#I love it when two separate plots converge together in a perfect storm of CHAOS

[visage-of-hell]

(Continued from here:

For days she had been letting the aftermath of her ill-fated 'mission' fester in her gut. It had been reckless and stupid of her to ever accept that damned party invitation from a conniving wretch like Valentino ... but her hubris had been her downfall. So assured of her innate advantages as a hellborn ... and the more powerful Overlord she had aligned herself with. It had made her overconfident. Stupid. And now she had paid the price for it. What's more, she had put those who she cared most about in extreme danger and compromised the security of all she had built thus far. Where would she even begin admitting that kind of failure to her 'partner'...? Yet she would have to eventually, she knew ... for the longer she concealed the existence of the contract she had been tricked into signing, the more strained their 'working relationship' would become. And so her patience for Alastor's antics was even less than usual, which is what had put them at odds with one another that particular night. It was as though the hellhound were made entirely of dry kindling and the Radio Demon's every word were stray sparks coming ever closer to sending her into an out-of-control blaze. And then his crimson talons snatched her by the snout and dragged her in close. The spark was ignited--she could feel the white-hot rage rising from the pit of her stomach, seconds from erupting into a fiery outburst ... until the feeling of his lips pressing against the end of her nose gave her immediate pause. It was as though all of her rage had been snuffed out in one confusing act that left her too dumbfounded to maintain that same level of anger. Though the tone and intent behind the antagonizing act couldn't have been more different, flickers of depraved memories shot through the hound's mind like flashes of lightning illuminating the dark. Valentino's mouth on hers ... bodies pressed ... the rake of his gold-tipped claws through her fur ... the feeling of him as he... She physically flinched in revulsion as she forced herself to stop thinking about it--about how she had reveled in the filth of it all. And given the context of what had just happened, it was thankfully easy to misinterpret her recoiling as a reaction to Alastor's kiss instead of the truth. Her words came as a low growl, each syllable forced out through clenched teeth. "After the week I've had, Smiles ... the last thing I need is more of your shit, alright? So ask me for whatever the fuck it is you came to ask for and get it over with. This is when the other fuckin' shoe drops, right? Where I start to regret ever agreeing to this lil' 'business partnership' in the first place...?"