Terror at the Hotel Salmoneus.
Chapter 6

Iolaus was at guard on the doorway when Xena lead Argo and a very subdued Gabrielle in. He watched as Xena lead Argo to a far corner of the room near the fireplace and left her there. He noticed that Gabrielle pulled a chair away from the table and placed it beside Argo; she leaned on Argo's side and kept petting Argo's side over and over again.

Argo glanced back at the small woman and gave a little whinny but Iolaus noticed that Argo did not move away from her.

Salmoneus, who had been dozing, woke up when he heard Argo's whinny.

He looked around and then called out quietly to Xena. "Where is my horse?"

Iolaus who had been still watching Gabrielle's somber mood, saw her shudder violently and then lay her head on Argo's side as though she was trying to hear her heartbeat.

Xena glancing around and seeing that the servants were all asleep, quietly said, "The creature got there before us Salmoneus. I'm sorry. Your horse is dead."

Salmoneus bowed his head sadly. "He was a good horse, carried all my supplies up here without once complaining or causing problems. How did the creature kill him?" Xena sharply glanced to where Gabrielle was and saw her shaking as though she was cold but Xena knew it was not the cold bothering her.

"Let's just say it was really messy and leave it at that. Okay?" Xena said quietly.

"It will be hard to tell Termuras there." Salmoneus said nodding his head to where the stable boy was laying on a cleared part of the table curled into a ball, asleep. "The boy was real fond of that horse."

Xena walked over and placing a hand on Salmoneus' shoulder, "try to get some sleep Salmoneus. At first light you and Autolycus are going to get these people out of here to safety while Hercules, Iolaus and I take care of this creature once and for all."

Hearing a sob come from Gabrielle's direction, Xena quickly crossed to where she was and dropped to her knees beside Gabrielle's chair.

Gabrielle turned eyes that were bright with tears to Xena. "Please don't make me leave with them tomorrow! If you are going to face that creature again, I want to be by your side!"

"Gabrielle, don't you understand? If something were to happen to you tomorrow, I don't think that I could go on!" Xena said reaching out and caressing Gabrielle's face with one hand.

"And you think that I can? I don't want to have to wait outside, wondering if you are going to live or die inside here without me!" Gabrielle said with her voice thick with unexpressed emotion. "And why is Iolaus staying behind and I have to leave? You feel that you can trust his abilities more in a fight than me?" Gabrielle asked quietly, bowing her head.

Xena with her hand under Gabrielle's chin raised her face to look at her gently. "Don't you ever say that again Gabrielle! I trust you in a fight with my life. You have come a long ways. You are as good as anybody in a fight under normal conditions. But this creature is far from normal."

"All the more reason for me to be by your side while you are fighting it!" Gabrielle said.

Xena started to shake her head and stand up but stopped when Gabrielle grabbed her hand that was still on Gabrielle's face and turning it placed a kiss on the palm. "Please Xena! Don't send me away!"

Xena tried to harden her heart and do what she thought was right but the look in Gabrielle's eyes caused all her defenses to crumble into dust. "Tomorrow when we attack that black stone, I expect that the creature will go into a rage. You promise me that you will not try and fight him yourself but leave him to me and Hercules?" Xena asked, her own voice thick with emotions.

Gabrielle not trusting her voice just nodded.

"And Gabrielle? Please be careful tomorrow!" Xena said as she tried to stand up but was stopped again by Gabrielle's hand on hers. Xena looked back into Gabrielle's eyes.

"Please, you also be careful tomorrow." Gabrielle quiet voice said.

Iolaus after judging the late time by the candles burning walked over to where Autolycus sat in a chair sleeping. He had barely placed his hand on the 'King of Thieves' shoulder, when Autolycus eyes snapped open. "Your turn for watch." Iolaus told him quietly.

Autolycus nodded and started toward the door. Hearing a slight noise he glanced back in Gabrielle's direction and saw her body sitting in the chair leaning against Argo give a twitch and heard her whimper in her sleep.

"Probably having a nightmare and no wonder." He thought to himself.

Gabrielle found herself wandering around a strange passageway with no idea how or why she was there. Hearing a horse's scream, Gabrielle put on a burst of speed and reached a wooden door at the end of the passage. Throwing open the door wide, Gabrielle found herself in a bright lighted white room and at the center of the room, there lay Argo. She had been sliced apart and there were streams of blood flowing across the floor toward her.

"Argo no!" Gabrielle screamed and ran to the horse's side. Gabrielle tried to figure out what she could do for the horse when she heard a rough whisper coming from one of the walls of the room. "Gabrielle!"

Jerking her head up Gabrielle looked in the direction and saw Xena hanging from the wall. Xena had been split open like Argo, from the base of her throat to the bottom of her stomach. Gabrielle could see Xena's organs hanging precariously, about to fall out of her body.

"NO!" Gabrielle screamed and then sensing someone beside her, looked over and saw the creature lying on the floor casually propped up on Argo's head. "Poor Gabrielle! Xena's dying and you never had a chance to tell her how you really felt about her!"

Gabrielle with a ragged gasp woke up and grabbed her staff. Breathing heavily, she looked around and saw that everyone except Autolycus and Hercules was still asleep. Shaking slightly, Gabrielle got to her feet and walked over to where Hercules was still keeping guard at the kitchen doorway.

"Go get some sleep Hercules. I'll keep watch for a while." She told him quietly.

"That's okay. I don't need much sleep. Go back to sleep Gabrielle." Hercules told her gently.

"I don't think I will need to worry about sleeping for a long time after this." Gabrielle told him. "You are going to need your strength tomorrow. Go ahead and get some sleep." Gabrielle insisted.

Hercules nodded and pulled a chair out and leaning back went to sleep.

Xena woke up instantly and the first place she looked was the empty chair beside Argo where Gabrielle had been sleeping. Quickly scanning the room, she relaxed when she saw Gabrielle standing at the doorway to the kitchen on guard. Getting to her feet she made her way over to where Autolycus was standing at the other doorway. "What time is it?" She asked.

"Dawn or a little earlier, can't really tell this far into the castle." Autolycus said rubbing his eyes.

"Probably a little before dawn, I usually wake about that time." Xena nodded her head to where Gabrielle was standing with her back to them, watching the hallway into the kitchen. "How long has Gabrielle been keeping watch?"

"She awoke a little after I took over from Iolaus. She insisted that Hercules should get some sleep and has been standing watch since then." Autolycus told her glancing back to where Gabrielle stood in the other doorway.

Xena nodded her head at him and then started across the room to stand at Gabrielle's side.

"Did you get any sleep at all Gabrielle?" She asked the alert young woman who was studying the hallway.

"A little." Gabrielle admitted.

"We will be getting the servants awake and moving them out soon and then we will see about the black stone. Do you think that you are up to it?" Xena asked her studying her profile.

Gabrielle turned slightly to look Xena in the eyes. "I'll be ready!" She said determinedly.

Hercules, Iolaus, Xena and Gabrielle stood at the doorway to the castle and watched as Salmoneus and Autolycus lead the servants several yards away from the castle. Autolycus held the leads to Argo's bridle and it was more than a little evident that the horse wanted to be with Xena. It kept looking back and pulling on the leads until Xena shouted to her to behave.

"We will wait here until you come out, Xena!" Autolycus shouted to her.

"You wait here until the sun is directly overhead and then you lead these people out of this valley. If we are not out of there by that time, we won't be coming out and under no circumstances are you or anyone else to enter here after us. I don't think that the creature will leave the castle, I think that it has to stay near the stone or it would have left the castle a long time ago but I maybe wrong. So if we don't come out you are to lead these people to safety and find someway to seal this valley off so no one else becomes the creature's victims." Xena turned and glancing down at Gabrielle she asked in a low voice that only Gabrielle could hear. "Are you sure you won't stay out here with them?"

"I'm sure!" Gabrielle said back quietly, taking a firm grip on her staff.

Xena glanced at Hercules and Iolaus. "Let's do it then!" Xena pulled her sword and then turned and entered the castle with Gabrielle at her back followed by Hercules and then Iolaus.

Reaching the 'mystery room' they found the doors wide open as if it was awaiting them.

"Okay, this stone is supposed to be the hardest material Ares could find so we will let Hercules see if he can break it first." Xena said as she entered. Looking back she was shocked to see a glazed look in Hercules' face and watched as he walked over to a candlestick and started tugging at it.

Iolaus with a worried look on his face rushed to his friend's side and started tugging on his arms trying to get him to let loose of the candlestick.

Gabrielle who was watching the room carefully was the first to see the room to the library open slowly. "Xena!"

Xena whipped around to see the creature step out of the library carrying a long wicked looking sword. The creature ignored her for a moment and leered at Gabrielle.

"I am so glad that I did not manage to kill you pretty one in the stables. Now I will be able to take my time and really enjoy myself. You should be able to last for weeks before you die!"

Xena with a snarl whipped her chakram up and hurled it at him with a growl. The creature did not even try to avoid the chakram but let it him in the chest. The chakram barely slowed as it hit the creature and blasted out of his back, to hit a wall and bouncing off to land near Gabrielle.

The creature glanced down at its ruined chest and watched as its black blood oozed out a little and then sealed off the wound. "Now it's time to see if you are as good with a sword as I was." The creature snarled and then rushed to attack Xena.

Gabrielle watched as Xena blocked the creature's first blow with her sword but failed to stop its kick to her stomach knocking the wind out of her.

Xena recovering slammed her sword into the creature's chest and then had the sword jerked out of her hand as the creature twisted suddenly to the side. The creature backhanded Xena violently and Xena flew back to slam into a wall and slumped to the floor. The creature looked at the sword in his chest for a moment and then pulled it out. The sword made a disgusting slurping noise as it pulled out of the black oozing mess that was the creature's chest. "You will die quickly but don't worry; your pretty little friend will die very slowly!" The creature said as he dropped his sword and raised Xena's above his head.

Gabrielle looked around in panic. Iolaus was still trying to pull Hercules' hands off of the candle and Hercules was totally in the power of the candles and could not help. Gabrielle's eyes fell on the chakram lying on the floor near her. Picking it up she screamed at the creature as she threw it. Unfortunately, Gabrielle had no experience in throwing the chakram and the creature turning to look at her when she screamed, laughed as the chakram missed him by almost 4 feet. The chakram hit the wall and bouncing off flew a wobbly flight across the room and sliced cleanly through one of the flaring candles in the room. It then hit another wall and landed on the floor about 3 feet from Gabrielle. The sliced candle flared brightly, the flame almost reaching the ceiling of the room and then went out. As the candle went out, Gabrielle could hear a loud noise like the cracking of thick ice on a pond and looking over at the black stone she saw that the side that had been facing the candle was heavily cracked. The creature screamed and clutched at its chest. Xena taking advantage of the creature's momentary distraction grabbed the creature's sword that was lying on the floor near her and ran over to one of the candles and swung it with all her strength. The sword as soon as it hit the candle exploded into pieces not even scratching the wax surface of the candle. Xena looked at the hilt in her hand for a moment before dropping it and then turning, had to fight for her life once again as the creature ran across the room and crashed into her.

Gabrielle stunned, watched Xena and the creature fight for a moment and then shaking herself out of it, she ran across to the chakram and picking it up she ran over to the nearest candle to her. Not risking throwing the chakram again, she swung the chakram around with her hand and watched as it sliced through another candle with no resistance. The candle flared brightly like the first one and then went out. Another loud cracking noise announced that the stone had once again cracked.

The creature who had managed to get his hands locked Xena's throat fell back with a scream as the candle went out.

Gabrielle did not even pause to watch the candle but ran around the stone to the next nearest candle and without even slowing this time she cut it with the chakram as she ran by.

The creature finally took his eyes off of Xena and turning started to scramble after Gabrielle.

Gabrielle did not slow or even look back as she heard the creature chasing her. Reaching the last candle, the one Hercules was trying to pull out of its holder. She slashed the candle just below Hercules' hands. The candle flared up and then with a soft plop came off in Hercules' hands. The force that Hercules had been exerting on the candle caused him and Iolaus to stagger back a few feet as the candle came off in his hands.

Gabrielle stood watching, afraid that when she had cut that last candle it might have hurt Hercules in some way. Suddenly she felt the creature grab her around the waist and pull her toward him. "If I go to Tartarus, you go with me!" The creature foul breath hissed into her ear.

Gabrielle looking back and up at the creature let out a scream.

The creature had its black blood oozing from hundreds of cuts and wounds all over it. As Gabrielle watched its head wobbled slightly as if it was about to fall off, before the black tendrils from its body pulled it back on.

"Get your hands off of my friend!" Xena's voice growled at the creature.

Xena then swung her sword that she had picked up from the floor where the creature had dropped it and cleanly cut the arm that was holding Gabrielle off. Gabrielle rushed over to Xena's side as soon as she was free.

The creature looked at its severed arm and then laughed at Xena. "You cannot stop me! I will live forever!"

"I don't think so!" The creature turned to look at Hercules who had spoken, just in time to catch Hercules' fist in his face. The creature flew back to land on the black stone and as soon as he hit it, the stone blew apart in pieces.

The creature staggered to his feet and in a clear voice yelled, "free at last!" and then to Gabrielle's horror he started to slowly fall to pieces. First his hand that Xena had cut off earlier with the chakram, fell to the floor. Dissolving into black goo almost before it could hit the floor. To be quickly followed by his head. The body continued to dissolve into a black pudding like mixture. The smell that suddenly filled the room was so horrible and disgusting that all four friends turned and fled the room.

Gabrielle stopped just outside the room and started to go back in. "My staff! I left it in there!"

Xena grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the door. 'We'll get it later!"

"Gabrielle nodded her head and then looking down, realized that she still had Xena's chakram in her hand. "Here is your chakram back Xena."

"Let's go and tell Autolycus and Salmoneus that the creature is dead." Xena said taking the chakram back and placing it at her side.

"Um Xena? Do you think that Anillus will be punished for the things his body did while his soul was trapped in the stone?" Gabrielle asked Xena sadly.

Xena paused in her steps and looked down at Gabrielle and smiling shook her head slightly.

After all that Gabrielle had been through, she still could feel sorry for and wonder about Anillus's state of his soul.

After telling Salmoneus that the creature was dead, Salmoneus was all for cleaning out the castle and still trying to make it into a hotel. The servants were very difficult to convince to stay on in a place where such horrors had taken place but after Salmoneus promised to raise their wages and got Hercules and Xena to promise to look over all the rooms in the castle, they finally agreed to stay.

Hercules and Xena took care of the unpleasant task of clearing out the stable and the scroll library and Autolycus and Iolaus helped to clean out the dungeon after Gabrielle showed them the way to it.

Hercules, Salmoneus and Autolycus were stunned by how large the castle complex was underground. They found barracks rooms that could have held over a thousand troops. Armories, their weapons long ago rusted away in racks waiting for warriors who would never claim them. Hercules found hidden stables underground that had secret entrances near the surface far away from the walls of the castle. Finding the skeletal remains of horses with gnaw marks on the bones, Hercules quietly cleaned out the stables and decided not to tell the others of his discovery of the horse remains.

Autolycus and Salmoneus were highly pleased when while searching the secret passages and rooms found a treasury room that had been undisturbed and was filled with the tribute that Annillus had gathered over a 100 years ago.

After Xena flatly refused to let Gabrielle help with the cleaning of the stables or the mystery room, Gabrielle decided to stay with the room with the waterbed, after having Autolycus destroy the opening mechanism that worked the secret mirror door. She spent most of the afternoon and evening working on a project of her own while the rest helped Salmoneus with the castle work.

Xena after finishing her grim tasks and cleaning up outside walked in to the kitchen and looked at the food that Melerin and Cheara were cooking. "Hmm smells good!" Xena said lifting a lid on a pot.

Cheara slapped her hand with a spoon and said, "yes but that is for the men folk. Your golden haired young friend came down and made up some food for you and her. She said for me to tell you that she will be serving you dinner upstairs in the bedroom." Cheara said with a twinkle in her eye.

Xena eyed the huge woman with a frown. "I don't know what you think is going on between me and Gabrielle but we are just good friends."

Cheara grabbed Xena by the arm and pulled her to one side away from where Melerin continued to work. "It's not what I think, it is what I know. Do you find it odd that two people like me and Melerin got together? I am as big as a house and he is so thin he blows away in a wind. We got together because we are soul mates. He completes what is missing in me. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that it is not the same for you and Gabrielle?" Cheara said with her hands on her hips.

Xena opened her mouth to answer but found she couldn't. Feeling a blush come over her face she just said, "if Gabrielle has dinner waiting for me I better not leave her waiting." She started to walk off but felt Cheara's hand on her arm again. "And you better not leave her waiting much longer before you tell her how you feel about her, either."

Xena found herself waiting outside the door to the room she was sharing with Gabrielle, feeling like some crush stricken teenager. Her hands were actually sweating, for Aphrodite's sake! Xena wiped her hands on her leathers and took a deep breath. Cheara was wrong. Wasn't she? Xena knew how she felt about Gabrielle, it was love plain and simple but Gabrielle didn't feel that way. Did she?

Xena took another deep breath and reached for the doorknob only to stop and look at the door again. Feeling foolish but still doing it anyway, Xena reached up and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Came Gabrielle's voice from the other side.

'It's me Gabrielle. Can I come in?" Xena asked.

"Of course. This is your room too." Xena wondered at the quivering in Gabrielle's voice and taking yet another deep breath, she reached out and turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Xena noticed as she entered that there were candles everywhere giving the room a soft glow. On every desk or chest in the room there were vases of roses. Xena recalled hearing Gabrielle casually asking Salmoneus where he got the roses that were hanging outside in baskets earlier that day. Salmoneus had told her that he had a small green house in the castle where Melerin grew the flowers.

Sitting in the middle of the floor was one of Salmoneus's silk sheets and sitting on the sheet were plates of cheese, bread and a bowl of cherries. Off to one side there were several skins filled with good strong port wine, Xena found pulling the cork and smelling them. Xena looking around did not see Gabrielle right off. Finally looking at the big waterbed she saw a black silk covered mound moving slowly.

"Gabrielle?" Xena asked moving closer to the bed.

Gabrielle rose up a little in the bed and Xena could see her golden red hair.

"Were you taking a nap?" Xena asked in a surprised voice.

"Not exactly. More like I was lying down because I am so nervous that I can't stand up." Gabrielle voice quivered.

Xena took a deep gulp and asked, "Why?"

"This is why!" Gabrielle said as she sat up on the bed.

As she sat up, the black silk sheet slowly slid off of her body. When the sheet reached her chest and continued to slide down, Xena quickly lost her breath as she saw that Gabrielle was nude.

"I am so afraid that what I am going to say and what I am doing is going to ruin our friendship but I can't go on like we have been." Gabrielle took a deep gulp of air and then said in a rush. "I am in love with you Xena! I don't mean like a friend or like a sister. I mean that I want to be with you forever! I want to feel your hands on my body and make love to you!" Gabrielle finishing the speech that she had agonized over all day long quickly covered her face with her hands too afraid of Xena's reaction to look at her.

Gabrielle waiting to hear what Xena would say to her declaration could only hear sounds of Xena moving around and she feared that Xena was gathering her stuff up to leave but she still could not bring herself to remove her hands and watch Xena walk out of her life forever. Feeling Xena sitting down gently on the bed, Gabrielle moved two of her fingers and peeked out nervously at Xena. What she saw was that Xena had removed her armor and her leathers and was sitting on the bed opposite of her totally nude.

"I love you too Gabrielle. Not like a friend or a sister but in that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Xena said as she reached out took Gabrielle's hands away from her face and kissed the palms gently.

Downstairs, Autolycus, Iolaus, Salmoneus and Hercules was sitting down to dinner.

"Where are Xena and Gabrielle? Salmoneus asked Cheara as she was serving the food.

"They were both very tired and decided to grab a bite in their room and call it a night." Cheara answered Salmoneus.

Autolycus looked up at her with his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. He opened his mouth to say something but the glare he got from the formidable looking woman made him change his mind. He settled for looking over at Salmoneus and said, "You know Sal, this hotel idea for couples just might work after all."

The End!