Outside of the Happy Hotel, Angel Dust was smoking a cigarette while staring thoughtfully at the sky.
"Mag, Cass," Angel said with a sad smile to the two people on the other side of eternity he prayed could hear him. "I might be a little delayed on my arrival. I fucked up yesterday. Big time. I'm sorry. I already told Charlie and God, so I figure I should say it to you, too. I just couldn't say no to Cherri. I struggle with havin' a back bone. I ain't a natural at being a good person like you two were, but I know I got it in me somewhere. Just be patient and ask the Man Upstairs to help me out please. I'll be there soon…"
Angel took one more drag from his cigarette before he finished it and pitched it. He looked into his box of cigarettes and saw that there were two left, so he thoughtfully placed them into the pocket of his coat and said, "And I'll smuggle you two some cigarettes to make up for making ya wait on me for so long."
As he tossed the cigarette box into the garbage, Angel noticed a familiar-looking group of demons walking towards the hotel, the same group of demons that he helped his friend Cherri fight the day before.
"Boss, that's Angel Dust," one of the Egg Bois said grabbing onto his hat and pointing ahead.
Sir Pentious looked ahead to see that his minion was telling the truth.
"Oh, great!" Sir Pentious growled rubbing his temples in dismay.
"Boss, what do we do?" the other Egg Boi said hiding behind his boss for protection.
Sir Pentious took a deep breath, tightened his bow tie, and said, "Just let me do the talking."
Angel and Sir Pentious stared each other down as the latter and his minions slithered closed in. Shockingly enough, Sir Pentious and Angel didn't say anything to each other once they were close enough. They only glared at each in a tense silence until Sir Pentious turned away to slither to the front door while his minions rode on his tail hoping to avoid a confrontation altogether.
"Pentious," Angel finally said breaking the silence and crossing his arms.
"Dust," Sir Pentious replied coldly without turning around.
"What are you doing here?" Angel asked advancing towards him until he was practically right on top of him.
"What?" Sir Pentious asked turning around. "The Happy Hotel is open to all. Is it not?"
"Not to you. You ain't welcome here."
"The last time I checked the hotel was open to all demons, so I suggest you leave me be."
Sir Pentious tried turning around, but Angel pulled him off the door and threw him on the ground causing the latter to drop his luggage and his Egg Bois to cower by the door.
"I'm only givin' you one warning, pal," Angel said standing directly over him. "Scram right now, or you're gettin' rubbed out."
"Oh, piss off, you naff slag!" Sir Pentious yelled back as he sat himself up.
"I have no idea what the hell that even means, ya dick," Angel retorted. "Why don't you try speakin' more modern English?"
"He said you were a tacky slut," an Egg Boi said.
"Hey!" Angel Dust said hopping on top of him and moving his face closer until they were practically touching. "I may be a slut, buddy, but I sure as hell ain't tacky!"
"Angel, what's going on?!" Vaggie yelled as she ran past the Egg Bois to where Angel had Sir Pentious pinned to the ground.
"This pretentious piece-of-shit was trying to break into the hotel," Angel said finally allowing himself and Sir Pentious to stand up.
"I was not!" Sir Pentious protested. "I was entering through the front door. That can hardly be called 'breaking in.'"
Vaggie pointed a spear in his face and said, "I don't care what you were doing. Piss off right now or…"
"Vaggie, cut it out!" Charlie yelled from behind them.
The princess ran around her friends and stopped to catch her breath before she said, "Let's hear what he has to say."
Sir Pentious picked up his hat that had fallen off in the scuffle, stroked his frill, straightened up his clothes, took a deep breath, and said, "Salutations, your highness. I know we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, and I would like to apologize."
Sir Pentious bowed deeply while swallowing his pride and biting his lip.
"Yeah," an Egg Boi said while he and his partner ran beside their boss and followed his lead.
"We're super sorry," the other Egg Boi said.
Vaggie scoffed and said, "If you think Charlie's just gonna forgive you after all that you put us through yesterday, you have another thing coming."
"Vaggie, hang on," Charlie said before gesturing towards the door. "Why do you have suitcases?"
Sir Pentious stood up, put on his best fake smile, and said, "Well, isn't it obvious? We're checking in."
Angel and Vaggie's faces fell in complete shock, but Charlie…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Charlie screamed so loud that it sent out a shockwave that broke the hotel's front doors and caused everyone else to keel over in pain as they did their best to cover up their ears. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"
In the next second before Sir Pentious even had time to straighten himself up, Charlie wrapped her arms around him so tightly that his frill spread and his eyes were practically popping out of their sockets before she let go and used both of her hands to shake Sir Pentious' hand vigorously.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Sir Pentious!" Charlie squealed excitedly. "I promise you will not regret this!"
As nausea wracked his body, Sir Pentious clutched his stomach and mumbled, "Too late."
Charlie grabbed onto his hand and quickly pulled the snake demon behind her while she said, "Angel, could you grab their luggage? Thanks!"
The Egg Bois carried their suitcases in while following their boss inside leaving Angel and Vaggie dumbfounded.
As soon as Sir Pentious and Charlie reached the front desk, she ran behind the counter, opened the guest book, and looked back at him.
"So, Sir Pentious, you want to be rehabilitated so you can go to heaven, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, your majesty," Sir Pentious replied leaning against the counter so he could regain his balance from the constant movement of the past few minutes.
"And what about your minions?"
"They follow me wherever I go, so different members will be cycling in and out with me. I figured I shouldn't overwhelm your hotel by bringing all of them at once. Besides, I need some of them to watch over my home."
"That's quite considerate of you, but we could always expand," Charlie said writing the information down in the guest book. "We have plenty of rooms anyway."
"No, one room should be fine for…OWWW!" Sir Pentious yelled as his suitcase flew straight into the side of his head before falling on the ground. "Who threw that?!"
"Oh, did that hit your face?" Angel asked sarcastically walking to the front desk. "Sorry about that."
Sir Pentious glared at him as Vaggie strode over next to him and asked, "Snake demon, why are you really here? What are you up to?"
The snake demon was angry, but he knew he couldn't lose face.
So, instead, Sir Pentious looked back at Charlie and said, "If this is how you're going to treat us, maybe we should just go!"
"No, don't go," Charlie said vaulting over the front desk as quickly as she could and pulling Angel and Vaggie aside. "Just let me talk to them for a second!"
"Charlie, what the hell are you doing? Don't you know who this is?!" Vaggie loudly whispered while her head gestured towards the snake demon. "Why the fuck are you letting him into the Hotel?"
"Guys, please, this is really important," Charlie whispered. "Just think. Once we have Sir Pentious rehabilitated, he won't be causing any more turf wars. It will be wonderful. This is a sign of good things. It looks like Divine Favor is shining on us at last, guys."
"Charlie, slow down a second," Angel whispered harshly. "This is the demon who tried to kill me yesterday. You really think he's up to anything good? I can't believe I'm sayin' this, kid, but I have to agree with Vaggie on this one."
"Look, I know we've had some bad history, but I think he might be willing to change. So, let's just give him a chance. Please…." Charlie said shining her large puppy-dog eyes shined in a helplessly cute way that cut Vaggie and Angel to their cores.
"Come on, Charlie," Vaggie begged. "Not the eyes. Argh! Fine, but I'm keeping an eye on him."
"Ditto," Angel said reluctantly nodding his head.
"Well, can we check in?" Sir Pentious asked.
"Yes!" Charlie yelled running over and vaulting back over the front desk. "Alright, we have a room available on the second floor and we have a large selection of meal plans that you can buy…"
"In other words, not everything here is free, pal," Angel quipped.
"Angel, that's not nice," Charlie said. "Leave him alone…"
Sir Pentious dropped a large bag of gold on the front desk that was bigger than the guest book. The three demons were left speechless.
Sir Pentious looked at his nails and said, "Will this cover the first month's expenses?"
"Most definitely," Charlie said excitedly handing Sir Pentious a key.
Sir Pentious took the key and said, "Thank you. My Bois and I will go get settled in. Don't be afraid to knock."
The snake demon and his minions picked up their luggage and started walking away. As the three of them passed by, Vaggie glared suspiciously while Angel made an "I'm watching you" gesture with his hand.
Sir Pentious didn't respond but kept walking away along with one Egg Boi while the other lingered behind and gave Angel and Vaggie the bird.
"Alright, that's enough," Charlie said getting between them. "Run along. We have a meeting to prepare for. Vaggie, would you mind putting the gold in the vault?"
The Egg Boi listened closely to the last bit of conversation before he ran to catch up with his boss.
