A few minutes before hand, Sam and Dean re-entered the hospital,
"Where did they go…?" Sam mused, looking around, "The sun's coming up. It's unlikely we'll find anything until tonight."
Dean didn't answer as the two wondered towards the stairwell,
"Perhaps they went back stairs." Sam continued as a heavy thud sounded between the two of them. Dean bent down with a frown, picking up the logbook that lay at their feet. Sam looked up with a frown and cursed loudly as he saw the tumbling form of Lola. Extending his arms out, he cringed and braced himself for the impact as he gabbed a hold of her as she dropped into his arms. The force of her fall knocked the pair of them backwards, sending Sam landing flat on his back, Lola's limp body draped across his. He coughed, winded from the force of the hard floor as Maggie came running down the stairs in a panic, stumbling and skipping steps in her rush,
"Oh thank God…" Maggie breathed, "Sam, is she okay?"
"I don't know…" He wheezed, "Get her up…I can't breathe…"
Dean rushed over, pulled Lola off of Sam and hoisted her up into his arms, her legs hanging down one side, her head the other. Maggie felt for a pulse as Sam stood, dusting himself off,
"She's alive."
"What the hell were you two doing up there?" Dean asked, scowling,
"I threw her off."
"…" Dean stared at her in disbelief,
"I was joking, Dean. She just...collapsed! Again!"
"This is ridiculous." Dean snorted as he stalked out of the hospital, Lola still draped in his arms, "Let's get back to the hotel."
Later that evening, back at the hotel…
"Your lucky this time…it's only a sprain…" Maggie said softly as she wrapped a white bandage around Lola's left wrist, "I'll put a bandage around it anyway though…to keep it supported."
Lola nodded wearily, rubbing at her eyes,
"I don't think you should go back. Let Dean and me take care of it." Sam said as he watched Lola begin flicking through the logbook, continuously glancing back at the photograph for clues to the little girl's identity,
"I'm fine Sam."
"You're obviously not!" Dean cut in grumpily, "You're passing out every two minutes and quite frankly, you're compromising the job and our safety."
"Don't be such a chauvinist pig…"
"How am I being chauvinist?" He growled, standing up and marching towards her, finger out-stretched, "You're not fit enough to be on a hunt. End of. I would expect you to do the same to me."
"Yes…because you listen to what other people have to say. All the time." Lola snapped, standing face-to-face with him so that they stared one another down,
"Lola…I think he's right…" Sam said softly as he stood beside the pair of them. Lola felt dwarfed by the two of them as they stood over her. Lola laughed bitterly,
"You asked me to come and now you're shutting me out?"
"We're not shutting you out. We're worried about you."
"And ourselves." Dean muttered,
"Of course you are." Maggie added,
"Stay out of this for once!" Dean yelled at Maggie,
"Hey! Don't take this out on her!" Lola scolded,
"Why not? It's her fault you fell! If she'd of caught you then you wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Do you want another slap?" Maggie asked,
"You know what?" Lola asked, "Forget the pair of you." She sneered, "I've been doing this by myself for years now. I can do this without you."
"Fine! Do that then!" Dean snapped,
"Lola…" Sam tried to reason as the auburn-haired hunter grabbed her bag, stuffing the photo and book in it, "Lola please…" Sam added,
"No Sam! I'm sick of the almighty Winchester brothers thinking they know better all the damn time. Leave me the hell alone!" She growled, storming out. Maggie looked between the pair of them in silence for a few seconds before shaking her head,
"Well that was nicely done!" She snapped, chasing after the other girl,
"GOOD LUCK GETTING THERE WITHOUT YOUR TRUCK!" Dean yelled after the pair of them before he heard the low rumble of the Impala's engine starting up. His eyes widened as he made a dash for the door, heading to the courtyard outside where he'd left car parked, feeling his jacket pockets for the keys. He arrived in time to see the back of his precious car as it sped out of the car park and down the road, spitting gravel at him as it did so. "Damn it!" He growled as Sam caught up, "Get your legs out Sammy boy…we're hitching…" He huffed.
Lola turned to look at Maggie as they drove in the fading light,
"Why'd you come?" She asked with a small smile,
"And let you go alone? Pfft! I'm not like my brothers."
"You're more like Dean than you think."
"Oh great…so I'm obnoxious and rude…"
"Your eating habits especially."
"So I eat like a slob?"
"Basically…yeah…" Lola nodded as she grinned at Maggie, "Thanks for coming."
"No problem." Maggie beamed, flicking through the logbook to a page that Lola had earmarked, "Us girls should stick together."
"Definitely."
"Do you think this is her…?" Maggie asked quietly as she came to the page, looking sadly at the writing,
"It's the right time and she's about the right age."
"If six is the right age to die…it's horrible what they did to them there…if it's true what Sam said."
"It's sick…those poor children…" Lola whispered hoarsely as they pulled into the twisting road of the hospital.
As the two made their way through the dark dampness of the hospital,
"They must be drawn to an object…something that's keeping them here if they were all cremated."
"Didn't she say the bad man was coming for her? Maybe he's keeping her here."
"No…that's not likely…thee must be an object…or…" Lola trailed off, looking down at the photograph in Maggie's hand, "The photograph…" She breathed before a startling bang disturbed the eeriness. They turned to see that the door to the room they'd just entered,
"Where are we?" Maggie asked quietly as Lola shined her light around the large room. On either side of the room, there was a lining of shaky metal beds covered in dust, steel medical trays scattered amongst mouldy sheets and debris on the floor,
"They must've kept them in here." Lola said to Maggie as she walked slowly down the centre of the room, shining her light around, "This is really disturbing…" She whispered before dropping her flashlight as she grabbed her head,
"Lola…" Maggie yelped as she rushed over, helping her to sit down on the ground. As she felt the other girl go limp she noticed a dark circle on the palm of her hand. She looked at it quickly, noting it filled with intricate scribbling. She frowned as a cold gust of wind blew from in front and as she looked up she gasped to see a figure of light floating above them. Maggie froze in terror as the figure moved it's hand to gently stroke Lola's hair, "What're you doing to her?" She managed to stammer as the figure kept its hand a top of Lola's head, causing her to whimper slightly in her unconsciousness. The figure ignored Maggie's shouts until the room suddenly went very cold, almost freezing. Maggie shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around Lola's body. The figure seemed to pull its hand back, looking around before darting off into the darkness. Maggie buried her face into Lola's hair as she stirred with a groan,
"What's going on…" Lola whispered, feeling the coldness of the room,
"I have no idea…" Maggie replied looking up and coming face to face with Katie. Maggie forced a reassuring smile, "It's okay…we're here…we won't let the bad man get you."
Katie broke out into a smirk,
"But the bad man makes the pain go away…" She said softly before reaching out bother hands, one over Lola's heart, the other around Maggie's throat,
"What're you doing?" Maggie croaked as she struggled to free herself, kicking her feet but Katie's grip only grew tighter,
"What are you?"
A loud, cackling laugh echoed around the room as Maggie began to feel woozy from the lack of oxygen. Lola let out a whimper before rolling off of Maggie's knees and onto the floor motionless. Just as darkness began to seep in from all sides of her vision, a loud bang broke the laugh and Maggie coughed hard as she could suddenly breathed, salt stinging her eyes. She looked to the doorway where Sam and Dean had managed to crash their way through,
"The photograph!" Maggie yelled, "Destroy it!" She added as she crawled to Lola's side, lifting her arm over her shoulders and attempting to stand with her. Sam lit a match as Dean covered the photograph and logbook with lighter fluid and salt. He dropped the match and the two items were engulfed in orange flame,
"Let's get out of here." Sam said as he took Lola's other arm and helped Maggie carry her out,
"The place might burn down," Maggie said with a frown,
"Sounds like a plan." Dean replied, looking into the flames with graveness to his face.
Sam paced the hotel room floor, his eyes flicking to Lola every few seconds as he did so,
"Why isn't she waking up?" He panicked, "Every other time she's woken up pretty fast. What's going on?"
"I don't know Sam! I don't have all the answers!" Maggie snapped as she sat on the opposite bed to Lola. Dean, who'd been sitting on the edge of Lola's bed, idly stroking his fingers up and down her arm suddenly spoke up,
"Maybe it's got something to do with this." He said seriously, holding out Lola's hand, palm up, showing Sam the strange black mark that Maggie had seen earlier. Sam froze before rushing over to peer at her hand carefully,
"I've seen that somewhere before!" He said as he rushed to get their father's diary. He turned page after page until reaching what the others assumed was what he was looking for. As his eyes scanned the text, his face fell,
"What?" Dean asked, "What is it?"
Sam swallowed hard, extending the book, pages up to his brother,
"It's the sign of a reaper." He said seriously,
"But I thought reapers worked fast?"
"Not all of them, particularly if the victim has a higher debt to be paid. It puts a mark on them and drains the life slowly. It's where the whole pirate's black spot lore originated from."
"What can we do?" Dean asked without hesitation.
Sam stared at his brother, feeling physically sick at the words he was about to say,
"Dean you know there's no way to stop a reaper." He said softly as he tilted his head to one side in sadness. Dean stood snatching the leather bound journal from Sam's grasp.
"No, we've done it before." He said adamantly, flicking frantically through the pages.
"This is different and you know it."
Lola's moan broke the tension as she rolled her head from side to side, rubbing at her neck. Dean dropped the book on the end of the bed and leaned in to Lola's side.
"Are you okay?" He asked, helping her sit up.
"I think so." Lola answered wearily as she put her right hand up to her forehead. As she moved her hand down from her face she noticed the black mark staining the middle of her palm. "What the hell is that?"
"We think…we know it's the mark of a reaper." Sam replied mater-of-factly. Lola looked at Dean, a puzzled look on her face.
"Its to do with the deal you made for me." Maggie interjected, her eyes filling with tears as she pulled herself from the bed opposite. "Looks like Dean was right after all, this is my fault."
"No it isn't." Lola replied firmly. "I've got a lot of debt to pay."
Awkward looks were exchanged between the foursome as a silence filled the motel room.
"So what can we do?" Lola continued, trying desperately to hide the fear that was creeping up from the pit of her stomach.
"Apparently nothing." Dean answered bluntly, anger echoing in his tone.
At that moment Maggie turned from the door, wiping the tears from her face. "Actually I think there is something we can do."
Sam and Dean looked back at their sister, a look of surprise on their faces.
"The reaper is not going to stop until Lola is dead right…so lets give him what he wants." She continued her hands held out as if to say the answer to their problem was obvious.
"That's your plan…kill Lola?" Dean replied, with a frown on his face.
"No…just make it seem that she is…there is a drug that we can give her that will slow the heart rate right down to the point that it stops."
Sam looked back with intrigue. Dean on the other hand was not so convinced.
"Then after a few minutes, give her a shot of adrenaline to bring her back."
Lola shook her head, almost in defeat, "Maggie, as much as appreciate your help, even if this plan did work, where are you going to get all those drugs from?"
"Hospital". She answered simply.