It is the beginning of the meeting of the Sins. The first time in years that all of them have been in the same room. It's clear not every demon anticipated the king's arrival, however, as a wrench might've been thrown into someone else's plans.
Lucifer's fine. He's done this many times.
Meanwhile, Charlie is the talk of the room, as she tries to navigate dealing with her family.
(Do wanna remind everyone that I am posting on AO3: cyberwolf_1013. It's my main repository for new work or updates.)
Look To Our Worst Angels
Chapter 4
For the first time in more than 15 years the most popular nightclub in the Lust Ring was closed and roped off from the crowds of eager demons looking to get their freak on alongside the Sin of Lust.
Numbers at Ozzie's had even picked up in the weeks since the confrontation at Mammon's Greed Ring clown show. Demons, very eager to get a glimpse of the jester imp who chained the heart of the ruler of Lust. The Deadly Sin waited in a magically protected and windowless backroom, tall and wide in size, in order to easily accommodate the powerful company of demons that would utilize it for the duration of this migraine-in-progress. Obviously, Asmodeus had arrived early to open the seal and open the room. He'd left Fizz alone, nervous, but reassured things would go smoothly after the meeting. There was no issue that Lucifer would be over the moon to meet his boyfriend for the first time.
In the back of his mind Oz shivered with happiness at getting to officially call the imp his boyfriend. The large blue Sin wasn't alone for long, however.
Satan was first, the fiery Sin coming in from the door, instead of portaling straight into the room. The Sin was a loner, and despised the meetings, so it was a shock he was first. He stood a bit shorter than Asmodeus in his natural form, but he was broad and barrel-chested under his fitted vest and tight shirt. The red skinned Sin nodded curtly to Oz and spoke momentarily to him before separating himself to the other side of the room.
"Greetings, it appears I'm the first to arrive this time. No offense to you, Asmodeus, but hopefully this will be a short visit." Unsaid was the question on his tongue. 'Will Lucifer show his face this time. We've all seen the coverage.'
The next to arrive was the neon-colored party demon herself, Beelzebub. She breezed through a portal and in a whirl of bright color slid across the table in front of where Ozzie was waiting. "Hey, ya big, beautiful, rooster. How ya been?" Asmodeus smiled at one of his favorite parts of these meetings. The two caught up for a few minutes, waiting for the others to show up. She ignored Satan.
Just then the room tingled with familiar magic and the air wavered where, a few seconds later, a portal appeared. The three demons turned to watch, with anticipation, who would arrive to their little party next.
If Satan's corner got a little hotter, then no one cared, as the King arrived.
"Luci!" Beelzebub lost no time in showing how happy she was to see Lucifer as the foxy demon dived into the short demon king and swung him off his feet as soon as he cleared the golden glow of the portal. Crushing him in a hug that would likely break bones on anyone else. "No one told me you were gonna be here." She glared over his signature white hat (that had miraculously remained on his head) at Asmodeus. If anyone would have known ahead of time, it would be him.
The King of Hell wheezed in her arms as all the air was forced out of him. "He~ey, Bee... Nice to see you too."
Bee finally put Lucifer on his feet again. To which the king was very grateful for. "Everyone's okay, right? I mean, obviously, you laid out that douchy bastard. Good on ya, bro. I would've come to check on everyone but someone had to stick their tailfeathers in the way." With a light punch on Lucifer's arm the hyper Sin sent another pouty glare in Ozzie's direction.
"What about Charl-" When she finally looked past Lucifer, who was trying to straighten his coat again, she finally saw who else had stepped through the portal. "-iieee?!"
Bee's neon tail flared brighter as she streaked past the king of Hell with no regard. With a swirl of flashy color and joy she bowled into the surprise addition to the group. She excitedly scooped Charlie up by her arms and easily held all 6 ft. of princess mid-air, like a doll. "Heya, mini-bitch! Glad to see ya not dead."
"Aunt Bee, please don't call me that," Charlie pleaded weakly as she dangled above the floor.
"I tried calling, why didn't you answer your phone? I was starting to get worried, what with your dad leaving me on read." The colorful Sin gave Charlie a shake around the shoulders as she placed the blonde back on solid ground.
"Oh, well, about that... my phone was kinda... buriedundermyhotel." Charlie muttered, frowning deeply, and looking down.
Her phone. Her clothes. Bits and pieces of her life since she'd moved out on her own. Her and Vaggie's life since they first met. Charlie tried not to acknowledge the wave of depression that shot through her at the reminder. Tried to bury that along with everything else. 'I have a brand-new hotel, thanks to Dad and my friends, we have new clothes, and new memories are being made every day to hold onto. They are going to be okay. I'm okay.'
Bee looked confused for a second as she leaned back to give the girl a real once over. She felt that. "Buried under..."
The Sin didn't know anything about this hotel except the vague memory of an overexcited call a few years ago from the newly liberated young princess. But she felt that dark jolt. For just a heartbeat, like a current that passed through the pair of them, and it was such a surprise that Beelzebub let it get to her.
She got angry.
"Those pissy little-" Her eyes started to glow pure magenta.
Thankfully, she was instantly distracted by Satan, who plucked Charlie from her grasp and stared witheringly into her glowing eyes until she blinked first. "Your emotions will get the better of you one day, Beelzebub."
The winged fox demon scoffed and folded both sets of arms across herself. "Dick off, Satan. I wasn't gonna-"
"Lose control of yourself? Here, in front of the king... and the princess? Like one of your common dogs?" The broad-shouldered red Sin chuckled darkly. He pulled Charlie away with a sneer in Beelzebub's direction.
Satan kept a large hand on her as the smaller Sin huffed and stomped off. "I saw your actions in the battle, Charlotte."
"It's Charlie," she automatically corrected. The princess was busy looking over her shoulder as Satan led her to the other side of the room and away from the others. She saw Aunt Bee grumbling something and marching off to talk with her dad.
The Sin's bruising grip on her arm turned uncomfortably warm as the lava-like veins in his arms thrummed brighter. 'Right, I forgot, correcting Satan...not a good idea.' His eyes narrowed down on her and she couldn't help but shrink a little under the hardened gaze. He landed his second hand heavily on her shoulder, shaking her to her hooves, as they paused at the far end of the meeting table.
Satan's expression turned calculating as he stared at the young demoness that was meant to be heir. "Yes..." his deep voice rumbled dangerously, and his mouth curled in a disdainful scowl. A warning not to correct him again. "I saw the battle on the Sinner news station. As did most of Hell. Congratulations on your defeat of the First Man are in order, I suppose."
The Sin of Wrath was always a hard demon to earn a fair word from, especially when it came to training or battles, so she was a bit relieved at the praise from him. Charlie smiled and perked up a bit. "Oh, tha-"
"However-"
'Shit, spoke too soon.'
"I do hope you're not satisfied with what occurred there."
The barrel chested, hot-blooded, Sin fisted his hand with a threatening crack of his knuckles. The displeasure was clear in his hard expression. "That pitiful display against the First Man is a clear indicator you've been neglecting your training. Maybe I should speak to your father about you coming to train in Wrath with me again. When this is over."
For a brief moment Charlie remembered the blazing hot sun of the Wrath Ring, the harsh work her uncle made her do on his compound, and the training her little child sized body was put through.
She shuddered.
"Oh, no, Uncle. Ha, I don't think that's really necessary. J-just give the Hell Horses a pat for me." Charlie raised her hands and tried to back away but found that she couldn't with Satan's hand still on her shoulder. "We...we won, after all." She tried to defend herself and her friends. They'd lost so much in the process the blonde refused to let anyone take away from that.
Despite his complete loathing for his fellow Sins, and interacting with them on any level, Satan couldn't lie to himself about the fond interest he felt towards the young heir. All the untapped potential in her. "The herds were always easier to handle when you were in the Ring. But you were sloppy, child." Satan's voice lowered to an edge of possible concern. If you twisted your ear in one direction and squinted.
"That creates more danger for yourself and those you've chosen to protect. If Heaven decided now to send a force of reckoning against you or Hell you would stand no chance. You don't understand their power and their willingness to expend any cost to maintain it."
Charlie frowned, looking down, her fingers sheepishly twisting around themselves. She had no response or excuse. They had won, eventually. 'Only because of Rosie and her cannibals and Carmilla and even then... if Dad hadn't shown up when he did I would've...' Satan's claws digging into her shoulder, surprisingly, is what kept her grounded in the moment. They kept her from sinking into the choking feeling of malicious hands around her throat.
Charlie visibly and mentally winced.
Across the room Lucifer kept an eye on the pair, only half listening to Bee and Oz talk about something that happened with Mammon recently. That was nothing new. The two Sins were always clashing over something, however, Satan was a wild card at this meeting and he didn't want Charlie alone with him for too long.
The tall and muscular Sin- seriously, how did the humans manage to mix them up all the time- must've felt the king's eyes on him at this point because his conversation with Charlie ended rather quickly. The Wrathian leader bowed shortly and left her at the far end of the room. His glowing gaze focused on Lucifer as he started his way over to the group of Sins.
Bee rolled her eyes childishly but didn't say anything as Satan bowed and offered up the expected greetings.
With a few minutes to catch her breath, which Charlie was thankful for, she was finally able to get her bearings. Everyone else was occupied talking to her dad near the opposite end of the table. It was more normal sized and some of the Sins would need to adjust their forms once the meeting actually started but that wouldn't happen until Lucifer took his seat at the head of everything.
Charlie looked casually around the much larger room that was made to accommodate the Sin's natural forms- and then some. It had been so long since she was here last even though she wasn't in attendance when Uncle Ozzie's club had been burned by her dad and Leviathan. That was the cause for this specially protected room that was created during one of the previous meetings. She still felt guilty the whole fight was because of her and Seviathan though. The walls were etched with protective sigils that glimmered against the stonework. The ceiling was arched into a half barrel shape from one end to the other and carved with each of the Sin's personal signs. That was all probably due to her dad's creative flair.
'Sev... When was the last time I even thought about him? When me and Vaggie moved into the hotel?' Charlie could distinctly remember when her, at the time, new girlfriend accidently uncovered a box of old mementos from Seviathan that had somehow survived her first purge of the Hellborn prince.
It'd been embarrassing at first but Vaggie had been the best about it. She'd helped Charlie set fire to everything in the little keepsake box... and the box itself.
'I wonder what Vaggie's doing now. It's still pretty early in the afternoon. It hasn't been that long since I left. An hour, maybe. I can't believe I miss her so much already.' The princess mentally shook herself. She was being ridiculous. Back home her and Vaggie wouldn't care about being separated for hours during the day. Though maybe it was the fact that they wouldn't see each other tonight or that they were Rings apart from each other for the first time ever.
In search of something to occupy her mind Charlie looked around and was surprised to see Mammon already in the room. It was shockingly impressive that the Sin was able to go without notice, being the size he was. Not to mention the bright green color scheme. Charlie gave a welcoming little wave but she didn't walk over. He'd always been a bit of a creep.
The greedy Sin gave her a wary look with a raised brow. Obviously, he wasn't expecting either her or her father to show up.
Speaking of...
Charlie looked to Lucifer and the small group around him. She was about to walk over and say hi to Ozzie but then she saw that Leviathan was here now too. Charlie hesitated, flexing her fingers, and gulped. 'Okay, right, Uncle Levi's supposed to be here, I knew that. It's just him anyway. I mean, it's not the same as before. There's no reason he would bring-'
"Hey, if it isn't my Lucky Charm, what are you doing here? Come to mingle with the lower Rings?"
Charlie froze mid-step.
There was a sudden storm of emotions running riot through her brain as a voice she hadn't heard in almost 60 years registered. 'Oh no. No, not him. Not now.' She tried to reign in her emotions as she half turned to look behind her. With wide eyes she saw the way too familiar cocky grin of Seviathan von Eldrick and her heart dropped into her twisting stomach.
The Envy Prince looked the same as ever. His suit was pressed perfectly, down to the folded kerchief in his front pocket, and his scales oiled to a glimmering sheen.
"S-Sev... err, Seviathan, I-" Charlie turned fully to face the royal demon, crossing her arms, and trying to cover for the fact that she was so off-guard. 'Why the Hell is he here?!' Her internal panic aside Charlie tried to appear as unaffected as she could by a surprise face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend. "I'm NOT your 'Lucky Charm'!"
Charlie scowled at him. "I could also demand the same. What are you doing at a Sin's meeting?"
Seviathan never lost his smile as he sidled up to the princess, boldly wrapping an arm around her shoulders, as if their relationship hadn't ended more than half a century ago. "What's the matter, Char? Course you are. You always loved when I called you that."
He leaned in even closer but was stopped by a hand pressing to his face.
Charlie was done.
Discomfort giving way to annoyance and anger as he moved even more into her space. She let one arm drop, ducking under the one he had on her shoulders, while the other came up to put a stop to him getting even closer. Grimacing in disgust, she felt his tongue on the palm of her hand as she pushed his face away from her. Surprisingly he allowed her to push him back. Or, maybe it wasn't so surprising, as her father and the other Sins were right across the room.
He laughed as he pulled his face from her outstretched hand. "I know. I know. You're still playing around with those sinners of yours, but they have to be getting boring by now. I know those backwater imps aren't doing it for me anymore and you always want the next challenge. Did you finally grow tired of the taste of their weakness?"
Then Sev snapped his fingers in an 'ah-ha' action. "Let me guess, you heard I was gonna be here, and you wanted to let loose finally. I knew you'd miss this rock show."
The green toned Hellborn prince flashed his sharpened teeth and made a crude motion below the belt.
Charlie turned red. She could feel her horns threatening to come out and her claws had already lengthened considerably without her even being aware. It became even harder not to lash out when Sev continued trying to get in her space. Placing a hand on her upper arm and possessively holding it there. His own dark claws digging into the red fabric of her jacket. The blonde growled with a low warning tone.
"Oh, I remember that noise," Seviathan forced her closer with a sneer curling his lips. "Getting you riled up is music to my ears. The hotter the better. Remember?"
It actually hurt to keep herself under control and her demonic features in check. This was definitely not the time or place to get into another of the same old drag out fights with her arrogant ex. She was here to help and support her dad and maybe reconnect to the rest of her family. With effort, Charlie reigned in her temper, and refused to give Sev the satisfaction.
She wasn't in school anymore. They were supposed to put up the facade of being cordial, at the least, but that didn't mean she'd let him think he'd won anything or talk down to her.
"You've always been rocking to a one-man band, Sev, and it wasn't much of a show to begin with." Charlie shot back, pulling away, and cooly plucking his hand from her arm. She hoped that Angel Dust would be proud of her for the snarky comment. It sounded like something he would say.
Behind her she heard her dad stifle a chuckle and Ozzie's low whistle. Obviously, despite her best efforts, they'd made a scene anyway. In front of her Seviathan was left speechless and slack jawed. Charlie saw the bruised ego and frustration behind his eyes but before the prince could come up with a retort Leviathan was there.
The Sin of Envy was about as tall as Beelzebub, and where she was curvy and Satan was muscular, Leviathan was wiry and thin. There was a dark green iridescence to his skin and scales and his silvery eyes were locked onto the pair of younger demons.
The leader of the Envy Ring smacked the back of his adopted nephew's head. "Show your proper respect, boy." The older demon scolded him.
Sev scowled, dipping his chin into his chest, but didn't dare say a word in disagreement to the much older demon. Instead, he hunched forward into a half bow, his eyes glowing slightly as he bent his head in Charlie's direction. "I apologize, Princess, I got carried away." Then he turned sharply to the side and gave a much deeper bow in Lucifer's direction. "Your majesty, it's an honor to see you again."
Lucifer nodded and let the younger demon slink off. He'd known the boy so well at one point. Only a century ago it wasn't uncommon to see both Charlie and Seviathan hanging out at the palace, having dinner with him and Lilith, or sneaking off instead of attending lessons or meetings.
The king didn't know what went sour. Just that Charlie spent months locked up in her room and then absolutely refused to even visit Envy again. She wouldn't talk about it.
Leviathan took his nephew's place in front of her and raised Charlie's hand to place a light and respectful kiss to the back of it. "Princess, it is a lovely surprise to see you again, and you brought your father along. How nice that you both grace this meeting." No matter how polite he was trying to be Leviathan couldn't hide the disdain from his voice as he straightened up to stare down at the blonde.
Even as a teenager Charlie had been able to pick up on the hostility lying just under the respected, cordial, screen between her father and Leviathan. It hadn't ever been directed at her though.
"Thank you, Uncle Leviathan." Charlie smiled uneasily as she took her hand back. "It's nice to see everyone again too."
Once it was clear that Lucifer wouldn't leave his daughter's side with either him or Seviathan around the Sin excused himself and went to speak with Mammon in the corner he'd taken up since arriving. Finally, after a few more minutes of idle conversation and tense interaction, Belphegor strode through the door and all the Sins were gathered in the same room in nearly two decades.
'I won't have to hunt him down in Pride then. Thank fuck.' Was Belphegor's initial reaction when she first took in the room and the demons already gathered and waiting, including Lucifer among them. She let out a sigh of relief then her breath caught again. 'Is that Charolette? What is the princess doing here?'
"Well, that's everyone." Lucifer suddenly said with a clap of his hands. He'd been waiting to start the meeting till they were all gathered and true to form Bel was the last to show. He began walking to the head of the table and the Sins followed his example.
Charlie followed after her father. He'd already told her she'd be taking her mother's spot at his right hand. Which was customary for the second of the meeting and her mother's place since day one. 'No pressure, right, Charlie?' She thought to herself with a gulp as her feet carried her closer. 'Just taking over for the Queen of all Hell that's been doing this for several millennia and you haven't even been to an official meeting yet. No problems.'
But... There was a problem. A major one. Sitting, or sulking really, in Charlie's space.
The blonde princess paused her steps as she came to the realization that Seviathan was in her spot. Her chair. She was just borrowing it from her mother. Her mother's seat...
Seviathan wasn't paying any attention. That was giving him the benefit of the doubt since he hadn't raised his head once since Lucifer sat at the head of the table. The leader of Hell was watching his daughter closely to see what she would do. She was biting her lip which meant she hadn't made up her mind on how to feel. He never intended this as a test but when opportunity presented itself and all that.
Charlie was still trying to play nice. She didn't want to cause a huge scene and maybe her dad would prefer Sev anyway. He'd been more involved in the politics of the Rings than she had.
'It's probably really presumptuous of me to suddenly want to be seen as the King's right hand anyway.' Charlie looked away and swallowed down something oddly territorial. 'It still feels wrong that he should sit there. To just assume that he could.' The blonde was about to divert her direction to sit at one of the open spots further down the table. Before she could even take one step back, however, there was a huge blue wall behind her.
"Hey, Charlie, babe. Why don't you allow your old Uncle Oz to escort you to your seat?" The large blue rooster was smooth, as if it'd been the intention all along to walk Charlie up to the head of the table.
Feeling a swell of gratitude and love for the Lusty Sin the princess allowed herself to be escorted up to the occupied chair next to Lucifer. It appeared that Seviathan had finally clued into the fact that the meeting was starting and several Sins and the King were openly glaring at him.
The younger Envy demon looked up and saw Lucifer next to him with a heat behind his hard stare. Beelzebub and Satan were both glaring pointedly at him too. Leviathan, down at the end of the table, silently nodded to the empty chair next to him. His mouth in a thinly disappointed line across his face. Over his shoulder he finally saw Charlie, being backed by Asmodeus, as her arms crossed and apparently waiting for him to get out of her way.
With a scowl and muttered excuse Sev slid out of the chair and shuffled past the princess with barely a look. He silently took the empty spot next to his uncle.
Meanwhile, Ozzie pulled the ornate chair out for Charlie to sit. He gave her a pat on the shoulder and took his own spot across from her so the meeting could get underway.
Notes:
Next chapter we're checking in on everyone else. Now that the leaders are gone.
Next Chapter:
Vaggie noticed the sly tilt to his ever-present smile, and she rolled her eye, crossing her arms defiantly. "I'm going for a walk," she flashed the stack of papers at him. "Not that it's any of your business but I'm actually trying to get Sinners into this hotel."
"Oh, and here I thought you were off for more exciting activities, now that our dear Charlie is gone on her own adventure?"
"Is that a problem?" Vaggie replied, trying to keep her voice steady.
Alastor chuckled stepping closer to her and Vaggie automatically took a step back in response. "Oh, no problem at all. Just wouldn't want you getting lost in the city without your usual protection around."