A New Birth

Chapter V

The inhabitants of the Hazbin Hotel were a little high strung and paranoid after Lucifer's visit. Everyone (except Alastor and Husk) feared the upcoming extermination and immediately began preparations for it. Angel was even more protected and watched over than before, never out of sight of any of his friends for even a second.

Angel was now about eight months pregnant. His belly had become its own continent, and he could barely see the tips of his toes when he looked down at the floor. Everywhere he went in the hotel, he had to be escorted by one of his demon friends. Since his mate had given up broadcasting at the studio for the time being, it was Alastor who'd taken up that job full time.

With the former porn star so pregnant that he was ready to pop at any moment, the demons at the hotel rarely left, choosing to spend time with Angel and keep him company. As the nightlife of Hell teemed outside, Angel and his friends gathered around a table in the lounge for a night of poker. For Alastor and Husk, the whiskey was flowing, and the demon cat played the dealer as the cards, cash, and poker chips were dealt out. Friendly banter was thrown back and forth as they played round after round of cards.

"Two pair! Haha!" Alastor cried, laying out his cards for the table to see. He reached for the pile of chips and cash in the middle of the table.

"Not so fast!" Charlie replied. She laid out her cards, a smug smile on her face. "A straight! In clubs!" She batted Alastor's hand away.

"Bitch, please!" Angel flashed a smirk and turned his hand, showing off his cards. "In your honor, princess! A royal flush!"

Vaggie threw her cards to the table, glaring at Angel as the pink spider demon collected his winnings. "You cheated!" she accused.

Alastor suddenly froze, sending out a short burst of radio static. "He did not cheat, my dear!" he said. "I knew where his hands were the whole time. All four of them. Believe me." The deer demon flashed a shit-eating grin.

"I don't believe you as far as I can throw this hotel!" Vaggie argued. "The only ones who've been winning tonight are the boys! This game is biased as hell!"

"Calm down, Vaggie. It's just a game." Charlie rested a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder in an effort to comfort her.

Vaggie muttered under her breath in Spanish as Husk gathered up the cards and began to shuffle them.

"Loosen up, moth girl," he commented in his rough, deep voice. "Plenty o' chances fer you ta win tonight, trust me." He lit up a cigarette and began dealing out the cards again.

Vaggie collected her cards when he was done and studied them. After a few seconds of deliberation, she took two from the dealer and discarded another two. Her eye widened before a smirk formed on her lips. "Yeah, you bitches are going down now," she said.

"Well, I'm going to go ahead and guess that our dear Vaggie has good cards!" Alastor announced to the whole table, his voice settling into its broadcast tone, complete with static and feedback. "What do you think, Angel?"

"I think I'm callin' her fuckin' bluff," Angel said, his voice slightly magnified by Alastor's microphone cane, which rested against the table between himself and the Radio Demon. "Trade me some cards, Niffty."

The little cyclops demon bounced excitedly in her chair, a huge grin on her face as she traded two cards with Angel. "Go Angel, go!" she cheered. She then laid down her cards, showing a pair of queens. "Go fish!"

Angel and Charlie burst into fits of laughter at Niffty's outburst. Alastor beamed from ear to ear and played a laugh track faintly in the background. "No, no, no, Niffty! We're playing poker, not 'Go Fish'! But I love your enthusiasm! Your confusion amuses me, my dear!"