The Fall of the Hotel Dumort is the seventh released short story in The Bane Chronicles.
Description[]
Magnus Bane watches his favorite 1920s hotspot, the once-glamorous Hotel Dumort, become something else altogether in 1970s New York City.
Fifty years after the Jazz Age rise of the Hotel Dumort, immortal warlock Magnus Bane knows the Manhattan landmark is on the decline. The once-beautiful Hotel Dumort has fallen into a decayed thing, a ruin, as dead as a place can be. But the vampires don't mind...
Plot[]
July, 1977.
Magnus Bane is on the plane back to New York after two years of traveling. Beside him sits a woman, who, as Magnus notices, is an addict. She is very curious about him, and, being a PR agent, gives him passes to a new club she's promoting: Electrica. She then offers to share her next dose of cocaine. He refuses, knowing that the drug addiction phase would eventually pass, and drifts off to sleep.
Magnus, upon landing in New York, is filled with nostalgia. Magnus takes a cab to his apartment in Manhattan; during the cab ride, the driver tells him of the recent murder sprees in New York. Finally arriving at his apartment, Magnus notices a foul smell and immediately becomes suspicious. Inside, he finds four vampires occupying his sofa, watching cartoons. Magnus then evicts the freeloaders, during which he notices the sickly appearance of the vampires—noteworthy because vampires do not get sick, only hungry. While his magic manages to clean the place, it doesn't make the smell go away.
Unable to sleep because of the lingering unsanitary feeling in the apartment, in addition to his jet lag, Magnus decides to go out into the city. He picks up a paper and ends up reading about the murders the cab driver told him about. He then proceeds to a diner for breakfast and, while sitting in his booth, is joined by his old werewolf friend Gregory Jensen. Greg tells him that something has been off with the vampires lately, that they have been killing and feeding like crazy and it might be bad for all Downworlders as the Shadowhunters might find out. After a short chat, Magnus decides to join Greg on his patrol.
While the two are patrolling the streets, Greg tells Magnus that he thinks the heat is what causing vampire's craziness. Magnus inquires if Max Lincoln, then the head of the werewolves, has spoken to Camille, to which Greg replies that the two don't talk, and Camille mostly spends her time clubbing. Magnus tries to find out if Raphael Santiago does something to stabilize the situation and discovers that Raphael was sent away after encountering Camille about the matter.
After their patrol, they stop by at the werewolves' headquarters in Chinatown to hear reports from others. There, Magnus learns from another lycanthrope, Elliot, that they have found a body after the obvious vampire attack and slit its throat to cover the puncture marks. Lincoln tries to persuade Magnus to talk to Camille in order to prevent the situation from getting worse, to which he unwillingly agrees to.
Magnus pays a visit to the Eldorado apartment building, where Camille lives, hoping to see her. There, he is cornered by a vampire he remembers as Daisy, who is in fact Dolly. She asks him what he is doing here and blocks the entry. Magnus' response is that he wants to see Camille, though she does not move out of the way, but sends another vampire over to talk to Camille. While Dolly is keeping Magnus in place, she takes the Electrica passes from him. Then Magnus is finally allowed to come in.
Dolly shows Magnus to Camille's room. In the room, he finds Camille, not like her usual self, along with her mundane prey, Sarah. He watches her fidgeting around the room and tries to speak to her about the killing. Camille brushes off his question by saying that she may be a leader, but does not control vampires and that they need freedom. By observing Sarah, Magnus finally understands why the vampires are so strange. They have been feeding on the humans who have taken drugs and have become addicted. That was the reason that they are acting so weird. Magnus offers to help her and everyone else to clean their systems out of the drug, but despite his warnings, Camille does not want to listen and orders him out. He leaves, escorted by Dolly.
When he reaches his house, Magnus is not surprised to see Lincoln there, waiting for him. Magnus tells him the reason for vampires' madness and says that there is nothing he can do. Not happy, Lincoln answers that he understands, but if anything happens again, werewolves will do something about it and Magnus should stay away, to which Magnus gives in. For several days, Magnus can't forget the scene from Camille's bedroom, so he keeps himself busy.
On 13th July 1977 there is a blackout in New York City. The Village, where Magnus lives is partying, music fills the streets. Magnus is also out there enjoying the craziness of the accident, however it is not the case in the city. Hundreds of stores get broken into, more than a hundred fires are set, there are reports of looting and gunfire is exchanged. Out of the crowd, Greg comes and tells Magnus that vampires have gone crazy at the club Electrica because of the blackout. And the two rush to help.
A total of nine dead are found at the club, among which is the woman from the plane, who was sitting near Magnus. Magnus starts to blame himself for giving the passes to the vampires, but is consoled by Lincoln. The pack leader gives Magnus an hour to persuade Camille to come to her senses, otherwise, the werewolves were given permission from Praetor Lupus to deal with the situation.
Magnus Portals himself to Eldorado and finds Camille outside, waiting for him half-conscious. He persuades her to go to the cemetery, for the grave dirt of the various vampires in her clan, in order to summon them. Once at the cemetery, Magnus breaks into the vault and destroys all the vials with grave dirt. When asked by Magnus where it will lead the vampires, Camille answers - Hotel Dumont.
Magnus says to Camille to do as he says, or at least to try and they Portal to the Hotel Dumont. He locks all the vampires with Camille inside the Hotel supported by wards for three days. When they finally open the doors, the werewolves and Magnus observe the vampires scattered in every part of the ballroom. After Magnus finds Camille in the room, he helps her upstairs. They share some memories of the past and Camille swears that this will never happen again, not on her watch. When Magnus leaves, he meets Raphael, who apologizes and says that he was taking care of the sick.
Once Magnus returns to his apartment, he calls his friend, Catarina Loss, and asks her to come. He convinces her to help him forget that the whole thing ever happened, though she is reluctant. After his memory is erased, Magnus is puzzled to see Catarina in his apartment. He can't remember what he's been doing these past two weeks and when asked by Catarina about Camille, he says that he hasn't seen her in eighty years.
Characters[]
- Magnus Bane
- Max Lincoln
- Gregory Jensen
- Consuela Jensen
- Elliot
- Camille Belcourt
- Raphael Santiago
- Dolly
- Sarah
- Catarina Loss
- David
- Mrs. Milligan (mentioned only)
- Etta (mentioned only)
- Aldous Nix (mentioned only)
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- It was originally teased as The Rise and Fall of the Hotel Dumort, but was released as two separate stories, albeit in one continuity. The other half, The Rise of the Hotel Dumort, was released online two months before it.