"Luke, are we in the right place?" Meredith asked. A trail of sweat ran down the right side of her forehead, and her eyes clearly expected a denial to her question.
However, the half-wolf looked in both directions of the street to which the city guard had pointed them, and there were definitely no other manor houses. "We are in the right place, but why is this hotel so different from the rest of the town?"
No house in that town had walls, and there were few buildings that had any concrete part, which made the wall of that hotel even more alarming.
Since right in the entrance garden of the place were old tombstones and weeds that were the same height as cornfields, Luke came up with a theory about the origins of that wall.
"Is that a graveyard?" He asked the half-fox.
Meredith turned to Luke with terrified eyes. "Now that you mention it, there were some in Stahurt like that...with walls. That seems to keep tomb robbers from breaking in."
The half-wolf crossed his arms and began to nod with his eyes closed as he listened to his companion. "Yes, yes..." He agreed.
"Are we really going to spend the night in a graveyard?" asked Meredith.
Luke leaned against her shoulder and looked determinedly at the bars of the gate. "That's not a cemetery now, but a hotel. We can't have prejudice. Let's go in..."
They opened the gates with their bare hands and walked across the garden to reach the door of the huge wooden house. Meredith was clutched so tightly in the arms of the half-wolf that he felt as if her strength arrested his blood circulation. When they finally reached the door of the house, Luke took the iron knocker from the door and knocked only once, as was his custom.
For a few seconds the cruelest silence lingered, causing Meredith to press her breasts even harder on Luke. She wasn't doing this on purpose, she just felt a deep fear of horrifying environments like this.
"Hi! Is anyone home!? We want to spend the night!" Luke shouted loudly so that the people inside the big house could hear.
Just then, the double door of the house opened, creaking loudly. Meredith and Luke exchanged nervous glances because it wasn't them who opened the door and no one else was there to answer it. Still, they entered the hotel and then the doors closed by themselves like seconds ago.
"What's going on in this place?" The half-fox whispered.
"Be quiet, Meredith. There's someone at the counter."
When she heard Luke's warning, she looked over to the counter ten feet from the door. There was an old man there with a friendly smile and very small eyes. He didn't say anything, however, he was looking at them receptively, so he definitely wasn't asleep, although his eyes were almost closed.
The half-beast duo made their way through the small dusty reception room, which had two old sofas and a wooden coffee table. As soon as they finally approached the counter, the old man finally said something:
"Hello, hello. Sorry for the delay in serving you, hehe... I was preparing a simple cup of tea for my sick wife. I am the Hotelier, will you want to spend the night with us?"
"Yes, please. How much is the daily rate?" Luke was the only one with the courage to speak, because Meredith was still a little afraid.
"Since it's quite late, I'm afraid I'll have to charge more than usual. Will you guys want a room or two?"
As soon as the old man asked that, Meredith opened her mouth to answer before the half-wolf did. "One room, please, just one room." The elation of her answer surprised the Hotelier, but he just smiled shyly.
"Okay, I have a room available for the young traveling couple. This is one of the best rooms we have in this hotel, I'm sure you'll be pleased. Come with me..."
Although the Hotelier appeared to be well past seventy, he walked with sure elegance and agility. He stooped without difficulty to pick up one of the keys from under the counter and walked briskly to the hallway to the right of the reception room.
"Aren't you guys coming?" He asked as he noticed that the two hosts continued to stand still.
Luke pulled his right arm a little, bringing Meredith with him into the hallway. "You don't have to be afraid, I'm with you." The half-wolf whispered to her at the beginning of the Hotelier's stride.
The half-wolf looked at Luke, finally noticing that he didn't look fearful like she did. In fact, he wasn't looking at her because he was afraid or anything, but rather because he was checking on her. That's why his look at the Hotelier was so serious and confident, he wanted to show Meredith that she was safe and that nothing could hurt her.
This made her heart flutter once again, and instead of loosening her grip on his arm, she tightened it even more. He was as warm as a fireplace, so she didn't feel like moving away, not in an environment that made her shiver so much.
Normally, the old man who appeared to be the only employee of the ramshackle hotel showed them the room they would be staying in. This one was neither too far from the reception desk, nor too close, being three room corridors away. There were many rooms closer to the reception desk, but according to the Hotelier these were all already occupied, which made Luke wonder if there were more travelers in town than he had thought at first.
After handing the key to the door of the assigned room to the young couple of 'lovers', the Hotelier said goodbye, warning that if they had any problems, to report them during the morning. They found this warning unusual, because normally problems were reported immediately, but they didn't say anything so as not to make a fuss, if those were the rules, they would follow so as not to attract attention.
"Look, the room is better than I thought..." Luke said with his arms crossed as he scanned the room with a glance.
With her eyes clenched and her spine curved, Meredith spoke, "You swear? Well, it's certainly better than many places we used to sleep as kids, but it's certainly the worst of all the hotels we've ever been to here in Melki."
The wooden walls of the room had patches with wooden boards, exposed nails, the lighting was not of the best, as was the glass window shaking in the wind.
"There is only one remaining problem... How are we going to do with this here?" Luke pointed to the small double bed, which the two of them would be extremely glued to if they slept together.
Meredith quickly looked around the corners of the room and couldn't find anything else to lie on, not even a couch, armchair or chair, because there was only the bed and a large trunk in the room.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺