Charlie waited at the bar for her dad. This was going to be an important discussion, just as the hands the night before had been. She needed to talk with him, to make him understand her viewpoint. He’d been sequestering himself for the last few months. Charlie had given him space for that time. Now, it was time for him to settle his mind and help like he’d promised.
She was starting to think that he wouldn’t show when a portal opened up and her dad walked through. Charlie cringed. He looked rough. Bloodshot eyes, rough hair, rumpled clothes… He definitely hadn’t slept for a while. In his hands was a book with numerous loose papers.
“Dad? Are you okay?” she asked. Charlie stood from her stool to help him over to the bar when he waved her off. He stumbled over to the bar and sat down. She sat back down next to him. Janine, thank goodness, didn’t come over. She had great bartender instincts. Charlie continued, “What do you have there?”
“Charlie, I have been scraping and searching for anything related to deals and soul pacts,” he said unceremoniously. “I think I found an answer.”
Surprised, she queried, “Really?”
“Yes!” He opened the book to a page covered in blood. “See here?” There was a caricature of a body having its soul sucked out and ripped to pieces. “We need to sacrifice someone to break the connection. It’s a personal contract, so one of you needs to be the sacrifice.”
Charlie saw where this was going. “You want to sacrifice Alastor to break the contract?”
“Yes!” Her dad stabbed the paper with a finger. An image of all of them standing around a cross, Alastor hanging by his tendons and intestines in a bloody display played over the image. There were x’s in his eyes and simple black rings that didn’t look like their rings vanished from their fingers. Then they all danced around Alastor’s corpse. Letting the image fade, he said, “You can be free! Then you and your Angel, uhm, Vagatha, can get married! Without him!”
“ Dad …” Charlie sighed as she rubbed her head. “We’re already going to be married.”
“With that incredibly pompous loser Alastor,” her dad added lightly.
“I know that you’re…uhm…upset about this. But I’m making progress with Alastor!”
“‘Progress’? What do you mean ‘progress’?”
Charlie said emphatically, “I think he cares about us! I think there’s a decent person in there that needs help.”
“There you go, self-sacrificing again.” He grabbed Charlie by the arms. “When will you be selfish and admit that you don’t deserve this! Vagatha doesn’t deserve this!”
“Vaggie is with me on this!” Charlie said with perfect faith. She was certain that Vaggie now saw it too, that there was someone in Alastor trying to break out of the shell that he’d created around him.
Now her dad was shaking her. “You two are going to waste your lives on one soul, one unrepentant MONSTER !” Then he paused. He let go of her as he murmured, “I get it now.” His fingers reached for the ring he couldn’t see. “Those rings must be doing something to you.”
Charlie admitted with a so-so gesture, “I can’t say that I know one way or the other.” Then, a lightbulb moment. “You know what? I don’t even care.”
Her dad’s jaw dropped. “ WHAT ?!”
“Yes! I don’t care!” Charlie jumped from her seat. “If I can save even one soul , I consider it worth it. I’m breaking through ! I just need more ti-”
“DAMMIT CHARLIE, I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU!” Then her dad did something that she’d never seen: he started crying. He burst out, “I don’t want that monster to eat you! Bit by bit, tainting you until you’re no longer my daughter.”
Charlie’s expression lightened. “Oh Dad…” She leaned over and hugged him. “It’s okay. Really, it’s okay.” She stood straight again. “I know you’re so worried. That I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.”
“I don’t blame you,” her dad made clear. “He tricked you.”
“I more meant trying to help him better himself.” She finally admitted, “I don’t think I can Redeem him.” Her expression hardened. “That doesn’t mean that he deserves to be alone! Rejected by everyone, treated like the monster he tries to be.” Thinking on the incident with Katie, she said, “He actually caresabout us.”
Charlie sighed and looked away. “I was hoping you’d understand now. I didn’t realize you were stewing like this up there. I’m sorry I left you alone when you were so anguished about this.”
“Charlie.” His face crumpled. “I love you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Dad, I’m grown up now. I can handle being hurt.” She hugged him. “Really. I just want you to support and help me out as I travel this path.”
He froze for a moment before he hugged her back. A heavy sigh was followed by, “I’m sorry I shoved myself in my tower. I…I don’t want to lose you too. That’s why I threw myself into this.”
Charlie tried to find a silver lining to this mess. “At least you know new stuff about pacts and soul contracts?”
Her dad laughed bitterly. “I guess that’s true.”
“You might know more than Alastor!” Charlie joked.
The two jumped apart as the staticy voice butted in. Charlie looked behind her dad and said, “Alastor! Hi!”
Alastor stood there, hands settled on the top of his radio cane. The expression on his face was neutral, unreadable. Charlie wondered, how much did he hear?
“I couldn’t help but overhear Charlie’s defense of her capabilities,” Alastor said, staring down her dad. “I couldn’t agree with her more.” Charlie was surprised by his next words. “I think she can handle me and my need for power! She’s stronger than you seem to think.”
Her dad’s jaw flapped for a few moments before he rolled his eyes. “Of course she can take you! The problem is taking you without dying from your cursed pact!”
Alastor’s eyes narrowed. “You certainly seem to have some idea that I’m going to double-cross my dear brides!”
Her dad jutted his chin out. “Well? Are you?”
“Haha! Your distrust is rather amusing!” His smile grew twisted, green magic seeping around his hand. “I’m willing to make a deal on this!”
Charlie and her dad’s jaws both dropped. “What?” was all Charlie could say.
Alastor was focused on her dad. “What do you think? I’ll ensure that I won’t backstab Charlie or Vaggie. In fact, I’ll take very good care of them!”
Her dad picked up his jaw and glared. “What do you want in return?”
Alastor examined his cane. “Oh, nothing much.” He twirled it and tapped it against the ground. “I simply want a guarantee of your support of this wedding!”
He looked like he was punched. “ Support this?! How can I-?! HOW DARE YOU!”
“Come come now. You’re convinced that I’m trying to pull something. Why not ensure that your daughter will be safe and happy?” Alastor said it like it was a no-brainer.
“And the failure clause?” her dad asked.
“Hm… It must be something we’ll both feel a hit from.” Alastor pretended to think. Then he snapped his fingers. “I know! How about whoever breaks the deal is sacrificed to break the engagement pact?”
Her dad narrowed his eyes. “You and I both know that I wouldn’t work as a sacrifice.”
“Oh?” Alastor took the book her dad had and turned it to a specific page. Pointing at a passage, he exclaimed, “Well look here! ‘A Seraphim’s soul and blood can be sacrificed to break most deals.’ And, as you know, being a blood-relation makes the power of the curse breaking intensify.”
Her dad bit his lip to the point of drawing golden blood. Then he spat the blood into his hand and held it out. “Deal.”
Alastor’s soul magic spun about them as he cut his own palm with a claw and spread the red blood along it. Then he took her dad’s hand and shook on it. Charlie saw the same threads that permeated her deal wind their way around Alastor and their locked hands. The green aura screamed out from the epicenter that was them. It nearly blew Charlie over.
After a solid minute of sickening magic swirling around the hotel, catching all the guests off-guard it was over. Their hands broke as her dad took several breaths, eyes closed.
“There.” Her dad wiped the wound to his lip out of existence.
“Excellent! Now then,” Alastor clapped his hands and a vast array of suits suddenly appeared in the lobby, “I require some assistance picking out a tuxedo.” A smug smile was followed by, “Would you be willing to help support the wedding by helping me find one that meets our needs?”
Her dad’s eye twitched violently. With his teeth grinding together, he said, “I’d love to.”
“Excellent!” Alastor led him into the maze of tuxedos. “Now, my dear Charlie wishes to have some poofy clothes for the wedding. I was thinking of something similar to a zoot suit…”
As their voices vanished into the winding labyrinth, Charlie felt rather taken aback. Did Alastor just use her to make a deal with her dad?
