Mafia II - Stranded In Bloodvayne City

After the mafia came to and conquered the town of StoryWrite, they killed off most of its citizens one by one. Only two escaped. They boarded a plane bound for the city. But, as fate would have it, the plane would never reach Social Design City. During flight, the plane suffered a mysterious engine failure and was forced to land.1

The island upon which the plane landed was not on the charts or on any map. It seemed industrial enough - several industrial-sized buildings and a few factory-looking places. But all of that was deep inside the city and sealed off by a large cast iron gate. The gate born a strange insignia - that of a bird with its wings outstretched and a bright red ruby in its beak. Underneath the bird were the words - made from cast iron, as well - "Bloodvayne City."2

There was a complex of four brown brick buildings off to the south of the city gates. A wooden sign was planted near the largest of these buildings. On it was written "Goulburn Heights."3

The main building looked like a hotel of sorts, but there was no other information in sight. The second building, directly behind the first, was clearly labeled "Library" in engraved letters on the archway over the frotn doors. To the left, towards the edge of the island, was a large garden and a small shed next to it. On the right, towards the city gates, was a wide single-story building that bore the word "Cafeteria" on its wall. Directly next to the cafeteria was a small house.
Judith followed - water appeared to be creeping over the entire island, consuming everything - there would be no point in going back to the hotel to retrieve anything she had left. 4

As she splashed out into the water, she could see Bryce coming in from another side of the beach, as well as Ice. She hadn't yet seen anything of the thing that called itself Peter - but she presumed that the ruckus she and Dan had heard coming from the hallway before might have been the end of him.5

She finally grabbed the ladder and started climbing.
Other than size and shape, all of the buildings looked alike.6

Weary and lost, the travelers - the survivors of the StoryWrite massacre as well as the other passengers on the plane - entered the first building.7

The hotel itself stood twleve stories high, each floor alined with barred windows made of reinforced glass. The front door was a thick oak with a brass knob. Inside the foyer the floor was made of glossy white tile. The walls were painted a faint blue and adorned with various hand-drawn pictures. The pictures seemed to show Bloodvayne City at the height of its time, though when the pictures were drawn could not be determined. To the left and the right, against the respective walls, mirrored staircases ran up the building. Between the two staircases, a wide, curved wooden desk awaited. The top of the desk was black marble, like that of a bar counter.8

There was a singular book on the desk and a pen in a holder next to it. The book was open nearly halfway through its pages. On the other side of the book, away from the pen, was a small metal bell.9

One of the passengers curiously flipped through the book's pages. Several names were written on the pages, as well as dates and times of when the repsective owners of those names had written in the book. The first name in the book, a Mr. Adam Miskus, had signed in on 27 October, 1788. The last name in the book thus far was Mr. & Mrs. Jeramiah Wilkes, signed in on ... October 27th, 2006.10

Curious. It seemed every name that had signed in had done so on the 27th of October. And even more curious... that was today's date. Then a sudden realization startled the reader. They realized that none of the names were accompanied by a sign-out date.11

All at once, before anyone could press the bell, a man appeared behind the desk. No had been looking at the desk and thus had seen from which direction he had come.12

He placed his hand on the book and spoke in a slow, soft voice that was as chilling as a frigid wind. "May I help you?"13

Turning to look at the man, the party nearly jumped. He stood a mere five feet and ten inches, but he seemed to tower over even the tallest of the passengers. His gleaming hazel eyes never wavered and were, in fact, more like the eyes of a painting - though they never moved, they always seemed to be looking at you.14

He seemed out of place, really, in his bright Hawaiian shirt and loose, brown khakis. His curly brown hair was thick and long enough to cover his ears and the upper part of his eyes.15

Having revcieved no reply, the man spoke again. "May I help you?"16

-17

Crystal stepped forward nervously and nodded. "I think we'd like to sign in. May I ask what your fees are here? We don't have much, but... anything that you need done around the hotel I'm willing to help out with."18

She looked around nervously, feeling kind of uneasy. She still couldn't believe she'd actually made it out alive, but still... she couldn't believe what had happened. She'd changed her name, but still went by Ice for the most part. She didn't know what to do here though.19

-20

Viv cleared her throat, the sound echoing eerily in the silence after Crystal had spoken.The man gave them a deadpan look, frowning in thought.21

"She's right. We-we really need a place to stay until we...er...for a while," Viv finished somewhat lamely. She'd suddenly recalled the odd case of the missing sign-out dates, and her throat had clogged up in morbid anticipation.22

Why don't they have check-out dates? she thought, chewing her lip. She glanced at her watch, which had luckily survived via her coat. If all had gone as it should have, she'd have reached Social Design Uni by now.23

The man flipped through the pages of the register, albeit carelessly, as if it didn't matter which room he assigned. He looked up, hazel eyes piercing through them.24

-25

Dan sneezed loudly behind Ice and HT, making them jump. He sniffed, then said, 'Oh, sorry, didn't mean to frighten you.' 26

Turning his attention to the man behind the desk, he returned the deadpan stare, and asked flatly, 'Do you have rooms for us, or not?'27

-28

Aurora hid behind her older brother Dan, and looked around nervously. She handed him a tissue, then resumned looking over the hotel lobby. It was oddly empty. Something about the place seemed odd, out of place. She couldn't think of what though. 29

Aurora remembered reading somewhere that fire trucks can't reach past the 5th floor of buildings. She hoped they wouldn't be given rooms too high up. They'd be stuck if anything happened. Then again, did the small island even have a fire truck?30

-31

"Ah yes," the man replied dully. "The StoryWrite group. Party of nine."32

He picked up the sign-in book and shuffled through the pages, not even looking at them. He suddenly stopped and stared at that group for a moment. Then, without warning, he slammed the book down on the counter, sending a loud echo through the foyer.33

"Please sign and date. You will all be staying on the second floor."34

After each person signed, the man took up the book quickly and closed it, setting under the counter. He withdrew a set of keys all on a single chain, seemingly from nowhere. He handed each person a key with a room number engraved on the end.35

"Welcome to Goulburn Heights, the official welcome committee of the Bloodvayne community. You are free to explore in as much as you do not attempt to force entry into any of the locked buildings or into anyone else's room. The gates to the city are currently locked until such time as I can locate the key.36

The cafeteria is next door and meals are served at seven o'clock, twelve o'clock, and six o'clock. Otherwise feel free to call for room service. The telephones do not dial long distance. You'll find that your cellular phones will not find service here. Celluar phones have not been pardoned by the Bloodvayne community."37

He gestured toward the stairs. "Your rooms can be found up either of the staircases. Please refrain from finding yourself in the room of a person of the opposite gender. Inability to pay is not an issue. If you agree to aid in the duties around the complex, you are free to remain in the hotel.38

"Every Friday there will be a committee meeting between you and I where we will discuss your progress into the chores assigned to you. I will deliver your weekly assignments after the committee. You will not have the same assignment twice."39

Folding his hands neatly together on the conter, the man watched the group unmovingly.40

-41

• Cafeteria42

The large metal building beside the hotel was extremely plain on the outside. A few windows here and there seemed to be caked with dust and sand. Large metal doors showed the enterance.The interior in stark contrast was warm,cozy,and inviting. Large skylights let in the sunlight. The room was decorated with small tables,white linens,and tiny pots of flowers that circled around a larger longer table.. A swinging door lead into the kitchen. Pots and pans could be heard banging around as Damana began to prepare lunch. She hummed to herself happy to have some company again.43

-44

• Hotel45

Mykia Tremeare wrinkled her nose distastefully as she entered the dingy room that was supposed to be hers. The white tiles of the main floor were continued up here, covered in portions by holey ragged pieces of cloth she could only presume must have been rugs at some point.46

Resolving not to touch anything until she'd given it all a good scrubdown, she quickly wiped down the small table that was there and placed her bag on top of it.47

"Well," she spoke aloud to herself, "Nothing will be accomplished by hiding in this cubicle." With that, she stepped out the door and knocked on her neighbour's, not knowing whose it was but thinking to herself that she really needed to hear someone's voice other than her own.48

-49

• Hotel50

Dan had just settled down in his room, when a knock sounded on the door. He put his hand in his jacket, feeling the handle of his pistol. Something about this place set him on edge, and he wasn't about to take chances. 51

He opened the door a crack, and peered out. 'Kylia, hey.' He opened the door all the way, and removed his hand from his jacket. 52

'Hey. Dan, just needed to talk to someone. This place is to quiet.' 53

'Sure, sure.' Dan stepped out of his room, and locked the door. 'Shall we see if this dump has any decent places to hangout?'54

-55

o Hotel56

Mykia absently noted in her head that his room wasn't much better than hers. "I think I saw a Library on our way in. We could do some exploring. I've always been partial to books." She shivered slightly, her arms wrapped about her, and looked up at him. "Honestly Dan...this whole thing seems a bit peculiar. The circumstances...this whole place. It puts me on edge."57

Mylia walked slowly over to the window and peered through the curtains, careful not to touch them as they were quite grimy. Outside, a view of the city beyond could be seen, deserted. suddenly she turned away, as if she couldn't bear to look any longer looked at Dan expectantly. "So...shall we? I don't think I can bear being depressed any longer and this building is highly depressing."58

-59

 Hotel60

'Peculiar, yes, couldn't agree more. It really puts me on edge. I'm glad my little friend survived the crash.' He patted his jacket meaningfully. 'Anyway, Library sounds good; could see if they've got any Matthew Rielly books.' 61

LIBRARY.62

Ten minutes and a few wrong turns later, they found themselves in the library. 'Ahh, yes, this looks... promising,' Dan commented. Eyes bulging slightly at the shear size of the place. 'Nice place to get lost in. He whistled. 'So, you wanna stick together, or go separate ways and get lost, and wait for the monsters to attack, then have to try find each other again, etc, etc, etc?'63

-64

• Library65

Mykia looked around the building and her eyes widened in sheer awe and reverence. "This is...amazing. How many books are here, do you think?" Without waiting for an answer she strode toward a bookshelf and ran her hand along the spines, for once not oticing the state of the carpets or anything else.66

She stood like that for a moment before Dan's words sunk in. "I think...let's stick together for now. I'm not quite confident in this place to wander too much." She smiled.67

Together they walked into the stacks in search of espionage and Erikson.68

-69

• Library70

Kaelynn had signed in already and placed her bags in her room. The plane trip was supposed to take her home, but it looked like things were going to be a bit hairy for a while.71

She went exploring and found the library and figured she might as well take a look. The books were ... so many. "Wow," she said, her small, soft voice echoing in the large room.72

She walked around one of the bookcases and bumped into Mykia. "Oh, sorry," she said softly.73

-74

o Library75

Mykia smiled at the girl who had bumped into her. "It's quite alright...Kaelyn, was it?" The girl nodded. "I remember you from the plane. You seemed young to be travelling on the plane and I wondered where your Family was."76

She looked back and noiced Dan engrossed in some books two shelves back and decided to stay and talk to this girl. "So, what's your story?:"77

-78

 Library79

"Yeah, Kaelynn," she replied quietly. "I don't really have a story. I was just headed home from visiting some friends."80

She shrugged and looked at the books on the shelf next to her, hugging her arms to her body in anticipation of another chill. The books didn't seem to be quite in order. "Guess they haven't had a librarian in a while."81

-82

• Library83

After settling in, Ice decided to go exploring. She found her way to the hotel library and stared straight up. The shelves seemed to go on forever in every direction. Up, left, right, straight ahead. She began to walk to the section marked fantasy and caught sight of an old book. "The Ancient" was the title on it, but as she opened to see when it had been published, there was no year. Ice was a bit weirded out because the pages looked brand new. Maybe it was just a misprint. Someone had forgotten to put the publication date.84

She moved on to the next row of books and found some that she had been wanting to read. After picking out a couple, she looked around and was surprised to see that she had come across two other guests of the hotel. 85

"Hi, guys. Big place, isn't it? It's a bit spooky." She gave a smile that made her seem more brave than she truly was and walked over to them.86

-87

Missi settled in nicely, she placed her bag on her bed and yawned.88

She decided to on pack later as she was getting werid feelings about the hotel.89

She looked behind her as if someone was watching her.90

She yawned again as if she was cast under a spell.91

'Damn!' Missi whispered to herself.92

She decided to look around the room before leaving. As she left she felt ghostly.93

Weird Missi thought to herself94

-95

• Cafeteria96

Damana moved around the kitchen with a slight hop in her step as stoves and ovens began to turn on by themselves and pots took their respective places. Lunch would be soon and everything needs to be ready . "What will I make for lunch today" she thought as she twisted her hair on top of her head. She walked over to the fridge and opened it. Despite,the island being so small, the fridge was well stocked with all types of things. Putting a few things from here and there. She went to work.97

-98

• Library Event: Spectres of the Past (part 1)99

An odd air permeated the library, a scent of old paper and burning leather. As Ice touched the book entitled The Ancient, a soft wind whispered past the legs of the other explorers. For a moment, the smell of old paper was replaced by freshly dried glue. The air around the explorers turned frigid and they began to shiver. Then, as strangely as it had appeared, the wind and the scent faded away, leaving only the previous hummidity.100

-101

Ice shivered as she felt the air around her grow cold. She felt so strange at the moment. It didn't make much sense. It was so cold and eerie. She immediately sat the book down and turned to everyone else again, face as white as though she'd seen a ghost. What was that all about? She couldn't help but wonder why that had happened.102

-103

Kaelynn shook in the chilly wind and looked around for an open window. She then saw that all of the windows were barred. "Where'd that come from," she asked? "I mean, did any of you feel that, too?"104

-105

• Library106

Mykia nodded to Kaelyn and Ice. "This place...there's something wrong with it. It feels wrong." Shaking her head, puzzled, she looked at the two, something niggling her mind.107

Suddenly she realized that Dan hadn't caught up with her and felt a chill. She knew it was silly but she couldn't help feeling like no one should be left alone here. "One moment," she told the others, "I'll be right back."108

With that comment she walked back to where she had seen Dan last and peered around the corner.109

-110

Aurora finally got to the room she was to share with Ice, after wandering the hotel a bit. It creeped her out. In certain parts of the building, she could feel it moving, swaying under her feet. She shuddered, then shrugged off the feeling and opened the door. Ice's stuff was already there, but the girl herself was nowhere to be seen. 111

Aurora settled in, grabbed a book and a blanket, and curled up in the corner. She needed to relax. The crash, and creepiness of the hotel, had taken it's toll on her and she soon feel asleep.112

-113

• Library 114

Dan looked up from the book he was holding, a chill breeze had just swept past him, carrying the feeling of death. 'Great, zombie infested town,' he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. It suddenly struck him that Kylia had disappeared. Putting the book back in the shelf, and hurried down the isle, and rounded the corner, straight into Kylia. 115

'Wha-!' he exclaimed, stepping backwards. 'There you are. Was just wondering where you'd got to.'116

-117

• Library118

Mykia breathed a sigh of relief. "I was talking over there with Ice and another girl, Kaelyn...and something strange happened. A breeze, a chill..." She didn't know how to explain it but she saw Dan was nodding. "You felt it too, didn't you? It was...worrying to say the least."119

She led Dan over to where Ice and Kaelyn were waiting.120

-121

• Library122

Kaelynn glanced over at Mykia and Dan as they came back to the group. "This place is kinda creepy, huh? I hope the rest of the city isn't as bad, but I kinda get the feeling it's gonna be."123

She looked at her watch. It was 5 a clock already. "I'm getting kinda hungry."124

-125

• Library126

Rose: This place is creepy.I'm kind of hungry too!Lets go down to the gardent o get something to eat.127

-128

• Library129

Ice looked around the library then at the faces of each person in with her. "i'm not the only one that felt that air, right?" She felt very uneasy just then. It made no sense to her. How could cold air like that come out of nowhere?130

-131

• Bedroom (OOC: Why am I always late?)132

Peter quickly dumped his bag on the bed, and checked his equipment. Seeing it was all present, he changed from his camo uniform to baggy pants and a white t-shirt. After shoving everything into the cupboard, Peter walked out of the room and towards the library.133

-134

• Library 135

'No Ice, you're not the only one. I think we all did.' Dan said. 'However, I'm hungry, and am going to get food now, anyone coming?' 136

At that he wandered out of the library heading to the place of food. 137

At the entrance of the library, he saw Peter. 'Hey Pete, how're you goin', mate?' he asked. 'I'm just heading to get some food, I think the others are too, care to join us?'138

-139

• Cafeteria140

Mykia followed the group to the Cafeteria where appetizing smells had begun to emerge. Once there she noticed the clatter of pots and pans and looked around for the person manning them.141

Hello?" she called out uncertainly. "Is anyone here?"142

-143

• Library144

Ice watched Dan walk to the entrance then ran after him. She wasn't going to stay in this place unless she had someone she knew and trusted. She smiled as she saw Peter and waved. "Hey. Long time no see."145

She nodded to Dan. "I'll be sticking with you guys for the moment until you guys go up to bed, k?"146

-147

Rachel Lynn shuddered as she entered her room. Things just didn't seem right to her, coming to this place. She didn't know if it was the atmosphere or the creepy clerk at the front desk that made her feel this way. 148

Straightening up slightly, Rachel headed down to the cafeteria. Her stomach growled as the delicious smells hit her. 149

"Something smells good," she said aloud, not noticing the others gathered there as well.150

-151

• Cafeteria152

*Rose hearing pots and pans rattle too made her curious so she walked to the kitchen but, saw no one all the sudden she felt a chilling gust of air out of no where like the one everyone felt upstairs and then she quickly ran out of there!*153

Rose: Wow that was scary!I don't believe in ghosts so I don't know what I felt.But, as for the rattling there is no one back there so I think it was a mouse.154

-155

• Cafeteria156

Damana looked up from the oven hearing someone call from the dining room, just in time to see another person run out of the kitchen. She smirked and shook her head sitting the chocolate torte on the counter to cool she wiped off her hands and headed to the door. "I'm right here!" she yelled hoping her voice carried through the door. To make sure she popped her head out the door and looked around. Noticing a few people standing around she smiled. "Welcome to the Goulburn Cafe. Can I help you?"157

-158

• Cafeteria159

Kaelynn walked with the others to the cafeteria in hopes of getting food. She smiled in a perky way at Damana. "Hi. We're just looking for something to nibble. What do you suggest?"160

-161

• Library162

'Righto , I'm famished.' Peter headed out with Dan to the cafeteria, and felt a slight chill as he walked out. He looked back and thought he saw a nearby book wobble, but decided to ignore. 'He, this place is already giving me the creeps.'163

CAFETERIA164

Gulping down the last of his caramel cheesecake, Peter looked over at Dan, still shovelling cheese toasties into his mouth. Out of curiousity, Peter asked 'So, what were you doing on that plane, Dan? I know I kept in touch with you in SW, said you had an unexpected friend show up.'165

-166

Ice looked up at Peter and Dan. "Actually, what were either one of you doing on there? Peter I hadn't heard from you in awhile and Dan, I could have sworn you said you were working."167

She smiled at both of them as she debated on chocolate or jello.168

-169

Peter snapped his head turning around. Crystal always seemed to sneak up on him. 'Oh, I can explain that. I'm an Army fella now. The sargeant was sending me over North to help out with some civil warfare. Apparently it's going out of control. Plus, it's easy stripes.' Peter smiled and ordered another cheesecake.170

-171

Ice grinned at Peter. "Scared ya, didn't I?" She picked up a slice of cherry kool-aid pie instead. She smiled at Dan and Peter both. 172

"So you went and joined the army on us, did you?"173

-174

• Cafeteria175

(OOC: Yet again, PETER!)176

'Hey, I wanna do something for the world, that a crime? And I don't just wanna be in the army, get all these stripes and be called 'Sah', I'm hoping one day to be in one of the Special Ops Teams. I think that would be a BIG step in my career.' By the end of that statement Peter had already finished half of a cheesecake. He was starting to feel full.177

Suddenly, Peter grasped his head as pictures of murder filled his mind. 'Gah!'178

-179

• Cafeteria180

Dan thought about how to answer the question, well chewing on his cheese toastie. 'I am still technically working. But I can't say on what.' He sighed. 'Spec ops has it's curses, besides low pay, I can't tell you what I'm working on, or really why I was on the plane, or even why I was on the plane. I can, however, tell you who the guest was, he is my boss, General Ryden. But that's all I can tell you, sorry.' He went back to his toastie.181

-182

• Cafeteria183

(OOC: Sorry. At least I had it right one time. )184

"Peter! Are you okay?!?" She rushed to his side and looked over at Dan for help. She didn't know what to do.185

-186

Dan sat calmly chewing his cheese toastie. 'SPec ops 'eh? Good luck with that, we're a tough bunch to get into.' 187

Peter grasped his head and started screaming, Dan just stared at him blankly as Ice rushed to his side. 'To much cheesecake I think, my friend.'188

-189

• Cafeteria190

As suddenly as it started, it vanished. Peter shook his head and looked around. His vision was still cloudy as he recovered from his delirrium. 'What the hell...' He saw Ice looking at him with a worried look on her face. Peter shrugged. He turned back to Dan. 'So, uh, you were saying?'191

-192

'Yes, to much cheesecake, that might be it.' Dan smiled slightly at Peter. 'Want some more? That was an interesting side effect.'193

-194

• Cafeateria Event: Hotel Secrets (part 1)195

The hotel manager appears mysteriously behind the group. "I'm sorry," he said, "but the evening meal is served at six o'clock."196

He moved past the group like a wind and stopped at a picture hanging next to the nearest table. He straightened the picture and moved on, disappearing behind the door to the kitchen.197

The picture depicted the hotel manager shaking hands with an older gentleman. The scene seemed to have taken place just outisde the hotel. The picture itself seemed old, older than the manager seemed. But still, his eyes bore the red dots that were common to modern flash cameras.198

The older gentleman was dressed in a fine suit and had a ribbon pinned to his vest pocket. The word on the ribbon, however, had faded with time or forcible means.199

For whatever reason, the picture seemed important. As the plane suvivors neared it, a mysterious whistle - perhaps that of a wind - echoed into the cafeteria.200

-201

• Cafeteria202

Peter eyed the man curiously. Approaching the picture, Peter thoroughly examined it. The old gentleman looked somewhat familiar to Peter, as if he had heard about him from someone or something. 'Dan, you think you're smarty-pants special-ops knowhow can tell me how old this picture is?'203

-204

• Cafeteria205

Ice nodded, still looking worried as she sat back in her chair. Watching from the corner of her eye, Ice caught a glimpse of movement. She looked over at Peter then Dan and back to where she'd seen the movement. It was gone now. 206

"I'll be back." She jumped to her feet and raced after the shadow of what she'd seen move.207

-208

• Cafeteria209

Damana smiled watching everyone enjoy their meals. "If any of you need anything just let me know. Oh and supper will be a large affair so please dress semi-formal"210

-211

• Cafeteria212

Dan gave the picture a close inspection. 'Well, judging by a few factors, I'd say about 12 years. Judging mainly by the time stamp that whoever took the picture forgot to remove.' He pointed to a little row of numbers in the lower right hand corner. 'The picture looks like it's been photoshopped to look that old, and artificially worn. Of course, I could be miles off, but that's my guess.'213

-214

• Cafeteria215

Peter looked dumbfounded. 'Uh, I knew that. 12 years? You'd think the fella would look a bit aged by now, maybe even a few highlights? Hmm, wonder if there's any other photos like this hangin' round...'216

-217

• Cafeteria218

(OOC: At least I'm not making a big deal over people getting *my* character's name wrong )219

Mykia started at the sound that wound through the air. Looking around, she noticed nothing out of the ordinary but still...she was starting to get a little jumpy and the amount of people she suddenly had to deal with wasn't helping.220

Thanking Damana for a lovely meal, she waved at those who noticed her stand up and slipped out back to her room.221

Hotel222

Having ransacked her room and fortunately obtained some cleaning supplies from under the sink, Mykia set to work on disinfecting...everything. She scrubbed the walls, windexed the spaces between the tiles on the floor, polished the chair, and got rid of those abysmal rags on the floors. 223

Finally after two hours she was satisfied with most of the room enough that she felt she could star unpacking. She privately noted to herself to find a place to do laundry and some point and get all the sheets clean and to inquire about the condition of the mattresses.224

Pulling out a photo frame from her bags, she paused. Within the frame was a picture of her family she had been seperated from for over a year and a half. She could still remember her son sparring with his best friend with her on the edge of her seat evry time he got close to being hit, even though he was the most proficient of the two. Blame a mother's worry. Sighing, she set it on the nightstand and continued packing.225

-226

• Hotel227

When Aurora woke up, she felt oddly dazed. Oddly enough, she didn't remember feeling tired til right before she fell asleep. She shrugged it off and got up to stretch. 228

When she noticed the lack of others, she went downstairs to the foyer. Aurora noticed a new sheet of paper on the wall. It appeared to have assignments on it. She noticed that she was down for cooking and cleaning in the cafeteria. Looking at her watch, she saw it was already 4pm. Where had the time gone? 229

With a little less than two hours to help prepare for dinner, she sprinted to the cafeteria, hoping HT was already there.230

-231

• Cafeteria232

Damana looked up seeing Aurora rush in the door. "Afternoon dear, please wash up and put on an apron and gloves. I need you to help me pick apart the chickens for tonight's supper". She moved around the kitchen checking various pots and pans that bubbled away along with the oven.233

-234

• Hotel235

Ice ran down the hallways chasing down the shadow she'd seen, uncertain of who or what it was. Fear crossed her mind, but more a curious fear. She didn't know what it was, but she was determined to find out. At the end of the hallway, after many twists and turns, the shadow disappeared THROUGH the wall. Her eyes went wide as she tried to stop herself, fully expecting to hit the wall. Instead, she, too, went through the wall.236

-237

• Cafeteria238

Finishing his forth toastie, Dan stood up. 'Excuse me, it appears I have to clean the foyer and man the front desk. Though who would be coming here, I have no idea,' he finished quietly. 239

Hotel Foyer. 240

Dan found a cupboard with a vacuum cleaner in it, and proceeded to vacuum the floor. Not that there was much point, the foyer was eerily clean. Not from constant cleaning, but from never being dirty. 241

Finishing that, he plopped himself down behind the desk. And sat studying the foyer. 'Why oh why didn't I bring a book...'242

-243

• Hotel Foyer244

Peter walked in to find Dan at the front desk, twiddling his thumbs and whistling The Man From Snowy River. 'Bored, are ya?' Peter asked.245

'You wouldn't believe how much.'246

'Well, I'm off to clean up the books and crap in the library. Might be able to dig up some stuff about that guy we saw in the picture. After I'm done, I'll bring back a kiddie's book for ya to read.' Peter said with a chuckle.247

LIBRARY248

As Peter entered the library, he saw the other workers already there, sorting out books and whatnot. 'Great, I'm late.'249

As Peter touched the first book, visions of murder ran through his head again, though slightly less disturbing than before. 'What the hell is happening to me...' Peter whispered with a scowl as he shook the thought out of his head and aligned the book with the others.250

-251

• LIBRARY252

Ice appeared out of nowhere in the library. Her eyes went wide as she fell literally through a book case. She looked up at Peter, who was only a few feet from her then back at the book shelf. 253

"Did that really... just... happen?" she asked in a semi daze.254

-255

• Library256

Peter turned his head to find Crystal lying on her stomach on the ground. 'Hmm, slipped.' He turned back to the bookshelf, and noticed one book seemingly more attention catching than the others. Peter pulled the book out and studied the title. 'Property of Wayne Armando Perrison,' Peter read under his breath. He quickly flicked through page after page, and came to the last one. Covering the full page, Peter saw a photo of an old man shaking hands with the hotel manager...257

-258

• Cafeteria259

Aurora shuddered, but did as she was told. She liked to cook, but picking apart chickens was not her idea of fun. She was more of a baker anyway. 260

Aura sighed, grabbed the apron, and set to work. After a few chickens, her hands fell into the habit of picking the chickens without having to think about it. It was oddly quiet, and her mind started to wander. 261

The hotel was creeping her out, but it wasn't like she could do anything about that. Aura decided to talk to Ice during dinner to see what they could do about their room. Although it looked nice, almost as if it was never used, it was extremely dusty. 262

A stray thought drifted through her mind. Where was HT?263

-264

• Hotel265

Having finished unpacking, Mykia wandered down to the Foyer. Seeing Dan there at the front desk she smiled. "Well, I'm sure if anyone does show up, you'll make them feel very welcome."266

Spotting the sheet laying out assigned tasks, Mykia checked it over for her name and smirked. "At least my room is clean now. I'll have to find the caretaker and get keys off him at some point so I can clean all the other rooms."267

She shrugged and then looked at Dan? "At least I can clean your room right now, if you'd like."268

-269

• Hotel Foyer270

Just then, Peter rushed out with the book, almost knocking Mykia clean off her feet. 'Dan, I think I found something!'271

-272

'Congratulations, Pete, you were in the library, and you found a book-' 273

Peter glared at him and slammed the book on the counter in front, flipping it to the last page. 274

'Hmm, that is interesting...' Dan studied the picture. 'I wonder...' he muttered, flicking to the front of the book. 'My, my, that -is- interesting. Did you, per chance, have a look at the published date? It was published 14 years ago, two years before that picture was taken...'275

-276

"So either the date on the picture is wrong or the photographer travelled back in time two years to hand that picture over to the ppublisher." Mykia rolled her eyes as two pairs of eyes snapped to her, obviously having forgotten her presence. "Personally, I think the explanation that doesn't involve time travel is a bit more likely."277

Obtaining Dan's key, she headed back up the stairs. "Bye Boys!" she called out over her shoulder. "Have fun playing detective!"278

-279

Dan stared blankly at Mykia's retreating back. Shaking his head he turned to Peter. 'Gee, stuck on a strange island with no reception, even to high power radio sets, a manager who appears next to you without moving, strange chill winds when you look at certain pictures. Not to mention the books in the library that haven't even been published yet... And she thinks time travel is strange?' He shook his head sadly. 'That poor, poor girl.'280

-281

• Hotel Foyer282

Walking away from the library still shaking her head confused by the shadow fiend she'd followed and her own mysterious disappearance, Ice wandered to the hotel foyer to look at the assigned tasks sheet. She gave a weird look as she saw Dan and Peter looking over a book as though it were hot chocolate or something like that. She looked at the sheet and sighed. This place was just too weird. She decided to make another quick run to the cafeteria before she began with her duties. Just to check in with her roomie so they'd know each other were alive.283

-284

• A Series of Events (cause ya'll got going on me,,,)285

Library Event: Hotel Secrets II286

As the library workers were cleaning the seemingly endless array of books, a shadow moved behind them, vanishing every time they turned to look at it.287

Peter had just finished shelving a book when another one fell from seemingly nowhere and landed on the floor next to him. The fell open to an article concerning Bloodvayne:288

"Bloodvayne City, the city hidden in the middle of the ocean, has always been the subject of rumors and misconceptions. Contrary to popular believe, Bloodvayne has never witnessed any..." a portion of the passage had faded with time and was illegible. It picked up a few paragraphs later:289

"In truth, Bloodvayne is funded by its mass production of children's toys, the most famous of which being the high-quality plastic doll 'Simone' and her friends. Production is run by a Mr. ..." "... friends with the famed technological genius, Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Fitzgerald's current project..." Again the words had faded, but this time, someone had written a note in what appeared to be dried blood. "Soul the Harvest by Production."290

The rest of the article seemed to have been torn out of the book.291

Hotel Event: Reflections of a shadow292

As Mykia made her way back to Dan's room, she took a correct turn that somehow led her in an entirely different direction. She was now in a bathroom that looked as if it hadn't been used - or cleaned - in nearly fifty years. The only clean object was the mirror over the sink. But when Mykia stared at the mirror, there was no reflection, only a shadowy ball.293

The longer she stared, the harder it was for her to pull away. The bathroom seemed to fade away and the shadow seemed to move closer, stretching dark tendrils to Mykia.294

Just before the tendrils had her, a cold voice startled her. She turned to see the hotel manager again and realized that she was once more in the hallway.295

"Here are the keys to every room on the lower eleven floors," the manager said, emotionless. He handed her a large key chain that held nearly fourty keys. "I assume you shall need them."296

He turned away and disappeared behind a corner.297

Front Desk Event: The Customer298

While Dan was cleaning the foyer, a man dressed in retro-style clothing walked into the room. He stood at the desk for a moment, waiting for Dan to notice him. His shaggy brown hair hung losoely over his face and his eyes, a faded black, stared at the manager's logbook.299

(sorry it's kinda rushed, but I just wanted to throw them in there. Next week the tasks wil lbe week-long and the events not so rushed.)300

-301

• CAFETERIA302

Ice walked over to her roommate and hugged her. "Hey Aura. You gettin weirded out by anything yet?" She grinned at her younger sis slightly unnerved by the fact she'd run straight through a wall.303

-304

• Library305

Kaelynn walked from shelf to shelf, removing and replacing books as she was supposed to. There were so many, though. She thought it was going to take all day - all year, maybe. "I really don't want to be here that long," she said.306

She sighed softly and flipped through one of the books she had found. It was an out dated encylopedia. She chuckled at some of the things everyone was sure of back then.307

-308

• Careteria309

Damana looked up and let out a yell then suddenly began running around the kitchen in a frenzy. A blur of black and white. The clock on the wall said it was fifteen until 6 and nothing was plated or finished cooking and the dining room was a mess. "I hate when things are done" she grumbled more to herself then those around her. Without a word,serving dishes removed themselves from their cabinets and foods that were done were settled into them. She turned to look at Aurora and Ice. Her eyes a bright, but not completely un-natural blue. "hello hon." she said to Ice. "Would you two mind,going and setting up the dining room for me please. I'll finish in here. Also use the tan table cloths please. They are in the closet to your right." Turning away she went back to work.310

-311

• Cafeteria312

Ice nodded at Damana with a smile and went to help set the dining room, deciding that since she wouldn't be sleeping much that night she might as well just clean the library that night. She could try to find some good books to read while she was there and not have to worry about any form of noise to distract her, Or so she hoped at least.313

-314

• Cafeteria315

Aurora went to the closet to grap the tan table clothes while Ice got out the plates and silverware. They quickly set all the tables, and put glasses in front of every place. Finally they finished setting the tables with a pincher of water on each one. Aura looked at the time, and saw it was 3 to six. They had finished just in time. 316

Aura and Ice took a seat at one of the tables near the doors. 317

"I wonder why there are so many tables...it doesn't seem like there's ever that many people here. And I don't see what company would want to hold a company dinner here..." Aura trailed off. Ice nodded her agreement. "Oh well. I was worried about this place earlier, but now I'm a bit more relaxed. Cooking does that to me. So, how was your day here?"318

-319

• Hotel Foyer320

A slight cough brought Dan's head up sharply. He blinked a couple of times staring a the man in front of him. 'Oh, terribly sorry, I didn't here you come in. How may I help you?'321

-322

• Cafeteria323

"My day has been weird. I fell through a wall and wound up in the library on my stomach. I'm thinking of staying in the library tonight to do my share of the chores. would you be okay in the room by yourself?" Ice smiled at Aura.324

-325

• Library326

Peter finished studying a book. The last words brought a chill to his spine. 'He, probably the name of a thriller movie or something,' Peter thought with a nervous chuckle. He laughed occasionally when the other library wrokers passed him, hoping they thought he was reading a joke book. In his mind, he thought hard. Who was Mr. Fitzgerald? He might have known this 'Wayne' person. And what was this 'Simone' doll that made Bloodvayne City so popular? This had Peter's brain scrambled almost to the point of insanity.327

Flashes of murder appeared once again in Peter's mind. Seeing his reflection in a mirror, Peter was sure his eyes flashed a hideous red. He blinked, and they were back to their normal, green colour. Peter breathed heavily, and walked outside.328

-329

• Hotel330

Mykia stared blankly at the place where the Hotel Manager had just disappeared, her mind racing."I don't like that man." she murmered to herself.331

Looking around and ascertaining that this was indeed an empty hallway, not a bathroom of any sort nor did it posess any mirrors, she hurried off uneasily.332

Later, in Dan's room, she muttered to herself indistinctly as she scrubbed what must have been at least ten-year-old stains from the tiled floors on her hands and knees. Every once in a while, her voice rose and words could be made out. "Horrid place...sphere...island...horrid little man..." She wiped her forehead, brushing her now messy hair out of her face absently.333

Giving the floors a last savage wipe, she stepped back to survey her handiwork. Gone was the wall grime and the floor stains, the furniture had been polished to a shine, and the sheets had been refreshed from a cart she, inexplicably enough, found waiting outside her door. Letting a satisfied smile touch her lips, she wandered over to the now clean windows and stood for a moment lost in thought...then she noticed the lack of bright light.334

"Oh no!!" she exclaimed, "I'm going to be late for dinner!!!" Scanning the room quickly, she snatched the keyring she had been given and Dan's key and flew out of his abode into hers next door, getting cleaned up and presentable in record time.335

Cafeteria336

"Sorry I'm late." Mykia hurried in and took a seat at the nearest table. I got caught up in chores." She smiled at everyone, looking put together and as if she'd never raised a finger to do work in her life, and helped herself to some of the delicious food.337

-338

Peter passed Dan with a stranger that he didn't see on the plane, a puzzled look on his face.339

CAFETERIA340

Peter sat down at the table with a plate full of delicious looking chicken drumsticks. 'This place is freaky, but the food makes up for it. This stuff's amazing!' he said to himself.341

Suddenly, visions popped into his head again. A person at gunpoint, scared for their lives. The trigger was pulled, and the vision ended.342

Mykia saw him from the next table. 'Something wrong?'343

His eyes flashing red once again, Peter said in a somewhat deep-sounding voice. 'One of your kind will die come midnight.'344

-345

o Cafeteria346

Mykia stared at Peter, bewildered and a little frightened. This wasn't the Peter she had gotten to know, not at all. And she could have sworn his eyes were red!!!347

"Peter?..." She slipped out of her chair and kneeled by his side woriedly. "Peter dear? Are you alright?" Peter blinked and seemed to...snap out of whatever had caught hold of him before. He smiled at her, a smile that wrenched her heart because it reminded her so much of her son, Kain.348

He looked at her with amusement and maybe some confusion. "Why are you on the floor?"349

"You don't...you don't remember what just happened? What you just said?"350

-351

• Cafeteria352

Finishing her part of the chore, Kaelynn headed to the cafeteria. There she met up with the rest of the group and took her place at the nearest table. "I wonder what's for supper?" she said.353

She stood up and looked at Peter as he spoke and them fell over onto the floor. "Is he alright?" she asked.354

-355

• The First Disappearance356

(This will take place after supper, so you can throw in another post to take place during or before supper if you want.)357

After the evening meal had ended, the group all dispatched and went their respective ways - most of them going to bed. Of the few who wandered the hotel's creepy hallways, one found more than she bargained for.358

She curiously peeked her head into one of the empty rooms, bent on exploring more of the hotel. A gloved hand reached out and grabbed her, covering her mouth. In one swift movement, her neck was broken and Missi was dead.359

Her body was found the next morning in the hallway bathroom. The bruising around her neck pointed to the cause of death. A single strand of black hair lay on Missi's body, though it was straight and long. A note was found next to her, written in sloppy penmanship and with a red velt tip marker: "One of many."360

-361

Ice's eyes went wide as she stepped out of the library and into the hotel. She couldn't believe she'd fallen asleep there of all places. She ran down the hallway trying to get to the room before anyone else woke up and wondered where she'd gotten off to. Aura would be worried. Ice stopped in her tracks and screamed as she saw the body of Missi laying on the ground before her. Forgetting about trying not to wake anyone up, Ice fell to her knees, crumpled from shock. She had thought she'd finally gotten away from all of this. Apparently, she was wrong. It was so much worse here.362

-363

After dinner, Aura and Ice parted ways with a hug. 364

"Don't stay in the library too long, you need your sleep! I'll clean up our room and put our stuff away before heading to bed myself. Might go check in on Dan... His sense of humour always makes me feel better." Aura smiled at Ice. 365

"Alright, thanks!" Ice said and headed off. Aura went back to her room, and started putting her things away. The room was still kind of dirty, so she wiped off the dust and cleaned off the beds. It was enough for tonight. She was sure Mykia would clean it throughly the next day. 366

Soon enough, Aura felt tired again. She collapsed onto one of the beds, and curled up under the blanket. She was asleep before she realized it. 367

Sometime later that night, a piercing scream woke her. But it was just a remnant from her dream, most of which she didn't remember. Ice still wasn't there, and it was pinch black outside. Feeling wide awake, Aura decided to try and find Ice. She left the room, shaking the feeling that there was more to the dream...368

-369

• Hotel foyer370

After a good half hour of being piled with questions about this place, most of which Dan didn't know the answer too, the man got a room, on the forth floor, didn't want to be near anyone else. 371

Dan sat twiddling his thumbs, listening to his stomach rumble, wondering if anyone would bring him food, or if he should go get it. 372

Well mulling over the question, he noticed the intercom, on the row of buttons he saw one saying "kitchen" picking up the phone he pressed it. There was the sound of the phone being picked up. 'Hello, someone mind bringing me some sandwiches or something, I kinda don't want to leave the front desk, in case someone... comes.' He heard a click as the person on the other end hung up. 'Hah, polite...' Putting the phone down, he noticed something different out of the corner of his eye, turning, he saw a plate of sandwiches on the counter. 'Huh, fast service,' he muttered as he took one and starting eating. 373

Sometime later, the plate of sandwiches gone, Dan felt his eyes growing heavy. 'Oh screw this,' he muttered as he got up and headed to bed. He needed sleep.374

-375

• Hotel376

After dinner, Mykia planned to head straight up to her room, feeling disturbed at what had happened with Peter. She had a lot of cleaning that would need to be done the next day...she knew everyone's rooms would be as filthy as hers were.377

Later, not being able to sleep, she was involved in one of her favourite books when she heard a familiar sounding scream. Sitting bolt upright in her bed, she considered staying here huddled up in her room. However, she knew who that scream belonged to and she couldn't just ignore it. Ice might be in trouble.378

Pulling on a coat, she rushed out the door. Not feeling quite safe searching the hotel alone, she banged on Dan's door but no one answered. 'Dan must still be at the front desk,' she thought to herself. Faced with the prospect of going it alone, she pulled together her courage and set off to search.379

-380

• Hotel381

A heavy loud banging invaded Dan's dream, which he studiously ignored, it was 6:00AM, like hell he was going to get up. He rolled over and went back to sleep.382

-383

• Foyer Event: The Customer (Part II)384

The mysterious man that had arrived earlier in the day had spoken briefly to Dan before stating that there was something he needed to do. He'd then proceeded to vanish and not return. Until early the next morning.385

He returned while it was still dark outside and stood at the front desk again, pressing the little bell. After no one came to the desk, the man slammed his hand on the wooden counter, sending an echoing bang through the hotel. He proceeded to bang on the desk, hoping to wake anyone.386

-387

• Hotel.388

Dan's eyes snapped open. 'Oh damn, that's from the front desk.' Rolling out of bed, he pulled on his jeans, and dashed out the door, still pulling his t-shirt on. Sprinting he pounded down the stairs into the hotel foyer, and to his place behind the desk. 'Good morning, Sir. Sorry about the wait, never can trust alarm clocks these days, always dying on you.' He smiled tightly at the sour looking man at the desk.389

-390

"This is Goulburn Heights?" the man inquired, obviously knowing the answer. Without waiting for an answer he stated, "Room for two. Just one night."391

-392

Ice stayed on her knees looking around for someone, anyone. Missy was... dead? But how? She heard the sound of the banging and started. What was goin on?393

-394

Aurora ran into Mykia while she was wandering the hotel, looking for someone else. When Mykia comfirmed that the scream she heard hadn't been a dream, both of them headed towards where the scream had come from. 395

When they finally found Ice, she was on her knees, staring at Missy's dead body. 396

"Oh, Ice..." Aura started, and fell to the ground too. She put her arms around Ice and whispered, "What happened?"397

-398

"I-I.. don't know. I was.. was coming back to the room... and f-found her." Ice started shaking uncontrollably, memories flashing through her mind. She buried her head in her hands trying to stop shaking.399

-400

 Hotel401

Mylia put her arms around the shaking girl. "Oh darling." she whispered. "I'm so sad you had to find this. It'll be alright. We'll figure it out."402

Holding Ice, Mykia was suddenly reminded of home. She wished she could be there now, and take Ice with her, keep the girl safe. But the girl keps having to deal with death. And Mykia didn't know what to do about that.403

So she held Ice and whispered, "Everything is going to be alright."404

-405

• Hotel foyer406

'Well, judging by the "Goulburn Heights" signs everywhere, I guess this is the place. Room for two. You're in luck, we just happen to have one.' Dan grabbed a key from behind the counter, and handed it to the man. 'Room number 31. Third floor. I think, you'll have to check that, I'm not entirely sure my way around here.' Dan's lips smiled, while his eyes remained blank, he was sure he'd given the guy a room last night.407

-408

"31..." the man echoed again. "No. 31... that was... last time..."409

Having broken off into short, nonsensical sentences, the man backed away from the counter and looked around the foyer, shaking his head.410

"Not again..." He slammed his fists on the counter. "Don't let it happen again," he said, staring at Dan.411

He glanced over at the logbook for a moment and then took a swipe at it, trying to slap it off the counter. But instead his hand passed straight through the pages and then then man vanished entirely into thin air.412

The book suddenly fell open and its pages flipped. It stopped halfway through the list of names. The year was written across the top of the page: 1956. Several names were written on this page, all of them signed in on the same day - the same day as every other name. But one name was different.413

"Daniel Keyes" was written last on the page. As Dan looked at this name, the ink from the last name began to run and leak out of the book. As the fluid ran onto the next page, it turned as red as blood and dripped on to the desk.414

Suddenly a clock chimed loudly, shattering the night. Dan jumped at the sound and glanced away from the book. When he looked back, the book was closed and no ink had spilt.415

-416

Ice looked up at Mykia, just noticing that she was there. She struggled to regain her composure. It was about all she could do. Tears still streamed down her face, memories still flowing through her mind.417

"I don't understand... did they follow us? Did they follow me? Are they still after me because I know who they are?" Ice couldn't help but remember her past. She couldn't help but remember why she had gotten on that plane in the first place. She was lucky to be alive, but would she be for much longer? She began shaking again.418

-419

o Hotel420

Mykia hugged the girl's shoulders. "This has nothing to do with you. I'm sure of it. This..." She looked down at the body. "This is a sad occurance...it's not your fault dear. Don't think that it is."421

She stared at the body with a detached expression, as if not knowing how to react to it. Looking closer, she noticed a note, reading 'One of Many.' "One of many what?" she murmered. Reaching down to touch the ink with a finger, she immediately snatched her hand back when she realized it was still damp. Regarding the blood red stain that now adorned her hand, Mykia's face slowly began to take on a look of horror.422

-423

Ice looked up at Mykia noticing the horror on her face. "Please tell me... that isn't... what I think it is." Had the killer written this in Missy's blood? Ice began to feel dizzy. "I think I'm about to pass out. Can we please please please get out of here?"424

-425

• Hotel426

Peter groaned. He found himself in his room. Weird. Last thing he remembered he was in the cafe, eating a plateful of chicken drumsticks. Peter chuckled to himself, thinking he must have gotten drunk. He slipped on some clothes and walked down the hall. Peter found Ice and Mykia looking at something on the ground. Peter peeked in. 'What's the matter? Did somebody d--HOLY CRAP!!!'427

-428

• Hotel Foyer429

Dan chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully, wondering if this was a dream, or was actually real. Gingerly he pulled the ledger toward him, and opened it. He thumbed through till he came to 1956. Running his finger down the page, he found what he was looking for. 'Daniel Feyes, room 31,' he read aloud. Flicking through the ledger, he eventually came to the present day. He frowned. 'No sign out day. Oh, this just keeps getting better,' he muttered darkly. Slamming the ledger shut and pocketing the key for room 31, he stood up. He was going to have to check out this room 31. But first, he was gonna get dressed. 430

His face masked in a frown, he stalked back to his room. He prided himself in being one tough bastard, but this place was getting on his nerves. The sooner they were out of here, the better.431

-432

• Hotel433

Mykia snapped out of her trance to reassure Ice. "it's just red felt dear. I just...I don't know what came over me." She tried to smil at Ice but jumped when she heard a shout behind her.434

"Oh!! Peter, you nearly scared me to death!" Mykia winced at her choice of words. She looked back at Missi's corpse. "We found her like this. To be honest, i'm not really sure what happens next. I suppose we tell the Hotel Manager but..." she shrugged. "Who can ever find him?"435

-436

• Hotel437

Aurora considered Mykia's statement that the hotel manager could never be found. 438

"What about Dan?" She asked. "He might know where he is because he works the front desk. I think one of us should go find him. Ice, you should. You need to get away, its upsetting you."439

Aura hugged Ice again and helped her up. "Do you want me to come with you?" Aura asked.440

-441

Kaelynn walked sleepily out of her room and down the hall toward all the racket. "What's going on?" she asked, stretching. "You woke me up."442

-443

Ice looked between all the faces and shook her head. "Only if you want to come. I... Otherwise I'll be okay." She hugged Aura back and she hugged Mykia and Peter then she moved as quickly away from the body as possible. She felt sick to her stomach still, but she had to get to Dan.444

HOTEL FOYER:445

"DAN!" She rushed into the area and immediately went to the desk. "Dan, Missi's been killed. Where's the manager?"446

-447

Suddenly, from seemingly thin air, the manager apepared behind Ice. "You beckoned?" he said darkly. The lights flickered quickly as he spoke. "Dan is predisposed, I believe. He should be around shortly. Is there anything I can do for you?"448

-449

Ice looked startled. "You gotta quit doin that man. You scared what was left of my sanity away." She looked over at him, as though she were seeing a ghost. "O-one of the guests of this hotel has been m-murdered. Her body was found this morning. I... We figured you should be informed." Ice started shaking again, trying hard to regain her composure.450

-451

• Hotel.452

Dan finished getting dressed and cleaned up. Leaving his room, he noticed a lilcrumpet wandering down the hall to a bunch of other people, asking something about what was going on. Dan frowned. He locked his door, and wandered up to see. Mykia and Peter were crouching on the floor over a... body. Dan stared at the body. Due to working in Spec Ops, he'd been on more then one mission where someone died, and he'd killed people himself, so the sight of the body didn't make him feel sick, just annoyed that there was a murderer loose. 'Who is it?' he asked, as he couldn't really see past everyone else.453

-454

• Hotel455

'Who knows?' Peter replied. To be honest, he didn't think anyone knew. If anyone, it might've been him...456

His eyes flickered red once again, and returned to their green state.457

'Dan, how 'bout we go down to the crash site and see if we can investigate a tad further?'458

-459

• Hotel.460

No, I mean, who's dead? Who's the body?' Dan gave Peter a puzzled stare, noting the eyes flashing to red for a moment. But he didn't comment on that, instead he said, 'Though I doubt there will be much at the crash site, there are a few things I'd like to check out, so yeah, lets do that.'461

-462

• Beach463

Peter and Dan found their way to the crash site soon enough, taking about 10 minutes to pry open the rusty gates. Peter was soon wading through jagged metal and torn plane seats attempting to find some evidence.464

After a while, Peter came across a pair of legs, under a kitchen tray. Peter lifted up the tray and saw a man. Wearing baggy pants and what looked like light armour, this man looked like an undercover soldier of some kind. His throat had been torn out by a carving knife nearby. 'Dan! I found a body!'465

-466

• Beach467

Dan picked his way through the wreckage to where Peter was. He stared down at the body, his face hardened as he whispered one word, 'RT...'468

-469

• Beach470

Peter looked over at Dan. 'You know him?' Dan just stared blankly at the body. Peter took one last look at the body, then went off to find any other bodies or evidence. 'He needs his time alone,' Peter thought to himself.471

-472

• Beach473

Dan stood staring dumbly down at the body of his old friend. When they had crashed, he'd searched for RT, but failed to find him. Assuming him dead. But dead from the crash, not from being murdered. 'I'm gonna find the blighter who did this, and they're gonna pay.' he growled, his anger rising.474

-475

• Hotel476

Aura sat in the corner, staring blankly at the growing group of people around the body. In times of stress or great emotion, her system just shuts down. It helps her deal under pressure, but she usually ends up breaking down after. 477

At the moment, Aura simply sat and stared, worried about Ice's sanity as well as her own. There was also the matter of safety to consider. 478

How safe were they all in this old creepy hotel?479

-480

• Beach481

The harsh sun rose, and Peter continued to search. Finding no other bodies, he turned his attention to the turbines, the cockpit, and the tail. He checked the cockpit first. Nothing there. He went to the tail. It had scrunched up, probably on impact. Nothing there. When he went to the turbines, they were mostly intact. Except for one gigantic hole missing from the far right one.'Looks like somebody set an explosive on this. Whatever it was, it was powerful.' Peter looked at the small fragments of powder and metal everywhere.482

'Can't have been plastic explosive, that stuff solidifies after it's set off. Can't be gunpowder, would've exploded at takeoff. Either TNT or torpex.' Peter raised his eyebrow and scratched his head. 'Did I really say all that?' He chuckled slightly. He looked over at Dan. 'Oi! You okay now, mate? We'd better head off, lunch'll be soon!'483

-484

Dan looked up at the sound of Peter's voice. 'Hmm? Oh. Yes. I'm fine now.' He stretched, standing in one spot all morning had left him rather stiff. He followed Peter. 'Lunch, yeah, I could do with a drink. After that, I suppose we should see about getting RT buried.'485

-486

Ice stood against the wall nervously, slightly worried. Fear wasn't like her, normally. It was odd that she was so scared. She went back to check on Aura.487

-488

• Foyer489

"I see," the man said. "Very well. I shall arrange for a funeral as soon as I can. Until then, the body may be kept in room 31."490

He walked past Ice and disppeared into the hotel.491

Beach492

The hotel manager suddenly appeared next to Dan and Peter. "Ah. More corpses. I see this is becoming quite a bloody day."493

A strange sense of what could be mistaken as satisfaction was hinted in his tone.494

"As I have informed the others, the bodies may be held in room 31 until such time that the cemetary is opened. Actually, on that note, I could use a hand today. If you two would be so kind, I need to find the key to Bloodvayne's gates. Unfortunately, I have lost it somewhere on the twelfth floor of the hotel. And the key to that floor is, as well, misplaced. However, I am fairly certain it is in the guest house."495

He guestured toward a single story house sitting next to the library. "It is either in the attic, in the cellar, or somewhere in the house itself. I would have you two search separate areas and have Ice search the other. If you do find it, please contact me quickly."496

He returned to the hotel.497

-498

• Beach499

Dan nodded at the manager's request. 'Sounds good to me, wanted to check that out.' 500

Once he'd gone. Dan turned to Peter and said, 'Ya know, I could just pick the lock, or failing that-' he patted his chest, where his gun was sitting in its holster. He grinned at Peter. 501

He set off through the wreckage to said single story house.502

-503

• Beach504

Peter sighed as Dan walked off. 'Oh, the joys of a spec ops job.' He shook his head and followed Dan.505

Redness filled his eyes as he turned back for a look at the dead man.506

Guest House507

Peter and Dan arrived at the guest house. 'Righto Danny boy, time to get to work...uh, whereabouts should we search first?'508

-509

• Guest House510

Dan cast his gaze round the room. 'I say check the couches first, then beds, down the back of cabinets, etc.' So saying, he went to the nearest couch, and proceeded to pull it apart.511

-512

• Guest House513

Peter smiled. 'Somethin' tells me this is gonna be enjoyable, hehe.' Seeing that Dan had already ripped half the couches up, Peter skipped to the beds. 'He'll have that done in no time.' Lifting up the mattress and pillow, Peter shivered as a small group of cockroaches scuttled away. 'Thank god I'm not in this room.'514

-515

• Guest House516

As Peter lifted up one of the pillows, a golden heart locket on a silver chain fell out of the pillowcase and landed with a soft thump on the floor. It glinted in the pale light seeping in through the dusty windows.517

Inside the locket was a man and a woman. The man looked exactly like the one in the picture in the cafeteria, the one who had been wearing the ribbon. This time, we wore a similiar ribbon and it stated clearly, "Mayor".518

-519

• Guest House520

Peter examined the locket. 'Hmm, interesting.' He quickly hid the locket in his pocket; Dan isn't taking the credit for unraveling the mystery this time.521

He startled as he saw a letter that he didn't see before appear. 'Peter, stick to the attic,' he read aloud. He looked up. Oh dear, that roof can't possibly hold an attic. He shrugged and walked up the stairs.522

The attic was a complete disaster. Cobwebs, broken glass, and other things littered the floor. 'I can see why the manager wants it clean.' He grabbed the nearby duster. 'Meh, might get something unexpected out of this...'523

-524

• Hotel525

After walking aimlessly around the island for several hours, Judith Campbell found the open gates of Bloodvayne City. After squeezing through the gap, she strolled towards the largest building. Noting the name, "Goulburn Heights" she raised an eyebrow.526

She pushed open the thick oak door, immediately noticing the muted decadence of the entranceway; lovely pale blue walls decorated with a variety of art. Boot heels clicking on the white tile of the floor, Judith approached marble-topped wooden desk with long, practiced, strides.527

With her blonde hair neatly piled on the top of her head, creaseless pants and a heavy black trenchcoat, Judith carried herself with an air of professionalism. As a consulting contractor she could ill afford to give any other impression.528

She had been approached discreetly by someone who had called themselves an 'independant stakeholder' of this island. They had been vague enough to spike her interest in this place - and so she had come. She was unsure of the role she would play in the coming days, but knew that she would live up to the challenge.529

Stepping forward, she tapped the bell on the desk twice. After waiting for a minute she called out.530

'Hello? Is anybody here?'531

-532

• Hotel Foyer533

Mykia walked down the stairs and into the foyer, intending to head to the library for a well deserved break from all that cleaning.534

"Hello? Is anybody here?" Mykia looked towards the front desk and saw an unfamiliar but very well-dressed woman. 'Strange.' she thought. 'I thought I knew all the guests here.'535

"Hello," she said to the woman pleasantly. "It looks like whoever is manning the front desk is otherwise occupied. Can I be of service?"536

-537

• Guest House538

After having ransacked most of the living room, Dan wandered to where Peter was. 'I'm hungry, gonna go eat, then I'll be back.' At that, he left. 539

Cafeteria. 540

Dan found himself a table, and ordered himself a large meal.541

-542

• Cafeteria543

Ice walked shakily into the cafeteria and sat down beside Dan. She gave a forced smile. "You doin okay?" She looked white as a ghost, still feeling as though she had somehow caused all of this.544

-545

• Cafeteria546

'Yeah, I'm pretty good, considering I just found my best friend murdered. But my goodness, you look awful. From my professional opinion, I'd say you need a drink, and to stop blaming your self for things you didn't do.' At that, he ordered Ice a brandy. When it got there, he slid it over to Ice. 'Now drink that, it'll make you feel better.'547

-548

o Cafeteria549

Ice looked at the drink. "Thanks." She took a sip of it. "Wait... your best friend?" She looked up at Dan concerned. She decided to stay close. "Maybe... Dan maybe you and I should stick together for a bit. We should probably get Aura, too. I don't like how this is turning out. Missi was also found dead this morning."550

-551

• Cafeteria552

Dan ignored Ice's question about his best friend but said, 'staying together might be smart. Will do that, unless Mr. Manager decides we got chores to do where we can't stay together...'553

-554

• Hotel Foyer555

Just a she reached to ring the bell a third time, Judith saw another woman approach.556

"Hello," she had said to Judith pleasantly. "It looks like whoever is manning the front desk is otherwise occupied. Can I be of service?"557

Judith smiled. "Yes - as this appears to be the only accomodation available here, I require a room. I'm unsure of the exact length of my stay, but suffice to say, I will need a room for at least the next few days... private business."558

She reached into her trenchcoat and withdrew a small zippered attache. Opening it, Judith slid out a cream coloured embossed card. She flipped it with a snap between her fingers and then laid it crisply down on the black marble.559

"My identification and credentials - for your records, of course," she said as she pushed the card towards the other woman. "And I'll be paying in advance - cash."560

-561

• Hotel Foyer562

Mykia hurried behind the desk, hoping there would be some information as to which rooms were available and the such. She found a list there that looked to be in Dan's handwriting as well as operational notes and sighed inwardly in relief.563

"I can vouch for the cleanliness of the second floor so why don't we put you in there. Room 39?" She edged the ledger toward the woman and picked the appropriate keys out of the desk drawer. "Sign here, if you would?"564

-565

"Ah," the hotel manager mysteriously appeared next to Mykia. "A new guest. Welcome to Goulburn Heights, Judith. Please feel free to ask the other guests about the rules here. Oh, and do stay out of room 31. It's quite messy."566

With an eerie smile, he walked away.567

-568

• Cafeteria569

Kaelynn wandered into the kitchen where she was supposed to be preparing a meal. She looked around at the pots and pans and huffed. "I can't cook!" she exclaimed to herself.570

She turned around and found a cookbook laying on the counter. It hadn't been there before. She eyed it for a moment before opening it and looking for a simple recipe.571

-572

• Cafeteria573

Ice smiled at Dan and hugged him. You could tell that her smile was mostly forced. She gave a weary look around the cafeteria. "I'm not really hungry. What about you?"574

-575

• Hotel Foyer576

Judith nodded as she withdrew a silver-barrelled pen from the attache case. With clean precision, she signed the guestbook. Glancing at the other names, she did a quick count of other current guests, noting that the more recent all arrived together.577

Her lips quirked into a faint smile as she took the keys from the woman. "Thank you. Could you tell me where I can get something to eat?" Judith asked politely. "Or even a coffee?"578

Before she could answer, a strange man appeared beside the woman. He peered at the guestbook. "A new guest. Welcome to Goulburn Heights, Judith. Please feel free to ask the other guests about the rules here. Oh, and do stay out of room 31. It's quite messy." He had then left as suddenly as he had arrived.579

Judith tilted her head, curious. What a strange person, she thought. But she had been warned to expect some strange happenings.580

Ignoring the man's fleeting appearance, the woman had smiled back and directed her towards the cafeteria. 581

Judith nodded and then turned on her heel, boots clacking again on the tiles as she left.582

Cafeteria583

Judith breezed into the gloomy room, noting the presence of two of her fellow guests - a man of roughly her age, and a younger woman who appeared rather distraught.584

She stopped at the unattended counter and waited.585

-586

• Cafeteria. 587

'I'm famished, I have a meal on it's way, apparently.' Dan looked up as someone entered the room. 'Hmm, we have company,' he muttered half to himself. 'How'd she get here...' Smiling at Ice he said, 'Ya know what, I reckon you should go have a lie down, I have some sleeping pills if you need, but some sleep could do you good. I'm gonna find where my meal is, 'K?' 588

He stood up, and wandered over to the counter, coming to stand beside the new comer. 'Hullo, a new face, that's interesting, welcome to Hell, I'm Dan.' He smiled cheerfully at her.589

-590

• Cafeteria591

Judith turned to face the speaker - the man from the table. "Hell? And here I was thinking that 'Bloodvayne City' was unusual enough Dan," she said with a slight smirk.592

"Judith Campbell." She held out a hand that belied the true nature of of who she was and what she did. Her calloused palms, with the tiny scars that criss-crossed her fingers, contradicted her apparent professional demeanour.593

"So what are you and your friends doing in this... charming place? It doesn't seem to be a place one would go for a holiday," she said, knowing instinctively that there was more going on here than what was in plain view.594

-595

• Cafeteria596

Dan smiled dryly. 'Hell seems more befitting of the place.' He shook Judith's hand, noting the scars, but saying nothing. 'A pleasure to meet you. We're at this, as you say, charming place, because our plane crash landed. Which brings me to a rather obvious question, why are you here? And how did you get here?' A strange light glinted in his eyes, maybe she had a plane, which still flew...597

-598

• Guest House599

Spluttering as he slipped all the dust off a blanket, Peter was starting to hate this. Almost half an hour's search, and he found nothing. Well, except for half-eaten egg salad sandwiches and the such. 'Hm, something tells me the key isn't here.' He walked back downstairs. 'Dan!' No reply. 'Oi, DAN!' Still no reply. Peter was getting worried. Peter shrugged. 'Must've gotten some lunch.' He walked out of the house and toward the cafe.600

Cafeteria601

Peter shook himself off in a vague attempt to get all the dust off his clothes before entering. Yep, there was Dan, with some stranger. Peter didn't take any notice and ordered some savoury buns and, of course, cheesecake.602

-603

• Cafeteria604

Kaelynn looked at the people coming in and muttered to herself. "I hate cooking."605

But, following the instructions in te cookbook she'd found, she managed to prepare a decent meal of warm buns, fried chicken, steamed vegetables, and of course, the cheesecake.606

"There you go," she said in a huff. "Don't hate me if it sucks."607

She moved back into the kitchen to work on keeping the food coming.608

-609

• Cafeteria610

Ice nodded and walked out of the cafeteria. She was feeling rather sick still from seeing what she'd seen. Honestly, why had she been the one to find Missi? She walked towards her room, but stopped at the entrance to the library. She decided to walk inside and get something to read. She didn't really want to pass the spot that Missi had been in. Instead, she picked up a book and began to read. She got completely wrapped up in the book, and to herself was just reading, but had anyone else seen her, they'd have noticed that she was in a trance-like state.611

-612

• Library613

The hotel manager emerged from behind a bookcase next to Ice. "Miss Ice," he stated coolly. "I would like to remind you that your task for the moment is the searching of the guest house cellar for a key to the twelfth floor of the hotel. It is very important that you aid me."614

He leaned down and handed her a crystalline rose. "For your troubles."615

He moved away again and disappeared - as he always did.616

-617

• Cafeteria618

A loud belch echoed through the cafe. Everyone turned to look at Peter. 'What? This cake is excellent!' Seeing Ice disappear out the front door, Peter bit his lip. 'Uh-oh. I scared her off.'619

Going for another bite, Peter stopped suddenly. Visions filled his head once again. His eyes turned a crimson red. He lost control of his limbs. 'Gah...Wha...Urgh...'620

-621

• Cafeteria622

"...Which brings me to a rather obvious question, why are you here? And how did you get here?" As Dan questioned her a strange look passed over his face.623

Judith paused as she considered a response - her contract forbade her to mention the exact nature of her work - and replied with a vague explanation.624

"Research - and I came here via a small inflatable from a freighter passing through these waters. Depending on what findings I establish, my duration in this... hell... could well be indefinite." 625

Before he could reply, Judith noticed a someone exit the kitchen with a variety of food. The woman seemed to be peeved; muttering as she slammed each platter on a banquet table. Judith raised an eyebrow as she turned back to Dan - No one seems happy here she thought.626

As she walked over to the banquet table, her attention was diverted to a man; halfway through a bite of dessert he appeared to have a fit. Judith calmly placed her plate down and approached cautiously. Just as she came to the front of him, his eyes glowed red.627

She pulled a tiny camera out and surrepticiously took several pictures, before sliding it back into her pocket. As she knelt in front on him, he started speaking with a eery voice.628

-629

• Library630

Ice shook her head and looked around. That had been quite weird. She'd been so wrapped up in the book that she felt as though she had been lost inside the world itself. She looked down at the chrystalline rose and sighed. It was lovely, but where had it come from? Then she remembered. The hotel manager. She was supposed to be looking for the key. He must have been here. Mysterious person. She shook her head and went to the guest house to begin her search.631

-632

By now Peter had lost control of everything. 'No...don't let them...help...please, I...ugh...no...' Peter stopped. His eyes turned their normal green colour. Seeing the strange woman in front of him, he was startled slightly. 'This is getting really, REALLY annoying. And I don't even know what I'm doing.'633

-634

• Cafeteria635

"Are you alright?" Judith asked, concerned. The display had been... interesting... and there was apparently more going on here than the stakeholder had told her. It was all rather curious to say the least.636

She rose to her feet again, and then sat opposite the distressed young man. "You're Aussie aren't you?" she asked, trying to make conversation. "Your accent..."637

-638

• Cafeteria639

Peter nodded. 'Yeah. Why the question?'640

-641

• Cafeteria642

"I'm from Downunder, myself - beautiful place," she stated in reply. "Do you often have seizures, or is this a recent development?"643

-644

• Cafeteria645

'Thought I heard of ya in the papers somewhere. As for the fits, never happened before. I--uh, why don't we discuss this later?' Peter nodded at her, finished his cake, and went to his room.646

Hotel647

Peter opened the book of the 'mayor' that was in his bedside cabinet. He found a page which briefly described himself. Peter stammered.648

'Eye colour: R-red? Favourite food: Cheesec-' Peter shut the book. This was too hard to handle.649

-650

• Hotel651

The manager seemed to be everywhere today - much more active than usual. Everyone had, at some point, seen him nearby, watching their movements. It was, to say the absolute least... creepy.652

He moved now to Peter's room and opened the door casually. "Ah, Peter. I see you found the mayor's diary. Quite an unsual set of events he details in those pages. It is a shame," he hung his head in apparent mock concern. "You seem to have caught his same illness. Unexplainable seizures, flashes of violent and cruel events... a pity. You see, the major was insane. A form of schitzophrenia. In the end..." he looked at Peter with an unescapably dark expression, his eyes piercing and cold. "...it killed him."653

With a very misplaced smile, the man was gone - no trace of where he'd gone, and, in fact, Peter did not even see the man move. He simply vanished into thin air.654

-655

• Cafeteria 656

Judith was surprised that he heard of her, but then again she had completed work for some high profile clients. She plastered a tiny smile on her face as he rose from his chair and hurried out of the cafeteria.657

She sat back in the chair for moment before returning to the buffet and retrieving her plate. After filling it will chicken and rice, she sat down to eat in contemplative silence.658

I bet everyone here is hiding from someone or hiding something, she thought as she watched Dan serve his own meal and eat. 659

A few minutes later, she deposited her empty plate at the counter with enough money to cover the meal. She pulled out her room key.660

"Room 39," she muttered to herself as she walked out. "I could have sworn that woman said it was on the second floor..."661

HOTEL662

Judith trudged up another set of stairs - she'd been right - 39 definately wasn't on the second floor. She started down the hallway, only to pause in front on the first door on her right.663

...stay away from Room 31 - the Manager's strange warning rang in her ears as she stared at the door. She examined it - no different to any of the other doors on this floor... except for a faint smudge of something rusty and brown near the handle.664

Judith leaned down for a closer look... blood if she wasn't mistaken. She pulled her attache case out again, opened it and withdrew a nail file and tiny paper envelope. Glancing around her, she scraped most of the dried blood from the door; the flakes falling into the envelope. This was then folded and tucked back into the attache. "Curious," she breathed.665

Steeping away from the door, she continued on her way down the hall.666

-667

• Hotel668

Peter froze and slumped onto the bed. He clenched his fists. What was this place doing to him? This, this mayor, he was doing all this, probably possessing him, using him as a toy. Using him...669

Using him! Peter sat up, and smiled. Maybe he could use this to his advantage.670

-671

• Garden672

Even though Mykia was supposed to have been gardening this week, she hadn't felt right about having any of the lived-in rooms still being dirty. Having finished that earlier however, she had moved on to the gardening.673

She surveyed her hands and the plot ruefully. her fingers were aching but the garden looked quite the same as it always did. Beside her nested a pile of harvested vegetables, to be taken down to the cafeteria building later.674

"I really dislike gardening." She sighed toherself. "All this mucking about in the dirt!!! And I'm filthy!!" She resolved that the first thing she would do when she headed back to the hotel would be to spend at least three hours getting clean. And the fir thing when she got off these islands was definitely the hot springs. She tried not to let the thought of "*if* we get off this island.' speak too loud.675

Luckily the tools had indeed been in the Garden shed, with this place she wasn't expecting any of it to be anywhere. 676

Shruggin to herself, she bent back at her work when a thought hit her. 'How did that new woman get here? She certainly wasn't in any crash, not with clothes like that!'677

-678

Easing the key into the lock, Judith twisted it and pushed open the door. She nearly gagged from a stench as the stale, trapped, air in the room assailed her senses. Covering her mouth and nose with one hand, she rushed around the room opening windows with the other.679

Room 39 was evidently a corner room, and one window overlooked an agricultural plot. As she paused to breathe the fresh air coming in the window, she noticed the woman from the front desk dispiritedly selecting produce from the soil. 680

As she stared down, the woman glanced up and her eyes met with Judith's. She smiled down at the woman and politely waved before turning away from the window and focusing her attention, once again, on the filthy room.681

"Charming..." she muttered as she searched for some semblance of cleaning product.682

-683

• Hotel - Room 39684

The hotel manager stood at her door as she turned around again. "Ah, Judith. I see you've discovered your room. I apologize for the lack of cleanliness, but oftentimes it is easy to miss a room or two during cleaning."685

He held out a small bucket that held - among other cleaning items - a can of air freshener. "A welcome gift."686

He smiled stalely. "I hope you make many discoveries here in Bloodvayne. You'll find plenty to keep you occupied."687

With that, he left, leaving Judith with the bucket of cleaning utensils.688

Cafeteria Event: Treachery689

Kaelynn had begun to clean up after the crowd had finished their meals. As she turned away from the sink - the water running - she heard the metal door lock loudly. Then, above her, the sound of creaking metal... a sudden burst of water flooded into the room with no signs of stopping. With the way the kitchen had been designed, the water would fill the kitchen completely...690

-691

• Hotel - Room 39692

Judith accepted the bucket of cleaning supplies with a nod, and didn't even blink an eye when the manager exited the room.693

She placed the bucket on the little breakfast table and slowly unpacked it, pushing the can of air freshner to one side. The bucket empty, she filled it with hot, soppy water and proceeded to clean ever surface of the room.694

After sometime she returned her attention to the air freshner. Seconds later she grinned. "Ah - yes... I see..."695

-696

• Cafeteria697

Dan sat at the table, ploughing through his meal as fast as he could swallow, was soon finished, he was just getting up, when he heard a metallic clang from the kitchen doors being locked. 698

Puzzled, he wandered over, sure enough, the large doors were shut and locked. But what caught his attention was the puddle of water forming on the floor. He rapped sharply on the door. 'Hello? Anyone in there?'699

-700

• Hotel701

After Aurora had recomposed herself for a bit in her room, she decided to try to find either Ice or Dan. She didn't want to be alone at this time. 702

She headed towards the cafeteria, knowing that Dan would eat forever if he could.703

Cafeteria704

When Aura entered the cafeteria, she noticed Dan by the kitchen doors. She couldn't figure out what he was doing. Either holding the door closed, or trying to get it open. Then Aura noticed the puddle of water on the ground and the faint sound of rushing water. She ran over to Dan.705

"Dan! Is the kitchen filling up with water? What if there's someone stuck inside!?"706

-707

• Hotel - Outside Room 31708

Peter closed his eyes, and left himself free. When he opened them again, they were the filthy red that he wanted. Seeing the door, he saw with it visions of murder. Once they were dead, a shadowed figure dragged them into the room.709

His eyes flashed green again. Peter smirked as he was now learning to control this spirit within him.710

-711

• Cafeteria712

Dan turned as Aura came up beside him. 'I think Kaelynn is in there, but I'm not sure, I've not heard anything. But I can't unlock the door.' He banged it again. 'Anyone in there?' he yelled. 713

There was no reply, but he thought he heard a gasp, and a movement inside. 'Oh screw this.' 714

He pulled his Desert Eagle from his holster. 'If anyone is in there, get away from the door!' Pushing Aura behind him, he aimed at the lock. 715

BLAM! 716

The sound of a .44 pistol going off in a confined area was stupendous.717

Where once was a lock, was a gaping hole. With the lock no longer there, the pressure of the water behind the door burst it open. Knocking Dan and Aura off their feet. 718

Water flooded out of the kitchen, and into the dinning room, washing a slightly dazed Dan and Aura with it.719

-720

• Cafeteria721

The force of the water surprised her and knocked Aura off her feet. While she was being pushed by the rush of water through the dining room and over tables, all she could think about was "Who will have to clean this up? It's going to be me, isn't it..."722

Aura sighed, which was probably a bad idea as it got her lungs full of water. When the force of the water had lessened, a few seconds after it started, she got up on a table and sat there coughing said water-filled lungs out. 723

She looked around for Dan and Kaelynn.724

-725

• Hotel726

Peter's head turned quickly. He could swear he heard a gunshot over at the cafe. A picture came into mind and he sprinted over there.727

Cafeteria728

Peter opened the door to the cafe. Looking around the cafe, everything was drenched. The lock to the kitchen door was blasted open. Dan, Aura, and Kaelynn laid on the wet floor, soaked to the bone.729

All Peter could do was laugh his guts out.730

-731

• Cafeteria732

Aura had seen Dan and Kaelynn, so she crawled over to them. 733

"Are you ok?" she asked. They both just coughed and sputtered, nodding in reply. Aura sighed again, this time in relief. 734

She heard laughing behind her, and turned around. There stood Peter, laughing his head off. Aura glared at him. She got up, found a rag, and threw it at Peter. 735

"If it's so funny, YOU clean it up!!" Aura glared at him again.736

Peter stopped laughing, held up the rag, and made a face. "But...It's wet!!" He stated.737

-738

• Room 39 - The Hotel739

Judith heard a muffled bang - it sounded suspiciously like a gunshot. Standing, alert, she checked her own sidearm - a Sig Sauer pistol that was a gift from her latest client, pulling it out from the concealed shoulder holster under her trenchcoat. 740

The P250 was beautiful to behold - sleek and matt black with a custom grip. She slid the 16 round mag out - the .357s were snugly awaiting deployment. With a practised movement, she slid the mag back in place and then ratcheted the slide, putting one round in the chamber.741

She left the room and swiftly made her way to the ground floor of the hotel, and towards the cafeteria. 742

CAFETERIA743

Judith entered the cafeteria just behind the man she'd meet at lunch, her hand under her coat and resting lightly on the grip of the pistol. She stopped up short as he laughed with delight at something.744

Narrowing her eyes, Judith cautiously approached the sound of merriment and muttered cursing. She rounded the corner and saw two very wet women, a soaked Dan, and the man - would appeared to be laughing insanely.745

She dropped her hand from the pistol. "Is everyone alright? I heard a noise..." She noticed the door and a shattered lock hanging from it. "What is going on here?" she asked as her hand, once again, crept towards the grip of her pistol.746

-747

Garden:748

Mykia noted to herself that she'd given the woman the wrong room and cursed herself for her lack of forethought. 'Ah well,'she thought. 'Not that I can do anything about it now.'749

Massaging her aching back, she picked up the pile of vegetables and headed to the Cafeteria750

Cafeteria:751

Mykia entered the wet building and looked around confusedly. Howeer she was far too tired and aching to comment or react very much. She just trudged over to the kitchen and dumped the pile on the counter.752

-753

• Cafeteria754

Dan clambered to his feet, still holding his gun, which was soaking wet. 'Damn, gonna have to clean that later.' 755

He started to put his gun away when a voice invaded his thoughts, 'Is everyone alright? I heard a noise...' Dan looked up to see Judith standing in the doorway, her gaze travelling round the room, her eyes fell on the kitchen door, and her hand started creeping towards her coat. 756

'I wouldn't go for the gun if I were you, there's no need for it,' Dan said, looking pointedly at her hand that was half under her coat. 'As for what happened, someone locked Kaeylnn in the kitchen, and tried to flood it, I shot the lock.' 757

He wasn't sure whether to be glad of another gun round the place, Judith was obviously a pro, but who's side was she on? It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to see her having killed Missi, or RT, he thought darkly.758

-759

Judith reassessed the situation - even the woman from the front desk, having trudged in with her arms laden with vegetables - had looked unconcerned. She dropped her hand and gestured at Dan's own piece. "An Eagle? Nice... but a bit too heavy for my liking," she said as she adjusted her coat to hide her own weapon.760

"So... any ideas on who locked Kaelynn in the kitchen?"761

-762

Dan nodded. 'Yeah, an Eagle, .44. Tis heavy, but I like to know that when I shoot something it's gonna stay dead. What do you carry? Glock? Sig? Walther? ' 763

Dan surveyed the kitchen again. 'I have no clue as to who locked her in there.'764

-765

Judith flicked her coat open to reveal the Sig where it sat in the holster. "Sig Sauer - their latest model - the P250. Very adaptable - I have mine adjusted to take .357s at the moment, with a nice tight subcompact barrel," she replied casually. 766

"Stuff like that..." she gestured with her head to the kitchen, "...makes me glad that I brought heat." She paused and muttered under her breath. "It helped I was warned."767

-768

'Mmmm, very nice in pinch that one. Personally I prefer a gun with a bit more barrel; better for range and accuracy.' 769

Dan took his jacket off and started to wring some of the water out of it.770

-771

"Actually - the P250 maintains its accuracy irrespective of barrel length. And it's comparable with the heavier and larger gun makes," she replied. "But each to their own."772

Judith looked around for a mop, and spotting one behind the counter, dragged it over to help with the clean-up.773

-774

'Well hey, what kinda a guy would I be carrying a tiny gun round? Besides, what I got is standard issue, I don't have a choice but to use it,' he said, but not bothering to enlighten Judith as to what it was standard issue for.775

Dan looked at the mess, 'Ya know, I say for rescuing the girl, I get to skip this. Besides, I gotta clean my gun now. And I need to think, so if ya'll excuse me.' At that he picked his way through the mess, and departed to his room.776

-777

• Library778

Mykia wandered the stacks, trying to find some peace in the smell of the pages and the sound of knowledge. She couldn't help the disturbed feeling she had however.779

Wandering away from the fiction, she decided to try to find something about the island they seemed to be stranded on. Finding a card catalogue, she searched out the materials and took them over to a nearby area to look them over. At the top of her pile was a large tome bound in red leather and displaying the words, "Bloodvayne: Past, Present, and Future" on the spine. Opening it, she was confronted with a map of the island and city within.780

"Despot's Barbican..." she murmered to herself, tracing the name with her fingers. She turned the page.781

-782

• Cafeteria783

(aahh! So much to catch up on!!)784

Kaelynn heard the door lock and immediately tried to open it. Then she was suddenly drenched in a wave of water. "What the?" she sputtered.785

Then she noticed that the kitchen was going to flood. She started to panic, trying to open the door. She heard someone knocking from the other side and tried to yell at them.786

"Get away from the door!" she heard. It wasn't easy to fight her way back through the water but she managed to just as a loud bang blow off the door's lock. And she came riding the waves out.787

Coughing, she looekd up at her rescuers. "Th-thanks," she said. "What happened? It sounded like a pipe broke or something."788

-789

• Cafeteria790

Aura looked back and forth between Dan and Judith. Their talk of guns confused, but at the same time amused her. When Dan mentioned cleaning up, Aura stood up. 791

"Well, Peter has a rag, and I'm soaked. I shall go clean myself up first, THEN worry about cleaning the cafeteria. Although, maybe if we don't do anything it'll clean itself up. Who knows in this mysterious place? Dan! Wait up!!" 792

With that, Aura shot out of the cafeteria after her older brother.793

-794

• Cafeteria795

Judith noted the phrase Dan used in connection to his gun, but didn't react, instead filing it away in her memory for later use. If a piece like that was 'standard issue' he was likely army - and probably not just a regular either. Enlightening, she thought as she swept the mop back and forth over the floor.796

She shrugged as Dan left, shortly followed by the petite girl. Judith was left with Kaelynn, who was shaking slightly and hugging herself, and the strange guy that had entered just ahead of797

"Maybe you should go get cleaned up - I'll get rid of the rest of this mess," Judith suggested. She turned to the man. "Why don't you take her up to the hotel - I think she's in shock - make sure she gets into something dry."798

He nodded and Kaelynn seemed to understand, and soon the two left. 799

Now alone, Judith was able to examine the door to the kitchen. Apart from the shattered lock and the spent shell casing from Dan's gun, she found little evidence that the door had been tampered with. 800

Surmising that any tampering had likely been done to the lock itself, she sighed with frustration - the lock had been completely destroyed by the bullet.801

She continued to mop, finally leaving the floor with a faint sheen of moisture. After putting the mop away, she set out to explore.802

-803

• Guest House804

Ice searched the entire front room in the guest house. She couldn't find the key in the front room. She went towards the next room, stumbling over something. It was a rather large, oblong box. The box itself was black, but looked dark brown from dust, with gold lettering on the front. Ice couldn't make it out because of how old the lettering was. It was faded. Maybe... Maybe Dan could figure it out. She ran to find him or Peter, hoping one or the other could help her.805

-806

• Hotel807

Peter took Kaelynn to her room. 'You have a shower, get warm, dry, whatever. Don't catch a cold now.' Kaelynn nodded and went inside her room. Peter chuckled, looking back again at all the soaked people on the floor. 'That's some funny crap.'808

As Peter was heading over to the guest house, he was knocked clean over by Ice, running around a blind corner. 'Argh, watch it!'809

'Oh, sorry Pete. Hey, I found something, mind taking a look?'810

Peter scratched his head. 'Uh, okay.' He examined the gold lettering. 'Gah, can't stand this old English stuff. Those guys had weird, screwed-up eyes.' Squinting, Peter just made it out. 'Property of the Mayor...' Peter thought this would be a good time to test out his spirit control. His eyes flashed red.811

-812

• Hotel813

Kaelynn quickly changed into dry clothes, hating being wet. She looked out the window. The glass began to blur and she touched it. "Ow!" she said loudly. The glass had frozen solid. The whole room was suddenly very cold. She shivered in the air and rushed back to the door. She burst into the hallway and ran down the hall, turning a sharp corner and running smack into Peter.814

-815

• Hotel Grounds Event: The Key816

As soon as Peter read the words, the box popped open. Inside the box was a very dusty letter and a silver key. The letter looked smudged, as if it had gotten wet at some point and the ink had run.817

All that could be made out of the letter was a single sentence and part of another. "I know now that I was wrong. Mayor White, Mr. Fitzgerald is..."818

The rest was impossible to read.819

-820

Peter cursed. All these half-written sentences were getting on his nerves. 'Come on!' he yelled.821

Peter was then knocked over by Kaelynn. 'ARGH! Dammit, today is NOT my day!' he looked at Kaelynn, shivering and sweating at the same time. 'You got a cold, didn't you?'822

-823

• Beach824

Having established that everyone was busy elsewhere, Judith snuck down to the beach. At the furthest section, away from a crumpled aircraft, she had stashed her deflated raft in a small rock overhanging. Having settled in, and having witnessed a few odd occurances, she wanted to retrieve the rest of her gear.825

She pulled out the black carry-all and unzipped it, checking that the contents were as she had left them. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed. 826

Hoisting it over her shoulder, she made her way back to the Hotel. Just as she was about to walk back in through the front doors, she could have sworn that she saw someone watching her from the shadows of the next building.827

As she turned, the person darted away, giving Judith the fleeting impression of long, fly-away brown hair and haunted eyes.828

-829

• Library830

Mykia was engrossed in the books she had found. While she hadn't yet found anything that could tell her how to get off this dreaded island, she had found out some interesting things indeed. All the books seemed to describe Bloodvayne City as a thriving place, full of commerce and luxury. Comparing it with the city of today, Mykia wondered what had happened. The Bloodvayne city of today was a gloomy wreck from the little she had seen.831

Suddenly she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking around, she could see nothing but she felt as if she was being watched. 'Too much thinking,' she decided and turned back to the books. Suddenly a figure flew past her into the depths of the Library, a figure with brown hair, she thought, but she wasn't sure.832

Getting up Mykia walked slowly toward the stacks. "Hello..." she called. "Is anybody there?"833

-834

• Hotel Grounds835

Peter examined the key. 'Hmm, might be the key to the 12th floor, who knows?' Just to reassure himself, Peter went up to the 12th floor and tried the key...836

-837

o Hotel838

Ice followed Peter into the hotel. She was curious herself. It was no telling where the key went to. What door could it be for? Who knew? She wanted to find out though.839

-840

• Room 39 - Hotel841

Judith unlocked her door and walked into the room again, flinging the black carry-all down on the bed.842

She carefully shrugged her long trenchcoat off, revealing the crisp white linen shirt and the shoulder holster she wore over it. She removed the P250 with one smooth movement, and placed it on the tiny breakfast table next to the can of air freshner.843

The holster was then unclipped, and she unbutton the first two buttons at the top as she sat down at the table.844

With practised movements she swiftly ejected the unspent round from the chamber and then methodically stripped the pistol down. In a little under three minutes it sat in its respective parts; ordered neatly on the table in front of her. 845

Reaching across to her bag, she removed certain items; another barrel similar to that which sat on the table already, and cleaning implements.846

After a few minutes of working consistently, she reassembled the piece, replacing the original barrel with the longer one. 847

Her daily routine established she turned her attention to her earlier discovery.848

-849

• Hotel - 12th Floor850

Peter looked back. Seeing Ice right behind him, he felt quite nervous. 'Uh, you okay there?'851

He decided to try the key later. 'If the key fits, and I find something horrible, Ice doesn't need to see it.'852

Hotel - Room 21 (Pete's room)853

Lying down on the bed, Peter thought hard about all the clues that the party had found during their stay. He pulled the locket out of his jacket and examined the inside. Same picture as before. Peter sighed. 'I just wish there was a way outta here.'854

Peter rolled over on the bed, and eventually drifted off to a nap.855

-856

• Hotel857

Ice shook off the strange feeling of dread. The air was so tense around her that you couldn't even cut it with a butcher knife. It kind of worried her, especially with all else that had happened. No sense whatsoever was in it, but then it made perfect sense. She still felt weighed down at having found Missi. She still didn't fully trust the Hotel Manager. Peter, Dan and Aura were in serious danger, as well. Mykia, too. She couldn't help but worry.858

-859

• Hotel860

When Aurora had caught up with Dan, she walked by his side. She was muttering to herself, and all he could catch was a few words. "Kaelynn....coincidence?....Freak accident?...Dont trust....Couldn't be...."861

Aura didn't seem to know her own thoughts though. Eventually Dan drifted off towards his room, while Aura continued wandering. Somehow she made her way to the ground floor, and outside. When she noticed, Aura shrugged and decided to go find some peace in the library. Reading always calmed her down.862

-863

• Hotel Event864

The manager watched as Peter and Ice moved towards the twelfth floor and then turned back. His eyes gleamed in the shadows in which he hid. By the time the two were near enough to see him, he was gone.865

Darkness slowly fell on the city as another night creeped upon them. The manager's eyes seemed to be everywhere, red gems sparkling in the corner of every hall, around every bend...866

As Judith practiced her soon-to-be routine, a faint whisper drifted through the hallway in the third floor. The window to room 39 glazed over with fog. Judith's door opened - though no one had touched it. When Judith looked up, she saw the same fleeting woman as before. But when Judith checked the hallway, the woman was gone.867

A series of footprints - like those made from recently wet feet - trailed down the hall and stopped at room 31. There seemed to be something moving inside.868

-869

• Library870

Kaelynn sat in the library, trying to forget the kitchen and her room. This place was starting to freak her out - and that girl's death made things even worse.871

She saw something move in front of her and she jumped at the sound of someone's voice. The brown-haired person turned around one of the stacks just as Kaelynn looked at her.872

"H-hello?" the girl called back. "Mykia is that you?"873

-874

• Hallway - 3rd Floor - Hotel875

Judith had snatched up her newly reassembled piece when her door had opened suddenly, and was now standing in the hallway, the gun grasped firmly in both hands. She noted the wet footprints, and, without stepping on them, tracked them down to where they stopped outside of room 31.876

When she dropped on hand from the gun, and pulled out her tiny camera to snap a picture of the footprints, the damp patches glimmered with an opalescent sheen and then disappeared. 877

The odd scraping and thumping, resonating from Room 31, also seemed to dissipate at the same time as the footsteps. Judith slipped the camera away and let the hand holding the gun drop to her side.878

"I was warned," she muttered to herself as she walked back to her room. "The client did mention supernatural events... but I just had to come didn't I?"879

-880

• Hotel881

Ice waited silently in her room, listening for any signs of danger. She sighed, feeling at least a little safe in the room, but then not safe in the least. She wondered where Aura was. She'd have to lock the door once Aura was in that night, otherwise she'd never get any sleep. Ice was thinking to herself as she drifted slowly, not noticing at all that she was sleeping.882

-883

• Library884

Mykia heard a voice calling her name and rounded the stacks. There sat Kaelynn...the very not-brown-haired- Kaelyn. "Hello," she said pleasantly. "Did you by any chance happen to see someone run past? Someone with brown hair possibly?"885

Kaelyn nodded and pointed toward the far end of the stacks and Mykia thanked her, hurrying on.886

-887

• Hotel888

After Dan had cleaned and dried his gun, and himself, he left his room, and headed up stairs. Intending on having a word with Judith, find out who and what she was, and why she was here. 889

He reached the third floor hallway in time to see Judith enter her room, her right hand clutching her gun. 890

Why on earth does she have her gun out? Dan thought to himself. 891

Walking down the hall to her room, he passed room 31. As he did so, he heard a single thump coming from within. He froze, straining his hearing, but he heard nothing else. The door was locked, so he couldn't check. But there shouldn't be anything moving in there, only Missi and RT's dead bodies. 892

Ignoring the chill rising up his spine, he continued down to Judith's room. On reaching it, he rapped sharply on the door.893

-894

• Room 39 - Hotel895

No sooner had Judith entered her room and sat back down at the tiny breakfast table, a sharp knock on her door sounded.896

She quickly swept some items from the table back into the bag and zippered it shut. Still holding her piece, she opened the door cautiously, propping her foot against the back of it, so that it only opened a couple of inches.897

"Who is it?" she demanded, her voice harsh.898

Dan stepped into view.899

"Dan," she said neutrally. "Why are you knocking on my door at this time of night?"900

-901

• Room 39 - Hotel 902

'Time of night?' Dan looked out the window, then at his watch. 'It's not even 6:00PM, we haven't even had dinner yet...' Dan gave he a funny look. 'Anyway, I came to ask some questions. Oh, and I assure you, you won't need your gun. I'm not gonna kill you. Or even try.'903

-904

• Room 39 - The Hotel905

"Only 6:00?" she said. "It sure gets dark here early." She inwardly cursed having not adjusted her watch to the new time zone.906

Judith opened the door wider to allow Dan entry, holding her gun in a non-threatening way by her side. "Come in - I'd say make yourself at home, but this place isn't exactly welcoming," she said with a slight smile.907

Dan walked in, and she shut the door behind him. 908

She pushed the black bag to one side and sat on her bed, and gestured for Dan to sit on the room's only chair. Despite his assurances, and though she did relinquish her hold on the gun, it remained close by her side.909

"Questions eh? Well, since dinner seems to be running late, I suppose I can answer... a few," she said wryly.910

-911

• Room 39 - Hotel 912

Dan sat down in the chair, noting that she didn't trust him, still having the gun in her hand. He couldn't really blame her, he didn't trust her either, he was thankful he'd put his ULUWA (Ultra-Light Urban Warfare Armour) on earlier, which was hidden beneath his clothes, her small 9mm pistol wouldn't be able to shoot through it, but might knock him out. Oh well. 913

'Thank you. I must admit I'm very curious as to who you are, and why you're here. This is not the sort of place one comes to by choice. As you know, the only reason we're here is because our plane crashed.' He paused for a moment, studying her reactions closely. 'I think it'd be better if we were on the same side here. I have no clue what the hell is going on, but the more people I know I can turn to, the better. And I'm sure you'd not object to having another able body you can rely on in a pinch. Given that anything could happen, and there might not always be a solid target to shoot,' he finished darkly.914

-915

• Room 39 - Hotel916

Judith listened and watched carefully; though her client had warned her of certain happenings on the island, she had not known prior to arriving that there would be other people staying here. When she had landed on the beach and seen the aircraft wreckage, she had been surprised to say the least.917

She retrieved her attache case from under the trenchcoat she had draped across the foot of the bed. She unzipped it and slid out another card identical to the one she left at the front desk, and then handed it to Dan.918

"I'm an independant contracting consultant," Judith replied to his question and paraphrasing the information on the embossed card. "My current assignment involves researching the history of this island and certain phenonomen in relation to past events."919

She had also been instructed to gather data about other things, but didn't think it was prudent to reveal everything. She continued. "I have a unique skill set many of my clients find desirable - discretion being one. I trust that you will not discuss or reveal any of what I've told you with anyone else?"920

Dan nodded.921

Judith took a breath - she decided she would give him a small part of the why. "Bloodvayne City used to quite properous - it existed mostly on the revenue from a sucessful toy chain. The island was administered by three individuals - one of which conducted certain.. experiments on the inhabitants. Most fled, and some died. As the populace fell in numbers, one of the administrators siphoned the money from the economy and escaped; leaving the island to slowly die. But he never resurfaced anywhere else. My assignment entails finding out this person's current identity and location - and my client believes the island may still contain these secrets."922

She watched him. "I'm not sure who I can trust - your friends seem to be habouring just as many secrets as I am."923

-924

• Room 39 - Hotel 925

Dan nodded slowly, taking in what she'd said. He guessed she wasn't telling all, but who would? 926

'I see, yes, you can trust me not to tell anyone. Secrets are something I understand all to well,' he commented dryly. 'I must admit, I am more then curious myself about Bloodvayne's past.' 927

He thought about her last comment, and sighed. 'I don't know who I can trust, myself. I'm not even sure I can trust you, but I get the feeling that if you bumped someone off, there wouldn't be a trace... would there?' He laughed, then continued. 'Anyway, the only three I trust completely are Aurora, Peter. and Ice. Beyond them, I wouldn't trust anyone as far as I could throw them.'928

-929

• Cafeteria930

With Kaelynn's misadventure in the cafeteria earlier, the hotel manager had dismissed her from her chore. Instead, he was serving the evening meal. Six o'clock rolled around and he already had the entire meal ready.931

As everyone came in, he said, "Dinner is served."932

-933

• Library934

Kaelynn followed after Mykia, not wanting to be left alone and wanting to see what she was chasing after. She catch up to her. "Where are you going?" she asked.935

-936

• Room 39 - Hotel937

Judith listened carefully and considered every word Dan said, even giving a thin smile at his reference to her killing someone. Peter must be man from the cafeteria, and the other two would be the pair of younger girls she'd seen Dan with.938

She wondered, however, if he knew that Peter was likely ill. "You do realise that your friend, Peter, is infected by the... charisma... of this island?" 939

She reached into the discarded coat again, and pulled out the tiny digital camera. Switching it on, she selected the photo she'd taken of Peter in the cafeteria during his 'fit'. She held the camera out so that Dan could see the image on the viewscreen. "That is no ordinary red eye effect, Dan."940

He took the camera from her and stared at it.941

"He's not only one to have experienced supernatural events. This island wants a voice - and I'm afraid Peter may just be the puppet it has been waiting for."942

Judith glanced at her watch. Accounting for the time difference, it was now after 6:00pm. She stood, unzipped her bag to retrieve her holster, and put it on. She then slipped her gun into it and pulled her trenchcoat back on. She noticed that Dan watched her every movement.943

"I'm sure I read somewhere that dinner would be served at 6 - so we should head down to the cafeteria, yes?"944

Dan nodded and handed the camera back to her, and they left the room together. As they passed Room 31, she glanced at Dan. "Even the rooms have secrets," she said.945

They soon entered the cafeteria to find none other than the hotel manager serving up the meal.946

-947

• Hotel - Room 21948

Peter was standing face to face with the once-was mayor.949

'Tell me, mayor, why are you doing this to me?'950

'You seem to be the only one to get my message across. Everyone seems to know you one way or another.'951

'Then why not Dan? Mykia? Everyone kows them too.'952

The mayor leaned close. 'You'll find out soon enough, Peter.' Peter watched as he disappeared into thin air.953

'Argh!' Peter fell off the bed and landed on his hip, where a SOCOM pistol was set on the floor, from who knows where.954

-955

• Library/Cafeteria956

Aurora had been to the library, but due to the vast size of it didn't notice anyone. By luck, she happened to find a Scott Westerfeld novel. After some joyful jumping about, she grabbed the novel and started reading. When she noticed the time, it was 15 past 6. When Aura realized she had missed doing her chore, and was about to miss dinner, she set off for the cafeteria.957

~~~
As Aura was walking in, she remembered noticing earlier that this week, she was to work the front desk. She still worried a bit about not helping out with dinner, considering the near-disaster that occured earlier. But it didn't seem she was needed anyway. The hotel manager had a near feast set out and waiting. Aura hugged her new-found novel, sat down at a table, and waited for Dan or Ice to make an appearance.958

-959

• Cafeteria960

Peter rushed into the cafe, and tripped over the nearest chair. 'Crap, I'm late.'961

Peter sat at the table nearest to the counter, and saw the hotel manager behind it. 'Hmm, Kaelynn must still be shocked.'962

He called to the manager. 'Sir, some hot dogs and cheesecake, please.'963

When the manager came out with the food, Peter called him once again. 'Uh, sir, you don't mind if I show ya some stuff and ask some questions, do ya?' He pulled out the locket that was still in his jacket pocket, and the letter and key found in the box. 'Do you know anything about this stuff?' Peter asked with a mouthful of sausage964

-965

• Cafeteria966

Dan followed Judith into the cafeteria. His face thoughtful as he pondered over what she'd said of Peter, and the pictures. On entering the cafeteria, he saw Aura at one of the tables, and excusing himself, wandered over to sit with her.967

'Hey, how you coping?'968

-969

• Cafeteria970

Judith walked to the counter after Dan parted ways with her, and ordered a steak with a side salad and chips. As she waited, she noticed Peter receive his own meal and then draw the manager into what appeared to be a deep conversation concerning certain items he pulled from his pockets.971

As she watched, the manager seemed to dismiss Peter's concerns. After a piercing glance in her direction, the manager seemed to urge Peter to forget about the items.972

She turned away, tapping her nails against the counter impatiently. Some time later, he manager bustled back to the kitchen and in under 10 minutes he had her steak freshly prepared.973

She went to pay him, but he stopped her with a patronising smile. "No, Ms Campbell - no charge for tonight's meal - it's on the house."974

She gazed into his eyes for a second, contemplating his motives, before smiling politely and then turning away. She found a spot where she could watch everyone and be close enough to the door just in case she needed to make a quick exit, and sat down to eat.975

-976

• Cafeteria977

Aura looked up from her novel when Dan sat down. He asked how she was coping.978

"Hey. Fine, I guess. There's not really much one can do in these situations. I'm luck to have found a novel I can get lost in for a while. It reminds me things could be stranger." Aura paused, and considered what she just said. "Well... I guess they couldn't be too much stranger, but still. At least we don't have parasitic vampires running around, being the bad guy. Then it turns out said vampires are actually the good guys, and they're there to save humanity."979

After she spat out that mouthful, she shrugged. "So, I guess what I was meaning to say, is it could be worse. Now, what shall we eat? I'm starving."980

Dan just looked at his younger sister like she was slightly out of it. For all Aura knew, she probably was.981

-982

• Cafeteria983

Having searched the entire library and finding no one, Mykia and Kaelynn had headed down to dinner. Noting Kaelynn wasn't serving the meal, Mykia asked her to sit with herself.984

"So, we haven't really had room to talk darling. Are you alright? You had a bit of a scare earlier, didn't you?" Kaelynn shivered and nodded.985

Mykia sat back and turned to her meal, making sure Kaelynn felt no pressure if she didn't want to talk.986

-987

• Cafeteria988

Dan stared at Aura blankly a moment, before smiling. 'Heh, yes, things could indeed be stranger.' Picking up a list, he browsed through it. 'I think I'll chicken, and chips. You?'989

-990

• Cafeteria
Each order was filled promptly and with well-cooked food. It was as if the manager had already known exactly what everyone was going to order.991

Looking at the locket that Peter displayed, the manager said casually, "Ah yes, that belonged to the Mayor's wife. She told me once that she had lost it. Poor girl..." he trailed away as he returned to the kitchen for more food. 992

-993

• Cafeteria994

Ice walked up behind Peter and blinked. "God that guy is creepy. What was that all about anyways, Peter?" She took the seat opposite him and stared after the manager's retreating back.995

-996

• Cafeteria997

Peter stared at the manager's retreating back. 'Wait, what about the k--' Peter was interrupted by Ice.998

'Oh, hi. Didn't see ya in here.'
'God that guy is creepy. What was that all about anyways, Peter?'
'Oh, yeah, about this? Nothing much.' Peter held up the locket. Dan spied it from the other table.999

-1000

• Cafeteria1001

"Hmm, probably just a salad." Aura replied to Dan. "What do you say we go sit with Peter and Ice? I'd feel better if we were together, at least part of the time."1002

Nodding his agreement, Dan got up. They both walked over to the manager, where he somehow had their orders ready. Had he overheard them discussing what they wanted?1003

After getting their food, Dan and Aura sat with Ice and Peter at their table.1004

-1005

• Cafeteria1006

Ice looked up at Aura and smiled. "Hey, what's up Aura?" She looked back over at Peter and then at the locket. "That's weird. I saw a picture of a locket in the book I was looking at the night Missi died."1007

-1008

• Cafeteria1009

Aura noticed the distressed look on Ice's face and hugged her. "It was just a coincidence, love. Don't worry about it!" Aura smiled.1010

Peter was eyeing the locked, as if it might spring up and grow wings at any second. Finally he pushed it away and dug into his food. After a short silence from Aura, Dan, and Ice, the three followed suit.1011

Surprisingly to Aura, the salad was one of the best she'd ever tasted. It brought to mind the phrase, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." Was everything a lie here? Who really could be trusted?1012

-1013

• Cafeteria1014

Ice hugged Aura and smiled. "You're right. It's fine." She grinned at Dan and Peter, too. It was all starting to weird her out, but she could deal as long as she had her friends.1015

-1016

• Cafeteria1017

Peter just looked at the locket, studying it as if it was a chemistry book.1018

He finally stuck it away. Finishing the hot dogs, he picked up a piece of cheesecake. 'Hope you're ready for your meal, old man,' Peter whispered.1019

He took a bite. He waited. He looked at himself. 'No fits, no visions, no nothing. Awesome.' He looked up at everyone. 'What?' He paused for a while and looked at the cheesecake. He finally shouted at the top of his voice 'SWEET GLORIOUS CHEESECAKE!', and dug his face into the cake.1020

-1021

• Cafeteria1022

At Peter's outburst, Aura's table and a few surrounding ones were shocked into silence. After a second or two, everyone burst out laughing. Peter could be such a freak for cheesecake.1023

Although Aura was confused about something. Was Peter actually expecting a fit or vision? Did he know something he wasn't telling them?1024

-1025

• Cafeteria1026

Dan looked at Peter in amusement. 'Umm, like the cheesecake, eh?'1027

Something dug at the back of his mind, the photo of Peter with red eyes, why was he acting like that with the cheesecake? Did he want to get the visions? Dan made a note to ask him later, and continued his chicken and chips, which were cooked to perfection.1028

-1029

• Cafeteria1030

Ice smiled watching Peter wolf down his cheesecake. She bit down a nagging sensation in the back of her mind about the cheesecake and Peter's fits, but still wondered what was up.1031

-1032

• Cafeteria1033

Mykia was startled as Ptere burst out into...cheesecake appreciation? 'Life is strange indeed when I find *that* stranger than the fact that his eyes change colour sporadically' she thought to herself wryly. She looked over to Kaelynn who seemed to be avoiding talking about what had happened earlier...or talking at all. Mykia shrugged and finished her food, setting the dishes on the counter and leaving to check if she was off gardening duty yet.1034

Hotel1035

'Thank god I'm back to cleaning' she thought to herself, smiling as she plied her efforts at a stained wall on the twelfth floor. She hoped she wouldn't be abandoned by her partner this time; Leslie was supposed to help her with the gardening before but had never shown up. Come to think of it...she hadn't seen Leslie anywhere.1036

"Oh dear," she said to herself. "I do hope nothing has happened to her!"1037

-1038

• Hotel1039

As Mykia explored the hotel's twelfth floor, she cam across and old evelator shaft. It appeared that it reached all of the levels, but no one had seen the shaft on any of the other floors.1040

The hotel manager appeared behind Mykia. "Ah, you are one of the cleaners today. Good. I need a favor. I have been planning on burying the recently deceased in the Bloodvayne graveyard. However, I need the key to the main gate. I've misplaced it somewhere on this floor. Should you find, just let me know."1041

With a ghostly smile, he headed back the way he'd come.1042

-1043

• Cafeteria1044

Looking up, Peter felt a bit dumb. He looked at the mirror-like plate. There was cake all over his face. 'Meh.' Peter shrugged. Tossing his dish into the kitchen (and landing surprisingly perfect in the dishwasher), Peter embarked on the mystical journey of cleaning the hotel rooms.1045

Hotel - Outside Room 311046

Peter never thought his room would be so messy...1047

Peter stood in front of the #31 door, wondering if he should chance going in there to clean up. 'Hope the manager doesn't mind...' He looked at the keys. He looked at the door. He smirked. 'Why not?' He unlocked the door and went in to investigate.1048

-1049

• Hotel Room 311050

As soon as Peter stepped into the forbidden room, all the lights in the hotel shut off. The door slammed shut behind him, but only he heard it. When he turned back to look at it, the door - and the keys he had been holding - were gone.1051

A faint whisper spoke his name and he turned back around toward the sound. A woman stood before him - well, floated was more like it. She looked like an uncolored page of a Halloween coloring book.1052

"Peter..." the woman whispered, flickering as a light. "...Allen...."1053

She began to fade away. "Stop the harvest..."1054

All at once, the room vanished and Peter found himself standing outside room 31. The door had returned - and so had the keys - and the lights were back on. But when Peter tried to open the door, he found it locked and that the key to the room had mysteriously disappeared.1055

The hotel manager stood next to him. "Enjoying your explorations, Peter? There is much one can learn in these walls. Much indeed."1056

He smiled eeriely and his eyes flashed a quick red. Then he was gone.1057

-1058

• Hotel1059

Kaelynn walked quietly to the cafeteria and ate a small, quick meal before heading back out. She stopped by the front desk and found her task for the day and sighed.1060

"At least it's not somewhere spooky," she said. She looked around the lobby for a moment. "Well, not super spooky. I hope."1061

She found a mop and a broom in the closet and started sweeping. "Like anyone's going to actually sign in."1062

-1063

• Hotel - Outside Room 311064

Peter shook the fright out of him. 'Man, that was creepy.' He thought to himself. He pondered over the woman, and 'Allen'. Just who exactly was he? Could he be the manager? And what did she mean about 'stop the harvest'?1065

Stop the harvest...garden harvest...body harvest...1066

Dan!1067

Hotel Foyer1068

Peter stumbled down the stairs and sprinted towards the front door. The door seemed to stretch away from him the harder he ran. Fear started to overwhelm him. 'What the hell is going on!?'1069

He finally gave up, and stopped running. He looked down and realised that there was a trap door.1070

Right below him.1071

-1072

• Hotel1073

Aura decided she might as well get her chore done, and headed for the front foyer. She saw Ice along the way, and waved. Aura had her novel with her, and she sat down at the front desk.1074

It didn't seem like anyone was going to come to the hotel. Aura cleaned up the counter a bit, noticing the odd sign-in book. Then she settled down with a sigh, and opened her book.1075

-1076

• Cafeteria1077

Judith ate her meal slowly and simply observed everyone: their interactions with each other, and the fleeting presence of the Manager. She frowned at Peter's outburst as he ate the cheesecake, and smiled thinly as most laughed nervously at his apparent random behaviour.1078

She noted the fact that Ice seemed to appear last, and that both the girl from the kitchen and the woman who had greeted her in the foyer left shortly afterwards. Peter left next, and by how he fidgeted with a set of keys, Judith concluded that he was preoccupied - likely with what he had queried the manager about.1079

Aura left next, leaving Dan who still sat in contemplation. Judith guessed that what she revealed may have had something to do with that. She finally finished her meal, took her plate back to the kitchen and resolved to investigate the hotel further.1080

Hotel1081

As she climbed the stairs to the third floor, Peter ran past her without acknowledging her - and appeared rather... pale. She continued on her way, finally reaching the start of the third floor corridor.1082

She paused and considered the door to room 31. She tried the handle - locked (not that she considered it would be otherwise, but possibly of it being otherwise needed to be ruled out.) The knob itself was much cooler than the ambient temperature - so much so that when she bent down and breathed on it condensation formed and then began to crystalize.1083

She stood back and, with her arms folded, considered the door. She knew instinctively that not only did this room hold the answers to a few pressing questions, but it may just hold more than a few secrets.1084

Turning away, she was determined to find out what thay may be.1085

-1086

• Cafeteria.1087

Dan finished his meal, and sat lost in thought, well everyone else left. After awhile, he came back to earth, and realised he was alone.1088

Sighing, he stood, and went to get some sleep. Tomorrow he'd have to garden, so he'd heard. Oh what fun...1089

So deep in thought he was, he didn't even see the panicking Peter, but just headed straight for his room, and crashed, not even bothering to take his ULUWA off, not that he'd want to take it off, who knew how might try bump him off.1090

-1091

• Hotel - Twelfth Floor1092

Mykia shivered as the manager once again disappeared and stared at the levator shaft with trepidition. She could swear there was no elevator in the hotel. She went down the stairs to the floor below and sure enough, no elevator. Just a...a window? She had expected a blank wall at the least, that maybe it had been boardedup but...she opened the window and looked up. There was definitely no elevator box out there. In fact, it all looked pretty normal.1093

She wandered up the stairs again, thinking this over. On the way up Ice caught up with her and she relayed what the manager had said, adding a warning of her own to stay away from the shaft for the moment. Picking up her mop, she set to work on the hallway floor, keeping an eye out for the key but not really expecting to find it.1094

-1095

• The Second Death1096

As night fully encroahced on the weary travelers, they climbed into bed. The first few hours were soundless in the creepy old hotel. But then something called to Aura and she obeyed subconsciously. She walked out into the hallway and was suddenly attacked by a hooded figure.1097

Her body was left in the hallway closet, her wrist purple and bruised. A burn mark accompanied the bruising. Something had torn into her neck, ripping through her throat. And her lips were blue.1098

-1099


• Hotel1100

Dan's eyes snapped open, he wasn't sure what it was, but something wasn't right. Rolling out of bed, and checking his gun was still on him, he crept out of his room.1101

Walking stealthy up the hall way, he felt something squishy and wet, bending down he looked at the carpeted floor, it was damp. Looking up he saw a closet door.1102

Pulling his gun out of his holster, he stepped up to the door. His hand closed round the handle. His heart beat faster as he turned the handle, and with his gun ready, pulled.1103

As the door came open, a figure fell toward him. Dan leapt.1104

The body hit the ground, dead.1105

Dan sighed, another one down. But then he froze. A cold chill ran up his spine, the body looked familiar. He quickly put his gun away, and knelt by the body. He reached down, and rolled it onto it's back.1106

His face paled, as the blood left. His breathing became jagged, and he started to shiver uncontrollably. On word escaped his ashen lips, 'Aura?'
-
Hotel
Kaelynn hadn't been able to sleep after the incident in the kitchen. She knew someone had messed with the pipes, and knew that someone had been killed just the other day. The creepiness of the hotel was made worse by the killer on the loose.1107

She climbed out of bed and was going to walk down to the bathroom to get a drink of water. She stopped when she saw Dan next to a body.1108

"What happened?" she asked, a little scared of him. "Is she...dead?"
-
Hotel
Dan didn't even see Kaelynn come up behind him. The only thing going through his head was they'd killed his sister. His dear little sister. 1109

With a howl of rage he lurched to his feet. He lashed out. His left fist hitting the door so hard the door handle embedded itself into the plaster. 1110

'I -will- kill you!' he screamed.1111

Another punch. 1112

'Don't think it's over!' 1113

Blood dripped from his knuckles as his fist collided with door. A dent had formed where he hit it. 1114

'I will hunt you down, and remove your head through your a-' his voice cracked, and he slid to his knees. Sobs shook his body as he knelt there, banging his head against the door, mutter incoherently.
-
Room 39
Judith slept for nearly four hours after she turned in, but awoke around 2am - the mystery of Room 31 niggling her subconscious. First the smear of blood on the door, then the mysterious footprints that disappeared, and lastly the icing up of the knob. The other thought swirling through her head was that the Manager specifically warned her against Room 31 and it seemed that she was meant to have been roomed on the floor below with everyone else.1115

She sat up and retrieved her attache case containing everything she needed when investigating cases for her clients - she pulled the blank note out, followed by the camera and her silver barrel pen. Within ten minutes, she had everything suspicious listed as well as the information she knew about the island and Dan's own reactions.1116

Tapping the nib of the pen on the paper, she considered her options; she could wait for further developments, or she could act herself. Finally determined to find out exactly what Room 31 hid, she slowly got dressed - the same black pants as before, but teamed with a woollen black turtleneck rather than the shirt. 1117

She affixed a wallet-sized pouch to her waistband - comprising of her lockpick set, a tiny LED penlight and an electronics frequency scanner. Lastly, she strapped on her shoulder holster and, after checking the piece, slipped it into the holster too. After pulling on a pair of simple black shoes, she silently left her room and made her way down the hallway to room 31.1118

She paused to listen - silence greeted her. Once Judith established that no one would disturb her, she withdrew the lockpick set and worked with silent swiftness. As the final tumbler fell, she transfered one tool carefully to her other hand (which still held the opposing tool) and twisted the knob and pushed the door open.1119

She instantly had a hand across her nose and mouth. Without turning her torch on, she instantly knew what was contained in the room. The unique stench of recent death assailed her senses - whatever had died had done so within the last couple of days - the smell lacked the hues of ripe decomposition.1120

She clicked the torch on and the light played across a pair of women's feet. She moved the beam up the body carefully, noting the unusual positioning of the neck. Broken neck. Without touching anything, she swept the beam of the torch around the room; it alighted on another body.1121

In her opinion one death was suspicious. Two deaths were a coincidence that she could not ignore. Just as she hovered her finger over the switch on her torch, she caught sight of something else; just under the bed a sliver of greyish white shined in the light from the torch. She knelt down to get a closer look.1122

A fragment of bone. As she looked under the bed, the torchlight picked out more pieces - some larger, some smaller. Sh rose and examined the room closer; evidently the room was never used for what it was originally intended for, as seen by the russet stains spotted the floor in places.1123

As Judith wondered why one of the kitchen fridges hadn't been used instead, a muffled, almost animal howl of despair sounded. She pushed herself to her feet as faint thuds followed the howl. She left the room quickly, locking the door behind her, and made her way to the stairwell - the noise sounded like it came from the next floor down.1124

She hastened down the stairs just in time to hear Dan swearing vegence for something. As she turned into the hallway, she saw him slip to his knees beside Aura - who from Judith's perspective lay prone on the floor - and start banging his head and sobbing.1125

Hotel - Second Floor1126

She noticed Kaelynn standing white-faced and fidgeting behind the scene, and approached slowly, carefully assessing the situation. As she came abreast of Dan, she noticed the copious amount of blood on the floor and the gaping wound on Aura's neck. Judith ganced up at Kaelynn. "Go to your room." The girl froze. "NOW," Judith said louder, firmly, and the girl startled and then ran.1127

She turned her attention to Dan, who already had a bright red mark on his forehead. Assuming that he was still armed, she grabbed his right arm and held it firmly to his side, while at the same time she stopped his head from moving forward to strike the door again.1128

Judith crouched behind him. "Dan?" she asked, and then had to ask at least another three times as he struggled against her. "Stop it! Listen to me - hurting yourself ain't going to bring her back.
-
Hotel
Mykia's eyes flew open at the scream and she clutched her covers with clenched fists, heart beating. Listening, she heard thumping that semed to be coming from down the hall. She strained to make out the words but couldn't seem to, although she would swear the voice was Dan's. She sat in her bed...listening, too paralysed for some reason to go investigate.1129

The noises seemed to have stopped now and she was sudden;y able to move. She scurried to the door and opened it a crack, peeking out. So far, so good. Opening it wider, she stepped out into the hall, making sure to lock the room behind her. She certainly didn't want to find anyone in there when she got back and tonight she was paranoid enough
to believe it might happen.1130

Turning the corner, she was confronted by the site of Dan struggling in Judith's arms. Picking up her courage, she strode forth to the defense of her new friend. "What exactly is going on here?" she called out stridantly.
-
Hotel
Judith glanced up but didn't respond immediately. Beneath her palm, the skin of Dan's head was cold and clammy, and she could feel him trembling. He continued to struggle - more with the desperation of anguish than a real need to free himself. She was certain that if he wanted to he could overpower her.1131

Without letting go, she spoke calmy to the woman who strode down the hallway. "He's in shock - and trying to do some serious damage to himself." She gestured at where his hand was still bleeding onto the carpet of the hallway. "I need you to assist me - some ice for his head, a blanket or sheet from one of the rooms and something to wrap his hand with would be helpful."1132

The woman continued to stride toward her. "Look - I'm not trying to hurt him - he needs to be restrained - at least at the moment. He's going into shock - which is understandable considering she..." She gestured with her head again - but at Aura, "...was his friend."
-
Hotel
To weak to even bother with trying to resist Judith's hold anymore, he collapsed to the ground. 1133

'Look - I'm not trying to hurt him - he needs to be restrained - at least at the moment. He's going into shock - which is understandable considering she was his friend,' said Judith. 1134

Dan sighed heavily. 'More then a friend. She was my sister.' 1135

He lay on the ground, breathing heavily; feeling completely exhausted. 1136

Not Aura, why'd they have to kill her?
-
Hotel
Mykia's eyes flickered to the body which she only now noticed. Her eyes went wide as she regarded the girl before her. Dan's words filtered through to her, "...my sister." and a look of horror crossed her features and brought her to her kness beside him.1137

Her hand reached out to Dan's shoulder of its own accord, though momentarily halted in its travel when he flinched before she could touch him. Resolutely she continued the movement and stroked it gently. "Oh darling." she whispered. "I..." She stopped. After all, what could she offer him? Platitudes? She couldn't tell him everything would be alright...she'd lost too many people herself to think that it ever really would be.1138

So she just slid an arm around him and tried to offer what silent comfort she could.
-
Hotel
Dan snarled and jerked away when Mykia went to hug him. 'Sympathy for me won't bring her back,' he growled. 1139

As he lay there, the dull throbbing pain of his hand and forehead slowly invaded his foggy brain. Instinct and common sense told him to do something about it now, and being to emotionally drained to argue with training, he staggered to his feet, and stumbled down the hall to his room. 1140

Something cold... and a drink, a strong one... yes, that's what he needed...
-
Judith had let her own hands fall away and Dan slipped to the ground - she'd only held him to stop him hurting himself. His reaction to the woman's touch was enlightening, as well as hers as she snatched her hands back as if burnt. 1141

As Dan stumbled past her muttering incoherantly, Judith narrowed her eyes at the woman - from the interactions she had witnessed, this woman didn't have much to do with Dan - and she wasn't someone Dan said she trusted.1142

"Perhaps you should go back to bed - your presence is clearly no longer required," Judith said to the woman firmly. 1143

The woman glared at her for a few seconds, before turning on her heel and stomping away.1144

Judith turned to the body. Before leaving it where it was, she pulled her tiny camera from her pocket and took nearly 20 photos of the body, floor and closet, before standing again and making her way toward the room door she saw Dan disappear behind.1145

She knocked and received a brusque reply.1146

She knocked again. "Dan it's Judith - open up."1147

Finally he opened the door, alcohol on his breath. She raised an eyebrow. "We need as many level heads around here to solve this thing - and you ain't doing yourself or anyone else a favour carrying on like that," she said, her voice low. "You should be falling back on your training and not on the bloody drink."1148

She pushed the door open, and Dan stumbled back - dropping to the bed to cradle his head in his hands. Judith closed the door behind her and stood in front of him.1149

"I'll help you find who ever did this Dan... and God help me if I don't kill them first."
-
Hotel
After a moment Dan lifted his head out his hands, and smiled a cold hard smile at Judith. 'The bloody drink was for the pain, and to clear my head. I may be distraught at finding my sister brutally murdered, but I'm not stupid enough to go drown my sorrows in drink.' 1150

He walked over to the sink and grabbing a flannel, soaked it in cold water. Wringing it out, he held it to his forehead, and turned to face Judith. Looking her straight in the eye, he said, 'If you kill them, I -will- kill you.'
-
Hotel
Judith held her hands up, palms outward, as she took a step back. The look on Dan's face said he was deadly serious. "I only offer my help - but I have no doubt that someone will die over this - whether by your hand or someone else's." 1151

She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms as she regarded him. She took a breath. "I know about the other two deaths - I've been in Room 31 - another girl, and a guy. With the death of your sister, it makes three murders - and I don't believe in coincidences, Dan. And I don't think we should sit back and let this play out - or let a cold-blooded murderer walk free."1152

She pushed away from the wall and walked toward the door. She stopped and swivelled to face him. "The Manager should not be trusted - that room has been used in the past for similar things, I found bone fragments under the bed."
-
Hotel
Dan laughed quietly. 'Yes, you offered your help, and I gladly accept it. The more people I can trust, the better.' 1153

Walking over to his bed, he said, 'The fact that we were keeping the bodies in Room 31 was no secret, we haven't gotten time to bury them yet. One - the man, was my best friend, I found him yesterday.' He sighed, and went on, 'I guess that's why the army like their spec ops soldiers not to have family, or anyone close.' He laughed dryly. 'Well, one more and they'll have their cold bastard of a killer.' 1154

He opened one of the draws from the table beside his bed, and pulled out a packet of pain killers. Swallowing a couple, he turned back to Judith. 'Shall we go see what mysteries we can dig up?'
-
Hotel
Stalking away from Judith, she paused at Dan's door, placing her hand on it as if considering pushing it open, but resumed her course along the corridor, bypassing her own room as well.1155

As she walked, her mind was awhirl. There was something...off about that Judith woman. Her story just didn't add up. She was apparently taking pictures for appraisal or some like but that didn't really answer why she was taking the pictures of the guests. 'Guests..." Mykia mused to herself wryly. 'If you can call us that.' And that was another thing. What kind of person, upon learning that her fellow guest were victims of a plane crash and stuck on this island...and yet she asked no questions, didn't treat it as it was out of the ordinary in the slightest. Nor did she offer any assistance. If she did have some way off this island, wouldn't she have done that? It went beyond being nice or a personality, anyone with the slightest sense of...humanity would have to do...would help.1156

With these thoughts in her head as she strode along, she found herself at Ice's door. She spent the day with the girl earlier and she...she didn't want Ice finding about this by accident. If she remembered correctly, she and Aura had been close. She knocked on the door.1157

The girl peeked through the crack in the door before closing it and undoing the chain when she saw who it was. Mykia stepped in and silently sat her down on the bed, crouching before her. In hushed tones, she told Ice what had happened, how she had found Dan being restrained by Judith, how she had seen the body, what had happened afterwards. And Mykia held her as she broke down.
-
Hotel
Kaelynn rushed back to her room after being instructed to. She closed the door quickly and locked it. Two murders? She was really starting to hate this place. She shivered from the images. This one was bloodier than the last. She sat on her bed and stared at the door, trying to calm down.
-
Hotel
Mykia watched Ice discreetly as the scrubbed away at the dirt encrusted walls of the room they were in. Once she had finished her crying, the girl had insisted they go back to cleaning and had applied herself with a vengeance. Mykia was well accuainted with the tactic of keeping one busy after a loss and so let the girl do as she wished, keeping silent company.1158

She walked over to the bed and started airing it out, pouring all her trepidition into the simple act of achieving perfection. As she gave the covers a shake, something small and shiny flew out and clinked to the floor, landing under the bed.1159

Bending to her knees, Mykia reached for the object curiously...
-
Ice sat in her room staring at the ceiling, not even paying attention to her surroundings anymore. All of Aura's stuff had been cleared out of the room. Not knowing what else to do, she wandered out of the room searching now for Dan or Peter. This wasn't good. Why her little sister? Why? Eyes darkening in anger, Ice didn't evenrealize where she was going. She wandered into the library.
-
Hotel
(OOC: I am so gonna die this time.)1160

"I'll be back in a bit." Mykia told Ice and hurried outthe door, in search of the Manager. She turned a corner and almost bumped into him. Breathing heavily to regain her breath, she proferred the metal object she'd found. "I found...your key...Here:" She thrust it at him and turned away, not wanting to watch him disappear again.1161

As she was walking back to Ice, she once again noticed the elavator shaft. She stood indecisiely for a moment before deciding to take a look. She carefully peered down the shaft but couldn't see anything. So she did what any reasonable person would do. She pressed the button.
-
*Rose woke up relising she fell asleep but, don't know how she got in her room relised it was 2 till 6 and got ready and rand down to the Caffteria*1162

Rose: I'm here I'm sorry I'm late I feel asleep some how.The last I remember was hear pots and pans in the kitchen but, no one there and I ran out and then I don't remember anything past that!
-
Hotel
The manager accepted the key and placed it in his pocket. As she turned away, he smiled darkly.1163

When Mykia pressed the button for the elevator, there was a faint ding. For a moment, nothing was heard. And then a whooshing sound echoed through the shaft as the metal box came flying up faster than it should've.
-
Hotel
Mykia stumbled back as the passenger box practically *flew* towards her. It screeched to a stop on her floor and the doors opened...almost pleasantly, if one could attribute such things to a turbo elevator, revealing red fabric and dark wood trim.1164

She reached a hand in and felt the fabric, assuring herself it was real. When nothing happened, she drew a foot inside, ttesting the floor. Still nothing out of the ordinary. Takin a breath, she stepped inside.1165

As she examined the box in more detail, she noticed all the buttons on the panel were cracked and broken except for the twelve and a button labelled "B". Her fingers hovered over the button...pressed the button...she let out the breath she'd been holding as nothing happened. Clearly the thing was broken beyond repair. Time to leave.1166

She made to stride out the door when the doors slammed shut and the box plummeted into the depths!!!
-
Hotel
Judith left Dan and stepped back out into the hallway again, only to see the woman from earlier run past her. She looked down toward where the body of Aura lay. Horrible business this - and a complication in her eyes - her job was supposed to have been simple. 1167

She sighed, though this events in the 24 hours concerned her greatly, she wouldn't leave these people. Someone was on a killing spree and, as she just promised Dan, she would do everything in her power to bring them to justice.1168

As she walked to the body, the Manager turned the corner and looked straight at her. Judith didn't smile, but instead marched up to him.1169

"You and I need to talk," she said, her voice hard. "One - these bodies need to be stored elsewhere other than Room 31. And two - you have some explaining to do."1170

With her arms crossed, and an icy glare on her face, she waited for his reply.
-
Cove near plane wreak
Bryce came across the turbulent waves, the battered inflatable bouncing as it hit the shore-breakers. Tied down beside him, a small black box beeped as he drew closer to the source of the signal he tracked. Judith had decided that it would be best that she have time scout the island before he arrived, and now he followed her GPS beacon in.1171

He switched the small short-wave radio, which sat snug against his waist in a water-proof pouch, and spoke a short, pre-arranged code. As he waited for a response, he steered the inflatable toward a small cove a fair distance away from a plane wreck. He frowned - the plane was an unexpected development.
-
Hotel
"You and I need to talk," Judith said, her voice hard. "One - these bodies need to be stored elsewhere other than Room 31. And two - you have some explaining to do."1172

With her arms crossed, and an icy glare on her face, she waited for his reply.1173

The Manager merely gave her an inexplicably odd smile and turned away.1174

She growled with frustration before giving one last look at Aura's body and walking to the end of the hallway and up the stairs.1175

Room 391176

Unlocking her door, Judith entered the room, looking at her watch as she went. Finding that it was just past 7.00am, she cursed - she was late.1177

Hurrying to unzip her black bag, she could already hear the faint transmission. Her hand finally closed on the cold metal of the air freshner can. She sighed with relief as she twisted the false bottom off the can, ad shook the small short-wave into her hand.1178

Another transmission came through, more insistent than the last. She raised the device to her lips, "Hold your position, I'll be there in 10."
-
Cove
Bryce glared at the radio, Judith was late again, why was she always late?1179

He was beginning to think maybe something had happened to her when the radio crackled to life, 'Hold your position, I'll be there in 10.' 1180

' 'Bout time to.' he grumbled, 'It's freezing out here. And my bums fallen asleep again.' He wriggled round a bit, finding a more comfortable position as he steered the boat to shore. 'Right down the left cheek this time...'
-
Hotel
Judith clicked the radio off and slipped it into her pocket. Grabbing her jacket, she exited the room and made her way out of her room and the hotel.1181

Beach1182

She was there within the time specified, and just as her assistant was tucking the boat in a gap under the overhanging outcrop of rock. 1183

"Bryce - we have an unexpected situation..." Over the next few minutes, as he retrieved everything he brought with him, Judith appraised him of the current situation - the murders, the plane crash victims and the additional supernatural phenonema. 1184

Bryce listened attentively - that was one thing she liked about him since he'd been working with her on this assignment - he liked to listen more than speak.1185

Finally, they walked together to the hotel, slipping past the unattended front desk and up the empty staircase to her room where she knew Dan would be waiting.
-
Outside Judith's room.
Dan looked up when he heard footsteps coming. Judith and another figure, Bryce he guessed. Judith had told him to meet her at her room at 7:30, had someone for him to meet. 1186

They reached him. 1187

'Dan, this is Bryce, my assistant, Bryce, this is Dan, the man I was telling you about,' Judith said. 1188

Dan held out his hand and Bryce shook it tentatively, 'Nice to meet you,' Dan said.
-
Room 39
Judith unlocked her door and ushered Dan and Bryce into her room. 1189

Once comfortable, they began discussing the current situation with the murders - especally the evidence that she had collected so far - the photos, the blood from Room 31's door, and finally one of the fragments of bone she had slipped into her pocket just before leaving what she thought of as the little room of horrors.1190

Lastly, they conferred about what should be done next.
-
12th floor
*Rose seeing Mykia just try to get out of the elivator but, then it slam then head it start plumiting got suddenly scarred for her then start surching for Ice to see if she knew.1191

LIBRARY1192

Ice!1193

*Rose said running over to her*1194

Do you know that Mikia got trapped in the elevator and might be plumiting to her death as we speak?We need to do something!I don't want her to die too!
-
Elevator Event
The elevator plummeted towards what Mykia could only assume was going to be her death. But instead of slamming to the ground, the machine slowed to a halt and stopped quite nicely on the designated floor. The door creaked open slowly with a ding and presented Mykia to a leve of the htoel she'd never seen. The hallway was lined with silken red tapestries and the floor was black marble. There was a single room in the hallway - at the farthest end. The door was solid oak and was locked. But as Mykia stepped out of the elevator, it vanished.1195

Hotel - Room 39
The manager approached room 39 and - without knocking or otherwise announcing his arrival - entered the room. "I see a committee has been formed. Welcome, Bryce. I've been expecting you. You are a little late."1196

The manager extended his hand to Judith. "You have a few things that belong to this hotel. I believe they have served your purpose well and now I need them back."1197

Before Judith could give or deny him the evidences she'd collected, they all strangely appeared in his hand. He smiled darkly, eeriely, and close his fist. When he lowered his hand, open, to his side, everything he'd taken had vanished.1198

"And I completely agree with your previous statment. The bodies have all been moved and buried in Bloodvayne now that the gate is once again open."1199

His eyes gleamed at the mention of the gate. He turned to leave but paused at the doorway. "Oh, and please do remember your tasks. They are quite important to me and..." he looked back over his shoulder, his eyes a flaming red, "key to your continued 'stay' at his hotel."1200

With that, he left, vanishing into the hallway again.
-
Hotel
Mykia whipped around and stared at the now-blank wall. 'How do I get out?' she wondered to herself. At the moment though, she was just happy to be alive and promised herself to stop sticking her nnose into things. Looking around, Mykia amended the promise. 'After this, anyway.'1201

The first thing she did was walk across the black marble and try the door at the other end. 'Locked. Rats.' She surveyed the room in wonder. Polished marble floors, Silk curtains...was this what the whole hotel had looked like once upon a time? She remembered reading how the city had been quite prosperous once upon a time. Surely the hotel had been too. She once again wondered what had happened.1202

She suddenly noted how dark it was. Due to her partially unhuman blood, she had been able to see with some proficiancy and hadn't noted the lack of light until now. Walking over to a wall sconce which contained an old style wick for candlelight, she blew on it gently. After a few seconds it flickered to life and she moved on to the next, repeating the process.1203

Thinking she should look over the wall where the elevator door had earlier been, she strode to it...and tripped over a crack in the tile, plunging head over heels toward the near wall. She flinched in anticipation of pain when she cracked her head but instead went flying *through* the tapestry into a pitch black opening.
-
Mykia came to and looked around, wondering where she was. Her eyes were having trouble focusing but she could see some kind of boxes against the wall. She put a hand to her aching head and checked for blood. None, luckily. She blinked a few times and the scene resolved into....books. Books?1204

She looked around once again. The Library. The history section of the Library to be exact. She'd been here earlier, looking up the History of Bloodvayne. How did she get into the Library? She fell into a tapestry through the wall and...the tapestry! There it was, against the wall. Hurriedly she scurried to it and lifted it. Underneath lay a solid wall of wood paneling.1205

She had to admit to some confusion about the whole matter but underlying it all, a sense of relief. At least she wasn't trapped anymore. She walked off to find the stairs leading to the lower level and then out of the building.
-
Room 39
At first, the Manager's appearance in her room had been simply annoying, but as she watched her precious evidence disappear in the blink of an eye, she scowled. 1206

Before she could lodge a fairly vocal protest, the Manager's next statement excited her - the City had been opened for exploration. But his next statement perplexed her; what exactly did he mean by 'tasks'? He already knew why her and Bryce were here, as the client had told her that she and her assistant would be expected on the island by a contact.1207

Just as she opened her mouth to ask, the Manager left, so she turned to Dan instead. 1208

"What tasks? I have every intention on continuing my investigation - but what in the name of all strangeness is he going on about?"
-
Room 39
Dan stared blankly at the Manager's retreating back. People are being murdered, and all he cares about is his tasks? 1209

'What tasks? I have every intention on continuing my investigation - but what in the name of all strangeness is he going on about?'1210

'Hmm? Oh. The tasks are what he makes us do, as most of us don't have any money. Speaking of which, I'm going to find out what he's got me to do.' 1211

Dan got up, and followed the Manager out of the room. 1212

HOTEL FOYER1213

Dan made his way over to the billboard that had the list of tasks on it. 1214

'Fixing machines with Mykia, eh?' he muttered as he stared at the list.
-
Bloodvayne School
Kaelynn walked through the empty city, takign each step carefully. She half expected something to leap out of every bush. When she finally found the school, the first thing she noticed was the playground. It was pretty banged up, but she figured she could fix it if she had help and tools. She went to the door into the building. As she touched the knob, a cold wind blew against her and knocked her back against the merry-go-round.1215

"What was that?" she wondered.
-
Library
Rose: Mykia....1216

*Rose let out a *sigh*1217

Rose: Mykia I'm glad your ok I saw you in the elivator I thought you were a goner...*Rose pause a second* By the way...how did you get up here so fast and how did you not die in that elivator *Rose looked Mykia over...Not a scratch on her* What happened?
-
Library1218

Mykia smiled at Rose. "I'm not quite sure myself, to tell you the truth. The elevator took me to this floor I'd never seen before...and then I fell through the wall and ended up in here. It really makes no sense." She gave Rose a hug. "Thank you for worrying though. I'm headed to the front desk to see if I'm still on cleaning duty or doing something else. Would you like to come?"1219

Hotel1220

Mykia looked over the list of tasks at the front desk. "What do I know about running factories?" She shrugged, reminding her self of the fact that the manager was possibly insane. "Well, at least Dan will be there. Maybe he'll know what to do. I do hope he's feeling better." He had brushed past her on her way into the building.1221

She noted there was a map tacked to the wall now of certain locations in the city and memorized the route to the factory.1222

"Well, I'm off to make Simone dolls I guess. Or..I wonder what the assembly line is going to be producing now?" She made her way out the door and toward the gates.
-
Bloodvayne Factory
Dan had made his way through the city to the factory. On entering he'd been astounded at the sheer size of the place. 'My goodness, what do they make here?' he muttered to himself. 1223

Wandering round, he found the head office, he climbed the stairs leading up to it, and entered the rather large room. Maybe they'd have instructions on how to run the place. 1224

Making his way over to the desk which over looked the factory floor, he sat down, and opened the first draw. Sure enough, there was a spiral bound folder marked "Job lists and Setups" Picking the heavy folder up, he dropped it with a loud thump onto the desk. He opened it and started browsing through the index. 'Good grief. Styer Aug stocks? I thought only Tupperware made them... I wonder...' He flipped through till he found the page for it. Sure enough, at the top of the page was, "Licensed Tupperware production run" 1225

'Well I'll be damned, they certainly have some interesting contracts going here...' 1226

He heard a footstep behind him, and the odds being that it was Mykia, he said, 'Hello Mykia, nice to see you here.'
-
Factory
"Hello Mykia, nice to see you here."1227

Mykia jolted out of the thought stream at the voice. Taking the last few steps up, she saw it was Dan and relaxed. "Hello yourself. Didn't think I'd show up?" She walked over to the desk and looked at the book in his hands. "Tupperware? A long way from Simone dolls. A book in the Library said the factory used to make them, they were one of the major exports here."1228

She held up a sheaf of papers. "I found these downstairs. They're quite faded but it looks like a list of times and numbers...maybe something to do with inventory? I'm not really sure, I don't know anything about factories unforunately. I'm hoping you do..."
-
Factory
Dan looked at the papers. 'Orders, and there due by dates.' Looking at the bottom of the list, he read the order aloud, '1,000 Simone dolls, O/N, Operation Number, 241 345, due by date, 13/7/2008/ That's pretty soon.' He put the paper down, and went back to the folder. Flipping to the first page, he browsed through the list till he found the one he was after. 'Simone doll O/P 241 345, page 139. that must be it.' He quickly found the page. 'Hokay, here we are, complete instructions on how to set everything up for a complete production run of these things. This place was meant for more people to run it, so it'll be a lot of work, so we better get to it.' He stood up, and set off, folder still in hand. 'Come on, lets get the power up for starters.'
-
Factory
Mykia followed him. "We're really making Simone dolls? I mean..." She looked around dubiously. "This factory has been abandoned for a while. And Simone dolls aren't even popular anymore!"1229

Since she had no idea what to do, she allowed Dan to give her instructions and did what she could. Meanwhile, she studied Dan out of the corner of her eye. this ws a completely different person from the one she'd encountered last night. She hoped he wasn't bottling everything up.
-
Room 39
"...The tasks are what he makes us do, as most of us don't have any money. Speaking of which, I'm going to find out what he's got me to do."1230

Judith stood there as Dan left the room, thinking. She had her own investigation on this island, but maybe the Manager had been trying to hint to her that part of that could be completed with a 'task'. Pulling her trenchcoat on, and checking that she had both her gun and attache case, she left the room with Bryce trailing after her, locked it, and made her way down to the voyer.1231

HOTEL RECEPTION/GROUND FLOOR1232

On the wall near the reception counter she found the typed 'task' list. Next to the list was a map of Bloodvayne - which she tried to remove, but found she couldn't.1233

She found it curious that she would be required to search the Laboratory. Unlike the two other tasks, the Manager had given the responsibility to her - and her alone. Memorising the map - she would have liked to have had taken a picture of it - but the camera had been confiscated along with all her other 'evidence' earlier - she and her quiet assitant turned away and left the hotel.1234

LABORATORY1235

She pushed open the door to reveal a dusty, deserted, outer office. Except for the odd piece of paper on the floor, the office appeared not to be in current use. Entering a hallway via a door beside the counter, she found a long row of closed doors.1236

She sighed - it was going to be a long day.
-
Laboratory
Bryce followed Judith into the laboratory.
He had been wondering what the manager meant by him being late. He came to Room 39 the same time as Judith so what had the manager meant by saying he was late? Maybe he meant late coming to the island? He thought only Judith and Dan were supposed to know.
Anyway, he was helping Judith find some research notes now.
He wondered what sort of research they would do in a place like this.
-
Library
Ice wandered around the library of the hotel, still not believing that her sister was dead. Dan was probably still upset about it, too. Her eyes were turning duller and duller by the day since Aura's death/murder. The hotel manager creeped Ice out more and more by the day. She began to grow suspicious of him. Actually, she was beginning to get quite suspicious of everyone. To the point that she kept a pocket knife on her at all times. She began to wonder where Dan was at the time, getting worried. She felt sick to her stomach again. Where had she been when Aura was killed? Why couldn't she have protected her sister?
Ice slumped into a chair holding her head in her hands, tears silently streaming down her face. It was all she could do to keep from screaming from the sorrow and anger building up inside of her. Why? Why? Why Aura?
-
School
Kaelynn found an old textbook in one of the school's desks. She blew the dust off the cover but still couldn't quite make out the title. She opened it and looked through the pages. It appeared to be an old history book. But it called the atom bomb new. "Not gonna get much outta that."1237

She tossed it back onto the desk and headed for the door. A cold hand grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving. She tried to scream but another hand covered her mouth. A frigid air breathed over her neck and she heard words whispered next to her ear.1238

"Leave..." the voice said. "Leave now..."1239

All at once the hands were gone and she was left alone in the school.
-
An Unscheduled Disappearance
As the group dispersed to attain to their scheduled tasks, one of them never moved. In the kitchen where no one had yet gone, lay Leslie. A short knife with a simple hilt was lodged in her back. She had been killed some time between last night and this morning. There were no fingerprints - and no way to test for them, regardless. Her body was lying in the middle of the kitchen and there was a trail of blood stretching a handful of inches. It looked like someone had tried to write something in the blood that had pooled around her. The words were blurred and only the letters "c i" could be deciphered easily.
-
Laboratory
Judith and Bryce spent the next hour or so methodically searching every room they opened. All so far only contained evidence of a hasty exit - three rooms so far had been outfitted scientific labs - sinks, shelving, and gas connections for bunsen burners. The floor and benches were littered with crumpled paper, dust and myriads of broken test tubes - some with smeers of crusted material clinging to their surfaces.1240

After going through nearly twenty rooms, she pushed open a heavy door to reveal a stark white room filled with filling cabinets, a large computer server and several simple terminals. To her surprise, the filing cabinets still contained files. 1241

Upon realising this, she waved Bryce towards one of the terminals. "You search the server, and I'll see what I can find here."
-
Rose: sure!1242

*smiles thankfully at Mykia
-
Rose: Ice? Ice are you ok?1243

*Rose sat down beside her coiusly and worried*
-
Rose: maybe water will help you!1244

*Rose got up and headed toward the kitchen*1245

Rose: hello! anyone here? I need a glass of water...Hello?1246

*no ones there strange...oh well I'll just go in and get it my self...*1247

Rose: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!
-
Library
Ice sighed, scrambling to her feet. She followed Rose to the kitchen.
KITCHEN
A scream sounded before Ice even got to the kitchen door. She ran as fast and hard as she could to the kitchen door, jerking it open. "Rose!" she screamed, watching the girl in front of her. "Are you okay?" Her eyes went wide as she took in the body on the floor, before she completely blacked out.
-
Laboratory
Even as she searched through the assorted files in the white-walled room, Judith's eyes kept on being drawn to the large glass window inset on one wall. The glass had wire mesh it, the reinforcing making the view beyond blurry and indistinct.1248

Curious, she left the room to try the next door along. Upon opening it, she found that it led only to a shallow length, windowless, supply room. Brow furrowed in consternation, she tried the last door - that too led to an tiny room. 1249

There were no other doors that could possibly lead to the windowed room, so Judith walked back to the file room deep in thought. 1250

Now intrigued, she paced the length of the glass panel - it was obviously an observation window for a sealed room; a room that appeared, at the present, to have no entry.1251

Determined to gain entry, she carefully emptied one of the metal file drawers and, holding it by its handle, swung it at the centre of the glass.1252

Being reinforced, it cracked slightly, but didn't shatter. She paused for a moment to listen - no sounds came from the observation room, so she surmised that nothing living coud be contained within. Her hand inched toward the one thing she knew would allow her entry to the room - her pistol. Enough rounds to pierce the glass in all the right places would allow her to push the glass inwards.1253

Warning Bryce that she would be discharging her weapon, she removed the pistol from the holster, disengaged the safety, chambered the first round and levelled it at the glass.1254

Less than a minute later she had emptied half the magazine at the window - eight rounds - in a well-spaced pattern. Around each small bullet hole were a series of stress fractures in the glass - all meeting up with those of the next hole and so on. Setting the pistol down on a desk, she retrieved the same metal drawer from earlier and swung it again at the window.1255

This time, the pane of glass buckled completely and fell inward, revealing the contents of the room.1256

Her gaze immediately flew to a single metal wheeled table, on top of which was something large, bulky, and completely covered with a sheet of mildewed pale fabric. Carefully stepping over the window sill, she approached the table.1257

With a firm tug she pulled the sheet from what it covered.1258

She unconsciously stepped back as the cover slid back, and she raised a hand to her mouth as she gasped.1259

"Oh my God!"
-
Laboratory Event: Bloodvayne's History
Judith discovered one of the Bloodvayne experiements left behind after the city was abandoned. It stood nearly seven feet tall and was made completely from high-tech, never-before-seen machinery. It looked almost like a very tall human - other than the fact that it was, of course, made of metal. But it was offline.1260

An andriod, perhaps? In it's tight hand it held a gray folder full of papers. On these papers were written notes and scientific explanations of various Bloodvayne experiements.
-
*Rose didn't know what to do she was getting more and more confused by the minuet. First off Ice fainted and there was a dead body on the ground and besides the creepy hotel manager (witch seemed to be everywhere at once) her and Ice were probably the only ones left in the hotel not doing chores.*1261

Rose: Were is everyone when you need them!1262

*Rose fell on her knees with her head in her hands next to Ice. She then started to look up hoping someone other than Ice heard her scream.*
-
Night fell over Bloodvayne and the hotel like a sheet. But the silken softness of the darkness was far from comfortable. It was lethal. During the night, someone stole out into the halls of the hotel, slipping around whilst everyone else slept or ... whatever it was they did. The mysterious person slipped into Rose's room.1263

The next morning, Silverstar was found in bed, smoothered under a pillow. There were small, partial imprints of hands left on the pillow and a black hair.
-
Hotel
Mykia walked toward Rose's room. She'd heard the girl had had a bit of a shock the other day, finding yet another dead body. She'd heard Ice had fainted though and reminded herself to stop by *her* room as well later on. Rose had seemed a little alone and left out and Mykia thought she'd maybe invite her along today. She doubted Dan would mind, he'd understand that people really shouldn't be alone after a trauma (she hoped).1264

Knocking on Rose's door, she called out "Dear? are you awake?" Knock knock. "I thought we could go get some breakfast. Dear?" No answer. She wished the Manager hadn't taken back the set of keys to the rooms so she could go in and check on her. Rose was usually such a bubbly and chirpy person, Mykia was quite worried.1265

She started banging on the door, in case Rose couldn't hear. "Rose? Let me in please? ROSE?!"
-
Room 39
After a long day searching the laboratory and a hastily grabbed sandwich at the end of the day (she'd lost track of time after discovering the mechanoid, and had come in too late for the 6pm meal), Judith had bid Dan and Bryce goodnight and returned to her room.1266

After a hot shower to relax the muscles in her back, shoulders and neck from craning her head over files for hours on end, she had retired to bed exhausted and fallen asleep almost instantly.1267

Not long after the sun had risen, she awoke to muted thuds. With a groan, she tried to muffle the sound with her musty pillow and try to go back to sleep.1268

The thuds were joined with a raised voice. Judith sighed and gave up on the sleep, opting instead to peel the sheets from her body and rise from the bed. As she got dressed, she could hear more insistent shouts - rising in both pitch and volume.1269

Grabbing the last of her ensemble - her always present pistol, attache and coat, she left her room to investigate.1270

Second floor1271

Judith followed the noise downstairs - and, with a persistant case of deja vu, entered the second floor hallway. Instead of a body on the floor like the previous morning, she was confronted with the sight of the woman - who Judith had found out was called Mykia - knocking on one of the doors.1272

Recalling that she had been rather short to her the morning before, Judith gave her a friendly smile as she approached and then stopped just in front of her.1273

"What's wrong Mykia?"
-
Mykia started. "Oh...hello Judith." She turned back to the obstacle in front of her. "Rose won't open the door. She and Ice found a body yesterday and I thought I'd check on her to see if she was alright but..." She started banging again. "Rose? Please let me in!"1274

"I'm getting worried. She's such a happy girl usually. She so young. I don't think hes ever experienced anything like this before..." Mykia continued on, talking and banging, unaware she'd bugun to babble. "I hope Ice is alright too. she's strong, she's been through things like this...but I wish she didn't have to again." She brought her fist against the door suddenly very hard...and looked taken back and a little embarassed at the hole she'd created.1275

"Rose?" she called through the hole. "Are you alright dear?" No answer. Looking uncomfortably down the hall, she stuck a hand through and unlocked the door from the inside, opening it and stepping through. "Rose, darling...?"
-
Judith raised an eyebrow at the mention of yet another body - the unfortunate people staying at this hotel seemed to be dropping like flies. The name Mykia mentioned didn't ring any bells - chances are she never met the girl.1276

She hoped that Mykia was just upset and didn't know her strength - the doors were somewhat solid, and Mykia seemed to just put her fist through one rather easily.1277

She watched as Mykia opened the door, and then stepped into the room behind her. She had to pull up short as the woman stopped suddenly.1278

Peering over the top of Mykia's head, Judith could see the reason why Mykia had stopped moving. Unless 'Rose' slept with a pillow over her face and was deaf, it appeared to be the scene of another murder.1279

Judith dropped a hand to Mykia's shoulder. She normally wasn't the comforting sort, but considered that this action would be most appropriate.1280

"I don't think there's anything we can do Mykia."
-
Hotel
Bryce had had a hard day and after searching through all those files and seeing the android thing decided that he would go straight to bed.
He tossed and turned for an hour before finally falling asleep.
He couldn't stop thinking about that android robot. What was it?
What could it do? If they made it here, what else could they make?1281

The sun rose and shone straight into his bedroom.
He got up and closed the curtain and tried going back to sleep but couldn't. So after half an hour got up.
He saw Judith and another lady enter a room but decided not to be nosy so he walked past it.
-
Hotel
"Oh Rose." Mykia whispered, a hand drifting to her mouth in shock. Not noticing the hand on her shoulder, she stepped forward and reached to pull the pillow off the girl's face, only to snatch her hand back at the last moment.1282

"She was such a happy girl." she whispered. "Such a caring girl. she never hurt anyone in her life." Se babbled on.1283

She sat for a few moments, still, not knowing what to do until a thought struck her and she ran out of the room and down the hall, banging on another door. "Ice!!! Open the door!!!"
-
Hotel
Judith stayed in the room and approached the bed carefully. Glad that Mykia hadn't disturbed the pillow, she noticed small imprints on the pillow directly over the girl's face - likely where the killer had placed their hands and pushed down. 1284

Leaning down, she saw a black hair in one of the depressions - again possibly left behind by Rose's killer. Lifting the pillow by opposite corners, she meticulously removed it from the girl's face. 1285

Judith saw what she expected to see; Rose's mouth was open and her face set in the rigor of terror, her eyes bulging and flecked with red. Judith set the pillow on the small table in the room, before closing Rose's eyes and covering her entire body with the sheet from the bed - there would be no need for anyone else to see her like that.1286

Leaving the pillow where it was, she left the room and walked to Dan's door. She had to knock twice before it cracked open.1287

"Another murder Dan - a girl called Rose - in her bed - smothered." She leant forward and whispered, "Small impressions on the pillow - I think someone small in frame likely did this - small hands. And I found a black hair. And there are only two people I can think of that that would fit..."
-
Hotel
Ice drowzily got to her feet, at first thinking the knocking was still in her head. She looked up then realized who it was and opened the door sadly. "Hi Mykia. You okay? What's on your mind?" Ever-mindful, Ice still wanted to help everyone else if she could. She gave a sad look and invited Mykia in and told her to make herself at home.
-
a*ll the sudden Ice feels a chilly wind pass though her and she shivers but, she doesn't realize it's actually Rose watching over her and Mykia*
-
Hotel
After he and Mykia got back from work Dan grabbed something to eat and went straight to bed. He needed time alone to think. 1288

He didn't even realise he'd drifted to sleep till a knock on his door woke him. 1289

Getting out of bed he staggered over to the door, and opened it a crack. 1290

After listening to what Judith had to say, he sighed. 'Hold on a tick, let me get dressed. 1291

He shut the door and walked over to the pile of clothes on the floor, and proceeded to get dressed. 1292

Once done, he grabbed a drink, washed his face, and went to find dead bodies. 1293

In the hall way, he simply followed the the commotion.
-
Mykia impulsively hugged Ice. "Thank the gods you're alright." She hugged her again tightly.I just found Rose dead in her room..." A shiver wracked them both. "and I got so worried. Both you and her found that body yesterday and...I suppose my mind stuck things together and i got worried. You are fine, yes?"1294

She moved over to Ice's bed and sat down, hugging herself. "She was suffocated. Someone suffocated her with her own pillow. That means either it was someone she trusted or...someone can get int our rooms. This is not good."
-
Hotel
Kaelynn walked down the hallway and stopped at Ice's door. "Mykia, Ice. Is everything ok?"1295

She saw the serious expressions on their faces and feared the worst.
-
Hotel - ???
Where am I?1296

Peter looked around and saw only darkness. No light anywhere.1297

How did I get here?1298

Peter vaguely remembered the trapdoor below him, before he fell.1299

He felt his face. A huge laceration tore across his forehead. Blood dripped down the middle of his head. Dust covered his entire body. But he was alive. Thank god he was alive.1300

Peter wandered aimlessly in the darkness, trying to find a door, or a hole, which he could climb through. Nothing.1301

His hand travelled over something rusty and round. A doorknob. Peter twisted the knob and it crumbled to pieces in his hands. He roared in anger and kicked the door. It fell off it's hinges and crashed to the floor. Peter looked around and found himself in the second floor. Looking up, he saw the number 21. Questionably, Peter looked back in the room and saw his bed, the cabinet, and the cupboard. The doorknob which had crumbled in his hands reappeared on the door, which somehow had re-hinged itself.1302

Looking out, Peter saw a group of people, including Dan, huddled around something. 'Dammit, not again...'
-
Hotel - her room
Ice sat down by Mykia and nodded. "I'm okay," she said solemnly, hiding her sadness. She turned to Kaelynn. "Wanna come in," she asked, wanting to make sure the girl stayed safe. "There's safety in numbers, right?"
-
Hotel - Second Floor
Peter trudged over to the group. 'So, who died this time?' Ignoring bundles of eyes staring at his forehead, Peter walked past them and into Ice's room.1303

'Hey, Ice, you okay? Something tells me a person died.' Ice screamed at the cut across his head. 'Hey, it's nothing.' He scratched his head. 'Didn't anybody know I was gone?'
-
Hotel
Mykia smiled at Peter. "Welcome back." Rising from the bed, she took his head into her hands and tilted it to get a better look at the cut, taking it more firmly when he tried to squirm out of her hold. "Stop that." she told him absently. "Sit on the bed, I'll get some first aid supplies out of the cupboard."1304

Walking into the bathroom, she fished out what she needed from under the sink, when she had been cleaning this floor the first week, part of her job had also been to make sure the rooms were properly stocked with essentials and, as a mother of a teenage boy, she'd known these were definitely essentials.1305

Returning to the main room with cleaning alchohol and cloths she treated the wound to Peter's head, batting away his protestations. "Honestly, you're just like Kain. He always gets into scrapes and afterwards tells me, 'Leave it alone Mother. It's just a scratch.' I know it's just a scratch but doesn't a mother have the right to take care of her child?" Blinking slightly at what she'd said aloud without meaning to, Mykia finished up with a flourish. "There. All done. Now, was that really so difficult?"1306

She turned to Ice and Kaelynn. "I need to get going to the factory. Hopefully I'll get there before Dan does this time. It's good that he has all this knowledge about the workings of machinery but I'd like to get a little more familiar with everything myself." 'Besides,' she mused to herself, 'I could use a little time without Dan being brusque with me...'1307

"Kaelynn, you're heading into the sity too, isn't that right? Would you like to walk together? Ice..would you like to come too? I noticed you didn't have any tasks on the main list that needed to be done...and you said yourself, there's safety in numbers."
-
Hotel
Ice looked over at her cousin. "I'll stick with Peter and fill him in on what's happened while he was gone. I'll catch up with you guys later. Besides, I want to do a little exploring." She hid her eyes from the others, not showing how afraid she really was and keeping as steady a voice as possible.
-
Hotel
After most of the guests congregated into Ice's room, Judith left Dan to see the body for himself, before leaving the second floor and descending to the foyer. 1308

Once there she found the 'task list' had changed - though her mission stayed the same, it appeared the Manager had other plans for her assistant, Bryce.1309

She walked out into the morning, and set off in a stroll toward the laboratory again, using the time by herself to think. A total of five were dead, and she couldn't comprehend why someone would kill so many people - unless they were trying to cover something up. Maybe the people from the plane knew - or had fled - from something.1310

She was somewhat closer to finalising her own investigation - she had gleaned a few addtional facts from the documents that she'd examined yesterday. She hoped that she could get the mechanised robot working so that she could, at least, get back to what she was here for.1311

Laboratory1312

She pushed open the door to the laboratory and sighed. Without Bryce's help it would be a much longer day then anticipated.
-
Peter nodded occasionally as Ice informed him of the happenings.1313

'So, there's been 3 more deaths. This isn't good. Any one of us could be next.' He peered over at Ice, taking on a very serious look. 'You don't know anything about who did it, do you?'
-
Hotel
Ice shook her head sadly, looking away from her cousin. "I wish I did. Unfortunately, I don't even know who to suspect. I thought maybe the manager, but... what would he have to do with the murders? I just don't know Pete." She slumped onto the bed that had belonged to Aura sadly and anxiously. "Just... try to stay safe, okay? I don't want to lose anyone else that I'm close to."
-
Hotel
Peter smirked. 'I'll try.' He jumped off Ice's bed, paid respect to Aura's death, and walked out the door to find Dan.1314

Funnily enough, he ran straight into him. 'Oh crap, sorry Dan.' Dan peered at the bandage which Mykia had wrapped securely around his head. 'Damn, I wish people would stop noticing that. Anyways I had a chat to Ice. She seems about as distressed as the rest of us. I still don't know why they'd bother killing Aura.' Dan winced when Peter said her name. 'I understand it's hard. First finding out someone you obviously knew was dead, whoever he was, then losing your...' Peter decided not to continue. '...sorry, mate.'
-
So, there was another murder.
Bryce was trying to think who it could be.
He found the new tasks and saw that he had to clean the island. But who was RJ? He decided to head towards the beach where he had first landed. He didn't know the island well so he wanted to start where he was more familiar with.
-
Factory
Mykia sat in the main office of the factory, staring at the logbook blankly. It disturbed her that Rose had died. She was hardly the kind of person who was a threat to anyone. she was simply...a happy little girl. A very caring girl, from what Mykia had seen. She mourned that she'd never had the time to actually get to know her.1315

Honestly, she didn't really know why she had come here to the factory early. None of the things here made any sense to her so she couldn't really do anything. She supposed she just needed a quiet place to be alone and think...despite what she'd said earlier about there being safety in numbers.1316

On the way over, she passed other buildings in the town. The one that had disturbed her the most was the orphanage. All those hollow-eyed children with nobody loving them or taking care of them...she hoped someone was taking care of her son Kain. Even though he was definitely old enough to not "need a babysitter" as he'd say, she still hoped he had someone to watch over him, wherever he was. Ever since she'd come here, she hadn't had any letters from him and frankly she worried. The Blade woman he mentioned earlier, that he'd been travelling with, seemed the competant type so hopefully he was alright.1317

Not for the first time, she bemoaned her decision to come here. It was stupid, and there had been better, more logical, ways. Now she was stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere making *Simone dolls* for heavan's sake!!1318

It was so stupid.
-
Hotel
Ice sighed sadly and worriedly. Peter? Dan? Mykia? Kaelynn? Would they all be okay? Would she herself be okay? She didn't know for sure, but she hoped. She didn't want to lose anyone else. She couldn't. Ice got up from Aura's bed and wandered to the gates of Bloodvayne City. Where else would she end up? The graveyard, sadly. She went around looking at the names and her eyes went wide as she saw freshly dug graves... with everyone's names on them. She ran to find someone fast to show them. What could the manager be thinking? Were they all... going to die?
-
Following Ice to the Graveyard
*Rose followed Ice still inadvisable to her. When Ice started to run away Rose got closer to what Ice just looked at and saw what made Ice so scarred there were 9 graves with the names...Mykia, Dan, RJ, Peter, Ice, Judith, Bryce, Kaelynn, and AngelicMyst (sorry forget your players name!) on them. Rose just as scared as Ice for the 9 living people went to the Factory the get Mykia.*1319

FACTORY1320

*When Rose got to the factory she made herself half viable to Mykia hope she would get currius and follow her*
-
Hotel
Dan stood up, and walked out of Rose's room. 1321

Small hands and black hair. There were really only two people who fit the bill. Mykia and Kaelynn. He mused. 1322

'Oof!' He collided with Peter. 1323

'Oh crap, sorry Dan,' Peter said. 1324

Dan peered at the bandage which Mykia had wrapped securely around his head. 1325

'Damn, I wish people would stop noticing that. Anyways I had a chat to Ice. She seems about as distressed as the rest of us. I still don't know why they'd bother killing Aura.' 1326

Dan winced when Peter said her name. 1327

'I understand it's hard. First finding out someone you obviously knew was dead, whoever he was, then losing your...' Peter paused, 'Sorry, mate...'1328

Dan sighed. 'It's alright, Peter. I know what you mean.' He regained his composure before going on. 'I'm pretty sure I know who did it. Kaelynn. I think we need to have a word with her.' 1329

Peter nodded slowly. 'Yeah, she does fit the bill all to well...' 1330

'Mmm. Eitherway, I'm gonna find Judith, then we're going to find Kaelynn.' Dan turned and made his way down the hall, and headed to the Laboratory 1331

LABORATORY 1332

He entered the lab, and looked round for Judith. He spotted her in a side room, bending over an object lying prone on a table. 1333

He walked over to her. 'Hey Judith.' 1334

She looked up as he spoke, and nodded a greeting. 1335

'I think we have our killer. Or one of them. Kaeylnn. I think we should have a word or two with her.' His jaw tensed slightly. As contemplated the fact that he may have found his sisters killer. 'What say you and I go find her?'
-
Judith had been examining one of the numerous spare parts, she had found, that were for the large metal robot that now stood in the corner of the file room.1336

"Hey Judith." 1337

She looked up as Dan spoke, and nodded a greeting in reply. She listen attentively as Dan outlined his suspicions - Kaelynn had been one of the two people that she had mentioned earlier. She was glad that someone had finally decided to do something about it.1338

Her and Dan were both armed - so it made sense that they be the ones to find Kaelynn and ask some fairly pointed questions. She considered that they should sequester Kaelynn in a seperate room for the duration of the questions - for all she knew Kaelynn might not have been working alone.1339

Judith scribbled a couple of notes on the clipboard beside her, before reaching out for her coat - more to cover up her ever present weapon than because she needed to be warm.1340

She turned to Dan, her face hard with determination. "As far as I know, she's supposed to be cleaning up the School - what say we check there first?" she said as she led Dan from the room. 1341

Dan appeared caught up in his own contemplations and she caught the barest of nods as she walked past him.1342

"We'll need to be careful - if she is the killer, I'd hate for her to get the jump on us," she muttered as she reached under the jacket to caress the grip of her pistol.
-
Laboratory
Laboratory
Dan followed Judith out of the lab. He removed his pistol from its holster, and put it in his jacket pocket, still holding it.1343

They walked quickly to the school, remaining in the shadows, and out of sight as much as was possible. Which for them, was easy, and they remained nigh invisible.1344

They stopped when they came in sight of the school.1345

'I reckon one goes front, the other back. I dunno how many entrances there are though. You got any ideas?' Dan asked, even though he'd done this sort of thing before, he was curious to see how Judith would do it. Who knows, he might learn something new.
-
School
Judith examined the building in front of her with a critical eye as Dan spoke. Much like the windows on the cafe, the windows or the schoolhouse were similarly barred. There was a set of simple wooden double doors at the top of a short flight of stairs.1346

From the age of the building, she guessed that there would be another entrance either to the side or the back - and quite possibly locked. She pulled out the small pouch that she had used the other night to break into Room 31. 1347

She held it up to show Dan. "Though I'm sure you know how to use these, I don't let anyone else touch my tools - not even Bryce." She smiled. "I'll take the secondary entrance. When I find it and unlock it, I'll give one short whistle - we go in at the same time and clear each room as we come to it. There won't be many in this size building - probably three or four classrooms, a library, a staff room and some smaller rooms and closets. Whoever finds her first will give another whistle and hold her at gunpoint until the other arrives."
-
Dan grinned when Judith showed him the pouch. 'Indeed I do know how to use them. But i have my own tools. I understand not letting anyone else use ones tools.' He winked. 1348

He listened to the rest of her plan. 'Yep. My thoughts exactly. Shall we?' He stood up, and crept over to the school building. He reached the front door, and carefully tried the handle, to see if it was locked. It wasn't, so he crouched down, out of sight from anyone inside, and waited.
-
Ducking below the height of the windows, Judith cautiously sidled beside the building and finally around a corner. The second entrance was set at the top of a flight of stairs, and under an imposing awning, at the opposite corner at which she stood.1349

She darted toward the step with a long, loping, stride, reaching it in less than fifteen seconds. As she took to the stairs silently, she opened the pouch and slid the tools out with practised care. By the time she reached the top of the stairs and had the lock in view, her fingers had selected the two right tools for the job.1350

Dropping to a crouch, she kept an eye on her surroundings - always vigilant - while her fingers worked almost independantly to work the pins in the lock free. 1351

The lock was slightly more difficult than that to room 31, but she soon had the door unlocked. She pulled it open, and just as she slipped through, let loose a short, sharp, whistle.1352

She entered, pulling the door behind her and locking it. Though she doubted that Kaelynn would be able to unlock it to leave, she still sabotaged the lock - thus preventing anyone from leaving.1353

She found herself in what appeared to be a food preparation area - not quite a kitchen, but still equiped with steel benchtops and sinks. Pulling her pistol from its holster, she disengaed the safety and chambered a round - she wouldn't be taken by surprise. However, she held the weapon with her trigger finger resting against the trigger guard rather than the trigger itself - that way she wouldn't inadvertantly shoot Dan if they met unexpectably.1354

With the gun stretched out in front of her, she checked the room. One of the sinks looked like it had been used recently - small beads of water clung to the sides. She guessed that Kaelynn would likely be cleaning one of the room.1355

She left the room and made her way to the internal door, where she paused and listened for movement. She could hear faint singing coming to her from the left, so she eased the door open and walked toward the sound.1356

She passed two rooms - one classroom and one a storeroom - both empty, before she broached an open doorway. From her oblique point of view with her back to the wall, she could see Kaelynn dusting books.1357

She stood in the hallway and waited until Kaelynn had both hands full, and then entered the room swiftly, coming up behind the girl. She rested the barrel of the pistol between Kaelynn's shoulder blades and pointed it at her heart.1358

"Don't move. Trust me - I won't hesitate to pull the trigger," Judith said in a firm, cold, tone. She let out another whistle to let Dan know she had found her. 1359

Judith pushed the pistol hard against the girl. "We have some questions we want answered, and I suggest you answer them truthfully."
-
Mykia waited in the factory, unaware of the drama playing out elsewhere in the town. She wasn't good at running machinery but she did well enough at organizing and had begun to make sense of all the information in the logbook.1360

She wondered where Dan was. She hoped he was alright.
-
School
Dan heard Judith's short whistle, and got to work. He pulled out his gun and, popping the safety, chambered a round. He eased the door open, being careful not to let it make a noise, and slipped inside, closing the door behind him. 1361

He crept down the hall, eyes darting everywhere, taking in everything, while listening for the slightest sound. 1362

He'd checked three rooms by the time he heard a second whistle, signifying Judith had found Kaelynn. 1363

He swiftly made his way to where the whistle came from. He soon came the room. The door was open, he brought his gun up, and ready to shot, in case it was a trap, and maneuvered till he could see in the room, while still having cover from the door frame. 1364

On seeing Judith with her pistol in Kaelynn's back, Dan relaxed. Taking his finger off the trigger, he entered the room. 1365

'Nice work Judith.' He holstered his gun, and pulled a plastic slip tie out of his pocket. Walking over to Judith and Kaelynn, he said, 'Put the books down very slowly Kaelynn. Then put your hands behind your head.' He waited for her to do so, hand by his gun in case she tried anything funny. 1366

Once she'd done that, he grabbed her hands, and twisting them down behind her back, used the slip tie to secure her hands. He then spun her to face them.
-
School
Judith glared at Kaelynn - who looked mostly at the floor. "Nothing to say? Well - let's see if that changes once we get back to the hotel," she said as she grabbed one of Kaelynn's elbows with her left hand, and pulled her firmly forward.1367

With her pistol still in her grip, she gestured at the doorway. "Walk. Don't try anything funny," she commanded as she strode out the door towing a stumbling Kaelynn, with Dan following behind.1368

They marched her down the street and back into the hotel. 1369

HOTEL1370

Dan grabbed a fresh key from the reception desk - they would keep her on the third floor with Judith - Room 37.1371

They trudged up the flight of stairs to the third floor, where Judith unlocked her neighbouring room and pushed Kaelynn roughly inside. 1372

Kaelynn tripped and sprawled across the floor as Judith and Dan followed her in. Still with her gun trained on her, Judith indicated that she pick herself up and sit on the dusty bedspread.1373

"Now - I'm not leaving this room until I hear something that convinces me enough to leave. Do you understand Kaelynn?"
-
Hotel
The hotel manager stood outside the closed door to room 37. The sounds of the interrogation were just loud enough to penetrate into the hallway, but the manager didn't seem to be listening much to the words. A grin was plastered on his face as he walked toward the door.1374

He did not reach out a hand to open the door, but simply appeared on the other side. He stood behind Judith and Dan, as silent as death, his eyes a gastly red.
-
Room 37
Dan stood by the door watching Judith interrogate Kaeylnn, leaving her to do it. No need for him to join in. He felt the air move as someone appeared beside him, in a flash his gun was out and pressed up against the managers head. 1375

On seeing who it was, he put the gun down. 'You shouldn't sneak like that so much, mate,' he growled, 'you're gonna get yourself shot one day.' 1376

Then he noticed the red eyes, and stepped back, his gun half coming up. 'Seriously, don't try anything funny, because I won't hesitate to shoot, though I doubt it'd do much...'
-
Room 37
Judith had just finished asking another round of pointless questions, her gun still pointed, unwaving, at Kaelynn. She caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and instantly shifted the focus of her gun from Kaelynn to the Manager.1377

She held it steady even though Dan dropped his own. Seconds later, when Dan stiffened and his gun rose again, she shifted her finger from the trigger guard to the trigger itself.1378

"...though I doubt it'd do much...' As Dan's voice trailed off, the Manager had her full attention - especially the otherwordly red eyes that gazed at both of them.1379

With careful deliberation, she shifted the the barrel of her pistol to point at the Manager's right arm, and then squeezed a round off.1380

In the small space, the sharp crack was loud and unnerving. On the bed Kaelynn screamed, and Dan looked first at her and then at the Manager's arm.1381

"As I suspected," Judith said blandly as she lowered her weapon. 1382

Though mildly surprised, the Manager gave no indication that the bloodless hole in his upper arm even bothered him. The bullet had passed through the fleahy part of his arm and out to lodge in the door behind him. Though the fabric of his shirt was in tatters around the entry and exit points, there was no blood.1383

And nor would there be. Even if she had shot him in the head, he would still be standing here, with that persistent maniacal grin and the red eyes. So - she ignored him, and turned to where Kaelynn still whimpered against the bed.1384

"Now that I've established that I won't hesitate to use this..." She pushed the barrel of the gun into Kaelynn's face, "...why don't you start talking? Who did you kill and why?"
-
Room 37
The manager did not even blink as the gun was discharged into his arm. The hole in his flesh seemed to not even exsit. And as Judith turned back around, the hole closed over and the shirt was restitched.1385

"Found a suspect," the manger said, his voice darker than usual. "Clever woman."1386

He glided past Dan and Judith and placed himself between the gun and Kaelynn. "I assure you, your weapons are unecessary... and useless."1387

Unknown to either gun-carrier, their projectile-firing weapons had somehow collected enough gunpowder to force a jam. Everything the manager came into contact with - or even near - seemed to become corrputed.1388

"While I have no intentions of interfering with your... methods... I do believe that Dan is needed eslewhere. The new task sheet has arrived... Dan, you should get to work. The clock is ticking."1389

The sound of a ticking clock echoed into the room, louder than it should have been. The manager's wicked smile grew wider. "I believe this little game of ours is nearly finished."1390

He waited for Dan to reply.
-
Room 37
Dan glared at him, but said to Judith, 'It seems I am no longer wanted here. I'll be off. Good luck with her.' 1391

He turned and stalked out of the room. And went to the lobby to see what tasks he had to do.
-
Room 37
Kaelynn was taken by surprise when Judith and Dan aphrended her and threw her into the room. She sat on the floor and stared down the barrel of the gun. She jumped and screamed when Judith shot at the manager, even though it didn't hurt him. After Dan and the manager left, Kaelynn was left alone with trigger-happy Judith.1392

"I didn't do anything!" she pressed. "How could I? I've been too busy trying to do my work!"
-
Room 37
Judith re-holstered her pistol as she glared at Kaelynn. "Those people that were killed, were killed at night, Kaelynn. And it is strange that you worked in the kitchen one day, and the next day someone turns up dead with a knife in their back - in the kitchen no less. Just trying to do your work?"1393

Judith pulled Kaelynn up until she sat on the bed again, and then dragged a chair over to sit in front of her. "I know you killed someone, Kaelynn - don't deny it. But you are obviously not working alone - who else have you been consorting with? Was Leslie-Jo killed because she was a threat? Or because she knew too much?"1394

"And what were you people all fleeing from? Everyone here seems to have secrets - you included Kaelynn," Judith said, watching Kaelynn's reaction.
-
Hotel Foyer
Dan looked at the list of jobs. 'Fixing electrical circuits, eh? Hmmm...' He turned and stalked off to the factory to get to work. 1395

Factory 1396

He arrived at the factory to find Mykia waiting for him. 'Hey. How goes it?' he asked. 1397

'Good. Looks like the batch of Simone dolls we made yesterday have to be delivered to the orphanage today,' she commented, looking at the log book. 1398

'Yeah. The manager had something on the board about you delivering them today. I believe there is a truck in the loading bay. I'd help you, but I got to fix the electrics round here. And that's a big job. So I gotta get started.' He turned and left Mykia to organize that. 1399

Factory floor. 1400

Dan removed the cover from the main circuit board. 'Oh my goodness. What the hell is that?' he muttered to himself. Instead of the usual wires etc, it was a glowing mass of... something... 'What is going on here...'
-
Graveyard
Ice stared at the grave with her name on it, feeling sick to her stomach. She didn't know what to do. She ran to find Peter or Dan as fast as she could. Where was Mykia? Where was Kaelynn? Where was... anyone? She screamed for anyone to come as fast as they could.
-
Hotel - 2nd Floor
Dan walked off leaving Peter feeling a little bit guilty. A few minutes later, Dan and Judith pushed past Peter holding Kaelynn at gunpoint. 'Hmm, wonder what they're up to.' Being the ever-curious type, Peter followed.1401

Hearing a noise down the hallway, Pete opened the door to Room 38, coincidentally unlocked, and shut the door. He stood there for a while, then upon hearing a gunshot, he feared the worst. 'That dog!'1402

Looking out the doorway, Peter saw Dan casually walking off. 'Oh, god, not him. Please not him.'1403

Peering in the doorway to Room 37, Peter saw Judith and the manager, with Kaelynn lieing on the floor, protesting uncontrollably. Peter gave a sigh of relief. He walked in, not even bothering to knock. 'G'day fellas. Mind telling me what all the fuss is about?'
-
Room 37
When Judith looked away from Kaelynn and at Peter, she noticed the Manager still lurking in the room - she could have sworn he had disappeared.1404

"Peter. Dan and I brought Kaelynn up here to answer a few questions - primarily in relation to last night's murder, but also in relation to the other deaths in the few days - she is a good fit for a lot of the evidence found. If she didn't kill one of them, I can guarantee she knows who did," she said with another icy stare at Kaelynn.1405

"She doesn't seem too cooperative at the moment - especially not while he..." She pointed at the ever-grinning manager, "is around."1406

Judith straightened her jacket and walked out the door and past Peter, stopping to turn at the last minute. "Maybe you'll have better luck with her."1407

She gave a look of pure hate at the Manager. "I need to check a few things, but I will be back."1408

Judith left the room and marched down the hallway, and then descended the stairs to the foyer. 1409

HOTEL FOYER 1410

One check of the paper on the wall told her that her task had changed from what it had been that morning - she was now limited to the hotel itself. She'd left some of her notes at the laboratory and hoped that Ice could be convinced to retrieve them for her.1411

As she turned away to find the Manager - she wanted to know what these 'hotel duties' were - the girl she wanted to speak to came running into the foyer, face white and screaming.1412

Judith approached her and shook her shoulder. "Ice! ICE! - Calm down... What the hell is wrong?!?"
-
Room 37
The manager simply smiled at Peter before vanishing again. He left Kaelynn in the care of Peter. He slipped down the hallway found his way to the foyer. He paused just outside of view and waited, listening to Judith's and Ice's conversation.
-
Factory Floor
Dan stared at the board, puzzled. What on earth was it for? It couldn't just be lights, it was... glowing. looked round the outside of the box, trying to find the power supply to it. He soon found it, a thick black cable in one side. He traced the cable down the wall, to see where it went. It went straight into the ground; solid concrete. 1413

'Hmm, well that's helpful...' he muttered.
-
Ice looked up at Judith. "We're all in danger. I just left the graveyard. There's graves and tombstones for everyone here. All of us have them..." She shook her head then leaned against the wall holding her stomach with one hand, feeling extremely sick. What was going on?
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter growled in his throat a bit, and turned to face Kaelynn. 'Well hi there,' he said with a smirk. Kaelynn continued to scream and protest. Peter's smile dropped. 'Uh, can you do me a favour and shut up? My head's starting to throb.' He sat in the corner and kept his eyes on Kaelynn, studying her intently. 'You certainly don't look like the type that could kill people, but then again I could be wrong.' Upon saying this, Peter pulled the mysterious SOCOM out of his pocket. 'Something tells me we'll be here for a while.'
-
Hotel Foyer
Judith listened, incredulous. "What? Somebody has dug graves for... all of us? Are you sure?"1414

Ice could only nod and sink against the wall.1415

"I need to see this for myself. Come with me - we should go and tell the others - Dan and Mykia are at the factory according to the task list - and you've got to finish with the project that I found in the Laboratory." She grabbed Ice's arm and turned her back towards the door.1416

"Once we finish letting the others know, I'll show you around the lab - and the Project," she said as they both walked out the door together.1417

Factory1418

They soon reached the factory, the walk having calmed Ice down a bit - but she still looked freaked out by what she saw. Dan looked up as they strode in together, as did Mykia. Judith waved them both over. "There is a lot more to this place than that creepy manager is letting on, plus Ice came across something I think you should all know about."1419

She nudged Ice forward, and waited while Ice spoke.
-
Factory
Ice took in a deep breath and calmly told the others what she'd found. She told them exactly where in the graveyard she'd found the graves, then waited for their reactions as she searched each persons face for any sign of anyone else knowing.
-
Factory
Dan looked up when he heard footsteps behinds him. He wandered over to them when she beckoned. 1420

He listened as Ice recounted what had happened, his face darkening. 1421

When she finished, he said, 'Well, I guess that solves one thing-' he pulled his gun out of its holster- 'It doesn't matter if we die from this...' he turned and brought the gun up, aiming for the circuit box. 1422

Bang! 1423

'ARGH!' Dan dropped his gun and clutched his hand, swearing loudly and yelling something about the gun misfiring. 1424

After a moment he quieted, and picked up the gun with his left hand. His right hanging limp by his side; blood dripping from the cuts from embedded gun casing in it. 1425

He glared at it. 'Cleaned the bloody thing last night,' he muttered 'haven't fired it, how the hell did it misfire?'
-
Factory
Ice's eyes widened and she rushed to Dan's side, taking his arm in her hands. "You okay big bro?" She quickly led him to an area where she could easily check the wound, hoping she could keep it from getting bad.
-
Factory: A Mystious Hint
The echoing bang from the gun richoeted off the metal walls of the factory. Something fell from the ceiling, as if knocked lose by the sound waves. It floated down and landed next to Dan and the group.1426

It was a small map of the factory. It showed the original blueprints, but someone had added to the map in red pen. According to the red ink, there was a door just to the left of the glowing blue thing. The door - which only now appeared - led to the basement, where the main breaker was.1427

As the group looked at the note, an eerie whisper floated into the factory. "To work, you lazy mutts!"1428

It didn't sound like anyone from the hotel.
-
Factory
Judith's own hand rose to the grip of her pistol as Dan's gun misfired - like her, Dan would keep his equipment in good condition. Just as she began to consider everything, a flash of blue light occured, as did the voice and a fluttering of paper from the ceiling.1429

Her brow furrowed as she remembered the manager's words; '...your weapons are unnecessary... and useless'.1430

"BASTARD!" She yelled suddenly, attracting everyone's attention. 1431

She strode over to where Dan was now sitting on a packing table, pausing only slightly to pick up the folded piece of paper from the floor. Ice frantically tried to stop the bleeding and Mykia rushing over with a large, ancient and dusty, first aid kit.1432

She gave the brittle paper to Dan, before angrily pulling her pistol out and slammed it on the table beside him, startling Mykia. "He did something Dan - what's the bet if I go to fire that..." She pointed at her own weapon, "the same thing that just happened to you will happen to me."1433

With haste tempered with practised care, she striped down the pistol - examining each piece as she went. When all the pieces were laid out in front of her, she could see the problem - powder build-up - but so much more than the pistol could ever accumulate.1434

"Someone or something wants us all dead... and it isn't going to stop until we are," she said as she looked up at everyone. "No matter what we do - that manager is going to throw a spanner in the works."
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter had kept his eye on Kaelynn for a while. He continued to hold his SOCOM tight incase she made a last ditch effort to make a break for it.1435

Pulling out a piece of cheesecake that he nabbed from the cafe a couple of days ago, he quietly nibbled.
-
Factory
Dan looked at the map Judith handed him, only half listening to what she was saying. 1436

He looked up when she showed him the gun barrel. 'yeah, that makes sense. Bastard.' He refrained from saying anything about his second barrel in his bag back at the hotel, he didn't want the manager messing with it. And who knows when or where he would pop up. 1437

'So, we gonna go have a look at this door, see where the map leads us? Mebbe wanna clean your gun first, and I'll fix mine, and we'll go look?'
-
Judith cleaned and reassembled her piece, muttering as she went - in particular about interfering managers and strange events. She noticed that Mykia surreptitiously pick up the map from where Dan had placed it on the table while Ice bandaged his arm.1438

"So - do we trust the extras on the map - or should we go by the original plan," she asked as Mykia turned away from the table and walked toward the door that had appeared.
-
Factory Floor
'Whatever you want, I'm checking the room,' Mykia said, without looking at Judith. 1439

She reached the door and opened it. Taking a deep breath and stilling her suddenly nervousness, she plunged down the darkly lit stairs to the basement below. 1440

In the basement below, Mykia gazed upon the rows of switches, and breakers. There were hundreds. She wandered down the line till she came to the last one. It was off. All the metal on it was rusted, the paint pealing, the label of what it was for had be scratched off, but the strangest thing was the four scratches down the plastic front of it, all the way to the floor. 1441

Mykia stuff her hand tentatively next to them, only to draw it back hastily. They were the perfect size and spacing to be a human hand, clutching desperately at the switch, before being dragged away. 1442

Mykia shivered, and stared at the switch. What was it for? 1443

She stood there chewing her lip thoughtfully, what DID it do? Taken over by a sudden compulsion she lurched toward it and jerked it to on. 1444

FACTORY FLOOR 1445

Ice shrieked and clutched Dan's arm as the lights went out. Dan winced as she grabbed a sore spot, but he ignored it and said, 'It's 'K, Mykia's just messing with the lights.' 1446

He looked around, it was more then the lights, all the power was off. Then he caught sight of the circuit board. 'Hey, is it my imagination or is it getting brighter?' 1447

Sure enough, the blue glow was increasing, despite the lack of power. 1448

It pulsed as it grew brighter. Just before it got to bright to look at, Dan noticed something, the door was gone. 1449

With a low reverberating whump, the light was gone. Seeming to run down the thick black cable attached to the side of the box. 1450

'What the hell...' 1451

BASEMENT1452

Kylia jumped when all the lights went out, leaving her in pitch black. Not even a light came from up the stairs. 1453

She stuck out her hands to feel for the wall. But her hands met nothing. 1454

Swallowing, she tried not to panic. 'It's just my mind playing tricks,' she muttered. She took a step forward, but still no wall. Her breath coming short and sharp she kept walking forward, but no wall. 1455

A low growl sounded behind her and she froze. 'Hello? Anyone there?' fear creeping into her voice. She spun around. 'Hello?' 1456

The growl deepened to a barely discernible rumble. 1457

Two small pin points of blue light appeared in the darkness, moving, slowly, toward her. She screamed.
-
Hotel - Room 37
Kaelynn cowered into the corner and eyed Peter's gun for a moment. She knew no one was going to believe what she said. There was no way to profess her innocence. Giving up, she sighed and said matter-of-factly, "It was Judith."1458

She shook her head and drew up her knees. "Judith told me that if I helped her, she'd make sure I got off this damn island alive. I though it was safer to work with her than against her. If I told anyone, she'd kill me."1459

She was talking fast, trying to say it all before Peter stopped her. She didn't know if Peter would believe her, but it was all she could to to convince him.1460

"Please believe me..."
-
Labroatory Evet: The Project
The lab had been left alone for a while and much of the facility had already collected another layer of dust. The notes Judith had left in the lab were still there, and where the only things not covered in dust.1461

A soft creak whispered through the empty halls of the lab. The lights flickered from a small power shortage. Then, in a loud, sudden explosion, the project leapt to life. It moved its head from side to side, analyzing its surroundings. It then moved out of the secured room and into the main room. It quickly collected Judith's notes and fled into the city.
-
Factory Floor
Ice clung to Dan's hand in the darkness, fear in her eyes, and began muttering to herself. "I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. Someone please..." She whimpered slightly then tried to regain her composure, realizing what she'd been saying.
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter grinned 'Thought you'd crack. You just admitted you were a killer.' He walked toward her, gun pointed directly at her. 'And that's not a smart choice, now, is it?' He squeezed the trigger, and the gun exploded in his hands. 'RAAAUUGH!!!' He roared in agony as his forefinger tore off his hand. Blood spurted excessively. The Manager appeared before him, eyes glinting red. Before Peter could grasp him by the neck, he disappeared once again. 'YOU DOG!' he cried.1462

Looking out the corner of his eye, Kaelynn remained there, shaking uncontrollably. 'What the hell's wrong with you?! I'm the one missing a finger!'
-
Factory
In the factory, Judith watched the blue light enter the floor, followed shortly afterward by a high-pitched scream of terror from the basement. Mykia, she thought.1463

Though dark on the factory floor, some skylights above provide at least enough light to see by. She turned to where Ice was still whimpering. "Ice? Are you alright to go to the Lab now - or do you need to stay with Dan?"1464

Her only response was to shuffle closer to Dan and hold onto his arm tighter.1465

She sighed and addressed both of them; "I have to go back to the hotel - I told Peter I would be back - someone has to watch the murderer." 1466

Ice's raised eyebrows and expression of curiosity prompted Judith to expand on what she said, "We finally got someone, Ice - we're pretty sure she killed Rose - could be working with someone else as well. So just be careful." She turned away and then stopped up short. "Ice - when you get to the Lab - can you grab my notes? I left them there - just beside the project - which I believe is your task now."1467

With a short nod to Dan, she strode out of the factory and back into the afternoon sunlight.1468

HOTEL1469

Though Judith had noticed that something had changed about the island, she never glimpsed anything that confirmed that belief, and so she entered the hotel again. She climbed the stairs to the third floor deep in thought. Though she came here voluntarily, she couldn't help the disquieting feeling that tingled along her spine and churned in her gut - something was seriously wrong with the island. She'd already established that the Manager was only a physical construct - a manifestation of the island's malevolent intents. 1470

Judith realised then that most of them would die - they would feed this island's bloodlust and the longer the living stayed here, the more vicious the island would become. With this thought, she pushed open the door to room 37.1471

ROOM 371472

The gun on the floor and the copious amount of blood that confronted her as she walked in was enough to spur her to instant action. Leaving the door open and a stern look at Kaelynn that signified certain death were she try to run, Judith hastened back to her room to grab her kit from her black bag.1473

Coming back with the supplies, she soon staunched the flow of blood coming from Peter's mangled hand. "Damn Peter - your gun too?" she said gesturing at the damaged weapon. "Anything that comes near the Manager is as good as useless - massive powder build-up. I cleaned mine before, after Dan's misfired down at the factory."1474

She glanced at Kaelynn. "Any luck with getting a confession?"
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter's first reply was a grunt. Then as the pain subsided, he stopped shaking and spoke clearly. 'Stupid gun...gah, so Dan's screwed up as well? Is he fine?'1475

'Just a bit of blood, that's all. He should be good.'
'Thank god. But look, yay, my trigger finger's gone.' He squirmed while Judith tended to his little stump. 'This has to be--eech--the most emotional...annoying...argh, distressing week of my life.'1476

Ten minutes later, Judith had finished with Peter's finger. A bandage was wrapped around his hand the size of a tennis ball. 'Heh, guess it's gonna make it a bit hard for me to clean the beach. You okay with her?'
'Should be.'
'Cool.' Just as Peter was about to walk out the door, he slapped his head. 'Crap, almost forgot. Kaelynn mentioned something about you being in on this.' His face suddenly changed from pain-struck to icy cold. He drew out a combat knife that was in his shoulder pocket. 'That's why you came back, wasn't it?'
-
Lab
Ice kept close to Dan for awhile, still highly worried, before going to the lab. She scanned the room for Judith's notes then set to work on her project, worrying all the while about everyone else. Fear for their safety and her own clouded the girls thoughts, causing her to become a bit careless. She sliced her palm open mistakenly with the knife she was working with and yelped slightly suckling her palm where it was cut.
-
Room 37
Judith rolled her eyes, completely unconcerned about Peter's stance. She barely gave the glinting blade a second glance. "Put it away Peter - it's obvious she's trying to shift the blame from her to someone else. I'm not on this island to kill people - if I was - don't you think I would have used this..." She tapped her pistol where it sat in her holster, "...a while ago?"1477

She sat down on the chair again and stared at Peter. "Besides - in anything I do, I work alone - or with Bryce." She gave Kaelynn a deprecating stare. "I wouldn't lower myself to working with an amateur like her... for anything."1478

Peter still held onto the knife, trying to come to a decision.1479

"I will say one thing Peter - come at me with that, and you best be prepared to use it." She slid her gun from her holster. "Because I recently made sure this baby works, and as Kaelynn realised before - I won't hesitate to use it."1480

She levelled her pistol at Peter, but held in loosely. "Now let's both put our weapons away, yes? ...What say we concentrate on the matter at hand?"
-
An Island of Secrets
Hotel - Room 37
The inhabitants of room 37 were occupied in conversation. They were unaware of the mysterious shadow that draped over the hotel. Before Peter could react to Judith, the lights in the hotel flicked off. The sound of a gunshot tore through the darkness and Kaelynn cried out suddenly. The lights flickered back on and revealed Kaelynn lyining on the floor dead, a bullet hole in her chest. In Judith's hand was stationed her gun, a faint smoke rising from the muzzle.1481

Hotel - Room 31
Even after the lights flicked back on, room 31 remained shrouded in darkness. A series of gastly wails whispered from the room. The door to the room opened, letting the howls seep into the hallway.1482

Factory - Upstairs
Each of the survivors went on their way, leaving Dan in the upstairs of the factory. The whole building was eerily silent and a dangerous wind seemed to blow through, even though all the doors were closed. Something was coming.
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter reacted all at once. He leapt from his spot and appeared behind Judith, kicking the pistol away and lodging the sharp end of the knife to her neck, piercing the skin slightly. 'I prefer not to, ma'am,' he growled. 'I don't take orders from anyone but my higher authority. To me, you're just another stranger.' He shoved Judith to the floor, and before she could retaliate, the blade was once again at her throat. 'You used the gun alright, and now Kaelynn defenitly knows you won't hesitate. Now who's this "Bryce", hm? Another one of your workers?!' Peter shook with denial, anger, and mostly fear of this woman. He was just about to end her, but he hesitated. He put the blade away. 'You're not even worth it.'
-
Room 37
In the space of time between the lights dying and the her eventual demise on the floor, Judith felt like something had possessed her. When the lights had died, her arm had felt a strange compulsion to pull the gun away from Peter and point it back at the girl on the bed. Similarly, she felt her finger tighten on the trigger, her only thought that when the bullet was launched it would spell instant death for Kaelynn - that it would target her heart with deadly precision.1483

And then the lights had come back on, leaving her with the not-so-proverbial smoking gun - for which Peter was on her in an instant - her pistol skidding across the floor to come to rest against the wall.1484

Instinct took over as he held the knife to her throat - any move on her part would likely be the last one she made - so she waited.1485

The knife had been withdrawn, but, as it was, she lunged for her gun and brought it up again as she herself rose from the floor. This time, she fired the weapon - the bullet grazing Peter across the side. Blood blossomed as he staggered and she shoved past him. 1486

She reached the door, furious, the gun now trained at his head. "I warned you, Peter," she snarled as he fell heavily against the wall. "You should have used it."1487

She left the room, slamming the door on the way out before fleeing to her room to retrieve her black bag - after which she would try to find Bryce and get the hell off this god-forsaken island.1488

HALLWAY1489

After retrieving her bag, Judith got no further than the hallway outside of room 31; ghostly spectres now filled the space between the walls, screaming and clutching at her clothes with their icy fingers. 1490

She tried to pass them, but they urged her toward the room. She tried to struggle as they took her into the room. But it was to no avail - once in the room, the door slammed with a malevolent finality, and the cries rose in pitch warning none to come close.
-
Hotel - Room 37
Peter staggered towards the wall, in a vague attempt to steady himself. He missed it completely, and crashed to the floor. He could only faintly here Judith's words as she ran out the door. 'I warned you, Peter. You should have used it.' Peter frowned and clenched his fist, then his body went limp.1491

The mayor appeared before him. He seemed deadly serious. 'So, you think it's her?' he asked.
Peter quickly turned to look at his side. A graze fell across his skin. He moaned. 'Oh, come on, I can't die from this! That's wimpy!'
The mayor chuckled. 'Oh, no, you're not dead. Simply unconcsious, that's all. You might've though, if you didn't have me. Because of me, you have two chances at life.'
He shook his head in disbelief. 'You gotta be kidding.'
The mayor shrugged. 'If that's what you want to believe. It's your only hope though.'1492

He strolled around Peter, a mischievous look in his cold red eyes. 'So, you got two options. Option one, I let go of your mind and you die. Option two, I bring you back, with me having free will wherever I want, whenever I want.'1493

Peter raised his eyebrow. 'You sure you wanna bring me back? Jude'll probably shoot me again and you die twice.'
He simply shrugged. 'I'm willing to make that sacrifice...'1494

~~~1495

Peter awoke from what seemed like a dreadful nightmare. A shard of mirror glass laid next to him. He quickly looked at himself and found that his eyes were clear red. No green at all. 'Oh, great.'
-
Factory floor
Dan shivered as the chill wind blew through the factory. Looking at his broken gun he sigh. 'Aw hell no... no gun, bad guys coming, yeah, I ain't staying.' He stood up, and glanced toward where Mykia had disappeared. What had happened down there? He was tempted to go check on her, but the fact that the door had disappeared had solved that issue. 1496

The wind grew stronger as Dan walked swiftly to the exit. 1497

By the time he made it to the door it was blowing gale-force... from nowhere. He tried to open it, but it was locked. It wasn't locked before. 1498

Stepping back he brought his leg up and kicked it, it shuddered, but held. He kicked it again, there was a creak of metal giving way. Another kick and the lock broke, the door flew open. 1499

A huge black shape loomed in front of Dan, he staggered back in fright. '*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*'
-
An Island of Secrets - Continued
Room 311500

The ghosts pulled Judith away from the door, masking her struggled shouts with their otherwordly shrieks. Judith was dragged to the center of the room and held in place. Before her was a mass of shadow and an ethereal air. Slowly the shadow moved, revealing two piercing red eyes.1501

"Judith, Judith, Judith..." the manager's voice drifted over her darkly, wrapping her in an arctic chill. "Your scheming and plotting and sneaking around."1502

A sinsister, slow chuckle escaped his veiled lips. Deeper, darker, he added "All for naught."1503

The ghosts of the dead guests floated toward Judith, speechless and forlorn. Leslie Jo reached out toward the woman. The manager's red eyes were like blazing fires in the midsts of the pitch black.1504

"And what of your ... associate? And of the others?" The manager grinned, his glistening white teeth glimmering even without light. "The final task has begun..."1505

The manager faded into the darkness and Judith was swarmed by the ghosts. She collapsed and blacked out and awoke again outside room 31, laying on her side.1506

Factory
Standing before Dan was the massive andriod. The only thing about that appeared inhuman were the glowing green eyes. It stared down at Dan and beeped loudly.1507

It raised a hand and stretched out toward Dan's throat, it's grip obviously more than enough to crush him.
-
Factory
As the hand gripped his throat Dan tenses his neck muscles. But didn't bother trying to fight the hand off, there was obviously nothing he could do. 1508

He glared up at the green eyes. 'Well, are ya gonna stand there all day or kill me?' he snarled, 'or maybe you need some prompts.' He brought his hands up and started scrabbling at the robots arm, as if to try free himself. 'Oh please Mr. Robot don't kill me!' he wailed sarcastically. 1509

'Ohhhh yeah, I'm so scared. Now if you ain't gonna kill me, I got some stuff to do, so, if you please?'
-
Factory
The andriod contiuned to stare at Dan while the gale wind whipped against his face. It beeped again as its eyes turned red. A holographic red beam emerged from the eyes and ran along Dan's body. After scanning him, the andriod beeped clearly, "Subject negative."1510

It opened its hand and let Dan go. It proceeded into the factory and looked around the building. Deciding that no one else was there, the machine walked out toward the rest of the city, vanishing behind a large house.
-
Factory
Dan looked at the android in surprise. It had actually dropped him? He'd been expecting to die. He shook his head and laughed. 1511

But this was no time to stand round, he took off in a sprint back to the hotel.
-
Judith came to with her head squished against the bag at an uncomfortable angle, and a small line of blood oozing from her nose. She wiped it away, smearing he blood from the back of her hand and onto her pants.1512

Picking herself up, she checked everything - she still had her pistol, and everything in her bag appeared to be untouched. Instead of re-holstering the gun, she paused to check the magazine. Though she hadn't topped up the catridge since she'd used the gun to access the enclosed room, and since fired another three shots, she still had five rounds left.1513

She rummaged around in the black bag and pulled out her spare magazine - which she slipped into her pocket - just in case. She didn't think she would need the five rounds she had left - but then again she just might.1514

Holding the pistol in front of her and carrying the bag with her left hand, she made her way down the stairs. 1515

HOTEL FOYER1516

She reached the ground floor as Dan entered the hotel - an unnatural wind blowing the door shut behind him. She dropped the point of the pistol down as he looked at her.
-
Hotel Foyer
Dan gazed the dishevelled Judith a puzzled stare. 'What the hell happened to you? And where are you going? Final question, who was holding a knife to your throat?' he asked, noting the thin red line on her throat. 1517

'Oh, that android of yours is on the loose, looking for someone.' Dan stared narrowly at Judith, wondering what on earth was going on...
-
Hotel Foyer
"What's going on?" Judith repeated the question, adrenalin giving her voice an almost gravelly quality. "I'll tell you what's going on Dan." She now started waving the gun around expressively, not wanted to let it go.1518

"First - I come back here to find Peter had tried to shoot Kaelynn and blown his finger off in the process. Second - I patched him up... but do you know what the ungrateful bastard did?" she hissed between clenched teeth. "Pulled his bloody knife on me!"1519

She dropped her black bag with what a muted thump. "Then the lights go out, and I find myself killing Kaelynn." She saw his look and stopped. "Look it's not what you think - it was like I had no control, right? Then the lights come back on, and the stupid idiot - Peter - takes one look at the gun, and jumps me - ergo this lovely addition to my neck."1520

She traced her fingers over the line without wincing. "So I taught him a lesson - I left him lying in Room 37 with a flesh wound for his trouble."
-
The Island
From one end of the island to the other slowly became engulfed in an unnatural wind; boardering on a whirlwind. The sky turned black, even though there was still about an hour of daylight left. As Dan and Judith were talking, the machine entered the hotel through the far door. It moved from room to room, following a trail it had found.1521

It discovered Peter on the third floor. It scanned him quickly and beeped, "Subject... positive. Removal application initiated."1522

The machine moved toward Peter menacingly, obviously have evil intentions.1523

Factory - Downstairs
The blue-eyed thing leapt at Mykia and she raised her hand sto shield her face. But nothing happened. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. She found that she was no logner in the factory but staring at the orphanage door. Beside her lay the box of Simone dolls.1524

"What that?" she muttered. But considering everything else that had happened in the past few weeks, she wasn't that surprised by this new event.1525

Shrugging, she decided to do her job. Mykia knocked hard on the door to the orphanage as the cold gust blew over her. Slowly the door creaked open. Before her stood a little child no older than eight or nine. He looked at Mykia with a blank expression, his eyes faded and distant.1526

"Um... I have some... toys for you," she said carefully.1527

"Please..." the child said montonously, "come in."
-
Hotel Foyer
Dan stared at Judith as she recounted the events, his expression darkening. 'Bloody hell!' he snapped, 'you two are just marvellous you know, really just marvellous. Attacking each-other for crying out loud! Oh come on, I'm gonna find out how Peter is, and you're coming to,' he said as he walked past her, grabbing her right arm firmly and dragging her with him. His face was set in a hard line, one that said quite plainly that messing with him would be hazardous to the health.1528

They reached the third floor and saw something which made his blood run cold, if it hadn't already. 1529

The Android that he'd had the lovely chat with earlier was advancing menacingly on Peter. 1530

Before Judith had a chance to react he brought her arm up, with the gun, and grabbed her hand, not trying to remove the gun, but forcing her to shoot. 1531

He emptied the gun on the one weak spot he could see, an exposed section where Judith had removed a plate yesterday when inspecting it. Every shoot found it's mark, shredding through delicate internal workings.
-
Hotel
The machine stumbled backward, sparking from each shot. It lifted its eyes to Dan as the last bullet ripped through the mainframe. I gave a half-beep before shutting down entirely.1532

For a moment, no one moved an inch. Then, as Dan finally felt that the machine was down, the hallway darkened. A mass of shadow swooped in around the machine and completely veiled it. Two piercing red eyes shot up, starting deep into Dan's gaze. All three of them felt a sense of urgency and a need to get to safety. But a strong distrust of each other tugged at their emotions.1533

Dan could hear someone's voice in his head. "She's responsible... kill her first..."1534

The voice repeated itself slowly and distantly. Judith felt almost compelled to wrench free of Dan's grasp and empty the spare magazine in her pocket into his head. And Peter couldn't help but feel frustrated enough to break something.
-
Judith closed her eyes, and yet the incessant voice continued. She could feel Dan's hand tightening over her own and knew he could hear and sense the same thing she could. On the floor, Peter was hammering at the floor and wall with his good hand.1535

She opened her own mouth to speak - and found she couldn't. At the same time, her left hand started moving on its own accord toward the spare magazine in his coat packet.1536

She shook her head, trying to shake the overwelming feeling of paranoia; that everyone was working against her, that no one could be trusted, that she had to protect herself. She shook her head again, harder and tried to scream. All that issued forth from her lips was a breathy squeak at first, until she concentrated, tried to force the presence from her mind.1537

Something seemed to snap in her head, a sudden sharp pain followed by bright red blood that oozed from her nose, eyes and ears... and instantly silence replaced the heavy feeling and voice.1538

Heart pounding and mouth dry, she turned to find that Dan and Peter still seemed to have the same internal struggle. She wrestled the gun into her grip completely, and with a one swift movement allowed the empty magazine to fall to the floor, while bringing the fresh one up and slamming it home.1539

Aiming the gun up at the ceiling, she loosed one shot, while at the same time screaming at both men to snap out of it, to ignore the persistant voice.1540

On the floor, Peter shook his head like she had done, but Dan still appeared in the grip of the hallucination, and worse still, now looked at her with a grim desire to do her injury.1541

Acting, Judith pulled her left arm back and slapped him - hard. "Dan! Snap out of it! It's what the island wants - for us to turn on each other."
-
Hotel
The shot tore through the air and into the ceiling above. All at once the entire hotel shook violently, as if a terrible earthquake had gripped the entire island. All around the three guests the sounds of anguished, ghostly wails shrieked loudly, shattering the mirror on the wall. The glass shards flew outward, possessed by an unseen force, and leapt at the three of them, cutting through their flesh thinly.1542

The shadow trembled as if in pain. Its eyes flashed brightly and a low, terrifying snarl escaped its mouth. The shadow readched out an arm and moved toward Judith, but the exact distance between her and it was impossible to determine - some sort of illusion or hallucination skewed her eyesight.1543

The wails and shaking continued, even as the hole from the bullet turned black. Cracks formed around the bullet hole, quickly running together. Slowly, a single red drop fell and landed on Judith's hand.
-
'She's responsible... kill her first...' Dan's grip tightened on Judith's arm as the voice penetrated his skull, seeming to echo inside his head, growing louder. 1544

He clenched his teeth, letting go of Judith he clutched his head, trying to drive the sound out. 1545

'She's responsible... kill her first...' 1546

Maybe if he killed her the voice would stop. His eyes snapped open and he looked at Judith. Just one quick move, and she'd be dead, the voices would stop... 1547

A strained giggle escaped his lips, and he twitched as Judith fired her gun and screamed. 1548

'She's responsible... kill her first...' 1549

That was it, he'd do it, get rid of the damned voices. He was about to act when Judith made a move, her hand came up and round, connecting sharply with Dan's cheek. 1550

'Ow! That bloody hurt!' he snapped, then giggled. 'Hehe, look, the roof's bleeding on you.' He pointed to the roof. 1551

'Judith busted the roof! Judith busted the roof!' he shrieked, a maddened look in his eye. 1552

He started to prance round, bouncing straight into the shadowy arm.
-
Hotel
When Dan touched the shadow, it suddenly retracted its arm and roared loudly. A sudden force threw Dan back against the far wall. Peter was caught in the force and knocked back next to Dan. Only Judith was left standing. The shadow seemed focused on her.1553

In her head, her name was barely whispered. The voice told her to drop her gun and walk toward the shadow.
-
Judith fought the presence that she only recently got rid of, and though her nose started bleeding again, she shook her head, denying the shadow what it wanted.1554

"No," she said forcefully, unsure if she even spoke aloud.1555

In response the shadow coalesced; dark shapes swirling together to form a solid mass at the centre. It reached out an arm, seeking her. At the same time, a pain started in her head as the voice grew more demanding; convincing her that she just needed to drop the gun, to approach to let it take her.1556

Without realising what she was doing, Judith shuffled forward and her previously sure grip on the pistol loosened. He eyes glazed over and her jaw slackened as she took another step forward, the gun now hanging at her side.
-
Dan shook his throbbing head as he lay against the wall. 'Wow, that was weird... haven't felt like that since I last had crack...' He laughed. 1557

Looking up he saw Judith struggling against a shadow. 1558

'Ah crap, to far away to get to her before it does,' he muttered. Looking down, he saw a sizable junk of plaster, that was in a fairly round shape. 'Hmm.' Picking it up, he tested the weight before throwing it. 1559

It flew through the air, straight through the shadow, and smacked Judith square on her already bleeding nose. She staggered back, a shocked look on her face. 'Hey, Judith! RUN GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!' he bellowed at her. 1560

Hauling Peter to his feet, he turned the the window behind him, and smashed his elbow through it. 'Come on, we're leaving.' So saying, he climbed out the window.
-
The shadow shook when it was hit by the plaster. Then it vanished altogeter, the machine vanishing with it. The hotel fell deathly silent. Even though Dan climbed out the third story window, he fell only half a story to the ground. Peter and Judith were close behind him, unaware of what whey were doing. Behind them, the window slammed shut and locked.1561

"Leaping out of windows now, Dan?" someone asked. Dan looked up and found the manager standing in front of him.1562

The manager smiled coldly and stood with his hands folded behind his back. "You may want to be careful of things like that. I've heard it can kill."1563

He turned to walk away but paused after a couple of steps. "Oh, and you may want to check on Bryce..."
-
Outside of Hotel
The pain from her nose breaking was enough for Judith to regain her senses lomg enough to see Dan bailing he and Peter out of the window at the end of the hall.1564

At first the shadow seemed intent on preventing her from reaching the window herself, but it trembled and then dissipated, allowing her to follow suit. Instead of finding herself tottering on the ledge, she found that they fell, but not quite - it was if they merely shifted from one part of the hotel to another.1565

Judith ignored the manager - she had done for the last few hours, so it would make much difference if she continued to do so. She turned to the ground floor window instead and tried to break the glass.1566

Suddenly, the glass iced up and myriads of phantoms forms and shadows appeared to push against the glass. She stepped back, her gun clenched even tighter in her hand.1567

She turned to Dan. "Where to now? And where's Ice?"
-
Dan staggered to his feet. 'Weeehhehehe. Awesome, fastest I've ever dropped.' He grinned cheerfully. 1568

'You may want to be careful of things like that. I've heard it can kill,' the Manager informed him darkly. 1569

'Haha! Hey, man, I didn't spend two years intense training with the French elite squads learning how to drink wine.' 1570

He looked at Judith when she spoke to him. 'Ice went to the lab, last I heard. We should prolly check on Bryce to, Manager says we should...'
-
Outside the Hotel
Bryce was at the beach when the wind and darkness started creeping over the land. When the wind really started to pick he decided he should get back to the hotel in case it was a hurricane, or worse.
He stopped near a tree near the back of the hotel to catch his breath, he really wasn't used to all this running.
Just as he stopped he saw Daniel fall from the hotel. He was just about to run over to see if he was alright when the manager appeared out of nowhere. And as the manager appeared, so did Judith.
*What was everyone doing jumping out of the windows?* He thought.
He decided to stay behind his tree a little longer.
He stayed there trying to hear what they were saying and then the manager walked away. He kept watching to see what would happen next.
Dan and Judith were just about to run off when he came out of behind his tree. 'What's happening?' He called out as he ran towards them.
Judith and Dan quickly looked in his direction.
'What the hell are you doing here!?' Dan and Judith said in unison.
'I had to clean the island,' said Bryce. 'As soon as the weather picked up I headed back to the hotel. Just as I got here people started falling out of windows and appearing out of nowhere so I was watching from behind the tree.' He said pointing to a tree about 20 meters away.
'The manager just said that we may want to check on you,' said Dan.
'Well I'm fine,' replied Bryce. 'Where are we going? Or what are we doing now?' Asked Bryce.
'We've got to get to the lab', said Judith. After her quick reply Judith and Dan started running towards the lab.
Bryce stood there. 'Not more running,' he said as he started to follow them.
-
Lab
Ice winced as a sharp pain suddenly appeared in the back of her head, her blue eyes turning deep crimson then light purple. She didn't get it. What was going on? Were the others okay? She rushed up the stairs of the lab and to the hotel, something in the back of her mind telling her that that was the best thing for her to do. She sensed that her family and friends were in danger. What was going on in this place? Why were they in so much danger? 'Someone,' she thought aloud, 'please help me to protect them. i can't lose anyone else.' Ice was blaming herself for all the other deaths. She figured she could have protected them if she'd tried a little harder.
-
Damana walked into her kitchen to find it a complete mess. Pots and pans left on the oven,food,probably spoiled by now, still in the fridge, and the remains of a very bad blood stain on the floor. "Not again" she mumbled as she sat her large bag on the counter and went into the store room to clean the place up. As much as she enjoyed taking shortcuts using her "gifts", there were somethings that just needed to be done by hand. Opening all the windows to the oncoming storm she set to work letting the entire place air out.
-
Factory
*Rose feeling disappointed that Mykia couldn't see her decided to show herself to Ice and the rest of them...*1571

In front of group1572

*Rose flouted to Ice then made herself half viable then started moving away from them then when they didn't follow she tried again but, only Ice saw her and followed her...*1573

Ophanage1574

*Rose brought Ice the Ophange then stopped just far enough away to see Mykia enter but, far enough away to not be seen...Ice seemed confused why she was following this ghost that looked a little like Rose but, not completely like her*1575

*Rose tried to show Ice here concern for Mykia and not to worry Rose was watching out for her!*
-
Careteria
Damana continued to clean as the storm drew closer. The sky began to turn a dark gray to match the sea, so both appeared to be one. She hummed as she worked an old lullaby from long ago. Slowly, the sad melody began to weave it's way around the island adding the eerie foreboding the others felt. The last spot of counter was clean just as the storm broke loose. A small smile played on her face as few raindrops hit her cheeks. "This rain will be good" she thought "it will wash away the rest of the plague."
-
orphanage
Ice followed the ghost that she considered to be Rose. What was going on? Why was she here? Was Mykia in danger? Was she? What was going on? Who was behind this?
-
*Rose hard been studding the Kids in there with blank expressions and faded and distant eyes and it made her worried for the survivors because no kid should have that look and the weird fact that they never had to have food delivered to then she hoped she could get Ice to understand but, sadly she didn't seem to notice the kids had blank expressions and faded and distant eyes*
-
Outside The Hotel
Peter snapped to a sitting stance. He cackled menacingly, not even knowing why. 'That the best you can do?' His eyes stayed a furious red, and he turned to see Judith and Dan, pacing away. A white flash before his eyes, and he was right in front of them. 'Where are you two going?' he asked. His head snapped in Dan's direction. 'So, mind explaining what that thing was and why it tried to attack me?'1576

Dan and Judith simply shrugged.
Peter looked at Judith, an evil intention in his once green eyes. He pulled out his combat knife yet again. 'I have something for you, Judith.' She reached for her gun, but Peter stopped her with his other hand. 'Now, really, why bother?' Surprisingly enough, Peter gave the weapon over to her. 'I believe I owe you an apology for the way I acted.' What the hell are you doing? 'Now, let's find out what happened.'1577

Walking off with them, Peter slyly added. 'And yes, Judith, I know what your intentions were when you shot me.' Exposing where his wound was, it had completely healed, leaving smooth tissue. 'You're not a very good aimer.'
-
Inside the orphanage, Mykia set the box of dolls down and looked at the children. Their lack of expression was creepy, but she shook it off. "Ok, I've got some Simone dolls here," she said. "Who wants one?"1578

Just then Ice cam into the room. "Ice, what are you doing here? Did you finish with your task?"
-
Ice jumped and looked around. "Oh, not quite. I'm nearly done. I... needed some fresh air. The lab was too dusty for me." She shook off the feeling as she tried to get used to the expressions on the kids faces.
-
Mykia's gaze softened as she gazed at Ice. The young girl looked very strained.1579

"Well, since you're here, would you like to help me hand out these dolls?" She pointed to the box next to her. Lowering her voice, she continued. "It disturbs me a bit to be here on my own. Some strange things have been happening. I think everyone's unhinged! ...Er..that reminds me, have you seen anyone? I've lost track."
-
Mer.
The sky remained dark for the rest of the day. As night came, only a deeper darkness enveloped the island. The guests had managed to get back to their rooms and where in the process of resting.1580

A sound woke Dan from his sleep. Still delierous from the events earlier that day, he was still feeling strange. When he stepped into the hallway, he felt suddenly dizzy.1581

From behind him he heard a gun cock. As the shot was fired - a loud bang echoing through the hall - Dan just barely managed to move away, the bullet grazing his arm.1582

The shooter rushed away, leaving Dan alone in the hallway - only the bullet and its casing remaining as clues.
-
Hotel
'Argh!' Dan clutched his arm, trying to stem the blood flow. 'Bloody hell! Isn't jumping out a window enough for one day!' He staggered back to his room to deal with his arm, after he picked up and pocketed the casing. 1583

Back in his room he opened the first add kit he'd had in his suitcase, for just this situation, and pulled out the bandage, and proceeded to clean and dress the wound.
-
Hotel
"Peter" appeared before Dan, a sullen expression on his face. 'Hello Dan.'
Dan sprawled back in suprise 'Peter, what the...how did--'
'That's not important. You have a graze on your arm, do you not?'
'Yes, but--'
'And that is from a gun, yes?'
'How did--'
Mayor, what are you doing? You're scaring the living hell out of him!
'And Judith presumably has the only gun in the hotel, doesn't she?'
'Peter?!'
STOP!
Peter struggled with his mind, trying to overtake the mayor before he traumatized Dan even more. He finally regained his own form. His eyes shone green once again, and he slumped to the floor.
-
Mykia raised a hand to knock at the door and paused, hearing voices inside. She couldn't make out what they said but after a moment they faded and she once again started to knock. At her knock the door swung upon slightly, not being closed fully in the first place. She stepped inside.1584

"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, her eyes glancing from the collapsed form of Peter on the floor to the wound in Dan's arm. "What happened?" Noting that Dan had already bound his arm, she moved toward Peter instead, leaving the door open in her wake as an extra safety measure. She knelt by him and checked him over. "Just unconcious, it looks like." She noted Peter's hand, which seemed to be missing a finger and her eyes flickered to Dan's form warily.1585

"What in the world happened here?!?!"
-
Ice rushed to the sound. Her older brothers room? Of all places? Sheesh, when would the trouble cease? Would they ever be able to go back to living a quiet life? She stopped when she saw Mykia. "What's been going on here?" She rushed to her brothers side.
-
Hotel
Peter awoke to find Mykia by his side. 'Why are you always next to me when I wake up?' he said with a raised eyebrow. Looking over at Dan, Ice was by his side.1586

He noticed Mykia looking at his finger. 'Oh, don't worry, that was there before.' He looked at his finger. Was it just him, or was the stump growing longer?1587

Peter, be careful. While you're in your own state of control you can die as easily as before.1588

He walked over to Dan and parked on the bed. 'Hey, man, if I said some crazy stuff just before, I'm sorry.' His left eye turned red while the other remained green. 'I'm...not feeling myself at the moment.'1589

Good, Peter.
-
Hotel
"Why are you always next to me when I wake up?" Peter raised an eyebrow at Mykia. She just smiled, a mother's smile.1590

"Because you remind me of my son." she murmered to herself, too softly for others to hear. As Peter got up and moved to Dan's side, she smiled comfortingly at Ice, who looked a little shaken in her opinion.
-
Room 39
Judith awoke early the next morning with the distinct feeling that something wasn't quite right. After traipsing around the island looking for Ice, she had turned in early the night before - completely exhausted.1591

She looked around the moonlit room, trying to determine the source of the feeling of strangeness that lurked in her chest. Her gaze bounced around the room - everything appeared to be in place - her black carryall, her trench coat hanging over the back of the chair, her holster sitting on top of the bedside table within easy reach, her gun in the holster... She stopped and brought her eyes back to the holster - in the shadows it seemed oddly misshapen.1592

Pedantic about her weaponry, Judith thrust out her hand to reassure herself that her pistol still remained where it belonged, but the holster crumpled under her hand.1593

She bolt upright in bed as her heart beat much faster. Her gun...! She always made sure her pistol remained in her holster after she cleaned it every night - and it wasn't there. 1594

She swung her legs out of her bed and flicked the light on - her eyes insistently searching every corner of the room. Her eyes were drawn to her door first - instead of shut, the door was slightly opened. Goosebumps prickled her skin when she realised that someone had been in her room - while she was sleeping no less.1595

Pushing the door shut, she turned to view the rest of the room. 1596

Sitting on the tiny breakfast table was her Sig P250 - magazine ejected - facing her mockingly.1597

With two long strides she was at the table, and the magazine in her grasp. Apart from the one round she had loosed from it the previous afternoon, she should have 15 rounds remaining. With dread forming in her gut, she emptied out the magazine, counting each bullet as she removed it.1598

"10...11...12...13," she counted under her breath, each one carefully removed and placed on the table. "14," she breathed as she glared at the now empty magazine. She lifted the gun and smelled it - the odour of fresh cordite, rather than oil, came from the gun.1599

She placed the gun back on the table and stared - someone had obviously been in her room - and borrowed her weapon and then returned it - leaving it on the table to taunt her.1600

With a sinking feeling, she reloaded the magazine and slid it back into the pistol, thinking and considering every second what her gun may have been used for. 1601

Yesterday, her gun killed Kaelynn, and seconds later she herself had shot Peter. If her gun had been taken and then so brazenly returned, she knew, deep down, that it had been used to cause injury or death.1602

The questions that now remained were who had been shot and who had done the shooting.1603

Reholstering the weapon, she dressed and went to find out.
-
Dan raised an eyebrow at Peter's funny eyes, but didn't say anything, instead he pulled out the casing. '9mm pistol round; Judith,' he stated. 1604

A look of understanding followed by anger crossed Peter's face. 'Why that-' 1605

'Just shut up and act normal,' Dan growled, reaching for his newly repaired gun; he'd been up half the night fixing it. Now it had the .50 barrel on it, and no gunpowder build up. 1606

Standing up, he walked to the other side of the door, out of sight to anyone entering, and waited for Judith.
-
Hotel - 2nd Floor
Judith went downstairs to where she knew everyone slept. As she entered the 2nd floor corridor, she could hear voices coming from Dan's room - she could make out at least that of Ice, Mykia and Peter.1607

She slowed down and strained to hear a hint of Dan's voice but she couldn't - bile rose in her throat as she considered that Dan might be dead - and by her gun no less.1608

She reached to withdraw her gun, but instead left it in the holster - if he had been shot, walking in there with a loaded gun may be the worst thing she could do. She left it in the holster and let her coat fall across it, and dropped her hands to her sides.1609

As she came closer to the room, she saw splashes of blood on the hallway floor leading up to his room - fresh and slightly damp.1610

She came abreast of the door; saw Peter and Mykia on the floor - she couldn't see beyond them - for all she knew, they hid Dan's body from view. Ice sat on the bed, looked up at Judith, her face blank and tear-streaked.1611

Judith took a step into the room with words of condolence on her lips.
-
As Judith stepped through the door Dan came up swiftly behind her, gun in his left hand coming up in one smooth fluid motion to rest hard on the back of her head. 1612

'You so much as twitch,' Dan growled, 'and I will spread your brains across the room. Peter, remove her gun.' 1613

Peter came forward and removed the gun from Judith's holster, while remaining wary of her, in case she tried something. 1614

Once Peter had her gun, Dan said, 'Now go over to that seat, and sit down, keep your hands in sight, and move slowly. And remember, I can shoot just fine with my left hand.' 1615

She walked over to the chair, her jaw clenched angrily as she slowly sat down, to face him. 1616

'Now, care to tell me why the hell you shot me?' he snarled, throwing the casing to her.
-
With a flick of her wrist, Judith deftly caught the casing, and then rolled it between her fingers. "I can't deny that it comes from my weapon - I'm certain that it did," she replied, the relief in her voice that Dan was still alive, apparent as she gazed at him sincerely.1617

"However, I never fired this," she said, holding the casing up. "I just woke up - my door open and my pistol left on the table, the magazine separate. Whoever did shoot you wants you to believe that I did."1618

She looked around the room, her gaze pausing on both Mykia and Ice. "Someone who is not happy that Kaelynn is dead, or that I shot Peter yesterday. There is more going on here than is readily apparent, Dan. Someone had to be working with Kaelynn - and remember the last thing she did was accuse me of organising the other murders - by someone framing me it makes me even more suspicious."1619

She glanced at Peter. "Despite what Peter believes, if I wanted to kill someone they would be dead." She looked back at Dan. "If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be talking to me now - and I wouldn't be stupid enough to use a weapon that could be traced back to me. So - believe what you want - I can only try to reassure you of the fact that I didn't try to kill you. But someone did - and with my weapon."1620

She gestured at Peter and her gun. "I am angry at myself for not being careful enough with my weapon - I should have secured it better than I did."
-
Hotel
Mykia stood suddenly."Wait a minute." She spoke in a quiet voice. "Let me make sure I have this straight please. Kaelynn is dead? Do we know who killed her?" She noted the glances toward the figure in the chair and her eyes widened.1621

"So." Mykia's voice started to rise. "Judith killed Kaelynn. She shot Peter? And now Dan's been shot and the bullet is tyraced back to Judith's gun!!" She was shouting now.1622

She strode over to Judith. "You say you didn't shoot at Dan? Why should we believe you?"1623

Mykia made an effort to breathe, to calm down. "Why should we believe you? Why shoud *I* believe you? All I know right now is that Dan wouldn't have been the first person you shot at in the last 24 hours. And if you had succeeded...he wouldn't have been the first you'd killed recently either..."
-
The door to Dan's room barely moved as the manager appeared at the threshold. "Troubles?" he asked casually. "I heard the shouting all the way down the hall."1624

He looked at the gun in question. "As yes. The Sig P250, I believe. Generous model, really. But, I am certain I informed you that your weapons are unnecessary here and, more to the point, useless."1625

His voice quickly switched from calm and casual to dark and cold. There was a hint of displeasure - possibly anger - in the tone. He looked at Dan's wound.1626

"Ah. You're not dead. Good tidings, that is. Who else would fix the factory that you so graciously damaged?"1627

The manager stood up straight and glanced around at each of them. "I regret to inform you, that due to circumstances pertaining to the damages dealt to my hotel and to the city, you will have to leave by the end of next week. One way... or another."1628

He eyed Judith knowingly and smirked. "Any questions?"
-
Judith let Mykia rant - if she had been in the same position as her, she would have done the same.1629

She ignored the Manager - again - and missed the look he gave her. Instead she simply stared at Mykia, and replied blandly, "I haven't denied my implicity in recent events. I didn't kill Kaelynn - I was controlled by another entity." She paused, "...but no matter - either Peter or I would have killed her anyway - she admitted to killing Rose."1630

Judith smiled, an icy sneer that lacked any feeling. "I know who I have killed, but who have you killed recently Mykia? You have access to the master keys, so breaking into my room - the room YOU assigned me no less - would present you with little difficulty now, would it?"1631

Judith turned away from Mykia's shocked face, and glanced at Peter. "Anybody could have taken my weapon - Mykia, Ice - even you, Peter. Anybody."1632

As she spoke the last, she finally glanced at the Manager. "I even shot the Manager - but 'he' doesn't bleed, nor does he seem to be able to die. Maybe you should ask him some questions Mykia - since he so gracefully has allowed it."
-
Mykia glared at Judith. "Except I don't have the master keys anymore. I gave them back long ago. Would I have had to break down Rose's door to get into her room if I still had them?" She rolled her eyes. "If I did break into your room, there would probably be quite a large hole in your door too."1633

She laughed to herself. "And you were...controlled was it? How do you know that this "entity" wasn't controlling you when you shot Dan?" Mykia obviously wasn't believing any of it.1634

"As for the gun..." Mykia waved a hand at it dismissively. "Do you know how to fire one Ice? I certainly don't. Disgusting things, guns. Dan was the one to get shot at. Peter is missing his trigger finger so I rather think he's unlikely. And while I'm not sure of the motives of the manager, I hardly think he would need to steal your gun to accomplish them" She continued ignoring the fact the manager was in the room, not knowing how to deal with...whatever he was. "Which leaves you and..." Mykia blinked. "Come to think of it, where is Bryce?"
-
"I was aware of being controlled," Judith replied to Mykia's first question directed at her. "I merely awoke less than ten minutes ago to find my pistol not where I had left it - missing a bullet. Concerned about everyone's safety, I came down here."1635

She glared at Mykia. "Guns are relatively simple to use - they are basically point and shoot - at least for someone who has never shot one before. Seems strange, does it not, that Dan was winged and not killed? I would say that a beginner fired my weapon presuming that it would be easy to kill someone - especially since both you and Ice are small in stature compared to Dan - I don't think it wouldn't be easy for someone like you to overpower someone like him."1636

"As for my assistant, I could vouch for him - but since you have demonstrated no confidence in my own protestations of innocence, I hardly think that you would believe my assurances that Bryce had nothing to do with Dan being shot, would you?"1637

The manager seemed to watch the interchange with interest, and Judith sneered at him once again. "Perhaps it was the Manager - he hasn't yet explain why there is a grave for everyone - as Ice discovered - nor how we all will soon leave this island. I personally know that Bryce and I can leave by the same method by which we arrived - but I was not aware that everyone else has transport."
-
Hotel
The manager laughed out load suddenly. It was more of a cackle, really. He shook his head and stated simply, "No, no, Judith. You shall not leave by the same means you arrived. I'm sure you'll find your craft have been... misplaced."1638

Grinning widely he added, "As for the graves. I simply prepare for all contengencies."
-
"That is... enlightening," Judith replied with a slight smile of her own. "No doubt you received communication from the client informing you that I am required to make my report in the next few days. If I am unable to leave, you will answer to them - I assure you that no matter how close in their confidances you are, delaying me will be... dangerous," she said addressing the Manager exclusively, ignoring the looks of keen interest from the remainder of the group.1639

The Manager appeared to falter, and so Judith addressed everyone else. "Despite 'his' allegations that certain forms of communication don't work here, 'he' does allow it from time to time - that is how I found this island. And 'he' could let you off at any time - but 'he' doesn't want to."1640

She looked at Dan. "Not only am I here to investigate the history of this place and determine the identity of the man who left this island to die, I was also meant to investigate the entity that ensnared this island." 1641

She pointed at the Manager. "Him."
-
Hotel
The manager sigh and stepped forward. "I believe you've gone insane, Judith. You killed Kaelynn - a child - while 'being possessed' as you claim and now you accuse me of what?"1642

He chuckled softly. His words made their way into her mind alone: no one else would hear him. Your client will never miss that call, Judith. But you shall never make it. From the first day you set foot on my island, I have allowed you access to your commodities. But at what price, dear Judith? What price...1643

"I am but a simple man trying to run a hotel," he spoked aloud for everyone to hear. "Granted that hotel is on a deserted island, but I had hoped that your efforts in the city would revive some of the tourism this little place once had."1644

He looked at Dan's fresh wound. "I see, however, that you are intent to tear each other apart instead. I fear for your safety. I fear that another so-called innocent shall perish. As morbid as that seems, I have come to terms with my fear."1645

He extended his hand. "Your weapons. All of them. They are now mine. If you wish to kill each other, you shall do it face-to-face now."1646

Though no one was ready to surrender their repective weapons, all of them found that they had no choice in the matter. Barely a moment after he finished speaking, every official weapon in the room had made its way into his hand one at a time. He deposited the weapons in turn into a black bag he mysteriously produced from behind his back.1647

Eyeing each of them carefully, he grinned. "Should you need these weapons, I'd be more than willing to let you work for them. But I doubt they'll be of much further use. But enough about me. I believe you were in the middle of an arguement?"
-
Dan watched the exchange with amusement, his anger having dissipated on the arrival of the Manager. 'I must say, this is all fascinating, and your concern for my well-being is touching Mr. Manager, Sir. One thing I wonder, what is to keep me working the factory, which I took great pleasure in blowing up? I mean, we're leaving anyway...'
-
"Ah. So you require incentive?" The manager looked at him. "Well then. Should you complete your task in the factory, I shall return your weapon to you. Or... is there something else you desire?"1648

A peculiar glint was in his eye as he spoke and his grin changed. At first it seemed to falter, but then it shifted into something more sinister than casual.
-
Dan laughed loudly. 'I must say, that is incentive, I've grown rather attached to that gun. I don't think there is anything else I want... unless you can bring Aura back to life...' He smiled eerily. 'But I doubt even you could manage that.'
-
Smiling still, the manager nodded. "Not in the way you hope," he said softly. "But for all of you who need incentive, I shall grant it to you. Name your price and I shall agree to it. Provided that it's doable, of course."
-
Dan matched the manager's smile. 'I thought you'd say that. But no, I'll decline, the gun will do fine.'
-
Judith noted that Dan's attention, and that of Peter's, was diverted to the Manager. Slowly and subtlely, she rose from the chair - now she didn't have a weapon trained on her, she felt no reason to stay seated.1649

She pulled the combat knife that Peter had given to her the previous afternoon. With one stride she was behind Peter; his good arm twisted painfully behind his back and the knife against his throat - but much more roughly than he had done to her.1650

As a bead of red gathered on the blade, she cleared her throat and addressed Dan. "I really don't appreciate being held at gunpoint with my own weapon. Neither do I enjoy interferring Managers. And," She jerked the knife and under it, Peter hissed in pain, "...nor do I trust people that are possessed. I wonder - Dan - if your friend is everything he says he is."1651

Being taller than Peter, she stared at Dan over his head. "I didn't shoot you. I didn't kill Kaelynn of my own accord. Unless we can trust each other, I will simply regard evrything I need to do as guaranteeing my own survival. Peter here is the threat - not me."
-
Dan sighed and shook his head. 'You two are horrible. Maybe I should just let you kill each other... as you have, so far, only caused trouble.' He glared at them. 'If you want to kill him fine, I've lost everyone else close to me in the last few days, I hardly think one more will make any difference.' So saying, he turned and stalked out of the room. 1652

NO LONGER MY ROOM. 1653

Dan stalked down the hall, not sure where he was heading, maybe he'd go fix the factory, something productive to take his mind of things... and get his gun back.
-
Judith smirked against the back of Peter's head as Dan made his proclamation and then walked from the room. She inclined her head and brought her lips up against Peter's ear. "You really should have used the knife on me yesterday Peter - I did warn you."1654

As she said the last, she expertly slid the knife into the left side of his throat, and then ripped it across - severing everything. Blood arched out from his ruined throat as he slumped against her; both Mykia and Ice frozen in fear as she let his twitching body fall to the floor.1655

As she stepped over his limp body, she did not notice the red that flashed into his eyes, nor the fact that while he continued to bleed and his life left him, his flesh started to knit together again.1656

She left the room, knife still clenched in her hand and followed Dan down the hallway.
-
Footsteps sounded behind him, and Dan turned to see Judith approaching him, bloody knife held loosely in her hand. 1657

'So,' he said, as she approached him. 'You killed him, eh? Proud of yourself?'1658

She came to a stop in front of him, and shrugged. 'He was a threat, bleeds a lot to.' She smirked. 1659

Dan's eyes narrowed. 'Not enough that you killed him, had to take pleasure in it to?' His carefully controlled anger from the past few days snapped at the smirk on her face, his left hand flew out and connected heavily with her chin, throwing her back and instantly knocking her out. 1660

'Bastard.' He turned and stalked off to the factory, rubbing his hand, he'd not hit anyone that hard in a very, very long time.
-
The manager's grin flickered a moment, almost twisting into pure joy. He watched Peter fall to the floor, blood still spraying. "Interesting," he said.1661

The manager followed Judith and Dan into the hallway. He let them talk for a moment and watched their physical exchange. As Dan stormed away, the manager reached down and took the knife from her hand.1662

Then he turned and walked away.
-
Hotel
Peter winced as his own blade tore against his skin. His neck ripped open and thick red blood revealed itself.1663

Oh, awesome. Now THIS is a way to die!
Not yet, Peter. Not yet.1664

Peter's eyes blossomed red.1665

That's two deaths. I think you owe me your soul.
Peter shook and writhered uncontrollably as the mayor completely overtook his body. His thoughts and memories slowly faded away.
Please, don't do th...
His neck rehinged itself as he stood up. His head snapped where Ice and Mykia were sitting, white with fear. His voice was deep and sinister. 'Hello, ladies.' He cackled evilly and walked out of the bedroom.1666

Seeing Judith on the floor, the mayor grinned. 'I've got somewhere special for you.'
-
Hotel
Mykia stood still for a moment, trying to take this all in. "This..is not...good."She looked at the blood on the floor, and suddenly noted she and Ice were the only two in the room. Her eyes snapped to Ice's face and Mykia grabbed her hand.1667

"You are coming with me, young lady. I do not want either of us wandering this island alone." She towed Ice out of Dan's room and strode down the hall.
-
Hotel
"Mykia wait, the manager said he'd give us our incentives if they were doable. I... I need to talk to him!" She rushed out of Mykia's grasp towards the manager.
"Manager! Wait, can... I... I..." she sighed, not knowing how to phrase her request. "I have a request and I'll do whatever you want me to do! I don't care what it is, I'll do it." She waited for the manager's reply.
-
The manager turned to face her. "Yes, Ice?" hew said slowly. "What can I do for you?"
-
Ice looked up at the manager. "I don't care what the cost to me, even if I get stuck here. I want to make sure my friends and family are safe and out of here somehow. Please... help me protect them." Tears streamed down the girls face as she waited for an answer.
-
Grinning widely, he mused. "Very well. I shall keep your request. Once I have considered a suitable payment, I shall contact you."1668

He stepped backward as a cloud of darkness slowly enveloped him. In Ice's mind his voice still rang Be mindful of who your friends really are...1669

Then he vanished competely, the dark cloud dissipating.
-
Ice watched her surroundings closely. The manager just kept disappearing in unusual ways. She hoped she was doing the right things. She hoped that they would all be okay... but she still wanted to make sure Aura's death and Rose's were all avenged. Even the manager himself... what would become of him? Would everyone from here be okay? She could only hope and pray. She rushed after Mykia to make sure Mykia was still safe.
-
Hotel
As Ice had wrenched her grasp out of her hold, Mykia's footsteps had halted and she had experienced an acute sense of loss. Suddenly she was reminded of her son when he was younger. Kain had never liked having his hand held or being tied to her in any way. he was always off and about, exploring the world around him. And now he was...gone, who knew where. She had come to Earth to find him, to take him home where he belonged, where he was safe...and now it looked like she'd die on this island instead.1670

These days, everything was reminding her of her son. Everything was telling her she'd never get to him. With these thoughts Mykia stood in the hall, lost in her head, fighting back tears.
-
Judith came to with a groan. Rubbing her jaw, she winced upon finding the area tender. The back of her head wasn't feeling that great either - she'd smacked it when Dan's king hit had propelled her into the hallway wall.1671

She soon realised that she was not alone - someone loomed over her - and she also quickly found that she no longer had the combat knife in her possession. She muttered under her breath; though more than able to engage in hand-to-hand combat, she preferred the use of her weapons.1672

As she sat up, that someone turned toward her and walked into the light.1673

"Well - ain't that surprising," she said with a sneer, "I should have known." Glowing red eyes greeted her statement. "I know you're not Peter - him I killed - not many people can survive that. So are you going to introduce yourself, or shall we simply part ways?"
-
Hotel - ???
The mayor showed himself in Peter's body and grinned evilly at Judith. His voice was deep and hoarse. 'Not very easy to unnerve, are you?' A frown answered his question. 'I see. Not the first time you've killed someone, is it?' Judith rose and tried to place her hands around his neck, but the mayor simply slid away. 'Peter may have been careless, but I am different. I prefer the don't-die approach.1674

'So, why did I choose Peter? Partly because he shared the same love for cheesecake that I did. But mainly because he could be easily puppeted. Because he was gullible, arrogant, naive. Because I knew that everything he would do nobody would take notice of. He could've slit his own throat and no one would've cared.'
Judith just stood there, shaking her head and giggling to herself. The mayor swiftly grasped a hand around her neck and squeezed so it was almost impossible to breathe. 'Do you want me to show you how serious I can be? To me, you're nothing. Just a silly weapon-crazed "consulting contractor" who has nothing to do but look out for number one!' He was lifting her up now, towards a hook dangling from the roof. 'You can hang around for a while here, while I do business with an old friend.' He exited the room, and behind him, the door disappeared entirely. 'Manager! We have a few things we need to discuss!'
-
Judith struggled for a minute or so - attempting to release herself from where she hung from the hallway ceiling - the thick steel hook holding her up by her coat, shirt and even under the strap of her holster. 1675

Each jerk also aggravated the large gash that the point of the hook had left between her shoulder blades, and she soon gave a frustrated growl and crossed her arms.1676

Though tall, her feet were still a good foot above the ground, and trying to reach out for a wall only made her swivel - causing her shirt to gather and tighten around her neck.1677

Stubborn, she did not call for help, and so, with her face set in a frightful sneer, fumed.
-
Hotel.
'Dammit,' Dan growled as he patted his pockets, he'd forgotten some tools he'd needed. Turned back he trudged up the stairs back to his room. 1678

He arrived in the hallway in time to see Judith struggling to release herself from a hook on the roof. He leant against the wall and watched. Soon she stopped struggling and crossed her arms, fuming. 1679

Dan pushed himself off the wall and walked round to the front of her. 'Having fun? I must say, quite a feat to get yourself up there? Annoy Mykia or something?' he laughed, 'Would you like a hand getting down, or rather stay up there and enjoy the view?'
-
Judith scowled. "I'm hanging around just for the fun of it, what do you think?" she responded snidely. 1680

She twisted again and flinched, the steel digging in her back again. "And no - I didn't annoy Mykia - no more than I already have. Rather the thing that's walking around in Peter's body - he has some of the Manager's characteristics."1681

She blinked and looked away, and then said between clenched teeth, "Get me down."
-
Dan laughed. 'Peter been taken over, huh? You expect me to believe that? I think I will check before I get you down.' So saying, he turned and walked quickly to his room. Despite his snide tone with Judith, the possibility of Peter being possessed was not that crazy... for this place. 1682

Dan reached his room and looked in. His eyes narrowed, the floor was soaked in blood, but no Peter. And no trail of blood anywhere, so they couldn't have moved the body, not without a lot of trouble, and he hadn't been gone that long. 1683

He walked back to Judith. 'Ok, it seems you were right.' He walked behind her, and reaching up, grabbed her jacket, either side of the hook, and hoisted her up, off the hook.'Blimey, you weigh a ton...' he muttered as he let her fall heavily to the ground. 1684

'So, what does the great Judith propose we do about Pete...Mayor? Slit his throat to? Or maybe shoot him?'
-
Hotel
The mayor appeared behind Dan and Judith. 'So you want to kill me now?' he asked with a quick sneer in Judith's direction. 'I thought we were all on the same side.' Dan stepped back a bit, and Judith just shook her head. 'I'm looking for the manager, anybody seen him?' he asked, acting as casual as possible.1685

Dan frowned. 'I thought you were dead.'1686

'Well, if I was dead, I wouldn't be walking around, now, would I? No, Judith and I have reached a conclusion to our fighting, which she couldn't quite understand yesterday. I happily lay down my weapons, and you push it against my throat? You know I had no intention of using your Sig against you in that room.' He shook his head. 'Oh, Judith, please, let's be reasonable now, and stop the ruckass.'1687

The mayor moved towards Dan. 'Come on, mate, you must believe me. I'm still Peter! Just a little under the weather, that's all.'
-
Ignoring the mayor, she eased her coat off with a hiss, revealing both the rip in her shirt and the bloody gash underneath. With barely a glance at 'Peter', she replied to Dan, "I don't think he can be killed - at least not by us."1688

She surveyed her ruined coat as she rose to her feet. "Don't believe him - he is just using Peter's body - no one can bleed as much as he did and still be walking around. Plus that super-human strength he seems to be endowed with - he lifted me like I weighed nothing."1689

She unstrapped the holster and started unbuttoning her shirt. "I can fight fairly decently face-to-face, but the Mayor is a rather slippery character..." She looked at him now, "Aren't you Mr Mayor?"1690

She turned her back to both of them, and slid her shirt down. "And if I'm not mistaken - this is probably as bad as it feels - and will need to be dressed before I even consider my next course of action - with or without anyone else."
-
Dan snorted. 'Still Peter, eh? Peter didn't have red eyes. You are not Peter. When you are Peter, then we'll talk.'1691

Dan turned and looked at the damage Judith had done to her back. 'Yep. It's as bad as it looks, come on, better get it dressed. He headed back to his room, where his first aid kit was.
-
Judith followed, glaring at 'Peter' as she walked past. Though she wanted to taunt him, she held her tongue - she wasn't in the condition to fight. She stepped over the blood that soaked the carpet.1692

"Mykia and Ice must have gone while I was out. Nice left hook by the way," she said with a tight smile as she sat down on the same chair she had before.1693

She leant forward as Dan dressed the wound on her back, twitching every time he was somewhat rough. "If I thought that the Mayor was going to survive, I wouldn't have killed your friend. I realise now I might have been hasty is making that decision."
-
The manager watched the events unfold before stepping into the hallway. He approached the body that once was Peter.1694

"Mayor White..." he said darkly, a sinister scowl on his face. For once, the manager did not disguise his disgust.1695

"It's been a while, Mr. White. Hasn't it? Still seeking your revenge? Haven't you had enough of me, yet?" He stepped closer as he spoke.1696

"I promise you, what I did to your precious city is nothing compared to what I shall do to your worthless soul." Almost spitting out the last few words, the manager suddenly grabbed Peter's throat and shoved the body back.1697

"Come, 'Mayor,' let us talk on our level." The manager moved forward again, but Peter's body did not. Instead, the man moved through Peter. The ghostly form of the mayor was pushed backward out of Peter's corpse and the manager followed.1698

Having effectively exorcized Peter's body, the shell flopped to the ground, not yet having regained its own consciousness. The hallway lights flickered as the manager threw the mayor back.1699

"You lying, filthy little bastard," the Mayor said, no longer speaking with Peter's voice but his own. "You killed my Antonia - I will never rest until I've destroyed everything you are and ever were!"1700

The manager's eyes turned red and his body began to turn into a mass of shadow. When he spoke, two voices were merged - his, and a deeper, darker one that the Mayor hadn't heard before. "Foolish dead man. Your puppteering parlour tricks are nothing... you want to see what torment is? What Hell is really like?"1701

The hotel began to shake again - in fact, the whole island was shaking. "I've seen Hell," the Mayor said. "I don't think it's horrid enough for you. You deserve worse for your crimes."1702

"Crimes?!" The manager laughed loudly, shattering everything glass in the hotel. "I never killed your bitch of a wife! She came to me because you just weren't good enough for her. I gave her what you only promised and she loved me for it. And you never knew. For six years you didn't know. Until that damn reporter Daniel took one wrong picture."1703

"Still you speak lies?" the mayor yelled, fighting to get free of the manager's grasp. "Even now after death, when the truth is already know? You-"1704

"YOU!" The mayor closed his eyes as a powerful gust of ethereal wind tore through the hallway. "You imprisoned me in this damned hotel! You and your black magics, your unholy practice! You used your own wife as sacrifice for the curse! And that, John, is far worse than a prison."1705

The mayor grabbed at the manager's hands, but was held so strongly that he could not break free. He wasn't worried about dying - he was already dead, after all. But he didn't like where this was going.1706

"More lies!" the mayor screeched. "More bullshit!"1707

"Bullshit, is it?" The manager's voice faded completely into the demonic growl of the shadow. "Allow me to refresh your memory..."1708

The manager shoved his hand into the mayor's forehead. All at once, the images of the baclk magic ritual - the pentagram, the altar, his wife pleading for forgivness - flooded back into his mind. He visibly withered, distraught by the image. But he still refused them, though his strength waned.1709

"No..." the mayor said. "Tricks... just tricks. It never...happened."1710

"Just like the dead to forget their own crimes but recall everyone else's," the shadow growled. "You stayed behind while all the others died. A thousdand souls, dear Mr. White. That's the price of a demonic curse. And your's makes 999."1711

The magaer withdrew his hand from the mayor's head and closed the fist around the dead mayor's neck. All at once, the ghost of the mayor shrieked, all color fading away. Its face twisted into pure agony as the soul was torn from the physical world. The shadow opened its mouth and devoured the ghost whole.1712

The ghost of Mayor White was no more.
-
Hotel Hallway
Taking a breath, Mykia once again took heed of her surroundings. The drama had progressed beyond her and she was standing in the hall alone. She wondered how she would survive the next few days. Everyone seemed to be going crazy, everyone seemed to be out to kill one another.1713

She really didn't want to be alone, she couldn't help the sinking feeling that things were going to get far worse. Yet...she didn't exactly know who was safe either. Judith was...obviously not. Even if Mykia did believe Judith's story about why she killed Kaelynn, she was quite sure Judith hadn't been possessed today when she was shooting Peter. So Judith...definitely not. Bryce was too close to Judith to even be considered.1714

Ice obviously had herown things to deal with and just as obviously felt safe enough not to need company while doing them. Peter...she wasn't quite sure about Peter. She *was* quite sure that humans didn't usually lose that much blood and survive. Dan...Dan would just turn away again, like last time.1715

So there was no one. Mykia decided to walk into town, do her job. There was nothing the Manager could give her for it, the only thing she would want was the return of her son, safe and sound. She was quite sure the Manager couldn't do that. But at least if she was with the orphans, she wouldn't be alone.
-
Ice watched the events as they happened, not fully comprehending them. "What... just happened?" She stared at the manager. "You said there needed to be 1000 souls, but he was the 999'th... where's the 1000th soul?" She stood in the middle of the group confused.
-
Judith stifly rose from the chair after Dan finished patching her. She walked to the small window and glance out - in time to see Kylia walking down the street. "So who do you think used my gun to shoot at you Dan?" she asked without turning away from the window.1716

In the street below, Mykia seemed to falter. Judith swivelled back to face Dan. "We need to follow Mykia - I think she's up to something." She pointed out the window. "She appears to be heading for the beach - I wouldn't put it past her to search for either mine or Bryce's 'misplaced' craft - and try to escape. I think she was the one that took my gun and shot at you - and probably killed your sister."1717

At her last comment, righteous anger passed over Dan's face and both his hands rolled into tight fists. He suddenly stood and strode out the door and back into the hallway. 1718

Judith followed, silently, one step behind him as he marched down the hallway, and descended the stairs. Soon they were out on the street and gaining ground on Mykia.
-
Beach
Bryce headed down to the beach because he heard something about everyone else going down to the beach.
-
Dan strode out of the room, thoughts in turmoil. Mykia killed Aura? He trusted her, why would she kill her...
-
As they walked, Judith became cognizant that Dan appeared to be holding something against his side under his shirt.1719

He must have grabbed something on the way out - strange - I didn't really take notice... She thought as she tried to get a closer look.1720

In front of her, Dan walked stiffly, and was muttering to himself - mostly about his sister. As they rounded a corner, he abruptly stopped, pulling up short.1721

"Mykia," he snarled as Judith caught sight of the woman.1722

Mykia turned, startled. She gave Judith a look of open fear, and Dan one of apprehension. "Dan?"1723

"Mykia." He repeated her name again, the word said with malicious intent. "You killed my sister and took Judith's gun - tried to frame her."1724

Mykia seemed to shrink back. "I just wanted to find my son - that's all, I swear. I've had nothing to do with those things - I've kept to myself..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened as Dan pulled out something from under his shirt. "No - please..."1725

Judith came around to one side in time to see Dan remove a 12 gauge from under his shirt and point it at Mykia. "Dan?" she queried, glancing at the hard look of vengence on his face, and Mykia's - which was now streaked with tears.1726

"She killed my sister - how else would Aura had gotten a burn mark on her wrist - except from someone like her." He gestured with the gun, and Mykia whimpered and started to back away.1727

Judith said nothing as Dan levelled the weapon at Mykia - in all likelyhood, the woman had been responsible.1728

Without hesitating, Dan pulled the trigger.1729

The blast caught Mykia squarely in the face and upper chest, and she crumpled to the ground, dead.1730

Dan dropped the gun and turned to Judith, his face now blank. "She'll killed Aura, she killed my little sister."
-
As Mykia fell to the ground, the island moved. Literally. The beach itself turned from sand to hard, sharp rocks. The water turned black. In the distance the sound of the ironcast gate slamming shut echoed faintly.1731

Suddenly, the shadow-thing was on the shoreline in front of Judith and Dan. It looked at them with a dark glare. Dan lowered his gun, aware of the fact that it wouldn't harm the creature.1732

The shadow knelt over the dead Mykia. Slowly, it reached a a gastly hand into her stomach. Tearing up harshly, the shadow tore her soul from her body and held in before the others.1733

With a dark, unholy grin, it devoured her soul in the manner of the previous mayor. Immediately the sky turned dark, clouds covering the entire sky. The shadow spoke, the manager's voice masked with a demonic hiss.1734

"At long last... my soul is free..."1735

The manager-shadow began to convulse. Thunder boom and a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground where he stood. The island shook harder as it began to tear apart. A crack tore between the beach and the hotel, growing quickly. The island was falling apart - and slowly sinking into the black waters.1736

Judith and Dan stumbled, trying to keep their balance. From beyond the shoreline a loud horn blew. They turned as a massive ship emerged from the fog surrounding the island and pulled up to the shore. It stopped close enough for them to reach it.1737

As they started toward it, the island shook harder, ripping apart faster and more violently.1738

A man appeared on the main deck of the ship.1739

"Ahoy down there!" he cried. "Y'all coming or what? Let's go!"
-
Dan looked up as the massive ship (with the amazingly shallow draught) 1740

'Ahoy down there!' a voice cried from above, 'Y'all coming or what? Let's go!' 1741

'Sure, gonna let down a ladder or sumtin'?' 1742

A ladder snaked down the side of the ship, and Dan splashed into the water, to it. 'You coming people?' he asked those on the island behind him. With that, he started climbing, shotgun save in his jacket; out of sight.
-
Judith followed - water appeared to be creeping over the entire island, consuming everything - there would be no point in going back to the hotel to retrieve anything she had left. 1743

As she splashed out into the water, she could see Bryce coming in from another side of the beach, as well as Ice. She hadn't yet seen anything of the thing that called itself Peter - but she presumed that the ruckus she and Dan had heard coming from the hallway before might have been the end of him.1744

She finally grabbed the ladder and started climbing.
-
Hotel
Peter awoke to hear a large foghorn. He checked his body. He was overwhelmed with joy. 'I'm alive! I'm alive!' Looking out the window, he saw a ship. Freedom filled his mind. He rushed out of the hotel and out towards the beach.1745

BEACH1746

'HEY!' Peter yelled. Seeing Dan, he waved frantically towards him. Dan only glanced at him, and snarled. 'Dan!'1747

The ladder was pulled up into the ship, and Peter hung his head. He roared and waded into the water to try and catch the ship. He wasn't done for, not yet.1748

A glint on the upper deck of the ship, maybe that of a scope. Peter sighed. 'Just no reasoning with fate, now, is there?' The silent bullet tore through his heart, and Peter was finally at peace.1749

~~~1750

Kneeling on the topmost deck, a figure draped in green cloths holstered his sniper pistol. His awkward blue eyes narrowed. Under his mask, he smiled. 'Dan, you have nowhere to run now.'
-
As the last survivors climbed aboard the ship and headed out to sea, the island sank entirely under the water, the darkness of Bloodvayne lost to the ocean. But as they looked back at the haunted island, they saw the shadow-form of the hotel manager - Mr. Fitzgerald - staring back at them, his eyes ablaze with what could only be described as absolute rage. Something told the survivors that the ghost of Mr. Fitzgerald did not receive his freedom as he had hoped - and that the lives lost on the island would not be the last victims.1751

Soon they sailed too far away from the island to see anything but crashing waves.1752

The man who'ed lowered the ladder approached them. "Hey," he said. "Pleasure to meet you. Name's Lue."1753

{End... for now...}