Helluva Deal

66. That Problem With Friends...

It feels like it's been weeks since he's been here, and not mere 24 hours.

And Alastor can't help a tremble, feeling anger boiling up inside of him at seeing that everything appears perfectly normal in front of and inside of Maxi's hotel and not like there has been a gruesome murder not even one day ago.

„Alastor," Blitz carefully takes his hand in his own and gives it a gentle squeeze.

The radio demon shortly closes his eyes, calming himself, then he nods, but doesn't let go of the imp's hand just yet. Instead, he now turns to the other hotel, „That is...was Rush's. We can... We can ask Amanda about his sister, I guess..."

„Good idea."

Blitz waits until his friend takes the first step and lets him lead them into the hotel now. The radio demon shaking, slowly goes over to the reception, where the impish room service Amanda is busy writing in the entry book. But when she looks up, her eyes lose the focused expression and light up from her obvious worry, „You! Rush went over to Maxi's with you yesterday! Do you know where he is now?!? He didn't return here and neither at home! Ruby is worried sick!"

Alastor reflexively takes a step back, but Blitz holds on to his hand, making sure he doesn't flee.

„I... I..." the radio demon opens and closes his mouth a few times, then he looks at Blitz, begging for help.

The imp gives him a very soft squeeze of the hand, then he gently drags him along, closer to the reception, while smiling softly at the female imp, „Amanda, right? Hi, I'm Blitz. This is..."

„Alastor. Yes, I know. Rush told me that he wanted to help him. So where..."

„Can we sit down somewhere?" Blitz' voice is gentle.

Amanda immediately winces lightly, then she slams both hands onto the counter and clenches them into fists, muttering through gritted teeth, „Fuck! I KNEW his curiosity would be his downfall one day..." she looks at the sinner and imp now, her eyes full of pain, but a spark of hope as well, „How bad is it? What happened?"

„He saved me," Alastor's voice is shaking just as bad as the rest of his body, „He came to my rescue and... I... I couldn't..." his voice trails off and his knees start to buckle, so Blitz quickly wraps an arm around him, keeping him upright.

Amanda's eyes widen in shock, then she slams her fists onto the counter once more and yells, „FUCK!"

„I... I am sorry..." whispers Alastor and tries to turn back.

But Blitz holds him in place, also because he knows that his friend would collapse, the moment he let go of him.

„FuckfuckFUCK!" Amanda suddenly swipes the registration book off the counter, against a wall, unable to hide her tears, before turning and stomping around the counter, „I will rip this bastard's fucking head off!"

Blitz opens his mouth to say something.

But Alastor is quicker and already grabs her arm as she storms past them, „Wait! It wasn't Maxi."

Amanda glares at him for half a second, then she suddenly draws a knife and holds it against the radio demon's throat.

But Blitz is faster, although he immediately sees that it's no holy knife, he still reacts reflexively and wraps his tail around her wrist, yanking it aside, making the weapon clutter to the floor. His voice is strict but not threatening, „I know very well what you're feeling right now, but all of us take a breather and calm down before we do anything else. And then we need to sit down and talk."

„FUCK talking! Who killed Rush? Tell me NOW!" she glares at Alastor again.

„Two demons that are already in prison now. There's nobody left you can project your anger and grief on, Amanda. I'm sorry. But you can learn the whole story and understand what happened. So please, listen to us," says Blitz softly but insisting now, letting go of her wrist to show her that he's meaning no harm.