everyonelives | why is it you always get to sit in the shade

[The door closing finally rouses Caroline (15), and she blinks over at him when she sees him getting his shoes on.]

What's going on?

The inn owner is hiding something. I smelled blood.

( He finishes lacing up his shoes, jumping up. )

I'm going to follow them. Call Bonnie.

[Caroline nods, before getting out of bed and also putting on her shoes as she dials Bonnie's number. She can multitask, and this seems like the kind of problem where they use the buddy system.]

( And Ryan is back in the hallway. He gets (11) to listen where the owner and Lurch went. )

[He doesn't hear them anywhere nearby, but given the fuzziness of how things sound, that doesn't necessarily guarantee that they're off the floor. But the room that they had been taking things out of is currently not being attended to.]

( Ryan rolls a stealth check of (13) to slip inside the unattended room, hand searching for a switch to get the lights. )

[The switch is in the same place as it is in their room, right next to the door frame. As the light flicks on, the room looks ... normal. But Ryan can still smell the blood, as does Caroline when she catches up to him.]

Oh ... whoa. I see what you mean.

( He moves further inside so she can join him. )

She said they had a family emergency.

( Moving to the bathroom door, he peers inside. Anything? )

[Nope. Everything seems fine, but the scent of blood still permeates the room, even if they can't seem to find it. Though as he looks at the shampoo and conditioner sitting on the edge of the sink, it doesn't seem to be the standard branded soaps and shampoos that you would find in a hotel room.

Caroline's coming up empty as well (7). Her frustration is becoming clear as she searches the room behind him.]

It makes no sense! Everything looks fine but I can smell the stupid --

[Her voice cuts off as she lifts her hand and her voice takes a bit of a stressed turn:]

Uh, Ryan?

( Ryan turns back, the oddly branded soap and shampoo in each hand. He comes back out. )

Did you find -

[Caroline holds up her palm to face him, completely covered in tacky red blood. She's staring down at the bedspread of the bed, squinting as though she's trying to see through whatever it is that's hiding the source.]

The bed has blood on it. I can't see the blood? But it's there and it's wet, like it happened recently.

Is it - it's cloaked?

( Completely. And yes, after being a vampire for this long, he knows that's blood. )

What did Bonnie say?

She said she was sensing some major mojo. Maybe a ritual of some kind?

[She makes a face.]

Maybe this is some kind of witchy illusion?

( He remembers something about MG being involved with a witchy illusion, and being on the outs with the others. It's not an unknown concept. )

Are they concealing the body or the mess.

[Caroline almost wishes the twins were here, so they could siphon the lingering magic away so they could find out for sure. But either way, they need to find Bonnie and Isaac. This should definitely be an instance where they're sticking together.]

We should find the others. Something about this doesn't feel right.

( Everything about this doesn't feel right. He agrees, leading her back to Bonnie and Isaac's door, lightly rapping against it with his knuckles. He got a (3) to listen for where they might be, not to mention the hotel and its' magic - it's probably impeding. )

[Caroline's (4) isn't much better, mostly because she's trying to strain and catch for the sound of her friend's voice.]

She said she and Isaac were going to investigate the ritual she was feeling, maybe they're not --

[Suddenly Caroline's voice cuts off (14 vs. 12), and she coughs, a sputter of blood coming to her lips. Her body gives a jerk before she drops, and standing in her place is the B&B owner, bloody axe in her hand after having driven it into Caroline's back. Fortunately, the axe is not made of wood. The owner clearly doesn't know she's dealing with vampires.

She looks up at Ryan and huffs. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"]

( But the owner is still a murderer! Probably several times over! Why did they stop at the murder B & B!

Since becoming a vampire, Ryan has seen blood. He's been the victim. Before becoming a vampire, he spent a summer fighting in cage matches in Mexico. He had a rough childhood, rough-housed, he was a tough guy. But, despite his demeanor suggesting he's made of stone, he isn't. )

Really. You think the best course of action is to straight up murder more people.

( But, he is always dry.

First thing's first, he speedily draws the axe out of Caroline's back so she can actually heal, before attempting a swing to hit the woman with the blunt end of the metal -- and he gets a whopping (5). )

[The owner just manages to dodge back (7), missing the blade but stumbling a bit as she tries to dodge.

Caroline gives a cough from the ground. It's her turn but she's just going to lay there and try to heal a bit, her boyfriend has got this right? Right. Maybe.

The owner sneers. "You're one to talk, vampire. You sure your hands are clean?" And that's just a rude assumption of her, but she's going to attempt to wrestle the axe back from him (13).]

( She gets the axe back because he tries not to step on his girlfriend (5).

He tries jumping, to hang onto a beam above him to kick her back with his feet. (13). )

[Unfortunately, it's a bit like kicking a brick wall (20). The owner plants herself where she stands, and Ryan is slammed backwards, pain sliding up his legs.

But because she's so focused on Ryan, she's not prepared for Caroline. And Caroline, given her unexpected injuries, is feeling a bit peckish (9 vs. 1). She zips up quickly, grabbing the woman by the hair and sinking her teeth into the woman's neck.

The owner let's out a cry of surprise, before trying to wrestle her off (4 vs. 9), but Caroline is angrier and she holds firm, even if she stops drinking.]

You're not human.

["Fucking vampires."]

What is she?

( In pain, but recovering, Ryan gets to his feet. )

Don't know. I've never tasted that before.

[She reaches a hand forward to try to grab the handle of the axe and knock it back into the owner's face (9 vs. 4), and the other woman winces in pain, before shifting to try and use Caroline's momentum to throw her over her shoulder (2 vs. 4), but Caroline manages to fight her off.]

But maybe something to do with magic? Bonnie said she felt a ritual.

["Oh, so you brought a witch too?"]

Probably magic.

( Back in it, Ryan attempts to wrest the axe away again, but mid-pull thinks it's better to knock her back in the face with the handle. (15) )

[The handle smacks backwards (2), striking her dead in the face and causing blood to leak out of her nose. It is a bit of an odd consistency, a darker red than normal human blood, but Caroline doesn't seem to be reacting adversely.

Yet.

Caroline attempts to slam her head forward into the wall (6 vs. 19), but the owner manages to hold her ground, recovering some of that power from earlier. Her eyes glow briefly for a moment before she lifts a hand and attempts to blow both Ryan and Caroline backwards (20).

Caroline goes flying (3), slamming back into the opposite wall of the hallway.]

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