The Devil’s Intern Part 7

Dis, city of demons. A festering hive of scum and villainy. The hellish streets were covered in dust and littered paper. Its inhabitants scurried from one sin-filled building to the next. No different from Detroit. And at the heart of this rustic city was its popular attraction, Babylon. A place where hard working demons can come in and relax, enjoying the festivities of its nightly raves and live entertainment.

Lu, Joshua, and the gang — consisting once again of Lilith, Scrugs, Balthazar, Ghuul, and Moloch — stood out side the popular resort, studying its marvelous structure. It was a very moldy looking building, crooked as the city it nested within. It looked like four different buildings were poorly stacked on top of each other. But the one thing that caught Joshua's eye was a neon sign flashing 'Live Girls & Guys'.

"You're taking me to a strip club?" Joshua gasped.

"It's not a strip club," the devil coughed, "It's a... well... it's like a Hooters restaurants."

"Yeah, it's totally family friendly." Ghuul added, "They do kid's birthday parties too."

"What am I suppose to learn here?" Joshua asked. He was started to get a little irritated with the devil and his demons' antics.

"What every good boss should do," Lu said, "First, check to see how their businesses are holding up. Second, and most importantly, get to know their employees. I own the joint now, and I've gotten familiar with some of the hardest working folks this side of the Inferno."

Lu, Joshua, and the others all entered into the popular clubhouse, where they were greeted by an employee at the front. It was another succubus much like Lilith, but her skin tone was mint green, and her eyes and hair were greedy jade. Her black leather top matched her skin-tight shorts. Her smile was paired perfectly with her luscious personality.

"Welcome to Babylon." she greeted. Her voice was very soothing and flirtatious. "My name is Sitri. I am here to serve your greatest desires."

"Hello, my dear." the devil gave a sneer. "Table for seven, if you please."

"Very well, my lord." The waitress replied. Her gaze then focused on Moloch like a hungry predator. Her deadly smile curled all around. 

Moloch's chapped lips also made a flirty grin. His brows bounced about the more he thought about this sexy little creature. Sitri strutted her way towards the hulking behemoth and wrapped herself inside his large, muscular arms.

"Well hello to you, my favorite customer." She winked at him. Her fingers crawled along his pecs like a flirting daddy long-legs. "Been a while since you dropped by. I was beginning to feel lonely."

Moloch held the waitress close to him. His large hand gave her a couple pats on her rump, which the green succubus greatly enjoyed. The rest of the company chuckled as they watched their friend get lucky. All but Joshua were amused.

He did not know this stranger but he knew Moloch was the father of his friend. From what he knew he was married with twenty-three other children. The ideal that this huge demon was flirting with this employee felt it was disrespecting a sacred bond that he was taught. He then figured that all demons probably cheat on their wives at some point.

Sitri then led the group deep to the building. Inside the clubhouse it was alive with color. Not just from the employees but also the flashing strobe lights and color-coated dance stage. The interior clean, polished, unlike its exterior. There was a large stage where dancing incubi and succubi entertained a cheering crowd. Catchy techno music blast through the surrounding sound system which made the employees on stage dance wildly on the poles.

The employees were strictly one of two species of demons: the very humanoid succubi and incubi. The succubi Joshua was already familiar with, having been associated with Lilith before. The incubi were much like their colorful sisters. Very near human with the exception of their hair, skin, and eyes a multitude of colors from a demonic rainbow. The only difference was the whole population were made of males, just as their counterparts, the succubi, were made of females. And unlike their female counterparts, the males were topless, wearing only skin-tight, black leather shorts as their clothing.

It did not matter the gender or sexual preference, these two species kept a wild crowd under their control with the help of their pheromones they secretly emitted. Yet there was some type of mist in the air that helped shine on the pheromones, making them sparkle like a night lit sky.

Once Sitri had the group placed at a large, rounded table. She wrote down everyone's orders. A double bourbon for Lu, a couple beers for Balthazar and Ghuul, a dry martini for Lilith, a strawberry milkshake for Scrugs, and a glass of water for Joshua Wordsworth.

She then went to Moloch for his order. But instead of standing like she did with the others, she plopped herself down into his lap. Her small form made her look like a doll compared to the muscle bound demon.

"What about you, big boy?" Sitri flirted again. "Wanna taste of the appetizer? Or would you rather have the whole dish?"

"Careful ma'am." Balthazar teased, "He's a happy, married demon."

Moloch's dark eyes darted at his friend. A low-sounding growl bellowed out of him. He was not amused by the comment, and neither was Joshua. 

Sitri's hand moved Moloch's head back to her enchanting gaze, which seemed to calm him back down, "Oh I'm sure the missus won't mind at all." she said.

"Wonder what the rest can get, eh love?" Lilith joined in, also giving her colorful kin a flirtatious wink.

Sitri tittered, "Sorry but this one's got me all to himself."

Moloch stood up from his spot and walked off, carrying the green succubus in his biceps. The two never took their loving gazes off each other. Their smiles complimented each other too. 

Joshua felt like his was going to barf from all this grown demon, lovey-dovey, adultery. "Is there a bathroom around here?"

"Down that way," Lu pointed to the other end of the building. Joshua jumped from his seat and made his way there. He didn't really have to go to the bathroom but he needed a minute to separate himself from the others.

Joshua wandered around the large clubhouse. He noticed there was definitely more than just a dance studio. There were also slot machines, a large dance floor for partying demons, and an arcade area for more entertainment. Maybe that arcade is for the aforementioned kids, Joshua pondered. Perhaps he could hang out there for a bit until their food arrived.

Before Joshua could make his way towards the arcade he saw someone exit out of one of the bathrooms. There was a boy too. A demon child. But this demon child looked familiar. Black hair, orange hoodie, and a pointed, serpentine tail. 

The boy looked like Dominic, a friend of his and Rosemary's. Finally a familiar face, and someone around his age. But what was he doing here? Certainly not old enough to be a customer. He watched as his friend entered into another room with an open door.

Joshua rushed over to see what his friend was doing. At the entrance of the doorway he watched as the other boy took a seat at desk inside what looked to be a large dressing room, likely used by the employees. Dominic then picked up a pencil from his bag and started writing away on some paper. On his desk were also some textbooks for different courses. From what Joshua could tell they weren't about subjects dealing with torturing souls or learning spells. These textbooks looked much like the textbooks he has at his school.

Joshua worked the courage to enter the dressing room. "Dominic?" he asked the boy.

Dominic's dark eyes, much like his father's eyes, glanced up briefly. "Oh hey Josh." he gave a friendly greeting. "What're you doing down here?"

"I'm doing an intern thing with Lu, as part of a school project." Joshua explained, watching as his friend focused on his work.

"That's cool."

"What about you? Why are you here?"

"My mom works here." Dominic answered as he wrote on his assignments. "I'm allowed to do some homework here as long as I'm not distracting the employees. It's better working on it here than at my house where it's too noisy to concentrate. You know, twenty-two other siblings and all."

"Oh, your mom's here?" Joshua started feeling funny in his stomach. It was a gut-wrenching, guilty feeling. He feared Dominic doesn't know about his father being present and has captured the attention of an employee. Unless... 

"Which one is your mom?" he stuttered nervously, hoping his friend's answer might give him some ease. It beat having to break his heart.

Dominic briefly glanced up at the doorway. "The one dancing with my dad."

Josh looked back. Directly where the dance floor was located the monstrous Moloch and the seductive Sitri tangoed to the music. Things started to become clear to Josh now.

"She mostly takes orders and serves them," Dominic continued, "but once and a while she'll have to do some music numbers with the other workers. Yet she does "special offers" for only my father and no one else."

"Wow." Joshua sighed, feeling relieved. "I didn't know you're mom's a... uh..."

"Waitress." Dominic finished for him. "Sometimes showgirl."

"Right." Joshua now felt guilty for having judged his friend's parents so harshly.

Dominic noticed his human friend's discomfort. He stopped writing and calmly explained. "Look, I know what you're thinking. I get it. My parents don't really have the most glamorous jobs in the whole universe. My dad tortures people and my mom entertains them. But they're still my parents. They do everything they can to provide a better life for me and my siblings. Isn't that something all parents strive to do?"

"It hasn't been easy, but they're still together and have been that way for, like, over a thousand years now. And I appreciate everything they've done for us. After all they're my parents, and I love them."

Joshua thought about what the demon boy had said. His words helped make a smile on his face. Perhaps there was more than he had been taught.

Just then Sitri entered the dressing room alone, carrying a plateful of food. She still carried that same pleasant smile that she had before. 

"Hey sugar." she said, walking the food over to her thirteenth born child. "Figured you might be getting hungry, so I spared you a couple of burgers and fries."

"Thanks mom." Dominic said, happily taking one of the burgers off the plate.

Sitri then leaned in on his desk, examining his homework. "Whatcha working on?" she politely asked.

"Just some algebra. It's hard but I can handle it."

"That's good. Oh, one more thing. Liza can't come in later so they needed me to fill in for her shift, which means I'll be working overtime tonight."

"It's okay mom. I understand. You do what you gotta."

His mother smiled brighter, "Thanks, sugar." She leaned forward and kissed her son's forehead. "How did we get so blessed to have you?"

Dominic's mother walked away, proceeding back to her job as a waitress and hard working mom. Joshua said goodbye to his friend and headed back to his table. Get to know the employees, or at least learn something about an employee. Just one of Lu's teachings. Joshua figured that perhaps he could learn a thing or two from the devil.