Chapter 56: The hotel has guests

The purple gem still glowed faintly in Gene’s hand when the knock came at the library door.

Three slow knocks.

Gently but somehow wet.

Everyone looked up immediately.

The atmosphere in the library changed instantly.

The air became colder.

Tenser.

The Caretaker shifted near the doorway to open the door.

Mother Sarah stepped inside.

A drop of blood dripped down from her rosary beads.

Long streaks of crimson stained the front of her black habit.

Her silver eyes glowed so brightly they almost looked white.

And behind her….

Something screamed.

Not a normal scream.

A wet, bubbling shriek that ended abruptly with a crisp snap followed by a resounding crunch.

Gene slowly stood.

“…Mother Sarah?”

The ghostly nun adjusted her slightly reddened sleeves calmly.

“I regret to inform you that the cultists, have entered the hotel.”

The caretaker slid out the door and closed it gently behind him, leaving it open just a crack.

Aurelia immediately stood so fast her chair toppled backward.

“They WHAT?”

Mother Sarah tilted her head slightly as her eyes slid over to Lyra.

“It appears they followed the survivor.”

Lyra went pale instantly.

“I… I… didn’t mean—”

Mother Sarah faded away from sight and appeared across the room. She gently placed a bloodstained hand atop Lyra’s head.

“This is not your fault, child.”

Another scream echoed somewhere below the library floor.

This one shorter.

Then came gunfire.

Then sounds of slamming.

Then silence.

Moira swallowed hard.

“…How many?”

Mother Sarah smiled.

And for the first time since anyone had met her—

The smile looked genuinely monstrous.

“Not nearly enough.”

A violent crash thundered somewhere downstairs.

Glass shattered.

Then came the unmistakable sound of someone begging for mercy.

The begging ended suddenly.

With tearing noises.

Lilith pouted.

“… they better not have gone into my tea room.”

Gene stared at Mother Sarah carefully.

“Well… Alrighty,  what are their numbers.”

The nun nodded calmly.

“Approximately sixty-seven invaders entered through multiple lower entrances.”

Cassian frowned.

“That many?”

“No worries. I am pleased to announce that there are no longer that many.”

A pause.

“…How many now?”

Mother Sarah thought for a moment.

“Twenty-two.”

Another wet scream echoed faintly through the halls.

“Perhaps I should that would make it twenty-one.”

⸻

The Hotel Hunts

The hotel lights flickered blood red for several seconds.

Emergency runes illuminated across the ceiling.

Somewhere far below—

The mimic screeched happily.

Gene’s stomach tightened.

“Sounds like Chomper found somebody.”

Mother Sarah nodded.

“He ate two of them already.”

Aurelia looked horrified.

“…Two people?”

The ghostly nun looked mildly confused.

“Why Yes my dear.”

A pause.

“…Was that unusual?”

No one answered.

Because from deeper in the hotel came the unmistakable sound of a human body being violently dragged across tile.

Followed by chewing.

Lilith slowly sipped tea.

“He gets really bitey when threatened.”

⸻

The First Corpses

Jesse Belle burst into the library moments later carrying a shotgun in one hand and an axe in the other.

Blood covered nearly half her dress.

Not hers.

“Found more of the bastards in the east hallway.”

She looked toward the Caretaker.

“Big guy already cleared the lobby.”

The Caretaker silently tilted his cleaver.

Something wet slid off the blade.

Lyra visibly shrank into her chair.

Not because she feared them.

Because she realized these monsters were protecting her.

Gene stepped toward them.

“Casualties?”

Jesse Belle grinned.

“Us or them?”

“…Them.”

“All of ’em soon enough.”

Then she paused thoughtfully.

“Well. Except maybe the ones Chomper’s savin’ for later.”

Somewhere in the hotel—

A man screamed:

“GET IT OFF MY FACE—”

CRUNCH.

Silence.

Aurelia looked physically ill.

Cassian rubbed his forehead.

“I really hoped she was exaggerating about this place.”

“She wasn’t,” Selene answered quietly.

Another explosion shook the floor beneath them.

The library chandeliers rattled violently.

Then came laughter.

Not human laughter.

Puppet laughter.

Slow.

Wooden.

Wrong.

Moira looked toward the hallway nervously.

“The marionettes are hunting.”

Gene grimaced.

“Oh that’s gonna be ugly.”

⸻

The Hallways Become Slaughterhouses

Mother Sarah moved toward the doorway again.

“I will now be returning downstairs.”

Gene frowned.

“You need backup?”

The glowing-eyed nun smiled softly.

“No.”

The smile stretched slightly too wide.

“I merely wish to make sure none escape.”

Then her body melted backward into the shadows beneath the doorway.

Gone instantly.

Aurelia stared in horror.

“…I absolutely hate that.”

Cassian nodded tiredly.

“You’ll adapt eventually.”

“I don’t WANT to adapt.”

⸻

Downstairs

The Nightmare Grand Hotel had transformed completely.

The warm welcoming atmosphere was gone.

Now it resembled a butchery.

Bodies littered the hallways.

Some torn apart.

Some missing limbs.

Some wrapped in shadowy tendrils hanging from the ceilings like grotesque decorations.

A cultist stumbled through the western corridor clutching his bleeding stomach.

“HELP ME—”

Something moved overhead.

The man looked up just in time to see one of the marionette officers descend from the ceiling on strings.

Its painted smile wide and unnatural.

The cultist screamed and fired a spell wildly.

The puppet’s head exploded apart—

Then immediately reassembled backward.

“Citizen…”

The puppet captain spoke slowly.

“…you are… resisting …arrest.”

The cultist turned to run.

Too late.

Strings burst out from the darkness.

Wrapped around his arms.

His legs.

His jaw.

Bone cracked loudly as the puppet yanked him upwards.

The man rose screaming into the air.

Then ripped apart in 5 sections.

Blood sprayed across the hallway walls.

The puppet captain adjusted its hat politely.

“…Excessive force… authorized.”

⸻

The Mimic Feeds

In the kitchen district, another cultist limped desperately toward the emergency exits.

His robes burned and torn to rags.

One mangled eye hung ruined from its socket.

Behind him echoed the clattering sound of metal scraping tile.

The cultist sobbed.

“No no no no—”

The hallway ahead suddenly opened.

A treasure chest sat directly in the center of the corridor.

The cultist froze.

“…You.”

Chomper slowly opened its lid.

Rows of teeth unfolded outward like a flower made entirely of knives.

The cultist backed away shakily.

“If you let me go I’ll give you everything I have!!”

The mimic hissed loudly.

Then the hallway lights went out.

When they flickered back on—

The cultist was gone.

Chomper burped.

⸻

Back in the library, the Caretaker suddenly straightened.

His head tilted slightly.

Listening.

Then his neck cracked.

Gene immediately noticed.

“What is it?”

The giant silently pointed downward.

More intruders.

Jesse Belle cracked her knuckles.

“Well then.”

She pumped the shotgun loudly.

“Time t’go work, sugar.”

The Caretaker looked toward Gene.

Gene hesitated only briefly before nodding.

“Protect the hotel.”

The masked giant gave one final nod.

Then both he and Jesse Belle disappeared into the hallway.

Seconds later—

Someone below screamed loud enough to shake the floorboards.

⸻

The Security System

Gene moved quickly after they left.

“Everyone stay together.”

Blue system windows flashed before his eyes thanks to the chaos armor interface.

The hotel map illuminated instantly across his vision.

Red dots moved through lower levels.

Several disappeared abruptly.

Usually accompanied by screams.

Gene grimaced.

“Atleast it seems that the defenses are working.”

Moira looked pale.

“Your hotel has defense systems?”

Gene nodded slowly.

“I may have overdesigned a few things.”

Below them, hidden wall panels suddenly opened throughout the hotel.

Automated magical turrets unfolded from ceilings.

The first cultist unlucky enough to encounter one vanished instantly beneath a barrage of glowing spikes.

Another triggered a hallway trap.

Steel shutters slammed down behind him.

Gas filled the corridor.

The cultist choked violently.

Then shadows rose from the floor beneath him and dragged him screaming downward until only bloody fingernail marks remained.

Aurelia stared at Gene.

“…How are you the least concerning part of this hotel?”

Gene considered that.

“…Practice?”

⸻

Lilith Watches

Surprisingly, Lilith looked fascinated.

She sat near Lyra protectively while listening to the distant chaos below.

“Sounds like Jesse Belle found somebody.”

A shotgun blast echoed.

Then another.

Then something exploded.

Lyra looked shaken.

“They’re really fighting the whole cult…”

Selene gently squeezed her shoulder.

“They protect their family.”

The word family clearly hit Lyra hard.

Gene noticed her eyes watering slightly again.

Then suddenly—

The lights flickered.

The entire hotel trembled.

A new scream echoed upward.

This one not from a cultist.

From one of the town mercenaries stationed outside.

Gene’s expression hardened instantly.

“They breached another entrance.”

Moira clutched her books tighter.

“How many more are there?!”

Cassian slowly drew his sword despite his injuries.

“More than there should be”

⸻

Mother Sarah Unleashed

Far below the library—

Mother Sarah hunted.

No longer graceful.

No longer gentle.

The cultists had cornered several schoolchildren hiding near the lower classrooms.

Their mistake.

One cultist raised a blade toward a crying child.

The hallway lights died instantly.

Darkness swallowed everything.

Then came the scratching.

Fast.

Wet.

Wrong.

The cultists froze.

“What was—”

A massive shape suddenly scurried backward across the ceiling.

Seven feet tall.

Limbs bent unnaturally.

Hair dragging upside down.

The monstrous face hidden behind black strands slowly split open.

Mother Sarah’s true form descended from the ceiling like a spider made of nightmares.

The cultists screamed.

Too slow.

She hit the first one hard enough to tear his upper body completely free from his legs.

Blood exploded across the walls.

The second cultist tried casting magic.

Mother Sarah moved so fast she appeared to teleport.

Her claws entered through the man’s mouth and exited the back of his skull.

The third attempted to flee.

Shadow tendrils grabbed his ankles.

Dragged him screaming backward.

Then the hallway filled with wet crunching sounds.

The children watched silently while the monster nun slowly rose back upright.

Blood dripped from her claws.

Her glowing eyes softened slightly as she turned toward them.

“Remember the classroom rules kids,” she said calmly.

“No horseplay in class.”

The children nodded instantly.

⸻

Waiting in The Library

Back upstairs, tension continued building.

The hotel itself felt alive tonight.

Angry.

Protective.

Gene kept watching the system map.

Red dots continued disappearing.

Then suddenly—

Three dots bypassed lower defenses entirely.

Gene’s eyes widened.

“They’re climbing the walls?”

Cassian stood immediately.

“They’re heading here.”

Aurelia summoned wind magic around her hands.

Moira grabbed enchanted scrolls.

Selene’s dragons roared somewhere above the hotel.

Lilith stood beside Lyra protectively.

The little monster queen looked strangely serious now.

Not childish.

Not playful.

Dangerous.

Gene activated the chaos armor partially.

Black slime crawled slowly across his arm.

Blue interface windows flashed rapidly.

HOSTILE TARGETS APPROACHING

The library ceiling creaked.

Everyone looked upward.

Silence.

Then—

CRASH.

The ceiling exploded inward.

Wood and stone rained downward.

A screaming cultist fell directly into the library clutching hooked chains.

Before anyone could react—

Two more cultists dropped behind him.

All wearing hollow white masks.

One immediately pointed toward Lyra.

“THERE!”

The lead cultist lunged.

Fast.

Far faster than Gene expected.

He grabbed Lyra violently by the arm while another cultist seized Lilith around the waist.

Lilith hissed instantly.

The cultist holding her suddenly screamed.

Black ravens exploded from her shadow—

Tearing flesh from his face.

But the third cultist raised a glowing blade toward Lyra’s throat.

“DON’T MOVE!”

The entire library froze.

Lyra trembled violently.

Lilith’s glowing eyes narrowed slowly.

And somewhere deep within the hotel—

Something enormous began roaring upward through the halls.