He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter One

Author's note 📝

Thank you to everyone who reads this - I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. I will update regularly throughout the week as this is my favourite hobby. Please vote and leave comments to let me know what you think, your feedback is always appreciated. ❣️🌹

All Rights Reserved © Danielle Clarke 2019

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I was walking along the third floor corridor to room 34, gathering my supplies from my store cupboard along the way, when I had the strangest feeling I was being watched. It was a dark winter morning, with the oil lanterns on the walls barely making a dent in the thick darkness holding onto every inch of the space.

"Audrey Rose, will you please hurry up! We need to finish the chambers before the Duke arrives!" Nerissa ordered this as if her life depended upon it. She was a quiet girl in her usual life, however today was different.

Today, a Duke was staying at the Great Victoriana, the hotel both Nerissa and I worked as chambermaids in, and not just any Duke at that, but the one and only, the magnificent, Duke Zachery, the Duke which every upper class woman hoped would be her suitor. He was handsome, charming and clever, and had every woman besotted with him within the very first moment of their meeting. However, I happened to think of him as rude, and utterly intolerable but Nerissa was excited and I didn't want to ruin that for her.

Being a lady from a small town, strict parents and working most hours at the hotel, this was about as exciting as it got for Nerissa. Her calm and careful demeanour never faltered, always having a perfectly quaint smile on her face and sweet tone in her voice, so by her showing some frantic emotion today, I could tell she was entirely out of her comfort zone. Due to this, I thought it wise to do as she asked, she was good to me and I needn't add any further stress to her day.

I headed towards the laundry room to get the sheets Nerissa seemed desperate for, which unfortunately was below the ground floor and was only accessible by the highly unreliable lift, which had the caged doors of a prison cell and the same uneasy feel to it. When I closed the rusty shutters of the lift, it was like they laughed in a deep hum at my entrapment.

Going from the third floor to the basement level didn't take long, however it was long enough to start hearing whispers through the walls as I sank lower down, with the flickering light of my lantern creating monsters out of shadows, who were poking fun at the feared expression I unwittingly held on my face.

Once I reached the basement and opened the lift shutters, I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. I began across the hall towards the laundry room door, going past the empty maintenance workshop, where there were scattered tools along every work surface; discarded bits of parchment thrown on the floor; dirty ashtrays lingering a scent of old smoke; and indecipherable scrawling on the walls, which was most likely invention ideas gone wrong. I never liked the feeling of being down here. It was always much colder than the rest of the building, which shouldn't be a surprise being the basement, but it always hit you hard and made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, as if someone blew an icy breath down your spine.

"Sheets, bathrobe and towels, sheets, bathrobe and towels..." I repeated out loud to myself, partially to remind myself of my purpose, but mainly to make me feel more at ease. It was ridiculous, but I swear I could hear movement from somewhere, and the maintenance men were never here at these early hours.

Just at that moment, there was an almighty bang of a door being slammed shut.

"Merciful heavens!" I couldn't help but shout in my shock, shaking slightly from the adrenaline that it brought. I was never one to run away in the face of fear, no matter how much trouble it caused me. It was quiet and dark in the hall, with only my lantern lighting my path, with the lanterns on the walls close to dying out.

"I must remember to refill the oil later on." I noted aloud to myself. "Firstly, I am getting the mysterious Duke's laundry, then getting out of here." I walked faster towards the laundry room door, and once I approached it I could see that it was this door that had slammed shut. This was strange, as there were no windows down here to cause a strong breeze, only the slight draft that hung to the air as stubbornly as a stain embedded in cotton.

I opened the door sheepishly, peering through the crack as I edged the door open further. It was dismal, and had a strange bitter aroma in the room. I leaned myself in, forcing myself to ignore my nagging caution, and continued over to the shelves holding my goal. I grabbed the sheets hastily, not bothering over the creases I may cause, Nerissa would be too preoccupied to notice this anyway.

As I was within reaching distance of the door, I heard a deep breath exhale behind me. It was as deep as the darkest depths of the ocean and didn't sound human, but it was real, as I felt the air prick against the back of my neck. I spun round ready to launch the closest thing to me at the intruder, which in my case, was unfortunately bed sheets. Beggars can't be choosers I suppose. However, when I turned round, there was no one there, not even a mouse, only the darkness staring straight back towards me, questioning me as I looked around in confusion.

The shelves began to tremble, silently at first, then growing into a loud cracking sound of the wood splintering, with the faint but unmistakable sound of a male voice:

"Get out. Get out." It warned, with urgency in it's voice, and with this, the shelves halted, and all went silent...