Page 7 of Icy Reception (SOS HOTEL #9)

CHAPTER 7

Zee spent the next hour signing body parts and posing for outrageous photos that would end up online as soon as the storm lifted, while Victor and I fielded an endless stream of well-wishers and fans of... us? When I’d faced Gideon Cain, it hadn’t occurred to me that eating a villain on live TV would make me famous. I was just some guy who happened to be part of a prophecy, and now all that was over I’d foolishly thought everything would go back to the way it had been before, when nobody spared me a second glance.

I’d been wrong.

We couldn’t hide from being us, so maybe if we played to our strengths instead of trying to hide them, we could figure out what was happening at the Stephanie Hotel and then be on our way before my brother tracked us down.

Once the furor in the bar had died down and the crowds moved off, Zee joined us at our table. It was early evening, and soon the doors to all the guest rooms would probably be locked again. But we had a plan for that.

“Can I ding it?” Zee asked, eyeing the bell like a cat stalking a mouse .

“Uh, no. We don’t want anyone knowing we have it.”

“Are you feeling better, Zodiac?” Victor leaned back, arms crossed, a picture of judgement except for the hint of a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

“Yes I am,” Zee said with pride. He’d vanished his wings and dulled his glow after the performance, which probably meant he had himself under control again. It may have been unreasonable of us to ask him to stay in the room while he was fired up.

“What happened to staying in the room?” I asked, keeping my tone light.

“I did that. Like you said. Then I left.”

“Oh?” Of course he had. I chuckled, loving him more for always being Zee. “And then what happened?”

“I tripped over an umbrella and fell onto that little bar over there, and what else was I supposed to do if not sing ‘Umbrella?’ I didn’t plan it; it just happened. Like fuckin’ fate. I cannot be held responsible for fate.”

“Right.”

Smirking, he leaner closer. “I had to do something or I was gonna make every person in this hotel pop. It was just one little show, to shake off the buzz you left me with. The alternative was gonna be fuckin’ messy.”

“Adam, look.” Victor had spread the tattered old cloth from the box on the table in front of him, and gently straightened it out, revealing a string of faded words. “There appears to be a message here.”

“Can you read it?”

“Is it a treasure map?” Zee asked, scooting on the chair beside Victor and shifting it closer.

Victor studied it some, then said, “ When silver kisses silver as day births anew, service echoes thrice through the halls, revealing paths once knew.”

“Chills. I have chills. Vic, you have the perfect spooky voice for this. You need to be narrating audiobooks, or on a late-night radio show, or just reading porn to me.”

“Aren’t you a little old to be read to?” Victor asked, playing along.

“Not with that voice.”

“Silver kisses?” I interrupted. Another riddle. “What does it mean? Should we get Tom back?”

“To summon Tom we’d have to steal the front desk phone again, and I suspect Larimer will not let us slip by him a second time. No, we must solve this on our own.”

“There you are...” Wesley the vampire dropped into the chair next to Zee’s. “I hear everyone knows the famous trio is among us now. Sorry I missed the coming out. What are you guys doing?”

“Where were you?” Zee asked, head tilted, eyes blinking innocently.

Wesley gave a short, confused laugh. “I took a look around the hotel floors before they shut them down again tonight.”

“Hm, suspicious vampire is suspicious.”

“Uh, why is that suspicious?”

“All suckers are suspicious, even Fancy Fangs. When I first met him, he was the lord of suspicious, and I knew he was up to sneaky shit. Turned out I was right.”

“Did he just... Victorveus, my lord, did he just call you?—”

“Fancy Fangs?” Victor quoted, his smooth voice making even those two words sound civilized. “Yes. Zodiac has an array of names for me, some more crude than others. I have found it’s best not to fight the inevitable, and instead just embrace Zodiac’s chaotic enthusiasm.”

Zee grinned, and stuck his middle finger up at Wesley. “Burn. ”

“Oh geez, I meant no disrespect. I’m finding it difficult to figure you all out, that’s all.”

“Nothing to figure out,” I said, hiding the bell behind my back. “We’re just us, on vacation, no mystery.”

“So...” Wesley leaned forward. “Later tonight, after they lock the doors, I reckon we can take a look around... together? Don’cha think?”

“How you gonna get out of your room, huh?” Zee asked him. “Maybe you have a key... because you’re suspicious and you work here?”

“Wedge it open before it locks. You guys were going to do the same, right?”

Zee looked at me.

“Yeah, I had actually thought of that.”

“See, Adam thought of that,” Zee echoed. “Anyway, I can poof out, and Fancy Fangs will turn into bats and fly through the vents, so it was never an issue for us.”

Wesley’s eyes widened. “You can turn into?—”

“No.” Victor cut him off.

“Just because we’ve never seen Shadow Daddy turn into bats, doesn’t mean he can’t.”

I was mostly certain Victor could not turn into bats, or he would have done so multiple times during our past encounters with the folks on my Bad People list.

“Do you think there’s a chance Eddie is still in the hotel somewhere?” Wesley asked.

“It’s possible.” Maybe the management kidnapped Eddie for the same reasons they were keeping the storm raging outside and guests locked up—we really needed to know what that reason was—or as it had been a few weeks, maybe Eddie was... unalive. Hopefully he had just upped and left, and maybe his phone battery had died and he hadn’t found a charger... for a long time .

A plastic wrapper rustling drew all our gazes to Zee. He’d unwrapped a lollipop and popped it between his lips.

“And it’s best we do not eat the food,” Victor reminded everyone and frowned harder at Zee.

“Uh-huh,” Zee said, sucking on his lollipop.

“Including lollipops.”

Zee grinned around the lollipop. “Watching you say lollipop is right up there with making you say genitals.”

“Zee, stop sucking the lollipop,” I said. “It’s drugged.”

“Nah, I’m good.” He popped it back in his mouth, then took it out again to say, “Tom’s always spiking my drinks. At this point, I’m better off with drugs than without.”

“Did you guys really foil the sorcerer and stop him from leveling San Francisco?” Wesley asked, his tone doubtful.

“I know it seems unlikely, but yeah. I know we don’t look like much, but together we are actually badasses. Okay, so, we have a plan. After lights out we meet... where?”

“Not the lobby, Larimer will see us.”

“The top-floor landing,” Victor said. “From there we shall split into pairs and investigate the hotel a floor at a time.”

“Alrighty. That’s my floor.” Wesley beamed. “I feel like we might be getting somewhere, finally. I’ve been on my own, trying to figure this out and getting nowhere. Thank you... all three of you, for your help.” He dipped his chin at Victor. “Especially you, Lord Reynard.”

“You know Daddy Spice is not the boss of us, right?” Zee asked. “If anyone is the boss, it’s Adam.”

Wesley winced. “Daddy uh . . . Spice?”

“Go with it.” I smiled.

“Whatcha got there?” Wesley asked Victor, as his gaze dropped to the cloth spread in front of him.

“It is?—”

“Don’t tell him,” Zee said, and pointed his lollipop at Wesley. “He’s a vampire. ”

“So am I,” Victor grumbled.

“Yeah, but he’s not in our trio of trust. No offense,” Zee said, clearly meaning to offend.

“Can I take a look?” Wesley asked, reaching for the cloth. “Maybe I can help?”

“Don’t do it,” Zee urged.

Victor looked to me, and I shrugged. We could use Wesley’s local knowledge on this, and we were the Heroes of San Francisco. He was just one vampire who’d be silly to try anything.

“Bad idea.” Zee folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

Victor slid the cloth across the table. “What do you make of this?”

“And nobody listens to the handsome demon... again. When you all come crying back to me because it turns out baby vampire Wesley is a backstabbing murdering psycho-sucker—no offense—imma say I told you so.”

“I’m not going to hurt you guys. I’m not even that powerful. I’m just looking for my friend.” Wesley studied the cloth, carefully laying it flat again, removing its crinkles.

“Zee has a lot of history with vampires, is all.”

“Which makes me a fucking expert.” He shoved the lollipop back between his lips and sucked aggressively.

“ Silver kisses ,” Wesley mumbled. “It’s almost like poetry. Service echoes thrice ? Service?” He looked up. “Did you find this in the hotel?”

“Nope,” Zee lied.

“Yes,” I corrected.

“Service and something echoing could be a bell of some kind? Like the pull-bells found in old hotels to summon the staff, right?”

“A bell?” Like the one I had behind my back. “Huh, that’s very interesting, isn’t it, Zee? ”

Zee rolled his eyes.

“Silver kisses could be maybe... striking that bell? Three times. Thrice is obviously three.”

“Indeed.” Victor leaned forward. “Do go on, Wesley.”

Zee muttered something incomprehensible around his lollipop, and eyed Wesley as though he’d like to shove the younger vampire into a closet. Preferably dead.

“Day births anew?” Wesley looked up. “Dawn?”

“Unlikely,” Victor rumbled. “As the precise time of dawn changes by incremental minutes every day.”

“Midnight—it’s midnight,” Zee blurted. He’d sucked the lollipop stick clean and tossed to onto the table. “Strike the bell three times at midnight to find a path.” He tilted his head and glared harder. “What? I do have a fuckin’ brain.”

“You just routinely choose not to use it.”

“You wanna get sassy with me, Daddy?!” Zee growled. His tail rattled now too. “Let’s go. Bring it. Right here. I’m ready.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Zodiac, are you quite alright?”

Zee was acting more sensitive than usual, although it didn’t ever take much to trigger him. “Wesley, can you give us some space? We’ll meet you on the top-floor landing just like we said.”

“Alrighty.” He handed me the cloth. “See you folks there.”

As soon as Wesley was out of earshot and nobody else appeared to be listening in, I turned to Zee—who was scowling, arms crossed, tail slapping the floor—and then to Victor who just seemed perplexed by it all. “Alright, look. Victor? Zee is having some difficulty with Wesley.”

“I can see that,” Victor grumbled. “Your prejudice against vampires is hindering our progress?—”

“Excuse-moi? My prejudice?”

“It’s not a vampire thing, Victor,” I butted in, before they got into a physical fight. “It’s a jealousy thing. ”

“A jealousy thing? How is Zodiac... Oh.” Victor stopped his own trail of thought and glanced after Wesley, then back to Zee’s grumpy face. “ I see. Wesley’s behavior toward me is making you uncomfortable?”

“No,” Zee groaned. “Maybe. He’s all Victorveus is great .” The whiny voice did not sound like Wesley at all. “ I will worship at your feet, oh wise, ancient one. He wants to fuck you—which I totally fuckin’ get. And he’s a vampire so... you know, he’s like you. Me and Adam are not vampires. And I might be having a tiny problem with feeling all kinds of fucked up and weird, which is a whole new fucking thing for me. I don’t do jealousy. Ever. Didn’t even know I could get jealous. It’s new and does not feel nice at all and I’m having a hard fuckin’ time?—”

Victor reached across the table and captured Zee’s hand in his, silencing him. “Zodiac.”

Zee stared at their hands.

“Look at me.”

His glittery purple eyes lifted to meet Victor’s silvery ones.

“I have never in countless centuries loved anyone the way I love you and Adam. The love I feel for you both is a heartfelt, visceral piece of me that cannot be unseated or dislodged on a whim. It has become a part of my being... dare I say even my soul. I simply do not exist and cannot function without you.”

Zee’s eyes grew wider with each of Victor’s words. He wasn’t used to being loved, none of us were, and sometimes that made us crazy. “You can’t function without me?” he whispered.

“Nothing will ever come between us.”

All the silly humor and overacting fell from Zee’s expression, leaving him open and vulnerable. He nodded and gave Victor’s hand a squeeze. “I uh...” He cleared his throat. “Just so you know, when this little treasure hunt is over, we’re gonna discuss this some more. Vigorously. Naked.”

“Of course.” Victor’s lips ticked.

They were so cute together.

“Ding-dong! Please return to your rooms for your own safety. Have a lovely, restful night’s sleep at the Stephanie Hotel.”

The guests seated around us all got up and headed for the lobby, as though being sent to their rooms was entirely normal. I watched them amble off leaving half-finished drinks and snacks behind. They were drugged. Not enough to be obvious, but enough to make them suggestible. Drugs didn’t work too well on me or Victor—and he rarely ate much anyway, unless it was from my veins—and Zee was Zee, who probably functioned better when drugged anyway. But even the other Lost Ones here seemed to be impacted.

“This hotel is creepy as fuck,” Zee mumbled, rising to his feet now we were the last to leave the bar.

I wrapped the cloth around the bell, keeping it out of sight from the bartender clearing the tables, and hurried after Zee, with Victor trailing us.

Back in our hotel room, now damp from the sprinklers, we used a small trash can to wedge open the door. The sound of the lock snicking was our cue to begin sleuthing.

“Looks like Wes is a no-show,” Zee said, leaning against the top-floor balustrade. “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it soon. Midnight is five minutes away.”

“Alright, uhm... so let’s start without him. Where do we ring the bell?”

“Reception.” Victor said. “The concierge bell needs to be rung on the front desk, where it would originally have been situated.”

“Okay, and if Larimer is there?”

“Leave Larry to me,” Zee said.

As it turned out, Larimer was not at the front desk, and exactly the same as the previous night when Zee had done his walkabout, the hotel was weirdly quiet.

I scooted behind the desk and set the silver bell down next to its cheaper counterpart. The original gleamed as though glowing from within, although that could just have been the light from the chandelier.

Victor eyed the clock on the wall. “Two minutes.”

“Would you like to ding it, Zee?” I asked.

“Hell yes!” He cracked his knuckles, spun a hand, and hovered it over the bell.

“Not yet,” I warned, when he looked as though he was about to pounce.

“One minute,” Victor counted down.

Heavy, thumping footfalls sounded on the stairs, gradually descending, and we all turned our heads to stare toward the curved staircase. The descending steps thumped some more and a rich, throaty, grumbling laughter bubbled up. The figure who finally emerged had the same hulking mass as the person I’d seen enter our hotel room—the person who should be dead and packed in a closet.

The axe in his hand gleamed.

The dead guy was very alive.

“Trespassers,” the man hissed, raising his axe over his shoulder. With a sudden twitch, he flung the axe, sending it spinning through the air toward Zee.