Chapter 14: What is This For?

The Hotel didn't have the same atmosphere as it usually did. News of the upcoming Goetia attack weighed heavily on the minds of everyone. Despite this, Charlie was still trying to keep everyone happy and she was a constant source of positivity despite the bleakness of the situation. One day, when Charlie had learnt Hereticus hadn't immediately walked out of the front door as soon as he got up (like he usually did), she was adamant on catching him before he left. She made her way to the front lobby, where Husk was stacking glasses on the shelves before the day began.

"Hey, have you seen Hereticus?" Charlie asked Husk.

"Playin' war games," Husk responded, to which Charlie gave him a confused look, so Husk elaborated, "he's on fifth strategizin' with Pentious and that pink haired chick, think she was called Cherri."

"Thanks Husk, keep up the good work!" Charlie said to Husk with her usual overly energetic voice.

Charlie made her way to the fifth floor and down the corridor, she quickly found the room by the sound of peoples' voices.

"Your airship will go a long way in protecting this place, Pentious" Hereticus said, "it'd be excellent for air support."

"Of coursssse!" Pentious said heartily, "the power of my machines are unmatched! None shall dare lay claim to the skies when they see the power my geniussss provides!"

When Charlie looked inside, she saw Hereticus, Pentious, Seviathan and Cherri gathered around a table that had a large schematic of the Hotel on it with illustrations of possible defences drawn on it. However, Charlie was surprised to see Vaggie and Gabrielle there too. They all turned their heads to Charlie when she came in through the door.

"Charlie!" Vaggie said as she saw her, "We've been planning defences for the Hotel in case the Goetia decide to head this way."

"It's unlikely they'll go after the Hotel," Hereticus said, "it's not in a strategically important position."

"Plus attacking it would probably be treated as attacking you, which would put the Goetia on the Lucifer's bad side." Seviathan added.

"But it's always good to be prepared for the worst," Hereticus said.

"Why is Cherri here?" Charlie asked, "not that I mind! It's always nice to have visitors!"

"I'm 'ere cause Hereticus reckons this place could use a couple booby-traps out front. Him helping my best buddy Angel's means I owe 'im a couple solids!"

Gabrielle then took a step closer to Charlie and spoke.

"And I'm here to make sure that your dream isn't destroyed," Gabrielle said with a reassuring voice, "I won't let anyone bring harm to this hotel or anyone who resides in it.

This greatly pleased Charlie, and she showed this by giving Gabrielle a thankful smile, however, Hereticus simply looked at Gabrielle with suspicion, something Charlie took note of.

"Hey Hereticus, can I speak to you for a second?" Charlie asked.

Everyone looked at Hereticus as they waited for his response, he looked between each person and then Charlie before speaking.

"Sure," he said while shrugging his shoulders.

Charlie led Hereticus out of the room and down the corridor so they could speak more privately. Before Charlie could get a word out, Hereticus was already talking about the hotel's defences.

"Pentious has been hard at work, you've probably noticed his egg-boys going around barricading the windows. I have to say, Vaggie's been helpful too. She insisted on personally going over all the defences… she's got a surprisingly strategic mind… I wonder where she gets it from." Hereticus briefly paused as they headed into one of the Hotel's many rooms, Charlie opened her mouth to speak but was rudely interrupted. "Oh, and about Gabrielle helping defend this place… it seems suspicious to me, I don't think-"

"Hereticus!" Charlie said with a raised voice, silencing Hereticus immediately.

"Yeah… sorry… I went off a bit there, didn't I?" Hereticus said, he then sighed, "The upcoming battle just has me stressed… what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, speaking of Gabrielle… that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Charlie said.

"Really?" Hereticus asked, "did she do something?"

"No, no, not at all!" Charlie responded, "she's done nothing an all… I wanted to talk about how you've been treating her."

Hereticus immediately knew where Charlie was going with this, he knew he was treating Gabrielle with suspicion and had his reasons for it.

"Charlie," he said, "I know you don't like me being wary of her, but she's one of them, she's an angel, an archangel in fact."

"But it's not just suspicion," Charlie said, "one of the first things you did was lash out at her, and I can see in your face that you're angry with her, why is that?"

Charlie was heading into territory that made Hereticus uncomfortable, he knew it went deeper than mere suspicion and he didn't want to talk about it. His mind was filled with past pains that he'd tried to forget but never could.

"Charlie… we've got more important issues, every second I spend thinking about this is a second longer I give the Goetia to prepare," Hereticus said, clearly trying to avoid the topic.

Charlie sighed and took a step closer to Hereticus, she placed a reassuring hand on his metal arm.

"It's okay, you can tell me…" she said with a reassuring smile.

"She took my arm. Is that good enough of an answer for you?" Hereticus asked with unjustified anger as he pulled away from Charlie's touch.

Charlie stepped back, a hurt expression on her face. She hadn't known that Gabrielle took his arm, clearly causing tension between the two, she felt like she'd dug some place wrong and asked the wrong questions. Hereticus' anger quickly subsided, replaced by regret having seen Charlie's hurt face. It wasn't just losing his arm that had made him angry, the issue lied deeper than that and he knew it, and maybe Charlie deserved to know.

"No… it's more than that…" he said. He sighed and took a deep breath as he prepared himself to let her know the truth. "I… used to have people I cared about." The statement threw Charlie off, she hadn't been expecting it, she wondered what he meant. Hereticus then elaborated. "We built a life together, here in Hell… we never sold our souls to anyone and we were happy…"

There was a long pause as Hereticus struggled to get his words out, when they finally did tears dropped from his eyes and his words were choked. "But then one day… an exorcist came and took that all away… all my friends… my whole family… gone in an instant. Whenever I sleep, I'm haunted by that memory, I have nightmares about it over and over again, like their spirits are haunting me." He wiped the tears from his face and cleared his throat, his words became much clearer as he steadied himself. "I wouldn't, couldn't let them get away with it… and so… I became an Overlord; I swore I'd do whatever it took to make sure that whoever did it paid."

Hereticus paused once again, for the briefest moment his lips curled into a small smile as he recalled his one saving grace. "That's when your mother, Lilith, found me. She said she saw something in me, 'a fire' she called it. She helped me get back on my feet, she trained me and showed me how to fight. I promised her that I'd get my revenge and would free Hell from the grasp of Heaven…" Hereticus paused once more and the victory in his voice disappeared, "that was the last thing I said to her…"

There was silence between the two, Charlie took a step forward and stood closer to Hereticus, she placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"What does this have to do with Gabrielle?" she asked patiently.

"On the day that it all went down, I managed to rip off the mask of the exorcist and I saw their face, but… I can't remember it, whenever I try to think of it all I see is a blurry mess, features that anyone could have, so it becomes easy for me to imagine anyone there, Gabrielle, Valentino, Vox, the Goetia… anyone that's wronged me becomes the person that stole my life from me." Guilt washed over him as he spoke, finally saying it out loud put things into perspective for him. "I know I shouldn't feel this way-"

Hereticus was cut off when Charlie wrapped her arms around him in a tight and caring hug. He was left utterly speechless by her kindness.

"I know what it's like to lose someone you love..." she said with an understanding voice, "when my mom died, it felt like I lost a part of myself. I didn't know what to do, my dad didn't know what to do… but we pushed through together, and I decided that I'd carry on her dream." Charlie smiled happily as she reminisced about her kind and loving mother. "All she wanted to see was her people happy, and that's what I want too."

"You're a rare sort, Charlie," Hereticus said, "you're just like your mother."

Those words made Charlie smile, to know that Hereticus, one of Lilith's apprentices, could compare her to her mother meant that she was at the very least doing something right. She released Hereticus and looked at him happily.

"Thank you, Charlie," Hereticus said, smiling gratefully back.

Suddenly, Seviathan came in through the door with an excited look on his face.

"Hereticus! You've gotta come see this!" He exclaimed, his voice sharing the excitement his face caried.

"What is it?" Hereticus asked.

"Hundreds- no! Thousands of people are outside the Hotel, they want to see you!" Seviathan said.

Without another word Hereticus quickly made his way out of the room, as soon as he stepped out, he could faintly hear a cacophony of voices coming from outside the Hotel, as he made his way over to a balcony, he could see Alastor standing on it, looking down at the courtyard.

As soon as Hereticus stepped foot on the balcony he was met with an eruption of cheers. He could see thousands of people below, packed into the hotel's courtyard and many more outside the gates. All the species of Hell, imps, hellhounds, possessors, baphomets and many more shouted their grateful thanks to Hereticus. As he took a closer look at them, he could make out one common feature among them, Mammon's sigil, tattooed onto their bodies and now crossed out. Each of them had been branded by their former master, and it became clear why they were here. He had freed them. Thousands of souls now stood before him, each one with their own story, answering the call he had made. It was enough to bring him to tears again, but he held them back, he couldn't show weakness now, not in front of them.

Alastor, who was standing silently next to Hereticus with his eternal smile, nudged his microphone closer to Hereticus, offering it for him to speak through. He reluctantly took it and placed it a short distance from his mouth. As he took it in his hands there was a crackle in the air, and those below went silent as they waited to eagerly listen to what Hereticus had to say.

"Words cannot describe the gratitude I feel for you being here in this city's hour of need! Together, we will protect the Pentagram and drive back those who would seek to diminish the opportunity that lays before us! Together, we will seize a better future for Hell and free ourselves and others of our subjugators!"

The thousands below cheered in joy, each one ready to fight for the future Hereticus had promised them. Each one had been given a taste of freedom and were ready to take the reigns.