Chapter 5: Origin Point - Charlie
"So, this was your plan?" Asks Angel while pointing to Seth, who is currently serving himself breakfast at the hotel's cafeteria. But instead of eating from the hotel's small but serviceable selection of breakfast food, he sticks his hands into a tiny violet portal into earth and grabs a variety of human food. "Are we just going to let this rando come here and do as he pleases with no pushback?"
"Relax, at least he's not rude and making a mess of things. Or worse, living up to his title of 'destroyer'." Vaggie rebuttals.
"Since when did you trust someone like that?" Angel asks. "As far as i know you've never been one to trust anyone and let your guard down."
"I don't, but unlike you I know how to read the room and not cause trouble." Vaggie annoyingly responds back to angel.
"I'm surprised you even know how to read at all." Angel retorts.
"Would you both be quiet and relax!" I quietly hiss at the two bickering. "Look, all he's doing is eating and not causing any harm. Now can we just focus on a way to approach him without pissing him off enough to actually do something." I say while gesturing to Seth.
"Have you tried just walking up to me and having a small chat?" Seth asks in a semi loud voice. The three of us pause and look over to Seth sitting in the cafeteria with a dull look on his face. We get up and walk from the receptionist table across the building and sit next to him.
"How did you hear us from all the way over here?" I curiously ask him.
"I couldn't help but not hear both Vaggie and Angel bicker like an angry couple because there is no one else here to drown out the noise." Seth sarcastically responds as he raises what looks like a cup of hot chocolate to drink, attempting to hide the subtle laughter at his own joke. I roll my eyes as I pull up a chair to sit down across from him. Vaggie stands next to me refusing to take a seat, and Angel being Angel, pulls up a chair and sits right next to him with only 3 inches of space between them. Seth proceeds to nudge his seat away from him.
"Sooooo, how was your night here?" I asked him. Seth replies by raising his index finger on one hand while finishing his hot chocolate milk with the other. After drinking a big chunk of the drink, Seth wipes his mouth with a kitchen napkin and speaks.
"It was alright." he says nonchalantly. Seth proceeds to go back to chewing on the remaining piece of what appears to be a waffle.
"That's it?" Vaggie asks him with annoyance in her voice. I gently nudged her leg in an attempt to remind her not to provoke him. Seth pauses and takes a big gulp, swallowing any remaining food that is in his mouth.
"In my defense, I was never fond of the beds that any hotel had that I've been to.'' Seth replies to her question. "Plus, they remind me too much of home."
"Ohh, well I hope our maid Nifty freshens the bed while she changes sheets." I respond to make him feel comfortable."
"Yeah, about that." Nifty suddenly replies. "Uhm Charlie, the bed is already clean". She says while slowly walking towards us.
"Oh, nice nifty." I replied to her. "That was pretty quick of you to finish so fast."
"Except that wasn't me, the bed was already like that." She replies.
"Wait, what do you mean?" I confusedly asked her.
"It's like no one even checked into the room." nifty explains. Everyone proceeds to turn their heads back to Seth, who is currently sipping down the last of the hot chocolate with the widest eyes I have ever seen on him. He continues to sip down the last bit so loud that it drowns out the hotel piano music.
"What is she talking about Seth?" Vaggie asks him with concern in her voice. Seth slowly puts the now empty cup down on the table and takes a deep breath.
"So, I may have a small habit of levitating in the middle of the air." Seth tries to explain himself. "Annnd, I may have changed the bed's physical structure to its original state before I sat on it."
"What do you mean by physical structure?" I asked him. Seth responds by tapping his finger on the dirty empty plate, and within a split of a second, the scraps and crumbs on the plate transform into two whole pieces of waffle with cut pieces of strawberries and cream on top.
"He did it again!" Nifty gasps as she gets much closer to Seth and the plate. She then proceeds to pick up the plate, attempting to see how Seth pulled off that trick. "How do you do it?!" She squeals.
"It's kind of a long story, although I am interested to learn why this hotel is so empty for some reason." Seth says as he leans back on his chair. Now filled with a bit of excitement, I pull up my chair, ready to explain the Happy Hotel.
"I'm glad you asked." I begin to explain. "You see, this hotel is not a normal hotel, it's a place where sinful demons come to redeem themselves, to have a chance to prove they can be better and maybe leave hell in order to go to heaven." Seth curiously tilts his head at my explanation.
"Wait hold on, aren't you Lucifer's daughter?" he asks me.
"Yes, why do you ask?" I respond.
"And you want sinners to seek forgiveness and redemption willingly?" Seth asks while he leans closer, placing his now crossed hands on the table.
"Yeah basically."
"So, the daughter of the first rebellious angel who fell from heaven onto hell, wants to help sinners seek forgiveness in order to escape said hell and go up to heaven." Seth remarks, attempting to understand all the information that was given to him.
"You think it is a terrible idea, don't you?" I said, waiting for the inevitable disapproval of the idea.
"Actually, I think it's a great idea." Seth replies. I tilt my head up at the unusual answer of someone liking the Happy Hotel.
"You do?" I ask with a small hint of excitement in my voice.
"Yeah, reminds me how we must embrace or evolve who we are." Seth remarks. I leave a puzzled look on my face, which he notices. "Sorry, I was thinking out loud. Although I've got to ask why of all people, the daughter of Lucifer wants to do this, and why."
"Well, hell is currently dealing with an overpopulation problem and in response god is sending angels called 'executioners' that reduce the population of hell for the next batch of sinners, this happens every year." I explain to Seth. "So instead of just hiding and dying again every year, I think we should try to redeem sinners and send them to heaven."
"I see." Seth remarks as he sips down a newly full glass of milk. "So you're redeeming two birds with one stone."
"You could say that." I chuckle.
"So, when is the next extermination?" Seth asks.
"We just had it like last week." Vaggie says.
"Huh, so I guess I missed the party, so any how was the-" Seth says before cutting himself off. The color of irises change back to violet like when we first met. He puts the cup of chocolate milk down and sits in a more stiff and vertical position. "Actually, does hell have a power structure, or a hierarchy of some kind?" he cautiously asks.
"I guess so." I answer. "There's my dad, my mom, and me as the prime royal rulers of hell. Then there's separate lower houses like the Goetia, after that there are individual overlords who rule small but distinct areas of hell. And then there is the common folk of sinners, imps, and the hellhounds. What made you ask that?" I asked him.
"Just a hunch." Seth responds while having his eyes glued to the front doors of the hotel. He proceeds to crack his knuckles one at a time.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked him. Seth responds by standing up from the chair and making the plates that he brought disappear into a small thin smoke. Vaggie places her soft hand on my shoulders. Seth wipes his lower face with a napkin, removing any small stains and crumbs from the breakfast he just had. He then snaps his fingers making the napkin also disappear into thin air.
"Nothing, yet." Seth responds, his eyes still staring at the front entrance. And with impeccable timing, the doorbell to the front entrance rang. I get up from the chair in order to answer it, but Vaggie stops me by gently but firmly grabbing my arm.
"It's ok." I quietly whisper to her, removing her hand from me. I slowly walk to the front entrance, wondering why Seth's attitude changed so suddenly. I open the front door, only to be greeted by a tall red figure with deer ears on his head, alongside with antlers poking out of his skull. It all snapped into place, why Seth started acting different suddenly. This figure could not be confused with anyone else, and they could not have come at a worse time.
"Who's at the door?" Angel asks from the back.
"Alastor." I respond.