Finn shook his head lightly, swallowing several times as his stomach churned. The look--the bone, the feathers, the fur, the lack of skin... the just... the sheer monstrous look of that beast would be forever in his head. He would see it whenever he closed his eyes.

His eyes slowly slid up to Lily's eyes. "I hope so," he whispered through bloodless lips. But he had no solid feeling that it was true. Everyone else... the two ghosts? Xevon's room.

Speaking of the dark winged ghost, Xevon jumped out into the hallway at the sound of the solid thud from beyond the doorway. His own horrific shriek tore through the silence of the hotel, releasing his own emotions in a ball of fury. The look of bold protection was almost foreign in the way Xevon looked. He wasn't furious, he was protective.

Finn looked back at Lily, swallowing thickly. "... do we help?" He finally whispered. "What do we do? It--it's out there, they're out there, they're going to end up like that all over again."

But he was terrified. He was absolutely terrified. He didn't want to face that thing at all, he didn't even know if it was killable. The lantern had this pull in his chest and he loathed it.

However, if they needed help--and if there were four of them and one of him...?

Lily’s lips pulled tight as Xevon threw himself back out into the hallway. He had barely recovered from the last assault, he was crazy to be heading back out there. She almost jumped at the sound of the voice from below her, craning her neck back down to look at him.

Callisto went spiralling down the hallway with the god, its hands stabbing at his head but the thicker fur prevented any major damage from being afflicted, the tiniest of marks on the skin beneath. That didn’t mean it didn’t sting.

He extended his forearms and sunk his claws into the mass before him, he wasn’t sure what part of the creature he was grabbing, he was just grappling whatever he could. His back paws lifted from the ground as the god leaned back, trying to dislodge him. Then he heard the shrill sound from behind him and his heart dropped. He had hoped that his friend would remain in the room. A silly hope really. He knew Xevon.

“I don’t know if we can help them, you-” She paused to gesture over Finn. “You’re like this and you only looked at it, how would we fight it?” Lily’s voice was dejected, only just able to get the words out before Xevon cried out from the hallway.

A sense of urgency ran through Callisto, he needed to get this god away and fast. Before he could approach Xevon or vice versa. With a low roar, he slammed his back paws onto the ground and ripped his head up from the creature. Angling his head to the side, he clamped his gaping maw over the space beneath the skull, feeling the disgusting taste flood his mouth but he kept sinking his teeth further. The creature yowled and reared its free limb back to stab into Callisto and it met the soft muscle and slid in like a butter knife, gouging into his chest. Callisto could feel the searing pain bursting out from the area, the cracking of bone as the god tore through the ribs. He didn’t stop his assault.

Driving his head forwards, pressuring the god to stumble backwards with both of their weights. He needed to use the surprise that he had managed to catch to send them both off balance and skittering down the hall. To irritate him enough to lure him away. From the strangled sounds that were coming from above him, it seemed to be working.

Lily let out a soft sigh, her shoulders slumping. Gaze drifting back towards the door, Finn had been put off by the blood. Perhaps, she would not have such a visceral reaction to whatever he had seen. Just as she debated dragging herself to her feet and approaching the door, she heard a sickening crack and her muscles tensed. Praying that it was not one of their guides that had been the origin of that sound.

Callisto felt Xevon’s presence over him and cursed himself for not acting quick enough, then there was a crack. It reverberated around the hallway and was quickly followed by a shriek, the poor man was dragged along with the creature as it baulked back from the strike. Its hand emerged from Callisto’s chest, drawing a painful yelp from him. But he kept his jaws clamped tight. He would not be letting go unless it was obvious the god was leaving.

Lily looked back towards her companion, watching his palms covering his face. She felt a wave of concern move over her, he was breaking. What he had seen had tipped him over the edge, if only a little. Her hand lifted from his chest and moved to her side, unsure if he would want any unsolicited touch.

“I don’t know what you saw, but you’re okay in here. If they don’t come back we can work out how to get out of here, I’m sure.” She wasn’t completely sure they could get out on their own, but she had to believe they could. That or she would end up sobbing on the floor next to him and then they’d both be useless.

As the creature regained its balance the initial shock of his attack had faded away, Callisto crunched down harder. Then he heard something infiltrating his head. The audacity of a mortal who begged for my favour to slight me. It was a deep sound, a cacophony of many voices, and it penetrated his mind. His body ran cold and his eyes blew wide, jaw slack. At that moment, the creature jolted itself from his grasp and Callisto was left standing there, chest heaving and leaking fluid onto the floor. Wide eyes, the whites surrounding the edges staring dead ahead of him.

The creature gave one last snarl before he turned and began to move back down the hallway. He would return. This spat was nothing to him. He needed to recover completely in order to overpower them and get to the living.

Xevon bounced back from the skull, the crack reverberating in his own head. That was an impressive noise and he was almost proud of himself. The world spun for a while, leaving him drifting in the hallway for a moment or two before he shook his head to clear the pain.

"Callisto--" he whispered, trying to pull him back without alerting the god. "Callisto--come on," Xevon pushed him backward, worried about the other ghost and into one of the nearby rooms.

He paused, drifted into the other room. "Stay here," he stated firmly. "Just stay here."

Xevon turned back to the other room and hurried forward to help him, his hands working together to start piecing Callisto back together. "Look at me, look at me, Callisto, talk to me, please?"

His eyes flicked upward to his ghastly companion's face, confused at the emotion he was seeing. It wasn't like him at all, instead it was just blank, cold and empty. He was seeing something but it wasn't anything in front of him. Xevon couldn't admit that he wasn't scared because of it but he definitely was terrified.

Absolutely terrified.

((Sorry that's short >.>))

He could feel the pressure from Xevon’s arms trying to make him move backwards, for a moment he didn’t budge. Only when his paws returned to hands and he was standing up straight again did his feet finally fall backwards, allowing his friend to hurriedly usher him into the room.

In the brief moment he was left alone, all Callisto did was continue to stare dead ahead, towards the door. He gave the smallest twitch of muscle as Xevon returned to his side and began picking away at the gaping crack in the side of his ribcage. For a long while, Callisto didn’t reply.

“It spoke.” His voice was lowered, almost mumbled. His eyes didn’t move from where they were trained as his friend tried to fix him, there was still black liquid dripping from the wound and a matching fluid was over his jaw from where he had bitten the creature.

“It spoke to me, Xevon.” Callisto thought the creature could not speak their language, it had never done it before. Now it spoke and not only that, directly into his head. What did it mean? Begged for its favour? Callisto had begged? Unlikely. Right?

Only when Callisto had tilted his head down to look at Xevon beside him did he show a flicker of emotion, concern as he saw the rounded scared eyes. After a momentary buffering, he reeled his mind back into place and tried to right his body. The dull pain turned into the sharp cruel type that made him grimace and almost keel over, instead he steadied himself by using a hand to lean on Xevon. A quick hiss pulled in between his teeth.

At least Callisto was in the room. That was almost more than he could ask for. But he was still in this sort of cathartic state. This sort of blank slate. And it scared him beyond measure and he did his best to hide most of it but he still couldn't hide all of it.

So he focused on what he could do. He could get rid of all of the black liquid or at least most of it. It stung his fingertips but he couldn't make himself care or stop.

Xevon's hands carved what he could of the black oil-like liquid from the ghost in front of him. It was the most he could do to help him and he glanced up briefly. "It... spoke to you?"

His arm lifted up, catching Callisto's shoulder in his hand to keep him steady. "I've got you," Xevon whispered quietly, his voice shaking, "I've got you right here. I have you, just ... just relax. Don't you worry at all."

His other hand curled around his side, wrapping his dark wings around the other ghost for a moment. Perhaps, if he had the closeness of his own energy... it would help him heal faster.

"I'm here," Xevon murmured softly. "You don't have to worry."

But he would. Callisto would. They would all worry, inevitably.

His chest felt like it was on fire, the god had done a real number on him. His previous scratch was nothing in comparison. It only made him think harder about the fact that Xevon would go hunting for him, receiving injuries worse than this. Then he felt the man’s hands steadying him, from his bowed head he tried to glance sideways to see him but his hair was partially blocking his view.

He wanted to do as Xevon said, to relax but that thing had spoken to him. Accused him of something. The words stirred in his mind like a storm as he tried to push past it. Then the light was filtered out, a little bit still leaking in from above. Callisto’s eyes remained staring at the floor from where his head hung, he didn’t flinch at the touch that came soon after.

“It spoke in my head.” Callisto’s voice was still quiet, he saw no need to raise it any louder given the closeness of their heads. Now, he wasn’t quite sure whether it was the pain, the god's voice of Xevon’s closeness that was making his chest heave for breath and heart pound.

It knew something about it. His past, before his death and possibly even before he was sent here. Whatever it knew, Callisto was clueless to it. Some little part of him had a sinking feeling it was not something he wanted to find out, and an even darker part of him knew he would find out anyway.

Callisto’s shoulders slowly slumped, losing the tension, his head pushing forwards to rest on Xevon’s collarbones. At this proximity, their heights were more obviously skewed.

[I forgot to say before, that’s okay! ^^]

His hair was smushed up on his forehead where it was pressed against Xevon, feeling the warmth of someone other than himself was comforting to say the least. However, what the man did not expect was the hand that appeared on the side of his face, his eyes flicked to the side to peer at it, the smallest hitch in breathing before he returned to his previous rhythm.

“Nothing.” His voice was still quiet, resigned. “It will not be a problem once we get them out of here.” Callisto’s voice grew a hint more solid, almost like he was trying to convince himself at the same time. “He is not our problem after that.” Callisto kept his head where it was, despite his bolstered words he remained still.

What if the god knew something earth shattering about him? He had always assumed that he had been kidnapped and sent here as a sacrifice. Was that not what had happened? It was what everyone else recalled, but his mind was blank before he woke up as his current spectre form.

As the thoughts continued to form, it took him a moment, but Callisto lifted his head from where it had been lodged. Though they weren’t that different in height, tucked up close, he had to tip his head back ever so slightly to see him properly. The hand that had been steadying himself on Xevon’s shoulder slid along the curve of muscle where his neck joined his torso. For a second, his fingers curled gently into the hair at his nape and his thumb brushed the edge of his jaw.

Then, as quickly as he had begun, Callisto swallowed and retracted his hand. “We should tell them that I was not killed.” He fumbled for his excuse.