Sindra glared at the weak sunlight now entering her room, just as she finished sorting her knife collection on the motel floor. It turned out that she had woken up several hours ago in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep afterwards, so she had decided to do something productive instead.
But a half hour later, the minuscule sunlight vanished and was replaced by dark clouds, dark enough that Sindra had to turn on a lamp. Then the rain began, and she was at peace.
Sindra didn't have to deliver her client's proof to Nevada until Monday, which was in four days. So she would remain here in rainy and balmy Florida until then. No point in going anywhere else for that specific time.
In the meantime, Sindra began to pack her things so she could leave this motel and possibly stay somewhere better. And just to get away from the noisy couple next door... although they had managed to stay quiet for the rest of the night. She could definitely tell that she had done quite a number on the man in particular. Even though she was an experienced killer, she didn't wish to try her luck by staying near them in case he wanted to attack her, nor did Sindra feel like killing some drunken local.
So she waited until the rain had settled to a calm sprinkle, left her room key on the dresser, then grabbed her things and left. She walked down the stairs and entered the parking lot, throwing her bag in the back instead of in the trunk of her truck. Sindra started the engine and allowed the AC to transition from cool to lukewarm, then backed out of her spot and left the gloomy motel behind her.
Sindra wished she could leave Florida altogether, but she had to wait four more days. She supposed it was good that she had some extra time to do whatever she wanted, since she hadn't actually needed to give herself a week to find a silver-poisoned werewolf in broad daylight. And it was also good that she had once again beat her anonymous hunter competitors to the Everglades; it was such a problem nowadays because the price on werewolf bounties had skyrocketed, so more and more hunters had joined in to get more money. Now Sindra had more rivals than ever before, which only continued to slim down her chances of finding the one true werewolf that she had to hunt down before the others did.
Traffic was light as Sindra drove into Fort Lauderdale, but the rain only continued to progress until it was pouring buckets on the road. She quickly found a Hilton hotel and sighed as she pulled into the parking garage, thankful that she wouldn't have to get wet after all. It wasn't like she should care anyway; she fought and killed werewolves for a living, and usually exposed herself to much worse elements during those hunts.
Sindra eventually parked her truck at a spot that was conveniently close to the elevators, then grabbed her two bags and glass-like box of the elevator lobby. She stepped into the next available one and punched the button that would take her to the hotel's main lobby, then walked inside after the doors opened.
Getting a room was surprisingly easy and not as costly as she thought it would be, since she would be staying for four nights.
She closed her door and locked it as soon as she got in, then unpacked her weapons and lay them all out. Every single knife blade was made of pure silver, from the smallest pocketknife to her falchions, which she had left at home because it would've been too bulky to pack. Not to mention that it would've raised a lot of suspicion, of course.
The rainy day crawled on slowly, and water didn't stop pouring out of the sky once, only calming down every once in a while to turn into a sprinkle. Sindra ended up staying in her room all day, laying low and organizing her weapons, and looking to contact another client for her next hunt. She usually communicated with clients through email and not text, since it was more confidential that way, rather than having private business constantly showing up on her phone's home screen.
She managed to reach out to three clients before turning off her phone and returning to her weapons. Then a knock sounded on her door, and she scrambled to hide her weapons under the bed before answering. Luckily it was only room service; two petite yet squat Latin women with kind brown eyes and a rolling cart full of cleaning supplies. And when one of the women—who had a small purple flower barrette in her hair—looked at Sindra, she could've sworn to herself that she saw fear in those eyes for a split second. "Hello, do you need anything cleaned, ma'am?"
Sindra slowly shook her head, her eyes fixated on the one woman with the barrette while the other spoke. She narrowed her eyes. "No thank you, I'm fine..."
"Ok, you have a good night then," the woman with the barrette hurriedly replied, then ushered the other woman along with the rolling cart. They went further down the hall and quickly turned the corner, and Sindra couldn't help but feel confusion and suspicion roiling within her. It would've been nice if she could've asked them how to get food here before they had run off, but Sindra supposed she wouldn't have trouble figuring that out.
She unintentionally slammed her door shut and then dialed a number in the phone sitting on her nightstand. The front desk picked up, and Sindra asked how and where she could get something to eat here, then hung up after she received an adequate answer.
But truly, Sindra just wanted an excuse to leave her room so she could go after that cleaning woman and ask her a few questions. She had looked way too fearful, even in that split second, to pass for an ordinary person with no significance. Something was off. And besides, Sindra had a feeling she wouldn't leave anyway because of all the weapons she had to clean, so decided to give herself something to do.
Sindra left her room, stuffing her room key card into her back pocket with her phone, as well as a small silver knife in the other pocket. Then she ventured down the same hall the cleaning ladies had gone down, turned the corner, but saw no cleaning cart. She supposed they were already in one of the rooms, so she waited at that corner for about twenty to thirty minutes until they came out again. That same woman with the barrette looked around the hall, studying her surroundings, while the other cleaning woman looked indifferent to Sindra as she rolled the cart out of the room. Now Sindra was very curious as to what this woman's deal was.
They went down the hall towards the elevators, and Sindra snuck down the same hall just as they turned the corner, where the elevators would be. And right as she turned that next corner, she glimpsed the elevator door close and she immediately ran for the door to the stairs nearby. She had no idea what floor they were going on, but then some odd gut feeling told her they would be going on the first floor. Sindra ran down the three flights of stairs as quickly as she could, then calmly opened the door to look out at the lobby.
And bingo! The two cleaning women were walking out of the elevator all the way across the lobby, and seemed to be heading towards a utility closet not too far away. Sindra left the stairwell and hurried across the lobby, dodging families and other bystanders before she pushed her way into the utility closet.
And to say it was a closet definitely did not fit.
Before Sindra, there was a hall that branched off into some sort of a lounge room on the right, a locker room straight ahead, and the room full of cleaning supplies on the left. Sindra could hear the womens' voices coming from the supply room, so she carefully crept in there.
"...but we have to talk about that one woman that we saw," said the suspicious one with the barrette, in a rapid tone. "You didn't recognize her? Dios mío, I thought she was about to get me for sure! I just can't believe I recognized her."
"Would you calm down? You have to remain calm or else she will know for sure what you are!" The other woman exclaimed as she was placing stuff from the cart onto the shelves next to her. She seemed to have a thicker accent than the other woman. "I don't know why she's here, of all places, or why, but you just have to act normal while she's here so she doesn't hunt you like the rest of them."
And that was all Sindra needed to hear.
She revealed herself, stepping out of the shadows and moving into the back aisle where the two women were. The woman with the barrette cried out in fear and shock and attempted to run, but Sindra was fast enough to move around the other woman and the bulky cleaning cart and grab her. The woman at the cart cursed to herself as Sindra tightly held the other one in a chokehold with her silver knife in one hand. "Who the hell are you two?" She then asked the other woman, "Are you a werewolf?"
The woman in the chokehold didn't respond, as expected, and instead let loose a low growl. It was just another confirmation for Sindra, but still, she held her knife towards the woman's stomach. "Don't make me use this damn knife."
"Ok, ok! Please calm down, don't hurt her," the woman by the cart exclaimed. Even though absolutely no one else was around, she dropped her voice to a desperate whisper. "We know who you are, alright? I will most certainly pay you every last cent that I have to keep you from killing my friend here... please, she hasn't done anything wrong."
"Oh, I beg to differ," Sindra scoffed. "She's a werewolf, of course she's done something wrong! Her entire existence is wrong." The woman was now gasping for breath, but Sindra didn't hold back. "Now are you going to make this harder for her or should I kill her quickly and painlessly? There's no other option."
The woman at the cart began to curse in Spanish and seemed to be uttering a silent prayer, before stepping closer to Sindra. "You should let her go and take me instead. She's done no harm, but I have."
The woman in Sindra's chokehold now began to openly protest against this. "Catalina, no! You don't have to protect me."
Sindra narrowed her eyes. "What, are one of them too?" If she was, then this was about to get very interesting, and possibly very dicey. Two werewolves weren't exactly better than one, in most cases at least.
"Yes, I am," Catalina declared, raising her chin and meeting Sindra's eyes. "I was actually the one that turned her. She's only been a werewolf for three months... I've been one for four years."
Yes, very dicey indeed.