Cody was glad to have some of that ice cream and he was hanging out with Octavia in the mansion, where Stolas was more than happy to get rid of Stella's old junk thay was supposed to symbolize this royal "love".
For some things like scarves Stella wore before she got killed, along with most of them being thrown in the fireplace downstairs. Deep down, Stolas felt a great sense of relief and happiness as he was disposing all of Stella's belongings like they were just trash.
He just remembered that there some leftover food that Stella never finished and wondered what he would do to them. An idea came to Stolas' head as he snapped his left finger with a funny smile on his owl-like face. "I got it!" he sang before going in the fridge and or freezer to clear out Stella's old food she never got to finish eating. "My little darlings will love all of this!"
What he meant about his "little darlings" were all his monstrous plants that he keeps. He got as much of his former princess' own food, and fed it to many of his plants. However, something caught his attention and he found a delicious chocolate cake that looked very fancy in golden frosting. It looked so yummy and so delicious to his eyes, but he realized what had just happened in his own castle.
Feeling bad for Cody, he looked at him, who was with Octavia, happy to let the human boy try practicing bongos. 4he sound of bongos was really interesting to Cody's ears. "This is really cool." said Cody.
"Thanks. I love making poetry and what's better than having bongos in your possession as you do poetry?"
"Right. I heard that." Cody was silent for a minute and said: "Are you sure you're ok, Octavia? I mean, after all that just happened."
"of course!" said Octavia. "I will be just fine. You worry too much for a kid your age."
"Well, my parents died in a fire, so you can't blame me."
Octavia frowned and gave him a sympathetic on ehr cute, owl-like face, and sat next to him. "I know. I am very sorry about what happened to you, Cody. Sure, this is Hell, but I do care about you and I really like you."
Cody smiled gratefully. "Thanks Octavia. And I think Loona likes me too."
The Goetia princess made a chuckle and replied: "Of course she does. Loona really cares about you, and she has really warmed up to you."
"Well, Octavia," Cody thought. "I know your dad can embarrass you sometimes,"
"Sometimes? ha! he can embarrass me more times than I can count."
"Yeah, but I think you're lucky to have a dad who really loves you."
"Yeah. you're right."
Stolas overheard it and he was very flattered to hear those words. Cody was telling the truth about that. Although he can be a very kinky and lewd person, and he has a questionable moral compass like any other demon down here, but he really loves his daughter, unlike his now deceased wife.
"Say, I hope this isn't too much, but i would like to ask you something."
"Sure, what is it?"
"How would you like to help me perform at the local club where I like to do poetry and sing to the public? I can sing and you can play the bongos."
"Hmmm. I haven't thought about that. I'll ask Looba and Blitzo about it."
"Sure. that's fine."
"Are you both doing alright here, children?"
"Just fine, dad." Octavia replied. "Cody might help for the rehearsal at the club and he will play bongos for me."
"Oooh, that sounds delightful." Stolas said.
"Sure. let me ask Loona about it."
"Of course. if it doesn't work, we can always find someone else." Octavia noted.
"Wait, why not perform the bongos and sing, sweetie?" asked Stolas.
"Because I feel like this requires my voice only."
"I don't know if this is a good idea, but I know a song you can sing."
"And what's that?"
Cody whispered something to Octavia's ear and she looked surprised and slowly smiled, really liking his idea a great deal.
"Ooh, I love the sound of that." Octavia admitted. "But I will need to listen to the song a couple of times to keep it in my memory."
"Right."
"So Cody, about that Vortex fellow, when does he start as a new employee at IMP?"
"today." Cody said. "Loona's really happy to have Tex be her coworker."
"I can imagine." said Octavia.
Back at the IMP headquarters, Vortex was happy to have gotten a new job and he could hardly wait fpr his new day on the job. He would serve mostly as a bodyguard or a bouncer, kinda like how he was to Verosika, but he will also be apart of the crew to take out targets like the bounty hunters or mercenaries they are.
Cody was sitting with Loona on the couch while Vortex was getting himself some water. Blitzo looked at the male hellhound with slight disdain, but he was Loona's friend and had to deal with it. "Do Vortex, you know how to use weapons? like guns or machine guns?"
"I kinda do, Blitzo," said Tex
"That's Mr Blitzo to you, Vortex. I'm your boss now. or just call me sir." Blitzo narrowed his eyes while getting on his face.
"Oh god." Loona sighed in irritation while rolling her eyes.
Moxxie and Millie went up to him, who were still a little nervous around Verosika's former bodyguard. "Welcome to Immediate Murder Professionals, Vortex." Moxxie looked nervous as he held out his right hand to shake the male Hellhounds big beefy left hand.
Vortex smiled and shook hands with the imp, and in a rather rough manner. "Thank you Moxxie."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Moxxie screamed. "Too much friction!"
"Oh, sorry." Vortex immediately let him go, although Moxxie fell face-first on the floor and his legs twitching.
"Do you just use your claws and mouth to get the job done?" asked Millie curiously
"Most of the time, yeah. and I just use my muscles most of the time too."
"You should see how strong he is." said Loona.
"How strong is he?" Moxxie
"He took down three marines with three taser darts in his neck." Loona replied.
"No way!" Moxxie said. "You're making it up!" his voice rose to a funny scream while pointing both fingers at her.
Loona growled and got up. "Do I look like I fucking lie about him, Moxxie?!"
"Hey! hey! hey!" said Vortex intervening. "Should I tell you that there is a kid here?" he pointed at Cody. "And come on, break it up. We're all friends here."
"This filthy beast is not my friend!" Moxxie pointed at her again. "She's a heroin-addicted loser!"
"Heroin-addicted?!" Loona growled at him.
"Enough!" said Blitzo. "Please. Moxxie, Loona is your friend and I told you. we don't get rid of family."
Sitting next to Cody, Tex asked: "So how was it with Octavia?"
"It was fine. She showed me her bongos. And she wants me to do something for her."
"What's that, kiddo?" asked Blitzo.
"She wants me to play bongos for her while she is singing a song to the audience at some club."
"Ooh, that sounds fun." said Millie. "I think you should totally go for it, honey."
"Well can I Loona?"
"totally." Loona smiled.
"but there's one problem." said Cody. "Octavia says that she also needs a guitarist to play with her too."
"Ooh!" Moxxie made a look of delight on his face. "I can do it."
"Moxxie is an amazing guitarist." said Millie. "If you need one, and one that will do it for free, it's him."
"Will you Moxxie?"
"Anything for you, Cody." said Moxxie. "But I tend to get stage fright a little bit."
"It's true." said Blitzo. "he pi- i mean peed his pants after singing the first notes of Hell's national anthem."
"I did not, sir!" Moxxie said angrily. "You just love rubbing it in my face, do you?"
"Guilty pleasure." Blitzo smirked. "But like I said, I don't judge what you and Mills do outside of work." he even made the "sex" gesture with his fingers at the imp couple.
"You ever tried this before, Moxxie? Imagine the-"
"Audience in their underwear? Yeah. I tried that a few times Cody. Trust me, it can get weird really quick."
"Hmmmm. Oh! how about whuks goy are performing, you can wear a blindfold so you won't have to look."
"That... could work." Moxxie admitted. "Millie, do you think you can escort me to the stage so I don't fall, honey?"
"Sure thing, Mox." Millie said sweetly. So it was in full agreement: Cody would do the bongos for Octavia's song and Moxxie would be the guitar for this song. Aside from that, they all had a meeting about what kind of renovations there should be for the building to get more clients. Cody didn't have to say anything because he was just a boy after all. Vortex ended up sitting with Moxxie and Millie just listening to ideas.
"So Moxxie, we still can't afford a billboard?" Blitzo asked his subordinate
"Unfortunately sir." Moxxir said, "no."
"What about you, Cody?" asked Blitzo
"I don't know if I should help you with this. I... I don't know about budgets and running businesses and all that stuff. But i wish you guys would have killed someone I really don't like." the human boy admitted.
"Ooh. Well, I think we can arrange that." said Loona. "We can do it for free, right Blitzo?"
"I think we can, Loony."
"Will you stop calling me that in front of everyone?!" Loona said in an exasperated tone.
"Sorry. sorry." Blitzo looked a little scared. "Come on, tell us who you want us to finish the job on."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. you guys shouldn't pressure him like this." Vortex said.
"No, it's ok. they're not pressuring me." Cody remarked. "The person I want you to kill would be... Sheryl Leach."
"Last name sounds evil." sounds Moxxie. "Who is she?"
"She created... bar..." he tried putting the words together, but because he couldn't say the name of the one thing he hated most. He hated this character so much he just couldn't try to put the words together a few times. "Bar..." I'm sorry, i can't say it."
The others looked a little confused. "Don't stress yourself Cody." said Loona. "Come on, you can tell us."
"Ok, ok." Cody said. He felt like throwing up when he said it, but he ultimately blurted out "...Barney." and he felt more like throwing up.
"Oh god no." Blitzo said. "She created that purple freakazoid?"
"Hmm-mm." Cody replied flatly with his eyes closed. "Sometimes I wish she was dead for creating him in the first place. You guys know how annoying he was."
The others clamored in agreement. "Who wouldn't hate him?" said Moxxie. "He is so irritating."
"Every time I hear Barney or a song from Barney, it makes me want to cut my own ears off so I wouldn't have to hear anything ever again."
"He's a big, sugary and flowery pedophile!" Millie said. "I just want to mutilate him with a chainsaw, not even his own ma and pa would recognize him! ugh!"
"Never thought I would say this Millie, but I agree with you. Hearing that fu- i mean, stupid, purple nightmare just makes me want to kill myself."
"Guys, I would like to have her dead, but i don't want to never see my mom and dad ever again."
"What do you mean?" asked Loona
"I mean, they're in heaven and I want to go there to be with them when I die. If we just kill Sheryl, I will never get up there to be with them forever." Cody frowned.
The others sympathized with him, knowing how much he still misses his deceased parents. "We understand." said Blitzo.
"Yeah. we get it." Loona added. "We know how much you love them."
"We won't take it so badly." Tex gave him a reassuring smile.
Suddenly, the door was being knocked on a few times and the others looked at it in curiosity. "Enter?" said Blitzo. The kind of people who entered the meeting room, caught everyone aback.
Verosika Mayday the succubus, and her posse of incubi and succubi came in the room and it made Loona, Blitzo, Moxxie, Millie, and now Vortex as well, got up and readied themselves to attack and shoo these guys away. Only Cody looked a little indifferent (if not a little surprised).
"What the hell are you doing here, Verosika?" said Blitzo in a vengeful voice. "Can't you take a hint? Cody doesn't want to-"
"Oh shut up, Blitzo." Verosika snarled. "me and the others just came in to talk to him.
Her friends replied in agreement, but Cody's friends didn't look very convinced at all. "What do you want, Verosika?" asked Cody nervously.
"Look, we didn't know about what happened to you recently." the popstar looked guilty. "I want to see we are really sorry about everything. From what happened with your parents, to how I kidnapped you."
"We're all sorry, Cody." Kiki admitted. The other succubus demons apologized after one another.
"Look, I just want your forgiveness." Verosika said. "Can you at least forgive me after what I did?"
Cody looked silent, but saw how sincere she was in apologizing. Of course, Blitzo and Loona told him about how she is a nasty piece of work. All in all, Cody said "no." in a flat voice. "I can't. You guys might just bother me like Stolas does with Blitzo.
"What?" Verosika looked confused before looking at the female hellhound and boss imp with an angry face. "What are you telling him about me?"
"The truth, bitch. the truth." said Blitzo.
"Look. please go away. I can't forgive you guys." he then turned his chair ajd looked away.
"Cody,"
"Please go." Cody repeated.
"Tex!" Blitzo snapped his fingers, "take em out of here."
"Got it." Vortex got out of his chair and went in front of his former colleagues with his hulking and muscular frame. "Let's go, guys." he crossed his arms and looked intimidating to these flirty and saucy demons. He was certainly not playing games to them, and even snarled as he bared his sharp teeth to go with his wolf-like face.
"You're not the boss of us!" said Apple
"No, but I'm stronger than you all." Vortex said. He cracked his knuckles on both hands and beat up these succubi and incubi in very painful ways, and the sounds of yelling and grunting in pain were heard across the room. Cody was surprised to see how painfully Vortex was dealing with this, and Loona, being his closest friends down here, took it upon herself to cover his eyes so he wouldn't have to see any of this. The aftermath was that: Verosika and her posse of sluts were all curled up into a large ball of lust. He got out into the hallway, and grabbed the ball of his former colleagues as if they weighed nothing at all. All of them were bruised and slightly hurt from how Vortex roughed them up like this. "Now guys, I didn't want to have to do this, but get the fuck out of here!"
"Not the face!" said Josh.
The Incubus' words fell on deaf ears to Vortex, and he rolled the gigantic ball of his former cronies into the wall, knocking them out and dizzy. "Strike!" he shouted in triumph.
