"This is going to be the start of some real changes around here! The game is set! And now, stay tuned." Alastor spoke those last two words softly to his microphone as he approached the front doors to the hotel. And with a dramatic flair, he cast his microphone cane out of his hand and it disappeared in a puff of black and red smoke the moment it lost contact with his skin. And Alastor continued walking, his hands behind his back and his smile ever-present.
Nifty the tiny cyclops, who had been excitedly hopping along next to Alastor, zipped off as soon as she entered the hotel's walls and she began cleaning cobwebs, killing pests and dusting every square inch of the ground floor, before she zipped up the stairs to start on the next one.
Husk, the grumpy gambling winged cat demon, grumbled and slouched his way over to the bar, that also doubled as the hotel's new front desk, where he took out a large green bottle of unbranded amber liquid and began guzzling to his heart's content.
Next to enter was Angel Dust, the resident pornstar. His four arms adjusting his outfit to be as provocative as possible, his feet click-clacking on the wooden floors. He perched himself on one of the sofa chairs Alastor had summoned out of thin air as he passed by the fireplace, on his way to the kitchen.
Finally, Charlie and Vaggie came in together, closing the door, that Alastor had poofed back into the doorframe, behind them, shutting out the sounds of Sir Pentious's airship burning and his eggbois sizzling.
"We uh, should really clean that up," Charlie said, gesturing at the door with her thumb.
"We'll do it tomorrow hun," Vaggie said, placing her hand on Charlie's "It's getting dark out and we're all hungry and tired,"
From the back of the hotel, the sound of the kitchen door opening and closing was followed by the sounds of cupboards and drawers opening and closing, and also the sound of the fridge door opening as Alastor acquainted himself with the hotel's kitchen.
"Fuck that!" Angel piped up from the sofa. "I ain't doing more than I have to at this place. I'm only here for the free room and free food," He had flipped over on the couch, resting his head on the chair arm and his legs hanging off the other end.
"Please Angel? It would really help us out," Charlie pleaded, approaching the provocatively clad spider-demon.
"I told ya, no. Plus I gotta go see to some stuff in the mornin' so I won't be around to help anyways," Angel had pulled out his phone, the case was the same pale pink as the stripes on his suit jacket.
"Where do you even go anyway?" Vaggie asked, trying to keep the anger from bleeding through her voice.
"None o' your business toots," Angel replied as he began scrolling through some texts.
"It's okay. Maybe Nifty and Alastor will help," Charlie said, resting her hands on Vaggie's shoulders as she prepared to interrogate Angel further.
Suddenly from behind them, the sound of the cooker being sparked to life was followed by the sound of a pan being placed over the top of it and a heavenly aroma of cooking food began emanating from the closed kitchen door. Vaggie collapsed on the sofa opposite Angel as Charlie approached the kitchen door to investigate. As she approached, she heard the sound of Alastor humming a merry tune as he cut something on the cutting board. Charlie tried to open the door but it was locked. Maybe he just didn't want to be disturbed. By the sounds of it, Alastor was enjoying himself.
Charlie began climbing the stairs to fetch her laptop from her bedroom, unfortunately, this was necessary as the elevator was currently broken. However, just as she began climbing the stairs, the kitchen door unlocked and Alastor poked his head out, the sharp yellow-toothed smile ever-present on his lips.
"Charlie, dear? Where might I find some olive oil, hm?" He asked politely, despite the sinister radio effect his voice possessed.
"Oh, um. I think there's some in the fridge door. Do you want some help, Al?" She offered, figuring it was the least she could do for him helping out the hotel so much already.
Alastor's smile grew somehow wider at Charlie's offer, though if it was genuine or a facade, nobody could tell. "No, no no, dear. I'm fine thank you. It's the least I could do for turning up so rudely without an invitation!" The smile spread to his eyes as he disappeared behind the kitchen door once more. Charlie shrugged and gave a little shake of the head. Was that Alastor's first genuine smile to her? No, maybe she just wasn't paying attention. And she shoved the thought to the back of her head to dwell on later.
As Charlie approached the second-floor hallway, she was almost knocked off balance by Nifty as she whizzed past, a large black garbage bag in tow. Making a mental note to thank Nifty when she wasn't moving at the speed of sound, Charlie continued up the stairs to the very top floor. There were only two doors on this floor, not counting the elevator doors and the stairwell arch. The arched doorframes held elegantly carved double doors, leading to the dual penthouse suites. Both with separate living rooms and bedrooms and en suite bathrooms. Charlie made her way over to her side of the bed and took the laptop off her nightstand and unplugged the charging chord. It was pale red, with a picture of a red apple with a bite taken out of it. Memories of her farther flashing through her mind as Charlie looked at the laptop.
She snapped out of her memories and she turned to head back downstairs. Nifty had progressed to the third floor and she had left a garbage bag at the top of each flight of stairs to take down later. Back on the first floor, Charlie first noticed that the smell of the food was positively overwhelming and it made her stomach growl and mouth water with anticipation. Looking over at the couch, Angel was now scrolling through some form of social media and Vaggie appeared to have fallen asleep, curled up on the sofa. Charlie smiled as Vaggie hadn't been able to sleep much with the upcoming tv interview.
Charlie perched herself on a chair surrounding a circular dining table that had spontaneously appeared upon her brief spell upstairs, clearly Alastor's doing judging by the tastefully carved wood chairs and fancy red table cloth.
Placing her laptop on the table, Charlie opened it and began working some more on her plans for the hotel and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten the inspiration she had hoped from the interview and so her notes were stuck like they were. Only occasionally adding a word here and there as she read through them for the umpteenth time. Charlie sighed, placing her forehead in her hands as she wracked her brains for something. Anything.
Charlie had sat there for quite some time as when she was jolted from her thoughts, it was much darker outside, nearly night time.
"Charlie, dear? May I trouble you to move your computer contraption? Dinner is nearly ready to serve," She looked up and saw Alastor, Illuminated by the wall lamps, stood next to a stack of six plates, ready to put out onto the table.
"Oh, sorry Al. I lost track of time there," Charlie said, placing her laptop underneath her chair and standing up to stretch her numb joints.
"Not to worry. It happens to all of us," Alastor smiled as always, but there seemed to be an extra layer of care and attention as he carefully laid out the plates on the table, followed by cutlery. "Excuse me, I must go inform the others,"
Alastor turned and swept away, leaving Charlie to her thoughts once more. However, without her work to focus on, they got much darker than they usually would have. Would her father ever approve of the hotel? Would her mother eventually return any of her many voicemails or would they continue to pretend as though she didn't exist?
Thankfully, Vaggie and Angel dropped into chairs either side of her, snapping Charlie out of thoughts once more.
"Smiles better hurry up with the grub, I'm starving," Angel complained, throwing his head back and using his lower arms to cradle his stomach as it rumbled.
"Have some fucking patience, jeez," Vaggie sniped back at him.
"If it tastes half as good as it smells it'll be worth waiting for!" Charlie commented as Husk plopped into the seat next to Vaggie where he continued to drink his third bottle of booze. Although he didn't join in on the conversation.
And finally, Nifty appeared at the bottom of the stairs with one of the garbage bags, which she then zipped over to the front doors and left it there. She then zoomed back upstairs and repeated the process until all six of the garbage bags were waiting by the front door. Then in a blink of an eye, she appeared in the chair next to Angel Dust, leaving a space in between her and Husk for Alastor.
After a couple more minutes, the kitchen door finally unlocked and Alastor sauntered into the room and he sat down in his chair.
"Hey, where's the grub?" Angel asked before he had even sat down.
Alastor's response was simply to snap his fingers, the sound echoing as a whisp of red smoke came off of his fingertips. And suddenly, all six of them had plates full of freshly cooked jambalaya.
"Wow, Al! This looks great!" Charlie exclaimed, grabbing her fork with enthusiasm.
"Charlie, wait," Vaggie warned, putting her hand on Charlie's. "How do we know this isn't poisoned or something?" She glared at Alastor, who responded with a roll of his large red eyes.
"Do you really think I would taint my mother's recipe? No, no. You are wise to not trust me, especially given my... destructive past, but you have nothing to fear from me," Alastor didn't seem the slightest bit offended, he even gave a good chuckle. He even accentuated his point by picking up his fork and taking a mouthful of the jambalaya. Nifty, Husk and Angel followed suit.
"Mm. This is pretty good, smiles," Angel commented, taking another large mouthful.
"It's delicious!" Charlie squealed. "Come on Vaggie. Try it," Charlie turned to her girlfriend, who remained reluctantly staring at her plate, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Ugh, fine," Vaggie sighed and took the fork Charlie was hovering in front of her lips. She slowly chewed it for a few seconds then swallowed. "Okay, this is pretty good," She admitted, picking up her own fork and picking at her plate.
"I'm glad you all like it!" Alastor replied fondly. "Now before we tuck in, I propose a toast. To this hotel! And our new partnership," He held up a glass of whiskey that he had conjured out of nowhere. The others looked around and found that a glass of whiskey had appeared in front of Angel and Husk, and a glass of wine had appeared in front of Charlie, Vaggie and Nifty.
"To the Happy Hotel!" They all chimed in unison, clinking their glasses together. Alastor's ghostly studio audience began clapping and cheering.
The meal passed rather peacefully. There was a low hum of chatter broken by the occasional joke from Alastor, either getting a laugh from those at the table or his ghost audience. His grin ever-present.
The meal also had a rather large effect on Vaggie too as she relaxed much more around Alastor. She even laughed at a few of his jokes, although that could be from the mysteriously refilling wine glass instead of the jambalaya.
The discussion shifted from how they all ended up in hell, to how Nifty and Husk came to be under Alastor's employ, which they replied vaguely, and then Alastor asked about the origins of the hotel. By now, their plates were empty.
"Well, it first belonged to my parents," Charlie began, "It used to be a nightclub but over time they got bored of it. Then when I pitched the hotel to them they said they would lend it to me and I could have it if we get at least five patients within the first two weeks of the hotel's official opening,"
"And if you fail to reach that amount of patients by the deadline?" Alastor asked, examining the tips of his gloved fingers.
"They take the hotel back," Charlie finished. A sudden dread set in, like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out. They had barely convinced Angel to stay, and he was only in it for the free room and food, not redemption.
"Not to worry, dear. I've already cashed in a few favours for this place and I'll be damned if I'm going to let that investment go to waste!" Alastor gave Charlie a friendly wink while taking a sip from his whiskey.
"And how do you expect to do that?" Vaggie asked, leaning back in her chair and resting her cheek on her hand.
"I have a few friends who I could convince to lend a few pennies. That should cover funding issues just nicely. And if you're good I can put an advertisement on my radio station every once in a while. Perhaps I could convince a few people to check-in, in person too," Alastor leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin with a finger, thinking hard.
"Really!?" Charlie exclaimed, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Al, that would be fantastic, thank you!" She practically raced around the table and embraced Alastor, who tried his best to politely pull away from her.
"Yes, yes. It's no trouble. Though I can't promise anything," He gently pried Charlie away from himself and she dropped back into her seat, still beaming.
"Convince?" Vaggie peered at Alastor, "If that means threatening them-"
"My, my. I'm hurt. What do you take me for?" Alastor rolled his eyes as his smile somehow widened, threatening to tear his face in half. "I assure you that nobody who checks into this hotel will do so against their will. You have my word," He reached a long arm over the table and offered his hand to Vaggie.
"If you think I'm dumb enough to shake that, you can think again. I know you're a dealmaker," She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at Alastor.
"Hm, suit yourself," Alastor replied, retracting his hand and standing up, dusting off his red pinstriped jacket. "Now then, I have some last-minute business to attend to. I bid you all good night. I trust you will lend a room to Husker and Nifty?" He glanced sideways at Charlie.
"Yeah, sure. Pick any!" She smiled at the two of them.
"Then I shall take my leave. 'Til we meet again!" he said, conjuring his microphone staff out of thin air, and he headed in the direction of the door. He snapped his fingers again, and the shadow being cast from the light coming from the stained glass door seemed to just stand up in the middle of the hall. It opened it's narrow blue eyes and a smile that stretched to its forehead appeared in the blackness. The shadow proceeded to gather up all the empty plates, glasses and cutlery and it carried them over to the kitchen and set them down in the kitchen sink. It then disappeared in a puff of black smoke as Alastor closed the door behind him. They heard the sound of radio static and a change in radio frequencies and Alastor's silhouette faded into the stained glass, vanishing from sight.
"I'll get the dishes!" Nifty burst out and she zipped into the kitchen and shut the door.
"I'm going to bed. I'm just going to take a key, I don't care what room it's for," Husk grunted as he got out of his chair, a few joints popping and he slouched off to the front desk to grab a key and he disappeared upstairs. Vaggie caught a glimpse of something green disappearing behind his wing, which looked suspiciously like a bottle.
"Imma hit the hay too. By the sounds of it, Val's gonna run me through the mill tomorrow," Angel Dust sighed at his phone and put it in his jacket pocket. He stood up and headed up the stairs after Husk, but he seemed to be lacking the usual spring in his step.
This left only Charlie and Vaggie sitting at the table. Reaching under her chair, Charlie brought out her laptop again and placed it in between herself and Vaggie. "Come on Vaggie, we should get some more ideas down if we're going to be getting a few patients soon. I-"
"Charlie," Vaggie sighed as she placed a hand on the laptop screen and pushed it back down. "We've been hardly sleeping thanks to the interview. We should get some actual sleep. Take your mind off work for once,"
"Okay Vaggie," Charlie said, standing up and pushing her own chair, along with Husk and Angel's chairs, back under the table. "Let me just go get my jacket from the car." Charlie turned to head out of the door and she grabbed her keys from her pocket. From behind her, she heard Nifty zip out of the kitchen and she felt a small breeze as she raced past her legs in her haste to take the trash bags she had left by the door to the dumpster outside.
Stepping outside, Charlie saw that the sky had turned to near pitch black. The only illumination came from the red pentagram emblazoned on the black orb hanging in the sky, that the denizens of hell called a moon, and a small white spot far away, framed by clouds. The place where the exterminators came charging out to slaughter as many demons as they possibly could for a whole day. Heaven.
Nifty zoomed back and forth to grab another bag.
She felt the cold night air pierce through her clothes, like tiny knives repeatedly sinking into her skin. Strange how hell could simultaneously be the hottest and coldest place in the whole of creation. She heard, off in the distance, a faint evil cackling followed by a scream.
Again, Nifty raced by her at speeds no other sinner could.
Holding her arm for comfort, Charlie made her way over to the white car, the grill decorated to look like a gaping sharp-toothed maw. Pressing the unlock button on her car keys, she quickly opened the back door, grabbed her jacket and closed it just as fast. After all, this was hell and a demon could easily slip inside and steal the vehicle in the short time it took to open and close a car door.
Zip. Zip. The pink and black streak that was nifty zoomed in and out of the hotel doors again.
Folding the jacket over her arm, Charlie turned to make her way back inside the hotel, but out of her peripheral vision, she noticed that the sign looked a little different. Taking a closer look, she realised that it had been changed from 'Happy Hotel' to 'Hazbin Hotel'
Woosh. Woosh. Nifty might as well have been a bullet.
'This must have been Alastor's doing.' she thought to herself. Deciding to confront him about it later, she entered the hotel once more. She found Vaggie waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, clutching the laptop against her chest.
Nifty raced back inside, having taken all the trash bags to the dumpster. She appeared at the front desk to grab a key from the rack behind it.
"I'll be in 1A if you need me." She waved goodnight and vanished before they could say anything.
Charlie locked the doors and gave a good pull on the handles before meeting with Vaggie, and the two of them ascended together. Vaggie slung the laptop under her left arm and held Charlie's hand with her right.
They found that on top of cleaning out all of the junk that used to litter the corners of the halls and rooms, Nifty had taken it upon herself to completely rid the place of cobwebs and other pests. Even the carpets that usually let out a small puff of dust when stepped on were spotless.
"Wow. I admit, I still think we shouldn't have let Alastor in on the hotel, but if it weren't for Nifty, we would have taken weeks to get the place this clean," Vaggie stared around in disbelief as she had never seen the place in such good shape.
"I hope Al pays her because I want to give her a raise," Charlie too was staring around with a look of awe on her face. "But come on Vags, give him a chance?"
"Ugh, fine. But for you, not for him." They continued to climb the stairs until the got to the top floor and they crossed from the stairwell to their suite. Charlie hung her jacket up on the hat stand that was just beside the doors.
"I'm going to need to get this fixed," She sighed, "The elbow's all ripped and some buttons have popped off,"
"In fairness though, you kicked Killjoy's ass," Vaggie called from inside the bedroom.
"Yeah I did," Charlie couldn't help but smile. Vaggie always knew how to do that. She slipped her suspenders off of her shoulders and untied her bowtie, but left it hanging around her neck. She then plopped herself onto the couch sat in front of their small entertainment centre. Comprised of a medium-sized TV, DVD and VCR player. Letting her head fall back, Charlie held her hands over her eyes as she felt the tiredness wash over her.
"Hey, hey. None of that. Come to bed," Charlie looked at the doorway to their bedroom to see Vaggie leaning on the frame in her white pyjama pants and black bra, halfway to putting on her pyjama top. She had also taken the bow out of her hair and removed her eyepatch, revealing her darkened eyelid, emblazoned with a large red X over an empty eye socket.
"You're not my mom," Charlie groaned, but with a small smirk.
"No, but I am your girlfriend and I want to take care of you," Vaggie said, pulling the pyjama top over her head and then running a hand through her hair to drag it out from the back of it.
"Fine. I could do with a good night's sleep," Charlie dragged herself off of the couch and headed towards the bedroom.
"We both could do with a proper night's sleep," Vaggie corrected her as Charlie removed her tie from around her neck, followed by removing her suspenders from her trousers and putting them neatly back in the wardrobe she and Vaggie shared.
Crossing the room to reach their dresser, Charlie smiled at some of the pictures they had put there. One was of a much younger Charlie and her father playing with a hellhound pup. Another was of herself and Vaggie on their first valentine's day. And a third was of Charlie, her father, her mother and Vaggie when she had taken her to meet them for the first time.
Taking out her favourite peach-coloured pyjamas, Charlie was a little surprised when she felt Vaggie slink her hands around her waist and rest her chin on her shoulder.
"I like those," She said, "You look so cute in them," She planted a kiss on Charlie's neck and she retreated to their queen size bed in the middle of the room, the headboard pressed against the wall opposite the entrance.
"You look cute in everything," Charlie retorted as she untucked her shirt and began unbuttoning it.
"If I weren't so tired, I'd ask you to take that off slowly," Came Vaggie's sly voice from behind her.
"Too bad because I really wanna wear these comfy pyjamas now," Charlie retorted, pulling the soft shirt over her head and removing the hairband at the tips of her hair. She heard Vaggie's chuckle as she stepped out of her trousers and put on her pyjama bottoms, made out of the same super soft cotton-like material as the top.
Finally climbing into bed next to Vaggie, Charlie kissed her on the forehead and slumped further into the depths of the covers, turning her back to Vaggie. She raised a hand and gave it an elegant wave and the lights suddenly switched off and their curtains swished closed. Charlie smiled as she felt Vaggie's arms snake over her as she assumed her position as big spoon, and Charlie felt safe and protected.
"I don't know if it's the PJ's or just you but one demon should not this huggable," Charlie responded by interlocking her fingers on her left hand with the fingers on Vaggie's hand, and she closed her eyes. and ever so slowly, Vaggie's breathing slowed to a tiny snore and Charlie felt herself slip peacefully into sleep.
So, what did you think of my first HH fanfic? This first chapter may be a little boring, but more interesting stuff will be coming. Its mostly to help me get into writing the characters for the future. I'll try and upload chapters weekly, if not every other week.
All criticism is welcome. Any attempts to suggest how to improve my writing skills would be greatly appreciated.
Oh and if you're wondering why this story is rated M, you're just going to have to find out in future chapters.