Music flooded though the club, Glitter N' Gold, a den for all things sinful. Defiantly the only one of its kind in the bible belt of 1920's New Orleans. That made it a popular tourist spot even if the locals weren't very fond with the owners after it changed hands a few years back. Glitter N' Gold used to be a dinner called Maggie's up until a few years ago. Maggie was from and Irish immigrant family and it took her a long time to build up the money to be able to open this place on her own. The diner was per pride and joy and helped her put all three of her kids through college.
All her kids had worked in the diner at one point or another as waitstaff or working the counter. only her youngest son came back to work there after college. She had eight grandchildren and each one worked there as well at one point or another. One took a special interest in the diner. His name was Colton he was the oldest child of Maggie's youngest son.
His father hated him, claiming he saw the devil in him. Maggie thought he was ridiculous and absolutely adored the little angel that he was. When he was eighteen and all grown up instead of going off to college he decided to stay and help the aging Maggie with the diner, a risky move considering his father hates Colton and would have kicked him out the moment Maggie died. Had he got the diner that is.
It was written into her will that Colton would get ownership when Maggie died and neither found out until the will was read because Maggie didn't want to deal with her sons' melodrama. The man never set foot in the diner and never saw his son again after that day. Colton true to Maggie's words was an angel. All the locals came to the diner at least once a week. Colton was kind and funny when interacting with costumers, he was great with children and would even pick them up and walk them around the diner if they got board after they finished eating. He added a piano to the place what he was seventeen and hired singers a year later. They all loved his songs and music.
After his grandmothers passing, he quickly married one of his singers Mimzy and hired a friend of his who they had seen around, Alastor, to work the counter on his days off. It was an odd sight that disgruntled some seeing as Alastor was very obviously mix. Mimzy was white and Colton white passing, but Alastor? Well, there was no hiding his complexion. Keep in mind this was the Southern united states during the time of segregation. the Diner was never segregated, and he nor Maggie didn't intend for it to be. How did Colton respond to the hate and disrespect thrown Alastor on a daily? He hired more non-white staff and told anyone who didn't like it to get lost.
His mother had a reputation of witchcraft, but no one believed it Colton had always been so kind and sweet, and they had always seen him at church there was no way he was evil.
No one knew what happened.
About four years after Colton took hold of Maggie's a fight broke out, an odd occurrence for the quaint little place, Colton walked over to break it up, but a gun came out and everyone hit the floor. Colton ran over to Mimzy in an attempted to get her off stage, but he was too late. The singer was shot and hospitalized. She made a full recovery in a few months, a miracle apparently.
After Mimzy's recovery is when everything went south. It happened slowly. First it was the smoking. Colton who had ever touched a drug in his life was suddenly chain smoking like there was no tomorrow. No big deal. At first.
Then came the drugs, Colton came in to work clearly high every day, sometimes it was a light buzz, other times be could barely walk and his wife had to pull him away from the front and into the break room. No one knew what it was he was taking, and no one really wanted to know. Within a few months the sweet little Colton they had all watched run around Maggie's as he grew up was falling deeper and deeper into disrepair. He as unwell and all could see it.
Last came the renovations, Maggie's was closed for a year and under construction. When it opened back up again it was no longer Maggie's, it was Glitter N' Gold a night club. The abstinence that Maggie was known for was gone. There was a bar with every kind of drink from anywhere you could imagine, there were graphic burlesque shows and even back-rooms people were welcome to rent out for sex, private shows or general drug use.
Colton and Maggie's were gone, and no one quite liked what was left in its place. everyone finally understood what Colton's father had meant when he said he had saw the devil in his son.
Colton sat at his booth with his arm around Alastor as he listened to Mimzy preform. It had only been a year and a half since the deal was struck and it seems that Colton had gone off the rails. he knew of Alastor's after work activities and he honestly encouraged it, he knew he had a moral code.
"Mr. Huxley," one of his employees trembled. The man looked at her with intense blue eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness of the club. "There's a man asking for you at the bar."
Colton sighed and stood up, "I'll be right back Al." The small girl quickly leads him through the club, she had been on the receiving end of his anger more than once and she did not want to lose her job. She gestured to a blond man at the bar and scampered behind the bar to serve her boss a drink. "What can I do for you sir?" Colton asked all smiles and charm. He needed to know who was bold enough to call him away from his wife's show in his own club.
The man spun towards him, distinctly human like but he was oh so obviously Colton's owner. There was no way to say that that didn't make it sound concerning and no matter way it was said it was concerning. Colton paled, his mouth dry and his eyes wide, "I know that our deal isn't supposed to be valid in until you end up at my door, but I need a favor. It will benefit us both."
Colton snatched his drink making the poor girl behind the bar yelp. Lucifer looked at his servant hiding his emotions well, but he couldn't help but feel bad for Colton. He wasn't a bad man, but their deal made him this way. He had seen the devil, and it broke him. The realization that he had sold his soul changed him. his mind was scared, and he was in constant pain. Pain that he tried to dull with every drug under the sun. He felt horrible, he was an angel, his presence was supposed to help, not hurt, but after he was cast out it seemed all he could do was hurt. "What can I do for you sir?" He said with a charming smile trying to hide his fear.
Lucifer pulled a small notebook out of his pocket. He ripped out the third and fourth pages and handed them to him. "These are a list of my debtor's people like you who sold their souls and just won't die. I don't care how you do it, I just need you to take care of them. I'll meet you once the job is done and explain how it benefited you."
The man looked nervous as he ran his hand over the names. "You want me to kill people?" of all the things he had done, he had never hurt anyone. Physically anyway.
"Don't think of it as killing thing of it as being a debt collector," Lucifer said calmly. "It's just you doing as your told per our agreement." It wasn't meant to sound menacing but when someone owns your soul and tells you to do something the only way for that thing to sound is menacing.
Colton nodded, "yes sir."
The Music demon would rather spare you all from the gruesome details of that week. He would rather never think of it again if possible so please excuse him for not wishing to disclose that information.
All you need to know is that it was a long and draining week for Colton that ended in ten separate deaths all caused by his hands. After the final clean-up he made his way home and face planted on his bed, Mimzy was still at the club and would be for another hour, but he had no energy to get up and go to her. "Thank you again for the help." Colton jumped and saw Lucifer, donning his normal demonic appearance this time, sitting in the rolling chair at his desk. "All are in hell and accounted for."
"Yipe," The man droned. He just curled up on his bed bloodied clothes, dirty shoes and all. He looked at his hands in horror and just let himself dissolve into tears.
Lucifer winced; he had done this because Colton needed it. He would never survive in hell if he couldn't take a life and he had an important job for him. the most important job in all seven rings. Still though Lucifers heart hurt, he was a father, and he couldn't ignore the cries of the man who was younger than his own daughter.
He moved over to sit on the edge of the bed and rubbed Colton's back, the man tensed for a minute then relaxed again letting his tears return. "Like I said don't think of it as murder. you were just doing me a favor. And if it means anything, these were bad people. Not people like you who had no choice. These were people with so many other options that did despicable things and hurt other people. Earth is better off without them. it may seem bad, but you did a really good thing." Colton looked up from where his face was hidden in his pillow, one blue eye peeking out from under his mess of black hair. "Plus, hell is a no mercy kind of place you're going to need to be okay with this kind of thing to survive. It's not all fire and brimstone like you learned in church, it's a lawless land that you'll have to learn to navigate. That's the punishment sinners indulge and kill each other off constantly. I want you to survive."
Colton sat himself up slowly whipping away the tear tracks on his face, at least he wouldn't burn. "Why did you come for me early?"
"Those souls that you collected from me will be your employees when you die." He didn't want him to think too much about hell until he had to, but he may as well know a few things. "There are sinners in hell called overlords, sinners that buy and own other sinner souls. Being an overlord is the best protection for a soul in hell. the ten you collected for me will be the first souls under your command. Basically, I'm turning you into a nepo baby." Colton could stop the laugh that came from him.
He fell somber again, "Are you gonna have someone collect me if I live to long?"
Lucifer looked pained and shook his head, "no, you're a pure soul who was hurt. I am the reason your soul is dark," 'and you mind is so fucked up,' he wanted to add. "There is no other reason. No one will be coming for you; you will die when the universe decided it so." Colton's heart stopped racing. "Live your life as best you can Colton."
Colton nodded, "Yes sir, thank you."
Lucifer stood up and cracked his back, he walked back over to the desk an grabbed his apple topped cane, " have to get back to hell, it's my daughter's birthday tomorrow and I have to do some set up, but I'll be in touch."
"You have a daughter?" Colton asked a little surprised, they didn't teach that in sun day school.
Lucifer brightened and nodded pulling a picture out of his coat pocket of his little family. A very tall woman with huge horns curing back and a little girl with big red eyes and two tiny horns peeking out of her forehead. "My daughter Charlie."
Colton pulled himself up and made his way to his closet, "When Glitter N' Gold was still Maggie's we had a lot of kids in there." He pulled a plush brown bear from out of the box that looked like new. "A lot of teddy bears that tourist lost ended up in the lost and found and never found a home. Brand new too. Wasn't sure what to do with any of them, here, take one for your daughter."
The fallen angel let a small smile grace him, no matter what he had done to Colton's head, no matter how batters his mind was, he still loved kids and was already showing some sense of care for Charlie. That was perfect, he knew he chose the right man for the job. Lucifer pulled a blonde bear out from the box, "Thank you Colton, she'll love it."
Charlie did in fact love the Teddy bear, she carried it around everywhere for years and named it Apple blossom. Lucifer was sure to tell her that a Mr. Huxley was responsible for the bear.
Charlie had never bothered to learn Colton's last name though, in fact she didn't even know he had one, as most sinners forsook their last names, so she never learned that Colton had given her, her favorite toy long before he had even gotten to hell.
Colton himself had forgotten the bear by Lucifers next visit to earth. After his initial task Colton was never given another one on earth and Lucifer would stop by the club to have a drink with him and see how he was doing. he had only visited a handful of times while Colton was still alive, but it made him see Lucifer more as a being rather than an all-powerful demon that would kill him at a moment's notice. Soon they felt more like friends than Master and servant. But there would always be that unfair power dynamic that neither could ignore fully.
Lucifer was still a broken fallen angel and though he always tried to keep that chain slacked, they both knew that one day he would pull it taut.