Chapter 25 - Our stay in the hotel

{Samantha}

Hi, my name is Samantha, let me tell you my little story, I was an average teenager girl, but the main word is “Was”, because a fucking Werewolf though it was a good idea to turn me and a few other people into werewolves as well.

My girlfriend(Carmen) was one of such people.

We been going through this together.

Both of us were living in the streets with a few other people who were in similar situations, we had a life before being turned into werewolves but it turned upside down as it wasn't easy suddenly being monsters, we became especially close to a brother and sister duo and the sister's boyfriend, unlike us they were turned into vampires, but just like us it against their will.

The sister's boyfriend was called Jacob. He was the one with the most initiative and courage of the group, he was the one who was looking around the city for a cheap place for us to stay, after a month on the streets Jacob went out and disappeared for a few hours as usual.

But to our surprise he returned with good news, he had found a place for us!

But with the good news, he started to tell how strange and “too good to be true” it all was.

He supposedly found a place that could serve anything you can ask for, which strangely included human blood. We were skeptical about it, why wouldn't we? It was exactly what we needed, Jacob even told us that the lady who runs the place also accepts some blood as payment, which we had in abundance, differently from money.

He also talked about how scary the lady was and how strange the hotel itself was, it was basically empty and was impossibly huge on the inside.

The strangest part is that he got the equivalent of a 7 star room for a month just for a measly 200 ml of his blood.

It was really too good to be true, but there was basically no harm in trying this hotel out, the worst that could happen was us going back to the streets, so we decided to believe Jacob and follow him to this seemingly perfect hotel.

Once we arrived there, except for the fact that it was in the middle of a deserted alley with basically nothing outside of a few pant vases and a welcome mat, it was very normal looking, the reception room I mean.

The supposedly scary lady was working as a receptionist, we talked a bit, but she gave us a warning Jacob mentioned earlier and she indeed looked scary when giving it out.

We traded our blood for a stay at the hotel and it was just like Jacob had described, the lady did the thing with bottles filling themselves with blood from no apparent source.

Once the formalities were done, we quickly ran to the dining hall the lady mentioned and the one Jacob babbled about.

Yup, it was impossibly huge for the building it was on, but I myself didn't let that distract me, my attention was on the food counters, our group been basically starving for a month since we got turned into… this, I was tempted to just grab food with my hands and shove them into my mouth, but something I quite can't put my finger on made me throw that idea out the window and pick a plate and start filling it with meat, my girlfriend did the same but the sister(Ana) & brother(Richard) duo went directly for the thermic bottles with a straw on them, I had a good guess as to what was inside the bottles.

We ended eating a lot of food, I don't even know how all that food could fit inside us, I am certain we ate at least half our own weight in food, but we just put that detail aside and went to our new room, from what the little Jacob and the lady told us, the “room” had at least four bedrooms so me and my girlfriend were thinking that it was four very small rooms like the ones on those mini hotels in Japan we saw on the tv.

But once we opened the door to the “room” I was surprised as instead of a normal hotel room, there was a luxurious and spacious apartment instead! It could easily accommodate a family of 5 or six, and that was only the living room and the kitchen!

Jacob was giving a tour of the apartment and we arrived at the bedrooms, they seemed to be normal sized based on the space between the doors on the hallway, but once we opened the doors, oh boy, they were impossibly big based on the space the apartment should have! That must be the weird thing Jacob was talking about.

But we wouldn't bite the hand that fed us so we didn't question it, because if vampires and werewolves were real, who says a hotel with impossible rooms can't be real?

But putting that detail aside, Carmen went to take a look at the big closet in the bedroom we chose to ourselves, and to both of our surprises the closet was full! It had clothes both for Carmen’s size and mine! Taking the obvious strange part out, it was still strange that the lady was being this generous to a group of strangers.

Once we were done inspecting the clothes, me and Carmem looked at each other, then to the bed that looked like it would cost at least a million by how fluffy and comfortable it seems, and we couldn't resist the temptation and jumped under the covers and to the surprise of no one immediately fell asleep.

…

That was 11 days ago, since then a few things happened, one of them was that the lady told to us her name, “Inanis Revna”, another is that she hired our group as “game testers” and as the name implies, we only need to play/test games and make reports about them to the lady, the job pays well.

The lady also stays in the dining hall and tell stories to us from time to time, they are mostly about her wife or her daughter but they still quite interesting to hear, and from her stories, she lived in a fantastical place that is not anywhere near here, there is dragons, elf's, dwarves and other fantastical creatures heard about similar places from other people like us.

But the most interesting thing that happened was that the lady started giving lessons to our group and a few other people we showed this hotel to, the lessons were mainly about how to get in touch, understand, connect and control our “other side”, for us werewolves it was our inner wolf in most cases, for the vampires it was their inner beast and hunger, and most interestingly, for Raven it was her demonic side, from what we understood, it seems that not only Raven is the daughter of some demon, but the lady also adopted her.

It is unclear the motivations the lady had by doing everything she did, but we noticed that she is a nice person, her lessons are helping us greatly and she gave us a huge support in whatever we asked and needed, and despite the strange hotel, strange guests and her strange background, she is rather “normal” but something we don't got that accustomed with is that she sometimes acts like a wise old woman and other times she acts like your typical teenager.

Me and Carmen were even thinking of asking her if she had one of those magical potions for us. We wanted to try something and I am sure she would give it to us if we asked, we were planning to ask for it during lunch, which is going to happen in an hour or two.

_________

{Bruce}

Since I accepted the invitation from Inanis to take a look at the “not suspicious at all” hotel, I have been having a very good life, a strange life, but good nonetheless, after all, she is basically giving out food as much you can eat and a luxurious apartment for basically free.

I was surprised when I discovered that Raven was also invited to the hotel, I had suspicions about it, among other things, because I don't know if Inanis does this on purpose or not, but she often does suspicious or strange looking things, even if you take the strange hotel part out, she still talks about strange topics, she has that strange twin thing going on, she somehow got a identity for Raven and even more strangely, she adopted Raven as her daughter, based on what Raven told me, they only met a day before she was adopted.

When I asked Inanis if it was really a good idea to adopt her when she barely knew Raven and Raven barely knew her, her  response was “I have seen enough to know her well, and from what I have seen she was kind of similar to my daughter, which pretty much sealed the deal, and she also accepted me”

When I heard that, I couldn't help but facepalm and ask “What you could have possibly seen that made you think that it was a good idea for you to adopt her?”

Guess her answer.

It was “Her soul”

I thought I heard it wrong so I asked “Her soul? What you mean by “her soul”?

She said “I mean exactly that, I saw her soul, the thing that is the essence of who she is, the thing that makes her, her, that's generally a pretty good indicator of who a person is”

Of course she can see souls! 

It's been a few days since I started staying in this hotel, and outside of Raven's adoption, the only other notable things were that Inanis started giving lessons to the young people who arrived at the hotel later than me. 

When I talked with some of those people they told me that they were vampires and werewolves and were learning to control their “other side”, they said something about “inner wolves” and “inner beasts”, but it was a little confusing so I quite didn't get what they were talking about. 

But something that I was surprised about was that Raven also was taking those lessons!

When I asked her why, she was a little hesitant to tell me why but she ended saying to me the reason.

She hesitated a bit before she said “I think it better for to know… I am taking these lessons because I have a “other side” to me”

I asked “You are a vampire or werewolf too?”

She continued by saying “No… I… It's my biological father, he's a demon, a pretty bad one”

This was the thing that shocked me the most during my stay at the hotel, and I was clearly shocked as I asked “Demon? Like the ones described in the bible? They are real?”

It was a dumb question, even after seeing everything I saw on the hotel I still had doubts about demons existing.

When Raven was about to answer, Inanis suddenly answered from behind me.

“Demons are real, they aren't exactly like the ones in the bible, but some are. Before you ask, angels are real too, and just like the demons, they aren't exactly like in the stories”

I asked the question anybody in my shoes would ask.

“So what about heaven and hell?”

Inanis answered calmly as if what she was talking about wasn't the answer to one of the biggest questions humanity had since it started.

“They do exist in a way, in fact, there are multiple afterlifes, heavens and hells, the one you go mostly depends on what you believe, for example, there is the Nordic Valhalla and hel, and there is the Egyptian afterlife, where you have your heart weight against a feather and all of that”

I was holding to the best I could the urge to faint, and as I looked to Raven it seems like it was news to her too by the face she was making.

Then it scaped my mouth by accident.

“Oh my god”

It wasn't a question but Inanis answered all the same.

“Don't know which one you are talking about, but they probably exist, while basically  all of them aren't the “all powerful and omnipotent, omnipresent or omniscient god”, there is one who created everything, but I don't know about him that much”

I asked what I indeed should have asked.

“Why are you talking like this?”

She asked somewhat confused “Like what?”

“As if it is not something important! You just confirmed the existence of heaven and hell, angels and demons, and god!”

She shrugged and said “Because it's not important, it's really rare for you to encounter a angel or demon normally, and do you really think your average person is going to meet their god? Let alone The God.” 

I couldn't help but be skeptical about it, but she perceived it and continued her explanation.

“Let's use the God who created everything  most humans worship as an example, can you really see yourself meeting such important person? But let's assume you two meet, what it will change? What it will change for you? For him? For anybody else? What you are going to do when you meet him? Ask for a hug or something? And most importantly, what made you think he is anything like your religion described?”

She was making some sense, but was also making me really think this through.

“Those that have the privilege of meeting the God are very very important people, important to the universe, not important to humans”

She had to pour a metaphorical bucked of ice water over me to finish me off.

“And I have to burst your bubble, but, most lesser gods are trash, outside of a few exceptions, they are all trash” 

“They care little to the believers who worship them and only care if they are being worshiped or not, those gods see themselves as higher beings that deserve to be worshiped by the lesser ones(Essentially anything that can't kill them) and believe they are impossibly higher than their believers that in their eyes are worse than trash and lesser than an ant”

“Of course there are a few pantheons that are a exception for this, but even them have gods who are trashy people between them”

I felt like I needed to say something, it was almost like a instinct i couldn't resist. So I gave into the instinct without noticing it.

“You talk as if you are an expert on gods or something”

She calmly justified herself and seemingly took no offense.

“I am no expert, but I can talk with confidence on the subject for two reasons, the first is that I know quite a bit about the gods from around here. I never met them in person but you could say I know their stories and the choices they made during certain situations. The second reason is that I met a dozen or so gods from where I lived, something I quickly learned was that the gods were basically a reflection of their believers and the contrary was also true, with the human gods being some of the worst I met”

Raven that was silent, got surprised and asked “You met gods before?! It wasn't something almost impossible to happen?”

Inanis again answered as if it was something unimportant.

“Yes I have, what I said was that meeting The God was basically impossible, The God who created everything, meeting lesser gods is rare but still not that rare if you think about it, and it was inevitable for me because those gods needed to make sure I wouldn't cause trouble for them, as causing chaos is what my kind does best, I also met some of them for other reasons, I even became friends with some of them and still talk with them to this day, my favorite was the black panther goddess of the beastkins, she represented family and love”

Raven had a “o” shaped mouth hearing that, I myself was dumbfounded.

That was the most shocking day of my life, starting that day I started to put more attention on the stories Inanis told as I am sure she is going drop more earth shattering news as if it was the most common thing ever and simply gloss over them.

Another thing that happened during my stay was that Inanis invited me to work as a game tester like the youths, but I refused, I don't have the skills to use those computers or play games. I chose to stay at my current job.

I got curious so I decided to participate in one of those lessons with the youths, it was somewhat… not what I was expecting, the lessons were basically sitting on the ground of one of the soccer fields of the hotel in one of those yoga positions and meditating, not those meditations where the person goes “mmmmm” but it was more of a silent one where all they did was follow Inanis instructions silently.

The strange part is that I think that each person was hearing different instructions because as I was looking to the youths they were making different faces at different times, some were even transforming in bat like monsters and some were transforming into wolf like ones and Raven was becoming red, growing a pair of antlers and a new set of eyes, but they all stayed still even while transforming so I guess these lessons are working for them, but it did not work for me like it did to them, I asked about it to Inanis and she simply said “The reason is simple, you don't have a “other side” like them, but those lessons can help with you mental state, it can help if you have emotional problems or multiple personalities” that explained a few things.

Those lessons I went to, happened a day ago, today it was my day off and I am going to the dining hall for lunch. Inanis said she was going to bake special cookies and cakes as a celebration for something, I am quite curious how they will taste because the food she serves normally is already delicious.

_______

{Ardia}

Me and Geralt have been here for 11 days now, and it's the strangest place we encountered until now, but it's strange because of how normal it is, except for the space inside being bigger than the outside, food appearing at the dining hall out of nowhere, the hotel interior being indestructible and the hotel being in a empty dimension, it is absolutely normal!

I and Geralt been going crazy at how normal it is, the only abnormal thing we noticed outside of what I already mentioned was the guests, there are young recently turned vampires and recently turned lycanthropes, what we call pixies in our field, a half demon girl who surprisingly was adopted by the hotel owner and a seemingly normal old man.

If you take out the supernatural aspects of the guests, they are very normal.

The hotel owner even started giving lessons to the youths on how to control their impulses and their inhuman side, which can be considered a very good deed.

We of course participated in these lessons to report later, but it wasn't that much different from the lessons we had at the temple, it was just some meditation exercises to attune the body, mind and soul.

During the lessons we took particular interest on the half demon child, as she is essentially a demon that can go wild any moment, and we couldn't help but notice that she was the child of a particularly strong demon, we don't know which one, but we already gave our weekly report to our master about the hotel, but outside of a few informations we observed and heard from the hotel owner herself our report was basically empty, we investigated this entire hotel but found nothing too strange or evil.

Geralt and I started to believe that this hotel was within normal standards for supernatural business. We were going to ask our master to remove us from this mission as it wasn't necessary for us to be here.

However we didn't stop taking notes and observing things at the hotel, we heard that the owner was going to make food today and was going to serve them during lunch as a celebration. We had a good idea as to what was being celebrated.

But what she said brought up a question, who's been making the food until now?

_______

{Vãm}

I got really lucky, an entire spacious apartment with four bedrooms for 21 days, and all I had to pay was some dust from my wings? Sign me up! 

I was even allowed to share the room with my brethren! 

And I could rent it for an additional 21 days per session of dust collection! 

And the dust also could be from one of my brethren and it would count! Which makes the room essentially free!

And that without mentioning the free food that was simply divine, and more importantly, the sweet sweet nectar, there was even a variety of nectars available! 

Some even were from flowers and plants I never tasted before, and that tells something about how good the services are.

As my brothers and sisters have plenty of free time we quickly got ourselves comfortable with the recreational areas, but once the Revna one saw us playing on them, she saw that we had to play with things that were too big for us so she immediately created new spaces for our size! Can you believe it?! And she somehow made it so that everything works right even with the changed size! 

She must be a high sorcerer!

Since the start she treated us well, she treated us as individuals, as adults, she takes us seriously, not once did she make fun of us, treat us badly or anything like that!

And because of her nice personality and how well she treat us, we quickly became friends!

When we aren't on the job, we are often here, but I only told about this place to the most loyal of my friends and with the most secure mouths I knew, which ended being quite a few of my brothers and sisters, the Silvia one and the Geralt one.

But the Silvia one and the Geralt one are often busy so they didn't have time to visit, until now, the Silvia one said she got some available time and is going to pass here at lunch time, which is perfect as the Revna one plans to make a party at that time, today is the day me, my brothers and my sisters will drown in nectar, hahahah!

_______

{Raven}

Just recently I discovered that God is real, and despite me not being religious or pray to God at all, he still answered a prayer i didn't make.

It came in the form of Inanis Revna, she likes to introduce herself as “Inanis Revna”, but she told me that “Scarlet” is her first name, “Inanis” is her last name and “Revna” is her wife's and daughter’s last name, something like a family name.

She met me by chance sleeping on a alleyway, but thought it was a good idea to invite me to her suspicious hotel, and I surprisingly accepted her invite.

She gave me a roof over my head, a very good one I might add, she gave me free delicious food everyday and got me a job, but I think she is using the job just as an excuse to give me money.

Since the start she showed me love and affection on her own way and even adopted me, even knowing what and who I am. And if am being honest, she was exactly what I needed, especially the motherly part, as my mom was… killed… by my biological dad… it wasn't easy for me, but she's been helping me out, even if she doesn't know it.

I still can't call her mom, but I am not far from it.

She is somewhat strange sometimes, but still very warm and nice, she even started giving lessons for the guests on how to control our “other side”, we made a good progress and she said we are “fast learners”, but I am pretty sure we made so much progress because of how good she is at teaching, she said that she was going to make a small celebration/party today, she had done one in private to commemorate my adoption but it seems like she is going to make another one for the guests, she told the people attending the lessons that it would be good if all of them come so I think the celebration is related to the lessons.

Because of her, i finally could cry, laugh, feel happiness and sadness as I see fit, and let my emotions out without risking killing or injuring someone; i still turn into a demon whenever I don't control my emotions; but I don't act like a lunatic who can only think of doing chaotic things like murder anymore, a great overall improvement for me.

It's almost time for the party.