Heiji, meanwhile, took a moment of time to recoil from the shotgun pellets embedded into the wall on general principle. Their opponent had apparently loaded the gun with iron ammunition and nope nope nope.

"Not so fast, you little pest!"

Violet yanked on a wall sconce just as they reached the door. Somehow, impossibly, an actual trap door opened under their feet, sending them hurtling down into the darkness to who knew what down below.

Heiji turned instinctively back into a fox as he descended; in this form, he was roughly the size of a loveseat. If he hit bottom first, he might at least break someone's fall...