Chapter Text
Charlie’s return to consciousness came with a sudden gasping breath. Her limbs felt fuzzy and not all there, and her head was killing her. She couldn’t quite manage to get her eyes open and had to rely on her other senses to get her bearings.
Where ever she was lying was jagged and uneven, sticking and poking into her back uncomfortably. Did she end up on a pile of rocks? The air wasn’t any better. She recalled the stench that came up from any passing New York sewer grate. This place was a thousand times worse. The was cacophony not too far from where she lay. Cars screeching, people screaming, the noise pressing on her and making her headache so much worse.
She managed to get her noodle limbs to move and sit herself up, cracking her eyes open finally. Thankfully her surroundings were pretty dark, nothing too bright to hurt her eyes. The red sky was the first thing she took notice of, trying to blink away her blurry vision. The tall dark buildings around her clued her into the fact that she was in a city. How did she end up in a city? Mom and she had been driving to the beach when…
She started to tremble as the memories flooded back to her. Mom was driving the car, they had been singing along to the Chicago musical. It was her mom’s favorite. She remembered the silver car trying to speed around them and then.
Screaming, broken glass, pain. So much pain. The sound of crushing metal, the smell of burning & blood.
She gasped her shaking hand’s coming up to her mouth. Where was her mom? Was she ok? How did she get out of the crash? She tried to look around for any clue for what happened. Her eyes landed on a nearby neon sign and her stomach dropped as she read the bright letters.
Welcome to Hell
Tears welled in Charlie’s as she realized she hadn’t made it out of the crash at all.
-
Such a lovely morning for a walk Rosie thought as she meandered her way down the street. Despite no call for acid rain today her umbrella was raised high overhead. After all, you never knew what kinda filth people would throw out onto the street on any given day in Hell. This was her best hat and she’d rather not get any fluids or other paraphernalia on it, although she did wish someone would toss down a limb or two.
This part of the pride ring was a bit of a ways from her lovely little colony of cannibals but under the “Welcome” sign was the best place to find something fresh. Perhaps she could find a down right scoundrel, someone she could really sink her teeth into. Maybe an awful husband that pushed his wife to the absolute brink and ended up down here for his transgressions, those were her favorite!
Rosie looked over the rubble filled alleyway at the disoriented new sinners. None of them seemed all that appetizing, unfortunately. Sinners with good meat on there bones seemed to be falling less each year. Such a shame.
Then her black void eyes caught a wayward soul stumbling to stand towards the back of the alley. The blonde newcomer had to be the most darling thing the overlord ever laid eyes on. Long pale blonde hair, a dancer’s frame and the sweetest little doll face she’d ever seen in all the pentagram, right down to the rosy cheeks!
Even with the ragged jeans and t-shirt the girl was wearing, the Cannibal Overlord could always spot a real treasure when she saw one. Oh, she didn’t know if she wanted to devour the sweet thing or take her back home and spoil her! What a fantastic day this was turning out to be.
Rosie strutted her way over to the wretched little dear. “Well, aren’t you lookin’ like the most pathetic thing this side of the pentagram?” The girl looked up in confusion, still shaking on her Bambi legs. Two red eyes, bright like hellfire look up at her in confusion.
“Uh, wha-“
“Oh, but where are my manners? Let me introduce myself!” She curtsied with flourish. “I’m Rosie, I run a lovely little shop in Cannibal Town.” She placed a hand out to help the young demon steady herself. “And who might you be, sweetie?”
“Um, Charlie. Charlie Magne.” She took the offered hand. “Did you… say… something about… cannibals?” She muttered, barely audible.
The overlord placed an arm around the smaller woman’s shoulders and began to guide her out of the dingy alley. “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, sweet pea.” She winked down at her new companion. “Now, how about you come along with me, doll face. We’ll get you something new to wear and you can tell me about all about how you got down here.”
“I think there was a car crash? I mean, I was in the car with my mom.” She sprang up in concern “Oh no, my mom didn’t end up here too did she? Is it because we were atheist? I’ve never been inside a church, it that why I’m in hell?!”
The new sinners distress was just too cute, Rosie was definitely going to enjoy having this kid around. “Who can really say? There’s plenty of people who did go to church down here too.” She saw the poor girl tug on her blonde hair, a likely nervous habit. “As for your Mother,” she decided to offer a little relief, “if she was down here you would have ended up falling together. So that’s something!”
That seemed to alleviate some of the tension in the young sinner’s shoulders. However, her black lips still quivered as her grasp on her current situation became more apparent. It was nearly enough to break the Cannibal Queen’s black heart. She was always a sucker for a poor young thing in need of motherly guidance.
“How about you and I make a deal, Charlie? You help me in my Emporium for today, and I’ll tell you about what you need to know to get started down here.” She held out her hand to the blonde demoness, a rosy glow surrounding her palm. “Deal?”
The young woman looked at the hand curiously, before grasping it delicate caution. “Deal” the rose colored power surged between them for a moment. The smaller woman pulled back as if shocked. “Wha- what the fuck!?”
Rosie grinned wide, showing off ALL her pointed teeth. “First lesson, sweet pea. That was a Deal, with a capital D.”
After reassuring Charlie that she did not sell her soul or anything, the older woman explained the nature of deals between demons. They were both mystically bound by the agreed terms, but once fulfilled they were both free to go as they wanted, unless the deal was for her soul. She also explained her position as an overlord and how it tied into the overall political system of hell, especially with how their king Lucifer tended to be a bit of a hands off ruler.
She also extolled the virtues of her lovely little community of cannibals, truly the best place in all the pride ring. At her Emporium she kept them well supplied with what they needed to feed their hunger, among other items. In return they helped her manage and maintain a picturesque neighborhood.
“Your not taking me home to eat, are you?” The blonde questioned, her pale face turned a bit green.
Rosie let out an airy laugh. “As sweet as I’d bet you be,” she pinched the girl’s rosy cheek, “it’d seem like such a waste. And it’s not like you’d stay dead if I did.”
“Sinners like us can’t be killed by most things. Stab us, shoot us, burn us, butcher us, we will regenerate from any injury. But let me tell you, it is pretty unpleasant!”
“Okaaaay.” She pursed her black lips as she processed the older woman’s explanation. “You said ‘most’ so there is something that can kill us.”
The overlord beamed, “and such an attentive listener! I really did luck out with finding you.” She winked. “Angelic steel is the only thing that can kill a Sinner permanently.”
After explaining how one obtained Angelic steel and the yearly exterminations. They had finally made it to Rosie’s Emporium. First order of business was to get Charlie out of her ragged clothes and into some proper attire. A lovely lace covered blouse, and a black pinafore skirt made for practical wear while also enhancing the girl’s doll like appearance.
“Doesn’t this seem a bit fancy?” She held up the skirt in one hand as she inspected herself in a mirror.
“Trust me, dolly,” The black eyed demon assured as she tied a tasteful black bow around the blonde’s neck to complete to look. “This counts as casual around here. And you don’t want to be caught out of dress code, or you might end up a meal.”
The girl blanched at her comment and Rosie couldn’t help but grin. She was just so fun to tease! She then lead the young demon over to the storage room in the back.
Rosie did actually need the help, part of the reason she recruited the new sinner. Her dearly departed partner, Franklin was always better at keeping things organized. The front end she could keep up with maintaining, but she had to let some of the back of house fall to wayside. Boxes of clothing and fabric were only partially unpacked. The shrunken heads, hand’s of glory, and the other knickknacks that were popular with tourists, were in about 50 different places with no rhyme or reason. Even her tea canisters were all over the place! At least she was able keep a cohesive system of all the body parts for eating in the cooler (not even Susan would dare complain about the quality of her meats).
“Now if you could just be a doll and help me reorganize my back room. We get pretty busy here and since my partner died in the last extermination I haven’t had much time to do it myself.”
“Oh sure, you can count on me!” The girl even gave her a little salute. Honestly she was entirely too wholesome.
No Really, she seemed way too wholesome to be in hell. Rosie had a slight nagging feeling while spending time with the girl. Polite, courteous, helpful, and kind she was not giving off the usual aura of a sinner. Something was not adding up. What kind of sin could this girl have committed to be down here? Was heaven actually that picky when it came to their little gated community? Eh, maybe she just snapped, got violent and then repressed the memories. Wouldn’t be the first time the overlord had dealt with a person like that.
Well, best not to dwell on those curious details at the moment. She had an emporium to run after all. Such mysteries could be examined later. The shop owner headed up to the front to begin her opening tasks.
-
It was around lunch time and the Emporium had a full crowd going, as usual. So many customers and clients, Rosie hadn’t had any time to check how her little helper was doing in the back room. Her shop girls took care of retrieving things from the stock room for her and asked her, “where she found the sweet little thing currently organizing the back room?”
The Ladies in her shop seemed to be quite taken with the girl. “So polite and well behaved,” they’d say, especially for such a newly fallen demon. They could just gobble her up, she was so sweet.
Again, Rosie’s intuition seemed to act up. Charlie was quite well behaved for a newborn sinner. Even her cannibals needed help reigning their more violent tendencies in the beginning. But she barely had time to follow that train of thought when another customer entered the shop grabbing her attention.
Only one person she knew would bypass the line of ravenous cannibals outside.
“Alastor! How wonderful it is to see you!” She exclaimed, making her way over to the red clad man.
“Rosie, always a delight!” He allowed her to pull him close in a loose embrace. Seeing her fellow overlord made for the cherry on top of this already spectacular day.
“Oh, I have so much to tell you about. I managed to find an absolute treasure by the welcome sign this morning.”
“Really? Any choice cuts you’d like to share?” He inquired, thinking she meant someone to eat.
The older woman lightly slapped his arm at the jab. “Oh you, nothing like that. But I did manage to find the sweetest little sinner I ever did see.” She pulled him by the arm over to one of the cushioned seating sets. “She’s got just the cutest little doll face, I managed to get her to help out in the back room for the day. You know how much of mess it’s become since poor Franklin met the business end of an Angel’s spear.”
“Glad to know your still thriving without him,” Alastor’s usual grin sharpened “but we always knew you were the real driving force in this Emporium.”
“Flatterer.” She picked up a tea cup to take a dainty sip. “Now tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“Nothing of real note I’m afraid. My work has become rather dull as of late.” The deer demon sighed. “Everything seems so rote and mundane. I’ve been searching for something novel to really inspire me but…”
“For those of us so stuck in our ways like you and me, Novelty that’s actually appealing is hard to find.” The demoness finished for him.
“Exactly!” He exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. “So many fads, but nothing of real substance.”
If Rosie hadn’t already been paying attention to the man, she would have missed the near imperceptible flicking of his ear. Alastor did his best to keep the more animalistic parts of his form in check, not wanting to give anyone insight into what he was thinking. But even he couldn’t always escape the occasional errant twitch. Another flick and his smile turned more contemplative.
“My dear, what station do have the radio turned to?”
She laughed, equally perplexed & amused. “Darling, you know I don’t bother to tune in while the store is open. I can’t hear myself think, let alone music!” She waved her arm toward the crowd around them, nothing but the cacophony of too many cannibals reached her.
This time the redhead’s ears swiveled purposefully. He tapped a finger to his chin as his smile turned as close to a thoughtful frown as the older demon had ever seen. “I definitely hear someone singing.” The man stood up, smoothing some of the wrinkles in his suit. Apparently this was not something he was going to let go and Rosie followed after him as he made his way toward this supposed “siren” call. As they approached the hall leading to the back rooms she began to hear the singing as well.
“There’s a land that I’ve heard of, once in a lullaby.”
She’d never heard a voice like that in all her years down here. She’d almost call it angelic a part of her ironically thought. Judy herself would be weeping in envy at what was without a doubt to most wondrous rendition of “Over the rainbow” she’d ever heard.
She and her fellow overlord peered into the storage room as covertly as possible.
“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue.”
They could see the new girl flitting and twirling about with a dancer’s grace as she moved around all the hodgepodge into their proper places. Charlie already appeared to be more than half done, as she swooped swayed to a melody only in her head. She was an enchanting sight to behold.
“And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”
Rosie’s grin was about to tear her face in two, she really struck gold with this one! Adorable, polite, and a performer? She couldn’t ask for a better sinner to bring into her company. Oh she’d fit right in with cannibal town, even Susan wouldn’t be able to turn her wrinkled old nose up at such a voice.
“Some day I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me…”
Listening to the young demon gave Rosie a sense of nostalgia. She could almost see herself back in church, when she could still hear her daughters singing in the choir. A simpler, happier time. Before she had to do unspeakable things in the name of her family’s survival.
“Away above the chimney tops, where troubles melt like lemon drop. That’s where you’ll find me!”
She pulled herself from her reverie to see what her cohort thought of the little doll’s performance. Shocked She caught the slight flushing of his face, first time she’d ever witnessed it! His smile small and thoughtful but his eyes wide as if trying to capture every detail of the young woman in front of him through sight alone. If she didn’t know better she would have thought the man lovestruck.
Oh this was too good!
She elbowed the Alastor to get his Attention back. “See what I mean? Quite the catch, no?”
“You’ve certainly found something special there.” He responded quietly, not wanting to alert the young lady to their presence. A devious grin formed on his face.
“Can’t you just see it Alastor? Under the gazebo, singing to square?” She nearly giggled with delight. “The whole town would just eat it right up!”
“A fine idea as that may be, there’s only one proper way to show off a voice like that!” He proclaimed.
The Cannibal overlord smirked at him, eyebrow raised. “Oh ho, is this you calling dibs then?”
“Just think of it, my dear.” He gestured wildly with his Microphone, “that voice coming out of every radio in the Pentagram! Sinners across the ring tuned in to her dazzling performance!” And himself the maestro of such a show.
Alastor did mention how uninspired he had been lately. Perhaps he had found a muse in Charlie? The older woman wasn’t one to deny such chemistry. And if she could squeeze a future favor out of the other overlord, all the better. “Well Al, if you’re really so set on her I’ll be happy to introduce you two.”