Chapter 3: Welcome to Hell!
Noise.
So much noise here.
She wanted to be amazed by the sight of such a large settlement that was a "city" as Rosie had described, but the lamb had found this place to be sourly lacking.
The streets of Pentagram City were, to put it lightly, a complete mess. Trash littered the roads and walk ways, strange looking needles were dropped haphazardly on the ground, bodies of the deceased where left to rot or were eaten by cannibals in the open, and sounds of violence and murder were a constant in the air.
She was not impressed with a kingdom ruled by anarchy.
She walked along the walk way having quickly learned that traveling on the black road was not a good idea.
Nearly getting run over by two metal wagon things chasing each other was a good indicator.
That was just one oddity of many in this place.
Whatever afterlife this place reflects was incredibly advanced if what the cult leader was seeing had a direct connection to its mortal plane. Mayhaps she could get a hold of some of these things when she finds a way back home.
Regardless, for an afterlife that was meant to punish those who have sinned it was doing a lackluster job at the "punishing" part.
Every soul she came across looked like they were indulging in the very things that likely got them here to begin with.
The Lamb continued on in disgust, the sooner she found her way home the better.
Malignant and unholy energies permeated the very air of this place so all she needed to do was find a focus and tap into it, as was her right as a new fledging god. She was sure that the gods or whatever divine entity that existed here would understand when she'd barrow the tiniest fraction of their power.
The Lamb was drawn out of her day dream when a seedy looking rat-man darted out of a passing ally and in front of the cult leader's path. Standing half a head taller he smiled with a twitch, chipped teeth, and one blood shot eye as he reached into his smelly, stain ridden jacket.
"Hey girl," the damned soul crooned, "wana help me with a little somein'? I'll make it worth your while~" He held up a clear baggy filled tight with some kind of off blue color, dangling it in the Lamb's face.
She just smiled lightly and walked around the soul who got in front of her again.
"Come on now, just lookin for a small favor is all. Besides I managed to swipe this stuff off one of Valentino's supply runs from Sloth so I can guarantee that this is top shit!"
The Lamb, now even less amused, shoved the sinner away with a hand and tried walking on.
The rat like sinner growled at being ignored and shoved aside, pulled out a switchblade from his jacket. He marched up and grasped the Lamb's wrist tightly as she tried to walk away.
"Alright bitch, you don't just go and-GAK!" He was cut off as the Lamb's other arm suddenly swung around and grasped the sinner's neck like a vice. She threw him forward as his grip on her wrist loosened and quickly plunged her crown, which had taken the form of a dagger, into the neck of the sinner. Blood sprayed out of his severed jugular as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding with his hands.
The Lamb continued on, having not even looked at the sinner once though their little altercation. The Red Crown floated to the top of her head looking quite pleased at having drawn the blood of an evil soul in this new place.
With an annoyed huff she continued down the street silently listening to the wisps of unseen unholy energy.
The red sky of Hell had grown darker, likely an indicator of the coming night.
Lights on the street flicked on and some doors of shops around her closed their doors and locked their windows. For those that stayed open, colorful lights which the Lamb had never thought possible turned on to entice the night goers like a carnivorous plant.
The Lamb couldn't help but look at the blinding lights in wonder as they shined brightly against the dark red of the sky.
Unfortunately, however, the coming of night didn't sooth the noise or rampant sinning in the streets, if anything it only got louder.
At one point she passed by a store that was still open with a bunch of sinners huddled around the entrance playing with these strange flat rectangles that she had been seeing everywhere.
"Hey you!" the Lamb's ears perked as her head swiveled to the one calling her, "Yeah, you jackass! Getting bored you're your old Hellphone? Well we here at Voxteck have got you covered!"
There in the window of the store she walked by was a collection of strange looking boxes that had a person trapped in them. They were all showing the same thing.
The individual talking from the box had a really wide and flat face that was blue with a sharp toothy smile that the Lamb could easily see right past. His mismatched eyes seemed to draw in anyone who happened to look at the glowing boxes.
When she looked at his eyes, the cult leader immediately went on high alert when she felt something trying to worm its way into her mind. The Crown stopped it before it could even get a foot hold, but now she was wary.
The loud box man continued, "Introducing our newest model of Hellphone, the 6.66! Yes we made it to the funny number, you fucking hacks! Our newest model comes with a variety of new features including a new security system!"
The box changed to a random sinner sneaking up on another one. "Say you get your Hellphone stolen because some poor-as-fuck nobody is too lazy to get a job."
The thief then clobbered his victim's head in with a spiked bat and took a flat piece of metal out the unconscious guy's pocket and scurried away.
"With our newest feature, you can make sure that whatever asshole takes your things will fucking regret it!"
The thief then taped the reflective part of the metal slab which then promptly exploded in his face leaving only a bleeding stump. The body promptly fell over and was accompanied by a large colorful "WOW!" on the glowing box.
"This and more can be yours for only $799.99! So what are you shits waiting for? Go get'um at your local teach store now ya fuckers!"
"Warining, .DonotcontactVoxteckifsomeonesaysstupidshitontheinternet,wewilljustlauhginyourface.
Voxteck! Making money by making tomorrow!
Voxteck is a subsidiary of V Tower.
V Tower. TRUST US!"
The lamb could only watch owlishly at the oddity of that whole thing before a frenzied crowed all but threw themselves into the store, waving paper at the very unenthusiastic clerk behind the counter.
A 'Hellphone' huh.
The Lamb looked at some of the souls walking around and saw how their eyes glued themselves to the weird flat things that glowed in their hands. She made a mental note to check these things out later when she had a chance.
For now though the Lamb continued on, following the streaming unholy energy as it flowed in the air to a, hopefully, powerful enough focal point.
-XXXX-
What passed for night in this place had settled over the red sky for a while now and somehow the already dangerous and chaotic streets got even worse.
The strange booming "music" coming from buildings with signs that were bathed in colorful lights grew louder as more wayward souls seemed to pile through the doors.
It was all starting to make her head hurt.
The smells, the noise, the leering looks she received, the random attacks on her person, and just the bad attitudes in general.
More than once the Lamb had to stop and take a calming breath to gather her wits and continue on.
Her nerves were fraying and she was going to start a massacre if things kept up.
All she needed right now was silence, or at least a quiet place to calm down.
The district she was currently walking through, while not as obnoxious, was far to active. That was until something caught her eye; one of those bright signs that nearly every building used only it was flickering as if it hadn't been maintained very well.
It was a depiction of a bottle with a noose around the neck, the name of the establishment shone above it.
"Dead Weight"
A flattering name truly, but a boon to be sure.
If there was one thing that the Lamb could find and identify any where it was defiantly a bar!
Now, she had crossed many, many bars and pubs by simply walking around, but nearly all of them where crowded or had an ongoing fight that she didn't want to deal with. But this run down hole in the wall was perfect.
The diminutive cult leader pushed the door open and was greeted with the sight of a dingy, unkempt, and smelly bar. Much of the furniture was wooden and mismatched, some poor attempts at decoration hung on the walls, and what looked to be a well used gambling table sat in the far left corner. The bar counter was old and covered in scratches.
The only thing in this building that looked even remotely intact was the collection of various alcohols on display for purchase.
As it should be.
Light was provided by feeble looking lamp things hanging from the ceiling by wires and another one of those magic boxes with moving images and sounds was suspended at the far end of the room.
The only souls present were two board looking sinners in a corner at a table with numerous bottles of presumably alcohol, another sitting at the bar on a stool passed out drunk, and the bartender who resembled some kind of winged cat without a shirt.
Weirdly enough the bartender was also drinking presumably from his own supply. His amber and black eyes swiveled and landed on the Lamb, before he let out a loud sigh of annoyance and pried himself away from the bottle he was nursing.
"Alright, you just going to stand there like an idiot or are you gonna fuckin' get something?"
The Lamb snapped out of her observation of the establishment and walked over to a bar stool next to the bartender. She let out a grateful sigh as she finally sat down somewhere quiet and to have a drink.
At least she hoped too. Did afterlife alcohol work like that of the moral plain?
The bartender eyed her up and grunted, "So, what ya havin' tonight?"
The Lamb was about to answer before she remembered no one here would understand a word she said. So instead she looked behind the bar at the collection of bottles. Seeing nothing looked remotely familiar she shrugged and randomly pointed to one of them.
Unamused, the bartender looked to where she was pointing and raised a thin eyebrow. "You sure about that?" he asked her.
She looked a little confused at his question, but nodded anyway. I mean come on it was probably just some cheep beer-
"That's going to be 200 souls, sucker."
….
Well now.
The Lamb could only look at the catman in utter disbelief.
200 souls?! 200 SOULS!
Even the Crown was looking at the bartender like he was crazy!
How was she supposed to get 200 souls in this place!? Even the Lamb's never directly controlled even 90 followers at once let alone 200! Better yet, WHO USES SOULS TO BY A DRINK!?
The bartender, seeing the look on the Lamb's face, ran a clawed hand down his face and let lose an aggravated groan.
"Soul dollars, you fuckwit, not actual souls!" he "kindly" explained, "You know, the paper money every fucking idiot uses to buy shit? The fuck did you grow up in the Congo?"
The Lamb's eye twitched at his tone.
"Since you have no idea what the hell we use as money down here, you obviously don't got none. So do me a favor and get your ass off my bar stool and piss o-"
*THUNK*
The bartender's tirade was cut off when the (very wealthy) cult leader dropped a solid brick of gold onto the counter before him. Her arms remained outstretched for a moment before she folded them over her chest with a bemused expression gracing her face.
Catman looked down at the gold with wide eyes as he saw a pentagram molded into it. The symbol of pentagram city and something that was printed on every soul dollar along with King Lucifer's face. This thing was legit.
Looking back up to the Lamb sitting on the stool in front of him, he was greeted by scrunched up face of annoyance that challenged him to say something else.
A smirk graced his lips as he held up his hands in defect, "Alright, alright. Proved me wrong. Let me get that drink for ya."
The bartender reached for the bottle chosen and picked up a glass. He set the glass on the table and opened the bottle with a *pop* and was about to pour its contents when the Lamb slapped the glass away and snatched the bottle out of his hands.
The Lamb, having been subjected to Hell's lovely inhabitance and overall experience, was tired and weary with all that had happened. And with the guy who was supposed to pour her drinks trying to deny her, her rightful path to befuddlement , she had enough and downed the whole bottle in one go.
Slamming the empty bottle on the bar, the cult leader wiped her mouth clean and tapped the counter for the next round.
She was getting befuddled tonight and no one would stop her.
With eyes boring holes into his head the catman bartender got her another drink.
When the gold she put down couldn't cover the next round: she threw down another brick. When the drinks she wanted ran out: she pointed to something else. When he told her that was enough: she responded by pointing her axe at his neck.
On and on this went until several hours later the Lamb reached a level of befuddlement that had her head spinning and her vision blurred.
The bartender, now several bricks of gold richer, had his inventory run completely dry. Now he could only look at the patron of his dingy little establishment with raised eyebrows as she was only now starting to get befuddled.
The Lamb rested her head on the counter as the alcohol started to take effect.
The feline sinner wiped a glass clean as he stared at the buzzed Lamb, "Shit. Didn't think I'd see anyone drink that much and still be conscious."
"Hmph," was all he got in reply.
"Honestly didn't think I'd see someone wipe out a bar that wasn't me."
The scant patrons of the bar had long since left leaving the cult leader and the bartender in each other's company. The Lamb didn't care all that much she was here to get wasted and had achieved just that.
The cat behind the bar wiped down the counter having cleaned the last of the glasses used for the day. "Look I get your going though some shit and you want to forget everything, but one: it doesn't work like that down here and two: I want to get some damn sleep! And I don't care if you point that axe at my neck again, you drank me dry!" He gestured to the wall behind him which was barren of any drinks aside from an empty bottle which fell to the floor and shattered.
The Lamb stared at the cat for a moment and just giggled, "Hehehehehehe."
The Crown for its part just gave the bartender a dirty look for enabling its wearer's vice.
The bartender groaned as he rubbed his face with a claw. "Why do I always get the weirdoes? Get your ass out of here and get lost." He jabbed a thumb to the door.
Not seeing any reason to stay after having achieved her goal of getting befuddled, the Lamb stumbled off the barstool and steadied herself on shaky legs. She giggled a bit before swaying her way to the front door of the bar. She gripped the door handle and opened the door where she promptly fell forward ripping it right out of the door frame, hinges and all.
Bartender was not happy about this.
"Oh what the fuck!? The fuck is wrong with yo-HEY, get back here!"
The Lamb didn't acknowledge him as she wandered down the street in her befuddled haze stumbling into the night of Pentagram City.
The bright lights of the surrounding buildings hurt her eyes and the noise, while not as loud here, throbbed unpleasantly in her head.
The Red Crown gazed down at her and imparted a feeling of "unimpressed" her way.
"Its fiiiiiine~" she insisted.
Right as she said that a rough hand grabbed her shoulder and slammed her against a filthy wall of an alley.
Some sinner held a rusted machete against the underside of her chin, "Alright bitch, give us everything ya got!" Behind him were four more sinners with different weapons in their hands and smiling viciously.
The woolen Infant God stared and blinked dumbly at her would be ambushers, you could hear the slow gears turning in her head as she processed what was happening.
The Crown just rolled it's eye in annoyance.
-XXXXX-
Another unsuccessful day of recruitment for the Happy Hotel.
That was what Charlie's mind replayed in her head as she sat in her family limo next to her girlfriend Vaggie.
As she gaze into the night sky of Hell, she thought that with the most resent extermination having passed a short couple of days ago, some people would have been more receptive to redemption after having survived another day of horror at the hands of Heaven's Exorcists.
But no. If anything any sinner that survived the Extermination seemed to be more than happy to celebrate not getting killed than anything else. It made the Princess of Hell sad that, still, no one would even entertain the idea of redemption.
"Who the fuck cares if some other asshole dies I'm still here! So shove your scam up your ass, I'm still celebrating!" the last person she asked tonight had told her and then proceeded to OD and spas uncontrollably on the ground.
Charlie sighed, while not unexpected it was still disheartening.
A warm hand settled on her shoulder and gave it a loving squeeze.
Charlie turned to her girlfriend. "It'll be alright Charlie. These idiots will figure it out eventually," Vaggie said with a supportive smile before grimacing a little, "Besides, we still have one guy at the Hotel."
The Princess smiled as she rested her own hand on her partner's. "I know Vaggie. Still though, I was hopping more people would at least give the hotel a try after the extermination. Guess I got my hopes up."
"There's nothing wrong with having hope, Hun."
The Daughter of the Devil leaned onto her girlfriend. Ever since she found Vaggie trying to fend for herself all those years ago she had been a rock that she could always rely on. She was the only one who believed in her dream and stood by her every step of the way.
Even though Charlie had to pull her off the occasional demon whom she was beating senseless because they insulted the Princess.
Honestly it was kinda hot.
As the two cuddled, supportively in Vaggie's case, they enjoyed the quiet noise of the road. Until a loud *BANG* happened and the limo suddenly lurched violently tipping slightly as something impacted the passenger side.
The couple tumbled about, getting tangled in each other's limbs as the limo came to a halt. Some angry 'Baas' from Razzle and Dazzle up at the front could be heard.
Vaggie was the first to untangle herself from her girlfriend, "The Hell was that!?"
The two women got out of the limo to take a look at what hit them. Razzle and Dazzle had also exited the driver's cab on high alert incase whatever happened was an attack on their master.
Charlie looked to the side of the limo and saw a rather sizable dent had been made and the culprit for the sudden hit to the side of the limo was laying upside down on his head large, musclely arms splayed out. It was clear that this guy had been in a fight and lost.
"Oh god, you okay?" Charlie, ever the Good Samaritan, asked with concern.
The sinner demon groaned in pain.
Vaggie snorted in disgust at the sinner, "Don't think he's gonna be okay for a while."
Charlie looked around, "What do you think happened?"
"Guy bit off more than he could chew, obviously. Well it's not our problem anyway, let's just head back to the hotel."
"I think he came from that dark alleyway. Come on let's see if anyone needs help!"
Vaggie grabbed her girlfriend's shoulder before she could run off. "Whoa, not so fast! Hon, I know you like helping people and all that but whatever happened to this guy should be a clear indication that we should not get involved."
Worry graced Charlie's pale features. "But what if there's someone hurt and needs medical attention?" She glanced at the guy passed out on the floor, "What if there are more people who need medical attention?"
"Charlie, we're in Hell. There is no such thing as 'medical help'."
"Not true! Aunty Belph is the one who set up the best hospital down in Sloth there the best in all of Hell!" The Princess declared happily.
The moth sinner gust looked at her with a deadpan stare. "Can sinners get there?"
…
…
"N-no."
Vaggie sighed, "Look. In most cases people like these," she pointed to the sinner on the ground, "are usually the attackers in these scenarios. And whoever he tried to get at was obviously a lot stronger."
"Okay true," Charlie conceded, "buuuut what if the person who was attacked got hurt? What if they're in there bleeding out on the floor? As princess of Hell I can't stand by while my people suffer. Especially if I can do something to fix it."
Vaggie folded her arms, furrowed her brow, and stared with a frown.
"Please?" Charlie's eyes got all big.
Vaggie's own eyes narrowed.
"Pleeeeeeeease?" The Princess' eyes got bigger and added a lip quiver for 3 against girlfriends.
Her sinner girlfriend, however, just narrowed her eyes further, before she threw her arms up in exasperation. "Fuck, fine!" she folded her arms again and looked away, muttering, "Damn those adorable eyes."
Delighted, the hellborne cinnamon roll hugged her significant other. "Yay! Thanks Babe!" With that she dashed off in a white and red blur.
Vaggie sighed heavily and slumped before looking to Razzle and Dazzle, who were just hovering there having watched the whole exchange, and stiffly gestured to where Charlie ran off.
She only received a couple of 'Baas" for her troubles.
Meanwhile, Charlie ventured up to the shrouded alleyway keeping her eyes open for anyone needing help and hopefully not walking into some elaborate trap.
Also, this alley was really, really dark.
Forcing down an involuntary shiver because of this place, the Princess called out, "Hello? Anyone there? ….Anyone not unconscious at least?"
She was greeted by eerie silence.
"Okay. Not encouraging at all."
She tentatively walked forward and soon enough she came across another demon hanging off a dumpster and groaning in pain.
Just as Charlie was about to check to see what help they needed some kind of black serpent wriggled on top of the body. It was a pitch black that Charlie had never seen before as any light that shone on it seemed to disappear when making contact. It had a glowing red, baleful eye with a slit-like pupil. It pulsed unnervingly.
She froze as the weird snake thing turned it's round head to her and stared. She then jumped back when the thing suddenly got right in her face faster than she could track. It floated in front of her, it's body slowly writhing in the air as just stared. Charlie swore it looked like it was studying her.
She leaned back her head and offered a nervous wave of her hand. "Uh, hi. I'm Charlie. Um, you are?"
The black snake just gave a creepy, slow blink before darting away a few feet from the Princess. It hovered in place and continued to watch her.
She watched it float there. "Wait, are you telling me to follow?"
The serpent just watched her.
Carefully, the Princess walked forward and the eye snake floated further in, turning back around as if to make sure she was following.
They passed another knocked out sinner who, unfortunately had a whole boot shoved up her ass. Charlie winced at the scene with pitying grimace.
Further ahead were two more sinners; one with a baseball bat jammed down his throat and the other halfway in the brick wall missing a boot.
The weird eye snake thing caught Charlie's attention when it shot forward and floated close to the ground to a sight that made the Princess gasp.
Laying there was a short, cute little sheep demon in fancy looking robes and covered in blood. The snake then surprised Charlie further by shifting into a crown of some kind and dropping on their face.
"Oh god they need help. Okay, okay Charlie calm down, you live in Hell, you seen blood before this is nothing new."
"Hun!" she heard her girlfriend call to her as she approached with Razzle flying over her shoulder, "What's wrong did you find something? Oh dang."
"Quick their really hurt help me out!" The blond demon said as Razzle flew to the lamb demon's legs.
"Shit, what happened here?" Vaggie asked, helping Charlie carefully pick the small demon off the ground.
"I don't know, but I'm guessing these sinners attacked her and she fought back. That weird hat turned into a snake and led me to her. We need to take her to the hotel."
They made it out of the alley and back into the glow of the city's extensive neon network.
The moth demon paused for a moment as Charlie rushed to the limo where Dazzle had opened the passenger door. "Whoa Hun, slow down. We're not seriously taking some random demon to the hotel right?"
"We can use the hotel's infirmary. Hopefully she's not too hurt."
"Charlie!" the moth demon shouted making Razzle and Charlie pause, "Stop and think for a moment. You can't just take some random sinner to the hotel. You built up that place for sinner who want to be redeemed, not to be some hospital for every injured asshole to go too. For all we know this is some kind of gang war we'd be getting involved in!"
Charlie motioned for Dazzle to help his brother with placing the injured sinner into the limo before turning back to Vaggie.
"No one here is willing to help each other out, everyone is out for themselves. I want to help the people of Hell, my people. How can I stand by my principles if I leave someone helpless and hurt when I can do something about it," she gestured to the sheep demon in the limo, "I want to show all of Hell that there is still hope and if I show just one person that there is someone willing to help them, then maybe, just maybe, I can give them hope for a better future. You're the only one who believes in my dream, Vaggie, so please trust me on this."
Vaggie looked to the unconscious sheep sinner in the vehicle and to her pitiful state.
Helpless, weak, alone.
Vaggie hated to admit it, but she was in no better of a position when Charlie first found her all those years ago. And if it wasn't for Charlie's big heart who knows what would have happened to her.
So she let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get them some help."
Charlie's eyes lit up and she gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Vaggie."
The sinner blushed lightly before following that beautiful woman into the limo hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be a huge mistake.
As this exchange went on, that black crown, sitting atop the sheep sinner's chest, watched. It's baleful red eye focusing intently on the plucky princess of Hell.
-XXXX-
A splitting headache was the first thing the Lamb felt when she regained her consciousness. She groaned as she forced her stiff body up into a seated position and opened her eyes only to shut them with a hiss at the bright light.
She felt the presence of the Crown just off to her side sending a feeling of annoyance and smug fulfillment so at least nothing changed there.
The Lamb rubbed her temples trying to stifle the sharp pain that throbbed in her skull. One of the down sides of extreme befuddlement, but she brought this upon herself…again.
When the sound of a door opening reached her ears the Infant God dared to crack an eye open.
She was in a room of some kind, the same shade of dark reds that all of Hell seemed to share, and it clearly had seen better days. The walls were dirty with peeling paint, the light overhead flickered slightly, and the smell was off putting like some of the old ruins she visited regularly.
"Oh good your awake!" It was at the chipper voice of a young woman did the Lamb finally register that there was someone else in the room.
Standing in the doorway was a young looking woman with pale white flesh and long blonde hair. Two red dimples stood out on her cheeks as she smiled in overtly showing off her fangs.
Contrast to her skin she wore a bright red tuxedo-jacket with dark red lapels over a white dress shirt with a cute black bowtie. The jacket was paired with similarly red pants which lead to a pair of pointed, white high-heeled shoes.
Before the Lamb could ponder her situation any further the young woman quickly got in close to the cot (that the Lamb now just noticed) the cult leader had been sitting on and shot off a rapid number of questions.
"Are you okay? How are you feeling? Feel woozy, dizzy, fuzzy? Anything broken that I might have missed? You hungry, thirsty? Need to use the bathroom?"
The Lamb could only give the woman a groggy blink before opening her mouth to answer-
And the promptly threw up as a result of the drinking binge last night.
Amusement from the Crown followed as the poor girl was unfortunately in the way of the Lamb's infamous 'projectile vomiting'.
Truly a great start to a long and fulfilling friendship.