Chapter 294: Short Term Stays

Time to get a biiiit creepier! Someone who comes for a night, to leave the next morning, is rarely missed. What better crop for someone like Anthony?

The explanation Ann offered was taken in stride. Bren nodded along and said that he’d come to the same conclusion as she had for this floor. It was a trap. All of it. He surmised that there were secondary traps for guests built in throughout the apartments. The fact that they hadn’t gone off yet meant something needed to trigger them externally.

That, in its own way, was both a worry and a relief. It meant something hadn’t triggered them yet, but also that this could change at a moment’s notice. This made them reconsider their plans on splitting up as much as they had been. Two would be entering each room, and three would be outside, just in case. Ann and Lucia elected to be the entry team, with the others backing them up.

Bren noted that anything of interest would likely be found here or on the next floor. As they walked to get away from the ghosts popping out of the floors, walls, and a couple from the ceiling, the group decided to just skip their way up to the short-term rooms. If there was going to be carnage, it’d be there.

Then there were Anthony’s floors. Ann had been assuming they’d be locked, but someone like this would keep the key on them. No one else would be able to get into his sanctum unless he allowed it. Sanctum. That word made Ann realise something.

“Holy shit, this is a wizard’s tower!” she gasped.

Bren looked around as he climbed the stairs behind her. “In a fashion, I would say you are correct! It certainly is tall and built for a powerful magic user. The Granthony Tower. Cursed may its halls be.”

“Still can’t believe he just mashed Grand and Anthony together,” Rosalyn giggled. “It’s so silly for how awful this place is. Like, Grand Anthony Hotel sounds so much better, and he just murdered it. Could have called it all fancy like Monsieur Anthony’s Grand Hotel of Carnage and Mayhem and Murder! More accurate.”

“Maybe hiding name little,” Lucia suggested. “Lived here. Maybe others knew. Trap bad if know owner. Notice insane. Cause problem.”

“Wouldn’t ‘e just kill ‘em?”

Lucia shrugged. “Might. Level of secret. If can hide. If loud problem, harder. If escape, danger. Others powerful outside. Might come kill.”

Ann figured that made some level of sense. Maybe that’s why this last bit was underground. Had he finally run into his match?

The air pushed itself out of her lungs as she stepped onto the sixth floor. Her heart pounded in her chest as her tail drooped and ears flattened on pure instinct. What had been a faint sense of dread pressed into Ann’s soul like a titanic hand. Her breath caught, and it was a struggle just to breathe!

Kat made her way up next to Ann and paused, then grabbed Ann and tugged her forward.

Ann didn’t have the strength to do anything but follow. She felt the magic worming its way into her head, into her heart. It was an unfocused, all-encompassing sense of doom. Her mind begged her to run, her heart agreed, but her legs refused the call.

A blow knocked her head to the side. Kat was there, hand crossing her body, open palm having just clapped Ann’s cheek. “Back in yer skin there, love. Got tae keep goin’.”

Ann rubbed her cheek. It stung like a bitch, but it was helping to ground her. She nodded dumbly, trying to figure out the best way to keep herself focused. This wasn’t like it was pushing depression on her, or something she’d had practised dealing with. It was just fear. The oldest and most primal emotion of all time for all life.

She watched as Rosalyn hit the wall. Her legs gave out, and she shook like a leaf as Kat pulled her up and moved her over to Ann. How Kat was still functioning like this was beyond Ann, but Lucia barely paused as she stepped up. She only faltered when Bren was affected, his steps becoming unsure as he tried to make his way to Kat. That bond had to suck sometimes. Bren was getting a double dose as well, and he looked like he’d aged a few years.

“Alright, we’re gonna press through this shite as quick as we can,” Kat announced. Ann saw it in her eye. A weary familiarity that knew this feeling all too well. “Don’t get sloppy. Remember the plans. Rosalyn, ye’re holdin’ me hand. Oi, c’mere, love,” Kat said, dragging the woman into an embrace. “I’ve got ye. Nothin’s gonna hurt ye. Stick by me, an’ we’ll get through this.”

Rosalyn nodded, her small hands grabbing on to the ridges of Kat’s armour so hard her knuckles turned slightly grey. She’d been completely silent.

Ann really hated that part. Rosalyn being this scared meant that this was all a bad idea. They really should just leave the floor. Go back down and just forget that this place existed. It would be fine. Just leave it all alone in this dark tomb.

Kat pinched her.

She’d been spiralling. Her heart pounded in her ears. Her breath was short. “Fuck!” The curse helped a little. “Fucking shit fuck balls, I hate this Godsdamned place! Lucia! Get the first fucking key.”

“Ye sure ye’re good?” Kat asked.

“Hell no!” Ann laughed a bit manically. Ok, very manically. “But talking like this is helping, so you bet your beefy ass I’m gonna keep it up. Knew cursing helped with pain, but fear too, I guess!”

Kat gave her a shrug.

Bren handed Lucia the key, and they went to the first door. She hadn’t noticed, with the massive fear aura, that this hallway was as bare-bones as it could be. Light crystals were set in the walls, and the doors were close together.

Lucia unlocked the door, and Ann yanked the thing open so hard it slammed into the wall. Gods, she was tense.

Together, the scouts walked into the room. It was a single room, with a bathroom off to the side. There was just a bed and a nightstand, but that was all that was in the room. The bed was neatly made, and the room was spotless.

A grinding behind them made both women jump.

The floor at the door was rising.

“Girls! Get outta there!” Kat yelled.

Spurred into motion, Ann almost knocked Lucia over as they both scrambled for the door. Ann leapt the quickly rising stone, then helped pull Lucia over.

The stone trap closed completely silently. Even the grinding was quiet. If they’d stayed in that room even a couple of seconds longer, they would have never gotten out.

Ann grimaced, touching the wall that’d almost doomed her. It was just like all of the other walls. Grey, smooth, and perfect.

A lance of pain shot through her hand as a lance of stone spiked through it! With a yelp, she fell back as more spikes shot out.

Kat’s shield was between her as the warrior roughly yanked Ann to the side. Her shell shield scraped against the spikes with a sound like nails on a chalkboard.

When Ann could look back, she saw eight long and thin spikes where she’d been standing. Each reached from the door all the way to the other side of the hall. The one that’d been through her hand was still dripping blood. The shock from that pain would have absolutely kept her still while the rest impaled other parts of her body.

“Awful trap,” Bren said shortly, starting to heal the hole. “Lucky had Kat.”

“Talking like Lucia?” Ann asked, wincing as flesh started to knit back together.

“Helping with fear,” Bren said, shrugging. “Fewer words to trip over.”

“Guess I get that. Thanks. So, not only are the rooms trapped, but the fucking traps are trapped to prevent people from checking the traps and finding out what’s happening? How the hell does someone hide these things?” Ann gestured at the spikes.

As if on command, the tips transformed into vicious, two-barbed hooks. They shot back into the wall. As they did, the wall hollowed out, then sealed back over the spikes. Once again, there was a perfectly flat stone surface.

“Oh, I think I’m gonna puke,” Ann groaned. Those spikes wouldn’t kill someone. They’d impale, then capture, and the person would be trapped in a stone coffin. The thought made Ann’s stomach churn.

“Not on robes,” Lucia grumbled. “Hard to clean.”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you!” Ann shot back. “Get many messes on ‘em?”

Lucia glared back.

“Sorry! Sorry. Was freaked out. I didn’t mean to.”

“Watch mouth.”

Ann nodded. She really hadn’t meant to insult her. Nerves were getting the better of her tact.

“So, if the room triggers, we don’t try tae get back in,” Kat decided.

“Why’re you not so crushed by this… dread air?” Ann asked her girlfriend as she stomped forward towards the next door to check.

“Oh, I feckin’ am. Damn near shakin’ in me boots, I am. I just also know I’m not gonna survive wit’ me head all on askew ‘cause o’ some magic. Focusin’ on the real. Ye’re real. The rest o’ ye are. The danger is also very real. So I’m just only focusin’ on those. Nothin’ else.”

Ann wished she could shut her head down to limited focus. Even as they talked, she was checking corners of the hallway, noticing Rosalyn’s shaking hand in her own, Lucia’s eye twitching, Bren’s brow sweating, how fast her heart was beating, and the sweat running down her own back. With all of this pouring through her, she was just completely unable to filter out the dread of what could be as well. Kat could take a step, and the ceiling might just kill her. Gas. Fire. Insane amounts of water. Any and every possibility of death was racing through her mind.

“A-Ann. Y-y-you’re shak-king,” Rosalyn stuttered.

“Sorry. Nerves,” Ann said. “Can’t all be like our brave girlfriend, huh?”

Rosalyn shook her head. Her eyes still looked terrified behind her glasses.

Ann squeezed her hand, trying to give a tiny bit of comfort.

“Next room,” Kat said, stopping for Bren to unlock the thing.

His hands shook. Normally, he probably had the steadiest hands next to Ann and Lucia, but the key skittered around the keyhole for a few seconds before he could get it in. A twist made a loud clunk.

Ann and Lucia pushed into the room quickly. Neither needed to say that they wanted this over quickly.

“Go further. Have door,” Lucia growled.

Ann nodded and walked further into the single bedroom of the hotel. The far wall had a window with a fantastic view of cave stone. The bathroom to her right seemed normal at a glance. The bed was neatly made and completely crusted over with blood.

“Bed’s the trap,” Ann called back.

Thankfully, the door hadn’t started closing yet.

Ann got closer to the clearly deadly trap to see if she could find the mechanism for the device. Magic made all of this so much more difficult. Where she’d be looking for seams or hidden panels, there could be none. Above the bed looked like a normal ceiling in its flat and grey expanse.

Getting down on her knees, she checked under the bed. She almost didn’t notice the six slots set horizontally along the length of the bed. Ann really didn’t need to trigger these. The trap probably cut up the person or did something equally bloody. With how small the room was, replacing the bed and cleaning the floors would have been simple for Anthony.

Satisfied, Ann stood and rejoined the group. “Bed has some weird slots under it. Not going to trigger them, cause I don’t wanna fucking die. Next?”

Everyone nodded, and Ann grabbed Rosalyn’s hand as they continued down the hallway.

Without a word, Rosalyn lifted Ann’s hand and placed it on her horn.

That was right; her horns were more soothing. Ann gently rubbed the hard surface as they walked. She was gentle, making sure not to hinder her girlfriend as she walked.

The third room stank of burning. No one wanted to go in there, so they moved on.

“Why d’ye think all o’ the traps ‘ave been activated, an’ none o’ it’s been cleaned up?” Kat asked, eye flicking back and forth.

“Last night at the hotel was busy?” Ann shrugged. She wanted that to be a joke, but it fell hollow on her ears. The oppressive ambience just took the wind out of every bit of levity.

Kat just nodded.

“Next door,” Bren grunted. He unlocked it and held it open.

Ann hated having the suspense of these rooms. She was finding out how these ghosts around her met their ends. Not just that, but how dozens, maybe hundreds, before them had passed.

Ann didn’t even need to look into the room to see what had happened. A skeletal hand lay on the floor. The ceiling had a burst of long-dried blood that cut off with a sharp edge right above the left side of the bed. The bed, again, was the trap. This one raised the person into the ceiling, where… something happened to them.

“Next,” she said quietly. She took both of Rosalyn’s horns this time. She needed the support as much as Rosalyn did. Her fingers worked gently as her girlfriend walked in front of her.

“So many,” Rosalyn whispered. “Why’d he go so bad?”

“I don’t know, Lamb,” Ann said back. “I really don’t.”

“Could have done so many good things. Helped people.”

Ann closed her eyes. It was true. Anthony, as he’d been, could have helped shelter thousands of people. The failure of his dog seemed to have been his breaking point. All alone with incredible power, he’d snapped. Still, he might have gotten worse over time.

A couple more rooms, and Ann noticed a pattern. Every fourth room would be one that closed the door on you. From there, it went the flying bed, the strange slots, and then a last trap they couldn’t find.

Ann couldn’t take it much longer. She needed to get this over, and get it over fast. Her heart was hurting from just knowing how these people had died or been ferried off to their death. She needed to make sure this place was cleansed.

How she’d do that? Ann didn’t have a clue. Orenous hadn’t pinged her in a while. Waheela was just lying there in her soul, giving off what warmth she could.

[Chosen Annita]: Hey. You there? Having a really rough time. Might need some help.

[Bestest Goddess]: I am not here. I will read this. Look to those you have chosen for comfort. They will guide and strengthen your heart.

While it was disappointing to get the answering machine, it did have some decent advice. Her lovers and friends were here. She could keep going forward with them.

“Do we really want tae faff around on the next floor?” Kat asked. “I’m all fer skippin’ tae the end.”

“I don’t,” Ann admitted. “I want to get to the top. I want to make sure that this place releases these people.”

Rosalyn nodded weakly in her grip.

“Up,” Bren and Lucia said together.

So they went up. Grasping hands, spectral white and blue, grasped at them. Ann felt a few fingertips brush against her armour. It was a sad thing, now. They were all lost. Taken and killed here without their knowledge of what they’d gotten into.

The final floor, floor seven, had a plain landing with a simple table and a long-dead plant. The hallway was just like the one below, and Ann knew that the rest would be just as deadly beneath the simple exterior.

There were no stairs further up.

Separating, except for Rosalyn, they all looked for a way to get further into the building. They’d need to access the “master’s sanctum” if they wanted to put this whole thing to rest. Ann ran a free hand across the stone, trying to find a keyhole or something. She tried to push out her soul sensing, but Waheela stopped her before anything could go too far.

It is too much for your current state. There is nothing there for you.

Ann retreated. Waheela wouldn’t lie about this one.

Suddenly, her claw clicked over something. Looking back, she couldn’t see anything on the wall that would have caused the disturbance, but as she pulled her hand back, it clicked again! Ann squinted at the wall.

It refused her inspection.

She tried hooking her claw into the strange spot, and found that it sank in. It wasn’t like an illusion: the wall gave way physically for her metal-covered nail. She gripped into the hole and felt something click. Pulling on the wall didn’t do anything, and adjusting her claw got her another click. A keyhole? But why…

“Guys, think I found a keyhole,” Ann called. She kept wiggling her claw. It felt like what all the youtube videos on lockpicking said they’d be. She just needed to…

CLUNK. Ann felt the sound, more than she heard it.

The whole wall shifted.

Ann yanked her hand back as the part with the keyhole started moving sideways.

Outlines appeared to the left and right of her. Not a single speck of dust fell as it slid silently open.

Ann felt a hand on her shoulder, then another on her side as her friends joined her.

“Here goes,” she sighed.