Sure enough, the weapon Mrs. Quimby had stolen from Hayes was dead on target every time, but the Wendigos in their shifted form were not so easily destroyed. At first, in the chaos, it was hard to tell, but the beasts were moving quickly and weapons were firing sporadically and as the smoke cleared it became apparent that they were shaking off fatal injuries like paper cuts. Worse yet, their friends were coming in for backup behind them. There had to be about fifteen or so, total. They congested the space like fog.

Cairo lowered his handgun, watching with horror as the wounds he'd successfully inflicted closed up, flesh mending and bullets falling uselessly. "They're regenerating."

Only Rome was actually getting anything done. Cairo jolted and ducked, rolling away from a screeching Wendigo coming straight for him. He already had to reload. He shoved in a spare magazine, making a mental note not to waste any more bullets until he figured out a more effective way of dealing damage. And they needed to find something effective fast. Between the sounds of explosions and monstrous growling, if this went on much longer, they'd all go deaf.

"We used that one for vampires, Rome!" Father called over the din. "Silver bullets. Must bother 'em."

So they didn't like silver. Excellent. Now if only Cairo actually had anything silver on hand. Dammit, he should've grabbed his stuff from upstairs while he still had the chance. There were hunting weapons in his traveling bag.

"Berlin, get behind us," said Rome in a voice so commanding that Berlin jumped and actually did it. Wounding them was irritating and slowed them down, at least. Tokyo was holding off two of the women at once with her bare hands, ignited in flames. Vienna quickly got the silver memo and grabbed for a nearby object, twirling it into a silver dagger.

That was when Shanghai emerged with the children, Antalya and Paris. To his dismay, Taly quickly rushed into the fray, making Father swivel.

"No, I didn't say I wanted them in the fight, Shanghai!"

Antalya snatched the firearm from Cairo's hands faster than he could react, making him spin. Her reflexes were unmatchable. She stuck out her tongue as she ran.

"What—how do you even know how to use that? Get back here!"

"Revenge is sweet, brother!"

Little sisters. "I said I was sorry for knocking you unconscious!" he protested irritably.

Unarmed, he was quickly cornered by the nearest Wendigo, the female whom Berlin had recognized. He had the sinking feeling she'd been there the day Berlin escaped with his life; it was in her eyes, a vendetta. She pressed him closer to a table, where Jasper was trying to duck from the fight.

Cairo thrust out an arm, fumbling for a knife or anything useful. Jasper beat him to it, flinging his hand towards the monster and shouting a rushed incantation. She was hit by the force of his spell, knocking backwards and crumpling to the floor. Cairo turned feverishly to the frat boy.

"You saved my life," he said disbelievingly. There was a split second of blinking pause.

"Your life?" Jasper spluttered. "I don't care about your life! That thing could've eaten me!"

He opened his mouth and then closed it. Thanks anyway. He glanced around. Someone was missing. Where was HQ? She couldn't possibly still be sitting in the security room.

She came running breathlessly down the stairs, ponytail flying—just in time to put herself between Antalya and a Wendigo, snatch her up, and slide out of the way of his looming claws.

She was able to distract him just long enough to send him Richard's way, where he was sprayed with a mountain of bullets that, while nothing close to fatal, bought time until Rome or Vienna could do something more substantive. Cairo narrowed his eye, realizing HQ was armed with his weaponry.

"HQ!" he shouted, wincing and covering one ear, hoping she could hear him. She swiveled, and he motioned for her to toss him what she was holding. "Give me the knife!"

"What?"

"The knife, I need it!"

She hesitated. "What'll I fight with?"

"Take Taly's gun!"

"Taly's... Antalya!" HQ smacked Antalya upside the head upon realizing she was carrying something loaded and dangerous. She tossed the dagger through the air and Cairo fumbled for it, missing miserably—it landed several feet away.

He kept flat to the floor to avoid gunfire while scrambling to reach for it. It was his double-hilted blade, the one he would've brought downstairs with him if he was smart. One side iron and the other silver. His heart hammered with excitement. Now he could fight. Probably not terribly well, mind you, but he could fight.

Looking up, he was faced with the unfortunate reality that while he'd been distracted a Wendigo had come towards him. They must have been too disoriented in all the pandemonium to locate Berlin. Good. Good. He backed up and hit someone.

"Shang, what are you doing?" he hissed. Shanghai looked relieved to see him, thrusting Paris into his arms.

"Oh, good. Here. I've got it."

Cairo ducked out of the way, reluctantly clutching Paris as his brother grabbed the nearest chair and swung it with full force towards the hostile creature. Of course, he didn't need a weapon at all—any object within reach: a lamp, a shard of shattered glass, a spoon, could be made deadly. He delivered hit after hit, but the Wendigo regenerated each time, pressing on. Annoyed, Cairo shoved the kid back.

"I don't want baby duty," he grunted, swinging forward and taking advantage of the Wendigo's focus on Shanghai to aim for his stomach with the knife. This elicited a pained scream. So it worked, at least relatively.

"I'm not a baby!" Paris protested. Shanghai forcibly handed him back, going for the legs and toppling the Wendigo over. Not dead, but injured enough. Cairo pushed Paris back onto him as another opponent quickly approached, engaging them in a frustrating game of pass-the-child.

Ultimately, they began a routine of taking turns, Shanghai beating and Cairo slashing until the beast was near-dead. These Wendigo were infuriatingly persistent to the point where it was almost admirable. Shanghai tossed Paris back into Cairo's arms and turned to face him off again, but not quickly enough—razor-sharp claws sunk into his chest and he froze, processing it too slowly. Cairo felt numb.

A series of gunshots from Rome sent the monster down. Cairo was on his knees beside his brother, Paris's little fingers reaching out and coming back bloody. "Hey. Hey."

Shanghai was taking in sharp breaths, but still half-laughing. "Was that the last one?"

You crazy idiot. Cairo glanced around the first floor of the hotel. Fallen Wendigo littered the place. "I think so. I hope." He forced himself to look down again. There was blood everywhere, and it wasn't the rusty copper color of Wendigo blood. "Can't you heal yourself?" Shanghai had more than one of Mother's quirks.

He closed his eyes, looking far too relaxed for such a situation. It was like he took comfort in pain. "No." His words were coming out more labored by the minute. "I can only heal other people, genius."

"Are you okay?" Paris inquired unsurely.

"Never better."

Cairo's voice was hard. "Just try, Shang. Magic is like math. Limits are always questionable. Hold on until we can get you over to Mother."

Shanghai breathed another chuckle that seemed to say fine. He slammed a fist on his chest with force that had to hurt, clenching his jaw, and the bleeding halted, though the wounds did not begin to close or heal. That would have to be good enough.

"Good boy," he said patronizingly, patting him on the head, and Shanghai swatted him away with a viciousness that would have made Antalya proud.

Cairo stood, setting down Paris and taking in the destruction. Rome was prowling with the gun, so he waved him over. Berlin was not unscathed, but he was here, and all in one piece.

This had been a wild day.

After murmuring to Rome that Shanghai needed medical assistance, Cairo was going to help, but something gave him pause. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the female Wendigo he'd taken down earlier—and she was getting up again.

He spun the knife in his hand and approached from behind, waiting. He wouldn't be able to reach her throat from the floor. The Wendigo rose slowly, eyes searching for her target but landing on him instead. She spun and growled.

Cairo leaped onto the table, wasting no time grabbing her by the protrusions on her shoulders and wrangling her towards him. The blade dug into the side of her neck, slicing upwards and hooking there. She screamed like no scream he'd ever heard before, but though the sound was deafening, he remained in place, even as she thrashed and tried to wrench out of his grip.

"Last man standing," he told her. "You give up yet?"

Indeed, she was the last left. Everyone else had either reverted to their pre-shifted form, moaning on the floor and nursing shots that were slowly becoming fatal, or taken a breath and retreated. Looking around, he could tell that she knew it was over. Despite her pride, her priorities would be with her cohorts—if she didn't make the choice to back down, many of them would be dead before they ever had time to get medical attention.

"Come after my family again," Cairo said steadily, the calm amidst the storm, "and magic or not, I'll find every last one of you and rip you apart, even if I have to do it with my bare hands." He paused to catch his breath, and the Wendigo he had by the neck shuddered and squirmed under his grip, eyes frozen wide.

Blood dripped from a slash Cairo had sustained across his cheek, smeared down the side of his face. He leaned closer.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes," she croaked out, and Cairo dropped her, sending her coughing and spluttering with blood exploding from his neck where Cairo had released the knife.

"Good."

As the retreating Wendigo made a slow, meandering trudge like zombies out the front doors, peeling themselves back up off the ground and gritting their teeth to go back the way they came through the parking lot, Cairo had to be impressed with their perseverance. No magic besides their natural regeneration. Not even immortality, it seemed. Just a sheer unwillingness to surrender, to die. They had surrendered today. But with honor, at least. She hadn't begged. She'd made a decision and accepted it.

"We hope you enjoyed your stay at the Quimby Hotel," Shanghai called spitefully after them as Rome and Berlin lifted him up, spitting blood and wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

The female, shifted to human form once more, glanced back over her shoulder as she left. Her furious eyes found Berlin. And then she vanished with the rest of them.

━━ ⬫ ❪ ❖ ❫ ⬫ ━━

"I've got a recording of the captain's attempted murder. I believe the Guard will find it helpful," HQ said, snapping gum. Father eyed her with an unspoken question, and a mischievous smile flitted across her features. "The footage of everything that happened after is mysteriously corrupted. I haven't a clue how he ended up dead."

Everyone collectively exhaled in relief.

Berlin shot a glance back again towards the doors, and Cairo tossed a reassuring arm around him. Shanghai was lying on a love seat, drained but alive. Hattie finished fussing with everyone's injuries and finally took the time to look about, frowning at the mess they'd made of the hotel.

"We have a great deal of cleaning ahead of us." She didn't directly bring up the abysmal effect this would have on their reputation and the financial repercussions that would come from having to refund guests for their experience in this whole ordeal, but that, also, was understood.

"Delightful," Rome deadpanned.

"Speaking of the Guard, I called them," Father added. "They'll be here to collect his body shortly." He shot the cat Antalya was hugging to her chest a look that Cairo could only describe as wrath before that look found its way to Vienna. She was uncharacteristically disheveled and bloodied after the fight, and while everyone else had been satisfied with victory, she was clearly swimming in defeat. She had consequences to face now, consequences beyond what everyone else did.

Rome stepped aside with Cairo to check on their brother, whose exhaustion had finally outweighed his arrogance. His eyes had fluttered closed, chest falling and rising with regular breaths that put Cairo's fear for him at ease. Rome turned to Cairo.

"You'll stay long enough to fix things up with us, won't you?"

He slid his hands into his pockets. "Of course." He wouldn't abandon them at a time like this, not again. The corner of his mouth twitched in the beginnings of a smirk. "After all, I have to claim my inheritance."

Rome laughed softly. "Despite rumors to the contrary, you and I both know Father won't let you within a hundred feet of the inheritance."

Cairo let his slight smile linger. Rome looked at him carefully.

"We're still here. The hotel isn't going anywhere. There's time to make amends."

━━ ⬫ ❪ ❖ ❫ ⬫ ━━

Cairo hovered in the doorway of Vienna's room.

"They're not... kicking you out, are they?"

She shook her head. "No. I can't be arrested, either—there's no evidence proving I did it or even that a crime was committed at all." She lifted her hands, where she now wore swirling rings on each middle finger. "Mother and Father are making me keep these on until further notice. They're what convicts wear." The last part sounded sour on her tongue.

Ah. Magic blockers. As far as Cairo was aware, the only time an In-Between would ever need them was in a prison cell courtesy of the Guard. It was a wicked punishment. Wicked, but deserved.

He came in, slowly circling the room and finally coming to sit on the floor, not daring to come so close to her. He wasn't quite there yet. He took a breath, bringing himself to look at his sister. Her hair was loose. Usually, she straightened it so meticulously, but she had let it go in its natural ringlets. Nothing messy, nothing straying too far from excellence, but it was something different all the same.

He extended a hand. "I want to show you something."

She stared at him blankly for a moment of hesitation before taking it. Cairo closed his eye. He didn't need physical contact to do this, but it would ground him.

This time he did not project a memory of pain. He gave her the memory of something beautiful, something very personal to him. The day in the dandelion-filled woods. Would it kill you to smile, Cairo? He did not smile thinking of it, passing it on to her quietly. He remembered the laughter, the tender way Lucille had touched him and looked at him, her dress spilled across the grass. When he dropped Vienna's hand, his eyes were wet. He wiped his face.

Vienna was gasping away tears of her own, and even though she might never comprehend the massive weight of the grief that he felt, he'd had to share this with her, had to make her understand, if only a little.

"That's what you took from me," Cairo whispered. "But I have to forgive you. Not because you deserve it, but because I can't keep carrying the burden of this hatred for you anymore. It's been exhausting hating you for what you did. And I—I just want it to be over."

She swallowed, shaking. Oh, how the high had been humbled.

"I'm... I'm so sorry—"

"I know. I've heard enough apologies. It's time for me to move on. You should do the same."

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