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Hotel Emperador

Chapter 2 - The god that hold us accountable

By Whitepython

"If he's not here in five minutes, I'm out..."

Xaduardo the raptor spoke to himself as he walked in circles. He waited at the small concourse outside of the temple of our Lord of the holy light.

Behind him, the tall front entrance of the temple stood like it has done so for hundreds of years. Angelic figures of different species carved on the wall invited everybody to come inside.

"Never mind, make it 3 minutes." The raptor said after checking his cellphone for the umpteenth time. "He's not going to show up anyways."

His jaw felt stiff, his stomach tight and his clawed hands and feet were a block of ice. The cold weather wasn't taking any mercy on his cold-blooded self. Even if he was wearing a brown black jacket over his three colored shirt, and some washed out blue slim fit jeans to protect his cool scales from the weather, he felt frozen and uncomfortable. But perhaps the weather wasn't the real culprit behind his uneasy self. Xaduardo has been quite stressed since he left that coffee shop earlier today.

The Raptor stopped to pace around to lean against one of the thick wooden doors of the temple. They were two large and sturdy doors. Only one of them was open. The gates were made of thick wooden planks many times older than the great grandmother of his great grandmother. With iron hinges so old and rusty that they were pitch dark. But they still were fit for the job to divide the holy place from the mundane world.

Xaduardo thought for a moment about the source of his anxiety. What if the wolf was right? What if his friend and mentor McRue is in a life threatening danger and the two rookies are the only ones that can save his life?

But what if he doesn't have what it takes to complete this rescue mission? What if he fails to his leader and to his fellow demon hunters?

His past has made it clear that he couldn't do this. He has tried and failed to achieve so many meaningful things in his life because he wasn't born with the natural gifts of a leader. He can't accept his mission. Failing at something so important like this would be unbearable for him.

In the other hand, what if McRue is never seen again because something horrible happened to him? How could he live with that loss in his clan? How could he carry on with his life without his leader? How could he even face his friends when they return from Viru? How could he tell them that they will never see McRue again because he was too coward to help? What kind of demon hunter does such things?

Only if he were a real leader, he would know what to do...

His head hurt as he tried to untie the tangle of conflicting ideas that constipated his mind. But what if the solution was something simpler?

His stress began after he left that coffee shop. After Alroc tried to drag him into his own way of solving things instead of following the standard procedures. It started when he was pushed to disobey Rantego. But that was not the most unsettling part. There were parts of the explanation given by the wolf that didn't make any sense. It was evident that the crazy scheme the wolf came up with was the source of his problems.

But in any case, it was time to go home. Alroc was nowhere to be seen. He must have also realized that this was insane. Xaduardo could think about this tonight in bed. The wolf was still unreachable on his cell phone, and the raptor had to find an easier way to help the lion.

Even if the wolf were here, he wouldn't do this.

As the raptor began to walk towards the sidewalk, he began to consider his next move. He now had to talk with Rantego the Jaybird about the original plan on getting help from another clan. He thought about the Knights of the Order of the Hallowed Flame. They were hunters with ample experience that...

"There you are Xadu!"

That familiar voice froze the reptile right in his spot. He could feel the feathers behind his neck rising and his knees shaking. He struggled with himself to not to run away and hide. He prayed that that voice was only his imagination.

Much to the saurian's dismay, Alroc rushed from the dark street and approached the entrance to the small temple where the raptor was standing. The reptile felt stuck just like one of the many statues that decorated the front wall.

Xaduardo was going to Emperador whether he was ready or not.

Alroc was wearing that same white shirt and dark gray jeans from earlier at work. For a moment the raptor wondered why that was if the wolf had a morning shift today. But the raptor had bigger issues to worry about.

"I bet you were about to leave and go to Emperador without me huh?" the wolf joked among panting as he struggled to recover his breath.

The raptor forced a weak smile on his scaly snout as he scratched the feathers behind his head. He wanted to stop the tingle that ran along his spine as his stomach turned into a knot. He also cleared his throat after feeling his maw going dry.

"In any case. Let's make the oath and leave for Emperador right away!" the wolf spoke with a spark of excitement behind his intentions.

The raptor thought that this guy was out of his mind!

"W...what?! Right now?" Xaduardo's legs became a pair of ice pillars. His blood went cold. He was able to hear his own heartbeat behind his ear canal and feel his stomach shifting into a triple knot.

He wasn't sure about this. He wasn't even sure why he came here in first place.

"Of course you dummy!" the still excited Wolf replied, "Remember that the clock of fate is tickling for McRue."

"I... can't we do this tomorrow morning?" the raptor asked with a short and shaky voice.

"What are you up talking about? McRue need us! Are you quitting or something?"

"No! I... I left my gear at home before coming here." The raptor explained. "And I... I need to send an e-mail with some essays which are due for tomorrow." Xaduardo lied and hoped that the lie would stick.

"Why you didn't do all that earlier!?" The wolf asked. His voice and facial expression made it clear that he was annoyed with the fake explanation.

"I... I got caught up in my own investigation at the old aristocratic suburbs. I advanced my investigation as much as I could so Rantego wouldn't suspect that we are busy at Emperador." The saurian lied a second time. "I didn't think we were visiting the hotel tonight so I left everything at home once I was done with the suburbs."

After his fabrication, Xaduardo wielded his lips. He forbid himself from lying any further. The wolf dug his amber eyes on the reptile. Xaduardo felt as if he just had a cold bucket of water dumped on him -and the bucket itself- as the pressure of the moment devoured him.

The Velociraptor felt guilty about abandoning McRue and Alroc. To lie at the gates of a holy enclosure. But how could he help it? His insecurities were bigger than his duty of responsibility. He couldn't do this unless he could clarify those questions gnawing on his soul since he left that coffee shop.

But what if Alroc gets angry like he did in the morning at the coffee shop? The raptor decided that the sketchy explanations were bothering him. He needed a good answer from the canine, yet he had to be soft about it.

"Don't get upset with me please." The raptor almost begged as he shrunk himself before the gray wolf in submission. "But it's just that you were so angry in the morning, and some things aren't still very clear to me..."

"What? What are you up to Xaduardo?" the wolf asked, he sounded annoyed again.

"I... Just want to ask you some things related to this..."

The raptor stood tense, expecting for the wolf to explode. An uncomfortable silence took control of the situation. The silence began to get on the nerves of the reptile as the wolf dug his amber eyes on his saurian form.

"Alright." The wolf spoke after torturing his demon hunting partner with a silence accompanied by inquisitive eyes. "Sounds fair," the canine took a deep breath before relaxing the rest of his body. "A good hunter must be as briefed as possible. Let's take a seat inside and talk. You are shaking out here." The wolf smiled and placed his right hand on the raptor's left shoulder to give it a playful squeeze. There were no traces of rage in his attitude. "After all, I could use tonight to review what I have collected from my investigation on Emperador in the past. But we need to hit the hotel early. At 7 A.M. with no more excuses. Am I clear?"

Xaduardo nodded in relief even if it was clear that the wolf wasn't happy about this delay. His lie had bought him a few couple more hours before he had to face doing the thing he feared so much.

"But you aren't escaping from making the oath." The wolf said as he stood under the top casing of the old wooden gates.

"Of course not..." The raptor replied without giving too much weight to those words. Xaduardo was still settled on not doing this. But he might reconsider if the wolf had a solid argument for his claims.

Both demon hunters entered the old building, and they took a seat at the rearmost pew on the church as they looked inside:

The ceiling was several meters tall. It was white and decorated with thick golden lines that formed triangles and other harmonic geometric forms. Holy runes ran along those golden lines as well, and chandeliers were turned on along the ceiling to illuminate the place.

It had several roof skylights in the shape of triangles that were placed in a deliberated way to allow sunlight when it was available to illuminate the pulpit. And the pulpit was built on a raised platform that could only be reached through a staircase. The staircase was decorated with gorgeous details of anthropomorphic figures carved in stone representing the souls of the departed ones. This was known as the collective of the ancient forefathers.

Under the pulpit, there were several comfortable seats placed against the opposite end of the temple. Over the seat there were more religious figures carved in stone on the wall. Those seats were employed only during special occasions.

The rest of the walls of the temple were also white and decorated with golden vertical lines. The windows were stained glasses with religious themes.

The floor was white and gray polished marble. Fourteen lines of large dark wooden pews stretched along most of the marble floor on the right side, and another fourteen line of pews were on the left. They were separated by an extensive red carpeted in the central nave.

"First of all. What is our exact plan of action?" The raptor asked in a low voice once he felt safe from the awful cold weather that was once messing with his cold-blooded metabolism.

"We are going to explore the part of the hotel where the highest demonic activity happens. We will be looking out for clues on either demonic activities or for anything that McRue could have left behind. If we are lucky enough we might even find a demonic cult operating there."

The raptor thought to himself that in reality, they had to be quite unlucky to stumble with a demonic cult.

"And if the place is crawling with demons and dark cults, why is still functioning?" Xaduardo asked, "I checked their website on my cellphone today, and anyone can make a reservation there at any time."

"That's because one part of the hotel is more cursed than the other. The hotel has a west wing and a north wing. The north wing is the place where you could sleep safe from demonic activity.

"But the west wing is where almost everybody has suffered their tragic fates. That's where most of the dead bodies had appeared, and most paranormal cases have occurred. I think it was like in the 30's or 40's when whoever was the manager of the hotel at the time build up walls on all of the floors to separate both wings. But still, there are occasional reports of paranormal events in the rooms near to the west wing."

The raptor felt satisfied with that answer which was one of the biggest things that were bothering him. That explained why it was a dangerous place for hunters but not so much for regular visitors. The risk came from visiting the west wing.

"You claim that whoever walks into an alternative dimension gets lost forever if not rescued within a week. But how do you know that for sure?"

The wolf closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before explaining himself.

"A few months after I was accepted into this clan I had to do an investigation with Jorul about a missing girl. This was requested by a couple who moved into a large and old house on the outskirts of the city."

The raptor nodded as he remembered Jorul. He was a Bull. The most experienced hunter in the clan after McRue. He was also the one in command of the Viru mission. He was an ex-military guy in charge to train rookies in both gun combat and unarmed combat tactics. While the raptor learned how to operate a gun in a proper way along with some fighting skills, he never liked guns. He has always had an intense and very personal dislike for those damned things, and he didn't want to think about it right now for he had to pay attention.

"The mother of the missing girl was able to hear the cries of her daughter at times in the basement of the old house. None was ever able to help through the regular ways. When we investigated, we found out that a group of demonesses lured the little girl into an alternate demonic dimension. But since it had been two months already, we couldn't lead her back to our world. It was too late for the poor little thing.

The wolf sighed with profound regret before he resumed his narration, "delivering the news to the poor woman had to be one of the most painful things I have had to do as a hunter. Her pleas for further help are still burnt in the back of my mind... just like when I..."

"I...I am sorry Alroc," the raptor interrupted at once. Not wanting for the wolf to keep on remembering his bitter experiences. The saurian noticed that the canine was starting to tear up. "I didn't mean to..."

"Heh." Alroc spoke in resignation after recovering "At least now you know why it's important to rescue McRue. If he's lost in an alternate dimension, we can't risk to lose him like we lost that poor girl. If he wasn't dragged into any dimension, we might stumble upon clues that the police hasn't found yet. So whether my theory is right or wrong, we will be helping McRue to escape whatever he's facing."

"I suppose after hearing this explanation I can understand why you want my help, but with the demonic cult around I also understand why Rantego's orders to stay away from the hotel makes a lot of sense." Xaduardo spoke, feeling a bit guilty of being a coward and looking for a quick escape instead of taking this serious like Alroc did. He regretted to have lied earlier.

"Don't even mention that name again when I am nearby." the saurian felt pulled away from his remorse. The words of the wolf were carved with disdain for the Jaybird.

"Why? You don't like him very much huh?"

"He's a clown." The wolf insulted his substitute leader "Even if he's consecrated, he's not a real demon hunter. All he cares about is to play holier-than-thou with everyone and to impress McRue with his fake tough guy attitude."

The raptor remained silent. He has perceived Rantego with such attitudes sometimes, but they never bothered him.

"And he's the one to blame that McRue didn't take me into the investigation. I disliked the guy, but I tolerated him. But his latest little scheme was the last nail in the coffin for me."

"Maybe what Rantego did against you was the very same thing that saved you from suffering the same fate as McRue." Xaduardo tried to be optimistic for a moment.

"Not likely." Alroc shook his head with energy "he's a dou..." the wolf looked to the holy figures in the distance before censoring himself. "He was supposed to back McRue up in this investigation, and he didn't do that, nor allowed me help. Now McRue is in danger, and he is the sole culprit because he is a good for nothing coward." As Alroc the wolf spoke, his voice made it clear how hurt he felt. "If the Order of the Ascended Sun is ever disbanded, it's going to be all of Rantego's fault."

The raptor remained silent. He felt that the best would be to allow the wolf to unload his emotions.

"You know." Alroc kept on explaining. "I was looking forward to McRue to consecrate us as demon hunters next month, so I could return to the clan that my family is running and never see 'Mister Duster face' again. I am tired to even have him as a neighbor in the next apartment over. I am sick of him watching my every step and always frustrating every single time I try to do something new and exciting because according to him it's too risky or is not what a demon hunter is supposed to do."

Xaduardo was aware that the wolf had relatives on his mother's side running a demon hunting clan. He also knew that Alroc was sent to The Order of the Ascended Sun to the effect that nobody could say that he got consecrated as demon hunter easy and fast thanks to his relatives.

"Well..." the saurian resumed with the conversation after the wolf went silent. "Once I am consecrated, I plan to stay and work with the Ascended Sun until I get enough experience to maybe someday start my own clan. I also would like to become a forensic detective, but it's so hard to get through forensic school. Just for starters, it's an impossible admission test you need to pass, and I don't know if I do have what it takes. I tried to apply once and well. It wasn't pretty..."

The wolf smiled and patted the reptile on his back as the raptor lowered his shoulders and his scaly lips bent down as he sat in a hunched down position.

"Hey now. If McRue accepted you into the Ascended Sun, it's because he saw something in you. His leadership comes from his wisdom. He forged his wisdom by enduring so many horrible things, yet he remains on the righteous path. He used that wisdom to see potential in you. I am sure that you can exploit whatever he saw in you to make those two dreams of yours to come true. Keep on going Xadu. I also believe in you."

The raptor felt his shoulders recovering their height as he displayed a wide grin on his sharp-fanged maw and his chin rose high. His chest also inflated wide as a new surge of energy rejuvenated his once defeated body. Praise was something that someone who wasn't a leader such as him received on rare occasions if any. Maybe the wolf was right, and that thing that McRue saw in him could help him to overcome the challenge he had to face tomorrow morning.

This also made him remember his grandmother. A few weeks before she passed away, she told him that she saw in him a great leader with unlimited potential and an excellent member of the community that could be relied on.

...Although, now he wondered. What kind of horrible things has McRue endured?

"W... what happened to McRue in the past?" the raptor in new spirits asked. "I know that he left his country because he had something awful happening to him, but I never asked around because I didn't want to be too nosy."

Alroc looked around the holy place before shaking his head. "I don't know the juicy details myself, but I have heard that he lost both his wife and child in a plane accident several years ago. That left him crushed. But he channeled all his frustrations through his demon hunting career."

Xaduardo opened his eyes wide and squeezed his jaws after hearing about the terrible event. "I suppose losing your whole family is a hard blow. It's even more difficult when they go out of sudden. I still miss my grandmother sometimes. I can't imagine how hard it would be to lose your wife and children." Xaduardo tried to not to think of that by returning his attention to the gray wolf.

"McRue has used that low blow to push himself harder. He was already a successful demon hunter before that happened, but that event gave him a laser sharp focus on this job."

Xaduardo nodded in silence as he tried to keep his mind away from that kind of thoughts.

"...even if sometimes he can leave people burnt and cut in half just like a laser beam." Alroc completed his sentence.

"Huh? What do you mean?" that had to be quite the strange comment for the wolf to make.

"Nothing..." Alroc shook his head after forcing a smile and exposing his black padded hands "It's just like... you know. He sometimes is too tough on himself and others."

"Yeah. That's the McRue I know." The raptor nodded as he kept his eyes on the wolf. While he wasn't quite happy with the reply, he decided to leave the gray wolf off of the hook for now. This conversation has given him a whole new perspective on the problem. This made it clear that delaying the help for McRue was not an option.

"In any case, let's do what we came here to do Xadu. We need to wake up early tomorrow morning. Again, we're meeting up at the hotel at 7 A.M. with no excuses. No sleeping overtime and no more forgotten tools and both cell phones must be on and running. I am calling you at 6 AM, and I don't want any excuses."

"Your cell phone will be available now? I have been trying to contact you all day long, and your number was unavailable."

"Of course! If I had turned it on, you would have called me in the middle of my shift to tell me that you changed your mind and you weren't coming here. I know you very well."

The raptor felt caught by the tail. He felt the impending desire to snap back and give the wolf a through replay, but he remained silent and looked away. He didn't want to fight with his friend. He had achieved some important progress, and he didn't want to ruin it. Instead, the raptor released a soft sigh in resignation.

Talking about the plan of action and solving his own doubts has made him feel less anxious about the dangerous mission he had ahead. The mission didn't sound as bad as it did before.

...except for the lurking risk of also getting lost in an alternate dimension like McRue, or becoming the latest victim of a demonic cult.

The wolf walked towards the front of the church, and the raptor followed behind. The canine got on his knees after approaching the foremost pew while the raptor did the same.

"I don't want to drag this for too long because it's already late. Let's make this short and sweet." The wolf closed his eyes as he concentrated on what he was going to say next:

"I swear to the God of the holy light, before the legion of all hallowed angels, before the collective of the ancient forefathers and I swear before you Xaduardo to stick to this rescue mission no matter what happens until the very end. Whatever the whole thing ends up winding down to."

The raptor listened in silence as he felt the nervous tension from earlier to return. He now was forced to do the opposite of what he came here to do. He had to make a formal oath before God. If he made the pledge, it would mean that there was no escape from this. He took as consolation that whatever the lion and his grandmother saw in him once had the power to help him even if he hasn't seen a pinch of it before.

Maybe Xaduardo could ask McRue in person about the potential he saw in him if they manage to rescue him.

If they manage to rescue him...

"I also promise before the God of the holy light, before the legion of all hallowed angels, before the collective of the ancient forefathers and to you Alroc to stick with this rescue mission to find McRue and help you until the very end."