Wings of Hell

by Emersonian

Ines Coeurdor is a uniquely good girl. However, when her father was supposed to tell her a secret on her sixteenth birthday, she gets murdered. Reborn in Hell as Indigo Caligo, an owl butterfly demon, she deals with panicked anxieties as she finds shelter in the Hazbin Hotel, where she meets demons acting as second family while she tries to understand why she's in Hell with no sin.

9. The Spider Demon

Chapter 9: The Spider Demon

Angel Dust found Indigo sleeping on the floor.

Things got too close and two lucky. Just after dinner last night, Valentino sent a Grey Warning. Grey Warnings in Hell were the equivalent of black-out periods in human retail stores, when managers set a time period of denying employees' requests for holidays because too many customers collided with short staffing. In Hell, it was worse. If a company called a Grey Warning, it meant that employees would spend an uncertain amount of time unpaid. In the case of Porn Studios, it meant that thousands of employees had a series of unpaid days off if Valentino suddenly put a halt on film shoots, performances, and services.

Club 666 lost 20 porn stars, 2 cameramen, 2 makeup artists, 1 waiter, and 113 customers. All devoured by cannibal butterflies or exterminated when said butterflies turned into crazy Exorcist-Aztec butterfly warriors. No one knew where the warriors flew off to, it was like they vanished. But based on the images texted by Dia, Club 666 had been devastated. Far more than when he and Cherri had made a mess. And the bugs chewing on the cables caused a gas leak.

Long story shot, Valentino was rebuilding the club, enforcing security, and was going to go around the Pride Ring to recruit more whores. That gave Angel Dust unfortunately no way of earning money for an uncertain amount of weeks to come. At least he slept longer last night.

He was used to waking up early, but he decided to wake up around 6am to check on Indigo. When he didn't hear her, Angel Dust set his foot in. Seeing Indigo's room gave him a pinch of guilt. The hotel's foundation had a thing for transforming rooms based on residents. He'd seen Vaggie and Charlie's room, a spartan room with three-quarters of the wall covered by Charlie's sketches and notes for hotel ideas. He'd seen Nifty's room, a thoroughly clean room with Japanese aesthetics and shelves full of nothing but the demoness's cleaning supplies and fanfics. Husk only had a mattress, bottles, and some cat sculpture made of superglue and casino tokens, which was just sad.

But Indigo's room was heartbreaking. Because she was eternally young and recently dead, the hotel had obviously made the room look like her bedroom back on Earth. The black wood frames of her storage bed had butterfly carvings on them and the night blue sheets had morpho butterflies printed on them. The rainbow paper butterflies of the mobile hanging from the ceiling above the bed fluttered around, the strings still attached to them. There was one of those star projector lamps on her nightstand, but obviously there were butterfly patterns on it. The light was on, projection constellation butterflies to fly around the walls. Her ceiling was covered by glow-in-the-dark stickers of butterflies and stars, the sticker bugs even adjusting the stars as they pleased, as if they decided to have the Andromeda constellation switch places with Capricorn.

The walls were painted blue and covered in posters for things that Angel Dust didn't recognize, like Luther Vandross, MY HERO ACADEMIA, and THE OWL HOUSE. There was a bay window with monarch butterfly curtains and plain blue cushions. The bookshelves were filled with books, butterfly glass figurines, a jewelry box, DVDs, and some manga figurines. Attached to the window frame was a bouquet of mistletoe. He remembered what Indigo and Husk had discussed about her paternal grandfather being remembered with mistletoe.

The other half of the room was probably the hardest to look at. On top of a collection of cabinets were nearly all items dedicated to nothing but her family and human life. Angel Dust walked over and saw all the framed pictures resting on the counter: Indigo, a human brunette, being carried by her father on her first day to daycare, Indigo's birthday party, Indigo on family outings, and too many pictures of her, her father, her grandparents, and what could possibly be her aunt. It was painfully clear in the pictures that her family meant a lot to her. She even had a framed black-and-white picture of her grandparents' wedding. Angel Dust could see the family resemblance in all of them. Both Indigo and her father had the same eyes and skin as her grandfather, but they clearly had the same curly brown hair and nose as her grandmother, who appeared to be a light-skinned Afro-Latina.

It did make him wonder what Indigo's mother looked like. For all he knew, she was probably some white broad.

Some candles and a vase rested by two framed pictures of her grandparents, the grandfather's having a Croix De Guerre strapped to the frame. Most likely a memorial dedicated to them following their deaths. A quarter of the wall above the cabinets had a bunch of hand-drawn illustrations of landscapes, the family, and butterflies. The remaining parts were unexpected to Angel Dust.

Trophies.

So many golden trophies and medals for ice skating competitions. From the framed pictures on the wall, he found out that in her human life, Indigo had trained and competed in ice skating since she was four. Her family seemed proud of her in the pictures but Angel Dust chuckled when he saw that even as a four-year-old barely able to lift a trophy and medal, Indigo still had that humble smile of hers. He wondered why the pictures and trophies stopped when she was twelve. The rest were art contests, biology contests, and even a family bake-off contest. And she still looked like she was embarrassed in the pictures!

He heard snoring. That's when he spotted Indigo sleeping on the floor. Caterpillars had crawled to create a pillow formation under her head, it was disgustingly cute. Angel Dust noticed the items on her bed. Rolling his eyes, he unfolded the package paper, placed the paper on the nightstand (he wasn't going to read a teen's personal paper), and put the sickle and necklace by the pictures of the grandparents.

(In all honesty, Angel Dust had no way of knowing that Indigo had received something from her grandparents in Heaven. The sickle didn't even glow, so for all he knew, Indigo probably had a mental breakdown over her grandparents' belongings.)

Just as he turned, Indigo yawned. She was still lying on the floor.

"Did the farfalla sleep OK? If she didn't, then she should have gone to bed." He sat down next to her. She didn't budge. "And be careful the next time you sleep after a meltdown. Vaggie likes snooping around my room for my free stash. I don't think you want her confiscating your sickle. I put your stuff on the counters."

"Thanks…" She grumbled. She then widened her eyes, as if she had spotted something. Angel Dust watched her crawl under her bed and pull something out. "OH MY GOSH!" She squealed. Angel Dust tried chasing away the butterflies flying around everywhere. Honestly, it was kind of disturbing that the sentient bugs could even pass off as furniture décor. When she finally pulled herself up from underneath the bed, blue-colored butterflies were erupting from her head.

"What the…" Angel Dust began. Then he saw what Indigo was holding. A plush toy. A plush scorpion, to be exact. Its button eyes were dark purple and a big smile was sewn under its teeth. The fuzzy body of the toy was made of some sort of light blue fleece with embroidery patterns of seashells and constellations.

"Scrunchy!" Indigo jumped on the bed and hugged the toy. "My favorite toy in the universe! He looks exactly like the one I had back home!" She sniffed it. "He even smells like the dirt from my backyard whenever we played hide-and-seek!"

"Your favorite toy… was a scorpion?" Angel Dust frowned as he sat down next to her on the bed. Most people loved plush teddies, rabbits, horses, cats, and dogs. Or in Charlie's case, plush horned goats that your dad enchants to create mute Hellborn demons to be your bodyguards called Razzle and Dazzle.

"Yeah, I had him since I was a baby! My dad never told me where he got Scrunchy, but it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to go to sleep without him. I went everywhere with Scrunchy when I was a kid and I still had him on my bed as a teen because he made me feel better. There were no others like him, so he was special to me. I'm not even embarrassed that he's here!" She kept hugging Scrunchy the Scorpion.

"Still, why a scorpion? Why not a butterfly?" Angel Dust let one of the butterflies flying out of Indigo's hair land on his index finger.

"You're a spider demon. Why do you have a pet pig instead of a pet spider?"

"Touché." The butterfly flew off his finger and on top of Scrunchy the Scorpion's head.

Indigo frowned when she saw the butterfly. "Phocides pigmalion." She finally noticed her newest creations. "Where did the mangrove skippers come from?"

"When you went all bubbly teenage-y." He said.

So, she cried caterpillar eggs. The caterpillars could turn into any butterfly depending on who or what they touched, just like how Alastor caused a caterpillar to transform into a swallowtail. Indigo hiccupped blue morpho butterflies and erupted red admirals. Now she bursts mangrove skippers every time she gets bubbly.

Oh, and she could also control flesh-eating Lapis Locustia who devoured demons' hearts and attached organs, transform into demon-masked humanoid butterfly warriors bearing holy macahuitls that destroyed demons. How on earth was he going to bring that up?

"Uh, Indigo? When your bugs went to fetch me…"

"Did I cause trouble again?"

Angel Dust could have just told her. But she was calming down lately, telling her about the insect Aztec-exterminator warriors would freak her out. Why did teenagers have to be so hormonal? "They did the same thing to Club 666 as they did to Porn Studios," he lied. "The Three Vs are going around the Pride Ring to hire more sluts. I won't be working for a while."

"Angel Dust, I'm so sorry!" She reached for him.

He patted her hand down. "Relax! I mean, yeah, I'm not really making any cash right now, but look on the bright side! More sessions together, I can help ya around the garden if ya want, no more worrying about babysitting Nugs for me, and we still need to do a shopping trip together! More fun times, ya know?" He ruffled her hair, earning a groan from her as she pushed his hand away.

"I told you I don't like getting my hair ruffled," she pouted.

"Atta girl. Come on, change up so we can go chow! I think Queenie and Capone are outside."

Indigo nodded. She put Scrunchy on top of her bed and went to her closet to pull out a pinstriped knee-long skirt, a red-lace blouse, and black high-top boots. Angel Dust chuckled at the sight. "Is that seriously what you bought at Rosie's turf? Ya almost make me think of Charlie's outfit when she and her family went to the Black Apple Awards ceremony with the Von Eldritch family!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said. "What the heck are the Black Apple Awards and the Von Eldritch family?"

"Award ceremony for the snobs and snob family respectively." Angel Dust waited for her to go wash up in her bathroom, which took about five minutes. When she came back out fully dressed, she was chasing away some swallowtails and skippers with her hairbrush.

"STOP TOUCHING MY HAIR!" A cloud of red admirals floated above her.

Angel Dust patted the bed. "Sit. I'll fix that."

Indigo grumbled as she sat next to him. Angel Dust took her hairbrush and brushed through the indigo curls. He wondered how the bugs popped out of it, each of her hair strands were thinner than blue sewing threads, yet every time he pulled the brush, scratching noises came from the brush's teeth. The scratching sound you make when you accidentally brush your teeth with a hairbrush instead of a toothbrush. Her hair might as well be made of sapphire bones.

"So, what was it about the awards?" She asked.

"Oh, that! It's just another one of those major awards ceremonies they televise," he shrugged. "You know how people do 'Best Actress', 'Best Movie', or 'Best Politician' awards on Earth? Same thing here. Daily public opinions affect the polls and the nominees get invited to attend the Black Apple Awards at Conch City in the northwest of the Pride Ring. Performances and shit before they announce the winners, and it's an ongoing year of popularity and wealth unless you don't keep it up for the next rewards." Angel Dust rolled his eyes and kept brushing.

"Do they have a category for Best Porn star?" Indigo asked.

"They do. I obviously win every year." Angel Dust sighed. "Valentino enjoys stocking up on my checks and being famous for being my pimp… As if it's not enough that he has no problem winning '#1 Overlord Everyone Hates But Fears'." He put down the brush and started fluffing Indigo's hair. "Vox doesn't care much of the event. This is something broadcasted all over Hell. What's popular in the other rings will attract more viewers in the Pride Ring. But Velvet? Oh, ho, ho, she takes it SERIOUSLY!" When her fluffed out hair didn't please him, he brushed it again. "She NEVER loses the title of '#2 Most Popular Girl In All Of Hell'! NEVER!"

"How come she's not number one?"

"Kid, the Number One Popular Girl In All Of Hell will always be Charlie's mom, the queen! I mean, she's already a famous actress and all, and besides, do you honestly think that anyone would be crazy enough to beat the Queen of Hell herself in popularity? NONE, that's who! Apparently, the only time it happened, Lilith turned the female Overlord who beat her into an imp! And that was back in the 1890s!"

"O…K," Indigo frowned. "How come Charlie's not #2?"

"A, because Velvet is basically the Social Media Princess of Hell, and B, Charlie's always been #10. Heck, in the awards televised last March, she was #10 as 'Most Popular For Being Unpopular Especially For Running A Shitty Hotel'. Just underneath Katie Killjoy, #9 as 'Most Popular For Being A Republican Pussy Newscaster.' And let me think… Helsa Von Eldritch was #8 as 'Most Popular For Being a Mean Rich Bitch', #7 was Verosika Mayday as 'Most Popular Popstar Ever', Missy Zilla as #6 for 'Most Popular Fight Club Owner', Alastor's girl buddy Mimzy won #5 as 'Most Popular 1920s Nightclub Owner', #4 was Alastor's other buddy Rosie for 'Most Popular Retail Owner', and I forgot the name of the imp who managed to win #3, but you can imagine how everyone reacted when she won as 'Most Popular Ax-Crazy Bitch Who Caused 13 Separate Funerals, 9 Of Them Being Caused, At The 2020 Harvest Moon Festival's Pain Games That She's Banned From Competing'. Again, I don't remember her name, but you can imagine how we all reacted. An imp, banned by Satan himself, for competing in those games IN THE WRATH RING! Her 'accidental' neighborhood head count was too much for the ring of bloodlusts!"

"I guess even demons have standards." Indigo's stomach gurgled just as Angel Dust pulled a scrunchy out of his fluffy chest and tied her hair in a ponytail.

"We seriously need to go shopping, you look like a fucking manga character. Let's go chow!"

Minutes later

When Angel Dust and Indigo got to the dining room, they found Alastor putting the final touches for breakfast: pitchers of hot chocolate, a container of marshmallows, a platter with a pyramid of pains au chocolat, and two plates of croque monsieur next to two bowls of strawberries coated with whipped cream. Indigo and Angel Dust both drooled at the sight.

"Good morning, my darlings! Early birds as expected, I made you both breakfast!" Alastor greeted them with his big toothy smile.

"Aw, Smiles, how sweet of you…" Angel Dust patted his eyelashes before finally asking: "The Hell do you want from us this time?"

"Angel Dust, that's not very nice," Indigo said.

"Kid, unless it's a beignet, Smiles HATES sweet and sugary things." Angel Dust crossed his arms. "Every time Charlie goes around giving candy, he tosses it out the window and Fat Nuggets gets sick. When it was Halloween, he replaced all the candy for the brats with fucking cough medicine before tossing the real stuff out the window and Fat Nuggets gets sick! I had to burn away those prank packages Vox sends him to make fun of his bitterness because at this rate, Fat Nuggets will eat it and get sick if he tosses it out the window!"

"Your porcine little friend and its omnivorous appetite is not my fault and I'm the one who generously pay the veterinary clinic bills!" Alastor ushered them to their seats. "And I am grateful for you destroying any package that revolting screen would send me!"

"What kind of prank packages were they?"

Indigo's innocent question led Angel Dust to having flashbacks of accidentally discovering more of Vox's cruel ways of getting Alastor's attention and affection. Too many inspirations from his partners and too much research on magic-based chemistry. A cologne with Vox's body odor, chocolates spiked with his blood, or worse, the one time he sent a vase of blue hydrangeas and black roses spiked with an amnesiac pollen from the Sloth Ring. Anything to drug or alter Alastor's perception of Vox so he could run out of his hiding spot at the hotel and into Vox's longing, lustful arms like a lovesick puppet. One of the advantages of being a bug demon was the capacity of detecting sweet aromas. Angel Dust had a natural sweet tooth that had enhanced in Hell, whereas Alastor HATED sweet things. And obviously, for things meant out of lust, the 'gifts' Vox sent out were fucking sweet, Angel Dust could smell it from the staircase before the delivery guy could even ring the doorbell. The spider demon immediately threw away any suspicious package for Alastor into the incinerator.

But obviously he couldn't tell that to a young demon AND CERTAINLY not to the guy he was 'protecting', if he could put it that way.

"Who cares what that shit television sends?" Angel Dust lied. "For all we know, it's probably one of the bugs he sends to hack computers. I heard he does that. Put a virus in a laptop, sinners get scammed by third-party motherfuckers claiming they can clean it, the dummies lose a lot of money until Vox steps in, and guess what, offers them a brand new laptop at a higher price! Their soul! Or it could be a cellphone with the worst music ever on every single ringtone, which is annoying!"

"O… K…" Indigo said, but her face looked like she wanted to ask 'What kind of comedy show am I stuck in'?

"Needless to say, our effeminate fellow is not wrong." Alastor poured some hot chocolate in a mug for her. "Charlie and I had a little chat yesterday about something that came to our attention. Indigo, if you could remind me, you did not complete your secondary education before your unexpected demise?"

"Uh, no…" Indigo drank her hot chocolate. "I was a junior in high school. We just came back from Thanksgiving break when I died. Why?"
"Charlie and I are uncertain, but it could be possible that your redemption might be harder to obtain if the education isn't complete. We've agreed that perhaps, with your approval, I could be your tutor for weekday lessons starting at 3:30 and ending at 5:30pm."

Indigo accidentally spit some hot chocolate onto the red tablecloth. The stain didn't hesitate to come to life as a brown butterfly made of dripping hot chocolate that flew out of the dining hall.

"Al, are ya insane or did Vaggie kick ya in the balls that hard, ya brain's damaged?" Angel Dust exclaimed. "You're probably the worst guy to tutor the kid anything!"

"Please, do entertain me with 5 reasons on why I don't fit your ideals of homeschooling!" Alastor crossed his arms. Angel Dust got up to confront him.

"5 reasons. OK. 1, you're an Overlord. Anything you teach her will either cause the broads to boot her out of here if she turns out like a mini-you, or you'll trick her into an indenture, or she'll be going the shitty lifestyle of an Overlord. 2, you're a serial killer and cannibal and I don't wanna see the kid turn into a baby Jeffrey Dahmer. 3, there's no such as Heaven booting away the uneducated, because my ma sure as heck didn't have a high school diploma and she ain't in Hell because of how she put up with my family. 4, even with them out the Tri-State Area, I don't like how the Three Vs are getting suspicious and trying to pry info on new patrons at the hotel, I sure as fuck DO NOT want Indigo to be involved with them, so why should I be easy with you? And 5, I bet you know nothing on how to handle her bugs!"

"And I suppose a cross-dressing, mafia prostitute with barely a penny to his dignity would know better than the Overlord financing the hotel?" Alastor sneered.

"Oh, OH! So, Mister-All-Mighty-Radio Demon thinks his fucking mullah makes him so qualified!" Angel Dust waved his hips in mockery. "Then why don't you just go pay every single creep out there to come to the hotel. MISTER needs his entertainment! MISTER needs his fear!" He then dared to poke Alastor on the nose. "Maybe MISTER should shove the fear down his uptight ass and let it out on the freeway!"

Alastor snarled and his eyes turned into radio dials. "So you can pulverize the lobby into an orgy? PLEASE! And refrain from touching me! Or maybe, and here's a thought, GET SOME MORE DIGNITY IN YOUR LIFE!"

"Fottuto cervo di merda! Non posso credere di aver davvero pensato che una puttana come te fosse decente!" Angel Dust shouted in Italian. (You motherfucking stag shit! I can't believe I actually thought a bitch like you was decent!)

"Ou se yon salope idiot! Mwen pa menm konnen poukisa mwen deranje w plezi! Ou sèlman pran swen si endiljans seksyèl ou yo satisfè!" Alastor growled in Haitian Creole. (You are an idiotic slut! I don't even know why I bother pleasing you! You only care if your sexual indulgences are met!)

A crunching sound caught the growling male demons' attention. At some point when Angel Dust and Alastor started arguing, Indigo started eating through her food. She could have stopped them from arguing, but they then saw the amused look on her face as she took a bite from her second pain au chocolat. Breakfast had just turned into a dinner-and-a-show for her, with Angel Dust and Alastor being the shining star.

"You find this funny, don't you?" Angel Dust groaned, pulling away from Alastor.

"Actually… yeah," Indigo chuckled. "I'm sorry, but you too are actually look like a cute bickering sitcom couple when you argue together…"

The two males both exchanged disturbed glances at one another before glaring at Indigo and pointing at the door.

"GO TO YOUR GARDEN!" They both shouted.

Minutes later

Indigo was laughing when she got outside to the garden. Capone had managed to replace the garden's piping system with a brand new and had placed small beams to mark the areas for Shreveport's design. Queenie was drinking coffee while going through her phone and noticed Indigo laughing.

"Woke up on the right hoof, boss?" She asked.

"No, no… Alastor and Angel Dust are arguing." Indigo sat down next to her. "Alastor talked with Miss Charlie about probably homeschooling me in the afternoons. He and Angel Dust first argued on their perspectives on it before finally getting on each other's nerves. They act like a married couple!" Mangrove skippers flew out of her hair and Queenie caught one landing on her phone.

"In all honesty, boss, I think the Overlord and the porn star made points." Queenie's firm words caused Indigo to stop laughing. "You're of great potential and probably the best leader I finally managed to land on for project assistant managing, but at the same time, you're a bit emotionally volatile."

"So, a few mariposas fly out of her hair, big deal." Capone put away his plumbing tools. "It's her specialty."

"Capone…" Queenie inhaled. "Does 'Inside Of Every Demon Is A Rainbow' ring a bell to you?"

Both Capone and Indigo shivered at the thought.

"My point!" Queenie put her phone in her breast pocket. "The boss and I brought this up, yesterday. The princess' interview on 666 News turned to shit when she started singing her heart out, the news station laughed at her!"

"That song was like a sugar overdose from a Disney Princess movie with an R-rating…" Indigo hugged herself.

"Last time I saw a Disney Princess film, it was La Bella Durmiente." Capone shook his head. "I slept through the music."

"Exactly," Queenie nodded. "The boss has a great plan, but she might as well create a hurricane forecast with her powers. When I looked around the hotel yesterday, I almost counted 800 bugs overall, including the ones that merge with the furniture AND one butterfly who was dragging around a match box. An arsonist butterfly! You hear how that sounds crazy? My point is, I agree with the Overlord and the porn star. The former is right, boss. Anything you can learn could help you properly control your powers or help you understand why you're in Hell. However, the latter is also right. Learning from an Overlord is suspicious business. I'd advise that you take on the Overlord's offer under the condition that somebody inspects his methods."

"I suppose you're right…" Indigo began to say, but then the synchronized honking was heard.

Shreveport's truck pulled in. The alligator jumped out and blew a whistle. "ALRIGHT, BOYS! BRING IT IN!" Indigo and Queenie gasped in shock when dozens of demons came out running from the truck with construction supplies, each sinner being some sort of alligator, saltwater crocodile, or mole demon. The moles immediately began digging through the soil with their bare hands while the others carried all sorts of metal.

Mad Mats arrived at the same time, a sidecar attached to her motorcycle and filled with mulch bags. A pick-up truck full of plants, flowers, seeds, and gardening supplies followed.

"Hey, kid!" Mad Mats waved at Indigo. "I brought some friends to help us out! Meet Dixie Heron and Kookie Bura!"

Indigo was stunned by the increasing amount of new arrivals. The demons helping Mad Mats in unloading her supplies were both bird demons: Dixie Heron, a male, lean white heron demon with black and grey feathered hair, and Kookie Bura, a muscular, tall grey kookaburra demon with blue highlights at the tip of her feathered black hair. Unlike Hoover, who dressed like Casual Fridays were every day, Kookie Bura looked like a completely modern heavy metal fan. Her arms were covered with probably all the concerts she ever attended in her afterlife.

"Uh, hi…" Indigo got up to meet the bird demons. So quickly, both demons held out potted, miniature trees before her.

"Charmed to make ya acquaintance, cher," Dixie bowed his head, his Southern accent slipping. "I'm Dixie Heron. Mattie told us so much about ya! Ow!"

That last word was caused by Kookie Bura slapping Dixie behind the head with her tail. "Will you quit yapping like a dingo? Geez!" She didn't really have much of an accent, but she couldn't make it any obvious that she might have been Australian in her human life. "Name's Kookie Bura. Dixie and I are interested in volunteering for the gardening project. We brought some trees as bribery. Sweetgum from Dixie and ya get eucalyptus from me."

"Good thing ya ain't a car salesman, Kookie!" Mad Mats chuckled. Kookie's feathers ruffled in frustration.

"That's kind of you to bring flora from your human backgrounds." Indigo nodded before cautiously saying: "Keep in mind, though. The gardening project isn't some trick to force you into Miss Charlie's project…"

"Of course, it ain't!" Dixie laughed. "Otherwise, Mattie wouldn't have been talking non-stop about the new sinner who made her feel good as new with a decent pep talk among friends!"

"SINCE WHEN ARE WE FRIENDS?" Shreveport shouted over his loud drill.

Kookie punched Dixie again, causing him to fall on the ground. "Sorry about that. The American feather duster was killed by a serial killer. Has been looney for decades. He's my fucking roommate."

"Partners? Or the really annoying college roomie from sitcoms?" Indigo asked.

"What do you think?" Kookie glared briefly at Dixie as he spotted a butterfly and caught it in his beaks. "We're primarily in it for the bugs. Mad Mats said you had a whole army?"

"I'm working on it." Indigo rubbed her chin in thought. "But then again… Are you and Dixie hoping to eat my butterflies?" The kookaburra demoness nodded her head. "You know, what? I think it might work. I need time to find a solution to my problem, but I wouldn't mind it if you and Dixie ate as much of them as you could. They're freaking out the hotel's cleaning lady Nifty. I can discuss with Miss Charlie and Mister Alastor on paying you…"

"A dollar a bug," Kookie said.

"Agreed."

Indigo went to check on Carman, who was conversing with small demons that didn't even reach her chest level. Small, red-skinned, yellow eyes, horned, and with spiked tails, the clichéd picture of Satan in cartoons. The female had spiked black hair, slitted black horns going upward, and wore a red-and-black dress like a stern housekeeper. Her face had white spots trailing down her eyes like tears. The male had a white ponytail, black-and-white horns curving forward like bee antennas, and a plain black tank top with ripped yellow pants. His arms had white spots forming a hexagon pattern all over his left arm.

"The people for the fence and terracotta couldn't make it," Carman apologized to Indigo. "The Wrath Ring's maxing up their walls and spiked fences to protect the households from the upcoming extermination. The fence guy sent over his cousin." She gestured to the female demoness.

"Bayou. From the Wrath Ring." Bayou curtsied before Indigo. "The other imp is Jinx from the Gluttony Ring."

"No one gives a damn of what rings we're from!" Jinx hissed at her as he lifted some crates full of terracotta products. "No one gives a damn of us imps, remember? Lower class tramps, remember?"

"Maybe if you didn't waste your salary on Beezel Juice, you smelly alcoholic!" Bayou's hair agitated as she got angry.

"OK!" Indigo clasped her hands. "Why don't we get to it? The less we argue, the more we move on!"

A few days later

Kyle Ketamine kept his promise. He found himself standing on the sidewalk in front of the Hazbin Hotel.

He was certain that Indigo didn't keep her word of playing it safe. It wasn't spreading everywhere in Hell, but some alleys here and alleys there had been exchanging rumors. Valentino's territories and people being destroyed? The top 2 news anchormen crying out of duty? Mysterious Aztec exterminators? Butterfly swarms? The Lapis Locustia that had escaped from Rosie's Emporium? If the thyme demon didn't know any better, he'd guess that Indigo was accidentally causing trouble.

Still, he had promised to check on her. Rinsing his mouth with acid rain to tone down his breath behind his mask an hour ago, he got to the hotel's territory, a bundle of thyme wrapped up in a plastic bag he found in a dumpster. A housewarming gift… if she was still there.

A limousine pulled in front of the hotel and someone stepped out. Kyle was startled by the limo's fancy aesthetic and by the owl demoness that stepped out. The moment he recognized Princess Octavia of the Ars Goetia, he knelt before her.

"Your Majesty…" He choked.

"Please don't do that," she grimaced. "I'll literally pay ya to not do that… and to not tell anyone you saw me here."

Kyle nodded and got up. Just like that, Princess Octavia gave him a bill of 50 souls, startling him. With that kind of money, he could probably get himself a decent meal at WcDonald, maybe a health kit, or better, a sweater at Stylish Occult! Before he could thank her, the Ars Goetia walked towards the hotel. She scowled when he walked after her.

"Why are you following me?" She finally asked.

"I'm seeing a friend… well, if she's still there. A newbie," he said. "Are you visiting Miss Charlie?"

"You know Indigo Caligo?"

Kyle was startled. The Ars Goetia knew Indigo? And the owl demoness was suddenly smiling softly?

Indigo, what the Hell did you do?

"I guided her here… when she first arrived. Promised to check on her. Brought a housewarming gift." He showed the humble thyme bunch. "You?"

"I met her at Rosie's Emporium. She scared the crap out of Killjoy and Trench when they were stalking me. We hung out a bit. I gave her my card… and I told her I'd visit if my mom pissed me off. She pissed me off, so I ditched her." The princess was blushing as she revealed a gift-wrapped package from her shawl. "I… kind of got her a present as a thank you gift."

"That's thoughtful…" Kyle said. Seriously, what had Indigo been up to? The Ars Goetia was telling him that Indigo saved her from those annoying goons of Vox? How did Indigo even get acquainted with one of Hell's upper crust in less than a few days? Was she trying to send an invitation for attention?

And just like that, an explosion came from the hotel's upper levels. Purple flames and blue butterflies formed clouds that floated into the red sky. From within the hotel, fire sprinkler alarms could be heard. Demons were shouting from behind the hotel. The teenagers at the front door were wide-eyed.

"What the fuck did she just do?" Kyle and Octavia both asked out loud.