We stood in front of the large wooden doors.

The stained glass windows adorning the center of each door had an intricately made apple in its design.

Alastor reached out and his knuckles rapped against the wood. There was shuffling, a rather loud crash and then mumbling.

The door swung open unexpectedly, making me jump. Alastor merely looked down at the person who answered the door.

There stood a girl, taller than me by nearly a foot, wearing a cute white dress shirt with suspenders.

Her face was round and her cheeks looked soft and childlike, but it was obvious she was a matured woman.

Her skin was ghostly pale, and her eyes were a bright electric red. On each of her cheeks was a little red circle, reminding me of a porcelain doll, or perhaps even a clown.

Her smile quickly lowered into a small frown at the sight of Alastor, but her stare shifted to me. She tilted her head curiously, probably because Alastor and I were holding hands.

"Um..." she started nervously, glancing back to Alastor, "can I help you?"

Her tone was unsure, and the skin on my arm prickled as Alastor upped the static in his speech, creating an electrifying atmosphere.

"Hello, darling!" He chirped, using his overwhelmingly cheery radio host persona.

"We couldn't help but spot your magnificently large building! My, what a spectacle!" He held his hand out for the woman to shake, and she looked at it skeptically.

"Alastor, pleasure to meet you sweetheart!" Were the words he yelled next, and before she could seize his hand he lowered it and brushed past her, dragging me with him.

Inside I marveled at the spacious and intricate room. Despite the worn down feel of it all, it was a generally nice space.

Alastor never once let go of my hand, being almost territorial over me.

Like in a 'I dare you to touch her' kind of way.

I didn't mind, it's sweet he feels protective over me. I even noticed his smile widened and his teeth thinned nearly to a needle like state.

He's puffing out his chest and looking intimidating. I'm not sure why, but he is. Maybe he feels nervous about me meeting the princess.

The woman, who I'm assuming is the princess, closed the doors. She approached us slowly, that same apprehensive look in her eyes.

"Did you want to check in...?" She asked timidly, and Alastor burst into laughter.

"You tickle me your majesty!" He said mockingly, "Oh the humanity! Check in? Ahaha!"

Upon seeing the poor girl's hurt expression, I felt annoyed towards Al.

I scowled at him and he received a harsh slap to the arm. He jumped slightly and looked down at me in wide eyed surprise.

Upon seeing my angered expression he backtracked, "I mean...no thank you, princess,"

That's better.

She glanced between us quizzically but fixed her expression when I smiled at her, giving me one of her own toothy smiles,

"Hello, princess!" I greeted her kindly, "I'm new here in hell, and Alastor was showing me around," I held up his hand and shrugged, "and I saw your building and it was just so neat looking I wanted to check it out!"

After my explanation her eyes widened.

"O-oh! New to hell? Well, I'll explain my vision to you!" She said happily and I leaned a little closer to Alastor, laying my head against his arm as I smiled at her.

"I'd love to hear it!" I responded and she smiled giddily.

**

After a very unexpected musical number, I got the gist of what the hotel was about.

Redemption.

What an interesting concept...

We had all sat to further talk, Alastor and I next to each other on the couch while Charlie (as I'd learned is her name) sat across from us.

"So that's what my hotel aims to achieve!" She finished proudly and I gave her a big happy smile and clapped softly.

Alastor was next to me, silently observing every corner of the hotel. Like a panther.

"Wow! That's a really big goal...it's really interesting though," I started, "I think it sounds like a really good idea!"

Her smile widened impossibly and her pupils dilated to where I could barely see the red in her eyes.

"Really!?" She asked excitedly, and I nodded. She sounded as if that's the first time she's ever heard those words.

I looked up at Alastor, and he wore a bored expression. I nudged him, "what do you think, Al?"

"I think it's a bunch of ridiculous nonsense."

Charlie's look faltered and her eyebrows turned up slightly. I glared at Alastor and shook my head with a sigh.

He noticed my reaction to his answer and shrugged, "I'm not going to sit here and lie, Ariel," he said rather bluntly.

I let it go.

Shaking off the tense moment, I put a smile back on my face, "so, how many customers do you have?"

"One so far," Charlie said, chucking nervously, "b-but he's making great progress!"

"Ah yes, the little harlot," Alastor chimed and I gasped sharply.

"Alastor!" I said, looking at him furiously. Is this how he treats people who aren't me?!

He seemed surprised, "what? That's literally what he is?" He said, perplexed.

I raised an eyebrow, looking back to Charlie.

She shrugged sheepishly and nodded reluctantly, an embarrassed smile on her face.

My anger calmed down, but I still didn't like how easily that word slipped off his tongue.

"Anyway... were you interested in checking in?" Charlie asked me hopefully, a wide smile on her features.

I looked up at Alastor who was checking his bloodstained claws. I cringed slightly and shook my head, "uh...no, actually..."

She practically deflated, and I felt bad. Looking around, I kinda of wanted to help her fix the place up.

"But..." I added, and she perked up, "it looks a bit run down in here...do you want a little help jazzing it up?" I asked her. Her smile returned ten fold and she leaned forward.

Her sudden movement made Alastor go rigid and a quiet growl rumbled in his chest. Man he's protective, but he is part animal so it's understandable.

"You'd do that?!" She asked excitedly.

"Who's doing what?" A new voice entered, and I looked over to see a shorter female demon with long white hair.

She had neutral but graphic clothing on, and a large pink X over her left eye. She also had a huge bow in her hair.

As soon as her eyes landed on Alastor she became hostile.

"Charlie! Get away from him, what are you doing!"

I frowned softly, gently touching Alastor's leg. He didn't seem bothered by her reaction at all, in fact he seemed kind of pleased.

Charlie looked over at the rapidly approaching new girl.

"Vaggie it's ok! He hasn't done anything...it's not even him that is visiting, he's just here with—"

"Who is that girl?! Is she with him? We can't trust either of them Charlie!" She sounded livid, accusatory and just plain rude. My frown turned into a scowl.

Charlie sighed, and this 'Vaggie' glared daggers at Al and I.

"I just wanted to help out a little is all," I said calmly, and Vaggie lowered her arms that had been crossed over her chest.

"Help? Who even are you, why are you with the radio demon?"

I rolled my eyes, and looked up at Alastor, momentarily branching away from the main conversation.

"Why the hell do you call yourself that?" I asked him and he lazily looked over at me, then shrugged.

"Darling, all I did was broadcast my playtime, these loathsome sinners chose my title. Blame their IQ," he drawled, and I clicked my tongue.

"Anyway," I said, shaking my head, "Alastor is...um..." I looked up at him sheepishly and he gave me a small smirk and a 'go ahead' nod.

"He's my partner," I said, intertwining our fingers, "and I drug him over here because I thought this place looked neat!" I finished.

Both girls looked absolutely bewildered.

"Ok...what did you want to do to help?" Said Vaggie, a bit calmer but still tense.

"I just wanted to fix the place up a bit! It's awfully dreary in here, and I have a degree in interior design," I said making Charlie's eyes pop.

"You do?! That's great!" She sounded so excited.

So finally I stood up, leaving Alastor to lounge on the couch. He's obviously bored out of his mind, but I didn't care. He can wait a little bit longer.

I walked towards the middle of the room, looking around and imagining what this place would look like with a bit of love. Slowly the room before me changed inside my head, my ideas appearing in front of my eyes.

I hummed softly, "Ok...Ok, so to start off I was thinking we need to move the furniture, make the room more spacious. Then, we can add recreational things!"

I was so excited, I haven't had an interior design opportunity for years. Who'd have thought my next one would be in hell.

I pointed to the open space in the room, "there could be a pool table, and the—"

My words cut off as my eyes widened when my finger began to radiate a soft pink glow. Then, it felt like something surged through me and I gasped as a pool table materialized where I had been pointing.

Everyone in the room froze, and immediately I looked to Alastor. To my dismay, he looked just as perplexed as the rest of us.

His eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open slightly.

What just happened?