Hello sinners! Here we go with the next chapter! This chapter is a lot longer and hopefully we can bring a bit of humor into the sadfest that was the beginning of the last chapter.

Just a little shoutout to CamaroLady for being my first comment. You are too adorable and I appreciate the support. :)

Hazbin Hotel and its characters are owned by Viviepop.

The original characters I create for this story are completely my own.

364 Days until the next cleanse...

Another day in hell, another day in the hotel. Another day to get everything off the ground.

Early in the morning, most of the hotel was silent except for the few exceptions. Nifty happily hummed to herself as she cleaned and worked through her list for the day. Then you had Husk sleeping (more like snoring) off the hangover from his drinking binge, which really didn't surprise many people. And then there was Alastor...being Alastor, listening happily to some of his old records within the confines of his room, which no one dared to disturb. The only one not in the building was Angel Dust, which both Charlie and Vaggie knew that he'd gone doing his "job", but they both knew that they needed to talk with him more on possibly keeping tabs on him and keeping him safe.

While Vaggie understood more about Charlie's kind concern for the spider demon, she still felt they needed to be firmer with him. It honestly felt like they were parenting a troubled teenager at times from a twisted point of view with her as the strict one and Charlie as the sweet and giving parent. And there was no way in hell that they would ever admit this out loud, which brought them to their situation now.

While Angel Dust was a suave move, they need to be smart.

"We need more souls, hun." Vaggie explained before she took a sip of her morning coffee. "Angel Dust isn't going to cut it."

Thank God that Angel wasn't here to hear that statement. He already proved to the girls to be a handful. How was the princess of hell supposed to be taken seriously after that fiasco at the tv station? They probably thought of her as a joke. Charlie sighed heavily. "I know, Vaggie. I know. I'm running out of ideas here. By the way, make sure we send a message to Angel to keep tabs on him. I want to make sure he's coming home safe."

Vaggie rolled her eyes sighing, still sending a text either way even though she highly doubted Angel would reply back.

"I'm pretty sure you're going to find someone." Nifty reassured them with a smile as she took care of a few more things on her list with the hotel. "I have faith in you, guys."

Charlie returned the smile, ever hopeful. "Awww, thanks Nifty. You're right."

Vaggie, on the other hand, was still cynical but she couldn't just rain on her girlfriend's parade. After last time, she'd been trying to be more sensitive to Charlie's moods. She in all honesty wanted her dream to succeed, but she knew realistically that just having hope isn't going to make it work. They needed something real and concrete to get this off the ground.

"How are we going to get this done?" Charlie wondered out loud.

"You're not going to have good ideas if you don't eat." Vaggie reminded her girlfriend as she pushed a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her. As much as she didn't trust the psychotic Radio Demon as far as she can throw him, he did make some damn good food. He had his uses. "We don't want you to turn into a hangry demon."

Charlie's eyes went wide with hearts. "Awwww, thanks Vaggie. Appreciate ya."

The little blonde demon heartily ate the rest of her food, pumped and determined to tackle on the day. Vaggie couldn't help but smile at the contagious sunshine that Charlie seemed to always spread wherever she goes. Sometimes, she wondered if her girlfriend belonged more to Heaven than this dark place. Either way, it's home.

Cleaning the plate and pushing herself off the stool, Charlie eagerly kissed her girlfriend and beamed with her signature smile. "Okay, I'm ready to go. Let's start cracking on some ideas."

"If you want to come pitch in on ideas, you can, Nifty," Vaggie remarked, making sure that the little-one-eyed demon wasn't left out as they all went towards the lobby.

Nifty beamed, flitting about happily with her cleaning supplies in her arms. "I would love to. I was gonna head to the lobby to finish up on some dusty. I still got a lot of ground to cover. Good thing that Alastor stocked up on the coffee otherwise I wouldn't be able to make it through the morning, which reminds me - you should probably include Alastor with the ideas. He's pretty damn smart. Too smart for his own good, but I'm pretty sure he's going to help-"

"Nifty." The moth demon interrupted her rambling.

"Yes?"

"How much coffee have you had?" Vaggie asked.

Nifty blinked innocently. "About 4 cups."

Trying not to laugh, Vaggie gave her a small smile. "Try not to have too many, okay?"

"Gotcha, I'll be good." The smaller demon flashed a smile back before skitting over towards the bar and wiping down the counter.

Finally making it into the lobby, the girls were met with the silent lobby except for the ever present and loud snoring coming from the only cat demon in this place. They tipped toed to the edge of the counter, the sight of the cat sleeping on his back with his paws up, ever twitching while dreaming was too irresistible to pass up.

"So when are we waking him up?" Charlie asked, unsure of how if she wanted to wake him or just let him sleep.

"He's going to have to adhere to a schedule or we're gonna have issues. But first…" Vaggie's almost evil grin came forth as she took out her phone, camera poised and ready to go. And…snap! One cute and adorable picture of Husk sleeping off his hangover like a cute little drunk kitten ready to go. "Okay, now we can wake him up."

"Vaggie!" Charlie chastised her. "That's not right."

"Do you see us having anything to use him to get him straight? I don't think so."

"You can always wake him up by having him hear Alastor is going to give him a bath." Nifty suggested innocently.

"NO ONE IS GIVING ME A DAMN BATH!" Husk yelled, brandishing a broken beer bottle ready to attack in his postdrunk haze. "Ugh...damn I thought that stupid chatterbox son of a bitch was here."

It took every fiber of their being for Nifty and Charlie not to laugh at the poor cat demon, but it was too good to pass up. And both of them had to agree, Alastor was a damn chatterbox to the maximum extent of the definition.

"Nope. Just us." Charlie answered too brightly for the cat's tastes. Jesus, what happy drugs did she take in the morning.

"All of you are still seriously talking too fucking loud." Husk grumpily replied as he stumbled from behind the bar.

The moth demon arched an eyebrow. "How many drinks have you had?"

"None." Husker growled.

"I meant last night…"

Husk was silent for a second. "Eh...probably eight…"

"Eight…?"

"Okay! Okay, Jesus, don't get your britches in a bunch, lady! Eighteen."

It took all Vaggie could not to snap and not have an aneurysm. How were they going to run this hotel if their staff can't get their shit together? Oh, they were definitely going to have a meeting about having all these rules in place. Starting with the drinking definitely. Only two, starting off.

And the meeting would definitely take place soon.

Seeing her girlfriend almost popping a blood vessel, Charlie came to the rescue, hopefully with no one dying a second time today. "Husk, I think what Vaggie was going to say is that having many drinks is going to help if you go at it so much you're sleeping it off at the bar. Can we try to keep it up at 2 as a minimum for now?" she flashed him a pleading smile, hoping that could perhaps persuade him.

Husk just stared at her unblinking. "Seriously, kid? You're gonna have to do better than that if you expect me to even try to enjoy myself in this shithole."

While Charlie was a kind person at heart, she still had to deal with the obstacle of other demons underestimating her. She may look the type of demon you could push over, but it would be best not to go that route. It took a lot of tries for Charlie to go to the point she needed to bring out why others feared her as the daughter of the most powerful archangel. Sighing, she decided to negotiate. "How about this? Let's start possibly maybe with four drinks and two for the patrons of the hotel. We can give you the bartender exception."

After a long moment, the barfly nodded. "Fine. It works for now. Just let me sleep off the damn hangover."

"No problem!" The blonde demon couldn't stop the sweet grin pulling on her the ends of her mouth. "See, Vaggie. This morning is going to start off good."

Vaggie sighed. "Fine, but at least we have a secret weapon in case he acts up again."

Husk's ears perked up. "What secret weapon?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Vaggie said with a smirk.

Shit. Now, Husk was worried. "Fuck…"

"Come on, Husker, my friend." A suave Trans-lantic accent interrupted the conversation. "No need for such language this early in the morning."

"Bite me, Alastor."

"Hmmm, no thank you. Cat is not usually on my preferred pallette." Alastor replied nonchalantly, zapping up a cup of tea before turning back to the girls. "So dear," he asked, his eyes shifting to Charlie, "you mentioned we need another sinner to join the entertainment - I mean rehabilitation."

"How did you-" Charlie asked, but was cut off when Alastor snapped his fingers and a whoosh blitzed through the girls, their hair blowing past them as if caught through a whiplash. Before any of them could rely, a small low growl emitted from the dark spot pooling around the deer demon's feet. They watched in fascinated horror as the dark spot began to form into a life of its own, stretching out with arms as limbs and familiar twisted antlers sprouting from the inky blackness. Bright blue hollow eyes opened from the shadow and an equally hollow mouth opened in a twisted grin, looking like a twisted monster from the black depths of the void.

"You spied on us...with that thing?!" Vaggie snapped, her temper about to blow a fuse as if this shitlord didn't creep her enough and put her on edge. "Charlie, are you seriously going to let him do this?"

"Darling, how else do you think i am going to help the hotel if I don't know everything that happens in this hotel?"

"I don't know, maybe keeping tabs with me and Charlie like normal people!" The moth demon argued, her long hair standing on ends and flames burning in her one visible eye. "Not with creepy ass shadows that could throttle us in our sleep."

As if the shadow had feelings, its face turned sad with its smile turning into a frown. Sad glowing blue eyes shifted to Alastor as the the blackly dark form almost whined sadly to him, rubbing its head against his master's shoulder. It didn't do anything wrong. It was only doing what his master wanted to do. It's not his fault the mean moth demon snapped at him. It didn't mean no harm.

The Radio Demon - like it or not - did have a bit of a heart, at least for a seldom few. That included his precious shadow who was almost like another child for him. Family. And having this constant barrage of beratement coming from the little moth was growing enough to where she was a constant pest. A constant annoyance that even pushed Alastor's patience. "It's okay, my friend," he comforted the black form nuzzling against his head. However, it didn't take long before he turned his head with eyes focused on Vaggie, the red pupils dangerously thinning into radio dials. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ambrose. You'll know better next time and she'll know better than to hurt your feelings...if she knows what's good for her."

Bring it on, you creepy pompous jackass, Vaggie said silently in her head as she glared daggers back at the overlord.

The air between the two demons grew thicker as Alastor's magic warped and static sparked around him, focused on the moment contemplating on if it was worth angering the blonde demon just for his own pleasure. Oh...tasting her blood would be magnificent. The small thrill of the damned moth demon's blood running through his fingers was almost too fun to resist. Before he could make a decision, a slight chirp behind him caught his hearing.

Spinning around, the group found another shadow with glowing eyes floated towards Alastor, holding a piece of paper in its hands. Distracted from planning Vaggie's demise, the deer demon's magic withdrew back and his small transformation back to his normal state as his eyes skimmed through the letter. "Oh, thank you, Duncan. Appreciate you dearly."

The others couldn't stop watching with wide eyes, wondering how in the hell the Radio Demon's mood could change so quickly. Like a damn whiplash. Alastor's distraction was enough to get Vaggie back towards Charlie and away from his reach. This was still the same demon that's supposed to help the damn hotel? What the hell?

"Well I'll be damned," Alastor quipped happily, putting the telegram into his pocket. "Maybe the tables will turn for you today after all, ladies."

Charlie shot him a confused look. "What are you talking about, Al?"

"You'll see when I come back this evening. Goodbye to you all." Alastor waved them off, happily humming to himself while he spun his microphone in his hand, the door snapped shut behind him with a single motion.

Now, at least with him gone, they could breathe again. Jesus, how in the hell were they going to get used to him?

With that sobering thought coming to the group, it didn't take one for one of them to crack and break the silence.

"Okay, kid," Husk addressed Charlie. "How about you and me do this? Three drinks per patron and I am able to do five. Final offer."

At this point, Charlie knew she could use a drink herself. Releasing a heavy sigh, she gave him a tired smile, but at least it was a smile nonetheless. "You got yourself a deal."

Sometimes, the Radio Demon was a bit of an enigma, if he was able to say so himself. As powerful as he was, with a snap of a finger he could've done relatively anything he wanted. (Well, except for a few things). Lots of souls were only able to dream of the possibilities of what he could do. Coming to his level of power and magic, it didn't come easy. Nevertheless, while Alastor enjoyed his power, he still took the time to enjoy the little things. Like taking a walk to the gates of hell and enjoying the benefits of his favorite twisted wonderland.

Now, according to his resources, more sinners came in droves as usual in Hell, and that created more population issues. And with the hellbound demons coming in and out unchecked, it created more chaos than hell could take on. So just a few short days after the last extermination, Lucifer decided to try something new.

Using the resources the fallen angel had, reconstruction of some infrastructure and some new jobs for the demons to work his new idea and they were in business.

Lucifer motioned for the Gates of Hells to be refitted and rebuilt. Make things more organized in hell so it would be easier going forward with the extermination days. As long as hell's populations were taken care of, he could care less. Hopefully, maybe this will prove to his daughter that they didn't need to redeem sinners. It was pointless.

The best way to describe the gates of hell as if you were going through an airport. You had regular hellborn demons that came and went wherever they please between the rings of hell while you have the mortal sinners that belonged only to the pride ring. The organization between these two demons helped the flow of incoming and outgoing more uniform and better than having Lucifer's secretary getting constant complaints from demons having a not so great welcome. Of course, no one gives a damn about that. Then again, you have those kinds of Karens even in hell despite not getting their way back on Earth.

And of course, the higher the rank of demon you are, the more privileges you earn. For example, Overlords are able to come and go as they please more between hell and the human world. Regular sinners and lowerborn demons have to go through a lot more paperwork and red tape to get that done. Overlords have the bureaucracy-red tape cutters, and boy those things came in handy.

For example, you have Alastor. Radio Demon. Overlord of Hell. The deer demon who was definitely known for his selectively cannibalistic pallette. Human or demon, it didn't matter to him.

They were all going to hell, anyway.

Good thing he ate a good breakfast before heading to the gates. Hopefully finding a sinner to join his need for his entertainment should prove interesting. He didn't want the run of the mill demons. All those came in droves by the millions. He wanted something to be thrown at him that proved him not the common occurrences.

Besides, he was bored and he needed a little fun.

Strolling up inside the building twirling his microphone, he came across many demons standing in line, and almost too many front desks to handle the congestion. It was still hard to wrap his brain around how much technology had changed since he last died, but he became adamant in not falling for the trap. It appalled him to the point he barely used electricity within his own house, but only for a few exceptions.

Agreeing getting messages by telegram was one of the only few conditions he agreed to when it came to Lucifer's experiment with this halfway, half shot, cocamide idea. He downright REFUSED to get those damned miniature devil boxes that people call: cell phones. It's now the only way to get in contact with Alastor now if an overlord was necessary.

Alas, he missed the old traditions. Falling into this twisted wonderland and finding out in yourself if you would survive or not the old fashioned way. Alastor missed those days. Oh well, he will just have to be happy with making this wonderland his playground.

And hopefully, the sinner he picks will know how to survive without leaning on the princess as a crutch.

Seeing this too long of a line, he tilted his head, the gears turning inside with a mad grin. With just a little bit of magic, he slinked back into his shadow and swerved and curved through the crowd with no one none the wiser. In a flash, he manifested before the clerk at the front desk, causing a few gasps behind him which usually happened with his infamous reputation. The small sheep demon behind the glass peered up at him with nervous eyes, trying to hide her with a smile. However, Alastor knew this routine all too well. Oh well, he still enjoyed making other demons nervous. It was his daily little joy.

"Hello there." Alastor greeted her as if no one had just seen what he'd done. Hey, the overlord perks work, don't they? "I believe you've sent me this," he said, giving the previous telegram given before to the clerk's shaken hands.

Taking the paper from his hands, the poor little demon almost dropped it with her body shaking. The off putting sharp-toothed grin displayed prompted her to hurry and scurry the overlord's request and get him on his way before she got eaten. The faster this was done, the faster she could get to her lunch break. "Ok-kay, Mr. All-astor," she stuttered, "give m-me a moment wh-hile I send s-someone h-here to you."

"Not a problem, darling. Don't take too long."

Oh, trust me. She was going to be lickety-split.

Barely three minutes passed before another smaller demon - an imp - scrambled behind the front desk, catching his breath for a second before finally addressing the imposing overlord. He had the common appearance of regular imp demons with the red coloring with some white spotting and black horns. His black hair was pulled back in a short ponytail. The imp demon also had a barbed tail that looked as if it was dipped in black ink. He wore an all one colored burgundy suit. Inside of the buttoned up shirt appeared silver with a black tie, and he topped it off with an apple pin pinned to the lapel part of his suit jacket. His yellow eyes hid his nervousness a bit better than the sheep demon, which Alastor appreciated. Some moments, Alastor appreciated some interaction to where there wasn't an automatic reaction of running away from him in fear.

The imp approached him, confident yet respectful in his stride, extending out a firm hand to him. "Hello, Mr. Alastor. Thank you so much for coming on such short notice."

Alastor caught the bit of the southern accent coming from the imp, reminding him of slightly of his old home in New Orleans. Hmmm, no. it sounded more like a Texan type. Either way, it was nice for once for a demon not to run away from him.

"Careful of putting that hand out, lad." Alastor warned gleefully, using his microphone cane to push his hand away. "Wouldn't want you to make a deal you didn't know about...unless you already had something in mind."

"No deals today, sir," the imp declined respectfully. "Name's Mike. I'm assuming you already know why we needed to summon you here. All of the other overlords were...um...too busy as it were to take care of the matter."

"I only know a little bit of Luci's new scheming project so why don't you go ahead and fill in the blanks." Alastor suggested, ever curious as to why he was called upon for this development.

"If you can follow me, please." Mike motioned for the towering overlord to follow him, walking to the elevator after a few moments, and waited for them to be set before pushing the button to get to the second floor. Thankfully, the ride didn't last long.

"As you know fine and well, the big boss wanted to try a new way of straightening out the overpopulation issue." Mike explained as they got out of the elevator, walking through a hallway with both sides lining up with doors.

"Trust me, I'm aware. Too many people kept making complaints," the deer demon replied dryly.

"Pretty much. He was tired of having these complaints interrupting his long vacation with his old lady, but anyway. The big boss knew with all of the sinners coming through, there would be some that required extra work sometimes. So in cases like that, he tossed the responsibilities of that to the overlords."

Alastor let out a scoff. "I guess the royal fools of the Ars Goetia were too good to have such a tedious task fall into their lap."

"It's not my job to comment, sir." The imp remarked before finally stopping to a door. "I went through eleven overlords before I came to you and the other one. When I sent the telegram out to you (per your request if you are ever called), I didn't expect a response. At least, we can get this all done without any of the bulls - Pardon my French. I just remembered you dislike cursing."

Alastor stood silent, almost impressed with the class that the small imp emulated. "Hmmm, I'll let it slide. After all, it's not often I get impressed. A demon with manners in this place? It's unheard of."

"I'm glad I've done something right for you, sir, but it's just part of my job. And you're right, it's not easy." The imp explained, going off tangent a little. "I'm a menace when I need to be."

Mike opened the door, entering inside with the deer demon following not too far behind. Alastor scanned across the room, taking in everything and wondering how all of this in front of him was going to help with the population issue. Yes, this was still a half baked idea. He was ready when all of this was going to come down and sinners would have to struggle for themselves. Man, that was going to be interesting.

The office had a modern style (much to Alastor's dislike) that used the similar varying red color scheme so prominent in hell, with the room lined up with desks. Multiple kinds of demons of varying shapes and forms used the sleek monitors (more like infernal contraptions) and typed away on the wretched keyboards, which Alastor assumed to be one of their duties. His eyes followed the imp, which he could see noting the respect how the smaller demon was received by the others as he approached one of the desks.

"Go take a coffee break, Susie." He urged the silvery cat demon sitting at her desk. "You could use it."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes," Mike almost exasperated, but the slight smirk in his face took away the bite. "Now go before I change my mind."

Susie caught the sight of not just her boss, but also of the Radio Demon, but decided it was wiser to do just what she was told. "Thanks boss," she expressed gratefully before leaving her station to head for the break room.

Finally sitting at the desk, Mike went to work and Alastor couldn't help but watch in discontent boredom as the black magic of the computer did its work. "Where is it? Where is it?" the imp muttered to himself before finding what he needed. "Gotcha."

He finally brought up the file. "This is what's going on," he explained. "A sinner came through the works and was flagged through the scanners downstairs. All of this is still pretty new with the tech being experimental, but given the situation we have to be quick and fast with them. Besides the thing is that while the computer tells the main sin that marked her soul, there is nothing else indicating what this demon is. That's why we need a higher up when it comes to dealing with an unknown. Using the proper channels."

Pausing, Alastor narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Did the infernal contraption start so bad you couldn't get a picture?"

"No. When she came to, sir, she pretty much tore the camera apart. We had to put the sinner in the other room so she couldn't wreck any more equipment. You'll be able to see her more through this window." The imp demon ushered him over to the other side of the room, the wall lined up with doors spaced out next to large windows in a repeated pattern. They both approached the window, which was covered by blinds until Mike pulled the string to pull them up.

That's when Alastor finally saw her.

Sitting on the waiting room bench with her knees pulled up to her chest, hiding her face from the world, Alastor couldn't see much of the demon even through the one-way mirror. At first glance, he assumed for her to be another animal-like demon. She was covered in golden fur with some points of her body showing dustings of brown. He couldn't see much of her white underbelly, but the same mentioned fur color went down to the end of her limbs as if they were dipped in paint. The creature possessed decent-sized paws and claws enough to inflict a good amount of damage if need be. Otherwise, she didn't seem all that different from the run of the mill sinners.

"And you said her main sin was what, my good lad?" Alastor asked, ever curious.

"Murder as the main one, sir." The little imp demon answered. "Not showing much else besides that on her file."

When he brought his eyes back to the sinner in front of him, the deer demon almost took a step back in shock. If it weren't for the sharp Cheshire cat smile plastered to his face, you would be damned sure he'd be a little shocked and afraid of his life.

The demon in front of him appeared canine. CANINE.

She looked like a dog.

A damned dog.

Holy hell!

Forest green eyes stared back at his fiery red ones unaware that someone stood behind the glass.

"What in heaven is that?" The deer demon tried to keep an even tone, a little bit of static going off around him just a bit.

"That's the problem, sir." The imp explained. "We had to pull the Overlord option on this one. The computer couldn't sort this one into the right circle."

All Overlords needed to be familiar with the protocol so Lucifer wouldn't have to deal with squabbles every time a sinner coming into hell had a personal connection to the overlord. Any time a sinner is flagged, immediately a call is made for someone to claim them. The deer demon recalled doing this once before when he claimed dear old dad for his own pleasure to torture for eternity. Therefore, any sinner that had a personal connection to an overlord, they were able to claim them first.

Now, the parameters change if a sinner is still flagged and no personal connection is ever established.

In other words, first come, first serve.

Viewed as powerful assets at times, an overlord could manipulate and mold sinners to their influence, especially when it came to handling territory affairs. However, in this case, Alastor didn't want to do the extra work. Being an overlord became so tedious at times and a bit boring. He only needed another volunteer for his entertainment at the hotel and shook things up a little. He didn't know yet about this one, and the deer demon didn't see himself wasting precious hours of his day looking for the perfect sinner.

All he needed to see was if someone was truly desperate enough to want to go to Heaven. And hmm, maybe even desperate to take a deal.

Oh...goosebumps ran up and down his spine in excitement at the thrill of the new game. Oh, to have that taste of his inner desires again. The sinner in front of him may have potential if the...troublesome issue wasn't too bad.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that while the features were canine in similarity, the female demon wasn't a dog. Her features headed more into the wolf part of the spectrum. The she-wolf had the same golden and white coloring in her face along with a dark nose. Paler blonde bangs fell into her line of sight framing her face as she tried to fix her longer hair into a ponytail. A pair of dark golden wolf ears popped up through the ponytail, flickering back and forth as they tried to hear everything around her. Also pale lines of scars scattered across the right side of her face along down a little bit on the right side of her body, disappearing under the clothes she wore. She also possessed a dark sleeve of markings going down her left arm, which made Alastor raise a brow.

Was that even appropriate for women these days? Oh, he won't be having that.

"Has anyone else claimed her?" The deer demon inquired one more question before making the final decision as he walked closer to the glass, watching the wolf keep staring seemingly back at him.

"No sir, once an overlord claims a sinner, the matter is closed. So unless you back out, no one else can take them. The paperwork will be done and finished."

"Let me inside. I want to see this one in person."

"Of course, gimme a sec." Mike walked away from the window and spoke into his walkie-talkie. "Hey, Andy! Gimme the keys, will you? I need the keys to interrogation room 9."

"I only have the key for rooms up to 6!"

"Where's 9?"

"I thought you had it!"

"You have all the keys to those rooms for a reason. Why would you think to only have rooms up to 6?"

"Things were slow so I assumed we wouldn't need to use the other rooms."

"Andy...I am only going to tell you this nicely since we have an important visitor right now." The imp growled with a slow churning fire burning in his eyes. "If you don't get those keys for nine pronto, I will feed you and filet you to the Radio Demon himself!"

"The radio demon's here?!"

"If I may interrupt gentlemen," Alastor interjected, flashing his sharp grin. "I already ate a hefty breakfast earlier so no need to do anything extra on my part. Besides, if it's agreed, I have my own little tricks of getting inside."

"Oh thank Lucifer." The imp released the breath he didn't know he held in with all the crap this morning. "Andy! Still find those keys. We need to keep them on us anyway."

"Got it boss...do you still want 6 through 9 right?"

"Yes you dumb buffoon!"

Ignoring the rabble, Alastor pressed forward with getting acquainted with his possibly most interesting new project. Pressing into his magic, his shadow slinked through the crack in the door and manifested itself before the wolf demon. Red irises finally met the forest green ones face to face.

As soon as he came into the room, he knew immediately that something was up.

Breathing deeply, he picked up an unknown scent. It felt foreign yet familiar to him like a song he couldn't quite remember the words, but he could remember the melody. Hmmm, this was an odd scent for a demon.

The wolf finally broke the silence. "So you're the one looking at me through the mirror?"

"Is that a question or a fact?" Alastor pondered, curious about the female demon's ability. Trying to detect her accent, he couldn't find anything particular.

"It's a fact. I was aware of you when you came outside of the room," she replied dryly, her green eyes shifting around her to take in her surroundings, Alastor assumed. Her instincts were already sharp if she could sense him from behind the wall.

He tilted his head to the side, his mad grin plastered on his face. "How long have you been in hell, my dear?"

"Long enough," she answered calmly, almost too calmly for Alastor's tastes. "What the hell do you want with me? Pretty sure they're not keeping me in here for shits and giggles."

"Oh darling..." Alastor tsked with his tongue. "If you and I are going to be working together, we are going to have to work on your language. No beautiful lady such as yourself should be staining her lips with such dirty things."

The golden wolf narrowed her eyes at him, sending him a sharp glare. She let out an uneasy breath before standing up to her full height, her arms finally not hiding the rest of her body, and showing more of a stocky frame along curvier hips. Straightening out her messed up dress and denim jacket, she squared Alastor head on. "I don't know who the hell you are, and to be quite frank, I don't care. Every instinct I have right now is telling me you're bad news. I don't trust any of you and I know as soon as I do that, I'm dead. So tell me...why would I want to work with you?"

Smart woman, the Radio Demon mused to himself.

"Hmmm, you're asking all the right questions." Alastor replied, his sharp toothed grin widening. Oh, he was going to have so much fun with this one! "But all I am going to ask of you, my dear, is this: consider this as an one time opportunity. Not many demons are given...how should I say? They don't get a manual on how to survive hell. Ohhh, to see someone thrive in this place. More often than not, they fail miserably, which brings more entertainment and other things for the people like me. However, even an opportunity can arise on a blue moon to give the extra step, maybe you will surprise everyone, even me."

"So you're saying you are giving me basically a survival kit to survive hell?" The wolf asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"No, darling. I'm only offering you the opportunity. What you do with this opportunity doesn't affect me. If you take it, and it doesn't work I can always move onto another sinner to provide the entertainment I am seeking."

He watched with gleeful interest as the gears in the wolf's head turned, working and thinking. The Radio Demon could see she was struggling to find the right words, and it only made it more entertaining to watch. Will she take the deal or not?

"What's the catch?" She asked finally after what seemed like a decade.

"No catch. No strings, my dear. Once in a lifetime opportunity, and trust me. They usually don't come this easy."

Releasing a heavy sigh, the wolf relented. "Before I do anything, can you at least give me your name to start?"

"That I can definitely give to you, my dear," he replied, taking a slight bow. "Alastor's the name, sweetheart. Now if only I had yours."

"Call me Rory. That's simple enough." The wolf answered quietly, more tired as the angry tone from before slipped away.

Rory. That's peculiar. Alastor couldn't help, but thought that was shorter for another name, but he could dig more of that out of her later. He finally got another sinner for the hotel and more to add to his entertainment.

It appeared that they were on the right track. The true test was going to be at the hotel if this unknown sinner was going to succeed or not. He didn't know until they would get there.

Now, for the million dollar question.

"So my dear, how desperately do you want to go to Heaven?"

Fun fact times! I am starting to enjoy these little endnotes. :)

1) This is my first time writing the Hazbin Hotel characters. So far Alastor is the most...entertaining to write, and it keeps me on my toes.

2) Chapter title is inspired from the movie The Little Mermaid made by Disney in 1989. The song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" should ring some bells, who was sung no other than the villainess, Ursula.

3) Mike (the imp demon) is a new original character in the story. Small role, but we will probably see him later on. He is actually Millie's older brother.

4) This chapter is kind of a nod towards the comic created by Viviepop called A Day in the Afterlife. Helped to bring the characterization a bit with Alastor as I wrote him. Definitely should read this comic dub I found on YouTube ( watch?v=hdhnURP4Gawt=17s)