Altered Beast III

"Where did Melissa go?" Logan asks, loosely hanging from the door to the girl's room. Svilanka shrugs, and Yua ignores Logan. Logan jumps, spinning to look behind him, Seth tapped him on the shoulder, which startled him.

"Nice to meet you all... can we talk?"

***

"Are you on the phone right now?" Caçador ignores Maid, turning around in his chair, continuing to speak to whoever he is on the phone with. Alina comes in from the outside with a broom in hand, setting away some dirty shoes she was wearing aside near the door. Alina notices Caçador and looks over to Maid expectantly.

Maid shrugs, curiously heading to the hotel rooms.

After a couple of minutes, Caçador hangs up. "Shit..."

"Who was it?"

"It was the boss. He's coming."

Alina drops the broom, eyes widened in surprise. Her surprise turning into a grim expression, looking as if she were anemic.

"Fuck me..."

***

An hour has passed since that call. The boss has arrived, the doors to the hotel slam open, and three people with suits come inside. One man in the middle and two others by his side. A mask made up of bandages cover up his face and he wears a normal black and white suit with black leather gloves. As he moves, he contorts his body and construes his shoulders, though his neck is completely straight while doing so.

The man proceeds to crack his neck and gives out a long sigh. The other two following beside him -a woman wearing a biker helmet, a black wife beater, and a jumpsuit wrapped around her waist.

The other is a Mexican man, his hair is jet black and slicked back with grease. Scars dart across his face like constellations. He is also wearing a normal black and white suit like the man they seem to be guarding.

"I want to sleep..." The masked man comments, swaying back and forth.

"Yessir." The biker girl responds coldly, taking the masked man by the head roughly and dragging him to the highest floor of the hotel, leaving the Mexican man by himself in the lobby.

"There they go." He smiles, "Hi, Caçador." The man isn't looking at Caçador who is still behind the counter. This man is blind.

"Hey, Manuel."

Manuel directs his head in the same general direction as Caçador and lets out a light chuckle. "Been a while."

"Right."

"It's pleasant seeing you again. Though I can't see much of anything anyway."

"It's unpleasant to meet you again too."

"Mean... is that something you should say to your brother?"

Caçador gives him a crude expression, "You stopped having any sort of relationship with anyone after you started following that asshole."

"Are you referring to the boss?"

"You know I'm not referring to him, though I don't very much like him either."

"I see..." Manuel sighs. "Well, I'll see you right?"

"Hopefully not."

Manuel leaves, Caçador left with just his thoughts behind the counter like always. Alina peeks her head through a door near Caçador's counter, checking if they all left.

"You don't have to worry about it."

"No, it's just... our boss gives me bad thoughts."

"That's unlike you. But I guess its always been like this."

"It is quite unsightly isn't it?"

"Not at all," Caçador looks at Alina with a warm expression. "It's interesting seeing this side of you from time to time."

"Why is that? Are you a sadist?"

"No! That's not what I meant!"

"Then why?"

Caçador stops to consider what he was going to say next. Leaning into his chair and looking up at the ceiling. "Because it makes you feel human. I prefer humans after all."

***

"If my guess is correct about you guys, you were hired without context to do something to a gang called the Escravos, yes?"

All of them look at Seth with a shocked expression. Yua slowly gets more and more agitated and Michael tries to find an opportunity to attack. Logan cannot move, a knot tied in his throat, and frozen in fear as Svilanka is both surprised and impressed. Michael tries to make his move but-

"Садись, мальчик!" Seth shouts, Michael immediately sits back down, hands shaking and sweating profusely. "Я не сделаю тебе больно. Я не отделен от рабов." (Seth is telling him to sit down and that he is an ally.)

Seth turns to the rest of the group. "You heard me? Or do you not understand Russian like him?"

"No, we all understand Russian, except for Logan." Yua comments.

"Right. So I'll let you know now. Nixon and I are your allies. We will help you to topple the beast that is the Escravos since they are also hunting us."

"Excuse me?"

Seth smiles, "I will have to notify you on some things first before we get started though." He pauses for a moment, resting his arm on his leg and leaning forward. "I regret to inform you that Melissa is dead."

"WHAT!?" Yua screams, almost about to pull a gun out on Seth. He smiles at her, his blue gaze piercing through her ironclad act.

"You might wanna calm down before you die."

A silence fills the room.

"Is Melissa actually dead?" Svilanka asks, sweat falling from her chin, wetting the bed below.

"Yes, I will now tell you what happened before Melissa died and why we know how and where she died." Seth's smile became wider as he said every word.