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Hotel Emperador

Chapter 1 - Tuesday Morning

By Whitepython.

They were painful news that he had to deliver in person. He wished he could go ahead with his normal life instead of having to take this dark detour.

"...I am dead serious. Even the cops are on the case now."

A masculine reptilian voice broken by sadness spoke. It belonged to a green and brown scaled Velociraptor. He was 1.89 meters tall and 22 years old. His name was Xaduardo. Seven large and white feathers decorated the top of his head in a vertical line, from his forehead all the way to the back of his neck. His eyes were of a dark green color with dark spots decorating his irises, and a fat silted pupil in the middle of them.

He wore a short sleeved shirt with three colors, soft gray color at the top and pitch dark on the bottom divided by a diagonal and thick red stripe in the middle which covered a chest of average build. Some dark brown shorts around his waist which ended above his knees and exposed thick and shiny scales covering his legs. With a long and thick tail that hung behind him.

The raptor stood on a pair of large and clawed plantigrade feet with two long digits that ended in sharp claws, and a third toe that protruded from his inner arches with a long and thick curved sickle-like claw. And with a little talon hanging from the back of his foot at the level of his ankles.

"But for now..." The raptor continued "Rantego has given us the order to not to do anything because it's too dangerous to get involved. But since you cannot be reached through your cell phone and you haven't been present at the meetings as of late, he told me to look for you and to tell you about this in person."

Rantego was a Jaybird with Violet and black feathers. He was the second in charge of 'The Clan of the Ascended Sun' a demon hunting group that the raptor was part of. But with the official disappearance of its leader, the lion Jantheno McRue, the avian Rantego had taken temporary control of the clan until the missing feline could return to resume with the leadership of the group.

McRue the lion founded that clan alongside with Rantego a few years later after the feline emigrated from the northern lands. The lion was considered among the rest of demon hunting clans as one of the most skilled and experimented hunters in the entire country. If not even among the top ones in the whole world.

Alroc the wolf remained in silence as he received the somber and dreadful news from the raptor, but his face expressed the shock that he experimented. He was a gray and white-furred male wolf. He was 1.80 meters tall and 23 years old. His eyes were amber colored, with pitch dark and small irises in the middle. He was wearing a short sleeved and white shirt protected under a dark brown cloth apron with the design of a coffee cup embroider in golden color in the center of the garment. Dark gray jeans around his slim waist exposed at the bottom his pair of masculine and plantigrade gray furred foot paws. Four blunt and brown colored claws protruded from his gray furred toes. Just like Xaduardo, he was also a member of The Clan of the Ascended Sun.

"But McRue... I needed to..." The gray canine closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. He held it for a couple of seconds before expelling the oxygen diminished breath out of his lungs and opening his eyes.

"I always feared that this could happen. Hotel Emperador is a very dangerous place. I had my hopes that McRue could handle it, but now he has become its latest victim." Alroc released a soft growl in frustration "This just can't be happening."

Xaduardo as hatchling heard stories about that place. But he never paid too much attention for he always disregarded them as nothing more than urban legends just like most people.

Until this event occurred.

The wolf turned around, giving his back to the Velociraptor as he stood behind the counter of the modern coffee shop to process the information he just received.

Xaduardo observed the wolf who stood behind the counter as he appeared to be wrestling deep inside of him with the news that he came to bring. Modern and state of the art machines for preparing coffee and several other drinks were installed on that same counter. The fancy coffee shop the Wolf worked at was decorated with framed pictures of coffee bean fields and pictures of happy groups of anthros enjoying their caffeinated brewages. The place was illuminated with soft lights as sweet music played in the background. The coffee house was equipped with all the commodities of the modern day to keep customers happy.

"McRue... I really needed to..." the canine spoke before he choked down a growl "Is Rantego expecting us to fold our arms and do nothing about our missing leader?"

"He told me that we should wait for the rest of the clan to return from their mission in Viru. Because as you just said, Emperador is a risky place for demon hunters like us. In the meantime, he gave the direct and strict order that we should continue with our current cases and stay away from Emperador."

The wolf shook his head and rose his shoulders up after receiving the order that the Raptor delivered "The rest of our people is in another country helping a foreign demon-hunting clan, while our new leader forces us to sit down to play with imps and watch our own clan collapse? That's crap!"

"That's not how things are Alroc!" the raptor spoke with an annoyed voice. "Rantego just thinks that..."

"And what do you think Xaduardo?!" the wolf now turned around to face the dinosaur, interrupting him fueled in rage as he waved his hands around. "Which part of -our leader is missing in a place famous because whoever disappears there is never found again- are you unable to grasp so I may explain it to you?"

The raptor felt his throat closing as his face began to tingle from the sudden scold from the wolf, but why was Alroc so angry all of sudden? This was not usual for him. Alroc was always a cool-headed individual. But the wolf had been acting strange for the last couple of weeks. Even Rantego commented about it last night. Maybe this was a perfect time to ask away.

"Why did you turned off your cell phone Alroc? Rantego said he hasn't seen you at your house either for the last couple of days."

"Don't you dare to change the topic Xaduardo! Can't you see that I have been busy with my work at this place along with my own assigned investigations? How can you two be more concerned about my stupid cell phone than about McRue!?"

Both males stared into each other's eyes. Amber and olive green eyes clashed for a brief moment. But the silted eyes of the saurian bent down under the intense gaze fueled by frustration from the mammal.

"Hotel Emperador is a very famous cursed place" Alroc kept on explaining in anger after the staring contest "It is plagued by cases of people being missing in there forever. Along with dead bodies being found there all the time. And you can add to the list details like demonic invocations, ritualistic suicides, serial killers using it as hideout among many paranormal activities reported there for hundreds of years. Aren't you worried in the slightest that McRue disappeared in a place like that? Just because it's a dangerous thing to rescue McRue it doesn't mean that we should act like cowards and do nothing!"

"When the rest of our clan returns next week just like Rantego instructed we're going to find him."

"And for how long has he been gone?" The wolf asked, still somewhat unsettled.

"According to Rantego, when he filled the missing report he estimated that McRue disappeared 3 days ago. Sunday morning is the suspected date because McRue was last seen on Saturday night and he didn't show up for our regular Sunday night meeting. And since then, he has been nowhere to be found. Rantego even searched for him at his house. The security cameras at the hideout haven't recorded him visiting there either."

"So he's been missing for 3 days counting today in the morning, and the team from Viru returns until next week?" the raptor nodded to confirm the information.

Alroc shook his head even with more energy this time "When they return, it's going to be too late for McRue."

"What are you talking about?" the raptor spoke in disbelief.

"I have studied the Emperador case as much as McRue has. The strongest theory on what happens there is that there is a portal to an alternative, demonic dimension hidden somewhere which is the source of all the dark energy and misery that affects that place.

"Whoever gets lost in an alternate dimension for more than a week without returning to the real world are rendered unable to ever return to the normal world. If McRue has been three days over there already, it's going to be way too late when we look for him next week. -He will be as good as dead if we don't bring him back by Saturday night-"

The raptor felt his stomach getting tight and the tip of his fingers turn cold while his spine stiffened as the wolf gave the conversation a more serious and darker tone. Can, in fact, the man he has admired so much and who has taught him everything he knows about demon hunting -the one and sole thing he has been good at in his entire life- be lost forever? But most of all, Xaduardo also wondered what else does this wolf knows that not even his interim leader knows?

"I was intrigued by the legends behind Emperador when I first heard about them" Alroc kept on explaining himself "but I never investigated in depth until I learned that McRue was on the case. I wanted to be part of the investigation, but McRue refused to take me with him because it was too dangerous for someone like me, even if I am soon to become a full demon hunter. I know a lot about the dangers which lurks in that place. This is why I am very concerned about him."

The saurian tried to digest the alarming news. Just like Alroc the wolf, he was about to leave behind his rookie status to become a full demon hunter, but with his leader gone that possibility was also lost. -Unless McRue returned-

"Besides, how much time do you think he can spend without water and food if he was captured by a demon? Do you think a demon would show him any mercy? Do you think a demon would show you mercy if you were in his place? Would you like me to sit on my ass and do nothing until next week when everybody has returned from their trip to help you? Would you li..."

"Stop it Alroc! I got your point already!" The reptile sounded stressed as he tried to silence the wolf. He felt already quite worried about his friend and leader. However; all the wolf did was to attack from a different angle.

"Do you think McRue would have abandoned you until everyone was here if you had been the one in trouble?"

The question made Xaduardo travel back in his memories to his very first mission. To be accepted as an active rookie hunter after some basic training, he had to stop a demon who was causing chaos in a residential zone. The reptile was very nervous and insecure about it. McRue knowing that the dinosaur needed a bit of extra help showed up unannounced and helped him to track the demon down and to put an end to his antics. That night, the lion went out of his way to show the raptor a lesson in leadership and hunting. But most of all, he demonstrated to be a real friend that cared for him and believed in a bright future for him as a demon hunter. And that was something nobody ever did for Xaduardo before.

The raptor even got a memento from that day. He pressed his clawed hand against his chest to feel a violet claw he wore around his neck and under his clothes in between his pectorals. It was a claw from the demon that McRue and he hunted that night. A claw that he always carried everywhere to remember that first mission, and the valuable lessons he learned. Even if the claw represented a problem for the raptor sometimes. He had to be careful to not to let it touch his blessed items for demon hunting because the demonic Talon had the power to destroy them upon contact.

McRue had always been there for the saurian when he needed help. Could he be such an ungrateful worm and not return the favor when his leader needed him the most?

However, another kind of memory also invaded his mind. The painful recollection of how every time he had tried to take leadership in the past, it had always ended up in failure after failure. It didn't matter how much he tried. He had always fallen short to achieve what he desired.

"But McRue has leadership and experience, and he's a natural born leader." The disappointed raptor spoke, "I don't have the thing he has going on for him." Xaduardo felt saddened to have his lack of leadership reminded to him.

"How do you expect to be a leader if you don't start acting like one?" the wolf minimized his complaint "We both are weeks away to be decorated and consecrated as official demon hunters. No more rookie errands for us! If you want to live up to the title you are going to have to learn how to be courageous."

Xaduardo wanted to help both his mentor McRue and his friend Alroc. It was a matter of utmost urgency if Alroc was right about the impending danger that the lion could be facing unless someone did something to help him. But his crippling insecurity kept on dragging him into his comfort zone. He wasn't like McRue or even like Alroc. That wolf was also a natural born leader unlike himself.

Besides, the concept of the 'alternate dimension' was just a theory the wolf had, and the raptor also agreed with the logic decision that the Jaybird Rantego took. The avian explained that investigating on their own was a risky move unless the rest of the clan was there, and asking for help from another local clan was a possibility he was going to look into right away, but in the meantime, they both had to stay away from the Hotel. Maybe if Xaduardo were to explain this to the wolf, he would desist from his dangerous idea.

"You should have been in the meeting yesterday to understand what Rantego said, and he would..."

"There you go!" the wolf exploded in full anger once again. "That bird is nothing but a useless walking duster. And you know what? So are you!" the wolf peeled his fangs towards the raptor and threw his arms up in the air.

An uncomfortable silence reigned in the empty coffee shop. The raptor turned his gaze away, not daring to enter into another staring contest with his wolf friend.

"You know what? Forget I even mentioned any of this! You and Rantego can babysit imps in basements. I am going to Hotel Emperador by myself. But you can be sure that once I find McRue, he's going to learn that you chickened out!" The wolf threatened as he stomped his feet loud as he began to walk towards the back of the store.

The raptor panicked.

Xaduardo wanted to be realistic. If someone as powerful, reliable, experienced, and blessed with natural gifts as his leader wasn't able to overcome the challenge of Hotel Emperador, Why someone with no natural talents like himself would be able to do it? He was always a follower, and as such he would remain for the rest of his days unless he were to uncover the mystery behind leadership.

McRue held both the secret to leadership and his ticket to becoming a fulfilled demon hunter. Both McRue and Alroc have always been helpful and kind to him. He had to step up and help them both.

"Wait! I'll help you find McRue."

Alroc was right about one thing -McRue would never abandon him in the face of danger-.

The wolf stopped cold in his tracks before turning his head back "Are you serious?" Alroc remained silent after asking for confirmation. This act made the raptor doubt himself for a moment. He was not a capable leader, but he could always be a good follower and help whoever needed him. He can do that just fine. All he had to do was to tail behind the canine, and he would do well. Xaduardo supposed that the wolf was just too stressed. The Raptor doesn't need to take hard decisions nor leadership. That's the role for natural born leaders after all, and he wasn't such.

"I will follow you. You need my help, and I will stand behind you."

"But you need to behave like a responsible demon hunter. No more acting like a rookie."

"Yeah, I'm in..." the raptor spoke without paying attention to the serious tone of voice from the lupine. The saurian just wanted to stop Alroc from being angry at him, even if that meant disobeying what Rantego ordered. Maybe finding McRue would help to bring everything back to normal. That's what the raptor wished the most.

"I'll meet you tonight at the temple of our lord of the holy light. We're going to ask for the angels to bless our mission, and we're going to make an oath to stick to this until the very end..."

The last part came unexpected. But there was no opportunity for the raptor to raise any objection. The wolf disappeared at the back of the store and closed a wooden door with the sign 'Employees only' behind him with a loud smack.