Kevin led Charlie by the hand as they headed to the bar for a drink.
They had made it to the lobby when there was a loud pounding at the front door.
Both stopped and looked at each other, and Charlie bit her lip, eyes hopeful.
“Do you think someone wants to check in?”
Kevin, however, was on high alert.
Plucking his halo off his head, he held it in his hand, though he did not forge any weapon.
“Like you said, the open sign isn’t on yet.
Let’s check together, okay?”
Charlie nodded, and they walked to the front door when the pounding sound echoed through the door with a second rap.
It was sharp, loud, and demanding, and Kevin tensed his halo, shaping it into his sword.
Charlie scolded him, “Kevin, this isn’t how I want to greet new guests.”
“Sorry, hon, but until we’re sure, I’m not taking any chances.” But Kevin did move his hand behind his back and drew the sword down into a dagger instead.
Charlie nodded her approval and gripped the door handle.
Pulling the door open, she put on her best smile and, with a chipper voice, started with, “Hi!
Welcome to the Hazbin Hot—”
“Eryn!?” Kevin’s shocked voice cut in, recognizing the angel before them.
Standing at the entrance, with eyes that looked sad yet determined, the Heaven-born angel responsible for Kevin’s official fall from Heaven spoke with a cool air.
“Kevin Angelus Collins.
Charlotte Morningstar.
I am Eryn, the highest of angels and judge of the fallen.
I have been sent here by the great Seraphim, charged with a mission.”
“What mission?” Kevin knew this formal presentation never meant good news.
He felt his dagger pulse behind him as it reformed into his sword, and his body tensed.
“Kevin?” Charlie looked back from Eryn to Kevin.
“What’s going on?”
Eryn answered.
“To investigate this hotel, its residents, and if it’s truly worthy of being the halfway point for sinners to pass from hell and be granted entrance into heaven.” She paused, her eyes narrowing.
“Or…”
“Or what?” Charlie blinked in confusion.
But it was Kevin who finished the sentence, for he knew exactly who sent Eryn and for what purpose, and he cursed.
“…or to pass judgment and send Heaven’s wrath down upon this hotel, destroying it and everyone living here.”
“Correct.” Eryn’s voice was void of any emotion.
Charlie gasped.
“No!”
Revealing the glowing halo sword from behind his back, Kevin stepped forward and gently nudged Charlie behind him.
He leveled the sword towards Eryn, and with thick pain in his voice, he glowered, “Then, great Eryn of the Heaven-born, we have a problem.”
One Month Earlier – Hours after Execution Day Ended
Eryn, born from the power of God, sat cross-legged on her bed.
She was deep in meditation, trying to calm her worried thoughts.
For that morning had been when Angel, leading Adam’s Exorcist Army, had begun their attack on the Hazbin Hotel.
She had gifted him a powerful weapon to defend himself, and all previous attacks had been successful, so she should have had no cause for concern.
But something Angel had said nagged at the back of her mind.
“Trust me.” He’d pressed.
She agreed and did not pursue any further line of questioning, despite her curiosity about why he had decided to lead Adam’s army into Hell against the Princess and her friends.
A decision she found herself regretting.
So, as was deemed by the High Seraphim of all of Heaven’s creations, when doubt existed, deep meditation was required to purge all negative emotions.
As she tried her best to calm herself, she didn’t see the shadow of a figure standing outside on her patio.
Tucking her wings in, she noticed the Heaven-born inside, sitting cross-legged on her bed with her eyes closed.
“Eryn,” Lute called out.
“Come out and speak with me.”
Eryn turned her head in that direction.
Lute was sure she saw a look of discomfort on the angel’s face, but it was quickly masked by formality.
Sliding off the bed, Eryn adjusted her black skirt and walked to the glass doors, pushing one open.
“Lute, you’re back,” she began, then noticed the condition of the Exorcist angel and gasped.
“What happened to your arm?”
“What happened is meaningless,” Lute struggled to maintain a civil tone, as Eryn held rank over her—not only due to her position among the high angels but also as the second in command of the Exorcist army, just one rank below Adam.
Eryn had assisted in training the military for all the executions since their inception, and Lute abruptly realized that Eryn had been notably absent from the last sessions leading up to the failed attack on the hotel.
“Where have you been?
Why weren’t you training my troops for the last excursion?”
“Angel took command,” Eryn replied evenly.
“Which is what I thought you wanted, considering you brought him in as the head strategist.”
Valid words, and as Eryn could not tell a lie, it pissed Lute off more, and she couldn’t place that feeling.
“A mistake that I seek to correct.
Angel betrayed us.”
“What?” Eryn’s eyes widened.
“That can’t be!”
“Yet it is!” Lute spat.
“You can check out the news feed for yourself when it’s released.
Now he sides with the Morningstar and his daughter.” Lute presented her severed side.
“I am going to see a friend about creating a new arm for me, a prosthetic one.
But I don’t just want an arm, Eryn; I want a weapon.
I know what you did for Angel, giving his halo the power to change into whatever he wished.
I want you to do the same for my new arm.”
Eyes wide, Eryn stepped back.
“I can’t do that!” She shook her head forcefully.
“I gifted Angel a bit of my soul to forge his halo weapon!
If I do it again, I risk shattering my soul and blinking out of existence!”
“I want a weapon like Angel’s!” Lute spat at Eryn’s feet.
“You best do as I say!”
“No.
I’m sorry, Lute, but I won’t risk my life for you.” Eryn crossed her arms.
“He betrayed us, bitch!” Lute screamed, pointing her one free hand at her, finger extended.
“You’ll do as I command!”
“Command?” Eryn scoffed, her eyes narrowing.
“Have you forgotten your station, lieutenant?
I outrank you.
On every level.”
“Don’t you fucking pull rank on me, Heaven-born!
This is not about rank; it’s about rectifying a mistake!
A mistake YOU made!”
“I,” Eryn shook her head, “do not make mistakes.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“Oh, really?
You seemed awfully cozy with Angel.
Giving him a part of your soul so he’d have a weapon for the war.
A weapon he raised against Adam!
Did you have something to do with that?
DID YOU?”
“No,” Eryn answered coldly.
“I did ask him what his intentions were.
He told me he didn’t want to see any more suffering.
It wasn’t a lie.
If it were, I would have known.”
“Ha!” Lute shouted in exasperation.
“He told you a truth!
Not the truth.
He manipulated the words so they came across as true, but you didn’t clarify, did you?
You didn’t get him to say who he wanted to protect.
And I bet you chose not to pursue it, didn’t you?”
“Angel asked me if I trusted him,” Eryn admitted.
“And to not ask anything I didn’t want to know the answers to.” With those words, Eryn knew she’d betrayed herself to Lute.
Lute’s voice turned ice cold.
“So, you turned a blind eye because of your love of Angel; is that it?
You risked Adam, me, and my army because you didn’t want to know Angel’s true motivations?
Am I right?”
Shaking her head, Eryn chose her words carefully.
“I didn’t ask because I trusted him.
I believed in him, and I accepted his words as he spoke them.” It was the truth, but Eryn also picked her words carefully.
“You are a traitor, just like him!” Lute’s rage blinded her, and the words that escaped were ones she should not have spoken.
Wings extending, Eryn seemed to grow larger in front of Lute, and a bright glow of heavenly light consumed the irises in her eyes.
“Do not dare accuse me of treason, lieutenant.
Not without proof, or I will have no choice but to smite you where you stand!”
A sense of sanity picked at the back of Lute’s thoughts, not from the threat of death, but how to handle Eryn.
She backed away a few steps.
“No.
You would not betray Heaven.” She breathed through her nose, lips tightly pursed, and exhaled.
“I was out of line.”
“Yes,” Eryn spoke, her voice taking on darker shades.
“You were.
Now, unless there is anything else you feel is necessary, you may remove yourself from my presence.
Am I clear?”
“You are.” Lute’s defiance seemed to retake control, and she waved off Eryn like one would dismiss a maid.
“I will not speak to you again on the matter.” She quirked a grin.
“But we shall see what Sera has to say about this.”
Before Eryn could respond, Lute straightened, her balance slightly off due to her missing arm, and bounded into the air.
Arms crossed, Eryn stood on her balcony and watched Lute disappear among the low-hanging clouds.
A look of concern crossed her features.
She had done nothing wrong, but if what Lute said about Angel was true, she needed to see it immediately.
A trip to the courthouse was now necessary.