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Charlie chewed the eraser of her pencil thoughtfully. So…that’s utilities, water, what am I forgetting? Oh, right, we need to keep the ads running… Having the King of Hell as a benefactor had certainly been an advantage for the hotel, but they still weren’t beyond the need for the boredom of budgeting.
Her focus was drawn from the papers in front of her by a sharp knock at the door. “I’ll get it!” she called cheerfully to the mostly empty lobby.
Vaggie, who was sitting on one of the couches, looked up from her novel, scratching Keekee between the ears absentmindedly. “Thanks, hon,” she called. “Let me know if you need help with a check-in.”
Charlie practically skipped over to the door and pulled it open with a flourish. “Hello!” she chirped, but her good mood deflated when she saw who was standing behind the door. This smirking, brown-haired demon with black-and-white horns was all too familiar. “Adam. What the hell are you doing here?” she practically hissed, feeling her horns and tail emerge as she clutched her newly-manifested pitchfork tightly and gave an angry flap of her wings.
“Charlie, what’s the–YOU.” Vaggie was beside Charlie in less than a second, wings spread threateningly and angelic spear at the ready. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill you where you fucking stand, asshole.”
Adam stared at them nonchalantly with relaxed yellow eyes, picking at the sleeve of his faded band tee with one newly-clawed hand. “What’s the big deal? Chill out. I’m not here to fuck with you guys.”
Vaggie growled. “What’s the big deal? Um, you tried to kill us? You did kill one of us? Your psycho girlfriend cut out my fucking eye and wings and killed my girlfriend’s pet? You commanded an army with the sole purpose of eradicating demons for millennia?”
He shrugged. “Well, first of all, Vadgy, you were in that army too, so don’t be getting too holier-than-thou with me. Second of all, isn’t your whole thing redemption?”
Charlie scoffed. “What happened to ‘Hell is forever’, huh?”
Adam scowled. “That’s for the rest of you chucklefucks. Not me.”
“What the hell makes you think they would take you back?” Vaggie asked, voice rapidly rising in volume as she clenched her fists tightly. “I don’t know if I can think of anyone who deserves to be here more than you.”
“Shut up. There’s no way Heaven won’t take me back.”
Charlie examined his face. His words were confident, but there was something subtle in his face that seemed to betray deeper feelings. Uncertainty, maybe, or even loss.
"Why are you even doing this?" Vaggie asked angrily.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” The words coming from her mouth surprised even Charlie. “Lute.”
Adam flinched for a split second, but quickly schooled his face back into uncaring. “What? Pssh. No. Like I would do all this for some chick.”
Vaggie snorted bitterly. “God. You’re actually fucking pathetic, you know that, Adam?”
“Look, bitch,” Adam said angrily. “Lute is the only person that ever fucking loved me, and stayed with me, and didn’t run off with her fucking ass-clown of a father. You bet your skinny demon-fucker ass that I’ll do whatever I can to get back to her.”
Charlie felt her horns retract slightly, and she looked at Vaggie. Charlie raised an eyebrow, questioning, and Vaggie shook her head slightly, a disapproving frown on her lips.
Charlie returned her attention to the sinner in front of her. “Do you have any reason why we should trust you at all?”
His scowl deepened. “No.”
“Right.” Charlie began to shut the door, but it was obstructed. Looking down, she saw the toe of a faded black sneaker poking through the door. She pulled the door back open. “What?” she snapped.
The former angel was standing there with his eyes clenched tight. When they opened, she saw in them an emotion that she recognized from some of his final moments–desperation. He let out a shaky breath, as if it caused him physical pain. “Please.”
She looked at Vaggie again, horns almost completely gone, and Vaggie let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. But you put one toe over the fucking line, and you are out of here. Got it, pendejo?”
He danced into the lobby with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Crystal-clear, babe. Wow! This place is pretty run-down, huh?”
Charlie growled, and she heard a similar sound next to her from Vaggie. This isn’t going to be easy.
***
“You WHAT?”
“Dad, wait!” Charlie cried, but Lucifer had already teleported away from his office. She raced out and down the stairs.
When she arrived on the ground floor, she was out of breath from all that running, but she was distracted from the burn in her lungs by the sound of screaming. She groaned. Fuck.
“You think you can just waltz in here and redeem yourself, huh? You think we’re all going to be fine sleeping a couple rooms down from the guy who tried to kill us, like, a month ago? Well, you thought wrong. Now get. Out.” Adam cowered from Lucifer on his back, the king now standing over him in full demon form.
“Dad, no!” Charlie cried, running toward them.
Lucifer glanced over his shoulder, red eyes softening slightly at the sight of his daughter. “It’s fine, sweetie. Just taking out the trash.” He shot a beam of fire from his palm without looking toward Adam, who shrieked and rolled out of the way, leaving a smoldering scorch mark on the carpet.
“He wants to redeem himself!” Charlie cried. “For love. Remember everything you did for love? For Mom?”
Lucifer scowled. “He is nothing like me.”
Adam piped up from the floor. “Yeah, ‘cause you’re a fucking pus–eek!” He was interrupted midway through his insult by another flame blast, which he dodged even more narrowly. “Fuck, come on, man!”
Charlie shot Adam a stern look. “Dad. I founded this hotel to try and help people redeem themselves.”
“Sweetheart, I know that I was wrong before about sinners being redeemable. But Adam?”
“Oh, come on, Dad!” Charlie cried. “Think about it. If we do manage to redeem him, then you can rub it in his face forever that I was right. And if he tries anything, well…”
Lucifer snickered despite himself, angry look softening. “Oh, he wouldn’t have a chance. You’re lucky I’m so soft-hearted for you, Char-Char.” He returned his attention to Adam, who looked as though he was trying to sink into the carpet and disappear. “Alright, asshole. You can stay. But watch yourself. I would love nothing more than to rip you limb from fucking limb.” His face split into a dangerous, shark-toothed grin at the expression of terror on Adam’s face, and Charlie sighed, burying her face in her hands. Oh boy.
***
Charlie couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of deja vu. Her father and Alastor may not have agreed on much, but it seemed one thing they were 100% together on was that no matter how much they hated each other, they hated Adam even more.
“My dear, you cannot be serious,” the deer demon said, a flick of his ears betraying his irritation as he glared at the former angel who seemed to be taking an intense interest in his shoes beside Charlie.
“Nope! You can’t talk me out of this one, Alastor. Trust me, my father and Vaggie already tried.” Charlie smiled, then laughed nervously. “Um…that isn’t a problem, right?”
Alastor opened his mouth as if to object again, only for it snap shut, teeth audibly gritting together into a forced grin. “Not at all,” he muttered through his teeth.
Charlie sighed softly. Letting the other residents know that Adam would be staying definitely wasn’t going as well as she had hoped.
Niffty stared up at Adam, then smiled, needle-sharp little teeth on full display. “Charlie says I can’t stab you anymore.”
“Uh…yeah. Yeah, that’s good,” Adam responded nervously.
She giggled shrilly. “That’s ok. She only took my knife. I can think of plenty of other fun things for us to do.” Her eye suddenly caught a bug across the lobby, and she raced off, sewing needle at the ready. Adam’s eyes followed it, and he visibly gulped.
Cherri cleared her throat loudly, and Adam’s eyes turned toward her, Husk, and Angel, all piled onto one couch with identical glares toward Adam. “What?” he snapped.
The fur on the back of Husk’s neck bristled, and his tail flicked irritably. “That a fuckin’ joke, man?” he asked angrily, face drawing back into a snarl. Adam only shrugged, looking honestly mystified.
“Well, dickhead, you killed my best friend’s boytoy.” Angel stood up, stretching and cracking all four sets of knuckles. “I’d say that’s plenty of reason for us to hate you, and not a lot of reason for us not to kick your sorry ass right now.”
“Angel! He was not my boytoy!” Cherri objected, cheeks reddening slightly.
“That’s even worse! Ya didn’t even get to make him your boytoy before this asshole fucking zapped him to heaven!” Angel argued.
“What?” Adam interrupted.
All three demons stiffened suddenly, and Charlie placed a gentle hand on Adam’s arm. “Um…Adam. Sir Pentious…was…redeemed?”
His yellow eyes widened cartoonishly. “He what? That freak with the blimp? He was fuckin’ pathetic! How could he–”
His words were caught off by a flying tackle from Cherri, who slammed his head into the carpeted floor. “You–don’t–talk–about–him–like–that!” she screamed, punctuating her words with blows to the demon’s face.
“Cherri!” Charlie shrieked, rushing to pull the cyclops off of him.
Cherri allowed herself to be pulled back, but she was still glaring at Adam as Charlie gently led her toward Angel, who wrapped her up in a six-armed hug, also glaring at Adam over his friend’s shoulder. The former angel stayed on his back, staring up at the ceiling with a dazed expression.
“Adam,” Charlie began. “If you aren’t going to be respectful, then you can go ahead and leave. Or, if you want, I could call my father…” Her finger hovered over the call button on her phone threateningly.
“No!” Adam practically shrieked, before regaining his composure. “Uh. I mean. No, that won’t be necessary.” He sat up and spat out what looked like part of a broken tooth.
“Do you have anything you’d like to say?” Charlie prompted.
Adam rolled his eyes. “Ugh, fine. I’m, like…sorry, or whatever.”
The princess smiled down at him sweetly. “Thank you! Was that so hard?”
He mumbled something under his breath as the three sinners stalked away toward the bar. As they left, another voice arose from the hallway into the lobby.
“What’s all this noise?”
Charlie turned toward the voice with a start. “Oh! Hi, Emily. Um…”
“Whoa-hoh-hoh!” Adam interrupted from behind her. “Little Emmy? Where’s your halo?.”
The seraph stared at him disapprovingly, wings spread as wide as she could in their weakened state. “I could ask you the same thing, Adam.”
He flinched. “Yowch. Harsh.”
She frowned and turned away, pointedly not responding. “Charlie, can I have a word with you?”
“Sure!” Charlie chirped. “What’s up?”
Emily took her gently by the arm and they turned away, lowering their voices to whispers. “What is he doing here?”
“Well,” Charlie started. “You know how the hotel offers redemption to anyone willing to try. So…we’re giving Adam a chance to try.”
Emily hesitated for a moment, then sighed. “I understand. But he’ll need extra supervision.”
Charlie nodded. “Definitely. But with all the powerful demons we’ve got here, there’s no way he’ll get into any trouble.”
Emily glanced over her shoulder, squinting at Adam’s rapidly-swelling face. “Looks like he’s already found some.” The demon, upon seeing her looking at him, smiled awkwardly and raised a hand in greeting.
Charlie laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Um…everyone has bumps in the road?”
Emily cracked a smile. A small one, but a smile nonetheless. Charlie would count that as a win. “Fair enough. I trust your judgment, Charlie.” She turned her attention toward Adam and frowned down at him. “Welcome to hell, First Man.” She stalked away, head held high.
Adam scowled as Charlie walked over to him. She held a hand out to help him up, and he took it reluctantly, grumbling all the while about how he didn’t need help from a woman. Charlie ignored it. “Man, why does everyone here fucking hate me?” Adam complained. “I didn’t even fucking do anything.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow at him silently, and he sighed. “Okay, fine. I might’ve done…some stuff. But do I really deserve to be down here?”
“I don’t know,” Charlie admitted. “But it’s my goal to make sure that even if you do, by the time we’re done, you won’t anymore. Now, I know what would help you win everybody over, this worked for Alastor and for my dad. Why don’t you make dinner for us tonight? Ribs, maybe, you like ribs, right?”
“Ugh, cooking? Isn’t that what the little freak bitch who killed me is for?”
“Niffty has a name,” Charlie said pointedly. “And I’m sure she would appreciate a night off.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. But you’re paying for the ingredients and shit.”
She laughed. “No problem.”
Talking to him like this, Adam seemed to her just like any other sinner. I’m hopeful, Charlie thought. And even if this doesn't pan out… Her eyes meandered to the bar, where Husk, Angel, and Cherri were still glaring in Adam’s direction, holding various weapons and explosives. Well, I think we're in okay hands.