▪ Symptom one:

Insomnia and nocturnal biological clock. Affected are unable to sleep at night and cannot stay awake during day. Biological clock shifts within 12 hours of being affected.

•°*°•

Hotel Niravellin was nothing short of luxurious. The golden vines that wrapped around the black marble pillars traveled upwards and led into a huge dome in the center of the entrance hall. A single chandelier hung inside, and the reception area was well illuminated by thousands of glass lanterns.

It looked more like a fairy-tale castle than a hotel.

Firenze felt dangerously underdressed standing in front of its glass double doors, phone safely returned to his pocket. The creature was shaking, and ducking every time someone passed them by, making him fight for balance. His calf healed well enough, but he felt tired. He closed his eyes and stifled a yawn, his eyes watered.

He had crouched behind the huge staircase leading up to the hotel as he watched his boss Levi Nathan step out of her car, clad in a white fur coat. A man in a white suit, her PA most probably, followed her with a suitcase in his hand. As Miss Nathan was about to enter the hotel, her phone rang out loud.

Firenze couldn't make out what was said, but it got her agitated enough to give the PA a few instructions and rush to the car. The limousine had sprang to life and sped off down the street, endangering the lives of several pedestrians.

All he had to do was talk to the PA and ask him to take him home.

But I can't, with this thing refusing to let go of me. God alone knows what it'll do if released in here.

The beast licked his ear and moaned, egging him to go on. The phone he had was running on an almost empty battery. And his eyes were two balls of hot metal.

Sucking up his breath, the young man walked up to the guard, who was rubbing his badge clean.

"Oy, there. What d'ya want?"

"A room to sleep in, a warm shower and a cup of coffee would be nice."

"Then why don't you go home?"

Firenze faked confidence and smiled,

"I would love to, unfortunately my flight to New York was cancelled. Heavy rain apparently. My friend's sick. Would you like to have a talk with my PA?"

The guard stared at him and at the guy on his shoulders, "What are you in town for?"

He ran a hand through his hair as he continued, "Meeting's been postponed for tomorrow. There is a factory of Messers Gregor we'd like to buy."

The guard didn't listen to the rest of his sentence.

He yanked open the glass doors and greeted him heartily,

"Welcome to Hotel Niravellin, Sir! Sorry to have bothered ya. Have a great day!"

Firenze chuckled in victory as he strode down the vast hallway. The golden velvet couches kept on the black marble floor had real fur carpets lying beneath them. Firenze noted that the entire theme of the hotel was black and gold.

The entire hotel was quiet and deserted much to his surprise. Save for the receptionist, the guard and the solitary bellhop, the staff were nowhere to be seen. And he and the beast were the only ones in the huge hall.

The entire atmosphere felt alien.

The receptionist was a perky black haired girl. She looked at him as if he were a sea lion on display at a zoo. As he leaned on the desk, the creature began sniffing a statuette and the lady smiled at him sweetly.

"Good morning sir. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I would like a room, please. Two beds."

The lady gracefully nodded and typed the information onto her computer. Firenze took the opportunity to ogle at her.

She had porcelain white skin, something that he found peculiar. It wasn't light pink, nor was it a shade of cream, it was bleached white. She had dark irises making it difficult for him to see her pupils.

If she's an albino, why would she have dark eyes? Did all the melanin accumulate in your eyes and hair?

She looks like one of those china dolls grandma used to have. What shade of lipstick do you use? Maybelline's Unicorn Blood collection?

She's a vampire, isn't she? Neil, you're going love this story. I'm a mad man with voices in my head, carrying a werewolf and booking a room in a vampire hotel.

Hush. . .

"Anything else, sir?"

The lady acted normal, she was like every other receptionist he had come across in his life, albeit slightly more anemic looking. He sighed and said,

"Yes, can I make a phone call?"

She dragged a golden telephone, the old sort, and placed it on the desk. Lifting the receiver, she offered it to him.

He gingerly took it, positioned it despite the creature's jittery movement and managed to spin the dial.

The lady sat down and decided to gaze at the creature, or the man. The creature was pretty good at acting human, except for the sniffing part. The lady frowned and decided to do something interesting, rather than stare at the presumably drunk guy on the man's shoulders.

The rings were soon replaced by a woman's voice, who asked

"Hello, Eva Di Mario here. May I know who this is?"

He laughed and nearly yelled into the phone,

"Evie, it's me!"

The line went silent for a long time.

"You A-class moron! Where the hell are you now? The entire department is out looking for you."

"A hotel."

"Where? Which one, give me the address."

"I wish I could. I just don't know where I am."

"Ask the receptionist, you dolt, are you drunk or something?"

"Nope."

"On drugs?"

The creature on his shoulders yawned, face hidden by the huge shapeless hat and laid its head on his.

"I would've thought so too. But no."

"Right, stay where you are, let's see if we can trace the call. Or you just hand the phone's reciever over to the receptionist-"

"Going all good cop on me, Evie?"

"No, I'm just going to track down my baby brother and drag him back home. And give him a timeout."

"Sure you would. If you had exhibited the same devotion in catching criminals , you would've been a Senior officer by now."

No response came back, just static.

"Evie?"

The line went dead.

He looked up to find that the call had been cut. The receptionist had set a single intricate, silver key on the table, and was watching him,

"Your room keys, sir. Enjoy your stay."

Firenze shook his head and carried the creature up one of the twin spiral staircases behind the reception, led by the old bellhop. The numerous rooms of the halls looked empty, which made sense considering the whole animal attack situation. One of the maids had stopped before one door, and was talking to the occupant, an old man, about dinner.

The maid had the very same color scheme as the receptionist; black eyes, pale skin, red lips. Her black hair was longer, however and tied in a bun.

They're probably related.

Firenze smiled at both of them, earning smiles in return and found the bellhop beckoning to him.

He sleepily turned the key, opened the room and collapsed in the bed. A second later, he was sound asleep. The similarly snoring creature's ears twitched at some violent sound coming from the room they saw earlier.

It was the death rattle of a man, and the firm shutting of a door.

•°*°•

The cuckoo clock on the wall of the room had both its needles on one. The cuckoo had popped out five minutes ago and had returned to its nest, disappointed to see the man still deep in slumber.

The curtains were flung wide open by the wind, and the midday sun burned down on the town through the cloud cover. The ceiling fan tried and failed miserably to dry the sweat wetting Firenze's back and the garwalf's fur.

The garwalf was wide awake now, and was very much confused by the human's sleeping habits. Last he checked, humans hated sleeping in the morning and preferred to snore at night.

The smell of freshly baked mutton pie from the bakery next door made his stomach growl. He looked at the man, who he was sure, wasn't going to wake up from his nightmare anytime soon. He shuddered at the thought of being late to his mistress's call again.

He'd definitely end the cycle with this human. A stitch in time would save nine. The boy was young, he had a whole life in front of him.

But that thing inside grows with every sleep.

I'm sorry Firenze. So sorry.

He had to heal first though. He gently walked towards the window, and pulled himself out into the balcony slowly. Suddenly, someone knocked the door. The beast crouched, ears upright. A voice cooed from outside,

"Room service!"

Seconds later, the baker looked up mid cooking.

He swore that he heard a thud on his roof.