All characters from Disney, Vivziepop and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy the fic.
Chapter 10: Meanwhile in the Pride Ring
It was another day in Hell, up in the Pride Ring. In a part of Pentagram City, there was an Indian-style mansion, surrounded by trees and with a large, outdoor pool.
Inside the mansion, someone slept in the huge master bedroom. When the alarm clock went off, it was smashed by a large paw.
Waking up and sitting up in bed with a yawn was Shere Khan himself. He stretched out his arms, showing his black and red striped muscular physique. The large tiger demon looked down and saw the two naked women who were lying on either side of him, still asleep. One was a Hellcat, the other was a Kitsune.
"Mmm," he hummed while looking around his room. His master bedroom showed off his expensive tastes. There was a decorative bookshelf, fur rugs, lavish furniture, a large portrait of himself… and hunting trophies. There were trophies from demon dinosaurs, demon bears, demon lions, demon birds, etc.
As Khan looked around, he then heard a knock on the door. "Come in, Raj."
Stepping into the bedroom was an imp butler with a white beard. "Good morning, Mr. Khan. How was your night?"
"The usual, Raj" Khan admitted before he saw the covered dish on a platter being pushed into his bedroom by cart. He immediately brightened up. "Ooh, is that my breakfast?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Khan!" the imp declared while rolling the tray in. "Got it poached, just as you like it, sir!"
"Thank you, Raj," he responded to his servant.
Khan moved to the side of the bed as the cart was rolled in front of him. He looked down at the covered dish and went to lift up the cover. He grinned when he saw his breakfast…
"Hmm!" cried out a squirming, terrified imp who was gagged and tied up.
"My, isn't he fetching," Shere Khan commented. "By the way, what's this one's name?"
"Um, I think… Kenny, sir?" Raj replied.
"Yes, yes," Shere Khan said while looking at the terrified imp and filing his claws. "Hello, Mr. Kenny, looks like you'll be my first meal for the day," he said in a polite tone.
"HMMMM!" Kenny cried out in horror.
"You are dismissed, Raj," Khan told him while the imp servant left the room.
"Enjoy your breakfast, sir," Raj replied as he exited the bedroom, closing the door shut behind him. He ignored the muffled screams from the unfortunate imp who was now going to be Shere Khan's breakfast…
"WAAAAAH!"
Later in the showers, Shere Khan had finished washing the blood from his breakfast out of his fur. He stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Thank you for the assist, ladies," Shere Khan told them as he walked out, the two women from his bed earlier stepping out with him.
"You're welcome, Mr. Khan," one of them spoke.
Shere Khan walked over to his closet to grab his suit, then went to the changing area to put it on. When he was done he stepped out, now wearing his full suit as he adjusted his tie and walked over to the mirror. He looked at his reflection.
"You are more than man," he told himself, while rubbing something under the side of his furred face. They looked to be… stitches. "No, you are the apex. The mighty hunter," he declared while giving himself a nod.
Shere Khan rode in his limo to work, the limo stopping in front of his building.
"Have a good day, Mr. Khan," the succubi chauffeur said.
"Thank you, Merci," he replied as his chauffeur got out of the car, walked around, and opened the door for him. Shere Khan stepped out and looked up at his tower. Adjusting himself, he walked towards his building, preparing to make his presence known.
Inside his building, Shere Khan headed toward his office. On the way, he saw many of his employees acting nervous and fearful around him.
"Oh, g-g-good morning, Mr. Khan, sir," spoke a nervous stork demon. "Here are the numbers you've asked for."
"Thank you," he responded, grabbing the papers.
"Heya, Mr. Khan," said one imp employee as he walked up, trying to suck up to his boss. "The Shere-Ka Khan, or Master Khan, or do you like to be called Shao-"
"Morning to you too, Frank," Khan said, paying little attention to this one. He spotted another employee in the hallway. "Ms. Horndew, how are the stocks?"
"Still going good, sir!" spoke a Baphemot woman who looked relieved once Khan had walked past her.
This was just the kind of jungle Shere Khan thrived in. His presence and the fear he created motivated his employees to do better, in order to keep their jobs… and their lives.
In his office, Shere Khan looked out the large window while puffing his cigar. He was enjoying the view of Pentagram City when he heard someone coming in.
"You called for us, sir?" Penzi asked. Next to her was a tall, broad-chested Hellhound with brown fur and red hair. Though he was not as tall as Penzi.
"Yes, what can we do for you, sir?" the Hellhound asked.
"Penzi, Ansur," Shere Khan said while looking at their reflections in the glass in the window. "Do you know what is on the schedule today?"
Ansur got out a binder and started to flip through it, but Penzi didn't need to look at anything. "Your meeting with the other Overlords, correct?" she asked, causing Ansur to drop his binder out of shock.
"O-other Overlords?" he asked nervously.
Shere Khan nodded. "It is more of a formality than anything else," he admitted.
"Do you plan on taking one of us?" Penzi asked him.
"Yes, and today I'm taking… you, Ansur," Shere Khan said as he turned around and pointed at the Hellhound, who looked even more nervous.
"O-Oh… well, that's good, sir…" Ansur said. He tried to look optimistic, but his voice had a tone of dread. Penzi shot him a sympathetic look
"Penzi, I trust you to keep things here running until I get back," Shere Khan told the succubus, who nodded.
"Of course, sir," she said.
In another part of Pride, closer to the Triton Resort, was a pier town for aquatic-looking Sinners and demons. In the apartments of one of these Sinners, inside a room with sea-patterned wallpaper walls, was a sleeping mermaid. It was none other than Crystal, the hotel's lounge singer.
Hearing her alarm go off, Crystal opened her eyes and tapped on her clock. Sitting up, she let out a yawn, stretched, and reached for her unfolded wheelchair.
"Let's do this," she said as she unfolded the wheelchair and lifted herself into it. Despite holding herself steady, she slipped out from her wheelchair a bit due to her tail, causing her to curse. She had been doing this for a long time now, but her tail still gave her some trouble even after all these years later. Even now, she sometimes wished that she still had legs, if only for the sake of convenience.
In her bathroom, Crystal showered herself while rinsing out her hair. After the shower, she pulled up a bathrobe while getting herself back in her wheelchair. But because she was wet now, she ended up before slipping off completely.
"Yah!" she cried while landing on the floor. While she wasn't hurt, she did look up at her wheelchair with an angry expression, needing a moment for her to breathe and calm herself before she grabbed her wheelchair and carefully pulled herself onto the seat, making sure not to slip this time. "A clean mermaid is a fresh mermaid," she said to herself.
After managing to get in her uniform for work, she enjoyed her breakfast: rice, steamed veggies, vegan waffles, and orange juice. She ate her breakfast while listening to a podcast on her phone.
"Today, we will interview the Sinner known as 'Son of Sam', who will tell us about his new relationship with a Hellhound he met. Sam, what can you tell us about your new partner?"
"Well, what can I say? The moment I heard their voice it just felt right."
"Hmm, that's good for him," Crystal replied while eating her breakfast.
After breakfast, she brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth out with mouthwash. After spitting it out, she took a look at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. "You are a proud, strong-willed mermaid. You are an Aquarius, and a talented singer," she declared before she practiced singing. "Fa la la la, lala, la laaa~!"
When she was ready, she started to wheel herself out of her apartment. "Off to work!" she declared before feeling an explosion below her. "Whoa!" she cried out, almost falling out of her wheelchair before catching herself. "Not again," she groaned, knowing the cause of the explosion. After all, this has happened before. "I hope he's alright this time…"
Before leaving for work, Crystal decided to take the elevator down to the bottom floor and she wheeled herself over to a specific apartment door. Said door was covered in burnt marks and using hammered planks to cover some damage. She rang the doorbell.
"Oh, um… who is it?" asked a voice from inside.
"It's me, Baxter," Crystal responded. A few moments later, the door opened.
"Crystal, hey," said the fish-looking Sinner named Baxter. He was an angler-fish Sinner demon with blue-gray skin tone. Fish fins were on the side of his head like ears and another fin was on the back of his head with the same color scheme as his dark royal blue hair with blue-gray streaks and cyan dots running through it, styled short and swept back. He had three cyan freckles dotted on both of his cheeks underneath his eyes. He also had pointed cyan teeth in his mouth. His eyes were cyan sclera with coral pink irises, and his eyelids were a dark royal blue. He wore goggles with coral pink frames with mid-yellow lenses. He also wore a full-length green-gray laboratory suit with mid-yellow buttons down the length and sported a tiny greenish gray hat with an esca attached to it, with a yellow gradient 'light' as it had two cyan stripes above it. He also wore dark greenish gray gloves with two small cyan dots on the top of both and his boots. Noticeably, there was ash covering his face. "Uh, what brings you down here this fine morning?"
"Well, I heard the explosion. It sounded like a big one, so I came by to check up on you," she said. "See if you're alright."
"Oh, I appreciate that, but don't worry, I'm okay," Baxter replied with a wave.
"I'm glad to hear that," Crystal said as she smiled… before she aggressively grabbed his collar and pulled him up to her. "Now listen here, Baxter, you better not blow up the entire building this time, okay?! All of my stuff is here and I would hate to come back from work to find a smoking crater where our building used to be! Got it?!" she asked with an angry look, her eyes twitching.
"Y-Y-Yes, Crystal," Baxter said as he nodded nervously, seeing the fire in her eyes. "I promise to be more careful…"
"Good," Crystal hissed before letting him go and going back to her cheery self. "Now then, I should be off to work now. Remember to be careful," she said before she wheeled herself away, leaving a shivering Baxter behind.
"She's as scary as an Overlord…" he whispered to himself before he went back into his apartment.
Meanwhile, in the House of Stolas, Octavia was in her bedroom with Linda, both of them playing a video game.
"Come on, Mammon, get yer fatass back on the track!" Octavia shouted.
"Come on, Aaon! Make it over the lava pit!" Linda declared as the two competed against each other in a racing game.
"Hey, Princess Tavi," Jewel said as the imp servant opened the door and walked in on the girls. "Could you take a pause on your game for a moment? Someone called to speak with you."
"Can it wait? I can't let Linda win," Octavia responded, trying to focus on her game.
"It's Cray," Jewel revealed, causing Octavia to immediately pause the game.
"Cray?" she asked in surprise. "Put him on the line!"
Jewel smiled and handed her the phone, which Octavia quickly grabbed.
"Cray, hey, surprised to hear you, what's up?" Octavia asked, playing it cool.
"Hey Via," Cray responded on the other end. "What are you up to right now?"
"Hanging out at home and playing video games with Linda," Octavia answered. "My parents are out right now. You?"
"Oh, my parents are out as well," Cray admitted. "If you aren't too busy right now, I thought that we could hang out."
"R-Really?" she asked him in surprise. "You thought that yourself? Just out of the blue?"
"Yeah, I mean, the last few times we've hung out together was because it was mandated by our parents," Cray pointed out. "So I thought it would be a nice change of pace if we just hung out because we wanted to, since we're friends. You could bring Linda if she wants to come and I was thinking that I would introduce you to Alice. Remember when I mentioned her?"
"Alice… yeah, I think I would like to meet her," Octavia agreed, though she was still taken aback by this move from Cray.
"Great, so I'll see you soon then?" Cray asked, his voice hopeful.
"Yeah, later," she replied before they both hung up. She turned to Linda.
"So what was that about?" Linda asked, looking curious.
"Cray asked me if I wanted to hang out," Octavia explained, getting Linda more excited.
"Ooh, really?" she asked. "Hmm, if I didn't know any better." The imp girl tapped on her chin. "I would say I think he likes you."
"Whaaat?" Octavia asked with a scoff. "Come on, I don't think so. He said that his parents are out, so he's probably just bored and looking for a way to keep himself busy."
"Mm-hmm…" Linda said with a smirk.
"So, uh, do you want to come along?" Octavia offered. "Cray said he wouldn't mind a plus one. Because we're just hanging out. That's all we're doing."
"Sure, I'm game for this," Linda replied as they both stood up. "Wait, did he say what we're doing?"
"He wants me to meet his friend Alice, another Goetia kid," Octavia said. "Does that ring any bells for you?"
"Hmm, not familiar, not even from back when I was under the Ipos House," Linda admitted while scratching her chin. "Of course, Seth didn't have a lot of playdates with the other Goetian kids."
"So then I guess it's time to meet up with this Alice and see what she's like," Octavia declared, deciding to see this through.
Outside the Silvermoon Palace, Mick was working his shift as doorman and he had finished kicking out a patron out of the brothel.
"Youch!" the demon cried out as he hit the streets. "You can't kick me out! I have money!"
"I've heard about you from the girls," Mick told him with a glare. "I heard you made them uncomfortable. You're always drunk, you never tip, and there's the unwanted advances…"
"Hey! They should serve me!" the demon declared before he got kicked in the face by Mick, who sent him scurrying off.
"Get out of here or else this paw goes through your ass!" Mick threatened. "You're banned from here, and if I see you again you'll land a ticket to get tied up as an offering for the next extermination, got it?!" he declared while cracking his knuckles.
The patron got up and backed away before starting to run. He ran straight past Whiskers, who glanced at the demon before walking up to Mick.
"What's this guy's hurry?" Whiskers asked.
"Oh, he just wanted to leave while his balls were still intact," Mick said while looking at Whiskers. He paused. "Wait… Whiskers? Huh, I'm surprised to see you here, Whiskers. Are the rest of DJ's crew here with you?"
"Nah, it's just me," Whiskers admitted with a shrug.
"Really?" Mick asked. "You know, I haven't seen you and the others since the fur farm bust."
"I can tell you about where me, DJ, and the crew are later, if you want," Whiskers suggested.
"Sure, although why are you here now and by yourself?" Mick asked.
"I, uh, I was hoping to see Hana again," Whiskers replied while looking down.
Mick smiled behind his mask. "Well then, let me show you in," Mick said as he opened the door, letting Whiskers into the Silvermoon Palace.
Entering the lobby, Whiskers looked around and walked over to Janna's desk. Much to his surprise, he saw Snowflake on the desk playing with Janna. Or at least, trying to play with Janna while she tried to get some work done.
"Hey, isn't that…?" Mick asked as he looked at the little kitsune, recognizing her.
"Huh?" Janna asked as she looked up and recognized Whiskers. "Oh, you're one of DJ's, right? Where is the rest of the crew?"
"Um, hey, Janna," Whiskers replied. "It's just me today, actually." He extended his hand toward Snowflake, who rubbed against it. "Hey, Snowflake. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Mick brought her in," Janna explained. "Snowflake here didn't want to be left alone at his apartment and Mick didn't trust his landlady to watch over her. So he brought Snowflake to the Palace and asked me to watch her for me. I agreed, since I couldn't help myself with this adorable little kit, even if she is trying to distract me today." She then turned to Whiskers with a frown. "So what business do you have here?"
"Oh, um… well, I actually want to see Hana," Whiskers admitted.
"So do you wish to make an appointment with her?" she asked him.
"No, I don't mean to see her like that!" he quickly clarified. "I mean, I don't have the money for that anyway."
"Then why are you here?" she questioned, looking slightly irate.
"I just… want to talk to her," he admitted.
Janna looked surprised to hear this… and then annoyed. "Really? You know this isn't that kind of place, right?"
"W-what do you mean?" Whiskers asked, sounding a bit nervous.
"I mean you aren't the first client who has fallen for one of the girls or thinks that one of the girls is in love with them," Janna explained. "But for them, this is just a job. They're nice to you because it's good service. Nothing more. Look, I'm sure that you're a nice kid, but I have to decline your request and-"
"Can I at least see her?" Whiskers asked her. "Please?"
Janna looked at his pleading place and gave a sigh. Ultimately, she went against her better judgment and relented. "Alright, I'll make an exception for these types of requests and call her in," she said while turning on the speaker. "Hana, please come to the lobby." She turned off the speaker and looked back at Whiskers. "But don't get your hopes up, okay? There's a good chance she may not even remember you."
Although Whiskers looked disheartened to hear this, he perked up when he saw Hana coming into the lobby, wearing her pink kimono.
"What's up, Janna-" she started to say before she paused upon seeing Whiskers was there. "Whiskers? This… is a surprise. Are you here for another appointment?"
"H-Hey, Hana," Whiskers said. "I, um, actually just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought that, well, I was hoping if we could… go out and eat together. I can buy for both of us. I'm good for it, really."
Hana looked taken aback by this, but after a moment she broke into a smile. "You know what? I think I would like that."
Whisker smiled back, but a surprised Janna tried to object. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea, Hana. You shouldn't get personally involved with a client and it means you'll be missing out on work…"
"Oh, don't worry about it, Janna. It's a slow day, anyway," Hana said. "I'll let my sister know where I'll be, she won't mind much." She gestured at Whiskers. "Besides, I'm not going to say no to a free lunch."
"But… I guess if that's okay…" Janna said, her tone uncertain.
"I need to go back to change and let my sister know where I'll be, just give me a few minutes, Whiskers," Hana said with a smile before she left the lobby.
"Okay," Whiskers said. He sounded and looked relieved. He tried to avoid the disapproving gaze of Janna and turned to see Mick, who was now in the lobby and looking right at him. "What?"
"Oh nothing, just happy for you," Mick said while walking over and patting Whisker's back. "Now treat Hana well, alright? She's a nice girl."
"I know," Whiskers said with a nod.
"And if I hear otherwise… you being a member of DJ's crew won't save you, understand?" Mick asked, his tone changing slightly.
Whiskers gave a little gulp. "I-I understand," he said nervously.
Elsewhere in Pride, a Sinner was walking along the sidewalk, looking down at his phone. He wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on around him, even as a turf war broke out. He was glued to the phone, browsing stuff online until the screen suddenly turned to static… before the webpage he was on was replaced by a face. The Sinner gasped and dropped the phone.
"Welcome to the Internet, have a look around," sang the static voice as a being climbed out from his phone. It was a blue, flat screen television-headed demon with red eyes, black and cyan rings on each eye, and sharp teeth. He spread his arms as he pulled himself out of the phone, showing that he was wearing a dark blue tailor suit, red bow tie, and a red and black striped shirt. "Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found!"
"We've got mountains of content," he sang as his screen face displayed a variety of content to the Sinner. "Some better, some worse." He showed the Sinner a rainbow cat and a wall of tweets. "If none of it's of interest to you, well, you'd be the first."
Suddenly the Sinner found himself transported to a void, where he was placed on a chair while a large television screen popped up in front of him.
"Welcome to the Internet, come and take a seat. Would you like to see the news or any famous women's feet?" the being sang as the screen showed the news with Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench, followed by images of Verosika's feet.
"There's no need to panic, this isn't a test, haha," the demon sang in a reassuring tone while now dressed as Katie Killjoy when the screen cut to him. "Just nod or shake your head and we'll do the rest."
The Sinner nodded his head while the demon continued to sing. "Welcome to the Internet, what would you prefer?"
"Would you like to fight for civil rights or tweet a racial slur?" the demon suggested as the screen changed. He was now dressed as a hippie while showing the Sinner a choice between imps and Hellhounds with picket signs or a bunch of kids typing in racial slurs while playing games.
"Be happy, be horny, be bursting with rage!" the demon suggested, expressing himself while dressed as a nun. "We got a million different ways to engage~!"
The Sinner was suddenly surrounded by dancing social media icons, making him intrigued by the entertainment.
"Welcome to the Internet, put your cares aside," the demon suggested while handing the Sinner some pamphlets. The Sinner looked at them and then back at the screen, where he saw the demon back on the television, now dressed as a chef. "Here's a tip for straining pasta, here's a nine-year-old who died." He pointed at a kid imp who got run over by a car and now laid flat on the street.
"We got movies, and doctors, and fantasy sports," the demon listed off as the Sinner saw images of movies, doctors, and fantasy sports bettings being flashed on the screen. "And a bunch of colored pencil drawings of all the different characters in Harry Potter fucking each other-!" The demon briefly glitched out, but he quickly laughed it off. "Welcome to the Internet, hold on to your socks…"
"Because some random guy just kindly sent you photos of his cock," the demon sang as he pointed to the Sinner, who now had his phone back in his hand. The Sinner looked at the images now on his phone and he reacted in horror. "They are grainy and off-putting, he just sent you more, don't act surprised, you know you like it, you whore!"
"See a man beheaded, get offended, see a shrink! Show us pictures of your ch1ldr3n, tell us every thought you think!" the demon listed off while showing off more content to the Sinner on different screens, including an image of an Exorcist decapitating someone. "Start a rumor, buy a broom, or send a d34th threat to a boomer, or DM a girl and gr-o0m her, do a Zoom or find a tumor in your-"
"Here's a healthy breakfast option, you should kill your m00m, here's why women never fuck you, here's how you can build a b*mb!" He started to glitch out while showing more content rapidly. "Which Power Ranger are you? Take this quirky quiz! Obama sent the immigrants to vac-zin-nait your kids!"
The demon paused for a moment before he continued singing.
"Could I interest you in everything? All of the time?" he asked the Sinner, placing his metallic hands on his shoulder while his screened face swirled around, giving a hypnotic glare. "A little bit of everything, all of the time! Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime, anything and everything all of the time!"
The Sinner looked at the screened demon, his eyes becoming hypnotized by his singing and his screened face.
"Could I interest you in everything? All of the time? A little bit of everything, all of the time! Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime, anything and everything all of the time!"
The television demon backed away and things became very somber. The Sinner got up from his seat and the demon suddenly looked saddened.
"You know… it wasn't always like this," he said before he continued to sing. "Not very long ago, right about your time. Right before the towers fell, circa '99…"
"This was catalogs, travel blogs, a chat room or two," the demon sang while holding up a catalog book, followed by showing the Sinner a travel journal and a forum post. "We set our sights, and spend our nights… waiting… for you." He pointed at the Sinner with an expression of sincerity. "You, insatiable you. Mommy let you use her iPad, you were barely two."
He held up an iPad to hand to the Sinner, who looked at his reflection on the iPad. The Sinner looked saddened as well, remembering his life on Earth.
"And it did all the things we designed it to do… now look at you, oh… Look at you, you, you," the TV demon sang while pressing their hands on the Sinner and being dressed like Michael Bolton. "Unstoppable, watchable, your time is now, your inside's out…"
"Honey, how you grew," he sang while dressed like a fifties TV mom as he danced with the Sinner. "And if we stick together, who knows what we'll do… it was always the plan…"
He offered the Sinner his hand and the Sinner looked at the demon's hand with intrigue.
"To put the world in your hands," the demon sang as he projected the Earth in his hand, causing the Sinner to place his palm over it… and grab his hand to shake.
The TV demon smiled, back to his tailor suit… and then he laughed. "Ha… hahahaha… YAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed as the Sinner was suddenly surrounded in chains from the TV demon. "Could I interest you in everything? All of the time." This time, he sang in tempo while dancing with his new soul. "A bit of everything, all of the time. Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime. Anything and everything all of the time…"
Then he started to sing very quickly while bouncing around with the Sinner. "Could I interest you in everything? All of the time! A little bit of everything? all of the time! Apathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime! Anything and everything, and anything and everything, and anything and everything…!" He brought the Sinner close to him while sporting a wicked grin. "All of the time!"
This Sinner was now owned by the TV Demon… known Vox.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, a certain Sinner grumbled to himself after having been kicked out from a strip club.
"Aw man, I thought this was a place I could do anything I wanted," said Mephistoles McScream, who was now walking down the sidewalk. "Well, I guess that's Hell, it's a double-edged sword of shit kickers." He kicked a can and muttered to himself. "If only I could stick it to them…"
"Then I'm sure you'd make good use of your time," said a voice accompanied by radio static.
"Huh?" McScream asked as he turned to see two shadows, one of them having glowing red eyes and an iconic smile. "Who are you two?"
"Oh, you must be new here," spoke the demon in the shadows. "Well, allow me to offer you some insight…"
Suddenly, McScream found himself in a dark void. He fearfully looked around. "H-Hey, what the hell, man?" he asked, sounding paranoid.
"This world is run on but a simple rule…"
McScream turned to the static-filled voice as the demon continued to sing. "Not a case of what you know but who…"
"Aw shit, here we go," spoke the other demon, who was none other than… Husk.
"Looking at you, I think, perhaps, you're wanting more than table scraps. So just imagine what a man like me could do for you...?"
The demon stepped out of the shadows, revealing a beige skinned figure with a pinkish-red cropped, angled bob-cut with black tips at the ends and two large, black tipped tufts of hair extending from the top, looking like ears of a deer. He had dark-red eyes with bright-red irises, thin black pupils, and a dark red oval-shaped monocle. His appearance was slim but dapper and he was wearing a red pinstripe coat with dark-red lapels piped with white, ragged along the bottom hem, a bright red dress-shirt with a black cross on the chest underneath, and long black dress pants with matching bright red cuffs. He also sported a black knotted bowtie with a red center, black with red tipped gloves, with black, pointed toe boots. He also appeared to carry a thin cane with a sentient vintage style microphone attached to it.
He was known as Alastor.
"Are… are you saying you can help me?" McScream asked him.
"A proposal! If you'll hear me out…" Alastor clarified, offering his hand.
"I… suppose?" McScream said with an unsure tone.
Alastor smiled more. "Splendid! Ha-ha-ho! I see big things coming your way, yes, indeedy!" he declared while hanging his arm around McScream, who looked at Alastor strangely. "Now onto business, everything's better with a song, don't you agree?"
"Ugh…" Husk groaned as the black void around them disappeared and they found themselves in what looked like a red radio station. The winged-cat demon stood by with a flask.
"How did we get here?" McScream asked as Alastor sat at his booth.
"This way, good man, we've a deal to make. I assure this is a good thing for both our sakes," Alastor sang as he showed McScream a long scroll that rolled down to the floor. "I'm happy to provide, but remember your side- of a bargain I know you can't refuse to take!"
"All I ask is when I boost your station, remember who gave you this grand ovation." Alastor turned his radio on and dark spirits spilled out, surrounding McScream as they drew closer to him. "If I call on you for a favor or two, don't forget, it's now your obligation! Hahahahahahha!"
Alastor stood up while behind him were a chorus of shadows working at his radio station, putting it On Air for him. "Smile like you mean it! Take a chance and you could seize it!" He stretched McScream's face to form a smile. "I'm sure you'll do just swell, you'll only down in Hell, so come along with me and guarantee it!"
He picked up his mic as he sang. "Smile your way through it! Grit your teeth and get right to it! Forget the rigmarole, and you can have it all, and make it that much better when I see you fall!"
"What the hell?!" McScream asked, weirded out. "Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Oh, still unconvinced?" Alastor asked with a snicker. "Well, why not take a word of a friend of mine? Husker!"
Husk sat by the window, smoking as he started to sing.
"They say you reap what you sow, and in this town, you should damn well know," he sang. "That what the Radio Demon wants, he's gonna take."
"He's gonna take!" the smoke ghost of his cigarette sang.
"I've seen him kill Hell's greatest evils, shake the status quo in upheaval. So if you think you're getting outta this, ha! Big mistake."
"Now, now, sour-puss." Alastor teased him with a laugh.
"Stop fuckin' around, this is takin' forever!" Husk ranted at Alastor. "You always think you're real slick and clever."
"Yet I know what you like, and what makes you tick… tick… tick,"Alastor sang back with his eyes turning into a clock.
"Doin' what you want's just the cost I pay, enough of this shit, we ain't got all day! Just sign the thing so I can go get another fuckin' drink," Husk sang as he threw the contract scroll at them, which Alastor and McScream ducked underneath.
"Hahahaha… in other words." Alastor leaned on McScream as he sang and danced with him. "Smile like you mean it! Risk it all and we can seize it! Until we hear that bell, we're both stuck in Hell, so roll the dice and see if you can be it!"
Alastor swung around McScream, who yelled and cried with each movement. Alastor then wrapped some chains around McScream while singing. "Smile your way through it! Embrace the dark as though you know it! You can stand up tall and act within my thrall, and I'll be there to watch you as you take the fall!"
When McScream fell on the floor, the chains disappeared. He saw a shadow loom over him and he looked up. He saw Alastor changing. He was becoming more crooked, creepier, and more monstrous…
"So what, my friend? Whatever will it be? I can give you what you crave, just not for free…" Alastor sang while drawing closer to McScream before changing himself back to normal and walking towards him. "You know what's on the line, and this whole thing's on borrowed time. But you can trust the man who's wearing his one guarantee…"
Seeing this demon was crazy, McScream decided to make a run for it. But Alastor gave chase around the radio office.
"Smile like you mean it! Take a chance and you could seize it! I'm sure you'll do just swell, you're only down in Hell, so come along with me and guarantee it!"
McScream threw some chairs to stop the Radio Demon from coming after him. However, a shadow rose up in front of him, showing Alastor managed to catch up with him.
"Smile your way through it! Grit your teeth and get right to it! Forget the rigmarole, and you can have it all, and make it that much better when I see you- Smile like you mean it! Risk it all and we can seize it!"
McScream looked around and saw the Radio Demon's mic. He jumped over to grab it, but out of it came several tendrils that grabbed him. He struggled with it as he rolled around.
"Until we hear that bell, we're both stuck in Hell, so roll the dice and see if you can be it…"
He ended up crashing through a window, ending up at a fire escape.
"Smile your way through it! Embrace the dark as though you know it!"
McScream tried to go to the ladder that was attached to the fire escape, but he slipped and ended up falling. Luckily, he managed to grab on to the last bar.
"You can stand up tall and act within my thrall, and I'll be there to watch you, yes, I'll watch you, I will make you, break you as you fall!"
He looked down, seeing how far he was up from the ground. McScream gulped and lost his grip… before he was caught. He looked up and saw that his savior… was the Radio Demon, who was looking down at him with his smile.
"So… do we have a deal?" Alastor asked, extending his hand down towards him.
McScreams looked down, then looked up at Alastor's hand. He didn't exactly have a lot of options…
Meanwhile, walking down the sidewalk was Khan and Ansur. As they walked together, Ansur noted that when the residents of Hell saw them, specifically Shere Khan, out here in the open, they reacted appropriately.
"Oh shit, it's Shere Khan!" one demon ran off.
"Run away!" another cried as they scattered. A few stopped to snap some pictures with their phones, but even then they still ran away afterward.
As Ansur watched their reactions, he realized that he was falling behind, so he ran after Shere Khan, trying to catch up while clutching a briefcase to his chest. "Sir, is it really necessary for me to come along?" he asked him while keeping up his boss's pace.
"Oh Mr. Ansur, don't you see that it looks more professional if I have you with me?" Khan asked him. "I also expect you to take notes during the meeting."
"U-um, yes sir," Ansur said. "But w-why not Penzi, sir?"
"I need someone who can keep my company running while I was out for the day," Khan explained. "Besides, she's too indispensable." He then paused. "You, however, are up to tasks just like this."
Ansur gave a gulp before he saw Shere Khan turning into an alleyway. Confused, he followed him and saw the elevators on the left side of the building. Surprised by this, Ansur followed Shere Khan into one of the elevators. As the elevator began to lift up, Khan turned to Ansur and saw how nervous he was.
"Afraid, Mr. Ansur?" Khan asked.
"Y-yes sir," Ansur admitted. "I mean, we are about to share a room with some of the most dangerous people in Hell."
Khan scoffed slightly at that before looking down at Ansur. "Take my advice, Mr. Ansur," he said as Ansur looked up to him. "Keep your head low, do not make eye contact with anyone, and do not speak out of turn. Understand?"
"Y-Yes, sir," Ansur responded, nodding quickly.
"Besides that, just do as I say and nothing more," Khan advised. "To these people, you don't matter. You're invisible to most of them. Which is why I want you here taking notes. But if things do get ugly, I will do what I can to protect you."
"You will?" Ansur asked in surprise. He felt relieved, especially since he had a wife and a daughter depending on him back home. He would hate for them to never see him again because a bored Overlord decided to rip him to pieces.
"Here we are," Khan said as the elevator came to a stop. "Now remember what I said, Mr. Ansur."
The doors opened for them and Khan stepped out. When Ansur stepped out, he saw more elevators and large figures coming out of those elevators. Who he saw made the Hellhound's face turn pale…
At the Triton Resort, Crystal swam up to Clara's poolside bar and took a seat as she waited to be served.
"Hey, what can I do for you?" Clara asked them.
"I'll have the shot/one banana-strawberry."
Crystal turned and saw Kanya sitting next to her, also ordering a drink. She blushed when she saw Kanya in her two piece black string-bikini, which showed off her figure and also earned more than a few stares. "K-Kanya…"
"Oh hi, I didn't know you'd be ordering a drink, Crystal," Kanya said with a flirtatious smile. "Perhaps you'd want to share a drink with me…?"
"Oh Kanya," Crystal said as she blushed and gave her own flirtatious smile. "I shouldn't… but if you insist and if you tell me how you get so toned."
Kanya smirked. "What can I say? I have good blood. Goetian on my father's side, succubi on my mother's. And I got the best from both."
"Mhmm, I agree on that," Crystal said while looking Kanya up and down, checking her out. "Your aura is very radiant…"
"Would you two cut the flirting?" Clara interrupted in a low voice, causing them to turn to her. "Seriously, you two, stop making it so damn obvious, especially since Herman is nearby cleaning out the skimmers." She pointed out the sloth demon, who was in the water at the skimmers.
"What's that?" Herman asked while cleaning out the skimmer.
"Nothing, Herman!" Clara told him before turning to the two women. "See?"
"Uh, thanks for the head's up, Clara," Kanya told her, a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah, good save," Crystal said, also embarrassed. "Guess we got carried away…"
"Hey, it's no problem," Clara said as she handed them their drinks. "That's what friends are for. Just be more careful in the future, alright?"
After they chatted and drank, Kanya and Crystal went to get out of the water. Kanya helped her out and the two started to walk toward where Crystal's wheelchair was, Crystal having to move over to it on her tail.
"Thanks, Kanya," Crystal said to her.
"No problem, although you really need to get something more convenient than that wheelchair," Kanya said. "They should have something to help out Sinners with mermaid forms."
"Well looky-looky here…" said a voice behind them.
The two women turned to see a small group of men coming up to them. Their eyes were all over the two with a perverted gleam.
"My, aren't you ladies looking fine," said a shaggy old imp man while walking up close to Kanya, closer than she would have liked.
"Um, do you mind?" Kanya asked, scowling.
"We were just leaving," Crystal said before their way was blocked by another.
"What's the rush?" asked a shark demon while getting up close to Crystal.
"We're warning you guys…" Kanya hissed before feeling the tail of the imp tracing down her back, trying to unlace her bikini bottoms…
"We were just-" the imp started to say, but before he could finish, he was met with a punch to the face, sending him down on the floor.
The group of perverts turned toward Kanya as she delivered a kick to one of them before letting out an animalistic growl at them. She then heard Crystal's grunt and she turned, seeing the shark demon and his friend trying to make moves on her.
"YOU SICK FUCKS!" Kanya shouted while charging at them, grabbing the two demons away from Crystal. The two perverts looked at Kanya in fear, seeing her transform into something otherworldly, causing them to shriek.
"YAAAAH!" they screamed as Kanya's hair turned into tendrils that grabbed the other perverts.
"NononononoNOOOOO!" they cried as they were dragged towards her. What happened to them next… wasn't pretty to watch, although Crystal seemed to love every moment of it as she watched her girlfriend in awe.
Clara also watched this while cleaning the counter and she gave a smile at the sight. Herman noticed this commotion and saw Kanya dropping the pervs on the floor. Said pervs now resembled compressed meat.
"What the fuck, Kanya?!" Herman asked in shock.
"Dispose of these for me, will ya, Hermy?" Kanya asked him before turning to help Crystal, picking her up. "I'm going to take Crystal out of here," she announced before looking down at the mermaid Sinner. "Are you hurt?"
"Nope, thanks to you," Crystal replied with a smile.
"Good," Kanya whispered with a secret smile as the two left together.
Elsewhere in the resort, Margaret had been called down to the lobby. She walked alongside Bella.
"You needed me, Bella?" Margaret asked.
"Um, yeah, Margaret. We have a… situation," she said nervously while leading her manager to said situation. "Over at the check-in desk."
"What kind of situation are we… talking… about?" Margaret asked before her eyes widened when she saw who was at the desk.
"Are you the manager of this place…?" asked Cruella De Ville, who stood in front of the desk waiting to be helped. When she looked at Margaret, she formed a sickening grin with her own muzzle. "Cruella De Ville, nice to be… acquainted."
Meanwhile, a limo pulled up in front of a wealthy estate. The doors opened and coming out of the limo were Octavia, Cray, and Linda.
"Is this… the place?" Linda asked, seeing the estate that is the home of Duke Alloces. It was a large, white farm mansion with an open field filled with animals, including giraffes eating from the tall trees, all kinds of exotic birds flying around, and some demon cows eating the grass. The pre-teens could spot a number of caretakers watching over the animals. The mansion was part of a larger reservation and the pre-teens could spot a lake for the aquatic animals, which had a cliff and a waterfall built next to it. There was also a jungle gym connected to the mansion for animals to climb on.
"Whoa…" Octavia in awe.
"Yup, this is the House of Alloces," Cray said. "Which doubles as an animal sanctuary."
"I can see that…" Linda replied as she smiled at the turtles walking by.
"'Ello, there, kiddos," spoke a demon servant with a New Zealand-accent. He was a green spider Sinner with pink eyes and dressed in a zookeeper outfit. "I thought I recognized you, Master Cray."
"Hey, Tyran," Cray greeted the demon. "I've brought Octavia and Linda here to meet Alice. They're from the House of Stolas."
"Octavia, daughter of Prince Stolas," Octavia introduced herself. "And this is my servant and companion, Linda."
Linda, being herself, said nothing and just nodded.
"Ah, you're all here to see Little Ms. Alice? Well follow me then," Tyran told them as he led the kids toward the entrance, walking past the animals. When they entered the mansion, Linda and Octavia were surprised to see even more animals in there, roaming the large manor freely. This made the staff's jobs harder, unfortunately.
"Whaaa!" one staff member screamed as he got dragged away by some of the dogs he was walking with.
"Now Mr. Nimbles, we told you not to jump on any beds," said another staff member who was holding a monkey, who proceeded to grab her face and tear it off. "GAAAAH!"
"Not the bees! Not the bees!" cried out an unfortunate staff member who was being chased around by giant, demon bees.
Octavia and Linda watched the chaos in shock. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't this. Cray didn't look surprised at all, but he did seem amused by their reactions.
"Yup, this family really loves their animals," Cray said nonchalantly.
"A little too much…" Octavia replied while looking at the menagerie.
"Princess Alice! You have guests!" Tyran shouted through a megaphone.
The three soon heard clip-clopping noises as they saw the large shadow of a horse with a girl riding on its back against the wall of a nearby hallway. But when Alice actually came into view, Octavia and Linda were left speechless.
"Howdy," Alice said as she revealed herself. She was a pale-faced feline-like Goetian demon that had flaming blue hair, pink eyes with white pupils, a pink nose, and fangs sticking out. She wore a purple dress with golden buttons and she had long arms with extendable claws. But what really stood out was that she wasn't riding on the horse… she was attached to the back of the horse. The horse attached to her has no skin. "Hey Cray, glad you could make it."
"Hey Alice, good to see you again," Cray said as he waved at her. Unlike Octavia and Linda, he wasn't fazed by her appearance at all. He gestured to Octavia and Linda, who still had shocked faces. "Um, I brought Octavia and her friend Linda along."
"Octavia?" Alice asked with a smile before she changed her lower body from a horse body to a pair of dragon legs. "Wow! It's been so long, hasn't it, Via?" she asked while walking up to Octavia, who was still processing Alice's previous look.
"Uh… yeah, it has," Octavia replied, realizing that Alice was referring to a past meeting that she had no memory of. "I do remember… our last meeting… together…" she said awkwardly as she started to look embarrassed. When Alice looked at her strangely, Octavia knew that she couldn't handle the lie. "Alright, alright, Alice, I… I'm sorry, but I don't remember you or our first meeting at all," she admitted with an ashamed look. "I'm so sorry…"
"Eh, it's alright," Alice said, easily shrugging it off. "I get it. It was just one meeting out of countless your parents probably made you go through, so I won't hold it against you, Via. Really, we could just pretend that this is our first meeting."
Octavia looked relieved to hear this from Alice. "Well, in that case; hi Alice, I'm Octavia, but you can call me Via, Stolas's kid. And this is my friend, Linda, who works under my family."
"H-Hi…" Linda timidly greeted.
"Well, nice to meet you, Via and Linda," Alice replied. "My name is Alice, daughter of Duke Alloces, and welcome to our family's animal sanctuary… mansion… place. Tyran, thank you for your service. I'll take it from here."
"Righty-o, Lady Alice!" Tyran replied as Alice led the group to show them around her home.
Via, Cray, and Linda followed Alice as she gave them the tour of her home. "Here in the house of, well, let's just call it the House of Al because most of my family have 'Al's' in our names," she said as she showed them one room. "Here is our living room."
The three saw the white colored living room which had angular four sided couches with a large screen TV and a white table on the grass floor. On one wall there was a large family portrait that Via took notice of.
In the portrait she recognized the young Alice, who was wearing the same purple dress and looked very happy while being in between two male lion demon figures. On the left behind her was her father, Alloces, who was a white lion with a fiery red mane, red eyes, and red and yellow knight-like armor. He sported a prideful smile. On Alice's right side was a taller, adolescent male lion with pale skin and a partial mane. He had blue eyes and was wearing a black suit with a red tie and a red cape with a long neck collar. His expression was a serious one.
"I know that's your dad, but… who's the other guy?" Octavia asked, pointing at the other lion.
"That's my older brother, Alexander," Alice said, her tone sad as she looked at the portrait. "He used to live here, but he left years ago to strike out on his own after a falling out with our father."
"Oh… well, do you know where he is now?" Octavia asked, feeling bad for bringing it up.
"At the moment? No," Alice confirmed sadly. "But I do know that he's probably doing okay. He contacts me every now and then to let me know that he's alright and to ask how I've been, though his updates are less frequent now. I don't think I've seen him in person for years." Alice seemed concerned while looking up at the portrait, focusing on her brother. She then shook her head, quickly shrugging it off. "But I'm sure he's fine. Hell's a big place, after all." When she saw the three looking concerned for her, she tried to change the subject. "So! You two must be wondering what my dad does."
"Well… it did cross my mind," Linda pointed out, noticing a nearby staff member trying to clean up a mess that an animal had made.
"Well, allow me to give you the deets," Alice said as she led them to another room. "You see, one of my father's duties is granting familiars to those with magical capabilities like witches, sorcerers, wizards, mages, etc, etc. But beyond that, he just loves animals in general."
She soon led them outside, to the sanctuary that was on the property. Now they could get a better look at the sanctuary and could notice that in addition to the lake, there were trees, fruits, and vegetables in every direction. It resembled an oasis filled with some of the strangest creatures they could imagine.
"Whoa…" Via said in awe as she and Linda found themselves impressed.
"I've never seen some of these creatures in Hell before," Cray said, also in awe as he spotted some flying fish and stone-like turtles coming and going.
"Well, it's not just the creatures from Hell being kept here, but animals from other Realms as well," Alice said while petting a tropical-looking long-necked creature that walked over and bent down. "Some of these creatures have lost their homes in their original Realms, so dad gives them a new home here, where they can be safe and cared for. Since they're on his property, these animals are even safe from the Exterminations, since the Exorcists aren't allowed on royal property."
Linda spotted a cat with its back to her. "Aw, what realm are you from, little guy?" she asked while stepping up to the cat…
…which turned around and revealed that it had a human face. "Look… away…"
This horrified Linda, Via, and Cray, who quickly moved away from the cat with the human face.
As they walked, Via noticed some buildings in the distance. "Do those buildings also house creatures?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, each of them houses many of the creatures that my father rescued, or were sent to him," Alice said as she led them up some steps. She pointed to one building. "That one there is where he houses creatures that were forced to fight each other for barbaric sports. He hopes to rehabilitate them." The building she was pointing to had a red and white circular symbol on it. She then pointed at another one of the buildings, a blue one. "That one there is where he keeps Palismen."
"Palismen?" Cray asked.
"They're witch familiars carved from a special kind of wood that comes from the Demon Realm," Alice explained as she led them toward a specific red building "But what I really want to show you is where the newest additions to the sanctuary are being kept."
Alice opened the doors to the building, allowing her and the group to take a look inside. Via and Linda's eyes widened in awe again, this time in excitement.
"Oh… my Lucifer…" Via said in shock.
"They're…" Linda's eyes shone in admiration.
"So cute!" they cried out together.
Inside the building was an indoor habitat filled with kitsunes. These kitsunes roamed around freely and played with each other in their indoor habits, which resembled a forest with cherry blossom trees sprouting around.
"Kitsunes," Cray said, also in awe.
"Yup, they were actually rescued from a fur farm quite recently," Alice explained with a sigh. "Those poor, little creatures. When dad's usual two animal suppliers brought them here, they were all nervous. But we've made sure to give them the love and care they need. So we had this place set up to help rehabilitate them and get them used to being here before." She smiled when she saw one walk up to her and let her pick it up. "Hello, baby."
"They look so happy," Via commented, petting one kitsune while Linda let out a small laugh while being surrounded by the smaller ones. Cray just watched, but he liked seeing the girls happy.
"Oh, they are," Alice confirmed before she laid down on the ground and let some of the kitsunes cover her with their soft fur. Via watched her get covered by kitsunes, noticing how comfortable both the kitsunes and Alice looked.
Whatever she was expecting from Alice, this hadn't been it.
Elsewhere in Pride, Whiskers and Hana were at a local cafe, having a conversation while eating sandwiches and drinking coffee.
"Wow, Whiskers," Hana said in awe. "You know, when Mick told me about the fur farm situation, I was shocked. But you were pretty brave back there."
"Uh, it was nothing," Whiskers replied rather sheepishly.
"Nothing? You were not just brave, but selfless. Rescuing that poor Hellpup along with the innocent kitsunes," she pointed out.
Whiskers blushed at the compliment, but he knew he had to come clean. "W-Well, I have to admit, it was actually very personal for me…"
"It was?" Hana asked him, curious at what he meant.
"You see… the Sinner who ran that fur farm… was the one who killed me," he admitted, which shocked Hana.
"What?!" Hana asked, looking worried for him "Whiskers, is… is it alright to ask you more about that? I mean, about your mortal life…"
"It's okay. I… I don't mind talking more about my mortal life anymore," he assured her. "You can ask me anything."
Hana looked down, wondering what she could ask Whiskers. Truthfully, she's never spoken to a Sinner about his mortal life before. "Well… I am not just interested in your death. I… I'm also curious about your life before it. Like, did you have a family? What were you like back then?"
Whiskers thought about it before replying. "Well, unlike most of the Sinners I've met since ending up here, I wasn't born human. I'm actually a werecat from the Demon Realm, which is home to witches and demons that were spawned from the corpses of giant creatures called Titans. I came from one called the Boiling Isles, where I lived on a reservation called the Torsa Villa."
"The Torsa Villa?" Hana asked, more curious about his macabre origins.
"It's a reservation for werecats," he explained, which fascinated Hana. "My people are werecat witches. Like other witches, we were born with magic and I studied bard magic because of my aspirations to be a magician. But from where I'm from, we're pretty much treated like second class citizens." Hana was shocked by this, but she let him continue. "For most of my life, it was just me and my mom. She… she really cared about me a lot, but I did give her a hard time. We had our differences and didn't see eye to eye on everything, but…"
Whiskers paused as he remembered the last conversation he ever had with his mother.
"Casey, you are always coming home late now," his mother pointed out to him. She was a black cat like him and she had green eyes, long black hair, and a blue long-sleeve shirt and long skirt. "What is it that you're doing after school?!"
"It's not something you should worry about," Casey argued back. "So stay out of my business!"
"Not until you tell me where you are always gone off to?!" she demanded, grabbing his wrist. "You know that we can't go outside the reserve!"
"Get off of my case, alright?!" he shouted, swatting her away from his arm. "You know, mom, you may be content to spend the rest of your life here, but I don't! I hate it here! I don't want to feel like I'm trapped in one place, mom."
His mom gave a shocked look from what Casey said. "You… you're starting to sound like your father," she mentioned. "It's talk like that is why he's no longer here…"
Casey gave his mother a stern look. "At least my father wasn't a coward."
His mother looked at him in shock as Casey pulled out his jacket and headed to the door. "Casey, wait! Don't you dare leave!" She used a vine spell to grab his arm, but he sliced it off of him.
"Watch me," he snarled at her as he headed out the open door while his mother chased him. He jumped off from his tree home.
"Casey!" she cried out for her son, seeing him jumping from tree to tree. "Come back!"
Whiskers felt his hands shaking as he realized that was the last exchange he ever had with his mother. No 'I love you'. Just anger. And he could never take that back. He looked down at the table, thinking about how he would never be able to apologize, never able to go back and end that conversation on better terms. She would always remember that as the last words her son ever said to her.
"Whiskers?" Hana asked, snapping Whiskers out of his guilt. He looked up at her, snapping back to attention. "Are you okay?"
"I just… I miss her," Whiskers admitted. "Titan, things must be horrible for her right now. There are definitely things that I wish I hadn't said to her and things I wish I could have said instead. But… what's done is done."
"Oh man…" Hana said, looking sympathetic to him. "I'm sorry…"
"Thank you," he said. "So, uh, did you want to ask anything else?"
"Well… did you have… a girl?" she asked him.
Whiskers smiled slightly. "No… but once I had feelings for my best friend, Nina," he admitted. "She's kind of like the bad girl at our Villa, but she's a good witch and didn't deserve to be the pariah she was treated as. We both had a love of music and we both were dissatisfied with our lives, so naturally we clicked." He gave a blush of embarrassment. "I, um… had a crush on her without realizing that she was gay, so she couldn't return my feelings…"
Back when he was Casey, he looked over at Nina after she looked at his song lyrics. He placed his hand over hers. The two were quiet for a moment before Nina saw him start to lean in.
"What are you doing?!" Nina exclaimed, holding his notebook up to his face.
"Oh… sorry, I-I thought that… we're alone and I've… misread the room…" Casey stammered while scooting away. "I guess… I kinda like you, Nina. Like, like-like you."
Nina's eyes widened. "Oh… oh Casey, I'm sorry," she said awkwardly. "It's just… I'm gay."
"Oh… sorry," Casey responded, feeling dumb for not thinking about what her preferences were. "Guess that saves you from being kidnapped, huh?"
"Please, like I'd let anyone kidnap me," Nina replied.
Whiskers gave a chuckle. "Looking back, I'm glad we didn't make things weird between us. Luckily for me, she still wanted to hang out and play music." He sighed. "I miss her too, but I hope she has a nice girlfriend by now. Maybe her crush Donna. But I doubt she'd let any cat kidnap her."
"Kidnap?" Hana asked, a bit confused.
"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know. It's a courtship thing, something we werecats do when we fall for someone, though not everybody does it," he explained, which surprised Hana. "It isn't as bad as it sounds, since it's more like a big romantic gesture to show how serious the werecat is about their feelings. The other werecat isn't forced to marry the other. And while it's mostly done between werecats, I have heard of a few times when a werecat kidnapped a non-werecat. And I think Nina had one girl in mind for this…"
"Oh… interesting," Hana commented, though she still looked a little weirded out.
Although Whiskers was smiling, his smile started to fade away. "I really hope everyone on the reservation is okay without me, especially my mom and Nina," he said while looking down. "I wonder if they even know how I died…"
"Do you… wish to talk about it now?" Hana asked, placing her hand over his.
After a moment, Whiskers nodded and he began. "I've always hated the way the other witches in the Isles treated werecats. I had dreamed of leaving the Isles, but I didn't have money. So I ended up taking this job… where I would help make and distribute drugs…" He looked at Hana. "B-But I never used them, personally. I didn't like it either, though I still chose to let myself get roped into that shit…" He looked away in shame, but Hana kept holding his hand. Something that gave him ease.
"I'm still here," Hana reassured him, patting his hand.
Whiskers continued. "Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. So I stole as much money from my boss as I could and then I left a tip with an info-broker. The drug lab was later shut down by the scouts and I finally had enough money to leave the Boiling Isles… but then some former coworkers of mine showed up, beat me up, and stole my money. Then I met my killer…"
Whiskers was quiet for a moment and Hana could tell he was distressed, so she held onto his hand. "You don't have to say anymore if you don't want to…"
"She… she put me on a table… then she poked and probed me with her tools," he said while remembering the painful memories of being Sonya's lab rat. "It was… torture. She kept experimenting on me until eventually, my body couldn't handle it anymore. So she…"
"I'm so, so sorry, Whisk," she told him. "You don't deserve that at all."
Whiskers blinked when he heard this and he looked over at the Hellcat. "T-thank you, Hana," he said as he wiped his tears away. "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that."
"So what happened after you died?" Hana asked, causing Whiskers to remember what his early days in Hell was like…
Whiskers had been living on the streets. He had nowhere to stay and nobody was willing to help him out. Most of the time he was scared out of his mind. Everyone he had met either ignored him, cussed at him, or tried to beat him up. And he was unable to sleep, since every time he closed his eyes he saw Sonya and her tools, tearing him apart.
Whiskers was currently hiding out in a cardboard box in an alleyway, looking at the bottom of the dirty box with a sorrowful look as he wondered if he deserved this. He disrespected his mother. He made and distributed illegal drugs. He stole. This was his divine punishment, wasn't it? Could he really say that he didn't belong down here with the rest of the Sinners?
As he wasted away in his self-loathing, his ears picked up some footsteps. Followed by a voice.
"Yo, kid, why are you alone?"
He looked up, and saw DJ standing in front of his box. With him were Bigz, Tubac, Lenny, Kathy, Silky, and Lil' Prim. As they looked down at him, Whiskers whimpered and backed into the corner of his box, despite the fact that he saw no contempt on the face of the cats, unlike most of the Sinners he had interacted with up to this point. Still, he couldn't help but be nervous.
"Um… I…" Whiskers hid his face under his hoodie.
"Hey, hey, don't be scared, kid," Lil' Prim assured him.
"Yeah, we ain't gonna hurt ya like the usual punks who frequent this neighborhood," DJ said as he knelt down towards Whiskers. "Listen, the name's DJ Cat-E-Lak. You're a new Sinner, ain't ya?"
Whiskers only managed to give him a nod. "Ah, thought so," DJ said with a nod. "You know how I can tell? Because I was a fresh Sinner once too and I was a lot like you. Quiet, scared, still traumatized from my death, and not knowing who I can trust." He heard Whiskers's stomach growl. "Sounds like you could use a bite."
Later, at a local hotdog stand the hotdog server was seduced by and was now smitten with Kathy and Silky. This distracted him enough for Tubac, Prim, and DJ to run off with the hotdogs they stole.
They gave some of the hotdogs for Whiskers to eat. As he ate, Whiskers felt something he had not felt since arriving in Hell: gratitude.
"Feeling better, man?" Bigz asked and Whiskers nodded while he continued eating his hotdogs.
"Hey man," DJ said as he patted Whiskers's shoulder. "Why don't you hang with us? You look like you could use someone to help you get adjusted down here. A guide… or a friend. Whichever you prefer."
Whiskers looked up at DJ, his eyes wide. He didn't say anything, but in that moment he didn't need to.
"I could barely talk back then," Whiskers said while recalling the memory. "Although I heard that's not an uncommon thing with new Sinners. But DJ and his crew were the first to show me kindness since being here. When they offered to let me hang with them, I didn't have any other options, so I decided to go with them. I've been with them ever since."
"I'm glad they were able to help you, Whiskers," Hana told him. "But it must have been hard for you before then."
Whiskers nodded. "It was. When I first got here, I was alone, I was still traumatized by my death, and I was scared out of my own wits. But since then I've met Sinners and Hellborn like DJ, his crew, Mick, and you, Hana," he said while looking up at Hana. "Thanks to all of you, I've decided to make the most of my crappy situation. Maybe, just maybe, not everything has to suck if I don't let it."
To say that Ansur was merely nervous at this moment would be inaccurate.
No, Ansur was scared out of his mind.
"I wasn't sure if you were going to show up or not, Mr. Khan," said a tall demoness woman with an icy and strong Hispanic-like voice. She had gray-magenta skin and an hourglass build, with long, thick white hair with black streaks that were like a pair of beehive-like horns by thin, ballerina-like ribbons. She had red sclera eyes with white irises, with dark markings resembling a mask enveloping her eyes, and black lips. She had large hands with black nails in proportion to her body, the hands to her arms were colored white from her deltoids down with bridged wrists. She wore an outfit similar to a ballerina, with an off-the-shoulder black dress with white buttons and white stripes located down the front and at the rim of the spiked skirt, which included hot pink lining, and black waist-length stockings covered by white ballerina shoelaces. She stood on the tips of her toes in her white ballet slippers. Despite not showing her ears, she wore a set of hooped black earrings.
"Why would I miss this? That wouldn't be very professional of me, Ms. Carmine," Shere Khan replied, sharing her icy tone as the two glared at each other intensely. There was no love lost between them. "How is the… arms dealing business going for you?"
"Doing well, thanks to the transportation that your company provides," she replied with her arms crossed. Despite their dislike for each other, they also needed one another. Shere Khan was at the top of the shipping industry in Hell and the best way to get goods not just around Pride, but to the other Rings as well. While Carmilla could try other means of transporting her guns, that also meant a stronger likelihood of accidents. And where Shere Khan detested guns and Carmilla for making them, he couldn't say no to her business, as much as he would love to see her reaction.
"Well, hopefully those guns of yours don't fall into the wrong hands," Shere Khan told her in a condescending tone.. "You know how easy it is for children to find those kinds of weapons…"
"Oh, like you're one to talk about children, little pussycat," said another voice, which was cheerful in contrast to Khan and Carmilla's cold business demeanor.
Khan frowned as his eyes landed on another Overlord, a pale white demon with sharp white teeth showing off in her wide smile. She had completely black eyes and a really long neck with short white hair. She wore a red dress with gray shoulder pads, a black belt, and black wrist bands. She also wore a red sun hat that has two skulls and three black flowers on the front side, with a large red and black plume on the top side. Shere Khan was not happy to see her and he barely resisted the urge to growl. "Rosie…"
"Why the sour face, big man?" Rosie teased. This irked the tiger demon due to her calling him a 'man' as an insult. "Still sore about the last time we saw each other?"
Ansur could feel the tension between Khan and Rosie as he nervously looked between them.
"No," Shere Khan claimed as he readjusted himself. "We are both adults, we can put that… dispute behind us."
Ansur sighed in relief, but then he nearly turned white when he heard another Overlord suddenly chime in…
"Well, well, if it isn't the big cat of the alley himself!" Alastor declared with his trademark grin, making himself known while patting Khan's back. "How do you do, Mr. Khan? I hear your little tussle with Rosie ended with you swimming down the shitty river! Hehehehe."
"Alastor…" Shere Khan said in annoyance.
"Alastor, nice to see you as always," Rosie complimented the Radio Demon.
"Rosie!" Alastor declared as he went over to sit next to her at the table they were gathered around. "I haven't seen you since… well, you know." He laughed, as if thinking about some secret that only he and Rosie shared. "How are things at the Cannibal Colony? How is Franklin and your bookkeeper? You haven't eaten her yet, have you?"
Rosie laughed. "You mean Shelly? Oh no, I would never eat her."
"T-That was…" Ansur shivered as he watched the Radio Demon and Rosie casually chatting with each other like old friends. He felt fortunate that so far none of the Overlords have seemed to notice him and hopefully that would continue-
"Hiya!" someone above Ansur shouted. The poor Hellhound looked up and found himself in the shadow of a larger Overlord that was standing behind him. She was a dinosaur-like demon resembling a tyrannosaurus rex. She had large, neon green hair with lime-green and pink streaks on the front. She had dark ruby-skin with lime sclera eyes with black pupils and eye-liner. She wore a hot pink jacket with lime fur trims, and stripes, a black crop top shirt over her larger bust with green teeth print on them. She also wore a one legged black ripped pants and black calf-length boots and heels combo, with the left being lime green and the other having no head of the boots. She had a large, furred green tail with lime stripes and feathers with a pink spotted tip.
"WAAH!" Ansur shouted as he backed away from the t-rex demon out of fright.
"Hey, chill, Zeezi here is not gonna bite ya," she assured him while looking at Shere Khan.
"You… you won't?" Ansur shivered.
"I can assureth thee, Zeezi wouldn't harmeth a soul without good cause," said another Overlord with an old English dialect. And while that should have made Ansur feel better, instead he felt even more unsafe when he recognized this demon.
He was very tall, about as tall as Penzi, and thinly-built. He was a spider-like demon with dark gray skin and lime-green eyes. He wore all-black clothing, with a pitch-black cloak that covered most of his body. In front of his cloak was a large black spider with lime green stripes on its eight legs, and lime green eyes with lime green on its back. The interior of his cloak was lime green colored with a spider web pattern and four red spider legs extended across the cloak. His distinctive feature was his big black top hat with a light gray patch at the front, along with a gray colored skull and a lime green and red striped feather on the right side.
"Zestial, good to see you again," Shere Khan said, his tone nothing but respectful.
"Salutations to thee too, Sh're Khan," Zestial replied politely. "I seeth yond thee has't been doing well with yourself."
"Hmm, that suit of yours does compliment your stripes," spoke another Overlord. Shere Khan genuinely smiled when he heard that voice as he turned to his fellow Overlord. She had darker gray skin with pure blue eyes and blue lips showing her yellow fangs. She had dark black bobcut hair with cat ears sticking out from her head, while having no visible ears elsewhere. She wore an Egyptian-style headband with white beads and a symbol of Ra and a black gown with a golden sash around her abdomen, with her gown being split that exposes her legs while in black stilettos. Around her shoulders was a golden snake worn like a boa and she was holding a staff that had a scythe on one end and a microphone on the other. She also sported a black tail with a golden tip that flickered behind her.
"Elizabet," Shere Khan said, holding her hand to give it a kiss. "You look as lovely as ever. How is your club franchise going?"
"Excellently, my fellow feline," she replied with a smile. "You really should stop by one of my clubs sometimes, it'll be on me."
"Oh, I wouldn't allow you to pay for my drinks," Khan replied respectfully. He then gestured to Ansur. "This is my assistant, Ansur. He's accompanying me today."
"Ooh, how cute," Elizabet said as she got closer to Ansur. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ansur. You know, I have my own lovely assistant, but I gave them the day off so I-"
"Hey, HEY! Mr. Khan, oh good ol' buddy, old pal!" Vox shouted as he suddenly popped up and patted Shere Khan on the shoulder. "So good to see my old business partner in trade!"
"Vox," Shere Khan said to him. Unlike with Elizabet, his tone was completely neutral. "How have you been doing?"
"Pretty well, just personally earned me another sucker of a soul to work with me," Vox declared proudly. "I know I can have people who can do this for me, but I like to do it myself every now and then, you know?"
"Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I just recently gained a new soul myself," Alastor mentioned as he materialized behind Vox.
The TV-headed demon turned around to face Alastor, some blush spots appeared on this screen. "Alastor! Al… hey," he said nervously, though not out of fear, but… something else. "Um, how are… tricks?"
"Oh the tricks are doing swell, my flat-faced friend," Alastor said.
"HA! Haha! Ha… you sure got some jokes there, Al," Vox replied while giving him a nudge, which Alastor did not seem comfortable with. "You are a one of a kind cad!"
"Yes, I guess I am," Alastor responded, his smile never wavering.
"By the way, Vox, are the rest of the Vees coming here as well?" Shere Khan asked him.
"Oh no, it's just me," Vox confirmed. "Velvette's too busy doxing some reviewers of our products while Val is too busy with his studio and all. So it's just me representing all three of us."
"Hmm, better you than the other two," Shere Khan responded. "No offense and all, but if one of the other Vees were here, I wouldn't tolerate their… unkempt professionalism."
"We-hell, you don't have to worry about them, Khanny," Vox reassured him.
"Ahem," Carmilla said, getting everyone's attention. "We all have businesses to return to, so let's get this meeting started, shall we?"
The Overlords went to take their seats, Zestial sitting to the left of where Camilla was, at the head of the table. Sitting in-between them was her daughter Odette, a female demon who had pale white skin, light blond hair tied up in a short ponytail, eyes with red sclera and white irises, and small black horns atop of her head. She was a tall and thin young woman who wore a pair of circular-rimmed glasses with red tinted lenses and a long white buttoned lab coat over a black turtleneck, long black gloves, black tights and a pair of silver shoes like her mother's. Elizabet, Shere Khan, and Ansur also sat on the left side of the table. Vox sat at the other end of the table, while on the right side were Zeezi, Rosie, and Alastor, with one seat filled by Odette's sister and Carmilla's other daughter, Clara, who had puce skin with curly cream hair tied up in a ponytail, black lips, eyes with red sclera and white irises, and small black horns atop of her head. She wore a sleeveless black crop-top turtleneck with gray jean-shorts and a black belt, black fingerless gloves, white over-the-knee stockings, and ballet shoes.
"Now then," Camilla said while holding up a clipboard. "Let's commence today's meeting…"
Meanwhile, at the Triton Resort, a standoff was taking place between Margaret and Cruella. The two stared each other down while Bella watched from behind Margaret, looking rather nervous.
"What business do you have here, Ms. De Ville?" Margaret asked, managing to keep her cool around Cruella.
The canine Sinner gave Margaret a grin. "Well, I came because I booked a room here at this fine resort," she claimed.
"I'm sorry, but I don't recall you making any reservations here," Margaret said, her face neutral.
"Oh, silly me," Cruella said, acting like she just remembered something. "That's because it's probably booked under the name of my assistant, which is a mistake she tends to make. These things happened, after all," Cruella explained before calling her assistant. "Oh Catrina, would you be a dear?"
"Yes, Ms. De Ville," spoke the hairless sphynx Hellcat with gray skin, big red sclera eyes, and a gray spot on her left eye. She also wore a black suit and tie and held a clipboard. "Catrina Cuddles, Ms. Cruella's assistant. My name should be on the reservation."
"I'll have to check and see," Margaret said while narrowing her eyes at them. She then went behind the desk to check up on the computer. The computer was facing her and not Cruella, who couldn't see the screen. Margaret checked the reservation page, looking down on the list of names…
Fenton, Murray, Giboozabelle, Marbas, FDR…
Catrina Cuddles.
"Well?" Cruella asked her with a sly grin.
Margaret was silent for the moment before she gave a sigh. "I'm sorry, Ms. De Ville, but I don't see your assistant's name on the list," she lied.
"WHAT?!" Cruella asked in shock. "How can that be?! My assistant made sure to book a room here!"
"Who knows, your assistant might have, or perhaps there was a glitch in the system that prevented her from going through," Margaret said while in a slightly mocking tone. "These things happen, after all." As she echoed Cruella's previous statement, she allowed herself to give a small smug smile. "Besides, all of the rooms are booked right now, so I'm afraid that we can't serve you."
Cruella grew angry at this. "I can't believe… do you know who I am?!" she demanded as she slammed her hands on the desk in front of the Hellhound manager.
"I do," Margaret responded coolly. "And that's why you will never be able to do business here. And if you start to make a scene, I'll have security to escort you off the premises."
Cruella snarled angrily, showing her crooked teeth. But before she could get worked up even more, the devil dog Sinner managed to calm herself down and lift her hands up from the desk. "Well then, perhaps you could help me in another way. I want to ask you about one of your employees…"
"Which one?" Margaret asked.
"Loona," Cruella answered, forming a smile. "I know that she works here, so there's no point in denying it."
"You're correct, she does work here. But Loona isn't here at the moment," Margaret responded, keeping her cool. "She is on an extended leave of absence because of an emergency."
"Oh, and where is she at the moment?" Cruella asked her again.
"I don't know," Margaret said. "But even if I do know, I'm not going to tell you. But I will have to ask you to leave the premises, since you are not wanted here."
Cruella looked like she was gonna pop a vein as she lost her patience with Margaret. "You know what? I think I will leave!" she told Margaret before suddenly grabbing the Hellhound's arm and pulling her close. "But you know," she whispered as she brushed Margaret's fur, causing the Hellhound to suddenly freeze up. "You do have a… lovely coat of fur."
"Please… leave," Margaret told her as she felt her arm start to shake. Cruella felt the vibrations and she gave a cruel smile.
"You know, the only reason you're even safe, Margaret," Cuella taunted her. "Is because you think that you're protected by Prince Gaap. Yes, an Ars Goetia does trump a Sinner like me, but how long do you think it will be before he grows tired of you?" she asked, her face leaning closer to Margaret's. "But when he does… I'll be here." She then let go of Margaret's arm, the Hellhound backing away while feeling her heart beating quickly in her chest. "Ta-ta, my dear," she said while leaving the resort, Catrina following her.
Margaret watched the Sinner leave in silence, unable to breathe until she saw that Creulla was gone. Only then did she let out a sigh of relief while holding her chest, her heart still beating quickly. Bella came over to her, looking concerned.
"Are you okay, Margaret?" Bella asked, patting her boss's back in comfort.
"I… I'm gonna need a moment," Margaret responded while walking away from the desk.
Bella watched her manager walk off, with a mix of concern… and newfound respect.
Back at the house of Alloces, Alice showed her friends to her room.
"And finally, here's my room!" Alice announced as she led them in, her three guests reacting in surprise when they saw that her room was filled with plushies…
A ridiculously insane amount of plushies. Like you couldn't even see the walls.
"Wow… that's a lot of plushies," Via said while looking around.
"Thank you, because I just love plushies so much!" Alice declared pridefully. "Some of them are gifts from my dad and my brother. Even after he left, Alexander still sent me a plush every now and then, usually around my birthday. But the others are ones that I've collected myself. I have my staff buy them for me from malls, amusement parks, and fairs. I also order some online!"
"Um… where do you sleep?" Linda asked, being unable to spot a bed in this room because of all these plushies. Though, she didn't know if she couldn't see a bed because it was covered in plushies… or because it was one of the larger plushies.
"There were… not as many the last time I was here," Cray admitted in surprise while looking around at the collection. He saw plushies of all shapes, sizes, and colors.
"Thanks, I'm very proud of my collection!" Alice declared in a cheerful tone. "Like this one!" She rushed over and picked up a rabbit plush with three ears and red underbelly. "This one, who I named Ear-3, is like, really rare due to an extra ear added in." She pointed to the ear, before showing another plushie, this one a unicorn. "And this is a Series 8 Hellpony plushie. Collector's edition. Very hard to get if you don't know where to look. Fortunately, I do."
"Wow, finding these must be like some treasure hunt for ya," Via said.
"I know, right?" Alice replied. "Ooh, you know what? You and Linda could each take one of my plushies with you when you leave!"
"Really?" Linda asked her in surprise. "Is that alright?"
"Oh yeah, it's fine," Alice said nonchalantly. "I got enough to fill a warehouse anyway."
"You don't say?" Cray asked.
"Alice! I'm home!" a voice shouted from downstairs, followed by a loud roar.
The nuckelavee Goetia grinned. "Daddy's home with a new creature!" she announced before rushing out of her room, leaving her three guests behind.
"So, uh, what do you think of Alice?" Cray asked now that the three of them were alone… with hundreds of plushies seemingly staring at them.
"She's… nice," Via admitted. "Although all of this seems…"
"Excessive?" Cray asked.
"Exactly," Via said with a nod. "All these animals, all these plushies. My dad has his interests, like botany, but they don't completely take over our living space like this."
"Yeah, that's the House of Alloces for you," Cray admitted. "You get used to it."
"I do feel bad for not remembering her," Via admitted while looking down. "I believe her that we did meet before, but I was probably very dismissive of her then."
"Well, I don't completely blame you for not remembering her," Cray mentioned. "It was probably years ago and she doesn't get out much."
"Wait, she doesn't?" Via asked.
Cray nodded. "Her dad is a bit overprotective. Like, even more so than your dad, no offense."
"None taken," Via said. "But what makes Alloces more overprotective?"
"I've always had to come visit her, since he doesn't let her leave the property," Cray explained. "I think it might have something to do with her brother leaving."
"Oh," Via said, frowning. "He's like that, huh?"
"He isn't malicious about it," Cray tried to explain. "I think he's just… not ready to let her go too. This is actually part of why I wanted you to meet her. Alice could use some more friends, since she spends all of her time here with her plushies and her dad's animals."
"I get it," Via said, nodding. "And that is sweet of you, trying to help Alice out like that. You're a good friend, Cray."
The leopard Goetia hid his blush at the compliment. "Well, I try," he said. "Now let's see what Alloces brought this time."
Via nodded and they got ready to head out together, but then she remembered something. "Wait, where's Linda?"
"Help me," Linda's voice squeaked weakly as she sank into a sea of plushies.
After Cray and Via rescued Linda, they got ready to go downstairs but they stopped at the top floor where they could see the lobby below, where Alloces was talking to his usual dealers as they brought more animals in. These animals were crocodile-like demons that the imps were struggling to keep in their cages.
"Thank you again, boys. I'll be sure to take these rapidgators out of your hands now," Alloces spoke to two of the imps that had brought him the dangerous creatures. "And I must say, thank you again for the kitsunes you brought to me earlier, boys."
"Hey, we're just glad to know that they're in good hands, boss," Harvey said while Lars was suddenly bitten by the rapidgators through the cage bars.
"Harvey! They're biting me again!" Lars cried out while he was being swung around.
"Hang on, Lars!" Harvey told him as he and some of the staff went to help pull Lars away from the ferocious beasts.
"Hey dad!" Alice shouted, getting her father's attention. "Are those like, rapidgators?"
"Indeed they are, my young cub," Alloces said, smiling warmly at his daughter before spotting her friends. "And I see that you have some friends. Young Master Cray, nice to see you again. And young Lady Octavia, what a surprise."
"Nice to see you too, sir," Cray responded respectfully as they came downstairs.
"Yeah, nice to see you too, Duke Alloces," Via added.
"Say, Alice, why don't you ask your friends if they'd like to stay over for dinner?" he suggested.
"Dinner?" Linda asked, looking worried.
"Oh don't worry, we only eat vegan in the house," Alice assured her, much to the surprise of Octavia and Linda.
Back in the cafe, after talking about his past Whiskers decided to let Hana talk about herself.
"So me and my sister grew up in the Sloth Ring, which is the bottom layer of Hell," Hana was explaining to Whiskers, who looked intrigued.
"Sloth Ring… interesting," Whiskers said. "I've actually been really curious about the other Rings, since I can't go there due to being a Sinner. I don't know much about them, but I heard a little about the Sloth Ring from members of DJ's crew. Apparently most Hellcats come from there, right?"
"That's correct," Hana confirmed. "Hellhounds originally came from Gluttony, Succubi and Incubi come from Lust, and Hellcats along with the Baphomet demons originate from Sloth, though because of immigration you can find all kinds of Hellborns in pretty much every Ring. I actually heard there's a growing Hellhound population in Sloth because of what's been going on in Gluttony recently."
"Wait, what's going on in Gluttony?" Whiskers asked.
"Beelzebub, one of the Seven Deadly Sins and the ruler of Gluttony, has neglected his Ring and allowed it to fall into ruin," Hana explained. "It's probably the worst Ring to live in. Sloth might actually be the best. It's beautiful, for one thing. Pink skies, floating islands, waterfalls… it's like something out of a dream."
"Oh wow," Whiskers said while trying to imagine it. "Wait, go back a bit. I thought Lucifer ruled Hell. But he doesn't rule over Gluttony and he can't get this Beelzebub to do his job?"
"Lucifer is the ruler of the Pride Ring, while the other Rings are ruled by the other Deadly Sins. However, Lucifer is still the most powerful of them and is Hell's top cat. He is pretty much the only one with any authority over the other Sins, though I don't know why he doesn't do something about Beelzebub." She shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't care."
"So then who rules the Sloth Ring?" Whiskers wanted to know.
"Belphegor and her husband," Hana explained. "Honestly, they're pretty chill. Most demons down there tend to be more relaxed. We also got the best healthcare down here."
"Really?" Whiskers asked her. "What are the hospitals like?"
"Oh, the hospitals. Quite expensive and always busy, but still great," she answered. "When I got out of school, I decided to join my sister in Pride and work with her as a way to get some money. When I earn enough, I can attend one of the medical schools in Sloth. They're really expensive too, so I'm only working at the Silvermoon Palace until I'm able to afford medical school. I've always dreamed of becoming a doctor." She looked at her coffee, seeming embarrassed. "That, um, must sound a little silly. A serving girl and prostitute wanting to be a doctor…"
"Actually, it doesn't," Whiskers assured her. "I mean, at least you aren't selling drugs like I was, right?" he pointed out. "But I think I can understand where you're coming from, really."
"Thanks, Whisky," Hana replied with a smile. "Although, part of the reason I want to become a doctor is because of the employee and family benefits, since my parents are getting older and I want to help take care of them. But I genuinely do want to help other demons too."
"Well, I hope you get to fulfill your dream, Hana," Whiskers replied while sipping his coffee.
Hana blushed a little before she smiled. "Thanks, Whisky," she said again before she thought of something. "So… what exactly happened after the fur farm bust? Mick said that you and DJ's crew decided to keep a low profile."
Whiskers sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Luckily, DJ had some connections…"
While hiding in an alley, DJ and his crew looked at a club that was across the street. It had a sign over it that read 'The Catwalk Lounge.'
"Is the coast clear?" DJ asked them.
"Yeah, coast is clear, DJ," Lenny confirmed.
"Clear," Tubac said.
"All clear," Kathy and Silky confirmed.
"Alright, let's go," DJ said as he led the gang across the street. They went to the front of the building where they saw a familiar bouncer at the doors. "Oh, hey Bruno. Still working a shift here too, I see."
"Hmm," Bruno grunted while narrowing his eyes at them.
"We're never getting in," Prim told DJ.
"Look, I got this," DJ said while walking up to Bruno. "Look Bruno, I know we have our differences, but please let us in. I know Gatzbi here, she knows me. Man, you have to let us in… please," DJ told him with a pleading look. "Just help a brother out, just this once. I promise that I'll owe you one."
Bruno was reluctant, but then he saw DJ and his crew giving saddened looks. Try as he may, but eventually Bruno just sighed and opened the door for them.
"Thanks, Bruno," DJ told the bouncer while leading his gang inside. "Come on, guys. Whiskers, you're definitely going to like this club."
"I will?" he asked him while they went through the lobby.
"Yeah. This club's staff is full of them Boiling Isles werecats. Just like you," DJ revealed.
Whiskers stopped in his tracks, shocked by the information. "Whoa… really?" he asked.
"Yeah, during the first year after I died, I worked here as a musician. That's how I realized that humans aren't the only ones who end up in Hell," he mentioned. "Yeah, those were the good ol' days, before they had a… change of ownership."
"What do you mean…" Whiskers was about to ask, but he stopped himself when they went onto the club floor, which blew him away and left him in awe.
Most of the club was painted golden, with velvet lines curved into that of twenties' décor. Round tables all around with guests and there was a stage filled with cat demons dancing and playing the instruments. Exquisite food was being served by flappers and the music being played was smooth jazz. The place was also decorated with Egyptian themed decor, such as the stage having two sarcophagus on each side and the background of the stage having a pyramid and sphinx.
"Wow…" Whiskers said as he looked around.
"Yeah, still not a fan of the Egypt stuff," DJ muttered before he heard a female voice.
"Does my eyes deceive me, or is that you, Kat'lak?"
DJ turned to smile at the lady in front of him. She was a gray ragamuffin werecat woman with a blonde Charleston Bob haircut, black sclera eyes with white irises, and red lips. She wore a purple gown with long black arm gloves, a purple headband with a peacock feather up front. She also had a bushy tail. "Gatzbi! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Hmhm, me too, disk jockey," Gatzbi replied happily as she saw DJ walk over to hug her… only for her to stop him with her hand. "But I realized that you'd only be here if you needed something," she said with a frown, making DJ nervous. "Now what, pray tell, did you get in trouble for this time?" she asked dryly.
"Hey, it ain't like that, alright?" DJ tried to reassure her.
"Mhmm, and I'm Mae West," Gatzbi said, not buying his claims in the slightest.
DJ knew he couldn't lie to her, so he just came straight. "Okay, me and my crew need to lie low for a while, okay?" he said, making Gatzbi just sigh, having expected this from him. "But I'll owe you one, Gatzbi, I promise!"
"Your furball-filled ass already owes me quite several," she snarked.
"Look, this time it's a different kind of trouble," he said. "Let me explain…"
Going over to an empty table, DJ explained to Gatzbi about his and his crew's involvement with the fur farm bust. To say the least, Gatzbi looked quite shocked.
"You were the ones who destroyed that fur farm?" she asked in a whisper.
"Well, we had some help, but yeah, that was us," DJ confirmed before he realized something. "Wait, how did you even know about that?"
"News travels fast through here," Gatzbi explained. "If something is going down in Hell, you hear about it here, whether it is political or incidental, and word about a destroyed fur farm and a bunch of burned furs has been traveling around." She then noticed Whiskers among the crew and she looked at him. "Huh, out of all the strays of your crew, I don't recognize that one. He's new?" she asked, pointing at the werecat Sinner.
"Um, I am, actually," Whiskers replied. "My name is Whiskers and… I'm from the Boiling Isles, just like you."
"For real?" Gatzbi asked in surprise, her mouth hanging open for a moment. "Well I'll be, a fellow werecat Sinner like me and my crew. Let me guess, you're from the era of the Emperor Belos, am I right?"
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded in confirmation.
"Well, me and my crew lived and died decades before Belos's reign began," Gatzbi explained. "It was very different then. Back in our days, we were bootleggers and smugglers. After we died, we set ourselves up here and we do meet other werecat Sinners from time to time, ain't that right, Saboris?"
"You know it, Gatzbi," said the leopard werecat Sinner known as Saboris, who was passing by with a tray full of dishes.
Gatzbi looked back at Whiskers and then DJ and his crew, all giving hopeful eyes. They seemed to be working on her, but she also looked intrigued by Whiskers. After a moment, she just sighed. "Alright, after some consideration… I've decided to let you all stay."
"Yes! You won't regret it, Gatzbi!" DJ declared as his crew cheered.
"But, there will be some ground rules," she told them all. "You better behave like good kitties, because this club is one of the ones owned by Elizabet now, after all. And you better pray to not get on her bad side…"
"Since then, we've been crashing in the club's backrooms," Whiskers said as he finished his story. "And honestly, I love the Catwalk Lounge. The music, the dancing, the aesthetic. I've never heard of Egypt before but I've heard he's a huge influence on the club."
"Well, Egypt's actually a place, but that club actually sounds rather nice," Hana replied.
"Yeah, and I really love the musicians there. I've never heard that kind of swinging music before, but I would love to play with them someday," he said.
"You know, all that talk about the club, we could've gone there instead of this cafe," Hana pointed out, which Whiskers realized.
"Oh… oh, yeah, you're right," Whiskers replied in embarrassment. "We could have been there…"
"Well, maybe we could go to the club for our next date?" Hana asked playfully, forming a smile.
"Well, I'm gonna have to ask Gatzbi about it-" Whiskers started to say before his eyes widened and he looked over at Hana in realization. "Wait… you asking me out on a date?"
"If you want it to be," Hana said with a smile, much to Whisker's surprise.
Back at the Overlords meeting, they were currently discussing business.
"So with that new batch of Sinners we got in the past month, I've managed to get twenty-hundred to make a deal with me for protection this quarter," Vox boasted.
"Aw, twenty-hundred? That's almost the same amount as me," Alastor commented, sounding almost impressed.
"Yeah, so uh, how many did you gain, Al?" Vox asked him.
"Twenty-hundred and one," Alastor said. "Just got me another one before coming to this meeting. Of course, they sadly didn't become my lunch, had to hit a deer as a quick snack."
"Oh… well, that's uh, great, Al," Vox replied, trying to not embarrass himself. "Um, Elizabet, how is that new club of yours coming on your turf?"
"The usual, Vox," Elizabet declared, though she sounded bored just by talking to Vox. "Business is booming in the club scene, bringing me lots of new profits and new souls."
"Can we get back on topic?" Carmilla asked while looking at her clipboard. "Shere Khan, I believe that you had something you wished to share?"
"Yes, I have an announcement to make," Shere Khan said as he stood up. Ansur, who was busy transcribing everything being said, looking up at his boss. "Now, I know this may seem sudden, but as of this moment, my company will no longer be buying their drones from VoxTek Enterprises."
"Wait, what?!" Vox asked in shock while looking at the tiger demon in shock and disbelief. "What… you're joking, right?"
"I assure you, Mr. Vox, that I never joke about business," Shere Khan responded while holding up a cube and placing it on the table. He tapped on the cube and it projected a hologram as Khan slid the cube toward Vox so that the hologram of a new drone model was right in Vox's shocked faces. "Thanks to our new resources, we've patented and begun to mass produce our own drones, which are distinct enough from VoxTek's drones to avoid lawsuits."
Vox was quiet for a moment, though the other Overlords could feel the tension between the two. Rosie and Alastor both smiled, while Elizabet, Zestiel, and Zeezi all looked curious about how this would go. Even Carmilla raised an eyebrow while her daughters and Ansur look surprised by this development.
"Who is it?" Vox growled as his voice started to distort. "Who in tHe hell are building THese for you?!"
"I don't know what you mean, Vox," Shere Khan said, his voice calm.
"I mean, who designed these for you?!" Vox demanded to know. "VoxTek has the best engineers working on state-of-the-art technology! I made sure of that! Who did you steal from me? How long have you been planning this?
"I refuse to give out names," Shere Khan told him. "And don't try to hack into my systems, since I just updated its protection."
"I… I can't believe you'd pull this shit, Khan!" Vox shouted while standing from his seat, glaring at Khan in anger. "You think you can do this kind of stunt in front of me?! One of the VEES?!"
"I just did," Shere Khan spoke soothly, keeping his cool. "I'm sorry that our arrangement has come to an end, old friend. But after all this time and relying on you for so long, I just think that I'd benefit if my company were to have a bit more… independence."
Vox was steaming mad, his screen-face turning red with anger. "You dare to just spring this on me?! You think you're some hot shot Overlord just because you're an overgrown cat trying to play a man's game? You're nothing but an animal pretending to be a ma-"
"Mr. Vox, sit down and calm yourself!" Carmilla told him.
"Don't lose your cool over this, Vox," Zestiel advised Vox.
"Yes, don't make a fool of yourself over this big kitty's comments towards you," Alastor added.
Vox was silent for a moment as he looked around the room at his fellow Overlords. Then he sat back down, unhappy but unable to do anything about it. Ansur turned to see his boss sitting back down while smirking at Vox's fuming.
Back at the Triton Resort, Kanya and Crystal were sitting on chairs at the side of the pool, talking amongst themselves.
"Once again, thanks for the save earlier, Kanya," Crystal said.
"Anytime, Crysty," Kanya replied. "Nobody messes with us, especially my little mermaid."
Crystal smiled at that. Even if they had to keep their relationship a secret, they still had each other's backs. "Although you know I could have ripped them apart myself, right?"
"Obviously," Kanya said with a smile. "But admit it, you like it when I get scary."
"Yeah, I do," Crystal admitted. "So, think you're still up for clubbing?"
"Who do you think I am, a nun? Hell yeah, I am!" Kanya declared. "I just got the sexiest outfits to choose to wear for the night."
Crystal almost started to drool as she imagined the outfits that Kanya was gonna wear, but then she noticed Clara closing up the bar. Kanya saw where Crystal was looking, just as Crystal had a thought. "Say, you think we should invite Clara?"
"Oh, um… well, I figured it'd just be the two of us," Kanya admitted.
"Yeah, but Clara did us a solid by covering for us," Crystal pointed out. "We owe it to her and I think it's just good karma to bring her in."
Kanya was quiet as she thought about it. She and Crystal did owe Clara, who might be the only one in the resort who knew about her and Crystal. She didn't know when Clara had figured it out, but if she hadn't warned them while they were flirting, Herman might have gotten suspicious. Then he would have gotten nosy and eventually would have gone off to tattle to her dad, who she wasn't ready to come out to yet. But she was ready to come to a conclusion.
"You're right, we should invite her to hang with us," Kanya said.
Crystal smiled. "Glad you agree," she said as they saw Clara walk towards them.
"Well, it's the end of the day for me," Clara said. "See you two tomorrow."
"Wait, Clara," Kanya said to her fellow Goetia, getting Kanya to start. "Me and Crystal were just talking and… do you wanna hang out with us?"
"Yeah, we're going clubbing and we'd like you to come with us," Crystal said.
Clara was surprised by this, but she smiled. "Sure, I'd like to hang out with you two. And going clubbing sounds pretty great, actually. Hopefully they'll be no robots this time."
"Robots?" Kanya asked in confusion.
"Long story," Clara said.
Later, the trio of Clara, Crystal, and Kanya were at a club, sitting at a table together. They held up their drinks while hollering in enjoyment.
"To drinking drinks instead of making them!" Clara declared.
"Here, here!" Kanya and Crystal replied as the three drank and then slammed their glass down.
"I don't know about you girls, but I'm planning to indulge myself with some shots!" Kanya declared.
"Hey, just as long as one of us is still able to take the other two home, right?" Crystal asked.
"Thanks again for inviting me to club out with you two," Clara told them. "Though, I don't know if I'm considered a third wheel or not…"
"Hey, we don't mind," Kanya assured her. "You being here with us actually makes me and Crystal a little less suspicious. But we did owe you one. Although… when did you figure out that me and Crystal were…"
"Oh, I figured it out a while ago," Clara admitted. "Whenever you two hung out at the pool together, I saw how you looked at each other. I saw how you two touched each other and spoke to each other. It didn't take me long to realize that there was something more going on."
"Oh," Kanya said, once again looking embarrassed. "Just like that, huh?"
Clara nodded. "I didn't say anything because I figured that it wasn't my business. And you don't have to worry about me telling anyone. My lips are sealed."
"Well, that's a relief," Crystal said.
Clara then thought of something. "But… I gotta ask… how did you two get together in the first place?"
Kanya smiled. "Well, it was during my first year of my modeling career. I decided to take a break from modeling and visit the Resort. I showed up just in time to check out the auditions for a new lounge singer that Daddy and Margy had set up…"
"That was when our destinies intersected," Crystal said as the two recalled their first meeting.
Kanya walked into the big dining room, which was closed off from guests for the auditions that Gaap and Margaret had set up. She saw a huge line of singers waiting for their turn.
"Alright, Mr. Lennon, thank you for your audition. Don't call us, we'll call you," Gaap said while seeing the Sinner walk out. "Now then, Ms. Crystal, you're next."
Kanya watched as she saw Crystal wheeling herself onto the stage while holding a ukulele. "Greetings, and thank you for having me in this audition. My name is Crystal, child of Aquarius and I'm here to connect your souls with my song."
"Just sing for us," Margaret told her, not having any patience for this.
Kanya watched from the back as she saw Crystal strumming her ukulele and giving a hum. It was then she started to sing.
"Oh~ I'll make you happy, baby, just wait and see, for every kiss you give to me, I'll give you three," Crystal sang in a harmonic tone. "Oh, since the day I saw you, I have been waiting for you, you know I will adore you 'til eternity! Oh! So won't you, please, be my baby? Be my little baby? My one and only baby…"
"Mmm, Rochettes, they were such fine ladies back in the days," Gaap declared.
Kanya couldn't help but agree with her father, but she couldn't say it out loud. But she did find herself entranced by the mermaid's singing as she watched her perform. In fact, she couldn't take her eyes off her…
After her audition, Crystal was alone drinking her tea. She spotted Kanya walking over to her and she looked up at the young Goetia woman with a curious expression.
"You had a very nice voice back there," Kanya complimented. "Crystal, right?"
"Um, yeah," Crystal replied with a nod, though she wasn't sure what to make of Kanya. "You must be Kanya."
"Oh? How did you know that?" Kanya asked, placing her hands on her hips.
"Well, you have been all over the magazine covers," Crystal said. "Plus you are an Ars Goetian and all," she added. "So… what do you wish from me, your Highness?"
"Oh I don't know, I was just wondering if you'd like to grab a bite with me," Kanya suggested.
"Wait… are you asking me out?" Crystal asked in surprise.
"I'll admit, I didn't really think much of Kanya at first. I thought she was simply a spoiled conceded rich girl who runs off daddy's money," Crystal said, her face blushing in deep purple, which made Kanya laugh a little. "B-But then we talked and got to know each other more."
"One thing led to another, and we pretty much… clicked," Kanya finished.
"And since then, we've been secretly dating," Crystal said. "A young hippy mermaid dating a supermodel hot goddess who makes me feel wetter than the ocean." She covered her mouth while blushing, which made Kanya smile. "I can't believe I said that out loud."
Clara just chuckled at how cute the two girlfriends were. "Well, I'm happy for both of you," she said.
"Thank you," Kanya said. "But as you already understand, we need to keep our relationship a secret from not just the public… but also from dad and Margaret." She looked down in concern. "They can't know about us. I mean, dad already does a lot to keep boys away from me, not that I can't take care of myself. But if he learned that I'm gay and dating Crystal… it wouldn't go well. When my dad gets mad, he gets…"
"…violent," Crystal finished as she placed her hand over Kanya's.
"Well, like I said before, your secret's safe with me," Clara reassured them. "I promise to not rat you two out and I will try to help protect your secret in the future, however I can."
"Thank you, Clara," Kanya replied with a smile. "But you know, I'm actually surprised that we haven't hung out before tonight. We should have done something like this a long time ago. After all, we're both Goetia kids."
"Yeah…" Clara said awkwardly, wanting to steer the subject away from her family. "Uh, so, anyway, would you guys like to hear some guest horror stories? Let me tell you about this one guest…"
Later, the trio of Octavia, Cray, and Linda stood outside of the House of Alloces, waiting to be picked up.
"Thank you for having us here, Alice," Cray thanked her.
"Hey, thanks for visiting and for bringing Via and Linda," Alice replied with a smile. "It was nice having you all visit here. I hope I'll get to see you soon."
"I wouldn't mind coming here again," Via said with a small smile.
"Yeah, I like your turtles," Linda added.
"Ooh, before you all go, here's your complimentary plushies!" Alice said while snapping her fingers, causing a rack of plushies to materialize. "Cray, even you get to pick one!"
"I… don't know if I want one…" Cray said while Via and Linda walked up to grab their own.
"Hey, free plushies are free plushies," Alice told him. "I insist!"
"Come on, you can take home something to give to your mother or keep to yourself," Octavia said while holding up a panda-kangaroo hybrid plushie. "Like this Cuddle Buddy over here."
"I think I'll settle for this," Linda said while holding up a turtle plush she got from the rack.
"Well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to have one," Cray said, looking around until he picked out one plush. It was a sheep dressed as a golfer. He smiled. "I like this one."
Seeing the limo pull up, the trio started to head toward it while Alice waved at them.
"Bye!" she shouted.
"Bye!" they shouted as they waved back at her. They then turned their attention to the limo. To their surprise, opening the door for them was the imp butler Pringles.
"Did you have a good day with Lady Alice, young Octavia?" Pringles asked her.
"We did," Via replied as they got in. "Though… why isn't Jesse driving us back?"
"Are you complaining?" Linda asked, looking relieved that she wouldn't have to suffer through another rough ride with Jesse behind the wheel.
"Jesse decided to cash in her VTOs," Pringles explained as he got behind the wheel, looking rather out-of-place. "Apparently there's a 'death race' that she wants to enter."
"Death race?" Cray asked, looking concerned.
"Oh, I wouldn't be worried for her," Pringles said as he started the limo. "But I would be worried for her competition…"
At the Catwalk Lounge, Whiskers came in, feeling pretty good about himself. He was spotted by Gatzbi from the bar.
"Whiskers, glad you're back," Gatzbi told him as she saw him coming in. "How'd the date go?"
"Pretty good, Ms. Gatzbi," he replied. "Hana wants me to bring her here on a second date, if that's alright."
"Well, ain't that swell of you," Gatzbi replied with a smile, patting Whiskers's arm. "Don't worry, I have no problem with you bringing her here to show her a good time. We'll also be here to help you if you need it."
"Thanks, Gatzbi," he replied. "I appreciate the offer, especially since you've already done a lot for me and the crew."
"Hey, don't sweat it… Casey," she mentioned, causing Whiskers to freeze up. "I know some Sinners love their nicknames, but that's your real name, ain't it?"
"Yeah…" Whiskers admitted while looking over at it. "How did you find out?"
"Well, I'll admit that I was curious about you ever since DJ mentioned that you're new," she explained while holding up a glass and looking at how much milk was left. "I asked the rest of his crew and they told me that you used to be called 'Casey Whiskabee' when you were alive. Now, that name sounded familiar to me, and I didn't know why." Her ears twitched up while she was drinking the remains of her milk. "But now I remember why…" she said while turning to him. "A werecat girl named Nina once told me about you."
"W… what?" Whiskers asked in shock, taken aback by this. "W-Wait, does that mean she's down here as well? Did Nina-?!"
"No, it's not like that," Gatzbi quickly told him. "I actually met Nina back when I was still alive."
"What… wait," Whiskers said while looking confused. "But you said that you died decades before Belos began his reign, decades before Nina was even born. How could you have possibly met Nina and how could she have met you?"
Gatzbi just smiled. "Funny thing, ain't it?"
Meanwhile, Shere Khan and Ansur had returned to Khan Enterprises. Entering Khan's office, they found waiting for them on the floor was a cut up Kaa, his remains and blood being scrubbed up by the janitor imps.
"What the fuck?!" Ansur exclaimed while Shere Khan wasn't shocked.
"Welcome back, Mr. Khan, and Ansur," Penzi said while standing up from the desk after wiping the blood off of her legs, which looked sharp. "Sorry for the mess. Kaa decided to sneak up on me again… but I was prepared this time."
"I can see that," Shere Khan responded with a sigh. "Don't worry, you won't be punished, Ms. Skirtz. After all, Kaa appears to have been interfering with the work I assigned you to." He looked at the head of Kaa, which was being carried away on a stretcher. "Mr. Kaa, are you alright?"
"I couldn't…" Kaa said as he looked to be in a daze. Despite his stony body, Penzi was still able to cut him up.
"I know you can't help yourself, but I put Penzi in charge for a reason," he said as he leaned towards the snake Sinner. "Next time she's in charge, leave her be. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, Master Khan," Kaa replied with a nod, before he was taken away.
"Penzi, you are dismissed as well," Khan said.
"Thank you, sir." Penzi said before changing her legs back to normal. She started to leave the office, passing by her boss and Ansur.
"Mr. Ansur, you are dismissed as well," Khan said after Ansur placed his notes on Khan's desk.
Ansur gave a sigh of relief and he went to follow Penzi, passing Khan. However, Khan spoke again before he could leave. "Oh, first, I must ask you one more thing," he said, causing Ansur to pause and slowly turn back toward his boss with a nervous look. "Now, what have you learned today, Mr. Ansur?"
"Um…" Ansur said as he looked confused, not sure how to respond.
Khan sighed and started to explain. "The answer is quite simple, Mr. Ansur. Did you see the fragility of the power that Vox has? How he reacted when I told him I wouldn't be doing business with him anymore?"
"Y-Yeah," Ansur replied. "He did not take that well…"
Khan nodded. "That's because the power Vox wields… it's fragile," he explained. "He is only as powerful as he is because of his alliances, because of the other Vees. And an alliance shouldn't be a crutch." Khan got behind his desk. "Sure, they can be useful. But you should still be able to stand on your own, especially if those alliances are only formed out of convenience rather than anything else and can be taken away at a moment's notice. Poorly handling rejection is not a good look. It does not give off strength. It gives off weakness. You should only rely on others for what you can't get yourself, but even then, don't become complacent. Always explore ways of being self-reliant, Mr. Ansur, because that will give you an edge." He looked at the Hellhound. "The hunter can rely on the tools he was given, but the hunter can also make tools himself if the occasion calls for it. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yes, Mr. Khan, I think I do," Ansur responded. "Wait, do you want me to write that down?"
"Not necessary," Khan told him. "But I just want you to remember it."
"Oh… um, thanks, sir," Ansur replied before he turned around and left the office, not sure what to think about the exchange that just happened.
After Ansur left, Shere Khan turned around to look outside the window of his office at Pentagram City. In the distance, he could see V-Tower and Carmilla's factory. He mused the view of the city while thinking about the Overlords.
"The Overlords are so desperate to cling to their power here, in just one Ring," the Tiger Sinner said to himself while forming a smile.
Compared to a Goetia, compared to a Sin, they were nothing in the greater scheme of things. In a few hundred years, would Vox even be remembered? Would the empire he built even remain?
No, Khan thought to himself. Overlords like Vox and Carmilla will ultimately end up as footnotes in the history of Hell. Because they thought too small.
Khan knew that there was greater power… and it was that power he was interested in, that place at the top of Hell's food chain.
And he would have it.
Over at V-Tower, several employees had gathered around a bar, drinking and socializing in what were some of their only moments of release from the hell their employers put them through. Unfortunately for them, this moment ended when they heard a loud booming sound. They turned to see that the door had been kicked open and an angry Vox was storming through.
"Out of my way!" Vox shouted while marching towards the bar. "Can someone get me a fucking drink around here?!" he demanded before everyone offered him their cup or bottle. Vox sighed in frustration. "I meant one made!" he barked before a custom Robo-Fizz stepped over with a tray of alcohol. "Better. Get me a scotch mixed with the heavier stuff, will ya?"
Watching from the distance, at another part of the bar, was a tall, slenderly-built white furred Sinner with a mop of fluffy white hair that extended from both the front and back of his head, with splotches of light pink, and a light pink heart on the back of his head. He had a black sclera left eye with a red pupil, while his right eye is yellow with a red pupil, each having three red dotted freckles under. His wide mouth had a gold fang. He had a black choker with a black bow-tie while wearing a light pink blazer with horizontal white stripes down the length, gray miniskirt, and long gray thigh-high heeled boots. He had four arms, with the top arms wearing long white gloves. He also had a noticeable floof of fur on his chest.
"Geez, which hole did he plug in wrong this time?" he asked while sitting in his seat.
"No idea, Angel," replied another Sinner who stood out a lot. He resembled that of a mixture of different video game characters, with the purple dragon head and wings of Spyro, one of his three eyes being Pokeball-like with the button serving as a pupil, the bottom eye being the Monokuma from Dangaronpa, and his right eye being the yellow ring from Sonic. His upper half body resembled Rayman's body with Bowser's arms, his legs resembled Crash Bandicoot's. His tail was that of a red Z shaped Tetris block. In place of his ears were a pair of earphones with bat wings orbiting around them. "What do you think this is about, Steamy?"
"Beats me, Double K," spoke Steamy, who was behind the bar. She was a blue skinned Sinner with a slender build and orange algae for hair that reached to her neck, which gathered in a side ponytail. She had aquamarine-colored eyes, yellow plumage under her arms, and her outfit consisted of a yellow crop top, blue short-shorts, and red grieves. "But if I was smart enough, which I am, I wouldn't pry into it."
"Yeah, she's right," Angel said while drinking his order. "As long as it doesn't involve us, our asses are fine."
"Yeah, no reason to pay the Vees in mind if it doesn't affect us," Double-K said while he drank his order as well.
"Well… maybe we can make a bet on who pissed Vox off," Steamy suggested, which made Angel form a grin.
"Ooh, I like how ya think, waterworks," Angel said, slamming his souls onto the bar. "Ten souls is on Carmine."
"Twenty on Rosie!" Double-K shouted as he placed his own souls in. "No wait, Shere Khan…"
"You sure you don't want to double or nothing?" Steamy asked them with a smile.
Later, on the upper floors of the tower, Vox met up with Valentino, who listened to Vox's raving rants as Vox paced around in Valentino's penthouse.
"Of all the fucking thing he's done, this is the worst one!" Vox declared while his screen glitches out. "He screwed me over, Val. Now Khan Industries is my competitor now! That damn overgrown cat who thinks he could get away with this?!"
Valentino blew his smoke from his cigarette. "I know how you feel, Vox. Because Khan has screwed both our asses, and not in a good way."
"What… what do you mean by that?" Vox asked in confusion.
"You know the destruction of that fur farm?" Val reminded him. "Cruella was not a happy woman when we found out about what happened to all her new furs and she made sure to punish Sonya personally while I promised that I would find out who's responsible for destroying that place. And fortunately, we have a lead. Alexei, honey, come here."
Vox was surprised to see Alexei suddenly appear, since he didn't see the Hellhound when he came into the penthouse. Alexei walked over to the Vees and held up a file. "I can confirm one of the individuals who destroyed your fur farm, sir."
"Good, now who was it?" Val asked him.
"It was an imp named Blitzo Buckzo," Alexei declared as Vox took the file and went through it, seeing different profile pics. "Former circus performer. Apparently, he has a history of petty crimes, and to add to boot, he is currently doing odd jobs for Shere Khan himself."
"WHAT?!" Vox shouted, red with anger. "I see now… Shere Khan must've been behind this… he must've ordered this nobody to hurt our operations!"
"Seems that way, doesn't it?" Val asked.
Before they could discuss how to get their revenge, however, they heard Alexei clear his throat. "Sirs, might I suggest that before we make a move on Shere Khan, another Overlord, we find this Blitzo and use him to send a message to Khan?" Alexei suggested.
"Ooh, now that's a good start," Valentino replied with a sickening grin.
"Yes," Vox said as he nodded in agreement. "I like how you think, Alexei. Use whatever resources you need, break a dick or two, I don't care!" He sat down and turned to look out the window, glaring at the distant Khan Industries tower while forming an evil grin. "Just find Shere Khan's newest errand boy and bring him to us…"
Meanwhile, in the security room of the Titan Resort, Gaap and Margaret met up.
"Are you alright, Margaret?" Gaap asked her, noticing that Margaret seemed off.
"I'm just… distressed from earlier, sir," Margaret responded, looking troubled. "You see, there was-"
"Look, Margy, why don't you just pull yourself together for me, huh?" Gaap asked as he patted her on the shoulder. "We have more important business to discuss and I want your head in the game, understand?"
"Um, yes sir," Margaret said with a sigh, deciding to not bring up Cruella right now.
"Good. Now then, have you made any progress with the investigation into the staff for our spy?" he asked her as Margaret gave him a list.
"Here's a list of employees I've marked as potentially suspicious," she explained to him as Gaap took a look at the list.
"Hmm, let's see, Georgy, Malik, François- even Herman's in this? Then there's Consuela, Billy-" Gaap paused when he recognized a particular name. "Crystal?" he asked, looking shocked and worried. "Why is she here on the list?"
Margaret began to explain. "You may remember that right before the hostage situation, Crystal was left off her shift, which meant she was not present during the crisis. That is convenient… and suspicious. Hypothetically, she could have let them in while ending her own shift. There's also the fact that she lives in a part of Pride that is full of aquatic-themed Sinners and demons, including some immigrants from Greed. Potentially, she could know some demons with ties to the gangs from Greed."
Gaap thought about this, his face forming an angry expression. "Why that no good, hippy siren! Are you sure about this, Margy?"
"She isn't my top suspect at my moment, but considering the circumstances, there is reason to be suspicious of her," Margaret indicated.
"She's close to my daughter," Gaap said, his tone angry. "If she is the spy, that means she's been using Kanya and abusing her trust! That cannot go unpunished!"
"I know, sir. However, we don't have any solid proof yet, just suspicions," Margaret admitted while adjusting her glasses. "We don't want to make the right call, but we can keep a closer eye on Crystal until she either slips up or we find our spy…"
Meanwhile, Crystal was wheeling back to her apartment. As she made it up to her floor, she spotted someone in front of her door that caused her to come to a complete stop.
"Hey… I was wonderin' when you'd come home," said a shark demon wearing a trench coat. He was blowing a cigarette.
Crystal just gave an annoyed look. "I thought I'd already cleared my debt…"
"Oh, there is so much more we should discuss, my little friend," he said as he formed a toothy grin while Crystal just looked at the shark demon with a stoic look.
Meanwhile, Octavia and Linda had been dropped off at the House of Stolas while Pringles went to drive Cray home. As the two girls came inside, they found Stolas waiting for them.
"Via, Linda, I have been waiting for you two to get back," Stolas said as he stood up from the couch. "Jewel informed me about you hanging out with Cray today," he said, his upper eye twitching when mentioning Cray. "How was your, um, day with him?"
"Oh, well, it was pretty good," Octavia replied. "We went to visit Duke Alloces' place to meet his daughter, Alice."
"Alloces?" Stolas asked in surprise. "I think I remember his daughter…"
"Yeah, well, I didn't," Via admitted, really regretting zoning out during some of those meet-and-greets that her mother used to take her to. "But we had a good time with her. She showed us around her fathers animal sanctuary and she showed us her plush collection." She held up her new plush. "Then we stayed for dinner and don't tell her I said this, but I didn't really care for the vegan food. But besides that, we had a good time."
"And you… got along with Alice?" Stolas asked, looking surprised that Octavia had sought out Alice rather being forced to spend time with her.
"Yeah, her family has their… eccentricities, but she is really nice and friendly," she responded.
Stolas broke out into a smile. "I'm delighted to hear that, Via!" Stolas declared as he walked over and patted Via's head. "I'm so glad that you're making friends, Via."
Octavia smiled. "Thanks, dad. I think I'm going to enjoy hanging with Alice."
"That's good to hear," he replied.
"Uh, by the way, how is Loona?" Via brought up. "Are her and her dad doing okay?"
"Oh, don't worry, they're doing fine, honey," Stolas assured her. "Last I checked, they were settling nicely in Wrath."
"That's good," Octavia replied, looking relieved. "So… do you think I can go with you to visit them later?"
"Oh… um, I'm not sure if that's…" Stolas said as he looked at her daughter, seeing the concern on her face. He knew how much Loona meant to her, but he wasn't sure if the Wrath Ring was a safe place to bring his daughter down to. "Well, I don't think that's a good idea… but I'll think about it."
At Mick's apartment, he and Snowflake were now back home. Mick was dealing with his little fox, who kept popping up around the room in new places.
"Snowflake, where are you?" Mick asked while looking around. Snowflake was just behind him. "I know you're around here…" He turned around just as she disappeared. "Snowflake?" he asked, only for Snowflake to suddenly jump on his head. "Gah!" he cried, falling on the floor.
Snowflake gave a little laugh while jumping off Mick's head. He looked at the little kitsune and he couldn't help but laugh as well. "You're very lively, aren't ya?" he asked while petting her, which she enjoyed.
He then heard a knock on the door, accompanied by a female voice. "Yo, Jagger! You in there?"
Mick immediately recognized that voice, especially with that British accent. "Yeah, I'm here," he said as he walked over to the door with Snowflake on his shoulder. He went to open the door and smiled behind his mask when he saw who it was. "You know, I was wondering how my day could possibly get better."
"Heh, me too, Micky," replied the girl at his doorstep as she went to kiss Mick on the mask. She was a short white-furred hyena Sinner demon with spotted fur and bright red-striped cream hair. She had light-orange sclera eyes with hot pink irises. Her inner parts of her ears were red as her spots, while her right leg, nose, ears and left forearm are dark brown. Her tail was bright red with the ends of it was white along with stripes. Her outfit consisted of a short, red dress with a white skull, a black spiked choker and a black, long sleeved jacket with a shorter, torn left sleeve as well as a short, black glove. "Hey there, Snowflake, nice to see ya again," she said while attempting to pet Snowflake.
The small kitsune leapt off of Mick's shoulder and ran off, away from this female Sinner. "Sorry, I guess she's still a little skittish around you, Mini."
"Well, hopefully she'll come around to mama Crymini," she replied as she stepped into the apartment and looked around. She spotted a poster on the wall. It was a poster of her holding a guitar and it was signed by her. "I see you got the poster I sent."
"Yeah, I even showed it to my roommate," Mick replied. "He couldn't believe that I was dating you of all Sinners."
"You mean the rock star?" Crymini asked with a smirk. "So when is he coming back?"
"I don't know," Mick admitted. "Could be a while."
"Dang, because I've been wanting to meet him," Crymini said, her tone disappointed. "From what you've told me about him, I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when he saw me."
"Yeah, but look at the bright side, with him gone we have the place to ourselves," Mick pointed out before he heard Snowflake knocking something over. "Well… almost to ourselves."
"Well, since I'm here… might as well get comfortable. Maybe spend the night," Crymini said with a sly grin.
"You sure? I mean, did you bring your things-"
"Oh, I'll just wear what you have," she said before hearing another knock on the door. "Huh, who could that be?"
"Probably my landlady, hang on," Mick said as he went to the door.
"Ugh, she gave me a hard time while I was coming in. If that is your landlady, I should probably hide in your room," she said as she walked off.
As Mick headed back to the door, Snowflake popped her head out from underneath the couch. She started following Mick, but once she reached the door she stopped and ran back underneath the couch, as if she sensed something. Mick didn't notice this as he went to open the door, only to not find the landlady…
"Salutations," said Alastor, who stood in the hallway outside of Mick's apartment. Mick's eyes widened in shock as he looked up at Alastor, becoming paralyzed with fear. "I understand that Moxxie Knolastname lives here. Are you his roommate?"
Seeing the Radio Demon's smile, Mick couldn't help but nervously nod, too afraid to lie to him. "Y-Yes. But he's not here. H-He hasn't been here for a few days."
"Oh, how disappointing," Alastor said, still smiling despite the disappointment in his tone. "Well, perhaps you can still help me by relaying a message to him when he gets back. Let him know that I was asking for him. Since I was hoping that we could catch up."
"Y-Yeah, I-I-I'll do that," Mick replied as he blinked. After he blinked, Alastor was gone. This shocked Mick, who quickly shut the door out of fear. He realized that he was shaking and when the shaking stopped he gave a sigh of relief as Crymini popped up from his room.
"Hey, everything alright?" she asked. "Who was it?"
Mick turned to Crymini, his face grim. "Just a messenger…"
Meanwhile down in Wrath…
Loona, Blitz, and Amaroq had decided to spend the day inside, sitting in the living room watching TV. They had done almost nothing besides chill out all day.
"Ah, nothing's better than taking a day to catch up on all the TV you've missed," Blitz said while sitting in a chair while Loona laid on the couch and Amaroq sat on the floor with her snacks.
"Do you ever think it's weird that the main characters aren't in an episode?" Amaroq asked while watching the show.
"Eh, you don't miss them," Loona answered with a shrug.
Nobody objected to this and instead they continued watching their program in peace.
So before we get to the deets, here are the OCs introduced in the story.
Gatzbi, who is an expy of Mitzi May from Lackadaisy, appears as a werecat Sinner who is the manager of the Catwalk Lounge, owned by another OC, Elizabet. Elizabet is a mixture of Eliza from Skullgirls and Elizabeth Bartley from Castlevania, who is an overlord for the Overlord meeting scene to introduce and establish characters in.
In regards to Gatzbi knowing Nina, we actually had an idea to include Lackadaisy expies in other Luz Clawthorne content, but we decided to introduce them in HD first. For Nina, her meeting with Gatzbi hasn't happened yet, since said meeting involves time travel, so that's something to look forward to.
And yeah, Shere Khan's chauffer being named Merci is very on purpose. Those who get it, gets internet cookies.
Another would be the introduction of Alice, daughter of Alloces and an OC Goetia kid from Moheart7's The Owlette and the Cat fic. Her family staff and caretakers, Tyran, is made for the introduction and imagining him as a mix of Nigel Billingsley from the new Jumanji movies, and Roger Rogers from Monsters at Work.
Also to give in her family, there's Duke Alloces who is an Ars Goetia that grants familiars. And then there's his son and Alice's older brother, Alexander, who hasn't officially appeared in the fic, yet, but to establish how the family dynamic is like in the House of Alloces.
Cruella's Hellcat assistant, Catrina, is based off on the fact that Cruella had a pet cat in the book that was left out when it was adapted into the animated film. If you know the original story of Cruella's cat, you're probably not surprised what Cruella did to her kittens…
Also OCs submitted by Jack_Skeletron are Steamy Wiltingflower and Double-K, aka Konami Komando. Steamy is meant to be a Misty-expy, while she and Konami are Sinners who works for the Vees, and formed a friendship with Angel Dust.
Speaking of, this is also the introduction to the Hazbin characters, Alastor, Angel Dust, Crymini and Baxter. Baxter being revealed to know Crystal as they share the same apartment, Crymini being revealed as Mick's girlfriend, which is something we've planned out to reveal for a while.
Baxter and Crymini are two of the characters that originally were going to be part of the main cast of Hazbin Hotel. But as of now that it isn't true. We had ideas for introducing both characters in HB and we decided to introduce them together because of their similar history with Hazbin Hotel. Originally, we were going to put off showing Mick's girlfriend longer, but since Baxter was already in this chapter, we decided to throw in Crymini as well.
As for song numbers, we got about three:
"Welcome to the Internet" by Bo Burnham is used as Vox's song number to introduce him.
"Smile Like You Mean It" by Paranoid DJ is used based off of the animatic by Pochik Art.
And a bit of a song number of "Be My Baby" by the Rochettes is sung by Crystal for the flashback of her audition and how she and Kanya meet.
Not much to say but there's a lot of establishing moments and special appearances of new characters here. So next chapter we'll check in on the main cast. Until then, some Brimstones and Broomsticks…
Review Section:
Moheart7: Thanks, means much to us.
Matteso585: 2) Soon. 3) Probably, if Fizz is there.
Cooki15xd: No, Valentino isn't the main antagonist.
Ultimate-drax: Hope we didn't disappoint for this chapter.
EndeavorT: No spoilers.
Shuffollower: I think you misunderstood. Amaroq isn't a killer prankster because of her time with Damian, she already was one and that helped them get long. This is her real personality shining through that trauma.
Spantidem7: 1) That's not relevant to Helluva Dad. 2) No spoilers. 3) No spoilers. 4) Obviously. 5) They're not, you're just assuming they are. 6) There are lots of historical genocides. Why immediately compare it to that? 7) She resents him. 8) We never said Cain is on Earth.
