Young Writers Society

Kate nodded and turned away from the door. "Let's get out of here before he starts screeching about how I'm a drain on society or whatever through the door."

She walked away. Maybe they should head to the Posh Armory. Rich people had those, right? When they have money for everything, they most likely have everything. And Kate wanted a cutlass.

James nodded. There was one more door in this hall, and he hoped it didn't have anyone in it that would antagonize them.

This room was long. Two big, green tables were at one end of the room, and they had what looked like little baskets on the edges and the sides. There were little striped and solid balls on top of them arranged in triangles. The wall beside the tables had long sticks hanging up on the wall. He assumed it was some type of game, but not one he was familiar with.

At the other end of the room there was what James recognized as a drink bar. Bottles lined a few shelves mounted on the wall and there were glasses and a pitcher of ice. There were stools by the bar and in the space between the bar and the green tables there were two couches facing each other with a low table in-between.

From what he could see, the room was empty. There were no chairs or walls to hide behind. It was just some sort of game and drinking room, he guessed.

He sighed and entered just to be sure. There might not be people, but there could be clues.

"Hello darling."
The familiar voice made Alyss start, her breath catching. She tensed her muscles before whipping around, her eyes searching wildly for the owner of that hated voice.
"How did you find me?" she asked, fear causing her voice to quiver.
The young man who had spoken lazily pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on.
"Why? Aren't you glad to see me?" he drawled, taking a step towards Alyss. "We had such fun together, you and I."

Alyss gritted her teeth together and gripped the piece of glass tighter. "Take one more step towards me and you're dead," she threatened. "I'm not scared of you anymore, Ryler."

The man pushed his long, black hair out of his eyes and laughed. "Keep telling yourself that darling, I know better. Who's this?" He motioned to Benji and Genevieve. "New friends?"

Genevieve cross her arms and rolled her eyes. “I would hardly call us ‘friends’,” she made quotation marks with her fingers, “Just trying to get out of here together.” Gigi peered at him. “So, what’s the relationship here?” She pointed at him, even though pointing was considered rude. Genevieve showed no concern.

Ryler smirked. "Alyss and I... trained together"
Alyss clenched her hands into fists. "If by trained you mean that you tried to break me and make my life a living hell, then yes. We trained together."

Ryler pasted a wounded look on his face. "Darling-"

"Don't call me that!" Alyss spat. "Gods Ryler, you haven't changed a bit."

"Feisty, isn't she?" Ryler remarked to the little group that had gathered behind Alyss.

Benji was still waiting for Daniel to appear again - he couldn't really be gone, could he? - when the new man appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He should have smelled him or heard him before he spoke. He had brushed it off earlier with Daniel because Daniel was a good hunter and Benji was distracted looking for clothes. It made sense that he wouldn't pick up on him.

Benji grew tense - in a different way than before.

"Leave her alone," he said, finding his voice after a moment. He took a step forward so he was closer to Alyss. Not in front of her; he knew she could handle taking care of Ryler herself. But maybe he would stop trying to taunt her if he realized she wasn't alone - that Benji was there to support Alyss, and possibly Genevieve as well.

In the very far distance, he could hear the soft fluttering of wings.

“Alright, looks like you guys have this handled. Toodles!” Genevieve turned with a flourish and headed down the never-ending hallways. She wouldn’t wander far, but there had to be somewhere that she could get some suitable clothes. There’s no way that he could show up. But it was just hope. Gigi knew he would appear soon.

Kate walked into the room. "I was never good at pool," she commented, picking up one of the balls and tossing it between her hands. If Connery were still here she'd lob it at his head, as he deserved.

She kept the ball in her hands as she walked around the room, surveying the bar - which had no blood-infused drinks, disappointingly - and walking around to look at the rest of the room.

Ryler raised his eyebrows at Benji. "Well, I can see where I'm not wanted. No need to be so rude." He turned and sauntered down down the hallway, then turned to the right and disappeared from view.
Alyss let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding and turned to Benji.
"Thanks. We should catch up with Genevieve though."

James sighed. The strange thing about each room was that none of them looked lived in. There was no clutter, no notes or letters, no objects that seemed to indicate any personalization. James walked around the room and couldn't find a single thing that seemed to tell him who'd taken them and what they wanted.

Obviously they wanted to stir up trouble, bringing people like Connery and Carter here, but that was all he knew.

He sighed, wandering back to the game Kate had called "pool" and resting a hand on the edge of the table.

"Why's it called pool?" he asked, genuinely confused. There was no water involved.

The wings in the distant stilled as Ryler disappeared down the hallway.

"You're welcome," Benji said, his gaze lingering on where Ryler had just gone. Something felt off again, and he couldn't help but feel nervous when he couldn't put his finger on what.

He turned away and started catching up to Genevieve.

...They had been brought here with people who they didn't get along with - people who openly antagonized them. The people hadn't been with them at the pool. And the people kept disappearing, too. Why would Ryler go away when he clearly wanted to keep antagonizing Alyss? Why would Daniel go away when he was just on the verge of revealing Benji's secret?

And was Genevieve about to run into someone she wasn't on good terms with, too-

He was so distracted that he didn't pay attention to where he was going. His train of thought came to an abrupt stop when he suddenly walked right into Genevieve.

"I'm sorry," he said, taking a step back and shaking the thought of his head.

Kate shrugged and dropped the ball she was fiddling with back on the table with a thunk. "Because some moron decided to call it that. I don't play, I don't care."

With that, she wandered off, checking out the bar again. Maybe they had something good.

Alyss watched Benji walked away from her and bumped into Genevieve. As she slowly proceeded closer, she wondered why Ryler and all the rest were here. Benji had obviously hated Daniel, and she definitely hated Ryler. If she and Benji had one of their enemies appear, it would stand to reason that Genevieve's enemy was here for her too.
So that was why she looked so freaked out.

Ah. Well. So much for idle curiosity. Kate was right in that it didn't matter. After another sweep around the room, James decided it would be best to move on. He wandered over to the bar where Kate was.

"I don't think there's anything in here that'll tell us about why we're here. We should probably move on."

Kate surveyed the options, half-ignoring James. Bloody mary. Why would they pre-prepare that? She picked up the bottle and cracked it open, sniffing the contents. Immediately, she recoiled and shoved it back on the shelf.

Oh, ha ha. 'Bloody mary', real creative.

She straightened. "Yeah, whatever, let's move on."