Façade (AHS: Hotel)

Chapter 14

"Stay still."

Angela had pulled up her pant leg in order for the claw gashes and teeth punctures to be cleaned and dressed with proper implements, and Iris was the one to do it. She had to fight the hunger for her addiction to blood as she cleaned the injuries and put an antibiotic on each, wrapping her leg in gauzy bandage. The treatment was indeed excruciating, but having to scurry down the hallway with the other four into Liz's hotel room made it feel much worse.

"OW!" she winced.

"It's okay," Iris said, finishing the bandage wrapping. "You're all set."

Meanwhile, Liz, Donovan and Ramona struggled to clean the bloody mess left by Tristan's corpse on the floor, patting down the carpet first with paper towels before scrubbing it heavily with bleach. However, this only made it worse because there was a patch of carpet made lighter than the surrounding area as a result.

"Damn, this boy sure left a stain," Ramona said.

"The one you're after killed Tristan," Angela added.

"Oh, we know. It's no surprise to us. We know what she is capable of," the woman of color said trivially. "And we know what you are capable of, too."

"What do you mean?"

"You killed Bartholomew," Iris said, sitting next to Angela on the edge of Liz's bed and seeing her son and their allies washing the floor of blood. She looked back at her and continued, "you might as well just have a place with us. If she knows it was you who killed him, she will want your blood and hunt you down so hard until she gets it."

"You in trouble if she ain't fed in a day or two," Ramona said, dropping a soiled paper towel into the trash bag as she stood up.

"So, she's like a vampire?" the brunette asked, looking to Donovan and then to Iris, "and you are, as well?"

"We are afflicted, sugar," Ramona said, answering her question. "We are people, too. We just carry an ancient virus which allows us to live for eternity, never age, and we must feed on blood to survive."

"Then...how come you don't l-look like you want to eat me like a burger right now?" Angela asked curiously. "U-Unless...you—"

"We know better," Iris said, finishing her train of thought.

"Because now, we are a team," Donovan added emphatically with a hint of feist, looking at Ramona, then Liz, and then his mother and Angela sitting on the edge of the suite bed. "You are one of us now, Angela."

"You did what I didn't get to do," Ramona finished, "which I didn't like but...I do at the same time. That baby was her only pride and joy, not those kids she's kept cooped up in those coffins."

I helped Alex destroy them, thought Liz as he struggled to refrain from saying anything that would incriminate him.

"But why are you getting revenge?" Angela asked curiously, an eyebrow cocked up as she listened to her speak.

"In the seventies," Ramona explained, catching the brunette's attention as she sat in the chair that accompanied the vanity table, "I was the queen of them all. I had come to Hollywood with barely a high school education and no prospects. It wasn't long before I was a star. My pictures grossed ten to fifteen times what they cost to produce. Somebody was making money, and it just wasn't me. They call what we did B-movies. I wanted more, but many roles wanted white women to play the lead. One night, a casting director meets with me in the bar of this hotel, and in the distance, I see Elizabeth saying how much it was an honor to meet me."