(UNDER EDITING) Interlopers: Down The Rabbit Hole (A Hazbin Hotel Reader Insert)

Chapter 4: Two Views, Two Choices

Not much was happening back at the lobby.

Husk was still fast asleep on the front desk, beside the unfinished bottles of alcohol and some of his shedding.

The strong scent of booze clashed with the faint scent of Alastor cooking jambalaya in the kitchen.

Nifty was who knows where, and Vaggie left earlier to guard the hotel from the outside.

...So that doesn't leave much for Mara to do...

Might as well look around...

The firefly stood up and cautiously approached the snoring receptionist. His back slowly rising and falling lulled her to what may be a sense of false security. She cautiously reached her hand towards him, her fingers inches away from his fur.

Suddenly, Husk interrupted his own snores with a snort. Mara retracted her arm in panic, her wide eyes hidden by her mask. Relief washed over as Husk went back to sleep, like nothing ever happened...

'Why did I even attempt that? Idiot, you're in hell. Stop being naive...'

She turned to one of the paintings in the lobby.

...The Morningstar family painting.

Even through a painting, she could feel Lucifer and Lilith's piercing eyes in her soul. She slowly walked towards it, seeing the portrait closer.

At the right was the ringmaster himself...Lucifer Morningstar. What used to be God's favorite, now reduced to the beast he's become.

'Maybe that's why he stopped having favorites. He didn't want something like this to repeat again...I don't understand though, it's Lucifer's fault for being prideful, not his...'

Mara sighed, and looked down at the red carpet floor.

'But then again, who am I to question? This only proves how loving the Lord truly is...'

At the left was Lilith. The queen of hell herself. Rejected Adam for a fallen angel, and fled from her duty as the mother of mankind.

'I could never understand you, Lilith. I'd do anything to wed my would-be husband if it weren't for my banishment...but I guess it would be fitting for the temptress to choose lust with Lucifer over love with Adam...'

Mara ran her thumb through the painting, smearing some of the dust off.

'And hell is a lustful, yet loveless place too. Maybe that's what made being its queen so appealing to you...'

In the middle was Charlie. Her timid eyes and smile contrasted to the sharp glares her parents gave off.

Here, she showed no signs of hostility or ill-will. If Mara didn't know better, she would've mistook Charlie as someone else's daughter.

'...Why is she like this? Why would the anti-christ show compassion?...It must be a trick, right? She just wants to lure me into a false sense of security, right?...'

'But she seemed so nice...What did that girl do to deserve being Lucifer's daughter? She wouldn't hurt me, right?'

'...Right?'

Mara leaned back and groaned audibly, gently slapping her mask where her cheeks would be.

"Get yourself together, Mara. Stop contradicting yourself."

She pointed at the Charlie portrait in an accusing manner.

"I won't let you play with my head like this! This may be your hotel, but I will not let you lead me astray!" She whispered.