He Strikes at the Hotel

Chapter Fifty Three

It was always going to end up here.

Zachery had been personally tormented by these two delusional men. Anyone who got even somewhat close to him, had to go. That's why I was the prime target right now. I thought back to when Zachery had come to my room and told me about the blood that was left in his sink, like a warning. It was sickening even thinking about it, the way that this genuinely caring and thoughtful human being was made to be subject to this kind of evil. They were always going to come back here. After I was finished with, this is where they would have come. For him.

The third floor was always pretty quiet; that's why it was a popular choice for those higher class guests who wished for their privacy. However, tonight, with the whole Grand Ball ceasing to exist, there was no more humble buzz trailing through the building from the voices or the performance. The performance which I did not get to see a second of.

Everyone was out of the building except for us five, with Jared and Jeremy presumably lurking about somewhere in the shadows.

Zachery was the one to get out his door key as we approached his room, not even hesitating before sticking it in the lock. I would of thought we would have had a plan in place in case they were in there, maybe a team meeting as such? But no. Nothing. Zachery unlocked the door within a split second, and pushed the door open with more force than usual, but not enough to look over exaggerated. It was definitely enough to alert anyone that we had arrived.

Giles and the other guards all entered first, with more caution than what Zachery had, as he just waltzed in casually behind them as if we weren't looking for two murderers. By the look on his face, it was clear that Zachery had had enough of this, and wanted to find Jared and Jeremy simply to give him a piece of his mind. I had not seen Zachery lose his temper as of yet, but I could easily imagine that it would be like a volcano.

I followed suit, entering the room where everyone else was now standing still, taking in everything around them to see if anything was out of place. I could see that nothing had changed, even since the first day Zachery had arrived. The room looked pristine. For a moment I forgot everything around me and was lost in my own bubble where I was completely impressed by Zachery's cleanliness. I snapped myself out of my usual chambermaid mind, and began to think of what we were to do next.

I was certain they would be here. But now it looked as if I was wrong, so I needed to think of where our next port of call would be.

The room felt uncomfortable. Everyone was on edge, even though there was contained anger within all of the men in this room, it still felt... Wrong. Something was wrong. Zachery was carefully going through his room trying to look for something, even though I had no idea what he was looking for, and I'm pretty sure neither did he. Giles, Jonathan and Andrew were huddled together, seemingly having a group pep talk and preparing their next moves, all looking like their feathers had been well and truly flustered.

I was the only one who seemed to be pondering. I felt lost. What could I possibly do right now to make anything better? I couldn't make situations worse, surely... So I decided to do what Zachery was doing, looking around to see if anything was out of place.

It was dark out, so Zachery's lavish suite was only lit by the candles and oil lamps on the walls, which created unknown monsters who danced along the walls, watching us. The flickering lights were relaxing if you stared at them, you got lost in their movements and warm appearance. I fell victim to this and was distracted instantly. The dark wood and burgundy curtains added to the warm atmosphere, making this room all too cosy for the purpose of tonight. I just wanted to sink into the large, soft four poster bed that was in the middle of the room, looking untouched. It was calling me. I wondered if that was just the chloroform coming back up to taunt me, but I soon realised that my sleep deprivation was real, and once this was over I was pretty sure I would sleep for a week straight. I couldn't imagine Nerissa minding me having some time off of work after finding out the ins and outs of the past couple weeks.

A sudden crash whipped me out of my sleepy thoughts, and I looked around at the others quickly to see who the culprit was. However, we were all looking at each other with the same curiosity, and concern. No one had moved, and no one had touched anything. The guards were all still huddled together from their conversation, and Zachery was still flicking through books from his desk. Nothing was breakable, and that sound definitely seemed to originate from something breaking.

My eyes grew wide, as I realised no one had checked the bathroom of Zachery's room. That's where the blood was found before, wasn't it? No doubt they had a lot to clear up after today. Why had we not checked in there before, instead of just assuming it was clear because it was quiet? I felt stupid in that moment, as if we had wasted even more time whilst the building was catching on fire.

We all had the same realisation as each other, but I was the fastest to run over to the bathroom door. The men didn't even get a chance to react before I grabbed onto the handle and threw the door open with determination in my eyes.

I was disappointed with what I saw, nothing. But I was so certain...

I let out a long sigh and turned around to put my back to the bathroom, deciding that it would be best for us to look elsewhere, as we were getting no where fast in here. Zachery looked at me with heartfelt eyes, obviously sensing my exhaustion through my tired eyes. Giles, Andrew and Jonathan had gone back to speaking once they were confident that it was safe, but Giles' eyes kept darting over in my direction quizzically. I wasn't really sure why, unless he was still suspicious.

I tried to catch his eye in between his darting glares so that we could all have a chance to speak together about what to do next. His eyes came back to my direction, however, this time they stayed stuck to somewhere behind me, expanding more than I thought possible, before opening his mouth wide.

"Audrey Rose!" Giles yelled at full volume, startling me to the point where I didn't move, I wasn't sure what was happening until I saw everyone begin to rush towards me, before I felt two strong arms wrap around my chest and shoulders. Then there was that horrid knife again, pushed against my throat for the second time today, cold and sharp.

I was drained, frustrated, angry, upset, scared, furious and anything else within the human emotional spectrum. I think that's why when the room fell silent, I just laughed, a slightly psychotic laugh I must say, as if I was amused by the situation and wanted to taunt them all.

"One more step gentleman, and your dear Audrey Rose will suffer a great deal. Do you really wish to watch that happen?" Jeremy spoke this tauntingly from next to me, whilst Jared tightened his grasp on me, so I could feel the disgusting beads of sweat which had formed across his whole body. "And I must say, I would take great pleasure in it after we were left in a pickle downstairs because of her and yourself." Jeremy added whilst looking directly at Zachery.

This was the first time the two brothers had been face to face since this all came out. Jeremy was taking some kind of sick pleasure in it, but Zachery looked heartbroken, hurt and hungry for revenge.

Zachery looked at his brother for a long moment, before following my lead, with a large grin growing on his face from ear to ear as he began to laugh. He laughed at them both, even slapping his knee to emphasise what he was doing. It was a curious sight. Jeremy and Jared both cocked a brow as they watched his show, but Jeremy was growing tired of it quicker than imagined.

"ENOUGH!" Jeremy bellowed so loud it made my ears ring, and it felt as if the room shook. Please Zachery, don't anger him when I can feel the knife digging into my throat... Please...