The Last Dainv-Chapter 139

The Last Dainv-Chapter 139

Rachel sat beside Gale on the sofa, shaking her legs. Ollie paced between the coffee table and the dining table that had leftovers of the rabbit stew. The twins were in their usual positions, with Kyle plopped on the armchair while Clyde leaned on the wall eating a twinkie.
"See anything?" Ollie asked.
Clyde took another bite as his eyes glanced out the window. "Just snow. Lots of it."
"This is stupid," Kyle groaned. "Are we waiting for New Year? Because it feels like it."
"Shut up," Clyde said.
Gale watched his phone tick closer to 12:14. They had put salt lines on the door, windowsills, and each threshold of the bedrooms.
"One minute," Gale said.
The room went quiet. Rachel's leg stopped shaking. Ollie stopped pacing. Kyle leaned his head back, and Clyde swallowed the last bite of twinkie.
"Did it get colder?" Rachel whispered.
Nobody answered.
"Thirty seconds," Gale said.
Clyde pressed closer to the glass. "Still nothing."
"Twenty seconds."
Kyle sat up, hand on his gun. "Come on, Bambi's grand daddy. Show yourself."
"Ten... nine... eight..."
Rachel grabbed Gale's arm, fingers digging in.
"...three... two... one."
12:14.
Nothing happened. There were no sounds nor any movements that could be heard or felt from around them.
Kyle sighed dramatically. "What a letdown. I was expecting at least a red moon or something."
Clyde moved closer to the window. "Nothing out there. Not even a deer."
"Maybe it was just the house settling," Ollie started.
Gale stiffened. A hole opened in the senses of his tendrils. Not a presence, but an absence of something that shouldn't be in this plane. No heat, sound, or signature. Just a space that felt like an in-between.
"Gale?" Rachel said, but the sound of her voice felt distant as he kept his focus on the emptiness. It was inside the building, third floor, other end of the corridor. It moved through his perception like oil on water, where the tendrils even wanted to avoid looking at it directly.
"Hey." Rachel shook his arm. "Talk to me."
"It's here," Gale finally said, mouth dry.
Ollie stopped mid-step. "What? Where?"
"In the building. Third floor. Other side." Gale stood up.
"Cool," Clyde said, chambering an already loaded long gun, ejecting the a round onto the floor. "Let's go bag ourselves a wendigo."
"Wait," Rachel said. "What if Robert was right and that we should stay inside?"
"Come on," Kyle said. "Five of us against one of it. I like those odds."
"Stick together," Ollie said. "No splitting up."
Gale scooted closer to Rachel. "Third floor. East side."
"Weapons check," Clyde said.
Kyle patted his holster. "Locked and loaded."
"Same," Ollie said.
Rachel's hands sparked briefly with fire. "Ready."
Gale touched the storage box in his pocket. "Let's go."
Other than Ollie, the group sat up in unison and exited the suite. They moved through the hallway, Ollie taking lead with his deagle. The corridor's carpet muffled their steps. Stairwell door to the left and ahead was the elevators.
"Stairs or elevator?" Ollie asked.
"Stairs," Gale and Rachel said at the same time.
"Never take the elevator in a horror movie," Kyle whispered.
"Shut up, Kyle," Clyde whispered.
They moved to the stairwell, Ollie pushing the door. Breath of the Void fed him the feeling of where the emptiness sat at the third floor with each step towards it.
At the third floor landing, Ollie held up his hand. They stopped. He pointed to the door, then to his ear. Listen.
Nothing. Not even normal building creaks.
Ollie held up three fingers, counting down. Three. Two. One.
He pushed the door open, deagle up.
The third floor looked normal, no signs of anything wrong or
anything
with hooves coming through. Doors on either side of the hallway at even itnervals. Glowing green exit sign in front of the stairwell.
"Which way?" Ollie whispered.
Gale pointed right. "That way. End of the hall."
They moved in formation: Ollie in front, Clyde and Kyle flanking, Rachel behind them, Gale in the centre. Their footsteps seemed too loud.
The emptiness stayed where it was at the exact room the void had whispered to him. Sweat beaded on his forehead even though the hallways were cold enough to need their jackets.
"Stop," he said suddenly, pointing to the door at the end, room 334. "It's in that room."
"You sure?" Ollie asked.
"Positive."
They stopped outside Room 334. That's when they heard it.
Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.
The same sound from last night. Like claws on wood, but slower.
"That's what I heard," Gale whispered.
Clyde raised his long gun, finger alongside the trigger guard. "Could be a wild animal. You know. Like a raccoon."
"A raccoon?" Kyle forced down a laugh. "In this hotel? In this weather?"
"Stranger things have happened. Seen it myself," Ollie whispered. He tried the doorknob. "Locked."
"Should we get the manager? Ask for a key?" Rachel said.
"No time," Ollie said. "Let me do some magic. Literally."
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Ollie made a circling motion with his index finger on the lock. One flick of his wrist, and a small click came from the lock. Another flick, and another mechanism clicked.
"That's useful," Gale said.
"You should see what he can do with cards," Kyle whispered. "Banned from five casinos in Vancouver."
"Six, actually," Ollie said. Before opening the door, he looked at Kyle and Clyde. "Breach formation. Standard pattern."
The twins nodded, shifting positions. Kyle moved to one side of the door, pistols up, Clyde stood with his long gun aimed at the door.
"You two stay back," Ollie told Gale and Rachel. "At least until we clear the room."
Rachel nodded, but Gale noticed her hands already curled into fists, heat shimmering around her fingers.
Ollie mouthed a countdown. Three. Two. One.
The door, outlined with a soft blue glow, telekinetically opened. Kyle threw in something circular into the room. The door closed immediately, and a loud bang could be heard from behind before the door opened again.
"Clear straight," Clyde said.
"Clear left," Ollie said.
"Clear right," Kyle said.
"Bathroom?"
"Breach it later."
The three moved as Gale and Rachel crouched just a couple of steps away.
"Uh, guys?" Clyde called out, aiming his gun down the entryway. "There's nothing there."
Gale stepped into the room. It looked like a standard single room with a bathroom at the entrance and two queen beds. The window was open, letting in the cold air.
"I thought I felt it here," Gale said. The tendrils nagged at him, telling him that the emptiness and nothingness were still with them in the room, yet it gave them no sign.
"Well, can't see shit here," Clyde said, lowering his long gun. "Out the window, maybe? It's open."
"Could be. I ain't hunting out in that blizzard. Falling into a pile of snow could be fun though," Kyle said.
Ollie shut the window. "Well, something was here."
"Look," Rachel pointed toward the centre of the room. "On the floor."
They gathered around where she had pointed. This room, oddly enough, didn't have carpets and revealed long scratch marks cut into the wooden floor, showing lighter wood underneath. The marks formed a rough circle, about three feet across.
"What is it?" Kyle asked.
Gale crouched down, studying the marks. Something felt off about how the creature had scratched down instead of at eye level like most animals would.
"
Digging
," Gale said.
"Digging?" Ollie asked. "Through a wooden floor?"
"Animals don't normally just randomly dig around. Unless…" Gale said.
"Unless what?" Rachel prompted.
"Unless it's trying to get to something underneath," Gale said. "Or it thinks there's something underneath."
Gale stood up and looked around again. The scratches were definitely at a targeted spot. Not random at all.
"I think it's looking for something," he said. "And it might be searching for something and goes to other rooms too. Last time, it was on the 2nd floor in front of our room."
Kyle whistled. "Another one of Hathie's conspiracy theories?"
Rachel elbowed Kyle. "Those conspiracies so far were right."
"Fine," Kyle rubbed his side where she had elbowed him.
"Any clues on what it's looking for?" Ollie asked.
Gale shook his head. "No idea. But it's not random."
"So what now?" Clyde asked. "Tear up the floor?"
A crash from the bathroom cut her off. They all spun toward the bathroom door, which they'd left unchecked.
Something slammed the bathroom door open. It moved too fast, just a silhouette in the dim light. Its crown of antlers still clear, scraping the ceiling.
It rushed past the group, knocking Rachel out of the way, and was already out the door before any of them could react. The twins chased immediately, not waiting for any callouts.
"Shit!" Ollie yelled. "After it!"
"Right behind you!" Gale called, helping Rachel up. By the time they got into the hallway, the twins were already entering the stairwell.
"It's heading up!" Kyle shouted from the stairwell.
"Up?" Rachel said. "Why would it go up?"
Gale ran after the others.
They hit the stairs, jumping up to each landing. Each jump sounded like thunder, shaking some dust off the walls. Ahead, Gale caught glimpses of Ollie chasing the twins upward.
Fourth floor.
Fifth floor.
The stairs that should have ended didn't. They continued up one more floor, just like he expected and what he saw the night before. They arrived at the door where the concrete was marked '6' in peeling paint, and the door was cracked open.
They burst through onto the sixth floor. It was exactly like he had seen before. Wooden beams, older looking than the floors below. Candles everywhere, red circles painted all over that looked like blood.
The candles cast long shadows across the hallway. Red circles covered the floor, walls, and even parts of the ceiling. Perfect circles drawn in what looked like blood. Star symbols lined each circle.
"What the hell is this place?" Kyle put his back against Clyde's.
Ollie stepped around the nearest circle, studying the symbols without touching them. "This isn't amateur work."
"No shit," Clyde said, keeping his rifle up.
Rachel stayed near the stairwell door, mouth gaping as she knelt by one circle, careful not to touch it. "I can't even tell what the purpose is. The arrangement, the overlapping patterns..."
Gale crouched with her. "What exactly am I looking at here? What are these circles?"
"Ritual circles. For summoning," Rachel said.
"Summoning what?" Gale asked.
"Things that should stay wherever they are," she replied. "Aur banned these rituals hundreds of years ago. But they still happen."
"The major factions ignore the practitioners," Ollie added. "As long as they don't cause trouble."
Kyle snorted. "Plus, cult work pays shit. Cults never have money these days." He stomped on the wooden floor. "Back in the day, maybe. But now? Just weirdos playing with fire."
"You have experience with cult finances?" Rachel asked.
"Nah," Kyle shrugged. "But the Path does. Not worth our time to bust every basement ritual in Toronto. Bad ROI."
Ollie stood up from the circle and walked towards one of the doors. Flicking his finger and wrist again, his eyes widened slightly.
"Any luck?" Clyde asked.
"Something's blocking my control. The lock won't budge," Ollie said.
"What the fuck?" Kyle asked.
"Only one way. That means whatever's in there is stronger than a Resonant." Ollie stepped back from the door.
Kyle turned to Gale. "This is your fault, you know."
"My fault?" Gale asked.
"Your bad luck. First the airport. You guys were totally unprepared. Now this shit." Kyle waved at the ritual circles. "You're a walking disaster magnet."
Clyde nodded. "Gotta agree. Things were boring before you showed up."
"That's not fair," Rachel said. "That wasn't Gale's fault."
A laugh cut through the hallway. High-pitched and childlike. It seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Kyle spun around, aiming the pistol down already. "Who's there?"
The laugh came again, closer this time. Then a white ball hit Kyle directly in the face.
Kyle spat out the snow that got into his mouth. "What the fuck?"
Clyde immediately fired in the direction of where the snowball came from. The gunshots boomed in the enclosed space. Dust fell from the ceiling.
"Stop shooting!" Rachel shouted. "You'll bring the whole floor down!"
Clyde lowered his rifle. "There's nothing there. Nothing."
"Great," Kyle said, still wiping slush from his face. "First zombie creatures, then a wendigo, now ghost children throwing snowballs. Is this 'The Shining' with twins' laughter? Fuck this place. I'd rather walk back to Toronto than deal with this shit."
"Everyone just calm down," Rachel said. She turned to Gale. "Any ideas?"
Gale shook his head, but the sound of the laughter was too familiar. A snowball as well, just like the one Dyani had thrown at him. But how would she even connect to the wendigo? He finally said, "I'm not sure this is actually a wendigo."
"What do you mean?" Ollie asked.
Before Gale could answer, wind swept through the hallway. Every candle went out at once, leaving them in darkness.
Red eyes gleamed in the black, and antlers scraped the ceiling as something charged toward them. Ollie cursed and dove sideways. The creature missed him by inches, but that left Clyde exposed.
The thing slammed into Clyde, sending him flying backward. His rifle clattered as he hit the wall.
"Clyde!" Kyle shouted.
The creature vanished, melting into one of the red circles on the floor. The circle glowed briefly, then dimmed.
"Where'd it go?" Ollie immediately got to his feet.
Another circle lit up, this one next to Rachel. The creature appeared instantly, towering over her. One swing sent Rachel flying into the stairwell. She hit the railing and toppled over.
"Rachel!" Gale shouted, rushing toward the open door.
"Fall back!" Ollie yelled. "Everyone down to the second floor, now!"
Kyle helped Clyde up, but Gale hesitated as he saw Clyde on the floor.
"Gale, run!" Ollie grabbed his arm and dragged him to the stairs. "Those guys are cockroaches. They won't die!"
They rushed down the stairs, jumping down at each landing. Rachel had fallen to the landing between the fifth and fourth floors. She was already up, with no visible injuries anywhere.
"You okay?" Gale asked, looking all over her body.
"I'm ok," she said, dusting off her thighs.
They continued jumping down, not stopping until they reached the 2nd floor. Ollie shoved open the door with his shoulder, and the rest followed.
"The fuck was that?" Kyle turned to Clyde. "You alright?"
Clyde rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah. Hurts like hell. Nothing's broken but probably going to leave a bruise."
"Get back in the room," Ollie said. "Let's discuss what the fuck that was before we do anything."
Before they went back into room 217, Gale said, "Guys, I don't think that was a wendigo."

.
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Chapter 139