A/N: Hey guys, I'm back.

Same message as before. Still sick with no clarification as to what I'm dealing with, and the medication the doctors recommended has left me super groggy at all waking hours. Gonna have to go back to work regardless at this rate with how expensive it's all getting.

That being read, I welcome your Reviews. If you have criticisms, I welcome those too. Please keep them constructive. I want to grow as an author, and I can't do that if people aren't willing to critique, or only want to tear me down. I'm not here to please everybody, but I am here to learn. There is a method to my madness, even if I don't always fully understand it. 90% of what I write, I don't write baselessly. If there is something not canon or changed from canon, there is generally a reason. If something doesn't make sense, feel free to let me know (constructively), and as long as it doesn't creep into SPOILER! territory, I'll do my best to explain it.

WARNING: This is rated M for a reason. In keeping with the spirit of Helluva Boss, there will be copious amounts of Murder, Brutal Violence, Senseless Violence, Child Violence, Gender-Equal Violence, Accidental Violence, Robot Violence, Drugs, Hard Drugs, Soft Drugs, Prescription Drugs, All-Natural Drugs, "All Natural" Drugs, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Visceral, Dissection, the occasional slow-crunch of Bones, and Cannibals contributing to said "slow-crunch", Physical Abuse, Mental Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Language, Offensive Language, non-Politically Correct Language, possibly butchered attempts at Foreign Language, Horny Demons, Hornier Humans, even Hornier Furries, and any number of things the average law-abiding citizen might consider "distasteful", but that I find hilarious because laughter is easier than being angry at people or the world all the time.

May also include some point-blank wholesomeness. No reason to warn about this, except that some of you might find it offensive because you have nothing good in your life, and therefore have to ruin everything good for everyone else. If you feel offended for me calling you out, then you know who you are.

This story is not for people who are easily offended, are offended on other people's behalf when said people really don't give a shit, squeamish around violence, think sex is naughty, or think jokes are like dicks and take them way too hard. You know the drill (haha! I just got that!)

If you don't like it, DON'T READ IT!

This is for Adults, or for any of you below the age of 18 who are so desensitized to this stuff because your parents never cared about your mental sanctity (Wow! Already getting in the spirit of things and insulting people! Noice!). All the same, Reader Discretion is Advised. (God I love this pre-story warning!)

But! Because this is my first "real" attempt at such mature content, don't expect me to dive head-first into 'X-rated' stuff. Or even dabble. No dabbling. That's not the vibe I got from Helluva Boss. That, and my mother would burn me at the stake if I did. Love you Mom!

*This copy and paste was brought to you from the super comfy bed of SteinMon1920518*

Review Responses:

- "Guest" 1: Probably not, no. Snow won't be singing during the events of "Spring Broken", and if he does sing, it'll most likely be in a more private setting.

- Drake D Hero: Ok, so I listened to it, and I'm not gonna lie man, I felt like my ears were having the hearing equivalent of an epileptic seizure. Just... wow.

- QuirkySavage: Oof! Really making me work for it.

So far, Snow has shown indefinitely holding a Human Disguise; Enhanced physical capabilities and reflexes beyond that of typical demons; varies degrees of magic proficiency; Mastery-level control and manipulation of multiple Elements and their subsidiaries; Unspecified-level of control and projection of Illusions and Mental projection (but hints towards complete mind-fuckery); a natural (and magical) Charm; a range of Psionic Empathy and Empathic manipulation; minor manipulation of both light and shadow thus far; High Proficiency and skill with a Katana and Hand-to-Hand Combat; Accelerated Healing/borderline Regeneration; Enhanced Senses on par with a hellhounds; High-degree of Healing spellwork; Enhanced Depth-Perception (from his multiple eyes); Communication and apparent Command over Earth's Spirits and Sprites; a sort of "wealth vision"; some skill in Lockpicking; major skills in Pickpocketing.

There might be more, but I ran out of juice searching it out. Of course, categorizing these things under broader categories would shorten the list (since most of his "powers" could fall under Magic).

- "Guest" 2: TA-DAAAA!

- Grimheartflame: I appreciate the praise, it means a lot. And here's that update!

- "Guest" 3: Done!

*End of Responses

Disclaimer: I don't own Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel, or any of its subsidiaries. Those rights belong exclusively to Vivziepop, and anyone else who had a hand in it's creation. I just get to enjoy it for all it's worth.

I would also like to point out that I don't own any other media or content that may be mentioned as further enrichment to the story.

I do however, own all Original Characters and Scenarios, so... MINE!

Without further ado. *Que the dimming of the lights*

Chapter 10: Sand and a Hard Place

Spring Break in the mortal world was the last major kickback before school finals and summer. And right now, the beach was packed. From people making out hotly with their S.O.'s with no consideration for anyone else, to people simply chatting, to some guy popping pills like they were tic-tacs. Surfboards lined the painted retention wall that separated the beach from the rest of the city.

Underneath a pier, a portal opened up, dropping in the cast of I.M.P. amidst the sand and rocks. With a flourish, Loona snapped the Grimoire shut, sealing off the portal with a pop.

"Ugh, must be the south," Snow complained, cracking his neck. "There's no way it should be this warm in March."

"Goddamn, did we really have to hit up the mall?!" Blitz complained.

"We're at the beach, Blitz," Snow pointed out, now dressed in a pair of black swimming trunks with red trimming and a loose dark blue tank top. A pair of aviators were nestled atop his head. It was an odd choice against his pasty white skin, but no one was willing to point that out. "And since you have me playing the part of bait and enticement, I needed to blend in."

"But did Loony really need one though?!" their boss continued to bitch.

Snow looked over at Loona. Rather than her normal gothic attire, she'd swapped it out for a pair of low-cut black bikini shorts underneath a tied red pareo skirt that hung mostly off her left leg, and a red and black tankini with the straps forming her usual upside-down pentagram.

"But she looks cute," Snow stated, causing Loona to blush furiously as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. Her tail was swishing though, so he stood by what he said. "And it was either that, or those strings that somehow pass as swimwear. I've seen more coverage on the news in Hell than those… "swimsuits"."

"Eyes forward, Plaster Snort!" Blitz commanded irritably as he threw a beach towel over Loona's shoulders.

"Blitz, kinda need to up the exposure-factor if I'm going to be drawing any idiots for you guys to off!" Loona grumbled out, putting the grimoire in a beach bag, along with the rest of her affects.

"I know," Blitz bit out, grinding his teeth together. "It doesn't mean I have to like it though."

Snow walked over to Millie and Moxxie, who were doing a last-minute check of all their equipment. Quietly, he unshouldered his katana, placing it gingerly down among the pile of weapons they had spread out on a blanket. "Here, take care of Caz for me, will ya."

"Are ya sure, honey?" Millie asked, looking down at the sheathed blade with equal parts awe and trepidation.

"Don't you usually carry that everywhere?" Moxxie asked, having to keep from running a hand over the sheath. It was a beautiful piece up close.

"Can't exactly blend in with a sword on my back," he reasoned, before brandishing his fingers, and popping out his claws one-by-one. "I'm far from defenseless though."

"Alright," Millie agreed carefully, being very careful as she picked up the sheath. She swallowed at the vibrating hum that tingled through her arms. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," he smiled before rolling his shoulders, cracking his back, and stretching in preparation.

"Now remember, we can't be seen," Blitz instructed, "alright, and loose shots will likely cause a panic. So Loona and Pixie-Dust can help with leading targets to a better spot to off 'em." He looked over at Loona, somewhat uneasily. "You got the list, Loony?"

She pulled a piece of paper with a long list of names out of her beach bag, written by each individual client. "Yeah, I got it," she stated in an almost bored tone. With a sigh, she lifted it to her nose sniffing carefully as each hand-written name was etched with the disdain directed at the individual targets. Making sure to memorize each trace, she opened her eyes to see a number of people outlined in a red haze.

Snow looked at her with narrowed eyes, intently studying what she was doing. "You can smell souls?"

"Huh? I mean, I guess?" Loona answered uncertainly. "It's… sorta like the malice from our clients leaves a scent on the people they hate, so… it's kinda hard to explain. But yeah… that."

Snow frowned in thought. "It's one thing to track a scent. But to track directed malice? To track the lingering affects on a soul? That's not a normal hellhound skill, Loona."

She frowned at that. "But I am a normal hellhound, and I can do it," she pointed out.

Snow didn't look convinced, but didn't bother drawing it out any further. Just one more thing he added to the list of things that made Loona "unique". Normal his ass. She might think she's normal, but as he'd already come to realize, that didn't make it so. "Either way, let's see how well you pull that disguise."

Not convinced of his dismissal in the slightest, Loona obeyed and breathed as she focused on the innate energy she had access to. That little tug of the powers she'd been training for months. Once, she might not have been able to feel it, but now she reveled in the sensation of her magic coming forth at her command.

Once she had it down, a haze of blue and indigo flames seemed to spiral around her as her human disguise took shape around her. Once it had, the flames faded, revealing something very similar to her usual self. She wore all the same clothing, but had lost some height to match her more human likeness. Her fur changed to cream-colored human skin, her irises changed red, her lips now black with lipstick, and the right side of her head was shaved, revealing two piercings, while the other side was a thick mane of silvery hair. Her legs were just as pale, save for the pair of black sandals she now wore.

"Oh, Loony, you look downright awful," Blitz complimented, his eyes going big as he wiped a tear from his eye. "I am so proud."

She frowned at him, but immediately her cheeks lit aflame as Snow stepped in close, gently moving her now smooth-appearing face this way and that, looking for any flaws or defects that might give her away.

"It looks good," he pointed out, lingering a little bit on her lips before moving on. "But, there is just one thing."

"What? Did I miss something?" she asked nervously.

With a gentle brush of his fingers down her hair, it pulled up into a ponytail, pulling it out of her face and exposing a little more of her neck.

"There," he nodded. "Now your beach-ready."

"Are you two ready now?" Blitz demanded impatiently.

"Nope," Snow stated with a slight pop to the 'p'. "Gotta change the look for the occasion."

"You can change your appearance even more?" Moxxie asked, looking at Snow intently, but confusedly. "I thought you were already in your human disguise."

"I am, but I can change it if I want," he answered with a shrug.

"Oh oh oh! Your turn, Snow!" Millie cheered, watching excitedly.

Snow put a hand to his chin, thinking about what look he wanted to go for. Something that would catch the lady-half – and even some of the dudes – of their list. "Mmm. I'm thinking something a little exotic." He smirked as the traits came to mind.

Unlike Loona's, his change wasn't as flashy. There were no lights, no swirls of magic. He just closed his eyes and changed. His silvery-white hair changed color and volume, from his usual boyish and messy silver bleeding to dark chocolaty curls that tucked behind his ears. His skin almost seemed to bruise as his white flesh began to blotch and fill in with a coppery tint that bordered on bronze, his nose changing to a more prominent shape. His eyes though, stayed the same electric-ice blue color.

Snow went from his cheesecake self to a more Mediterranean look in just a couple seconds. He almost looked like a completely different person.

"That is… massively unsettling," Moxxie stated with a quirked brow. Millie just nodded next to him in awe.

"B-But… you didn't use the spell!" Loona protested.

"Oh, I thought I covered that," he wondered, trying to remember how in-depth they got into disguises and the varies methods and which demons were more capable in those areas. It wasn't drawing much of a bell though outside the basics. "Well, there are two types of human disguises, and any mixture of how to apply it: shape-changing, and illusions. While both can be done magically, only shapeshifters can do so naturally. Individually, both have their pros and cons. Shapeshifting is more species restricted among demons than illusions. It's less cast-and-forget and more constantly holding a certain shape, but more in-depth. Like–"

"I'm sorry!" Blitz interrupted. "But having you look like that while talking in your normal voice is just… waaay too trippy."

Sighing, Snow just looked at them. "Point is, I can shapeshift. And since I'm good at it, illusion magic is more of a rarely used backup for disguises. It has its weaknesses, sure, but it's reliable, and even though there are plenty of sub-species of demon that have some natural talent for it, there are too few that are actually practiced and capable. It's one of those skills that if you never use it, you lose it."

"So like Mimics?" Moxxie asked.

Snow just snorted. "Mimic's are the apex of shapeshifters. No one comes close to the talent those ugly bastards have, and that's because that's practically all they can do. But their easy to distinguish since the slightest alteration in brain chemistry will revert them. A good spook, and they shed themselves. It's why they keep control of their form by terrifying their prey."

"As riveting as the biology lesson is, can we just get this over with!" Blitz ordered. "So we can go back to you being pasty and pale! God, it's freaking me out just looking at you."

Sighing, Snow grabbed the list from Loona, taking a deep inhale of it as well before opening his eyes and noting the similar red haze that marked their targets.

"I thought you couldn't sense souls?" Loona stated.

"I said, regular hellhounds can't sniff out souls," he corrected. "And I am not a hellhound."

"And the mystery continues," Moxxie stated glumly.

"Now fetch!" Blitz ordered, only for Snow to straighten back up and quirk a brow at his boss. "Or… not fetch? Either way."

Rolling his eyes, Snow walked down the opposite length of the pier, stretching his new body to make sure there were no kinks in it. A random muscle cramp would be the least of his problems if he didn't sort it out. "Oh this is gonna be good," he smirked, before jumping into the surf and disappearing under the water.

"Well where's he going?" Blitz wondered.

"It's Snow, sir. He's probably doing something to make the job more efficient," Moxxie pointed out.

Loona rolled her eyes at them as she moved, approaching a nearby hazed human that might have been handsome. She wasn't exactly a connoisseur of human beauty standards. With a flirtatious smirk, she trailed a finger down his chest to get his attention before gesturing toward a back alley.

The fact the guy was so easy was… just disappointing.

As she lead him to someplace quiet, she leaned back with a bored expression on her face as they guy lifted up his hands to begin… exploring.

BANG!

Only for a bullet to drop from on high, cave through his brain, down through his chest cavity, and out from between his legs. And he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Loona looked up to see Blitz brandishing the rifle, giving her a thumbs up.

For victim two, all she did was flex a brow at him and he came arunnin'. All dick and no brain as he figuratively and literally pulled the rope on that noose. Blitz hoped down, pulling the rope higher as their victim went blue in the face suspended from a fire escape railing.

For three, she just sat next to him, a little closer than was proper for strangers. The moment he turned to look at her – or more accurately, her chest – Millie swooped in with a flying kick, straight off the side of the building. He landed in a carefully prepared trash heap of broken bottles and suspiciously sharpened rebar amidst the garbage bags.

Four got hit in the head with a flowerpot at terminal velocity.

Her favorite so far was when a target just inhaled and choked on a hotdog without her having to do anything. Sometimes, experiencing human stupidity just paid for itself.

And so it went on, with Loona honey trapping their male targets. But there was still no sign of Snow.

Tightening yet another body bag, Blitz smiled. "That's nine kills in the bag! I'd like to see that whaley snatch orgasm that many–"

"Alright Spring Breakers!" a familiar voice blasted out of some stage speakers. Across the beach, an entire concert stage had been set up. And out of the party fog, Verosika walked out, dressed to the nines in her human disguise. "You all ready to get fucked and make some BITCHIN' BAD CHOICES!"

Her irises remained the same pink, and her hair the same blonde. Her skin was a light brown, her hair now undertoned with bleeding pink that grew lighter closer to the tips. She wore a ruffled pink crop top that hung off her left shoulder, with white trimming; and a ruffled pink skirt with a slit at the hem and a large white star on the front. Her thighhigh were largely the same, save for a lack of pink 'X's. A light pink sash trailed off her skirt, a shape that reminisced her tail, almost seemed to sway with the sea breeze. If it had been swaying with the breeze.

Cheers rose up from beachgoers, and one guy even tore off his shirt, revealing her name spelled over his belly. They were already drawing in a crowd, which made it significantly more difficult to single out and kill people.

"This is your final boarding call," she said, giving a wink to the crowd that drove them wild. "All aboard."

The jumbotron's hooked up to each side of the stage promptly flashed a hearty "Fuck you Blitzo", which promptly sent Blitz chomping at the bit and foaming at the mouth.

"~Pack. Your. Bags. Suns… out

"~Take a va-cay babe. Take it straight to bone town~"

The humans were basically putty as their baser lizard brains immediately started switching to more carnal desires. Some were tame and just pinned their partners against the sand, shoving their tongues down each others throats. Others were grinding so hard it bordered on violent. Others pulling off their swimsuits and raw dogging it right there in the sand like the sand that got caught between their unspeakable creases wasn't going to chaff like a motherfucker later.

And in the midst of it, Verosika's crew were walking about, picking up victims of their own. Milky caught a guy starring by sucking on a popsicle like it was prime cock and proceeded to pounce on him. Ace winked at a sunburnt college bro, causing his glasses to fall off his face in surprise. Coco and Kiki were double-teaming a chick, massaging her shoulders and… other places. Kat had a chick grinding against him while he laid on a blanket. Apple saddled in-between two buff guys with a smile.

"~V-time, free time, baby relax.

"~Self-care, no hair, Brazilian wax

"~Horn up, succu-bus to the beach

"~Catch some rays while catching some D~"

They were making quick work of some of those dipshits jizzing at the touch of those demons, and it was clear that they were gonna catch up quick at that rate.

"God-DAMNIT! That bitch has started her goadish mating call! Now she's gonna win all these sex maniacs!" Blitz raged. "We gotta pick things up guys. And where is fucking Snivel-Blow at?!"

Speak of the devil, and he will appear.

All at once, all the radios and boomboxes on the beach suddenly started warping with static, causing a mild distortion in opposition to the concert going on, some people looking completely confused by the noise. And by some unnatural provision, they all started playing the same song.

~We can get 'em running

~Running, running (uh-huh)~

Washing up in the middle of the beach, Snow almost launched out of the surf, his mouth opened in controlled, heavy breathing as little droplets of seawater held at the strands of his now curly hair. Water dotted at his bronzish skin, enunciating every movement as he walked out of knee-deep water.

~We can get 'em running

~Running (uh) running~

And with a practiced, most definitely on purpose movement, he pushed his hair back out of his face with one hand, lifting his face up to the sun as he did so. With an even more purposeful movement, he lifted the hem of his soaked, very conforming tank top, and began wiping the water from his face, revealing a lean, well-toned stomach and a curly happy trail.

~Just like fire, burning out the way

~If I can light the world up for just one day~

Some of the humans had noticed. They had most definitely noticed. One guy was trying to push down a painful-looking hard on. A chick was holding her nose as blood began to pour from between her fingers, while more than a few were biting their lips and rubbing themselves as the conflux of Snowy Charms and Succubus Seduction only served to drive some people even wilder.

~Watch this madness, colorful charade

~No one can be just like me anyway~

Having cleared his face, he opened his eyes, half-lidded blues that pierced his audience. Plenty of those overcome with lust charged, fully prepared to straddle him right there and then, only to suddenly get their feet yanked out from under them as they made it into the surf. Some made it back up. Others were pulled out to sea by clusters of briefly visible faces in the water, never to be seen again. One chick tried getting in front of him to grind, only for the sand to shift and send her sliding underneath waves that wouldn't let her surface as a child-like face held her under.

~Just like magic, I'll be flying free

~I'ma disappear when they come for me~

Still walking up the beach, he began to shake the remaining water from his hair, his wetted curls splaying like a Loreal commercial as they swooshed. His wet tank top contorted to his form in just the right way. Some people fainted from the rush of blood from their heads to their lower extremities, while others fainted as a brief pinch of certain nerves in the brain. Others grabbed at their chest in sexual euphoria, while others grabbed at their chests as their hearts suddenly beat out of rhythm as they were slowly squeezed in their chests.

~I kick that ceiling, what you gonna say?

~No one can be just like me anyway

He stepped in their crowded midst around the stage; a fox among hens, a wolf among sheep, a tiger among cattle, a demon among humans. He twirled one college girl around, causing her to blush before he shuffled past another guy, before some milf tried suffocating him with her boobs, only to get sharply dipped and left to slide to the ground, the nerve endings in her neck severed. Moving among the humans, he enticed, he touched, he marked, and he moved on without committing his body or attention for more time than necessary, finding his targets with pinpoint focus, accuracy, subtlety, and efficiency. His hand lifted up, his middle finger pressing into his thumb.

"Just like fire, uh~

SNAP!

All at once, the radios cut out, and with it, the targets he made contact with suddenly start staggering as the alcohol in their systems absorbed straight into their bloodstreams. Some were hit so hard, that they jerked and released, half-ploughed into whoever they had found to satiate their baser desires. In a few hours, they would die quite suddenly of alcohol blood poisoning. And if any of them went into the water… well, they'd been marked as sacrifices for the Nixies, Nereids, and Undines. Sometimes, the subtlest shifts in magic could do more than the grandest light shows.

In just a handful of moments, he'd taken out a large grouping of their targets in the most unassuming way possible, and none would be the wiser. It was all about touching the right nerve, blocking the right vein, inflict the right organ, stopping the right signal, arranging the right accident. The subtlest shift. The sleight of hand.

And magic… was oh so versatile in the right hands. He even had a spell he'd been wanting to use just in case things got a little too… out of hand. He wondered if simple human minds could handle it.

With a smirk, he began walking away from the crowd as they continued their lust-filled attempts to satiate themselves under the succubus's siren song. Not to mention avoiding anyone that tried rubbing up against him, tried trapping him with their legs, or just tried grinding against him in general. With a shift, the air around him rippled, people almost naturally bending away from him as he walked out of the crowd.

But the succubae and incubi were starting to notice his work on the crowd. Most would assume it was just his Charms versus their Seduction. In reality, he just let their Seduction synergize with his Charms to greater effect. And even if it had been, it was their numbers against his raw power. And he liked those odds. As it stood though, they were a little… preoccupied to do anything about it.

"Oh. There he is," Blitz dismissed, despite gritting his teeth and powering through the boner he'd gotten just watching him. "Fucking A." He walked up to some random guy vomiting his guts out on the sand. "Is this guy on the list, Loony?"

Loona swallowed thickly as Snow briefly met her eyes on his approach, giving her the subtlest wink. Her cheeks burned, her now human toes clenched into her sandals, and warmth began to flicker to life in her lower stomach. Ah… fuuuck! She was horny!

Damn succubae! Damn bet! Damn Snow and his bedroom eyes. Fuck! When was the last time she'd gotten properly bent?

'Never,' she reminded herself.

"Y-Yeah," she stated unsteadily, which only caused her body to flare more as Snow smirked at her. "I think so."

"Good!" Blitz swiftly pulled a maul from behind his back, lifting it over his head to take care of yet another victim.

The guy looked up from his sick, clearly drunk if the smell wafting off of him was any indication… if you could smell it past the vomit. "Woah! What are you, a leprechaun?!"

And maybe he was also a little touched in the head. And of his last three brain cells, one sat in lonely silence while the other two humped each other relentlessly to no avail. Maybe he'd snorted enough coke or acid to fry his perception of reality. Maybe it was something else.

Or maybe it was combination there in.

"Fuck Leprechauns," Snow muttered in disgust. "Rather deal with Gnomes. Not as hygienic, but they deal fair." Loona gave him an odd look at that.

"Yeah. Pretty cool, huh?" Blitz toned rather softly compared to his usual exuberance just before swinging down, splitting the bro's skull in half, complete with his exposed grey matter. "But you sure as shit ain't gonna tell nobody!"

Loona sighed, happy to take her mind off of her tingling body before she found her gaze leading towards the concert stage. And accidently landing on the human-like form of the previous hellhound. Vortex, was it? The jacket he'd worn gave it away.

Snow leaned in next to her curiously, following her line of sight before looking at her and looking back at where she was staring. "You know…."

She jumped back in surprise at his proximity.

"…You can always just go… talk to him," Snow pointed out, seemingly unbothered.

"I mean… should I?" she asked. "I mean… I don't know. I… I don't want you to think that I'm… you know… into him." She winced again at how that sounded. "Which I'm not! It's just…. Shit! I'm not good at this!"

Snow smiled softly, taking pity on her. "Loona… I trust you."

Her eyes widened as she whipped to look at him.

"He seems chill enough, so no pressure," he urged, giving her a warm smile.

Still looking unsure, she hesitated a moment while looking toward the stage before quickly getting up in Snow's face.

He froze in surprise as her nose gently rubbed against his own, and she smiled at him. "Thanks," she stated before taking off towards the stage.

Blinking blankly, even in his altered disguise Snow's face burned red, some of his Mediterranean features fading back to his usual pale and silvery as he gently touched his nose. It left him a color patchwork between his human disguise and his human disguise.

"Alright! Next one Loony! C'mon!" Blitz stated, leaving the maul embedded in his victim.

Only to see a stunned Snow's significantly features, and no Loona in sight.

In a rush, Blitz jumped onto Snow's chest, digging his boots into his stomach as he grabbed the sleeves of his tank top, pulling him eye-to-eye. "Piebald Calico, where the fuck is my baby girl!"

Snow didn't answer, still dazed, a small purring chitter escaping as he let out a deep breath.

"Look! There," Millie called out, pointing to a tail of familiar silverish hair making her way toward the stage.

Blitz's eyes widened in devastation before they narrowed with a snarl.

Loona hunched slightly as she strolled forward, poking her fingers together nervously as she weaved between humans caught in their dalliances and… other stuff. Looking up to make sure the other hellhound was still there, she narrowly avoided tripping over a pair of guys collapsing in the sand as they made out with each other.

Only for someone's bikini to smack her in the face.

Vortex in the meantime stared boredly over the surrounding humans, doing his job of guarding to a fault. His good eye flexed as some noodle-armed shrimp of a human ran toward the stage in blissful fanaticism. With sharp flex of his muscled arm, he caught the pint-sized human in a clothes hanger that sent him ass-over-end. With an approving hum, he quietly grabbed his victim by the foot and began dragging him across the sand and away from the stage.

Loona tossed the bikini top off her, looking around when she noticed that Vortex was missing from where she'd last seen him, before catching sight of him dragging away a human.

Before she could follow after him though, one of the incubi held her gently by the shoulders, staring down at her while biting his lip, clearly wanting to get it on. He looked like a semi-goth's attempt at looking like a somewhat modern vampire.

Eye twitching at the unwelcome contact, she grabbed him by the inverted cross choker on his neck, and judo flipped him, resulting in a satisfying grunt as he impacted the sand. Snow's training was coming in handy. And everyone was so preoccupied with sucking face, her retribution was unnoticed.

Verosika finished whatever verse she was currently on, quickly downing a several swigs from her flask right there on stage while the music played. Smacking her lips in satisfaction, she held up the flask.

"Now who wants a piece of this?!" she called out through the microphone before tossing her flask into the crowd.

By some oddity, those who were still cognizant and/or unoccupied with their carnal desires tried grabbing for it, only for the flask to slip from their grasp, bounce off their hands. One chick managed to catch hold of it with a smile on her face, only to get punched as another guy tried getting ahold of it. The flask went flying from her hands, sticking ass-down in the sand, only for a wave to creep up the beach, and pull it further out to sea.

It floated for a moment, keeping a buoyant attempt, only for another wave to overshadow it, pulling it under. As it sank, its golden contents began trailing into the waters as it sank, still tossed around somewhat by the currents.

Down Below the Waves

Deeper under the waves, an octopus was in the middle of trying to engulf a lobster for its meal, it's beak releasing its enzymic saliva where it bit into its prey. While functionally the end, the lobster continued to fight, snapping its claws onto the octopus to little avail as the enzymes began to paralyze it.

At that moment, the flask bonked onto the octopus as it sank, the spilled demonic beverage sinking over the creatures.

The octopus jerked, it's chromatophores reacting violently in a splay of visceral changing color. A crackle echoed under its tentacles as the lobster's claws split open and grew. Chitinous shell began growing over the octopus's rubbery flesh, segmenting like eight writhing centipedes from its appendages, six large crustacean legs ripping out underneath it. The demonic tincture had only just begun its amalgamizing mutation.

Back on the Surface

Loona shifted uneasily as she stepped up next to the human-formed hellhound. "Heeey! 'Suuup!" She winced at her own words.

"Oh heeey," he greeted, pretty chill for a guy on bodyguard duty. "You're the 'hound working for my boss's freaky ex."

"Yeah," she chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry if that's weird."

"It's cool," he answered dismissively. "Her beef ain't mine. I'm not paid enough to care."

"Yeah. Yeah," she stated, cringing at how weird it sounded to her. She was really bad at this. "I'm, uh… I–I'm uh– Shit. I'm really bad at this."

"Okay," he chuckled. "Take your time."

Steeling herself, she practically shot out, "I'm Loona!"

He continued chuckling at her. "I gotcha. Not good with other demons?"

Rubbing her shoulders with a nervous grin, she said, "Nah. I usually just bite other demons. I'm just uh… I'm not good with other 'hounds."

Humming at her admission, he stated, "Okay, well I'm Vortex." His durpy introduction seemed to work a little at diffusing the awkward tension as they both laughed a little. "But my friends call me Tex."

"Oh, uh, that's cool," she stated, not sure how to respond. It went silent real quick and she didn't know how to fix that.

Noticing this, Vortex smiled a little as he continued to observe their surroundings for his job. "So what's the story with you and the pale guy?"

"Huh? Snow?" Loona asked, her head cocking slightly. "Well he's, uh… he's…." She faded off into a softly little smile as she began gently playing with her ponytail. Part of a reminder that he'd pulled her hair back for her. "He's… amazing. And strong. And he's a really good teacher.

"And he… he actually encouraged me to talk to you. You know? Since I'm not so great at talking to other hellhounds," she admitted, still smiling a little.

Vortex chuckled a little at her admission. "He must be one helluva boyfriend."

Loona's cheeks lit up as she coughed to clear her throat. "We, uh… we're not actually… you know… dating," she admitted.

"Huh," he pondered aloud. "Figured since ya growled at my boss for hittin' on 'im, you and him were kind of a thing."

"Yeah… I did do that, didn't I?" she admitted with a nervous wince, playing with her hair. "I… I don't know. We're friends. And… maybe more. But it's really weird. Like we're… something… but we haven't really tried putting a label on it. And we've been okay with that."

Humming again with a chill smile on his face, Vortex looked at her. "Doesn't sound like you're okay with it."

Loona's silence was answer enough as she pondered his response.

"Is it the smell?"

"Huh?" Loona asked, suddenly confused.

"You know, the smell?" Vortex tried to elaborate, wincing for the first time. "He has this weird scent like he's good eatin', but also like he's just as likely to do the eating. Gives me the shivers."

"Oh that," Loona confirmed, before shrugging with another small smile. "I mean, yeah, it's always there. But after a while, it's just one of those things about him."

"Huh," Vortex wondered, looking up in thought.

"Am I… interrupting something?!" Blitz interjected, stepping between the two of them. He looked worse for wear with his clothes all ruffled and torn in some places, like he'd just waded through a warzone. Seeing how these people were acting, it was clear what he'd stepped into.

"Nah man. Just having a conversation," Vortex answered with a chill shrug.

"Conversation leads to HPV," Blitz stated, poking Vortex in his muscle-dense abs.

Simultaneously…

Snow watched after them with a small, humored smile on his face, just glad they could converse easy enough. But gradually it faded, piece by piece a little light going out until he just sighed, wiping his face with his hand. His off colors faded with the motion, leaving him in his usual pale state. His hair bled silver, practically creaking as each curl returned to its messy straights.

He walked off on his own, trailing the emptier half of the beach while everyone was caught up on the surprise concert and orgy taking place. He picked a photogenic spot before sitting down in the sand, holding his knees to his chest as he looked out over the waves.

He inhaled, appreciating the scent of the wind and water and salt. Gently, he palmed the amulet he always wore, thumbing over the design as he kept an eye on the roiling waves.

"Soul for your thoughts."

His ear perked as Coco approached, adjusting her clothes from her most recent… tryst… sighing in relief as she sat down. Clearly the fucking biz could wear some demons down.

"Nothing anyone would be able to help with," he stated honestly, letting the pendant fall back to his chest.

"Oh come on! Not even that cute hellhound you couldn't keep from smiling at?" she pressed.

Snow's silence was as telling as it was damning.

Coco's teasing smile slowly diminished as the realization dawned on her. "You like her."

"Yeah, and?" he asked.

"No, you really like her," she stressed, seeming almost shocked by that line of thought. "Like, really really."

Again, Snow went silent, not bothering to answer when the answer was crystal clear.

"And she can't help?" Coco continued, blinking as she continued to process that latest tidbit. "At the very least, you two seemed close."

"Just trying not to be the 'not-really-her-boyfriend-but-jealous' type when I'm the one encouraging her to make friends," he answered, flicking at the sand absently. "I want her to be happy, even if it's not with me. And that sucks, 'cause I wanna be happy too. But…." He trailed off a little helplessly.

Coco seemed to pick up what he was feeling as she answered. "It's Hell?"

"And I'm just naturally the jealous type with a load of baggage I wouldn't even know how to begin unpacking," he affirmed bitterly.

"Sounds like it sucks."

"It does."

Coco stood up briskly, dusting the sand from her shorts. "Just give her and yurself a shot. You never know. You clearly see something in her, and if she's as smart as she is cute, she sees something in you too."

Snow was left on the shoreline to ponder her words.

'Is it really so simple?'

Meanwhile, with Millie and Moxxie

Moxxie looked at Blitz standing between Loona and the other hellhound, and Snow, who was just sitting on the beach with one of those succubae talking with him. Deadpanning at how quickly their perfectly functional plan was suddenly short a few cogs, he sighed as he crouched back behind the beer kegs he and Millie were hiding behind.

"There goes any semblance of this being an easy bet," he complained. "Did we even get the butchers bill?"

"Ten for us, seventeen for Snow, plus whatever little magicky surprises he has left," Millie answered with a chipper wiggle of her fingers.

"Fair. Still sucks that we lost over half our team," he grumbled. "Not sure how we're even going to pinpoint who we're supposed to kill with both our soulhounds currently out of it."

"Oh, cheer up, honey," Millie encouraged, gently fixing his bowtie. "We got this. Team M&M gonna get shit done, make that money, and aim for that house."

"Gated community, local playground, decent schooling district (for Hell), and once things settle in… maybe a minivan," Moxxie stated, splaying his hands across the air as though he were displaying a picture he himself could clearly see.

Ah! The dream life.

"You keep talkin' such sweet things ta me, we might get a little lost too," she hummed, drawing her hands down the opening of his jacket.

"Then shall I lead on, milady?" Moxxie asked poshly, offering her his hand.

"Why, we shall my good sir," she teased him back, accepting it before she hefted a hatchet while Moxxie soldier carried his rifle.

Back with Loona

"What the fuck are you doing, Blitz?!" Loona hissed under her breath.

"I just wanted to see what was so "important" that you were distracted from your job," he stated pointedly.

"And you aren't even in one of your shitty drab disguises," she bit back. "You get caught, we're all fucked up the ass without so much as a drop of lube."

"Hey, those disguises are top notch!" he protested back, before giving Vortex the stink-eye. "And don't even get me started on your fraternizing with the enemy."

"All that aside," she dismissed with an eyeroll, "I was taking a break, and it was Snow's idea."

That actually made Blitz pause. "He's not the boss! I am!" Blitz finally protested out. "And if Powdered Donut wants to get traded off, that's his shit!"

"Says the asshole that facilitated the grounds of the bet without a single fuck given!" she snapped back. "Did you even think about what would happen if Bird-Tail caught wind of it? Snow was literally recommended by him."

He made a not-so-subtle whistling motion with his mouth, even though no sound came out.

"That's what I thought," she growled. "Believe it or not, Blitz, but Snow has actually improved things around the office, on top of which, has been keeping up with my training for fieldwork. The fact is, you couldn't just let things lie. You had to try and screw over your ex, and now Snow is the collateral thanks to that!"

"C'mon now," Vortex interjected calmly. "Let's all chill a little."

"You! That bent-bitch's hellhound! Stay out of it!" Blitz snapped back, but since Loona had mentioned it. "And another thing! You and Fire Fingers were spending a bunch of time alone! Satan only knows what he was planning to do to my baby girl once you dropped your guard!" He took another moment to glare at Vortex. "And if that wasn't bad enough, you're chatting up this wall of muscle."

"Yeah. And?" she demanded in a no-non-sense tone. "Fun fact Blitz: I'm twenty-two! If I want to see where things go with Snow, that's my business. And who I date, fuck, and get intimately attached to is also my business! And fun fact again: It. Was. Snow's. Idea!"

"I'm honestly not even sure why I'm surprised anymore, since you're so keen to listen to everything "Snow" says!" he shot back, grinding his feet in. "And since we're trading fun facts, I have one for you: I adopted you! It's my job to give a shit about who you date, because if he breaks your heart, I'm the one who who's gonna bust in his kneecaps! At! Minimum!"

"That hardly counts when I was almost eighteen anyway!" she protested.

"Well it still counts! We live in Hell! It's literally in the name! Is it so bad that I want you safe?!"

"And is it so bad that I wanna be happy?!"

There was a distinct pause as Loona panted out her anger, pushing her hair out of her face as she suddenly felt exhausted. She tried to regain her composure using breathing exercises Snow had taught her, and it helped, if only a little.

"I thought you were happy." The small voice Blitz mumbled in caught her ears, and had she been in her original form, her ears might have wilted.

"I am, Blitz," she stated just as softly, all the piss and vinegar drained from her. "I trust Snow. God, and maybe Lucifer, only knows why. He has so many secrets and he's done so many terrible things. But he's still somehow… good. And he's strong. And kind."

She couldn't help but fiddle with her hands a little, unused to how weird they looked, all pink flesh and cuticles where there was once fur and claws. And yet, despite the appearance, she could still feel her hands brush over her fur, a blip in her incomplete little illusion. "But he's not a pushover. He doesn't take my shit. He challenges me in all the right ways… makes me stronger. And he– he makes me want to be better, Blitz. It's… both amazing… and terrifying. And this is… all too new to me."

There was a long pause between the two of them as Blitz digested her words.

Back with the Imp Couple

Millie and Moxxie were crouched behind a lineup of beverage coolers atop a plastic foldable table. Around them was littered with half-drank bottles of whatever piss and swill these beachgoers were thirsty for, and Moxxie didn't appreciate the change in venue.

Not as romantic as he had hoped, but it beat the Hell out of crouching behind the beer kegs lined up in the surf, the cold waves continuously keeping the drums – and by extension, the beer – cold. Last thing either of them wanted was to end up only soaked from the waist down.

Somehow, being half wet was worse than being completely sopped.

Careful not to shake the stability of their perch, he peaked out from over the coolers, finally spotting someone they had deduced to be one of their targets. And not easily at that.

"So whatcha aching for?" Millie asked as they went over a small lineup of their weapons.

"Something that screams "silent" and "accidental"," he pondered, immediately skipping over the guns and even the crossbow. "We can't just poison them, can we? Few drops in the barrels and…." He made a strangled look with his face. "Make it look like one of those cult suicide things?"

"Drat! Do we even have a stock of poison?" Millie pondered aloud.

Sighing, Moxxie finally just settled on silent. The crossbow was less than ideal and practically screamed specialty job, but hopefully the humans were drunk enough not to care. "Add that to the shopping list I suppose."

"Man," Millie sighed. "Got so busy buildin' up that arsenal, we didn't even think about the quiet approach."

"To be fair, Blitz did let us pick some stuff out," Moxxie stated as he made sure the bowstring was still good, even though they always checked before mission. Last thing they needed was a frayed or weathered string snapping half-cocked.

"Yeah," Millie said dreamily. "I got me that battle axe."

"I'd actually like to field test that military specced drum-barrel semi-auto shotgun I got," he pondered. "It's a waste just letting it collect dust. Any-hoo, have you seen the–" He began looking around, only to stop short as Millie held up a serrated-edge bolt, waving it gently at him.

"Now what do I get for this?" she asked with a half-lidded smirk.

Moxxie didn't hesitate to kiss his wife as he plucked it from her hand. "All my love."

"You sweet-talker you," she pouted, contrasted by the adoration in her eyes.

Smiling, Moxxie peaked back over the coolers, weapon perched stabilized on the top as he sought out their target again.

WOOOOO!

Moxxie was glad his finger hadn't been on the trigger, otherwise, some poor beach jock would have to explain how he got a Texas Heartshot.

"Yeeeeeah!" a nearby frat dude yelled right next to the table, unaware of either imps presence. But they were very aware of his. "Par-tay! Let's do this!"

Neither of them had time as the human heaved the table they were on, attempting to toss it in his drunken state, but only serving to barely tip it over with his noodle arms.

Millie was able to tuck-and-roll from the crashed coolers, quickly scurrying under a nearby beach towel ninja-like. Moxxie wasn't so lucky. With the crossbow encumbering his movements, he wasn't able to apply evasive maneuvers, and he went down with the drinks.

The crossbow dropped from his hand, misfiring and the bolt hitting the frat dude right in the eye, his hoots and calls going silent as he tilted back and collapsed in the sand. No one batted an eye.

Moxxie rolled, made it to his feet, lost his balance, and splatted belly first onto the sand with an "Oof!"

"Eew!" one of the beach chicks slurred, pointing out the imp to all those around her as he sat up from his tumble. "Oh ma gawd! Ith a fucking pothum!"

"Actually… it looks more like a horned lizard," someone stated before calling out. "Somebody lose their lizard?!"

"Oh crumbs!" Moxxie cursed, trying to make a break for it, only for one of the frat guys to reach down and snatch him up.

"Yo! I heard in like, some places, they put snakes in their alcohol to enhance the flavor!" he bruhed out, half-baked if the smell was anything to go by.

"No way!" one of the jocks exclaimed. "You think the same thing applies to lizards?!"

"I mean, their both reptiles," the dude answered back.

"Yeah! Let's toss him in the keg!" another jock hooted out, pulling up a beer cooler and snatching off the lid.

"So unsanitary," Moxxie muttered weakly as he was thrown into the cooler and sealed in by the lid.

"Lizard beer, brah! Baby, beer lizard!" the dude hooted as they began shaking up the keg. For "flavor".

"Yeah! Let's get fucked up!" a beach girl cheered.

Millie managed to shift into a good spot under her makeshift hiding spot before noticing what they had done with Moxxie. "Shit."

Looking around quickly to make sure no one was present or watching, she stood up, the towel draped over her head and shoulders like a hooded poncho, hiding her demon features as she stole after the partygoers that had just tried turning her husband into a beverage enhancer.

And in the cooler Moxxie slurred and tumbled around, half-drinking, half-choking on the liquid as he was brutally shaken around.

And Back Again

Loona wasn't taking Blitz's silence well. He was almost never silent. And never for any extended period of time. Now that it was happening, it only left an eerie sensation in its wake.

"Blitz?" she prodded uneasily. Not to mention how uncomfortable it was to… lay all that bare. It was as close as she'd come to verbalizing exactly how she felt around Snow. It was scary how vulnerable she felt, and yet, her usual jump to anger didn't rise; almost giving it the sanctity it deserved.

With a heavy sigh, Blitz exhaled. "Don't take too long on your break, Loony. We'll talk about this later, okay? Let's just get this bet over with."

"Okay," she said softly, not sure what else to say or do. It wasn't dismissal, but it was far from resolved. And whatever door she'd opened, it didn't seem like it was going to close anytime soon. Things were so much simpler when she would just lashed out in bitter resentment. Maybe being around Snow had changed her more than she realized.

As Blitz marched off, she shifted uneasily, letting out a deep, huffing sigh that doubled as an attempt to de-stress. She groaned in exhaustion and annoyance, wiping her hands over her face.

"So ya got some fluff to that iron."

Loona almost jumped as she remembered Vortex was literally right behind her.

"I've seen some heart-baring before, but damn. That looked like it stung," he stated sympathetically, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ya good?"

"Yeah," she replied gently, if not a little embarrassed. "Just… not sure where to go from here. Blitz will come around eventually. He always does. It's just… I don't know what to do about Snow."

"Well, it takes guts ta know what you want and get after it," he encouraged. "So keep doin' that. Weird smells aside, he seems like a cool guy. If ya think he's worth it, keep him. 'Cause trust, he'll bring his baggage, and if you ain't prepared to handle it, it ain't gonna work."

"Words from a sage?" she asked.

"Personal experience," he stated with a tranquil smile.

Loona didn't even have to think about her next words. "Yeah. Yeah, I think he is. Worth it, that is."

"Then hellhound ta hellhound, best of luck. And also…," he pulled out his hellphone and handing it to her. "…I get the details on upcoming 'hound parties. If yur up to dealing with other hellhounds that is. If ya need a hand on scene, I'll spot ya."

She looked down at the phone before smiling as she began inputting her contact info. "Sure. Practice makes perfect."

"That's the spirit," he stated, quickly shooting her a quick text to send his info. "I'll send the details once it comes through. And if Snow is up for it, bring him too. The more the merrier."

Loona didn't look as convinced at that. She'd seen how other 'hounds reacted to Snow's presence, even if Vortex and Jax (and she supposed she could add herself to that list) seemed to be outliers; and even if he agreed to go, it was more than probable they'd probably stir up some trouble. It was still worth looking into.

"That… would be cool," she agreed.

Checking in on Snow

He had kept to himself. Internalized. Isolated and cut off from his surroundings as he pondered his options going forth. What they would mean. What secrets he'd have to give up. Because, unfortunately, some of those details he kept hidden were going to come to light if he wanted his pursuit for some semblance of happiness to include Loona. That was just the nature of some of them.

He just… didn't know how to do it. He'd hidden so much for so long, he wasn't even sure if he could be honest. That's how he'd survived. And if he shared the recesses of his being, they'd get caught in that mire-pit he'd been living in for years.

Looking over at a nearby seagull as it stood all chill-like on the beach, he just snorted. "What do you think?"

Squak!

It took to flying off at his verbal intrusion.

Snorting again, he looked back out at the water. "Yeah, sounds about right." Sighing again, he turned back toward the water, watching as a pair of Nixies raced back and forth through the surf.

BUM!

A thrum erupted silently, every hair of his body curling as it passed over and through him. Suddenly thickening the air like the rapid gathering of a storm. He could feel the power that suddenly radiating from the ocean, seeming to come from nowhere as it built like a tide. Oppressive, powerful; and overshadowed by a blind rage.

The oceanic denizens balked, darting deeper into the water and scattering, leaving the once Fae-teeming waters suddenly absent and empty.

He slowly moved to his feet, keeping his eyes peeled on the ocean surface, looking for anything unnatural that could cause such a feeling. There were far too many creatures that made their homes in the sea. Some, humans had forgotten. Others preferred it that way.

The air continued to thicken, heavy and moist amidst the beach heat, causing droplets of perspiration to run down his forehead and back as all his focus was committed to scanning the water. After several passes with nothing visible, he was becoming uneasy. With the water sprites gone, he knew he wasn't just being paranoid, but the fact that nothing was revealing itself wasn't making him any less calm.

With a ripple around him, he sent out a directionally controlled burst of power, watching as some of the wave waters lifted in inverted droplets before splashing back down. He didn't let his guard down when no response came, instead drawing his claws out before the tips trailed archaically.

In an instant, his trench coat was shunted through time-space, barely floating for a moment before he donned it, the article of clothing providing a level of resistance.

His caution was rewarded the next moment as pitch black clouds suddenly burst from the sea, billowing like erupting volcanic fumes as it climbed clear to the cloud-level, sparks of strange, almost purple lightning crackling through it. And through the viscus vapor, he could barely make out something rising out of the water, titanic, solid, and writhing.

Snow felt his body naturally inflex as parts of his demonic features began manifesting in eyes and fur as fear began creeping in his mind. He blindly grasped at his amulet, feeling as it burned his skin at his own power building, reminding him that he was to remain limited.

"What in Heaven and Hell?" he cursed, almost balking when multiple sets of eyes glowed purple through the inky smog.

And with something that large lifting from the sea so quickly, he could already see the displaced water inbound. And yet it was made worse when the thing in the ocean smashed back down into the water, its wake dragging toward the shoreline.

Back with the Imps

Millie ducked and dodged through the drunken partygoers as they danced to whatever Verosika Mayday was selling, the proverbial orgy still in effect as she pulled the towel she had pilfered tighter over her head to keep her features hidden. Any tighter and her horns would pierce through the fabric.

Finally finding the drink cooler her husband had been shoved into, she allowed a brief moment of relief before looking back and forth to make sure no one was paying attention to her. Quickly approaching, she made sure she was hidden as she tipped over the container, spilling the contents out on the sand.

"PARTY FOUL!" she called out inconspicuously over the crowd, the shout earning whoops, hoots, groans, and moans from various humans. But none turned directly to her, allowing her to quickly assess just how her hubby was doing.

She wasn't sure what she expected, but find Moxxie with pants down, dick out, smelling of beer and piss was not what she had in mind.

"MOXXIE!" she yelled in both surprise and mortification.

"Exthcuthe me ma'am," he slurred, swaying as he attempted to sit up. She could see immediately he had bruises forming on his face, and judging by the differing dilations of his pupils, possibly a concussion. "But couldja keep i'… down." He practically lurched, like he was about to throw up, but instead burped.

"Baby, why are your pants down?" she asked worried, gently patting his back as he continued to sway from his seated position.

"Huh? Oh. I kept drinking… all the beer… until there was no more beer. But these assholes wanted beer… so I gave it back to them." The last bit was said so proudly, Millie had to do a double-take.

"Say again."

"I thaid, I drank all the beer, and pithed it back out, so these people had beer ta drink," he stated, looking around. "Seeee? They all… like it."

It would explain the smell. Hesitantly, Millie reached out a hand before thinking 'fuck it' and helping him pull his pants back up. Unfortunately, it didn't go over as intended.

"Exthcuthe me mith," he bit out, narrowing his bloodshot eyes and swatting her hands away and taking it upon himself to fixing his trousers. "I'll have you know… I'mma happily married man. So keep yur… shen-nan-i-gens to… yurthelf. Or… or I'll tell my wife about you."

Her heart melted a little, despite the sorry state he was in. "Hey suga', did some lady try messing with yur pants?"

His head flopped to the side as he stared at her dumbly. It took several seconds too many before they widened slightly. "MILLIE!" he cried, trying to hug her, but she sidestepped that quick, causing him to tumble over his own hooves. Looking back up at her, he smiled a durpy smile. "Hello my little hurricane of mayhem. My little typhoon of torment. There was a weird lady trying to meth with mah panth. But I was a good boy, and shooed 'er away."

She chuckled slightly. "My-my, I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

"Always and forever," he murmured through his haze. He narrowed his eyes again, still disbalanced, even when laying down. "Hey baaaaaby~? When didja get four heads? I wanna kith 'em all."

She smiled in adoration, even if he was an absolute mess. "Tell you what, we getcha cleaned up, get Snow ta heal those wounds, and I'll let you do whatever ya want."

He seemed to ponder that for a moment before he looked at her questioningly. "Can I be the little spoon?" he asked in a small voice.

She just continued to smile at her man. "After we get you cleaned up."

"Yaaay!" he cheered. "Bath time!"

"WAVE!" a familiar voice called out. In response, Moxxie and the humans threw their hands up in a impromptu stadium wave. Millie looked around, finally finding Snow rushing towards them, the fear of God in his face sending a rippling terror through her.

"NO YOU DUMB FUCKS! A GIANT WAVE!" he snapped out, suddenly bounding to all fours to pick up speed.

Millie turned around, her eyes turning to pinpricks as a wall of water was rumbling towards them. Escape wasn't an option. It was too tall and too fast. All she could do was pull Moxxie tight to keep from being separated once it crashed down, smell be damned. Assuming it didn't pulverize them right then and there.

His shouting caught the attention of several people; some still fucking right there on the beach, others looked up from where they were catching some sun, others simply stopped their dancing as they turned to see their doom baring down on them. The music from the stage sharply cut out.

Suffice to say, the concert was over.

With the speed of a whirlwind, Snow planted himself between them and the water. With a roar and an upward heave like he was flipping a table with both hands, a blast of frigid air flash-froze across the water, turning the oncoming wave into as crackling wall of ice. The momentum sent the tallest and thinnest pieces crashing and scattering.

This was going to bite him in the ass later. He could practically feel it already. But even as he panted at the expenditure, his amulet burned into his chest, and his arms quaked and shivered. He'd deal with the consequences later. Priority one was making sure his demons were safe.

It was silent, save for the glacial creaking and groaning of the ice as its sheer weight was snapping and cracking it. With the motion of the waves, it was already breaking down into crags and crevices.

He didn't have time to rest as just as quickly a rush of water crashed over the ice, even as the creature he'd noticed held fast at the walls edge, erupting from the water in all its tremendous and terrible glory.

It was like something out of the darkest recesses of the imagination. There was no other way to describe it.

The movement of it pulling itself out of the water appeared almost to happen in slow motion, but that was only because of its size and weight, and the weight of its presence. Water rained from its limbs as a pair of enormous pincers, each capable of crushing a school bus in half, shoveled into the shallows, practically pulling an entire sandbar into existence as it began standing up. It had ten lobster-like legs, if not for the fact that each one looked like it could skewer a skyscraper.

The pincers were attached to an almost torso-shaped body like a pair of arms; the torso itself was almost similar to how a lobster was shaped and armored. Where said lobster's tail might emerge, four armored tentacle-like tails flexed and crashed in the water around it. The armor and shell itself was a dark grayish blue.

As it stood taller, parts of its upper shell peeled back in an almost fleshy manner, as though it could roll up like a pangolin, revealing a large cephalopodic "head", reminiscent of an octopus, but far more sturdy and erect with its armored shell. What would have been the body of such a creature was now a bulbous extension of said head.

Eight large and long tentacles adorn where one might attribute a face, each as armored as it's body, curling and contorting like centipedes as the spurs flexed in and out. On the sides were the large, bulbous glowing eyes of a cephalopod one might expect, except in the center of its "face", three pairs of severely smaller, beady eyes glowed just as intensely.

As it reached its full titanic height, it reared back, the armored shell of its "face" split, its facial tentacles peeling their separate ways - four on each side - to reveal two side-facing jaws, each one filled with retracting teeth shaped like the hooked beaks of cephalopods. In between the face plates and the jaws, smaller tentacles writhed and pulled, searching for something to slide into its maw. And with it, the bulbous portion of its head seemed to inflate like a balloon, as though it were sucking in air.

With a clench of its pincers, a small (for it) heave forward, and the chromataphores of its shell bursting in a display of bioluminescent black and purple, it full-out roared.

Without vocal cords, there was no tonal shift. Merely enormous amounts of air being forcefully expelled through wider air vessels in a low-frequency shift. A guttural rumbling ripped across the beach with such force, it was as though an explosion had gone off. Eardrums rupture from the change in air pressure and nausea erupted as the fluids of the ear channel were violently disrupted. Nearby bottles and the glass windows buildings behind the beach all strained for barely a moment before shattering.

The sound was so loud and intense, there wasn't a person who didn't slap their hands to their ears, crying out in pain.

For those with particularly sensitive hearing (i.e. Vortex, Loona and Snow) the concussion of low-frequency tone was like a sledgehammer to the head. Each one of them collapsed and now sporting bleeding eardrums.

The creature emerged, its smaller, beady eyes took in the mass of humans, and with a lumbering swiftness, it bent down, its larger tentacles reaching and grasping. Before anyone could really recover, several had been snatched up. If the constricting grasp of the creature didn't kill them by popping their heads off the body, or it's massive spurs didn't completely shred their bodies, then the writhing, wriggling, clacking maw that soon greeted them did.

One person practically exploded from the pressure as a tentacle squeezed him, sending a spray of blood all over other beach folk. Now covered in blood, the results were varied. Some humans shrieked bloody murder, others fainted on the spot; some fled in terror, and others still collapsed as their knees gave out underneath them.

Snow was caught biting back tears as his eardrums stitched themselves back together, blood dripping down the side of his face. Hastily, he looked around, finding Loona and Vortex keeled over, painfully holding the sides of their heads in hand as blood trailed between their fingers. With a groan, he pushed himself up, hissing in pain. Disoriented and off-balance, he made his way over to them as fast as possible, every step a little less painful and a little firmer.

He flopped down in front of Loona, gently informing her of his presence as he gently slid his hands around her forearms. She jerked, looking up, only to visibly relax when she noticed it was Snow. Gingerly, he managed to get her to pull her hands away long enough for him to brace his hands over her ears. With a golden glow, Loona's ears seemed to pop as sound suddenly rushed back to her newly healed ears.

"Snow, what–?"

"Loona," he cut her off firmly, already doing the same healing for Vortex. "Group up with the others and get ready to portal out. We're not sticking around."

As Vortex's ears finally healed, the bigger 'hound in human form sighed in relief. "Thanks man."

"You, get your posse out," Snow ordered.

"You got this?" the 'hound asked, rolling his jaw to ease the pressure behind his ears.

"Maybe?" Snow answered without answering.

Shrugging, Vortex paused a moment as he zeroed in on his peeps. Then with an agility that didn't seem to befit his size, he bound forward, plowing through fleeing humans. If it wasn't for his bigger mass, he might have been trampled; but instead, anyone who hit him rebounded. The same couldn't be said for those that Vortex himself hit.

It was pandemonium.

"C'mon," Snow ordered, as quickly and gently as he could, lifting Loona to her feet.

Blitz grumbled at all the screams and such as he looked up from strangling a guy with his own belt, blinking in surprise at the monstrosity that was all but on the beach. Somehow unaffected by the explosive roar.

Millie and Moxxie both stood there, Millie in terror, and Moxxie in whatever stupor he was basking in.

"Oooh! Baaaabe! You didn't tell me it was a crab and calamari type of restaurant," Moxxie pouted drunkenly, absently brushing at his still soaked outfit. "I didn' even get dressed for it."

Before either of them could do much else, one of the tentacles lashed out, practically bodying into Moxxie as it curled around him, eliciting a joyful "Whee!" of exhilaration from the male imp as he was pulled closer to the creature's mouth.

Even as it's maw slowly opened, the screams of those already eaten could be heard from it's throat, both in fear and in pain, as they were beginning to hit the monster's digestive juices.

CHOMP!

And like that, Moxxie disappeared to a clomp of silence, but not before hooting like he was at the water park.

"MOXXIE!" Millie called out, doing her best to stand back up, despite every demonic instinct in her body screaming for her to freeze. Half-stumbling to her feet, she ran toward the shore, fully prepared to take the front assault route if it meant saving her husband.

Before she could get too far, she was already dodging back as another tentacle flailed her way, only just missing her. With her momentum gone, another tentacle swung around, fully prepared to snatch her up.

BANG!

A low groan was heard as the creature recoiled, slowly bringing its wounded appendage close to its face for inspection. While it's armor was thick and reinforced, there was now a large hole in it, blue hemocyanin blood dripping from the small but gaping wound.

Its whole head seemed to turn with it's body as he looked for the source of it's pain, greeted by the sight of Blitz holding his rifle aloft, eye at the scope and barrel smoking as he took aim for another shot. "Ha! There's more where that came from!"

For a creature without eyelids or brows, it was very clearly glaring at the head imp. With a guttural roar, all it's attention turned toward him as it began smashing at the ice wall with it's claws, it's foremost limbs kicking and stabbing into it as it did it's best to b-line for Blitz.

With it taking too long, its eyes seemed to narrow again before its legs lifted it higher, almost perching in the ocean. It craned its head up and its tentacles lifted skyward in an almost eldritch reverence. As it's mouth opened, a black fog blasted from it's mouth, inky black and already absorbing rapidly into the clouds. As sunny as the day had been, it rapidly started becoming overcast.

A rumble of thunder called out, and the creature answered back with a shriek of its own. A series of bioluminescent dots trailing along its body, quickly climbing up its back and over its head before reaching the very tip of its tentacles. At the moment of completion, the ink black clouds it had expelled buzzed with purple static.

"What the Hell is it doing?" Blitz asked aloud.

"BLITZ!" He turned to see Snow running toward him waving his arms, Loona following in tow. "RUN!"

CRACK!

He swallowed as the world to his right flashed, slowly turning to see bolts of purple lightning striking down on the creature's tentacles, and arching into its body, its chromatophores and bioluminescence seeming to envelop it in that same purple glow.

Almost humming in satisfaction, it turned its gaze once more to Blitz as the cause of its pain, before the sound of energy charging up began to buzz and hum through the air, its tentacle splaying and rigidly pointing in his direction.

Blitz knew he was going to die. Call it what you want; a hunch, a gut feeling, literally staring down a monster with him at the top of its shitlist. He'd lasted that long, despite being an imp; the weakest of the weak. In all honesty, it had only been a matter of time, and no shortage of luck that he'd made it this far. Now it looked like it was his turn to punch-out. Swallowing, he turned to where Loona and Salt Sha– where Snow were trying to run toward him. Resigned, he merely met his baby's gaze, smiling his brightest and most loving smile.

"NO! BLITZ!" Loona called out, half-pounced to all fours as she tried to pick up speed, only to trip over her awkward form.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Snow watched in escalating horror what was about to happen. He wouldn't be fast enough. He knew it long before he understood it. He grasped at the first thing that came to mind, and without thinking, initiated it.

A pulse of power ripped off him, sending Loona tumbling back and away from where he was when the eventual shockwaves reached her. A static hum ripped painfully across his body like the shriek of a thousand wrathful birds or the swarming of angry wasps as every cell in his body became alit with energy. A tug pulled in his chest as the shock hit his heart.

And just like that, smaller beams of purple electricity smashed together from the creature's tentacles, creating a much larger beam of pure wild lightning, piercing a gigantic electrical laser at the shoreline, and subsequently, spelling Blitz's doom.

In a flash, Snow was in front of Blitz, one hand half pushing, half tossing him out of the way with enough force to jet him away from the impact. The other lifted up, encompassing itself in an opposing charge, and as a result, preventing any stray arcs as he drew it all right toward him. He just closed his eyes tightly, the barest glimpse of a tear in the corner of his eye.

BZZZZ!

As time seemed to return, the beam completely enveloped him, smashed into the beach's retaining wall, the entire structure around the impact crumbling and collapsing from the energy and force.

It faded within a moment as Blitz and Loona both hit the sand. Millie's looked up from covering her eyes, the light from the blast intense, only for them to widen with shock, unable to process what had just happened.

Groaning from the impact, Loona stumbled back to her feet, wincing as she looked to where Blitz had been just seconds ago, only to see a line of super-heated sand. Her eyes widened as her pupils narrowed, her breathing coming in shallow gasps. She frantically scanned the beach, the faintest of reliefs when she noticed Blitz splayed out of the sand.

When the realization hit, she gasped, shaking her head softly. "No. Nonono!" She raced forward, panting as she looked around frantically. "Nono. Snow! Snow?! SNOW!"

Nothing. She heard nothing, except the sizzling sand.

Her legs shaking, Loona collapsed to her hands and knees, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes as she stared in disbelief at the empty beach. Desperate, she followed the trail of newly formed beach glass to the collapsed retaining wall. Growling in frustration, she began pushing chunks of concrete to the side, hoping beyond reasonable hope that he was alive.

Clink.

The metallic noise drew her attention as she was met with an even worse encounter. The weird medallion Snow always wore tumbled out of the wall, whatever string or rope that had kept it attached to his neck completely charred away.

Meanwhile, the monster, noticing it's intended target wasn't flash fried, began charging up again.

"Mils! Need it distracted!" Blitz called out, rolling to his feet from his prone state, briefly sparing a heavy glance to where Loona was looking for Snow. Growling, he lifted his rifle, taking aim directly at the creature's face before opening fire.

Blue blood splattered as it roared in discomfort and pain. Shaking its cephalopod head with a gelatinous wobble, its eyes darkened when they looked back at Blitz.

"It's on, bitch," Blitz growled.

Author's Note: Don't forget to READ and REVIEW! ^^

And now part two of "Spring Broken"!

I got caught up and ended up making this chapter longer than I normally do at over 12000 words, and that was even after dividing some of it and pushing into the next chapter. Suffice to say, most of the next chapter is already done due to me getting caught in the zone.

Spring Break generally takes place in March, so it does give us a certain timetable to certain episodes. But seeing as most of the episodes seem to jump around sporadically from season to season, I'm not exactly sure what Vivziepop was intending with that, if there was even a purpose to it at all.

Snow and Loona get swimming attire, and Loona demonstrates once again why she's an atypical hellhound.

Further info on Snow's shapeshifting, and little demonology tidbits aside.

While Loona honey-trapping fools is still largely the same, Snow's coming out of the surf just one big parody to beach-bod movies that devolves into a horror show if one takes the time to actually think about it, and it shows a demonstration of skill and precision.

I obviously don't own P!NK's "Just Like Fire".

I did change up the creature that mutates, mostly because it seemed like the whole thing was at the ocean, and not a river. While some species of catfish do survive and thrive in the ocean, it still looked pretty rare, so I changed up the creatures.

A little spin on Loona approaching Vortex, with her and Snow just being adorable. As well as adding a little on Snow's side of things.

Blitz and Loona's encounter showcases not just how she feels, but how much she's changed. There's more forethought, more communication, and less her just coming off as an ungrateful, spoiled brat. And Blitz is recognizing this, if only a little.

Some more changes to Millie and Moxxie's parts. I found it odd that Moxxie mentions earlier that they aren't just going up to Earth to massacre, but the moment it's just him and Millie, that's exactly what they do. Nevermind how they figured out who their targets were. So here's some clarity and enhancement to that. Also changed up a few minor details to make some sense.

Also changed up some of drunk Moxxie. Made it more adorable in my opinion.

The creature is question came from a number of ideas. Namely the Kraken, both from the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans, and from the Evolve videogame. I tried to make it something worthy of that level of threat. The full challenging roar was based on the Youtube video "What Would Godzilla REALLY Sound Like" by DangerVille, due to it's lack of vocal cords, and the only way it could roar was simply by pumping out massive amounts of air. A bit different, but same concept. The idea of hearing people screaming as they got digested came from the movie "Nope", 'cause it chilled me to the bone, and it's a scary-real approach to being eaten alive.

Also, it does have blue blood. This is common in cephalopods and crustaceans (which it is made up of) due to the presence of Hemocyanin, which is copper-based, instead of mammilian Hemoglobin, which is iron-based. Hemocyanin is actually more effective at carrying oxygen through the blood stream at colder and near freezing temperatures. Fun facts. The more you know.

This was actually one of the scenes in my head that made me start writing this story. Rather than taking the hit for Loona, I always saw Snow taking the hit for Blitz. I'm not sure why, but I found it more functional than another 'guy takes hit for girl' scenario that we've probably all seen or read too often. This felt more impactful this way.

And Snow's amulet is off. Whuh-oh!

Heads-up: Next chapter, we should be wrapping up "Spring Broken". It's already largely finished, but I'm gonna wait to post it until it's good and ready.