Callisto’s muscles tensed as he watched the wide sweeping attack from behind, however there was little time for the poor man to act as evidently Xevon’s fuse had reached its end. Unfortunately, Callisto’s feet were already moving by the time the crackling of the lights had begun.

The beast did not flinch from its position as the man before him gathered his strength to return the aggression, the beady eyes in its head glaring forwards. It had readied itself to return the brutal blow when he bowed forwards with a sudden grunt. The only thing holding up his ragged form was the staff that he gripped within an inch of its life.

Barrelling over the top of the creature was a white flurry of paws, claws that had snagged themselves into the shoulder of the god to rip him off balance as the cat threw itself over the top of him. The cat landed with a dull thud on the other side, tail lashing behind it. However, Callisto’s cute little fluffy form was nowhere to be seen. Instead a white lion whirled around with its teeth bared, exposing the dark gums they were nestled into. A deep growl rumbling from its chest with pink eyes that bore holes into the creature before it. Its ears were twitching, clearly listening to something not quite around it. From the heavy sounds of movement upstairs, Callisto could understand that Lily was of a very similar vein to himself. Strange that. He had not witnessed another person accomplish the heaving mass that he could, in all the years he had been trapped there. Sure, a few lynx, the occasional cougar or similar cat. But never something like himself. It appeared that Lily was the one.

Lily had kept her head still as he ran his hands over her head, ears pointing back towards him as he spoke. She was debating whether or not to try her vocal cords when she felt Finn lean back with a sharp breath. Quickly, she baulked away from him, standing back up to her full height, fearing she had somehow squished him. With one forepaw in the air, in preparation to move even further away she stared at him. He didn’t look hurt.

“Are you okay?” Lily spoke before she made the conscious decision to, her voice was hoarse from her earlier cries. Her own eyes widened a little at the realisation that she had managed to speak without feeling the ripping pain of her muscles reforming. It seemed at least she was still gifted with the ability of speech still, a pleasant surprise.

Yet, as she waited for his response, her head snapped down towards the floorboards as the sound of something very heavy falling to the ground below them rang out. Her paw met the floor again and she took a few steps back, whatever was happening down there did not sound good.

Callisto’s ears pinned back against his head as his senses were assaulted by the ear piercing cry from beside him, with a whipping motion Xevon had flung himself at the god. It felt like a stone had been dropped into Callisto’s stomach as Xevon did exactly what he wanted to avoid. There was little point talking to trying to pull him away now, he knew he wasn’t as strong as his companion. Not when he was like this. His wide pale eyes watched in horror as feathers flew from the pair, a mixture of both of the people involved.

The god roared with anger and reeled backwards at the onslaught, its free hand crashing down onto the shadowy form that had latched itself onto him. The sharp bone fingers digging into whatever part of Xevon it could get leverage on. For a moment, the creature twisted and turned, trying to dislodge its attacker. However, there was a reason they had died and the god had lived.

With a heave of it’s torso, the creature leaned itself back as its hand finally found good purchase in the waist of Xevon. Digging in deeply, it tore the man away and sent him flying into the rooms beside them. Callisto watched in panic as Xevon’s body vanished into the room next to him, he knew he would be back within a heartbeat, but in that heartbeat the god had turned its attention to the other ghost.

Callisto’s hackles raised as he realised that he was the new target, his tail slashing through the air behind him. All of his muscles were tensed beneath his fur, rippling with the effort to keep himself standing on the spot. Slowly, he lowered his head as the creature screamed out in an unearthly screech, upon the sound Callisto flung himself into the air. Sinking his hooked claws into the weird amalgamation of flesh on either side of its head and scored through the solid mass he could feel. Swinging them both around with the movement. He doubted he would be able to hang on for long, soon enough he would be tossed aside as well.

Lily’s head remained staring down at the floor, but her ears rose to listen to Finntello’s voice. She could address the memory of this dog later, when their lives weren’t in such peril. The cacophony coming from below their feet was only increasing in intensity.

“They said we can leave when I turned.” Suddenly, she snapped her head up to look at Finn. “They were taking us somewhere. Can we go without them?”

Callisto’s heart pounded in his ears as he gripped on for dear life, feeling the staff slam into his flank, spreading a dull pain across the muscle. A snarl drew from his lips as he reared his head back, almost puncturing Xevon as he came flying back towards them. With the moment of hesitation, the creature used its free hand to jab into Callisto’s side, feeling the sharp fingers glide right through into his flesh, he roared in agony as those fingers gripped and twisted. His back legs scrambled for purchase, to try and push himself away from the god’s grip.

As he writhed, it dawned on him that he couldn’t peel himself away, the fingers were hooked into his side and holding him in place. If he tried to get away, the portion of his side that the god was gripping would be ripped away. The panic began to rise in his throat as he frantically slammed his skull down. Striking where-ever he could with the long canines, trying to viciously carve away at the man that held him.

Lily stood still as she tried to block out the extremely loud sounds from below them, she could feel small tremors in the floor from the force of whatever or whoever was being tossed around. She supposed she could…smell? But what would she be trying to find? She backed up as Finn moved to pull back the barricade, looks like she was going to have to try anyway.

“I can try,” She tilted her head towards the door before padding up beside Finn, glancing up to him before she knocked her shoulder into his. “You’ll need to open the door though, unless you want me to push it off its hinges.” Lily was half joking, but she couldn’t open the door without wrecking it. On that note. How was she supposed to go back to herself? Was she stuck like this forever? With a slow shake of her head, the fur jostling around her neck, she pushed the pressing questions to the back of her head. She would have to hope and pray that Callisto came back and told her what to do, though she was a little annoyed that he didn’t tell her exactly how much it was going to hurt.

The pain that it brought was almost blinding, Callisto could feel the heat in his body rising. Though he was already dead and could lose as much blood as he wanted to, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t just as painful. His ears were flat against his skull as he caught a glimpse of Xevon eviscerating the arm that was attached to his side, the grip was a little lighter but Callisto refuse to pull away yet. He raised one paw from where it had been holding himself in place and arched it backwards, bringing it slamming into the side of the god’s head with a sickening crack, the force generated made the creature stagger slightly but nothing else.

He struck again, exactly the same and still no sign of the god giving in. Then the hand vanished from his side and Callisto almost yowled at the sharp pain its removal brought. He managed to spring himself away from the god, his sides heaving with effort. His head whipped around to look at his injury, it was a nasty one, oozing and jagged.

The whirling blur of the duo before him was difficult to make out, his eyes tried to scan around to find Xevon’s form in its quick movements to see if he was okay. The crackling air around them was beginning to unnerve Callisto, they couldn’t kill him, they could barely wound him. Even if they landed a good blow, the god could simply replenish himself.

As the biting on his arm continued, the god snarled and parted its maw. Like a snake, its jaws parted to gape open impossibly large, looming above where Xevon was currently hovering. A gross amalgamation of different creatures teeth lining his mouth, carnivorous and herbivorous teeth mangled together. His head dipped and Xevon was between the jaws in a split second, a moment longer and those jaws would snap closed on his friend.

Lily waited anxiously as Finn set about his checking of the area, the sounds coming from below were whirling around her head as though she was down there herself. It was making her increasingly more nervous the longer she stood there. As they pushed out into the hallway, Lily had to fight a little to squeeze her shoulders through the doorframe, huffing as she twisted herself awkwardly to get out.

Taking in a deep breath, she wasn’t sure how cats actually did this, just she assumed they simply…sniffed? There were a lot of smells, old wood, mildew, Finn. At least he smelled pleasant. But underneath, she could almost taste something else, something a little more vibrant. Her head lowered to the level of her shoulders and she took a few steps down the hall, heading towards the darkened end. She could see perfectly fine, thinking nothing of her advance to the dark corner. She was getting closer, that smell was only growing stronger after each step she took.

At the end of the hall was an open door, the inside consisting of smashed furniture and…As Lily squeezed her way into the room, she only managed to get her shoulders in before she froze. Her eyes widening at the sight, ears slicked back against her head.

The room was slathered in blood, the walls, floor, ceiling. The entire room was streaked with it, that was the vibrant scent she had detected. She only pushed herself into the room further to allow Finn to follow her, her eyes scanned around the room warily.

He had almost jumped back into the frey when he felt the snap of the lights around him, he recoiled at the energy that was beginning to gather in front of him. His eyes glowing in the now low light as he took a few small steps backwards, watching in horror as his friend whirled himself into something akin to a demon rather than a man. The blast that was sent up into the maw of the god made his cower almost close to the ground.

The creature’s head was blown backwards by the sheer force of the power that was shoved down his throat, a cry bleeding out. A gross mixture of caterwauling and screeching that made Callisto’s ears ring. The god stumbled backwards quickly, its head shaking in either pain or frustration, Callisto couldn’t tell. Then that disgusting bone hand snatched at Xevon’s form, digging into the mass of shadows and squeezing. Like a child with a doll, the god rattled Xevon’s form at blurring speed, his eyes focusing on the irritating winged man as he shook him around. Panic-stricken, Callisto sprang back up from the floor and secured his jaws around the god’s arm at the elbow and felt the crunch of his teeth against bone. A constant growling emitted from his throat as he gnawed at the limb, his back legs holding him upright whilst his front paws sank their claws into the shadowy robes of the god.

Lily remained standing still for a long moment, staring at the mess inside the room. It seemed that Finntello was also simply staring at the horrors within, though Lily could feel something else in here. Her tail tip twitched as she parted her jaws to get a better sense of what she was smelling, lowering her head back to the ground. Carefully, she picked her way across the room, trying to ignore the black blood staining almost every surface as she went. If she thought about it for too long, she would heave.

Nosing her way into the entanglement of broken furniture, she pushed her head further into the pile. There was something in here. With a sharp sound of surprise, Lily’s paws scrambled in the rubble for a moment before she managed to get a hold of herself. Her eyes were focused on the remains of whoever the poor owner of all this blood was, skeletal remains hidden beneath the mass of broken wood. Beside it, the glinting of metal, but for the moment her distress at the discovery of a true dead body in this hotel was amounting to an avalanche of terror in her bones.