"I had that dream again… it was so vivid this time," Barbie said to her raven-like therapist.
"Perhaps your current movie production played a part in that?" the therapist said in a French accent.
"I guess… maybe… I don't know. I've had stressful days before, and the dream never came up. It just comes and goes."
The therapist took a whiff of her long black cigarette before speaking. "Maybe it is more simple than I give it credit for, maybe it is guilt."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But that's why I'm coming to you, Doc, to get over this guilt."
"What the fuck did I just say about calling me that."
"Sorry… Dr. Sabrina."
"Better. Now, I might be an Ars Goetia, but I can't work miracles like my brother Aamon. I just sit, listen, and give you advice. What you do with that is up to you."
Barbie heard her phone go off, so she pulled it out and read a text from her agent. "Fuck, I gotta go. It's urgent." She said as she got off the couch and left the room.
A few minutes later, Barbie arrived at her agent's office. It was a small one, with a desk, two chairs, and framed posters of Barbie's movies on the walls. To the left of the desk was her business partner, Fizzaroli, and behind the desk was an imp wearing a suit and a fedora. This was her agent, Derrick.
"What's the emergency, guys!?" Barbie said.
"Don't you check the news? Never mind, we've got a huge problem here!" Derrick said as he pulled out a newspaper and handed it to Barbie. The front page read as follows: "PRINCE STOLAS OF THE ARS GOETIA MARRIES IMP HE CHEATED ON WIFE WITH," below the headline was a picture of Stolas and an imp she was all too familiar with tongue-fucking on the altar.
"Oh, shit!" Barbie said to herself.
"'Oh, shit' is right!" Derrick said, "Your dipshit brother just married an Ars fucking Goetia! Do you have any idea what would happen if anyone found out that you two were-"
"I know, I know!" Ever since Barbie became a big-time movie star, she'd been trying to hide her past occupation as a duet performer with her brother Blitzo. Only a few people knew about this secret: Derrick, Wally, her father Cash Buckzo, and Fizz. All of which agreed to keep a secret, the latter even helping her in doing that.
"Relax, you two," Fizz said, not concerned at all about the news. He put his right arm around Barbie and extended his left robotic arm around Derrick. "We got rid of every 'Amazing Imp Siblings' poster we could find and bribed/killed anyone who knew about Barbie. Unless someone digs really deep into Blitzo, they won't find out shit."
"And if somebody does dig that deep into him?" Derrick said.
"I'll handle it! In the meantime, Barbie, you just get to the studio and make 'Hell Under Siege' the blockbuster it's gonna be!" While Barbie was no longer worried about being found out, she was still shocked about what her brother had done.
"What the fuck are you doing, Blitzo?" she said to herself as she looked at the newspaper.
2 Months Later
Barbie was driving home from the studio after a long day of shooting. She lived in Ego Hills, a rich neighborhood where those involved in the movie industry of Hell lived. As she pulled up onto her house, she noticed that the front door was open. Barbie didn't remember having anyone over, and she locked the door before heading to the studio today. Which meant she might've had an intruder, which didn't seem possible since this was a gated community with a massive gate.
Regardless, Barbie was going to play it safe. She got out of her convertible and opened the trunk, pulling out a shotgun. Ego Hills wasn't as bad as places like Imp Town, but it was Hell. It paid to be cautious. Barbie went through the open doorway, walking past the stairs on her left. She heard sounds coming from the kitchen on her right, so she entered and pointed her shotgun at the intruder.
Next to the open fridge was a tall, slim, white swan-like demon drinking a bottle of alcohol in her underwear. Her hair, which was probably long in the past, was messy and cut to neck length. It looked like she cut it herself, as some parts of the hair were longer than others. For some reason, she looked familiar to Barbie.
"What the fuck are you doing in my house!" Barbie shouted.
The intruder stopped drinking to look at her, unfazed by the shotgun pointed her way. "Listen here imp," she said drunkenly, "I'm just here for some food and booze. You don't have to tell the owners anything."
"Didn't you hear me! I am the owner!"
The intruder was shocked, "You own this place?" Barbie nodded. The intruder then sat down at the nearby table before taking a swig of alcohol. "Great, first my husband leaves me for a fucking imp, and now I'm stealing whisky from one!"
Her husband… an imp… wait a second. "Was your husband Stolas?" Barbie said before dodging the alcohol bottle that the intruder threw at her.
"Don't say that prick's name!" She shouted.
"So I'm right. You're Stella of the Ars Goetia."
"Was… or I guess I still am. It's how I could survive after all this time." Stella got up and rummaged through the fridge to find another bottle.
"I don't understand," Barbie said, "Everyone said you moved back in with your family after your divorce."
Stella found a bottle and drank from it before speaking. "Oh I did, but my family blamed me for what happened! Me! I'm not the one who fucked an imp behind the other's back!" Stella sat back down at the table. "I lost my allowance, my 'friends' stopped seeing me, and my asshole brother kept tormenting me! I was a prisoner in my own home, so I ran away. I've been living on the streets for about a month now. Had to sell my clothes and jewelry for souls to feed myself."
"Aren't Ars Goetia immortal?"
"We can still starve and it's painful as fuck. I used to have luscious locks before I had to cut them short. Turns out all that it's good for on the streets is picking up grime and filth."
"How the fuck did you get in here? This is a gated community, and the gates are too tall to climb."
"Oh please, I've been to these types of neighborhoods before. The code's either 666 or 1313. This one's code was 999. Very fucking clever, just take 6 and turn it upside down. You might want to think about getting another lock as well."
Stella drank the entire bottle in her hand before dropping it and crying. "It's not fair! I did everything they told me to do! I gave them an heir, and I was loyal. But I'm the one that gets punished! Sure, I insulted Stolas every chance I got and neglected my daughter, but that's no different from any other royal family! Meanwhile, Stolas gets the man of his dreams, his daughter, and his title intact! It's just not fucking fair!"
Stella put her head down on the table and continued to cry. At this point Barbie had lowered her gun, feeling sorry for the drunken royal. She couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for all this. After Stella had rubbed the tears from her eyes, she drunkenly got up and walked towards the exit. "Don't mind me, I'll be out of your… horns. Back out into the cold streets with all the drug addicts and potential murderers."
"Wait!" Barbie shouted, which made Stella stop and look back at her. "… You can stay here."
Stella was shocked, "You're shitting me."
"You're going to have to agree to some terms, but we can talk about that after you've sobered up."
Stella was so happy that she finally had a place to live that she forgot all about her hatred towards imps and hugged Barbie "Oh thank you! Thank you so much!"
Barbie couldn't help but smile. To her, this was her chance to get over her guilt. A chance to make up for what she did to Blitzo.