Colette's pov.

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The first steps I take entering the lobby produce a heavy echoing sound that bounces all around the fancy stone and marble walls around us. This hotel looks nothing like the rest of this shithole they call a city, but at least we know now how this place makes any money.

The place feels expensive and refined, which, in my book, is worse than being at a road motel.

Yui walks by my side as we approach the reception table. A man stands behind the counter, looking at us with a fake smile.

"Welcome to the Wayhave Hotel; how can I help you two today?" His voice is rough and deep, the beard on his face makes him seem older than he probably is, and the uniform he's wearing seems to be tight and smaller than his size.

I take one of the three badges stuffed in my pocket and show it to the men. It makes the job easier to have fake federal identification; after all, it makes me able to skip the talk with these disgusting creatures. Following my example, Yui does the same.

"Oh, agents." His voice doesn't seem surprised. "Did something happen? Do you need me to call my manager?"

Shaking my head and putting my badge back in my pocket I focus my eyes on his, not bothering to hide my disgust. "You need not care about us here; what I need is that you grab the key for room 215."

He nods his head and smiles at us. "Of course, give me a minute." He leaves us and walks to a door behind the counter.

Giving a quick glance to check on Yui, I see their nose twitching and their eyes moving to the door the man just entered. "There's someone dead in that room." I smell the air as well, and my nose catches the same sweet fragrance of blood. It's just like the information we received from JB; this place is already taken by the scrappers.

"Stay here and keep an eye on the stairs and elevator." Jumping over the counter, I approach the door. "There's bound to be some on the upper floors."

Entering the room, I crouch low and close the door behind me. The room is small, but it's divided into two parts by a wall. The part I'm in right now is filled with cardboard boxes, a key holder on the wall, and a blood trail leading to the half-open door that leads to what seems to be an office.

Resting my shoulder on the wall, I peer inside the room by the opening, the voice of the supposed 'receptionist' low as he talks on the phone.

"Boss, we have a problem. Two agents came around the hotel." He grabs a pistol from a big blue gym bag and loads it. "Should we kill them?"

"Uhum, Okay. I'll see to it then." He hangs up the call, and I use this moment to enter the room. The man, in his surprise, tries raising his gun, but I'm faster on my approach.

With an empty expression, I grab his wrist and twist it, managing to easily break it and making him drop the gun. The bone tearing open a hole and escaping the skin, his blood staining my clothes and face, the man feeling the immense pain opens his mouth to scream, but before he can, I grab his neck and squeeze it, and the voice in the back of my head starts to get louder.

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Claw.

Rip.

Tear.

KILL.

A grin forms on my lips as I squeeze his neck harder, hard enough to break it, hard enough that I can feel his blood fight against my hold to supply his brain. Killing him would be so easy, but we need this thing alive.

Headbutting his head, I make the man lose consciousness and fall to the ground, near the body of what seems to be the real receptionist, a young man naked, his throat cut open, eyes widened in terror, and tongue escaping the wide rapture on his neck and hanging low. A pool of blood beneath him.

My expression remains the same as I grab the belt from the unconscious man and wrap it around his broken wrist to prevent him from bleeding out.

I walk to the gym bag to check its contents: a few mags, a short-barreled shotgun, and some canisters with something written on them. DMB... Dead man's blood, dammit, the scrappers are better equipped than we previously thought.

Rushing back to Yui, I find them leaning against the counter, watching the staircase while looking bored. Without wanting to lose much time, I approach them. "Yui, we need to call Dalia right now."

Raising a curious eyebrow, Yui lazily focuses her eyes on me. "Why?"

"The scrappers know the agency is in town." I grab my phone. "They have DMB."

Yui's eyes close as disgust paints her face; their eyes slowly start to glow in a low tone of orange.

At the sound of humming, we both look at the staircase, and the voice of a young person rings. "Hey Nikolai, we found a girl on the sixth floor just for you."

The person comes into view with a rifle hanging on their shoulder, scavenger clothes with a football shoulder pad, and a big, sickening smile on their face. It takes a few seconds before the person stops halfway up the stairs and looks at us, the smile quickly being replaced by fear.

With trembling hands, they seem to reach for something on their back. Yui tries rushing to stop the person, disappearing from view and, in a second, appearing beside the person, quickly snapping their neck so hard that they almost rips their head out.

As they fall and roll down the stairs, a metal pin slides across the floor and stops near my boots. I open my mouth to warn Yui, but it comes too late.

*Bang*

A loud noise echoes, and the black and purple smoke of DMB permeates the air, making it hard to breathe. I watch as Yui tries to get out of the smoke, only to trip and fall down the stairs. Rushing to them, I grab Yui's shoulder and start to pull her out of the smoke.

Once out I look at Yui, she's pale and almost unconscious, her breath weak and tired, hate starts to take over my mind but I push it deep down before focusing on getting us out of this mess.

I grab my phone and call Dalia.

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