You laughed again when you imagined the face of the poor salesman who had to sell the flowers. He must not have understood what was happening to him.

You took a stem, being careful not to get your fingers pricked, and you observed it. You knew that you shouldn't throw away this "bouquet", because, you would admit that Alastor was right and that you would have done exactly what he had planned, that is to say: Get rid of these rose stems.

After studying them for a while, you noticed that the stems were in very good condition and it even gave you an idea. You went to your living room to get some towels of your favorite color, and quite roughly you made a rosebud that fitted perfectly with the stem. Well at least you had something to do, and you were sure Charlie would like it to decorate the hotel. You took the stems and you put them in a vase.

In reaction, the mouth of the shadow fell off. Did it really work? It watched you as you tilted its head to the side. Suddenly it noticed at the same time as you something that had fallen gracefully onto your work surface...

It was so small, so red and so thin...

Your eyes looked at this little thing and you noticed that it was the petal of a red rose, a little breath came out of your nose as you smiled at the sight of the petal.

"...How ironic that this little thing survived..." you mumbled to yourself.

You thought for a moment, then you remembered a little glass decoration you had on one of your shelves in your bedroom, there were already a few dried rose petals, adding one more wouldn't be disturbing, it was only a rose petal after all. You dried the petal and went to your bedroom in order to put it in the glass box.

*

The eyes of the shadows were fixed on you with the greatest incomprehension. It didn't understand you, not at all. Why did you keep the stems? Why did you bother drying that rose petal? It was just one more of many from what she could see in the jar.

Suddenly the thing realized with horror that It shouldn't have plunged into her thoughts for so long, especially when she saw that you had taken off your shirt.

If it had been possible for you to hear the sound of the vocal cords of the shadow, you would certainly have become deaf to its scream of terror. It seemed as if it had seen the most shocking scene of its life, especially when you had taken off your bra and pants, this time it was too much for the creature who had already unconsciously observed your flawless white skin and your divinely well drawn figure by your own shadow so black and perfect...

Having quickly realized its mistake, the shadow ran to the exit of your apartment and fled from the building as quickly as possible, it was too much for it, too much, it had seen too much! REALLY TOO MUCH!

*

The shadow ran at the speed of sound towards the hotel completely mortified by the sight she had just seen. It rushed up the hotel floors, startled Charlie and Vaggie with its almost unusual speed.

The creature quickly reached the office door, and without waiting more, passed under the door before uttered a huge sigh of relief, attracting the attention of its master at the same time.

*

"Ah! My dear, there you are! I thought you were very long, I was just about to call you." Welcomed the deer with good mood. "So tell me, How did she react?" He asked, his eyes shining with impatience.

The shadow looked at its master with a look of embarrassment, then mumbled one: "I saw her"...

"Of course you saw her." Alastor commented with a bit of a bad mood in his voice "but I want to know exactly how she reacted."

The creature played with its fingers as it looked at the other shadows that populated the room and looked at it with curiosity. Very uncomfortably, the shadow mumbled...

" uh...stripped... "

Alastor's smile grew tense as his patience grew weaker...

"I know the roses had been stripped! You were with me when I did it, now are you going to answer me or do I have to make you? "Threatened the demon

"But I saw her, master!" cried the shadow, completely mortified...

"So what did she done?"

"I saw her stripping after she put the stems in a vase!"

This time he had a great silence. The radio demon's eyebrows were raised in amazement, as his mouth opened slightly and the eyes of the shadows hidden in the room widened.

"Oh..." Was all Alastor could say.

He settled back into his armchair by readjusting his monocle and then his hair with a rather embarrassed face.

"It's really... 'unsettling' indeed." he began, though his smile widened again.

as a strange curiosity began to devour his stomach.

The deer tapped his fingers on his desk at a steady pace as his brain cogitated.

He found himself wondering what your skin felt like. Was it thin? Was it flawless? Was it soft? Was it fragile?

It was a pretty confusing feeling for him. Where did this strange curiosity come from? It was so unusual... He couldn't understand at all the unpleasant feeling in his chest.

"Well, she accepted them as I had intended," the deer laughed, trying to ignore the feeling.

*

His shadow looked at him in confusion.

With astonishment it noticed that its master looked a little more elusive, he had run a hand through his hair again and was lightly scratching his cheek with a pensive look.

The shadow tilted its head to the side and wondered what was bothering its master, it was quite rare that she saw him like that, too... how to say that... too... "preoccupied"?

It was as if he couldn't foresee something important.

"Well, I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow for the full answer." He commented, sorting through some papers. "You've done a very good job, you can go back to your space."

The smile of the shadow widened in great gratitude, and then it returned to its original place on the wall. Alastor sorted some papers on his desk and asked his shadow.

"What was her reaction when she read the letter? »

The shadow looked at him a bit surprised, why did he care about that? He got what he wanted, didn't he? You'd accepted the bouquet and reacted pretty well, so why was he so curious?

"The wolf laughed a lot," replied the shadow.

"She laughed? "Asked Alastor, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, she really laughed."

Alastor turned to his shadow as if he couldn't believe it. To be honest, he even thought his joking shadow even dared to play a joke on him, it wouldn't be the first time, and yet It seemed sincere.

The deer tapped his sheets of paper. He had made you laugh. Really laugh...

His smile stretched in great satisfaction as his ego grew stronger. At last he had reached the level of that mutt who served as your friend. Yes, you had reacted in a simply perfect way. Nevertheless he knew he had to be careful.

Sleep tended to alter the perception of certain things. He had to wait tomorrow to make sure you were a little more relaxed now. But he was hopeful.

*

Suddenly he heard someone knocking at the door.

"Come in," he invited, keeping his trusty smile on his face, it had to be Charlie who wanted to talk with him... However, when he saw a little Beagle entering his office, his body tensed in disgust.

Of course, not everything could be perfect.

"Hi, Bam- Al! Don't worry, I won't bother you very long, I promise," Nikolai said as he sat on a chair in front of the desk with mischievous eyes.

"Little man, what makes you think I want to talk with you? "Alastor asked in a false good mood betraying his boredom.

The little beagle's smile became more mischievous

"Well, it's all in your best interest, Al! "laughed the boy as if he was talking about something really obvious. "You already work here, and I'm just a customer. However, the one who's king between us is me. After all "The customer is king", that's well known."

*

Such an insolent brat

*

"What do you want?"

"Oh, thank you for taking some of your time to listening to me! " said the boy with a big enthusiastic smile "I just wanted to ask you a little question about your relationship with Y/N"

"And what do you want to know?"

"Why do you hate her so much?"

Alastor found it hard to hold a small mocking laugh in the back of his throat and unfortunately for him, a laughing soundtrack had played, betraying him on the spot.

"Kid, I really don't have anything against your mother, if that makes you feel any better."

"You mistaken Al, Y/N is not my mother, although I have to admit that I would very much like that to be the case," the child admitted, but before he could continue Alastor walked towards him with a sadistic smile.

"Really? If you really want it, we can make a deal."

The child gave him a surprised face and answered with a broad smile. Swinging his legs up and down because they were not touching the ground.

"Nope, sorry, I'm not interested, it's not that I don't trust you, but a little bit anyway. Moreover, that's not the point."

The deer settled back into his seat with one hand under his chin. Well, he tried.

"In fact," continued the little Beagle, "I don't understand you, it's true! I mean, you tell me you have nothing against her, but you spend your time attacking her where you know it will hurt."

"It's not my fault your mother takes things too seriously. I just want to have a calm and serene relationship with her for the future of the hotel. She's the one who gets upset over nothing."

Nikolai calmly imitated the deer's pensive stance and then innocently replied.

"I don't think attacking someone over the death of their child is a good way to have a 'calm and serene' relationship unless that's how you make friends, which might explain why you don't have any, after all Niffty and Husk are just partners to you."

Alastor heard his shadow growl. The brat was really the personification of the pebble in the shoe. What he'd like to give him a good hiding right now, and knock that insolent little smile off his face.

"But hey! Each one has his own way to do it I guess, just, if your balls mean a lot to you avoid that type of comment in front of her in the future ok? For having seen Y/N angry, it's nothing compared at all that you saw and um... " lived? I guess I can say that." laughed the child.

"Perfect! Now that I've answered your question and you said all what wanted to say, can you leave now?"

"Yep, I'm done. Thank you for answering my question, B- Al." Declared the beagle as he jumped out of his chair and walked towards the door.

*

Alastor breathed a small sigh of exasperation, decidedly this brat -

"OH YES! I had almost forgotten!" cried the child as he ran to the deer's desk with eyes shining with mischief.

The hound dog moved his bust forward on the desk so that it was as close as possible to the deer, his little arrogant smile had not left him, even for a few seconds.

Alastor couldn't hold back a few badly tuned radio noises, thus confessing to the little beagle his great discontent and irritation.

In reaction, the boy's tail wagged with amusement. With a small laugh Nikolai reached out his hand in order to press his index finger against the deer's forehead and insolently pushed him away, however Alastor moved his head back very quickly to avoid contact.

"Come on! It's just a small favor I'm asking! "said the boy winked at him. "I would like you to give me a small radio that is not very heavy, easily transportable, functional and not bewitched by your weird black magic," The child asked waving his fingers.

Alastor couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

"Why would you want a radio?"

"I want a radio for fun, and you're dying for me to get out of your office. You give me that radio and I won't bother you any more today. »

"Now you want to make a deal?" asked the deer with a slightly more vicious look.

"I don't think you could call it a deal, I mean it's a simple little thing I'm asking you, you're literally a walking radio! Well, all right, a walking radio crossed with a demonic deer... which is a bit weird when you think about it, but you're still a radio! It must be more than easier for you to give me what I want, isn't it?"

The deer watched the boy smiling in front of it. His red eyes stared at him suspiciously and then strangely the look in the boy's eyes reminded him of something that almost made him smile sincerely...

*

"Mama! Do you think we'll ever get a radio like this at home one day?"

*

"All right I'll give you one, but I don't want you in my office anymore, am I clear kid?"

"Yes sir! Can I have my radio now?"

The radio demon rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, making a small radio made of wood appear.

"That's exactly what I'm looking for! " shouted the boy as he grasped the object with his hands, his eyes shining with admiration. "Thank you, Al. That'll really come in handy, sorry again for the inconvenience," the boy said, hopping and grabbing the doorknob.

"Oh... one last thing."

Alastor tensed up slightly when he noticed a change in tone in the boy's voice. Very slowly, the beagle turned to Alastor with an unhealthy smile on his face, his eyes staring malignity at the deer's eyes as his lips parted to reveal his fangs.

"You know, you're really lucky to live here, I had planned to stick a bomb under your bed for an explosive waking after what you dared to say to Y/N this morning, however I realized that I risked destroying the hotel and Charlie doesn't deserve that. But that doesn't mean I won't find another way to make your day look really bad. Word of advice, Al, leave Boris and Y/N alone." The child took on a nicer face and ended with a quick "Good night."

*

Without saying another word, the beagle finally came out of the room.

Alastor remained silent for a few seconds and then burst out laughing along with some of the shadows in the room.

Well, that was something. This brat looked like he was convinced he was a threat, he really couldn't have frightened a poor kitten. All in all, that beagle was funny... sometimes.

However, one question that was always on the deer's mind:

Really. Why does that kid want a radio?

*

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