Chapter Text
It has been a good long while since Charlie has left her room at the hotel. Cherri and her gang decided to occasionally visit considering they had nothing better to do, but also because they were equally worried about the princess. But….Charlie hasn’t talked to anyone since Emily’s return to Heaven two days ago, and Angel was starting to get worried. Charlie only ever came out for food, or...Beelzejuice, and it was seriously starting to be unnerving. He tried talking to her but she kept the door locked every time he did. They tried enticing her with activities, only to get no response. They even got Lucifer to swing by, only to again elicit no response.
Now, Angel just sorta paced around the lobby while all the others twiddle their thumbs. They had a few of the staff walk out, but mostly everyone remained, hoping that Charlie would return to her senses. It wasn’t just about the hotel anymore, but the person who ran it; and that person had a bad track record with grief, and it worried Angel.
“Hey, where is Charlie?” Niffty asked after finishing up her rounds of cleaning.
“Up in her room, where she’s been for the last two days.” Moxxie said deadpanned with a furrowed face.
“I just don’t understand it,” Angel began speaking, “We tried everything to get her out. We only have a few weeks until extermination, and I don’t know what to do."
“Yeah, how come whenever this bitch talks to Heaven, we’re the ones who get into deeper and deeper sh*t?” Blitzø asked.
“It’s not her fault. Heaven just won’t listen.” Angel tried arguing before contemplating, “She tried so hard…..”. Angel sighed before pulling out his phone and scrolling through contacts.
“What are you doing?” Mayberry asked, leaning over one of the couches towards Angel.
“Going to make a phone call.” Angel said to their guest before turning back to the phone.
“You’re not gonna consider calling…” Moxxie was interrupted by Angel’s answer.
“She’s the only one that really understands Charlie.” Angel responded as he pressed the button to call Rosie.
“Yeah, but wouldn’t Charlie still be infuriated with her.” Moxxie tried to argue.
“Well, I don’t see what other choice we have. I’m gonna just call her to talk Charlie out of her room.” Angel said as he turned his focus exclusively on the call.
Rosie still felt down in the dumps even after two days. The pain that she caused in Charlie just drowned her mind in sadness. The girl didn’t deserve what Rosie did to her, or even what she planned to do with her. Rosie didn’t even have time to explain her reasoning, but it’s not like she deserved it. Rosie didn’t deserve to have that trust that she betrayed.
Rosie wasn’t talking to Carmilla much. She wasn’t talking to any overlords that much, but it was Carmilla in particular. It wasn’t from a lack of trying, Carmilla did try comforting Rosie. While neither were in the fun loving mood, they still kept each other from going too far with their sadness.
Rosie laid in bed next to her love, her chin on her pillow while Carmilla slept with slow breaths next to her. The breaths warmed Rosie’s heart, even for a slight bit. But the effects of her betrayal of Charlie still rang through Rosie, which kept the cannibal from truly getting lost in the comfort of the moment. However it easily let her notice her ringing phone, the noise causing Carmilla to shift in her sleep from discomfort. Rosie was quick to silence the noise to keep her Milly asleep and quickly answered the call.
“Hello, Rosie here!” Rosie said in a soft but still jolly voice. It’s an act she put on in public, as a smile always made sure people trust her……..like Charlie did…..
“Hey, Rosie.” Angel spoke on the line, surprising Rosie.
“Angel? What are you calling me for?” Rosie asked quietly as Carmilla started shifting more.
“Well….” Angel took a sigh and answered, “I need you to talk some sense into Charlie.”
Rosie fell silent. Carmilla overheard the conversation and was thrusted out of her sleep.
“Look, somethin’ happened with an angel and...well she kept herself in her room for days now. We tried everything to get her to come out, but….we need your help. You know alot about Charlie, so maybe you can make her feel better.” Angel spoke softly.
“Is that Angel?” Carmilla asked as she rose from her slumber. Rosie just put a finger to her lips as she faced Carmilla, who understood perfectly that she had to remain silent.
“I don’t know Angel,” Rosie regrettably said, “Charlie got really crossed with me after what was revealed. I don’t know if I could face her again.”
“Please Rosie. We only have so long before extermination day arrives, and Charlie is broken. We need…..I don’t know…someone who knows how to talk to her.” Angel pleaded which made Rosie’s heart sink.
With a heavy heart, Rosie asked, “When should I be there?”
“As soon as possible would be nice.” Angel said.
Rosie sighed, “I’ll be there. Let Charlie know alright.”. Rosie hung up the phone and moved to get herself out of bed. Carmilla watched as Rosie reluctantly went over to the closet and undressed herself.
“Mi hija, is there something wrong?” Carmilla asked softly, which made Rosie feel guilty.
“It’s nothing, Milly.” Rosie said, clearly trying to keep her composure.
“Don’t lie, mi querida.” Carmilla said in a voice that wasn’t condemning Rosie, but rather getting her to open up. “I feel like I know better than anyone that keeping one’s feelings secret is a horrible thing for the mind. So please, tell me your troubles.” Carmilla said as she got up from the bed and went to approach her love. Rosie kept her gaze away to hide her saddened face.
“I don’t know if I could face her again after what I done. She has no reason to trust or listen to me.” Rosie could feel tears trying to burst out of her eyes, “I just….I was just horrible.”
“Don’t worry, mi amor, she’ll understand. Tell her the truth, the whole truth. She was angry about the lie, not the reason for it. Tell her why you did such a thing and she’ll understand.” Carmilla said softly as she approached Rosie from behind and wrapped her arms around the cannibal’s waste. Carmilla kissed her love’s neck as Rosie gave a soft smile.
“Thank you, Milly.” Rosie sighed as Carmilla snuggled her face into Rosie’s neck, “I just hope that I’m not too late to fix things.”
“It isn’t, mi amor.” Carmilla put a gentle hand under Rosie’s chin to her lips into a kiss, “Take all the time.”
Rosie smiled sweetly before resuming her undress. “I think you should stand back Milly. Angel said to be there as soon as possible and I think you would be a distraction.”
Milly chuckled a bit and took the time to kindly step back, watching each and every moment of Rosie’s undress and redressing into her now signature golden dress that Carmilla loved to see. A part of Carmilla felt like Rosie knew she was watching because she took the time to slow down the process and really put on a show. Eventually, Rosie finished dressing by putting on the fancy hat she now constantly wears.
“I’ll grab Husk on my way down. Behave yourself, Milly.” Rosie teased as she grabbed her umbrella and lifted Carmilla’s chin for a kiss. Carmilla watched as the beautiful overlord that stole her heart left the room, leaving her heart feeling warm and fuzzy.
“You sure you want to do this?” Husk asked while he and Rosie were walking up to the hotel.
“I have to do this Husk. This is my only chance to fix things between us.” Rosie said as she walked towards the hotel doors.
“Are you sure there’s a chance? Because she blew up at you really badly last time.” Husk said to Rosie as she went to open the doors, only to hesitate once his words started to dwell in her mind.
Rosie put on a grimace face, and said, “I have to try. It will feel worse if I don’t do anything at all. I hurt that girl, and I have to make it right. Surely you can understand that, right?”
Husk felt reluctant but ultimately nodded in agreement. With a heavy heart, Rosie turned back to the handle and opened the door. As Rosie entered, Angel Dust immediately rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Oh, Rosie. Thank god. Charlie seemed to have left her room finally, but…” Angel paused and made Rosie worried.
“What is it?” Rosie asked, worried.
“She got some….bottles.” That was all Angel needed to say.
“How long has she been doing this?” Rosie asked.
“I haven’t got a clue. Just please talk some sense into her.” Angel pleaded.
“Don’t worry.” Rosie sighed and turned her attention to Husk, “Sounds like she hasn’t been a total recluse.”
Husk and Rosie went out of the lobby to get to Charlie’s room, the door being left ajar. Already, Rosie felt dread before she could even peer inside the room; not she could see inside anyway. The lights were completely off, and Rosie could hear crying from deep within the room. Rosie went to approach before KeeKee stepped out of the room, staring up at Rosie and seemingly wanting to block her way in.
“Hello, KeeKee.” Rosie said in a soft voice, “Is Charlie inside?”
KeeKee just glanced back to the room she came out of and looked back at Rosie. Rosie took it as a yes.
“And, how is she doing?” Rosie bent down to speak with the cyclopean cat. The cat looked down to the ground, looking saddened with her ears down. Rosie didn’t like that sign.
“Oof…may we come in?” Rosie asked the cat, who stiffened up before calming down and stepping aside.
“Thank you.” Rosie told the cat before walking in the room and immediately stepped on a Beelzejuice bottle, the one thing she didn’t ever want to know was in here and also something she completely expected. Her heart sank deeper when she saw the trail of bottles leading to a somber figure lying on the bed with a bottle in her hand. Charlie, whose tears managed to dry up on her face, held the bottle up to her lips and managed to chug the entire bottle. It was only after drinking it fully that Charlie noticed the two overlords standing in the doorway.
“f*ck off…I forgot to close the door.” Charlie said in a dreary tone, “You guys came here to mock me now? Here to blackmail me into accepting you again? That ship has f*cking sailed.”
Charlie spoke in an annoyed, depressive tone, which made Rosie feel horrible. Charlie got off the bed, and walked around with buckled knees and loose limbs. She was in pain and sadness, something which tore open Rosie’s heart.
“Charlie, I think you had enough.” Rosie tried to speak, but Charlie was not in the mood.
“Why do you feel like you can f*cking tell me what to f*cking do?!” Charlie threw the now empty bottle at Rosie, causing the cannibal to duck and Husk to slightly move as the bottle smashed against the wall. Charlie was feeling a massive headache and said in a groan, “f*ck, I need another drink.”. Charlie dove for the mini-fridge, digging through it desperate to find a drink.
“Charlie, no! Don’t do this, please.” Rosie tried to put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder only for the demon princess to bat her hand away.
“f*ck off, Rosie. You have no idea what kind of week I had.” Charlie said as she pulled another Beelzejuice bottle and began to chug, before Rosie snatched it out of her mouth.
“Charlie, listen to me.” Rosie said, trying to take the bottle from Charlie who fought to keep it in her grip.
“Rosie, let go.” Charlie demanded, but Rosie kept her grip. “I said let go—”
Rosie managed to pull it out of her hands which sent Charlie flying back towards the wall, smacking her head against it. Charlie was in a lot of pain, so she just curled up and cried. Rosie tossed the bottle away and slowly went to approach her.
“Charlie, you remember what I said about—” Rosie was interrupted.
“No, don’t try that sh*t!” Charlie cried out while sniffling, “I….I’m a mess.”
“That’s for sure.” Husk said, earning an annoyed glare from Rosie.
“Just go away. I’m not worth it.” Charlie cried, earning a hand on the shoulder from Rosie.
“Charlie, you can’t lock yourself away from this.” Rosie said earnestly.
“But how can I face them after failing them so hard? Emily got hurt because of me, and no doubt Sera will want me dead for it.” Rosie didn’t particularly understand who or what she was talking about, but it probably didn’t help the bad situation Heaven already placed her in.
“Wow. I thought you reached the peak of self-loathing before, but this is just taking the cake.” Husk said, with both ladies giving him a stone cold glare.
“Oh, f*ck you, Husk! I already have enough on my mind without your idea of a sad*stic joke.” Charlie got up and started walking to her window, kicking away the bottles she had littered on the floor.
“Charlie. How long have you been drinking?” Rosie asked softly.
“Since….two days ago. Why do you care?” Charlie asked as she continued walking.
“Because I just do. It pains me to see you like this.” Rosie answered from the bottom of her heart but Charlie wasn’t convinced.
“Bullsh*t! You overlords just stay in your fancy towers and houses, smiling while you watch us suffer to survive. I don’t know how you overlords enjoy such suffering.” Charlie said, which caused Rosie to come closer.
“Charlie,” Rosie walked up to Charlie and put her hands on the princess’s shoulders, “Just because we smile doesn’t mean we enjoy what is happening. You should understand that the things we do aren’t always for us. A smile masks how much we’re hurting, how much we despise standing in place as tragedies happen. We may smile, but inside, we’re hurting just as much as you are.”
“How am I supposed to believe you? Everything has just been going wrong. I got a major person of Heaven hurt and almost raped by my own people, you all have been lying to me all this time, Heaven refuses to listen to anything I say, and even if they did, I can’t prove the hotel works.” Charlie walks to her window and bangs her fist on it, “Vaggie has an invincible exorcist army pointed right at my doorstep and I can’t do anything about any of it.”. Charlie’s emotions and tears intensify as she bangs on the glass again, this time forming cracks on impact. Then Rosie got an idea, something that will give some hope back to Charlie. It didn’t matter to Rosie anymore if Charlie wanted her there or not, if it would help to give Charlie some hope….then she was willing to do it.
“Charlie,” Rosie put her hands on the princess’s shoulders again and turned the Morningstar to look at her. “Those exorcists are not as invincible or even as invulnerable as you think. You want to know what type of pact we formed with Carmilla?” Charlie contemplated before eventually nodding, “Carmilla knows how to kill those exorcists. She has a plan to end these exterminations permanently, but we can’t do it alone. We needed you.”
“Why me?” Charlie asked.
“You’ll find out, if you’re willing to accept it.” Rosie dodged the question narrowly, making Charlie roll her eyes, “But if anyone knows how to kill those feathery bastards, it’s gonna be her. Now, do you want to accept it? I’m not going to force this onto you, but I do want to help you. You deserve the world, and I ‘m sorry I didn’t give it to you.”
Charlie took a heavy sigh and remained silent as Rosie kept a hand on the princess’s shoulder. After a while, Charlie pushed Rosie’s hand off and said, “Take me to her.”
“What?” Rosie was surprised with how easily she accepted the offer.
“You only are offering me the knowledge on how to kill those bastards, and that is all I want. I’m not going to help you. I am only going to save my hotel. Is that clear?” Charlie put her foot down in affirmation. Rosie knew it was wise not to argue.
“Fair enough.” Rosie shrugged in agreement.
“So it’s settled. Follow us, we’ll take you to Carmilla.” Husk said as he went to walk out the door. Rosie went to follow, before stopping right before the door.
“Charlie,” Rosie looked towards Charlie with a sorrow-filled face, “I know I betrayed your trust. I know I hurt you. I am so deeply sorry for it. But trust me, you will see why we are doing this and understand.”
“I swear, if this is a ploy to gain more power for yourselves, then it’s your skin.” Charlie threatened, which didn’t change Rosie’s demeanor.
“Just, bring whatever weapon you have.” Rosie finally said, walking out the door. Charlie took it to heart, immediately grabbing her pitchfork that was sitting across her room and ran out after the overlords. The princess got into the lobby and found Mayberry approaching her with a worried look on her face.
“Um, Charlie….” Mayberry started speaking in an unsure voice, “Rosie and Husk just walked out like they were running from their responsibilities. Should we be worried?”
Charlie walked past her and towards the doors of the hotel, answering Mayberry’s question while doing so. “They gave me info on how to save the hotel, but it requires me to fend off the angels.” Charlie said with her mind on one goal.
“What?! Are you f*ckin’ nuts?!” Cherri yelled, baffled by the decision.
“Yeah! Trust me, those exorcist bitches are not to be f*cked with!” Blitzø butted in.
“The angels can be killed, and Carmilla Carmine is the key.” Charlie rebutted, which didn’t relieve the shock the demons in the lobby felt.
“What?!” Millie yelled.
“Are you f*cking high?!” Rocky yelled.
“Look,” Charlie said sternly, “What's important now is that we're going to have a fight on our hands. This hotel is about to become the most dangerous place in hell, and we....I, can't guarantee your safety anymore. None of you signed up for a war, and when I come back…I’ll understand why you aren’t here anymore. But I am not leaving this hotel…It’s all I have.”
Charlie headed out the doors, leaving the demons in the lobby alone.
“Well, sh*t. This is awkward.” Blitzø said, breaking the mood and earning annoyed glares.
St. Peter walked around the mansion with a tea tray in his hands and a smile on his face while he hummed a little tune. St. Peter was put in charge of caring for Emily while Sera tried to calm down the fires the meeting caused among the angels of Heaven. It was a shocking reveal, the yearly slaughter of sinners of Hell. Sera made her opinion on the matter extremely clear; sinners are naturally dangerous individuals that can and will harm Heaven, and the slaughter is necessary to keep the risk of a violent uprising down. Some angels share that sentiment, while others, like Emily, opposed it; finding the violence being directly against everything Heaven stood for.
St. Peter was torn. On one hand, he never had any intent going against the wishes of Sera or her reasonings. On the other, he felt that no actual human souls of Heaven had their opinions valued. Being a human soul himself, you think that they would run the ethics of exterminating human souls by him or his fellow higher souls. Especially his church friends like Noah or Mary.
St. Peter used to be an apostle of God's own son, someone he respected and admired. He followed his teachings, and took them to heart even after he died. It’s one of the reasons he and Emily became such friends, and how he became the gatekeeper to Heaven. He was taught many virtues in those teachings, and kept onto them as he welcomed new souls into Heaven. St. Peter always had a skittish mindset when it came to sinners, feeling sorry for them as well as having slight fear of them. He knew terrible people throughout his life, and had no doubt that they were down there, but the slaughter Sera orchestrated for years felt…way too cruel to them. St. Peter never wished death upon his worst enemies, let alone eternal damnation; which made the slaughter worse.
But the main thing that turned St. Peter off to the idea of these exterminations were the ideas presented by Charlie Morningstar, surprisingly. What she presented during the meeting…it echoed the teachings that St. Peter went under in his life. It reminded him specifically of something; a conversation St. Peter had with God’s son. It was about his brother, who wasn’t necessarily a clean individual, who did something St. Peter thought was very sinful. The memory of what was foggy, because it wasn’t much nowadays, but what Peter remembered about the conversation was his teacher’s answer.
Peter asked, as he remembered “Lord, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?”. His lord’s answer, ““Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.”. Looking back on his words, Peter couldn’t help but apply to today. Though those words could be turned to a conclusive number, four-hundred-and-ninety apparently, what Peter got from that conversation was this; There was no end to the second chances you can give. That no matter the amount of sins, you could always give forgiveness to those who need it. That’s what gave Peter such a nagging feeling about the extermination of sinners; his lord died for their sins when they were alive, so what is stopping Heaven from lifting them up after theirs.
Peter couldn’t dwell on that. He had a dear friend to take care of. Sera told him that she went to Hell with Charlie and managed to get herself kidnapped and brutalized. Peter felt awful for Emily, but she seemed to be after the night she came back. Her bones managed to heal a bit due to her biology as a seraphim, making twelve month injury now take twelve days, so the only thing to do was wait for the time where she could get back on her feet again.
Peter approached Emily’s chamber, the door left ajar. Perhaps Sera forgot to close it after her visit with Emily today; Sera has been trying desperately to balance her work and her sister simultaneously. Peter walked over with the tray in his hands, still humming his tune. He had cups of green tea, great for muscle relaxation. Peter kindly knocked on one of the doors, waiting patiently for Emily to give a response. Nothing was heard, so he knocked again. Again, nothing was said, which made Peter slightly curious; so he peered into the room to find the bed completely empty.
Out of pure and sudden panic, Peter abruptly dropped the tea tray and immediately searched around for the missing seraphim yelling “Emily! Emily! Where are you?!”
Then, he heard the smashing of a vase in the hallway close to the library, dragging his attention towards the source. There he found Emily on the ground, gasping for breath, clearly exhausted and having a bruise on the side of her arm, lying among shards of the vase she accidentally smashed to pieces from bumping into the golden wood stand she bumped into. Feathers were everywhere as Emily took a deep breath and flapped whatever working wings she had in a vain attempt to get off the ground. Emily was…partially successful, managing to get herself onto her feet before exhaustion set in and caused her to desperately catch the wooden stand to keep herself upright.
“Emily?!” St. Peter spooked Emily, causing her to yelp, “What are you doing out of bed? You’re hurt!”
“Shhhhh…” Emily hushed Peter as she wobbly turned to him, “I can’t have Sera know I’m sneaking out!”
“Where? Why? You’re hurt!” Peter continued to yell as Emily tried calming him down with simple hand gestures before giving up and forcibly grabbing his face so that his eyes met hers. That shut him up.
“Listen.” Emily said in a commanding voice, “The extermination is only later this month and I need to get to Hell before it comes under fire.”
“You’re going back to Hell? Wasn’t that how you got injured in the first place?” St. Peter asked as he took Emily’s hands off his cheeks.
“Well…yes…but that wasn’t planned. Charlie is a good person! I just need to help her. I know of a book in our library that takes you to anywhere in the universe. I need to find it to get to Hell.” Emily explained, making St. Peter unsure.
“But you’re injured. You can barely even fly, let alone walk. What makes you think that you’ll last down there?” St. Peter worriedly asks.
“Charlie will make sure I am okay, I know she will. But please, Peter, let me do this. I need to help Charlie.” Emily said with watery eyes.
“I don’t know…Sera would be worried about you. She already has her nerves spiked from trying to find and care for you.” St. Peter tried to argue.
“Sera is so stubborn! She treats me like I’m still a child! Like I can’t make my own decisions! I had enough! I’m done with being babysat! This is my choice, and I sure hope you can respect that.” Emily said. St. Peter contemplates while scratching the back of his neck.
“Alright. But lay off the leg. Have this.” Peter grabbed a shard of porcelain from the broken vase and transformed it with a heavenly light into a crutch, “It should let most of your wings rest so you could actually use them better.”
Emily gratefully took the crutch and placed it under her bad arm. “Thanks.” She said with a simple smile as St. Peter grabbed her hand and slowly led her to the library. Peter swung open the doors and led Emily inside.
“Alright, I don’t particularly remember what book it was, so we better start searching.” Emily wandered open to the nearest shelf of books and took out a book, skimming through it quickly before tossing it to the side and grabbing another book to repeat the process. She then looked back at St. Peter and asked “So? Let’s search.”
St. Peter pulled at his collar as he observed the many high shelves of countless books in the giant library, knowing he had his work cut out for him.
Carmilla woke up in her bed, alert and shocked. It was late morning, a time she usually didn’t get up at due to her busy schedule and….oh god! Carmilla looked beside her to find Rosie, sleeping soundly in her bed. Carmilla realized what just happened. Yesterday, during the standard overlord meeting, the Vees made particularly rude comments towards both Carmilla and Zestial’s direction. While Carmilla was used to those comments, and Zestial sure as Hell didn't mind, things got bad when Carmilla’s relationship with Rosie came into question.
It was something Carmilla was not comfortable with discussing. She admitted to prioritizing visits and hangouts with the cannibal to the Vees but nothing else. Looking back on it, it was very clear she wasn’t doing well with hiding her feelings. She felt bad for Rosie who was dragged into the conversation not of her own volition, but knowing Rosie she probably didn’t press any hard feelings. Instead…now that Carmilla thought about it…it was Rosie who dragged her into bed.
Why….why did Carmilla let her do that? All that Carmilla remembered is being really frustrated. She put her daughters to bed and realized Rosie stuck around after the overlord meeting. Then Rosie asked something of her, and then she led her to the bedroom. From there, it was nothing but….
“Dios Mios,” Carmilla groaned in embarrassment, “I can’t believe I let this happen!”. Carmilla leaned back on the bed with her hands on her face to hide her frustration, unaware she just awoken a soundly sleeping Rosie.
“Mmm?” Rosie mumbled as she got up from her slumber and rubbed her eyes, “What’s happening?”
Carmilla quickly turned to Rosie with a glare, which quickly unsettled Rosie into giving a nervous smile. “Okay, for the record….” Rosie paused her potential sentence and then spoke again, “...Yeah I don’t really have a good argument.”
“Why did I let you stay?” Carmilla regrettably asked herself due to the answer from Rosie.
“Because you love me.” Rosie purred as Carmilla growled.
“Why was I so stupid.” Carmilla scrunched up her face with her hand.
“Because. You. Love. Me.” Rosie playfully punched Carmilla as she enunciated every single word.
“I don’t.” Carmilla got out of the bed leaving Rosie in a false pout.
“Liar,” Rosie teased, earning an evil glare from Carmilla. Rosie’s mood didn’t waver, she just flopped back down on her back with a childish smile on her face like she didn’t say anything at all. Carmilla scoffed and rolled her eyes. Despite her current attitude during the entire situation, she did find the fun-loving attitude Rosie was showing at this point to be endearing. But she had something important to get to. Her daughters must be worrying at this point.
“So, what now?” Rosie asked.
“I’m going to get dressed and prepare for extermination. You’re….you’re welcome to stay.” Carmilla reluctantly said.
“Oh, Milly, you’re too kind!” Rosie said in a dramatic voice that caused Carmilla to roll her eyes.
“Don’t take advantage of my kindness.” Carmilla said coldly as she looked back. It made Rosie nervous as well.
“Um…well…considering we are…official now,” Rosie said, choosing her words very carefully, “Will you be telling the little ones?”
“No….” Carmilla said coldly.
“Why?” Rosie asked. Rosie, reluctantly, had been dating Carmilla in secret for quite awhile. It was eating at Rosie to keep such a relationship so hidden and so tame, but she did it for Carmilla. Hell, the only one who knew was Zestial, who didn’t know because they told him but because he figured it out all on his own. Oh, and Frankie. Frankie could keep a secret. Carmilla didn’t want feelings to be public. It was a sign of weakness among overlords, something others can take advantage of; and Carmilla didn’t want that, not when she had so much to protect.
“This…this was nothing. Last night was nothing more than a fling. I expect you to be gone tomorrow morning.” Carmilla hurt herself saying that, and Rosie could feel it.
“You…you don’t mean that.” Rosie uttered.
“I…I just need time to think. I expect you to respect that.” Carmilla said, frustrated.
“Al….alright.” Rosie slowly got out of bed with a now guilty expression. Carmilla hated speaking to Rosie like that, but what happened last night just made her thoughts jumble and clash. They got back into their clothing, not saying a single word until they managed to finish dressing.
“I’m going back to the emporium. Frankie is probably overworking herself into double death. I hope you have a wonderful day Milly,” Rosie tried to pick up a jolly voice but the guilty voice overcame it, “I hope there is no hard feeling between us.”
“No…..I just……I don’t know if I’m ready…..ready to settle. I’m not sure if the little ones are either. I still need time to think. My offer for safety still stands.” Carmilla said in a calmer tone.
“That’s alright. I feel quite safe where I’m at. I just…hope you aren’t to cross with me.” Rosie said as she opened the door out of the bedroom, “Goodbye and Good morning.”
Carmilla was left alone to finish putting on her last bit of uniform, which was her shoes. There was one thought that crossed Carmilla’s mind; her daughters. They were probably worried sick and or were overwhelmed by the orders for today. Extermination day tended to bring a lot of orders to the Carmine business, and Carmilla really didn’t like putting the pressure on her girls. Despite them not minding it, they shouldn’t be trapped like she was in work. They deserve to have lives outside of such, even though it pains Carmilla to think of the day when they eventually decide to leave her nest.
Carmilla walked downstairs, already noticing Rosie leave through the front doors, and deciding to leave for the kitchen. It was still morning, which was too early to fortify her estate; and besides, Carmilla and her daughters had scavenging to do.
Carmilla walked into the dining room to find her two daughters, the treasures of her life, sitting at the table. Clara, a puce skinned demon with curly cream hair tied up in a ponytail and two black horns to go along with her sleeveless black crop-top turtleneck, scrolling on her phone while munching on some rolls leftover rolls from last night. Clara was always a foodaholic, so it didn’t surprise Carmilla to see the girl stuffing her face while keeping her eyes preoccupied on recent news. In fact, it brought a small chuckle to Carmilla.
The other girl was Odette, a pale slim demon with a similar hairstyle, horns and red sclera eyes to her sister with the differences being that she was wearing a white lab coat, red lensed glasses and pointed shoes imitating her mother. Carmilla found it so charming that Odette still looked up to her mother so much as to copy her type of footwear. Carmilla smiled fondly at the memories of Odette trying to walk like her mother, tripping and falling on objects constantly but still insistent on walking on her tipped shoes. Clara even tried imitating it herself with black pointed shoes out of pure jealousy for her sister’s skills, but soon enough they both became equally capable of walking on their toes as their mother had. Her daughter’s determination and insistence they got from their mother never failed to make Carmilla proud, even though it could get quite groan inducing.
Odette was clearly doing most of the business stuff, observing and writing paychecks for the monthly contracted employee’s pay. They are due to be staying at the Carmilla estate as were specified in her contracts with them, so it was logical to pay them on that brief day of fear.
“Odette, Clara!” Carmilla called out, gaining their attention.
“Mother?” Odette said surprised, “Where were you? I was trying to find you all day?”
“I apologize. I accidentally slept in, though I question why you never checked my room?” Carmilla asked as she walked over to the table.
“Why should we? We are never allowed in there, and you are never usually in there.” Clara said as she finished up the roll she was eating, “We have a few tasks to finish up before extermination begins. Hopefully the losses won't be as bad as last year's.”
“Might as well get started with calling up the souls and telling them to come here. Afterwards, we do our annual scavenge.” Carmilla walked behind and wrapped her arms around her daughters to bring them into a hug, “Then we will relax for a day at Lu Lu World. But work must be done first, and I know my girls are perfectly able, correct?”
“Yes, mamá!” The girls happily said as they hugged back. The hug was broken as Carmilla went to get coffee. It was a day that started out confusing and frustrating, but Carmilla could always rely on her daughters to bring her a smile. They were her pride and joy, and she would do anything to protect that.
Her pride and joy, huh? Oh Carmilla, how naive you were. There was a time where her daughters would constantly bring happiness to their mother without even trying. Now…the mere thought of them brings tears to Carmilla’s eyes. Even after all of Rosie’s consoling, Zestial’s support, and the sheer amount of playful positivity Velvette presented that reminded her so much of her daughters, she couldn’t help but consider herself a failure as a mother.
Carmilla sat and meditated among her shadowy souls. Her dealmaker taught her how to properly make peace with the shadowy creature via this…relaxing practice. It was a bizarre experience earning these powers, forcing these once powerful beings under her will, seeing them constantly in fear of her word, playing off her emotions and reflecting the state of her mind. Carmilla didn’t like being so easily read, but she got so used to having these souls around her that she could easily silence them, all except for her own; reflected in her shadow, locked in a permanent frown.
Her shadow reflected her soul, and it was the one thing about her that she despised. Her dealmake saw through it, felt her pain through it, and can come out from it. Carmilla could practically feel her dealmaker breathing down her neck, and it gives her chills…chills she would have never felt if she hadn’t made that deal. But…she did, all because she was blinded by rage, confusion, and revenge. A part of Carmilla told her that it wasn’t worth it…and another part told her that nothing was; that she should have joined her daughters in erasure by the tip of an exorcist’s blade. She tried to silence those thoughts, but they always came back in faint whispers that intensified with time. Sometimes they would get so intense, she wouldn’t be able to silence them and end up falling to madness; with the only people being able to bring her out of the slump being Zestial and Rosie.
Carmilla was hearing those types of whispers now as she reflected on the past that led up to this point; it made sure she would have a hard time focusing. The whispers became more like threats as the memories of her daughter’s voices started to pour into Carmilla’s mind.
“Hey, mamá!”
“Mother, please…”
“mamá help!”
“Mother!”
“Did you actually think this would accomplish something?” A shadowy, gravelly, female voice whispered, putting Carmilla instantly on edge as she felt an invisible hand press itself under her chin, “That you could possibly prove you were worthy of being called their mother? Face it, it was your fault that they died. Their blood is as much on your hands as it’s on that wretched Vaggie’s. But you have a lot to do for me, so don’t disappoint me like you did them.”
Carmilla frustratingly got up, shaking away any focus she had on meditation. It was words…only just empty words, so why did they hurt so much? Perhaps it was due to it being partially true…no she couldn’t think like that. Rosie wouldn’t forgive her for thinking like that, and neither would her daughters. But…she didn’t know…thoughts were feeling jumbled, unreadable.
Then she heard banging by her doors.
“Carmilla!” Charlie shouted as she banged on the metal doors of the Carmine Estate, “Carmilla, we need to speak!”
No answer was given, so Charlie went up to the closest camera and stared into it. “I know what you did on extermination day. We can talk about it inside, or I can yell about it out here.”
The doors inside suddenly opened, Charlie feeling slightly proud of herself. But now was not the time to dwell on her pride; she had a goal, and by God himself was she going to do it.
“Carmilla!” Charlie called out as she walked inside the room with Rosie and Husk following behind, going off to the side of the room to hang out in the darkness, leaving Charlie alone in the middle of the room. Charlie scoffed as she called out to Carmilla again, “Carmilla, I don’t have time for this shadowy bullsh*t! Come out now!”
Still no answer, but that didn’t mean Carmilla wasn’t there. Charlie could feel a presence in the air, a presence she couldn’t properly describe but felt familiar with. That's when Charlie turned to look up at the banisters and found shadows—beastlike shadows—slinking in the darkness, hissing and growling as their eyes glowed in the dark. Charlie saw them following and circling around a figure that looked like the overlord the princess heard so much about, the ridiculous hairstyle notably sticking out.
“I was wondering when you would arrive princess. I thought I would have to seek out another for this role, considering you blew up at my consort.” Carmilla stopped walking and stood in front of one of the railings on the other side of the banister, grabbing a hold and leaning over it to talk to Charlie.
“Cut the sh*t! I’m not here to help you. I just want to know how you killed an exorcist so I can defend my hotel.” Charlie said as Carmilla started walking towards the stained glass window that dwelled just above the entrance to the room.
“And what makes you think I’ll just give you this information without wanting something in return?” Carmilla said, playing with the fiery anger the princess was currently showing. She knew she was crossing the line, but Carmilla felt like she needed to know exactly what she was working with.
“I will pry what I want from you, I don’t care.” Charlie said with venom in her voice.
“Really? You expect me to believe someone as kind and thoughtful as you would resort to violence so quickly?” Carmilla asked rhetorically.
“I am done being kind! I am done being nice! That has gotten me absolutely nothing.” Charlie cried.
“I didn’t take you for being oblivious.” Carmilla mockingly said, “Your kindness has given you more than what you started with; so perhaps you should give it more credit?”
“Like what? The stuff you send your overlord lackey’s to give me? The stuff you’re using to bribe me into giving you my trust so I can help you with your f*cking genocide of Heaven?” Charlie’s final words stung into Carmilla, but the ballet overlord kept her composure.
“You know nothing of my plan. You may find it overlaps with your goal of protecting your little hotel.” Carmilla stopped in front of the window, “So I’ll make a trade offer. I’ll give you the information, whether you choose to accept it or not, on the account that you do what I ask. Give us your hotel as a base and assist us in fighting against those angels.”
“You really think I’m going to let you walk over everything I worked hard to build up to where it’s at? But make no mistake, I will find a way to fight those things; so either give that information now or I’ll f*cking beat it out of you.” Charlie threatened, readying her pitchfork as she began shifting into her demon form.
Carmilla simply smiled. The threat was nothing, but the determination the girl showed was something that gave Carmilla a sense of vigor. “I’d hope you would.” Carmilla said with pride as she leapt off the banister and lunged towards Charlie with her steel shoes pointed right at the princess, the shadows from behind her growing into beastly creatures and slowing behind her.
Charlie barely had any time to react to the diving overlord and lifted the base of her pitchfork to block it. Carmilla landed directly on the base and jumped off; the weight of her pushing off knocking Charlie to the ground.
“Angels attack quickly, viciously, and without mercy. You'll need to defend better than that.” Carmilla said smugly.
“What the f*ck?!” Charlie yelled, outraged as she got herself off the floor only to get kicked in the face by the steel shoes of Carmilla.
“Ow.” Charlie moaned, annoyed before seeing a black shadowy figure emerge from behind Carmine. The shadow morphed into a wolf-like figure with blue gnarly teeth, four eyes, and blue flames that charged at Charlie with its mouth opened wide. Without a second thought, Charlie slashed at the wolf, making it dissipate before Carmine struck her in the face again with the pointed shoe. Charlie got frustrated and started swinging wildly, Carmilla managing to easily dodge all the swipes before another shadow popped out. A dragon-pterosaur hybrid shadow came out and knocked Charlie onto her back from its charge, roaring in her face as it flew back to Carmilla. Carmilla lifted up her pointed shoe while Charlie was on the ground, shocking Charlie as she rolled out of the way of the shoe slamming down before it could make contact with her head.
“What the f*ck is this?” Charlie yelled, confused and frustrated.
“You want me to teach you how to beat angels? That's what I'm doing.” Carmilla stated like it was obvious.
“By beating the sh*t out of me?” Charlie asked, angered as Carmilla lunged at her. Charlie manages to step out of the way only to get smacked by a weird, gangly shadow that seemed like a cross between a leopard and a chimp.
“By showing you the flaws in your own fighting style. You spent so long not fighting, that you have no idea how to fight someone with equal power to you.” Carmilla’s hands start to shift into their black demon forms with the red claws as she goes to swipe at Charlie; the princess blocking her attacks frantically with the pitchfork. “Those angels will not let you breathe. They will not let you rest. You have to fight smart and loose.” Carmilla’s hands managed to lock with the pitchfork as Charlie stood her ground, her hair flowing as fire started building around her. Carmilla simply had a boar-like shadow ram into her stomach, sending the princess flying backwards. Carmilla let down her hair, feeling like she would move better with it loose.
“Don’t do that.” Carmilla said as she approached Charlie, “You power drains you. Vaggie isn’t stupid enough to fight you head on, and will make you waste your strength by channeling your magic before striking you down. Save your strength.”
“How do you know?” Charlie asked as she got up, still shaky from the ramming shadow.
“I had experience with that angel myself. It is an experience I do not wish to repeat, and it is an experience I hope you’ll never have to face.” Carmilla stated coldly as the shadows behind her started getting ready to manifest. With a simple point of her finger, the shadows charged; with Charlie getting into an attacking stance while still catching her breath.
“So…how…do you…defeat them?” Charlie groaned as she swiped at the beastly shadows, her breath wavering, “With some”—Charlie huffed—“Secret weapon of yours?”
“Stupid girl,” Carmilla hollered, frustrated, “Are you really so dense you don't realize you're holding the answer?”
Carmilla pointed to Charlie’s pitchfork. Charlie was not aware of the specifics, but did remember the day her father gave it to her as a gift that the prongs were forged from the steel of a sword he used to carry in his angel days. Charlie couldn’t help but look at it and finally had it click from what Carmilla was saying.
“Holy weapons? It's that simple? How has no one else figured this out?” Charlie asked.
“Angelic steel isn’t exactly a commodity, and those who have it never get the chance to use it for that purpose.” Carmilla turned away, recalling old memories, “and Vaggie makes sure that’s the case.”.
Charlie looked concerned as Carmilla wrapped her arms around herself, her nails starting to dig into her shoulders. “I…I used to have an empire that used these metals. We made weapons out of them. I ran it…with my daughters. They were good girls, always did what I told them. We were happy with what we built together, but had no intention of ever fighting the exterminations.” Carmilla turned towards Charlie with a somber look, “Vaggie found out about our operations, and went out of her way to find me. I told my daughters to run as far as they could, but we were surrounded. I did what I had to do…and Vaggie found it worthy enough to face me one on one. It was a brutal fight, one that almost led to both of our deaths. I took out a piece of her during that battle, her eye…but what she took from me in return was more than a simple body part could ever hope to replicate.”
Carmilla looked down, resisting the urge to cry as Charlie started to understand the reason for everything leading up to this point. “I…I couldn’t do anything. It happened in a blur. Once I had defeated her in honorable combat and caught my breath, she spotted my girls running to me and….” Carmilla put a hand over her mouth, still fighting the urge to cry, “I never got to say goodbye as they died in my arms. Vaggie just left me there, with a crumbling empire and the most important things in my life dead in my arms. I…I let them down.”
“I’m…I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” Charlie was almost at a loss for words. All the pain she experienced was nothing compared to the mother that lost the two most important people in her life, who blamed themselves for the tragedy.
Carmilla just stood there motionless before staring back at Charlie with a cold glare. “For seven straight years, I have amassed power unlike any overlord has yet wielded. I managed to track the source from an old deceased sinner, and since then I have been planning for a way I could make amends. To prove to my daughters that their deaths were not in vain. And to do that, I need you.” Carmilla pointed to Charlie.
“Why me? I can’t fight those things. I can’t even run a hotel properly.” Charlie argued.
“You underestimate the power you have. I have already been told that you are a worthy fighter, but you lack focus. You need a goal!” Carmilla emphasized.
“But I already have one!” Charlie hollered.
“Really? Is that why you were so caught off guard. That you’re hesitating? While your kindness and mercy are great strengths, you apply them to the wrong areas when it comes to combat. You either hold back while trying to defend those values, or you become feral when you shed them. What you need is to have your goodness drive you.” Carmilla braced herself to leap again, her beastly shadow souls manifesting, preparing to follow her every move as she zig-zagged towards Charlie.
♫ I see you're driven by your detestation ♫
♫ Your every step is stoked with animus ♫ The shadows around Carmilla manifested behind her. A giant crow-like shadow spreads its wings behind Carmilla as she leaps up to the banister, providing its master with a boost before disappearing into feathers.
♫ You need a different type of motivation ♫ Carmilla puts her leg upon one of the pillars and spins.
♫ Or there's no way that you can handle this ♫ Carmilla leaps downwards towards one of the pillars of the lower floor, bouncing between two before hitting the ground.
♫ I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Charlie ♫
♫ You're out for blood ♫ Carmilla twirls away as the shadows build more.
♫ But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love ♫ Carmilla partially shifts into her demonic form, her claws coming out again as the orchid symbols appear in her eyes.
♫ Out for love~ ♫
♫ Love~ ♫ Carmilla sends several fast swipes and shadows towards Charlie; the princess hastily blocks the swipes and slashing the shadows as Carmilla darts around.
♫ Think of who you care about ♫ Carmilla randomly appears from the shadows and grabs Charlie pitchfork, tossing the princess and her weapon across the room with great strength. Charlie stops herself from flying by digging the prongs into the ground.
♫ Protect them and be out ♫
♫ For love~ ♫ Carmilla came to strike again, this time Charlie successfully dodged out of the way of the kick before Carmilla went back to deliver a few more strikes with her leg, all being blocked by Charlie.
♫ Love~ ♫
♫ You're gonna fight without gloves ♫
♫ Long as you're out for love ♫ Carmilla sprouted tentacles from her back as she summoned black, shadowy demon souls with toothy grins. They almost resemble ravenous imps.
♫ Don’t choose your hatred ♫ The ravenous shadows leapt onto Charlie, the princess worryingly slashing away at them. She was so preoccupied, she failed to notice one of Carmilla’s tentacles moving to swipe at her before she was sent flying across the room.
♫ When you know what you are fighting for ♫
♫ You must be in control ♫ Carmilla summoned a giant two-headed demon shadow with a bear-like body and goat heads with sharp maws. The shadow roared before it turned back into black mist and wrapped around Carmine.
♫ It’s the only way you’ll ever win for her ♫ Rosie and Husk were watching the entire scene play out, opting to not inject themselves into something that should clearly be between Carmilla and Charlie. But Rosie couldn’t help but feel her heart soften from that line, figuring it was something from Carmilla’s mind that slipped as Rosie couldn’t help but feel it was about her. Charlie didn’t think that, but instead thought about Emily; about how much that little angel believed in her, and how much she wanted the princess to succeed.
♫ Love is the greatest weapon you can hold ♫ Charlie’s thoughts were immediately interrupted by a dragon-ram’s head ramming into her face. Charlie looked up to see Carmilla with her hands encased in shadowy dragon-ram heads, brandishing them like a pair of boxing gloves as she went to punch the princess with the horns. Charlie manages to dodge them, with Carmilla twirling back as the ram heads dissolve from her hands and become like ribbons.
♫ I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Charlie ♫
♫ You're out for blood ♫ Carmilla continued twirling until the shadowy ribbons dissolved underneath her feet, from where Carmilla stopped to face Charlie.
♫ But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love ♫ Carmilla stops her foot to manifest three dragon serpent shadows that all charge towards Charlie. Charlie heads towards one of the pillars and one of the dragon heads stops to breathe purple flames in her direction. Charlie climbs the pillar quickly before the other two heads could breathe fire as well, almost destroying the pathway behind her on the banister.
♫ For love~ ♫
♫ Love~ ♫ Charlie heads towards one of the pillars and one of the dragon heads stops to breathe purple flames in her direction. Charlie climbs the pillar quickly before the other two heads could breathe fire as well, almost destroying the pathway behind her on the banister.
♫ Think of who you care about ♫ Carmilla quickly manages to jump towards her using the giant crow shadow, which she sends towards the princess. Charlie slashes the crow, making it dissipate as she blocks an upcoming kick from Carmilla.
♫ Protect them and be out ♫ Carmilla jumps off the pitchfork, her weight pushing Charlie back. Charlie nullifies it back, digging one of her knees into the floor.
♫ For love~ ♫
♫ Love~ ♫ Carmilla delivered several more strikes with her claws, each getting blocked before she resorts to tentacles. Charlie slashes at each, making them spill black blood as they get sliced in half. Carmilla uses this chance to send a serpent shadow at Charlie, knocking her back.
♫ You're gonna fight without gloves ♫
♫ Long as you're out for love ♫ Carmilla grabs Charlie’s pitchfork, but the princess doesn’t let go as she puts both hands on it to tug away from the overlord. Carmilla smirks as she summons a giant dragon-bat shadow from behind her, its power manifesting into her as a mighty leap off the mezzanine and onto ground level tossing Charlie across the room before the princess immediately got back onto her feet and charged at Carmilla.
♫ Fuel yourself with the fear of losin' ♫ Carmilla simply stepped out of the way of the charge, but Charlie smiled as she swiftly turned and swiped at Carmilla with her pitchfork.
♫ That somebody who's your reason to live ♫ Carmilla managed to successfully block the swipe with a simple lift of her leg, but the simplicity of it did not undermine how much speed went into that attack. It almost made Carmilla proud that Charlie was starting to pick up her pace.
♫ Harnеss your heart and you can't help choosin' ♫ The two women stepped back to properly face each other. They lock briefly in a swipe, both attacks canceling out.
♫ To fight with all you can give ♫ Carmilla’s claws and Charlie’s pitchfork lock in a struggle once again, but it is no longer one-sided as both Charlie and Carmilla launch themselves to opposite sides of the room close to the staircase.
♫ I know you'rе thirstin' for vengeance, Charlie ♫
♫ You're out for blood ♫ Carmilla and Charlie slowly started approaching each other, with Carmilla having her hand held out and Charlie with her weapon held high.
♫ But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love ♫ The two girls give each other knowing smiles as they prepare to leap into another series of struggles.
♫ Out for love~ ♫
♫ Love~ ♫ The girls exchange swipes, both of their attacks canceling the other out as they make their way up the staircase and to the top.
♫ Think of who you care about ♫ Carmilla performed a strike with her angelic steel shoe, being blocked by the prongs of the pitchfork. Carmine aggressively grinded the shoe against the prongs so much that sparks came out, hoping Charlie would yield against the force. But the princess thankfully held her ground, and Carmilla was forced to recede.
♫ Protect them and be out ♫ Carmilla went to backflip onto the staircase, with her shadows slowly following her.
♫ For love~ ♫
♫ Love~ ♫
♫ You're gonna fight without gloves ♫ Charlie notices the railing on the stairs and takes to sliding down it to get to Carmilla.
♫ And when that push comes to shove♫ Carmine slides onto the ground level, stopping herself with the points of her shoe. She looks up from her landing position, shocked at Charlie rapidly sliding down the railing and leaping high into the air, confidently twirling her pitchfork.
♫ Yeah, you just might rise above ♫
♫ Long as you're out for love ♫ Charlie plunges down onto Carmilla, far too fast for the overlord to react. The shadowy souls loom over the princess as Carmilla realizes that Charlie purposely missed her strike, landing the prongs of the trident right next to her head.
“Well, look at that.” Carmilla said, proudly, “You might just survive this.”
Charlie pulled the pitchfork out of the ground as Carmilla gave a gentle smile. It made Charlie give a massive one back, feeling proud and energized from the sparring. The two’s attention was instantly grabbed by another voice however.
“Bravo! Bravo!” Rosie cheered as she ran over to the two women she dearly loved for completely separate reasons. She yanked Carmilla close to her like the powerful overlord was nothing more than plywood and pecked her on the lips. “My, my Carmilla, that was just wonderful!” She gave a slightly longer but still short kiss on Carmilla’s lips leaving her flustered before pushing her aside to focus on Charlie.
“And my dear, Charlie, I always knew you had that fightin’ spirit. Oh my baby girl has grown so much.” Rosie said as she patted the head and pitched the cheeks of Charlie.
“Ahem.” Carmilla coughed to get everyone’s attention, “I believe we had an agreement. A trade offer, more accurately.”
“Oh! Yeah!” Charlie nearly forgot, “You know…I’m sorry about what I said earlier. So you actually don’t want to invade Heaven?”
“The only thing I desire is that these exterminations finally end, along with all the pain and suffering that they cause. I believe you want something similar.” Carmilla said.
“Yes…alright it’s a deal.” Charlie held out her hand, intending to shake only for Carmilla to reject it.
“No, that won't be necessary. I need nothing more than your assistance in fighting this extermination back.” Carmilla said.
“Oh, well…what do you need me to do?” Charlie asked. Carmilla’s answer arrived from a whispery, echoey voice that spoke in archaic dialect.
“We truly want nought moe than thy inn.” Zestial appeared from the shadows, alongside Velvette and Sir Pentious, “Of course, thy skills 'i leadership might also be valuable.”
“What the?” Charlie said, freaked out, “How long have you all been here?”
“Long enough to see you are more than just a dumb smile.” Velvette said with invigorating sass.
“It was quite the marvelous display!” Sir Pentious said with a jolly voice as he gave a thumbs up.
“Truth of the matter is, we hast no desire 'i overthrowing heaven's rule. Something we truly crave to free ourself from the oppressive binds they keep us 'i. Withal thy power and thy influence, we could properly raise an power against the angels to prevent anymore slaughters from cleansing this realm.” Zestial explained while Velvette pulled something up on her phone.
“You want me to lead an army?” Charlie asked curiously.
“Why yes! It goes without saying that the more people behind arms the better!” Sir Pentious replied.
“And we already got plenty of weapons in stock, so they won't be completely harmless.” Husk added.
“I already got groups of people waiting in city square. Husk, Rosie, and Sir Pentious also used their influence to get even more people to come. We’ll have more than enough hands to fight these holy rollers with!” Velvette said.
“So do you understand Charlie? I never had any intent on hurting ya. I just…felt afraid you wouldn’t be for this if I straight up told you.” Rosie said with a bit of unease behind her.
Charlie was silent for a while, “Thank you, Rosie…for being there for me.”
Rosie sent a warm smile, “Don’t mention it, kid.”
“I mean, I feel a bit nervous and overwhelmed by all of this. But it shouldn’t be that bad right. I mean, it’s just going to be a small group of people: how hard could that be?”
Charlie’s question was answered with the massive crowd of sinners and hellborn that crowd the entire city square. At the back of the crowd was a massive concert stage that had a large screen at the back, with a Velvetech logo bouncing off the edges of the screen.
“What the f*ck?!” Charlie screamed, “This is like all of Hell!”
“And it’s more than enough people for our cause.” Velvette added while Charlie was still in shock at the massive crowd.
“No. No, I can't do this. I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” Charlie started to panic, walking away from the crowds. Charlie felt heavy, unsteady, like she just got punched upside the head. She had gotten punched before, but it never felt as intense as the lightheadedness she was feeling now. Her muscles felt weak and loose, making her knees buckle under her intense short breaths. She felt the air being sucked out of her lungs as her heart raced and her vision became fuzzier, barely able to hear anything over the rapid beating of her own heart. She…she never felt like this at all for anything before, but the familiarity of the event that was currently transpiring felt like way too much for her mind to handle. The intensity of her worried behavior gained her weird looks from the other overlords, except for Rosie.
“Woah. Okay. Charlie, calm yourself.” Rosie said softly but still loud enough to be heard, “It’s going to be alright.”. Rosie approached Charlie as the princess stared at the ground in nothing but panic and anxiety; the cannibal put her hands on the shoulders of the princess and brought herself closer.
“Hey, it’s alright. It’s alright.” Rosie said softly in an effort to calm Charlie down.
“I can’t do this! I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” Charlie just repeated the same sentence, only stopping when her breathing shallowed to the point she couldn’t speak.
“It’s okay. Just breathe. Just breathe.” Rosie continued speaking softly, the words and gentle touch finally registering to Charlie; slightly calming her down and letting her breathe.
“I can't do this! I just can’t! Any time I do something like this, it always ends up horrible.” Charlie managed to calm down enough to speak, but not enough as she grabbed Rosie by her top and shook her in panic, “I got laughed out the last time I tried making my dream known. And that was Heaven. Hell is even worse because the last time I advertised the hotel on the news, I got into a fight with…”
Charlie found herself interrupted by a familiar voice saying, “Well, well, well. Look what we have here.”. Charlie whipped her head to the crowd to find Katie Killjoy holding a interview mic alongside Tom Trench holding the same thing with two other demons; one red demon with two eyes above one another with horns, wings, and spiny tail holding a microphone over his head and over Killjoy, and the other being a small blue demon with a frill on his back holding a camera.
“Hello, I’m Katie Killjoy.” Katie turned towards the cameraman and started speaking, making Charlie realize it was being recorded on live tv.
“And I’m Tom…” Tom found himself being pushed to the side forcefully by Katie.
“Nobody gives a sh*t about who you are, Tom. And we are live at the city square plaza of the pentagram with recent news of an event being hosted by the fashion overlord, Velvette, alongside special guests of honor,” The cameramen pointed the camera at the overlords, who weren’t particularly interested with being on film, “Zestial, Sir Pentious, Rosie, and Carmilla…”
Carmilla sent a spiteful glare at the camera man, making the footage and sound glitchy and unusable before the camera darted to point at an anxiety filled Charlie Morningstar who gave a simple wave.
“And the massive disappointment for a ruler and daughter of Hell’s head honcho, Charlie Morningstar.” Katie’s words stabbed Charlie intensely, making the princess sad, “Why this f*cking embarrassment for a sin is here, who the f*ck knows or gives a sh*t! We just hope she isn't here to advertise her sh*tty f*cking hotel, because not a single damn soul gives a single solitary f*ck!”
“Excuse me.” Velvette said with an annoyed voice while putting on a coy smile. Velvette hated Katie just as much as the other overlords, so she was ready to send the bitch away.
“Oh, and here is the fashion overlord herself! Miss #Bitch, Velvette!” Velvette cringed at that hashtag nickname, a name that harkened back to her more naive years of being an overlord, “Velvette, what is it that this event is for and why are the overlords of Hell joining in on it?”
Katie pointed the head of her mic towards Velvette to let her speak. “That is going to be explained once we get things moving.” Velvette said as she got closer to the camera, her prosthetic eye activating its black swirls and wavy pupil, “So just keep yourselves entertained in the meantime. Now get out of here!”
Velvette pushed the news team into the crowd, getting them away as Rosie continued to comfort Charlie.
“I can’t do this. I’m sorry. I just can’t.” Charlie felt entirely hesitant to continue and awful for being unable to get over her own worries. Carmilla simply approached her and put a hand on the princess’s shoulder.
“It is alright. You have faced so much ridicule for being who you are, and you fear that rejection that will follow the scrutiny. But believe me, those values you hold so dear to your heart are your greatest weapon. If you keep yourself focused, then you can surely convince your people to fight for this cause.” Carmilla held Charlie’s hands and stared the princess in the eyes with unwavering focus.
“But…I don’t know.” Charlie looked away, severely doubtful.
“Hey,” Rosie leaned closer while standing behind Charlie, “Trust me. Your kindness and can-do attitude is infectious. Just hit them with that sparkle, razzamatazz, and oh so appealing moxie of yours, and they’ll be eating out of your palm.”
Rosie turned to an approaching Velvette and then looked back at Charlie, silently urging the princess to join up with the fashion overlord. Charlie reluctantly accepts, walking over and letting Velvette wrap her arm around her; leading the princess towards the crowd as Vel pulls out a megaphone.
“Alright, f*ckers,” Velvette screamed into the megaphone, causing the crowd to become alert, “Clear out! Clear out! f*ck off! Let us through!”
As Velvette yelled the crowds parted into a pathway towards the concert, the demons giving angry glares and snarls to Charlie. Some straight up laughed at the sight of the princess. All of it didn’t help make Charlie feel better about herself. Eventually, Velvette and Charlie made it to the stage, standing right in front of the front steps that lead up to the higher platform.
“Now, darling, you know I would do anything, anything for my clients, but I can't exactly command all of Hell to follow someone else into battle. Sinners are very social, and they like to stick together in groups. So if you are gonna convince one of them to fight for your cause, you’re going to have to convince all of them to fight for your cause.” Velvette explained as she and Charlie got onto the stage, looking back at the crowds of angry, impatient sinners, “And there's one in particular—”.
“Uuuugh, Susan.” Just about all the overlords groaned in annoyance at the recollection of that name.
“Susan, who's a bit of an...uh—” Velvette was interrupted by the overlords again.
“Ornery old bitch?” Rosie interjected.
“Crotchety old hag?” Husk added.
“Insistent, crass grumbletonian?” Zestial purpose.
“Infuriating bag of bonesss.” Sir Pentious said annoyed.
“An absolute shrew.” Carmilla ended the insults.
“Yeah, she’s all of that. The c*nt loves to interrupt my shows to shout about how terrible they are. She barely respects Rosie, who owns her soul, and she straight up hates all of us. She’s tough, with a capital T, but win her over and the rest will be easy as pie.” Velvette grabbed a microphone from a blue skinned female sinner from the side and walked towards the front of the stage.
“Attention everyone!” Velvette tried to calm the crowds of screaming sinners and demons, who were all raving to hear what the show was about, “Settle down. SETTLE DOWN!”
Velvette’s shouting silenced the horde, and Velvette took a deep breath to regain her composure. “I am here with a very special announcement from a very royal somebody. Please put your hands together for Princess Charlie Morningstar!”
Nobody clapped, and everyone’s smiles immediately dropped as Velvette turned to Charlie and presented the microphone to her. “Ready?” Velvette asked as Charlie hesitantly grabbed the mic to stand where Velvette once stood. Charlie tapped the mic for a bit to check the sound and took a deep breath.
Just as Charlie was about to speak her first word to the crowds, a grumpy voice belonging to an old woman shouted at the top of their lungs, “Booooo, bring Velvette back!”
“Susan?” Charlie said to the overlords, wanting confirmation.
“Susan.” The overlords bluntly and tiredly said.
The woman walked through the crowd, roughly pushing anyone out of the way no matter how big. The woman wore a light mauve dress with a white strap around her waist that was tied into a bow. She had pale skin, sharp white teeth, and black dead eyes like Rosie but wore a grumpy frown like Husk and old, circular glasses with blue lenses. She wore a fedora similar in color to her dress with white ruffles on the outline and an old mauve stripe on the brim, as well as three light blue feathers sticking out of the hat. She also wore a massive purple furred scarf around her neck, with the head, paws, and tail of the poor fox still attached with one of its black eyes taken out. She also had a jagged oak cane with a silver grip that she loved to just smack everyone with. Once she got into the middle of the crowd, she stood there with hunched back and disapproving frown.
“Okay. Hello everyone, I’m Charlie and…”
“f*cking Hell! If this is to advertise your sh*tty hotel, I will personally off myself with an angel spear!” An angry reptilian sinner.
“Ooooh. Look at this. Apparently, the sh*tty f*cking princess whor* managed to hijack one of Velvette’s concerts to advertise for her sh*tty, hopeless hotel!” Katie shouted into the camera as sinners all over Hell watch the event from the safety of their own homes on whatever device they have.
“Okay, okay. I have a hotel on the other side of town that is going to be targeted by the exorcists this year.” Charlie was immediately interrupted by another sinner.
“Good riddance, maybe we will be able to stop hearing this sh*t.” The char black sinner said with many others nodding in agreement around him.
“Well I…”
“Hey Princess, give it up! We’re going to die anyway. Stop trying to make us care about this tacky hotel.” A 1920s flapper dressed woman shouted, starting to make Charlie really irritated.
“Let me start over. The exorcists are coming in a few weeks and I need you all to join together…”
“Do we have to hold hands?” A sinner that looked to be made up of multiple shapes pulls her arm off to make the mocking comment, many sinners laughing at the dumb joke.
Charlie sighed in annoyance and proceeded to finish her sentence, “I need you all to join together with me to fight them off!”
The crowd gasps.
“Fight them, are you nuts?!” A clown sinner shouted.
“Have you lost your marbles? We’ll get slaughtered!” A cowgirl sinner protested.
“What if they slaughter all of us for wanting to rebel? I can't take that.” A blue, frowning child-like ghost sinner said.
“Yeah, absolutely not, princess!” A woman with an outfit that had seems that looked like blue lightning bolts said.
“Well…we…we have…we have proof…you just…” Charlie felt overwhelmed by the amount of protest from the sinners, and it definitely reminisced of previous experiences, “Look…let me start over again.”
“Booooo! Get off the stage, you blue blood bitch!” Susan yelled as Charlie tried talking again, “Booo! We don't give a sh*t about some hotel! Leave before I eat those big-ass eyes of yours!”
No matter what Charlie was about to say, it was always interrupted by Susan saying things like, “Boo! Get off! Where's the showmanship? Where's all the finesse? f*cking mediocre!”, until Charlie just had enough.
“f*ck YOU, YOU OLD c*nt!!!!!” Charlie shouted with a demonic yell while flipping off the old woman or more accurately the crowd. Just about everyone was caught off guard by the outburst as Charlie huffed steam with her horns revealed and eyes turned demonically red. Velvette nervously walked behind Charlie and grabbed her by the arms.
“Okay!” Velvette said nervously while dragging Charlie away from the mic stand, “We’ll be right back after these messages!”
Charlie was pushed backstage, having calmed down from her sudden outburst and felt apologetic. “I’m sorry, I just can’t do this.” Charlie said, defeated as she started pacing around.
“Well that’s okay, Charlie. You were just overwhelmed. You can still do this, darlin’.” Rosie said sympathetically.
“Yeah, well now we got to stop anybody from leaving because the princess made such a ruckus.” Husk said.
Rosie snapped back, “Oh stop it. Why don’t you all go while I clear things up.”
“Really?” Carmilla asked, surprised.
“Ok, sure.” Velvette said as she and the other overlords, except Carmilla, went out to calm down the sinners that were currently causing a riot from the commotion Charlie caused with her outburst.
“Rosie, are you sure?” Carmilla asked as she approached Rosie with open arms.
“Milly, you have already done your part. But I still have something to fix,” Rosie fixated her hands to intertwine with Carmilla’s, “Trust me. Nobody knows this girl better than I do.”
Carmilla thought about it for a second and sighed, “Alright. I trust you, mi amor.”
Carmilla and Rosie shared a quick kiss as Carmilla went to leave, but Rosie decided to smack the ballet overlord’s butt before she left, causing her to slightly jump with Rosie giving nothing but a teasing smile. Rosie walked over to the worried Charlie.
“Alright, what has you so out of sorts, darlin’? Ya clearly got more on your mind than angels.” Rosie asked as Charlie continued pacing.
“What…what do you do when the only person who truly supports you is completely unable to? What…if you feel something for them that…nevermind.” Charlie stopped herself. Despite everything, there was still a part of her that screamed at her to not trust Rosie.
“No, no. Go on. It sounds like you’re feeling a real somethin’, somethin’.” Rosie said, very eager to hear more.
“What?” Charlie was confused by Rosie’s wording.
“Y’know. It sounds like you have a crush on someone. Luckily, romance is my specialty.” Rosie walked over to Charlie, “Come on, dearie. Details, details!”
“It’s not a crush…at least I think it isn’t…maybe…I don’t know. It’s weird, so much has happened and…she…she supports me, genuinely. She’s so sweet, kind, selfless; she has pretty blue eyes and a gorgeous smile, and her skin is silky smooth; and she sings beautifully, and she is so kind! But…” Charlie somberly sighs.
“Well, what’s the problem? She sounds like quite the gal!” Rosie asked curiously.
“She’s a seraphim, a higher angel.” Charlie stated, immediately making the problem clear to Rosie.
“Oh, sh*t!” Rosie yelled in surprise.
“And not only that, but two days ago, Valentino kidnapped her, injured her, and nearly raped her. It was all because I convinced her to come down to Hell with me. So it was my fault she got hurt. And she’s a higher angel, so Heaven is going to be f*cking pissed at me for letting her get hurt, and I highly doubt that Emily would want to see me ever again.” Charlie ranted while Rosie took the time to process all this information.
“That’s quite the situation. How does that make you feel?” Rosie asked softly.
“I don’t know, angry, frustrated. I just feel angry that the only person who truly supported me got hurt because of me. I just….” Charlie felt weak and sat on one of the speakers, “I feel like an utter failure. Nothing I have done I have done without help. Every time I try to do something, I always f*ck it up. I can’t do anything right, and any amount of support I have is just…I feel undeserving of it. I don’t deserve any of this…because I’m just a f*cking failure.”
Charlie started to shed tears as Rosie sat next to her. “You want to know why I really joined your hotel…” Rosie started talking softly, “No it wasn’t because of the pact. That…that was after. It was because…I wanted to help people.”
Charlie heard those words and became confused. Rosie understood the confusion and replied, “Yeah. I…I enjoyed having a hold on the souls I own. But…I didn’t want to rule over them. I wanted to help them; and yeah, the method was scummy, but it was the most I could do. And…that was frustrating…that it was the most I could do. Have them sign their souls away for protection and guidance, it just felt wrong for the longest time. And then it ended up not mattering once Vaggie started targeting people like us. The amount of poor cannibals I had to watch die during those slaughters…it made me feel powerless. Suddenly, what I had been doing for years felt pointless; it just became a luck based game on whether or not I would be next. And once Carmilla left, I felt lost for a good long while, just waiting. Once I heard about your hotel, and more importantly the idea behind it gave me an opportunity, and opportunity to help my fellow souls. An opportunity to make a difference. So…I guess you could say…I was looking for redemption too.”
Rosie moved herself closer to Charlie, placing a hand underneath Charlie’s chin to get the princess to look at her. “Charlie,” Rosie continued to speak softly, “You're someone who inspired me to step up; to be better. And, please, don’t look at people wanting to help you as a weakness you have; it’s one of your greatest strengths. Your kindness, your generosity, your optimism, it brings light to our bleak world. You f*ck up, a lot, sure. You’re flawed. But, hey, who down here isn't? And you remember what I said about actions, right? Well, I still believe that from all your actions, no matter how bad things get, still show you are no doubt worthy of the Morningstar name. And it’s those actions that make me want to stand by your side, make all of us stand by your side. And no doubt, if this girl you speak so highly of is truly all you say she is, that she would stand by you as well no matter how much sh*t you get into together. I mean, that’s just kinda what the whole business of love contains, huh?”
“Well, Emily did feel more sorry for making me worried, so she must have blamed herself for it as much as I have. She supports me, she wants to see me happy, and yet…I can’t even pitch my f*cking hotel right!” Charlie said.
“Well how do you normally explain your hotel?” Rosie asked.
“By singing. But that never works.” Charlie said, defeated.
“It will work here. Trust me.” Rosie said, with a sly grin on her face.
The overlords managed to come backstage after controlling the crowds. Velvette asked, “Alright, the crowd has settled down a bit. You’re ready to give this another go?”
Charlie, after a brief moment of silence, managed to nod and say, “Yes.”
Velvette, who was carrying the mic stand, handed it off to Charlie. The princess was still nervous about taking it, but a soft smile from Rosie and Husk saying, “Knock them off their feet, princess.”, was enough to restore some confidence in Charlie. Charlie took a deep breath and went on stage, the overlords following behind with proud smiles. Charlie positioned herself in the middle of the stage, overlooking the annoyed, angered, and bored demons below who glared at her.
“Oh, look at this sh*t! It looks like Charlie Morningstar is back on stage after majorly blowing it earlier. Is she going to fumble again? Let’s watch!”, Oh the joy Katie had in tearing down others, especially someone as rich and of high status with such weak emotions as Charlie.
Charlie took another deep breath and began speaking.
“Alright,” Charlie spoke in a calmer, more determined tone, “I know I haven’t presented myself very well, and that you all are probably fed up with seeing me—”
Charlie was interrupted by a horned reptile-man sinner yelling, “Can it, blue blood! We don’t need another f*cking encore!”
Charlie, while annoyed, chose to ignore the sinner, “But I have a very important thing to say. So I feel it is very important that you all listen up.”
“Oh yeah? And what is it that you need to tell all of Hell about, you raggedy, wet blanket bitch!” Katie said to the camera while gritting her teeth.
Charlie was silent for a few seconds, still nervous about truly embracing herself before looking back at the proud smiles of the overlords and Rosie’s watery eyes as she held her hands together. Charlie felt reassured and faced back towards the sinner crowd, taking another breath before stating her message.
[Charlie] ♫ Have you ever wanted something ♫
♫ That was so clear in your mind that you could taste it? ♫ The sinners stared at here with weirded out and disgusted faces as they cringed for the next song number Hell would be forced to hear.
“You mean like human flesh?” Susan asked.
“Eugh, sort of…” Charlie decided to roll with the question as proceeded with the song.
♫ It's a feeling like a rumbling in your gut ♫
♫ That you could finally be faced with ♫
♫ A billion needy faces. I guess what I mean to say is, ♫ Charlie started stepping forwards as the sinners grow more confused on what Charlie is saying. Charlie started to walk down the steps going off the front of the stage as the sinners started to clear out a pathway in the crowd for the princess to walk through.
♫ For the first time in my life ♫
♫ I might have to be ready for this, ♫ Charlie looked back to see Rosie crying tears of joy while clapping and Husk giving a thumbs up for motivation, making Charlie feel more compelled to intensify the song.
♫ Ready to be the one who's leading from the front. ♫
♫ Gotta come into my own. ♫
♫ Gotta come into my throne. ♫
♫ Gotta take charge and defend my only home. ♫
♫ And although I kinda feel unsteady, ♫
♫ Now I need to be ready for this. ♫ The sinners started to look at each other awkwardly, unsure how to react to the song before Charlie randomly pops up between two supervillain sinners.
♫ Have you ever felt like you're willing to die ♫
♫ To save the people of your city? ♫ As Charlie made her way through the crowd, interacting with various sinners, Susan managed to ask a question, “By die, you mean use my teeth to rip flesh apart?”
“That's a start!” Charlie was surprisingly supportive of the proposal, booping Susan on her nonexistent nose before delving back into the crowd of sinners; getting more and more excited as her demon form starts showing more.
♫ Cause right now, we need a leader ♫
♫ And it seems to me that ♫
♫ Destiny has picked me to be that, ♫
♫ If you'll permit me. ♫
♫ So, who's with me? ♫ Charlie excitedly bursts into demon form for a split second before moving to a more cheerful tone, not unlike the one she had when she sang on the news.
♫ Wouldn't it be super to see more of Hell? ♫ Charlie starts tap dancing to the change in tone, leaving demons confused.
♫ Join up now if you like travel ♫ Charlie jumped onto a lamp pole and started swinging on it, tapping the heads of the sinners below with the mic stand.
♫ Come on boys, hop in the saddle! ♫ Charlie grabbed several small imps and hugged them close before jumping into the air and throwing them all around.
♫ Lotta sights to see en route to my hotel, ♫
♫ Not to mention the camaraderie. ♫ Charlie approached two sinners with her tapdance, a French Napoleon era soldier and a pirate with spider legs, went behind them and brought them closer to her in her arms. Charlie tapdances to get them excited, eventually getting the two sinners to join in before heading off deeper into the crowd.
♫ Yes siree, you'll form life-changing friendships ♫
♫ With the folks along the way. ♫ Charlie grabbed two women, a skeleton-like woman in traditional day of the dead attire and an Egyptian mummy-like woman, and twirled them around with the woman eventually stopping themselves from spinning by locking hands. The two ladies shared a blush at each other before Charlie went off.
[Rosie] ♫ And feast on all the angels you can eat! ♫ Rosie sang in a jolly voice as she pulled a deceased angel’s head from her bodice and threw it into the crowd.
[Charlie] ♫ Okay… ♫
The sinners gathered around and stared at the angel head, shocked at the sight of a creature they feared for so many years dead and decapitated on the ground.
“Holy sh*t!” Katie yelled as she pushed Tom out of the way of the camera, “It seems like angels aren’t as immortal as we thought and can be killed! What this means for Hell as a whole is a mystery.”
Many sinners watching the news broadcast simply stared at the footage in shock, while the sinners actually at the event gathered around to truly study the head. There was quiet murmuring happening among the crowd, which made Charlie feel nervous. One sinner, a gargoyle sinner in a tux, picked it up to observe it.
“It really is an angel’s head.” The gargoyle sinner said.
“What the f*ck? How?” A crab sinner said, his eyestalks moving around the head before it was dropped on the floor.
“So what you’re telling me is that these angelic f*ckers could be killed, and we were just letting them slaughter us in the streets?” One gray furred, goat-like humanoid sinner said.
“No!” A crocodile, cowboy sinner said in an outcry.
“Si, that’s what I got.” A sinner that looked to be a Victorian royal made out of candy and sweets said in response to the crocodile sinner.
“What the f*ck?!” A buff, jock sinner that looked like he had been at the bottom of a lake for years ripped his seaweed-like hair out in rage at the revelation.
“How could we let this happen?” A sinner resembling a heron with horns cried for answers.
“This is bullsh*t!” A gray sinner with blue fur and big horns slammed his fist into his palm in anger.
“This is an outrage!” A sinner with a TV for a head and multi-colored clothes said, glitchy.
“I’m into fat bitches!” A random, fat slug sinner shouted.
“Down with the angels!” A random clown said, lighting a piece of wood on fire into a torch.
“Down with Vaggie!” A red skinned, horned female sinner cried.
“Yeah!” Many sinners yelled in response.
“Wait!” A familiar teenage human-like sinner with triceratops features called out, “What if it’s fake.”
Just like last time, the teenager was met with a punch, this time from a beastly gorilla sinner with scorpion claws and tail. Soon enough, other sinners started dog-piling him, beating him to a bloody pulp.
“Come on you puss*es! Join the fight!” A sinner whose head resembled the rope of a noose wrapped around the neck of a black, faceless body shouted.
“I don’t know.” A pale, black haired girl said in a nervous voice.
“What if they know?” A purple skinned sinner with a giant, fuzzy afro and attire straight out of an 80s exercise tape asked a purple, gooey rabbit sinner beside her; the rabbit giving her a shrug and confused look.
A sinner with a tank turret for a head and treads for feet rolled in shouting, “Come on bitches! It’s us or them!”
“Yeah!” Many sinners shouted in agreement.
“Let’s slaughter the lot of them!” What appears to be a female Irish warrior shouted.
“Blind them!” A sinner with a lamp for a head proposed.
“Fry them!” A female sinner made from electricity yelled.
“Let's hang them dry!” A pilgrim-esqu sinner said while wrapping a noose around a tree sinner’s branches and the neck of a poor, smaller red horned sinner.
“Subject them to cruel and unusual punishment!” A massive sinner that looked to be judged with a giant hammer screamed out with an insane smile plastered on his face.
“I would love to stab their eyes out!” A creepy, pale girl with eyes making up her hair said as she smiled at the needle she had in her hand.
“Let's blow them to smithereens!” A child sinner in a devil’s outfit said as he climbed on the back of a sinner with a cannon head while holding a bomb.
“Let’s make them regret ever coming back!” The sinner with the cannon head shouted.
“Let’s go!” Sinners cheered as Charlie felt a sense of hope filling up inside of her. The sinners turn towards Charlie, leaving her with a smile and Katie in confusion.
[Sinners] ♫ It's time now to act !♫
♫ They're on the attack! ♫ The sinners sing in unison as Katie asks, “What? What the f*ck? What the f*ck is going on?” while Tom and the news crew start vibing to the tunes.
♫ When they move to strike, ♫
♫ We will fight, biting back! ♫
♫ We'll follow your lead. ♫
♫ We're eager to feed. ♫
♫ We'll sharpen our teeth ♫
♫ For the heavenly feast! ♫
♫ From this moment on, you can count on us ♫
♫ To be resolute and ravenous. ♫
♫ Our appetites are whet, ♫
♫ And we're set to seize the day. ♫
♫ So I say, "Oh hey! Come join the flesh buffet!" ♫ The sinners cheered as Katie asked, “What the Hell? Why?”
[Charlie] ♫ Well, that's a little violent. ♫
♫ Can we tone it down? ♫ Charlie asks nervously before Rosie pops up behind her, wrapping her arm around Charlie.
[Rosie] ♫ Oh, don't be put off by their snarling. ♫
♫ That's enthusiasm, darling! ♫
[Charlie] ♫ Eh, they just seem a little murdery right now… ♫ Charlie as her eye set on a few sharp-toothed sinners, drooling, snarling, and grinding their teeth while clearly craving violence.
[Rosie] ♫ Don't worry honey, ♫
♫ That's their thing. ♫
♫ Keep singing. ♫
[Charlie & Rosie] ♫ We're super duper grateful ♫
♫ To have you folks aboard. ♫ Charlie and Rosie share a little dance with Rosie twirling the end of her dress and Charlie twirling her mic stand.
[Sinners] ♫ We can't wait to taste an angel's wings! ♫
[Charlie] ♫ Oh, Lord… ♫ Rosie grabs Charlie and twirls her towards the sinner horde, the demons lifting her up on top of her heads for her to lead them to her hotel.
♫ For the first time in my life, ♫
♫ Maybe I can be ready for this. ♫
♫ I can be the marshal leading the parade. ♫
♫ I can come into my own. ♫
♫ And I think I've always known ♫
♫ My destiny could never be postponed. ♫
♫ When Vaggie brings the battle here, ♫
♫ I must appear like I'm ready for this. ♫ Charlie said while raising a hand towards Heaven in the sky and curling it into her fist, temporarily shifting into her demon not out of rage but out of determination.
“What the f*ck? Why are you following her?” Katie yelled as Tom and the news crew abandoned her and ran towards the crowd, feeling motivated to follow Charlie’s lead. Sinners pop out of their homes, grabbing whatever weapons they have to join the crowd all behind Charlie while Katie screams, “She’s leading you all to your deaths! Wake the f*ck up!”
Carmilla and the other overlords walk past Katie, with Carmilla being in awe of what she was seeing.
[Carmilla] ♫ They're dancing along, ♫
♫ They're singing her song. ♫ Carmilla, in what seemed like the first time in a long time, felt genuinely happy and pressed her hands together in gladness before Rosie yanked her into her arms.
[Rosie] ♫ Surprised? ♫
♫ Why, I knew she could do it all along. ♫
[Overlords] ♫ She's bound to pass the test, as Princess of Hell. ♫
♫ Like her Daddy, she is madly powerful! ♫ Carmilla and Rosie share a sweet dance in each other’s grace while the others celebrate around them.
[Carmilla] ♫ She's filled with potential that I could guide. ♫ Carmilla broke from the dance eagerly while for a split second turning into her half-demon form, shadows building around her, before Rosie dragged her back into her exhilaration from her outfit.
[Rosie] ♫ I concur! ♫
[Carmilla & Rosie] ♫ Stick with her, ♫
[Overlords] ♫ You'll be on the winning side. ♫ The overlords ran towards the massive crowd of sinners that just became larger with each passing building. They finally let Charlie down to the ground once even more sinners appeared in front of them ready to join the fight.
[Sinners & Overlords] ♫ For the first time in our lives, ♫
♫ We know that we are ready for this! ♫ The overlords appeared behind Charlie to sing proudly before pushing her forward.
[Velvette] ♫ We'll show heaven a fight they won't forget! ♫ Velvette proclaimed as a choir of sinners and hellborn alike sang in the background before twirling Charlie into a group of them.
[Sinners] ♫ It's time to take a stand! ♫
[Charlie] ♫ And it is time to lend a hand! ♫ “Huzzah!” The sinners proudly declared as they raised their weapons into the air.
♫ Against the angels and their deadly threat! ♫
[Sinners & Overlords] ♫ We cannot take it anymore, ♫
♫ The time has come to go to war! ♫
♫ Prepare to fight, we're ready for… ♫
♫ THIS! ♫ Charlie confidently steps forward ahead of the crowd, fire sprouting with every step.
[Charlie] ♫ I really hope that I'm ready for this… ♫
It felt like they were in this stupid library all damn day. St. Peter was growing tired of seeing book pages, showing the covers to Emily asking, “Is this it?” and getting a kind, “No”, and tossing the book away only to repeat the process all over again. But still, he continued to search, for the sake of his friend.
Emily was feeling equally discouraged, and the pain of her leg was starting to get to her. She tried to stay off it, for the sake of not breaking it again, but the walking on only one leg thing was really starting to wear her out.
St. Peter rummaged through one of the many piles of books they managed to make during their search, hoping that they just missed something. Lord and behold, he managed to find a golden covered book that was titled “Portals and Wishes.”.
“Hey, I found it!” St. Peter called out to Emily, who used her working wings to hover over to the apostle.
“That’s great!” Emily said as she went to grab the book from Peter, only for him to pull away as he started to have second thoughts. Emily gave a worried expression which made Peter feel guilty.
“You really are sure about this?” St. Peter asked out of worry.
“As sure as I’ll ever be.” Emily said with confidence. With a reluctant heart, St. Peter gives the book to Emily, allowing her to open it and read out a spell to herself. She pressed her hand onto the page and sent out a wisp of light to the middle of the room, opening a golden portal directly to Hell. The wind started to blow from the portal, blowing all the books open as St. Peter tried to stand his ground against it. Emily meanwhile, put the book down as she walked over to the portal, giving a look back at Peter that looked unsure of whether or not this was the right choice to be making.
Emily, eventually, gave a tearful smile back at Peter and waved him goodbye as she stepped through the portal. The force of the wind eventually blows the book of portals close, making the portal and Emily vanish. Peter just stood there, unsure of what to do next.
Emily wasn’t exactly clear on where she was. She was in Hell, definitely, and she felt a familiar energy from where she was standing, but she couldn’t really tell where she was. It was a dirty alleyway unlike any she had ever seen, and walking through it felt like a labyrinth, but eventually Emily heard something. It sounded like chanting, from a crowd! While it would be better judgment to not head towards the sound of a potentially hostile horde of demons, Emily found herself too lost to follow that judgment and instead took to following the noise.
Emily, soon enough, managed to spot the hotel, and happily walked towards it with the crutch under her arm. That was when she poked her head out of the alleyway to see Charlie, proudly walking towards the open gates of the hotel with a giant bunch of sinners and hellborns behind her. Without a second thought in her head, Emily dashed towards Charlie while shouting, “Charlie!”
Charlie looked ahead, shocked at the rapidly approaching angel that was clearly not stopping as Emily soared towards her with open arms. Emily couldn’t really stop herself as she crashed directly into Charlie, landing with her face in the princess’s chest as she quickly got herself up.
“Charlie, I am so happy to see—” Emily was about to say before she was kicked in the face by the metal shoe of Carmilla, ready to defend the princess with the evil orchid symbols in her eyes and beastly shadows manifesting around her. The other sinners in the crowd were horrified by the sudden angel’s appearance while Rosie recognized exactly who this angel was. Rosie put her arm in front of Carmilla to stop her from going further as Charlie quickly got up and put her body in front of the angel.
“No, no, no! She’s not one of them!” Charlie said as she prepared to use her own body as a shield for the little angel. Emily admired the bravery of Charlie as well as her isistance on protecting her. She was so heavily admiring that she didn’t feel the cut on her cheek from Carmilla’s shoe that was currently bleeding.
“What are you talking about?” Carmilla shouted, disgusted by the creature that had just appeared.
“She’s not an exorcist.” Charlie got up and stood straight, “She’s a friend. I know she is here to help.”
Charlie looked back and gave a smile to Emily, causing the angel to intensely blush.
“Carmilla,” Rosie started to speak so Carmilla could get another word in, “Let her alone. Trust the princess with this.”
Carmilla, not willing to face the true ire of the princess—or Rosie more accurately—, stood down; still keeping her glare on the angel before it softened seeing the following interaction.
“What are you doing here, Emily?” Charlie asked as she helped Emily off the ground, grabbing her clutch and handing it to her once she noticed the seraphim start wobbling.
“I came here to help you. I hated being stuck up in my room, not knowing what was happening to you. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Emily said softly, hoping to avoid any ire. Luckily for her, all Emily got was sweet kindness as Charlie wiped a bit of golden blood off her cheek.
“I appreciate that. But you’re hurt.” Charlie said.
“Yeah, but, it’s far more painful not knowing if you’re alright.” Emily said, which made Charlie blush. Emily quickly realized what she said and started to blush as well.
“So…” Charlie said during their awkward silence, “The crutch is new.”
“It’s only going to be for a while.” Emily responded before looking over Charlie and even Carmilla & Rosie towards a large crowd of worried, angered, and shocked sinners, “You’ve been busy.”
“Yeah…I don’t know if you’re okay with this but…we’re planning on fighting Vaggie and her exorcists.” Charlie said, giving a considerable amount of shock to Emily which prevented the angel from finding the right words to say. “I’m sorry,” Charlie said compulsively, “We didn’t have any other choice. They’re going to destroy the hotel if I don’t do something!”
Emily sighed and said, “I understand. I really hoped that it wouldn’t result in any more lives taken, but Vaggie has clearly been pushing you too far. But if you are going to fight, then I’m fighting with you!”
“What?!” Charlie yelled in shock, “But wouldn’t that be against Heaven? Isn’t there a rule that you cannot attack another angel? What if you end up falling?”
“Then it would be for a cause worth fighting for. I’m not waiting around in ignorance while another one of these genocides destroy your home. If I’m falling, then I am doing it on my own terms.” Emily said sternly, surprising the overlords and sinners witnessing the conversation. Charlie contemplated, but then abruptly hugged Emily, causing the angel to blush before causing her pain.
“Charlie, Charlie,” Emily said in an aching voice, “The wings…on the back…one still hurts.”
Charlie immediately pulled back the hug with her face in an embarrassed blush. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Charlie said embarrassed, before regaining her confidence and holding her hand out to Emily. Emily takes it as Charlie hollers to the crowd, “Follow me everybody!”
The sinners follow while chatting amongst themselves about the sudden angel aligning with them while Susan pisses of Zestial; the spider overlord trying to scare the old lady by unfurling his cloak to reveal his monstrous insides only to receive a snarl from the ornery old bitch. Carmilla was reflecting on the scene she just watched as Rosie put a hand around her neck and on her shoulder.
“You know…” Rosie started speaking, “They sort of remind me of us in a way.”
“How so?” Carmilla asked.
“Two lovers who deny their feelings for the other out of fear for them not feeling the same, only to receive mountains of evidence proving otherwise.” Rosie explained in a soothing voice.
“Yeah…hopefully they won’t make the same mistakes as we did.” Carmilla said in a flat attempt at humor.
“Ah, what’s a good relationship without a few pitfalls? Makes the rewards…” Rosie swooped her hand onto Carmilla’s ass, causing the ballet overlord to jump and blush as Rosie gripped her cheek and twisted it, “So much more satisfying.”
Rosie hissed those words out, making Carmilla sweat as she twisted tighter before letting go. Rosie always loved to tease Carmilla like that, and Carmilla loved the teasing despite how much it frustrated her.
“Come on, Milly. Don’t get distracted.” Rosie playfully snapped her fingers to get Carmilla’s attention back on track. The two overlords rushed to the front of the crowd to get to their fellow overlords and the princess.
Charlie opened the doors, proudly proclaiming, “Welcome to the Happy Hote……”
Charlie was met with the various staff of the hotel grabbing pieces of wood and buckets of nails, ready to barricade the windows. Cherri and her gang of rejects were picking out and deciding on weapons with Millie & Moxxie while Angel was ordering around the staff. Mayberry was helping as much as she could while being under visible stress and Niffty was being Niffty.
“Oh, hey princess!” Blitzø waved to Charlie.
“Charlie, you’re back!” Angel said with shock as he ran towards Charlie, “Oh, and so is Emily.”
“I thought that angel would never come back after the sh*t that happened to her.” Cherri exclaimed, making Emily give out a nervous laugh.
“You…you all decided to stay?” Charlie said, finding the idea unbelievable.
“What? Do you really think we’re a bunch of puss*es?” Mayberry said.
“I just got used to you all. Ain’t going to be giving that up.” Moxie said, walking up towards the princess with Millie.
“Yeah! Those angels are going to get what’s coming to them if they even dare to come close to us!” Millie said with vigor.
“And you know us, we ain’t above doing stupid sh*t for kicks.” Blitzø casually added.
“Those angelic slu*ts are going down!” Hatchet exclaimed.
“As much as I appreciate the sentimentality, we have important work to do currently. We only have twenty-seven days left till exterminations, and then this place will be a warzone. Pentious, get your egg bois to bring all of your machine parts up here in order to integrate them into the hotel. Velvette, you will be planning battle strategies. Not a single inch of this property will go unused. Use the schematics of the angel’s armor and ranks I gave you to properly devise a strategy. Zestial, you shall get these sinners adjusted into their new living quarters. Rosie, Husk, you shall assign everyone in this hotel to their role in the fight the moment Velvette gets done strategizing. I shall work to teach these sinners how to properly fight these monsters. Let’s get to work.” Carmilla commanded, all the overlords going off to complete their tasks, “And you princess; you and your angel can work on motivation. No doubt the idea of such a conflict would strike fear and worry, so keep them focused and determined.”
Charlie nodded, grabbing the hand of Emily and dashing towards the entrance as the hotel began filling with hellborn and sinners alike. Things were looking good for Hell, but while this day was a triumph, the true victory was yet to come. And now, there was a nagging feeling in Carmilla that it would all be for naught.
“How could you let this happen?” Sera chastises St. Peter, who lied about not knowing where Emily went in an effort to cover for his friend, “I gave you one task, to watch over my injured sister, and she just disappeared again?”
Vaggie and her lieutenants watched as Sera paced back and forth in panic and worry. “Where could she possibly be now? How will we find her?”
The panic of the seraphim gave Vaggie and idea, a awful idea.
“She was kidnapped.” Vaggie stated bluntly as all the angels in the room turned to her with confused looks.
“What?” Sera asked in worry.
“Don’t you see? You denied Charlie Morningstar the opportunity to spread her little idea around. She managed to learn how to get to Heaven via the portals we conjure up that are no different than the ones they conjure in Hell. No doubt she learned such from her father.” Vaggie walked towards Sera, “With that, the only hurdle left was the injured seraphim she had to take hostage. Such a coincidence that she was injured by the sinners, who Charlie claimed were her people and thus implied she had control over them.”
“Are you saying…it was all staged?” Sera was starting to shift into anger.
“I don’t know for certain. But I do know that your sister is definitely being held down there against her will.” Vaggie said, with Sera bursting with furious light.
“I must go down there, NOW!” Sera said with fury before Vaggie interrupted.
“No. It will be a surprise attack. They must be planning something to take us all down. To attack now would only be giving them what they want. With you out of the way, there will be nothing stopping them from uprising. We wait until extermination, and then—”
“We can’t wait that long! Emily is in danger! She could be dead now for all we know!” Sera was starting to cry out of pure fear for not knowing what is happening to the closest thing she called family.
“They won’t kill her. They know that her life is the only thing preventing us from scorching Hell, so they won’t risk that. We must wait till extermination day arrives, for we must bring our best. No doubt they’ll have a vast amount of power when we get down there.” Vaggie said before Sera stood up, towering over the commander.
“I’m going with you.” Sera said in a commanding voice.
“Your majesty—” Vaggie found herself cut off.
“No objections. I will give Hell the fire that it truly deserves if they ever so dare as to harm my sister.” Sera said, which made Vaggie smile and bow.
“Of course, your majesty.” Sera left the room with St. Peter, leaving Vaggie with an evil smile.
Lute approached and asked her commander, “Ma’am, what exactly helped you come to the conclusion that she was kidnapped.”
Vaggie frowned. “Nothing really.” She said bluntly.
“So you just made a baseless accusation?” Flea asked, confused.
“Not baseless. Perhaps my theory does hold some truth, but that isn’t the point.” Vaggie walked over to the window overlooking Heaven, “The proper point is now we have incentive. Incentive to properly end the threat that Hell poses over Heaven.”
“What are you saying?” Lute asked, now sort of creeped out by Vaggie’s cold demeanor before her commander snaps back.
“You didn’t really think these exterminations help nullify the threat that Hell poses to Heaven do you?” Vaggie hollered, sending shivers down the spines of all her lieutenants, “No, they were made so a spiteful, arrogant idiot could get back at his ex-wife. The exterminations are entirely confined to the Pride Ring, only one of seven rings, all of which hold equal chance to threaten Heaven. Say that Lucifer had enough of it all; say that Charlie had enough of it all; they could amass an entire army seven rings large to rip Heaven to shreds. These exterminations are only holding back the war that is to come, and it is clear to me that it is starting to fail. To properly ensure Heaven stays safe…Hell must be burned. Hell must die...and Sera will help us do exactly that. Prepare yourselves, my girls, for soon, we will have our final extermination”
The lieutenants just stared at her with worried expressions while Vaggie looked back at the window, rubbing her eyepatch; the painful reminder that her kind could get hurt, that her kind could get killed.
“corre corre, Carmilla.” Vaggie said in a cold voice, “You will see your daughters soon enough."
