Divided Territory

Chapter Thirteen

"Right, here are the keys."

Sebastian slowed his jog to a stop and tossed one pair of keys to Henderson and the other to Christopher, a huff escaping his lips as he recovered from running.

It was mid afternoon and the sky was already starting to wax dim.

"Finally." Vicky breathed, hoisting herself from the side of the car and reaching down to pull up her suitcase handle. She didn't know why her brother had given the keys to Christopher instead of her, especially when as per usual, she knew that they were going to go off on another expedition and return to the hotel at some late hour. Snagging the hotel key from Christopher's fingers, she started walking towards the building, totally ready to have some alone time after such an uncomfortable journey. "See you later," she called out to the men behind her before picking up the pace.

She could do with not seeing any of them for a while.

Hurrying past the hotel receptionist, she hopped into the elevator and went to the third floor, easily finding her assigned room and pushing her way inside.

Unlike the other hotels she'd stayed at in the last few days, this one was of a much higher quality. 

All of the walls were a delicate cream, the double bed nicely decorated and pushed up against the single purple accent wall. The outlets weren't hanging off the walls by their mangled wires and the floor didn't creak when she stepped on to the carpet.

Her hand slid against the wall for the light switch and she peeked into the bathroom, happy to see that the shower was in good working order, and the plumbing had obviously been updated within the last five years.

Kicking her shoes off, she placed her suitcase by the foot of the bed and familiarised herself with the scents in the room. Besides the regular smells of linen and cleaning items, she could smell the intertwined musk of various humans and shifters who had once occupied the space. 

While it was muted, non-threatening, it was still enough for her to prop open a window to air the space out.

Resisting the urge to stick her head out the window, she started fiddling with the sheets on the bed. The sheets smelt clean but she couldn't shake the habit of feeling wary of hotel beds, the nervous habit practically ingrained in her.

Once she was happy with that, and the room smelt a lot less like foreign bodies, she padded back over to the window and softly clicked it shut before quickly sliding the curtains shut. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness and she sought out the switch for the bedside lamp.

Her ears immediately picked up the sound of travelling footsteps and she tensed in place until the sound faded away to nothing.

"Snap out of it, Victoria." She told herself, lightly slapping herself on the arm for good measure.

There was no reason for her to feel paranoid. 

For whatever reason, they had decided to travel over on to shared ground- a patch of neutral territory that a couple of packs and the nearest human city shared between themselves. Technically, it was okay for them to be there, however she was still worried about accidentally running into the wrong people. She felt like an intruder, a prickling sensation running up and down her spine and refusing to leave.

To busy her mind, she prepared her things for a shower and laid them out on the bed before grabbing her laptop. 

Switching between gradually undressing herself and opening up her internet browser, she clicked on to a random search engine and began to type.