The Handi-Mart looked deserted when Rose walked in to escape the suffocating August heat. She browsed the aisles and grabbed a few snacks for her shift at the hotel that evening. Bo's oldest son, Kaine, was at the register. "Hey Rose," he acknowledged her with a friendly smile. Kaine was thirty-seven, and his brother Cole was thirty-four. Rose hadn't attended school with them, but she knew the boys well from seeing them at the gas station all these years.

"Hey, how has business been?" Rose questioned, looking around the mostly dead store. Usually, the place was packed with customers, but maybe the heat had everyone cooped up inside. Cole glanced around almost nervously before being elbowed by his brother. Rose shook her head, figuring it was an inside joke or something.

"You missed the morning rush." Kaine laughed. He gave her a funny look as he scanned the bag of tortilla chips, guacamole, monster energy drinks, and Slim Jim's. "In for a crazy night?"

"No, just work, unfortunately. You know how it is running a business, you have to cover all of the shifts when your drunk employee doesn't show up to work." Rose sighed, and the brown-haired man smiled at her.

"Too bad, a girl like you deserves a crazy night once in a while. Did you hear about the party in the forest this weekend?" Kaine asked, totaling her groceries.

"I've heard talk of it, but no formal invite. I'm not even sure who is throwing it," Rose insisted and handed Kaine her debit card.

"I hear it's the Quints, they're celebrating Paxton's big promotion." Kaine smirked at Rose flirtatiously. "Would you maybe consider coming with me?"

Rose blushed, taking the grocery bag from Kaine. He was obviously asking her out on a date, but she wasn't sure what to think about that. Then again, a party actually sounded like fun; it had been months since she went out and enjoyed herself. One night wouldn't hurt. "Sure, I'd love to go. What time does it start?"

"Ten p.m. on Friday. Paxton wants to do a bonfire." Kaine grinned. "He's really excited."

Rose's eyebrows shot up. "It must be one hell of a promotion," she said thoughtfully. It was well known that Paxton never stayed in one job for long. He was always getting fired or quitting at the drop of a hat. She remembered how cocky he'd acted in high school, expecting the world to do him favors. He had no ambition from what Rose observed, but maybe he had turned his life around.

"Apparently." Kaine chuckled. He waved as Rose headed out the door. "See you on Friday, Rosie!"

Rose cringed at the annoying nickname. Cat started using it years ago, and now everyone else had jumped on the bandwagon. Her mind drifted to Kaine as she got into her car. He was handsome in a rugged sort of way, but he was ten years older than her.

Rose hadn't been on a date in a long time. Her last boyfriend was Dylan O'Dell; they dated from high school until a couple of years ago. He had started being really clingy and accused her of flirting with Komazzi. He never believed her when she insisted he was sleeping over because of Cat. It certainly wasn't that Komazzi wasn't attractive, but he would never even look twice at Rose.

She looked at the clock and realized she still had several hours before she needed to head to the hotel, and decided to stop by the house and maybe take Cerberus for a walk to the park. He always enjoyed going anywhere with Cat or Rose. Rose wandered up the stairs, still lost in thought about her pseudo date. Maybe she should go shopping with Cat and get a new outfit. She was pulled back to reality when she accidentally bumped into Matt as she exited the elevator.

"I am so sorry!" Matt exclaimed. "I was just stretching my legs. I need to get back in shape and back to work as soon as possible." Matt had been having nightmares about Paxton being his temporary stand-in and getting Komazzi killed.

"No, it was my fault. How are you feeling?" Rose asked, fiddling with her keys. It was strange realizing that she and Cat had this entire floor to themselves for so long. She was still adjusting, as she rarely saw any other neighbors in the halls. The private penthouse elevator went all the way to the ground floor and required a special key card to get in. Usually it was provided to guests by the doorman.

"I've had better days. My brain doesn't seem to be working right. I somehow managed to lock myself out of the apartment and Rory is at work; I feel like such a moron." Matt groaned. He absolutely hated this feeling of hopelessness. He hadn't experienced it since before he moved in with Komazzi and realized the powers the T.V had given him. He was physically weak and his mind was fuzzy, barely holding a thought for more than ten seconds.

"Do you want to come inside and wait for her?" Rose asked. "I'm pretty sure Cat is at the office with Bane." Rose smiled, opening her apartment door and motioning for Matt to enter. Cerberus bounced around excitedly, seeing his friends.

"I don't want to impose. I can just wait out here; it's not like anyone is around," Matt insisted, blushing. He couldn't believe how stupid he was locking his keys inside. Rose stared at him, rolling her eyes.

"Just get inside." Rose laughed, entering the apartment and leaving the door open. There was a loud bang as Matt walked into the room. It clearly came from Cat's room. Rose and Matt exchanged confused glances as there was another loud bang from Cat's room. "Cat isn't supposed to be home."

"Maybe she got home early, and she's upset about something," Matt muttered under his breath. That's when he noticed Komazzi's slacks on the floor and nearby was the tie Matt had gotten him for Christmas last year. No...that wasn't possible...Komazzi wouldn't dare do that with Cat...would he? His concerns were validated as he opened Cat's bedroom door to find Komazzi and Cat in a compromising position. "Ohh, God! I'm sorry, I'll just...uh, leave you to whatever you are doing." The blonde quickly turned away, his face crimson with embarrassment. Obviously Komazzi had needs, but Matt had never actually put thought into it. Now the image of Cat doing that to Komazzi was stuck in his head.

"What the fuck? What about Bane?" Rose exclaimed, staring slack-jawed at her indecent roommate. Thoughts raced through her mind, all of the theories about Cat that Allie had told her. Could they all be true? How could any of this be explained away? Questions continued to pile up as Cat and Komazzi scrambled to pull on their clothes.

Matt spotted Komazzi's boxers and casually kicked them into the bedroom toward the scrambling vampire.

"Seriously, you could have knocked," Cat growled, ignoring her roommate's interrogation. Cat shoved Komazzi toward the door to her room as he stumbled to pull on his pants. "Could you hurry up?"

"You invited me here," Komazzi muttered, buttoning up his crumpled shirt. "Besides, it's still daylight. Where am I going to go?"

"I don't care, just get out," Cat insisted, straightening her skirt. Matt glanced between the two, extremely confused by the interaction. He didn't know whether to leave, or wait for Komazzi in case he needed a place to hide out.

"Is anyone going to tell me what is going on?" Rose yelled. Cat just continued bickering with Komazzi.

"Come on, Matt, you can help me go over the quarterly reports until sunset," Komazzi snapped. He pulled on his suit jacket and grabbed his car keys on his way out of the apartment, dreading the third degree he would get from Matt later. How do you explain to your son that you're sleeping with the boss's girlfriend? Matt was very naive about this sort of thing, and Komazzi knew it was his fault for being so overprotective.

"Have you been here since last night?" Matt demanded as the realization sunk in that it was broad daylight. That meant Komazzi could only have arrived at Cat's apartment before sunrise. What had Cat and Komazzi been doing for the past twelve hours?

"What do you think?" Komazzi retorted. He fixed Matt and Rose with a warning glare as Rory emerged from the elevator.

"Hey, Rose, thanks for watching Chelsea again," Rory said gratefully when she saw Rose in the hallway. "I asked to have today off, but Nellie wanted me to get a last-minute story in before we go to print at midnight."

"No problem. I figured Matt needed his rest," Rose said.

"We can keep her until the weekend if you want," Cat suggested. "I'm going to the shelter on Saturday to pick out a puppy from Cerberus' litter. They'll be ready for adoption next month." Having a puppy in the house for the last two weeks had convinced her that Cerberus would benefit from another dog companion.

"That's okay with me," Rory agreed, knowing Matt needed more time to get his head out of the fog before their hyperactive puppy returned home. He'd given himself a bloody nose getting out of the shower when he ran straight into the clear glass wall. Then, he'd attempted to make her lunch before work and sliced his hand. It had healed quickly, but she told him not to touch the knives after that. She tried to open the apartment door, but it wouldn't budge. "Why is the door locked?"

"I went for a walk," Matt said. He sheepishly kicked at the ground as Rory opened the door and spotted his keys sitting on the counter. "Would you believe me if I told you I was going to try my hand at lock picking?"

"Lock picking, huh?" Rory asked. Suddenly, her gaze landed on a disheveled Komazzi. "Wait, what are you doing here? I thought you were usually a night owl."

"We need to look at reports," Komazzi grumbled, and zipped up his slacks. Clearly, something was bothering him, but Rory decided now wasn't the time to ask questions.

"Well, this has been awkward," Rose interrupted, grabbing Cat's arm and pulling her inside their apartment. "I still need lunch."

* * *
Rose walked into the hotel, her head swirling from the day's events. Cat had insisted that the Komazzi incident was a one-time thing and that she really regretted it, but for some reason, Rose couldn't bring herself to believe the blonde.

Suddenly, Rose noticed something unusual in her hotel. The lobby was far busier than usual and the sitting area around the fireplace was packed, with not a square inch of sitting space. The line from the check-in counter was wrapped outside and Analiese was frantically checking in customers. There had to be more people in this one place than in most of the town. Not a single recognizable face in the crowd. Usually, Rose had a dozen out-of-town customers on any given day; sometimes local couples having an affair would pay for a room.

"What is going on?" Rose wondered, approaching her employee behind the counter. Ana shrugged, checking in an eerily cheery woman with bright red hair.

"They started showing up a couple of hours ago, and have been showing up nonstop ever since," Ana said, handing the woman a keycard. "Room 322, third floor almost to the end of the hall on the right. Enjoy your stay."

"How many rooms have you rented?" Rose asked, looking around the room, baffled by the entire situation. The hotel was huge, containing 200 rooms, but rarely had they used more than fifty at any given time. She had always heard that the hotel used to be booked solid most of the time, but the tourists stopped showing up many years ago. Allie had her theories on what happened, but as usual, they were all completely insane.

"150 handed out so far, but the entire hotel was rented by some guy from Crimson who called and paid using a company credit card. Something about a big board meeting taking place all week," Ana said, taking the next man's ID and comparing it to a list at the desk. "He paid double the standard room rate if I promised the maid service wouldn't clean the rooms until he cleared them. They brought in a bunch of butlers or something that have been waiting on them since they arrived."

"What?" Rose choked out. That was insane. Each room rented for prices varying between $150 per night for a standard room, and $500 per night for the four executive suites. Rose pulled up the booking list on the second terminal. Her jaw dropped when she saw the total charged to Crimson Inc. The usual business was enough to pay the bills and her employees, but she had never seen a payment that large. That's when she spotted Mr. Bane Morningstar himself, but what struck her as odd was the way the crowd seemed to part, bowing their heads at the man as he walked up to the front desk.

"I hope you don't mind, but we had to call an emergency board meeting." Bane smiled at the confused woman. "I do believe I forgot to have Jimmy book your banquet hall."

"I had no idea the board was this large," Rose gasped; her eyes widened as Bane pulled a huge wad of $100 bills out of his jacket. "It's $650 a day."

"Here, keep the change." Bane grinned, handing the wad over. Rose carefully counted the cash. There was over $10,000 in her hand. "I believe Ana here already knows about the board members having their own staff members to clean up after us."

Rose looked around the room and noticed it was almost silent, and all eyes were glued to the towering man in front of her. If she wasn't suspicious of him before, she definitely was now. After what Rose saw earlier today, she was starting to think Bane and Cat deserved each other. Both seemed to take a sick joy out of lying and hiding things from each other as well as everyone around them.

"Hello, miss, I don't believe we've met. You must be the owner of this hotel," a tall man with black hair introduced himself to Rose. He wore a dark suit with a red silk tie, and on his ring finger was a gold ring with an unusual symbol engraved on it. The ring looked vaguely familiar to Rose, but she couldn't place where she had seen it before. His pale blue eyes sparkled, and before she could react, he took one of her hands in his and kissed it. "I'm Lucifer Artaban, one of Bane's associates."

"Oh...hello, Mr. Artaban," Rose replied, momentarily stunned by his polite gesture. She wasn't used to being treated with such respect. Most of the time, guests at the hotel were rude and heavily inebriated after spending the night drinking at the Broken Arrow. They always tried to sneak out without paying, and the families that had kids let them run through the lobby screaming at the top of their lungs.

"My colleagues and I are looking forward to our stay here." Lucifer winked at her as several other well-dressed men approached. "Gentlemen, this is Rose Romanov."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, I'm Beezy," a stocky, olive-skinned man introduced himself. His dark beard was neatly trimmed, and he spoke with a faint Hispanic accent. "We've traveled a long way, and I hope my friends and I can get to know you more in the next few days, we've heard a lot about you from Mr. Morningstar."

"Is that so?" Rose laughed nervously.

"He's said only good things," a brunette man insisted. His long hair fell to his shoulders, and his mustached face twisted into a frown as he gazed around the lobby. His eyes scanned the paintings that decorated the walls, and Rose got the impression that he was accustomed to staying in luxury establishments during his travels. Shimmering Comfort Suites was far from being the Ritz, but Rose put a lot of effort into making the hotel look nice.

"That's Levi, he's kind of a snob," Lucifer explained when the man strode away to inspect the trickling fountain at the center of the lobby. "The others are Mammon, Belphegor, and Asmodeus," He pointed out a redhead, blonde, and black-haired man in turn. The men smiled at her and murmured quiet greetings.

"It's great to meet you all, and I truly hope you enjoy your stay at my humble hotel." Rose smiled meekly, slightly embarrassed that such high-end clients were stuck in her middle-class rooms. The sheets, even in the suites, were just regular white cotton. It made cleanup from some of her more shady clients easier. Suddenly, the realization hit her that her kitchen staff consisted of one mediocre chef and she was in no way prepared for this many people. "Will any of you be interested in breakfast for the morning?"

"Did Bane not tell you? We brought in some of our own kitchen staff, if you don't mind," Lucifer continued, giving Rose a charming smile.

"All right, I'll let you get settled then. If you need anything, just ask Analiese or myself," Rose said. That's when she noticed some of the people had what looked to be a collar on and were kneeling on the floor in front of the fancier-dressed men. What the hell were these people into? She wondered to herself, but decided not to question anything, especially with the payment Bane was giving her. They could do whatever they wanted so long as her hotel stayed in one piece.

* * *
Lucifer found Bane sitting in the banquet hall, deep in conversation with the red-haired woman. He couldn't remember her name, but she had been on the board for several years.

"How are things going at that little factory of yours, Bane?" She asked. "We heard you experienced some trouble with a couple of employees. Lucifer assured us that you took care of them, but I think you wouldn't have problems if you hired more demons instead of those humans. The last one, Frank, came very close to exposing our projects."

"If you want better employees, we can send in a team to cover the jobs at Crimson," Lucifer added, pulling up a chair at their table. "The townspeople won't know the difference. Komazzi is too trusting when it comes to hiring mortals; you need to step in and have the final word if we are ever going to get things under control. He's far too lenient, and I know you and Cat have done most of the work disciplining the employees. Perhaps we can bring Komazzi in for more training. Those years he was left to his own devices while you and Cat were away didn't exactly help the situation."

"Cat and I had to leave, you know that," Bane snarled. "We had no choice, and Komazzi promised me he could handle the factory while we were gone. The incident with his nephew Jules threw a kink in our plan, but he's been dealt with.'

"And how is that?" The woman demanded.

"He's locked up by magic only Cat or I can unlock, you know, just in case Komazzi decides to give family a chance." Bane smirked, glaring at the red-headed demon. He hated being questioned.

"His emotional attachment to that human is another startling behavior I'd like to discuss with you, but it can wait until the board meeting," the woman said. Komazzi's relationship with the human known as Matthew had raised a lot of red flags within the inner circle. She folded her hands on the table, her cold eyes staring Bane down, challenging him. "A few of the senior members have voiced their concerns to me."

Before the woman could move, Bane gracefully pulled out a black dagger with a red gem embedded in the handle. In one swift motion, the dagger struck the woman's hand, sticking it to the table. She attempted to pull it out, only to scream in agony as it burned her skin. Bane grinned, revealing pointed teeth; his eyes looked empty as their color shifted to pitch-black.

"Noth lameth malatis lenoris sorata zles," the dark-eyed man hissed, twisting the dagger in her skin. Don't forget who you are talking to. "Hell forged silver; I hear it burns when touched by demon scum. So tell me, witch, are the rumors true?"

"My Lord, forgive me. I meant no disrespect. I was only trying to help," she moaned, her face so pale it was almost translucent. The woman uttered a deafening shriek of pain when Lucifer reached