Husk followed the aide into an elevator and rode it up to very nearly the top floor before it let out. He followed his guide down a long, curved hallway with a great view out over the city. He was high enough to see the hotel and could even make out the marquee. The other wall was a series of doors and large windows into conference rooms, most of which were filled with imps doing some sort of work involving stacks of paper and slides. Market research perhaps?
Husk didn't care enough to get a closer look.
About halfway around the floor he was shown into a much larger conference room were all three Vees were sitting along one side of the table. Velvette was looking down at her phone and didn't so much as glance up, while Valentino lifted his head from a line of powder, looking at Husk quizzically. Husk thought the moth man might not be able to tell if he was really here or not with the look in his eye.
Only Vox, who was eating some sort of pasta dish with a fork and knife, stood up and walked around the table to greet him.
"Well well well! If it isn't Alastor's favorite lapcat," he said, extending a hand. Husk shook it, biting his tongue but failing to suppress his glower at the nickname. He'd avoided this bastard earlier in the day to avoid comments just like that.
"You mind being quick?" Vox asked, "We're taking our lunchbreaks for this...vital meeting." He made his way back around the table to start eating again. Husk glanced out the large window to the evening sun; it was a bit late for 'lunch' but he wasn't going to balk.
Vox continued, "Not sure what you did in addition to kissing Carmilla's ass, but it must have been good for her to get you in the room with us."
"Yes, dish dish dish darling," Valentino said after he sat up from sniffing one of the lines he'd arranged before him. "How many dicks did you have to-"
"I ain't here to waste your time with gossip," Husk cut in. He'd just gotten Angel to stop it with that shit, he wasn't about to start putting up with it again. Especially not from this guy. "I'm here for Angel."
"Angel?" Valentino sat up and raised one well manicured eyebrow, "Oh you must be a fan. Well autographs aren't free, but since you-"
"He works for Alastor, Val," Vox said with an impatient sigh, rolling his eyes. "He's the hotel...bellhop?"
"Bartender," Husk corrected, drumming his claws on the table, "And Carmilla did me this favor because I helped fight off the angels."
"Did you?" Valentino asked, having sat back in his seat once Vox made it clear that Husk wasn't a fan.
"We must have missed it." Vox steepled his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his LCD visage. "Was it before or after your boss ran away like a bitch?"
Valentino chuckled. Even Velvette glanced up from her phone long enough to smirk at that. Husk knew Vox had it out for Alastor, but seeing both of the others react to it was something. As much as Husk wanted to agree with the phrase, he could fee the chain tighten around his throat. He swallowed his agreement and went on, "Doesn't matter. I want Angel's contract."
"And why would I do that?" Valentino asked as he lifted some sort of cigarette looking thing to his mouth, "Do you have any idea how much money he makes me? You couldn't afford to buy him out even if you were Lucifer himself."
It had crossed Husk's mind to bring this up with Charlie and her dad at one point. Lucifer didn't seem to give a shit about anything that wasn't licking his ex's heels and Charlie was too busy trying to keep her parents from bickering to spend five minutes listening to anyone else's problems.
"I'll play you for him," Husk said, placing a deck of cards on the table.
Valentino rolled his eyes and took a drag off of his cigarette but Vox was the one who answered. "That's a pretty poor business proposition. You put up...what...a hundred dollars? Against the recurring tens of thousands Angel brings us each year?"
"I've got dirt on everyone in the hotel," Husk said. "You name 'em, I've gotten 'em fall down drunk. I know how many and who Vaggie killed when she was an exorcist, I know what Angel's said about all of you behind your backs-"
That got Valentino's attention. The moth snarled and leaned forward, but before he could say anything Vox put a hand on his shoulder.
"Why do we care about the gossip of a bunch of has-beens?" he asked, smirking.
"Cuz I got dirt on Alastor, also." Husk was reading Vox like an open book. The smirk the demon had on became fixed in place, his shoulders tensed, and his hands - which had been idly fiddling with the fork he'd been eating with - clenched so hard the utensil bent.
"Tell me everything you have on Alastor," he said, leaning forward. His eye stared to twirl with a red spiral and Husk felt a sudden compulsion come over him. As soon as he opened his mouth the chain around his throat began to squeeze. He started coughing until his eye contact was broken. Grasping at his throat, Husk shook his head.
"Heh, nice try," he breathed, "But I don't think my boss is gonna let your power compel me more than his does."
Vox glowered at Husk. Almost snarled. Valentino touched the TV head's hand and made a tsk tsk tsk sound before looking at the source of Vox's anger.
"Well, if you can't speak out against your owner, then what deal can we even make?* He asked with a grin.
"We test it by making a deal," Husk said, hoping his plan worked. It was a stretch but it made sense on paper, at least. "You lot are overlords. Powerful ones. I used to be an overlord too."
"Yeah, you're one of Hazbin's has-beens, we know," Valentino scoffed, turning his attention back to the line of powder on the table.
"We make a deal, it'll be stronger than my deal with Alastor. We keep it simple to see if it works." Husk looked down at his hand and focused on the old power he used to own. He felt something stir. Something old. Tired. Held down by the weight of chains. "I bet if I tell you what I really think about the Radio Demon, and you three don't tell a soul what I said, it'll work. You get my real thoughts if I'm right, and you never deal with me again if I'm wrong."
Husk lifted his arm; it felt heavy. He could feel the restraints trying to prevent this from happening, but he had just enough in him to make it work.
The Vees all silently exchanged looks. Velvette and Valentino gave Vex a nod, and the head Vee nodded back before extending his hand to Husk. They clasped and a swirl of green and red energy flooded the room. The magic clapped like thunder and sent a gust of wind that would have scattered Valentino's drugs had he not covered it up with his arm just in time.
"So, let's see if it worked," Vox said, fixing his coat and adjusting his tie, "What do you really think of Alastor?"
Husk reached up to his neck and felt around his throat as the words formed on his tongue. "I think he's a dangerous sociopath with plans that will ruin us all. I think he's going to betray Charlie and endanger, if not outright kill, all of us at the hotel. And I think he's afraid how powerful you three are becoming."
Two truths, and that last one was a deliberate, calculated lie. Husk had no idea Alastor's feelings toward the Vees, if he even thought about them when they were not actively within his line-of-sight. But he was betting that they wouldn't think that. He was betting on Vox's ego serving him instead of its owner.
Vox's smirk answered that question immediately. "Haha! He'd better be afraid," the TV-headed demon said with a wicked grin. He extended his hand to Husk again. "Alright, I think I speak for everyone when-"
"Uh, excuse me," Valentino said, sitting up, "I still don't see what I get out of this? If you win you get dirt on Alastor but if you lose I lose my best star!"
"VAL!" Vox yelled, entire body seeming to grow and glitch in places as his eye twitched. Husk noticed the red swirl again and wondered if he used that to control the other Vees. That could be useful to know.
Vox cleared his throat. "Val, calm down. Husk here is a failed overlord. He lost everything; you think he has a chance at this charade of his?"
"Vox, darling, I don't know how to play poker and you have a reflective surface on your face." Valentino reached up and tapped the center of Vox's screen, where a nose would have been.
"What are you talking about? You play strip poker with your guests all the time."
"Ya! Because it's sexy! We don't know the rules. We just drink and undress and have a good time."
"I'll do it." Velvette said, lifting a hand as though she were a student in school. Husk looked at her, eyebrows raised in disbelief. She was still looking down at her phone, typing on it with one hand. The other Vees gave her a similar look.
Velvette looked up after a moment of silence and glanced around at each of them. "What? I know how to play and I have a better poker face than you, Vox." She said, rolling her eyes, "I'll make the deal and get you what you want."