Author's note: This one was ESPECIALLY FUN to write.

Not sure what the name of the story was called but i was inspired by this one fic i came across a while ago on ao3 and i felt it fit within this setting.

Also, holy moly i had to research how to play poker for this chapter.

Made notes and all, ya girl has done her research y'all.

Anyway, enjoy

Chapter 18:

House of cards

As Charlie shook the tall moth demon's hand, the demonic bargain was struck as Husk took his place at the table, Vallentino sitting across from him as cards were dealt and each player took their hands.

"Remember, as we agreed on, best 2 out of 3 wins" Husk grumbled to the moth demon as he exchanged a quick, worried look with the princess, before speaking up "May the best demon win"

"I intent to" Vallentino confidently bragged as he gave Charlie a predatory look "I'm looking forward to our future cooperation, princesa. Oh I'm going to ENJOY breaking you in for setting my FUCKING studio on fire"

By now, Alastor had approached Husk from behind as he spoke "Husker, my dear chap"

"Yea boss?" the cat demon simply responded.

"You better not lose… again" Alastor spoke in a threatening tone "Or I will rip….your soul….appart….do you understand?"

Husk just smirked "Well good thing I'm not intending to lose then" as his face had already become unreadable.

After allot of bickering back and forth that had almost caused a large argument to erupt, all parties involved came to the agreement that, as the most "goody-two-shoes" of them all, Charlie had been assigned the role of dealing out the community cards, due to her being most likely to not cheat or pick sides, making this game as fair as possible as the 3 cards from the top of the deck were laid down, face up on the table.

The pokerfaces were on, the chips were down and the cards were drawn as one of the most intense pokergames in Husk's career had now officially begun….

As Husk was checking his cards, he would periodically look up at his opponent, Vallentino, who was just in the middle of making creepy, uncomfortable gestures to Charlie with his tongue.

It seemed from his entire attitude that the tall moth demon had already convinced himself he had as good as won as Husk increased his bet, adding a pile of chips to the stack, to which Val just smirked, and without even acknowledging him, tossed in another few chips across the table, matched his bet.

Husk let his eyes wander for a moment over his own hand as he glanced at the cards in the middle of the table…...10 of spades….9 of clubs….10 of hearts…. as Charlie revealed the 4th card…..7 of spades….

The cat demon wouldn't even as much as flinch, not a single whisker out of place as he stared down the overly confident pimp demon.

His face completely blank, he'd unceremoniously toss a couple more chips on the table as he raised a single eyebrow, trying to bait the porn overlord into matching his bet.

Vallentino would just chuckle in that all too familiar, skin crawling manner as instead, he leaned close, blowing some of his red smoke into Husk's face as a power move as he doubled his chips "Oh gato, I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm…."

"Try me, asshole…" Husk just mumbled out.

Charlie had to admit, it was kinda impressive to see Husk in his A-game, his stoic, stone-faced stance as the next betting round was over and it was time to reveal the 5th card …the king of hearts….

Vallentino just licked his lips and chuckled as he laid down his cards, revealing a 10 of diamonds and a 7 of clubs "…"three of a kind"….gato…"

His confidence was quickly put to the test as Husk smirked and revealed his own cards and with a chuckle, spoke " …."straight"…you're gonna need better than that" And as Husk raked in the chips for that round, the deck was re-shuffled and new cards were dealt….

The atmosphere in the studio was tense enough, you could almost cut it with a knife as almost everyone watched with baited breath while the demonic bartender and the tall moth demon laid their chips on the table, made their bets and one by one, the cards were revealed…..

3 of diamonds…6 of clubs….and king of diamonds….

….Husk increased his bet…

….Vallentino met his….

Ace of spades…..

…Husk doubled his previous bet…..

...Val confidently matched it…

10 of diamonds….

Husk's face barely flinched when Vallentino would reveal his cards "….."Flush"….gato…" to which Husk angrily grumbled, revealing his extremely poor hand …..

This was it….the final, deciding round….

Whoever won this round determined not only Lute's fate but now that of the princess as well as the cards were dealt and one by one, Charlie laid down the first 3 cards on the table…..10 of spades….8 of spades…ace of spades…..

….Vallentino licked his chops as he laid down his bet….

….Husk matched it…..

Charlie revealed the 4th card…..7 of spades….

….Vallentino's eyes widened as he was practically drooling over the table by now, causing Husk to chuckle and bark up "Ya know, you really need to work on your pokerface, jackass…."

The tall moth took a long drag of his cigarette as he mocked the cat demon "I can assure you, I won't need to….gato…." before he turned towards Charlie "I already got a working title for your first film, princesa. How does "The princess' hell"holes" sound?" causing Charlie's skin to crawl and Vaggie to debate impaling the moth demon on her spear then and there.

"Husker…." Alastor gritted through his teeth as his pupils turned into radio dials and the light began to flicker, the radio demon's shadow beginning to tower over the bartender demon, who just shrugged it off as he snapped back at him "Trying to focus here, Al"

With a cocky stance, Vallentino leaned over the table as he dumped all his chips onto it, before shoving them to the center "…..all in….." causing some of the other demons in the studio to give their own "oooooh" s

Charlie dealt the last card….Jack of spades…..

Releasing a scream of enthusiasm, Vallentino slammed down his cards on the table, revealing a 6 and 9 of spades "STRAIGHT FLUSH, GATO" Causing everyone else to gasp in terror and Charlie's face to drop.

But just as Vallentino would attempt to reach out to the princess…..something suddenly stopped his hand.

Blinking a few times, the moth demon became aware of Husk's hand firmly wrapped around his wrist "The game isn't over yet, shit stain….i still have to reveal my hand….."

Squinting his eyes, Vallentino begrudgingly sat back down as he began to berate the cat demon "Are you fucking kidding me?! That's a straight fucking flush, the second best hand in the game, you mangy mutt, the only FUCKING HAND that can beat that is a…"

He would suddenly trail off as his face became pale "….no…."

"Val…." Vox spoke condescendingly as he put a slightly threatening hand on the moth demon's shoulder "….can only be beat by "WHAT"….Val?"

At this, Husk would just slowly pull his once stone-faced expression into a confident smirk as he mumbled to himself "heh….still got it…." and laid down his hand…..

As his hand was revealed, everyone gasped as Husk would put both palms on the table as he leaned closer, his face inches away from the pimp demon, who looked in horror as Husk's cards… king of spades…and queen of spades…. as Husk confidently stated…..

"…..royal…..fucking…..flush…motherfucker….."