Chapter 5: Snake in the Grass
Pride Ring, Pentagram City
Hell was in chaos and anarchy reined as the inhabitants lost their minds to fear and despair. Buildings burned, stores were robbed, and sinners were gunned down in the streets. Normally that would just be considered another Tuesday, but what made it different was just how widespread the chaos was. All of Pride had descended into madness, save for the closeknit community of Cannibal Town who merely worriedly whispered among themselves.
Among that chaos, no one noticed as a small beam of light shot down from the sky and struck a random alleyway. It was gone in less than a second and as far as the citizens of hell were concerned, it never even existed or it was merely a trick of the eyes.
From the alleyway came the Stranger. His clothes were the same trench coat and fedora of muted tans and browns that he wore on earth. His body on the other hand had drastically changed. He knew that his human-like appearance would draw unwanted attention from the demons of hell, so he changed it to more easily move among the damned masses. His clothes already covered most of his body, only revealing his hands and head, which were now a colorless black void. He resembled a moving shadow, a living silhouette, a black thing in the shape of a man. He moved silently and most of the panicked sinners didn't even know he was there until he passed them by.
Stranger let his eyeless gaze wander, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of hell. It was not pleasant.
As an angel, hell in a sense was his anathema and to a normal angel it would feel as if there was an itch upon their skin that they could never scratch. He was not most angels as his senses were far more refined, wielding power beyond the vast majority of heaven. To him, it felt as if the realm itself was watching him, waiting for him to drop his guard so that it could pounce, dragging him down then tearing out his throat and feeding on his grace. He knew it couldn't, but that didn't mean that the realm didn't wish it. It was revolting that such a place of malice even existed and silently cursed the fallen Archangel and his bride.
Hell was never supposed to exist, never supposed to have even been a possibility for an afterlife. Evil had always existed, but it did so separately from creation, sealed away by the two sacred trees of Eden. Or at least it had been, until Samael, the lovestruck fool that he was, had listened to his prideful wife and delivered the fruit of the tree of knowledge onto to Eve. The moment she had taken a bite of the fruit, hell had come into existence, a wound upon the universe that would never heal.
Stranger shook his head, dispelling such thoughts about Hell. Regardless of his feelings, he was on a mission, locating Paul Harbinger and Bringing him back to earth. The problem was that Hell was a large place and his normal abilities to track humans did not function in Hell, leaving him to find the King of the New America Regime the old fashion way. He had shadowed Paul for years and had gotten to know his personality quite well. Paul was one of the smartest, most clever humans to ever exist as well as one of the most determined and dangerous. He was also irritatingly impulsive, throwing all reason and thought to the side and diving headfirst into danger if he saw someone in danger, to indulge in his insatiable curiosity, or simply because he thought it might be fun. It still gave him headache thinking about how he blindly ran into an artillery barrage rather than simply paying the man for his information of safe zones. He was an angel, he shouldn't be able to even have headaches.
Still, he knew how to find the human. He merely had to wait for him to do something spectacularly reckless that would result in a massive amount of violence.
"Well hello Mr. Shadow, what can I do for you on this fine day?" a rumbling voice said from behind him as a scorpion like stinger appeared in front of him, blocking his way.
Turning around, Stranger saw a sinner staring at him with hungry red eyes. The sinner looked like a lion with dark green fur, a lime green mane and wearing a blue pinstriped suit. Out of the top of his head sprouted two black goat horns and from behind the man emerged the stinger that had barred his path.
"You may remove yourself from my path. I seek no quarrel with you." The angel said without inflection.
The manticore sinner let out a rumbling chuckle as he leaned down to glare at the smaller being. "Oh, but I have one with you. See, this is my block, and no one comes in or out of here without my say-so. Yet here you are walking by like you own the place, thinking you can get by without paying my toll."
"Ah, what do you wish as payment then?" The Stanger asked without fear.
"Oh, nothing much, just your soul. These are trying times my friend, and I'm sure you would rather have someone like Overlord Léonin your corner. Besides, what use do you have for your soul in Hell?"
The shadowing man just stared at the sinner for a few seconds before responding. "You wish to enslave me?"
The Overlord flashed him a fang filled smile and prodded Stranger's back with his stinger. "Enslavement is such an ugly word. Think of me as a new employer, with you as my new hire and under my protection. If you're a good little worker I could offer you some perks. I've got plenty whores under my employ that I could let you sample. So, what do you say?" he said holding out his paw as it burst into blue flames.
The demon received his reply as he stared down the barrel of a forty-four magnum revolver, its angelic steel shining in the gloom of Hell. As he drew the weapon from his holster, it produced a song, both short and simple that sounded like it was being played on a guitar. Yet the notes of the song held a great power, one so ancient and deep that hell seemed to shutter from its resonance. It was a song as old as the universe, for as existence was created by the heavenly choirs, it came to an end with a simple dirge. The Song of Destruction put an end to Overlord Léon, and as the bullet entered his skull, everything that he had been, was, and would be, was destroyed.
When his body fell to the ground, it did so as an empty husk. Everything that had made up the sinner's soul was ground down and erased so thoroughly that nothing remained. It did not simply leave his body and be absorbed by hell like those killed on extermination day, it had been cast into oblivion and removed from existence.
The Mysterious Stranger watched the body fall and he heard what sounded like hundreds of chains snapping as the man that had held their contracts and enslaved their souls perished. Their damned souls now free to choose their own fate once more.
The angel put away his pistol as one last note played, signaling the song's end. He didn't spare the body a second glance before moving on in search of the wayward human.
…-…
Hazbin Hotel
"What the hell did I miss?" I asked as I entered the lounge and saw the manager and the spider gathered there around Charlie, who was looking extremely worried. I set down my pile of books and took a seat next to Angel Dust.
"Paul! Oh, I'm glad you're alright, did you have any trouble out there?" she asked.
I gave her a small shrug. "I got mugged about ten times on the way back here, but I'm alright."
"I'm guessing you can't say the same about the muggers." Vaggie asked and I responded with a grin.
"Nope. So, what exactly happened while I was away, because from what I can tell, the annual extermination day came out as bi."
"Oh, nothing much," Angel said as he looked up from his phone. "Just Miss Sunshine getting a meeting with the big boss of the exterminators, telling them about the hotel, got laughed out of the embassy and decided they would be back in six months. Got to say babe, when you screw up, you screw up big." He said to Charlie whose mood only worsened at his jab. I responded by sending a light punch into his abdomen and knocking the wind out of his lungs.
The spider sinner bent over as he gasped for air as I turned back to Charlie. "Is that true?" I asked.
"Yeah, after you left, I got a call from my dad and he asked if I would go to a meeting with the leader of the exterminators instead of him. Obviously I said yes, so I went to the embassy and met the guy, who by the way is actually Adam, he offered me a rib only it was a prank and then he went on this really long boring story about what he did over the weekend then I tried to talk to him about the hotel only he didn't want to hear it and then went on and sung about how hell is forever and it was really good except is was also really bad for us then he said they were coming back in six months, which okay just a little set back cutting our time table in half to save souls and then I think they'll cut the timetable in half again and againandagainandwe'lljusthandleitright?!" Charlie said, all in one breath as she began to panic before Vaggie got her to calm down with a hug.
I just blinked as I tried to understand what I had just heard.
"Wait, you said Adam, the father of humanity? He is the leader of the exorcists?" I asked Charlie while also giving Vaggie a small questioning glance, and she gave me a small subtle nod.
"Apparently, he also calls himself dickmaster. Which I've got to say is a pretty good stage name." Angel said after shooting me a glare.
"Really? That's seriously fucked up." I said.
"Really, I though it fit considering he was the first dick." Vaggie said but I shook my head in denial.
"Not the nickname, I mean him being the head of the exterminators. He's basically in charge of coming down here and slaughtering sinners, who were all at one point human. That means he has been killing his super great grandkids." That actually got them to stop and think for a moment, causing their eyes to widen.
"Woof, I'm no stranger to family issues, but at least my pop's never tried to kill me. Well, directly." Angel said with a grimace. "But I think we got off topic. Hell is basically losing its mind, especially in the Doomsday district."
He held up his phone and showed us a video of a man screaming in fear as the building behind him burned to the ground. Then a message popped up saying "You better be at the Donkey Show!"
"What's a Donkey Show?" Charlie asked, causing Angel to look panicked as he pulled his phone away and hid the screen.
"O-oh that's just my boss Val. He is freaking out about the news too. Like I said, everyone's losing their shit."
"Yeah, everyone is freaking out, scared and desperate." Vaggie said with contemplative voice, and I could tell immediately what she was thinking.
"Rats fleeing a sinking ship will do just about anything to survive, including considering ideas that they previously thought were full of shit." I said with a smile, causing Charlie to let out a gasp.
"This is the perfect time recruit more sinners for the hotel!" Charlie said in excitement, her previous bad mood having completely disappeared.
"I have to say, I've always loved this kind of pragmatism. You should probably focus on trying to bring in the downtrodden and people who don't have much to lose. Basically, the losers of society." I said offering my two cents.
"One little problem there people, you would actually have to go out there into this mess." Angel said showing another video of yet another building burning as people looted a store in the background.
"Well, we'll just have to knuckle down and do it. I mean it's not like people are just going to show up on our doorstep." Charlie said, only to be immediately proven wrong as the far wall exploded.
There was a flash of fire and smoke as debris went flying everywhere. I ducked my head to avoid some flaming wood. With a sigh, I got up from the couch and made my way towards the hole. Sticking my head out I saw what had done the damage to the hotel. "Hey Charlie, I think you jinxed us!" I yelled out as the others approached.
Hanging in the air just outside the hotel was a decently sized airship. It was small when compared to something like the Prydwen, but it was obviously designed more for attacking than it was transport. It was made of a dark purple metal with lots of orange glass that revealed its inner workings. The front was designed to resemble a monstrous face with six pink eyes painted eyes, a long spire like protrusion that resembled a nose and a large cavity that resembled a grinning mouth, including retractable shark like teeth. Out of its mouth protruded five or six large weapons with one of them still smoking. Below the mouth was a large round orange glass view port, no doubt covering the airship's bridge.
"Show yourself Alastor! Come and face-" a shrill voice said from some hidden loudspeaker. "Oh, there you are. Face my wrath!"
"Who are you?" I heard the voice of Alastor say from the balcony above us as we stepped out onto the lawn.
"Who am I?Who am I?! I am the great Ssssssir Pentiousssss! Inventor, architect of dessstruction, villain extraordinaire!" the man hissed as Alastor somehow manifested from shadow between Angel and I. I raised an eyebrow when I saw that but noticed none of the others seemed remotely surprised. I supposed that meant he pulled that teleporting trick often.
"What did you do to piss this guy off?" I asked the deer demon.
"Not a clue. In fact, he's nothing but bluster, otherwise I would have heard of him."
"I attacked you literally last week." Sir Pentious said, but Alastor only tilted his head in confusion. "We've done battle, like... 20 times?"
"Well, you must have been really bad at this." Alastor said as he leaned on his staff.
"Silence! Now cower! For when I've ssslain you, the almighty Vees will finally acknowledgemeas their equal." The man in the dirigible said as he laughed to himself.
"Uh, who are the Vees?" I asked out loud
"Nobody important. Now to engage in yet another forgettable encounter." Alastor said as he stepped forward and raised his cane into the air. There was a hiss of static and suddenly three circles of lime green energy appeared on the ground below the airship and from the circles emerged massive black tentacles. At first, I thought they were like that of an octopus or squid but there were no suckers to be seen, just smooth oily black flesh. Then those tree tentacles lunged at the Sir Pentious' ship and started knocking it around.
To call what I was witnessing a fight would be a gross overstatement. Based on the screams of fear from Sir Pentious, he was not having a good time, which was in direct contrast to Alastor who was laughing maniacally.
"So seriously, who are the Vees?" I asked the others, making sure to never take my eyes off the 'fight'. Alastor obviously wasn't putting in his best effort but any knowledge on how the Radio Demon fought would be helpful when he and I eventually decided to throw down.
"Vox, Valentino and Velvet." Angel said as he watched the beat down with a grin. "A group of Overlords who all work together to corner the entertainment market. Vox is everything and anything television, Valentino is the pimp of pimps and has his dick in every cream pie in Pentagram, and Velvette controls every social media app or trend on the hellnet. They may not be the strongest lords around, but the three of them together practically run the city."
"Hmm, Valentino. Val. Wait, you work for one of the Vee's?" I asked Angel who suddenly looked very uncomfortable. It was only for a moment before that cocky grin was back on his face, but for a second, I saw the real Angel Dust. He looked absolutely miserable.
"Work for him? Pal, I'm his best seller!" he said striking what I guessed was supposed to be a sexy pose. "Ain't no one that can suck a dick better than me!"
I just glanced at him without saying a word before I resumed watching Alastor torture his opponent
"Arrgh! Oh! Please!Stop!" Sir Pentious begged as his ship was being thrown about by the tentacles like a toddler would a toy. All the while Alastor never stopped laughing.
"Um...Alastor? I think he's had enough." Charlie said though it sounded like more of a plea.
It was about that time that the airship tipped forward and a body came crashing through the window and slamming face first into the ground. Based on the way he had hissed during his speech; I had suspected that Sir Pentious was a snake demon and it seems I was proven right. His lower body was one long trunk with black and yellow scales and the occasional dark pink spot that resembled an eye. The upper body was more humanoid with a torso, two arms and a head. What I originally thought was long hair was actually something similar to a cobra's hood. He wore a grey and yellow pinstripe jacket with a matching large top hat that seemed to have its own mouth and eye.
"Thanks for another forgettable experience." Alastor said as he gave his staff a twirl. I had to step to the side to avoid what looked like a small egg man hit the ground with a crack as yolk splattered everywhere.
"Thank you... for letting your guard down!" the snake man said with a groan before striking out at Alastor with his tail. He missed Alastor himself, but did manage to grab the edge of his suit and tore it from him.
"Aha! Yah!Oh, shit..." Pentious exclaimed only to realize how screwed he was when Alastor's malice seemed to become a physical presence. I'm not sure what exactly happened as one moment there was the sound of an elk's bugle, the next there was a green explosion and Sir Pentious went flying off into the distance.
"Don't you think that was a bit of an overreaction?" I asked the man in red.
"Not at all. In fact, it looks as though I need a visit to the tailor! Best of luck, chums." He said walking off.
"Wait, you'releaving?!" Vaggie said in shock "Alastor! We need your help! We need you to do your job."
"We kinda need a wall." Angel said gesturing to the massive hole in the building.
"Eh, let Bambi go, just let me grab some material and I can patch this up in no time." I said examining the hole and pulling out my mobile workshop. A few years ago, Nora and I had managed to get our hands on a Vault-Tec C.A.M.P. and reverse engineered the thing. It was one of the reasons that I had managed to expand my empire so quickly.
The look he shot me was a mix of envy and rage before he hid it behind his usual smile. "Oh, don't trouble yourself it's my job after all! Can't let my new project fall into disrepair already. What would the papers say?!"
Then with the snap of his fingers, several black and white demons of different shapes and sizes appeared from the shadows, each wielding different carpentry tools. Of course, it had even been a second before Angel was flirting slash sexually harassing them.
I rolled my eyes as I stepped back into the hotel. With all the craziness starting to calm down I could finally sit down and get to reading. A way out of hell wasn't just going to fall into my lap, now was it?
…-…
An Hour Later
"Let's begin.
I'm gonna make you wish that I stayed gone!
Tune on in.
When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run!
Oh, this will be fun! Hahahah!"
I stared at my pipboy's radio and the nearby television that now showed the 'Please Stand By' image that meant it had lost its signal.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked out loud. I had just finished reading one of the books when all of a sudden, the TV had turned on and what I am assuming was Overlord Vox had come on and started singing about and insulting Alastor. Then Alastor himself had somehow come on over the radio and insulted him right back while singing along.
"What was what?" Husk asked as he wiped down the bar.
"The singing, the duet, the back and forth insulting sing along!?" I said confused beyond belief.
"Oh right, I forgot you were new. Yeah, that happens every now and then. You actually missed the princess breaking into song after you left."
I rubbed my eyes as in irritation as I felt a headache coming on as I sat down at the bar. "Okay but why? Did I somehow fall into Hell the Musical?"
Husk actually let out a chuckle at my remark. "That was my first reaction when I saw it for the first time and you're not that wrong either. Look I don't know the full story but basically now that you kicked the bucket, your soul really likes to express itself. Think back to all the time where a song really pulled at your heart or in the quiet moments where you just decided to hum a tune you made up or drum a little beat for no reason. You seem like a well-read guy, did you ever read Tolkien's stuff?"
I shot him a questioning look but gave him nod. "Years ago, back when I was in school." I had been such a bookworm back then. I had loved reading stories and still thought fondly of those days, back when things were simple and the only thing I had to worry about was the stupid G.O.A.T. test. Sometimes I stuck out at night to visit the vault library to read all the classics. Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein, Moby Dick, even The Catcher in the Rye. Never did like that hypocritical little bastard Holden.
"You ever read The Silmarillion?" he asked, and I gave him a shrug.
"Only the beginning, mainly the part where it goes into his creation myth about how Eru and the Ainur literally sung reality into existence…oh son of a bitch." I said, my eyes widening as I realized what Husk was getting at.
"Yep. I've been down here for a while and met a couple sinners who were down right ancient. According to them all the holy books got creation wrong while Mr. Fantasy Author hit the bullseye."
"Are you shitting me?" I asked in disbelief before letting out a sigh. "So what, souls of the damned just constantly randomly break out into song?"
"Nah, most sinners go their entire afterlife without belting a tune. It usually takes some pretty extreme and powerful emotions to get a song going and even then, it's when someone really needs to express themselves through something other than smacking someone around. Hell, if the singer is powerful enough, they could even drag other people into their little theater show."
"Like the Radio and TV demons both singing about how much they loathe each other?" I asked.
"Yep." Husk nodded his head. "Those two have been at each other's throats for two centuries now. You know, if I wasn't sure that the crimson prick isn't attracted to anyone, I would think they had some sort of hate kink for each other."
"Ew. I don't even want to imagine what that would look like." I said with a shudder.
"I do!" Angel called out from the couch.
"You are not a part of this conversation spiderfuck!" I called out before turning back to Husk. "Thanks for explaining that to me. I thought I was going crazy for minute."
Husk and I exchanged nods before I got up, made my way back to my seat and continued reading. I had gotten halfway through the new book when I heard the front door open and close. In stepped Charlie and Vaggie, both looking mentally and emotionally exhausted as Charlie threw herself on the other couch.
"Soooo? How'd it go?" Angel asked with a slightly mocking smile.
Vaggie let her shoulders slump and let out a sigh. "Not a single new recruit."
Angel Dust gave them a shrug. "Yeah well, who would wanna use their last days not fucking and fighting?"
"People who actually want to survive." I said, marking my page and setting the book to the side. "Seriously, I've literally run into thousands of suicidal idiots who thought charging a man in full power armor with a lead pipe was a good idea, and people down here make them look like geniuses."
"Seriously?" Angel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. Up in the wastelands it was nonstop Darwin awards. This one time I found the body of a guy who named himself Mr. RADical. Guy found a radiation suit and started throwing himself into irradiated pits just because he could. The idiot didn't understand the difference between radiation resistant and radiation proof. When I found the guy, he was basically one large tumor and apparently he wrote it off as food poisoning."
"Hah! Fucker deserves hell for that level of stupid." Angel said with a chuckle.
"What are you doing here?!" I heard Vaggie yell from the door. Charlie, Angel Dust and I glanced at each other before getting up and walking over to the door to see Vaggie holding one Sir Pentious at spearpoint.
"Oh! Hello again!" Charlie said cheerfully.
"I didn't come looking for a fight. I uhh…I heard that you're helping people, people who want to be better?" the snake man said.
Charlie let out a gasp before grabbing the sinner by the hand and pulling him inside. "You heard right! Welcome to our home of healing, our resort of restoration, our-"
"Are you fucking nuts? This chump was trying to kill us like literally six hours ago! And now you wanna bring him in here to live with us?" Angel shouted.
"I gotta agree with the Tarantula. No way this guy had a change of heart that fast." I said crossing my arms.
"This place is about second chances, and who deserves one more than this slithery…slippery…speciallittle man!"
"Aren't you supposed to protect this place?" Angel asked Vaggie. Unfortunately for Vaggie, she was subjected to what could best be described as the cutest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen courtesy of Charlie.
Vaggie let out a deep sigh. "I guess he's not much of a threat without the war machine, or even with the war machine." She said, causing the snake man to droop down in depression.
Charlie was so happy to hear that, she rushed forward to hug Vaggie, lifted her up and gave a twirl. "Oh! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" she said before putting the fallen angel down and leading the sinner into the building to give him a tour. "Sir Pentious! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!"
"Oh no darling! Thank you! You won't regret this." He said, triggering every warning alarm in my head.
As they moved on, I hung back with Angel Dust who was lightly glaring at the snake. "So, who exactly is this Pentious guy?"
"A joke." He spat. "He's a wannabe Overlord who gets his ass handed to him by everyone, my sexy self-included. Guy's a laughing stock who no one takes seriously or wants to make a deal with."
"Who also happens to own an airship that's armed to the teeth. One I'm guessing he made himself." I pointed out.
"Yeah, sure the guy is great at building stuff, but that don't mean he knows how to use it. Cept for making weapons, he's shit at everything else. Trust me soldier boy, this guy isn't going to last a week." He said before walking off.
"I'm more concerned what he's actually trying to do here." I said to myself as joined the rest of the residents.
…-…
""Oh, I'm a bad man on the streets who never got enough hugs, now, where's an innocent kid I can sell crack to?" Wow, who wrote this?" Angel, who was now dressed up in a trench coat and fedora. Charlie had seemingly decided that now that she had three guests, that it was time to start trying to reform us. Angel and Sir Pentious were currently engaged in roleplay in order to learn how to say no to drugs.
"It's great right? Keep going!" Charlie said excitedly.
"Hey you." Angel Dust said in a dull voice.
"Who, me?" Pentious said, dressed like a child in an old-fashioned sailor uniform and holding a large lollipop.
""Yeah, you look like a kid who could use some…devil's dandruff?" Oh, for fuck's sake."
"Not me! I have to go home and study!" the snake man said, trying to look cut but instead looking very stupid.
"Come on kid, it'll make you cool like me…the crackhead."
Wow, that was some bad writing.
"The only cool thing here is to say no to drugs! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off tonothave sexual intercourse before marriage!" Pentious said triumphantly.
"Yes! Oh bravo! Bravo!Wow Pentious! At this rate, you'll be redeemed in no time." Charlie congratulated the sinner who reveled in her praise. The others were so focused on Pentious that I don't think anyone else noted that Angel's phone started ringing and he stiffened after looking at the screen. He quietly left the room, and I decided to follow along silently.
I heard him talking on the phone and whoever he was talking to had him so nervous that he was actually stuttering.
"Y-yes Valentino. T-thank you Valentino. I'll see you in first thing Monday morning. Thank you again Valentino, I won't be late." He hung up the phone and let out a relieved sigh and it looked like a massive weight had been taken off his shoulders. "Oh thank god."
"You get some good news?" I asked.
"Jesus!" The spider yelled as he jumped back clutching his chest. "Shit man! You almost gave me a fucking heart attack. You're wearing armor, how are you so quiet?"
"Lots of practice sneaking past Deathclaws. So, what's got you so relieved? You look like just got told your cancer is in remission." I said as I leaned against the wall.
Angel let out another sigh. "Nosy little fucker, aren't you?"
"Like you would not believe." I agreed.
"Well if you have to know, I just got told that I don't have to work the V Bowl tomorrow. Thank fuck."
I gave him a questioning glance. "V Bowl? That some kind of sporting event?"
"Yeah, of the bloody kind." He said with a grimace. "Couple decades back Vox and Val figured out that sinners start bouncing back from E Day after about two weeks. So, they get this great idea to go all roman and built a Colosseum with death races, gladiators fights and all that kind of crap. The final event is one massive free for all and once half the fuckers are dead, Val brings out a bunch of his boys and girls and then bam! Massive orgy. After that it's a just a big mess to finish the night."
"I'm guessing you were a part of one of those messes?" I asked.
"More than one. The thing is I can handle that kind of shit in my sleep. The problem is the Champ. Valentino found this guy about ten years back and let me tell you, he is one sick freak. I've sucked plenty of psycho dick before, but this guy? He scares me.
Thankfully Val decided to mix things up this year and is bringing in new talent. I don't envy those fuckers but I'm glad I don't have to go. I just get to sit back, relax and do whatever the fuck I want. And right now, I want to fucking sleep. G'night soldier boy." He said with a mock salute as he walked away.
"Night fluffy." I said as I went my own way. I reatomized a bottle of Nuka Quantum and downed it in a few gulps. I had a long night of reading ahead of me and I needed my energy. So, I returned to the group, told them good night, grabbed my books and headed to my room.
…-…
Next Morning
"Seriously? He was a spy?" I asked Angel as I ate my breakfast of sugar bombs.
"Yep, and a really bad one too. Apparently, Vox wanted him to spy on us to see what the crimson fucker was up to." He said taking a bite of his own cereal.
"And you caught him in the middle of the night setting up a camera."
"Yeah, we got into a fight, I won by the way, and we were loud enough to wake the toots and her gal pal. I'm surprised you didn't hear anything."
I gave him a shrug as I continued to eat. "I was up most of the night reading while I had my music playing. So, are you okay with the guy staying? You seemed just as suspicious of the guy as I was."
Angel gave me a small nod of his head. "Sure, after what I saw I figured the guy could use a break. I mean I might not be the most empathetic guy around, but after watching a guy be told by the man he looked up to to go kill yourself was hard to watch. Basically laid down and asked Vaggie to make it quick. Course miss sunshine decided to give him another shot."
"Sounds like he finally hit rock bottom." I mused. "Heh, good for him. Nowhere left to go but up."
We ate in silence for a few minutes before I finished the bowl and pushed it to the side and grabbed the stack of books and made to leave before Angel called out.
"What are you doing with those? Didn't you just bring them in yesterday?" he asked.
"Yes, but I'm a speed reader and knocked them out last night. Still managed to grab a few hours of sleep. I was just going pop over to the library and return them. Shouldn't take me more than an hour."
He gave me a nod. "Good idea, best not to keep those fuckers waiting. I knew a bitch who was late returning some pirate romance book, and a collector showed up to bring it back. It took months for her to literally pull herself together. Those library freaks take that kind of stuff seriously."
"Thanks for the warning." I said before walking away.
I made way through the lobby and ducked under a banner that Charlie and Vaggie were hanging above the doorway that said "Happy first day, Sir Pentious!". I was actually kind of jealous. They didn't put up a banner for me. I had just slipped my helmet and mask on and opened the door when I almost ran into a couple of demonettes.
They looked somewhat young but consider they were demons that didn't mean much. The First had blonde hair put up into a ponytail with white skin, red eyes and glasses and black horns sticking out of her head. She was wearing a buttoned up white lab coat and held a clipboard. The other had curly cream colored hair in a similar ponytail with light brown skin and similar eyes and horns. She wore a sleeveless black crop-top turtleneck, gray jean-shorts, white thigh high stockings and black ballet shoes. She was also pushing a dolly with a large wooden crate with "Carmine Weaponry" stamped on the side.
"Oh, sorry about that." I said stepping to the side and holding the door open for them.
The two woman both seemed slightly surprised but quickly recovered "Thank you." The one in the lab coat said as she stepped inside. "Glad to some men can still act like a gentleman." The other said, flashing me a smile before the other girl inside.
I let the door close behind them and made my way down the hill.
"Carmine Weaponry. Hmm, I might have to see what they have to offer sometime." I said as I made my way into Pentagram City.
…-…
Hell had seemingly calmed down from yesterday's hysteria and settled into the level of chaos I had seen when I first arrived. Of course, that didn't stop idiots from bothering me as I made my way to the library.
The tall, thin and green lizard man with an orange frill that resembled a mohawk swung a chain at my head. It was slow and telegraphed, allowing me to easily duck the blow. As I rose back up, I shoved Lil Devil underneath his chin and with the pull of a trigger, blew the top of his head off.
I watched body crumple to the ground, and I grit my teeth as I felt a warmth flow through me.
I had noticed it yesterday on my way back to the Hotel. I hadn't noticed it the first time when I stabbed that first mugger, no doubt distracted by my sudden fall into hell, but after the dozen muggings from yesterday I had noticed it. Evey time I had "killed" a sinner, I felt an irritating warmth flow across my skin and deep into my body. It was horribly familiar and a glance at my pipboy revealed that my radiation level had risen again and after lifting up my mask and looking at my reflection in a nearby window, I saw my eyes were glowing again. Every time I rendered a sinner "dead" they seemed to release a burst of radiation, which made no sense to me because the only beings who I knew that could do such a thing were Glowing Ones. That and my Geiger counter had never gone off. Whatever was happening seemingly only affected me.
"Fuck." I said before letting out a sigh, picking up my books and carrying on to the library. I shoved my concerns about irradiated sinners to the back of my mind and instead focused on what I had learned.
The books hadn't had much information on teleportation or dimensional travel but what I had found could prove useful. The first thing I had managed to find was that access to the Mortal Realm was heavily restricted by heaven and those of great power as well as permission could gain access to earth. When it came to Hell, there were only a few beings capable of that, one of which was a demon named Asmodeus, the King of Lust. The book went on to describe how that despite Asmodeus not being allowed to create portals for himself, he could create what were called Asmodean Crystals, gemstones imbued with transdimensional power that were given to his chosen incubus or succubus. Apparently, sex demons were some of the few infernal beings allowed to walk the earth, mainly because despite their magical powers, they were mostly harmless. Sure, they were able to inspire great lust in humans, it seemed that there was no brainwashing or mind control involved, just a whole lot of sex appeal and a natural skill at seduction. If the human in question were to give in to lust, they did so of their own volition.
In fact, there were multiple entries where Asmodeus himself emphasized how lust was not something that should be forced or coerced. He seemed to consider it an art and should be earned. Things like blackmail and rape disgusted him beyond belief and anyone he caught doing such things would face his ire. For a being that could be considered the personification of one of the seven deadly sins, he seemed like an alright guy.
At first, I thought I could be as simple as getting my hands on one of those crystals, but apparently they only worked for the demon it was assigned to. Which meant I had to find a way to get a demon that owned one to voluntarily open a portal to earth. Now the problem was actually finding a demon who could do that.
Of course, I still had another option left to me. Repairing the book.
It had taken quite a bit of reading, but I had managed to figure out just what that book was, and mor importantly who it belonged to. Hellborn apparently their own royalty and nobility consisting of things like Kings, Princes, Dukes and other such titles, who were collectively known as the Ars Goetia. Some of the Goetia were given certain domains to watch over and study, and sometimes those things were in the mortal world and so they were given special grimoires that gave them access to earth. After comparing the strange emblem on the grimoire to the list of Goetia revealed that it belonged to one Prince Stolas. He was described as an owl-like demon with long legs with a crown on top of his head, which from what I could remember of the brief interaction during that teleporting fiasco, matched the demon perfectly. The book mentioned that Stolas was in charge of studying herbs, plants, precious stones and more importantly, astronomy.
Obviously, astronomy didn't mean anything down here considering the only things that could be seen in the night sky was the pentagram, the red moon like object with a star carved into it and the white mass of shifting energy that looked like it was made of angelic wings. Not a star in sight. Which means the only way he could study astronomy is if he could open a portal to earth to observe the heavens above.
If I really wanted to, I could potentially approach the Prince and give his book back and he might even allow me to return home. Of course that relied on the generosity of demonic royalty and something tells me he wouldn't be happy with me damaging his book. That wasn't even getting into the story of how those assassins got their hands on his book so who knows what kind of minefield I would be walking into there. No, repairing the book was my back up plan and would focus my attention on finding a demon with one of those crystals.
I smiled under my mask, happy to finally have a possible means of escape.
As I made my way up the stairs and inside the Buer library I noticed that it was not as quiet as the last time I had been here. Before it had been almost as quiet as tomb while this time voices echoed off the walls as well as the sound of terrified sobbing.
I looked around and quickly found a group of demons surrounding a sheep woman who was bawling her eyes out while sitting on a chair. I was about to step in when I realized that the demons surrounding the girl weren't threatening her, but instead trying to comfort her as she broke down.
"It's okay Laila, let it out." A bleu feathered bird demon said as he rubbed her back.
The surrounding demons were all dressed rather conservatively with long skirts, sweater vest and various jackets like one would see on a professor. It wasn't hard to guess that they all worked for the library. As I slowly approached them, I realized that the sheep girl, Laila, was not in good shape. Her black leggings were torn at the knees, revealing gashes and scrapes that lightly bled, and her dark blue sweater was stretched and torn in a way that revealed her white bra clad breasts. It didn't take a genius to realize that someone had clearly tried to force themselves on her.
As I got closer, the demons finally noticed me immediately blocked my view of the sheep demon while sending glares my way.
"Ehem," I coughed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, I was just wanting to return these books."
I felt like an ass asking about that, but I unfortunately had places to be and there wasn't anything I could do to help the girl. Chances were, she didn't even know who her assailant was and was long gone.
A red fox woman wearing a Victorian white blouse and an ankle length orange skirt and small round spectacles let out sigh before stepping forward and taking the books from me. "I can take it from here sir, now if there isn't anything else?" she said, give me the not so subtle hint to leave.
"No, that's it. But if you could, could you tell Miss Mayberry thank you? I think she may have helped save my life." I said before getting ready to leave.
Of course, it was at that moment that Laila's sobs intensified and I was worried she might hyperventilate. "I-I'm s-s-sorry miss Mayberry." She managed to get out before curling in on herself.
I felt my eyes widen behind my mask and immediately made my way to the crying woman. Several demons tried to stop me, but I just shoved them to the side. Once there was nothing between m and Laila, I made sure to kneel down so that I was eye level as opposed to looking down at her.
"Miss? Could you please tell what happened to Miss Mayberry?" I asked as gently as I could.
Laila let out a few hiccups before managing to pull herself together enough to respond. "T-They took her."
"Who did?" I asked.
"V-Valentino's men. They took her and they tried to take me too, but she fought them and told me to run. A-And I did, I ran and left her alone with those bastards! Now there going to do thing to her, awful things. And people are just going to watch and laugh and get off to it. Oh god, why?!" she said while on the verge of breaking down again.
"Listen to me." I said grabbing her hand and giving it a gentle reassuring squeeze. "Do you know where they took her?"
"The V bowl! They took her to the V Bowl!" she yelled out as tears began to again flow.
...-…
Not much going on here other than to show that the shows plot is still carrying on, doing a little bit of world building and setting up the next chapter.
Now to address a little bit of world issues, please if you can, do what you can for the Victims of Hurricane Helene. It could be helping out; it could be donating food or money to the people or even something as simple as a prayer. I'm glad to be writing this fic while safe and warm in my home but those poor people have lost just about everything. So please do what you can.
So, with my plea made, I ask you to have a wonderful day and please leave a review.
See you next time!