"Alright, my little bodyguards," Stolas said, yanking the handle of a glossy silver safe, "This will be the new home of my precious grimoire, and you, my friends, are in charge of protecting it under any and all means necessary!"
Millie always found the way Stolas spoke to be both smooth but also heavy in authority, almost playful. He certainly carried a demanding presence, his royal gowns and the crown upon his head establishing his power and superiority over them, while at the same time remaining approachable. She didn't exactly have a reason to be scared of him. Maybe it was his singsong, melodious speaking mannerisms. Or his soft tone.
But from the way her husband was shying behind her, the feeling of familiarity appeared one-sided.
"He's not gonna kill ya hun, ya know that don'tcha?" she laughed.
Moxxie only stared back, Millie noticing that his fear didn't seem to be directed at Stolas. His eyes were glossed over, the same look he had while deep in thought.
She knew something was wrong the second that Octavia had pulled him aside, the urgency in her voice the first sign of trouble. It carried far more importance than the times when Blitzo would shout at them and demand attention, since "urgent" in his mind usually meant something along the lines of "My horse figurines got stuck in the thermostat" or "I ate something that wasn't food again."
Moxxie hadn't told her what they had talked about, insisting that it was "Nothing important," which she immediately called bullshit on. Nobody, especially Octavia of all people, would make a scene like that without reason. The two of them might not have been overly familiar with each other, but even she knew that it was out of character for Octavia to act like that, breaking her typical sophisticated and quiet way of being.
And her husband wasn't one to keep secrets. At least not until today.
Worriedly eyeing her now silent husband, she tuned out Stolas's instructions, his flamboyant mannerisms occasionally managing to draw her attention.
"...and my little Blitzy here will make sure everything stays in order," Stolas laughed and walked up to Blitzo's side, the imp sighing as hands were placed on his shoulder, "Correct?"
Blitzo sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I will," he cleared his throat, "I have to. If that thing gets destroyed, we're fucked six-ways from Sunday. You know that"
As ludicrous as he was most of the time, Blitzo was right. If that book somehow got damaged, or destroyed, or stolen, or anything else, IMP would cease to exist entirely. After all, how could you kill sinners on Earth if you can't get up there in the first place? They'd all be out of jobs, which in hell meant you were at the mercy of the scum in the streets until your next job, that is if you were lucky enough to find one.
The very thought of going back to the streets filled her with dread. As much as she loved the prospect of killing, doing it out of fear instead of bloodlust ruined it for her. Back before Blitzo had employed her, she remembered having to shoot the savage imps that crossed her path on her way to find food just to survive, or the ones that would pick her pockets in the streets, or the ones that would stand outside her shelter waiting for her to die like scavengers, so desperate for sustenance that they resorted to cannibalism.
And now she would have Moxxie to worry about too.
She pushed the thought out of her head, focusing on the objective before her: Keep the book safe under all costs. It was already locked inside of a literal safe, and hidden from plain sight, the metal box being pushed underneath what she assumed was Stolas's bed. What more did Stolas think they could do? Hide under the bed with their guns drawn at all times? Even to her, it seemed like a bit much.
Stolas probably had his own plans, and she assumed that he would tell them once they were needed.
The door to the safe slammed shut, a metallic click indicating that the lock was doing its job and sealing the entrance. Nobody was opening that thing without a combination lock, or perhaps a chainsaw if they were desperate.
"Now, go on, I've got some unpacking to do," The owl suddenly shooed them out the door, as if they were rats.
"Except Blitzy," he said smoothly, "He can...help me unpack, if he wants to…"
Millie rolled her eyes.
"Not today, royal slut." Blitzo called out, shutting the door behind them.
"Is that any way to speak to a royal?" Moxxie asked rhetorically, "You're lucky you haven't pissed him off yet and gotten turned to stone! You saw what he did at the fair!"
The incident Moxxie was referencing was the day Stolas had employed their services for protection, shortly after their first and only trip to Loo-Loo Land. A swarm of demons had gathered around them within seconds of arriving, and after a few of them tried to attack Octavia, he used his powers to turn the entire crowd to stone.
Which wouldn't have been a big deal, if it hadn't been over a quarter of the city turned to stone in seconds. The victims were still there, too, frozen in time and serving as an eerie reminder of the inferiority of imps in hell's social circles, and the power that overlords and royalty still exerted over them.
"Don't give him any ideas, he'd probably be into that…"
Moxxie gagged, "Add that to the list of things I wish I'd never heard."
"And yet you're still talking," Loona huffed, "Add that to my list."
Blitzo chuckled as they approached an elevator, leaving the cabins behind and headed up towards the deck, in hopes of seeing what more the ship had to offer.
Once they had reached the top level of the ship's interior, they departed the shaft, the gate opening up with a steward's key. Millie led the way, Moxxie trailing behind her while Blitzo's attention was enveloped by a shiny object and Loona stared at her phone.
The first thing that caught her attention was the lack of blood, as morbid as it may sound. Back at home, blood was about as common as rain, and it was everywhere . She had become so accustomed to it, that she had forgotten what true cleanliness looked like. To be in an area free of exposed innards and gore, away from the stresses of home, felt so foreign. It was almost like being in another world.
Even Moxxie perked his head up, probably happier about the lack of corpses than she was. He had never been one to enjoy killing, especially its messy aftermath. Millie at least enjoyed the art of assassination, much more than he did.
"Woah…" Moxxie gawked, "It's so...so-"
"Clean?" Millie finished his sentence, knowing exactly what he was going to say. They had been together long enough to become familiar with each other's likes and dislikes, and this was definitely one of their bigger "likes."
Moxxie laughed, "...yeah...clean…"
He went silent and approached one of the lifeboats mounted on the deck, running his hand along the smooth wood and the cloth that covered the top.
"Goin' fishin'?" Millie joked, "Want me to drop ya down?"
The same look of deep concentration washed over his face, Moxxie standing back up and moving his finger up and down, his eyes scanning the deck as he mumbled numbers to himself.
"Eighteen...nineteen...twenty…" he went on, "Twenty."
She was becoming concerned, "Twenty what? Moxxie?"
"I-I don't like this…"
A nervous frown became apparent on his face, a look that expressed the utmost worry. And although her husband was definitely an excessive worrier, she wanted to hear him out anyway.
"Don't like what…?"
Moxxie reached into his pocket and pulled out the brochures that had come with their tickets, "Look at this. There are two thousand people on the ship with us."
"...and half of 'em are stuck-up douches. So what?"
"Well, yes, they are. But, I'm talking about the lifeboats. We've only got twenty."
"And…?"
"If something were to happen," he went on, sounding increasingly panicked, "There's no way there would be enough room for everyone. Not unless they could somehow cram over a hundred people into these glorified pieces of driftwood."
As she had said earlier, Moxxie was a worrier. They were on one of the safest vessels in all of hell, and he was still worried about something happening. The ship had been described as "the sturdiest ship in all of hell. Satan himself couldn't sink it!"
From what the brochure had told them, the boat was equipped with watertight compartments and a plumbing system, so on the off event something did manage to break through the hull and flood the ship, the compartments would seal themselves shut and they could pump the water out. Unless a meteor hit them, or something else along those lines, they were practically unsinkable.
Moxxie's breathing began to pick up, and she was becoming worried that he was going to have another panic attack. He was prone to those, after all.
"Mox," she went on, "I think it's gonna be alright. We're on the safest ship in all hell, remember?"
That didn't seem to be helping, Moxxie starting to pace up and down the deck instead, fingers shaking.
"I-I just…" paused, still on edge, "First, our boss nearly drives us into a wall, then I nearly fell into the ocean before we board, I'm just now finding out that we lack basic maritime safety measures, and Octavia-"
He cut himself off.
"...had to speak with me...I-nevermind."
The way he hesitated only confirmed her suspicion that something bad had been discussed between Moxxie and Octavia, now the big question was how she was going to get the information out of them. She needed to know.
"I-I think I just need some fresh air…"
"Moxxie, you're already outside."
"Oh," he laughed nervously, "Right…"
She checked behind her shoulder, making sure Blitzo and Loona weren't eavesdropping.
"Moxxie," she said, "Something's bugging ya, I know it. What's going on?"
Her husband stopped pacing, his tail curling up behind his back, "N-Nothing. I think I'm just seasick. F-Forget it"
Once again, she was calling bullshit, but she also knew that interrogating him to death wasn't going to do anything either. So instead, she tried to redirect their attention to the scenery surrounding them, planning to get the information from him some other time.
He turned his head around, as if looking for something. She had noticed him doing it with increasing frequency ever since they had boarded, and it only fed the flame of her worry.
"If you say so…" Millie sighed.
What's going on with you, Moxxie? Why won't you tell me?
Tall figures roamed the deck, dressed to the nines while at the same time looking exhausted, as if all their energy had been spent getting up the boardwalk. She saw beads of sweat dripping down their faces despite the cold weather. The heavy clothes they wore definitely weren't helping, and she was glad now that her and Moxxie had chosen a simple dress and suit to wear, instead of the thousand-layer clothing that seemed to be suffocating the passengers around them.
"Suckers," she giggled, "Damn suckers."
She smiled to herself as a tall, rich-looking demon bent over the railing and threw off the outer layer of a heavy blouse, shouting extremities before collapsing onto the bench and panting in exhaustion. It reminded her of her own nights stumbling home from bars, falling onto the floor and sweating like no tomorrow, much like the man before her was now.
Unfortunately for her, Blitzo's attention span was quickly redirected to the same woman, and he decided to do something very, very stupid.
"Ha!" Blitzo shouted, just a little bit too loud, "SUCKERS!"
Moxxie whipped around, "Sir, lower your voice! You're going to-"
But they were too late.
Millie stepped out and put her hand in front of Moxxie, as the sweating woman stood up, two large horns extruding from her head as her eyes glowed blue. She looked like the typical stuck-up, pretentious rich snob with a goat-like complexion.
"Who the FUCK said that?" she hissed, stomping across the deck and approaching Blitzo.
"Was it you, numbnuts?" The woman picked him up and clenched her fists, "You better learn to keep your damn mouth shut, goddamn filthy imp."
Both herself and Millie stood in uncomfortable silence as the woman continued shouting, a tirade of insults and curses whipping out with the flapping of her jaw. Even Loona seemed floored by the woman's anger, and the last thing she wanted was to get in the way.
"...fucking worthless, brainless, good-for-nothing, foot-scrubbing, fish-mouthed…."
After what felt like hours, her rant finally ended, her breathing heavy, like a bull about to charge.
And Blitzo was the matador.
Before she even put him back down, their bone-headed boss shouted back at the angry royal, clearly having not learned his lesson.
"Watch your mouth, money-hoarding motherfucker!"
A horrible silence ensued, somehow worse than the screaming fit that had ended just a few short seconds ago. Millie kept her hand out in front of Moxxie, just in case, as she waited for something, anything to happen.
Deep, low rumbling began to sound out from the woman's throat, and it was at that moment they decided to get moving.
Loona leaped up and grabbed her father, shouting as she ran, "Welp, gotta go, this idiot has somewhere to be…"
Millie started running too, grabbing Moxxie's hand and dragging him along, as the furious woman chased after them, thankfully being slowed down by the massive high heels that she was wearing.
"Sorry, miss!" Moxxie called out, in what appeared to be a last-ditch attempt to alleviate the tension, "He's just a moron!"
The four of them threw themselves into a deckhouse, listening as the woman stomped around angrily outside, all of their eyes on Blitzo.
"Good going, Blitz…" Loona retorted, "You made it a whole hour without pissing someone off. Congrats." She clapped sarcastically.
"Watching those rich fucks sweat to death was the best damn thing I've seen today, you think I'm not going to laugh at it?" Blitzo chuckled, "You guys need to get those sticks out of your asses and have some fun."
"I think you're forgetting that we're the most despised species in all of hell!"
The hellhound growled, "One fuck up could get us all killed and nobody would give a shit. Did you see how bright her eyes were? She would've thrown you overboard if I hadn't saved your ass!"
Loona hushed them as a pair of booming footsteps sounded outside of the door, passing by and fading away as quickly as they had come.
"Look, I'm not babysitting you. You're going to get us in some deep shit if you keep pulling stunts like this, and I'd much rather enjoy this damn vacation than have to constantly pull you out of whatever stupid situation you've put yourself into. You hear me?"
"I hear you," Blitzo said, stroking his chin as he grinned like a mischievous toddler, "But I'm not sure I'll be listening."
"Goddammit, Blitz."