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Octavia sat on the couch watching her parents in silence. She was not sure what was going on, but even she could tell her mother was nervous. Stella was pacing back and forth, wringing her hands. Her eyes were constantly darting to the gilded grandfather clock. “I still can not believe you somehow managed to pull this off.” She said, glancing at Stolas. “I mean, you finally did something right.”
Stolas shrugged. “Honestly, I did very little.” He, too, glanced at the grandfather clock. He had to admit he was a bit nervous as well. Though his reasons were different from Stella's. This would be the first time someone else was taking care of little Octavia. He reminded himself that the household staff would still be home. Everything was going to be just fine. “All I really did was mention Octavia. He was the one who asked for this. I merely agreed.”
“Thank the Lords for that.” She stopped her pacing long enough to fix him with an intense stare. “Do you realize how big a deal this is?” She searched for a way to express how important this was. Words failing her, she finally just said. “It is big, alright.” A smile that sent unpleasant shivers down Stolas’s back spread across her beak. “I am going to be the talk of Pride for months, just because of this.” She smiled dreamily. “If this goes well, maybe we will get to do it again.” Stella practically swooned.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Stella, the ever-cold ice princess Stolas knew so well, turned into a little girl on All Hallows' Eve before his very eyes. “Honestly, Stella, you should probably calm yourself just a bit,” Stolas whispered. Stella shot daggers at him, and Stolas quickly looked away. Pringles, the new Butler, had answered the door and was walking the trio of guests to the parlor where Stolas, Stella, and Octavia were waiting.
“Welcome to our humble home.” Stolas greeted them.
“Yeah, Thanks for having us, buddy. Nice place you got here.” Lucifer looked around but was not truly taking anything in. His wife, Lilith, remained silent with her arms folded across her chest. Stolas got the distinct impression that she did not want to be there.
Lucifer's eyes fell on Octavia. “There she is,” he said, gently pushing Charlie in front of him. “Say hi, darling.”
Charlie crouched down to Octavia’s level. “Hi. I’m Charlie. I am going to be your babysitter tonight.” Octavia just stared at her with wide eyes. Babysitter? She never had a babysitter before. This was definitely weird.
Lucifer leaned in close to Stolas. “Thanks again for doing this. None of the other sins have children.” He patted him on the back. “Neither do any of the Goetia right now. Strange, right?” He clasped his shoulder before adding, “Charlie has been wanting to babysit for some odd reason, and what else am I going to do? I mean, it’s not like she is going to babysit a cannibal. Am I right?” he chuckled to himself.
“Mmmh, yes. Of course not.” Stolas said, wanting only to be agreeable.
Stolas turned his attention to Charlie. “Here is the number to the restaurant we will be at. If you need anything, please let us know.”
Stella interrupted. “The staff is around, of course.” She waved her hand about to indicate that the staff was pretty much everywhere. Even if you couldn’t see them all the time. “They can help if needed.” There was no way she was going to miss a chance at a fun evening with the King and Queen of Hell.
Charlie smiled up at them before straightening up. “Thank you,” she said as she took the number from Stolas, only giving it a quick once-over before tucking it into her pocket. “Octavia and I will have a great time. I just know it.”
Stolas couldn’t help but be worried. Charlie was just a teenager, after all. His understanding was that teenagers were not the most reliable. Not that he had any experience with them whatsoever. Lucifer let go of his shoulder and, with a big smile, declared. “This is going to be great.” He walked over to Charlie, giving her an awkward hug. “I am proud of you, Char Char.”
Charlie's cheeks burned. “Dad,” she protested as she squirmed out of the hug. “You're embarrassing me.”
Quick as anything, Lucifer's arms fell to his side. “Well, we best be off.” He stated.
“Agreed,” Stoas responded. “ We wouldn’t want to be late.” He could very easily portal them all to the restaurant in no time at all, but Stella had warned him that using his powers in front of Lucifer was extreme show-boating. He mustn't do it. This seemed strange to him. After all, Lucifer had created all of the Goetia, and therefore was the source of all goetic power; Stolas deferred to her in this matter. Society and all of its strange rules were more her field of expertise than his.
Before leaving, he hugged Octavia. “If you need me, just call. I will be here in a flash. I love you, my little Star Fire,” he whispered in her ear.
“I will be OK, Dad. I love you too.” She whispered right back. “Stolas, we need to go,” Stella called in a very fake bright tone. Stolas knew she was putting on airs for their guest, but he also realized she was getting quite upset with him. He slowly rose, waved to Octavia, and then followed the other couple and his wife out the front door.
Octavia watched her parents go and then turned her eyes to her babysitter. She still couldn’t quite figure out why she had been given a babysitter. This had never happened before. Her father took care of her most of the time. However, on the rare occasions he couldn’t, she had a nanny imp. She suddenly had a horrible thought. “Is my nanny sick? Or did she leave?”
Octavia really liked her nanny. Much like her father, she would do fun things with Octavia. But she also knew that her mother didn’t really like any of the imp staff. Maybe Nanny had decided she wanted a new child to take care of. A child she could spend more time with, and whose mother wouldn’t always glare at her.
“No, silly.” Charlie smiled as she walked over to where Octavia was sitting with a bounce in her step. “I was the one who wanted to take care of you.” She looked off to the side for a moment. “Well, actually any child,” said in a whisper that Octavia still heard. Maybe Charlie was not aware of how good an owl's hearing was. “Now I get to spend the evening with you. And we are going to have so much fun.” She added much louder.
Suddenly, Charlie burst into a song about all of the amazing things they would do together. Octavia stared at Charlie in shock. Charlie did not seem to notice the reaction and merrily continued with her song. Octavia had once heard that Sinners would do that. She wasn’t really sure what a Sinner really was, because no one really seemed to mention them too often. They seemed important and yet oddly not all at the same time. She did know that the Morningstar family lived among the Sinners. Maybe Charlie had picked up the habit from them? The only other person she knew who would break out into song was her father. He would only do so if he thought he was alone or singing to Octavia. In other words, only if no one besides her was around. Octavia felt that it was a shame, really. Her father had a very nice voice.
Once Charlie's song was over, Octavia responded with “Ok?” She wasn’t really sure what else to do. “So what do we do first?” she asked.
Charlie stopped cold. “Oh. Ummm.” She seemed rather unsure herself before adding with enthusiasm. “How about we eat dinner? Do you want pizza?”
Octavia stared again. “Pizza?” What was pizza? She didn’t want to seem stupid. Everyone always thought kids were stupid. Which wasn’t really fair. Kids were only stupid because grown-ups never told them anything. Not wanting to show she had no idea what Charlie was talking about, she added. “Yes?” for some reason, she felt the need to add, “I like rat.”
Charlie’s smile was bright. “Yeah. We will order Pizza and watch a movie. It will be great.” Excited, Charlie started looking around. “Where’s your phone?”
Octavia guided her into the kitchen. Octavia couldn't explain why, but for some reason, of all the phones in the house, this one seemed the best for public use. She watched Charlie order a cheese pizza. She even asked if half the pizza could be made with ground rat. Octavia had never met someone so full of energy and positivity. It was almost unsettling.
Charlie hung up the phone and said with excitement. “Pizza will be here in 45 minutes.” She tapped her chin. “Which probably means closer to an hour. What should we do until then?”
Octavia was stunned that she was being asked. Her father was the only one who ever cared what she did or wanted to do. “We could maybe draw?” Octavia suggested quietly.
“I love to draw. Especially rainbows.” Again, Octavia tried to hide her confusion. Rainbows were probably a Sinner thing, but she was not about to ask.
She led Charlie into her playroom. There she had a low table with lots of art supplies. “Oh wow, you have so many toys,” Charlie said, smiling, looking around.
Octavia shrugged. “I guess.” Octavia didn’t know a single other child, so she was not at all sure if the number of toys was normal or not. But if the princess of Hell was impressed, it must mean something.
The two settled at the table. Octavia handed her a piece of paper. And set her crayons in the middle between them. “Are you going to draw a rainbow?” she asked meekly.
“Oh yeah. Rainbows are the best.” Octavia stared at her paper a moment before stating, “I am going to draw the stars. I love the stars.”
"I bet that is why your dress has stars on it, isn’t it?”
Octavia looked down at her pink dress with its bright yellow stars. She wondered briefly who chose her clothes for her. She simply put on what was laid out. “Yep.” She wasn’t really sure why she didn’t want to admit to not having a choice in her own clothing, but somehow it seemed very grown-up to get to pick. And she really didn’t want Charlie thinking of her as a baby.
Charlie started drawing. She chatted while she drew. She told Octavia how she had really wanted the experience of taking care of a child, even for just a few hours. “Children are just so cool. A whole person who isn’t quite who they're going to be yet, but still kind of are. You know?”
That made no sense to Octavia. Of course, she was herself already. Who else would she be? When their drawings were finished, they shared them with each other. Now, Octavia knew a rainbow was a thing in the mortal sky. It was funny that this Sinner thing from the mortal realm was the same colors as all of the rings in Hell. Octavia felt a moment of pride as she reflected on the fact that she knew each color for each ring. Her father had praised her, telling her how smart she was for her age.
“Do you want to draw more? Or maybe do something else? We got about 30 more minutes till the Pizza arrives?”
“We could play with my dolls?” Octavia suggested pointing over to her imp doll collection. Her mother hated them. Her father adored them. So there was really no telling how Charlie would react.
“Aww, these are so cute.” She exclaimed, and Octavia smiled for the first time that evening.
Yes, Charlie was strange, but she was really nice. She was happy. The kind of happy Octavia didn’t see in anyone else. The kind of happy her father would pretend to be, but not really feel. The kind of happiness that made Octavia feel happy herself, just because she was there getting to experience it.
After Octavia explained who each doll was, their names, and what they liked and didn’t like, the two girls played with dolls right up until Pringles knocked on the playroom door and informed them that the pizza had arrived.
“YES.” Charlie nearly growled with excitement. “Pizza is the best.” She took Octavia by the hand and started leading her into the kitchen.
The girls sat at the table. Charlie had already wolfed down most of her first slice while Octavia was still eyeing hers suspiciously. “Everything OK?” Charlie asked around a mouthful of food.
Octavia nearly giggled. Her mother would be horrified to find out what horrible table manners the princess of Hell had. “I’m just letting it cool down a bit,” she said, finally lifting the piece to her beak and taking her first bite. Cheese, dough, and ground rat, along with some kind of sauce, tomato?, melted across her tongue and ran down her throat. It was divine. Octavia had never tasted something so greasy and yet delicious in her life. She gobbled the rest of her slice up really quickly.
art by Gilau
Charlie smiled at her. “So, Octavia. What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Octavia, not for the first time that night, was stunned. No one asked her those kinds of questions. Not even her father. “I will be a Princess of the Ars Goetia”, she said almost as a reflex.
“Yeah, I know. But I mean, that isn’t the only thing you want to be right?”
Octavia looked down at her plate. “Taxidermy is really cool,” she whispered. She knew that wasn’t something she was supposed to be interested in. Her mother had gotten very angry the one time she had mentioned an interest in it.
“That is very unbecoming of a young lady. Especially a princess.” Her mother had continued on a rant about how her father was obviously a bad influence, allowing her as much freedom as he did. Octavia never brought it up again.
“Taxidermy?” Charlie repeated, deep in thought. “Yeah, that does sound cool,” she nudged Octavia, “and I bet you will be great at it.”
Octavia stared. Charlie seemed so genuine in this. She wasn’t talking down to her like so many adults did. And she didn’t say ‘would’, she said ‘will’. Charlie was quickly becoming Octavia's favorite person. Her father had taught her that it was important to reciprocate in conversations. Sometimes they both forgot that conversation was meant to be a two-way street. So they would have to be reminded at times. She could practically hear his voice in her head. ‘Now you ask her, Star Fire.’
“How about you? What do you want to do?”
Charlie's hand froze with a slice of pizza halfway to her mouth. A glob of cheese dripped off with a heavy plop. “Honestly, I don’t know yet,” she said, setting the pizza back down. “I mean, I am the Princess of Hell. Whatever I do should be important, right?” Octavia had no idea. “I feel like the Sins spend a lot of time with things that impact Hellborn. And don’t get me wrong. They should. After all, they created them.”
Octavia remembered some stories from one of her books about how each sin created the original Hellborn in their respective rings. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe so, there was always someone there to tell them how awesome they were? Maybe, so they wouldn’t get lonely? Who knew?
“But I want to do something for Sinners. To make things better for them.”
Octavia was thoroughly confused. “Are things not good for Sinners?” She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t sure how Sinners were different, other than that they came from the mortal world. She also vaguely understood that not all mortals became Sinners. She was not sure how that worked. Where did non-Sinners go? Some day she would ask her Father. He knew about such things.
“Well, Hell is a punishment.” Charlie began.
“What?” Octavia hadn’t meant to interrupt. “Hell isn’t a punishment. It’s our home.”
Charlie smiled and gently placed a hand on Octavia’s. “For us, yes, it is home. For Sinners, it is a punishment.”
“But....It’s their home too. Why do they let it be a punishment? Can’t they make it better?”
Charlie cooked her head to one side. “That is what I want to try to find out. And then somehow help Sinners do just that. Make their afterlife better.”
Octavia couldn’t quite understand how that was going to work, but she knew if anyone could do it, whatever it was, it was Charlie. “You will be really great at it,” Octavia replied in encouragement. Charlie gave her a grateful smile and then continued eating her pizza.
The girls finished the pizza while mindlessly chatting about Octavia's favorite school subject, fashion, and a little bit about Charlie's boyfriend. When Charlie brought him up, Octavia briefly saw a figure. Long hair, a spear in her hand, and wings. She didn’t look like anything Octavia was familiar with. Her smile was kind, though the rest of her made Octavia's blood run cold. Octavia knew that this creature did not exist yet. Not in that form anyway, and that she would be very important to Charlie. Octavia knew this was a vision.
She had recently started getting them. They never made any sense. A silver white Hellhound that made her feel safe, an Imp covered in scars, that she feared because she was sure he was stealing something important, and the most frightening vision of a figure cast in shadow she couldn’t quite make out, but yet seemed oddly familiar.
She knew from her father that visions needed to be handled with care, and the information given was not always clear. Nor was it wise to share them with everyone. Even if the vision was about a particular person. Most did not handle the information well. So, she kept it to herself, the knowledge that Charlie and her boyfriend would not stay together. She didn’t tell her that her future happiness lay with a strange, winged creature. She was simply content knowing that her friend, ok, babysitter, whatever, would find happiness.
With the Pizza devoured, Charlie decided they should watch a movie while the food digested. Octavia thought it sounded like a great idea. They settled on a comedy of an imp and a hellhound teaming up to try and rob a Goetia. The two obviously kept failing in new and hilarious ways. Somehow, Octavia thought her mother would probably enjoy this movie. As she sat on the couch, she cuddled up next to Charlie. Charlie gently laid an arm around her. Slowly, Octavia's eyes got heavy. The next time she opened them, she was tucked into her bed. She stretched and then closed her eyes, going right back to sleep.
“So, honey. How did you like babysitting?” Lucifer asked, full of exuberant excitement.
Charlie stared out of the limo’s window and smiled. “It was great. And it gave me a lot to think about. Things about my future.”
Lucifer's smile widened, and he looked at Lilith's eyes sparkling with joy. Lilith rolled her eyes with mock exhaustion. She knew her daughter and her husband well enough to know they both were thinking of different things. She knew that while her husband was dreaming of grandchildren running around, her daughter was dreaming of changing the landscape of Hell forever.
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