(9.1) The Slaughter Hotel

Chapter 9

The sheer amount of magic that was flying around the building was enough to make me think twice about going after the Heroes. Granted, the initial encounter I’d had with them told me that I didn’t have to worry about a lightning bolt from one of them. My real worry was about accidentally eating one that was aimed at them. Overall though, it was a non-issue. My plan had been to work my way to the lobby and try to catch them in the stairwell. My gut told me that Sam would be in the back, mainly because he seemed to be the only one who preferred shooting something instead of running up and hitting it with something big and pointy.

The lobby of this place looked like it could have once held a four star rating. The ceilings were high and arched, the remnants of a large chandelier hanging from the center, while what used to be expensive artwork hung haphazardly from the walls. The entire place was scorched and covered in ash and debris, making the place look like a dragon’s old stomping grounds.

Sneaking around was nearly impossible, bits of debris and broken glass clattering with every step. I had begun to worry about this until I opened up the door to the stairs. The ground here was more-or-less debris free and I had just started doing my stealth thing when the sound of a door opening and closing extremely quickly caused me to freeze about halfway up to the second floor.

Well it wasn’t the sound of the door so much as the sound of automatic gunfire and screams of agony that came immediately after. My most recent memory of a stomach full of bullets made me more than a little apprehensive, causing me to stay firmly rooted in place until the gunfire ended and I heard the doors open and close a few times, the sound of footsteps resuming their ascent upstairs.

After a moment, I began a cautious approach upstairs and was greeted by a large piece of swiss cheese that at one point may have been a door. The blood spatter on the ground and holes in the walls told me that it more than likely had been a door less than five minutes ago. I unsheathed my sword then and gathered some power around me as I opened the door, readying myself to either slice in half or fry the next person I set my eyes on.

The scene that greeted me was a bloodbath, pure and simple. Corpses of no less than ten men, all wearing purple robes and strange medallions littered the hallway. Arms, legs, blood and bullet casings were strewn about in a montage of pain and suffering the likes of which I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Memories” I thought to myself as I looked around. There was no sign of the automatic weapon that I’d heard but there were quite a few guns sitting in the blood of their previous owners. I grabbed one and released the hold on my power, entering the mindset that bullets were quicker and easier to use than a spell.

There were six guns, each with only one bullet in the chamber. All of them were missing their magazines except for one that I found under the body of a man whose facial features had been reduced to a series of bruises and broken bones.

So with six bullets and a brand new used bloody gun I left the scene behind and followed a trail of blood up the stairs. The blood trail stopped somewhere around the 14th floor, I could only assume that they had actually ventured into the floor to find another way up.

Of course I only assumed this because the stairs leading to the next floor had collapsed. But hey, I could’ve been wrong.

The trail picked back up in the form of more purple clad body parts in the hallways. I checked them for more bullets, actually having to step over a chainsaw that was still running.

“Jesus, what the hell happened here? And where the fuck are all the bullets?” I said after my hunt came up empty. There weren’t nearly enough shells on the ground to account for the fact that I couldn’t find anything beyond what wasn’t loaded in the chamber.

Eventually, I came to a T-section which had an open window with a beautiful view of a brick wall and a fire escape. There weren’t any body bits on either side of the halls, that I could see, and up to this point I hadn’t passed the source of magic that still thrummed overhead.

I stuck my head out the window to see if there was any sign that they’d gone up there just in time to see a purple blur fall screaming to the sidewalk below. I took it as a sign and started making my way upwards. Screams and gunfire were erupting on the roof above me in what I was only able to assume was a re-enactment of the scenes that I’d passed earlier.

When I got to the top I peered over the edge just as the thrum of magic, well… exploded for lack of a better description. It wasn’t a visual explosion however, simply a feeling of the energy suddenly washing over me like a wave leading a depth charge. The feeling was nauseating and actually made my eyes water and my ears start ringing.

The Heroes apparently felt it too, as they were on their knees about 50 feet in front of me. I recovered a little faster than they did, giving me a little surge of hope that I’d be able to kill them all now. It wasn’t until I had Sam’s head in my sight that I noticed the troll that had manifested in the middle of the building, next to a man who wore the same medallion as the purple guys, but white robes.

The troll wasn’t the biggest thing that I’d fought, but it was pretty high on the list. It stood a good 15 feet tall, yet one of its knuckles were still dragging on the ground, the other hand holding a club the size of a mini-van. Its face was pock-marked and disfigured, while the size of its arms were vaguely reminiscent of Popeye.

I had enough time to say a quiet “What the hell?” to myself before my attention was immediately brought back to the Heroes as Dmitri, Sam and Silent-Guy-John opened up with a hail of bullets. The other two Heroes apparently taking this as their cue to charge the troll.

The fight was over quickly.

The first thing that happened was a whole lot of blood decided it didn’t like the guy in white and would leave through one of the various holes that the three assault rifles had created. The next thing was Hobo-Kim and Tank-Top-Drake getting to the legs of said troll before it had a chance to acknowledge the fact that it had just been summoned let alone even raise its club in defense.

As they waylaid into the beast, it screamed in agony, raising its club to take a swing. This would be about the time that the spray of bullets moved from White-Robe to Troll-Chest, shooting over the heads of the pair engaged in melee.

I was in such a state of shock at this display that I completely forgot that I wanted the team dead and should have been rooting for the troll. I even stood on the edge of the building to get a better view.

The troll hadn’t stood a chance, managing to get one horribly aimed swing at Drake before falling to the ground. Apparently the Heroes weren’t done yet, because the bullets didn’t stop flying until a good 10 seconds later. I even saw Dmitri reload and start again after its death.

I think it was then that I decided I was most definitely going to attempt to kill them from a distance, as apparently everything that they could see in a fight died shortly thereafter.

That actually was the thought that was going through my head when I saw John shout and point at me. Dmitri, apparently still trigger happy, then dropped the assault rifle and pulled out two guns that looked suspiciously like the one I was holding.

I’m not sure if Dmitri was the first one to start shooting or not, because when they all looked at me, I decided it was in my best interest to start running.