Chapter Text
The full moon was close, its light already bright in the night sky. Usually, it was something the owl demon awaited with joyful impatience, but this time was different. Because everything was bound to change after that fateful night, and it could change either for the better… Or the worst. With hardly any in-between.
Still two nights left before everything was settled, and Stolas could hardly think about anything else. During the day, he could focus on tasks here and there, but once the hellsun was gone, it was hard not to ponder what he could say to put all the chances on his side…
But if Blitz didn’t return his feelings, there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t want to force the imp into a relationship, even something as simple as dates in the hope that it would convince his heart. He thought about it a lot, changing his mind at least once a day, but right now he felt like it was a bad idea. Though, if he had to be honest, it was true he didn’t have many opportunities to show Blitz what he really wanted. He did try, but as their evening at Ozzie showed, the assassin didn’t get the message, and they didn’t see each other much since. If the imp ever felt anything for the Goetia, was it still there after all this time?
Thoughts kept circling in his mind as night crept in. After tonight, there would be only one night left before the full moon.
At least, Octavia was coming back soon! He felt a bit guilty to see her that way, but his daughter would be a great distraction til it was time. She knew what happened on full moons and wasn’t too keen about it, so the least he could do was to make up for it beforehand, because after dinner he knew she’d stay in her room the whole night.
With that idea in mind, he left his study to prepare for his owlette’s return, when he heard the front door open. A quick time check told him she was back early, not that he wanted to complain, as her presence stopped his thinking more effectively.
Beaming, he made his way to the entrance, surprised not to have heard her announcing her presence yet. She probably thought he was too far away to hear. But as he got close, he heard footsteps, too many for a simple person, and he frowned.
Suddenly the front door came into view, and with it the small group gathered in front of it, three hellhounds led by none other than his despicable ex wife, who wasted no more time before she screamed “STOLAS!” in a commanding tone.
“What in hell are you doing here?!” He asked as he approached, his tone cold and angry. “You know you’re not welcome here anymore…”
“Ah, here you are!” She cut him, smiling like if she was glad to see him, but he knew the light in her eyes, and he didn’t like it.
“Get out, now”, he ordered with a low threatening tone, not even acknowledging the hellhounds. If she thought he’d be intimidated by them, she was so wrong. It was his first time seeing her in person since Striker almost killed him by her orders, and with Octavia out of sight, he was certainly not going to pretend he didn’t know.
“Oh no, I don’t think so!” She grinned. “See, I can’t have you killed yet, but it doesn’t mean I’ll just let you live! I’ve seen the pictures of your arrival at the hospital, and I thought, what a shame I couldn’t be here to witness this! It’s a bit late to ask for pictures and videos of you being tortured, but it would be ever better to see it myself, don’t you think?”
Stolas raised a brow, still serious but a bit taken aback by her confidence.
“Is that why they are here?” He asked, pointing at the hellhounds. “You don’t think I’m going to let them torture me for your pleasure, don’t you? Even you aren’t that stupid.”
She snorted.
“Indeed, you’re behaving more and more silly since you cheated, but I think I have the perfect way to make you do as you’re told for once!”
Before Stolas could sent her back the way she came with a few wisely chosen insults, she shoved her phone to his face, and he froze.
There were several cameras on the screen, showing different views of the same thing, or rather the same person: Blitz, in the meeting room at IMP’s headquarters, talking to his employees.
“What does it mean?” Stolas asked, his tone between threatening and worried.
“Come on Stolas, even you know what it means! Don’t you see the rifles’ tips? If you don’t listen to me, that little bastard you cheated me on with will die in a very quick and sudden way! Don’t think the ones I have hired don’t know how to aim, because if needed, they will shoot right through his head and torso. If you behave nicely and only makes one small mistake, I may be generous and grant you a warning shot that will only put him in the hospital, but right know, any misplay on your part will mean death for him, am I clear enough?”
The owl was still too stunned to answer, let even move, fear keeping in him place more surely than if he was being tied up, before his brain suddenly woke up from the shock and frantically tried to think of a solution.
“Oh, you already want him dead, do you?” Stella asked with a vicious smirk.
“No! Please, don’t! I heard you!”
She snorted again, disdain clear in her look as she watched her ex husband’s reaction.
“You could at least have the decency to not look so worried about such garbage!” She added, eyeing him with a judgmental stare.
But Stolas didn’t care if he was being ridiculous to his wife, because he knew the moment he did or said anything wrong, she wouldn’t hesitate to apply her threat. It was too late to pretend not to care, and if he did, she would have probably killed him anyway to punish Stolas for trying to lie to her.
“Great, now you understand the position you are in! Let your phone here, and let’s head to the bedroom.”
Stolas blinked. “My phone…?”
She sighed, looking annoyed.
“I’m not sure I’ll even get to the funny part if you keep being that dense.”
She waved the phone before his face, a threatening smile on her lips.
“You do understand what’s going to happen if you keep being this slow to obey, right?”
Stolas flinched and put out his phone as quickly as possible on the nearest surface, trying to calm the part of him that was angry and wanted to fight, ever since it awoke when he finally had the guts to ask for a divorce, and the one who simply wanted to understand. The later was easy to deal with, the former not so much, but he had to. There was no positive outcome if he ever let that part act, at least he couldn’t see any right now. He couldn’t attack Stella because of Via and she knew it well, and he couldn’t do anything fast enough to protect Blitz without putting him in danger, especially now that he didn’t have his phone on him, and there were more than enough eyes on him to notice if he ever tried any magic.
“Better, now let’s go, you first. But be careful with sudden movements, it could be badly interpreted.”
He turned back from when he came on autopilot, his body remembering where she wanted to go before his brain could find it in his memory, but he was glad for it. If he could keep that up, everything should be fine… At least, as fine as they could be in his current predicament.
But as he was making his way to his bedroom, thoughts and emotions kept spiraling in his mind. Worry, guilt, even fear. He didn’t know if she truly didn’t want him dead anymore, she just said she couldn’t right now. He could guess why, it was probably Andrealphus’ doing. So, she was probably not going to try to off him, and oddly enough, he kind of trusted her on her word. It didn’t mean he wasn’t in trouble tho, and the memories of the torture he endured in the hands of Striker were still fresh and not exactly happy and painless ones.
But… There was nothing he could do about this. He was already putting his beloved in danger because of Stella. It didn’t matter if the imp loved him back or not, he couldn’t let anything happen to him because of his own mistakes. So… He had to do this.
He could already feel a kind of dissociation as he walked, his body remembering the abuse and how to deal with it, but he knew that this would be different, oh so much different from what she usually did.
He had questions too, sure, but didn’t dare ask any of them. So he could only guess. Why go in the bedroom? Probably because it was where he met with Blitz, where they would spent most of their time together. Where he was the most intimate and vulnerable.
They arrived in the bedroom both so slowly and yet quickly at the same time. Once everyone was inside, one of the hellhounds closed the door, and even locked it. Not that Stolas could flee anyway, and if he did, he still had plenty of other ways… If only he could use them!
Stella nodded to another hellhound, and he took out handcuffs. No…
Blessed handcuffs.
Stolas couldn’t help but stiffen at their sight, and Stella’s smirk widened.
“Bringing back memories huh? Blessed ropes could have been interesting too, but these are more handy! Now, hands back.”
He barely had the time to put his hands behind his back that the hellhound with the blessed object took his wrists to put them how he wanted before cuffing him. Stolas flinched, but didn’t say anything, didn’t move more, and tried with all his might to keep his face blank.
“Good, we’re ready to go!” Stella was smiling, joyful like if she was about to watch her favorite show. “That way, you won’t be able to make any unwanted mistake. I’m too generous, aren’t I?”
He was trying hard not to glare and keep his face straight, but he could feel he was failing a little at that. She frowned at this, still smiling, but letting a mischievous expression come back on her features.
“Come on Stolas, I know you don’t deserve the title of royalty, but even you have some manners! What one should said when granted a favor?”
It took Stolas a few seconds to be able to open his beak and utter: “Thanks.”
She raised a brow. “Who are you saying thank you to?”
“Thank you Stella.”
She didn’t comment on the delay and clapped her hands happily.
“There, perfect! Now, we can start.”
However, before the first punch can be thrown, something unusual happened. The door suddenly came crashing down, and in came Sallie May, the sister of Millie.
"I KNOW DAMN WELL I DID NOT HEAR YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT TORTURING STOLAS!!!" Sallie May screamed. However, the three hellhounds laughed at Sallie's presence.
"Oh wow! This tranny really thinks we're going to stop because 'she' thinks 'she's' tough!" the Shar Pei mocked.
"Yeah! And I can literally see your fucking bulge!" Stella added, "Now I suggest you leave and don't speak of what we're doing here, alright?"
However, to say Sallie May did not take kindly to this mocking would be an understatement. She would suddenly charge at the Shar Pei hellhound and stab him in the gut, causing the hellhound to scream. She then slashed his chest before snapping his neck, killing him.
"JESUS CHRIST, BRO, WHY WOULD YOU KILL HIM?!?!" the chihuahua screamed.
"Because he was being rude and transphobic! Now I suggest you release Stolas and leave or else I'll kill you jerks as well!"
"MAKE US!!!" the watchdog growled as he grabbed Stolas and tried to swing him and her, but Sallie dodged the attack before grabbing Stolas and throwing him out of the room. She then grabbed the Shar Pei's dead body and whacked the other two hellhounds with him. When Stella tried to stop Sallie, she would whack her with his dead body as well.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! WHY WOULD ATTACK US WITH HIS DEAD FUCKING BODY?!?! I HAVE HIS BLOOD ON MY DRESS NOW!!!" Stella whined.
"I DON'T CARE!!! LEAVE!!!" Sallie screamed, but Stella won't go down just yet. She pulled out her phone to send a signal to the snipers to kill Blitzo, but Sallie broke her arm, snatched her phone, and smashed it.
"YOU LKNOW WHAT?!?! FUCK IT!!! WE'RE OUT OF HERE!!! AND FUCK YOU, TRANNY!!!" the watchdog screamed before running out of the room alongside the chihuahua and Stella. Once everyone was out of the room, Sallie went to Stolas, who was still cuffed. She released him from the cuffs.
"I'm sorry for throwing you out of the room, but I didn't want them to hurt you," Sallie apologized.
"No worries, but I can't help but wonder how you got in here to begin with..." Stolas pondered.
"Well, I've heard about you from the last Harvest Full Moon Festival, and I wanted to sneak in and see you. But that's when I heard that crazy swan ex of yours talk about the torture, and I knew I couldn't let that happen. I don't even know how they got access to angelic restraints! Did they lend it from Striker?"
"Striker? That asshole who almost killed me? Well, considering she hired him before, it would not surprise me considering he also had access to other angelic material," Stolas theorized. The two would continue to talk for a bit before Sallie decided to head out, but not before exchanging phone numbers to continue talking to each other. Once Sallie May was gone, Stolas called in cleaners to dispose the Shar Pei's body and clean up any blood before Via arrived.
"I just hope Stella doesn't mess with me again..." Stolas thought to himself as he went to continue his preparations.