The Chay Ong Casefiles, Volume One: Always Chasing Rainbows.

Chapter 14: Epilogue

Chay waved away the steam coming from her cup of Pho. The hot peppers opened up her senses and reinvigorated her energy.

She was standing ouside of the Happy Hotel, peering up at the impressive building. On top of Crol's apartment building, it seemed quite large. Up close, it was enormous. Intimidating, even.

"Feeling better now?", Vaggie asked. The moth demon girl was standing next to her, with concerned but caring smile.

"Yeah, I think so." Chay did not remember much of the previous evening. After Husk picked her up and flew off to the city, she lost consciousness. From what she could gather, Husk had decided to take her back to Crol's apartment, where he had gently laid her on his couch to sleep off the chaos of the battle.

That had been where she had woken: on Crol's couch, with the rising sun shining in her eyes.

But there had been no Crol. She had assumed that he had gone back to work, and was probably out in the city puttering around on his cart, slinging soup the way she had met him in the first place.

She spooned some of the rice noodles into her mouth and slurped them down.

"How's the Pho?", Vaggie asked.

"Good. Really good. You said this was made in your Hotel kitchen?"

Vaggie giggled. "Yeah, we've been assembling a great staff."

Vaggie put her hand on Chay's shoulder. "You don't have to go back to Imp City, you know. You could always stay here..." After waking up and eating breakfast, Chay had wandered over to the Hotel, to see it for herself close up. Vaggie had met up on the doorstep, giving the surprised Hungry Ghost an affectionate hug (rather than a licentious grope, which she had come to expect from these kinds of interactions with Sinners).

Chay shook her head. "I appreciate the invitation. But I have some obligations I have in Imp City to deal with. Besides...Imps aren't too bad."

"Yeah, they can be cute little fuckers!"

Angel Dust emerged from the Hotel door, making his way down the stairs. He was wearing a bathrobe, exposing his fluffy chest and...probably more leg than was necessary.

"Don't bother Chay, Angel Dust. She's still recovering..."

"Naw, don't worry. I just gotta talk with her for a bit.", he replied.

Vaggie shook her head. "Just don't do anything stupid."

"Now why would I do somethin' like that, eh?", he said, grinning impishly.

Vaggie sighed to herself as she walked back into the Hotel, leaving Chay and Angel Dust behind.

Angel smiled at Chay, warmly. "Bones...thank you."

"It was just my job, Angel. But I'm glad Shakie is OK."

"Hey, it wasn't just her. Cherri to. And you got a bunch of those girls out of there. Charlie's beside herself with all of the new guests..."

"Well...that last part was Cherri's bit. She managed to get them through that portal before it closed up again..." As it turned out, while Chay and Husk were dealing with their suddenly landing in the wasteland, Cherri had managed to free the girls and get them through the garage portal. Crol had been there to meet them when they showed up. The little kobold was more than happy to get them to the Hotel...

Chay laughed through a mouthful of noodles. "Hope they aren't pestering Shakie..."

"Naw...she'll be fine. She's already fittin' in really well. You shoulda seen her at the Hotel bar last night! Never thought someone could put away that much tequila...Oh! Speak of the devil..."