Chapter 5

It had been so long since he had tasted fresh oysters.

Even if it were the oysters of this place, with its filth and avarice, they were still savory and slightly sweet. The crunch of the shells were the perfect finish.

"Merci mon ami.", he managed to rumble out of his cavernous throat.

"Je vous en prie", his friend answered from above. "Tu dois entre ici depus longtempes."

"Le temps a perdu tout sens pour moi.", he answered. "Je souhaite seulement nourrir."

There was a moment of silence above him. Only the faint sound of someone sucking their teeth in thought.

"Voulez-vous faire uen affaire?", the voice inquired.

"There", Via pointed. "The hole."

Chay followed the girl's finger to the other side of the enormous vault, to find a pile of haphazardly tossed items of varying value; Coins, gems, parchments, and a bunch of other random objects. Spiderwebs and dust bunnies were collecting near it.

And right next to it, was an enormous hole in the vault wall, as if it had been hit with a wrecking ball at full strength.

Chay strolled over to the wall, almost gobsmacked at the sheer audacity of it all. She's done plenty of smash and grab cases before, and yet no matter how often she'd seen it…

"You know, it's kind of impressive.", Chay remarked. "This isn't exactly an easy space to break into like this."

"My mum spares no expense.", Via said. "She's put in as many security measures as she could conceive of, including magical ones. That's why this is just so...astonishing."

"And probably why your mom is so pissed off.", Chay said as she eyed the hole. She got down on her knee and took her hellphone out of her pocket. "When was the last time you've spoken with your mother, Octavia?"

The Goetian girl hugged herself. "It's been a while.", she answered. "I'm more of a distraction for her than anything. Usually if I do see here is through her yelling at my dad."

Chay activated the camera app on her hellphone and began taking pictures of the crime scene, making sure to capture the hole at every conceivable angle. This hole was no surgical effort, not even close. The broken plaster, rebar and dangling wires paid truth to that.

She also took some pics of the surrounding area (including the nearby pile). "I see. And you're sure this is where the stone was located at?"

"Absolutely.", Via replied. "My mum said it herself."

"She told you about it herself? You said you hadn't seen her in a while."

"Well, she was telling it to my dad during one of their screaming matches-"

'The bloody fuck is this?!'

Via suddenly went silent, her eyes going wide.

So did Chay's.

Someone, obviously female, could be heard screaming from a couple of rooms away. They sounded vaguely british, and they were not happy.

Chay reached out to the Goetian. "Via?"

Octavia started to hyperventilate.

"Oh no...oh fuck…"

'I pay you lousy Imps to guard this place, and what do I get? A bunch of lazy fucks pulling their pricks while I get robbed blind again!'

The owl girl started looking around the vault, her eyes darting from corner to corner.

"We have to hide, Chay!"

"You've been sleep walking again, haven't you Shakie?", Vaggie asked her.

They were in Charlie's office, with Shakie sitting in front of Charlie's desk. Vaggie was next to her, gently rubbing her shoulder. Charlie was scribbling in her patients' file.

This was something that every guest in the Hotel had to do: the bi-weekly check-up. For many it was fairly routine with a quick 'how are things?' and 'how is your mood?' and other typical psychological questions.

But for recovering addicts like herself, it tended to be much more thorough. Drug addiction was as nasty down in Hell as it was in life, and its ravages even more severe. Because of that, it was even harder to claw back from the brink, especially for Sinners. One could not simply duck down into the Sloth ring for addiction treatment like a Hellborn could.

Part of the reason that her and Angel Dust had bonded as closely as they did was their shared experiences as struggling addicts. Angel had been addicted to pretty much every hard drug known to man, yet through Charlie and Vaggie's help he had managed to quit most of them (yeah, he still drank and did less harmful drugs, but baby steps were required for guys like him).

As for Shakie…

"I can't hide anything from you guys, can I?", she answered sheepishly.

"Well, you do keep winding up in Chay's room.", Charlie remarked.

Shakie twirled her hair through her fingers. "Yeah...you heard about that, huh?"

"We could hear it from all the way down here.", Vaggie said.

"It's OK, Shakie. It's nothing you should be ashamed of.", Charlie continued. "You're still going through withdrawal. You've shown amazing strength in your recovery."

"You should of seen what we had to do to Angel", said Vaggie. "But that's not what we're concerned about."

Shakie looked up at the moth girl. "What do you mean?"

Charlie sighed deeply. "Shakie...do you remember when you first got here, and you told us about how you died?"

She looked at Charlie. "Well...yes. I know it was through a margarita haze but…"

"And how you told us about you and Jordy, and how he…"

Shakie through up her clawed hands. "Yes, yes, I remember all of that. But he was the guy who was giving me the smack in the first place. Why wouldn't I start developing feelings for him?"

Vaggie looked at Charlie, and shook her head.

"It's just that, well…"

Charlie got up from her desk and walked around to Shakie. "There's a pattern that we've been noticing, lately. When you first started sleep-walking, you ended up in Angel's room. Now, he didn't mind all that much, but…"

"Now you've started showing up in Chay's room.", Vaggie said. "Do you see where we're going with this?"

Shakie looked between the two women.

"I...don't understand."

Charlie sighed again, but this time with a smile. "It's OK, Shakie. We're glad that you've got more friends here at the Hotel. It's just hat we don't want you to make the same mistakes you made that, well…"

"That got you down here in the first place.", Vaggie continued for Charlie. "Remember, this isn't just rehab. You're also working towards redemption."

Shakie looked down at the floor. "I...think I get it."

Charlie shook her head and embraced Shakie. "Hey, there's no rush. You've got all the time in existence to get through this. Just...be smart about it, yeah?"

Shakie nodded, pressing her cheek into Charlie's shoulder. "Yeah...I get it."

"Hey, you bitches finished making out in there? I got a schedule to keep, ya know!"

Vaggie grumbled irritably. "Angel, we're -"

"-Just finishing up!", Charlie finished for her. She stood up and patted Shakie on the back.

"So, same time week after next?"

Shakie nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Excuse me for my french, but what the fuck are you doing, Octavia?!"

If anything, Chay could tell almost immediately that Octavia did not get her shyness from her mother.

The Goetian who was currently seething before them was a tall, white-feathered woman with a posh aristocratic voice. Her eyes were crimson red with long feminine eyelashes, and she had long hair-like feathers that hung down to her hips. Her beak was small and tipped with pink, and her nails were painted black. She was wearing a white dress with puffed sleeves and feather trimming, and also worse a tiara-like crown on her head.

She was also pointing a gilded pistol directly at Chay's head, along with a retinue of Imp guards who were similarly armed.

Via threw up her hands defensively. "Mum! It's not what it looks like!"

"The fuck it isn't!", the older Goetian yelled. "I swear, I thought Stolas was bad with trying to shack up with an Imp, but a Sinner, Via?"

Chay raised an eyebrow. "Say what now?"

"Uh, mum...I think…"

"I mean, I'll admit that it's at least a step up but not by much. But for fuck's sakes you haven't even talked to me in weeks, and now you're breaking into my chateau and trying to get it on with this loathsome Sinner like some fucking plebeian..."

"MUM!", Via finally shouted. "That's not what is happening! I hired this person to help find the moonrock!"

The older Goetian was struck dumb into silent.

"….Oh." She cleared her throat. "Well then...this is…" She started rubbing her temple with the barrel of her pistol. "...Awkward."

Via breathed a sigh of relief. "Christ on a stick, mum. Don't scare me like that."

"You broke into my house, Via! How am I supposed to react?"

"I didn't break in! I have a key!". Via help up the grimoire.

The older woman shook her head. "Of course, a gift from your father." The woman's eyes then moved over to Chay, looking the Sinner over.

She shook her head again. "Honeslty…". She pointed down at the ground in front of her. "Via, come here."

Via's eyes widened. "Mum...I don't think."

"Octavia.", the woman said, more sternly. "Come. Here."

The younger Goetian looked over at Chay, before meekly walking over to her mother. She stopped in front of her, looking up into her eyes.

The older woman took Via's chin in her hand, looking over her face.

"Hmmm.", she said. She chirped under her breath with distaste. "Now, turn around."

Via grumbled as she spun around.

"Pah!", she said exasperated. She snapped one of her black-lacquered fingers. One of the nearby Imps reached into their jacket and whipped out a comb. Another brought out a stool for the other Imp to stand on.

"Honestly, dear.", the older woman said as the Imp tugged the comb through Via's hair feathers. "You have such lovely hair, darling. Why don't you brush it more often?"

"I'm an adult now, mother." Via said with annoyance. "I don't need you doing this."

"Tut tut. I'm your mother, darling. I'm allowed to fret over you at least once in a while."

"Trying to make up for lost time, are we?", Via whispered under her breath.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothing, mum. Are we done?"

The older woman walked around to take one last look at Via's face. She licked one of her fingers and rubbed a spot on Via's beak.

"Yes, I believe we are. Now then…"

The older woman turned around and began walking towards Chay, her hands intertwined in an aristocratic manner.

"As for you...miss…?"

"Chay Ong. Private Investigator.", Chay replied. "Your daughter hired me to…"

The woman held up her hand. "Yes, the name does sound familiar. I am Stella Goetia, of the Goetia family and the owner of this house. Now, may I ask you why you and my daughter are trying to break into my vault?"

Chay looked over to the nearby wall, the one with the enormous hole. At the very bottom of it was what appeared to be a bloodstain.

That was her first clue.

"Well, first of all, I think I have an idea of who may have broken into your vault."

CHAPTER 5 END