Chapter Twenty-Two: A New Sinner, a Dance and a Tragedy

Lillian O'Donnell. Known as a serial killer. She utilized unusual methods of killing. She enjoyed hunting her prey throughout her large forest. She was a consummate hunter and predator in life. Now, she wasn't quite sure where she was. But she did know that wherever she was, it was a new chance to find prey. She didn't have a specific weapon that she favored. She preferred to use ranged weapons to hamper her prey and then melee weapons to kill them. So she would use a bow to shoot them through the leg or even just hit a non-vital area and then follow them until they weren't able to flee.

Unlike most hunters, she enjoyed it when her prey temporarily escaped. She liked the challenge of hunting down her prey and slaying them. She always prayed to Artemis before every hunt. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, and like Artemis, she had devoted her life to being a huntress. While she didn't lack the ability to fight in close quarters, she was not a seasoned melee combatant. So if she ended up in melee, she would aim for vital points and focus on either escaping said melee or letting the opponent bleed out. She had heard of another Demon in Hell who was skilled at hunting.

Alastor. However, unlike Alastor, she didn't consume her prey. Instead, she skinned them and used their skin for her crafts. She was exceptionally skilled at making leather furniture, much of which she sold. She then burned the bodies in an incredibly high heat kiln. She had a chainsaw that she could use to kill if she wanted to make the person suffer in fear. But she rarely availed herself of that, since the chainsaw was heavy and unwieldy and wasn't really the most efficient killing machine and took a long time to clean afterwards. She had modified the saw to not jam when it met human flesh.

But it was still a pain in the ass to use. She smirked as she looked around. It was fairly inhospitable, or at least it seemed so from the rather egregious looking crowd that she was surrounded by.

"Excuse me." The Coywolf Demon said politely. She may have been a serial killer. But she wasn't a savage. First, she would probably need work. She was trying to figure out where exactly she was. She had a feeling. A tall Demon turned to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes? How can I help you?" He asked, a heavy English accent in his voice.

"I just wonder where I am." She said.

"Well… Hell, of course. Is that not obvious?" He asked. Lillian chuckled, looking in a filthy puddle that seemed to be tinged with red. Blood most likely. She was definitely a Demon of some sort. She sighed. It stood to reason that once she died, she would go to Hell. She never believed in the Judeo-Christian God in life. Still, she wasn't disappointed. She would definitely have more fun in Hell than she could in Heaven.

"Is there a weapons store around here?" Lillian asked. The tall Demon sniffed her.

"You stink of the human world. Do you even have any money to buy weapons?" He asked.

"Well… No. But I'm quite skilled. I can offer my services." She said.

"Aha… Prostitutes are a dime a dozen down here." He said.

"No, no, no! Not prostitution. I'm a hunter and a crafter. I can make chairs and other furniture out of human flesh." She said. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting. Well… I'm not sure how many Demons you could slice apart like that with common weapons. But good luck. I have some time. If you use the weapons to make your first kill in my name, I'll take you to the store." He said.

"Excellent. Who do you want killed?" She asked. She didn't usually undertake assassinations. But she was talented and she figured she might make some good money in Hell if she could use her skills and charge for it.

"Here. This is her. Zaelwyn Dibrikond. Kill her and I'll give you 100,000 Pecunias."

"I want a gun that can do the job as well. Along with ammunition." Lillian said.

"What? 100,000 Pecunias could pay to kill 5 Zaelwyns!" The man protested.

"Hey! If you want me to kill someone, give me a weapon. Cuz as far as I know, I don't have any. 5 of them, huh? You must really want them dead" She said. That wasn't strictly true. She had claws and teeth. But she felt that someone as skilled at killing as she was deserved to bargain for her services.

"Fine! Fine! I'll give you a good gun. Small, but it shoots accurately." The man said. Lillian nodded, going to the Demon's house with him, looking through his stockpile of guns. He had plenty.

"I'll take this one." She said, taking a gun that she didn't recognize. But she liked the way it felt.

"No, no, no. This one is much better. It's good for long distance shots and you can attach a scope onto it if you need to." He said, lengthening the gun and attaching the scope to the gun.

"Now, Zaelwyn is currently under the auspices of the Princess of Hell. In the very likely event that you don't know what that means, it means you should make sure she doesn't find out it was you who killed Zaelwyn." He said.

"What is your name? Or a name you want to give me." She said. She'd never done work as an assassin. She preferred to choose her own targets. She killed mostly men. But sometimes she killed women too. It just depended on who looked like they could stand up to her tests.

Her last victim, a young woman, maybe 35 years old, who had graduated top of her class and joined the SEALS. She hadn't needed to join the military. But her father and three brothers had all been in the Marines. She had wanted to prove that she was their equal and that in fact she could be their better. She had proven it. She had excelled in the SEALS and was having one last night of fun before she shipped out when Lillian spiked her drink and she woke up in Lillian's Forest.

Unfortunately for Lillian, Candace Fleet had gotten top marks in survival, guerilla tactics and hand-to-hand combat. So the arrow to her calf slowed her down, but didn't stop her. Even when Lillian finally found her and approached her to kill her, wanting to honor her for her skill and cool demeanor even when being hunted. Candace's cool demeanor was what availed her in the end. A fight ensued and Candace snapped Lillian's neck in the final fight. And Lillian didn't know this, but Candace was already calling the SEALS to tell them that she had been delayed in reporting for duty.

She called them from her hospital bed and told them that she'd been waylaid and that as soon as she was out of the hospital, she was ready to report for duty. At the moment, Lillian familiarized herself with Zaelwyn's appearance before heading out to hunt her down.

-0-

Zaelwyn sighed. They didn't really want to get a date for the dance. But this was for Charlie. They were doing it to bring more attention to the Hotel, to get people to notice how well the sinners could do if given the right support network. Charlie had worked wonders with the likes of Alastor and Angel Dust, both formerly unrepentant sinners as far as anyone knew. They looked through their contact book. As a former gladiator, they had a lot of contacts, both former comrades in arms and former masters. Zaelwyn had been a slave for a long time in Hell, only recently escaping their shackles.

Finally, they found a young man. They were sure he would say no. But they called the man.

"Hey, Razzie… Can I ask a favor of you?" Zaelwyn asked. Razzie chuckled. It had been a long time since he'd heard from them. Likely over ten years. He'd met her for the first time over 15 years ago when his father bought Zaelwyn as his personal gladiator. He liked their style and their viciousness in the ring. He couldn't deny having a bit of a crush on Zaelwyn at the time. But Zaelwyn had shown little interest in him. They showed the proper 'respect' to him as their master's son.

But they'd never shown any actual interest in him as a person. In fact, there was almost a contemptuous tone hidden deep in their tone of voice when they spoke to him. The truth was, they didn't have a specific problem with him. They had a problem with being bought and sold as a slave. They had been captured by a band of slavers. They had gotten captured shortly after they came to Hell and only gained their freedom a little more than ten years ago. They found the prospect of freedom more difficult than they were expecting though and decided to throw their lot in with the Happy Hotel.

"Zaelwyn… It's… Wow, it's been a long time. To what do I owe this stroll down memory lane?" He asked, a sophisticated tone of voice as usual.

"Ah, well… I'm sure I'm barking up the wrong tree…"
"I get it. Because you're a Wolf Demon. Funny." Razzy said.

"Yes, I am. I don't see how… Oh, well… Whatever… I'm sure you have better things to do, but I need a date for an event this evening. I was wondering if you could join me." Zaelwyn said.

"Oh… Well… You know, I have a wife now. But I think that she would permit me to accompany you. Would you be averse to me saying you were a former servant? What event are we going to?" Razzy asked.

"Oh… A dance at the Happy Hotel. Charlotte Magne wishes to advertise the success of her hotel so far." Zaelwyn said. There was almost a laugh in Razzy's voice.

"I see… I never suspected you would fall for such a thing.

"But okay. I'll go to you with this dance… I mean go with you to this dance." He said. He had a habit of switching his sentences around sometimes. It was comical in some ways. But in another way, it made it so he had trouble with public speaking, which could be a problem as a member of a wealthy family.

"Thank you. Now I just need to get a dress that doesn't make me look like a freak." Zaelwyn said. They hated the way they looked in dresses. They preferred suits.

"Well… Would men's clothes make you feel better?" Razzy asked.

"Hell yes." Zaelwyn said bluntly.

"Well… Let me meet you and we'll find you something nice to wear." He said. He still had a soft spot for Zaelwyn. He sighed, kissing his wife and his son and daughter and heading out. He was in for a nasty surprise though.

Lillian smirked as she saw Zaelwyn. She had scoped out the Hotel, expecting that eventually Zaelwyn would come out. She was shocked when Zaelwyn came out within two hours. She followed the former gladiator through town from a distance, trying to find the perfect place to get an open shot of them where they could be hidden from common sight. She sniffed along, finding her sense of smell to be much stronger now. She followed Zaelwyn to the center of town where they stopped and picked up their phone and talked to someone. For about five minutes, they talked and then they hung up.

Zaelwyn stayed there. Lillian took her time, examining every potential person that might see her, finally lining up the shot. She stopped for a moment though, because she could see a tall young man walking up to her. She could take a leave for now and go back to get them another time. But there was no guarantee that she would get another shot. She put the scope back up to her eye, lined up the shot and fired. She smirked as the bullet fired and hit Zaelwyn directly in the head.

Razzy gasped as he saw blood explode from Zaelwyn's head and watched her collapse. She took a photograph of the dead body, zooming in and snapping it and then headed back to the person who hired her.

-0-

"Hey, Angel… You haven't seen Zaelwyn, have you? They went out this morning and they haven't come back.

"Nah, Toots. Ain't seen em since they went out today. Din' even know what they were doin'. They were just on their cell phone, so I didn't wanna disturb em." Angel shrugged. Charlie sighed and started getting ready to go out.

He had a drink of wine in his hand. Charlie had let it go. He said he just needed to calm his nerves a bit. He took a sip, his hand shaking. He had a speech later that night, and he could get by if his speech was slurred a bit, but he couldn't get by if he had to do it without a little liquid courage. He had to do this perfect. He had to be a shining example of how well he was doing under Charlie.

"Wait! Hon, let me go with you." Vaggie said. She didn't want to leave Charlie alone.

She was the daughter of Lucifer, so she had a lot of enemies that would probably love to kill her if they got the chance.
"Ms. Vaggie… I'll go with her. I can track the path Zaelwyn took." Tsuki said politely. She went with Charlie, going down onto all fours and beginning to sniff, guiding Charlie through the city. It was surprisingly warm that day. The dance was starting really soon and Charlie wanted to be back in time. She couldn't afford to be late to her own party.

"Her latest location is coming up, Princess." Tsuki said, grimacing as she smelled blood and brain matter. She could tell that something had happened. She hoped that Zaelwyn had been the one who killed another Demon and not the other way around. As they pulled up though, she knew that it was Zaelwyn who died. Charlie was silent for a long moment. She gasped, seeing Zaelwyn lying dead on the ground, Razzie standing next to her, trying to figure out what to do. He wasn't ready to leave Zaelwyn just yet.

"Ah… Princess Charlotte…" Razzie said softly.

"I… I'm sorry this happened. I walked up to her and suddenly, her head just burst with blood." He said. Charlie covered her mouth in horror. Who would want to kill Zaelwyn. They were starting to turn over a new leaf. They were doing so well.

"Princess… I hate to be the… Bearer of bad news…" Tsuki said softly.

"But it's entirely possible that Zaelwyn was not killed because of something they did, but because of something they knew or that someone feared they knew.

"Slaves often know more than their masters would like to admit. Having been one of the servants of your father's family, I was around when things happened. And whether your father would care to admit it or not, he didn't notice us a lot of the time when he talked about and did things. Between the Nessian Hellhounds in the dozens of Noble and Royal Families in Hell, we keep a great deal of information that… Most of them would not want made public. So why Zaelwyn may have bought their freedom, I don't doubt that many would not want them free.

"Frankly, I'm surprised they survived this long." Tsuki had always been a very cool, composed Hellhound. She had been with the family almost as long as Charlie had been alive. She sort of remembered when Tsuki had been brought in. Charlie had only been 6 or 7 at the time. So that made Tsuki a Nessian Hellhound for over 250 years. Charlie nodded, kneeling down at Zaelwyn's side, tears filling her eyes. A guest at her hotel, someone who was supposed to be under her protection was dead. She was supposed to keep the people at the Happy Hotel safe.

"This is not your fault, Princess. You could not have predicted that this would happen, and the lack of smell of burns suggests that the bullet was fired from far away. Zaelwyn would not have known of their impending doom until the bullet hit." Tsuki said, looking around and digging the bullet out of Zaelwyn's head, sniffing it, cleaning it off and looking at the ridges on it.

"Hmmm… This is an old gun that made this. But a good one. I am going to bring it to Master Evanthos to examine the bullet." She said.

She took Charlie back to the Hotel and then went to Evan.
"Sir… I wish to make a report. One of the Hotel members has been murdered. Here is the bullet that did it." Tsuki said. Evan nodded to her.

"How is Charlie doing?"

"Not well. She did not say a word to me on the way home, but I think she is very angry and hurt." Tsuki said.

Evan nodded, sighing. He couldn't stop the party, and Charlie was a consummate professional in many ways. Even when she got a little silly with her song and dance routines, she put on a good show and she knew what she was doing and knew how to reach people. Evan knew a bit about the human world. If anything, Charlie would be a Bard, like in Dungeons & Dragons. She was a performer at heart. Vaggie was a Fighter/Rogue most likely, given her human life being focused on combat. Alastor was probably a Sorcerer or maybe a Warlock. It was amazing what you could get from the human world, even in Hell.

-0-

"H-hello, everyone. Welcome to our party… I'm so… Glad that you could all make it." Charlie said, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. She was still reeling from Zaelwyn's death. Fortunately, multiple high ranking Demons in Hell had shown up, so that meant that a lot of people were there. However this went tonight would show all of Hell exactly what Charlie could do. Between her lack of sleep, the anxiety that came with planning a party for all of Hell, showing off a project that a lot of the citizens didn't believe in anyway… It was a lot on her shoulders.

Vaggie held Charlie's hand.

"It's alright, Sweetie." Vaggie said, squeezing Charlie's hand tight.

"You'll do great."

"Thanks, Vags." Charlie smiled.

"I want to welcome all of you to this dance! When this hotel began, it was just an ambitious project.

"But I can show you that the people who live here now, their lives have been improved by our intervention. Let me introduce you… I'm sure that you've all heard of Alastor, the Radio Demon. For those of you who haven't met him, his reputation no doubt precedes him. But I would like to introduce him to you all." Charlie said, stepping aside.

"Hello! Ladies and gentledemons! It's a pleasure to have you here tonight. In life, I was but a humble radio announcer, voodoo practitioner, cannibal and serial killer. In death, I reign over the radio waves as an Overlord." Alastor grinned. His grin thinned slightly.

"But it took coming here to realize that wasn't as satisfying a death as I thought it would be. The boredom overwhelmed me. But here, there's always someone to talk to, and Charlotte has done an excellent job with both the Sinners and the Natives here." Alastor said.

"Now, before you ask, no. I don't know if Sinners can be redeemed. Do you? Does Lucifer? Does anyone? If it happened, would anybody know it happened? I can't answer that. But if by redeeming Demons, Charlotte seeks to improve their lives and help them be better people, then she's done that for me. And whether I'll ever end up among the angels, I'm enjoying the time here. And not for nothing. But I'm not bored anymore." He said. The crowd chuckled at that.

"Thank you, Alastor. That was perfect." Charlie said.
"Now, a name that you probably also know, Angel Dust. Former prostitute and drug addict. I could tell you about how he's doing. But I'd rather let him tell you himself. Angel?" Charlie asked, handing Angel the microphone.

"HEY, BITCHESSSS!" Angel shouted, burping loudly. Charlie gasped, blushing in embarrassment and nervousness. He'd had a drink or two to calm his nerves. He'd been drinking most of the day. And he'd moved on from wine to stronger drinks and he just didn't stop.

"Yous all think yous can impresh thish bitch? I's tried my hardesh to be a good lil boy fer her… Buh my mommy shill doeshn finck I'm good enough fer her… An Ahm nah… Shesh an angel, ishn she? Shesh perfect and Ahm jush a jacked up piesha shit!" Angel slurred.

"God! Why can't you love me, Mommy!" Angel sobbed. The crowd gasped. Most of them had seen people drunk and high on pretty much any drug you cared to mention. But this was appalling. Maybe Charlie had done well with Alastor, or maybe he was just lying to push his own agenda. It was obvious in their eyes that she'd failed miserably with Angel. Slowly, people started edging towards the doors. They'd already seen all they needed to see.