“No time. We don’t know when they will meet again, and if they realize someone is missing, they could scatter.”
“Fuck…”
“How many?”
“A hundred and four.”
Harlow’s eyes widened. “A hundred and four?”
“Yes… That’s if there aren’t any vampires older than me that can hide their presence. I could have miscounted…there are so many people. What I can say is it’s about half and half. Fifty-two or so humans, and fifty-two or so vampires.”
“Meaning, I can’t just blow the building up.” Harlow rubbed his face.
Sniffing the air hesitantly, he noted that while the man seemed stressed, even irritated, there was no scent of fear.
“Does the rule of no killing humans outright still hold?” Foxx asked.
“Fuck.” Harlow stared up at the hotel before saying, “It does. But I think we will have plenty of chances to kill them. I’m going to be completely honest here. This is a pretty fucked up situation. We are outnumbered. With a large number of the enemies being ones we are technically not supposed to kill, unless we are facing death. This could easily go south fast.”
Foxx frowned. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to a point where the only choice is to kill the humans. Getting them to surrender may not be that easy. I suppose it depends on how brainwashed they are.”
Cultists tended to be pretty braindead from his past experiences. So getting them away from the hive mind could be an impossible task.
“Probably pretty brainwashed. Let’s go. Protect your ass,” Harlow said before sighing and eyeing Foxx’s weapons. “When the fuck is your arms test?”
“Next week.”
“Thank fuck.”
Foxx smirked evilly. He wouldn’t be thinking that once he saw the color of his new weapons. “I think someone has realized we are here. The heartbeats were all up on the top floor, gathered in the ballroom. But now there is a small group of about fifteen humans and three vampires making their way down.”
“Well, fuck, let’s go greet them then, shall we? Stay close,” Harlow ordered, before adding, “To be clear, I don’t care that we have the damn earpieces, do not let them separate us… This situation is too dangerous for that.”
Before they headed in, Foxx hid his sunsuit in a nearby dying bush, praying to the Goddess no bugs found their way inside. He made a mental note then to find a sealed bag or something to put it in next time.
Quickly ascending the crumbling steps, they didn’t hesitate as they entered. Stepping inside, Foxx was hit with the stench of death. So many had died here…
The front lounge area was as decrepit as the outside, with mold-covered and broken furniture, and dirty green carpet. The beige and floral wallpaper on the walls was falling off, one strip at a time. The smell of mildew was heavy in the air, mixing nastily with the smell of decaying bodies. “There’s a lot of dead bodies here,” Foxx hissed.
“Perfect. At least we know we are at the right cult meeting. How close are they? I hear small movements like the building creaking now, but nothing like before we entered.”
“I think one of the vampires they are with is hiding the sounds. I’d say they are of the Illusionist Bloodline. But while they are old enough that their illusion is somewhat working on me, I can confirm that they aren’t older, as I can still hear everyone’s heartbeat. Either way, they are a few floors up. We have time before they are on us.”
Harlow looked up at the half-hanging signs on the wall near the front desk. “Which way?”
Foxx frowned. “To the right, I think. That is the stairs they will be coming from.”
They headed right, taking them down a hallway that had random doors but not rooms. They passed bookcases filled with dust-covered books, and furniture that was barely still standing.
Foxx frowned as the placement of the descending heartbeats changed position. “Wait.” He grabbed hold of Harlow’s arm, stopping him from going further. “They are coming this way…but I think they are still a floor up. It doesn’t make sense.”
It made sense about two seconds later as part of the ceiling above them came crashing down, spraying a wave of dust and plaster, and who knows what else, everywhere. A vampire in a blood-red robe came plowing through, landing on the pieces of the ceiling in a crouch. Two vampires, also in blood-red robes, landed in much the same way behind him… While the followers…well, they jumped and landed awkwardly, some definitely twisting an ankle. The humans were in stereotypical black robes.
“What the fuck?” Harlow rasped.
“You dare enter here, violating our sacrament!” the first vampire who’d come crashing through the floor screamed indignantly. “You shall be punished in the name of our lord, and sacrificed for your misdeeds!”
Foxx stared, dumbstruck. Was this fucker serious? “You can’t be serious. You can’t. Like, I get that those morons behind you buy this nonsense. But come on now, do I look like an idiot to you?” Then it struck him. “Oh, you’re a moron too, aren't you? Out here believing your own bullshit.”
