(See Part 1 for Disclaimer)
[Part 6]
Dmitri's son, Jayden, was asleep in his bed, surrounded by stuffed animals while hugging one resembling a demonic looking dragon.
As the sunlight poured through the window and shined on his face, Jayden woke up, yawning whist smacking his lips. He sat up, rubbing the grit from his eyes before looking around his bedroom.
He glanced over at the calendar hanging on the wall, when he saw what day it was, he suddenly gasped. "My birthday, my birthday! It's my birthday!", he shouted excitedly. Jayden leapt out of the sheets and landed on all fours on the floor. He then ran off to his bathroom, arms raised in excitement as an Imp maid walked inside the room upon hearing his shouting.
"Is something wrong, young master?", she asked in concern.
Jayden was bouncing up and down while brushing his teeth, "Yaaaay! Birthday, birthday! WOOHOO! Birthday tiiiiime!", he said with mouth full of toothpaste.
The maid giggled as she walked over to wipe his mouth with a wet washcloth, "Yes, indeed. But if you keep jumping around like this, you'll never be ready for your special day", she said.
Jayden nodded in understanding as he finished brushing his teeth, then he allowed the maid to help him get dressed in a vest and cape, and then she placed a little crown on his head. Now fully dressed and even more excited, Jayden let the maid lead him out of his room.
[Time Skip]
Meanwhile in the main foyer of the mansion, Moxxie stood by with a clipboard while watching as all the other servants were decorating the foyer for a birthday party.
"Is the banner even? Are the balloons in place?", he said before walking over to a conduit situated in the center of the room, "And what about the Ceremonial Birthday Flame of Life? Is it still flaming?"
As if on cue, Collin pushed a button on a remote control, causing blue fire to shoot up and flicker like a lantern. Moxxie nodded as he checked off the checklist he was looking at, "That's taken care of. How are we on food and the cake?", he said.
When Lucien and Lupin had finished setting up all the tables, the chefs all came out of the kitchen in a single file line. They walked over to each table and set down dozens of platters filled with all the hors d'oeuvres necessary to feed the guests.
In the center of the main table was a large five layer cake decorated with blue frosting, little mythical animals made of modeling chocolate and a candle shaped like the number nine at the top.
Moxxie checked that off, "Uh huh. What about the presents?", he asked.
Francisco was helping some of the servants push a trolley that held a few presents for Jayden, and these were only the ones his father and the servants were giving him. They had to make room one of the tables for all the gifts the guests were going to bring.
"Alright, alright. Is that everything? Is everything perfect?", Moxxie said to himself out loud.
Collin flew down over to him, "Pippin, everything looks great! You're getting yourself worked up for no reason", he said.
"I have lots of reasons. In fact, I wrote them down", said Moxxie as he pulled a smaller list out of his suit pocket.
Melody walked over with Francisco, "I think Collin's anxiety is rubbing off on you", she joked while Francisco laughed. Collin's face turned red with embarrassment, burying his face in his hands.
Moxxie began reading off his list, "Reason number one – Today is Jayden's ninth birthday. Reason two – Jayden is Lord Dmitri's son. Reason three – not only will all of us be in attendance, but so will many other guests his lordship has invited, including members of the Goetia family.
"As Lord Dmitri's personal assistant, it's my responsibility to make sure everything goes as planned. Not only do I want his lordship to be proud of me but I also want Jayden to be happy. He was the first one to show me kindness", he said.
"Well, you forgot about one little tidbit...", said Francisco.
Moxxie started panicking while going through the checklist, "Wait what?! What did I miss? What--"
Melody grabbed him by the shoulders, cutting him off. "We're the entertainment, silly! We're gonna play a song at the party, all four of us", she said.
Moxxie looked at them in confusion, "You guys play?", he asked.
"Yeah, we all know how to play. I play the drums, Melody plays a keyboard and Collin's pretty good with a tambourine. Serving Lord Dmitri isn't the only thing we do, we're all allowed to have hobbies", said Francisco.
"And now that we know you're so good at singing and playing guitar, we now have a full band. We can play at the party, I'm sure both Lord Dmitri and especially Jayden will love that!", said Collin.
That was when Moxxie looked down as his face began to grow pale, this didn't go unnoticed by his friends.
"Pippin, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick? Still got after affects from your head injury?", asked Melody.
Moxxie shook his head, "No, that's already healed, even though the amnesia is still very much present. No, I'm just really nervous! What if I mess up, embarrass all of you and ruin the party! I don't want Lord Dmitri to be angry with me!", he said.
His friends gathered around him to give him a big group hug, "It's alright, Pippin. You're not gonna embarrass yourself or us, and you're not gonna ruin the party. Not while we're here to help you", said Collin.
"And also, even if you did mess up, Lord Dmitri won't be angry with you. He isn't really known for letting his anger get the better of him, he doesn't hold grudges or gets angered easily. He'll be frustrated but he'll forgive you", said Francisco.
Moxxie smiled at this as he hugged them back, "Thanks, you guys. You really are great friends, I wish I could remember whether or not I had friends like you before all this...", he said.
As they pulled away, Melody pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of her maid's dress. "Now, back to the party, I wrote a song to play. I wanted you guys to take a look at it and see what you think...", she said.
[Time Skip]
Meanwhile over at Stolas' palace, the rest of I.M.P. were there speaking with him.
"So wait, run everything by me again. What happened?", said Stolas.
"Moxxie murdered his old man, then he up and left his apartment without telling any of us. According to some random b*tch I bumped into, Moxxie threw himself off the cliff at Leviathan's Beach.
"Why he did that, I don't know. But there's no way Moxxie is dead, I know that for a fact. He may be a total p*ssy sometimes, but it would take a lot more than that to kill him. He's alive, and we need you to help find him", said Blitzo.
Millie then walked over and looked up at Stolas with a pleading expression, "Please, Prince Stolas. He's been gone for so long, I'm so scared! Ever since he killed his Pa, Moxxie hadn't been himself. He just had this dead and empty look in his eyes...I'm worried something really bad might've happened to him!", she said.
Stolas looked down at Millie with an expression of sympathy, but before he could say anything, Stella suddenly came into the room holding something in her hands.
When she saw I.M.P., she growled angrily but chose to ignore them as she turned her attention to Stolas. "I don't know what you're doing but look at this! We've been invited to a birthday party for Dmitri's stupid halfbreed child.
"Of course I don't want to go, especially with you, but my brother and the rest of the Goetia family will be there so we have to attend. Plus, Octavia already went over there with the others, so there's no helping it.
"Whatever you're doing with these plebians, hurry up and wrap it up so we can get going. The sooner we go, the sooner I can leave and not have to deal with my obnoxious half cousin", she said as she threw the invitation at Stolas before leaving.
Blitzo looked up at Stolas, "What the f*ck was that all about?", he asked.
Stolas looked at the invitation before looking at Blitzo, "Stella's half cousin, Dmitri Desmodeus, is throwing a birthday party for his son. Stella has always been in conflict with him because he's asexual and doesn't care for marriage, but made his son using a blood ritual", he explained.
"Your wife has a half cousin? Also, who's Dmitri?", asked Millie.
"You don't know? He's the grim reaper, the guy who goes around reaping human souls and sending them to either Heaven or Hell", said Loona.
Blitzo suddenly had a panicked look on his face, "Oh f*ck! He has to hate us, right? Given our business, I can only imagine he hates us for making his job harder!", he said.
"I've never heard him mention anything about that, so chances are he doesn't even know you all exist...", said Stolas.
"Well, who cares? We know you gotta go to this party, but can you please find Moxxie first? After you do, we'll go get him ourselves", said Millie.
Stolas nodded as he closed his eyes and concentrated on using his psychic powers to locate Moxxie, already knowing what he looked like from past encounters. When Stolas finally got a hit on his location, he gasped in shock.
"What? Did you find him? Where is he?", asked Blitzo.
"I know where he is, but you're not going to like it...", said Stolas.
[Time Skip]
Back at Dmitri's mansion, many of the guests were still arriving for the party. The duke of death himself was walking around and greeting them, pointing out where the hors d'oeuvres were and telling his servants to take the presents they brought to put with the rest.
"Hey, Uncle Dmitri!"
With a smile on his face, Dmitri turned around to see Octavia coming towards him. He met her halfway so they could hug, "Octavia! So good to see you again, you've gotten taller but you're still so adorable!", he said.
Octavia blushed sheepishly as she playfully slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't embarrass me, Uncle!", she said with a laugh. Just then, Jayden came running up to the two of them, having the biggest smile on his face.
"Tavi, it's you!", he shouted as he leapt up into the air. Octavia caught him in her arms as she smiled and laughed, "Hey there, squirt. My, you're getting big aren't you? How old are you now?", she asked. Jayden counted his fingers before holding up nine of them, "I'm nine years old now, Tavi!", he said excitedly.
Dmitri chuckled as he picked up his son from Octavia's arms, "That's right! And you're going to have such a good time! Everyone here brought you some great presents, the chefs made you a wonderful cake and some of the servants are going to perform a song for you!", he said.
Jayden squealed in joy as he hugged his father, but then he noticed something behind the two of them and suddenly felt uneasy. Dmitri noticed this and turned around to see Stella walking towards him with Andrealphus following close behind.
Dmitri sighed before turning to Octavia, "Octavia, dear, why don't you take Jayden and go play? I have to take care of some...grow up matters", he said. Octavia spotted her mother coming and groaned, she was more than happy to not have to talk to her.
"Come on, squirt. Let's go talk to the servants who will be playing a song for you", said Octavia as she took Jayden in her arms and walked away.
With the two kids gone, Dmitri turned around to face his half cousins.
"Dmitri, so good to see you again. I wish young Jayden a happy birthday and I hope he loves the present I bought him?", Andrealphus said happily.
"Likewise, thank you", said Dmitri before turning to face Stella.
"So...are you still single? Being father to an illegitimate child that's mixed with filthy imp genes? How pathetic!", said Stella with a smug grin on her face.
Andrealphus facepalmed and shook his head, Dmitri used all his inner strength to keep from lashing out at Stella for insulting him and his son. So instead, he tried a different approach.
"You know what's actually pathetic, Stella? The fact that your marriage is failing and finally ending in a divorce, yet you think you can insult an asexual man who's living a happy life with his son and with no marital problems.
"Please don't cause a scene at my son's birthday party. If you truly wish to not be here, please leave your meager gift and just leave. It'll save yourself the embarrassment. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more guests to greet", said Dmitri as he walked away.
Stella stood there with a shocked expression, her jaw practically on the floor. Andrealphus looked at her with a deadpan expression, "Sister, I love you, but can you please not bring your bitterness with you everywhere? It's embarrassing", he said.
Meanwhile, Jayden led Octavia over to a small stage set up by the main staircase in the foyer where the party was being held. Moxxie and his friends were setting up their instruments, as well as the speakers and sound system.
Moxxie was fiddling with a microphone, adjusting the height and the sound frequency when he saw Jayden approaching with Octavia.
"Hi, Pippin! Are you guys gonna play a song for my party?", Jayden asked excitedly.
Moxxie smiled, "You bet. I was a little nervous to sing at the party at first, but my friends convinced me. I've spent all day memorizing the song Melody wrote to make sure it's perfect", he said.
While Jayden smiled, Octavia looked at Moxxie strangely. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere? Aren't you friends with that imp my father is always fooling around with?", she said.
Moxxie looked up at her, "Oh, you must be Prince Stolas' daughter! Lord Dmitri has told me about you before. My apologies, Princess, but I don't believe we've met prior to this. My name is Pippin, I'm Lord Dmitri's personal assistant", he said.
Octavia was perplexed by this but she brushed it off when Jayden was tugging her towards the food tables to have some snacks, so she followed after him. She glanced back at Moxxie for a second, wondering why he didn't immediately recognize her.
[Time Skip]
The party was going quite well, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Jayden as he blew out the candle on his cake. Then, the chefs began cutting up and dividing the cake equally amongst the guests, with Jayden of course getting the first and biggest piece of cake.
While everyone was having some cake, Dmitri walked over to the small stage and peered behind the curtain.
"Are you all ready to perform yet?", he asked.
"As ready as we'll ever be, your lordship", said Collin.
"We've been practicing and preparing practically all day! Eeee! I'm so excited!", said Melody.
"Of course, we're waiting for your permission to begin, your lordship", said Francisco.
Dmitri nodded as he looked down at Moxxie who stood up front, "Good luck, little fellow", he said with a smile. He ducked back through the curtain, leaving Moxxie feeling a tad bit nervous.
Dmitri then faced his guests, tapping a glass cup with a spoon to get their attention. "Can I have everyone's attention, please? A few of my servants have decided to put on a little show for the party, I hope you enjoy. Especially you, my son", he said.
He winked at Jayden, who was being carried by Octavia. The little halfbreed demon child smiled and started bouncing with anticipation. Dmitri then turned around and motioned for the secretary bird triplets to open the curtains.
Lucien, Lupin and Lucinda nodded as they pulled the ropes which opened the curtains for the small stage. Moxxie felt a little more nervous as he gazed upon the crowd, but when he saw Dmitri and Jayden watching, he swallowed back his anxiety.
He walked up to the microphone and decided to address the crowd, his friends giving him encouraging smiles. "Good day, everyone. We've prepared a song to play, we hope you all enjoy it. Thank you", he said.
Once that was done, the four of them began to play music as Moxxie looked forward and started singing.
[Verse 1]
"Shipwreck in a sea of faces
There's a dreamy world up there
Dear friends in higher places
Carry me away from here
Travel light, let the sun eclipse you
'Cause your flight is about to leave
And there's more to this brave adventure
Than you'd ever believe
[Chorus]
Birds-eye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you
Wide eyes will always brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery
'Cause after all those wings will take you, up so high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
And take to the sky (you take to the sky)
[Verse 2]
On the heels of war and wonder
There's a stormy world up there
You can't whisper above the thunder
But you can fly anywhere
Purple burst of paper birds
This picture paints a thousand words
So take a breath of myth and mystery
And don't look back
[Chorus]
Birds-eye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you
Wide eyes will always brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery
'Cause after all those wings will take you, up so high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
And take to the sky (you take to the sky)"
As everyone was listening to the song, with Jayden and Octavia bopping to the music, no one noticed the car pulling up outside the mansion. Out of the van, stepped Stolas and the remainder of I.M.P.
"You're sure that Moxxie's here? I honestly think this is the last place he'd ever be", said Blitzo.
"You doubt my powers, Blitzy? I told you I could sense him here at Dmitri's mansion. As weird as it seems, it doesn't hurt to at least check", said Stolas.
As they walked up towards the mansion, they heard the sound of singing and music playing. Millie tensed up when she heard both.
"Mills, what's wrong?", asked Blitzo.
[Verse 3]
"There's a realm above the trees
Where the lost are finally found
Touch your feathers to the breeze
And leave the ground"
"I know that voice! It's Moxxie! I recognize his beautiful singing voice anywhere!", she shouted.
Unfortunately, before the four of them could make a move, they were halted by the sound of barking. They turned to see Cerberus, who was chained to a doghouse that was the same size as Dmitri's office building.
The demon dog was loudly barking at them, trying to run over to attack them but was halted by his thick chain. The sound had gotten the attention of the Hellhound guards stationed practically everywhere around the estate.
"Intruders, halt!", one of them shouted as they all ran towards them.
Meanwhile, back inside, Moxxie and his friends were finishing up their song.
[Chorus]
"Birds-eye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you
Wide eyes will always brighten the blue
Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery
'Cause after all those wings will take you, up so high
So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind
And take to the sky
(You take to the sky)
(You take to the sky)"
When the small band finished, everyone except Stella started clapping and cheering. Jayden was especially happy as he leapt out of Octavia's arms and into his father's.
"That was awesome! Thank you so much for this, Papa! I loved it!", he said.
Dmitri hugged his son close, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "I'm glad you did. Happy birthday, my son!", he said.
Just then, there was a shout from outside.
"Lord Dmitri, we wish to enter. It's an urgent matter!"
Dmitri recognized the voice as one of his Hellhound bodyguards, and it concerned him that something was going on at his son's birthday party.
"Very well, you may enter", Dmitri called out.
The front doors immediately opened, Stolas strolled in perfectly fine while the members of I.M.P. were being held by four of the bodyguards, one each holding Blitzo and Millie and two holding Loona.
"Lord Dmitri, we caught these trespassers following Prince Stolas, attempting to enter your mansion!", said one of the guards.
Millie was struggling against the guard's tight grip, looking all around the room for Moxxie. She finally spotted him standing near the stage with his friends, a smile of relief appearing on her face.
"Moxxie!", she shouted. Millie then kicked the guard holding her in the groin, freeing herself long enough to run over and throw her arms around Moxxie in a tight hug.
"Oh, Moxxie! I'm so glad to see you're alright, I was so worried about you! When you disappeared, I was scared I'd never see you again! I'm so happy to have you back, Mox--"
"I'm sorry, ma'am...do I know you?"
There was a gasp from I.M.P. and Stolas when Moxxie said that, Millie pulled away from him to see he was looking at her with a confused expression.
"What are you talking about, Moxxie? It's me, Millie! Your wife!", said Millie.
"I don't have a wife. In fact, as far as I know, I don't have any family whatsoever", said Moxxie.
That was when Blitzo and Loona wrenched themselves away from the bodyguards and approached the two of them.
"Come on, Mox. Stop it with the dumbass jokes! We've been looking all over for you for the past week! We were told you jumped off a cliff, but we find you here? Come on, let's go home so you can explain what the Hell happened!", said Blitzo as he grabbed Moxxie by the wrist.
Moxxie flinched as he became even more confused and even frightened, "I don't know who you people are or what you're even talking about! I really don't know! Please let me go, you're hurting me!", he shouted as tears formed in his eyes.
Just then, Francisco ran up and grabbed Blitzo by the arm holding Moxxie. "Hey! He said let him go, asshole!", he shouted as he threw the taller imp onto the floor. He then stood in front of Moxxie protectively while Collin and Melody tried to comfort him.
Millie immediately recognized the little sheep cherub and became angry, pushing pass Francisco and going to grab him by the collar of his suit.
"It's you! Did you brainwash my husband or something?! Is this your way of getting revenge on us for sabotaging you and your friends' attempt to save that rich guy?! Huh? Answer me, you little cottontail b*tch!", Millie shouted as she shook Collin like a ragdoll.
Dmitri was about to step in to deescalate the situation but before he could, a loud slap was heard. Everyone gasped in shock by what just happened: Millie was on the floor with Moxxie standing over her, holding her left cheek where he had slapped her.
She looked up at him with tearful eyes, frightened by the angry expression on his face.
"Moxxie--"
"How dare you?! You and your no good friends trespass on Lord Dmitri's property, interrupting young master Jayden's birthday party, and then you attack me and my friends?!
"Look, I don't know who any of you people are! My name is not Moxxie, it's Pippin! I may have suffered a serious head injury and developed amnesia, but even if I didn't, I still wouldn't remember knowing such vile pieces of sh*t like you!
"And I especially wouldn't be married to a woman who physically assaulted one of my closest friends, shaking him around and screaming at him about something he didn't do!
"So why don't you just grab your friends and get out of here, you stupid, barbaric, nasty ass b*tch!", shouted Moxxie.
Everyone gasped, with Dmitri covering Jayden's ears so he wouldn't here all the profanity. Soon, the room fell silent, save for Millie's soft sobs. Realizing things were becoming awkward and he needed to know what was going on, Dmitri turned to address the party guests.
"Attention, everyone. I will be ending the party here, due some... unforeseen problems arising. I'd like to thank you all for coming and for the gifts you've given my son, I hope you all come again", he said politely.
With that, all the guests slowly made their exit, with the exception of Stolas and his family. "Stolas, you stay here because there are some questions I need to ask you. Your wife and daughter are more than welcome to go home", said Dmitri.
Hearing that, Stella quickly left without a single word but Octavia had the decency to say goodbye to her father before leaving. Once everyone left, Dmitri turned to face who was left in the foyer.
"You four are dismissed for the evening, please clear up your music equipment and head to bed. Thank you for the lovely performance", he said to Moxxie and his friends.
They all bowed respectfully to him as they gathered up their instruments and music equipment, and started heading for their bedrooms. Moxxie cast one last glance at Millie before turning up his nose and walked away.
After they were gone, Dmitri then turned to face Stolas and I.M.P.
"I don't appreciate you bringing random demons to my home, Stolas. Especially since they all caused such a raucous at my son's birthday party, but it is getting late, and now isn't the best time to deal with this.
"I can see that these two imps and Hellhound have some business with my assistant, Pippin, so we shall discuss this properly in the morning after breakfast", he said.
He then summoned the secretary bird triplets over to help him, "Lucinda, please take Jayden to his room and put him to bed. Have some of the other servants come to gather up his birthday presents and place them in his room, he can open them tomorrow.
"Lucien and Lupin, please prepare the guest rooms for Prince Stolas and these other demons. If they need anything, such as toiletries, don't hesitate to get them. Understood?", Dmitri instructed.
The three bird demons all bowed as they carried out their tasks: Lucinda took the now sleeping Jayden to his bedroom while Lucien and Lupin guided Stolas and I.M.P. to the guestrooms. They were all given temporary pajamas to wear, as well as hairbrushes and toothbrushes.
Stolas bid goodnight to I.M.P before retiring to his room, leaving the three to discuss and contemplate what jad just happened several minutes ago.
"Okay, anyone got any idea what that all was about?", asked Loona.
"Beats the f*ck out of me! What the Hell was going on with Moxxie? Why did he act like he didn't know who we are? And why'd he call himself "Pippin"? That's such a gay name!", said Blitzo.
Millie hadn't said anything since the whole dramatic scene took place, he sat on the bed whilst holding her legs close to her torso. Blitzo eventually stopped ranting and turned to look at her with concern.
"Hey Mills, you okay there? How's your face?", he asked.
"Yeah, are you okay? Cause Moxxie slapped the sh*t out of you!", said Loona.
Millie sighed, "My face is fine...can't say the same about my heart. I've seen Moxxie angry before, most of the time it's because of Blitz, but that's the first time he's ever been so angry at me.
"Sure, we've argued before in the past but we've always managed to make up in the end. And even then, Moxxie never even raised his voice or hit me. He's always been a sweetheart...what happened to him?", she said solemnly.
"Well, didn't he say something about a head injury and amnesia? Do you think when he fell off that cliff he clonked himself in the head and lost all his memories?", asked Loona.
Blitzo sighed as he threw himself face first into the pillows on his bed, "Well, at any rate, we're not getting any answers tonight. So let's just go to sleep and tomorrow, we'll know what's going on. Gotta hand it to this grim reaper guy, he's pretty reasonable", he said.
The girls followed Blitzo's lead and they shut off the lights, crawled under the covers and went to sleep.
In his own room, Moxxie laid awake clutching the stuffed armadillo Jayden gave him. So many mixed emotions were swirling around in his brain. He had no idea who those two imps and Hellhound were but they insisted they knew him and vice versa.
Of course, since he was still suffering from amnesia, he had absolutely no memory of ever knowing the three. He thought back to what Octavia said earlier, asking if he was friends with an imp who was fooling around with her father.
Could she have been talking about one of those imps, he thought.
Moxxie assumed it must've been the tall male imp because the shorter female was adamantly insisting that she was his wife, though in his honest opinion, she had acted so mean and unpleasant towards Collin that he couldn't ever imagine being married to someone like her.
"Ugh! This is all so confusing! I don't know who these demons are but my life was just fine until they decided to crash the party!", Moxxie grumbled as he buried his face into the stuffed armadillo.
Just then, his door opened as Lucinda walked in holding a steaming hot mug of chamomile tea.
"What are you doing here?", asked Moxxie.
"Lord Dmitri thought you'd have trouble sleeping, and it seems he was right, so he told me to make you some chamomile tea. It'll help you relax and fall asleep", said Lucinda.
She then handed the mug over to Moxxie, who blew on the hot tea in order to cool it down before taking a long sip. "Thanks. I guess I do feel a little better, I'm even beginning to feel sleepy. I just couldn't fall asleep because of all the confusion I was feeling...", he said.
"That's understandable given what had happened earlier, but do not worry. Lord Dmitri has everything under control and tomorrow, all the confusion will be cleared up. So, finish up your tea and go to sleep", said Lucinda.
With a nod, Moxxie downed the last of the tea before handing the mug over to Lucinda. He then laid down, pulled the covers over his body and cuddled up with the stuffed armadillo as he finally fell asleep.
Lucinda quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
[Time Skip]
Meanwhile in the Wrath Ring, two beings were rummaging through some trashcans looking for food.
One resembled a small child with very light pink skin and darker pink hair while the other looked like a sheep with yellow hair and pitch black fur. They both had bat like wings, imp like tails and curved horns jutting out from their heads.
The baby looking creature yelled in anger before punching the trashcan he was looking through, "Nothing! No food or drugs at all! I'm sick of living like this! Whether on Earth or in Hell, we always seem to get screwed over!", he shouted.
The sheep took a deep puff from the cigarette she was smoking, exhaling dark smoke. "I don't like either, Cletus. But do you know who's really to blame for all this? Those damn imps from I.M.P! They took everything from us!
"They interfered with our jobs, they got thrown out of Heaven...and they were probably laughing at us behind our backs! Just the thought that we have to live on the streets scrounging for food while they have comfy homes to go back to makes me sick!", she ranted.
The other creature, Cletus, looked at her and sighed. "I get what you're saying, Keenie, but what can we do about it? We could enact revenge but we don't even know where they are or how to find them!
"And if we try to ask any demons around here, they won't tell us unless we give them money or drugs or even sex in exchange for the information! I wish Collin was still with us, we could've just made him do it!", he said.
The sheep, Keenie, snarled as she threw her lit cigarette into the trashcan, watching it as it was set ablaze. "Collin, that ungrateful little p*ssy b*tch! He just had to be the fluffy little dogooder who abandoned us! All for what? To help those stupid humans?
"They're all pieces of sh*t that are gonna end up in Hell eventually, one way or another, so why does he care about them so much? He cared about helped them more than his friends! In addition to I.M.P., I also wanna stick to that Peter Cottontail looking motherf*cker for also contributing to ruining our lives!", she shouted.
As the two fallen cherubs sat on the edge of the sidewalk sulking, they heard a strange sound coming from the nearby alleyway. It sounded like the hiss of a rattlesnake rattle. That's when they heard a new sound: low masculine laughter.
"Who's there? Show yourself!", shouted Cletus as his voice shook with fear.
"Don't be scared now, all I wanna do is help y'all", said a voice.
Then, someone stepped out from within the alleyway. It was a fairly tall Imp, he possessed a serpentine/lizard-like face with a large gold tooth in his sharp-toothed mouth. He had pale red skin, bright yellow eyes with green rings, a small black mustache, ivory white hair with a pair of black and white-striped horns.
His horns pointed upward and, compared to other Imps, the stripe pattern was more jagged. His tail had four black stripes at the base, with eight spines lined up on them, and one on his tail fork.
His attire resembled that of a southern cowboy, with a stereotypical large grey sun hat, cowboy boots, and a light red bandana around his neck.
He wore a black turtleneck shirt accompanied by a dark grey vest, and a light gray jacket with dark gray cuffs and black tassels below. He also wore black fingerless gloves and ivory white pants that are ripped by the thighs.
"Who are you? And how and why would you want to help us?", asked Keenie.
The imp smirked as he pulled a piece of straw he had in his mouth put and tossed it aside, "Because I want the same thing you little fellers want: revenge on I.M.P. And if we worked together, we might just get it", he said.
"Even if we accept your help, how are we supposed to find them?", asked Cletus.
"Yeah, and what are we gonna do once we find them?", asked Keenie.
The imp then reached into his jacket and pulled out a small box, he opened it up to reveal a black handgun with glowing white markings all over it. The two fallen cherubs were absolutely shocked by what they were looking at.
"Is that a Blessed Tip Pistol? I've only every seen a few angels in the Holy Army wield these, they used them to kill demons during the annual purge! How'd you get one of these?", asked Keenie.
The imp laughed, "That don't matter, what does is that I got one. And if you agree to team up with me, I'll guarantee that you'll get to put a pretty blessed bullet into the brain of those imps at I.M.P. So...do we gotta a deal?", he said.
Cletus and Keenie looked at each other, thinking over the situation. They really wanted vengeance against I.M.P., as did this imp, and he was willing to help them do just that. Since he didn't ask for money or anything else, they assumed all he would get out of the experience was the satisfaction of seeing those imps dead too.
So, with disturbingly evil grins on their faces, they both reached up to shake the imp's hands.
"We're in, consider us a team! By the way, we weren't properly introduced yet: I'm Cletus, and this is Keenie. What's your name, stranger?", said Cletus.
The imp gave his new companions a devilish smirk, "The name's Striker, little fella", he said.
[End of Part 6]