'Qui: The Fall of Ottawa' Chapter 6

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Oh, God! Samantha thought. Why am I here? I should have stayed at the station!

It took every bit of self control and training Sam had to keep from shrieking with fear as the floor exploded downward less than a foot away from her hiding spot. Cranston had launched herself from the stairwell, smashing through wood and plaster as though it were made of paper, sending a shadowy woman she'd only just noticed tumbling into the basement. Most of Sam's cover had splintered apart with the power of the impact, but fortunately for her, Cranston only had eyes for the spy. 

As if the Nosferatu weren't already terrifying enough, it was now stuck to the wall on all fours, slowly descending like an insect stalking its prey. Her boss was some kind of…spider-creature! It was hardly the revelation she'd been expecting when she set out on her ill-fated adventure earlier in the evening.

Sam knew that Qui was somewhere below—she'd overheard some of their discussion—but it looked like he managed to disappear just in time. She found herself thankful that he'd been able to make a quick exit, saving himself from this monstrosity that claimed to be Eleanor Cranston. 

How long had she worked for the police commissioner without knowing what she truly was, always wondering why they'd never met in person? Her curiosity had been burning long before the magnificently tall, raven-haired man appeared in her office, but his arrival had finally spurred her to action. Qui's agenda suggested that he planned on meeting Cranston tonight. In person! So she tailed him through the city in her unmarked cruiser, always a block or two behind until he reached the Spectra Hotel. She almost lost her nerve before following him in, but she'd come this far and she didn't want to back down. That, she decided, was one of those life decisions that she'd do just about anything to take back. 

The wall behind her trembled, and somewhere below a part of it caved in, revealing a horde of angry rats. The vicious creatures swarmed toward Cranston, leaping and pulling themselves up with terrifying agility. The Nosferatu skittered up to the ceiling, clinging to the walls with a talon-like grip, fingers wedged in between the wooden beams and stone of the foundation.

"They're in here!" a booming voice shouted from the stairwell leading into the basement. "Bring the torches!" 

Sam nearly swore. Who was that? For the love of God, how many people were down here?

Cranston made good on the confusion and rocketed downward with a gurgling cry, crashing into the stranger hard enough that it should have mashed her into a fine pulp. Amazingly, both were still alive. 

Sam had had just about enough of this; if she lingered any longer, she was a dead woman for sure. Years of training and police experience hadn't prepared her to fight off monsters intent on smashing each other like comic book villains. If the two of them ended up demolishing the building, she didn't intend to be in it when the situation went nuclear. 

There was a second stairwell close enough that she could leap over the broken gap in the floor. All she'd have to do was catch the railing and she could pull herself up. 

Don't look down, she thought. For God's sake, don't look down!

She leaped over the gap, sobbing with relief when her fingers managed to grip the wooden rail and it didn't tear free with her added weight. She pulled herself up, clinging to the thing for dear life until her feet were well and firmly on solid ground.

Below, she heard Cranston shouting about flaying her foe alive. She didn't wait around to hear what happened next. 

Sam took the stairs three at a time, leaping upward like her life depended on it. There were three landings between her and the ground floor and even though they flew by, her flight still seemed like an eternity of slow motion. By the time she reached the metal door leading out to the lobby's managerial area, she could no longer hear the rumbling of battle below. She stopped to catch her breath, thought better of it, and then fled out the door to her parked car, leaving a stunned desk attendant scratching his head and wondering what all the commotion was about.

***

"Jesus…" Sam muttered to herself as she held the steering wheel in a death-grip. A shiver ran through her body and she closed her eyes. The events from the hotel basement played out on the backs of her eyelids. She'd been too busy avoiding detection and ducking exploding debris at the time to truly register the Nosferatu's otherworldly appearance. Now that she had a moment to breathe, it all came back to her with crystal clarity.

The boils and pockmarks. Skin dripping like a melted candle. Monsters were real, and she worked for one of them! 

But what about Qui? James, he'd told her to call him. He'd made her uneasy when they first met, but the feeling had quickly passed once she steeled her nerves. It was perfectly normal to be jittery when first meeting a new superior on the job. He certainly didn't look anything like Cranston, that was for sure.

The man had a manner about him—charming in a 'fish out of water' kind of way—and the long hair was to die for. Sure, she'd tailed him tonight in order to finally get a look at her boss, but she'd be lying if she told herself that James had nothing to do with her impulsive bit of detective work. Her mother always told her that she had terrible taste in men, but then again, her mom had married her dad and he'd left her for a woman half her age. Who was she to call Sam out for who she fell for? If she thought her new boss was handsome it was none of her mom's business.

Sam shook her head and opened her eyes again before starting the car. What was she thinking? Idiot! The human mind wasn't equipped to deal with what she'd seen tonight; focusing on more mundane concerns like her dating life must have been a self-defense mechanism to keep her from going insane. 

She'd once had to deliver news to an elderly mother about her son's death in a car accident. The poor woman's eyes had gone glassy as she hyper-focused on brewing a pot of tea. It took her over ten minutes before the reality hit her and she broke down in tears. That must be what was happening to her, Sam realized. Well, when the truth hit her, she'd be better prepared, and she'd be safe at home where she could deal with it on her own terms, not in her car, babbling like a madwoman for anyone to see.

When she flipped on the headlights, she half expected them to illuminate some skinless monstrosity seconds away from pouncing and devouring her whole. Nothing but empty pavement greeted her when the lights cut through the darkness; the road was empty at this hour. For the first time since she sat down she noticed the blue-glowing clock on her dashboard. 3:14 AM. No wonder she was having trouble putting thoughts together—she hadn't stayed up this late since she was in the academy. 

The car lurched as she pulled away from the curb with all the delicacy of a teenager's first time behind the wheel. 

Get yourself together! she thought.

Home was a lonely one-bedroom apartment on the other side of the city. If she was lucky, she'd be able to get there with just enough time left to sleep for a few hours before she had to be up and back in for work. Work! She'd have to face James! He couldn't know that she'd been there, right? That she'd heard him talking about a sword?

She was almost grateful that she hadn't been able to hear very well through the stairwell to the lower floor. She could have sworn that he'd been talking about 'destroying' someone. Who talked like that? She must have mis-heard him. Not that it mattered. Not really. James was working for a monster! Hell, she was working for a monster so how could she possibly blame him? If she didn't wake up in her bed in a moment, gasping, heart racing from the nightmare, then what she'd seen was very real and potentially deadly. She'd have to be cool about it. Calm and collected. 

Of course, that was easier said than done when her entire body was covered in a mass of gooseflesh and she felt like she was going to throw up at any second.

Keep it together, she repeated in her head like a mantra. Just keep it together. 

Twenty minutes later, when she was finally alone in her apartment, she screamed into her pillow until her voice was raw. 

Sleep never came.