Chapter Text
You used to think that once you died everything would just be over. That all your issues would be gone with the wind. But that wasn’t the case, because you were now in Hell, surrounded by the scum of the afterlife, and now the property of one of the worst sinners around. You shouldn’t have made the deal, thinking you could outsmart someone who has been swindling people in hell for decades before you were even born.
That’s how you found yourself here, with cameras pointed at you as you performed for them. It was easier if you were intoxicated on something, made the day go by faster with a blur, but today was one of the few days you didn’t have time to do so, or at least not have enough for that wonderful bliss. At most, you were a bit buzzed, but still way too aware of your surroundings as you worked.
“Cut!” A voice called from the director’s chair, frustration evident in his tone. “Have you not eaten pussy before? I’ve seen cannibals eat a corpse more erotic than this shit. Fuck pendejo,” he snapped. Valentino slowly stood up, approaching you at a purposeful saunter to where you kneeled on the floor. He leaned down to address you, the smoke of his cigarette hitting you in the face and causing your eyes to burn. “We’re going to start this from the top!” He says, his single gold tooth glinting in the pink lighting of the room, giving you a harsh smile. “And don’t fuck it up this time. Okay, chica? Good.” As Valentino sat down back down and clapped his hands, signalling for the cameras to roll again.
You had to recover quickly from his ire, getting back into character for the script and back in between the legs of the other porn actress.
The rest of the scene went smoothly and thankfully Valentino had to cut it short due to a meeting with the other Vees. Usually, he’d have whatever actress or actor that messed up a scene do extra hardcore scenes later as a way of punishment, or as he called it “extras content for the Blu-ray discs’.
‘Anything for an extra buck,’ you thought to yourself. Someone knocked on your dressing room door but entered anyway, as people didn’t really give a shit about privacy in this place. You looked up, growling as you saw Valentino’s little lapdog, Travis standing there. He had his usual smug look and walked in like he owned the place. Though, the more smug attitude only really showed when Valentino wasn’t around, acting like he was the de facto leader when the Overlord left the studio.
“Nice job today, toots. But before you leave, you got an errand to do,” Travis spoke. He lifted a hand, showing you Valentino’s signature heart shaped glasses. “Big boss forgot his glasses as he left and won’t be able to leave his meeting to get them. I so graciously offered your services to head upstairs and give them to him. I figured you should take these to him, as a show of gratitude for how you still work here, seeing how much film you wasted on redoing scenes,” he chuckled.
You sneered at him. Nothing about the man frightened you as you were fully aware he was all talk and no bite.
“And why can’t you do it? It’s just an elevator ride to the top of this building,” you challenged.
Travis just gave you a chuckle in response, looking at you with his mismatched eyes.
“Exactly! It’s such an easy job, even a whore can do it,” he said with disdain, though his gaze kept looking down to eye up your body. “Besides, as the screen writer, I have actual work to do.” With that, he placed the glasses on the table in front of you and turned to leave the room. Before closing the door, he gives you one last glance. “He’s expecting you as well, so don’t try and drop this on some other slut.” He then closed the door, stopping you from even getting a word in.
There was no point anyway. Even though Valentino didn’t give a shit about most of his workers, he wouldn’t be happy to hear one of them refuse to do what they were told. Sighing, you grab the eyewear and head out of the room. You got into the elevator, punching in the button that would take you up to the top of Vee Tower. Standing in the lift, you watched as the hues changed from the pink and reds you were used to into purple and eventually blue, signalling your evident arrival to the VoxTek section of the huge tower.
The elevator doors open, allowing you to step out and into the bright blue lobby of the building. It was very different from Valentino’s area, with its sanitised and orderly interior. Even the smell was different. Whereas Valentino’s studio smelt of overly sweet perfumes and the usual scent of bodily fluids, VoxTek had a faint smell of ammonia, likely from whoever mops the place up constantly.
You glanced to the side, seeing movement. A long water tank that housed the techno sharks within, one resembling a hammerhead shark swimming past the glass and off to whatever unknown. You gulped, remembering hearing how Vox sometimes feeds low earner workers to the metal beasts. Shaking your head, you snap out of your thoughts as you walk up to the desk, where an eel -like sinner was organising a stack of paper.
“Oh! Hi! Um, I’m Ethan. What brings you to VoxTek’s HQ? Vox is currently busy with a meeting at the moment, so I would be more than happy to relay whatever message you have!” He said with an awkward smile. Though his speech seemed rehearsed, it was obvious he wasn’t prepared to speak to anyone at that moment.
“Valentino forgot something in his studio. I’m here to deliver them to him,” you spoke, showing Ethan the heart shaped glasses.
His eyes widened in realisation of what exactly you held.
“Oh, well I can get those to Mr Valentino as soon as they’re done,’ he offered, moving his hand to grab the object.
Though you’d be more than happy to just dump them in his care, you snatched your hand away to prevent him from taking them.
“No, I was asked to hand them to him directly. Just open the doors so I can drop them off,” you replied.
Ethan grimaced, but didn’t fight you on it. He sat back down at his desk and pressed a button on the side of his headset.
“Mr Vox, sir. I have someone at the desk here for Valentino, they said they have something for Valentino and that he’d want it now. Okay. Yes, boss.”
You couldn’t tell what was being said on the other side, but it must have been the go ahead as the eel sinner pressed another button which unlocked the heavy doors behind him. He then looked at you, the overly friendly customer service expression still on his face. “Valentino is expecting you, please enter.”
You gave him a silent nod in thanks, one of the few manners that stuck with you despite how long you’ve been in Hell. Walking through the doors, it leads to a long hallway and another door at the far end. Both sides are now completely covered by the shark tank. Each step felt hard, the sharks that passed over and circled above and to the sides of you made it even more dreary. In a way, it felt symbolic. You felt very much like prey about to be eaten at any moment.
Your chest tightened, the water and the shadows casted by the sharks causing painful memories to bubble into the back of your mind, memories of your life alive.
“Please no! Don’t drop me in!”
You shake your head, focusing on the task at hand. The last thing you needed was to have a panic attack right outside the room the fucking Vees were sitting in. Now at the last bit of material in the way, you open the door.
Inside, sat around a table, sat the Vees. Velvette glanced up at you for a second before looking back at her phone, not really bothered nor cared about the new arrival. Vox sat at the head of the table, facing towards the door and where you stood. He had been talking to Valentino when you entered, his eyes moving to look at you with a raised eyebrow.
“Looks like your package is here, Val,” he spoke up.
The moth sinner turned to look at you, his signature smile plastered on his face as he spotted you as you stayed at the door.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my little fish,” Valentino spoke, his tone much more chirpy than earlier that day. Whatever they were talking about, it must have lifted his spirits immensely. One of his hands moved to pat the chair next to him. “Come over here. Daddy needs his glasses,” he purred, another one of his hands moving up with an open palm.
You walk forward, standing beside him as you place the glasses in his hand.
“Good girl,” he chuckled. “At least you make a decent enough delivery girl. Though, you could have been a bit faster,” he commented. Valentino placed the glasses on his face. “Better! Now I can see whatever you handed me, Voxxy,” he hummed, looking at the document before him.
“What? I handed that to you thirty minutes ago. You even agreed that it was a good idea!” Vox said with a scoff and a look of disbelief.
“Eugh, I only said that so you wouldn’t read through the whole thing. I got things I need to do,” Valentino pouted.
Seeing this side of him was a bit jarring for you. But then again, you weren’t a fellow Overlord he considered his friend. As they spoke, you decided to walk back towards the door to make a silent exit.
“Where are you going? I didn’t dismiss you,” Valentino spoke, his tone changing a bit from the chirpy playful one to a slightly more commanding one. You paused, turning your head to look back at him.
“Sorry, boss. I assumed you’d want me to leave right after,” you said, head slightly lowered as you addressed the moth demon.
“You assumed wrong, sweetie. You leave when I tell you to, okay?” He said, voice now overly sweet.
“Of course.”
Though Velvette was still typing away at her phone, Vox had been watching the whole exchange. He groaned, getting the attention of Valentino.
“Take this outside later, Val. I don’t want any of your whores taking up our precious business talk anymore than they have to. You’re lucky I even let them in here to begin with. I should have had them wait outside until we were done,” he said, turning his chair away from everyone, now facing the shark tank before him.
Valentino made an annoyed face, but relented, facing you again.
“Off you go,” he spoke, waving you off.
Not risking Valentino changing his mind and forcing you to stay, you make your way out the door and all the way back into the elevator, pressing a button to get you out of the area and to freedom from Vee Tower, for the moment.
“New meat, Val?” Vox asked, once he was sure the interruption was out of the room.
“Hmmm, a little? She’s been working for me for like a few months now. Why?” Valentino asked, absentmindedly checking his fingernails. He then looked back up, looking at the back of Vox’s chair, who continued to stare at his aquarium. “Oh yeah, I forgot you like sharks. You can borrow her if you want, though I will say her oral needs more work,” he added.
“No, it’s not that,” Vox snapped, turning to look at Valentino. He then paused, taking a breath in and plastering his signature smile. “I just was expecting your little delivery boy to be Angel Dust. Sometimes I forget you have other whores working for you,” he said.
Valentino pouted at the mention of Angel Dust, still very upset about the fact his favourite toy was currently staying at Charlie Morningstar’s hotel.
“Well, he wasn’t working today,” he grumbled, but then clapped his hands with a sinister smile. “But he’s working tomorrow! God, I’m going to make that bitch work for the shit he’s pulled,” he growled, his mind now wondering about future porn scenarios.
Vox rolled his eyes at Valentino’s behaviour. He knew there was no point in continuing this meeting as Valentino was back to being heated over his disobedient dog. Once he dismissed the two other Vees, he pondered to himself.
You weren’t bad to look at. You being a humanoid shark sinner was a bonus. Though it was rare to see one that didn’t happen to be one of those loan shark or mafia types. Vox wasn't going to admit it outloud, but he did enjoy the slight terror in your eyes as Valentino snarled at you. Seeing lower sinners cower was refreshing, unlike the amount of Overlords he’d mostly deal with. All of them thought they were on par or equal to him in some manner, so the chummy or disrespectful nature they’d address him had his blood boil with rage.
Vox ended up deciding it wasn't worth thinking about anymore. He had better things to do than waste time on some backstreet slut.