Sister's Keeper
“Damn, Sis!” Angel Dust exclaimed as he pushed open the front door of the hotel. “Ya shoulda asked Short King for the credit card soone’! Think of all the shoppin’ sprees we missed on for all these months!”
Stitches giggled and rolled her eyes playfully. “Yeah yeah, shut up. My arms are tired, so how about we split off here, put away our haul, and then meet up for dinner with the others?” She stumbled through the door, nearly losing her balance, when Shade appeared and caught her. It chittered at her in concern as it helped her rebalance herself, then smoothly stole all the bags, disappearing with them. She giggled, knowing that Shade was just taking them to her room for her, and she certainly wasn’t complaining!
“Aw, no fair!” Angel complained. “How come ya get the star treatment?”
Stitches smirked. “Well, duh! I’m royalty now, obviously.” She fanned herself with the credit card tauntingly. Angel laughed and shrugged, walking past her toward his room, waving with one of his extra limbs. She waved back and shut the main door. In all honesty, it still felt really weird, the whole privilege thing. But Shade was just being its little doting self, so that was fine, and at least she had been able to treat her brother to a fun day out. It was worth it just for that alone.
Stitches wandered to the bar. A few of the new guests were there, two strippers that Angel worked with and a tall guy that she vaguely remembered being a male model. She almost left and went to her room, because honestly? She didn’t trust anyone who worked with the Vees. The more distance she kept with them, the better. But, she also kinda was craving a mojito, and Husk always made them really well…
“Hey, Stitches, what will it be?” Husker asked as she walked up. He seemed happy to see her, which was nice. He could be a real grouchy guy, but he really was just a cuddly kitty underneath. She really wished he would date her brother, but she wasn’t going to push it. They would figure it out on their own. For now, she was content just watching them dance around each other.
“Mm, a mojito please,” she asked, locking his gaze. “Also, a teacup of olives, please.”
Husk nodded and winked, confirming that he was ready to speak in code. It was something they had been working on since she woke up from her coma. He was a bartender, someone who people let their guard down around. There was a reason Alastor had chosen him for the job, and as was confirmed recently with Shade, as long as she wasn’t using his resources against him, he was happy to allow her access. So, when she needed to ask questions in front of others, she would ask for a teacup of olives.
“Here you go, doll,” Husker huffed. She raised an eyebrow and nodded her thanks. When Husk called her “doll” it meant that they were being watched. She casually sipped her minty drink and glanced at the three Sinners sitting a few seats over. They were in the middle of a conversation, but their body language was too poised to be not listening in. Fine then, let’s get into this shit, then,
“Ugh, A lot of bird shit on the roof, huh?” she murmured. Translation: So, they are spies?
Husk chuckled. “Yeah, well, only birds couldn’t care less where they shit. Should just stay in their nests, not bother the rest of us, instead of multiplying.” Translation: Yep, and they are asking around for information. There are more of them too.
“Mm, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it?” she downed the rest of the glass, enjoying the warm burn of the liquor and the cool sting of the mint. “Well, as long as you don’t feed the pigeons, they’ll eventually go looking for better scraps. If not, there are always the exterminators.” Translation: We will need to be careful until they give up. If they don’t, we’ll have to have Alastor get rid of them.
Husker nodded. “I’ll call the guy, just in case. He can give us a quote.” Translation: I will inform Alastor. He’ll get the information to the others.
Stitches nodded. “Any new cocktails you’ve learned?” she inquired. Translation: Anything else I should know?
Husker shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got what I got. But if I learn one, I’ll be sure to make you one.”
Stitches nodded her thanks and left. If something escalated or changed, Husker would ask her to “come try a new cocktail” the next time she passed by the bar. She felt the three spies follow her movements toward the elevator, along with at least two more from the seating by the fire. She ignored it for now, knowing that it was to be expected. The Vees were finally making preparations, and she would need to be on high alert, without making it noticeable to the spies.
As she was climbing the steps up to the elevators, Charlie came around a corner, and her eyes narrowed in on her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. The look in her eyes was pissed, which was not a good sign. Of all the times her sister could be about to yell, in front of a bunch of spies was not the time or place! So, she did the only thing she could think of to save them the trouble.
“Charlie, there you are!” she yelled, bubblier than she had ever been in her life. Charlie looked stunned, and she took the chance to run up to her and throw her arms around her. “O.M.G.! I found you the CUTEST top while I was out shopping with Angel Dust! You have GOT to come try it on!” She put her mouth right next to her ear and lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “Follow my lead and don’t say a word until we are in my room.” She waited for Charlie to hug her back, then grabbed her arm and dragged her to the elevator. “Come come come!”
Thankfully, Charlie, while confused, stayed silent up to her room. With spies in the building, there was a chance that VoxTech spyware was around too. Alastor would likely be doing a full sweep of the hotel to root them out and destroy them upon Husk letting him know, but until then, the only safe spaces in the hotel were the bedrooms specially warded by Alastor and Lucifer: Alastor’s, Lucifer’s, Charlie’s, and Stitches’ rooms. Only people who had been granted access via the warding could enter without the owner opening it, so the spies would be unable to plant anything inside.
Once they entered and Stitches had the door shut, she went and collapsed on the bed. “Okay, the spies can’t hear us. Go ahead and yell at me about whatever it was that got you pissed this time.” She stared up at the ceiling and waited.
“Wait, what spies?” Charlie asked, concern in her tone.
Stitches sighed and sat up so she could look at her. “Husker just confirmed at the bar that some of the new guests are spies. Given that they are all either directly or indirectly tied to the Vees, it means that Vox and the others are finally making a move. I don’t know if it is about the hotel, Alastor, or even Dad, but they are snooping around. And with how interested the three at the bar were when I walked in, I wouldn’t be surprised if I am involved somehow.” She shrugged. “Look, just to be safe, if you have an issue with me, just ask to meet in one of our rooms. At least until we can figure out what they are after. Okay?”
Charlie nodded. “I’ll tell Vaggie when we go to bed. I’m sure Alastor will tell Dad and Niffty, and you probably have Angel Dust covered… Maybe see if you can grab Cherri too.”
Stitches hummed in agreement, noticing that her sister was now thoroughly distracted. “So, anyway, that’s all I had to tell you. You can go, and we can talk at dinner?”
Charlie agreed quietly, still distracted, and started walking away. Stitches could hear her open the door, pause, and growl. Charlie must have realized she had almost forgotten that she was the one that needed to talk to Stitches, not the other way around. Sitches couldn’t hold it in anymore and started cackling, falling back on the mattress, over Charlie almost falling for it, even as she heard the door slam shut and the tall princess stomping back to the bed. “You think you are so fucking smart, don’t you?” she seethed.
Stitches wiped away some tears, still laughing. “Than you? Most days, yeah!” she gasped, trying to calm back down. “Oh, man, that was hilarious!”
“I suppose you signed up to be a murderer for laughs too!?”
Stitches sobered up immediately and slowly met Charlie’s gaze. “What?”
Charlie tossed a crumpled-up flyer to her. She opened it and smoothed it out. It was one of I.M.P.’s, with their logo and office information, as well as the information on the services they provided, including pricing. She assumed the “kids die for free” discount at the bottom wasn’t helping matters.
“Huh,” Stitches muttered. “I didn’t think they were still offering to assassinate minors for free.”
Charlie growled and snatched the flyer from her hand. “Just because you are a Magne doesn’t mean you are suddenly above the rules! You can’t go to the living world and slaughter humans! If Heaven found out, not only would they punish you, they would punish Dad! How could you be so selfish!?”
Stitches rolled her eyes. “Relax, I’m not-”
“You seriously don’t get it, do you!?” Charlie yelled. “Fuck, Brandi, this is serious! These are real people, real souls, and you are acting like it’s just some video game. Just because they would end up in Hell or Heaven doesn’t mean that killing them is okay! We already have an overpopulation issue, so why would you want to add to it!? And fuck us all if Heaven found out! Do you realize that they could restart the exterminations over this? Cancel any talks about the redemption project?!”
Stitches saw Shade pop up behind Charlie and tilt its head. Stitches raised her hand slightly from the bed in the sign for the letter “A”. Shade nodded and disappeared again to fetch Alastor as Charlie continued to lecture and yell, but she already tuned her out. There was no interrupting her when she was like this. She could have used the Mark to call for Lucifer, but he didn’t need to see them fighting again. No, Alastor would help with this.
“-I just can’t believe you would abuse your privileges like this and put all of us at risk so you can go kill for fun!” Charlie shouted. Stitches blood felt like ice in her veins, and she wanted to strangle the woman in front of her. She had been struggling so much with the weight of the new title. Fuck, I felt bad asking for access to the account so I could get new clothes! Everyone knew it, so why was Charlie so dense about it?
Alastor materialized over by the desk, though Stitches could tell by the look on his face that he had been in the shadows listening for a while. “I believe that is enough, Charlie, my dear,” he said firmly. She spun to look at him, startled by his presence. Then she glared back at Stitches.
“What, think calling for help makes this all okay?” she spat.
Stitches took a deep breath and swallowed her anger. “No, I only asked Shade to get him so he could mediate, because you started yelling instead of letting me explain.” She stared at Charlie, daring her to argue, but the growl of radio static silenced the pouting princess. “So, as I tried to explain: yes, I will be working for I.M.P., but, no, I will not be going to Earth or killing anyone. I am strictly office staff, in charge of speaking to clients and keeping files sorted. I won’t be anywhere close to the action, at any point. I’m not even an official employee, because I am not getting paid. Therefore, the Magne and Morningstar names are not going to be tied to the business. So, relax.”
Charlie took a couple of breaths. Stitches glanced at Alastor, who merely shrugged his shoulders. He had not been aware of where she was working, only what she had said right after getting the job. But, as he had when any information came his way about her secret mission, he didn’t question it. He trusted her to handle it, to reveal things when they became pertinent. Beyond that, as long as she was being careful, he was determined to let her have control of the chessboard. Because out of everyone here, he understood why this was so important, and what they had at stake.
“Fine,” Charlie muttered. “I am guessing I can’t convince you to quit and just work for Auntie Bel?” Stitches shook her head. She couldn’t tell Charlie more without risking the Helluva Boss timeline being altered. “Then do what you want. But I am not happy about it, and if anything bad falls back on my family or the hotel over this, I am holding you personally responsible.” She turned on her heel and left.
Stitches stared at where she had been standing, frozen. Charlie had said “my family or the hotel”, as though she were an outsider. She felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach, and it was so hard to breathe, so fucking hard to breathe. She gasped and rubbed her chest with the palm of her hand. Alastor said something, but she couldn’t hear it. She felt his red-clawed gloves cradling her face, but her vision was blurring.
“S-She… d-d-doesn’t… s-see me… a-... as… f-f-fam… i… ly…” she gasped out, feeling herself shivering. She knew she was having a panic attack, but she couldn’t get herself to calm down. Charlie was her sister, her friend, her family. Had she really lost her sister?
Again. I lost a sister… again!
She felt Alastor scoop her up, the cold, smoky feeling of his shadows enveloping them as he shadow-walked them away. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard not to make any noise while they moved. Why did she think any of this was a good idea? She just wanted to protect them, to know what her presence in this world had caused, and how she could help going forward. That’s all she wanted, so why? Why couldn’t Charlie see that!?!
She felt them come out of the shadows, and she gasped, her breath turning into strangled pants as she spiraled. She heard another voice, a familiar one, but she couldn’t reach it. She felt movement like Alastor was running with her, and she felt the humidity of his bayou. She assumed he was taking her into the safety of his cabin, a place she had been only twice, hidden deep in his pocket dimension, and she was hopeful he would let her just stay there forever.
Suddenly, she felt herself plunged into the cool water, clothed and all, the shock of it pulling her out of her spiraling thoughts. She gasped and opened her eyes, finding herself in the clear creek that was just a small walk from the cabin. She had only been here a few times in the last six months, but it was strangely calming to her, with everything being a perfect recreation of its original on earth.
She felt a strong arm around her waist, holding her close, and the other hand brushing through her hair. She heard Lucifer humming softly in her ear, and that’s when she realized he was the one holding her, Alastor having handed her off and disappeared for now. She started crying, finally feeling like she could breathe. “Dad… Charlie, she said…” she whimpered between sobs.
“Shh, it’s okay, Brandi,” Lucifer whispered. “I got you, Duckling. Dad’s got you.”