"Who are you?" 

He really should stop asking that stupid question, Keith thought, the moment the words had left his lips. There was no chance in hell he would get a serious answer. She would just use it again to mess with him like everyone else.

"I'm Judith, so how can I help you?" She asked still smiling.

Keith frowned. This was a rather normal answer and even her name was so ordinary compared to the other people he had meet here beside those that were his band mates of course, neither gave she off an unreal vibe like Persy or this Charon guy. She really did look like a simple receptionist, maybe clumsy and a bit disorganized, but nothing mythological and his suspicion that this whole thing really had just been a dream grew stronger. Strangely he didn't feel relieved, but worried. Somehow in the middle of this strange adventure he had accepted his fate and tried to make the best out of it no matter how hard it was going to be, but now he felt cheated. He had gone through all this trouble and for what? To be where he had started off? The worst thing however was that he didn't even know what to do with this. If it had only been a dream, why this fucked up mess? Would he really die in a month if he didn't change his life, was it perhaps a hidden warning or just the drugs messing with him? It unnerved him horribly and the tall girl dressed in uniform in front of him didn't help ease his mind a bit.

She could be a totally normal hotel receptionist the way she looked or she was trying to mess with him as well. Keith had no idea what he could believe and what not. Everything was a whole lot of messed up shit and he definitely lacked some details, but what could he ask her? Are you Hell's receptionist might be direct, but probably not a suitable question for an ordinary hotel receptionist. He sighed, before she thought he was totally insane he could try to be at least a bit more inconspicuous. 

"Eh... some information would be great," Keith mumbled.

"What kind of information?" She asked rolling her eyes at him like he was an idiot, but Keith supposed it might have indeed sounded a bit stupid.

She sighed. " You know, I'm mostly here for complaints, requests or managing Mr. D's appointments. So do you have a complaint or anything else I could help you with? "

"Complaints? For real?" Keith nearly burst out laughing again."I've been through Hell and you want to hear what I didn't like about it? How about everything?" 

Judith simply shrugged. "Well we try to make your stay as comfortable as possible, so could you maybe give me some more details and I'll see what I can do for you." 

"Are you for real? You want to seriously hear what I didn't like about Hell?"

She bid her lip and seemed to ponder his words for a minute. "I feel like this is a rhetorical question... You don't really expect me to answer it, do you? Or maybe it was a trick question... Maybe Mr. D. send you to test me. Oh no don't tell him I broke a vase again! He'll fire me for sure and even if he's really annoying and this job is boring as fuck,I like my work and I need the pay! I have a sick cat! No I have three sick cats and everything, please don't tell him. My-"

Keith just stared at the rambling girl in front of him and understood even less. "Okay I won't say anything, but please shut up!" He interrupted her again.

She visibly relaxed and the smile was back on her face. Keith felt like he had landed in a very bad movie. One moment she was rambling and panicking and in the next she was smiling like a child on Christmas. What was wrong with her, he wondered.

"Oh my goodness you're the best! Can I hug you?" she asked, but didn't gave him a chance for a reply. Faster than he could blink she had come around the counter and put her arms around him. " Thank you so much," she mumbled.

"Ehh... no problem," he replied very awkwardly as he pulled her off him. Usually he didn't have a problem with girls throwing themselves at him, but at the moment all he cared about were some answers. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"

She frowned at him in confusion. "I don't really get what you mean. You're in the lobby and that's it."

Keith sighed, there probably was no way around it, if he wanted to get somewhere with her, he needed to be direct. "This might sound insane, but you're not Hell's receptionist by chance?"

"Of course I am, what else should I be?"

Keith nearly laughed at the humour of the situation. She was definitely not what he pictured as somebody working for Hell, but who was he to complain, when he finally had gotten some answers. "You're the devil's secretary? I thought you would have some awesome name like Persewhatever does and be well I don't know... more dramatic."

She laughed again and Keith felt like her bubbly personality didn't fit this place at all, but maybe that's exactly why she was doing this job to confuse innocent visitors like him. "Oh Judith is a biblical name. She used her charm to get close to a villain and behead him. "

Keith rolled his eyes. Of course her name had to have some dreadful back story, nothing could be as innocent as it looked like. "Charming... And that's you?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do I look biblical to you?"

"Eh... not really. So-"

"Fuck I forgot the ominous talk!" She interrupted him." I am Judith, defender of the unjust. I served under different people throughout history and I rode a tank, held a general's rank when the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank," she finished with a salute. 

Keith nearly facepalmed. She was definitely an odd character, but at least she gave him a chance to relax after all the stress he went through. "It's fine I think I got it. So ehh... can you tell me where exactly I am?"

"Sure," she replied shrugging. "You're in the 9th circle in Mr. D's bureau. I just don't understand why you are here, you don't have an appointment and Mr. D. is currently busy with a guest."

Keith had no idea if this should relief or worry him. This had to mean he had passed the tests, but why didn't she know about it? Wasn't that part of her job too? On the other hand she didn't really seem that reliable, maybe she had simply ignored it or whatever...

"I passed some barmy tests and ended up here..."

"Really all of them? Wow you have to tell me more," she exclaimed sounding really excited.

Keith groaned, he really had no desire to retell his whole adventure. Living through it once had been bad enough and he  only wanted this story to finally end. "Do I have to?"

"Of course or else I won't let you pass and I have to call on Cerberus!"

"Who is Cerberus?" Probably some mythological tale again I have no idea about, Keith added in his mind.

"A horrible creature," she replied chuckling, making her threat seem rather ineffective. 

"Somehow I feel like he's not that horrible at all..."

Judith smiled. "Yes you're right. It's only my dog, but I thought it was a fitting name. Still tell me! I hardly get any visitors and Mr. D. is an asshole."

"Alright..." Keith sighed and started his tale about a trip he'd rather forget or hadn't even went on in the first place. Judith listened carefully and at least kept quiet until he had finished, because he doubted he would had if she had interrupted him and went into her rambling mood again. 

"Wow that would make an awesome story, I might write it down someday if that's fine with you?" was all Judith said when the last words of the story had left Keith's lips. 

He rolled his eyes at her. "Sure do whatever you want with it. So what happens now?"

She shrugged."I ask Mr. D and you'll wait here. You can take a seat over there,"she said and pointed over to some armchairs Keith hadn't remarked earlier. "Do you want something to drink while you wait?"

"NO!" Keith nearly yelled out.

Judith frowned confused. "Okay okay I was just trying to be nice. You have problems..."

She left and Keith took a seat and waited to get an audience with the big boss devil or Mr. D. how Judith called him and he wondered if the D. stood for Devil or Death. Well both would be fitting and he doubted it mattered much if he had an appointment with the Devil or Death. Neither sounded like something he really wanted to witness, but as long as he would get his part of the deal and finally get back to the real hotel in one piece, everything would be fine with him. 

Keith heard a door open and saw Judith step out. Her uniform had gone, she was now wearing a smart looking dress. It suited her, but it didn't fit her careless nature. "Mr. D. wants to meet you. Just follow me."

He nodded and went after the tall receptionist into a bureau that screamed wealth. Keith surely wasn't poor, but whoever this Mr. D. was, played in a whole different category. Not that Keith was an expert on expensive furniture, but one had to be blind not to see the value. The floor was white marble and the decor looked like something out of a French castle. On the walls hung priceless renaissance paintings and antiques filled the room, reminding him of a museum.

One thing was however absent from the room, there was no trace of Mr. D or somebody else. He was all alone with Judith who directed him towards a desk with an armchair in front of it and signaled him to sit down. Keith followed her request and she moved behind the desk next to a closed door. He wondered how long he had to wait for this Mr. D. to appear, but it didn't take long. As soon as everything seemed to be in order the door opened and out stepped a man Keith just knew too well and he burst out laughing. 

"I should have known you were the Devil."

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