Chapter Text
The sound of the sinner’s ribcage snapping to splinters under his teeth echoed into the alleyway. His victim had passed out from fear and pain, and his companions were already devoured. He held a limp arm between two claws, ripping the demon in half down the middle with his teeth. He swallowed the piece whole, before slamming the remaining half back to the ground, cracking his skull open. They had made a racket, screaming and begging for him to spare them. As always. One could wonder if people would ever learn, or at least get a bit creative when they faced him. He unhinged his jaw and scooped up the gory mess that was left of the sinner, joining his associates in the dark.
Alastor shrank back to his normal form, breathing heavily while brushing some brain tissue from his shoulder. He had taken off his coat before his slaughter, it was still in its spotless condition folded on the ground. He waved a hand towards it, making it fall into a shadow portal to be dropped off in his room. The rest of him was a bit less pristine-looking. He looked like he himself had been devoured and clawed his way out through the stomach. He usually didn’t get this messy, relishing in precise cuts that gave maximal pain. A severed nerve here, a ripped off limb there. But these sinners had clearly been doing something to mess with the central of the surveillance system to Vox’s building and he had seen red for a moment.
Not that it wasn’t painful to be torn into shreds, but it was a shame that he didn’t have the patience to make them suffer longer.
He ran his claws through his hair and pushed it back, it had started to drip blood into his eyes. Not a pleasant sensation. He looked at the panel that the intruders had been fiddling with. It seemed undamaged, but to Vox’s amusement he really wasn’t that skilled in this area. Something shiny on the ground caught his eye and he went to pick it up. It was one of the sinner’s name tags, from a company in the Doomsday district. ‘InfernoByte’. He recognized that name. It was the company Vox had been trying to make a deal with for months, scheduled to be finalized today, right this moment even.
Hm. Seems like his plan to steal away his husband for lunch had to be postponed for a bit. The realization made him irritated and this bloodshed had only made him feel tense instead of relaxed. It was a game of chance sometimes, how he’d feel after a murder, it usually depended on his mood beforehand. But he’d been pretty chipper on his way here, so he couldn’t really make any sense of it. He allowed himself to be angry for a moment, wishing for someone unlucky to walk by so he could rip them apart as well.
Done wallowing in his emotions, he pocketed the name tag and started making his way up to the entrance of the V-tower. It really was an eyesore, but he knew that Vox would look like a kicked puppy if he told him that, so he kept his tongue. He would worry that he was going soft, if it weren’t for the fact that he had gone soft on Vox the moment he had laid eyes on the then boxy headed sinner. The automatic doors opened before him and he headed towards the reception, red footsteps left in his track. He’d send them a check for the cleaning bill, or make Vox do it in his name at least. There was no line at the desk and the receptionist’s eyes were glued to her phone. He had barely opened his mouth to ask where Vox was when she interrupted him.
“Mr. Vox is in a meeting and doesn’t accept any visitors at the moment. You can go ahead and book an appointment through the forms over there.” She waved a hand towards a tablet at the end of the desk. He huffed a bit.
“I do apologize for the bad timing, but this is unfortunately rather urgent.” The receptionist looked up from her phone, dropping it in shock when she saw who she just had dismissed. He probably was quite the sight, manic grin in place and covered in someone’s insides. She shot up in her chair, frantically apologizing.
“Mr. Radio Demon sir! I didn’t realize, I’ll get someone to escort you up right away!” She threw herself to the floor to get to her phone, desperately typing away.
‘Mr. Radio demon sir’ hah, that was rather charming. And new! She really had nothing to fear, his hunger was sated at the moment. He also realized on his way inside that the wretched tension inside of him wasn’t based on rage. And it was one that only Vox could help him resolve.
A young eel sinner came running up to them and he recognized him as one of Vox’s assistants. Ethan, if his name tag was correct. Alastor gave him a wave and got a nod back. No screaming at least, small victories. Ethan told him to follow him and made his way towards one of the elevators. He sent a smile to the shaking receptionist on the floor, before he trailed after the assistant into the open elevator. The eel was sweating, clutching his clipboard to his chest while repeatedly pressing the button to one of the higher floors. Alastor scraped some blood from under his claws, trying to ignore the heat curling low in his stomach. Hopefully he could resolve Vox’s problems rather quickly, so that he could focus on sorting out his own.
These guys were screwing him over and he didn’t enjoy it one single bit. Vox looked up from the contract gripped between his hands with a scowl.
“Mr. Crunge, we had a deal set. And now, you come here, on the day we decided to finally set said deal in motion, and want to change literally fucking everything?” Gorpus Crunge was a basket case, real fucking piece of work with more assault charges than brain cells. And, he had the sinner form of a dung beetle, which said enough about what he was like when he was alive. But his pathetic little InfernoByte was currently the only company left in Doomsday that wasn’t owned by VoxTek, and it was driving Vox up the walls. Crunge smirked at his outrage, sitting between his two giant body guards, also beetles. Vox’s hands spasmed from the urge to lunge over the table and gauge out his big, gross, eyes.
“Now Voxxy, we just realized that the earlier deal, well, it was shit is what it was. This is just a bit more fair version, nothing else.” He almost blew a fuse at the nickname. Instead he slammed his fist on the table, toppling over all of the coffee mugs and sending them crashing to the floor. He could feel his eye starting to spin as he glared at the repulsing man sitting across from him.
“Why the fuck should I take full responsibility for the security in your building? This deal is about plastering my company name under yours, which honestly will do you people more good than me! But I will not take part in any of your crappy business, and I sure as hell won’t pay out to some brain dead employee who accidentally cut their hand off because they were too high to see straight!” He rose from his seat as he cursed the other out, both fists on the table and eye spinning uncontrollably.
“I don’t know what to tell you Voxxy, these are our conditions. Our very reasonable conditions.” He buzzed a bit and Vox was on his way to rip off one of his ugly antennas, when a knock on the door made him whip his head around. Ethan stood on the other side of the glass, visibly shaking. What was it now? Furious sparks ran across his screen while he marched over to the door, almost making it fly off its hinges when he threw it open.
“What?! I thought I made it clear to tell any attention seeking freak to get the fuck out!“ His assistant opened his mouth to explain why Vox shouldn’t kill him on the spot, but the person next to him spoke up first.
“Now dear, I’ll let it slide this time, but calling your husband an ‘attention seeking freak’ isn’t very nice.” He almost broke his neck in his rush to turn it towards the filtered voice that he loved so much. He had almost never heard it here.
“Alastor?” What the hell was he doing here? He looked like he’d crawled out of someone, blood dripping all over the floor. His coat was missing, shirt redder than usual and soaked right into the skin. Vox felt his heart do a flip. Ignoring his husband’s overwhelming handsomeness, he could see how worked up Alastor was, probably from what made him look like Carrie at prom night. Alastor leaned around Vox and set his manic eyes on the others in the meeting room.
“Hello!” He waved towards them wildly. As much as he’d love to watch Alastor rip Crunge’s legs off, he really had to get this deal first. Maybe he’d let him have his fun after the beetle had signed. He was about to ask Alastor to give him a minute when he brushed past Vox and strolled in through the door, dragging in blood all over his carpet. Repressing the frustrated scream in his throat, he closed his mouth and turned around, following Alastor back into the room with Ethan on his heels. His husband was shaking Crunge’s hand before wiping himself off on his shirt, which only resulted in him smearing the blood onto his own hands. Crunge and his bodyguards looked a bit pale as the Radio Demon stood before them, talking a mile a minute with someone’s brains in his hair. His showman-persona was in full swing, even more than usual. Something was up, or had already been taken care of. Whatever it was, Vox should probably try to defuse this situation a bit.
“Do excuse my state, I happened to run into some intruders on the way and couldn’t help but teach them a lesson!“ Alastor manifested his cane and spun it around before throwing it back into his pocket dimension. Hold up, what did he just say? Vox walked up to the other side of the table, brows furrowed.
“Intruders?” Alastor kept on staring at Crunge, making the man curl in on himself nervously.
“Yes, three of them even! One could wonder who had the nerve to send them here. I do wish I knew, my appetite hasn’t quite been satisfied yet.” Red eyes turned into radio dials. He was just about to ask Alastor what he meant, when a stack of papers were slammed down in front of him. Crunge was suddenly by his side, grabbing Vox’s hand and violently shaking it with two of his own. His bodyguards had taken place by the door, looking a bit sweaty.
“Great to make business with you Mr. Vox, just call if you need anything else, anything at all! We best be on our way, no need to see us out!” They were out the door before Vox could get a word in. He stared at his still outstretched hand, blinking. Alastor followed the trio fleeing down the corridor with his eyes.
“Odd man.” Ignoring the quip, Vox picked up the contract on the top of the pile in front of him and started skimming through it. Signed, and it described their earlier deal, none of the new changes included. He looked up at the sound of Alastor clearing his throat. His mask had dropped, as well as his theatrics.
“Found three sinners lurking outside by the security central. Picked this up after I dealt with them.” Alastor slid a metallic name tag over the table to him. He stopped it with a claw and picked it up to get a better look at it.
‘InfernoByte’.
The lights in the room flickered as he crushed the name tag in his hand, screen glitching between his face and his true form.
“Those fucking, greedy little insects. They were trying to frame me, messing with my systems to break off the deal and still get my part of the money! That’s why he wanted me to take responsibility for the fucking security, to sabotage me!” One of the lightbulbs exploded, sparks sailing down from the ceiling.
“Calm yourself Vox, you got your deal no? You can make their life hell another time.” He was right, of course. Still glitching a bit, he handed the contract over to Ethan who started checking that everything was in place. He rubbed his hands over his eyes and sighed heavily. How fucking hard was it to be an honest businessman in hell. Impossible, apparently. At least he had someone looking out for him. He dropped his hands and walked over to Alastor’s side of the table, leaning his hip against the edge of it.
“I got it thanks to you, you should always be at my meetings. Stand in the corner and look threatening.” Honestly, not a bad idea, he should bring it up again once he had time to work out the details. Alastor chuckled before his eyes flickered into black for a second. Still worked up then, which was always a gamble. And since Vox had no idea about what mood he had been in before his impromptu murder spree, he was just as clueless about how he was feeling now. He mostly became even bloodthirstier or just plain hungry. So either more killing or crazy amounts of food was coming their way in the nearest future.
“Since your little meeting was cut short, I believe you have a couple of hours to spare?” Vox sucked in a sharp breath at the heavy look Alastor sent him. Oh. The not too common, third alternative. He got a bit lightheaded as his blood promptly rushed down south. He probably had about ten seconds before clothes were coming off. Or torn off. He met Alastor’s hungry stare and swallowed audibly when the other’s pupils dilated, almost covering his red irises completely.
“Ethan, get out.”
“Sir, do you want me to track them-“
“Get out.” His assistant scrambled his things together and fled out the door. The moment he was gone, Vox put the room in lockdown, shielding the windows and locking the door. He blinked and Alastor was suddenly right in front of him, eyes black once again. How could he look so hot covered in blood? His eyes flicked down to Alastor’s lips before meeting his gaze again, which was apparently the other’s breaking point.
Alastor dragged him forward by his tie, smashing their lips together in a bruising kiss. It was mostly tongue, and teeth, Vox grabbed onto Alastor’s waist to pull him close. He hissed in pain as Alastor bit down on his bottom lip before running his tongue over it, licking up the blood that began pooling out. Red claws were gripping, tearing, and yep there went one of his best suit jackets, but he couldn’t care less at the moment, busy undoing Alastor’s pants while trying not to get his tongue bit off. As Alastor ripped open his very expensive shirt, buttons flying everywhere, and bit down on his shoulder, Vox realized that he might not get out of this alive. He shivered as Alastor licked at the fresh wound.
But god, what a way to go.