"Hey," the female demon spoke up after a couple seconds of silence. The first thing I noticed about her was her body shape, it was basically the embodiment of the hourglass figure. Like the abdomen was almost nonexistent. Then there was the strong smell of perfume that wafted from her purple skin. Her clothes were on the fancier side, she even had what seemed to be a diamond necklace that draped over her green pantsuit top. She had some expensive looking shades on her rounded face and I could barely see some diamond earrings under her flowing red hair. "Aren't you the sinner Luzz was just talking too?"
Before I could even answer Hourglass here, the gruff sounding male spoke up, "Yeah…I think you're right!"
This demon was a little weirder, he had what seemed to be an African lion's head, but the rest of his body was that of an upright brown bear's. He had a gray business suit and pants, but he also had gray bat-like wings coming out of his back. I wasn't sure how it worked with his business suit on though.
"Say," Nature's Finest continued. "What say we do what Luzz here was too afraid to do?"
Luzz looked concerned as the last one spoke.
"That's a great idea," he said. This guy was the most complicated. His blue skinned head was almost completely spherical but had the most human features out of the three, although his ears were abnormally large and he had very stringy black hair. His torso, which was covered by a tan business suit, was also very spherical which gave him the 'I frequent McDonalds look', and his limbs, from what I could see, were almost robotic in nature. They looked like they were actually made of metal. His hands were covered by gloves that gave Mickey Mouse a run for his money and in his right gloved hand was what seemed to be a diamond encrusted cane. He was like if Corporate America manifested itself as an eldritch being. "What say you Luzz?"
Luzz just whimpered, they really had a hold on her it seemed. I glared at them in anger, "Who the Hell do you think you guys are?"
"Excuse me?" Corporate America questioned my outburst. I just kept glaring at him angrily. They all laughed at me.
"I think he wants to fight!" Hourglass said through her fit of laughter. As they all settled down, Corporate America looked at Nature's Finest.
"Hand me the revolver," he motioned towards the briefcase in Nature's Finest hands. That had me a little worried, can guns kill me, even as a demon? I wasn't sure and I didn't really want to find out. Before anyone could react, I lunged at Corporate America, knocking us both to the ground. I had no clue how to fight, so I was just swinging wildly as Corporate America tried to regain his senses. Even though I think I landed a couple good hits to the face, the tides quickly turned as I was pulled off him by the other two and thrown onto the grimy concrete. I quickly sat up, only to see Nature's Finest pointing a revolver that was glowing white at my face only a couple feet away. I looked around, only to realize that Luzz was gone!
"Aww," Hourglass said mockingly. "Looks like she abandoned you. You really can't trust anyone, huh?"
I looked down in sadness, bracing for my inevitable second demise. When I heard a shout and a cry of pain, then something hit my feet. Looking up, Luzz was trying to fend off the three demons with a knife of some sort and at my feet was none other than the revolver! It looked to be a magnum of some sort but it had glowing white markings on both the barrel and grip. Quickly I picked up the magnum and stood up. As I pointed it at them, I realized that Nature's Finest had a knife to Luzz's throat, the same one that the latter was just using.
"Let her go!" I shouted, pointing the gun, albeit very shakily, at Nature's head.
"Or what?" he smiled. "You gonna kill one of us? Judging by your shaky hands and your hesitation, you don't have the guts. So here's how it's gonna go, you're gonna lay down the gun, and maybe, just maybe, we let you both go."
"Don't Paul!" Luzz said. "You can't believe them!"
"Shut up!" he said, shaking Luzz as he did so. Then he glared at me. "Your choice!"
"D…don't make me do this…" I said, tears starting to form. I've never killed anyone before, I didn't want to start now. Even if they were demons. He laughed at my despair.
"You don't have the guts either way," he snorted. "Now put the gun down or she fucking dies! It's simple math. Gun. Or. Death. I'll count to three! One. T-"
Before he could count to three, I pulled the trigger and somehow, my aim was on point as the bullet flew straight into Nature's forehead. There was a small spark of light from the entry wound, and he fell over, dead almost instantly, releasing Luzz from his grip. The rest of them stared at the body, motionless. Then they looked at me, wide eyed and holding the smoking gun. The two remaining thugs took the opportunity to run out of the alley. Leaving just Luzz and I, as I stood there, not moving an inch, she came walking over and put her right hand on mine. At the sensation, my shoulders slumped and I fell to my knees.
"Are…are you okay Paul?" she asked.
"I killed him…" I muttered. And then I looked at her with tears in my eyes. "I didn't even know his actual name and then I shot him…"
"You did it to protect me though," she said softly. "You don't know how grateful I am for that."
"I did it to protect you," I repeated. "I know that. But what if I had just let him have the gun? You know?"
"I can guarantee you that they would've still killed you and done worse to me," she sighed. "Paul…I know this may not be the best time to ask, but why are you down here, in Hell? You don't seem like everyone else who ends up down here."
"I don't know," I said, then gave a sad chuckle. "All my life I've been afraid to stand up to bullies, I could never stay mad at anyone for long. I already regret getting mad at my bosses. And now, the first time I decide to do what's right, I kill someone."
She got quiet after that, most likely not knowing what else to say, so we just sat there for a couple minutes with nothing but the sound of me crying and the city sounds outside of the alley. Until she finally decided to break the silence.
"Paul, we should get going," she said. "To the hotel."
I nodded and sniffled, as I stood up I saw the briefcase and gun.
"We should take the gun with us," I said. "I don't want to be the cause of another death by just leaving this gun here."
She seemed to hesitate, but eventually nodded. We packed the gun into the briefcase and headed out of the alley and towards the hotel. We were about halfway there when Luzz spoke up.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"For what?" I asked, looking straight at the sidewalk as we walked and talked.
"For putting you in that position," she clarified.
"It's not your fault," I sighed. "And I'm starting to realize that I truly didn't have another option. Doesn't make it any less easy though."
"I want you to know that I am eternally grateful for what you did," she said. "The things I've done for them, it's…I mean I almost robbed you."
She trailed off at that and I looked at her to see some slight tears.
"It's okay," I then gave a dry chuckle. "Didn't have anything for you to steal on me anyways, so we're good."
She smiled slightly, then looked up and pointed. I followed her gaze to see the Hotel in the distance.
"Why does it say 'Hazbin Hotel'?" I asked her as I noticed the neon sign on top of the building.
"Name change maybe?" she suggested. I just shrugged as we headed even further along, as we walked I noticed we were getting some stares, mostly directed at Luzz. She wasn't lying when she said imps were looked down upon in these parts. Thankfully, we reached the road that led to the hotel without further incident. The hotel, which was in a mostly secluded area away from the rest of the city, had to be at least twenty floors. For some reason there was a decently sized crater on the side of the road. We ignored it as we headed towards the front entrance. We were almost there when Luzz stopped and looked down.
"What's wrong?" I asked, turning back to look at her with concern.
"I just…" she muttered, then looked up at me. "What if they don't accept me into the Hotel, because I'm not a sinner?"
"If they don't," I said matter of factly. "Then we leave. Simple as that."
"I couldn't do that to you," she shook her head.
"You're not doing anything to me," I smiled. "It's my choice."
She looked at me for a couple seconds in silence, then smiled and nodded. Once she caught back up to me we walked to the front doors. After hesitating for a minute, I raised my fist to the door and knocked. About a minute later, Charlie answered the door.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel!" she smiled. "How can I help you?"
