64 days until Extermination...
Anna eyes slowly fluttered open as she woke up. She yawned and sluggishly sat up in the bed, stretching her arms up. Her eyes widen as she did not feel any pain on her side. Confused, she climbed out of the bed and walked over to the dresser with a mirror. Anna lifted up her shirt and slowly and carefully began to peel the bandages off. Her eyes widen in shock. There was no trace of a cut or a wound on her side, it was completely healed. Instead, was a small scar. Anna shook her head and stared in disbelief. It shouldn't have been healed so quickly, it hasn't even been a day.
Anna stood a step back as panic slowly began to consume throughout her body. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stick up as a sudden chill rushed through her.
"Okay, that's not normal." Anna murmured softly, trying to calm down. "Calm down,Anna. I'm sure it's nothing serious."
Then Anna heard the door slowly creak open and a sound of little footsteps as something quickly ran in. She turned her head but saw nothing there in front of her.
"Oh boy, you sure did leave a mess!" a high pitched voice shouted that sounded like a child. Anna looked down to see a small cyclops looking demon with short red hair, wearing a white and red dress with a black poodle design on it, and red and yellow polka dot scarf. Anna took a step back, cautiously, watching the demon. Then the cyclops made a big grin showing off her sharp teeth looking at Anna with her big yellow eye.
"Hi! I'm Niffty!" Niffty smiled, waving, excitedly.
"Hi?" Anna said, confused, and made a small wave back. Suddenly, before Anna could blink, Niffty had quickly moved as she quickly rushed over to the bed and started darting back and forth, going in circles so fast for the human woman to keep up.
"I'm so happy there's another girl in the hotel! I hope that we can be friends!" Niffty said, as she finished making the bed, changing the sheets and was now starting to fluff the pillows.
"Can you stop moving around so fast? I'm going to puke." Anna groaned as she felt a wave of nausea hit her fast. The small demon quickly turned looking at Anna with a happy smile.
"More to clean up!" Niffty exclaimed.
Anna stared at the little cyclops demon with a puzzled look on her face. What a strange demon? Come to think of it, everything that she had witnessed so far was strange to her. Anna sighed and began walking over to the door to leave.
"I'll leave you to it. It was nice meeting you." Anna said, leaving. Niffty beamed making a wide grin.
"You too!" She called out.
Anna walked down the long dark hallway noticing many pictures on the walls as she did. There were many with Charlie, some had her with a strange man with green skin, wearing a black suit and a hat with sharp jagged like teeth, possibly an boyfriend? Then Anna stopped in front of a painting of a man and a woman with Charlie, posing. It was a family portrait of her and her parents.
Anna looked looked at the woman in the left of Charlie who was the spitting image of her. Anna was so engulfed and overwhelmed by her beauty that she couldn't stop staring. Then she shifted her gaze over to the man standing to the right, seeing that he was slightly small in height compared to Charlie and her mother. He was wearing a white suit and top hat with a snake on the top, sharp teeth, and had red rosy cheeks like hers as well. Anna noticed that he was holding a cane with an apple on the tip of it. Her cheeks turned red, blushing, completely enamored by now handsome he was.
"I guess the Apple doesn't fall from the tree when it comes to genetics." Anna thought to herself. Then an overbearing aroma hit her nostrils. She followed the smell which led to the kitchen and peeked inside. She immediately froze in her place, seeing the radio demon. He was hovering over a pot, stirring, as he was cooking something. He sensed Anna's presence and turned around with a grin which made Anna unease by it.
"Hello, my dear! I made my mom's special jambalaya! I was looking for someone to have a taste test!" Alastor grinned wildly. Anna tensed when she saw him advancing closer to her.
"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry-!" Anna started but was interrupted as Alastor shoved the spoon right into her mouth. Anna gagged as a hot sensation hit her tongue which soon followed by burning as it slowly slid down her throat.
"Well, how is it?" Alastor grinned, darkly.
"It's a bit spicy." Anna replied, beginning to sweat. Her face turned completely red. Her tongue was on fire. "OH MY GOD! I SWALLOWED HOT LAVA!" She exclaimed, running out of the kitchen. Alastor laughed.
"Looks like someone can't handle their spice!" He joked as he howled in laughter.
Up ahead, Anna saw what appeared to be a bar and made a mad dash over to it. Behind the counter stood a large bat-cat like demon with colorful wings, who was chugging down a bottle of liquor. He frowned when he saw Anna running over.
"What do want?" He asked.
"Water!" Anna exclaimed, hysterically. She was pounding her hand on the counter in desperation.
"Do I look like fucking pansy? This is a bar, stupid. There's only alcohol." The cat demon retorted.
"Then get me something with less alcohol, please! I'm dying here!" The human cried. The demon rolled his eyes in annoyance and bent down grabbing a few bottles and setting a glass on the counter.
"Strawberry daiquiri coming up." The cat demon said as he finished making the drink. Before Anna could blink of even react, he slid the glass cup down then counter. The cup continued to slide and it fell off the counter, shattering into the floor to pieces. Anna saw Niffty quickly rush in and swiftly cleaned up the mess and rushed out of the room like a flash.
"You're supposed to catch the glass, dumb ass." The cat demon growled. Anna flinched. She turned to him, smiling nervously.
"Sorry?" She said, sheepishly, now coughing, shrugging her hands. The cat demon rolled his eyes. He made another drink but held it instead on the counter. He slowly slid the glass and Anna caught it in her hand to quickly took a sip. She signed in relief feeling the soothing and cool liquid run down her throat.
"So what's your name?" Anna asked. The cat demon opened one eye looking at while chugging down a bottle of booze.
"Husk." He slurred.
"Husk." Anna said letting the name roll on her tongue as she repeated it and smiled. "Do you mind if I called you, Husky?" She teased as she winked her eye, taking a small sip from her drink. The cat demon glared at the woman sitting in front of him with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"I'd rather you didn't." Husk growled, annoyed. The two heard footsteps and saw Charlie, Vaggie and Angel walking towards them.
"What are you doing up? You're supposed to be resting." Charlie asked.
"Yeah, about that, for some reason my wound is completely healed up." Anna replied.
"That's impossible for a human, it shouldn't have been healed within a day." Vaggie said in disbelief.
"That's what I said." Anna said, lifting up her shirt, showing them the scar. Charlie began to turn pale and smiled nervously.
"Anna, I hate to say this, but, I think that the longer that you stay here, you are slowly turning into a demon." She said.
"Meaning?" Anna questioned, dreading on what she was going to say next.
"You will become a demon permanently." The princess answered. The human's eyes widen in shock.
"WHAT?!" She exclaimed in disbelief.
"Don't worry, I'll -" Charlie started until she was interrupted by Anna.
"Don't worry? Don't worry?! What's there not to be worried about!? I'm going to be stuck as a demon forever!" She shouted, fearfully. Angel smirked. He was in hysterics seeing the girl in such a state. Anna frowned.
"This is not funny!" She shouted, angrily.
"Don't be such a drama queen, Toots." The spider demon said. Suddenly, Anna felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. She looked and nearly jumped in shock seeing Alastor.
"How did he get here so fast?!" Anna thought to herself.
"I think our guest's a little stir crazy being cooped up. I'll take her out for a bit of fresh air." The radio demon replied with a large grin plastered on his face. Before anyone could say or do anything, Alastor was dragging Anna away as he hooked his arm around hers, heading towards the door.
"Al? Wait, what are you-?" Charlie called out, worried.
"We'll be back in a while!" Alastor answered back, slamming the hotel door shut, leaving the four with baffled and confused looks on their faces.