Chapter Two

In the annals of Hell's history, there are a handful of individuals whose infamy outshines the infamy of all others. Sinners and Demons whose sheer brutality, ruthlessness and capacity for blood-letting managed to overshadow any lesser Demon who even attempted to approach their level of notoriety. It wasn't enough to simply rob a few banks, or murder a few families. Even a single genocide wouldn't qualify. It required a degree of havoc and mayhem that could only be committed in Hell, with enough of an impact that it would haunt the nightmares of every Sinner as they drifted off to a fitful and troubled sleep.

The Radio Demon fit that particular description to a tee.

The utterly terrifying Overlord stood at only six feet tall (which was fairly below average for Demons of his stature), but he made up for it in sheer menace: Dressed entirely in red and black, with beige-colored skin, a red angled bob-cut with small black antlers and large ear-like tufts, a pair of blood-red eyes (one sporting a monocle) and a row of yellow shark-like teeth displayed in a perpetual grin, this slim and dapper Demon absolutely reeked of blood-dripping malice.

There were no photographs or films that existed of the Radio Demon, but there was absolutely no mistaking who this was…

...And in one of his rare excursions into Imp City, he was standing in the middle of Chay's apartment.

Viola and Fyewackett were both rendered completely speechless, mouths agape and eyes wide.

Chay, on the other hand, felt like she had just been rudely dragged out of a hangover, kicking and screaming...and she wasn't very happy about it.

"The fuck do you want?", she grumbled.

He raised an eyebrow. "Did I...come at a bad time?", his voice crackled.

The sound of a toilet flushing came from behind as Lucius tried to crawl his way out Chay's bathroom, trying to avoid touching...him the best he could.

"Ah, I see!", the Radio Demon replied, finally breaking the silence. "I've come while your little red friend here is suffering from a troublesome kidney ailment!". He bent down and slapped Lucius on the back, eliciting a yelp from the Imp. "You know, you really should consult a physician about that. They can often be signs of further distress…"

"Yeah, I'm aware.", Lucius replied dully. "Tell me something I haven't been screaming about for the last half hour…"

"Very well, then!"

The Radio Demon cleared is throat. A long cane, topped by what appeared to be an eye-sporting microphone, appeared in his hand. He reached into his red jacket.

"Again, my apologies if I've come at an inopportune time, but my time is precious and one must be prompt when important matters are to be discussed…"

He pulled out a small red card from his jacket pocket, and handed it to the Imps in front of him. Viola took it and read the embroidered writing on its surface.

"Now, may I be correct in assuming that the grouchy young lady lying on the floor in her intimates is-"

Chay slowly pulled herself up from off the floor and stood up, her legs still shaking somewhat, as she wiped away her hair from her face...revealing her lipless, skeletal mouth.

"-Wow...Yes, you are indeed who I'm here to meet with! A pleasure to meet you Miss Ong! I'm Alastor!"

He thrust out one of his clawed hands for a hand-shake. Chay regarded it with a suspicious eye…

-Wait...isn't there something about shaking the Radio Demon's hand?

Chay held up both of her hands. "You would understand if didn't do...that."

Alastor's head turned to a crooked angle, smile still plastered on his face. "Ah, you are indeed quite smart, Miss Ong! My reputation proceeds me, it seems, ha ha!"

Fyewackett looked up at the Radio Demon with a confused look. "I'm...kind of lost here."

Lucius jabbed him in the bicep, eliciting a yowl. "Don't do anything to antagonize him, Fye.", he whispered in his comrade's ear. "Just try to make no sudden movements and we might survive this…"

Alastor's head cracked around on his neck to look at the two Imps. "I can hear you, you know…", he said, his radio crackle of a voice lowered to an annoyed growl.

"Spoke too soon…", Lucius yelped.

"I think I want my mommy…", Fyewackett replied with a whimper.

"Holy shit…", Viola said, the card in her hand.

The other Imps' attention turned to Viola. "What's up?", Lucius asked.

The female Imp shook her head incredulously. "I...I had heard rumors but I didn't…"

"Whatever rumors you've heard are true, my dear.", Alastor replied, now all cheerful once again. "I've taken up some new ventures within this last year…"

Lucius and Fyewackett looked at each other before bounding over to Viola, taking a peek at the business card Alastor had handed her. Their eyes wandered over the embroidered writing, their eyes slowly growing wider as they digested the information it conveyed.

Viola held it up to Chay. "You're going to want to look at this…", she said.

Chay reached down and plucked the card from Viola's hand and took a look at it.

The card, which was deep red in color, was covered in elaborate and embroidered calligraphy, drawn in an inky black. In the corners, there were a number of strange symbols that she didn't quite recognize, looking as if they had been hastily scrawled on a wall by some mad sorcerer.

But it was what had been written that caught her interest:

Happy Hotel

Alastor,

Co-Owner

Chay looked up at Alastor, who was fussing with the gloves on his hands.

"...It's you. You're the one Angel Dust told me about."

"Considering the number of times I've caught him ogling me, that is certainly no surprise. But to get back to the matters at hand…"

He adjusted the monocle on his eye. "To be brief, my co-worker has a task for you. One that she is convinced you are best suited for. I'm simply here to act as an unofficial messenger, of sorts…"

Chay raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to do something for you? You? One of the most feared figures in Hell?"

Alastor laughed. "Oh, not me! My co-worker wants to hire you. Co-worker, as in the woman who I've taken as my business partner?"

Chay looked back down at the card again.

Happy Hotel.

-Wait...is he talking about…?

Suddenly, the air was filled with a persistent thud. The kind of thud that comes from a hail storm, or a tornado…

….Or, in this case, the twin rotors of a helicopter.

"It would seem they've arrived then…", Alastor remarked.

He held up his hand and snapped his fingers. A glowing yellow ring portal began to expand behind him, nearly enveloping the entire bathroom door.

"Now then, as I said, I'm simply acting as messenger. The details will come from them…"

Alastor turned around, and strolled into the portal.

"Chin up, Miss Ong! I'll be seeing you again soon. Tah Tah!"

He gave a pleasant farwell wave the portal closed around him, leaving Chay and the Imps alone in the apartment.

Lucius was the first to break the silence.

"Why is he so goddamn handsome?!", he nearly screamed.

The helicopter that landed on the roof was immediately familiar...not in the literal sense, but in style.

It was bright, ivory white, and covered with gold and ruby trimming, befitting something belonging to the royal family. It's rear was covered in bright ruby 'flames', painted on expertly by some highly-skilled royal artist. The landing gear was book-ended with a quartet of enormous crow-like claws, glistening with a gem-like shine. And in repetition of the royal limo, the front was plastered with an enormous, gnashing grill of teeth. The cockpit, passenger windows, and every other window was tinted darkly.

Chay, now fully dressed, met the 'copter with her Imp companions as the landing gear settled onto the concrete. The rotors slowed down before being completely silenced.

The passenger door slid open.

The first thing that emerged was a black boot, covering a pink and gray stocking.

Chay's eyes widened.

"Vagatha?"

A small grunt was heard as a female Sinner, a moth-demon, hopped down from the helicopter and landed onto the building. A pair of dark shades covered her eyes.

She looked between the four demons. The Imps looked like they'd just looked into the abyss.

Then the realization hit her, paired with flat annoyance.

Vaggie rubbed her temples. "He's already been here, hasn't he?", she said.

"He left about ten minutes ago.", Chay replied. "Came and went like the summertime."

"Of course...", Vaggie sighed, a vein starting to pulsate in her forehead. "Of course he did. Hijo de puta chupando polla..."

Vaggie cleared her throat and took a deep breath, as if she was swallowing her anger.

"Whatever. Need to be professional here, but first…"

Vaggie looked over at Chay. She let a smile creep over her gray face.

"It's good to see you again, Chay. Shakie says 'Hi'."

Chay couldn't help herself. Her sour, grimacing face slowly began to transform into a smile…

...Then she remembered that she hadn't been returning any of Shakie's calls for the past two months.

She smacked her forehead. "Holy fucking shit, I haven't spoken to her in…"

"It's been a hot minute, Chay. I won't lie.", Vaggie replied matter-of-factly. "She's not exactly happy about it."

Chay's face fell into her hands. She moaned through her palms.

"Hey, come on now…", Fyewackett said, tapping his comrade's hip. "You haven't exactly been in the best of health recently. She can't blame you for that."

"She's still not terribly pleased, though.", Viola replied.

Lucius's head whipped around to Viola. "And how exactly do you know that?"

"Don't look at me like that!", Viola replied. "Somebody has to keep her business calls in order while she's emo-ing."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "...You tapped her phone, didn't you?"

"No comment.", Viola replied.

"Whatever.", Lucius said, shaking his head. "We're under no obligation to take another job from the royals, especially when Chay's not up to snuff."

Vaggie removed her sunglasses. "That's actually the other reason I'm here."

Chay looked up at Vaggie. "What reason?"

"Chay…", Vaggie said, slowly walking towards the Sinner. "Charlie knows about...your issue."

"She….She knows about the hunger?"

Vaggie pressed a hand to Chay's shoulder. "Yes, Chay. She knows about it. She's been obsessed with it ever since Shakie came to us...and she wants to help you."

Chay felt a sudden moitsure in the corner of her eyes. Was she...crying?

Whatever tears she had, she blinked away with a sudden wave of skepticism. She pushed Vaggie's hand off of her shoulder and backed away. "Wait...this is bullshit. You're not doing this out of the goodness of your hearts. You want something from me in return."

Vaggie shook her head. "That's incidental, Chay. Yes, we have a job for you, but Charlie would do this irregardless…"

"Bull. Fucking. Shit!", Lucius shouted.

The furious little Imp stomped towards Vaggie, pointing a claw up at her. "Give me one fucking reason why we should trust the words of the royal family?"

"We payed you well the last time, right?", Vaggie replied. "I'm pretty sure that check went through…"

"That's not the point and you goddamn well know it!", Lucius shouted back.

Vaggie raised up her hands, trying to defuse the situaiton. "Look, in spite of what you might think, Charlie isn't like her father…"

"Her father is the reason we're stuck here!"

Lucius's voice rang off of the skyscrapers like the toll of an angry bell.

"His Highness is why me and my kind have been stuck in this oversaturated gutter for century upon century! It's bad enough that you've lived off the fat of me and my ancestors in the third circle for eons, but then he had the fucking gall to segregate us into this overstuffed coffin he calls a city!"

"Lu, stop it.", Viola barked. "You're not helping."

"And on top of all of that…", Lucius angrily continued, his eyes nearly bulging from his head. "His Highness is the reason the forces of the Creator come down here every goddamn year and slaughter thousands of my brethren!

"Lucius!", Viola nearly screamed at him. "Calm down! You're going to have a-"

"You weren't here!", Lucius nearly screamed into Viola's face. "You weren't here with me, Viola! You weren't here when those fucking Exorcists came down here and...and…"

Lucius suddenly got really quiet, tears forming in his eyes as he tried to swallow his sobs.

"You weren't here when Grizelle was…"

"You're not the only person whose lost people they cared about to the Exorcists, you know..."

Chay and the Imps looked back over at Vaggie, her arms crossed and her face serious.

"Look...I'm sorry. I don't like the situation either, and I know that Chay hasn't really been feeling well. But Charlie really does want to help, and it really is just coincidence that we also have a job for her that involves a Hotel guest."

Vaggie walked over to Chay and put her hands on her shoulders.

This time, she wasn't rebuffed.

"We really need your help for this, Chay. Charlie specifically thinks you're the one person who can help solve this."

Charlie looked over at one of Vaggie's hands. She reached up and took it.

She started to feel those tears form again. Every time she thought about Shakie, about the Hotel...she started to feel this deep longing...combined with an overpowering loneliness.

And now, she finally had the chance to speak with Her Highness herself.

What would she do when she finally met her? She'd heard enough about Charlotte Magne from Shakie, about her personality, about how she acted as a person…

Would she be able to contain herself?

-Contain myself? From what?

Chay sighed again. She looked back over at Vaggie.

"...Is Angel still there?"

Vaggie snorted, nearly doubling over with laughter.

"Of course he is!", she said, desprately trying to catch her breath. "We couldn't get rid of him even if we tried."

-Why the fuck am I asking for Angel Dust again?

Chay nodded.

"Fine. I'll take the job. But I have conditions."

"We expected as much. Name them."

Chay stepped back and pointed at the Imps. "Condition number one: they come with me. You don't have to house them at the Hotel, but they come with me period."

Vaggie looked down at the three Imps. The one they called Lucius still had puffy, tear-soaked eyes.

"That can be arranged. We have a guest suite they can use."

"Condition number two…"

Chay walked over to Vaggie and stared her directly in the eyes. "My and Her Highness are going to have words. I'm not starting this job until I speak to her. I need answrs."

Vaggie smiled. "Of course. She'd love to have you."

"And condition number three…"

Chay looked between all four of them, the moth-Sinner and the Imps.

"Whoever it is running your Hotel kitchens, you better make me some fucking breakfast."

CHAPTER 2 END