Rolando Backstory Helluva Boss

 

 “Envy’s Sinister Plan”

 

In the beginning, everything was darkness.

 

Vast, endless, watery darkness.

 

It is naïve to think that beings of the land have always ruled the world. From the start of Earth’s creation, underwater beings like fish and sharks and the smallest organisms have existed and thrived below the surface. The Earth is mostly ocean, and humans have only skimmed the surface of the fathomless depths of the seas. If they truly knew of the mysterious monstrous aquatics that roam in the watery black…let’s just say they wouldn’t have to fear greatly for long.

 

The eldritch and aquatic beings of Earth and other realms have existed before humans and will continue to thrive long after.

 

But we’re not here to talk about Earth. We’re here to talk about Hell.

 

No, not the fiery brimstone Hell you’ve heard about.

 

We’re not discussing the Pride Ring either.

 

The most mysterious and perhaps the most dangerous district is the Ring of Envy. Envy is ruled by Lord Leviathan, king of the deep. This realm’s sky is dark purple and is located between the Sloth Ring and the Lust Ring. It is a world filled with oceans, serpents of the sea, and eldritch creatures beyond your wildest nightmares.

 

There are many kinds of beings that reside here. The wealthy von Eldritch family with Helsa and Seviathan are said to have originated from Envy before their rivalry with Charlie Morningstar. Seductive twin performers Glim and Glam learned their clever tricks and fueled their desire for fame in Envy. Many of these beings pride themselves on their suburban lifestyles, shapeshifting, fame and overall arrogance. Not that all from Envy are all selfish like that, but in Hell, everything is not so simple.

 

Lord Leviathan is mysterious as they come. He enjoys wealth, but never parades it around like Mammon. He has not much time for drugs like Beelzebub and Belphegor. Sex isn’t something he fixates on like Asmodeus. Although he and the other Sins rule under Lucifer, he doesn’t care much for his Sinner issues in Pride. Yes, the Sins were mad that the Exorcists killed a whole bunch of Sinners in Pride every year, but Sinners could always be replaced. Let some Hell princess try to figure it out.

 

Leviathan, instead, is the mastermind behind the deadliest type of scheme in the “Humans-to Hell” operation.

 

Those in Heaven often worry that demons will try and take over their world. They’d be partially right in their concern. Ever since the Sins were banished to Hell and mankind was favored over them, they had come up with plans for revenge many centuries ago. Since man was supposedly God’s greatest creation, what better way to spread suffering than to prove mankind’s flaws and inferiority to the angels (or in this case, the fallen angels.) Helpless dumb beings destined to be not in God’s favor, but to be the entertaining puppets of the demonic royals.

 

Lucifer had given Eve the Forbidden Fruit, allowing the dark goddess Roo to escape, creating Hell and a place where she could feast on the souls of demons and Sinners for eternity. Western-style Satan had been put in charge of the rough tough imps who had been sent to Earth to spread war and chaos. Party-loving Beelzebub sent Hellhounds to track Sinners on Earth. Mammon was greedy Mammon, manipulating Hell and boasting his accomplishments. Asmodeus allowed his succubi and incubi to go to Earth and spread STDs and lust, causing more souls to go to Hell. Dazed Belphegor allowed disease and drug trade to spread to Earth…as more mortals got addicted, more went to Hell after death.

 

Leviathan was also a crucial part of the plan. When he wasn’t surfing great waves on the beach, his job was to spread fear, nightmares and hopelessness to those on Earth. If humans knew about Hell and the demons, they’d find ways to fight the demons and potentially allow Heaven their victory. But they couldn’t do that if they were consumed by their fears. To perform this monumental task, he dispersed infestor demons throughout Hell and Earth. By possessing and reading the minds of humans, the humans would break down and soon land into Hell after they died. These kinds of demons could shapeshift and breathe underwater, making them especially deadly to their enemies. Any troublemaker caught by Leviathan’s infestor demon crew would soon wish double death over having to reviewing all their traumas for all to see.

 

Then Leviathan thought of something else. If humans focused their fears on hauntings and ghosts instead of demons, the demons could eliminate their victims without a trace. The demons with the most potent possession and manipulation tactics were greatly respected in Envy. For these demons, fear was equivalent to food…essential for their very function in the society.

 

Leviathan and many in Envy loved to see other demons admire them. The EnVe Tik Tok app helped to spread various videos to make the other Rings wish they were more like Envy. All the imps, hellhounds, and especially the humans were incessant low-class riffraff to the Envians. In addition, the world below the surface was relatively inaccessible to many species in Hell. With more privacy, those in Envy took joy in using their abilities to their advantage.

 

Leviathan didn’t waste any time. Infestor demons were sent right and left to every dark corner of the Earth. Many were sent to common hunting grounds like haunted houses, asylums and graveyards. It was no wonder that many humans relayed terrifying tales of parasitic ghosts in those abandoned areas. Of course, the demons relished in overpowering the humans, peering into their darkest secrets and watching them fall.

 

 

Leviathan then heard of a mostly abandoned crappy hotel on Earth called the One Star Wonder. It was smack in the middle of a cemetery in an undisclosed location. It would be the perfect place to lure more humans into a trap.

 

Assured that nothing could go wrong, Leviathan then decided to send one of his best infestor demon workers to haunt the hotel and bring more souls to Hell.

 

His name was Rolando.

 

0 0 0

“Rolando, the Five Star Wonder”

 

(That’s what he calls himself later on when on Earth.)

 

Warm watery wavy wetness.

 

That’s what he could first remember while he was inside his mother. Like most demons in Envy, she could shift into a full fish form to allow for full speed underwater and then move to a bipedal form while on land. Once he was born, he could feel the icy cold black waters of Hell. His mother nudged him along as he swam his first strokes. Just as expected with the Envian species, he was able to swim on his own in a few days and after some guidance from his parents, hunt on his own after a month or so. Envians valued power and independence right from the start.

 

The concept of “friendship” was different in Envy. “Friend” usually meant one or two things: a powerful ally or someone with a useful purpose. For those in good standing, they often had several supporters with good connections to other elite members, and one or two lackeys they could send to do menial tasks. If anyone showed any disrespect, their dirty secrets could be telepathically put on display. So, it was the norm for those of lower standing to try and keep their mouths and minds quiet.

 

The lines were blurred when it came to sex…many of the females were dominant and sometimes males and females could both get pregnant and give birth due to the ease of shifting sexual organs. Having two mothers, two fathers, a mother and a father or just manifesting from magic were all normal. Though it was still a big step when a male fish would decide to gradually become a female parent. When Rolando was asked if that’s what he wanted to do when he grew up, he knew in his heart…

 

“No way! Do I look like a babysitter?”

 

Nobody really knows why many Envians have names associated with fame and power. Performers Glim and Glam are examples.

 

Although Rolando and his family weren’t at the top, they could live a fairly decent life. They had enough clothes and food to enjoy themselves. Yet there was always everyday competition with their neighbors. For one day, the denizens would argue over who had the best houses. Then the next day, they’d brag about their clothes and social media accounts. And then the next time, they would claim their children were the smartest or the best.

 

Usually, the strongest or the most dominant would get most of the praise. Rolando liked the praise he got but always was aching for more. Even with his parents it was the same. It wasn’t uncommon for him to hear from his mom and dad, “You are an incredible son, but I’ll love you even more when you can beat all these guys!” “Wow, great hunting, son! I bet you could snatch up more bottom-feeders the next time.”

 

When Rolando did manage to perform a great accomplishment, it was like a birthday: great while it lasted but over all too soon. Just like a temporary trend online; there and gone like the waves of the ocean.

 

It was an endless cycle of trends, judgements, and could-have-beens.

 

The only thing truly satisfying for Rolando were the moments when he got to feast on the insecurities and fears of others. There was no one to tell him he wasn’t quite good enough…no competition, no expectations, no numbers to reach. It was just him and his prey and a sense of a strange, delicious freedom, like a kid playing with a new toy. Time stood still when he peered into the minds of others…as the traumas of his victims played before him, he could remind himself of his own greatness. It was just like watching an entertaining film in the individual’s head! There were also the obvious tasty benefits of blood, flesh, and the victims’ life force.

 

 

Rolando manifested in and out of the water, getting used to both his everyday forms. The Envy Ring was vibrant with buildings made of coral and decorated with eyes all over the structures. Giant billboards advertised drugs, seafood, underwater music parties, watery sex, weapons and more. Rolando preferred dark practical clothes still in good quality. He spotted scaly fisherman catching little fish, shrimp, and small sharks in the distance. Leviathan was advertising the annual surfing competition, where the winner would get to surf against the king himself in the most treacherous of waters. (Nobody could beat him even if they wanted to, Leviathan practically invented surfing and he knew it.)

 

Rolando, of course, while learning hunting, swimming, shapeshifting, and possession tactics, also had to learn how to protect his mind. In his early days as a kid, he found out the hard way what happens when you don’t protect your mind.

 

“There’s the loser nerd!” mocked several scaly red fish kids around his school. Kid Rolando had silver transparent hair, gray skin, black clothing and a pair of sharp red sunglasses over his eyes. He could see underwater just fine, but his eyes were unusually sensitive to light.

 

“You really gonna go there?” Rolando asked his classmates.

 

“Yeah,” mocked the leader flanked by two other males wearing sporty clothes. “My daddy runs several companies unlike your fisherman one.”

 

“At least I know how to hunt. You just get your grub handed to you.”

 

“Let me hand you this!” the leader mocked, raising a fist. Rolando got beat up in front of his peers and they laughed. The leader peered into his mind, an unpleasant black goo rushing inside his head.

 

“Your dad lost 66 souls meant for his boss on a fishing trip?”

 

“Your mom used to date a bottom-feeder common farmer?”

 

“You like to dance in girl’s underwear in private? Hahahaha! What a pussy!”

 

“Get the fuck outta my head!” Rolando spat.

 

“Whatever you say, fish-face!”

 

The bully flowed out of his head and reformed from liquid to solid, snickering as he and his buddies walked away.

 

It wasn’t long before his parents heard about it. Rolando swam home to his cave in tears.

 

His mother was called Roberta, meaning “bright fame”. She had glowing yellow eyes, sharp fangs, gray scaly skin and long hanging glowing earrings that looked like escas. Her earrings were used to attract her husband, Roderick (name meaning “famous ruler.”) They often wore sparkling clothing made of fish scales, resulting in stunning rainbow-colored dresses for Roberta and slick seaweed-colored suits for Roderick. They wore more casual clothing as well when they weren’t going to work meetings or the occasional party.

 

Roderick was a great hunter and fisherman, with transparent silver fins for hair, and a silvery mustache under his nose. All three had sharp teeth, yellow-green tongues, grayish skin and glowing yellow eyes with no pupils.

 

Roderick gasped when he heard the news and said what any reasonable parent in the Envy Ring would say:

 

“Why did you let your classmate reveal my failings?”

 

“I-it wasn’t my fault,” Rolando cried. “He got into my head!”

 

“And you let him? After all we taught you? Any good son of mine would protect not only his own thoughts but the secrets of his family.”

 

“But…but you didn’t teach me how to defend…”

 

“You’re supposed to learn on your own,” his mother Roberta added. “Just like how you took your first strokes and caught your first meal…if you don’t learn, you fall behind and die.”

 

“I was lucky to make it up to my boss,” Roderick sighed. “He only cut my fin fingers off and it took several days for them to fully grow back.”

 

Roderick turned to his son. “I’m very disappointed in you. I don’t wanna hear any more of you tainting our family’s reputation anymore.”

 

“But we’re nowhere near the top…”

 

“That’s not the point! Now go to your room and write an apology letter to both of us. And you may as well concede to that bully if you’re that weak.”

 

Rolando slouched off into his room space…his dim cave bedroom with teal crystals, a bed, sets of fishing hooks and movie posters. He admired a mermaid-like woman smiling with sharp teeth on a poster labeled “Siren’s Serenade.” A couple of other posters showed his favorite bands: “The Dimmer Swimmers” and “The Megalodons.”

 

“I love you…” those words were never spoken in that way…but rather his parents would say the closest thing: “Wonderful, you’re trending, son!” Or when he would get in trouble, they would mention, “We anticipate your progress” in place of “We’ll be here to support you.”

 

He figured that those bullies would get an ‘apology’ alright. With a coral pen in his four fingered claws, he wrote his apology letters backwards to his parents and didn’t bother to acknowledge the bully.

 

Instead, the next day, he swam up silently behind the leader before he could meet up with his friends. Unlike many of his peers, Rolando was especially proficient at sneaking up on people.

 

Before the leader kid knew what hit him, Rolando manifested into goo and saw the movie in his mind.

 

“Well, well, well, the little brat wants to prove he’s a baddie at school.”

 

“Get outta my head, scrawny scumbag!”

 

“But I’m just getting started…oh! This looks like a juicy scene…”

 

“Please don’t talk about…”

 

“How you hit on Shelly Sirena but her older sister beat your ass?”

 

“Yeah…No! No! Leave it alone!”

 

“I don’t think so. How about you leave me alone and perhaps I won’t spill the pearls…”

 

“I’ll…I’ll do anything, just get out!”

 

“Really now?”

 

“…”

 

“Can you say, ‘I’m Rolando’s dumb bitch’ to your buddies?”

 

“Fuck no! Are you trying to embarrass me more? How do I know you won’t blabber on about it?”

 

“And how do I know you won’t keep harassing me? Oh yeah, here we stagnate. We can keep playing these head games, or you can do what I say.”

 

Finally…

 

“Ok, ok, just let me go…before we get in trouble!”

 

Rolando shot out of the bully’s head and re-materialized in front of him. “I already got in trouble,” he smirked. “Now it’s your turn. Good riddance to you!” He swam off.

 

Sure enough, the leader bully was soon made fun of by the other kids.

 

“You got mindfucked by scrawny Rolando? What a loser!”

 

“Your dad’s not gonna be happy.”

 

“You weren’t really our leader anyway…we just follow whoever’s the most popular! And now that person is me!”

 

Soon enough, his parents forgot about the incident and Rolando had gotten away with his scheme. Satisfied, Rolando did what many typical Envian demons do for fun: snap up little swimming prey in the vast ocean.

 

Rolando’s teen years were relatively uneventful…he fell in love with one male and two females…but he soon found out his distaste for getting too intimate with anyone. He only liked getting intimate with certain people, dragging them along until he could use their thoughts to break them.

 

“I am proud of your ruthlessness,” his father mentioned in genuine pride.

 

“We have taught you well,” his mother added. “But if you want to really continue our family line, you’ll have to find somebody to fuck and teach the next generation everything you know.”

 

“The first part would be easy,” he thought. “The teaching part…kinda boring.”

 

Yes, nothing too intense in his teen years…if you don’t count the sea-shaking moment when his two parents left him.

 

It was all a normal rite of passage…when a child entered their teen years, they were officially adults.

 

“It was an honor raising and teaching you, Rolando,” said his father.

 

“I hope you enjoy yourself in this vast world,” added his mother. “Remember to use your possession wisely…”

 

Then they said what many Envian parents say… “Goodbye and don’t die!”

 

His father and mother gave him a long warm hug…one of the few he had ever gotten and in a flash, they were gone, never for him to see again.

 

Rolando sighed somberly. “I thought those fire toads had it rough up there.”

 

The Envians called the imps in the Wrath Ring “fire toads” as a common derogatory term. He learned that from his various teachers and from movies. Hellhounds were called “buzzed mutts.” Those in Sloth were the “wasted sheep,” Sinners in Pride were called “terra freaks” due to their previous existence on Earth. Rolando’s favorite term was that for humans, “Earth apes.”

 

 

Rolando means “from the famous land,” and indeed, he would be fairly well known in Envy in the future. There was some degree of respect for demons who worked directly for the Sins, whether it was succubi, imps, infestor demons or hellhounds. This was because they were willing to spread Hell’s influence to Earth, thus move the Sins one step closer to Earth-domination and victory. There was also a natural risk for those going up to Earth…there was always the chance that their missions would fail, or they would be spotted and apprehended by the humans. There was also the chance they would die, and unlike the Sinners, they would not be able to exist again (unless you count being part of Roo the chaos goddess as some form of being).

 

Rolando hated rowdy imps from Wrath…he hated Sinners for being immortal despite having no experience being in Hell properly…and he hated humans for making Sinners and Hell exist…plus they were weird.

 

Rolando wondered where he could live and where to find work. He pondered at all the typical choices for the Envy Ring: fishermen, advertisers, seafood chefs, demon assassins, siren singers, treasure hunters, beast tamers, surfers, scuba divers, psychologists…

 

Then there were the more ordinary positions of teachers, businessmen, hotel managers, social media organizers, engineers, cleaners, royal guard…

 

Rolando eyed several positions labeled “Possession Professors,” those who taught others how to control their shapeshifting and possession powers.

 

Rolando shook his head…he was already very skilled with his own abilities and had far too much fun using them on his own.

 

There were far too many choices.

 

Many demons can live for hundreds of years…but with the nonexistence of death certain for everyone except Sinners and the Deadly Sins, there wasn’t much for Rolando to hope for.

 

Several years passed. After miserable failed attempts at working at a hotel, trying to post likable videos, trying to mimic his dad at fishing, trying to mimic his mother at siren singing, nothing seemed satisfying.

 

He admired his reflection in a watery mirror nearby, enjoying his new red pointed sunglasses with yellow trim.

 

And then, Rolando saw something that would change his brief Hellish life forever. He spotted a special ad from Leviathan himself.

 

“INFESTOR DEMONS WANTED! HELP NEEDED TO RECRUIT MORE SOULS TO HELL. EXPERIENCE THIS ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO VIST EARTH AND HUNT HUMANS. EARN RESPECT FOR YOUR MISSION TO SERVE THE ENVY SIN. EARN SOULS, BOTH CURRENCY AND ACTUAL ONES. TASTE HUMANS FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

 

“TASTE HUMANS FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

 

He had never tasted humans before…and was suddenly very curious to find out.

 

A grin of sharp teeth slowly grew on Rolando’s face as he licked his lips.

 

 

 

0 0 0

“Obsession for Possession”

 

It wasn’t long before Rolando arrived with other infestor demons near Leviathan’s abode. Leviathan could appear as fearsome as a giant sea serpent covered with eyes and spikes down his back, as stern as a king with a crown and dark robes, or as chill as a shirtless surfer dude. Sometimes he could even shapeshift into a mermaid, sending male demons into a frenzy.

 

Rolando couldn’t see much of Leviathan…he was in a shadowy form with glowing teal eyes, purple tones to his scaly skin and outfit and several eldritch tentacles waving around him.

 

Leviathan gave a brief welcoming speech and then began assigning the demons to different locations on Earth. He tested their shapeshifting and possession powers.  Rolando was able to push away most of the demons from his mind, save for a few advanced ones. Being possessed with his limbs feeling numb was not pleasant.

 

“It appears you are quite exceptional, Rolando,” Leviathan praised.

 

Rolando grinned.

 

“But don’t dream of following in my fins. That’s reserved for…me! And my relatives…” He posed with a pair of sunglasses and did a rocker/surfer pose with his fingers.

 

Rolando scoffed. ‘I’ll swim my own current thank you very much.’

 

Leviathan soon chose the top twenty-five to go on the missions. Many were disappointed with the low wage of only 66 souls per month.

 

“That’s it?” one of the demons murmured. “We’re just lowly lackeys, huh?”

 

Rolando scowled inside his head. ‘Unbelievable! Even janitors in the palaces make more than us! Those earth apes better taste good!’

 

“Glamora, your location is the abandoned MegaMountain cave.”

 

A dark blue female demon grinned and stepped through a portal toward a tall mountain.

 

“Bling,” he told a golden demon, “You get the Five Star Galore Resort in California! Be sure to only kill them at night.”

 

“Lucky,” Rolando muttered, crossing his arms as Bling vanished through his portal.

 

“Ruben, Jewels, and Aurum,” he called to three demons, “Head on over to this cemetery here.”

 

Rolando yawned until…

 

“Last but not least…Rolando!”

 

Rolando grinned and stepped forward.

 

“Here’s your location! Stay there until you’re called back to Envy and don’t let anyone see your true form! Kill anyone who may know about Hell. Good luck!”

 

He was practically shoved through the portal and soon, Hell disappeared behind him.

 

He glanced around at the gravestones and dead trees around him.

 

“Seems suitable enough,” he said.

 

Then he turned around as lightning flashed in the sky. Before him stood an old hotel called the One Star Wonder.

 

Rolando raised an eyebrow and barred his teeth. “Wait…this…this is the place I was assigned?! It’s nothing but a shitty dump!”

 

He stomped toward the building. 

 

“One Star Wonder? Me, the Five Star Wonder stuck here?! Preposterous! Not to mention having to interact with those disgusting, sinning, low-life dumbass…”

 

Rolando darted behind a corner as three people headed through the front doors of the hotel.

 

“…humans…” Rolando narrowed his eyes. 

 

He stared at his reflection in a window. He concentrated and his features shifted to manifest a human disguise.

 

An elderly man with a nearly bald head sat at the manager’s desk, wearing a black buttoned shirt and a single star on the front.

 

“Room 25 and room 16 are still available,” he droned to the customers. “Enjoy your stay and clean up after yourselves.”

 

The man bore a grouchy expression at the desk as he examined paperwork in front of him.

 

The double doors opened, and lightning flashed behind a silhouette as he slowly strolled inside. Black pointed shoes, long gray pants, a red vest, a long sleeve gray undershirt, a gaunt white face, a bald head with a blonde wave of hair off to the side, thick golden square sunglasses…

 

…unusually prominent grin of sharp teeth…

 

“Hello there, sir!” Rolando began.

 

Unfazed, the old man scoffed. “And what’s your deal, slender stranger?”

 

“I’d like to apply here and help out…”

 

“Name?”

 

“Rolando.”

 

“Where you from?”

 

“Uh…not too far from here…”

 

The manager shoved a mop and bucket toward him. “The floors need mopping, the dishes need washing and there’s mold and cobwebs along every door. We don’t want this place to go outta business.”

 

“So…I’m hired?”

 

“Until you’re fired! Now get to work, punk and stay outta my sight!”

 

Rolando seethed as he carried his equipment and left the lobby.

 

Rolando grumbled as he got to work.

 

“‘Go to Earth,’ he said. ‘Hunt humans, it’ll be fun,’ he said. Now I’m stuck doing lowborn work! Not even imps would think highly of this shit!”

 

“You missed a spot,” barked a cleaning lady, rolling an old cart around the halls. Rolando rolled his eyes. He glanced over at a stout bald bellhop, hunched over like Frankenstein’s monster. He wore a red uniform and slobbered and spattered, “B-b-bitch!” to anyone who passed by. He babbled gibberish to Rolando before straining to drag two suitcases to a nearby room.

 

‘This place is full of utter imbeciles,’ Rolando thought.

 

Rolando later helped in the kitchen, washing dishes and serving plates of spaghetti and meatballs to the groups of people in the dining hall.

 

“Hey, I asked for three meatballs, not one!” barked a man. “Get it right!”

 

Rolando’s eye twitched as he rushed around and muttered false apologies right and left.

 

“Is there proper alcohol at this place?” asked a blond woman. “This meal looks days old!”

 

Harold was retelling his heroic stories to his elderly wife Delores.

 

“So then when the Nazi’s started to advance toward the U.S. border, I stood there with my lone gun and steadfast courage and I was like, ‘Come any closer and I’ll blow your ass to dust!’ Then BAM! Shot his head clean off!”

 

“I remember our marriage all those years ago. Oh Harold, you always tell the best stories,” Delores smiled as they kissed.

 

“I can see why they call this place, ‘One Star Wonder,’ it’s no wonder you have a one-star rating in customer service,” blabbered a guy in a suit.

 

The manager stomped his foot and folded his arms as he looked at Rolando.

 

“How can you be this pathetic, this incompetent on your first day?! I’m this close to firing you, Ronaldo!” barked the manager.

 

“It’s Rolando…”

 

“Whatever! I need results! NOW!”

 

The manager stormed off into the kitchen.

 

Rolando’s face began to turn red when two boys threw meatballs around the room and one landed on his shirt, leaving an awful red stain behind.

 

“Urgh!” he grumbled. His head pounded and ached as the manager hollered one order after another.

 

‘Stay calm, stay hidden,’ Rolando told himself, fuming at the humiliation. ‘Don’t mess things up.’

 

After what seemed like an eternity, the sun finally set.

 

Rolando didn’t need to rest like humans, but he felt like he needed to hover in the ocean the way a fish sleeps in the water. He finally cleaned the last of the dishes and stacked them up. The dining room was dark and quiet, and all the guests had gone to bed.

 

“Good riddance to you, Ronaldo,” the manager scoffed. “If you think today was hard, let’s see how tomorrow does you in. Go below expectations and you’ll be walking out that door! Understand?”

 

Rolando grumbled.

 

“Are we clear?!”

 

“Yes…sir,” he grit his teeth. The manager grunted and they both walked to the desk.

 

“Everyone else has gone to bed,” said the manager. “I need you to do some last-minute organizing and then you can sleep in a corner. If it takes you until dawn, so be it. You work front desk tomorrow.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Rolando sighed as he looked at the stack of paperwork in front of him. He wished he had some spell that could transport him back home.

 

“You’re the last one here, so make the most of it, or I’ll put you through literal Hell!”

 

Rolando paused. He just now realized that he and the manager were the only ones in the lobby.

 

“Kill anyone who may know of Hell.”

 

“You believe in Hell?” Rolando asked. A slow grin formed.

 

“I’ve heard of it. Awful place. Troublesome folk like you will get sent there for sure.”

 

Rolando turned around slowly. “Oh really?”

 

He leaned his face forward. “It seems like…”

 

His eyes briefly glowed, “…a lovely place to me.”

 

“Get away from me, skinny scum!” barked the manager.

 

“I’ve been patient with you all day…” Rolando began.

 

The manager started to stomp away, but Rolando blocked his path.

 

“But my patience is wearing thin…”

 

Despite his anger, there was a look of fear in the manager’s eyes.

 

“You get out of my way and get to work…!”

 

“I am at work…” Rolando mused. “…but not for you…”

 

He backed the manager against the “staff only” door.

 

The manager was furious. “That’s it, scrawny stick! Consider yourself FIRED!”

 

The manager pointed to the double doors.

 

Rolando grinned and his features started to shift. “Oh no, sir…I’m just getting started…”

 

The manager shook as he saw Rolando’s demonic features. “W-what the fuck are you?!”

 

“Your very worst nightmare,” Rolando replied in a distorted voice. “Your sudden fear…the first real meal I’ve had today…”

 

The lights overhead sparked and flickered. He lifted up the manager with one hand by his collar with a clawed hand.

 

Rolando leaned close to the manager’s face. “Consider yourself…EXPIRED!”

 

Rolando’s grinning shadow towered on the wall showing sharp teeth. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed as the manager screamed in terror.

 

0 0 0

 

Back in his human disguise, Rolando chuckled darkly the next morning. An old black camera was off to the side. He opened a drawer and examined his most recent photo. It showed the manager’s bloodied dead corpse with all four limbs torn off.

 

He closed the drawer and showed his large fake grin to some customers.

 

“Welcome to the One Star Wonder, where we wonder why it’s still one star!”

 

“He’s certainly a shady fellow,” a brown-haired woman in a green dress exclaimed.

 

“We’re only staying one night on our way to Hollyswood,” said a blonde woman wearing purple.

 

“There will be a documentary celebrating the life of Brennan Radgers,” said a black-haired man in a suit. “We expect full room service and good accommodations while we’re here.”

 

Rolando handed over a set of keys. “Rooms 9 and 10 are off to your left. Enjoy your stay!”

 

The actresses turned up their noses and walked to their rooms.

 

“Pussy little pricks,” he muttered.

 

After he checked in a family with a boy and a girl, he mentioned, “I heard this place is haunted.”

 

The kids froze. “Really?” asked the boy.

 

“There have been some recent disturbances, so if you sense something’s amiss, don’t panic. Just give me a call and I’ll look into it.”

 

“Oh please,” said the dad. “We know that ghosts don’t exist.”

 

“But what if they do?” asked the girl. “I bet this cemetery’s full of them!”

 

“Don’t listen to him,” said the mom. “He probably likes to scare people to try and get more hotel ratings.”

 

Rolando smirked as the kids looked frantically around as they were led by their parents to their rooms.

 

 0 0 0

 

“Obsession For Possession”

 

Rolando sang as he performed his hauntings and killings.

 

“Welcome, welcome to this one-star bin

Come on by, don’t be shy, let me check you in

If you please, here’s your keys, I’m your host

Just let me warn you about the hotel ghost

 

“As you sleep in tight and rest your head

He creeps in the night and lurks under your bed

A sinister shadow removes the light

Fills your heart with dread and fright

 

“It’s me, you see

A monstrosity,

An infestor hailed from Envy

Your worst nightmare has begun, little one

You’ll be dead before the day is done

 

“You’re all my delicious pawns

I’ll shake you, break you, leave you drenched

Don’t try to run

From my sinister fun

My obsession for possession

Can never be quenched!

 

“Before long, you’ll soon find

I flow and seep into your mind

I know your flaws, your triggers, your fears

And I love to drink your tasty tears

 

“All the sins and traumas you feel

Passes to me as a delicious meal

The theater of your mind is great entertainment

There’s no escape, just your containment

 

“Exposing your shame

Is the name of my game

I’m just doing my job

You’re the only one to blame

So give me your doubts, your utter despair

Watch yourself fall when I give you a scare

Let me feast on your sea of misery

And the last one you’ll ever see

Is me!”

 

“I hope you sleep well

For soon I’ll drag your soul to Hell!

Hahahahahhaha!”

 

 

Rolando cackled, bit and slashed at an old man with dark hair. His organs were exposed in the background, and blood stained the walls and floor. His body was cut in half.

 

He paused and a cleaning lady looked up at his demonic form. He slowly turned around with a surprised expression.

 

She looked up with wide eyes, dropping her mop.

 

“H-H-housekeeping?”

 

She slowly backed away.

 

“You know my secret now. I apologize for this,” he mentioned.

 

The cleaning lady screamed as Rolando rushed forward and dealt his fatal blow.

 

A brown-haired lady Rita was muttering about Hell and spirits in her bedroom. She pulled out the Death Tarot card.

 

“I know my psychic said I would go to that bad Baltimore place today. Now what could this card possibly…”

 

Rita turned around as the lights flickered…

 

“…mean?”

 

She saw a shadow with glowing yellow eyes and a grinning mouth, and she screamed. Her decapitated head rolled onto the floor.

 

Rolando grinned as he held the photos of a human tossed into the air, the man cut in half and the beheaded Rita.

 

 

0 0 0

 

“The End From I.M.P.”

 

The double doors opened and Blitzo posed in his Bethany Ghostfucker costume and blond wig. Millie rolled her eyes as she followed him with a black staff shirt on, long pants and a black movie camera.

 

Blitzo aimed his lavender dildo-shaped device at Rolando, who lowered it with his fingers. Rolando sat at his desk in his human disguise.

 

“Welcome to the One Star Wonder where it’s a wonder we still have that star.” He cracked his head to the side. “How may I help you today?”

 

Blitzo spoke in a valley girl accent. “We’re filming a very special episode of my hit show and we’re gonna need access to every room in this dump.”

 

He held out a card to Rolando.

 

“Christ, you Hollywood assholes are pushy little pricks,” he seethed, taking the card. “I can’t just give you the keys to every ba...”

 

He read the card: “BATHINEE GOZTFUKR, I’M FAMOS, (this is a real I.D.).” There was a dick drawing on it and a crude drawing of the actress.

 

He held up the card and glanced at Blitzo, sweat beading down his face.

 

He grinned and snapped. “Well snap me in half! You’re Bethany Ghostfucker from that one show…” He put his finger to his chin.

 

“It’s called Ghostfuckers, idiot,” Blitzo remarked.

 

“No, but you’re getting close. Anyway, I am glad to see you folks. He pulled open a drawer. “We’ve been having more…”

 

An evil glint appeared in his eyes and his smile stretched. “…disturbances than usual lately.”

 

Blitzo made a show of grabbing onto his imaginary breasts. “What kind? Se-sexy disturbances?”

 

Rolando placed down three crime scene photos onto the desk. “The kind that are killing my guests!”

 

The first photo showed a shadow of a woman being tossed into the air. The second showed the corpse of a screaming old man, the floor littered with his organs and his blood splattered against the wall. The third picture showed the decapitated head of Rita the psychic lady. She used to have brown curly hair, glasses, and purple earrings, the eyes gaping black sockets.

 

“Well, there definitely ain’t no such thing as ghosts,” said Millie.

 

“You sure about that?” Rolando asked, head cocked. The lights briefly flickered overhead. 

 

Millie shrugged it off and pushed back the gruesome photos. “We’ll get to the bottom of what’s killing your guests.”

 

“Uh, yeah, except ghosts are real, camera man,” Blitzo mentioned to Millie.

 

“They’re a conspiracy, Bethany,” she replied.

 

“Uh, then what do I plan on fucking tonight?”

 

Rolando growled. “Real or not, this needs to stop.”

 

“Uh, we’ll need those keys then,” Blitzo said, holding out his hand.

 

Rolando gave them to him. “They killed my last cleaning lady and now I’m stuck with this.”

 

Rolando mentioned to a squat bell hopper dressed in a red uniform. He slobbered and babbled in an accent sounding like the alien Stitch. Millie and Blitzo flinched back in disgust. “Eugh.”

 

“Poor thing can’t even blink.”

 

Blitzo twirled the keys. “No promises. Come along Mil…I mean, camera man.” Millie huffed as she followed him.

 

An old torn portrait of Rolando holding a red rose was hung in the hall. His eyes appeared to follow the imps as they made their way down the halls.

 

Rolando could sense right off the bat that those two were no ordinary humans. They didn’t smell like humans…he knew they were hellborn imps.

 

“Let them have their little fun,” he thought. “I’ll peer into their heads and have some fun of my own…”

 

Not too long later, Rolando strolled ominously through the darkened old hallways. He couldn’t risk those imps interfering with his mission. He didn’t want to imagine the agony of shame he would feel if Envy found out that the imps had bested him in battle.

 

The imps may have been incredibly tough fighters, but Rolando had the powers of mind-reading and illusion on his side.

 

After seeing no one else in the hall, he shifted into his true form. His fin-like ears twitched as he picked up a banging sound coming from the overhead metal vents.

 

He morphed into his shadowy form and hovered in the air. He sniffed the air, silent and deadly as a hunter.

 

The imps were crawling in the vents!

 

He sensed the taller one crawling in his direction. A mischievous grin appeared on his face. He manifested a mixture of black demon blood and his own black goo and placed his fingers onto the vent cover. The black liquid poured through the openings, much of it settling onto the metal floor.

 

“SHIT! What the fuck is this?!” came Blitzo’s voice.

 

Rolando wiggled his fingers and the goo slipped and dripped faster.

 

“Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit!” Blitzo cried from inside.

 

Rolando could hear him slip.

 

“Satan, Satan, Satan, oh FUCK!” Blitzo cried as the dark goo poured down on him, causing him to barely grip onto a crack in the vent.

 

To Rolando’s delight, he heard Blitzo’s desperate screams.

 

“Millie?! Millie! Millie, I need help!”

 

Rolando snickered.

 

“I can’t hold on, Millie!”

 

Rolando got brief glimpses of Blitzo’s panicked thoughts regarding Millie and the dangerous missions they had been on.

 

Blitzo finally screamed and fell down the vent.

 

Rolando snapped his fingers, and the illusions appeared.

 

A Millie opened the vent and Blitzo fell through it. He reached out and stood up.

 

“Millie! Did you not hear me calling for help?”

 

“M-Mils!”

 

He raced after her and flinched as he saw a faceless Millie.

 

“You always need help, Blitz!” said the Millie in a distorted voice.

 

A door opened and from the darkness emerged an alternate Millie with rope tied around her wrists, broken glass in her left bloody eye and bullet holes in her clothing.

 

The Millie droned, “Always needing to take from those around you…”

 

From up in the corner, a shadowy Rolando controlled the illusions with his fingers and altered his voice with his fingers to his throat.

 

“You leave them worse and more broken than when you found them…” came the distorted voices of a burned Millie from Loo-Loo Land and a pink melting Millie from the inside of a monster fish.

 

“You think you can change?” asked a third Millie, with golden arrows from the Cherubs sticking from her right eye and her body.

 

Another Millie joined in, with a missing leg and broken arms.

 

“You’ll never stop fucking people’s lives up,” groaned all the Millies as they closed in.

 

The first Millie’s eyes bulged, black blood raining down her face. “When was the last time you actually loved someone without hurting them?” She flopped like a zombie after Blitzo and he ran away in terror.

 

Rolando zoomed after Blitzo in the air as he ran down the dark hallways. Rolando caught a glimpse of a traumatic event in Blitzo’s mind.

 

“This will surely break him!”

 

“MOM!” Blitzo screamed as he raced toward a female imp. Blitzo appeared like his teenager self and sobbed into her arms. “Momma, I was having the worst dream,” he sobbed and embraced her again.

 

“This isn’t a dream,” Rolando hissed. “This is your life. And it always will be.”

 

Blitzo pulled away as green flames spread across her arms. Blitzo cried out in horror as the green flames inched closer to her face, revealing her skull and teeth.

 

“NO! NO, NO, NO, MOM! I’M SORRY!” Blitzo wailed. His mother’s right eye fell into his hand and the flames consumed the rest of her until she vanished into dust.

 

Rolando cackled evilly as Blitzo wailed and raced into a nearby bedroom.

 

 

 

“Blitz?” Millie asked. “Blitz, where are you?”

 

Rolando slithered through the darkness, watching Millie.

 

“Hello?” Millie called. “Mox?”

 

Rolando waved his fingers again and through another door came…

 

“Mox?!” Millie cried.

 

Moxxie had branches in his hair and a gaping bullet wound in his forehead. Black blood slowly poured from the hole in his head. His arms and legs were bent at awkward angles. Hammered-in nails protruded from his arms, chest and legs.

 

“That cursed family, those kids…they did this to me,” Moxxie cried. “And you weren’t there to save me!”

 

“What, what are you talking about?!” Millie backed away…

 

…and rammed into another Moxxie.

 

Millie screamed at the sight of Moxxie’s yellow peeling face, black empty eyes, torn black suit, and green flames dancing from the remains of his white hair.

 

“Too much of a battle-hungry brute to care for those you love?” moaned the burned Moxxie.

 

“Shut up! You ain’t real!” Millie cried.

 

“What is real? What is not?” laughed a drunken Moxxie creeping from the darkness. His eyes glowed white, his skin pink, his body giving off the appearance of melting. Parts of his flesh were torn, leaving exposed bone. “Couldn’t even save us from that fish,” groaned the melted Moxxie, swooning this way and that. “Just admit you’re weak!”

 

Millie swung her fists, trying to stand her ground as the alternate Moxxies closed in.

 

“You’ll always be the dumb farm girl, underappreciated by the rest of your imp friends…”

 

Millie seethed and backed away from another Moxxie who had golden heavenly arrows protruding from his body. “It’s obvious the angels don’t care for us either!”

 

“Stay away!”

 

“You should’ve stayed behind…should’ve stayed the obedient assassin in Wrath.”

 

Millie flinched as another Moxxie walked over to her…though he had a broken neck from being strangled by Striker.

 

“Getting into fights so much…” the Moxxie cracked his neck…

 

“…more will get hurt because of your recklessness.”

 

“BANKRUPTCY! BANKRUPTCY! BANKRUPTCY!” A more current Moxxie with bulging eyes grabbed hold of her and shook her hard. Millie shoved him off and ran for her life from the alternate Moxxie illusions.

 

She stopped against the wall to catch her breath. More demonic laughter echoed in the halls.

 

 

0 0 0

 

“Come on, Blitz,” said Millie, following him out of the room. “What’s the only thing you know that comes to Earth and fucks with people’s minds that badly?”

 

“Probably an infestor possessor demon from Envy,” Blitzo responded.

 

“Bingo!” said Millie, snapping her fingers.

 

“So-ho, figured it out, have you?” asked a distorted voice. Millie and Blitzo looked around. They both got into fighting stances.

 

A grinning Rolando stood in the distance. The round overhead lights flickered off.

 

“A bit out of your depth, aren’t you, little ones?” he hissed. His face and body morphed into his true demonic form, a humanoid sea monster with glowing yellow eyes, sharp teeth, fin-like ears and scaly skin.

 

The lightbulbs exploded above them, and the imps ran for their lives. Rolando’s demonic laughter echoed through the darkened hall. Rolando chased after him as a grinning hovering shadow with red eyes and bony hands.

 

“Damn, our tiny fucking legs!” Blitzo panted as he sprinted as fast as he could. Sweat poured down their faces. Rolando appeared and disappeared in shadow as more lights exploded above him in yellow sparks. Rolando morphed himself into black goo, splashing and grabbing hold of Blitzo’s leg. Blitzo collapsed to the floor.

 

“You know my secret…” he hissed.

 

Millie raced over to help Blitzo but was lifted up in a chokehold by the shadowy Rolando. His eyes and grinning mouth glowed yellow. Blitzo reached out desperately to Millie.

 

“I guess you gotta die like all the reeesssttt!” Rolando hissed.

 

Millie and Blitzo were picked up by an invisible force. Blitzo screamed as he crashed through several walls and landed in the pool room. He banged his head against a column and coughed. Blitzo coughed and grunted as he sat up, holding his chest and wincing. The pool glowed an eerie green behind him.

 

A hand with three claws gripped the broken wall. Rolando grinned as he climbed through the copper pipes and into the area. His suit was now black with three white buttons on it. He wore sharp black boots. His fin-like hair was transparent, and he wore glowing red sharp sunglasses with yellow trim. He displayed a row of sharp white teeth and a pointed chin like an undersea predator. His skin was a scaly gray.

 

He spoke distorted and demonic, “Oh this is fun!”

 

He leaped forward and kicked Blitzo hard in the face. He laughed evilly.

 

WHACK!

 

Millie responded with a high kick of her own. She sent Rolando into a nearby wall.

 

“Atta, girl, Mils!” Blitzo swung his fist. Millie grinned back at him.

 

A grinning yellow face appeared on the surface of the water behind them. Both imps turned around as Rolando rose out of the water.

 

“No, thatta bitch!” he roared. He leaped forward and nearly grabbed Millie. He bent in a wide arch before righting himself on his knee. He then raced toward Blitzo and kneed him hard in the chin. He fell to the floor as Rolando flipped into the air toward Millie. Millie leaped toward him to attack, but he sent her down with a kick.

 

Blitzo narrowly avoided Rolando’s attack…his foot left the floor cracked where Blitzo had been moments before. Millie grunted and swung out her leg again, Rolando grinned and grabbed her foot, swinging her around. He grabbed hold of Blitzo as well, tossing them both into the pool. He grinned above them as they fell through the water.

 

As quick and deadly as a shark, Rolando zoomed through the water, his natural element. He slammed into Millie, pushing her into the wall with his head. She winced at the impact. He grabbed hold of her wrist and in a flip, slammed her against the pool floor. Holding onto Millie, he grinned as he swam to attack Blitzo. He grabbed onto Blitzo’s leg and leaped out of the water.

 

Blitzo and Millie cried out as Rolando slammed them both hard to the ground. He laughed evilly again as they both groaned on the floor.

 

Millie slowly groaned as she stood up. She helped Blitzo up and they stood together on shaking legs.

 

“You call yourselves assassins!” he mocked the imps. He moved his head, and all the lightbulbs shattered, leaving the room in darkness, save for the glowing pool. An invisible force rammed into the imps, knocking them backwards. The pillars cracked and yellow sparks rained down from the broken bulbs.

 

Rolando cocked his head. He hovered off the ground and spoke in an eerie voice.

 

“Eenie, meenie, miny…”

 

Blitzo and Mille looked up with terrified looks.

 

His glowing yellow eyes widened. “…mo!”

 

Millie and Blitzo screamed as Rolando flew at them and entered through each of their heads in black goo.

 

0 0 0

 

 

Blitzo and Millie found themselves chained to chairs in an old movie theater. They both grunted and struggled to get out in vain.

 

Rolando floated out of Blitzo and grinned. He licked his neck with his long yellow tongue and Blitzo flinched and whimpered.

 

“Welcome to the show, asshole,” Rolando mused. Rolando flew in an arch of black goo before settling in a seat behind him. He held popcorn in his hand.

 

“I hear this one’s a real titilator.” The curtains opened. He grinned and pointed at the screen. The screen was tinted green and did the old-fashioned round “3, 2, 1,” on the screen.

 

To Blitzo’s utter horror, his own memories flashed before him. He saw the fire at Loo-Loo Land, with imps and circus horses racing for their lives. Blitzo saw himself racing to save his mother…but only managing to find her red pendant. He held it tightly in his hands.

 

He saw the angry face of his father…and cried out at the sight of his father hitting him.

 

Blitzo began to cry as he saw a memory of Fizzarolli being burned on the ground. His father glared at him as Fizzarolli rested in the hospital in the background. Blitzo tried to reach Fizzarolli, but his father blocked his path.

 

Then Blitzo remembered the times when he was mocked by Robo-Fizz, and another moment when Verosika berated him during her song at Ozzie’s.

 

He could remember how he had felt lonely and left out when Moxxie and Millie kissed each other during their missions.

 

Rolando sneered and manifested rusted chains to hold Blitzo’s horns in place. He clamped open Blitzo’s tear-filled eyes, making him watch more.

 

He saw when he had gotten into an argument with Loona at the beach during spring break. Loona shoved Blitzo to the ground on Earth after Octavia had been found. Then the awful moment when Barbie Wire yelled at Blitzo for ruining her job…screaming that she never wanted to see him again.

 

Then the scenes with Stolas…how Blitzo had pulled away when Stolas had tried to comfort him at Ozzie’s. When Stolas had left him in the van…when Stolas declared that he wanted to break up with him…Stolas giving him the Asmodean crystal as a way of saying goodbye…Stolas and Veorsika and Vortex singing about how Blitzo was a motherfucker at the Blitzo hate party on Earth…Stolas’s sad drunken face…Stolas making out with the pink male incubus, their tongues locked together…Millie berating him for his cosplay…

 

“Blitz!” Millie strained in her chair next to him. “Snap out of it!”

 

“Silence, bitch!” Rolando snapped. “Don’t try to ruin our little fun…you’re next!”

 

“We’ll get out of this mess, Blitz!” Millie strained against the chains.

 

Rolando flew toward Millie. “Oh, the filthy little Wrathian wants to help!”

 

Rolando licked her neck as well. “You can’t help anyone, you’re just the muscle, remember?”

 

The screen shifted and soon, Millie’s memories began to play on screen. Millie gasped as she saw the disapproving looks from her parents after she had told them she was going freelance.

 

Then she saw the stern face of her overlord from her first job…a heavyset imp with a broad ax and spines along his back. He had told her to kill twenty rogue demons before several coworkers by the end of the day…the assassins who failed would be killed in front of them. Millie had been grateful to have survived the ordeal.

 

“Fighting is all you and your imp kind are good for. You said it yourself.”

 

Millie flinched in disgust at the sight of Chaz’s arrogant face…the shark teen bragging about himself and rubbing himself on top of her. Rolando snickered in the background.

 

“Let us go, asshole!” Millie hollered.

 

“I’m in your minds, bitches!” he called to the straining imps. “I see everything. Every thought, every opinion and boy…”

 

He grinned. “…you both have nasty shit to say about the other…”

 

“Don’t listen to him,” called Millie.

 

Blitzo paused. “Hey, I don’t see my memories anym…”

 

Rolando morphed back near Blitzo, and his memories played across the screen again.

 

“NO! STOP!” Blitzo screamed, tears running down.

 

“Your level of insecurity is intoxicating,” Rolando purred. “I can’t wait to see how you taste when you drive away the one person left who puts up with your bullshit.”

 

Rolando laughed. “Blitzo thinks you’re a brute, Millie! Too stupid to do anything but kill!”

 

“That’s not true!” Millie protested.

 

“You never should’ve left the farm! You’re nothing but a backwards, filthy, inbred, lowborn fucking hick!”

 

Millie rolled her eyes. “Ya done?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Rolando paused then grinned. “Oh no. I’m just getting started, my dear.”

 

Rolando spoke to both of them. “Nobody cares about you guys or what you want. They’re too caught up in their own misery to even remember you exist. Especially you, girl.”

 

“Now look here, combover,” Millie glared. “You may think you know everything, but you missed two. One, your words don’t mean shit to me and two…Blitz can handle this!”

 

“Can he now? Can you?”

 

Rolando grinned as Blitzo’s memories played.

 

“It would be a shame if you two decided to take…a little swim with me…”

 

Millie and Blitzo’s possessed bodies stood up, both eyes glowing blank yellow. Rolando moved back and forth from Millie to Blitzo. Their bodies inched slowly toward the pool, robotic in motion. Millie sat near the edge of the pool as her memories played. When Rolando moved back to Blitzo, Blitzo’s body dropped down into the water like a rock.

 

Blitzo and Millie gasped in horror.

 

Millie then realized her memories weren’t on screen. “Blitz! He can only possess us fully one at a time!”

 

Blitzo’s eyes widened then he winked.

 

“Blitz can handle this!” Millie said again.

 

“Oh no he can’t!” Rolando countered, getting closer to Blitzo. “He’ll be swimming with the fishes before long!”

 

Blitzo felt himself gasping for breath and Rolando laughed. Blitzo’s memories were starting to go dark.

 

With Rolando distracted, Millie used her strength to slowly break free of her chains.

 

“You’re wrong. So buckle up, buttercup!” Millie spat at Rolando.

 

When Rolando got too close, Mille whirled around and slapped Rolando in the face with a free hand. The impact caused Rolando to lose his grip on Millie’s body. He smacked her in the head, and she winced.

 

“Just wait until I finish off your pathetic little boss friend!”

 

He moved toward Blitzo, sinking his body further.

 

Millie closed her eyes, and the pool room slowly came back into focus.

 

“Come on, come on, come on, come on…”

 

Millie shook herself awake and saw a drowning figure in the water.

 

“Blitz!”

 

She dove in and pulled him up. Rolando used Blitzo to try and drag her back in, but Millie slipped out of his grip and raced onto the deck.

 

“Come and get me, fishbrain!” called Millie.

 

Possessed Blitzo growled.

 

The possessed Blitzo climbed out of the water and attacked her with his fists, which she blocked. He wrapped her with his tail, shoving her aside. Millie dodged his foot as he flipped over. Rolando grabbed her arm and spun her around. He spun her in a dance then knocked his head into her. He then tossed her over the pool and onto the other side. Rolando swam through the water and leaped out with a splash at Millie.

 

He lifted her up and slammed her into a pillar, which cracked on impact. He spun in a loop around another pillar and aimed his feet at her. She moved back and dodged his landing. She then dodged every one of his fists.

 

Millie then grinned and swooped her foot under his, sending him to the floor. Millie then gripped both his arms from behind.

 

“Like I said, combover, your words don’t mean shit to me!” Millie smirked. She punched him in the face and tossed him into a wall. Rolando was then punched and beaten rapidly by Millie’s fury of punches to his face and gut. The wall cracked from behind him. Rolando cried out, spitting black blood.

 

“This is what you get for messing with my friend!” Millie hollered. She grunted and with her strength, she slammed him against the floor. Rolando turned around…

 

WHAM!

 

Millie finished him off with a roundhouse kick to the chin. He collapsed, Blitzo’s head hanging partially in the water. Blitzo’s mouth opened, and Rolando flew out from his mouth in a black gooey shadow.

 

Blitzo slowly blinked and sat up, rubbing his head. “Ugh, good work, Mils.”

 

“Oh-ho!” Blitzo cried out as Millie punched him in the face. She punched again. “AH FUCK, IT’S ME!”

 

Millie covered her mouth. “Oh! Shit! Sorry!” She chuckled, bending down. “It’s good to have you back, boss.”

 

Rolando hoisted himself up, dripping wet on the floor.

 

“You little ass plugs are done for! You’re dead, Bethany!”

 

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” Blitzo said, walking over to him, holding his device. “I ain’t Bethany Ghostfucker…”

 

He spoke with newfound confidence, “Tonight I’m Blitz, DEMON-DICKER!”

 

Blitzo yelled and slapped Rolando with his device. He fell into the pool.

 

Rolando lifted up his head. He shrugged his shoulders, putting out his hands as if to say “What the fuck? I’m in my natural element.”

 

Blitzo then kicked his ghostfucker device into the water.

 

The device sank into the water and electricity sparked and zigzagged across the surface. Rolando realized too late that he was in danger.

 

The fish screamed in agony as he was fried by the electricity. His glasses exploded and his yellow eyes melted as black blood gushed out from them. His screams turned distorted. His body and head sank to the bottom.

 

Blitzo raised his fist in triumph. “AAANNND THAT’S HOW YOU GET GHOSTFUCKED!”

 

Millie embraced Blitzo. “Let’s go home.”

 

Blitzo grinned and kicked open the doors. “Yeah, fuck hotels.”

 

 

 

 

AU: Rolando Wins

 

“So, you figured it out, have you?”

 

Rolando’s distorted voice echoed through the hallway as Blitzo and Millie got into fighting stances. He stood in his human disguise, hands behind his back, then briefly vanished.

 

“A bit out of your depth, aren’t you little ones?” Rolando grinned. His features shifted in the dark, eyes glowing yellow and fin-like white hair appearing.

 

The imps ran for their lives as the lightbulbs burst above them. Rolando laughed as he chased them as a slithering shadow with red eyes.

 

“Damn our tiny fucking legs!” Blitzo yelled, breathing heavily. More lights burst into shattered pieces. Rolando chased them and morphed into black goo.

 

“You know my secret…” he hissed.

 

He grabbed onto Blitzo’s leg, making him collapse to the floor.

 

Millie reached out to Blitzo but was caught in a chokehold by the shadowy Rolando.

 

“I guess you gotta die like all the reeeessssttt!” Rolando screeched.

 

He lifted Blitzo up with an invisible force and shoved him through several walls. Blitzo banged his head against a column and groaned on the floor of the pool area. He coughed and gasped, slowly sitting up and wincing.

 

A hand with three claws gripped the wall. Rolando came out from among the pipes, grinning in his dark suit and red and yellow pointed sunglasses.

 

“Oh, this is fun!” Rolando mused in his distorted voice.

 

Rolando leapt forward and kicked Blitzo down. His foot was on Blitzo’s head, and he laughed.

 

Millie responded by swinging her leg and kicking Rolando hard into the wall.

 

“Atta, girl, Mils!” Blitzo praised, raising a fist. Millie smiled.

 

Rolando’s eyes glowed from under the surface of the water.

 

“No, thatta bitch!” Rolando roared, leaping out of the water. He bent his body in a wide arch before turning around to attack. Rolando kneed Blitzo in the chin and sent Millie down with a kick as she tried to attack.

 

Blitzo avoided Rolando’s attack as Rolando grabbed Millie’s foot and swung her around. He grabbed hold of Blitzo as well and tossed them both into the pool. He grinned above them as they fell through the water.

 

As quick as a shark, Rolando rushed at the imps underwater. He headbutted Millie into a nearby pool wall and she winced at the impact. He flipped then turned Millie around, slamming her against the pool floor. He held onto Millie and raced at full speed toward Blitzo. Rolando then leapt out of the water, holding onto the imps’ feet and slammed them against the floor. They both cried out.

 

Rolando laughed evilly as he paced back and forth.

 

“You call yourselves assassins?” he mocked. An invisible force shattered the light bulbs overhead and knocked the imps back.

 

Cocking his head, Rolando hovered off the ground and spoke in an eerie voice.

 

“Eenie…meenie…miny…”

 

Blitzo and Millie looked up with terrified looks.

 

“…mo!” Rolando finished, his eyes widening as he stared at Blitzo.

 

He zoomed toward Blitzo, intending to possess him…

 

…then he thought, ‘I have a better idea!’

 

In one swift motion, Rolando gripped Blitzo’s arms from behind and bit hard into his neck.

 

“ARRUUUAAHH!”

 

“BLITZ!” cried Millie.

 

Black blood spurted from the imp’s neck.

 

“Get away from him!” Millie shouted.

 

Rolando licked his lips before he rushed at Millie. Blitzo groaned in pain, rolling on the floor. “Get him, Mils!” he wheezed.

 

Millie and Rolando shared several attacks, blocking punches and exchanging kicks. For a moment, Millie gained the upper hand, knocking him back and punching him repeatedly in the face. She shoved him away and raced toward Blitzo.

 

“Did you get him?”

 

“I think so…”

 

“I think…I know how to defeat him! Throw him in the water and kick my Ghostfucker device in. He’ll be a fried fish in no time…”

 

Millie spotted the device near the pool.

 

“Hurry before he possesses us!”

 

Millie nodded and raced back toward Rolando.

 

But Rolando had already left the spot he was at before.

 

“Looking for this thing?”

 

Millie paused and spotted Rolando lifting up the device with telekinesis.

 

He smirked. “You do know I can read both of your thoughts, right? How else would I have created my illusions in the first place.”

 

With a flick of his wrist, he sent the device toward the wall, destroying it with a crash and a flash of electricity and sparks.

 

“Oops.”

 

Blitzo and Millie looked on in horror. The imps moved back as Rolando strolled forward, towering over them.

 

He pointed at Blitzo, “You know, I figured that I could toy with your mind for a while and taunt your lowborn hick friend. But then I thought, ‘why not weaken you first?’”

 

Rolando rushed at Blitzo again and pressed his foot into his throat. Blitzo coughed and gasped for breath.

 

Millie slammed into Rolando, but he soon shoved her aside. The two rivals fought for several minutes. She slammed him into the walls and floor, punched him multiple times and claimed his taunts had no effect on her.

 

“Your words don’t mean shit to me!” Millie declared. “Blitzo and I can handle this!”

 

“You sure about that?”

 

Rolando appeared to flee from her, but soon rushed into Blitzo’s head. He gleefully saw all of his tragic traumas, from his dad hitting him to his mother’s death, to Stolas breaking up with him, to the arguments with his sister and Fizzarolli and Verosika.

 

Blitzo’s eyes turned blank yellow. Millie braced herself to attack her possessed friend.

 

“I know you’re in there, Blitz. He hasn’t weakened you that much. I’ll knock that comrover out of you and we’ll defeat him toget…”

 

To Millie’s shock and horror, Rolando seeped out of Blitzo, grabbed him and leaped sideways into the pool. Blitzo struggled to lift himself to the surface.

 

“Oh no you don’t, asshole!” Millie hollered. She dove into the water, wrapped her arm around Blitzo and swam up as fast as she could. They both breached to the surface, catching their breath.

 

The hairs stood up on Millie’s neck.

 

“Oh shit, it’s a…”

 

She was cut off by a hand grabbing her leg and dragging her toward the bottom. She was shoved into the wall, barely having time to react. She swam forward with all her might, Blitzo reaching out to her with his hand.

 

Rolando grabbed hold of Blitzo and slammed him hard against the pool floor once last time.

 

Millie hoisted Blitzo in her arms and kicked upward to the surface. She gasped for breath and lifted Blitzo out of the water. She leaped onto the floor and bent down to look at Blitzo.

 

“Blitz! Sir! Stay with me, please, you’ve got this…”

 

“Mils…” he groaned. Black blood poured slowly from his neck.

 

“Come on, come on, don’t give up…” Millie begged.

 

“You…can handle this…” Blitzo wheezed. Millie’s hands shook as his head flopped to the side.

 

“No…no, no, NO, Blitz!” She shook him.

 

He remained motionless.

 

‘Please let this be an illusion…this…this can’t be happening…’

 

“This is no illusion, my dear,” Rolando purred from behind. “This is the reality of your defeat.”

 

Millie whirled around and snarled at him with razor sharp teeth and crimson red eyes.

 

“I’LL KILL YOU…FISH FACED BASTARD!”

 

She blindly threw punches which he blocked.

 

Rolando licked his lips. “Your anger and grief is utterly INTOXICATING! I don’t even need to be inside your head to feel it!”

 

“I can still defeat you!”

 

Rolando moved from side to side, dodging her attacks. He chuckled when he saw she was getting worn out. He slid over and pinned her against a pillar.

                                             

“What would you parents think of you now? How disappointed they would be to find that their daughter let her assassin boss die!”

 

Milie fumed. “I don’t regret it! I joined I.M.P. and I found a place I could call home. I don’t care what you say about me, I’ll defeat you alone if I have to!”

 

“Go ahead,” said Rolando. “I’d like to see you try as I’m feeding off your despair right now!”

 

Millie glanced toward the door and began to run.

 

“Running away like a coward, are we? Not so tough now, are you?”

 

Millie was almost out of the room.

 

“What are you gonna tell you coworkers back in Hell?”

 

Millie yelped and skidded to a stop just as Rolando appeared in front of her. He lifted up Millie with his powers and slammed her into the wall.

 

Millie groaned and spotted Blitzo’s corpse off to the side. She stood up in a fighting stance on shaking legs.

 

Rolando strolled forward. “Look at you, you’re nothing but a brute and still no match for me! It’s so pleasing to see you cry.”

 

Millie wiped tears from her eyes.

 

“Think you can still handle this? You all alone?”

 

Normally she would easily…she was the finest warrior in I.M.P.

 

But with her boss now dead…

 

‘I…I can’t…he’s gone, I can’t do this…’

 

Millie couldn’t hide her true thoughts…and Rolando knew it, too.

 

Rolando smirked. “So here’s to the end of Bethany Ghostfucker and the lowborn hick!”

 

Before she could blink, Rolando rushed at her with his jaws open wide and she screamed.

 

0 0 0

 

Loon and Moxxie arrived at the One Star Wonder, lobby, looking around.

 

“They’ve got to be here somewhere,” Moxxie said. “Let’s hurry, I still got to figure out those numbers!”

 

Loona sniffed the air. “There’s a great evil here…he’s right over…”

 

“Hello!” called Rolando in his human form. “How can I help you?”

 

“We’re looking for our boss and our other coworker,” said Moxxie.

 

Rolando grinned and pulled out two photos. “Do these two individuals ring a bell?”

 

Moxxie and Loona’s faced turned pale.

 

“N-no, what happened? What is this?!”

 

“W-what the fuck?” Loona barked. “What did you do?! Is this some sort of prank?”

 

“It’s no prank, little ones…” Rolando’s features shifted into his demonic form with glowing eyes. “It’s the beginning of your doom!”

 

Loona and Moxxie’s terrified screams were enough for Rolando.

 

“I can’t wait to enjoy my feast tonight!”

 

In Rolando’s hands were four new crime scene photos. One showed Blitzo dead on the floor surrounded by his black blood. Another showed a motionless Millie with a gaping hole in her chest. Moxxie’s body had been torn in half with his arms separated. And poor Loona was now a beheaded corpse.

 

Rolando cackled in victory as lightning flashed outside.

 

 

 

0 0 0

 

“Hello, little human. I know I met my end in the swimming pool by those blasted imps, but I noticed something interesting about your world. Apparently, ghosts exist, and souls can reincarnate back on Earth. Humanity has really made a mess of itself, wouldn’t you agree? Would be a shame if you somehow helped me kill off those in your world and bring them to Hell for me…

 

You won’t do it? It’s not a request from me, dear…if I can possess demons, I can certainly possess humans, including you. Your soul will be dragged to Hell by me no matter what you believe in. I’m already sensing your deepest fears…you won’t be in charge of your body and your mind anymore…your very identity is mine. Now hold still and prepare to meet your doom! Hahahahaha!”