Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Hotel was quiet, almost too quiet for Katherine as she stood at the front counter of the hotel. It was raining outside, not enough for a heavy downpour but it was enough that she could hear the raindrops hitting the window from across the room. It had been a rather uneventful day, well as uneventful as the hotel could be all things considered. Esther and Ben had been playing their gaming console now hooked up to Nathan’s Tv in the den, as they had found it in their moving boxes finally. Nathan had been cheering from his chair, not really rooting for anyone in particular, just happy to be a part of something. And Abaddon was…

Abaddon was somewhere Katherine didn’t know where the demon child was. It wasn’t out of the ordinary; the demon disappeared for hours, sometimes days at a time. Sometimes he’d bring back dead squirrels, sometimes bones, and Katherine had learned rather quickly not to question what happened. As long as Her children weren’t hurt or in the crossfire of whatever Abaddon did, she didn’t care. Or at least that’s what she told herself.

At this point Katherine thought about just closing for the day to go start dinner. The rain never brought in customers, and the changing of the seasons wasn’t a great timing either. It was still fall, as people didn’t travel as much around this time of year. The rain brought a chill over the town and the hotel. Katherine sighed, running a hand over her face as she groaned, thinking about the overdue bills for this month. She kneels under the desk looking for the binder of bills she kept under the desk.

It's just then the door opens, a women walks in, dripping with water as she come into the foyer of the hotel. She close the door behind her before shaking off like a dog. The door slams, rattling the walls of the hotel from the force. As Katherine lifts her head from under the counter she looks up towards the women’s face, who looks almost amused down at her.

“Um, Hello.” Katherine greets, standing up fully as the binder of bills dropped from her hands onto the floor at her feet. The Women hums, giving a sly smile as Katherine gives a slightly nervous one back, “Checking in?”

“Yes.” The women gives her a slight nod. “Room for one, maybe more if given the chance.” The women leans her hands onto the desk, not quite in Katherine’s space, but close enough to feel like she leaned in.

Katherine blinks at the flirt, cheeks rising in slight embarrassment. She fumbles slightly grabbing the notebook they used for guest check ins, opening to the next page and grabbing a pen from her cup. “Um, right. Do you know how long you’ll be staying?” Katherine then notices the women is dressed in all black with a leather jacket that isn’t fit for the weather, and no suitcase in site.

The women hums, reaching into her pocket of her leather jacket as she speaks. “Few days, maybe longer, a week at most, but I’m not expecting it to take that long.” She grabs a few bills from her pocket, one-hundred-dollar bills folded in on each other as she flips through them, she sets a stack of 20 of them on the counter. Katherine Blinks, looking from the bills to the women. “This cover it?” The women ask, almost as if she found amusement in Katherine’s expression.

 “I- Yes. It covers it.” She scribbles onto her notebook. “Can I have a name for the booking?” Katherine asks as she turns to grab the key to a barely haunted room.

The Women rolls her eyes, as if tired of this conversation. “Mazikeen Smith.” The women states, grabbing the key from her hands. She looks at it before looking towards the staircase to her left starting up the stairs. Katherine blinks towards her as she ascends the stairs, and for a moment she swears there’s a red glow in the women’s eyes.

Katherine gathers the bills that was left on the counter, all real. She takes a breath, knowing that this interaction just paid for the bills for the month. Maybe the rain isn’t so bad.

Chapter Text

Two days later is when Abaddon finally shows as the first one into the kitchen after Katherine. It was still early morning, too early typically for her own children to come down for breakfast, but as Abaddon scooted his chair out from under the table it makes a soft squeak against the floorboard. She jumps slightly at the noise, turning around with the spatula in her hands to use as a weapon but as she meets Abaddon’s wide doe like eyes staring at her with frightened expression frozen in place. A few beats of silene past before she sighs, shaking her head.

“Sorry Abaddon.” She says softly, turning back to the stove with pancakes in a pan.  “You’re just scared me. I wasn’t expecting you today, or this early.”

Abaddon gives a soft noise, scooting his chair out to crawl onto it. She looks over her shoulder to him. His eyes are a dimmed red, but he looks more alert than usual. “Abaddon?”

“There’s another demon in the hotel.” He mutters, grabbing his box of fruit loops from the center of the table. Katherine blinks in surprise looking back to him. He looks at her a little confused at the expression. “…What?”

“What do you mean there’s another demon in the hotel?! You can’t just say that; you know how previous encounters with demons have gone. Do we have enough salt?”

Abaddon looks slightly up from his box, boredom drawn on his face. “It feels like a weaker demon, probably an imp. Lesser useless demons of Hell typically used as scouts.” His voice mutters off, before shaking his head. “They’ll leave in a few days. Especially since I’m here.”

Katherine flips the pancakes in the pan, giving a small hum. “If you’re here, wouldn’t they contact you? I mean, you said Hell might be looking for you.” There isn’t an answer behind her and the silence drags on for a minute or so. It’s so quiet she looks over her shoulder just to check that Abaddon was still sitting at the table. He was, though his eyes were staring down at his box. “Abaddon?”

“They won’t.” Abaddon mutters, looking at the box in his hands, way more interested in the cereal in the box than having this conversation. “I know they won’t.”

Confusion dawns on her face. “What do you mean?”

“I-“ Abaddon gives a blink, before looking up at her again. His eyes are wide with fear. “I hear Mothman-!” He scrambles from his chair, the chair falls as the demon runs as fast as his vessel will take him.

“Abaddon? Abaddon wait!” Katherine  calls after the demon, but he’s too fast as he runs out the kitchen. She sighs, rubbing her hand over her face before turning back to the stove and the pancakes.

A few minutes later Esther comes into the kitchen rubbing her eyes with her sleeves, yawning as she stares at her phone. “Morning Mom.”

“Morning Esther.” Katherine  greets her youngest, looking over her shoulder towards her. “Pancakes are almost done.”

“Oh! Nice Mom!” Esther looks up from her phone, noticing that Abaddon’s chair was knocked over. “Was Abaddon here?”

“Yeah. He ran off.” Katherine  shrugs. “…What are you doing?”

“Looking up some spells for Halloween that won’t affect Abaddon and the ghosts but will affect the thing that keeps groaning and banging on the windows at witching hour.”

“Forget I asked.” She shakes her head, before a thought pops in her head. “Hey, Esther?”

“Yeah Mom?”

“I know you’ve done a little research on demonology, but have you ever investigated specific demons?” Esther thinks about it for a few moments.

“Not really? I mean I’ve looked up Hell’s social hierarchy and a few demon runes and things of that nature but not like, extensively?” Esther looks to her mom. “…Why?”

“Just, wondering if you knew anything else about Abaddon he hasn’t mentioned.” She hums. Esther tilts her head slightly towards her mother.

“You know that would be rude, right? Like, going behind his back to know more about him?” She says quietly. “He’s the king of Cobras and shrimp. He’s a prince.” She shrugs. “He had to been an angel before. He said he’s seen the beginning of time; only a fallen angel would’ve seen that.”

“Then why wouldn’t they come get him if he’s that powerful?” Katherine questions. “Especially if he’s been here since the 1700s. Hell has to know he’s here.”

Esther shrugs. “I don’t know mom. It might be causes he’s bounded to the town and the hotel. He can’t cross out of town limits or off the hotel property like Uncle Nathan.” At the look her mom gives her Esther gives a sheepish grin and a small shrug. “I uh, was looking for something and we got to the other side of town and he wouldn’t walk any farther. He said it was like a barrier. He even showed me; he runs into an invisible wall.”

Katherine pinches the bridge of her nose. “I’m going to ignore you were on the other side of town alone-.”

“With Abaddon.”

“Not my point.” Katherine sighs. “Just, think about it. Maybe we can help him more if we knew more about him through what demonology says about him.”

“Why don’t you look him up, mom?”

“I would, but you know Nathan will ask why I did and he’ll tell Abaddon and-“ Katherine waves her hand. “You know how that will go.”  

Esther hums, looking at the pancakes Her mom places on the table. She pockets her phone before stabbing a pancake to move onto her own plate.  “I’ll think about it.”

“Thank you for at least that.” Kathrine turns off the stove as Ben wanders into the kitchen covering his yawn with his arm.

“Morning Mom! Morning Sis!” Ben sits in his own chair. “Oo! Pancakes!”

“Morning Ben.” Katherine greets her eldest as he grabs his own pancakes. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good. I passed out with a book last night.”

Esther coughs into her sleeve. “Loser.” Ben glares at her across the table.

“No fighting at the table.” Katherine reminds them sitting down at the chair at the head of the table, grabbing her own pancake for breakfast. At this point Nathan comes into the room, sitting at the other end of the table.

“Good Morning Family!” Nathan greets the three. There’s a choir of good mornings back to him as he looks to the three. “I hate to speak ill of guests, but that woman is weird.”

Katherine rolls her eyes. “Nathan.”

Ben looks to his mom. “I’ve heard her growling at the ghosts at night; it’s all threats. And she carries these weird curved blades with her as well.”

Esther shrugs. “I think she’s supernatural aligned. She was glaring at the things in the parlor and the circle mom uses to keep Abaddon in when he’s grounded.” 

Katherine thinks out loud. “Abaddon mentioned there was another demon on the grounds but he said he thinks it’s an imp.”

Nathan looks confused, thinking. “The only new being in the hotel is the bird Abaddon killed, and our guest.”

Ben hums. “What did you say the women’s name was?”

“Mazikeen, Mazikeen Smith.”

Esther drops her fork, eyes going wide. The whole family looks at her confusion etched in their expressions.

“Esther?”

“Mazikeen is the name of a demon.” Esther starts, “She’s Lucifer’s right-hand and his bodyguard.” She blinks again before shoving her face full of the rest of her pancake. “I’m going to go do things! Love you!” She scrambles out of her chair grabbing her brother by the arm before dragging him with her with his protests.

“Esther, Don’t try to prove our guest is a demon! You remember what happened last time with you thought someone was a werewolf!” Katherine calls after her children. She groans, putting her head in her hands.

Nathan gives a small unsure smile. “I should probably go supervise them so they don’t chase her off.”

“That… might be wise.” Katherine sighs. “Just, make sure they don’t get hurt. We don’t need another possession in the house.” Nathan gives her a mock salute and leaves the room. She sighs.

“Her stay paid all the bills this month though.”