Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ The Crimson Hotel ❯ Room 706 ( Chapter 2 )

"What the hell was that!?" Sakaki exclaimed as Amon swept past him, heading out the front door of the warehouse.

"I know what is sounded like!" Dojima giggled, "But then why would Amon be fleeing like that? Like he's leaving the scene of an accident or something?"

Sakaki's eyes glazed over and he put a hand on her back, "Whatever it was, it sure got me hot." He looked at his watch. "There are, technically, a few minutes before we regroup…" Dojima slapped him briskly across his cheek.

"Hey! This isn't a porno, you know!" She yelled, walking away from the bathroom towards one of the many tables set up around the large room. Sakaki rubbed his aching face.

"You could have fooled me".

Robin couldn't seem to compose herself, no matter how hard she tried. It had all been so sudden, so unexpected. She had never experienced so much pleasure in her life, yet the whole thing had confused her immensely. She knew that the others were probably starting to return to work, yet leaving the bathroom would make everything that just happened seem so surreal. She wanted the encounter etched safely in her memory: his eyes, studying her for what seemed like eternity; his hair, falling over his face in dark shadows of black; the way his face looked as he surrendered to her. It was as if some battle that had been brewing in his mind had temporarily ceased. She knew that she loved him now, and would do anything she could not to lose him. She took a few deep breaths, and headed back to her computer terminal.

Everyone had returned to their duties, looking mildly more refreshed than when they had left for break. Dojima kept filing her nails and giggling, and Sakaki looked mildly uncomfortable, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. She had half expected everything in the world to have suddenly changed, but life went on as usual, of course, in the STNJ. She scanned the room for Amon and saw him over in the corner, directing Michael, trying to dig up any extra information they could about the hotel itself. He looked as if nothing had happened. Robin wondered if she really had just imagined the whole thing. She stood there, awkwardly for a moment.

"Robin", Amon interrupted, noticing her standing inanimate a few feet away, "Help Karasuma sort through the data files." She blushed a scarlet red for a moment, then sat down at her terminal and started loading the suspect profiles. Nothing had changed. Everything had changed.

"It looks as if all the activity centers around just two floors, floors seven and fifteen. The seventh floor was where the guests were all found dead in their beds. The fifteenth is where the mass suicides took place. They closed down the hotel last night, so it's completely abandoned now. We've been given access to the building, so we can begin investigating whenever we're comfortable with the information we have". Michael scratched his head.

"We have very little information at this time. We should send a small team on a scouting mission while we continue to sort through the data files here." Amon looked about the room slowly, "Miho and Sakaki will scout the hotel. We're only a few buildings away, so we can respond quickly if you encounter anything too dangerous. Keep us alert on any new information you find inside the hotel. We need to narrow down our suspects and get a better idea of what we're dealing with."

Miho and Sakaki nodded briskly and readied themselves to enter the hotel for the first time. There were only a few hours now before dawn, and the team knew there would be many sleepless hours in their future. The sooner they got the initial scouting done, the sooner they could all be comfortable in their beds. They grabbed their coats and headed towards the mysterious hotel, taking very little comfort in the distance between HQ and the hotel itself. If there was something lurking there that they couldn't handle, it would overcome them before the others could run out the front door.

Miho used the key the hotel management had provided to enter the lobby of the building. The lobby was cool and very dark, but they could make out the ornate luxury that seemed to touch every object in the hotel. She could see how the history of the hotel could dissuade people from staying here, and yet she could also see how a person would risk it. There was something utterly enchanting about the place, how it so effortlessly combined traditional Japanese style with an extravagance that was entirely European. She could hear Sakaki walking cautiously behind her.

"Do you want to take a look down here first or head right for the scene of the crime?" He asked, scratching his nose.

"Let's head to the seventh floor. We can't afford to waste any time".

Miho grabbed the universal room card from the front desk and they walked down the red carpeted hallway towards the elevator. She hesitantly pressed the number seven, and the floor lit up ominously on the elevator keypad. Sakaki cleared his throat.

"I kind of have to find a bathroom…soon", he blushed.

"Why didn't you go during the break?" Miho asked, exasperated.

"It was kind of in use."

"There are three stalls!"

"It was in use…. Look, it will only take a second."

She sighed, "It's dangerous for us to be separated, you know!"

"Well, you can sit in one of the rooms, while I use the bathroom. It will only take a second and you can call me if you see anything strange."

"Fine. But you really do have to be quick about this."

Miho slid the card into the door for room 706, and they slowly entered the room.

"Wow, this hotel is nicer than I thought," she exclaimed, sitting on the bed. Sakaki entered the bathroom. The room was completely in order, meaning nobody had died here the night before. When the hotel staff had found the occupants of the seventh floor only hours after the tragedy on the fifteenth floor, utter chaos had ensued. Perhaps people had calmed themselves, thinking that the people who had jumped to their deaths had known each other and were involved in some sort of suicide pact. They hadn't known each other, of course. But when housekeeping had discovered the bodies dead in their rooms, there was no question that something terrible was happening in this place, and people ran from the building in complete terror. Any room that had been slept in was left a disheveled mess, though all of the bodies had been promptly removed. Funny, the coroner's team hadn't noted anything unusual. It was as if the entire floor really had just died in their sleep. And the process of actually collecting the bodies had been uneventful. Nobody had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. She yawned and looked at her watch, 4:43. Damn, she was tired. When was the last time she had gotten any sleep? It had been almost 24 hours. She desperately wanted to go home and take a relaxing bath. She smelled a sweet odor coming from somewhere indiscernible and laid back on the bed. It smells like bubble bath, she thought, and could almost feel the warm suds surrounding her body. A sweet lullaby swept over her as she felt her eyes close.

Sakaki shoved the little soaps he found on the sink into his pocket. You can't afford soaps like these on a first-year hunter's salary, he thought, sniffing one of them. He urinated pleasantly, humming softly to himself. Damn, those soaps smelled great. Their scent seemed to fill the entire room. He thought, momentarily, about jerking off quickly in the bathroom, and quickly decided against it. There would be time for that later, he thought, cursing the noises he had heard pouring out of the bathroom back at HQ. How great it would have been to be a fly on the wall….He zipped up his pants and opened the bathroom door without washing his hands. He turned to gather Miho from off the bed, when he noticed her lying down as if asleep. He again felt unclean thoughts pass through his mind, before he noted how out of character that was for her. She wouldn't do a thing like that, he thought. It wasn't like her to fall asleep on the job. It was then that he saw the dark shadow looming ominously above her. He gasped and grabbed for his communicator.

"Amon, Robin… we've found something. We need help ASAP. Hurry!" He stammered.

"Sakaki, where are you?" He heard Amon ask, a note of frantic concern in his voice.

Sakaki saw the shadow turn towards him, revealing cold dead eyes in a shapeless black face. Its dark mouth pulled back in a sort of grotesque grin. He screamed for what felt like an eternity.

"We've lost contact!" Michael yelled, typing hurriedly into the computer, "Let me try to track their location." Michael ceased his efforts and looked at the others with a sense of doom in his eyes, "They're on the seventh floor".