3.0 - Shadows In The Garden Hotel

by Krista Walsh

  She glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Five o’clock. She debated bringing her bags to check out when she went down, but opted to leave them behind. Finding Cody was a bigger priority. Maybe after she gave him advice on how to handle the draugrs, she wouldn’t feel so uncertain about leaving him here on his own. She’d also speak with Courtney. In the wake of Tim’s outburst, her intention of putting Cody’s name forward for a job had slipped her mind.

  After a quick tour around the main floor without luck, she started on the rooms. The sitting room, was empty, but when she peered into the salon she found Matthew and Courtney discussing the shoot and sifting through some initial shots on a digital camera. She darted away before either of them saw her and continued her hunt.

  Cody wasn’t by the pool, and the desk clerk had no idea where he might be.

  “I saw him about half an hour ago,” she said, “but then he was called away to help a guest. I thought he passed by a few minutes ago heading out that way, but he hasn’t come back.”

  She pointed to the garden. Allegra debated going upstairs to get her raincoat, but didn’t want to delay speaking with Cody any more than she had. She’d already been soaked through once today — at least this time she wasn’t in an eight-hundred-dollar dress.

  Resigning herself to the weather, she once more ducked under the police tape and stepped into the garden.

  What could have brought him out here?

  The wind had picked up and it belted her cheeks, tangling her hair around her face. She brushed her loose locks behind her ears and squinted through the rain as she hurried along the garden paths. In spite of it being early evening, the sky was nearly black, and bits of hail were joining the softer droplets.

  Allegra put up her arm to guard her eyes, but a look around the rest of the garden confirmed Cody hadn’t come out here.

  A smarter being than she.

  Returning inside, she slicked her hair out of her face and chewed on her bottom lip, wracking her brain as to where else the young man might be hiding.

  He’d seen something in the kitchen, so maybe he had gone downstairs to tell Lee about it.

  She turned her steps toward the staff doors, ignoring Matthew and Courtney as they came out of the salon.

  Drawing in a breath of semi-fresh air before she entered the cloud of cooking smells, she walked in on two of the staff puttering away in front of the stove while the dishwasher scrubbed at the lunch pots. They glanced at her with interest, but she paid them no mind and wound her way across the kitchen to Lee’s office, where she found him sitting at his desk. He was staring down at a stack of papers, his fingers splayed across his shiny bald head.

  She knocked on the doorframe, and he jolted up in his chair. Dark circles lined his eyes, and the wrinkles on his brow and the sag on his cheeks appeared more pronounced than they were this morning, as though he had suffered a very long day.

  “Ms. Rossi,” he said, sounding as jovial as ever, despite his appearance. “I didn’t expect to see you. Have you been wandering outside again in this weather?”

  Allegra smoothed down her wet hair and used the sides of her fingers to brush the raindrops off her cheeks.

  “I’m looking for Cody. Has he been here?”

  Lee’s shaggy white eyebrows shot upward. “Our incorrigible concierge? Why no, I don’t think I’ve seen him all afternoon. Why?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at the door, hoping the laughing young man would push it open and explain that he’d been out on an errand, and what was she so worried about?

  “He had something to tell me, but I’ve not been able to find him. I checked everywhere, but perhaps you know somewhere he likes to go that I wouldn’t have thought of?”

  Lee scratched the back of his neck, his brow knitted together. “He likes to go to the gym in his off hours, but usually he comes here first to make a protein shake. If he’s not working, he should be somewhere in the hotel. Is something wrong?”

  Allegra caught herself still chewing on her bottom lip. She pressed her mouth into a thin line and cleared the frown from her face.

  “I do not know, but I fear there might be.”

  An unfamiliar sensation slithered around her insides to wrap around her lungs. She rubbed the bridge of her nose in an attempt to distract herself away from its suffocating thickness, and her heart rattled against her ribs as she recognized the emotion for what it was. Guilt.

  When she opened her mouth to explain, her words came out stilted. “He came to me earlier today and said he had seen a draugr here in the kitchen, as well as something else that he never got to explain. He was afraid. I missed my chance to go with him before Tim attacked me, and in the chaos, we were separated. I neglected to find him to see if he was all right before I went back to work.” No matter how many times she paused, she couldn’t rid her explanation of its confessional tone.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to witness the disapproval on Lee’s face. She didn’t care what he thought of her, but she suspected his reaction would be a mirror to what she thought of herself in that moment.

  She had made a grave mistake.

  Lee’s chair squeaked as he rose to his feet, and he rested his hand on Allegra’s shoulder. The weight of his palm and the steadiness of his fingers helped to ground her. “We’ll track him down. The boy’s a bit reckless, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders. If he saw the draugr again, he would’ve come to us.”

  Allegra nodded. Lee had known Cody longer than she had, so she allowed him to put her at ease.

  “How about we go hunt for him and give him a good talking to about scaring the guests,” he said, nudging her ribs. She opened her eyes to see his reassuring smile.

  He led the way out of the office and Allegra followed, staring into the corners for any sign of the draugrs. But the shadows were dark and motionless, and for the moment she felt completely alone.

  ***

  The gym was empty, and the second pass they made of the main floor yielded no results. Twice Allegra’s hopes rose at the sight of a dark green cap, but both times it was Cody’s counterpart, Kevin, who was bitter about being the only concierge on hand.

  “If you see Cody, tell him to get his ass up here. Just because the luggage doesn’t need moving around doesn’t mean we don’t still have work to do.”

  Lee assured him they’d do just that, then sent the young man on his way and turned to Allegra. “I don’t know where else he might have gone.”

  The floorboards overhead creaked, and Allegra released a sigh of exasperation at her own stupidity. When the desk clerk had gestured toward the garden, she could just have well have been pointing toward the stairs instead. If Cody had wanted to speak with her in private, he might have gone up to her room to wait for her. They could have just missed each other. She might have found him an hour ago if she’d used her head instead of allowing reason to be buried under her irrational panic.

  Again, emotional involvement has led to trouble. Learn your lesson, Allegra.

  She started upstairs and Lee trailed behind her.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  But she didn’t have time to answer. As she approached the top of the stairs, she spotted two shapes lurking outside her room. Her heart lurched and a metallic taste coated her tongue. The rhythm of her breath picked up tempo, and no matter how hard she worked to slow it down, her panic only increased.

  Two draugrs. They stood with their backs to her, so she allowed herself to get her first real look at them. They wore fragments of tattered clothing, the strips of fabric tangled in the peeling flesh on their arms and legs. Their gray-skinned shoulders were slumped, as though the weight of standing pulled them down, and the lines of their muscles pressed against their tissue-thin skin, strong and lean. They shuffled in front of the door and grasped at the handle, but couldn’t manipulate the knob to open it.

  Acid splashed up Allegra’s throat as her raw succubus energy slithered out of the confines of
her restraint. She drew in a deep breath to tamp it down, not wanting to lose herself in front of the cook, but it simmered under her skin, waiting to be unleashed.

  She cast a sidelong glance at Lee, whose eyes had gone wide. His skin was the color of sour milk. His throat bobbed as he shifted his gaze to hers, but he couldn’t speak, and she doubted she would hear him if he tried. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, blocking out all sound.

  Both of them could see the draugrs clearly, which told her these were more than the semi-corporeal monsters that had come after her when she’d first arrived. These were stronger, more tangible. Powerful enough that they saw no need for a glamor.

  Had they come for Cody, or had Tim sent them after her?

  If Cody was in her room, she would have to push through the draugrs to get in and protect him. At some point, the monsters would figure out how to open the door — or eventually Cody would do the job himself, unaware of the danger waiting for him in the hallway. Allegra was certain that only luck had kept him inside this long.

  She released a deep, slow breath and drew in another, clearing her mind to put her ideas together. It would be foolish to run in without a plan, but she needed to be quick. She needed to be clever.

  Neither of which should have been an issue. She was a succubus, and no succubus learned how to seduce without first learning how to fight. First and foremost, she was a demon.

  So why had her feet turned into cement blocks that prevented her from taking a single step closer? And why was it that the only action she wanted to take was to run downstairs and out the front door?

  She squeezed her hands into fists at her sides and locked down her fear.

  Channel the fear into excitement. Her aunt’s voice spoke in her ear through the haze of memory. Not to fear is naïve, but all energy can be turned into something useful.

  She allowed the tingle of terror to press against her skin and dilate her pupils, and her own energy rose to match it, filling her with anticipation.

  But she couldn’t take on both creatures at once. Raising her hand, she gestured for Lee to follow her downstairs. They hurried toward the lobby, neither making any noise that would draw the draugrs’ attention toward them.

  Lee released a breath and rubbed the back of his neck with shaking fingers. His bottom lip wobbled and his voice came out thick. “I can’t say that’s what I was expecting to find up there. What are we supposed to do now? Maybe we could get a ladder from the garden shed? Prop it up against your window and get Cody out that way?”

  Allegra considered the suggestion, then shook her head. “It would take too long. Also, I doubt those creatures will wait patiently in the hallway once they hear their target being rescued. I do not trust what they will do if we leave them out of sight.”

  Lee cast a sideways look at the desk clerk and dropped his voice to a low rumble. “So what are you thinking?”

  “That we must be the ones to attack first.”

  His eyes widened. “You think we have a chance at that? I don’t know about you, but I don’t like our odds.”

  Allegra nodded. “I agree the risk will be high, but there are two of us, and we have the advantage. We know what they are, and they do not know that we have seen them. I believe if we work together, we can succeed.”

  “I don’t know…” His gaze darted around the lobby, settling on anything but on her. “I might look like a tough old man, but I’m no fighter, Allegra.”

  She eyed him over and realized he was right. He’d always been so sure of himself on the topic of these draugrs that she’d forgotten he was only a human man, past his prime. And yet to whom could she turn otherwise? Her thoughts drifted to Matthew, but she discounted him after a brief consideration. His abilities would allow him to sense the draugrs, but he was no better armed to go after them than Lee, and to choose Matthew over the cook would mean wasting time searching for him and explaining the situation. She had no other choice.

  Locking gazes with Lee, she said, “I know you feel afraid, and I will not lie and say that your fear is unfounded, but I cannot do this alone and there is no one else to help me. We both have an affection for this young man. In spite of the risks, we must do this for him.”

  She caught a hint of moisture in the corners of Lee’s eyes before he squeezed them shut and bowed his head. She braced herself for a “no” and started weighing her chances of success in hunting down both draugrs on her own.

  But when Lee looked at her again, his gray eyes were steeled with resolve. He squared his shoulders and clenched his hands at his sides. “How are we supposed to go about it? I’m handy enough with my fists, but I doubt a solid blow to the jaw will take these bastards down.”

  “I agree,” Allegra said, doing her best to hide her relief. “This is why an ax would be ideal.” She considered mentioning the fire option as well, but thought better of it. The chances of the fire spreading would be too high, and she didn’t want to involve anyone else in their fight. They needed to do this quickly and quietly.

  Lee’s features scrunched in thought. After a moment, his face smoothed, and he smiled. “I know where we can find one. Stay here. Watch them.”

  He rested his hand on her shoulder, then slipped across the lobby and into the back room behind the reception desk. Allegra heard his deep voice as he exchanged a few words with the desk clerk, heard her laugh over something he said.

  Allegra eased her shoes off to avoid the heels clacking against the floor and set them down at the bottom of the stairs. They were her favorite pair and she didn’t want to break a heel in a fight.

  She took one stair at a time, stopping when she made out the top of the draugrs’ dark silhouettes in the shadows. They hadn’t moved except for their shuffle in front of the door.

  She wasn’t deceived by their slow movements, having already experienced their speed and silence. She would not underestimate them.

  A scream threatened to burst through her lips when something bumped her arm, but when she whirled around, she found Lee beside her. She glared at him, and he widened his eyes in apology, then held up the ax. Allegra willed her heartbeat to slow. When it didn’t listen, she accepted that the only way to regain control over herself was to see this through.

  She pointed at Lee and the ax before motioning to one of the draugrs, then tapped her chest and waved her hand at the other one.

  Lee frowned and shook his head. He pointed at her and raised his hands. What will you fight them with?

  She tapped her temple as though to tell him she had an idea. He didn’t need to know that her role in this plan would be to chase the monster down and tear off its head with her bare hands. She tried to convince herself that she would manage without trouble, that she was stronger than these half-dead creatures, but doubt filled her joints with sand, and she crossed her fingers.

  Without giving Lee a chance to ask more questions, she grabbed her shoes, crept up the stairs, and stopped on the landing. He kept close behind her. The draugrs appeared not to have noticed them, too intent on their target beyond the door.

  Allegra inched forward. Her blood raced in her veins and her vision sharpened. A smile tugged on her lips and she curled her hands at her sides, her fingernails digging into her palms. It had been a while since she’d dove into a fight, and she found herself looking forward to it.

  Quick and quiet.

  She rose up on tiptoe and closed the gap between her and the draugrs by another few feet. Lee shifted behind her, but the distance between them grew wider. His wide torso cast a shadow on the wall, his thick arms raising the ax to his shoulder. She hoped the draugrs wouldn’t catch the movement too soon.

  She raised her hands in front of her, her fingers curled into claws, then drew in a deep breath, held it, and took one more step.

  In a flash, the draugr closest to her whipped around and threw a backhanded blow at her cheek. She flew into the wall, cracking her head against the door jamb, and sank to the floor, her vision bursting with stars.

 
Then the monster turned and fled.

  17

  Allegra hesitated as the draugr ran. To go after it would leave Lee to cover the second one on his own, but to let the fleeing draugr go would keep Cody at risk until it was caught. A glance at Lee’s ax decided her. He had a weapon — Cody was helpless. She’d heard the fear in the young man’s voice when he’d told her about the draugr, and remembered the way the brightness in his eyes had faded. She had dragged him into this, and if she ever wanted to laugh at another one of his pathetic flirtations, she had to protect him now.

  Springing to her feet, she pushed herself away from the wall and let her shoes tumble to the floor. She bumped into Lee and pushed him toward the draugr lumbering toward them.

  “Kill that one,” she ordered. “Strike off its head.”

  Then she took off at a run, hearing Lee’s calls behind her of “What? But —” and then a cry.

  She didn’t turn around to see if he was all right. He was armed. As long as he kept the draugr away from the door and used the ax as a deterrent, he would be fine until she returned. But Cody wouldn’t be safe if he remained a target, and after tomorrow, she wouldn’t be here to watch out for him. She owed him this. She couldn’t let the other one out of her sight.

  The draugr disappeared down the back stairs, and although she pursued it at full speed, it outdistanced her. She pushed her legs harder and allowed her instincts to take over. If she wanted to win this fight, she would have to hunt. She pulled her lips back in a snarl.

  A strip of curled carpet tripped her up at the bottom of the stairs, but she caught her balance against the wall and used the momentum to jump forward. The muscles in her legs burned, and she savored the sensation. A trickle of sweat drizzled between her breasts and tickled her stomach. She focused on the way it wakened her skin, leaving her sensitive to the air currents cutting past her and the changing surface under her feet as she moved from thin carpet to wood flooring.

  Every detail in the corridor stood out in sharp contrast, narrowing in on her target. It had been so long since she’d let herself be guided by instinct, and she’d forgotten how much she enjoyed the chase.