Hello. How are you? Once again, I'd like to give my thanks to TamSongFanGirl for beta-reading this chapter. Your help is greatly appreciated and I don't know what I'd do without you. I wish you the best! Regardless, I still want to apologize to all my Spanish readers for Valentino's Spanish. Neither Spanish nor English are my native language, so I'll gladly edit out any mistake you pinpoint in my fic.
Now, up to answer some comments.
Guillo1998, your ideas never cease to amaze me! You have such a vivid imagination about the characters and the story they interact in and it saddens me a bit that I've made a diagram in my head about how events will unfold and how different are from your predictions. I hope you still like the story, even if it goes to a totally direction from your desires.
L-Arteest123, I'm so happy to see you back. I thought you had completely abandon my fic after the long hiatus so your comment brought joy in my heart.
And now, for JasonSkeans. God, this is gonna be long. Ok, here we go! Jason, I'm also aware that Viv said that there's no discrimination in Hellaverse. That doesn't mean, however, that bigoted people don't exist, similarly how there are still racist and homophobic people in US states and Western countries where racism is prohibited and gay marriage is legalized. And I know that there's a heated discourse in the fandom about what Lute meant when she referred to Charlie and Vaggie's relationship as "vile and blasphemous", although I tend to lean towards the "same-sex" option. Mainly because both Adam and Lute are supposed to reincorporate some of the most negative stereotypes about Christians, one of the most prominent being their intense homophobia and their belief that a queer person deserves to burn in Hell for just being queer. I hope I explained myself clearly.
Enjoy!
Lute dragged her weary feet on the cold pavement, patting the spot above her head, where her halo was hovering once brightly, as if it would magically reappear. She tried to focus on the positive facts• The sewers were pretty much empty from sinners and other hellish abominations, making her "real" journey to Valentino's headquarters rather easy. But that's where they ended. The sewers stank! The stink alone was enough to drive any sane individual aways, enhancing the already prevailing silence.
The water carried feces, bugs, torn limbs and even corpses from the recent Extermination. Here and there, Lute would bump into an adrift half-dead demon who would plead for their lives, though they would be sent away by a kick from the fanatical soldier.
She replayed the conversation she had with the Overlord over and over again in her head, until she came with a realization. How did she know so much about that sinner with the three hands and the robber backstory? It didn't make any sense! She probably made that up to make her feel merciful towards them! And she almost fell for it! She couldn't believe herself!
And now, she found herself with no halo. What was she gonna do? What kind of consequences would she face? Would her powers diminish? Getting your halo torn off was an indication that you did not belong in Heaven anymore. That you would never again set your foot there, no matter how much you wanted. Who should she ask for help? The only faces that flashed in her mind were her co-Exorcists, who all had returned in Heaven. How could she communicate with them? Nevermind, she could retrieve her precious link all by herself once she found Viol.
She couldn't trust a demon. For that, she was adamant.
Then, another observation started to bother her in a different way...
An instant glimpse on her reflection was all it took for her to stop dead on her tracks. It can't be... She reassured herself. There must be something in the water...
Yes, something filthy is running in the water that deformed her reflection. What else could explain the color change in her skin and the sudden growth of fangs in her mouth? Was it a side effect of having her halo violently removed?
She touched them, to confirm if they were indeed real and not just hallucinations of her previous adventures...
...
...
They were real. Very much indeed. They were solid, cold and so sharp, they almost pierced her thumb. Lute pulled it away and then patted her head, looking for signs of growing horns. She found nothing. She remained glued to her position, staring at the these changes with glassy eyes.
More than anytime in her life, she wanted to ask for help. To ask why these calamities were befalling her. For the Seraphim to assure her that everything would be alright and that they were gonna fix that and be back to normal.
She thought of Viol. Had she undertaken the same changes as her? Did she remain normal? Or had this unholy hellhole alternate her outer appearance to such a tremendous extent that she would be unable to recognize her even if she laid her eyes on her?
No! She couldn't allow that. Oh, Viol...
She forced her feet to keep on walking and reach their destination. She had to save her daughter while she still had time.
Alas, her body dragged her to the final frontier. The manhole cover that separated her from the Vee's studios. She took a deep breath, climbed up the stairs and pushed the portal sideways. She peered at the surface. The streets were gloomy from the darkness, their features and plates barely recognizable. No one circulated the roads, not even stray pests that tried to pass for cats and dogs. She could hear gunshots and drunk laughs - that's how they spend their time? - but from a notable distance, so she had nothing to worry about. She pushed herself, came out of the sewers and stared at the building opposite of her.
Nothing could make it any less obvious that this was the Vee's studios. A gigantic neon sign with three Vs intermingling flashed above her. She suspected that one of those must be an acronym for Valentino's name. She didn't care for the rest. She inspected the building. It must have stored twenty (maybe more) floors, and God knew if there were secret floors under the surface.
She pushed against the front door slightly. It was closed. She should have expected that. She took a step back and tested her wings. The pain had almost gone away, proof that they were naturally healing, but she figured they wouldn't be able to lift her for much longer. She had no other choice than inspecting the surroundings and see if she could sneak inside via different measures.
She found what she looked for in the backyard• a glass window that she could shatter with her sword handle and break in. Provided they weren't bulletproof. It was at this moment she realized that her sword had fallen in Zeezi's headquarters and she left it there. Lute cursed herself. Of all the things that could go wrong (and they did), this took the cake. Not just because she couldn't break the window - she could use any object to do so, including these fine abandoned wooden boxes, they seem like a good idea - but also because she didn't have anything to defend herself with.
Sure, these dumb sinners loved to argue and pick up fights at any moment, but none of the weapons they used against each other was made by the holy angelic steel that amplified the hit and ensured its fatality.
Lute decided to worry about that stuff later. She grabbed a wooden box, lifted it upon her head and threw it on the window. The glass shattered into a million pieces, but it also activated the alarm. The sirens broke off the serenity of the night hours. Lute covered her ears with her palms, climbed up the window and tried to avoid all these sharp shards while breaking in. She didn't succeed on the last part. She felt her outfit and her skin tearing apart from the contact, pain shooting throughout her body from the lower hands and her thighs, ichor painting the fabric and the window shards golden.
She landed on broken shards, shattering them even further and attempted to navigate her way inside the building. The corridors were narrow, dark and dirty, as if there was no maid to clean them up, and almost every door she tested was closed. She quickly spotted the alarm, coming from a device with a red light that flashed on and off. She put it off with a blow of her fist and the sirens switched off. Lute smiled at the success, massaging her aching fingers. She could investigate the studios with a more observing eye now that she didn't have to worry about the police - did Hell have a police force or something similar? She doubted, considering the high crime rate - or the owners or even some random sinners bursting in and slowing down her course.
She entered a large room from the third floor and stayed there a little longer. What surprised her when she walked in was the blatant purpose of it. A row of faintly illuminated doors with stars embedded stood on one side. The dressing rooms. Bras, panties, condoms, dildos, vibrators, corsets even stocking, garterbelts, armbinders, hooks, ball locks, bondage cuff, mittens and harness, belts, hoods, tapes, yokes, rings, wraps, ropes, shacks, blindfolds, masks, chains, restraints, paddles, whips, ticklers, gags and muzzles, all with these repetitive heart motifs, were scattered around the floor. And right in the middle, a bed. The most normal thing in the entire room, possibly of the entire building. One would make these assumptions at first glance. A closer look promised something unthinkable. It was a bed, yes, but a messy bed, sheets, blankets and pillows thrown in various directions, resulted from all kinds of indescribable actions that had occured. And the cherry on top? A movie camera standing on the opposite side, elevating on a tripod. It was turned off, though that didn't mean that this hadn't been the case the previous hours. Most likely, it had filmed everything.
Lute felt the usual type of rage - one that had been prevailing ever since Adam's death, but had reached novel heights now that she was forced to detain her stay in Hell longer than anticipated - overwhelming her, starting from her clenched fists, traveling along her arms, filling her chest and then spreading to the rest of her body, squeezing her throat from the inside, suffocating her head, turning her face into a light pink color, weighting over her stomach, as if she had swallowed a rock, numbing the legs and cutting off connection with her toes.
She knew she shouldn't dwell into it, at least for now. She knew that she should first investigate the rest of the building and then plan her attack - and oh boy, this disgusting place wouldn't be left untouched by her wrath. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Her hands shook from anticipation.
She grabbed the broom near her. She didn't care if it was untainted from all those sexual acts going on there. Heck, the handle might have been used to cleanse the butthole of a masochist sinner! She tried not to think about it. She gathered every single junk she could find on a pile in the middle of the room. She slammed the door and headed for the storage room. Her feet dragged her all through the hall without her paying attention to the environment. As if there was anything worth noticing it...
She searched everywhere for a tin of kerosene and a matchbox. She found them in the first storage room she bursted into. The tin of oil was lying on the right side, among various other tins filled with the same stuff. She had to open up a couple of drawers and turn inside out a dozen boxes for the matchbox, but she found that one as well.
She returned to the film studio and put her plan in action• she sprinkled the room with the kerosene, making sure to connect every single line with the pile on the center. Said center was bathed with the remaining kerosene. Lute threw the tin on one corner, not caring where it landed and how much damage she had caused - judging by the sound of stuff breaking and falling to the ground with disturbing thuds - and fished the matchbox from her pocket. She picked a match and lit it. She watched as the flame danced on the tip, a warm orange light emphasizing her predatory smile and her reddish eyes. She opened her fingers, let the match fall down and down... a process that only lasted for barely a couple of seconds, yet she felt like it took forever. Then, the match came in contact with the kerosene line.
With a blink of an eye, the entire room had been wrapped up in flames. The bed, the camera, the sex toys. All dissolved in front of her gaze and turned to ashes. She didn't stop there.
She bursted from the room, leaving traces of kerosene behind her. The fire followed her around like a submissive dog. A deadly hot submissive dog that ate everything on its path.
She visited every room, every storage, every warehouse, every porn studio, every social media scenery, every office, every staircase and every hall in that building.
When she was sure that she was done, she sat upon the ramble, the wild flames illuminating her dark features, her furry, her bloodlust and the monstrosity underneath the surface and awaited the arrival of Valentino.
...
...
She didn't know how long she waited. Was it minutes? Hours? She chose not to delve into those thoughts.
Her vision became clearer and clearer. From the smoke, debris and dust pecks, she could make out the outlines of her surroundings before the flames turned everything orange. That, or the fire had slowly started to tranquilize. Possibly, the latter.
She heard footsteps approaching the room she was located. Two Sinners bursted in.
What's up with sinners and their tendency to come in pairs? Lute asked herself and frowned to accommodate her terrifying look.
The Sinner on the front line was tall and slender, with two sets of arms emerging from his red fur coat. A top hat, sharing a similar color with the fur coat, rested atop of his purple head, with a giant black-and-white feather sticking out from the ribbon. His face, a shocking combination of disgust and uncanniness, was adorned with a set of rotten teeth and a pair of devilish red eyes staring at her through his heart-shaped glasses. Lute couldn't tell if he was one of these guys who wore sunglasses even in the dark, if he had some sort of optical disability or if he just wanted to make a fashion statement.
The remaining Sinner was also tall and slender, though shorter compared to the purple shit. He wore a stylish blue, red and black suit with red bowtie on his neck, reminiscent of a public entrepreneur or TV presenter. Instead of a normal head, he had a TV that displayed his baffled expression via mechanical wires.
"What the fuck do you demand, you perra loca?" The Overlord with the fur coat demanded.
Lute's face remained unchanged. "State your names!"
"Wh-what?" The same demon stuttered. "You come to our Headquarters, you set the whole building ablaze and you have the audacity to ask us who we are?! Do you even know WHO we are?!"
His spastic motions worried his escort, who approached him with wary steps and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Val, dear, please calm down!"
Dear?!
These two were... a thing?!
Lute barely restrained herself from vomiting. Great, now she had to face two abnormalities, instead of your casual stronger-than-the-average-sinner demons.
Maybe this would prove to be easier. None of them seemed to be built for fighting.
"Speak!" She asked again. "Are you Valentino?"
"Correcta"
She turned to the other Overlord. "And you are...?"
"Vox, the CEO of VoxTek Enterprises, the No.1 premier media conglomerate in Hell's Pride Ring," he finished for her. "Now it's time for you to tell us about yourself."
"Lute, Head Exorcist."
They remained silent for a suspiciously long amount of time. Suddenly, a sound came from Vox' mouth, as though he was trying to restrain himself from laughing. This didn't last for too long...
"You? The Head Exorcist?! Are you fucking kidding us?" He let a loud laugh escape from his strained static lips and folded in two. "You don't have a halo."
Lute glanced for a millisecond atop of the crown her head. It was true. Her halo was stolen, but that didn't invalidate her as a divine being. She would kick their asses, reunite with Viol, return to that slutty dinosaur and her annoying little helper, kick their asses as well and retrieve that. Simple as it can be.
"Oh, I get it. You're one of those putas that threw a tantrum because she didn't get the starring role in my recent movie, isn't it?" The moth fucker asked, while his colleague was kicking his legs on the air, continuing to laugh maniacally. "If that's the case, we can easily discuss it-"
"I don't care about any sodomist bullshittery you have to offer!" Lute interrupted him with a hiss and approached them with slow predatory steps. "I'm here for one thing only and if you give it to me, I promise I may not kill you in the next Extermination."
"She still goes with the whole Exorcist thing. She's so naive. Exactly the kind of person you need for your movies, Val," Vox said under his breath, entertained by her insistence in that specific title.
"Please, cariño. You can't be an angelita. You're just a random sinner who got lucky in the looks department. The costume is pretty convincing, however..."
Lute had enough of hearing them shittalking her and degrading her. She suddenly remembered she had a metal arm. With multiple combat uses. She felt so stupid. How come she hadn't realized that sooner? Probably because she relied mostly on her sword and she treated it as an actual arm. Well, now it was the time to put it to good use.
She raised her palm to Valentino's chest level. Valentino raised an eyebrow. Great, that would just make her work easier. She channeled her command on the arm's wires. They were activated, shining in a blindly blue light, similar to veins. The orb on her palm was activated in a similar manner, a group of tiny lightings encircling it, foretelling danger.
Valentino seemed physically worried, shaking and clenching his jaw, while small droplets of sweat ran down his forehead. He had no time to run.
Lute shot the light beam - the same light beam that Adam had used countless times against sinners whenever he felt that the job was too much for him to fly down, bless Heaven for agreeing with that request of hers back then - from her palm orb, aiming at the Sex Overlord. The whole room was lit up, temporarily blinding the three attendees. This was the end.
Except that the beam never hit its target. It backfired, finding its aim to Lute. The Head Exorcist didn't die - angelic steel may be used against both sinners and angels, but the same couldn't be said about light beams - but a huge fucking electroshock shook her body, causing her to let a painful yelp and fall face flat on the floor.
Her eyelids flickered when she tried to open them up and when she did, her vision was blurry. She could only make out the environment through shapes and colors, lines all intermingling in a mess and shit.
"... fuck," she mumbled and felt her ringing head.
The blurry vision didn't last for long and her surroundings started to become more recognizable.
"She's indeed the Head Exorcist," Vox said and took a step forward. "No one else has this kind of power"
Lute tried to stand on her shaking knees. Her pain had also started to slowly fade away. Thank God, she was an angel and she had a much higher pain tolerance compared to other kinds of afterlife souls. "I told you, bitch!" She hissed, baring her teeth.
Regardless, she couldn't understand why her attack had backfired. Normally, it worked. It should have worked now!
Then, she noticed Vox bearing some sort of device that was electrified from an antenna. That didn't make the situation any clearer. Any hellish device, no matter how strong it was, was no match for any tool made in Heaven and by angelic steel on top of it. She put two and two together and instantly realized that the antenna was made of angelic steel, which explained why they managed to counterattack.
"She didn't hit you, did she?" Vox asked Valentino with an anxious look on his face.
"No, dear. I'm fine," he replied. Then, he shouted: "Now, let's show this fucking bitch who she messes with!"
Lute gritted her teeth. Forget the electrocuting hit. It would backfire at her again. She had to think of something and fast.
She wasn't given the time.
Valentino opened up his fur coat, revealing a pair of massive wings that functioned as said clothing. Lute's eyes widened in disbelief. Very rarely had she come in contact with winged sinners. 'Cause very rarely were their hellish bodies awarded with wings. Wings were a feature associated with angels and holy beings in general, 'cause they had the freedom to roam whenever they wanted and spread God's love in their paths. Sinners didn't have them - wrong, they were not allowed to have them - because they should not be awarded with that liberty.
So for Lute, seeing a Sinner possessing wings, spreading them open and rushing at her at full speed took her aback. The Overlord grabbed her by the collar, causing her to let out a sudden yelp, and pinned her at the floor with a victorious smirk.
Lute wanted to slap it hard out of his face. With a side glance she noticed a trail of cables nearby. With her flesh arm, she grabbed them and twisted them around Valentino's neck, choking him in the process. His grasp faulted, giving her the chance to free herself from his grasp and be the one to pin him on the floor.
Oh, how she loved the smell of victory, the sight of Valentino's ugly frightened stricken face as he gasped for air and the cables were about to cut his head off.
A sudden hit from behind forced her to let her grasp on the cables go. She leaned forward, stumbled on her feet, tried to regain her balance and ignored the pain in the back of her head. She turned around to see the TV demon having freed his colleague and was approaching her with the cables she had used to suffocate him earlier.
With an indomitable battle cry, Lute grabbed a TV hanging from the wall, ripped it out with sheer force and threw it at the enemy. Vox dodged it at the last second and the TV hit the floor, its screen shattering with a loud scratching sound millimeters away from Valentino. Lute almost cursed that it didn't land on him.
"I'm gonna tear down your dry clitoris and have you beg for mercy, your pathetic sociopathic excuse for an angelita!" Val yelled and shook his fist in the air.
She threw another. It landed on Vox's feet, causing him to stumble and let his grip on the device. Lute attempted to grab it and smash it in her hand. She came too late.
A mass pushed her sideways just when she was about to reach it. She landed on a set of televisions, receiving a second tremendous electrocution in the span of just a few minutes. That mass proved to be Valentino, who smashed her on the wall and slapped her with his wings. Ichor spilled from Lute's mouth, her vision flickering from the shock. She kicked him away and tried to free herself. Her efforts went to waste.
Tangled in the mess of the cables and twisting herself to freedom, she noticed Vox approaching her, holding the same device he had used earlier against her mechanical arm attack. Her attempts grew even more frantic, she clenched her jaw once he arrived near her and contacted the device with her arm. A bright light engulfed her, almost blinding her, she felt a severe pain as the neurons on her shoulders were disconnected violently from the wires on her prosthetic and she let an ear-piercing cry. When she opened her eyes, her mechanical arm was gone, leaving behind a small pile of ashes.
She couldn't find herself reacting to this tragedy. Her whole body felt numb. She couldn't realize when she was freed and was locked in a cage against her wish.
It was then that her senses returned and lashed forward to Valentino and Vox, whose face displayed a proud smug.
"And you thought you would get away so easily?" Valentino chuckled and cupped her chin with one of his hands. Lute yanked her head forwards to bite his fingers, but he managed to lean backwards before she had the time to do anything. She responded with a furious growl, which only made the fucker laugh even louder. "Honey, may I remind you? You're an angelita in fucking Hell, OK?!" He opened up his arm in a theatrical manner - JESUS, does everyone down here have to act so melodramatic all the time?! and continued with his speech. "You have no halo, no wings, no weapons to defend yourself..." his foot came in contact with Lute's severed prosthetic arm. The Head Exorcist watched with wide eyes as the Moth Overlord shoved his foot down, breaking the mechanism into more little pieces. She knew she wouldn't be able to use the prosthetic ever again, even if she could connect it back to her shoulder, that didn't lessen how much the scene traumatized her. "Absolutely no fucking way to get out of here! Enjoy your little cage. That will be the last place you'll find any peace," he turned off the lights and headed outside, with Vox following him behind.
Lute didn't give up.
She threw herself at the cages, electrocuting herself once she came in contact. The shock forced her to lie down for a while, taking a hold of her breath, before she rushed again. And again.
And again.
She screamed and shouted, as if sheer will and determination would be enough to free her. She didn't trust any of the filth down here to do anything about her, even if they had heard her.
She tried countless times.
Until she couldn't take it anymore. She felt her flesh burning and peeling in the places where most of the damage was done. Smoke was rising from her body, drops of sweats dripping down her chin.
She laid on the cold floor, resting her face with the remaining hand. She tried everything to calm herself down. She took deep breaths, she closed her eyes and focused on her inner self, she clenched and released her fingers and toes. Nothing!
Nothing could shake away the awful feeling residing in her heart. She had failed everyone. She had failed herself. She had failed Adam. She had failed her sisters. She had failed Sera. She had failed Heaven. But most importantly, she had failed Viol.
Oh, birdie... it's ok...
No, it was not ok. And she couldn't make it ok.
She curled up into a ball and broke into tears. She hated herself even more for that. Valentino and Vox might have installed a secret camera and they might be watching her at the moment, eating snacks and drinks and laughing at her, but that wasn't the worst case scenario. Oh no. The worst case scenario would be Viol suddenly appearing out of a corner. She shouldn't see her own mother in such a pathetic state. But Lute couldn't help herself.
A part of her wanted to have Viol in her arms, spoiling her with hugs and kisses and promises for a better future. Another part - equally strong - wanted to burst free from the cage, hunt down Valentino and shoving a fatal blow in his heart, even though she didn't have anything with her to attack him with. She didn't care, just as long as she found a way to pay him for the treatment earlier...
Her senses returned back to reality. She looked at the bars, then at the hole right where her prosthetic hand once was and burst into even louder tears.
This isn't ok.
This is not ok.
Today was an awful day. And the following day promised to be even worse...
You know, I pictured Lute with this meme with the dog that is surrounded by flames and goes "this is fine" and I think this image greatly influenced the course of this chapter lmao.
I think you have noticed already that when it comes to Lute's chapters, I always followe a specific pattern: Lute arrives in her destination, faces two Sinners, the Sinners gain the upper hand against her Lute has to compromise to continue her journey. Maybe that's the reason I prefer writing chapters with Viol and the Hotel staff, since the outcome isn't predictable and there's ton of fluff.
Soooo, bad news for our "heroine". How do you think she'll get away? Well you have to wait till the next chapter to find out. Speaking of which, I have to inform you that I'll go into a hiatus. I don't know how long it'll last, but rest assured that you don't have to wait seven whole months, like the previous time. I'll try to make it as short as possible, around a month or two if I can help myself.
Have a lovely week and I'll see you next time! Bye!
