#beax

"You never specified which you wanted."

There was a lull of silence before the door crept open.

"Come in."

~

Her ears flicked softly as she peered over at the phone that was in his hands. Bea's eyes moved to Vox's screen, a small smile on her face when she saw how excited he looked. Since the two of them had started to be around each other more often, she’d slowly been able to pick up on his different emotions. He had a variety of smiles; this one was a massive grin that spread across the entire screen; it made her stomach do a little flip.

A soft beep came from somewhere on him and his smile slipped just the slightest bit as he handed the phone over to her, “Here, keep watching this, I need my charging cable. I’ll be right back.”

Bea tucked her legs up under her as he got up to head to his bedroom. She continued to watch the video that he had been showing her; some compilation of funny moments from some streamers he liked. Franklin was in a few clips; it made her smile widen.

As another Franklin clip came up, a text appeared at the top of the screen. The smile that was previously there fell and she glanced up, making sure Vox wasn’t on his way back as she dragged down the notifications bar and then tapped on the message.

Within moments, she felt sick. Her ears were pressed flat against her head and her cheeks were a darker pink; red even through the blush she wore. Her fingers shook as she reopened the video and she set the phone down on the table, pulling her own phone out. As Vox came back, she had to do her best to make sure that her voice was steady, though everything else on her expression showed how distraught she was.

“My mama texted me, I have to go.” She stood in a rush, watching his screen flicker from the smile to confusion, “Sorry.”

Bea barely waited for him to reply, hearing a soft ‘see ya’ come from the TV demon before she was out of his apartment. He lived on the top floor of the studios he worked in; there were two penthouses there. She stepped out into the hallway, making sure the door was closed behind her as she made her way down to where the elevator was. 

Her heart raced into her ears as she came face to face with Valentino. A grin spread across his face as he nodded toward her, moving out of the way so that she could slip onto the elevator. She barely acknowledged him, having to turn slightly so that she wouldn’t brush against him.

“Is Vox still in?” His voice sent rivers of fear down her spine and she nodded sharply, hitting the ground floor button, “Excellent. See you later, Beatrice.”

Bea looked up at him and their eyes locked for the few seconds that it took the elevator doors to close. Her face paled as his grin stretched wider, disappearing and being replaced with the warm wooden doors that were the elevator. 

~

For days, it seemed like the world was at a standstill. She spent most of her time in her room, though she did go out and have meals with her family to seem as if she was functioning correctly. It wasn’t a good show; Alastor knew his middle child like the back of his own hand. 

“Something is bothering you, my dear. Do you want to talk about it?” He’d asked her at one point, only to be met with empty eyes and a sharp shake of the head before she’d gone back up to her room. She hadn’t been eating as much as she normally did, either, spending the days she usually hunted with Franklin tucked up in her bed.

After a week of her younger sister acting so off, Margret decided that it was her or nothing. Alastor had attempted to talk to her, so had Charlie and Frankie. Her younger brother had just tried to coax her out with the promises of being able to have bigger demons when they went out; not even that was enough to pry her sister away from where she was.

As she stood in front of Bea’s bedroom door, her lips pursed. There hadn’t been a moment where her sister had been so shut down; usually, Beatrice was an open book. She wore her heart on her sleeve, no matter how much she hated it. Margret didn’t bother to knock, she twisted the doorknob and pushed it inward.

The room was a mess. That was the first thing that set Maggie on edge. While Bea was generally somewhat messy, she usually kept her things in good order. Makeup palettes were tossed on the ground, the powdered eyeshadow and blush scraped from the wells and staining the carpet. This was the second thing that concerned her - Bea was obsessive over having her makeup in perfect order and if one palette was scraped, she’d be a terror until she fixed it. 

“Bea?”

A growl came from the bed, eyes peering out from under the blanket, “Get out of my room.”

“C’mon, Beanie.” Margret stepped further into the room, around the piles of clothing and the ruined palettes, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing you can help with. With your stupid redeeming shit. You can’t fix this.” Bea’s voice was haggard and Margret couldn’t believe that her normally composed sister was this torn up over something.

Margret sat down on the bed, scooting upward so that she was right next to Bea, “You could still talk to me about it. Maybe I can’t fix it, but you could work through the kinks with me.”

“There is no kinks to it,” Bea snorted, pushing the blanket away from her head. For a moment, she looked conflicted, but after that moment, her arm flew out and wrapped around Margret’s thighs, pressing her face against her sister’s leg, “Have you ever had your heart broken?”

Margret’s fingers threaded into her sister’s oily hair and she began to toy with it, rubbing the pads of her fingers against Bea’s scalp, “I don’t think so. What does it feel like?”

Bea was quiet, leaning her head upward just slightly against the feeling, “At first, it doesn’t feel real. It feels like it’s all a joke and then you’ll hear a big ol’ ‘surprise’! And when that doesn’t come, it’s like -” She hiccuped, tears starting to build in her eyes, “A bucket of cold water is tossed over you and there’s no towel or no sun. Like your heart is ripped out and chewed up before being put back into your chest.”

“You seem like you know what that feels like.”

Bea snorted, reaching to her face and rubbing away some tears, “Yeah. I never thought I would.”

Maggie sighed, leaning over so that she was able to look her younger sister in the face, “What happened?”

~

Her ears pressed to the back of her head as she pushed open the door, making sure that no one was around. Her fingers shook as she made her way to the other side of the room, pulling a book from the shelf and watching the shelf itself peel away from the wall to show another room behind the office. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be back here; throughout her entire life, she’d always been told to stay away from Alastor’s office. Especially the back office - this room was for his eyes only.

She knew it was where he kept some of his smaller pleasures, like embroidery, but it was also where he kept the more dangerous books that weren’t safe for the library itself. The bookshelf along the back wall had the assortment and she picked a few off, making sure that they were the right ones by flicking open to the table of contents. Taking another few moments to rearrange the books that were left to make it seem like none were actually taken, she fled the room.

Margret had tied her hair back, reciting through the different sigils that she was going to have to use in order to tie the entire deal together. The books were more than helpful; voodoo had always been something that she was no good at. Alastor had kept the magic away from all three of his children as best as he could - Franklin had been naturally inept at it and able to perform small acts of magic since childhood. Bea showed no interest in it, and now that Margret knew how it worked, she thought that it made a lot of things easier. 

Now she was a dealmaker.

She had taken the time to write a few of the more important sigils on the palm of her hand so that she would be able to remember them better; the few times that she had sliced open her own hand to have them appear had left the few out since she’d forgotten them. But now - now she had perfected the deal and knew exactly what she wanted and if the other party denied her now, two weeks of heavy research would be for nothing.

She walked. She didn’t want her family to know where she was going and if she had Raz or Daz take her in the car, the little goat demons would tell her mama where she was. Margret kept her hair tied back behind her ears; braided on the sides so that it was all kept tightly away from her face. Her stomach churned as she walked, mind rapidly going through the sigils that she needed.

Margret couldn’t believe she was doing this. Some part of her was disgusted - how dare she? This was Bea’s battle, not hers, and there was no need for her to intertwine herself in her little sister’s business. The heartbroken expression and the despair that came from her sister was enough to force her up and do what she thought was right - even if it was going to end badly for everyone.

Over halfway there, her footsteps stopped. She could just turn around, go home. Leave it to Bea. She knew that her little sister would figure something out - she always did. Or she would continue to wallow in her misery and not actually do anything about it like she had for the past month. 

No. She steeled herself against it, no, she had to do this.

Her mind whirled as she continued to walk. It was hotter that day; it usually did the closer it got to extermination day. It was only two weeks away and something in her had wanted to resolve this whole issue before then so that Franklin wouldn’t be disappointed when Bea didn’t want to hunt with him on that day - Maggie could barely deal with one sibling that was upset. When Franklin got upset - it just wasn’t fun for the entire family.

The doors slid open for her when she got there and her voice shook when she spoke to the receptionist. She tried her best to seem strong - she had to be.

“I’m here to see Valentino.”

The receptionist rolled her eyes, “Yeah, so are a lot of people. What makes you so special?”

Margret stood taller; not that she could, really, with how short she was, and her eyes flashed, “Do you not know who I am? Tell him that the Radio Demon’s daughter is here to see him.”

There was a lull of silence before the receptionist picked up the phone in front of her and dialed a few numbers, pushing the receiver against her own ear, “Some whore is here for you. Says she’s the radio demon’s daughter.” A pause, “No, blonde. Why? Alright.” She hung up and looked up at Maggie, who’s back had started to crawl with discomfort, “He’ll be down in a sec. Have a seat.”

Her body met with one of the plush couches that was in the waiting area, her eyes avoiding all of the provocative images of demonesses and demons that were on the walls. Porn Studios itself was the epitome of everything she hated and was against. From the lewd images to the drugs she knew that most of the actors used, her mother would throw a fit if she knew that Margret was there.

The elevator gave a soft ding and her gaze snapped up. Valentino stepped out of it, an easy grin on his face, “Ah, Margret.”

Not even bothering to ask how he knew her name, the blonde deer demon stood, “I think we have something to discuss.”

“Of course. Come.” He motioned toward the elevator, “We’ll go to my office.”

She had to force her ears to remain upright as she made her way to the elevator. It felt like she was walking straight into a hellhound’s den while she was coated in blood. Maggie’s heart raced as she felt him run his hand up her spine and she shuddered, stepping closer to the wall and turning to face him as he pressed the button that would lead them to his penthouse.

“Why did you come here?”

“You said you wanted the Radio Demon’s daughter,” She swallowed, trying to loosen the lump in her throat, “You never specified which one.”

His grin brightened, “Are you offering?”

“I have a deal for you.”

Valentino’s eyes glittered with amusement as they stepped out of the elevator and to his door. At the moment before she walked in, the door down the hall opened and her eyes met the eyes of Vox. She ducked her head and hurried inside, her face burning with shame.

He looked terrified.

Valentino motioned toward a sofa that was in the middle of the room and she took a seat, opening her palm so that she could read over some of the sigils. He sat down on a chair opposite her and for a split second, she was thankful that he was not next to her.

“Tell me the outline of your deal.” He purred, leaning back in the chair.

She sat upright, foot tapping lightly against the floor, “I take the place of what you wanted my sister to do. From what I’ve gathered, you didn’t specifically say that you wanted Bea, per say, you just wanted the Radio Demon’s daughter,” She paused, blinking away the prickling feeling in her eyes, “I’m the firstborn; the eldest. I’m more appealing in that sense.”

He hummed slightly, nodding, “I suppose.”

“And, um,” She fiddled with a thread that was loose on her top, “We do that, and my consolation is that it is never shared. For your own personal entertainment, I guess. Sure, you can tell people, I can’t stop you from that, but you can’t share it.”

The grin on his face lightened slightly and he furrowed his eyebrows, “Now, what would be the point?”

“You did it.” Her smile, which had previously been small with worry, grew maniacally, “You can say you did it. You can watch it over and over again. You can then leave my sister alone.”

“Ah, a gallant hero.” Valentino snickered, “Throwing yourself into shark infested waters so that you can protect the life of your sister.”

“Yes.” She nodded, grin remaining wide, “Do we have a deal?”

The air crackled and the lights dimmed, a pale green light emitting from her. She stood, reaching her hand out to him. Sigils danced around her, her eyes wide and irises gone; her whole eye was the pale yellow of her sclera. Valentino stood, his height so much more than hers, and dipped his hand into hers.

“We have a deal.”

~

Margret blinked away tears as she made her way up to Bea’s room. Everything in her wanted to just go to her bathroom, shower away any remnants and then sleep for a century, but she knew that she had to finish what she started. Her hands shook on the doorknob and she pushed the door open, her eyes meeting that of her little sister as she walked in.

Bea was seated on the floor, going through her palettes. Some of them were ruined and she was a little mad at herself for it - most she knew she could repair and set them to the side, “Hey, Mags.”

Margret swallowed and forced a smile onto her face, “I did it for you. I really hope Vox is worth it.” She stepped backward to leave the room, her breath leaving in funny little gasps.

“Wait, what?” Bea’s voice rose sharply, scrambling up, “You did what?”

Margret’s smile flickered, “I slept with Valentino.”

Bea’s face paled and her face twisted, “What in fuckin’ hell is wrong with you? Why did you do that?”

“I had to! I had to do it so you wouldn’t!” Margret’s voice started to rise hysterically, “I protected myself - I made a deal, I used the sigils and I studied them and it won’t fall apart; trust me, I know what I’m doing!”

“What the fuck, Margret!” Bea raced across the room and reached out for her sister’s shoulders

Margret flinched away, her ears resting back against her head.

“Oh.” Bea dropped her hands, shaking her head, “I can’t believe you.”

Maggie shrugged, a weak smile on her face, “I’m going to go to bed.”

Bea watched her sister turn around and high tail it to the room just a door away, her stomach churning with unease. Footsteps came from the other side of the hallway and her head snapped over to the left, eyes wide.

Alastor stood there, his smile close lipped and his eyes faintly glowing with radio dials. She swallowed thickly.

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