The cards Lucy had been dealt weren't winners. She stared at Husk warily. Unfortunately, his near-constant state of inebriation made him hard to read as he stared serenely back at her. With a sigh she folded, and he gave a hoot of laughter before gathering Lucy's money. She leaned back in the chair to relax.

"Oh, here you are," a demon with one eye and bright pink attire said disapprovingly from the door way. "Don't you have jobs to do?"

"Ha ha, Niffty," Husk replied and eyed his empty bottle.

The stern look disappeared, and Niffty giggled. She glanced at Lucy's ankle and asked, "Do you need anything, dearie? I'm on my way to the kitchen."

Lucy smiled and replied, "No thank you. I should probably limp my way to the ball room to check on them in a bit."

"What are they doing?" Husk asked as he opened another bottle.

"Charlie has decided that she needs to bond with Crymini… which I approve of immensely. They're doing some kind of dance exercise."

"Which would explain why the invalid is here with me," Husk said and took a sip.

"It's not like I had many other options," Lucy fired back, and Husk let out a bark of laughter.

"Alastor was asking about you. Should I send him here or the ballroom?"

"Ah… uh. The ball room, if you would," Lucy said and used her cane to stand. Her ankle was already feeling better, but she didn't want to test it quite yet. Plus it gave her a convenient excuse to hide in her room. A definite plus.

"I'll go with you," Husk said with a burp after draining the rest of the glass. "I should probably check on the reception desk. At least give the impression that I'm doing something."

He gave Lucy a wink, and she rolled her eyes. Niffty bounced off to find Alastor as Husk and Lucy walked toward the ballroom.

"It'll be weird when you leave," Husk said with an uncomfortable shrug. "Not that I care… but at least you're interesting."

"I'm sure your future guests will be even more interesting."

Husk sighed and said, "That's a scary thought… You've been distant lately. Is it because of your ankle or because… you're preparing to leave? Once again, don't care… but it'd be good to know when you suddenly disappear."

"It's not like I know when we'll be able to leave… but I'll give you a heads up if possible."

Husk shrugged but seemed more relaxed as the rounded the corner. Alastor stared into the ballroom with a mix of confusion and interest.

"Everything going well, or did Angel strip off his clothes again?" Lucy asked as she limped toward the double doors.

"You gonna have to pay me to see that again, sweetheart!" Angel shouted from inside, causing Lucy to chuckle.

Angel, Charlie, and Crymini were inside doing something similar to the Zoombah classes that Lucy had seen. Charlie danced with joyful enthusiasm. Angel seemed more interested in doing the moves sexily than doing them correctly. Crymini seemed to be confused, begrudging, and embarrassed. In the corner of the room, Vaggie sat at one of the tables and sipped her tea, casually ignoring the chaos.

"Doing great, guys," Lucy cheered them on as Husk left her side to quickly walk to the front desk. "I'm going to be in my room if you need me."

"Is that an invitation?" Angel asked jokingly before landing on a sultry pose.

"No."

"Well, actually I have something to ask of you if you would be so kind," Alastor spoke up, and Lucy looked at him curiously. "Rosie was wondering if you could stop by. Her piano player seems to have been in… an unfortunate accident, and she was wondering if you would mind helping… when your ankle is better, of course."

"Just what happened to her previous piano player? I feel like you tried to gloss over that really quickly."

"Oh, nothing she did, I assure you."

Lucy stared at his smiling face with suspicion for a moment before she said, "Okay. Sounds good. I don't really like making any concrete plans at the moment though."

"Understood. I'll be sure to let her know."

"You could have her come here!" Charlie shouted excitably. "We have a piano! That way, Lucy wouldn't have to walk very far."

"That would be acceptable," Alastor replied and looked to Lucy for a response.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Lucy said and turned as she heard Husk call her name.

Husk looked uncertain and told Lucy, "There's a guy at the front who says he knows you… he looks pretty hurt."

Lucy limped her way to the front entrance of the hotel. Pain radiated from her ankle, but she ignored it for the moment. Anti sat slumped over in one of the chairs in the waiting area. His bright green hair had faded to a dark brown, and he clutched a strange knife tightly.

"Anti?! What happened?" Lucy said more quietly as she leaned in. Anti held out the knife for her to take.

"It's made from some weird metal… It can even hurt someone as amazing as me! I wrestled it out of one of their hands. Didn't make it out unscathed, but… a few of them died. Don't worry. I lost them long before… I came here." Anti winced in pain as he tried to stand.

"I'm more worried about you… idiot," Lucy said as she forced him to sit and took a look at where he had been stabbed. It wasn't too bad. She assumed his pain was more from getting hit than stabbed. "Hold onto me. We can wobble our way to the elevator. Luckily for us, it was just fixed… now hopefully it won't break with us inside."

Anti laughed and said, "We're a pitiful team right now, aren't we?"

"Yeah… but we'll pull through. We always do. Now come on; let's get you in a bed."

Anti nodded and held onto Lucy as he tried to stand. A hand on her shoulder made her jump. Alastor stood beside her and locked eyes with Anti. There was a moment of silence as the two regarded each other with suspicion before Alastor offered him a hand. Lucy led the way as Alastor almost carried Anti to the elevator then the room. Lucy noticed the trail of people appearing at her door as she fumbled with the key. No doubt she'd be forced to do some explaining.

After opening the door for Alastor and Anti, Lucy followed them inside. She helped Anti lay on the bed and bandaged his wound. His breathing became less labored. She allowed herself a sigh of relief before she limped to the desk and pulled a chair to the side of the bed.

"What were you doing, Anti? I told you Alastor isn't a threat."

Anti let out a bark of laughter and said, "Don't know if I believe that, but… I left him alone after you told me to. You are the boss after all. No… it was some kind of initiation… for a gang probably. Unlucky for both of us. I wasn't expecting a sneak attack, and they weren't expecting me to be as strong as I am."

"We'll figure it out when you're better," Lucy reassured him and brushed his hair out of his face. "Get some sleep, okay?"

Anti nodded sleepily, and Lucy led the others out of the room. She quietly closed the door and looked at the worried faces before her.

"He's stronger than he looks. He's too stubborn to die that easily…"

Charlie spoke up quickly, "We can get him another room… or you another room. We have plenty."

"No, he's okay in my room… for now at least. I'd prefer to keep an eye on him. I've never seen him get hurt before, and I'd rather be close by if he needs something. But thank you."

"May I see the weapon?" Alastor asked and looked to the weapon Lucy was clutching in her hand.

Lucy reluctantly handed it over. Alastor held it to the light and examined it with curiosity.

"As I suspected… pieces of an old angelic weapon reformed into a knife. Crude but effective if you intend to kill. We found shards of a similar weapon near Rosie's former piano boy… I'll be sure to tell her. In fact, it may be wise for her to stay here until we find out if we're being targeted."

"Oh, of course! I'll go get Niffty, and we'll get some rooms ready," Charlie said and ran off to find Niffty. Vaggie soon followed.

"So who's the stud?" Angel asked.

"He's my friend… he's been trying to find a way to get us to the next world… I shouldn't have let him run off on his own," Lucy said and clutched her walking stick.

"Hey, now! That's not your fault," Angel said and looked awkward. "Just… let us know if you need anything. We're your friends too, y'know."

"Yeah, thanks, guys."

Angel and Crymini nodded and ran off to find Charlie. Alastor excused himself to talk to Rosie. After taking a deep breath, Lucy opened the door and closed it behind her.