Vanya’s Corner

Trigger Warnings!

These will be updated in the future to include more as the story progresses

Murder

Cannibalism

Gore

Depictions of torture

Alcohol and Drug usage

Language

Sadism

Chapters

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

“I give you one job and all the time in the afterlife and you still couldn’t do it to the highest degree?” Portia’s arms were crossed against her chest as she looked at the two sheets of paper on the desk. “My deepest apologies, ma’am. It’s just that the Adamis managed to evade all of our surveillance attempts— a-and I figured that since no one would want to eliminate them, then keeping them in the books was unnecessa—“

Portia held her hand out to stop the blabbering doll maid. “The fact that they are able to evade us should be all the more reason as to why we should keep a closer eye on them, don’t you think?” Portia sighed, trying to keep her voice down in the small back room of her boutique so that Alastor doesn’t hear about the momentary lapse of judgement from her workers, but she knew that despite the fact that he pretended to busy himself by looking at miscellaneous files on the shelves, his ears still twitched. That damned deer was still listening.

“Never mind. I don’t need much information to personally destroy them myself.” Portia picked up the papers. “Oh? You personally doing the job? Is that something that happens a lot?” Alastor tilts his head.

“No, usually it’s the dolls. But I suppose it would be too costly to send a lot of dolls to storm the Adami mansion blindly.”

“It’s a rare spectacle, I hear”

“Pardon?”

“You, the great doll maker, engaging in actual combat. Actually dirtying your hands.”

Portia approached another file cabinet next to Alastor and began looking through the folders. “It’s tedious but I suppose the Adamis might make it worth my while. At least the rewards from Rosie will.”. She pulled out a brown folder with the name “Elmer” and flipped through its pages. “This’ll do” she promptly handed it to the maid who scurried to the shelf with the doll assassins and grabbed a few. When she touched them, the tiny dolls were animated and were handed the files. “Elmer will be the one to take the fall. A few overlords ordered hits on him as well.” Four tiny doll assassins jumped off the shelf, some doing flips, and ran out the door.

“Even if he loses his overlord status, wouldn’t he still run his mouth and proclaim his innocence?” Alastor hummed as his hand combed through the other files. Portia’s ashes materialised from her feet and formed a tentacle-like shape that wrapped itself around Alastor’s arm, pulling it away from the documents. “The dolls will torture him while I destroy the Adamis. By the time I finish, his will would have fully crumbled and he will be pliant enough to sign a soul contract and be stuck behind a desk in the boutique.”

“My, so much chaos from a small tidbit of information.” Alastor laughed as he spun his cane around. “I sure can’t wait to watch—“

“Do be quiet, you gigglemug. I can’t hear my thoughts.”

“I— a what now?” Alastor tilted his head, his smile was more like that of a confused puppy.

“Is that not a term used anymore? My, the lexicon changes far too often…” Portia muttered absentmindedly as she looked through the two pages of the Adamis file— one being a description sheet with multiple blurry, candid, black and white photographs Tony Adami. The other page had pictures of the two storey mansion where the family resides. Alastor peered over her shoulder to get a glimpse of the sparse information.

———————

MEMBERS:

Tony Adami : Shark-like appearance. Grey skin. Notable scars across face. 7ft tall. Powers unknownn

Santino Adami : Bird-man hybrid. Navy blue feathers all over the body. Human face. Chain wrapped around neck. 6ft tall. Eldest son of Tony Adami.Powers unknown.

Unidentified child : Sheep-like appearance. Likely second son of Tony Adami. Powers unknown

Unidentified woman : Moth-human hybrid. Powers unknown.

Unidentified man : Shark-like appearance. Has legs and arms. White skin. Withered face. Notable scars across face. 6’11ft tall. Powers unknown.

Henchmen spotted near mansion—unknown number. EST 300+

———————

“Oh dear. Can the doll maker really handle five unknown overlords and over 300 henchmen?” Alastor’s tone wasn’t necessarily sharp, only grinning like a cat. Portia laughed at the mere thought of being bested by foolhardy men with guns. Her? The doll assassin of hell? Absurd. “We’ll enter from the second floor. That would most probably be where Tony’s office is, given his explosive personality and ego. He’s the kind of man who wants to be on top.” Portia wiped a tear from her eye as she stopped laughing. “I believe it would take me … thirty or so minutes to clear the whole building”

”But I believe there is still the problem of the cannibal residents. What shall be done about them?”

“I’ll free them, of course. They’ll return to Rosie with my name on their lips and their debt erased.” Portia took out a mirror and fixed her bangs.

Alastor hummed. “Erase their debt how-“

“Heavens, radio. Ever the inquisitor you are.” Portia sighed as she lowered her mirror slightly so her eyes can meet Alastor’s. “Businesses need their client’s debt on written paper. If the proof of their lacking payment exists, then there is a risk of the Adamis rising once more behind my back even if they’re on a leash. Simply burning their information will do.”

Alastor only smiled. That same infuriating smile that Portia couldn’t quite make out. There was another reason for this mission. Aside from getting in the good graces of Rosie, Portia didn’t push back on Alastor accompanying her because she wanted to truly showcase her power to the rookie. He was new in hell, he hadn’t even been in this inferno for five years and yet his name was beginning to overshadow hers in terms of bumping off overlords. An overlord killer who broadcasts everything? Bad for the assassin market. Suddenly everyone, including highpaying clients, were losing overlord status. Why pay an assassin when you can just wait for the Radio Demon to get the job done?

“The ritual, I still don’t quite understand”

“Ashes, my power is to control the ashes I own. You know that. To grow stronger, I need more ashes to my name. That was the second incantation, an ownership spell.”

“Why imps? You’re strong enough to kill and burn sinners in the thousands! Why, if that were the case, you’d be one of the strongest demons in hell!”

“I can’t use the ashes of mortals. Even if I ‘kill’ them, it isn’t permanent. I’m not an angel. Even sinners maimed by angels are out of my control. I tried, but I have no way of owning the physical manifestations of mortal sinners after they have truly died.”

Alastor let out a long hum in response. “Why is that?”

Portia chuckled, “I haven’t the faintest idea. Arbor and Bensley have a few theories. Mostly regarding relation to the soul and the body. It’s quite philosophical, really. Bensley supposed that our physical manifestations in hell are one with our soul. In other words, our body in hell is our soul.” Portia pointed at a sinner bear couple as they browsed through an assortment of clothes in a shabby stall. “That would also explain why our physicalities reflect aspects of our personalities and manner of death. That’s why if a person were to be mauled to death by a bear, chances are they’d appear in the inferno as a bear.”

Alastor’s brows raised as his smile widened. “Ahhhh, and following that logic, you cannot own a sinner corpse because a corpse cannot consent to a soul contract. Is that so?” Portia nodded.

“My, a lot of rules for a wasteland full of humanity’s worst.” Alastor went on, rubbing his chin with a

finger. “You’d need to have been here for years just to familiarize yourself with the hows and whys of this place, eh?” Alastor leaned in closer— his tone was light as if asking for something

“What is it, Radio?” Portia sighed and looked at her red haired companion. “What’s the real motive behind your companionship? A man like you doesn’t engage in friendships and connections unless it’s transactional, and I know it’s more than simply entertainment.”

A faint laughing track rang out from Alastor’s cane as he himself chuckled. “Sharp, Rosie did warn me about that. Well, I suppose there isn’t much harm in telling you.” Alastor stopped walking and turned his gaze towards another stall that sells stacks of old and dusty spell books. “Hell is very different from the human world. And like the human world, one would need to grow knowledgeable with history, economics, rules and traditions to thrive.”

Portia tapped her foot quietly under her gown as Alastor turned his head back to her. “A lawyer would not be successful without knowledge in law. Following that logic, a demonic dealmaker would have no success if he did not have knowledge regarding the very realm he resides in, eh?”

“And what do I have to do with this?” Portia lifted an eyebrow, growing impatient with his theatrics.

“You are knowledgeable. That’s why you thrive economically. You use spells and data to get your way, especially in that boutique of yours, doll.”

Portia rolled her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to be bombarded with pointless deals, especially not from someone so slippery as the radio demon. “For a self-proclaimed gentleman, you know how to spoil such a quaint market stroll.” Portia turned her back on him, waving a dismissive hand. “Why not ask Rosie instead? You two are chuckaboos, aren’t you?”

Alastor let out a static hum. “She’s not as keen on sharing her knowledge as y-“

“Who said I was keen on it?”

Another static laugh. “Oh, but you will once we become pals!”

Portia looked at him expectantly. His smile grew, revealing more of his yellow teeth. “You’re Rosie’s gal pal, but she hides things from you.” He said with a static chuckle

“Naturally. But you know what she hides?”

Alastor nodded. A tempting offer. Portia tapped her porcelain fingers together as she pursed her lips.

“I have conditions-“

In the blink of an eye, Alastor was now a few inches in front of Portia’s face, his hand out stretch with emerald flames emitting from it. Almost as fast as he moved, Portia managed to maneuver her torso the opposite direction as her face scrunched up with the utmost disgust, another arm in front of her to keep her balance and keep the wild man at bay. “I don’t wish to smell the foulness of your mouth, radio”

Alastor laughed yet again and so did his staff. “My dear, a dapper gentleman of my era observes proper hygiene from head to toe. This yellow mess is simply a product of hell.” He straightened up his posture and took a step away from the doll, who’s brows were furrowed and twitching. “Now, about your conditions?”

If Portia had skin, it would be coated in goosebumps as she watched the tall demon tilt his head in some attempt to look agreeable. “Each one of Rosie’s secrets will earn you more information on any topic you’d like. However, the quality and usefulness of this information will depend on the usefulness of the information you give me.” His presence made her scalp tingle uncomfortably and her brows twitch, but she had to endure it. She had to endure him like a stone in one’s shoe. She had to endure it for that information, for her chance to grow more powerful

She had to endure it to be free

Humming while nodding, Alastor tapped his cane with a smile. Portia internally groaned at his eternal smile, even while racking his brains, she could not get a peak into the inner workings of his mind. Normally, every eyebrow twitch, every blink and every nose scrunch would open up a person like a book for Portia to read. His smile throws her off. Now, every moving muscle on his face could mean a million things. The only way to read him is through his eyes, yet that would require one to know him on a deeper level.

“Conditions accepted. So, it’s a deal, then?”

Portia swatted away his hand and green mist as if it were a large fly. “This isn’t a formal contract. Simply an arrangement between… friends.” She let out a smile, it never reached her eyes. Alastor shrugged and nodded along.

“Well, I suppose I ought to honor the agreement” Alastor leaned down slightly until his lips were next to Portia’s ear. In a quiet, static-filled whisper he suppressed a chuckle.

”That Tony loan shark at the overlord meeting— He’s been on Rosie’s kill list for a while now. Many of her residents took up loans with him and when they failed to pay, he abducted them and refused to let Rosie bail them out. The scoundrel wanted to humiliate the entirety of Cannibal town to send… a friendly message to future clients to pay up”

”Why didn’t she kill him herself? She’s powerful enough to do so, yes?”

”It wouldn’t be good for business. Many of her associates are fond of him and are even lovers of his. She’s looking for an impartial outsider who can tip him off his high horse. Perhaps you could be the one to-“

”Can’t. If we’re going by that logic, I’m one of Rosie’s most well known associates.”

”Must you always cut me off, my dear doll maker?” With a feigned hurt, Alastor put a hand to his chest and sighed. Portia didn’t seem to care— her porcelain fingers continued to tap against each other as a thought entered her brain.

”Unless I frame it as a commission from one of my clients, that way personal grudges can be cast aside when looking at this from the outside”

Alastor laughed. “I knew you’d find that useful. Now, for your end, my dear. If one were to look for powerful and useful spells—legit spells— where should they look?”

“Trade with other overlords. It’s knowledge passed down from thousands of years. Yes, you may still get it at magic shops, but they’re usually sold alongside fakes. Or you could torture the information out of them” Portia said lazily as she racked her brain for an attack plan. Should she lure him out? Bait him with a potential business offer?

No, it would be better to charge into his base of operations and destroy his company from within. It would be good for advertising her business as well. Tony is a well respected mobster and overlord, many fear him for the immense amount of power he holds. It’s a simple task, really. Destroy his frontlines, then his right hand men and then the mobster himself.

”Stay here if you wish. I’ll go pay Tony a visit” Portia began to walk off but heard static behind her.

”How can I remain in such normalcy when something so delightfully exciting is about to happen“