"Lucky Max and Sonia," Sonia comments. "Come on, then: let's get those doors locked."
Renault ascends through the ceiling, clearly planning on taking a more direct route up to his intended vantage point. You walk with the werewolf and the vampire as they do their best to keep each other at a distance. The walls you pass are wooden paneled, with the occasional painting marking undefined distances: each of them showing stern, grim figures, with either crimson or orange eyes that follow your progress as you pass. Gas lamps flare into light as you approach, only to extinguish themselves once you've left them behind. It's as though you're traveling within a glowing sphere of light, around which the shadows shift and tremble.
What would happen, you can't help but wonder, if that sphere should shrink or die away entirely?
"So," Sonia says eventually. "How are things going with the great assignment?"
"Assignment?" you ask.
"Oh, you know," Max says. "Harmony and peace between our two species. I mean, it's been such an unprecedented success up to this point."
You ignore the jibe.
"That's the one," Sonia agrees. "Just wondering if you had any ideas, provided we all survive the whole pit-to-hell situation."
"I was planning on