Chereads / Redemption lies within / Chapter 6 - Chapter 6 | Pilot episode part 5

Chapter 6 - Chapter 6 | Pilot episode part 5

"Okay…." Charlie started her conversation back up with Alastor, as she slipped in on over to stand across from him. She gestured at him with her palms clasp while smiling nervously at him, "Al. You're sketchy as fuck and you clearly see what I'm trying to do here as a joke." Charlie said while gesturing around a bit of the hotel they were in.

 

While Charlie turned away for a bit during her talk with him, glowing red symbols started to appear beside Alastor which quickly disappeared after Charlie turned back to Alastor.

 

"But I don't." Charlie expressed with a kind look, "I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better." she said, before crossing her arms as she spoke with a firm tone, "So, I'm taking your offer to help. On the condition that there be no... " Charlie made a few gestures with her fingers as she made an effort to visualize her sentiment, "tricks or voodoo strings attached." she finished saying.

 

In response, Alastor spun his mic on a cane in his hands as he said, "So, it's a deal, then?" he asked while holding his cane to his side and reached out with his other hand to shake hands with Charlie. A bright green glow exploded between them, before Charlie denied the hand shake.

 

"Nope." Charlie began with as she held her palms up in her stance against the deal, "No shaking! No deals! I... hmm…" Charlie mumbled a bit at the end as she walked a few steps away from the demon while holding her arm, before releasing her hold to turn around and face Alastor with her index finger raised.

 

"As princess of Hell and heir to the throne…" Charlie said while switching to her other index finger raised, she then pointed at Alastor with an unsure attitude, "I, uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel. For as long as you desire." she finished saying with a broad smile, before making a flat look and glance to the side when a stray wolf howl echoed outside.

 

Charlie looked back at Alastor with an expectant look, "Sound fair? " she asked.

 

Alastor rubbed his chin, "hmmm…" he mused, before retracting his staff for it to disappear, "Fair enough." he answered, before walking off.

 

Charlie silently sighed before saying, "Cool beans." with a double thumbs up and nervous smile.

 

"Hmm hm hmm hmm…" Alastor hummed as he walked around, and stopped by Vaggie, "Smile my dear!" he said while reaching to tickle her chin, which earned an infuriated look from the fallen one, before retracting his arm and finger to stand away from her as Vaggie withheld herself from snapping at him. "You know you're never fully dressed without one!" he commented, before walking off elsewhere.

 

"So where is your hotel staff?" Alastor asked as he walked back over to Charlie.

 

"Uh…" Charlie looked around nervously before answering with her hands clasped, "Well…"

 

Alastor stood away from leaning to glance all that was available on hand while adjusting his monocle; Vaggie who he had just interacted with, the local resident that was Angel Dust in the distance sitting on a lone chair, and off in the corner of the room was a mummified sinner that was looking directly at him while leaned against a table with his arms crossed.

 

"Ohohoho, you're going to need more than that." Alastor said as he turned back around to face Charlie with an amused look on his face before walking off towards Angel.

 

Once Alastor approached Angel Dust, he gestured at the porn star, "And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?" he asked, before retracting his arm while leaning a bit forward.

 

With an amused smirk of his own, Angel answered while giving Alastor a once over, "I can suck your dick!" he said.

 

In response to the answer given, Mic feedback can be heard in the background as Alastor tried to process what he was just offered. "Haha!" Alastor leaned his head in to say, "No." 

 

Angel Dust scoffed as he leaned his against a count and rested his elbow on it while resting his cheek into his palm, "Your loss." he commented as Alastor walked off towards Joshua Graham.

 

"And you!" Alastor said as he stood across from the burnt man, who looked back at him with an unwavering gaze, "What can you do, my good fellow?" 

 

Not answering immediately, Alastor was expecting something at the very least, and before he could drop his smile and express his disappointment that the man didn't want to speak with him, Joshua spoke with a measured tone. "I'll say this only once." he began with, while earning a raised eyebrow from Alastor.

 

"Do not think for one second that I do not see through your guile. your wanton selfish ruse. many a time have dealt with your type during my time on earth, and you will not be the first nor last that has suffered my wrath." Joshua warned Alastor with a steadfast gaze directed at the radio demon. "So this is your only warning, If I ever catch you betraying Charlie's trust, the barrel of my gun will be the last thing you'll ever see." he stated with a resolute look in his eyes and tone.

 

While his talk with Alastor earned an amused grin from Angel Dust in the background, Vaggie seemed on the verge of panic while Charlie slapped her face at Joshua's blunt statement. Alastor on the other hand was grinning a tight smile, before chortling a bit. "Well now!" Alastor said as he walked away, "At least you have a good attack dog on you!" he remarked while making a passing glance at a relieved Charlie.

 

"But…" Alastor said as he whipped out his mic staff once more, "The rest of this just won't do!" he commented as he turned to face all of the residents of the hotel, "I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up." he finished saying, before snapping his fingers.

 

A new fireplace has replaced the hotel's worn down one after a swirl of fire consumed its place and dissipated to show the new fireplace. Alastor was soon walking over to it and picked up a mysterious figure covered in soot, which then opened its eye and stared at the trio behind him.

 

"This is my Darling Niffty!" Alastor introduced as the figure covered in soot poofed it off herself to show a one eyed sinner demon, before dropping said sinner demon to the floor.

 

Unaffected by being unceremoniously dropped to the floor in such a manner, Nifty sprung back up to stand on her two feet and waved at the fellow occupants of the hotel, "Hi, I'm Niffty! It's nice to meet you! It's been a while since I've made new friends!" she greeted while her lone single eye swiveled all around to glance at everyone in the room while making a stretched toothy smile.

 

"Oooh, man! This place is filthy! It really needs a lady's touch!" She remarks as she looks around to see all the filthy dust settling in, before whipping out a feather dust to begin dusting the place down. As fast as her hyperactive energy allowed, Niffty zipped and zoomed all over the place to dust off every collection of dust settled, while saying, "Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!|" she said, before at the end of it all she takes out and stabs a random cockroach with a needle that was skittering along a tope. "Nope!"

 

Niffty looked up to see a pile of guns on the table that she stabbed the cockroach on, "ooh! Pretty guns!" she remarked, before her single eye swiveled up to glance at Joshua Graham who was eyeing her back with an unreadable gaze.

 

"Hi!" She waved cheerfully, only to earn a quiet stare back at her, before pointing at the guns with a bashful grin, "Are all those yours! ?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

 

"Yes…" Joshua replied back with an inscrutable tone.

 

"Can I have one?" Niffty asked giddily as she steadily reached out, only to have her wrist grabbed gently before being held up by the burnt man in bandages, she was then at eye level as Joshua held her up by her wrist.

 

"No." Joshua answered succinctly, before dropping her back down to land back down onto the floor with her feet.

 

"Aww. Why not!?" Niffty asked as she looked up at Joshua with a pout, who simply looked back down at her with an unwavering look in his eyes.

 

"I haven't finished cleaning them up and checking the interenals." Joshua answered back without missing a beat, before adding, "And besides, I am hardly pressed to someone a gun, when the hotel isn't even under attack yet." he informed her.

 

"I can clean them!" Niffty said with an eager expression, before being held back with a palm on her head as she eagerly tried to reach out and clean the pistols.

 

Holding the sinner demon in place with ease, Joshua stared down at Niffty with a simple gaze, "I'd prefer if I did it myself, sinner." he said, and earned a pout from said sinner demon.

 

"Oh fine!" Niffty remarked with a pouting face, before quickly zooming off to feather dust a couch off, "Ooh! Messy, messy!" 

 

"Hmm." Joshua mused as he softly sighed to himself, and crossed his arms and leaned once more against his table of guns and duffle bag, "Very hyper active, that one is." he observed, before taking his attention back to the tale end of Alastor offering Husk cheap booze, who accepted the offer and walked off with a bottle of booze to drink it down.

 

"Hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey!" Vaggie cried out in protest, and stomped her foot, "No! No bar, no alcohol! This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin! Not some kind of mouth…brothel…man cave!" she asserted while gesturing at the bar.

 

Angel Dust ended up vaulting over to tackle Vaggie and shush her, "SHUT UP! SHUT! UP! We-" he said as he shook her a bit by the shoulder with a mean look on his face, and then gestured at the booze bar, "Are Keeping this!"

 

With his peace said, Angel Dust ditched Vaggie to zoom over and lean on the counter of the booze bar, "Hey-" he began to try and flirty with Husk, only to get interrupted just as quick.

 

"Go fuck yourself." Husk remarked as he held his booze bottle up, ready to drink from it, only to get grabbed by the face by Angel Dust.

 

"Only if you watch me!" Angel Dust replied back with, before getting out of the way as Charlie marched over to greet Husk.

 

"Oh, my gosh! Welcome to The Happy Hotel! You are going to love it here!" Charlie Remarked with a starfilled look in her eyes and eager expression as she leaned over the counter. Husk had to lean a bit back away from Charlie's overeager attitude in greeting him.

 

Still holding his booze to the side, "I lost the ability to love years ago." Husk said, before turning his head to gulp from the bottle.

 

"So, whaddaya think?" Alastor asked as he slid over to stand behind Charlie, who turned to face him.

 

With a very happy expression, Charlie expressed with bubbling eagerness, "This is amazing!" she expressed, and then rubbed her cheeks in excitement.

 

Vaggie, who stood with her back turned towards them and her arms crossed, she said, "It's... okay."

 

Alastor reeled the two in with his arms around their shoulders, "Hahaha! This is going to be very entertaining!" he remarked, before Vaggie had the chance to wedge herself out from the sinner's grasp and get away from him, leaving Alastor to remove his arm from Charlie.

Meanwhile as Alastor took Charlie with him to do a bit of a music number, Husk on the other hand glanced over at the mummified and burnt sinner as he took a swig from his bottle of booze. 

 

"So…" he began as he finished his swig, and gestured at the man with his booze bottle. "What's your story?" Husk asked in an attempt to idle some time away, the man seemed like he'd be more tolerable than most other sinners.

 

"Eh." Angel Dust waved off Husk's question as he walked back over to reach over to grab himself a bottle of beer, "Don't bother with him, he's probably a wet blanket when it comes to partying it up!" he remarked, before pulling up a bottle for himself and twisted the top off.

 

Joshua, who glanced their way, made his opinion known on Angel's comment against him, "I find myself amused, for a bit, that you are in the belief that I do not partake in alcohol."

 

"Well duh!" Angel said as he leaned up against the bar, before taking a quick sip from his bottle of beer, then used the half drunk bottle to point it at Joshua, "Isn't that lame book you read all about abstaining from this stuff?" he smirked in jest.

 

At the remark about the presumption, Joshua couldn't help making a soft chuckle, which earned a raised eyebrow from Angel Dust. Joshua shifted as he leaned off from his table and uncrossed his arms as he walked over, "Only a fool with no knowledge of the texts, would one presume such nonsense."

 

"Huh?" Angel Dust remarked with a confused look.

 

Once Joshua approached the bar, he reached out to grab a bottle of red wine and examined its contents, "It only warns to drink in moderation, to not become a slave to the act itself, for that path leads to self destruction." he remarks, before eying the bottle a bit more, then placed it back down.

 

"Huh…" Angel mused with a raised brow, "And here I thought all bible thumpers chastised the act of drinking alcohol, always going on about calling it a sin." he rolled his eyes.

 

"Hmph." Joshua shook his head, and turned a bit to lean against the bar with his arms crossed once more, "Alcohol clouds the mind, which leads to acts that more than often ends with regret. The bible speaks of precaution, not of total abstinence from alcohol."

 

"He's got you there." Husk remarked as he took another swig from his booze bottle, "But then again, we're all in hell, so it really doesn't matter anymore." he said with a dour look, before taking another swig from his bottle.