Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The tension in the meeting room of the D.E.M.O.N.S. headquarters was as thick as pea soup and stank of it as well, probably from yesterday when Sallie brought it over to work, but the whole building almost ended up evacuate-

Sorry, sorry! I’m getting a hold of myself.

Anyway, everyone sat by the meeting table, Sallie and Verosika sat right next to each other, holding hands under the table and occasionally giving each other a little squeeze. They both looked into each others eyes dreamily, so in love that it almost made it look like watching a Bollywood movie in slow-motion.

Vortex sat on the opposite side as the couple, he held some paperwork in his paws, reading it intensely, his focus on the pages not shifting until Striker slammed the door open to get inside, startling everyone in the room as he got to the end of the office table , a rattlesnake sound came from his scaled tail.

Smoking on the last puffs of the cigarette that was currently in his mouth, he snapped his head in a corner's direction as he spat the lit-out cigarette to the side, not giving a fuck if it would leave an ashy mess.

Verosika however, made a disgusted face at Striker's littering actions and spoke up with a scoff, ” You know you can just throw it in the trash bin like a normal fucking demon?”

” Who told ya that I was normal?” Striker simply shrugged at Verosika’s statement before setting his clawed hands on the table, his stare glued on his employes. ” Anyway, I know that buisness has been slow lately, and it ain’t anyone's fault! I ain’t going to say any names here.” He paused before staring at Verosika again with a judgmental stare, ” Verosika…”

She just made an offended face towards her boss as she growled, her teeth sharped. It looked like she was ready to punch him as she attempted to raise herself from her seat, but Sallie luckily stopped her in the process, setting her back down with a gentle smile, which Verosika returned.

Striker just continued, ”Ok, so does anyone know what we can do to help the business?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Immediately, Sallie Mae raised her hand, speaking with excitement laced in her voice and her uncovered eye sparkling.
” Oh! How about, we can sell alcohol! Ya know, those old ones' from the Wrath Ring?”

However, the cowboy just shook his head at her suggestion before he slapped himself on the head.
” Sallie, this is a murder company, not a liquor store.” He turned his head to his adopted son Vortex, desperate for any better conclusion, to which Vortex suggested something quickly: ” W-well, how about a billboard? That would surely attract some newcomers in Hell if they saw it.”

Striker ticked his chin with a smile, amused by his son's idea. ” That’s actually not a bad idea, son. I’ll consider that.”

” Eh, where the fuck would we put something like that, may I ask?”
Verosika asked with bitterness, still pissed of that Striker rudely accused her of bringing the company down, her arms crossed, but she leaned onto her girlfriend, who gladly accepted her affection.

Offended by her, Vortex started to come up with examples, bringing up a finger up for each one, keeping his eyes locked onto Verosikas ” We can sponsor them at local restaurants, new sinners often go there to adjust to the new reality of eternal suffering down here.”

Striker nodded in agreement, a beam plastered on his lips, proud of his son's sassy attitude as Vortex continued, ” We can glue them onto bus stops and back alleys that most common sinners hang out to smoke or get to their new minimum wage job”

Verosika’s pink face tinted to red with embarrassment by this hellhound winning over her, too angry and baffled to talk back.

” And lastly, we can put them at local job stations so many more sinners can see them.” Vortex finished with a shit-eating grin, leaning onto the table after putting the paper to the side, his elbows on the surface, and his face into the palm of his paws.

” Why you little-” the pink succubus began before getting cut off by Striker again, ” Good job, son. Now that’s what I call investment.”

• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A TV suddenly gets on with Striker in the frame with commercial music in the background.

”Howdy all sinners down here.” He greeted it with a flirty smirk, his hand on his hips. ” The name’s Striker and I’m the founder of the killing company, D.E.M.O.N.S.”

A glowing sign of the letters SINNERS appeared in the red curtain background as Striker continued with a slow yet charming voice of a manipulative scammer, ” Say, are ya a naughty wolf who got sent down here by righteous purpose, or are you just an innocent lamb who got screwed over someone else?”

The scene cuts of to another room where Sallie Mae and Verosika sat on the floor, drawing a demonic symbol with blood, as well with lightning candles surrounding it, while Striker had a dark pink crystal in his claws which he then used to open up a shining portal on the floor thanks to the blood-made symbol.

He then looked back at the camera with pride as he gestured to the portal where his employees started to jump into ” Well luckily for you my dear fellaw, thanks to our company’s special across to the living work we can help you take care of your unfinished business by taking out any bastard who did that to you when ya were alive!” Striker then proceeded to fall backwards into the portal.

Just then the commercial jingle started to play.

🎶When you want somebody gone and you don’t wanna wait too long-🎶

🎶Call the Dedicated, Equal, Murder, Occupation, Noteworthy Slayers🎶

🎶Han a generade or cyanide, we’ll make it look like suicide🎶

🎶 the Dedicated, Equal, Murder , Occupation, Noteworthy Slayers🎶

🎶 We do our job so well cause we come straight up from Hell🎶

🎶 We’ll kill your husband or your wife, we’ll even let you keep the knife🎶

🎶 Cause we’re the Dedicated, Equal, Murder , Occupation, Noteworthy Slayers!🎶

• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Vortex was sitting by his work desk. Being the secretary of the company was certainly exhausting at times, but he seemed to be the only qualified enough to handle such tasks, so time-consuming paperwork and checking of certain missions without breaking a computer.

Besides, he found the job to be pretty peaceful, he never really liked to get into physical violence if it wasn’t necessary at all. He may look big and muscular, but he’s actually very mature, laid back and reasonable for a young adult.

His thoughts were then interrupted as his boss and adoptive father walked up to his desk as the hissing of a rattlesnake emitted to him. ” Hi son.” He greeted Vortex as he leaned against the desk with a genuine smile, to which Vortex returned gratefully, ” Why, pops, how are you doing?”

Striker's facial expression then went from confident to slightly embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes darting to the floor.

Oh, Uh

The hellhound knew that look, he simply sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. ” Dad, what did you do this time…?”

The cowboy imp gulped, clearly guilty of something bad, before he stuttered out, ” W-well, i might have gotten the landlord banging on the company door…”

” Why dad?” Vortex asked with furrowed eyebrows

” Well, i might have let Bombproof loose in the building, and he may or may have not done his ”buisness” in one of the other lounges….?” He sweated with a nervous smile,

Vortex was the only one who ever got to see a glimpse of this awkward side of Striker. He was the only one who his father trusted with these kinds of other sides without judgement.

Vortex just huffed in disappointment, but just rose up from his seat, ready to take care of the situation, so the landlord wouldn’t be on them for too long. Still, still he didn’t hesitate to give his father a lecture for his irresponsibility: ” Dad, you know that you’re not allowed to let Bombproof ”experience” this environment on his own,” The hell joined started, doing air Quotes with his fingers. ” That was not the right thing to do. Wait here, I gotta apologize for what you did.”

And without a second thought, Striker did as he was told.

Sometimes it really feels like Vortex is keeping an eye on Striker and not the other way around

• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

With a pull on the metal strings on her neon-pink guitar, Verosika began playing an upbeat melody while singing in her ironically angelic voice while her eyes were on her wife all the time.
🎶 Oh what a thrill when the scarlet start to spill🎶

🎶 And my Sallie goes in for the kill🎶
Sallie beamed at Verosikas song dedicated to her love. The thought that she made so much effort to write this song for her made her heart flutter. What did she do to deserve such a goddess like her?

Though she didn’t interrupt, she just stared at the rhythm as she sat closer to the succubus, completely mesmerized by the tunes while Verosika continued to play the song with all of her passion and heart.
🎶 She takes away my breath, she’s the demon of death🎶

🎶 For me, Oh Sallie🎶

🎶 She’s my queen, it’s like a dream🎶

🎶 When i hear the victims start to scream🎶

🎶 Do i need to explain further?🎶

🎶 She’s a brutal murderer🎶

🎶 For me, Oh Sallie~🎶 Verosika purred at the end of the sentence, leaning closer to Sallie as she just smirked back.

🎶 When the victims start to shake🎶

🎶 Shake, shake , shake🎶 Sallie sang along softly as she ticked her head, swinging her legs on the couch

🎶 And the body’s bones start to break🎶

🎶 Break!🎶 Sallie suddenly exclaimed with her eyes glowing, thinking back on all the victims she stabbed

🎶 My cheeks tints to dusty red🎶

🎶 When my Sallie chops of their heads🎶

🎶 chop, chop, chop🎶 The imp woman added with a plop sound

🎶 An assasin romance, she’s a true glance🎶

🎶 For me, Oh Sallie~🎶

🎶 Of all the demons in Hell🎶 Verosika confessed, almost finishing the song before her face was locked with Sallie’s before they both synced. 🎶 It’s for her that i fell🎶

And then the pink demoness finished off with a final drum on the instrument, smiling with love onto her wife, closing out anything else around them, just focusing on her partner 🎶 Oh Sallie~🎶

With that, Sallie lept forward, wrapping her arms around Verosika before locking her ink black lips with hers, savoring the taste in each others mouths.

The two hellish creatures stayed like that for the rest of the night, in each others arms, showing each other how much they loved one another.

Call it cheesy if you want, but they don’t care!

• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

” Dad!” Vortex called out for Striker after he answered a phone call, still holding the phone in his paws with concern, ” Princess Stella is on the phone, she’s demanding to talk to you right this second.”

Striker, who was currently standing by the office kitchen, was about to turn on the microwave to warm up the leftovers from yesterday's dinner, his eyes widen at the mention of Stella Goetia. But he soon just groaned as he rubbed his temple in visible frustration, ” Fuck! What does she want now?! If i hadn’t slept with that blue-blooded bitch, none of us would have access to the living world!” He hissed at the end.

” What?” Sallie simply asked, peeking out of a corner with a coffee mug in her hand.

• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It was morning, it was dimmed and ice-cold in the ridiculous large castle of Princess Stella Goetia. Inside her bedroom slept Stella peacefully under the covers, snoring inaudible with white feathers covering the bed after last nights….hook up with a current cowboy imp who was now in only a t-shirt and pants, his hair ruffled but still had Stella's portal crystal in his claws as he chuckled in silence as he reached the balcony, ready to get out of here now while the princess was asleep.

” You did it again , Striker. You got the crystal- Ah!”
Before he could finnish his made-up victory song he suddenly slipped on a stone at the balcony, making him lose his balance and leading to him falling down from such a high height.

He blinked, ready to face a harsh stone ground, only to land in a soft cake that, due to his fall, got mushed into a goo. Once recovered from the fall and shaking off all the glaze and cake crumbles, he saw that he landed on a coffee table where three royal avians sat around it, but now they were stunned and covered in what was left of the cake, still holding their tea cups.

He then came face-to-face with Prince Stolas, Stella's husband, who was absolutely stunned by what he'd just witnessed.

Striker, however, didn’t show and ounce of fear, he just bluntly told him before running off to rude off on his horse bombproof, ” Sorry, your wife rode my dick last night.”

• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter Text

”I was a good man before all of this”

The scene shifts over to Earth, more specifically in Texas, where a bunch of forest rangers who were currently on their lunch break. Inside that forest in a little cabin where they all talked, laughed, drank coffee and ate their lunch.

Yes, another successful day. Nothing would ever ruin this day!

Among the forest rangers there was a brown-haired, muscular, talk man with a steroetypical typical red shirt and blue jeans. He was silently sipping his coffee, savoring the bitter taste, enjoying an hour relaxing before he had to get up and back to his hard labor. His name was Ralph, or Ralphie as his friends or his wife called him.

Yes, he truly once was a kind, honest and hard-working man. A good friend, a loyal husband, a peaceful citizen and a passionate person who’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s the type to look at the brighter side in life and appreciate everything you were granted, even if it’s not seemingly much. But most of all, he was grateful that he got to marry his wife, Cindy Mayberry. And right now, he couldn’t wait to get home to her, to throw his arms around her smaller form and spin her around and give her a passionate kiss. 

Except for the cackle and munching that was heard from his coworkers and old friends, all you could hear outside the cabin was the soothing twitter of birds and the crackling of tree leaves that left Gearold lost in his thoughts.

” I was good my whole life….”

Until one of his coworkers turned his head to Ralphie, coffee stained on his ginger mustache. ”Hey man, what are you going to get your wife for her birthday today?”

…………

…….Oh, shit!

At that, Raphie’s eyes widened in shock and basically choked on his coffee, coughing violently, catching the attention of his other coworkers before he managed to calm himself down. He let out a panicked wince, biting his thumb, a force of habit, as he started to mentally insult himself.

”E, you-you good man?” One of his friends, Alexander, sitting in front of him asked with concern in his voice, placing his free hand on Ralph’s shoulder gently.

In response, Ralph exclaimed back with eyes widening, full of worry ”No! Shit! I-i forgot that it’s my wife’s birthday! I didn’t get her anything special! I didn’t even wish her a happy birthday before hearing off to work!”

”Geez….” One of the men commented on the awkward scene. 

But soon enough after a few painful tense moments, Alexander reached over and patted Ralph’s shoulder to calm him down while suggesting, ”Well, when you go home from work you can always treat her for one of those food joint you guys love so much but right now you can use the cabins computer to call her and wish her happy birthday, sounds good?”

In an instant, Ralph's eyes lit up in hope, hope that yet he had not failed his wife on her special occasion as he hugged his friend back, giving him a shoulder pat in return. ”Thanks pal, you’re a real lifesaver!”

Alexander just shrugged while his face tinted to red, blushing at how close Ralph’s was to him.

With that, he lept over to the other side of the room and reached the computer table where he soon logged in to call his wife, but once he did, he saw something he wished he had never witnessed. 

Through the screen, he saw with his own eyes that his wife, Cindy, was in their bedroom, but she was naked, and she was having intercourses with another man….

Ralphie felt his heart break into a million pieces as he looked at the computer, horrified by what he saw, but unable to look away. He felt like he was about to cry, but he couldn’t do it. Not in front of his coworkers, who soon saw the hurt look on Ralph's face, and out of curiosity, and soon joined in on Ralph’s disgusted and shocked expression. All were stunned, unable to make even a sound.

Before they even had a chance to either comfort their friend, Ralph or turn off the phone call on the computer, Ralph slowly but firmly rose up from his seat, his face cold as ice and his eyes drawn in pure fury.

And not listening to his friend's pleas, he left the cabin, slamming the door after him, and went home.

Surprisingly, he got home in a matter of seconds, as his friend saw through the computer screen that Ralph kicked the door open to his and Cindy’s bedroom, he had a gun in his hand, and it seemed like it was loaded……

He wouldn't... right….?

 Cindy and her hook-up friend, however stopped mid-sentence over the sight of Ralphie in the doorway, his eyes red with blind fury and his coworkers were doomed to listen and see the cruelty that happened behind the screen and the horrid acts their friend did to both his unfaithful wife and her ”lover”  

” Sweetie! R-ralphie bear! W-what are y-you doing home this early….?”

” Shut it Cindy!”

” Aaaaaah!”

” You’re supposed to be a man? You scream like a little girl!”

BANG!

” W-what have you done? I have a family with him!”

” What?! We could’ve had a family!”

BANG!  

With another thundering gunshot, crimson red liquid was covering almost the whole bedroom, even some getting it on Raplhie’s face and clothes, but he didn’t care. His salty tears ran down his cheeks. It was tears of betrayal, hurt and anger all at the same time as he gritted his teeth.

He absorbed the thick metallic scent around the room before his gaze fell into the computer camera at the end of the bedroom, where he locked eyes with all of his coworkers who stared at him in pure shock and bafflement, no one dared to even say a single word to him. It seemed too far too late to knock into some common sense in him.

However, those looks of fear made Ralphie snap out of his blind frustration, and he now stood there in place frozen, his nerves shaking.

As if he just realized what he had done.

And he freaked out, not daring to look his friends in the eye before he raised the gun to his mouth. ”Oh my god, what have I done?! In front of y'all?! I’m so sorry, my friends! D-don’t forget to fill in for me…….!” A final cry escaped his throat before he directed the gun into his mouth and…..

  BANG……!  

”I did everything right in my life, I followed all the rules……”

• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••



The scene switches over to the fiery pits of Hell, and into the department of D.E.M.O.N.S where in his private office Striker had a meeting with their newest client, Ralphie who had just explained to the cowboy about his situation as Striker sat in his chair, his chin in his claws, listening to his story in all ears. His eyes glowed yellow in the dark office.

”And I still got sent down here with all the mafia’s and killers of the world after just a simple screw up!”

Ralphie was a sinner now, yes.

Sent down here for what he did on his last day on Earth……

His demon form was also very different from how he looked when he was human. His skin was now all fiery red, as his hair had a grayish black color. He had sharp fangs and a permanent bullet womb in his head as a constant reminder of his death.

He now had black bear features and bear ears and now had the strength of ten men.  ”So that’s why I’m here, to get my revenge.” He crossed his arms as he finished off with a bitter scoff.

”Alrighty, just see if I got this correctly…” Striker spoke up after Ralphie had finished his little sob story, pinching the bridge of his snout, hissing at the thought, ”Your wife cheated you with a man, and you decided to kill him for it…?”

”It was in a fit of rage!” Ralphie defended his case, his bear features starting to become more clear with his sharper teeth, his growls, and his eyes now glowing all ink black.

However, Striker was quick to change the subject as he adjusted himself into his seat , his elbow on the desk surface and raised eyebrow ” Correct me if i’m wrong sir, but didn’t ya just blabber to me that you killed your wife’s little fling back on Earth…?”

Ralphie then replied with a murderous glare, thinking of the betrayal yet again, tightening his fists. ”No….that bastard survived…now they all call him a hero…….”

”A hero for surviving a gunshot...” The cowboy imp asked with skepticism, confusion written all over his face.

Ralph just nodded with a growl escaping and through his lips, ”Exactly…..! But he’s not a hero! He’s not a hero!” At that moment Ralph started to grow fur and his eyes turned all blood-red, his sharp teeth now longer, as he went over the desk to grab Striker by his best and scream in his face, getting all his bottled up rage on him: 

”HE IS NOT A HERO!”

”Alright! Alright! I get it, just explain where they live and we’ll get the job done!”

Chapter Text

While Striker attempted to calm their client down so he could get proper information for this mission on the other side of D.E.M.O.N.S. department stood Verosika at the side of a room, with a gun, one eye closed as she aimed the gun at a mannequin at the end of the room. The mannequin was all simple and ink black, with a out-printed photo nailed into its head. In the photo was an image of a man in Sunday shorts and holding a coffee mug.

The room was quiet, the only sound that was heard in the atmosphere was Verosikas heavy breathing due to focusing on the practice doll and the constant ticking from the clock attached to the wall. The tension was thick as the hell-sun shone and a generous light threw the large windows.

The pink succubus licked her black lips, ready to shot

She pulled the trigger

But she missed with an inch, leading to her slamming the gun, still in her grip, while muttering out curses.
” Fucking pig-dick! I missed it again…” She was utterly disappointed in herself, if she wasn’t a good shooter, then what could she be at service.

” Let me give ya a hand.” Her wife's sweet voice with a clear southern accent added in with a smirk, but still showing comfort as she adjusted Verosikas position and helped her re-set the gun towards the mannequin again. She maneuvered Verosika to aim it just a bit lower and then.

It hit just in the middle of the picture, the bullet cutting a hole into the dolls cotton head.

Verosika smirked as she snapped her head to Sallie, a sting of bitterness taped in her tone, her hand on her hip. ” Show off, how can you get it so easily?”

Sallie simply shrugged while winking ”innocently” at her partner, ” You just have to know the gun.”

A sudden thought popped up in the pink female before she grinned, kneeling down to Sallie Mae’s height. ” Oh, i sure know guns~” She reached her black, sharp nails to caress her wife's neck, making the imp woman slightly gulp, taken back by Verosikas suddenly flirty actions.

Although she should be used to it by now.

I mean, she should’ve predicted such behavior when she made the decision to marry a succubus.

Sallie Mae’s cheeks tinted into a darker shade of red that was far too noticeable, only encouraging Verosika to go for gold as she went closer to Sallie, wrapping one arm around her hip as she stared down at her with her glowing, pink eyes. Like a predator hunting its prey. ” I for sure did use a ”special” gun to test on you last night, babe~”

If Sallie wasn’t flustered enough as it was, she sure was now by that comment, but still tried to remain unaffected by her natural kinky behavior and her enchanting voice that was now purring into her nonexistent ears.

She could feel her hands sweat from the tension.

She had to resist

Reluctantly, she gently pushed Verosika off her, still blushing by her comeback as the pink succubus laugh just tripled, holding her stomach.

” Oh shut it, you, let’s go back to training.” Sallie tried to shrug the awkward sexual tension in the room as she went on to grab a few more printed out pitchures from the drawers and put a random one on the doll's head, taking a few steps aside before giving Verosika a thumbs up, gesturing that she could shoot now.

Just then the door opened with Vortex stepping in with a tray of each of the fours requested coffee orders, taking a jump in his step towards the table where Verosika leaned over to shoot.

Noticing the whole set up in the room, he placed the tray down onto the desk. ” Sup , what’s going on here?”

” Oh we’re just practicing aiming guns.” Verosika merely flung back as she put her weapon down for just a moment before taking a sip of her drink, a strawberry-flavored tea with Gluttony’s honey. Her face lit up by the soothing taste, her body warming up by the warm drink as she received Vortex with a thankful nod. ” Also, points for not getting my order wrong; this is why I tolerate you more than Striker.”

” Practicing shooting? Sounds entertaining.” Vortex added in with a cheery grin under his gray fur, whose Sallie just nodded while grabbing her coffee. ” It is.” Then turning her attention to Verosika again as she wrapped her arm around Verosika and pointed towards the mannequin” Alright, try this one!”

But before Verosika even had a chance to re-pick the gun again Vortex cut in once he squinted his eyes at the newly placed photo on the doll and with his hand he put the gun down again, his face written in concern” Wait, wait! I don’t mean to interupt but are you really gonna practice to shot on a family? With kids?”

The trio then eyed the photo again, Verosika face fell as she inspected the photo, it really was a family in there. A dad, a mom and four kids. They were all squeezed together so all of them would fit into the picture.

They all looked so happy in that picture.

Sallie Mae, though, was totally oblivious to her coworkers discomfort and just tilted her head. ” Yeah, why not?”

” I mean-uh-” Vortex began, rubbing the back of his neck before speaking up in a more serious tone. ” It’s just that under what circumstances would we ever have to kill human children. They’re still children.”

Verosika furrowed her eyebrows, still holding onto the gun, thinking about the hellhounds subject. She did have the same skeptical thoughts, I mean, they’re still kids, he was right about that. Isn’t killing kids just plain unessecary when they haven’t even gone through puberty and figured out what kind of individual they are in the community?

” If i get paid, then so be it!” Sallie snapped her fingers bluntly.

Vortex just pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing that it was impossible to reason with this woman, just after his red eyes wandered onto Verosika, with a pleading look, like he was begging for her to empathize with this. ” Vee, you can’t honestly agree with her.”

Despite her consciousness, the pink succubus just huffed before straightening her back and put on her bitch attitude, not willing to show a single ounce of remorse for her job. ” It is how it is, Tex. And even if it was, then there’s a 0.1 % chance that we’d ever need to kill children. I’m more up to kill like shitty mothers or burn down a theater.” Her examples made both Sallie and Vortex raise an eyebrow before she continued, ” We do this for the money. Money means everything, and, I’m a succubus. I’ve seen humans, they’re not as innocent as they may look at the surface, that’ll why so many of them end up here. Even human kids can be evil.”

” Yeah but-” Vortex tried again, this time with more authority in his voice, showing that he was clearly not playing around but the door to Strikers Office suddenly flung open with Striker himself with a sinner by his side, both of them looked calm and reasonable now ”Listen up folks, we got a new client!” the hybrid snake imp exclaimed with determination burning in his eyes

Well, better load up the guns now!

• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

After a short while, they all got armed with guns and other weapons before Striker opened the portal to the living world through the pink crystal.

Yes, this mission would be just as easy as putting a frozen mini pizza in a microwave.

The group arrived at some simple wood cabin behind a lake. It was the picture-perfect image of one of those 1990s lake houses with a wooden fence, a growing garden, smoke was reeking out of the chimney, and birds were chirping in the forest behind them.

As soon as they reached the area of the cabin, everyone was quick to transform themselves into their human disguises, although their eyes still remained the same.

As the hid behind a few trees just behind the cabin, Sallie took out a pair of binoculars and used it to observe the people through the window, zooming in and out a few times before giving a hand signal with a sinister smile ”The coast is clear, everyone inside seems to be having supper, a perfect timing to score.”

Striker smiled back with glowing eyes as he took out his gun from his leather belt, ” All-fired.” He then pointed them all out, giving them quick orders to follow, ” Tex , you’ll stay and watch.”

His son nodded, cracking his knuckles in return, assuring that he was ready to take down anyone if someone would catch them in their act.

Striker then gestured to Verosika and Sallie ” You follow with me and stay quiet, a single peep from you, and we’re doomed.”

Sallie hummed as she fingerd the top of her sharp knife while Verosika gave him a finger gun before the two followed their boss to the cabin, being very careful not to get caught, even though they posessed human forms.

They were professionals afterall , not amatures

By presance they were all at the cabin, in the cowers in the green bushes and leaning against the wall, Striker peeking inside the window, smiling as if he had just won the lottery just as he turned to Verosika and handing her his gun ” Hey Vee, wanna take this one?”

Verosika gasped quietly before answering right at that seacond, happy to be an important part of something for once” Yes! Oh this will be great!” She prepared the gun that was now in her claws as Striker added, looking threw the window ” Bingo! Just threw this window. Quick and nice threw the skull. Just a stupid man who just got out of the hospital.”

With that Verosika gazed at the sight, it was a family inside.

A happy family it seemed at first glance.

They were all sitting around a dinning table, all having hot-steaming food on their plates, they all talked with eachother, they were so affectionate to one another.

Truly, an adorable family.

A father

A mother

A son

And a daughter…..

She feelt her blood freeze at that moment, her nerves shaking at the thought of killing them all, to destroy such a family for such a petty reason.

I mean really? Killing your ex’s hookup just for cheating? Dosen’t it all just sound unessecary excessive? Panic rose inside, trying to cope with the new-found information. Her gaze fell onto her boss yet again, her voice stuttering a bit ” Wait! A-are we about to kill a family? Like this shit is for real…?”

” Nah , we’re just killing the father. We’re just gonna give them kids some nice PTSD so they can have a nice tragic backstory when they grow up.” Striker grinned, his mouth gipes reaching the end of his head, but it changed quickly to confusion as he noticed his employes horrified eyes ” What’s with the face Vee?”

Ugh….

Ok, Verosika isn’t the most merciful demon you’d get to know but even she could draw lines, especially if it included children of any kind.

Vortex words from earlier today scratched the back of her mind: ” I-is it…really necessary…”

” Eh, let me do it then.”

With that, Striker just snatched it out of Verosika grip, not having the energy to deal with this bull crap, he just wanted to get the job done. He aimed at the father, ready to shoot at any second now.  And i got that-”

” No!” Verosikas familiar panicking voice cut in, not even letting the two other react at her actions before she pushed the fun out of Strikers claws, accidentally still pulling the trigger, but it didn’t shoot the father; instead, it pricked a framed photo behind him, making the whole family snap their heads in that direction just as the trio managed to cower back down.

” Cower!” Sallie shrieked

As they all got to temporarily hiding out, catching their breaths, Striker lept forward to grip both of Verosika sides, digging his claws into her skin, making her hiss in pain. ” What was that? You screwed up! Do you have ANY Idea of what you’d just done?”

”Look, I'm sorry, Striker. It's just that I think cheating is an extremely excessive reason for putting a contract on somebody.” Verosika sweated at her boss's rage, trying to defend herself for her own sensitive reasons.

Striker however, continued to just scold her like a disappointed father ” Of course, somebody from the Lust Ring would think that. Almost every fucker there is either a cheater or a swinger. But that's no damn excuse for fucking up my-”

” Besides, you take a good look.” Sallie interrupted in a focused tone, almost frightened by what was gonna happen now, ”There is a fair amount of evidence suggesting that this family are cannibals and possibly murderers!”

” Great, you just had to bring that up! Now I feel even sorrier !” Verosika cried out in a dramatic light, only for Striker to shut her off again. ” Never mind that now!” He started, still catching his breath, ” We've got to scatter! Hopefully, we can make them split up too and pick them!”

” Good idea!” Sallie commented as she ran off, leading to the other two doing the same as the family soon rushed out with guns and everything, their eyes red and devilish, ready to shoot.

• ••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter Text

“VORTEX! RUN! WE’VE BEEN CAUGHT!” Striker roared towards the near woods where his son was hiding in the dimmed shadows, alarming him about the situation. While Striker and Sallie managed to flee away, Verosika (Who unfortunately was the one to have the portal crystal in her pocket) got hit and tackled down to the ground by the two kids in the bushes, while their parents exploded a bigger hole into the wall and went out to hunt down her friends. To kill them or worse.

For the rest of the assassin gang, it didn’t go well either.

Sallie led Cindy to the lake, where she tried to stab the blonde psycho woman with her large knife, Cindy managed to take a harsh grip on Sallie’s hair, throw her on the ground despite the wrath’s imps attempts to fight back , and then flung a rock against her skull. Sallie fell into unconsciousness by the hard hit against her head, as she soon passed out with a dry battle cry. Cindy’s wicked smile being the last thing she saw before she blacked out. 

The blonde female then eventually spotted Vortex who she simply used a giant bear trap on the Hellhound, enough for him to collapse on the muddy ground, clutching his ancle in pain as he whined like a puppy just before the woman used extra thick, heavy chains to trap him and dragged the two hellborns with her. 

Meanwhile, in the woods, gunshots could be heard as a frightening Striker ran and hide at his best in order to not get caught by these fucking psychopaths. The hybrid imp dashed from bush to bush, while the ginger-haired man continued to shoot and call for Striker to reveal himself.

Almost getting caught, Striker took his next move and hid behind a tree, taking panicked breaths, although making sure not to make his breathing to come off as too loud. A shadowy silhouette of the man, still holding his loaded gun, walking just past Striker's hiding spot. Assuming he was safe for now, the imp sighed in exhausted relief, only to be pinned to the tree by the butt of the man's gun. He panicked as he was practicably shocked, and his wrestle against the man was weakened due to the lack of oxygen. 

“Gotcha! So, you're a little devil, huh? Come to drag me and my family to Hell? Well... NOT TODAY, SATAN!” The ginger man stated, showing off his sharp-tooted grin as he pressed the gun even harder in Striker's throat, “Gonna send y'all back where ya came from!”

……………………………………………………

There were two things Versoika noticed once she regained her consciousness.

First, the atmosphere was cold and unwelcoming. When she tried to stretch out her limbs, she found out that she couldn't, that there was something around her that prevented her from doing that. Confused as she opened her glowing eyes, only to find herself in an unfamiliar, tacky room, tied to a chair, and sat in front of a table, where the two kids were standing, both their eyes were red, and evil sharp grins that reached their cheekbones.

Ok….creepy….

But despite her severe fear of what kind of situation she found herself in, the succubus desperately tried to defuse the situation, nervously smiling at the children ”Oh! Little…cream-puffs……. Aren't you cute?”

”It's nice to have a new body to stab with.” The siblings simply said in a demonic voice, a creepy tension filled the room as Verosika finally got a chance to properly investigate the dimmed room with the lit candlelights on the table bringing enough light for her to see along with the red light from the window behind her.

Thanks to the generous amount of lights, it revealed that on the walls were chopped off human heads with old, rotten blood leaking out of them as they hung on the wall as if they were prized medals. As well as a couch in the corner of the room made of skinned human skin. And to top it off on the table, there was a human body on a silver platter, with an apple in its mouth, seemingly roasted like a pig, with sauce and all.

”Oh shit.” Verosika  said to disbelief at what she was witnessing. Unaware that human children could be this bloodthirsty and cruel.

For the small amount of time she was trapped there and almost tormented by two small kids as she struggled weakly to free herself with her hands tied around her back until she saw fire being lit up outside. Even from the window, she could see that the parents had set up an entire sacrificial ritual in their backyard…….

Verosika gasped, knowing what it meat

“Sallie!”

Verosika then struggled even more, tears pricking her eyes, afraid that she might lose the love of her life if she couldn’t get out of here. The kids just continued to snicker at the succubus with evil little grins as the girl pulled out a knife from her pocket, which Verosika noticed and glared with a low, pissed off growl emitting her lips. Just as the girl raised her knife to stab Verosikas in the eye, the pink demon pushed the chair backwards, knocking the child to the ground, was quick to grab with the knife and used to free herself from the ropes.

The brother helped his sister up to recover, only for her to snatch her arm away from him with a hiss, closely ungrateful to his concern about her well-being. The girl pointed in determination at Verosikas just before the brats went to attack, but Verosika got the upper hand and despite her gut feeling, she killed them both effortlessly, letting the blood stain her dress and hair. 

She spat at the dead kids bodies, just then found a gun in the corner of the room and snatched it with her as she jumped through the window, her shadow silhouette blending in with the night. Ready to save her close ones.

She just hoped that Sallie’s gun lessons would pay off.

At the ritual in the backyard, lit up torches around the backyard to set the mood with skulls and bones decorated. Striker, Sallie and Vortex were all tied up to a stake with  thick metal chains to keep them there. There was gasoline on the ground under their feet, not soothing the hellborns at all as they suspected just what was going to happen. In front of them stood Cindy and her husband nearby, grinning ear to ear with glaring red eyes and holding their own flaming torches.

Striker sighed, seeing no way out of this mess. “I had that fucking shot. God dammit, Vee….”

Just then Cindy spoke up with a roaring tone at the hellborns “Satan! We return your FILTHY creatures back to the pits of Hell!”

At that, the couple threw the torches and threw them against the still struggling demons.

“May the root of evil remain honored as we continue thy WORK!” The ginger-headed man spoke up (His name is Randy, by the way). The torches landed just underneath the gang, and evil laughter filled the air.

And so the fire was set.

But none of the demons were affected by it, just chilling there, looking bluntly at the couple

“Yeah, that's not exactly how it works, Humans. Sorry, your fire doesn't really hurt us, but, I mean, I could fake it if that'll get ya wet” Sallie commented, smirking, followed by the other two snickering.

Randy and Cindy stared at them, confused.

“Oh. Shit.” Randy commented, but rolled his eyes and took up his gun, aiming it threateningly at the demons. “Well... I'll just shoot you in your smart-ass mouth!”

“That would be more effective.” Sallie obliviously said

“Sallie!” Striker and Vortex scolded her.

Randy laughs maniacally again as he was just ready to shoot, his wife just behind him, applauding and supporting with an amused smile plastered on her face. 

The demons hustled closer to each other for comfort as they closed their eyes, ready to go out together. 

Then a gunshot was heard, then another……

But it was Randy and Cindy who screamed.

Confused by this, the demons open their eyes again to see that Cindy was laying down on the ground with blood pouring out of her chest, she was dead.

And Randy yelped again as one of his eyes flied right out of his eye socket just before he collapsed on the ground, joining his wife.

In that brief moment, Verosika jumped out of the cover of the night and shadows, holding a gun, blowing the smoke off the tip off it with a smug look. “I aimed lower!”

“Vee!” Sallie cried out, reliving that her wife was ok, as the succubus ran over to untie her crew. Striker was, however, still frustrated by his employee's behavior: “Ya ain’t gettin' yer goddamn paycheck for this one.”

Once the demons were all free and, Striker had helped Vortex to stand up straight and supported his setting on his harmed ancle. Sallie and Verosika smiled and held eachother in their arms, kissing passionately.

Vortex smiled in adoration at the loving couple while Striker crossed his arms, his clawed finger ticking his arm, making Verosika to drop her romantic actions with Sallie and went over to apologize to her boss, her head down in shame as she subconsciously scratched her wrists “I’m….sorry Striker, I should’ve known better”

“Ye, ya should,” Striker responded in a strict manner, but noticed how his words only made Vee feel even worse about her screwup and sighed, ” But….. I can’t hold a grudge for too long, so you’re forgiven…..this time,” he said, emphasizing ‘this time’.

“Don’t screw up the next mission, capise?” the hybrid imp finished off, earning an understanding nod from Verosika “Yep.”

Sallie walked up and patted her wife back in comfort.

***********************************************

Just as the gang decided to go home, Striker's phone alarm went on. A special phone alarm that he installed for when Stella was calling.

He grunted in annoyance as he took up the phone and excused himself, “Hold on for a moment, the princess is callin’ me.”

And so he went to the forest and leaned behind a tree to get some privacy in this phone conversation 

“Stella, what do you want now? I've just finished off a target with my gang.” Striker groaned slightly as he held the phone to his nonexistent ear.

“Oh, you finished your work? Good, cause need to talk to you about concerning my crystal I’ve allowed you to use” Stella’s voice was heard, full of excitement, but before she could say her statement Striker cut her off, already seeing what this was going 

“Let me guess, you need it back at least one night a month. In exchange, we’re going to have a mutually beneficial solution, which sounds really swell, since I do find you really attractive.”

“Yes actually! What do you say? Both of us will benefit from this deal, and I think your employees would appreciate you not getting into their private lives.” Stella finished off with a little giggle, leading the hybrid imp to sigh.

“Ye, ye, sound good.”

"Spending!"

……………………………………………………

Meanwhile, with the rest of the group, Vortex rubbed the back off his neck, ashamed as he found it hard to make eye contact with either her or Sallie “I’m sorry, Vee, it was probably my stupid suggestion earlier that-”

Before he could even finish off that sentence, Verosika hushed him with bafflement, “You’re seriously blaming yourself for my mistake? Nah, I won’t let you.” She lowered her voice to assure the younger hellhound calmly, “I honestly already have a soft spot when it comes to families, I just freaked out.”

Vortex tried to say more, but Sallie shut him down too,  “You’re a good kid, but you need to stop blaming yourself for others actions. But right now we’re gonna get back to the office to clean ourselves up and get your wound healed to recover, ok?”

Slowly, a smile appeared on Vortex's face. “Deal.”

After a while, Striker came back, and with the crystal in Verosikas pocket that she handed to Striker, the portal opened.

“Pops, I’m fine, really. No need to worry,” Vortex reassured his dad as they both held onto each other while going through the portal. Striker was still brining his son support in this vulnerable state.

Sallie placed her hand on her wife's cheek, running her thumbs across it “Ya doin’ ok honeybun?”

“Better now, baby. I think I just needed a minute to process.” Verosika responded, feeling safe by Sallie’s warm touch, and took her hand to squeeze it gently. The wrath demon chuckled as she touched her wife's chest with her other hand, “Ya know? For bein’ a lustful demon, ya sure have a good heart, but I can promise ya; If we ever have to do this kind of mission of killing a family again, you can put on seek duty to avoid feeling uncomfortable, ye?”

Verosika smiled lovingly at her wife, her facial features written with adoration, “I would really appreciate that, thank you.”

And so they both kissed each other quickly before they went through the portal that closed just after.

Chapter Text

Ah, another morning in Hell. 

The sky all crimson red, the air spicy along with dusty gases, the hell birds growling, and D.E.M.O.N.S. were all driving to their company building in full speed in their brand-new van. Striker wanted to ride there with his horse, but after last week's incident, pets were no longer allowed into the building. 

( That does not include Hellhound, just for your information.) 

The gang had just bought it last month after a lot, and I mean ALOT of discussing, they finally picked an option that was suitable for all of them. It was a bit old and rusty, of course, but it worked. 

Striker is sitting behind the steering wheel, driving as fast as he could with a devious look on his face as his son Vortex was reading a few documents in his paws over the next couple of clients and missions they needed to complete this following week. Verosika and Sallie sat in the back, talking and giggling with each other.

Soon they drive into the company building's old and very crowded parking lot, but they were not too concerned about this as they had their own company parking spot that they were about to take, but suddenly a black sports car pulled into their parking spot unexpectedly. 

“Sweet peppers-!” Strikers shrieked at the sudden action, slammed his feet into the brakes as the van skidded to stop, everyone in it holding onto their sets to not get hurt before it finally stopped.

Striker huffed, annoyed, as he recovered and peeked out the car window and saw the car. ‘Fuck, it must be one of those rich snobs down the street,’ Striker mentally cursed as he clawed the steering wheel before jumping out of the van to confront whoever had the guts to take HIS spot. “ Heya! Listen up here, ya sport-car fancy ass pleviant! Since i’m in a VERY good mood today, I'm givin' ya three seconds to roll away from my parking spot or-!”

Just then the passenger stepped out of the car and Striker's jaw dropped, stopped mid-sentence in complete shock, his snake eyes widen by who it was. “M-moxxie…?!” He stuttered, unable to say anything else at that moment

In front of him stood a little shorter male imp with red/orange skin that looked like scales up close, yellow eyes and white freckles. He had a suit on that looked like an upper class noble would wear, or at the very least a 1700s musician. Moxie’s face immediately went sour as vinegar, the moment his eyes landed on the cowboy imp. He crossed his arms and frowned in pure disgust. “Striker, it was a while ago, Mr.”

Snapping himself out of his trance, Striker then raged at the smaller imp, pointing his red-clawed finger accusingly at him“I shoulda damn known ya were here because I can sense rotten shark meat from a bullet shot away which is odd commin’ by the fact that the Greed rings polluted oceans is two rings down!”

Moxie just sighed, his gloved hand pushing Striker's finger away, completely unaffected by his harsh choice of words “And i do believe that i should’ve been aware of your presence when I heard the rattlings of a snake and the stank of horse shit”

Striker just snorted at that “What are ya doing all up here then? Your stardom has been crashin down, so yar gonna search up to be a cashier?” He mocked the shorter imp, a grin spread on his face, only for Moxxie to snicker in amusement and stroked his hair back smoothly with pride filling his chest “Well if you actually would keep up with the latest NEW’s ,you’d know that I’m still number one top for original music”

Stunned that Moxxie had won, he was left speechless, leading Moxxie to laugh 

“What’s up? Cat got your tongue?”

Striker shook his head, refusing to let Moxxie slide with this, his face turning red with both his raising anger and embarrassment, “But why are ya even parkin’ here? This is the only available spot my company has to take your twinkling ass and your show-off car and drive off!” He demanded as he gestured for the shorter Imp to move the driving device.

“Don’t make this into a scene, please….." Moxie just got annoyed, already done with Strikers shit as he rubbed his temple in order to soothe his nerves before speaking up again, sounding dead serious “and for your brief information , I'm currently doing a bit of freelance for one of the infinitely more successful companies in the building, and they wanted to have me come in this week to lead their team plus my loan sharks during spring break.”

“A WEEK?!” Striker exclaimed, “Nah, mister! You ain't parkin’ here for a whole week!”

Moxie just sighed in exhaustion, not even looking Striker in the eye ”Striker! Don’t take this action right to heart, I’m on a tight schedule, I need to spare time, and I certainly can’t afford to start a fight with my ex..”

This only tripled Striker's fury, ”Aw, sure! Ya always have to get special treatment, ya little vermin huh? Ya little privileged upper class twink excuse for a shitty music star!”

”Sit on your horse’s dick, bastard,” Moxxie simply said coldly, flipping the hybrid off before casually passing him to make his entrance in the building.

Back in the van, all three were peeking out of the car in pure bafflement over what they had just seen, looking tangling at Moxxie, as Striker tailed after Moxxie, more demanding than ever, ”H-hey! Ya better move yer car right now or i’ll-!”

On a sudden, a tall, female hellhound that was dressed in a professional attire but still had gothic accessories appeared just in front of Striker, stopping him from getting any closer to Moxxie and growing in defense. “You'll what?” She se her arms on her hips.

Striker stopped, assuming that she was Moxxie’s bodyguard, and lowered his guard.

” That’s what i thought” She said, remaining her cold face, only to turn to Moxxie behind her, her expression rapidly changing to calm and collected with a clipboard in her hand and a pen ”Anyway Mr Moxxie, you have meeting with the other loan sharks in the building in 10 minutes about the concert, then you have an autograph signing at the main center, after that you’re going to help the gang pack in and oh, tonight during dinner you’re going to FaceTime with three of your managers.”

At that long list of information about his tasks for today, Moxie breathed heavy before smiling weakly at the female hellhound in appreciation, ”Thank you, Loona”, receiving a smile from her as well.

” Loona?” Striker repeated in confusion, considering that those who own hellhounds rarely uses their real names so casually like this.

Moxie just scoffed at the hybrid's imps reaction and gestured for Loona to follow after him into the building. “Yea, my new assistant and Hellhound, unlike you, she does her job well and always keeps me updated.” Before leaving, he flipped Striker again, not even meeting his gaze. ”So long.”

As the duo were now out of sight, Striker sighed in bitter defeat, mumbling to himelf ”Ugh, I wasted so much time with a little vermin like that.”

At that moment, Vortex slammed the van door open, stepping out to confront his dad with his red eyes drawn with utterly confusion, along with Veosika and Sallie following after him into this argument.  ”Dad, you know Moxxie Knowlastname?!”

Striker huffed in humiliation, fully aware that there was no way of denying it ”Ye sure, he’s ma ex”

”Was it before or after he became this musician icon?” Sallie added with pure curiosity

”You dated a musician icon?!” Verosika followed, her voice laced with shock about this news.

”Why are ya’ll actin’ so shocked over this fact?” Striker asked, settling his hand on his hips, not interested in going further into his past relationships to his friends and son

”Well dad, it’s…..Moxxie Knowlastname….” Vortex began, suddenly all awkward, scratching the back of his neck, trying to explain in a way that would not make his dad snap at him. ”....... Even before he became famous, he lived a high class life in Greed while you weren’t really that well off during your childhood, so…..”

Well, that didn’t work

”Are ya bringing class difference into this argument?!” He practicably roared at all of them, but Verosika only scratched her head, trying to puzzle this together, “I just- Is he blind?? Suffering some form of brain damage?”

“Okay, look, you are all making this into a way bigger deal than it needs to be.” Striker scolded them all like a disappointed teacher. After that, they all agreed on finding a temporary spot and then finding a way to win back their parking spot.

And for Striker; An potential opportunity to piss off his ex.

Chapter Text

Being infuriated was an understatement in this kind of situation, but that wasn’t close enough to describe Striker's anger scale. Even after the group had managed to find a temporary spot to park their van, smoke was practicably emitting out of his ears and nostrils the closer they came to the company building. If it wasn’t for the fact that Moxxie still is an all-famous musician and had more than enough professional bodyguards at his beck and call, the cowboy would’ve snapped that Greed-imps neck long ago. 

Soon they all reached the elevator to their department. No one said anything, as they knew for now that whatever they would say, it would only amplify Striker's bitter attitude and short temper. 

Vortex took a few steps ahead, as he didn’t want to be around his dad when he was having one of his temper episodes. Trying to keep his mind preoccupied with the papers in his hands, narrowing his sharp, red eyes until he suddenly bumped into someone.

He was quick to look up from his papers to whoever he bumped into, raising his paws and shook them in front of him, sweating in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry-”

He then saw that it was the same Hellhound he saw in the parking lot with Moxxie. She didn’t seem to be bothered by his unintentional actions as she readjusted her clothes.” It’s fine, dude, I can tell you were distracted.” She reassured him with a blank face, but her voice was genuine. 

“Nice to meet you sir” She greeted Vortex, reaching her free hand out for him to shake

Vortex blinked, almost a bit confused at her gesture, ”Sup………” He tried to shake her hand, only for striker to suddenly appear and stood right between the two hellhounds, shielding Vortex, his face red. “Woah, woah! Where’s your twink-assed boss?”

”He’s in his office right now holding a meeting with other loan sharks. There wasn't room on the second floor, so they rented one here on this one.” The female hellhound frowned , although she still gestured to a nearby room with bright green dollar signs over double doors with a large sign over it where it said ‘Meeting active. DO NOT DISTURB’ “It's cheaper.”

Striker's eye twitched repeatedly as he tightened his fists as this stuck-up prick would now have to work just across his company, ”Damn Greed people!”

Loona just scoffed in response as she went over to cover the doors in order not to let any of them inside, scoffing down at the cowboy imp and his petty behavior. ”Cry about it, he’s had a rough month, so you better keep distance or i’m going to have to take you down.”

Growling at this woman's brave attempt to overpower him, Striker simply smirked, looking back at Vortex, who stood still. ”Aw, fuck it, Vortex seeze her!”

Vortex gasped inaudible, not sure if all this was worth a single parking spot, ”But dad-”

But he was silenced down by a quick death-stare from Striker, his face cold as it said that it wasn’t a request, but an order.

So relucivly Vortex stepped forward to attack, muttering a small apology to Loona before basically tackling her to the ground, She tried to scratch and wrestle, but Vortex was physically stronger and more well-trained than Loona and held her in a hold in a corner, but not too rough as it would hurt her too much. “I’m sorry about this…..” He muttered into her ear again as he kept her in place while the other three discussed what they could do at that moment to regain the parking spot. 

Verosika suddenly spoke up, dramatically flipping her long, silky hair and highlighting her beauty, “Heh, why don’t ya let me talk to the little strawberry. I swear, one wink from me, and they’ll all insist on giving us the parking spot back.”

“Vee-” Striker tried to warn her, but she put her finger against his lips to hush him and continued to speak in pride, “Sweethearts. I’m irresistible. Watch me.” She finished off by quickly putting on some ink-black lipstick and pushed the doors to make a shimmering entrance.

“Why hello there, gentlemen~” She greeted all of them once their attention was fested onto her, stunned by the sudden interruptence in the middle of the meeting. All the 20 loan sharks who sat around a long, meeting-table with drinks and all, along with Moxxie who had stood up the entire time in a corner with a whiteboard behind him with instructions, rules and what to expect for their mission on Earth. 

The room was all pipe-quiet as Verosika steeped further into the room, with the sound of her cleaking heels following after her.

Moxie raised an eyebrow at the rude woman, but tried to keep his cool, as he didn’t want to come off as rude. “Um, are you lost, miss? We’re holding a meeting, and I would appreciate it if you could leave.”

The succubus only winked at the confused imp, shaking her tits that didn't have an effect on Moxxie at all, just overall getting more disturbed by the current moment.

 “Hey sweetheart. I’m Verosika, work for D.E.M.O.N.S., and it is actually rather important for us to retain the singular parking space we were assigned, because-” Verosika began to approach Moxxie, but was caught off guard when two pair of muscular arms gripped onto her, pulling her away from the famous musician. It was two of the loan sharks who were now growling.

“Ugh, not another succubus slut”

“If you thought you could just do that to our boss, then you’re duller than you come off as.”

“But I wasn't-” Verosika tried defending herself, but Moxxie spoke over her, trying to sound as understanding as possible, clasping his clawed hands together. “Look, Miss Mayday, I am going to have to politely ask you to leave this room right this instant.” He then stared at both of the loan sharks, who were now holding a tighter grip on the woman. “Boys, don’t try anything; let’s not start an unnecessary conflict.”

They both nodded in obedience, letting go of the woman.

“ Please don’t take me for someone bitter, just because you work for Striker doesn’t mean you deserve what my Loan sharks would do to you if you pushed the button,” Moxie explained as he led the woman out the door, not pushing but gently “Have a good day Miss” 

And with that, he closed the doors again to go back to the meeting.

“Verosika blinked as she was out, with Striker and Sallie Mae stunned, they had overheard what happen in that room

Verosika just shrugged at the both of them, “Mh, worth a shot”

Sallie went over to her wife to check if she was ok, then said out loud “I gotta say…” She swallowed before speaking up, “For being a musician, that Moxxie didn’t seem all that bad. He actually seems really decent.”

Striker was not having it and yelled at the two women, feeling threatened by their sudden liking for his ex, “Are ya kiddin’ me or somethin’?! Yer seriously takin’ his side?!” His voice grew with each second, as this was getting on Sallie’s nerves as she went up to Striker, visibly just as frustrated as him, “We’re NOT takin’ anyone's side. We’re just stating a fact, and he didn’t seem all that bad!”

“He threw Veee out as if she wasn’t worth his goddamn time!” Striker tried to defend his behavior, despite how petty and unreasonable he came off as.

“He has a meeting, it was a perfect reason for him, and he GENTLY led her out, not showing any kind of dismay of her! Are you seriously this dense?”

“That’s it!” Striker announced as he lept forward and kicked the doors open, letting them slam against the walls harshly, catching the attention of the Loan Sharks and Moxxie who only reacted by boredom, not having the energy of dealing with something like this again.

“Alright you greedy johns!” Striker screamed as he stomped towards Moxxie, his snout scrunkled up in pure anger as his teeth sharpen “If yer gonna treat my workers like this, then I’ll challen’ ya’ll on a duel!”

The Loan Sharks attempted to stand up from their seats to throw this arrogant bastard out, but Moxxie stopped them mid-sentence, raising his hand, a signal to stop “A demon duel…?”  He asked his cowboy ex, staring in suspicion.

 Striker nodded in determination and smirked, “Ye, every year ya slippery johns go up to the Earth surface while spring break is the time for all sorts of robbery’s and murder” He pointed at the Greed imp and his loan sharks, “So I bet ya’ll can’t make as many people to commit greedy desires as many as we can off by the end of the day”

There was a moment of silence before the Loan Sharks burst out laughing at Striker's request, taking it as a stupid joke. Some holding their stomachs, some pointed at Striker as they dry laughed, while the rest fell down from tier seats due to their mockery laughter.

But Moxxie just announced, catching his loan shark's attention, “He’s not messing around boys.”

“Yes, a Demon Duel during the music festival.” Moxie repeated in delight as a smirked wickedly at Striker, “ A surprisingly good idea, despite coming from you.”

Striker snickered in amusement” Alrighty then; If ma team wins the duel, you’ll have to give us back our parking place.”

Moxie smirked, liking where this was going “ Ok but if, or rather WHEN, I win, you are going to have to sing an apology sob song in front of my team for your past treatment of me. I would say a written apology too, but I know your spelling is atrocious.”

“Deal” Striker responded coldly, determined to prove himself that he’s far beyond better than this little vermin-excuse for an ex.

………………………………………………..

Later at D.E.M.O.N.S. headquarters, Striker stood in front of the meeting table with his chalkboard and a chalk crayon in his claw firmly, as the other members listened intensely but none as passionately invested in this mission as Striker as he spoke up “Alrighty, listen up here! Thanks to Sallie’s connections with the local sinners here in the pride ring, we managed to find just enough clients for this mission, all that’s left is our strategy.”

The employees nodded, Sallie looking very proud of her achievement while Striker continued to ramble, “Our biggest focus here now is to win the bet AND then rubbin’ it in that privileged, opera-obsessed, twink-assed face!” Striker hissed in burning distastefulness at the end of the sentence as he wrote up the plan and goal on the chalkboard, including a very crappy sketch of Moxxie, crying crocodile tears.

“Boss,” Sallie interrupted, raising her finger, “with all due respect; We’ve never found ourselves in this kind of mission before. This isn’t just one person or two at a secluded location; this is almost hundreds of targets at a public meetin’. We can get caught at the worst.”

“And if we get caught, we’re going to get in HUGE trouble with Princess Stella or worse,” Verosika added, just as anxious about this situation as her partner. 

Striker was about to defend himself but stopped, realizing slowly that they were right, he hadn’t really thought this out, and they didn’t have access to any human disguises. He had asked Stella if her crystal had such abilities the last time he visited her, but she answered no, much to his disappointment.

“Hey, can i come with you guys this time too, please?” Vortex raised his hand, a bit anxious to ask another time to tag along this week, as he wasn’t allowed to follow them on missions that often.

Striker simply shook his head in dismission, “No, ya already got yer one month chance to follow us just a few days ago with that psycho family, and besides, spring break is no place for ya. Ya are aware of the creeps up there who simp for you 24/7.” All four of them simultaneously break the fourth wall by glaring at the camera in disagreement before snapping out of it.

“But i can blend in with humans. Just let me tag along.” Vortex added, a little more aggressive with his tone.

All three blinked in union, Striker asking first in shaking, “What? Wadda say boy?”

“I have a human disguise,” Vortex bluntly told them, his voiced laced with annoyance.

“Why haven’t you informed us earlier?!”

“I’ve told you guys multiple times, but none of you listened!” Vortex responded with boredom.

“We-!” Sallie began before her eyes went wide, realizing that he was spitting facts. 

“Oh…..” Verosika said, a bit ashamed.

“Alright, new plan!” Striker exclaimed as he gestured to his son with pride, “Tex can help us lure the humans to a private area where we can kill them. How does that sound?”

“Decently planned out,” Verosika nodded, 

“Yee-fuckin'-haw!” Sallie said, suddenly excited.

Chapter Text

Striker didn’t overreact when he said that in America during Spring break was the highlight of all kinds of greedy and brutal crimes.

The music festival took place in one particular area, specifically in a very open corner of a very large crime city. The entire area was crowded with hundreds, if not tons, of crazy people circling a huge, green stage where Moxxie was going to perform in just an hour. Everyone was waiting impatiently for Moxxie to step out and perform tonight.

At the festival, people were either eating their picnic, drinking a ridiculous amount of alcohol, dancing to banging music, or gang-banging each other.

Yep, this place reeked of sin.

But under a destroyed bridge a bit away from the crowd, in its shadow hid the D.E.M.O.N.S gang in order not to get caught as the sun was still out. Sallie and Verosika were sharpening the weapons and refilling the rifles. 

With his green/yellow, glowing snake eyes, Striker scanned the entire music festival as his rattletail rattled behind him. “Alright, gang,” He began, catching everyone's attention. “Listen up; we can’t be seen no matta what happens. So, Vortex will help us to seduce and lure the targets to a better spot with no noisy eyes. Ya get that, son?”

Vortex who had been holding the long list of the targets, hearing his father's orders, sniffed it, then his eyes glowed in blood-red, glaring at the distant crowd in determination, “Got it.” He then proceeded to stand up, where a swirl of purple and blue lights circled around his form. Once it had settled, Vortex had turned into a human. 

Instead of a gray hellhound, there stood a still-muscular man with dark skin, a shaved head with flash designs on the sides of his head; he was still half-blind with the same scar over his harmed eye, and he remained in the same clothes. He was quick to dust himself off in front of his team, who stared at him in absolute awe.

“You look so good, hunny!” Sallie was the first one to praise him.

“Yeah! You rock that human form, man!” Verosika hyped on, taking a little picture of him, leaving Vorte a little flustered as he covered his face with his hand. “Please stoooop. You're embarrassing me…..” He mumbled into his palm, but Verosika and Sallie simply didn’t stop until Striker cleared his throat. 

“Yeah, good. Now to the job, fetch!” The hybrid imp pointed to the crowd as Vortex peered in front of him, the human targets outlined with red in his eye vision. He smirked as he quickly took action, misleading both women and men to back-alleys and other out-of-sight places where his father and the rest killed them all quick and clean. As Striker had commented, both in Hell and on the Earth surface, people would always shamelessly drool over him. 

Soon they all put the bodies in bloodstained black trash bags, sealing them properly and putting them under the damaged bridge hideout. 

Striker grinned with pride while re-adjusting his suit, thinking of how ahead he and his crew were compared to Moxxie, was all to sure his side would win.“That's 40 kills in the bag! I’d like to see that twi-”

Right then he was cut off by green stage lights that were suddenly switched on, first all over the music festival to catch everyone's attention, making them surround the stage immediately, and then onto the stage where green smoke was emitting from behind the black curtains, followed by tapping beats that echoed.. Then there was a tap in the speakers before a familiar voice was heard through a microphone “Hello every spring breaker!”

Striker growled as he rolled his eyes at the over glamorous highlights“Show off….”

“You’re ready to get hella of Greedy tonight?” Moxie encouraged his fans who were basically shoving each other just to get closer to the stage, despite his Loan Sharks who also had their human disguises on were just below the stage to block anyone that got too close.

Everyone cheered loudly, especially those who had Moxxie’s merchandise or had his name written on their faces or chests.

Finally out of the now-settled smoke, stepped Moxxie into the lights with his guitar and disguised as a human as well. He had pale skin with freckles and whitish blond hair and the same suit. He grinned as he began drumming the strings “Time to lose control~” He told the crowd in a low voice, smiled as he started to sing and play ♫It’s time for a green night, with desires and highlight♫

♫Not here to share honey, I’m just here to double the money♫ Moxxie purred into the microphone as he made cash gestures with his hands ♫ The thought of dollarsign$ feels just so right~ ♫

♫Greediness is a bottomless pit, despite it you’ll submit♫

♫As a good old friend told me long time: Money can't buy happiness but it can rent you paradise♫

♫It’s all the shimmering gold, pearls, coins with every glance♫ Fight at that moment Moxxie closed his eyes as he stood right in front of the audience, opened them, to revels that his pupils now glowed neon green while his voice echoed all more, Almost like one of those mythic sirens in sailor storie’s ♫Give into your cupidy, cause i know you’ve got no purity♫

♫ No one’s here to stop you so why don’t give it a chance~?♫

♫ Cause we’re all Greed♫

♫ Cause you’re Greed♫

♫Cause I'm from Greed ♫

As Moxxie kept on singing in his hypnotic siren voice and the music filled the air, Striker's blood was on the edge of boiling from what he had witnessed. Almost every other person in the crowd was now suddenly greedy, going into the city to rob stores, while the ones that stayed were now listening to Moxxie’s siren melody while they stole from each other's pockets, “Dammit! We gotta pick things up, guys!”

At that moment of stress, Vortex stared at the crowd, and he spotted Loona in her human form too, a few meters away from the loud and messy crowd. She seemed unbothered by everything that was happening around her, scrolling through her phone as she had AirPods on.

Vortex felt guilty eating him up inside as he recalled what he did to her earlier today, she seemed really upset by everything. He knew that it was a bold move, maybe stupid to some, but he just had to apologize to her. So with a deep breath, he walked over to her, ignoring his coworkers bickering and sweating over this stupid deal.

“Ok, we get it! Vortex! Get the next one!” Striker exclaimed, ordering his son before realizing that he wasn’t there.

“Tex?” Striker called out, but his son was nowhere to be seen, much to his dismay as anxiety rose in him, eyes looking around speedy with panic, “WHERE'S MY SON?!”

Only then for him to catch the sight of his son, walking up to Moxxie’s damn Hellhound. His fatherly fear quickly returns to seething anger. 

Oh this wouldn’t fucking do!

……………………………………

Loona glanced up from her mobile device when she sensed someone walking up to her, her red eyes widened as the same hellhound she met this morning now stood right in front of her. At first, she had the urge to flip him off, but she noticed a nervous tension in the man, he couldn’t even lock eyes with her “Hey……..”

‘Oh, he’s a himbo’ The female mentally told herself  “Oh, it’s you” she said with blunt

“Ye, i just…I’m sorry for earlier today, it’s just my pa and-” Vortex scratched his chin, but Loona cut him off

“It’s cool, it was nice to get a wrestling challenge for a change and i get it, it’s your father” She showed off her arms and pitched the muscles.

Vortex smiled, relieved, “Cool! Cool..”

“So, you’re workin' for my boss's loud ex?” Loona asked, while stuffing her phone down in her pocket along with her AirPods.

Vortex bit his lip. Yeah, i’m sorry if that’s weird.”

“It's cool. I'm not paid enough to care about Moxxie’s private life”

“Ok, i-i’m Vortex” the male informed, sweating

“The name’s Loona, but my friends call me Loo, if i had any friends” Loona shrugged casually

“I can relate to that”

“How so?” She raised an eyebrow at Vortex as she reached over to a couple of boxes where she picked up two cans of soda, opened them and handed one to him with a gentle expression.

Vortex huffed as he eyed his drink. “I never get any chance to get out and socalize very much. My pops are very strict.”

“That’s rough buddy-”

In that brief moment, Striker jumped out of nowhere in front of the young hellhounds, startling them both. “Am I interrupting something?” His eyes practically glowing with fear, making his sin slightly cover in fear that he’s been caught

Loona however, casually rolled her eyes, she had enough of this petty imp for today  “Nah, just talking.”

In return, Striker glared at the female with pure disgust: “ ‘Talking’ leads to HIV!, i wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that someone like you got it!”

“Excuse me?” Loona asked in disbelief.

“You heard me, I can tell by just looking at your attire!” He pointed all over her gothic style as well as her makeup

And thus, an argument was brewing between the three of them, none of them ready to back down.

On the other hand, Verosika and Sallie have watched the entire embarrassing fiasco behind a few bushes, both highly disappointing by their friend and coworkers , so desperately trying to keep his son away from ONE other individual outside the company.

But they had job to get done by sunset

Sallie pinched her nonexistence nose in frustration ”Alright hun, we’re gonna have ta do this list on our own”

”Ah, don’t be like that; we’ll handle this and earn all the fat cash!” Verosika glazed with dollar signs in her eyes and winked at her wife.

So with that, Sallie kisses her wife’s check before pulling up the list from her pocket and folding it out, both reading it speedily . They peeked out and snatched a few t-shirts and wigs to disguise themselves and cover their horns. The couple then ran off to finish the killing mission. 

………………………………………………

“Pops, get out of here! You’re embarrassing me, and you’re not wearing a disguise!” Vortex snapped at his dad, completely humiliated as he gripped his hair in frustration. He gritted his sharp teeth between low growls, the hybrid imp growled louder,. “Ya shoulda known betta than to slack off yer goddamn job!” not holding back as he scolded Vortex, ticking his finger in front of the hellhound's snout in a dismissive manner. 

However, Striker’s remaining infantilizing treatment of his son, only made Vortex growl clearer but didn’t say a pep as his anger grew stronger by each of his dad's words  “This is exactly why I ain't letting you tag along with us often!”

“This was one time, and it was fun to talk to someone the same age as me!” Vortex growled at his father, tight in his wrists, practicably shaking by rage, his blood boiling.

“Shut it, boy! We have a parkin’ spot on the line!” Skriker simply screamed at his son, only for Leona to step in, trying to defend Vortex 

“Dude. Why don't you chill out and let your son breathe?”

Striker did not like this attitude at all and quickly turned his fury at Loona, his tone brewing more intense and angry, desperate for control over the situation. ” Why don't ya just stay out of it?! Vortex! Yer commin’ with me”

The cowboy imp reached out to grab Vortex forcefully by the wrist, but the hellhound was faster to jerk himself away from his dad, his eyes full of disappointment and hisses in frustration as he took a step forward, showing off how much taller he was compared to Striker “Dad! Why can’t you just let me be on my own for like one minute!?”

The imp was a bit caught off guard by his son's new rebellion but snapped out of it and pointed accusingly at the hellhound, “Because I'm yer father and I know what’s best for ya boy-!”

“I’m not a little boy anymore!”

Everything between the trio felt deprived of life, cold and quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the angry, suffocated anger of Vortex.

Striker was completely stunned, his facial expression blank, while he was doomed to listen to his son’s screaming. All those years of bottled up anger and denied desires finally blurted out all at once: “I’m 23 years old, but you still treat me like that lost teen! I’m forever grateful you adopted me, but you have to let me socialize on my own, and I want to have friends cause I don't wanna end up all alone like you!”

………………………………………………

Meanwhile, on the other side of the music festival, Verosika and Sallie Mae were on the way to finish the list fairly quickly, killing target after target without causing too many blood sheds so it would be noticed.  The temporary disguises were a bit uncomfortable and hideous, but this wasn’t a fashion show. 

But when they shuffled together behind a few people, they accidentally tripped over each other, causing their disguises to rip apart, revealing their horns, tails, and everything in front of thousands of humans.

Still lying on the ground, all tangled up, Theo from e as plenty of eyes were now set on the demon women.

Ah, shit…….

They expected freakouts and screams of horror, only for a bunch of drunk men and women to slurring point at them, burping between their words, all semi-conscious.

“It’s two cosplayers...”

”..Ye…. (Hiccup) They look so pretty….!”

”They almost look real……!”

Now realizing that most people here were too drunk to get a grip on reality, Sallie and Verosika signed in relief before they helped each other to get up and casually strolled off to continue the mission.

………………………………………………

Backstage, two of Moxxie’s Loan sharks were drinking Beelzajuice from iron bottles. Both the fish demons were cackling and cracking jokes with each other. When one of the bottles was almost empty, he eyed it one second before he bluntly threw it far away from the festival. Once it had landed on a dirty sidewalk, a bit of the remains of the beelzajuice leaked out, targeting a lizard to crawl towards it and lick the hellish liquid, causing it to mutate into something potentially dangerous. 

………………………………………………

Vortex glared silently at his father, who slowly walked away from him, back turned against, off to kill something to get his mind off the recent argument. A sting of guilt was slowly festing in his chest until he felt a hand touch his shoulder and glanced over it to see it was Loona, looking genuinely concerned. ”You-uh….you’re ok?” She stuttered a bit, clearly not used to comfort.

”Y-yeah. It’s just that i’ve never spoken to my dad in that tone,” Vortex responded, scratching the back of his neck before he let out a heavy huff,  ”Was i too harsh?”

Loona shook her head

”No, actually, you’re a grown man and old enough to make your own decisions. I get that your father is just trying to care for you, but it seems like he needs to let you do things on your own decisions.” She finished off with a sympathetic smile plastered on her face. ”And I'm happy that you can stand up for yourself.”

Vortex smiled back in appreciation, ”Thanks Loo”

………………………………………………

The couple was just a few targets from getting the list all checked but in all of a sudden something giant emerged from back of the stage. The humans and the disguised demons all noticed it, shadowing the entire area. It revealed itself to be a giant mutated, drooling lizard monster who roared as it pounced on all the party people who ran for their lives.

Some managed to flee, some were devoured by the creature

Striker, who had been sitting on a stone after the argument with his son, perked up once he took notice of the monster. He didn’t bat an eye before he merged up to find his coworkers if they were safe. 

”What the-”

The stunned Verosika mumbled out in shock before the lizard mutant wrapped its tongue around the pink succubus, pulled her to its mouth and closed it, trapping her inside.

Sallie wasted no time before she took action, immediately taking out a long rope and a butcher knife with a hiss between her ink black lips 

Sallie rushes towards the mutant at full speed, jumps on its stomach, and starts to sternly climb it with her knife and claws, reaching for the giant throat. Once she reached the neck, she used the butcher knife to stab against it, causing the beast to strike in pain and open its mouth, letting Sallie pry open its mouth, seeing Verosika biting and clawing the monster’s tongue. Sallie reached out and grabbed her wife by the arm and sliced the tongue, freeing both of them.  

Verosika was sent flying away from the monster, flying in the air, but showed no fear, instead just smiling in satisfaction, spreading her arms like she was swimming in the Olympics, before she landed flawlessly on her feet right next to Striker who witnessed everything.

Verosika bowed at her landing like she had just made a splendid performance.

Back to the giant mutants, Sallie was full on wrestling with it, carving out its eyes with her butcher knife and tying togethers its feet so it wouldn’t run away.

 ”That’s my girl…” Verosika signed with love while she adored her wife, overpowering the monster as she made a heart symbol with her hands.

Striker simply sighed at this sickly sweet romance with a tired smile.

Just then Sallie leaps into the air with her butcher knife, aiming it towards the mutant before she splits its neck open and lets it bleed to death. She then made her way back to her crew, exhausted, while Verosika ran over to support her wifes, letting her lean on her shoulder to catch her breath.

“M’kay, this is gettin’ way too sweet, ladies,” Striker commented at the two lovers with his hands on his hips before

“Striker”

“Hello vermin,” Striker coldly replied, turning around to face Moxxie and his Loan sharks, still in their human disguises. 

Instead of being bitter, Moxxie applauded with an amused face  “I gotta hand it to you, i’m highly impressed by your employee Sallie’s fighting skills.” He gestured to the now-energetic Sallie Mae who nodded in appreciation.

“Why thank you”

“And if you wonder why that little incident happened,” Verosika suddenly added with a cheeky grin, fiddling with an iron beer bottle that had a few drops of beelzabub juice left in it. It also had Moxxie’s logo imprinted on it: “Yeah, pretty sure it’s yours.”

By the bare sight of the bottle in the succubus hand, Moxxie’s face went all pale in terror as she tossed it towards his crew members, who looked embarrassed as Somme tried to look away at this humiliation.

“May i suggest that you might wanna restrict your Loan Sharks access to such poisonous alcohol on these missions”

Striker clasped his face and feigned a gasp “Oh my! What is this? Moxxie Knowlastname and his minions were responsible for a giant mutant lizard in the human world.” 

All three demons emitted into dry mockery laughter at the musician

“Oh, I can already imagine; The wild news spread all over Hell! Scandals that would destroy your image!” Sallie coughed between chuckles, reading off the countless scandals that would destroy Moxxie’s career 

“W-well you three have no human disguises and-” Moxxie sweated in stuttering before Verosika interrupted him again with a smug look, and ticked her finger to momentarily silence him

“People mistook us for cosplayers”

“Ye, pretty sure everyone here was too drunk, stupid or both to make out anything” Sallie nodded along

Moxxie’s eye twitched, finding no way to slither himself out of this situation and it didn’t ease that Striker grinned from ear to ear in a wicked manner, doubling the musician's anger while his Loan sparks all looked anxious over this mess all together.

“But of course we can keep this little scene secret if ya just let us use that parking space~” Striker rose an eyebrow

Understandably, Moxxie had no other choice in the matter. He sighed in bitterness “Fine, but i vow; one pep about this and ya’ll dead”

He could only sigh in utter spitefulness as his ex was now cheering with his coworkers over their victory.

Moxxie stoffer as one of his Loan sharks, dared to come up to him to justify their mistake, but Moxxie rosé a hand to silence him mid-sentence, scoffing,  Not. A. Word. Let’s go back.”

And so they went to go back to the underworld. 

………………………………………………

Vortex and Loona laughed in glee as they stepped out of their hiding spot, casually talking to each other as if that horrible monster hadn’t just attacked this area. Both were drinking soda and cracking jokes.

”Loona, time to go!”

Loona snapped her neck towards the source voice of her boss and sighed as she had to follow order before turning to Vortex with a strut, throwing the soda can behind her ”Well, gotta go dude, but if you want to hang out me in sloth then it’s just to give me a call”

She then proceeded to write down her number on a piece of paper before giving it to him with a soft smile ”Sounds cool?”

Vortex smiled wider as he thanked her. He was sure that if he was in his Hellhound form right now, he was sure his tail would’ve wagged so much at this moment.

And so they both bid goodbye as they returned to their coworkers in a rush.

Chapter Text

Well, they had done it again

An exhausted sigh left Stella as she shook herself, trying to recover from last night's intimacy she had with Striker. She was smiling with satisfaction as she stretched herself from having her arms tied up for the last few hours. As Striker was lighting a thick cigar, inhaled for a long moment before huffing out the smoke that made the bedroom smell of the strong cigarette stank.

Outside the windows, it was dark, it was still early in the morning with barely anyone awake at this hour.

Striker had the soft covers over his lap to cover up his exposed crotch. Suddenly he eyed Stella for a second when he noticed that she was looking at him, not threateningly or one that made him feel belittled in the presence of a royal. No, her eyes seemed more……..softer, genuine and happy. He couldn’t put a finger on it nor deny that he was a bit taken back by her change of expression from exhaustion and pleasure to this.

Instinctively he just shrugged it off, took another huff of his cigarette before handing it to Stella, clearly asking her to take it ” What? Do you want some?” He snorted, shopping off his gold tooth

”No thank darling, i’m not much of a smoker myself” Stella waved her hands in front of her

Striker just chuckled mockingly, ”Then why were yer starin’ at me as if i was a snack?” He inhaled the very last bit of the cigar and exhaled the gray, sog while flicking it aside the bed. ”Not that i wasn’t last night,” he winked at Stella, who just giggled at his lines  

”Well, i just think you look really handsome in this view,” The goetia princess admitted as she readjusted her feathers/hair. The cowboy imp could feel heat raising to his cheeks, to which Stella was completely oblivious to as she was quick changing the subject: ”Sorry again that I have to cut this session short, Striker, but I have to use my crystal for the Harvest Moon Festival.”

”Eh, it’s fine” Striker mumbled as he covered his still red face with one of his clawed hands, only to see another one of Stella’s feathers in the middle of his eyes, infuriating him as he just then realized that he had many more on him”Ugh, I always get yer damn feathers all over me!”

”Here, let me help you, dear,” Stella offered , giggling as she found him fussing over just a few feathers amusing. She shifted closer to Striker and fortunately he calmed down and gave her permission to pick each feather off him and toss them aside ”Sorry dearest, you know how we avians get”

Striker found himself looking down at his knees as he felt Stella’s gentle hands pick off the feathers, a bit embarrassed but at the same time didn’t seem to mind the physical touch that didn’t include intercourses. He wasn’t used to people touching him like this, let alone accepting affection from anyone but his son ofcourse. 

Letting a hand gulp slip in his throat he tried to not make this more awkward as it was obvious that the princess was just trying to be kind. ”So…….The Harvest Moon Festival? My coworker Sallie and I both know a fair bit about that, both of us bein’ from the Wrath Ring and all..”

”Good.” Stella hummed, flicking the last feather away with a smile ”Then i suppose you understand just how much impact my visit and duty is there”

”Ye, but why are ya doin’ this shit? From where i can recall it’s yer  husband yearly duty and not yours”

”Yes, but Stolas informed me just yesterday that his schedule is too much packet for him to have time to make his presence there so he insisted that i’ll take over this year” Stella explained as she proceeded to crawl out of the bed to put on her nightgown that was laying on a chair beside her makeup desk. She quickly put it around her and let the pink, silk fabric hugging her curvy figure. 

Striker stretched himself, letting a grunt escape his gritted teeth in order to properly wake up. ”I can understand Octavia - I mean, she's his heir, so she has to learn how to do her father's duties.”

” Yes, and that’s why i need my crystal back just for the next two days or so,” Stella chimed in as she reached for her brush to straighten and smoothen her feathers, keeping eye-contact with the hybrid imp, who himself was putting on his clothes. ”And if you want, you and your crew can be there as well, what do you say? A labor-free day, and just relax there and mingle with the other locals there.”

 ”Well, Sal is definitely going to like the opportunity to visit her family.” Striker admitted, earning a beaming smile from the goetia princess, but then quickly added with a threatening tone, ”But I swear on ma grave; if ya announce it to the public that we-!”

Before he could even finish that sentence, Stella cut him off as she waved a dismissive hand at him, her eyebrows knitted with disbelief, ”Satan! Of course not! What do you take me for? Especially when my daughter is there, who’s also a minor!”

So with that all settled, the cowboy imp nodded at this agreement, ” Alrighty then! See ya there”

…………………………………………….

Inside Sallie Mae's and Verosika’s humble apartment, the couple were sleeping peacefully next to each other in the dimmed dark with a single night lamp on, bringing a slight bit of light to the bedroom as Sallie’s was a bit frightened of the dark.  

Sallie was drooling on her pillow, along with soft snoring emitting from her, with her arms all spread out. Verosika on the other hand, was lying perfectly still on her back with a face mask made out of Hell avocado and a bonnet around her head, as she has a nightly hair routine.

Everything felt so comfortable, but they both were rudely awakened by Verosika’s phone suddenly ringing and lightening up. Verosika tapped on the phone to shut it off, but it just kept on ringing, slowly infuriating the succubus until Sallie finally groaned as she slowly sat up on the mattress, holding her head. ”Sweetie, just - just answer it….” She yawned loudly, with her eyes still closed.

So in tired annoyance, Verosika grabs the phone and sits up, seeing that it was Striker, holding it towards her non-existent ear, her glare deadly ”Best for you that this call is important cause i was in the middle of my beauty sleep……!” She growled, ridding the tiredness with a rough eye scratch.

”Heh, who pissed in yer cereal?” Striker’s voice was heard on the phone enough for both of them to hear, ”Good morning yer highness, I just wanted to ask ya and Sal if yer wanted to tag along for The Harvest Moon festival this year?”

By those words, Sallie’s eyes immediately open and smiley in excitement like a kid who got a sugar rush  ” The Harvest Moon Festival?! Yee-fuckin'-haw!” She flew her arms up and nodded, ”Yeah!”

Verosika signed at her wife's reaction, suddenly feeling not so bitter, and a day off did sound nice.  ”Well, that doesn't sound half bad, when can we go?”

”Right now, actually; I’m hanging outside yer window”

Chapter Text

After a few hours of scuffling, packing and arguing, the whole assassin gang was sitting in the newly bought van, rushing its way to Wrath. Well, everyone except Striker, who were riding Bombproof right beside the van, as he refused to waste this opportunity to ride his house to Wrath. Vortex was sitting in the driver seat, sternly holding the steering wheel, while the women were sitting in the back, both chatting and Sallie Even leaning her head on her wife’s shoulder.

Everyone was dressed in more fitting attire for the weather in Wrath, thinner clothes and boots. Verosika though, was dressed the most glamorous out of the four; well, she was dressed as glamorous as she could dress when visiting a rough and dusty place like the Wrath Ring.

The heat was rising as they were now in the Wrath Ring, the air was as spicy as pepper spice, the roads were all dusty, and they shortly arrived at the humble Harvest village where the festival would take place. And they were by Sallie’s childhood home, where her parents, brothers and sister all live together on their farm. 

Sallie’s parents stood right outside, waiting for them all, waving with smiles, both very excited to see their oldest daughter. Shortly after, Sallie's siblings also appeared.

Sallie wasted on time, practicably jumping out of the van at the sight of her parents, running to them with a jump in her step with her arms all spread out to embrace them both. ”Howdy Ma and Pa!”

Sallie’s mother, Lin, took her daughter into her strong arms, spinning both of them around as she gave her an affectionate squeeze and kissed her on her forehead. ”Ah, there's ma little deadly apple.” Just as Sallie could bring up that her mother was basically suffocating her in her arms by now, her mother finally released her from her death hug, so their eyes could meet. ”How are ya doin’?”

 ”I’m all good, mama! Thanks for lettin' us stay here for the harvest festival.” Sallie replied, a little out of breath while adjusting her hair. Only for her father, Joe, in turn patted her back, a bit too rough. ”No biggie darlin’. I get it, ya aren’t makin’ as much since that little business.”

Sallie’s eye twitches at her father's comment, trying to maintain her smile, but she was clearly pissed. ”The business is doin’ great, pa. It’s good!”

”Sure, sure. Whatever keeps yer hopes up” Joe Said, once again oblivious to his child's emotions and how his words made her feel.

Sallie took a deep breath through her nostrils to calm herself, a trick Verosika had taught her over a year ago to control rage. 

Her siblings then waved and greeted her very cheerfully, especially Millie, who was bouncing where she was standing, visibly the most excited to see her big sister.

After she had calmed down, she walked over to Verosika who was casually applying lipstick as she didn’t have time to do her makeup before the group left for Wrath. She put the lipstick away as Sallie went up to her and led them to her parents. ” Anyway ya both remember ma wife, Verosika?”

The couple held hands in front of Sallie’s parents, who stared at the succubus in disapproval.

Verosika gulped nervously, biting her lip. Sallie’s parents have never approved of them being together, they didn’t even stay long when the wedding took place, they were only there for the vows, and they took off. Still, she tried to keep peace with both of them and be polite, since she’s aware of just how close her wife is with her family.

”Nice to meet ya’ll! How have you been with your family farm?” Verosika began, sweating, cracking a smile as she held out her hand for them to shake, but they just glared at her as if she'd just cursed at them.

”Very bad. We’ve suffered plenty of failed crops, causin’ us to cut short on food,” Lin coldly replied with her arms crossed. 

 ”Shit! Um- sorry for bad luck…..” Verosika apologized, feeling embarrassed, but thankfully Striker and Vortex made their approach, snatching the attention of the parents away from the couple.

”Oh yeah! You’ve never met ma boss Striker and Vortex” Sallie added, still holding onto Verosika’s hand.

Lin and Joe eyed Striker and Vortex from head to toe, both visibly confused at the mixed staff. ”So yer this company’s Hellhound?” Lin asked, pointing at Vortex.

They shouldn’t have asked that.

”Ey, watch yer tongue! He’s ma son!” Striker snapped back, offended with a growl, his teeth gritted and took a step to attack, but just in time was stopped by Vortex, his arm in front of Striker, stopping him midway and shaking his head. One look from his son made the cowboy tents down and take a deep sigh, as he adjusted his vest and approached Sallie’s parents, reaching out his clawed hand for a handshake  ”As Sallie already addressed; The name’s Striker.”

Immediately Joe took his hand in a firm grip to shake hands with him, earning a devastating face from Verosika. 

Striker hummed at both parents, ”Between us, I gotta give ya both credit for raisin’ one hell of a strong and violent rascal to dam!”

Joe chuckled at the comment and let go of his hand. ”Yeah, we did, boy!”

”She’s very good at handling missions with her bare hands! Strong as 10 mils combined!" Striker complimented.

”She gets it from her momma,” Lin Said sweetly with a chuckle while flexing her bicep.

At that, Joe’s eyes lit up as in a sudden thought just had popped into his head. ”Speakin' of strong hands, y'all should meet our newest pair of hands here at the farm. Hey Blitzo!” He shouted.

”The O is silent, bitch!” A loud, raspy voice echoed with moments later a shadow silhouette  jumper out of the distance, landing on a stack of hay in front of the group. It revealed itself then to be a red imp with white-burn marks across his face and his hands. He was dressed in a thin, torn and dirty leather suit, jeans and high-heeled boots that made him look glamorous. He had a cigarette in his mouth, which he lit out by putting it against his bare skin, not showing any kind of reaction to the minimum self-harm, instead just smirking at the group just before he jumped down with his hand on his hip.

He looked very intimidating until-

”Hello bitches and assholes!” He suddenly exclaimed, breaking his serious appearance to silly as he made his way to Sallie when his eyes laid on her ” Hello there! You must be the Sallie Mae that your parents have been yappin’ about non-stop since I started working here!” 

”Their favorite child and their whole joy, they said, toots!” He stated, patting her shoulder, a bit too aggressively, winking at her.

With that comment, Sallie’s siblings got really quiet, some crossing their arms and their gazes glued to the ground, all seemingly hurt by the words, but you could tell by their eyes that this may have not been the first time they’ve heard this. Sallie’s parents, on the other hand, took no notice of their kids' clear bitterness and just smiled at Blitz, while Sallie cracked an uncomfortable smile when she saw her siblings' reactions in the corner of her eye.

 ”So~ Whadda ya’ll fuckers doing so far away from Imp City? Has business failed, and it’s now forcing you to settle your city-asses down here?” Blitz cackled, snorting.

” I can inform ya that we’re doin’ fine, and we’re just visitin’ for this year's festival,” Sallie stated sternly with a low growl escaping her lips.

That’s when Blitz’s eyes landed on Striker and immediately went up to him with a sudden seductive smirk and wiggled his eyebrows. ”Ah, you must be the sexy cowboy who had enough balls to start his own assassin business?”

Striker squinted his eyes at Blitz in disgust.” Uh, yeah , sure….” Despite him feeling uncomfortable, he shook Blitz’s hand, trying his hardest to not let his unease come off as obvious before releasing his hand and rubbed it off his best when Blitz wasn’t looking.

”Y'know... you boys should enter the Pain Games!” Lin all of a sudden requested with a smile, looking at the boys and her daughter.

”Games?” Vortex tilted his head in confusion

Turning to his son, Striker explained what the games Lin meant. ”Oh ye, every year at the festival there’s a competition to win the title of the toughest imp in Wrath. The winner also receives a winner belt”

”Are you gonna enter the games?” Vortex asked, lifting the heavy  luggage over his shoulder with no trouble.

Striker grinned while adjusting his belt. ”Is that even a question? Of course, I will. I’ve won the games two times in my youth, and i’m ready for a third.”

Millie, Sallie’s sister, simply crossed her arms and pouted at the mention of the Pain Games. ”Yeah! Wish I could play and not just stand on the side to cheer on my sister”

Joe walked up to Millie and patted her back. ”Pumpkin, ya know the reason why ya aren't allowed ta be in the games. The last time ya did, ya almost destroyed the whole festival, makin’ us pay for the damages”

Millie just pouted furthermore. ”How come Sallie Mae still gets to compete?” She gestured her hand towards her sister, who just smirked mischievously. 

”Your sister doesn't have a neighborhood head count.” Lin insisted 

 ”She so does!” Millie said back, only for Sallie to tease her with a giggle, ”It doesn't count if they don't find the body!”

Millie seethed in anger at Sallie but couldn’t say anymore.

After everyone had greeted each other, Striker helped Joe to catch and kill one of their hogs for dinner with just a dagger and a rope, since bullets can’t pierce through their hard skin. After he managed to get a bit on his way to carry it towards the house

”Hey! Who wanna help a guy skin this thing for dinner?” Striker asked the group with a dead hog hanging over his shoulder.

”Oh, I am always down to skin the manly meat with the manly men!” Blitz stated as he swung his groin in Striker direction, causing the cowboy imp to cringe in distastefulness.

”Ya know what? I’ll just do it myself….” Striker mumbled in response, rushing his way to the house to avoid the perverted Imp with Vortex trailing behind with the luggage and Sallie’s family, with the only ones left outside being Sallie, Verosika and Millie.

Millie was still a bit sour by the annoying reminder that she wasn’t allowed to join the best part of the festival, but she couldn’t be mad for too long since she got to see her sister after so long. So once the trio were alone, Millie gave them both a gentle smile.

”Ey, no hard feelin's, huh , Millie?” Sallie asked as she ruffled up Millie’s hair. 

 ”Glad to see you, Sally. It's been a while.” Millie respondent back with a snort, her tooth gap showing, and her gaze trailed to Verosika ”It’s also nice to see you, Candy Pop.”

Verosika chuckled softly at the nickname she received from her sister-in-law due to her smelling like candy and strawberry gum. ”It’s good to see you to, Mills”

”Well, how about you? How have things been going for you?” Sallie couldn’t help but ask her little sister, who just shrugged casually

”Work wise? I'm between side jobs at present, so I've been doubling down on the farm work until I can find another client. Relationship-wise? Not exactly any better. Pretty much all the johns I've dated have turned out to be either a bit too full of themselves without the ability to back it up or nice guys that I just haven't clicked with, if you catch my meaning.”

”Yeah. That is understandable.” Sallie responded.

As the two sisters continued to talk back and forth, Verosika’s was a bit left out, alone with her own thoughts. 

She was pleased that at least one member of her wife’s family was kind to her and accepted her for just who she was and didn’t judge her based on her background and how strong she was. She knew Sallie’s parents despised demons like Verosika who grew up in big cities and such, even more those who were seen as ”weak” to them.

But she knew how much Sallie craved her parent's approval, so she doesn't speak up against them.

…………………………………………….

The next day, the Harvest Festival had officially started with imps from every Wrath’s Ring corner all collected. Everyone circled around the big stage where Princess Stella and Octavia were both sitting on each throne right beside each other. Both were wearing their signature attire. Stella looked pleased to be here, while her daughter was visibly bored, her chin in her hand, mumbling swears in her British accent.

Soon their imp servant took a hold on the microphone, catching everyone's attention as it all went pipe quiet, letting him speak. He gulped heavenly, stuttering in his tone, ” Greetings ladies, gentlemen and everything in between. W-welcome to the Wrath rings an-annual Harvest Moon Festival. We all know that we always start the festival with the well-known Pain Games, which Princess Stella is here to be the judge of now that h-her husband has other important duties to attend to…..”

The poor imp shook a little, his already-red face tinting into a darker shade of red, but luckily Stella took her move and received the microphone from her servant, who bowed and stepped aside. 

Stella softly chuckled, batting her eyelashes at him. ”Thank you, Pringles. Greetings, Wrath's citizens. As the princess of Ars Goetia, I hereby welcome you all for another year of celebrating the magnificent results of all the hard work you put into.” She gestured her clawed hand to the crowd, where in the middle of it was Striker, biting the inside of his cheek as Stella continued her speech.

The hybrid imp thought about how Stella had behaved the whole day. The Goetia princess had barely taken notice to him, and even when she did, she acted like they didn’t know each other. He was very grateful of that, because he didn’t want to be known here at the festival as a blue-blooded little pet on leash. He hated the idea of being seen as a sugar baby who just gets cooed and receives everything by a royal when he has worked so hard to make a living in life.

”-and I'm truly honored to kick off the start of these games that will challenge the toughest Imps to show their skill, strength and capability. And without wasting any more time, let the games begin. Good luck!”

And so with a gun  show as a signal, the games had begun with at least a few dozen imps participating, amongst them Sallie Mae, Striker and Blitz.

As usual, the games included all sorts of rough and brutal games, from wrestling in the mud to surviving a hell shark. Most of the competitors got scars, bruises and bloody openings all over their bodies, while the crowd was sitting on the wooden bleachers, amongst them Vortex and Verosika who were both cheering for Striker and Sallie Mae with popcorn and drinks. 

Sallie’s family were there too, her parents crossing their arms with judging faces, while her siblings cheered for their sister occasionally. Her brothers wanted to join the games too, but their parents told them that they weren’t going to win anyway, so why even try. 

Stella and Octavia kept up their calm and collected faces, only applauding a few times at the fighting and biting imps, spilling blood and inside’s everywhere.

Octavia was already done with this, sneaking a few glances on her phone, checking sinstagram., completely unaware of her mother’s slight excited face when she saw Striker winning over three full-grown imps, breaking their bones and tying them all together. Stella’s face lit up at the bloodbath, her eyes sparkled for only a second before regaining her cold posture to uphold her reputation and keep her promise to Striker. 

And how she almost banged her fist on her throne in frustration when both Blitz and Striker unfortunately lost in the final part of the Pain Games to Sallie Mae, standing over them in pride, shaking her fists into the air. 

…………………………………………….

”Truly marvelous! The winner is Sallie Mae! Congratulations!” Stella announced loudly, speaking into the microphone, holding the #1 winner belt in her other clawed hand as the crown cheered. Sallie walks onto the stage and receives the belt with a huge grin on her face, relived and happy to have won. As she waved her hand to the cheering crowd, who were all praising her and calling her name, she struck a glance of her parents in the crowd, who both had their eyebrows furrowed, yet they nodded in approval, making Sallie sigh in relief.

Meanwhile, on the wooden bleachers, the injured Striker joined his son and Verosika who gave him a soda can to hydrate. The cowboy imp was a bit disappointed by the fact he came #2 place with Blitz by his side, as the judge couldn’t choose whether to give Striker or Blitz the second prize.

Vortex patted his father back in an attempt to comfort him. “Hey, don’t be so sour, pops. You ended on second place. I think that’s admirable.”

Striker only grumbled, but didn’t refuse his son's affection.  Ye, but I have to share with that rodeo clown,” he gestured to Blitz down with the crowd, where he was busy stuffing his face with grilled cheese on a stick and hot sauce with a cartoonish face.

Vortex shrugged simply, “Eh, he doesn’t seem all that bad. He’s weird, sure, and he makes MANY inappropriate sex jokes, but he doesn’t seem to have bad intentions.”

“Nah, I don’t trust him,” Striker glared down at Blitz in disgust.

“Look, i understand; You’re uncomfortable since he makes many sexual remarks around you, which is really questionable, but i can maybe talk to him about this, and maybe he’ll stop.” Verosika stated, sticking a lollipop into her mouth as she crossed her legs, to which Striker snapped back, his voice a bit more serious.

“No! You have to believe me! I’ve met demons like this jackass, and they ALWAYS have something hidden…..” He tapped his chin, grumbling to himself, while his son and Verosika stared at each other, shrugging at their boss’s sudden suspicion of this specific guy.

“Well, while you do you, i’m going to go around and explore more around Wrath, if that’s ok with you, of course.” Vortex broke the silence, looking at Striker with a somewhat pleading look in his red eyes.

Striker immediately took his attention from Blitz and onto his son, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought over what Vortex had just asked permission for.

Eventually, Striker sighed, cracking a small smile on his lips while looking at his son. “.....Yeah, sure…. Just promise to come back before sunset…”

“I promise, thanks, pops!”

“See ya.”

Chapter Text

The strong afternoon hell-sun rays shone mercilessly on Sallie Mare’s farm where her family was preparing for the big highlight of the Harvest Moon Festival, where Princess Stella would curse this years harvest with her crystal in front of Wraths citizens. 

Still very tired from the pain games earlier, Sallie Mae decided to take a stroll around the farm by herself for some me-time, alone wit her own thoughts. As she walked mindlessly with her yellow eyes fixated on the ground, she kicked a small rock out of the way as a dusty-sand wind blew beside her, making her wince as she almost got sand in her eyelid. As she intensely scratched her eye to ease the slight stinging pain, she thought back to what she’d achieved earlier today.

She was very relived to have won, she made her parents proud. She didn’t even want to imagine what they would have reacted if she’d even got second place.

Earlier today, right after she received her belt, she was on her way back to the house to take a shower, only for her parents to drag Sallie around and show her off to their friends and such, with some of them congratulating her through fake grins while the others just scoffed bitterly. Sallie Mae’s parents kept doing this until they eventually let her go to the house, feeling more exhausted than before.

Sallie Mae is the family’s golden child, the flawless fighter, the perfect kid. Everyone expects nothing more than perfection out of her in whatever hobby or job she takes on. Sallie Mae knew her parents loved both her and her siblings, it’s just that they can have very high.. expectations and they tend to intentionally or not, pay more attention to Sallie since she’s the most “successful one” amongst her siblings. And unfortunately that has caused her siblings to drift away from her, well exept Millie ofcourse, curse her.

“Hiya sis!”

Speaking of-

“Hi Mills…” Sallie greeted her little sister who sat on one of the horse fences, waving and smiling with the gap between her front teeth flashing. 

Ever since childhood, Millie loved to rest under the toasty afternoon hell-sun on one of the many fences, sometimes Sallie Mae would join her if their parents didn’t make Sallie Mae do most of the farm work. 

Sallie Mae cracked a small smile at one of the many memories she shared with her younger siblings as she sat down beside Millie, who were practically bouncing in her seat with sparkles in her eyes. “Congratulations on winning the game! You were amazing!” 

“Thanks…” Sallie Mae replied back to her sister with a weak smile before she sighed again and looked up at the orange sky with tired eyes.

Millie’s eyebrows knitted.“Something’s wrong?”

“Nah, i just….” Sallie Mae shook her head merely as she hugged herself, refusing to make eye contact with Millie.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Millie asked Sallie Mae, as she placed her gloved hand on her shoulder in order to comfort.

Sallie Mae nodded again. “How come that you’re still so nice to me?”

Millie tilted her head, confused, which only made Sallie slightly snap at her“Oh, don’t act oblivious, you know what i’m talking about!” She stated through a weary voice. “I mean, just look at Billie and Willie; They barely wanna talk to me anymore, and Phillie, he’s still a child who has to deal with his parents constant favoritism and will grow up to be just as competitive and messed up as us…..” Sallie felt tears prick her eyes but held them in to not show weakness ”He’ll be just like me….Always having to please the people in his life just to feel good enough and grow up to be a spineless coward who can’t even defend his wife from his parents who’s constantly putting her down….!”

Sallie shook her head as she clutched her hands to her chest, “Our parents also favours me over you, b-but you’re still nice with me like you’ve always been…why…?” Her voice cracked as she spoke.

A bit taken back by her sister's outburst, Millie processed the situation for a brief moment before she spoke up with a weak but genuine smile.“It doesn't bother me that you’re their favorite. I stopped caring about pleasing them a long time ago.” Sallie looked up from the ground, locking eyes with her little sister, as Millie continued. “Besides, I'm never going to let some dumb favoritism get in between us. Sisters come first!”

“I wish I was as brave as you…” Sallie merely responded, feeling the knot in her stomach tightening.

Chapter Text

Later that afternoon, Sallie’s family was all getting ready for the highlight of the Harvest Moon festival. When Princess Stella would curse this year's harvest, that would occur in less than an hour and everyone in Wrath was eager.  Sallie Mae’s Family were now all beaming as they loaded the truck with jack-o-lanterns to take back to the festival. 

However, Sallie Mae herself was inside the house on the upper floor, looking at herself in the mirror, reflecting on herself and her decisions, thinking back to the conversation she had with Millie earlier. About being brave. Sure, Sallie Mae wasn’t scared of falling from high heights, fighting beasts or gun fights…..but she was scared of standing up to her peers, to actually voice her opinion and telling them that their treatment of everyone around them is not good.

Maybe, maybe she could be that brave….For Herself, and for……Verosika….

Shit, the bare thought of her beloved just made her think back of all the moments her parents had insulted the succubus for her lack of fighting skills and for her background while Sallie Mae made no attempt to stand up for her wife. She should be better, No! She’s going to be better! She’s actually going to grow a spine and-

That’s when Sallie suddenly noticed light shining through the bottom of a door and turned around, only to squint her eyes. The light, it was the door to Blitz’s room.

Mmh, very suspicious……

Despite her gut-feeling telling her to walk away and that it was none of her business, curiosity got the better of her. After some mentally debate, she slowly started to approach the door and creaked it open as she walked in, scanning the room intensely to find the source of the light until her eye fell onto a box on a coffee table in the middle of the room. She hesitated at first, but eventually walked up to the box the light was emitting from and to her utter shock she saw that it was a rifle with glowing angelic steel designs and the box was actually just a gun case.

”Unholy Satan…….!” She exclaimed with a whisper as she trailed her clawed hand over it.”A genuine carmine crafted blessing-tipped rifle! ”

Sallie smacked her forehead in complete disbelief, not taking her eyes off the angelic weapon in front of her. How could someone like Blitz afford to buy such an expensive and rare weapon? ”How could he even get his hands on one of these….?” She subconsciously muttered out, still in clear shock.

”Don’t ya cunt have enough brains to not sneak inside of people's rooms? It just makes you look like a perv and not in a sexy way.”

Upon hearing that familiar, cocky voice behind her, Sallie yelped in both fear and shock as she turned around, only to face Blitz in full glory, leaning against the door frame behind him with a lightened cigarette in his hand.

Sallie felt her heart drop at the situation she found herself in as she saw that Blitz's eyes were drawn in spite and frustration, but remained a calm and collected face as he took one last huff before he flicked it away into the hallway. 

After that, Sallie Mae shook her head and straightened her posture, puffing out her chest and steadying her shoulders, in order not to come off as scared in front of this asshole. ”W-well, why do you have this?! These weapons are in fact capable to kill-”

”Royal shit-bags?” Blitz filled in for her, raising his eyebrow as he placed his hands on his hips.

”Yes. That.” Sallie simply responded, breathing heavily through her nose as she felt sweat running down her forehead due to her rising anxiety in her chest, her heart pounded violently.

 ”Yeah well,That's kinda the point, toots” Blitz stated in a cocktail tone, suddenly sounding more frightening along with his demeanor becoming more intimidating. She cracked an evil grin as he ran his claws along the wooden door and closed it before advancing menacingly toward Sallie Mae with a grin getting wider.

”You-” Sallie started, her eyes widened in fear but before she could even finish that sentence Blitz suddenly grabbed Sallie by her throat with his tail, momentarily choking her before tossing her against the wall with a loud thud. Sallie hissed as she was slammed against the wall as a hiss escaped her gritted teeth but didn’t get a chance to process or recover from the fall when Blitz suddenly went to attack and wrestled with Sallie on the floor.

The both demons were hissing, clawing at each other, starting to fight like wild animals. At first, Sallie seemed to have the upper hand, and thought confidently that she’d easily beat Blitz, just like in the game earlier, until she saw in the corner of her eye that Blitz pulled out something from his belt…..

A flashing, angelic steel knife, carved with Carmila Carmine signature.

A gasp of horror and shock was suddenly ripped out of Sallie Mae’s throat, and before she knew it Blitz shoved the knife right into the back of her shoulder, digging it deeply into her skin and further to her flesh. The pain was absolutely unbearable, the knife burned more than lava, it hurt more than any injuries Sallie had gone through her entire life. And just as she attempted to scream for help or for mercy, Blitz slammed his other free hand over her hand while holding her down with his body weight.

Still feeling conscious, Sallie blurry glances over to see a lamp on a table, and without a second thought, frees one of her legs and kicks the table, causing it to fall down with the lamp crashing into Blitz, making him hiss at the momentarily pain and let go of Sallie.

Having the chance to flee, Sallie stand up on wobbly legs, feeling slightly lightheaded by the pain that was still throbbing in her back, but still raced towards the door and immediately pulled it open in desperation, only for Blitz to roughly pull her back by his tail, took out the knife again and shoved it again into her collarbone, while his other hand kept her in place, covering her mouth again, strangling her.

After  a few suffocating seconds of sitting in that position, Sallie’s struggles started to stop as she started to lose consciousness due to the lack of oxygen and the burning pain, her eyes closing as Blitz chuckled wickedly at the sight. ”And you’re supposed to be the strongest? Pathetic-”

Suddenly Blitz himself let out an ear-splitting scream of pain as he got stabbed in the back with a knife and then slammed the the for, the demon attacking him revealing themselves to be none other than Verosika who had heard the the lamp crashing from outside and now she was feral and utterly enraged at this jerk who dared to hurt her lovely wife. 

Sallie was now laying on the floor, now catching her breath and starting to regain her consciousness again but still very weak from the remaining pain,

Allwhile Verosika was now repeatedly stabbing Blitzo, punching him even in the face as her eyes were now blood red with pure burning rage as she screamed. The succubus suddenly leaped onto his back to hold the knife by his throat, but unfortunately Blitz took his shot and body slammed her to the wall, breaking her arm with a popping twist, making Verosika scream in pain as she was now bleeding as well and collapsed on the floor next to Sallie, clutching her injured arm as she whimpered from the impact.

Still weak, Sallie reached her hand towards her injured wife. ”Vee…..” She managed to mutter out before Blitz’s dark chuckles filled the room as he grabbed both the demon women by their hairs, dragged and tossed them into Sallie’s family’s cellar. And to make matters worse, when Verosika was tossed in, she found herself getting her leg caught in a bear trap, activating it and breaking her leg, making her scream in more pain.

 Sallie didn’t bat an eye as she went to check over Verosika’s injuries, only for Boutz’s voice to cut in as he stood by the entrance “Well this was fun, but I have a certain princess to shoot soon. Normally, I'd kill you, but you dirty skanks ain't worth the cleanup.” He chuckled loudly like a menace before he closed the cellar doors.

Sallie Mae assumed that Blitz must’ve locked the doors but she didn’t give a shit about that as she quickly released Verosika from the bear trap and tried to stop the bleeding by taking off her leather jacket and putting it on her injured leg, applying pressure to it.

Verosika however just placed a reassuring hand on Sallie Mae’s shoulder. “Sweetie, i’m okay” Verosika cracked a weak smile, still visibly in pain but kept a strong face as she gave her wife’s shoulder a loving squeeze  in order to comfort her.

Still recovering from getting choked, Sallie Mae gazed up, locking eyes with her wife, as Verosika spoke up in a brave tone.“Listen, I got worse than this in my teens when I performed on stage and twisted both my ankles just to make that jump-” She stopped mid sentence, pausing for a brief moment before she just shrugged it off as she changed the conversation back to their current situation. 

”Uh, Forget about me for now, cause right now I want you to collect all your strength, grab the sharpest, nearest weapon you can find, get up there and crush that red-headed cum-waste.” 

”But you saw how he was!” Sallie interrupted , her facial expression filled with worry as she continued to attend to her lover's wounds, which were just beginning to dry out and crystallize, much to both’s relief.

 ”I-if you hadn’t come to the rescue, who knows if I'd even be alive right now…” Sallie started to ramble, sounding panic. ”And if I can't, what if I fail and can’t catch him-, I’ll fail you! I’ll-”

”Honey!” Verosika exclaimed, snapping Sallie out of her rant.

Sallie slightly flinched and lowered her head down in shame, staring down at Verosika’s hand that she held onto.  Seeing this, Verosika sighed, calming herself down as she leaned her forehead against Sallie’s. ”Sallie, I’m sorry for snapping, but please listen to me now, You need to get Striker to help out, you two gang up on him. And even if you only rescue the princess, and don't catch Blitz, that’s enough for me.”

At that moment, Sallie stared into her beloved wife’s eyes who were filled with so much love and admiration. And she let Verosika get treated so badly by her parents, not doing anything to defend her…

”I don’t deserve you….” Her voice cracked as she looked down to her lap. ”I’m sorry…..”

”What?” Verosika said, tilting her head.

”I’m sorry for everything, that I’m such a fearful coward all the time, for all the times when my parents are around. I know I'm such a pussy for not defending you against them…” Sallie wepted. ”I’m sorry that it took me this long to realise that now….”

There was a moment of silence between the couple, with Verosika being the first to break it ”Is it because you want to protect your image as their perfect daughter?” She asked with a soft tone.

Sallie Mae hesitated for a few tense seconds before she muttered out, ”Yes…and I'm sorry for everything…”

Verosika’s response to this was to simply cupping Sallie Mae’s face with her hand and placing a loving kiss on her forehead. ”It’s ok, I get it. It’s your family but I’m glad you comprehended it. Although I’ve also not been brave enough to speak my mind towards them because they’re my in-laws, sorry..”

Sallie simply gave her wife a cheek kiss back, making Verosika smile. ” I guess we both need to learn to be more brave. But just now, remember that you’ll always be good enough for me, your parents may just see you as a medal they can show off to their friends but you’ll always be good enough for me, Striker and Vortex. I know you’re hurting and striving to be perfect but You. Are. Enough.”

”You too, sweetie..” Sallie mumbled back, the couple once again locking eyes with each other, sharing a loving stare before they embraced each other affectionately and planting small, soft kisses on one another's faces, until Verosika cut in, remembering their situation again.

”Now get out there and show him what you’re capable of! I’ll stay here until it’s over, I’ll be ok, promise.” Verosika encouraged her wife with reassurement drawn over her eyes.

And so Sallie Mae ran up the wooden stairs, using all the strength in her muscles and broke the cellar doors into small pieces before dashing out to save the day.

Chapter Text

It was time now, every demon at the festival was now standing in silence, all surrounding the small stage that Princess Stella and Octavia were on. All the Wrath citizens were all equally eager to witness the highlight of the yearly Harvest Moon Festival.

Finally, Princess Stella stepped forward, the microphone in her one claw and in the other her precious crystal. As she now stood at the edge of the stage she raised her arms up in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Dear Wrath citizens!”  She exclaimed with a wide smile as her eyes started to glow from using her demonic powers. ”I, Princess Stella of the Ars Goetia, hereby curse this year's harvest with the glow of the true Harvest Moon!”  With that she raised her claw with the crystal up towards the red sky, the crystal emitting a glowing beam of magic towards the clouds, causing them to swirl as Stella creates a portal. The portal reveals a glowing orange full moon in the sky, the sight making the crowd gawk in wonder, stars of wonder in their eyes.

Stella looked visibly pleased over the display, feeling proud of herself that she managed to complete this task and making so many demons impressed. Normally, she was never asked to do anything important for the Goetia Family as her purpose had already been served long ago when she gifted Stolas an heir. At the same time, the Demon Princess was completely unaware of what danger that lured right in front of her eyes.

In the cover of a dirty motel just in front of where the Harvest Moon Festival was taking place, Blitz was sitting by an open window with the angelic rifle in his claws, chuckling darkly and aiming to shoot at Stella’s head.

……Until a gun click was heard behind him. 

Startled by the sudden noise, Blitz swiftly turned around to face none other than Striker who himself aimed his flintlock pistol at Blitz.

”Don’t even think about it.” Striker hissed as he put his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot if Blitz even tried anything funny.

 ”Strikey, buddy,” Blitz exclaimed, shrugging off the tense situation with his signature mocking tone. ”I thought yo ass was still at the ceremony!” He stood up, leaving the angelic steel rifle at the window confidently.

”I can sense angelic steel from miles, rodeo clown.” Striker said in the same bitter tone, not breaking eye-contact with Blitz. ”Ye, I knew there was somethin’ fishy with you since we met.”

”Aw, don’t get your dick in a twist, cowboy!” Blitz put his hand under his chin, wiggling his eyebrows seductively.

”Shut the fuck up!” Striker snapped, yelling in pure annoyance. ”Why is it always a sex-thing with you?! You’re so gross!”

”Aw, stop it, I get that comment all the time,” Blitz flicked his tongue while putting his hands on his hips. ”My daddy said it all the time when I was little…..”

Striker shook his head, getting back to the current subject, ”Look, i ain’t gonna let some horny-ass gremlin off my company’s source screw”

Blitz only response to that was to scoff cockingly, his eyes glowing wickedly,”Heh, Striker, listen here buddy” and Blitz started to approach Striker menancly, with a more demonic demeanour ”You know, the two of us are better fuckers than most of our kind. And yet here you are, putting your dick in a feathery blue-blooded cunt, only to work for assholes to sinners who could care less who yer are, when you can hunt down bigger targets.” As Blitz walks around Striker, the cowboy hybrid imp eyes moves frantically as he’s seemingly conflicted by the situation, though still not lowering his guard as he aims his gun at Blitz as he moves in the shadows.

Blitz just grinned at the sight in front of him as he continued to speak. ”Why waste your life on this misery when I’m interested in you joining me?” Suddenly Blitz appears right in front of a dizzy Striker and pins him against the wall, both for dramatic effect and because he’s a freaky weirdo. ”You wanna keep working for snobs or do you wanna shake things up”

”Starting with the one that leashes you like her pet?” Blitz grins in lust, licking his lips, whispering darkly at his own suggestion. ”Kinda hot sounding, huh? We could be the most dangerous badass duo in Hell, Striker”

Striker's shoulders tensed down, looking down with knitted eyebrows as he mentally debated, unaware that Blitz took this opportunity to move Striker's flintlock away.

”So wadda ya say, cowboy?” Blitz asked, his eyes glinting with deviousness.

After a few moments, Strier grinned back, looking up with determance.”I can forgive the sex-jokes, I'm in..”

Hearing that answer, Blitz shit-eating grin grew wider momentarily, before another click was heard, snapping his head at that to see that Sallie Mae appeared right behind him and Striker, holding the angelic steel rifle that she took from the window when Blitz was occupied, and now aimed it towards Blitz threateningly.”Gotcha”

”Finally, took ya long enough!” Striker laughed, immediately dropping the act and pointing a finger at Blitz mockingly, ”Got ya right there, I would never side with someone whose vocabulary is just swears and sex-jokes!” 

But right at that, Striker looked down to see that Blitz had reached his angelic steel knife in his other hand from behind, aiming it towards Striker.

”No!” Sallie Mae instinctively exclaimed, feeling concerned over her friend as she ran to save him, only for Blitz to shoot Strikers flintlocks at Sallie Mae, but luckily in the last second, she managed to to prevent the bullet with the rifle side.

”Oh no, you didn’t!” Striker screamed at what he had just witnessed as he punched Blitz straight in the face, hard. And so another fight begins with Blitz falling backwards, hitting the bed he got black nose blood from the hard punch, but recovered quickly before attacking both Striker and Sallie Mae. Blitz leapt onto Striker, straight up lifted him up from the ground and slammed him into Sallie Mae, making them both fall harshly to the ground with a loud thud, and unfortunately Sallie Mae dropped the Angelic Steel rifle and it slides under the bed, much to her dismay. 

Just as Sallie Mae noticed that the weapon was out of her grip she tried to search it as Striker recovered from the fall immediately and jumped onto Blitz and now the two were violently wrestling on the floor, clawing, biting and shoving. Suddenly, Blitz reached for his angelic steel knife again, took a harsh grip onto Striker's arm, twisted it around Striker's back and slammed him to the wall with chest first, pinning him roughly to it so Striker couldn’t escape, holding the knife’s blade to the back of Strikers neck.

After some frantic searching and scattering, Sallie Mae finally found the rifle under the bed, relieved as she clicked it, ready to shoot.

”Y’know? It's a damn shame, Cowboy.” Blitz whispered into Striker’s ear, making the cowboy imp shiver,”We might actually have made a good team...maybe fuck-buddies at best..”

”In your gross dreams, pervert!” Striker yelled back, struggling under Blitz’s grip at the angelic steel blade against his throat. 

With that, Striker swings his foot under Blitz, making him trip. Seeing this opportunity, he kicked Blitz again, causing him to fall backwards and dropping his knife.

Finally free, Striker races toward Blitz and knocks his head with his fist, knocking him to the floor before pushing him towards the wall harshly. Blitz groaned at the pain as held onto his injured side, trying to get up but needed some time to still recover as Striker approached Blitz with tightened fists.

Still, Blitz chuckled with a mocking tone.”I still think it's embarrassing, cowboy. You're wasting yer life relying on demons like-”

*SHOT*

Before Blitz could even finish that sentence, a shot was heard and then a pin-drop silence settled in the dimmed motel room. Blitz breathed heavily as he reached his hand up to his horns, only to gasp in horror as he realized that the tip of his right horn was shot off. And then in the corner of his eye he saw that the responsible for his injury was none other than Sallie Mae, standing at the other end of the room, still aiming the rifle at a now terrified Blitz

”You gonna finish that fucking sentence... Blitzy?” Sallie asked with venom dripping in her voice.”If you hadn’t moved yer head then I wouldn't have missed-”

Right then, Blitz sneaked his tail, reached out for the angelic steel blade on the floor and without hesitation stabbed it into Striker’s side, making the hybrid imp screech in pain as he fell to the ground, making Sallie Mae immediately rush to Striker and check up on him. Using this distraction, Blitz narrowed his eyes and rushed towards the open window.

”I’ll get you next time!” Blitz laughed out loud, sharing one last glance of the duo who just realized what he was about to do, before Blitz straight up jumped, escaping through the window.

Sallie Mae and Striker immediately dashed to the window with the guns in their hands, aiming them to shoot Blitz, but to their utter dismay, he was nowhere in sight.

”Fuck!” Sallie simply cursed in frustration as she smacked the angelic gun in her hands.

The two were silent for a few moments, until they both heard Striker's phone ringing, which the cowboy imp immediately picked up and held it close to his non-existent ear. ”Hello?”

”Pops! Are you ok?!” Vortex voice was heard from the device, making Striker sigh, pinching the bridge of Nia’s snout.

”Ey, don’t worry son, everything is alright now.”

”Excuse me?! I found Vee injured in the cellar, and she explained everything! Why didn’t you let me help out?”

”Son,” Striker sighed once again, scratching the back of his neck nervously.”Blitz had angelic steel! Angelic steel! This is serious weaponry, you could’ve gotten hurt! You’re simply not mature enough to handle this kind of situation.”

”I'm a grown man who works out 24/7.”

”That’s not an excuse!”

”It’s not an excuse! It’s just a fact!”

Sallie Mae sighed at the father-son bickering, but yet didn’t forget that Blitz, feeling a knot form in her stomach, worrying that he’d probably come back.

Chapter Text

Soon after the incident and the festival was officially over, the gang explained everything that had happened to Sallie Mae’s family. Some of them tried to search for Blitz because he was nowhere to be found, as if he had just gone up in smoke. Verosika  on the other hand would fortunately be okay eventually, but it would take around 6 weeks for both her arm and leg to heal completely.

The next day, The assassin gang was packing up to take their leave this noon. Striker and Vortex were loading up the company truck while Verosika, Sallie Mae and her parents were sitting on the house porch. Verosika sat on the porch with bandages around her injured arm, leg and a pair of crutches lying next to her. 

After hearing the story of the events yesterday, Sallie Mae’s parents were unfortunately far from pleased.

”So stupid!” Lin yelled with her hands on her hips.

Verosika immediately had her head hanging down in shame, biting her lower lip.

”You let him just trap you like that? Do you really don’t know how to fight at all?” Lin continued to scold the succubus.

Tightened her fists in frustration, Verosika growled at the harsh words. Just hearing their ungrateful and pissy attitudes, it was like something inside her snap and she raised her head up and glared daggers at her parents in-law. She was no longer going to be their punching bag.

”Hey! I had just a knife at the time and he was attacking your daughter!” Verosika suddenly spoke up, her voice dripping with anger.”I had to act quickly!” She slammed her other fists to the wooden porch, only momentarily startling both Lin and Joe.

”Excuses! Excuses!” Joe regained himself before scolding back at the succubus, pointing accusingly at her like she was a bug.

Lin nodded. ”That’s all you useless demons from lust ever do when you screw up!”

”Shut up, Ma!”

At that, all three went silent, stunned for a few seconds before snapping their heads to the source of the voice, all locking eyes with a clear visibly angry Sallie Mae with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes drawn with pure, burning fury.

Verosika subconsciously cracked a small smile, while Sallie Mae’s parents looked completely stunned by their daughter standing up to them, until they snapped out of their trance and Joe took a step forward. ”Sallie Mae, you can’t-”

”And you too Pa! SHE protected me from Blitz!” Sallie interrupted Joe, taking a few steps forward, deciding to not back down this time. ”Injured herself for the sake of my life and stood out being in pain for almost half an hour just so we could stop Blitz!” She gestured her hand to her loving wife who was seemingly proud of Sallie Mae’s new-found courage.

Joe tried to speak up.”Pumpkin, I get that that Blitz fucker used dirty tricks to win against you, but she-”

”Yeah, yeah, I don’t care,” Sallie shouted once again. ”I’ve just had it with how you treat my wife with such unnecessary disrespect. Sure, she may not be from Lust instead of Wrath. Maybe she is better at seduction than brute force, but she works just as hard as I do, maybe even harder.”

”She might have met your supposed standards of being a rough and tough bastard but she’s great enough for me!” Sallie raised her voice, making her parents shiver, taken back by this. ”She’s actually the baddest, most clever bitch I've ever been cursed to meet, fall in love and marry, and I’ll NOT tolerate you talking to her like that!”

”Sallie-” Lin tried to say something in the matter but it didn’t reach her daughter.

”No, I’m serious.” Sallie said, her anger grew by each second.”It’s clear that you guys haven’t changed at all, whether you treat me, my siblings or my coworkers.” Her eyes widened at her words, as if she had just realized something and she glanced up to look at first Verosika then over her shoulder to Vortex and Striker before she took a deep breath, looking dead serious. ”And if you can’t respect my choices in life and who I choose to marry…” she paused for a brief moment before continuing,”I think it’s best if I keep my distance from you for a while….”

Verosika’s eyes widened.”Hunny, you-”

”No, sweetie.” Sallie said gently but with a firm tone.”It’s my choice, and I think it’s for the best.” With that, Sallie Mae helped Verosika with her crutches and then led her to the van ”Let’s go home guys.” She merely said, not even bothering to bid farewell to her parents.

And so both Sallie Mae and her wife settled into the back of the van, leaning onto each other, both equally exhausted from yesterday's events. Vortex sat in the front seat, holding the steering wheel, glancing over his shoulder at the sweet couple behind him and gave them both a small smile before he turned on the van and so they drove away, while Striker was already riding on his beloved bombproof.

It didn’t take long before Sallie Mae and Verosika soon fell asleep, holding onto each other, smothering into one another’s warmth, feeling safe and loved.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

When the assassin gang arrived home in IMP city and settled into their apartments, Striker immediately picked up his phone to inform Stella about the incident yesterday.

After some time, she finally answered.

“Striker dear, what is it?” Stella’s voice was heard, asking immediately as she answered Striker's call,

“This is urgent.” Striker said, before blurting out the incident right away without a second thought,“Someone was paid to kill you yesterday at the festival.”

There was a long moment of silence over the phone before the princess blurted out, panicked. “What?! W-who….?”

“Someone by the name of Blitz, didn’t manage to get a photo but he set up to shoot you with an angelic gun when you stood on stage.” Striker responded as he scratched the back of his neck , while looking outside his apartment window.

“And you stopped him?”Stella asked, sounding hopeful?

“Ofcourse” Striker merely answered.

There was another silence before Stella spoke up again,“Thank you dear, I know that you probably only did it due to our deal but I'm still highly grateful nonetheless.”

“…..Yer welcome” Striker responded, feeling surprisingly good over hearing her delighted,

“Well, once again thank you and farewell Striker”

”See ya, ma’am.”

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Later that evening, in the cold halls of prince Stolas' private chambers, the demon prince himself was sitting by his working desk, his grip on his stress toy tightened, almost digging his claws into it while in his other hand held his phone.

A frown was forming on his face, taking a deep breath to remain calm before he responded in a cold, bitter tone. “You’ve failed me, imp” Stolas simply came straight to the point, clearly disappointed.

“Yeah, well failed to kill yer little cunt” Blitz over the phone was heard, sounding not nearly half as bothered over the situation as the demon prince.

Stolas threw his stress toy to the side and slammed his fist on the working desk surface, small cracks forming under the impact, trying his best to contain himself as he seethed in pure anger. ”You’re VERY lucky that she didn't find out that I arranged for you to do the task…!”

“Ugh,” Blitz merely groaned ”Look princey, it wasn’t even my fault I couldn't do this, it was that brown-noisy cowboy Striker and his gang of amature assassins.”

“Striker……?!” Stolas gasped in almost an inaudible whisper as his red eyes widened upon hearing that name. He remembers that’s the name his bitch of a wife called her little slut imp,

“That's what he’s called, You can unclench your bird-puss, Stolas, it's not going to happen again.” Blitz simply explained, too tired to deal with this.

“I’ll let this slide THIS time, NEXT time you’ll NOT screw this up or I’ll tear you to pieces” Stolas warned the assassin over the phone as he drummed his clawed hand on the table impatiently.

“Fine, whatever”

After Blitz had hung up the phone, he slunk onto a dirty bed while taking out yet another angelic steel knife from his bag as both it and his broken horn flashed it in the dimmed sunlight. Grinning mischievously, he chuckled as he started to fantasize his revenge. His yellow eyes glowed as he licked his lips… ”I’ll get them next time….”

Chapter Text

“Mama! Papa!” The frightened voice of young Octavia echoed through the halls of Stolas and Stella’s mansion, in the middle of the night. Octavia’s loud cries of pleas immediately made Stella regain her consciousness, from her beauty sleep as she roused half-asleep before she tiredly opened her weary eyes, yawning as she sat up on the bed, her feathers all ruffled up from tossing in her sleep. She turned to Stolas on her side who had most of the blanket and one of his books lying on his chest. 

”Via is calling us, Stolas…” Stella sluggishly whispered as she put her hand on Stolas shoulder, shaking her husband awake lightly, making him groan.

”Ugh, you take care of her.” Stolas whispered, clearly annoyed as he pulled the covers over himself. "I don't have the energy to deal with her right now…..”

”Ok..” Stella simply responded, letting Stolas fall asleep again as she sighed before getting out of bed. Feeling cold without the cozy covers, she made sure to put on her night shirt over her silky nightgown before she quickly hurried to her daughters room and gently opened the door in order not to startle her. As she entered the room, her eyes instantly spotted her beloved daughter hiding beneath her star-covered blankets, shivering, just as expected.

”Via darling?”Stella immediately asked gently. ”What troubles you, starlight?”

Upon hearing her mothers voice, Octavia peaked out of her blanket shield and started to sob violently as she saw Stella,”Mama!”

Closing the door, Stella kneeled down and opened her arms, gesturing to her daughter to come to her. ”Come here” 

Octavia immediately climbs down from her bed and dashed into her mother’s arms, wrapping her own little arms around her mothers neck and nuzzling into her collarbone, the tears just keep running down her face. With a huff, Stella hoisted her daughter up while placing a soft kiss on Octavia’s forehead, hugging her closer in order to comfort her.

”What happened, sweetheart?” Stella asked as she sat herself on Octavia’s bed, still holding her daughter.

”I had a d-dream…! A mean-mean dream!” Octavia finally explained through her sobs and hiccups, her little hands gripping tightly onto her mother’s nightgown.

”Aha, What was it about then?” Stella asked as she cupped her daughter's cheeks, wiping her tears with her thumbs.

”I was looking all over the palace, and... I couldn't find you anywhere!” Octavia cried, her voice weak as she held onto her mother tightly.” You weren't there, mama!”

”It’s ok starlight. I’m here” Nodding at her daughter's panicked words of distress, Stella softly hushed her daughter to calm her down, rubbing her back. ”It’s ok, you’re ok, Via”

After a few moments of silence, Octavia seemed to finally calm down as her cries quieted down and her grip on Stella’s nightgown loosened. ”I-i’m just scared you’ll disappear and I won't be able to find you…..”

”Don’t be silly, I'll never disappear.” Stella assured her daughter

Octavia sniffled as she raised her head up so their eyes could meet.“Pinky promise…?” She stuttered as she raised her pinky finger expectedly.

Stella smiled warmly.“Pinky promise.” And she returned the pinky-finger shake with her beloved daughter before she stroked her head in an attempt to provide solace.”Listen; When you're scared, and you don't know where I am, you must remember that no matter what happens to me, I will never be far away from my precious little starlight”

And so, Stella started to bounce and lightly rock Octavia as she sang a soothing lullaby, a lullaby that she’s been singing ever since the early stage of her childhood, when her brother Andralpus would sing it for her before she’d go to sleep. It wasn’t commonly known among the royals, but Stella was gifted to be born with an enchanting, mesmerizing voice that was compared to a siren. Her voice was able to calm anyone down. 

Meanwhile as she sang, Octavia looked up at her mother with such admiration, stars practically shimmering in her big, pink eyes, the tears had dried out and she seemed to have momentarily forgotten the nightmare as she was now secured in her mothers arms. Soon it didn’t take long before Octavia’s eyelids started to feel heavy as she yawned softly and leaned contentedly against Stella’s fluffy chest.

And so, feeling safe and comforted next to her mother, Octavia quickly fell asleep, and Stella, taking notice of this, gently put her daughter's sleeping form on the bed again, draping her in her stared cover”♫ ... .You will be okay... ♫” Stella finished off the lullaby with a low whisper, kissing her daughter's forehead before leaving the room with a joyful smile as her young daughter settled to sleep.

12 years later:

Upon hearing the crashing sounds of plates and the ear-splitting screaming of her parents coming from the kitchen, teenage Octavia without further ado jolted awake, groaning as she sat up, noticeably annoyed and frustrated. She rolled her eyes in disturbance with a long groan.

”Unbelievable woman! You slept with an imp!! And this time in our fucking bed!”

Octavia sighed heavily as she grabbed her phone and put in her earbuds.

”Do you even have any proof?”

She put on her playlist with her head hanging, forcing herself out of bed.

”There's imp skin deposits on our pillows!”

She lazily put on her baggy inside clothes and her favorite beanie.

”To my defense; He DID clean up the sheets afterwards”

Before she left her room, her phone played a rock song, nodding her head at the beat. With the music, she blocked out everything else around her, muting out the violent screaming of her parents echoing through the castle halls, as she strides down to the kitchen, her eyes drawn with frustration.

”Is that even a way to excuse your actions!?”

Once she entered the kitchen, she was at once met by her mother and father arguing, but she decided to just ignore it as she went to grab breakfast.

”And then what?! ARE you gonna fuck this one, too?!” Stolas yelled as he grabbed onto the imp servant Pringles, squeezing him in his iron claws before brutally tossing him, aiming him at Stella’s direction. Fortunately, Stella managed to think fast and caught the poor guy, checking if he was hurt, apologizing for her husband's behalf, setting him safely back to the floor, before turning to Stolas again. 

”No! And stop throwing the staff around! They aren’t objects, you know!”

”You slutty, irresponsible, incompetent waste of blue-blood!” Stolas screamed in blind anger, his red eyes glowing demonically, taking a step forward with tightened fists.”Do you even realise at this rate how much shame you brought upon my family name!?”

”Well, the rest of your family isn’t aware of this” Stella tried to defeated herself, which only infuriated Stolas even more, his demonic features becoming more and more

”I’m out of here!” With that Stolas stormed out of the kitchen and supposingly to his office, stomping as he did so, not saying furthermore but his rage was so obvious that you could sense it in the air. 

Stella sighed in exasperation and exhaustion over her recent argument with her husband before she noticed Octavia’s presence in the kitchen as the young owlette settled herself by the dining table with her coffee mug and bowl of cereal. 

”W-well good morning Via” Stella greeted her daughter, doing a 180 with her mood, trying to lighten up the mood.”Did you have a nice rest?”

”Was that a serious question?” Octavia asked with bitterness laced in her tone, raising her mug up to her beak to take a long sip, clearly frustrated over the rude awakening.

Knitting her eyebrows together. Still, she gestured to her earbuds and asked in a hopeful tone, ”What's that you're listening to?”

Octavia simply sighed, not taking her eyes off her meal.”This song is called ’My World is Burning Down Around Me’ . It's by ´Fuck You Mom´”.

Eyes widening at the response, Stella looks down, thinking the name of the band his daughter mentioned is a hurtful remark.

But Octavia quickly added. ”It's a band.”

”Ah, very……unique” Stella regained herself, very bemused as she slowly gave her two thumbs up.

”So, you two done screaming for the day? ” Octavia merely asked as she chewed her now-soggy cereal

”Via..”Stella began but paused as she began to think while she felt a severe guilt eating her up inside as she saw how irritated her daughter seemed to be with her and realized just now how impactful her recent daily fights with Stolas was to her daughter. Suddenly, her eyes widened, a small smile appeared on her face as she walked up to Octavia.”What do you say we both go and talk about…..this somewhere else?” She asked with brittleness.

Octavia raised an eyebrow at her mother, knowing what she meant, but hesitant to agree on this.. ”Like where…..?”

”Anywhere you want, ok?” Stella asked as she patted her daughters back delicately.

”Ok…” Octavia finally answered. ”Then, can we go to the mall that has Stylish Occult? They sell weird taxidermy there.”

Hearing that, Stella’s face expression softened.”That mall we’ve always gone to since you were small? Ok, sweetie” 

“But why?” Octavia asked as she proceeded to get up.

“I just- I think it’s better if we discuss this subject in a more collected area. To talk at a location that we two used to go to when you were a child.” Stella admitted to her daughter who simply groaned quietly as she pulled her beanie over her eyes while following her mother out of the kitchen for a day out.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Meanwhile inside D.E.M.O.N.S. headquarters, Sallie Mae, Verosika and Vortex all sat around the office meeting table, all watching different channels on a small old-fashioned TV, Sallie Mae having charge of the remote control, borderly switching channels every three seconds.  Vortex sat firmly in his seat, with his chin leaning in his paws, clearly bored of this but had nothing better to do.

Eventually, after doing this for almost half an hour, Verosika’s eye twitched in annoyance, and snapped lightly, smacking herself. ”For Satan sake, just choose a channel! This is driving me nuts!” She grabbed her silky hair, ruffling it.

And so Sallie Mae did obeyed the command, immediately stopping at a channel with the camera zooming into what appears to be Heavens golden gates with the opening, revealing Heaven as a deer Cherub flies in front of the camera with a pitcher-perfect smile, her neon-purple eyes shimmering,

”Well hello there guys!” She greeted in an annoying voice with the tone of a mocking nursery teacher ”I’m Deerie and welcome to Heaven! I know you did some good deeds to get up here, and good people deserve to give loved ones special blessings!”

And so the Cherub began to sing the terrible C.H.E.R.U.B. Jingle, making everyone in the room cringe at the lyrics and melody.

”No! Forget what I just said! Anything but that! Turn it off, please!” Verosika yelped in horror over what she was witnessing on the TV screen.

”Wait a minute, how does Heaven commercials even air down here in Hell?” Vortex cut in, questioned while scratching his head in confusion.

But his voice wasn’t heard with Verosika’s shouting. ”Just turn it off!” She desperately pleaded, covering her eyes like a little kid.

And Sallie Mae tried, really, pushing as hard as she could on the remote, even hitting it with her hand but alas, it didn’t work and she gasped and started to stutter, mortified, ”I-i can’t! I think the remote buttons are broken!”

”Do something!” Verosika screamed in utter dismay.

The deer cherub then posed in front of the camera, her demeanor disgustingly sweet as she was about to finish the jingle with the orange, shiny C.H.E.R.U.B. logo with a registered trademark symbol appears behind her. ”♫ So sit right back and let us bless a soul for you! Cause we are the C.H.E.R.U.B-!”

Suddenly, without any warning, the horrible, ear-splitting commercial was rapidly interrupted by a gunshot being heard and the TV screen was blasted with smoke coming out of it as it exploded, startling everyone in the office, making them freeze midway in shock. 

Vortex’s eyes were all wide as his claws were digging deep into the office meeting table, while Sallie Mae and Verosika were hugging each other tightly, Sallie Mae’s face smushed into the succubus chest while Verosika had her face nuzzled into her wife’s black hair. 

All three hellborns were equally stunned, but soon in sync, all three slowly turned their heads to the door entrance of Striker's office, only to see him standing there with his flintlock pistol, aiming it towards the TV before lifting it towards his face and blowing the smoke off the tip. Clearly he was responsible for the damage of the company TV. 

The tension in the room was thick and tense, no one dared to utter a single word until Striker broke the silence. ”I hate Heaven’s commercials.” He seethed bitterly as he attached his gun back to his belt.

Vortex simply nodded at that, a bit stiff and his fur raised from what just happened.

”Oh, just great, Striker!” Verosika suddenly cut in. ”Now we need a new TV!” She gestured to the now broken TV while eyeing Striker with rage, pissed that he ruined the office’s only source of entertainment.

”And a new remote.” Sallie Mae added while holding the now-damaged remote.

”Just do sudoku.” Striker merely suggested, sounding unbothered by the situation he caused.

Verosika just sneered at him, before her eyes widened and she smiled, as she just got an idea. ”Let’s go to the mall! They sell TV’s there. It’ll be a shopping spree!” She exclaimed with glee as she held her hands with Sallie Mae’s,giving her hands a gentle squeeze.

Sallie Mae returned the smile.”Oh yes! That’s a brilliant idea, hunny!”

With that, the couple then started to giggle and cackle in excitement, holding onto each other as they blushed affectionately, 

Only for a certain Striker to cut in, running the adorable moment between the two women as he got between them and pushed them apart. ”Now hold on, ladies!” He scolded them. ”We ain’t goin ' shoppin’, we’re already trying to save up money, end of story.” He crossed his arms, glaring daggers at them both.

”You’ve been saying that for months.” Sallie Mae reminded the cowboy imp. ”Besides, I think it’s necessary we buy a new TV and remote, along with other office furniture. With all the money we’ve saved up we can today buy everything we need to complete this office for the better.”

”Wadda mean? We have everything we need.” Striker simply replied.

”Striker.” Sallie Mae  said again, this time more sternly, the cowboy knowing exactly what point Sallie Mae was getting on. 

With that, Striker let out a defeated”Ok, we’ll close up for today and go to the mall. You guys are VERY lucky that ONLY TODAY practically all the mall’s stores have sale-”

Before there could be any further discussion, they were all rudely interrupted by a violent rumbling, which took everyone by surprise as they all freezed in place, feeling the entire building shake firefly.

"Hellquake!" Vortex exclaimed, slightly panicked but tried to remain calm.

”Hell don’t have hellquakes!” Verosika said, a bit startled.

”But how do you explain this?!” Sallie yelped.

Before anyone in the room could even process the situation or even say more, the wall suddenly started to crack, and then violently breaking a giant hole into the wall by what appears to be a metal escalator that proceeds to crash the office. Part of the wall crumbles all over the floor. As the dust settles and clears, a super villain-looking, mechanical sinner with piano keys for teeth and a rolling ball in place of his legs, rolling down the escalator with a wicked grin.

”Ha! Hello there!” He greeted loudly as everyone in the office stared at him in disbelief over what just happened.

”Uh dude, you could’ve used the door…?” Verosika was the first to break the awkward silence, raising a finger, still holding onto her wife protectively as Sallie Mae did the same.

”Please tell me we got that insurance thing.” Sallie Mae whispered frantically to Verosika as she was clearly more concerned over the damage of their office rather than the introduction of this show-off sinner.

”Who are you?” Striker finally asked, frowning as he squinted his yellow snake eyes, pointing to the sinner as he took a step forward.

”Ha! I’m the one and only Lyle Lipton.” The sinner bowed with a cackle. ”A dastardly inventor of technological advances!”

”Again, you could’ve just used the door, man. Walls aren’t cheap down here in Hell, y’know?” Verosika added, sounding irritated.

”Blesh, I am eccentric and must therefore do eccentric entrances!” Lyle Lipton responded, visibly unbothered by the property damage.

Suddenly, Striker’s nose caught something, following the smell, leading him to Lyle and sniffing him, making the cowboy imp flinch back in disgust. ”You reek of the living world. Let me guess, you just died?”

”Correct!” Lyle exclaimed. ”Hours ago if you want to be more specific and your commercial brought me here!”

”Again, the front door is right there!” Vortex said, growing frustrated at this sinner’s obnoxiousness as he was now beginning to growl.

”This is the man I'm gonna need you to kill!” Lyle Lipton approached Striker and held up an old photo of an old, skinny man, bald but had a long, stringy, grey mustache.

Ah, not even a full day in the burning, dark underworld and already seeking revenge! Respect, respect, my man!” Sallie Mae said with a mirth as she crossed her arms.

”Now, spill the tea, mister!” Verosika cuts in, suddenly curious as she tapes her chin.

”Yeah, what did he do to you?” Striker asked, putting his hands on his hips.

”Hello! What are we going to do with the damage to the wall?” Vortex asked but his questions were ignored as the sinner was now the center of attention.

”Well, if you’re that curious, he WAS my business partner.” He tightened his fists into the air in a dramatic manner as he began explaining his death cause,

”My partner Loopy Goopty and I ran Lyle-Loopty Robotics, a technological empire! Earlier today, we were testing a new machine intended to stop, or reverse, the aging process! It could've saved all three trillionaires. Unfortunately, we neglected to test the machine on the poor, like we usually do. We were too sure of our own genius! But the machine was accidentally set forward! By the time we managed to get out, it was too late! At least for me! Now, that wicked twink is going to take over the empire we built together!Without me to share it with, he'll make all the goddamn money in the world and become the fourth trillionaire and worse of all; get all the credit!”

”Eh, that's not really evil.” Striker commented, looking visibly confused.

”It's evil towards me!” Lyle Lipton insisted, putting his hand on his chest dramatically before scuffing towards the mixed group of hell-borns.”Now, get your asses up to earth and send that heartless, no-good wicked twink to Hell, where he belongs!”

”But you do know that if we do kill him, though, and he ends up down here... you will be stuck with him. Forever.” Vortex spoke up.

”Oh, trust me…” Lyle's grin grew more sinister as he suddenly pulled out plenty of giant tommy guns from behind, loading them with a metallic, rusty click.”I'm counting on it.”

”But what about the mall?” Verosika questioned, a bit louder this time, making everyone’s eyes land on her. 

With that, all the employees started to think hard and grumble, trying to find a solution to this kind of situation since Striker would only give into the idea of a shopping spree if it was on sale and usually clients like Lyle doesn't wait more than a day for their target to get killed and sent to Hell.

Taking notice of this, Vortex took a step forward, raising his paw. ”I could do the mission.”

Now it was his turn to have all eyes set on him as he merely shrugged. ”It would be my very first solo mission, and while I’m doing that you all can go to the mall.”

Lyle Lipton’s grin grew wider, immediately taking a liking to this offer as we quickly rolled over to the tall hellhound. ”That’s a brilliant idea, tall furry!”

”Vortex, sir.” Vortex corrected, furrowing his eyes at the sinner for calling him such a cringe-worthy name.

”Ok, Vortex furry.” Lyle responded, making Vortex groan as he smacked himself before turning to his father and his coworkers. ”So, what do you think?”

”I think it’s a good idea!” Sallie Mae commented.

”Agree, let’s do this!” Verosika nodded, smiling.

”Wait, wait, wait!” Striker cut in, waving his hands in front of him swiftly while looking at his son in disbelief, unsure of what he had just heard.. ”You? On a mission? Alone?”

”Yes,” Vortex said with a smile, his tone filled with confidence, ”I'll be fine and meanwhile you three can go to the mall and get everything we need.”

He knew that he and his crew didn't have much of an option, but he was still hesitant to let his own son do a mission, all alone on Earth. He started to scratch the back of  his neck, as skeptisk filled his facial expression. ”Well….” He tried to come up with an answer, only for Verosika, Sallie Mae and Lyle Lipton to literally scream in Striker’s face.

”Just let him do it!” 

”Fine!” Striker screamed defensively at the group, a bit startled before calming himself down.”Fine….” Taking a deep breath, he turned to Vortex who fiddled with his paws, patiently waiting for an answer.

”Very well then,” Striker finally gave in,still feeling unsure of this, severely concerned for his son’s safety..”…..and if you succeed in this mission you can go with us to earth more often.”

With that out of the way, Vortex smiled in gratefulness.”Thanks pops.”

Chapter Text

After some shuffling and taking a couple of phone calls, Stella and Octavia took their leave for La-La-Lust Mall, in the Lust ring. Stella arranged for one of their exlusive limos as transport with one of their most loyal drivers to take them there. She had also hired three, well-trained imps as their bodyguards to protect her and her daughter since they were going to a public location. Now normally, she’d gladly hire Striker but knowing that the reason for her daughter being this upset lately, she decided to not hire Striker, instead professional bodyguards with years of experience. 

Ever since Stella got informed about that attempted assassin trying to shoot her at the Harvest Moon Festival, she’s been more careful about going outside and at the same time was still very grateful to Striker for telling her this.

The car ride through the Hell elevators didn’t take too long, the whole car ride was just pretty awkward considering that Octavia just had her eyes on the phone the whole time with her headphones, blasting rock music into her non-existent ears.

Stella proceeded to put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, only for Octavia to shuffle away from Stella without saying a word. Stella got the hint and didn’t attempt furthermore to give physical contact to her daughter as guilt started to fester in her gut, feeling bad and stupid for causing this situation. She knew it was risky and now she’d been caught by her own husband and child. How can she even explain this to her daughter? Where would she even start? 

But maybe, just maybe, getting a break from the mansion would be a good start.

Soon enough, they all arrived at the mall and it was as big as Octavia remembered with its glowing posters and neon-popping colors plastered everywhere. 

When they all got out of the limo, Stella made sure to give the driver a generous tip, which made him smile in gratitude at the princess before driving away to find a good parking spot. 

When the two royals were at the entrance doors, the bodyguards immediately went to the posts, shielding the two Goetia princesses with their guns loaded, ready to shoot at any moment as their sunglasses flashed. They were all assigned to NOT  leave Stella or Octavia’s side for even a brief moment. 

Although Octavia was visibly embarrassed to have a battalion guarding them 24/7. She knew it was for safety reasons but she hated how it got her more attention to the public eye that she already gets every day as a royal.

Octavia groaned and tried to pull her beanie over her eyes to cover up her shame but Stella wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulder and gestured to the shopping mall in a very excited manner. 

Octavia just looked up to her mother and tilted her head to the side. “Are you really not anxious about being outside at all?”

“Just a bit,” Stella simply said before she shrugged all of it off and beamed lovingly at her daughter. “But none of that now, let's go to that store you talked about and maybe even get some ice cream if you’re in the mood.”

“Sure.” Octavia merely replied as the idea of hanging out with her mother was indeed compeling. So, she walked with her mother through the mall, unaware of just how tangled up the day was bound to become.

………………………………………..

As the assassin group of Imps entered La-La Lust Mall, Striker was quick to take charge of today's chores, as the boss.

"Ok, ladies." Striker exclaimed as he dragged them both to a corner to discuss with a paper list in his hand. “It's on sale in almost every store so we better hurry if we want to get the best yet cheapest things.” He ordered as he snapped his fingers at them. “I’ll get new furniture and you guys will buy a new TV and remote.”

“What?” Verosika said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.”Why can’t we get to choose furniture?” 

“Exactly, we all know that we have better taste in renovation than you.” Sallie Mae agreed while crossing her arms.

Striker simply scoffed, pinching the bridge of his snout in an attempt to calm himself down from the annoying nagging of his employees. “I’m not trusting you guys to buy good furniture after what happened last time.”

……………………………

The crew was walking through a furniture store, searching for a suitable desk and a few chairs to their new office department.

As Striker carefully observed the most cheapest chairs to buy, he noticed that Verosika and Sallie Mae were both eyeing a couple of diffrent desk with fancier designs. He immediately walked up to them, knowing that those fancy desk were probably far too expensive

“What are you two doing?” Striker asked them with his hands on his hips, his eyes filled with judgement.

“We’re just looking and imagining which desk we two would look good pinned against.” Sallie Mae merely responded, still not taking her gaze off the fancy desks.

“Mh.” Verosika nodded

Striker frowned in disgust over his stupid (horny) employer's statement.

…………………………

Sallie Mae and Verosika just scoffed at Striker's explanation.

“Here’s the plan. “ Striker snapped his fingers, catching their full attention again. “We’ll all split up and fetch what we need and then we’ll meet at the centre of the mall at exactly 15:00. Got it?”

“Sure boss.” Sallie Mae nodded.

“Can i atleast buy something cute while we're doing this?”

“No.” Strier lightly scolded her, “Now go.”