Chapter 43: That's New (Extermination, Part 2)
The clock struck twelve.
Shadows swarmed over the skies in Hell.
Families held on close to another, hidden in their basements and shuddering at the sounds of flapping. Overlords didn't dare move their curtains by an inch. In their palaces, the Goetia nobles and the Deadly Sins just minded their business.
One by one, without bias or mercy, poor demons stranded on the streets began to be picked off. Those brave enough to challenge the Exterminators only had an extra thirteen minutes to live. The angels flew around, scouting for the next prey.
Adam grunted at the presence of lamb's blood on not one, but hundreds of houses.
"These vermin insult us. Using lamb's blood against us." Lute hissed.
"Then break into the houses that don't have them! Use your brain, Lute!" Adam took the lead. "Let's go cull out the cities' Lust and Greed Districts first. Then we can focus more on the suburbs. And make sure Martin and Psyche are nowhere near that hotel! First Sacrificer to spot the cambion must kill it!"
22 Hours Left Before The Extermination Ends
The patrons of the Hazbin Hotel stayed locked within their rooms. Charlie checked on them every half hour. At each inspection, Vaggie kept her spear pointed at the boarded windows.
As they went down to the lobby, Vaggie saw Charlie's uncomfortable shaking. Such a day always stressed the princess out.
"Husk, please tell me you're not drinking right now…" Charlie noticed the cat demon's presence. Eventually, she realized he wasn't even close to the bar but by the boarded windows. The girls joined in, peaking through the planks.
An Exterminator was flying around.
Within the dome…
"What?"
"How'd it even get through?" Vaggie tightened her hold on her spear. "It's supposed to ward off angels!"
"Don't care how it got through." Husk kept spying. "I care more about the weird tag game it's doing."
"Tag game?"
"I spotted another one flying through. Bitch was trying to look through the windows. Then THIS ONE shows up and takes over. The first one left."
"Hopefully they're not after the patrons…" Charlie clasped her hands together.
The angel's shadow flew around.
Connecting the dots, the demons figured its destination. They ran to the pathway leading to the garden. Fortunately, Charlie double-checked. The doors were locked. Unfortunately, someone had removed the boards and splattered lamb's blood all over the door. Effective, but somebody was gonna get a lecture for doing this without permission.
The Exterminator floated downwards.
Vaggie pulled Charlie and Husker behind her. Her spear was ready…
The Exterminator fluttered around the garden. Feeling the petals. It dared to fly over the fountain, poking its finger in the water. Finally, it chose to land on the ground and walk under the arcades.
Charlie's eyes beamed. "Indigo's plants!"
"What?" The other two asked.
"Indigo chose plants that represent virtues!" The princess smiled. "It's amazed."
The Exterminator waved upward. Two others noticed it and flew down.
"Ximena! Why aren't you on the job?" One of them asked.
"Guys! Have you seen this?" The curious one held out her arms. "A garden of virtuous flowers! At the princess' hotel!"
From their spot, the demons saw a first. The Exterminator, Ximena, taking off her helmet. Charlie's smile widened. Vaggie was confused. Husk was stunned.
Maybe it was just an angel thing, but without the helmet, this Ximena seemed like an energetic caramel candy of marigold curls glowing under her halo.
"Oh no…" One of her comrades groaned. "She's gonna do it…"
Ximena fluttered towards some azaleas, stroking the petals.
Ximena: Oh wow! That's new!
Azaleas mean templanza,
They were on my mama's mesa!
She pulled one of her comrades towards the nearest magnolia tree.
Ximena: You knew, a tree like this back home.
Sometimes pink or white, you'd say it was like sea foam!
That's new!
"Well, magnolias grew a lot where I lived…"
Ximena flew off to the next Exterminator. The first one couldn't help but discreetly lift up his helmet, revealing a pastel red angel. A quick sniff of magnolia burst a smile onto him.
Vaggie was the first to notice him tossing the spear onto the ground and joyously fly around the branches, stroking the petals and causing them to glow. In the meantime, Ximena pulled the other towards the sweetgum. The angel had taken off her gloves, allowing some butterflies to land on her pastel yellow hands.
Ximena: Mariposas!
The Exterminator: Just like in Bogota…
Once… Papa's muejeracita…
The male Exterminator was now plucking some mistletoe and plucking the branches into his magnolia bouquet.
The Exterminator: Yadorigi! Mistletoe! First Heaven, and now Hell?
Ximena: A place to meet, that's a brand new truce!
We have to tell everybody! Hey, Bruce!
Hey, Bruce!
"Hey, Bruce?" The others asked.
"No, seriously! I think I see Bruce ripping somebody's guts out there on the street!" Ximena flew up and down, waving her arms to get somebody's attention.
"Oh shit…" Husk muttered. "They think it's a rest spot!"
"I better make sure the others don't freak out…" Vaggie groaned.
Charlie couldn't stop smiling. Unaware of the Princess of Hell watching, Ximena wound up calling forth more Exterminators. Most of them only stayed for 15 minutes minimum, but this was going on for hours. They came, they left. They shed off their helmets and gloves, revealing that inside of every Exterminator was some sort of angel. Old and young. Subtle and energetic. Tending to the garden. Feeding the fish. Playing with the butterflies. Actively using the flowers to make nectar for refreshments.
Charlie: For the first time, there's angels
Not rushing to kill them.
Nostalgic for their home
And, wow! They drink from their own rum!
Talking of families down here,
I never thought of such pain!
If redemption can reunite,
My dream won't be in vain!
Outside, Ximena had outright ditched her purging duties. Sending off some angels while welcoming others in. She flew out of the garden and towards the weird merry-go-round dangling on the side. She twirled around the plastic ponies à la 'Singing In The Rain'.
Ximena: Oh, wow! That's new!
There's hope in this strange place!
Something nice to give it more space!
Guess Adam was wrong! Maybe demons can be just like us!
Something better than this crazy circus!
The plastic ponies spun by themselves as she flew. Merry-go-round music started to echo. Demons started to sneak a peak from their boarded windows. Ximena was now causing the weird train on the balcony to start moving, puffing out glitter smoke.
Ximena: Oh wow, that's new! Innocence in Hell.
And it starts right in this hotel!
Rehabilitation is a possibility!
Their dream should be reality!
A garden of Eden right in Hell, these people can't be just sinful!
It's a sign, a changing symbol!
A new light that I never knew! That's new!
Within the hotel, the demons were all sneaking out of their rooms, gathering in groups and harassing Vaggie with questions. The Exterminators kept coming and going, not even once knocking on the door. Charlie was practically dancing in the lobby.
Charlie: I just knew it!
The angels do have faith!
Maybe I can go plead my case!
Prove that there is good in demons,
So good-bye to the legions!
Bye-bye Exterminations! Looks like I'm not the half-wit!
I knew it!
Ximena flew around the hotel yet again. While many Exterminators were down in the garden, a couple tried spying through the windows. A small shake of the head was enough to make Ximena stop smiling. She watched them fly off, disappearing into the thousands of Exterminators flying over the Pride Ring. Demons' screams pierced the sky. Most of them were deserved… but Ximena could still hear the sobs. The desperate cries of demons who barely deserved it. Newcomers who had no option.
She fluttered down, perching herself by a window. The angel swallowed a sad sob.
In his room, Husk searched for his Malbec stash. With the shit going on outside on the hotel property, he'd rather be drunk than caught. Finally, after a good portion of fucking time, he found a good bottle. Uncorked since 2011, according to the label.
"How the fuck have I managed to resist this shit?" The cat demon felt the black wooden cork. "Oh, right! Alastor and his fucking cheap booze!"
Searching through his hat, he pulled out the corkscrew.
I've seen a revolution
And lost so much for freedom…
Husk froze, his fur tensing.
The melody could only come from outside. A fucking Exterminator was outside his window. Keeping the corkscrew close to him, Husk snuck on all four towards the window.
They gave me my place in Heaven,
Just to find, there's no success…
Tasked to slay the wicked,
Can't tell who's the real convicted…
I'm the hero up there,
But all my family is down here…
Husk recognized the orange glow. The angel who had led the others to the garden. He wanted to be irritated. Her melancholic song could be dangerous. Husk was alcoholic, but not drunk enough to risk his life.
The pain's not new…
I've chased and killed wherever I flew.
Soldadera, you're a failure.
What happened to being your people's savior?
Your redemption is also mine.
Maybe I can find in me the light that lost its true shine?
Do I still see a real rainbow,
Or will I stay trapped in my woe?
Outside, Ximena looked on with sorrow.
The garden was welcoming. A rare spot free of violence. It didn't change, however, the cruelty of this day. Her friends were also unable to find Martin's granddaughter.
"How the fuck am I an angel?" She shook her head.
The window shook behind the boards nailed on the outside. Ximena mistook it for the wind… until it suddenly burst open from the inside.
Ximena spread her wings. Her helmet and weapons were back in the garden. She wanted to give the benefit of the doubt, but whoever was behind the window was clearly a demon.
"You done yapping?"
Ximena tilted her head. "Eh?"
"I ain't fucking drunk enough, and your pipes are giving me a migraine!"
The angel perched herself better. "Did you just insult me? Like, directly?" She couldn't see the other side. Granted, there was some space in between the boards and the window as open. The room was just dark.
The demon behind it might be drunk, but he wasn't dumb.
"Don't start crying," he warned from the darkness.
"I'm not!" Ximena held her hands in defense. "I'm just… surprised. Nobody's ever, like, insulted me directly. I'm used to… more passive-aggressive… Or even condescending reassurances. You know, like you actually saved lives, you die while on duty, and sometimes you deal with the occasional 'Hey, it's amazing how you killed all these people to save your people. Why didn't you consider being a camp follower? It's less violent and…' Well…" She sighed. "I don't exactly have the best permanent unpaid job."
There was a pause in the darkness. "You were a soldadera? In the Mexican Revolution?"
Ximena knelt by the boarded window. "You were a veteran? I mean, obviously not necessarily from my time! But, you know…"
Another pause.
"Vietnam. But ya can probably fucking tell what really killed me," the demon snarked.
Ximena sniffed. A 2011 Malbec was uncorked, but no lips met the bottle. Recently uncorked, yet untouched.
The demon had every reason to indulge in his sin. Wallow in his misery. Sinners could drink without experiencing poisoning in Hell, he could easily stage a suicide. Trick her into thinking he died.
Yet he was abstaining. Talking to her.
Wait a minute…
He was a veteran… In a hotel for redeeming demons.
And in any afterlife, souls could always relate whenever military relatives came into the picture.
"I… I'm sorry for bugging you! Bye!" She flew upwards. Ximena perched on top of the Hazbin Hotel sign. Finally standing up, she paced in thought.
"Ok… Kid in the hotel… Veteran demon might know her… Obviously, I need to talk to the guy! Mierda! How do I talk to a demon on the one day I'm supposed to kill demons?"
She flew down to join the others.
One of the angels was growing mistletoe garlands in the magnolia trees.
"La tregua del muérdago…"
Ximena cracked her knuckles. For this, she chose to climb the stairs leading to the door. The lamb's blood on the other side made her tense.
Her hand formed a fist and she gently knocked on the door. A terrible feeling on her knuckles made her pull away. Now the skin covering the knuckles darkened… Now she remembered the explosion that killed her. Ximena chose to ignore it and hid her hand behind her back.
"Princess Charlotte?"
The other angels petrified.
"I apologize for intruding on your property, but please understand! We interpreted the presence of mistletoe as non-violent grounds, thus enforcing the Mistletoe Truce! We are not permitted to kill as long as we stand on this ground! We don't represent our leaders, but can we talk?"
The doors were kicked open.
The Princess of Hell herself ran out.
"OH MY GOSH, YES! WELCOME TO THE HAPPY HOTEL!"
19 Hours Left Before The Extermination Ends
Carrying Angel Dust had complicated things.
Indigo had strength, but for a spider demon with a waist thinner than a table leg, he was heavy. Indigo had to take several breaks just to catch her breath. Walking uphill didn't help.
Compared to Fafnir City, the trees here were thicker in life, but still lacking in leaves. Indigo could have sworn she had just traveled upwards from the Greed Sector, yet she couldn't see a green cloud in the red sky through the canopy of thorny branches.
Indigo could finally see the castle.
If she could circumnavigate the area, keeping a 20 feet distance from the wall, she could locate the entrance to the Apocatombs. It turned out far challenging than expected. Even though there were only trees out there, nearly all of them seemed identical. The mist fogging things up didn't help. At one point, she headed towards darkness.
"Hey, like, watch where you're going!" The kinkajou tossed the purse at her.
"Seriously, why are you still here?" Indigo's hold on Angel Dust tightened.
"Like, you should be thanking me. Ya nearly fell in the Abyss!"
"The Abyss?" Indigo looked at the darkness. She remembered seeing it in the horizon behind Bael's castle when she was still in Fafnir City. Somehow, the darkness seemed… darker now that she was closer.
"Void. Chaos. Non plus ultra." The kinkajou did a fake Italian accent while enunciating those three words. "The literal end of the world! You walk into the darkness, you will be gone forever! You'd actually wish the fucking Exterminators got to you!"
Indigo gulped. "I'd die?"
"Who knows?" The critter shrugged. "Like, every time there's gossip of someone going there, nobody, like, ever saw them again… Hell's, like, really big, but it's not like REALLY big!"
"I didn't see the darkness before… Which means that wherever the entrance is, it's facing the red sky!" Indigo began exploring the woods behind the castle. Sure enough, the feline and amphibian gargoyles were becoming familiar.
After another dozen minutes of exploring while avoiding the darkness, Indigo stumbled onto a moss-covered statue. Its presence didn't bug the demoness as much as who it was depicting.
She laid Angel down, adjusting a rock for his head to rest on.
"Is that what you're looking for?" The kinkajou sniffed at the statue. "Eh! It, like, smells of dead bodies!"
"Guess it fits for a statue of Azrael." Indigo cracked her knuckles.
She tried pushing the statue. Nothing.
Kicking it just hurt her foot more.
Getting angry and psyching her red admirals did nothing more than eating the moss away.
"Ugh! I actually don't know how to get in from the Points!" Indigo kicked at a nearby tree. "I wasted time! I could have just drawn a passage back in Fafnir City!"
A grumbling got her attention.
The kinkajou stared at Indigo, specifically in the last part of the upper body. The teenager held her stomach. "Not now! I can't get hungry now!"
"What? There's a bunch of trees here!" The kinkajou jumped on the nearest one. "Barks have, like, fiber, starches, and some shit. You might have to, like, poop a lot, but at least you'll eat a bit!"
Indigo rolled her eyes.
She turned, releasing a yelp of surprise.
The cane toad demons in white uniforms were standing in unison. The mist cleared, splitting itself into transparent spirits. Spirits Indigo recognized as those dropping off screaming demons into the castle.
Her hand searched her hair, pulling out the sickle and exposing its shining blade at them.
"Shit!" The kinkajou squealed.
When Indigo looked over her shoulders, ocelot demons in white uniforms had their spears pointed at the unconscious spider demon.
Even with a holy weapon, Indigo couldn't kill all these demons.
Oh, but you can. You're descended from an Exterminator… The voice taunted.
But if Indigo attacked, they would attack Angel.
The toad demons moved their mouths in perfect sync. After croaking out a cough, they all spoke in the same raspy voice.
"Ines Coeurdor. King Bael requires you inside."
17 hours and 59 Minutes Left Before The Extermination Ends
Gusion stopped squirting acrylic paint onto her palette.
Despite the curtains being pulled shut, the red sky released an ominous glow through them. Screams echoed in Runesville, obviously the lower class. However, it wasn't the purge outside that caught her attention. The Duke had sensed past events.
Specifically, the past event of the Goetia Darling being forced inside Bael's domain. The slaves even dragged a certain spider demon unceremoniously on the ground as if the unconscious demon were rough luggage. One of the slaves flung a kinkajou over the cliff.
Gusion silently cussed.
In the chamber dimly lit by candles, Bernard wiped the blood of a knife.
"We got a change of plans, Bernard," Gusion told her butler. "There's only time for one painting. I'll pass on your cello tonight. Go prep some bandages and incenses. And kill the cook that's been spitting in my meat. My model will be hungry."
Bernard nodded and disappeared in the darkness.
Gusion looked over her canvas and easel.
Unconscious and lying down on a bed of white sheets, Alastor wasn't smiling. Instead, his expression was of weakness and vulnerability. Gusion reminded herself to give Bernard a big raise. The butler had done a great job not damaging the Radio Demon, yet reopening all his scars enough to make him bleed.
The nude model was resting on a pool of blood soaking a white bed. Any sane person would find this monstrous.
For Gusion, it was her kink. Her art. Her hidden hobby.
Injuring virgins and making art based on her 'models'.
She smiled. "I think I will call this Deer Virgin's Death." The paintbrush sank in some black paint and started outlining on the canvas. "Not a loss of virginity. You'd be useless to my art if you were a common slut."
Soaking the brush a little bit in water, Gusion started experimenting on grayscale shading, the wet paint spreading on canvas like blood.
"More like, how you actually died. Shot on the head, ripped to shreds." Gusion took a break, looking back and forth from the canvas to her model. "In this angle, you are very similar to that treasured spider of yours. In all your might and powers, you still remain a vulnerable sinner. Too tempting. Too desired."
She switched her paint color for a crimson one.
"I should credit you, Alastor," she kept talking to the unconscious Overlord. "I actually find you to be a better guardian than Paimon… But with this new mess at Bael…"
The Ars Goetia sat back, admiring the progress of the painting.
"I'm craftier than Paimon. And I have my ways to make sure we all get what we want… Our devotion to our children makes us very similar, Alastor."
Meanwhile, on Earth
Even though it was a holiday, Anais Ruggiero pulled an all-nighter.
Her mother's suicide and father's arrest already gave her sleepless nights. Finding out her social worker and 'current foster parents' were part of her family's mob didn't give her pleasant dreams. Inheriting an underground drug business wasn't exactly what Anais hoped to put on her college application. Then came the hacked footage from the D-grade government agency that proved demonic teleportation on Earth.
And just last month, her classmate Ines died.
Anais wanted to punch herself most of the time. Hiding a lifelong crush on the nicest girl in town by being a silent bully? And why, because her father was phobic?
Soon enough, stolen pictures from investigations compared to the hacked footage found common dots. Whatever killed Ines had something to do with the government tracking demons sneaking around and killing people.
Three objectives now. Apologize to Ines. Use the demonic resources so Anais would let someone else do the drug business. Kill the bitches who murdered Ines. Anais almost thought she had a lead when some cultists stole a book from someone in Salem. What Anais hoped to be a way to summon demons was instead a book on prophecies.
She spent the early morning of New Year's Eve trying to read it. She gave up when she found out that everything was written in an undecipherable dialect. The manuscript illustrations gave her little explanation. Best she could figure out, demons predicted the Reign of Terror and global warming. After skimming through three-quarters, she stumbled onto an odd diagram. Three circles vertically aligned and each representing Heaven, Earth, and Hell. Anais noticed the odd depiction of the worlds' eclipses: vertically, Heaven and Hell had an annular solar eclipse and pentagram lunar eclipse respectively, but Earth was the only one showing a solar eclipse vertically. Anais read the diagram's title.
Caelestis Eclipse.
'Eclipse' was obvious. Anais never learned Latin, but 'Caelestis' sounded very celestial.
The internet offered nothing about a Celestial Eclipse. Best they could say about eclipses was that exposure leads to solar retinopathy and pagans associated eclipses with disasters and destructions orchestrated by pagan gods.
"Hm…"
The door to her bedroom opened. Pablo turned on the lights.
"Boss, we talked about this. No reading past 10pm."
Anais rolled her eyes at her subordinate slash 'foster parent'.
"You got any idea what a Celestial Eclipse is?" Anais held the book up to show Pablo. The adult rolled his eyes and took the book.
"How did you even open this? None of us could."
"The past owner wrote the password in blacklight ink." Anais flicked a blacklight flashlight at the back cover. Pablo frowned in disbelief when he found the hidden carved password.
Fuck U, Plato.
"Guess they had blacklight ink back in Antiquity." Pablo shrugged. "But I don't know what a Celestial Eclipse is, boss." Pablo turned the page.
Both he and Anais widened their eyes. The full-page spread was of the confrontation between an angel and a sea monster. The angel, who bared the appearance of a Gaul druid, had a shining halo of mistletoe over his head. His shining sickle was pointed at the million-eyed sea monster throning over a sea of drowning mortals and demons. Four mermaid-like demons were swimming around him, ripping out hearts from the drowned victims. Two background details: the replica of the Celestial Moon diagram and the ark.
Aureum Cor Monstrum Pellit.
"'The golden heart expels the monster.'" Anais translated, using the Internet as reference. "That's weird…"
"How so?"
"My classmate, Ines… She was terrified of whales. Wasn't the demon Leviathan associated with whales?" She stiffened. "Pablo, were those cultists Satanists? Or, you know, worshippers of another devil?"
"Boss, Leviathan and Lucifer are just part of religious mythology…"
"And I suppose those freaks in the D.H.O.R.K.S footage were just cosplayers?" The teenage mob boss snarked. "Golden heart expels… Wait… Ines Coeurdor… Ines Golden Heart."
Anais took the manuscript from Pablo and quickly skimmed through the next pages.
An undecipherable text that consumed two pages.
Illustrations of the four mermaid demons affiliated with Leviathan. Their true forms. Default slash terrestrial mode, they took butterfly modes. The Dukes and Duchesses of Jealousy, Resentment, Schadenfreude, and the Evil Eye.
A painted replica of Cain killing Abel.
Anais froze on the next image. Every page after that was blank.
Pablo covered his mouth in shock.
"I know of a monastery secluded on Mont Blanc. They were able to ward off the bombs during the Wars… Members claim that they know things even the Pope can't disclose to the public!" Pablo got up and pulled up his phone. "I'm scheduling our flight to Europe, now!"
Anais whimpered out a nod.
Pablo rushed out. She looked down at the two remaining illustrations.
Both featured Ines Coeurdor in them.
The first one showed her and some male demon identical to her forming a balanced circle.
The second one was a full-page illustration of a caged Leviathan reaching out to her like a key.
The texts were unfortunately in Latin. Anais wished they were in the undecipherable dialect.
De una matre natus, sed duo patres,
Geminos sanguine monstrorum.
Plenus daemon coronam ferens,
Daemon semianimis in terra elevatus est.
Primogenitus regem interficiet,
Secundus natus mutabit omne quod reliquum est.