Ladies and Gentlemen, Alastor!

<p>"Hel-"<br/><br/>'<strong>Wham</strong>' went the door as Charlie slammed it closed, a look of dread on her face. Doing a double take, she opened it again for a quick finish of "-lo."<br/><br/>It was brief, but Cael could detect something odd about this dude's voice; like it was slightly distorted. His thoughts were interrupted as he was snapped back to reality from Charlie's comments. "Hey, Vaggie?"<br/><br/>"What?" asked an exhausted moth-demon.<br/><br/>"The radio demon is at the door," said a nervous Charlie as she pointed to the door. Cael could tell by the look on her face that this wasn't a common occurrence for her. Even Vaggie seemed surprised by this surprise visit.<br/><br/>"What?!"<br/><br/>"Uh who?" Angel asked, seeming to not know who this guy was.<br/><br/>"What should I do?!" asked Charlie, slightly panicking about what to do next.<br/><br/>"Well don't let him in." Vaggie wisely suggested. Charlie first looked at the door then to Cael to see what his two cents was.<br/><br/>"I know it's not really my place, but the least we could do is hear him out and see what he wants," he suggested. "I think it would be rude if not dangerous if we didn't at least hear him out." Uncertain, the princess of Hell hesitated then opened the door to see that this radio demon was surprisingly still there.<br/><br/>"May I speak now?" asked the strange demon.<br/><br/>"You may," said Charlie agreeing to his request. She soon was met with an outstretched hand from her mysterious visitor as he wasted no time in introducing himself to her. As he talked, the demon had a certain…'old school radio' motif going on so to speak. It was quite hard for Cael to figure it out.<br/><br/>"Alastor. Pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart. Quite a pleasure!" Alastor said as he grabbed her hand and shook it before walking in. "Excuse my sudden visit, but I saw your fiasco on a picture show. And I just couldn't resist. What a performance! Why I haven't been that entertained since the stock market crash of 1929!" Alastor gave off a laugh which was accompanied by radio laughter, like the kind of canned laughter often used for sitcoms. "So many orphans."<br/><br/>"<strong>Stop</strong> <strong>right there</strong>." Vaggie demanded, threatening him with her spear. Cael could hear her muttering something in Spanish before continuing. "I know your game and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone here, you pompous cheesy, talk show shit lord."<br/><br/>The demon lord's smile didn't waver as he casually moved the spear tip aside chuckling. "Dear if I wanted to hurt anyone here, <strong>I</strong> <strong>would</strong> <strong>have</strong> <strong>done</strong> <strong>so</strong>." His voice became more distorted and creepy as he finished his sentence.<br/><br/>Cael figured he'd interfere before things got out of hand as he stepped between them, staying frosty as he spoke. "I think what our bow-tied Amazon girl here is meaning to ask is, what exactly did you come here for?"<br/><br/>"Ah yes, the Fallen angel from up high sent to do the Lord's will. Pleasure to meet you, my friend. Pleasure," said Alastor taking his hand and shaking it. <br/><br/>"Yeah, I'm sure," the angel said, unsure of how to respond to this. "As to my question…?"<br/><br/>"Ah yes. Of course, dear sir." Breaking the handshake, the radio demon explained himself cheerfully. "I'm here because I want to help!"<br/><br/>Cael now looked as perplexed as Charlie and Vaggie were just earlier. "Uh, you want to help with…?" Charlie asked unsurely. In response, Alastor laughed as he explained. <br/><br/>"This ridiculous thing you're trying to do," he said as he came up from behind the two girls. "This hotel. I want to help you run it."<br/><br/>"Well that's awfully generous of you, but why though?" Cael questioned him, getting right to the point to which Alastor gave a little laugh before replying: "Why does anyone do anything? <strong>Sheer</strong>. <strong>Absolute</strong>. <strong>Boredom</strong>. I've lacked inspiration for decades. My work became mundane, lacking focus." He leaned on Vaggie as he talked before pushing her aside. "Anyways, I've come here to crave for a <strong>new</strong> form of entertainment."<br/><br/>"Does getting into a fist fight with a reporter count as entertainment?" Charlie asked nervously.<br/><br/>With a laugh, Alastor replied "It's the purest kind, my dear. Reality! True passion! After all, the world is a stage. And a stage is a world of entertainment."<br/><br/>"<em>Well, he's entirely wrong</em>." Cael thought to himself. "<em>He does somewhat have a point</em>." He then heard Charlie speak. <br/><br/>"So…does that mean that you think it's possible to rehabilitate a demon?" Charlie asked hopefully.<br/><br/>"Of course not. That's wacky nonsense!" laughed Alastor, leaving the girl feeling like a jackass for a moment. "Redemption, oh the non-existent humanity! No-no-no-no! I don't think there's anything left that could save some loathsome sinners. The chance given was the life they lived before. The punishment is <strong>this</strong>! There is no undoing of what is done."<br/><br/>"Alright, then why help her if you don't really believe in her cause?" Cael enquired.<br/><br/>"Consider it an investment, an ongoing entertainment for myself," the radio demon responded as he twirled Charlie around until he rested an arm around her looking at the undercover angel. His voice started to sound a little disturbed as he continued. "I want to watch as the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment, only to repeatedly trip and tumble down into the fiery pit of failure."<br/><br/>"…yeah. Sure. Whatever gets your motor going, pal," said a doubtful Cael as Charlie was thinking the same thing as he was, flicking Alastors' hand off of her.<br/><br/>No sooner had that happened that the radio demon swooped her away from Cael for a moment, leaving him with the other two that were silent this entire time on the sofa. "Uh, so uh what's the deal with smiles over there?," the porn star asked Vaggie as he gestured to the smiling demon.<br/><br/>"Wait! You've never heard of him before?," the one-eyed demon asked him. "You've been here longer than me." Angels' response to that was only a shrug. "The radio demon. One of the most powerful beings Hell has ever seen?"<br/><br/>"Eh, not big into politics." That enough was to say that Angel didn't care much for anything bigger than him. So that just only left Cael a blank slate about this character. <br/><br/>"Uh yes, the fallen angel would like to know exactly what we're dealing with here? Please?"<br/><br/>Sighing, Vaggie told the story of this Alastor. Decades ago, Alastor manifested into Hell somehow overnight. He began toppling overlords that were dominate for centuries with a kind of raw power that had been wielded by a mortal soul before. If that wasn't enough, Alastor then broadcasted his carnage all over Hell just so people would know of his deeds; hence his given title 'The Radio Demon'. Even Cael had to admit that choice was kind of lazy. <br/><br/>"But one thing's for sure,-" Vaggie wrapped up her little tale. "-he's an unpredictable source of danger. A wicked spirit of mystery and a violent monster of chaos. The likes of which we can't risk getting involved with unless we want to end up erased!"<br/><br/>Before he could say anything, the porn star interrupted Cael. "Ya done?" asked Angel. "Heh, he looks like a strawberry pimp." Cael looked at Alastor and had to admit that…well he kind of did.<br/><br/>"Well I don't trust him." Vaggie said outright honestly.<br/><br/>"To be fair, do you trust any man? Any men? Men?" Both Vaggie and Cael just stared at him plainly before the angel could start speaking. <br/><br/>"Well maybe you and Charlie should ride this out, just to see where it goes. But hey, if you rather, you can just discuss it with her. I mean it's your guy's project. I'm just the advisor." With a slight shrug, Vaggie went over with Cael to Charlie who was still talking with Alastor.<br/><br/>"Hey, smiles, do you mind if we borrow Charlie here for a second? Really? Great, thank you for that." Cael said to Al as he steered her away with Vaggie.<br/><br/>"Charlie, listen to me. You can't believe this creep." Vaggie said to 'Charl'. "He isn't just a happy face."<br/><br/>"Gee, whatever gave that away?" Cael said with a little bit of sarcasm.<br/><br/>Frowning a little, Vaggie continued. "He's a deal maker. Pure evil. He can't be redeemed, and is most likely looking for a way to destroy <strong>everything </strong>we're trying to do."<br/><br/>"I…we don't know that. Look, I know he's bad and I know he probably doesn't <strong>want</strong> to change," said Charlie as she glanced at Alastor looking over a family portrait of what Cael assumed to be her parents. "But the whole point of this is to give people a chance. To have faith that things will be better. How can I turn someone away? I can't. It goes against everything I'm trying to do. Everything I believe in." She rested her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Just trust me. I can take care of myself. You think I can, don't you?" she then asked Cael as she looked to him.<br/><br/>"Oh well…if you say that you can, then yeah. I think you can," he said with uncertainty as he flapped his wings a little. "But can I honestly say something, one being to another? If there's anything I've learned in life, it's two things. One, never look a gift horse in the mouth. And two, don't trust a silver platter."<br/><br/>Now Vaggie was looking confused at him. "Okay, what are you talking about?," she asked in slight disbelief.<br/><br/>"All I'm saying is that this could turn out to be a good thing for you girls and this should be a thing to approach with care and precarious thought. I will admit he is a very shady looking fellow. But who knows if he is or not? It's kind of what Charl' said. Just give it a chance and see how it goes. <strong>And</strong> if there's <strong>any</strong> sign he isn't exactly what or why he's really here for, then <strong>you</strong> can go full Ahab on his ass and gut him with that harpoon of yours," Cael added with little jab to Vaggie, who seemed to be a little convinced. "Either way, it's your call, Miss Magne," he said to Charlie. "Just make sure you're going about this the smart way."<br/><br/>"Well…even so. Charlie, whatever you do, do <strong>not</strong> make a deal with him." Vaggie said to her pink-cheeked cohort.<br/><br/>"Don't worry," the princess assured her and Cael. "I've picked up one thing from my dad." She began to walk over mimicking what may have been her daddy's voice. " 'You don't take shit from other demons.' " As she walked over to talk Alastor, Cael could see the look of worry on Vaggies' face and with slight hesitation placed a hand on her shoulder. Upon feeling this, she looked at him with slight apprehension but no anger or intention to brush him off. <br/><br/>"Vaggie, I know that you're concerned about Charlie and I commend you for that. Honestly I do. That's what shows as quality in a good and loyal friend. But the best thing that you and me can do is just help Charlie along and make sure that everything doesn't go to…well you know." He awkwardly cleared his throat and took his hand off of her. "What I mean is, just make sure she does go about this the right way." It may not look like it to him, but Vaggie was willing to trust the fallen angel a little bit as she offered a small smile at him. The two of them looked to see what Charlie had planned to do next as she said, <br/><br/>"Okay. So…Al, you're sketchy as fuck and clearly see what I'm trying to do here is a joke. But I don't. I think everyone deserves a chance to prove that they can be better. So I'm taking your offer to help, on the condition there be no…tricks or voodoo strings attached."<br/><br/>"So it's a deal then?" Al asked in a sly tone as he offered his hand to shake on it. As he did, a green glow shined as a gust of wind seemed to swirl into the building. Everyone else in the building braced against the blast, especially Cael as he withstood it with one of his wings.<br/><br/>Charlie looked down at Al's hand for a moment then back at him as she refused it. "Nope! No shaking, no deals," she said with nervous assertion. "I…" Rubbing her arm, Charlotte thought about what to say to the radio demon about this, then thinking about what Cael said. "As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I uh hereby order that you help with this hotel; for as long as you desire," she added as she smiled nervously at him. Looking back over to her cohorts, she saw that Vaggie looked uncertain while Cael gave his wings a little shrug to her. "Sound fair?"<br/><br/>"Hmmm, fair enough," Al said in agreement as he made his staff disappear for a moment before deciding to look about the place.<br/><br/>"Cool beans," sighed a relieved Charlie with two thumbs up.<br/><br/>As Alastor looked about the place, his boots seemed to clack like they were tap-dancing shoes. He had a sly look as he saw Vaggie frowning and lifted her face up to look at him which made her mad. "Smile, my dear! You know, you're never fully dressed without one!" He hummed as he continued his little inspection. "So where is your hotel staff?," he asked Charlie.<br/><br/>"Uh well…" she began unsurely with folded hands as she indicated to Vaggie. Alastor then looked over at Vaggie who glared in his direction, her hands on her hips.<br/><br/>"Ho-ho-ho! You're going to need more than that." Alastor told her truthfully as he adjusted his monocle. He then walked over to Angel Dust who was leaning in a chair under the welcome banner. "And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?"<br/><br/>"I can suck your dick," the porn star said without missing a beat. The look on Al's face as he heard that made Cael snicker a little as it caught him off guard. <br/><br/>"Ha! No," was all Alastor simply said as he walked away.<br/><br/>"Pfft, your loss."<br/><br/>"Ha-ha, okay that is a good one. I'll give you that." Cael said to Angel admittedly.<br/><br/>Walking over to Cael, the radio demon then asked the inevitable question "And what is it that <strong>you're </strong>here to offer, my winged fellow?"<br/><br/>"Well, not sucking your dick for one thing. I can assure you," said Cael. "That's not my style. What I can do is offer up any type of service here but that. Whether be a handyman or someone to lend an ear for whoever."<br/><br/>"Hmmm. Well, you sound a little more promising. But I suppose I can cash in a few favors regardless to liven things up." Al's staff reappeared as he summoned a fiery portal which produced a black fleshy lump of some kind through the fireplace. As he picked it up, it had a more humanoid figure. It suddenly opened a large eye as it looked at the others which made Cael flinch a little.<br/><br/>The soot poofed off the little figure as it revealed a small one-eyed demon, akin to a cyclops, with her one eye being made up of a hot pink and orange sclera with a light yellow iris. She also had short and scruffy red-pink hair with a yellow undertone. Her teeth were sharp and light yellow, and had pink dots at each end of her mouth.<br/><br/>Her attire was themed after the 50s as she wore a dark pink scarf, a white shirt with pink dots (which appear to have a slight dripping design) along with a pink skirt with a 50's-fashionable dark-pink poodle design with yellow dots. She also had small, pointed limbs of dark pink coloration.<br/><br/>"This little darling is Nifty," said Alastor as he introduced her to everyone.<br/><br/>"Hi, I'm Niffty! It's nice to meet you! It's been a while since I've made new friends!," said Nifty excitedly as she dropped to the floor. She then eyed Charlie, Vaggie and Angel "Why're you all women? Are there any men here?! I'm sorry, that's rude." She looked around to see Cael standing there looking awfully perplexed at her. Her…eye…lit up as she saw him and quickly shook his hand and hugged his leg. "Oh hi! It's so nice to see another man here. If not another man I haven't seen in a long time!"<br/><br/>"Uh thanks, I think." Cael said not knowing how to take this. Before he could say anything else, Nifty's attention shifted to the rest of the room.<br/><br/>"Oh man, this place is filthy! It really needs a lady's touch!" She saw a spider and grabbed it, crushing it as she continued. "Which is weird because you three are all ladies, no offense." She then took out a feather duster as she began cleaning about the room. "Oh my gosh, this is awful! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!" She spotted a cockroach and stabbed it with a pin. "<strong>Nope</strong>!"<br/><br/>"My she's…lively, isn't she?" said Cael clearing his throat as he watched.<br/><br/>"Seems more lively if she ever gets a hold of <strong>you</strong>," teased Angel as he nudged an elbow at the 'fallen' angel with a smirk on his face.<br/><br/>"Well at least I wasn't confused for a woman." Cael fired back at him. <br/><br/>Suddenly, a voice coming from an unknown demon was heard nearby. Everyone looked to see an anthropomorphic avian cat demon. His look was evocative of a magician, paired with a casino referencing playing-card theme. His fur was taupe-colored, overlayed with white fur on his face, torso, feet, and upper arm.<br/><br/>He had long red eyebrows with dark red vertical stripes near the tips, and a small black heart above each eyebrow. His eyes were brown with yellow-orange irises. His tail was taupe and long, ending with a large spray of 'plume-like' fur or feathers, which were red with black and white stripes. His wings were large and red, with black stripes and suit (the symbols on playing cards: diamonds, clubs, spades and hearts) markings. The insides of his ears were white with dull pink stripes.<br/><br/>The cat demon wore a black top hat with a red hatband, a golden hat decoration (looking similar to a coin or button), a red bowtie, and a darker shade of taupe encircling his ankles, mimicking spats. He had yellow-orange hearts on the bottom of each of his paws, both hands and feet. He was at a dealers table that suddenly came out of nowhere.<br/><br/>"Hah! Read 'em and weep, boys!," he said, laying his cards down on the table. "Full Ho-" Demonic illusions and voices suddenly distorted the surroundings temporarily as he talked. "-tel? What the fuck is this?" The demon looked around and spotted Alastor, eliciting an angry purr as he pointed at him. "You!"<br/><br/>"Ah, Husker, my good friend! Glad you could make it!"<br/><br/>"Don't you 'Husker' me, you son of a bitch! I was about to win the whole damn pot!" A jackpot that was present at the moment suddenly disappeared into nothingness.<br/><br/>"Good to see you too!"<br/><br/>"What the hell do you want with me this time...?" Husk asked as he facepalmed angrily.<br/><br/>"My friend, I am doing some charity work so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services!" Alastor explained as he had a friendly arm around his feline 'friend'. "I hope that's okay!"<br/><br/>"Are you shittin' me?!"<br/><br/>"Hmm... No, I don't think so!"<br/><br/>Shoving Alastor off of him, Husk was not happy. "You thought it'd be some kind of big fucking riot just to pull me out of nowhere?! You think I'm some kind of fucking clown?!"<br/><br/>"Maybe!," grinned the radio demon as if he was about to laugh.<br/><br/>"I ain't doing no fucking charity job."<br/><br/>"Well, I figured you would be the perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment!" Alastor gestured towards the bar he made out of his magic and then forced a smile upon Husker's puss. "With your charming smile and welcoming energy, this job was made for you! Don't worry my friend, I can make this more welcoming! If you wish." He soon made a bottle of "Cheap Booze" appear out of nowhere.<br/><br/>After staring at the bottle of booze for a moment, Husker replied. "What? You think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?!" He grabbed the bottle of booze and looked at it. "Well, you can!" The cat demon resumed to down the bottle. Vaggie, upon seeing this, was not happy. <br/><br/>"Hey, hey! Hey-hey-hey! No! No bar, no alcohol! This is supposed to be a place that <strong>discourages </strong>sin! Not some kind of man… brothel, man cave!"<br/><br/>Angel launched himself at Vaggie to stop. "<strong>Shut</strong> <strong>up</strong>! <strong>Shut</strong>! <strong>up</strong>!" he exclaimed as pointed to the bar. "We are keeping this!" The porn star then tried to flirt with the cat demon with a flirty 'hey' to which Husk simply replied, "Go fuck yourself."<br/><br/>"Only if you watch me!" said Dusty as he held Husks' face.<br/><br/>Charlie, being happy with this new development, went in to offer the cat demon a handshake looking too happy for Cael. "Oh my gosh! Welcome to The Happy Hotel! You are going to love it here!"<br/><br/>Husk looked just a little unfazed and a bit put off from Charlie as he responded with "I lost the ability to love years ago," as he continued to down his booze. Alastor then looked to the princess and asked her what she thought of it. <br/><br/>"This is amazing!," she said happily as she rubbed her cheeks excitedly. <br/><br/>Vaggie's response? "It's…okay," she said with crossed arms.<br/><br/>"Ha-ha-ha! This is going to be very entertaining!," said Alastor as he reeled the two of them towards him. He soon broke into a reprise of Charlie's song which Cael had to admit was quite catchy. But just as he was finishing, the hotel door exploded. Knocking out Niffty as Charlie, Alastor, Angel Dust, Cael and Vaggie look outside. Sure enough, it was Sir Pentious' war ship just outside of the hotel much to Caels' chagrin. <br/><br/>"Hah! Well, well, well. Look who it is harboring the striped freak!," said the top hat wearing snake demon. "We meet yet again, Alastor!"<br/><br/>"Do I know you?" Alastor asked, not being phased at all.<br/><br/>The snake demon seemed deflated upon hearing this then flared his hood up. "Oh, <strong>yes</strong> you do! And this time, I have the element of-<strong>surprise</strong>! Ahaha! I'm so evil!" With a pull of the lever, a large cannon appeared out from the air ship and was charging up to blast them. <br/><br/>Before Cael could deal with this annoyance, Alastor gestured for him to stop for a moment. With a snap of his fingers, an otherwordly dimensional portal opened up with tentacles and shadow demons emerging from it, destroying Sir Pentious' ship while he was inside. Alastor saw to it in finishing it off as he clenched his fist with a few drops of blood dripping off his hand. <br/><br/>After all was said and done, Alastor was grinning menacingly in satisfaction for a moment as the others looked at him in shock and horror. Cael was looking both afraid and impressed at the same time.<br/><br/>"Well, I'm starved! Who wants some Jambalaya? My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for Jambalaya. In fact, it nearly killed her! Ha-ha-ha! You could say the kick was right out of Hell! Oh-ho-ho, I'm on a roll! Yes, sir! This is the start of some real changes down here! The game is set!" The radio demon rambled on as everyone followed him back inside the hotel. <br/><br/>Later that night, Cael was making his report to Rathanael via watch communicator. After telling him all that transpired, Rathanael thought it over. "Hmmm, this does seem out of the ordinary. Are you sure the girls never dealt with this…radio demon before?"<br/><br/>"As far as I'm concerned, I don't believe they have," assured Cael.<br/><br/>"I see. Well, keep us informed about what's going on and make sure you keep to your story."<br/><br/>"Yeah, yeah. I know. Don't let them know the real reason I'm here. Over and out." Cael switched off the line of communication and laid on the bed with a grunt. This was going to be a loong undercover mission.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, in a shady part of the criminal underworld, a villainous figure was watching a repeat showing of Channel 666's news coverage earlier and paused it on them showing the winged newcomer that was Cael. "So, they finally sent you, eh Mr. Cael? Let's just see how well you'll do with Satan's little girl." He grins with a sly wicked smile as he folded his hands. "And just how well you'll fit into the grand scheme of what I have in store for you."</p>