Act Three Chapter Fourteen - Hotel California

The next evening, TFV came through with flying colors. They enlisted the Philadelphia Police Department to cordon off the area around the Hell Hotel at a distance of about 3 blocks in every direction. Michael arrived with his allies and was cleared through to where Alex and his squad were waiting.

“I wonder what manner of story you told them to convince the cops to allow this ragtag group through.” commented Michael as he greeted the TFV leader.

“You’re specialists and observers.” said Alex. “They’ve been told the Hotel has been a front for international terrorist groups.” He reached into the back of a van and grabbed a bunch of uniforms and body armor. “A lot more believable than telling them it’s full of devil-worshipping sorcerers.” He handed the body armor over to whoever would take them. “I know a bunch of you are largely immune to bullets, but for those of you who aren’t...”

“Put enough bullets into any of us and we will go down.” said Solomon, offering his usual reminder that even werewolf and vampire physiques had their limits.

“I presume you brought your own weaponry.” queried Alex.

Almost in unison, the group brandished their armaments. Michael revealed an arsenal beneath his coat that Neo-in-the-Matrix would have been proud of. Solomon had his big revolver and his Dragunov sniper rifle. Rebecca revealed her scimitars and Mitch his big 45. Boar and his werewolves stood stock still, as if to say “we are a weapon.”

“Zao and his wizards aren’t here yet.” Michael noted as Alex turned back to his squad to prep them.

“They’re coming.” said Mitch. “Zao said he knows of a secret way into the hotel from the underground. He’s likely beneath our feet as we speak.”

“You certain?” asked Julia.

“Zao may not be known for his courage, but the mages of the Consilium have vouched numerous times that he keeps his word once he makes a pledge. That’s all we can go on now.”

“He’ll have to catch up.” interjected Alex. He looked at Michael. “If you don’t mind, Mr. Allens, but I’m the one with the most tactical experience. I think it wiser if I take the lead here.”

Michael responded with a sly grin. “So how much can I trust you, Agent A?”

“Alex McCoid.” corrected Alex, sharing his real identity with Michael for the first time. “And again, it goes back to what I’ve told you before. If we humans are stuck with creatures like yourself in the world, I’d rather have them be like you than like them.” He gestured towards the hotel. “I’ll treat you like any other member of my team.” He offered his hand.

Michael took Alex’s hand. “Let’s do this.”

Alex put on his helmet and headed off. “Follow me.” Both the TFV squad and Michael’s group fell in behind him. “Our eyes have noted people on the roof, armed with rifles and machine guns. They’d sweep any of us who tried to climb the building exterior.”

“So we’ll need to make the front door.” deduced Michael.

“Take your people in first.” said Alex. “We’ll cover you and then we’ll follow.”

“They’ll have defenders inside.” Michael guessed. “We’re in for a scrap once we clear that door.”

“A likely assumption.” said Alex, crouching down behind cover across the street from the hotel. “Say when.”

“Now.” said Michael.

“Light ‘em up, Isaac.” said Alex into his headset.

Sniper fire from wherever Isaac was hiding volleyed across into the hotel’s rooftop defenders. Alex and his team added to that with their assault rifles as Michael dashed across the open street, using his vampiric speed to get him out of danger all the faster. Julia, Solomon, and Rebecca did likewise, while Boar and his wolves shapeshifted and dashed over. Boar shifted into his larger direwolf form to act as a mount for Mitch.

Michael reached the door first and simply bull-rushed his body through the wood and glass door into the lobby. The lobby was decorated in a Gothic chic, all red velvet and black. At the center of the lobby was a massive fountain centered by a huge and hideous gargoyle. Opposite the door was a pair of stairs leading up to a mezzanine above.

On the mezzanine was a group of men in paramilitary uniforms who almost immediately opened fire. Michael and the vampires slammed themselves against the stone rim of the fountain to take cover, while the wolves and Mitch kept cover outside the door. They returned fire as they could, but they were pinned down.

Alex ordered his squad across, firing as they went. Isaac tapped one of the defenders, who pitched over the edge of the roof to fall all the way to the street. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch as Alex led his team around the building to the side.

Alex fired an ascension gun that was strapped on the side of his L85 assault rifle. The gun yanked him airborne to the second floor where he swung out and landed hard against the window feet first. The glass gave way and he tumbled inside.

The mezzanine soldiers spun to face the new threat as Alex came to his feet shooting. The distraction gave Michael’s group the break they needed, so they came out of cover and opened fire in earnest. Pinned between Alex and the group below, the defenders were cut to pieces in short order.

“Nice flanking move.”

“No way I was taking my people into that maw.” said Alex as he came down the steps. “Floors one and two clear.” he announced into his headset.

“What do we know about this place?” asked Michael as Cortez led the wolves inside.

“Lower floors are the haunted house. Full of all manner of spooks and scares.” said Cortez. “The Raven Society has been running it as a fundraising endeavor for about ten years. Rumor has it that some of the scares are real.”

“Meaning?”

“The place is really haunted.”

“And you believe them?”

“I’m a werewolf, you’re a vampire, the place is run by wizards. Is the idea of ghosts being real so farfetched?”

“It’s not.” clarified Alex. “They are real. Squad, ethereal rounds.” He pulled out his Jericho and switched magazines.

“You have bullets that can hurt ghosts?” asked Michael incredulously.

“We have many tools at our disposal. Top secret hush-hush, you understand.” replied Alex, returning his pistol to its holster. “We can bypass the haunted house via the elevators.”

“Somehow,” said Mitch pessimistically, “I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”

Alex headed for the elevators at the back of the floor. “Mikail, we’ll need your toolkit to get this open.”

“Please.” interjected Solomon. “Don’t forget who and what you have with you.” He grabbed the edge of the elevator door and yanked it open with his bare hands.

A swarm of vermin emerged from the door. Thousands upon thousands of insects, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes began crawling across the floor and the walls around the elevator.

“Yeech!” said Solomon, stepping back. Alex pulled an aerosol can from his belt and sprayed around the edge of the threshold. When the spray hit the air, it ignited, lining the edge of the elevator with a ring of fire. The creeping things squealed disconcertingly as they burned.

“They’re trying to unnerve us.” said Alex.

“I could do without the Indiana Jones bit.” said Julia nervously.

“It gets worse.” said Alex, leaning in to look at the elevator shaft. “There are other things inside the swarm at the bottom of the shaft. See for yourself.”

None of the vampires took him up on the offer, not wanting to get close to the flames. Alex shrugged. “Looks like bones. Human bones.”

“Fodder for necromantic rituals.” said a voice as the door to the basement swung open. Zao emerged, flanked by Gretchen Moseley and several other mages.

“Glad you could make it.” said Michael. Zao replied with a grim look and silence.

“Skeleton warriors and zombies. Lovely.” said Alex. “Is it a haunted house or a D&D dungeon?”

“Maybe a little of both. Can we climb the shaft?” asked Michael.

“No. As your friend feared, there’s a shield door of some kind at the top of the floor.” said Alex.

“So we’ll have to traverse the haunted house after all.” said Mitch.

“You understand the concept of bounding overwatch?” Alex asked Michael.

“I do.”

“Now I suppose the question now is whether I can trust you and your people. The haunted house will do its best to startle and unsettle us. That makes for twitchy trigger fingers. My people can keep their discipline. Can yours?”

“We’ve seen our share of fights.” said Michael. “But we’ve not faced anything like this.”

“Then you go first.”

---

Going up the stairs to level three, Michael brandished his SPAS-12 shotgun in his right hand and a flashlight in the left. Despite his enhanced senses, Michael found the darkness oppressive and he felt nearly blind, even with the extra light. He took the lead, knowing that if was this bad for him, the others would have it worse.

As he stepped onto the floor proper, he heard a bit of music from a nearby room, specifically a cover of the Eagles “Hotel California” done in a death metal style. He flashed his light towards the room, only for it fall on the face of a hideous elderly woman with white eyes.

“Ack!” said Michael in surprise. The woman vanished as quickly as she appeared.

“What was it?” Michael heard Alex ask from behind him.

“Ghost.” said Michael. “Or a damn good projection. Not sure which.”

“Between spectres, technology, and illusion magic, there'll be plenty of spooks ahead.” That was Zao.

“That’s not encouraging.” Michael muttered under his breath. The hallway was cut off with debris, clearly the means by which their hosts guided people through the haunted house attraction, so Michael had little choice than to head into the music room. He stepped inside and the music increased in volume.

“...They gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast...”

Michael drew his attention to the band, an animatronic band of zombies, each one clutching a instrument and looking vaguely like rock stars. It was a sight more amusing than frightening.

“Relax, said the night man, we are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like...”

The music tone changed immediately. “BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE!” The lyrics screamed at twice the volume. The room flashed with a red and white strobe light and the animatronics changed, blood and fluid seeming to squirt out from the band member’s every orifice.

Michael jumped back in shock. His finger hit the trigger of his shotgun and it discharged. The shot landed on the lead singer, spraying the room with gore.

Michael grew angry with himself as the room shut down. That was precisely the sort of thing Alex had warned him about. As his allies moved up behind him, he moved on without a word, determined to not make that mistake again.

A loud scream pierced the air when Michael entered the hallway again as moved towards the next room. He flinched, but had the wherewithal to not pull the trigger again. It was clearly a recording, another attempt to unnerve the intruders.

The next room appeared largely empty. A decrepit wardrobe was its only furnishing and the floor was littered with piles of debris. Michael advanced gingerly, not knowing what might happen next. Mitch and Boar moved in behind him, with the wolf pack behind them.

Michael stepped around a pile of detritus and heard a faint click. The wardrobe sprang open and three animatronic zombies lunged out; a Halloween novelty turned jump scare. Normally the zombies would be restrained in some way to prevent injury, but this device had had all such safeties removed. The manikins slammed hard into Michael and his companions knocking them from their feet. As they tumbled to the floor, there was a bright flash of light from the hallway and a deafening boom: like a thunderbolt.

Hidden within the barriers that railroaded the teams through the haunted house were two tesla coil generators. Those coils now filled the hallway with artificial lightning. One of Boar’s werewolves was caught in the middle. With hundreds of megajoules of electricity flowing into him, even his vaunted werewolf regeneration was no help. The poor man screamed in terror and agony as his body was slowly vaporized.

“No! Marcellus!” screamed Boar as he lunged to his feet. Mitch jumped up after him and tackled him.

“No, you can’t save him. It’s too late.”

After a couple of seconds, the power receded and the werewolf’s scorched corpse dropped to the floor with a thud. The coils continued to zap smaller bolts back and forth, as if daring anyone to enter the hallway.

“Fuck this.” said Michael, drawing his pistol and taking aim on one of the coils.

“Take cover!” screamed Zao from the other room.

The coils charged up again. Only this time, instead of shooting the bolts between them, they fired bolts in all directions, curving around the thresholds to strike at anyone they could find. Michael took a bolt or two in the chest before he dove to the side. The charge stung, but it wasn’t nearly the same power level as the initial blast that had fired their companion.

“Now I know what an E shock critical feels like,” joked Michael, making a Rolemaster game reference.

“Your nervous system acts as a superconductor and provides all witnesses with a fine light show.” added Mitch with some mirth.

“Lightning doesn’t do that.” said Boar as he watched the bolts flash across the room, as if seeking out targets to zap. There was something clearly unnatural about their behavior.

“Magic.” said Mitch. “A mage is controlling this.”

“He has to see us.” shouted Zao from the other room.

“Cameras.” deduced Michael. Michael began to sweep the ceiling, looking for some sign of one.

“There!” said Mitch. His pistol spoke once. A second or two later came a pistol report from the other room. The coil shut down after that.

Michael came back to his feet. “This place is full of surprises.”

“Lethal surprises.” growled Boar, looking at the smoking corpse of Marcellus.

“I wish I could say he’ll be the last such casualty.” said Michael wistfully, “but we all know better.”

“We need to keep moving.” emphasized Alex from the back line. “The haunted house confines our numbers in small spaces, making traps like that all the deadlier.”

“Good point.” said Michael, fetching his shotgun and moving through the next door.

The following chamber was as sparsely furnished as the previous. But that wasn’t what stood out to Michael about this place. The oppressive darkness that had plagued them since they’d entered the floor had lightened considerably. Michael could now see clearly.

“Another spell of some sort?” He wondered.

His thoughts were interrupted by noises above. “No...no...NO!” screamed a woman’s voice followed by violent banging from the ceiling above. A scream and then the sound of flesh being stabbed. Blood began to seep through the ceiling to drip into the room.

“It’s fake.” said Michael aloud. The blood didn’t smell right. No vampire would miss real blood, no matter how convincing an imitator looked.

“Half the traps are fakes. The other half real.” said Rebecca from a few ranks back. Another scream followed from behind them, followed by a quick double tap from a pistol.

“What was that?” asked Solomon.

“A ghost.” said Mikail. “But he learned how much bullet can still hurt.” The big Russian TFV agent chuckled.

“With all the jokes, you can tell our morale is still high.” Michael contemplated the obvious. “That’s good...for now.”

A form of wispy white flew out of the walls at that moment, screaming at an ear-piercing level, and passing through Michael and his two friends. It vanished as quick as it came through the wall behind them. Bone-numbing cold flowed through their bodies but faded after a moment.

“I think you made it mad.” said Boar, shivering off the cold.

“Keep moving.” urged Alex. “They’re getting bolder the longer we linger and there’s no telling how many of them there really are.”

“Good point,” thought Michael. “If this place is the site of as many murders as people claim, there could be a lot of angry spirits here.”

Music began playing; “Hotel California” again, only this time it was ahead of them instead of behind. Michael stepped quickly through the hallway again to cross to the room on the other side.

It was an exact copy of the first room, zombie rock band and all. An EXACT copy, the lead singer even had a hole in his chest where Michael’s shotgun had hit him. Michael was confused. Had they gotten spun around somehow? With magic, it was certainly possible.

“How’s this for an encore?” the singing zombie said. “They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast...”

The ceiling opened up and a body dropped down on top of them. It was a young woman, her skin flayed and peeled, hung from the ceiling by dozens of piano wires and fishhooks.

“Nicole!” exclaimed Michael. Her body dropped to the floor, the flesh too weak for the hooks to hold her any longer.

Michael began to lean down to check, in the vain hope she might still be alive. Mitch beat him to it, kneeling at her side to check her pulse. He shook his head.

“This isn’t what I wanted.” Michael thought regretfully.

“How’d you like that, Mr. Vampire Pimp?” growled the zombie singer. The lead guitarist swung his instrument and slammed it hard into Michael’s face, knocking him against the wall. These were no animatronics this time.

Michael felt his broken nose and jaw reset as he came back to his senses. The guitarist lunged for him again, swinging the heavy guitar like a club. That was no fragile musical instrument either; it clearly had more than enough mass to break bone. The singer went for Boar while the drummer and bassist charged into the hallway. A deafening cackle in what sounded like Vincent Price’s voice filled the air. The battle was on.

Mitch came to his feet to help Boar, only to have Nicole suddenly lunge up from the floor. Her nails and teeth extended to unnatural and vicious lengths and she tackled him to the floor. It took all his strength to keep her at bay, a task made much more difficult by the slippery blood all over her skin. She snapped at his neck, desperately trying to tear his throat out.

Michael ditched the shotgun and drew his wakizashi. He drove it hard into the gut of the zombie, which only laughed at him and smashed his face with its fist. His still regenerating broken nose flashed with pain and Michael staggered back again. These ghouls were as fast and strong as he was. This would be no easy battle.

Michael tried to come back up again, only to have the zombie shove him back down with the guitar. Beyond him, Michael could see Boar shift into wolfman form and rip the head off the singer, a task perhaps made easier by his shotgun wound. Boar then turned to Mitch and Nicole.

More ghostly screams filled the air as those wraiths Alex had been warning about found their courage to attack en masse. Guns went off as the TFV agents fired their special ghost rounds at them and Michael could also hear chanting and mumbling as the mages began their incantations.

Boar yanked Nicole off Mitch and flung her behind him towards the door. Mitch fetched his pistol and fired, the single shot taking the top of the guitarist’s head off. The zombie dropped and Michael fetched his shotgun and fired into Nicole as she tried to pounce on Boar. The impact of the shot slammed her back into the wall, where she lay still.

The chanting grew louder and began to drown out the screams and the Vincent Price recording, Zao’s voice was the loudest. It reached a crescendo and then silence. Total silence.

“Wow.” said a voice after a few seconds. That was Alex. “I’d heard of banishment spells, but I’d never seen one before.”

“You probably couldn’t anywhere else but here.” said Zao. “That level of magic would not work in front of even a knowledgeable sleeper like yourself. Too much unbelief.”

“That is why you fail.” said Boar, using a Star Wars quote as another joke. He pulled Mitch up to his feet.

“You still could have done that earlier.” growled Cortez at Zao.

“No, not realy. We needed the ghosts to gather all together or we’d be picking them off one by one. Too time consuming. We needed to wait until we had them all.” Zao paused. “Still, they are bound to this place and will be back.”

“How long?” asked Julia.

“Probably not before we finish our business here.” answered Zao. “Still, they will not rest forever.”

“Anyway we can make that happen?” wondered Mitch sympathetically.

“Bring them justice.” said Alex firmly.

“Yes.” said Zao. “That would do it.”

---

Michael, Boar, and Mitch took the lead again as they moved onto the next floor, with Rebecca, Julia, Solomon, and the wolves as a middle group. The mages after that and the TFV squad in the rear. Being mindful of how crowded they were getting through the twists and turns of the haunted house, Alex pulled them more apart, giving Michael a longer lead as he took point.

“Shouldn’t be any more ghosts at least.” said Boar as they moved through the first two rooms without incident.

“I’m more worried about wizards now.” said Mitch.

“And vampires.” added Michael. ”Walsh may have sent help.”

After the first two rooms, the floor seemed to open up. The design of this level of the haunted house was more open, allowing people to explore more at their own leisure. Michael ushered the others up. “We’re not being as railroaded as much here. We can spread out.”

“Ok.” said Alex. “Michael, your group takes the near side. Zao, take the middle. We’ll cover the far side of the floor.”

“What are we looking for?” asked Cortez.

“Wizards.” said Mitch. “And vampires.” He added after a pause, remembering Michael’s previous comment.

“Prisoners.” added Michael. “They still have two more of my girls and probably others to boot.”

“Truthfully, anything suspicious.” continued Alex. “There may be magical artifacts or other items of interest strewn about to hinder or harm us.”

“Like the traps below.”

“I’d expect more of the same up here, perhaps even more so now that we can spread out more.”

“Alright, keep your eyes open.” said Michael. “We’re not out of this yet. The Brotherhood is waiting for us upstairs and they’re hoping this little diversion of theirs will weaken us enough to make us easy prey when they set upon us. Let’s prove them wrong.”

Michael moved towards the leftmost group of rooms with his team, while the others broke off down side hallways to their destinations. He entered the first room and found it much the same as most of the rooms below, largely empty and filled with debris and dirt.

“This looks unfinished.” said Rebecca, moving up beside Michael. “Like they haven’t finished setting up this year’s scares.”

“Or they didn’t finish tearing down last year’s on the floor below. October is a ways off.” remarked Cortez.

“Either way, look sharp. Just because it’s empty...”

“Sure thing, boss.” said Cortez flippantly. He took another step into the room and the floor gave way beneath him. He landed with a soft thud and the telltale sound of a blade piercing flesh.

“Cortez!” exclaimed Boar, fearing he’d lost another packmate. He rushed to the edge of the hole and looked down.

“Son of a bitch!” growled Cortez, pushing himself off the floor. He was badly bloodied, but still moving. Amidst the soft pillows at the bottom of the pit, Boar could see razor sharp shards of glass pointed upward like spikes. As Cortez came back to his feet, several of the shards broke off inside his body.

“That has to hurt.” said Boar.

“Trust me, it does.” growled Cortez, somehow keeping his wolf temper at bay. “Pull me up.”

Boar reached down and yanked his packmate back up. Mitch moved over. “This may hurt a bit. Please don’t bite my head off if it does.” He reached in and yanked a shard out.

Cortez kept his cool as Boar and Mitch pulled out the half dozen or so shards that had remained embedded in his flesh.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you’re the one who fell in there.” said Michael. “Those injuries would have been a one way ticket to torpor for one of us.”

“Or death.” said Mitch, reminding them that he was far more fragile than any of them.

Cortez motioned forward, more embarrassed than anything. Michael nodded and turned about to continue. They reemerged in the left-side hallway and made their way towards the back of the building.

Then the floor gave way again.

This time, it was not a hole that appeared beneath their feet. The whole floor tipped downward as if on a cantilever. Michael lost his footing and began to slide. At the end of the floor, a door opened and Michael felt a blast of heat. It was dropping them into an inferno.

The sparse furnishings in the hallway did not slide, so Rebecca grasped out and caught hold of a sofa leg. Sure enough, the furniture was anchored solid to the floor and held her fast. She grabbed Cortez as he slid past her.

Boar grabbed a nightstand on the opposite wall and with brilliant accuracy and speed grabbed both Mitch and Michael; catching the latter with his feet. Michael’s own feet dangled through the furnace door and he could feel the flames licking at his flesh.

“Pull me up!” said Michael in a near panic. The Beast Within roared in fear. Frenzy now would be suicide and Michael felt his control wavering fast.

“There!” said Boar, motioning with his head towards a side hallway that was still at the proper level. His two remaining packmates, who had brought up the rear and consequently dodged the trap, leaped the distance.

“Ready?” Rebecca asked Cortez.

He nodded. “Jaclyn, catch me.” Cortez said to the wolf above him. Rebecca flung him upward and Jaclyn grabbed hold.

“Hurry!” said Michael, panic in his voice.

Boar flung Mitch up to the hallway and the wolves caught him. He then yanked Michael up to safety and away from the flames. “Don’t panic. I have you.” said Boar reassuringly.

“I know that.” retorted Michael as he began to calm. “My inner beast does not.”

Boar tossed him next and then shapeshifted into a wolf. He sprang to the hallway after the others. Rebecca spider climbed up last.

“Well, that’s two strikes for them.” said Cortez confidently. He turned about and took the lead. He took one step and a spear launched from the side wall and went right through his chest.

“Ow.” he said after a long moment. The others merely looked at him in stunned surprise.

“I’m going to buy you a red shirt at this rate.” said Boar.

“The purpose of the Red Shirt Ensign in Star Trek is to show how the monster works.” quoted Michael mirthfully, giving Boar’s comment some context.

“I think my shirt is plenty red after my last two escapades, thank you.” said Cortez, yanking the spear out of the wall and then out of himself. “I’ve had enough of these motherfucking traps. Give me something to kill and soon.”

“I’m with you.” complained Jaclyn. “These cowards don’t fight fair.”

“They’re trying to even the odds.” said Mitch, trying to encourage the group. “They’re afraid.”

“I don’t care.” snarled the last wolf at him, his anger burning hot. Michael remembered vaguely that Boar had called him Bryce once on the journey over.

“Everyone calm down.” said Michael commandingly. “We lose our cool here and we’ll give them what they want.”

“I don’t take orders from bloodsuckers.” growled Bryce. He shifted into wolf form and dashed down the hall, Jaclyn right on his heels.

“Now wait a...” barked Boar. He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before the next trap went off.

Black ichor dumped out of the ceiling and washed over the two wolves. The horrid stench of tar filled the air and was soon joined by the odor of burning flesh as the boiling liquid cooked the two wolves to death in a matter of seconds. They barely got out a single yelp before their lives were snatched from them.

Boar stood stunned. He spun on Michael, his own temper now at its breaking point. He stared into the cold eyes of his vampire friend.

“Time to kill some wizards.” Michael replied angrily.

Next Chapter

“Overdue.” replied Boar. “Let’s go.”