WARNINGS: Rated "M" for Sex, Language, Dirty Thoughts, Innuendo, Blood, Violence and Dark Themes.
ENJOY!
xxxx
Before we left a few mornings later to go ahead and take a lead on Ava, Dean and I had gotten dressed and were in quite happy moods until we went down to the kitchen and heard yelling. Thankfully it wasn't our yelling, but at the same time it ripped me apart to hear Jen and Kevin fighting with each other and I sighed, motioning to Dean to stop moving and stay hidden.
"No, Kevin! I refuse!" Jen cried, and she was definitely upset.
Kevin sighed loudly. "But Jen, I don't see why we can't have another baby after these! I just think it would be nice to have three or four!"
I made a face like I had been hit in the gut and Dean raised an eyebrow at me. Yeah, this fight was going to last for a while and it was definitely not our place to be here. Jen and Kevin were going to have to figure this one out on their own…and Jen was going to win the argument so Kevin was going to have to be a good loser about it.
"What?" Dean whispered.
"She only wants two," I whispered back. "That and she didn't want twins to being with—she's always had this vision of a daughter and a son and them being at least four years apart…she's already done."
Dean nodded at me. "Oh…well when we get there—and someday we will—how many do you want?"
"If we didn't have to go right now, I would ravish you…and for the record, that's debatable." I said with a smile on my face.
"Kevin, these kids aren't even born yet! You're not going to want more after them, just watch! I am not a baby producing machine!" Jen said, and Dean and I heard some banging around of pots and pans.
"I think they might like some playmates," Kevin protested.
"Yeah, maybe when they're in kindergarten we can have this conversation again." Jen told him. "You wanted eggs?"
Kevin sighed loudly once again. "Jenny…"
"One more word about kids and you're making these damn eggs yourself," Jen warned and I went into the kitchen, Dean following me.
I was pretty sure Jen needed to have a relief in the conversation so Dean and I walked into the kitchen and Kevin sighed when he saw us. He knew as well as I did that they had definitely been yelling loud enough for everyone to hear them, and he was embarrassed about it and yet upset. I had known Kevin for long enough to know when he was annoyed that he had been interrupted—silly boy had wanted to keep fighting with Jen while she was cooking his food? Bad idea…
"Good morning," I said cheerfully, a smile plastered on my face, Dean standing behind me, hands on his hips.
"Don't pretend that you didn't hear that," Jen shot at me, but she smiled at us as Dean wrapped his arms around me from behind as I leaned on the counter. "You know, I think you're shaping up into a man, Dean."
Dean laughed at that. "Oh, so I wasn't a man before?"
"You know, the last time you were here…" Kevin began, but stopped because he wasn't going to talk to Jen about Sam and Kate even though Jen knew.
"She was what?" Dean asked him. "Helping Kate get with Sam?"
"Dean!" Kevin hissed but Jen waved it off.
Jen shrugged and glanced at the skillet. "I knew, Kevin. Don't worry about it. Wait…you knew and you didn't tell me?"
Kevin blushed and shrugged. "Well…I just…I didn't want to hurt you."
"So I was the last one to know?" Jen asked and threw her hands up into the air. "Like always!"
"Actually, I was the last one to know about Kate and Sam the last time we were here." Dean admitted, pulling me closer to him possessively and yet gently.
I knew it shouldn't have made me as happy as it had, but Dean was jealous and he was trying to claim me as his. Honestly, that was what I wanted, and I was glad that he was feeling like he had to mark his territory—I didn't mind being marked by him in the slightest. He was my boyfriend, and he was possessive, and he was protective, and he was romantic, and he was cheeky…and all if it had an underlying care and love.
Jen looked at him. "When did you find out?"
"At the hospital," Dean told her. "I thought Kate was taking off, but she and Sammy were all looking at each other like they needed to bang and fast."
"Wow…can we not talk about this anymore?" I asked them all and then turned to see Sam come into the kitchen with Kate in tow.
"Guys, I'm ready. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Kevin." Sam told him and then looked at Jen. "And thank you for the home cooked meals, Jenny."
Dean nodded to her. "That was definitely a plus."
"You guys are always welcome." Jen said with a big smile on her face and then pointed at me. "Don't be strangers—I want to see this girl a lot. I want to see you too, Kate. Heading out with them?"
"Yeah," Kate said with a smile on her face. "We're going to do a hunt before I go back and deal with some things with Kalli…that girl gets herself into messes, I tell you."
I laughed and hugged Jen, Jen hugging me back and then hugging Kate, the four of us headed out to follow Sam's lead, which took us to Peoria, Illinois. During the drive I had been trying to tell Jen over IM that Kevin wanting more kids wasn't necessarily a bad thing—but she had every right to be annoyed since they didn't even have the first two yet. That was when she told me that she was certain we would find Ava. However, even with the missing persons report concerning Ava, we were at another dead end.
"Okay, thanks, Ellen," Sam said, and hung up the phone as I lay on the motel bed and looked up at the ceiling while Jen thought of a reply to the last thing I had sent her and Kate dried off her hair from her shower.
Dean came into the room. "What did she have to say?"
"She's got nothing. Me, I've been checking every database I can think of, federal, state, and local. No one's heard anything about Ava. She just…into thin air, you know? What about you?" Sam asked with hope in his voice.
"No, same as before, sorry, man." Dean answered.
Sam looked at me. "Do you have anything besides the lowdown on Jen and Kevin fighting?"
"Besides Jen refusing to have sex with Kevin until he decides not to have anymore kids just yet, I have nothing. I can't trace Ava anywhere, and believe me, I have tried—I can't even sense her…I'm so sorry, Sammy." I told him lovingly.
"Yeah, Ellen did have one thing: a hotel in Cornwall, Connecticut. Two freak accidents in the past three weeks." Sam told us.
I looked up at him and raised my eyebrows because it sounded to me like this had to do with a hunt…not with Ava. Was Sammy honestly looking to do a hunt instead of working on getting Ava back? Why in the world would he do that when he had been so persistent with this? I mean I knew we were hitting dead end after dead end, but even so…Sammy never really went about finding the hunts when it came to him having emotional turmoil about something…
"Yeah, what's that have to do with Ava?" Dean asked, sitting on the bed next to me, making me move to allow the change in weight.
"It's a job. I mean a lady drowned in the bathtub. Then a few days ago, a guy falls down the stairs, head turns a complete 180, which isn't exactly normal, you know? Look, I don't know, Dean, it might be nothing, but I told Ellen we'd think about checking it out." Sam told him.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "You did?"
"Yeah…you seem surprised." Sam said with a look on his face.
"Yeah, it's just, you know…not the patented Sam Winchester way, is it?" Dean told him as I logged off and closed my laptop since Jen had logged off.
Sam looked at him. "What way is that?"
"Just figured after Ava, there'd be, uh, you know, more angst and droopy music and staring out the rainy windows. Yeah, I'll shut up now." Dean said as I laughed and Sam sent him a look.
"That would make a cute picture though, Sammy, you have to admit." I told him. "I mean you all broody and sitting by a window looking out at the rain, sappy songs on…that's hot."
Dean elbowed me in the ribs and Sam rolled his eyes a little, laughing and obviously flattered I thought he was hot broody. I knew I probably shouldn't have said it out loud with Dean right there, but I had figured that it was harmless because it wasn't like I was leaving Dean for Sam. I was just pointing out that Sam was attractive in his own ways and he needed the reassurance since he was having a hard time lately.
"She's right…you all broody is a giant turn on," Kate said as she brushed her hair. "A hunt sounds good to me since we can't find this chick. Keep saving people."
"Look, I'm the one who told her to go back home. Now her fiancé's dead, and some demon has taken her off to God knows where, you know? We've been looking for a month now. We got nothing. So I'm not giving up on her, but I'm not gonna let other people die, either. We got to save as many people as we can." Sam explained to him.
Dean smirked at him. "Wow, that attitude is just way too healthy for me. I'm officially uncomfortable now, thank you. Alright, call Ellen—tell her we'll take it."
"Did you come bearing gifts?" I asked Dean as Sam called Ellen my face lighting up as we played this little game.
Dean smiled at me. "Maybe…"
"Were they the coffee kind?" I asked him hopefully batting my eyelashes and sitting with my legs crossed, looking at him.
Dean shook his head. "No, but…they are of a good variety."
I raised an eyebrow. "For some reason, I just don't want to know."
I got off of the bed and Dean opened my laptop making me frown a little and at the same time laugh. Dean wasn't exactly the most technological person in the world, and he looked so cute confused that I couldn't be mad. At first I was honestly a little annoyed because this didn't seem like the 'surprise' he had for me, but at the same time, how can you be annoyed with someone as cute as Dean Winchester?
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I'm talking to Kevin." Dean said with a shrug. "How do you work this?"
I smiled and laughed. "You double click on his name and then you type to him if you're trying to talk to him on IM."
"I knew that, Sherlock," He said with a shrug like he knew what he was doing.
"Then why do you want to know?" I asked with a smirk.
Dean rolled his eyes. "What's this…right here?"
I knelt on the bed, leaning over to look, and then Dean grabbed me, and tickled me, pinning me to the bed as I laughed. He swooped in to kiss my neck, and I smiled at him when he pulled back and stroked my hair. I loved it when he was like this, and at the same time I knew that part of him as wondering why in the world he was being so adorable like this with a girl.
"You are something else, you know that?" I asked him softly.
Dean smiled and kissed me. "Yeah, I know."
"I don't know whether to be touched or offended by your PDA," Kate teased us.
"You two ready?" Sam asked with a laugh when he came back into the room.
I nodded and Dean got off of me, all of us grabbing our coats and our duffels and heading to the hotel where the deaths had been happening. It actually looked homey and I really looked forward to being in a hotel instead of a motel—especially an old one like this. At the same time…there was a presence here I hadn't felt in a very long time and it was starting to make me a little paranoid.
"Dude, this is sweet. I never get to work jobs like this!" Dean exclaimed merrily.
I looked over at him. "Like what?"
"Old school haunted houses, you know? Fog, secret passageways, sissy British accents. Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we're inside. Mmm, Daphne…love her." Dean said his eyes a little lazy with want.
"Me too," I admitted with a laugh and a nod.
"I mean I guess I could get into that, but this is where you say that you love Fred." Dean told me. "That would make us even more compatible."
I turned to him. "Not that you and Fred don't have a lot in common, but see, I always wanted to dress up as Daphne for Halloween. Wear those shiny, purple go-go boots and everything."
Dean smirked and then winked at me. "Really?"
"Yeah, and it was Hella fun when I got to," I said playfully, turning around and following Sam and Kate up the steps.
Dean chuckled at that and then followed close behind us, Sam stopping me with his arm and then pointing. I looked at where his finger was pointing and noticed the pattern, and it looked familiar, making me look around once again. Something was going on here and I felt like I was connected to it…maybe part of it, but I didn't know why or how.
"I'm not so sure haunted is the problem." Sam said aloud.
Dean looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"You see this pattern here? That's a quincunx. It's a five-spot." Sam explained to him.
"Five-spot," Dean said as I looked up and then swallowed and slowly looked back up at the boys when I saw nothing.
"Yeah.," Sam answered.
I decided to focus on the hunt. "It's for hoodoo spell work, isn't it?"
"Right…yeah, you fill this thing with bloodweed and you've got a powerful charm to ward off enemies." Kate replied with a nod.
"Except I don't see any bloodweed. Don't you think this place is a little too white-meat for hoodoo?" Dean asked him.
"Maybe," I shrugged and then reached into my pocket and gasped. "Oh! I need to grab my phone out of the car."
"It's not in your pocket?" Dean asked.
I shook my head. "No, I must have left it on the seat after calling Jen. I'll be in, in a moment—don't worry."
I ran to the car and smiled when it was sitting there right on the backseat where I had left it, and I shoved it into my pocket and locked the car up. I swallowed though because the feeling of the familiar presence was still there, and I turned to the hotel and looked up at a window, and I could have sworn that I had seen the face of a girl who reminded me of me. Shaking the thought away as the curtains closed quickly, I saw Kate coming over to me.
"I need to tell you something before we go into the hotel," Kate said with a heavy sigh.
Just the fact that she looked guilty made me look back up at the room where the curtains had shut and then I looked at Kate. She obviously knew what was going on here and I wanted more than anything to just hash it out with her right then and there, but Kate never did anything without a good reason for it, so right now we were good. Still…why did she sound guilty of all of the emotions?
"Your mother swore my family to secrecy and…I couldn't take it anymore. Sam got this hunt because I told Ellen to drop him the news about it to bring you here." Kate told me, shaking her head. "This is more than just a hunt."
"This is also my past?" I asked her.
Kate nodded and I chose to just nod too and then we went into the hotel just in time to see the woman who owned the place talking to Sam and Dean.
"Well, congratulations, you could be some of our final guests." The hotel manager said.
"Well, sounds vaguely ominous," Dean replied with a small smile.
"No, I'm sorry. I mean we're closing at the end of the month. Let me guess. You guys are here antiquing?" She asked them with a smile, trying to be hospitable after her little slip up before.
Dean smiled at her. "How'd you know?"
"You just look the type. So, a king-size bed?" The woman asked them.
"What? No. No, uh, no, no. We're…we're…two doubles. We're just brothers and we have companions coming." Sam added in a flustered voice as I laughed.
"Yeah," Dean assured her.
I looked at Kate, who was smiling. "You've been upgraded to sharing Sam's bed with him, Katie."
"Well, he has seen me naked…" she told me, winking.
For some reason it was honestly hilarious to me that people assumed that Sam and Dean were into each other romantically. Actually, I could honestly see it, but at the same time that was kind of awkward…it wouldn't just be homosexuality for them…it would be incest. So…awkward…but for me, hilarious.
"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry." The woman told them.
"What did you mean that we looked the type?" Dean asked, much more interested in knowing that, than being mistaken of being with his brother.
Sam stepped in though. "You know, um, speaking of antiques, you've uh…you've got a really interesting urn on the front porch. Where did you get that?"
"You know, I've no idea. It's been there forever. Here you go, Mr. Mahogoff. You'll be staying in room 237. Sherwin, could you show these gentlemen to their rooms?" The woman asked them.
"Let me guess…antiquers?" The old man asked.
Kate and I laughed a little more and went up over near the boys as Sherman started to lead them to their room. I went up to the woman at the front desk and gave her a big welcoming smile and she smiled back. Kate shared the enthusiastic smiles and then we looked at each other and then back to the woman.
"Welcome," the woman told us.
I smiled and pointed after the boys. "Good morning. I'm Lana, this is my cousin Kate—and we're with them."
"Oh!" The woman exclaimed and she blushed a little. "I'm Susan. I hope they don't take what I said to heart."
I waved it off and laughed. "It's happened to them before."
"Well I guess you can go on up then." Susan said with a nod.
"Thanks," I told her, and we hurried up after the boys, passing Sherwin on the way to the room and smiling at him. "I hope they didn't cheap out on you."
Sherwin smiled at me. "Not at all, Miss."
"Good," I said, and opened the door, going into the room and then sighing as the boys seemed to do their own thing. "So this is super exciting. Who wants to go somewhere?"
The boys looked up at me, glad Kate and I were there and safe, and at the same time kind of annoyed that I was implying that they were being boring. Honestly, I was trying to shake off whatever was going on with me, and for that, I would need to keep myself occupied. To do that, I could not do research—I could still be easily distracted by research and I knew it a little too well.
"I thought we were on a case." Sam told me.
"Yes, but you two are…Dean is sharpening a knife and you're checking e-mail. That's pretty normal." I said with a shrug. "Maybe Kate and I will take in some sites and do some research at the same time."
"You seem…strange, Lanni." Dean told me, setting the knife down and coming up to me.
"Why would I seem strange?" I asked him.
He rested his hands on my hips and I smiled a little. "You're just acting flustered—at least more than normal."
I sighed loudly and wrapped my arms around his neck because I was kind of tired of keeping things from him. At the same time, I really wasn't sure how what I was going to say was going to sound coming out of my mouth. Still, if anyone was going to help me with this, it was Kate, Sam and Dean so there was really nothing to lose.
I took a deep breath. "Look…I saw something…something I can't explain."
"Welcome to the job, Lan." Sam said with a smile.
"Har, har, Sammy. I meant—never mind." I told him and rolled my eyes.
I kissed Dean swiftly and then I pulled away and Sam and I began to research with Kate while Dean looked around, and saw a dress displayed on the bedroom wall. It was kind of pretty, but it was also kind of awkward to have a random dress just hanging on the wall. Dean made a face and I smiled a little, feeling a little better, but still feeling like I needed to figure out who in the Hell that girl in the window was.
"What the…?" Dean asked, looking straight at the dress.
Sam looked up. "What?"
"That's normal. Why the Hell would anyone stay here? I'm amazed they kept in business this long." Dean said and I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, victim number one: Joan Edison, 43 years old, a realtor handling the sale of the hotel. And victim number two was Larry Williams, moving some stuff out to goodwill." Sam explained slowly.
Kate nodded at that. "Well there's a connection: both tied up in shutting the place down."
"Yeah, maybe someone doesn't want to leave, and they're using hoodoo to fight back." Sam suggested.
Dean nodded. "Who do you think our witch doctor is? That Susan lady?"
"Doesn't seem likely, I mean she's the one selling." Kate reminded him.
Dean nodded and I took a deep breath and I knew that there had to be something else going on here. I mean obviously someone was behind the hoodoo, and there were definitely some weird vibes in this place, but I was distracted…why did that girl look so familiar to me? Why did I feel like I'd sensed her before? Who was she? Kate was going to get punched later…
"So, what, then, Sherwin?" Dean asked him.
I shook my head. "I really doubt it was Sherwin—the guy doesn't give off any negative vibes to me."
"Me neither—he's harmless." Kate chimed in, watching me.
"Of course, the most troubling question is, why do these people assume we're gay?" Dean asked Sam and gave me a look when I giggled and shrugged.
"Oh, you are kind of butch. Probably think you're over compensating." Sam told him.
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, a grin on my face. "I can totally see that!"
Dean pointed at me. "You are not funny right now."
"Oh, yes I am. Besides, Susan knows Kate and I are here so I'm sure that she thinks you're both getting laid…unless she thinks that Kate and I are lesbians." I told Dean with a playful shrug.
"That could be fun to play off…" Kate teased, both of us high-fiving and laughing as the boys looked at us rather surprised.
xx
I had wanted to check out the building, but I wasn't sure where to look so I was just at that place where I had to pick something and hope it worked out in the end. I mean maybe there was just some random guest that just lurking around, but she had looked so familiar…yes, I was focusing on the girl and not on the case. It was just so strange and the presence felt so familiar—like something lost…like something from my past.
Kate had told me that my past was here and maybe she was so familiar because she was Annie. That was a long shot because Annie was supposed to be in Wisconsin and then suddenly it all made sense to me—Mom had made Kate and the rest of the Newman family promise to keep Annie and me apart. That was why Kate had arranged this whole thing…to bring me back together with my sister, without breaking her promise directly.
"Lanni?" Dean asked me.
I shook my head and smiled. "Yeah?"
"You look out of it." He said, getting onto the bed and lying down next to me.
"It's nothing, just feelings." I explained to him, snuggling into him when he automatically wrapped his arms around me.
Dean nodded and kissed the top of my head. "We want to look around."
I nodded and kissed him swiftly, pressing myself up against him a little more than I should have. I knew we had a hunt to do, and I knew I needed to figure out if that girl was really Annie before I drove myself crazy, but he was right there being all affectionate and caring. When he deepened the kiss though and his fingers slipped down to the bottom of my shirt and started to go under it, I got off of the bed and smiled at him.
"Let's go," I told him, nodding when he groaned in protest. "I swear I'll make it up to you later, all right, Baby?"
He sighed and nodded, getting up and taking my hand as I started to leave, turning me to face him and I looked him in the eyes. He looked really concerned and then he stroked my cheek, leaning down and kissed me again. There was so much care and love and want in it, and I just waited until he pulled back and looked at me again.
"You've been a little 'hit and run' with the kisses lately." Dean told me softly.
I smiled a little and kissed him again, wrapping my arms around him and pouring a little more of myself into him than I had been lately. He smiled into the kiss, pulling me closer, and then Kate knocked a book over as Sam cleared his throat at us and Dean and I pulled away laughing. We had a hunt to do and Kate and Sam were keeping us on our toes and we needed the extra help.
"Let's look around," I told him, and Dean kissed me again swiftly before we followed Sam and Kate out of the door and wandered around the halls for a bit.
"Hey, look at that: more hoodoo." Sam told us as he noticed a room.
"Look at that." Dean said, pointing out a vase with the same symbol on it as the urn Sam pointed out.
We went to knock on Susan's (the hotel owner) door so we could ask her some more about the hotel and about the deaths and I tried to focus. It was hard for me, but I was pulling it off and when Susan answered her door almost immediately, I was able to flash her a smile and make it convincing.
"Is everything okay with your room?" Susan asked us.
"Yeah, it's great," I told her, Dean trying to look inside the room which made her try and close the door some more, and I smacked Dean in the stomach softly.
"Well, I was just in the middle of packing, so…" Susan began.
Dean nodded and then something caught his eye. "Hey, are those antique dolls? 'Cause this one…this one here…he's got a major doll collection back home. Don't you? Huh?"
Sam gave Dean a look as I stepped on Dean's foot slightly and then Sam forced a smile as Kate tried to hold back laughter. He and I both knew this could be an 'in', but I understood Sam's frustration so I was about to make a decision Dean wasn't going to like but he was going to have to deal with it. He had brought this upon himself…
"Big time," Sam answered with a curt nod.
I smiled at Susan. "He's always buying me lots of them—best boyfriend ever, I tell you."
"You think he could come…we could come in and take a look?" Dean asked her, glancing at me since I had called Sam my boyfriend and taken him by the arm.
"I don't know." Susan told us slowly.
"Please? I mean, he loves them. He's not gonna tell you this, but he's always dressing them up in little tiny outfits. You'd make his day. She would. Huh? Huh?" Dean insisted with a big smile.
"It's true," Sam confirmed reluctantly.
Kate grinned at that. "Isn't that just the cutest thing?"
Susan nodded a little. "Okay. Come on in."
"Alright, alright." Dean said happily, and we walked in. "Wow! This is a lot of dolls! They're nice, you know, they're not super creepy at all."
I coughed at that comment because they creeped me out a bit, but then I faked a smile as they looked at me. Dolls…okay, I had some when I was younger but I had one that talked once and it talked without batteries…from that point on I was kind of weary of them. These dolls…these ones' eyes followed you wherever you went and I was feeling like I was suddenly being watched.
"This is creepy…" Kate whispered to me. "We should split and go with your gut instincts and let the boys handle this…"
"I suppose they are a little creepy, but they've been in the family forever—a lot of sentimental value." Susan explained to us.
Sam glanced over at the dollhouse in the room. "What is this? The hotel?"
"Yeah, that's right. Exact replica, custom-built." Susan answered with a smile on her face.
"His head got twisted around." Sam pointed out, showing the figurine with the twisted head. "What happened to it?"
Susan nodded slowly. "Tyler, probably."
"Mommy, Maggie's being mean." A girl around the age of ten said as she entered the room.
"Tyler, tell her I said to be nice, okay?" Susan told her.
I smiled at the little girl and how adorable she was and then I took the doll from Sam and showed it to her. Tyler looked pretty shy, and yet she looked so lonely…like she really needed to have someone to play with. I mean she was talking about a 'Maggie', but the girl just looked lost, and I wanted to help her.
"Hey, Tyler, I see you broke your doll. You want me to fix it?" I offered her. "Well…I could have Katie fix it."
Tyler shook her head. "I didn't break it, I found it like that."
"Oh. Well, maybe Maggie did it." Sam suggested with a smile and a small shrug.
"No, neither of us did it. Grandma would get mad if we broke him." Tyler replied with a nod.
Susan smiled a little, stroking her daughter's hair. "Tyler, she wouldn't get mad."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Grandma?"
"Grandma Rose. These were all her toys." Tyler told him.
"Oh, really? Where's Grandma Rose now?" I asked her.
Tyler looked at me. "Up in her room."
I nodded at that and realized that we now had a new lead—maybe Tyler's grandmother knew more about what was going on. Speaking of other people in the hotel…maybe that girl I had seen knew a little more about what was going on here too…I needed to figure it all out, and I needed to figure it out before my sanity slipped away from me.
"You know," Sam told them, "I'd…I'd…I'd really love to talk to Rose about her incredible doll…"
"No," Susan said quickly. "I mean I'm afraid that's impossible. My mother's been very sick, and she's not taking any visitors."
Kate nodded at her. "That's all right, we understand."
I pushed on the boys so that they would turn to leave the room, and then thanked Susan for her letting us look around. The boys and I headed out of the room and she closed the door on us, all of us looking at each other. At first Dean's eyes were giving me the, 'oh, we're talking later' look, but then I knew he'd already switched gears in his head.
"What do you think? Dolls, hoodoo, mysterious shut in grandma?" Dean asked us.
"Well, dolls are used in all kind of voodoo and hoodoo, like curses and binding spells and…" Kate trailed off.
Dean nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe we found our witch doctor. I'll go see what I can dig up on granny. You get online check old obits, freak accidents, that sort of things. See if she's whacked anybody before."
"Right," Sam told him.
"Don't go surfing porn, it's not the kind of whacking I mean." Dean smirked as I smacked him lightly but took his hand.
"I think I'll go with you, Baby," I told him.
He smiled at me. "As much as I'd like that, I think you should help Sam out—less temptation for me and besides…Sam's the best boyfriend ever."
"Hey, you were trying to make him look gay, and trust me—he's not." I said, and then grabbed onto his shirt. "But for the record…you are the best boyfriend ever—for me."
"As much as I love you two while you're in love and all, who are you going to help?" Sam asked with a laugh.
I turned to him. "Kate and I have something to do, actually. You're both on your own."
Kate kissed Sam quickly and smiled. "Good luck…to both of you, I guess."
"I don't need luck," Dean responded, and then we split up after Dean kissed me tenderly. "I promise I won't die or get kidnapped."
I smiled and nodded. "Good."
With that, the boys went on their way and Kate and I slowly began to walk down the halls, me trying to figure out what to do next. The girl just felt so near and so I turned to Kate and I stopped, Kate looking annoyed that I stopped, but she knew me. She knew me so well and so she knew that this was really hard for me no matter what it was that I was trying to hide right now emotionally.
"I just—is it Annie?" I asked Kate slowly. "I haven't felt her in so long."
Kate pointed down the hallway. "Go find out what it's all about."
I wandered down the hallway a little bit and then I cocked my head to one side as I came to a room and the feelings felt stronger here—like I should open the door. I wanted to, and I reached out to touch the doorknob, but I pulled my hand back. I didn't know what to do because I knew there were answers behind the door, but what would I do when I got them? Why was I so scared to see what was behind this door?
I backed away, the feeling getting less and less prominent, and I looked out a window, seeing Dean talking to Susan on the steps as a man was carried away in a stretcher—a man who was also helping to shut the hotel down…I could feel it. I saw Dean coming up the stairs as I stared at the door I was so afraid to open, and I followed him inside our hotel room as he raised his eyebrow at me.
"You're stalling," Kate whispered to me, annoyed.
I nodded a little. "I know."
"There's been another one. Some guy just hung himself in his room." Dean said as he went to his duffle.
"Yeah, I saw." Sam answered.
I raised an eyebrow because he had obviously been drinking, and he was sprawled out in an armchair. The sight was really breaking my heart, but what was I supposed to do? He was feeling broken, and I knew that, but I couldn't fix that and he knew that…I couldn't fix his problems just like that no matter how badly I wanted to. Kate couldn't either, even though she sat down near him and gave him a soft smile.
"We got to figure this out and fast. What did you find out about Granny?" Dean asked us and I made a face because we hadn't really…gotten anywhere with that.
Sam made a face. "You're bossy."
"What?" Dean asked as he set things down.
"You're bossy. You're short." Sam added, and started laughing.
"Are you drunk?" Dean asked, looking at Sam.
"Yeah. So? Stupid." Sam replied and laughed some more.
xx
Kate's POV
Seeing Sam like this was breaking my heart because I had no idea what it was that I was supposed to be doing. He had been looking for Ava for a month and he was psychic and people wanted him dead because apparently he wasn't entirely human…but he was still Sam. He was still the sexy, hot, man that I had wanted to get to know better and now he was feeling like he was a failure and I understood that feeling better than anyone did—it came with the job and yet this was so different.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I laughed a little myself, knowing I shouldn't find it funny, but I did. I could have blamed it on the alcohol and right then I was, but at the same time I saw where Sam was coming from, and knew he didn't mean it. He was just drunk, and he was upset, and he was scared…I wanted so much to make this better for him…how did I do that?
"Dude, what were you thinking? We're working a case." Dean told us. "You two should have helped out with him."
"We were taking care of something important," I reminded him, but to be fair…Sam was important as well.
Sam shifted in his chair. "That guy who hung himself…I couldn't save him."
"What are you talking about? You didn't know; you couldn't have done anything." Dean told him.
"That's an excuse, Dean. I should have found a way to save him. I should have saved Ava, too." Sam told him slowly.
"Well, you can't save everyone, Sammy, even you said that." I stressed to him.
"No!" Sam told us, banging his fist on the table. "You don't understand, alright? The more people I save, the more I can change."
Dean looked caught off guard. "Change what?"
"My destiny, Dean," Sam replied and I swallowed.
Lana had been trying to keep me in the loop, and what John had said to Dean about Sam had really messed him up and now that he had gotten close to and lost Ava, Sam was really having a tough time. He had been hiding it pretty well, but I wished that I had been a little closer to him lately and helped him through the problems that he had been having. He was important to me and should have been able to have me when he needed me.
"Alright, time for bed. Come on, Sasquatch. Come on." Dean said, helping Sam to stand.
Sam opened his mouth. "I need you to watch out for me."
"Yeah, I always do," Dean replied softly.
"No. No, no, no." Sam said, struggling against him a little. "You have to watch out for me, alright? And if I ever turn into something that I'm not...you have to kill me."
"Sam..." Dean, Lana and I said together, our hearts breaking at the suggestion.
"Dean, Dad told you to do it. You have to." Sam replied, pleading.
Dean shook his head. "Yeah, well, Dad's an ass. He never should have said anything. I mean, you don't do that. You don't…you don't lay that kind of crap on your kids."
"No, he was right to say it. Who knows what I might become? Even now, everyone around me dies." Sam explained pain in his voice.
"Well, I'm not dying, okay? Kate and Lanni aren't dying, and neither are you. Come on, sit down." Dean told him, pushing Sam onto his bed.
"No, please, Dean, you're the only one who can do it. Promise me. Lan won't do it. You know she won't." Sam looked at me and then back to Dean. "Kate would never dream of it and so you're the only one who will do it, Dean."
Lana wiped a tear away, every part of me breaking too because I couldn't believe that all of this was really happening. How could Sam ask that of us? How could he possibly think that Lana or I would let Dean kill him if he turned? We didn't know what was going to happen and no matter what, I was keeping Sam with me—he meant too much to me.
"Don't ask that of me." Dean told Sam sadly.
"Dean, please. You have to promise me." Sam begged.
"Dean…" Lana began, not wanting him to do this no matter how drunk Sam was.
Dean swallowed. "I promise."
"Thanks. Thank you." Sam told him, taking Dean's face in his hands.
"Okay." Dean replied, getting out of Sam's embrace and helping him to lie down, me going over to snuggle Sam while he slept off his stupor.
xx
Lana's POV
I closed my eyes and tried hard not to cry, wishing that the pain swirling around in the room would just subside already. Mostly I just wanted to leave the room and hide away somewhere, not wanting to deal with what just happened, but Dean needed me. Besides…I was still definitely nervous about meeting Annie and I probably shouldn't be running around with no concrete purpose.
"You think that was smart?" I asked Dean as we left the room together, Dean needing to get some air too.
Dean sighed loudly. "I don't know…I do know that I need a drink though."
I smiled a little. "There's a hotel bar—I won't be having any though. I'm cutting myself off until I figure out what it is that I need to figure out."
Dean nodded and I took his hand and we went to the bar, sitting down on the stools and Sherwin offered us a drink, but only Dean took one. I just sat there next to him and watched his every move, smiling to myself at how lucky I was. I mean he was just asking questions and working the case, but he was beautiful…he was just…beautiful.
"So, poor guy, huh, killing himself?" Dean asked Sherwin.
Sherwin nodded at him. "That kind of thing seems to be going around lately."
"Yeah…yeah, I heard about the other ones. It's almost like this hotel is cursed or something." Dean told him.
"Every hotel has its spilled blood. If people only knew what's going on in some of those rooms they've checked into." Sherwin admitted with a nod.
I turned from looking at Dean and smiled at Sherwin. "You know a lot about the place, don't you?"
"Down to the last nail," Sherwin said with a proud look on his face.
"I'd love to hear some stories." Dean told him.
Sherwin smiled some more. "Boy, you should never say that to an old man."
"No, really," I said genuinely. "We'd love to know."
Sherwin led Dean and I around the hotel, and the thing that caught my eye most was a wall on which were displayed some old pictures of the Thompson family. The whole hotel was old and it was well kept and it had history—it was beautiful. At the same time, there was a vibe here and it wasn't the girl I'd seen in the window…there was something dark here and I wanted to know what it was.
"This is little Miss Susan and her mother, Rose." Sherwin said as he showed us one of the pictures. "Happier days."
I glanced from the picture to Sherwin. "They're not happy now?"
"Well, would you be leaving the only home you ever knew?" Sherwin asked us.
"I don't know. I never really knew one." Dean admitted, and I took his hand, smiling a little when he squeezed it.
"Well, this is Rose's home. It's been in the family over a century. Used to be the family estate, and now she gets to live in some senior-living graveyard, and they tear this place down." Sherwin explained to us.
Dean nodded slowly. "That's too bad. I hear Rose isn't feeling well, either."
"No, she isn't." Sherwin agreed with a nod.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked slowly, honestly wanting to know what was going on around here and why.
"It's not my business to say." Sherwin answered, but he smiled at us.
Dean showed Sherwin a picture. "Who's this?"
Sherwin smiled at it. "That's Rose when she was a little girl."
"Who's that with her?" Dean asked as I pointed out a woman in the picture who was wearing a necklace that was in fact the hoodoo symbol we had seen on the urn outside.
"That's her nanny, Marie. She looked after Rose more than her own mother." Sherwin told us, and Dean thought about that.
All right so things were starting to be put together in my head—urn with the symbol, nanny with the symbol…obviously Rose knew hoodoo. So was she doing it? Was it really the grandmother doing this? Right now it seemed like the only explanation…so we had to go and talk to her and that was the end of that.
"Thank you for the tour." I told Sherwin.
Sherwin smiled at Dean and I. "My pleasure."
"Dean…" I began as Sherwin left and Dean looked at me, taking my hand.
"Yeah?" He asked me.
I was having that feeling again and so I pulled him a little closer and he looked at me with a concern. I kissed him swiftly and he made a face because it was another of my 'hit and run' kisses, but I really wanted him to know that I was going to be all right. I just…I had to face my fears and I knew I could do it if he was with me.
I looked up into his eyes. "I need you to help me with something."
"Of course, Lanni—anything." He told me, stroking my hair.
"You remember when I told you I saw something?" I asked him slowly.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, I remember—I was actually listening to you."
I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm softly. "Very funny…I appreciate it. Look, I just—Kate said that she got Ellen to tell Sam about this case on purpose because she wanted me to know something my mother was hiding from me without breaking my mother's trust. The girl, I saw…I think she's Annie. I want to talk to her—calm my nerves."
"Well…okay." Dean told me with a slow nod.
I sighed, knowing he wanted more of an explanation. "Dean…I know what room she's in. I know that she's in there because I keep feeling her presence when we walk past the door. I know it has nothing to do with this hoodoo stuff, but I just—I can't open the door by myself. I'm too afraid to do it alone…will you go with me?"
Dean nodded, and I led him to the room and then I took a deep breath and Dean gave my hand a reassuring squeeze before he opened the door and we looked inside. It was homey enough, like someone had been here for a while, but the feeling wasn't that strong anymore—she wasn't here. Part of me was really glad about that, and the other part of me was disappointed…I needed her in order to have my answers.
"I—where is she? Her bag is still here." I said, going over to it and opening it up.
Dean made a face. "You sure you should be doing that?"
I just rolled my eyes and then I saw it—I picked up the picture and I gawked at it, looking up as the girl came to the door. She was beautiful, and she definitely looked more familiar up close. She was brunette, she had the most adorable round nose, and she was younger than me…and the presence was so strong with her standing there just a few feet away from me.
"Hi," she said calmly.
"Man…" Dean began, and he smiled a little, eyeing her. "I mean sorry we just barged in here like this, we got lost and—"
"Annie?" I asked when I found my voice.
Dean did a double-take and looked at me as the words came out of my mouth and the girl in front of me smiled. The tears were coming as she nodded slowly, and I didn't know if I could get my legs to move but I needed them to.
"This is really Annie? As in your little sister, Annie?" Dean asked me.
I nodded and he wiped the look off of his face and looked embarrassed to have checked her out. He picked up the picture of Annie, Mom, her Dad and I when we were younger when I dropped it on the bed. I found the will in my legs to move, and I slowly walked towards her, wiping a tear away as it fell. Yes, Annie and I were only half siblings, but Mom had pointed out time and time again that she was special too and still a witch.
"It's really you, isn't it, Lanni?" Annie asked me softly.
I nodded, tears in my eyes, and I hugged her, amazed that she was hugging me back and crying as well. I had spent all of these years thinking that Annie was dead—that I had been the reason that my baby sister had been killed by a Shrtiga. Now here she was, completely and utterly in my arms, letting me stroke her hair and hold her to me—my little sister was very much alive and I was aching all over…but in a good way.
"I can't believe it's you," I sobbed, and then I pulled away a little, my hands still on her shoulders. "You're not, another vision are you?"
Annie laughed and shook her head. "Not at all—I found this hunt and Kate told me to go for it. Wow…you've grown."
"I've grown? Look at you." I told her, hugging her again. "You're a woman."
Annie smiled when we pulled away, but kept grasping each other's hands. "I can't—I can't believe this is happening. When I saw you guys pull up, and I saw you, I couldn't believe it. All this time, I've been wondering when we would see each other again, and here you are. We're working on the same problem, I'm guessing. Kate's been dropping hints that you hunt."
"You find this case on your own?" Dean asked her, wanting to be part of the conversation but I couldn't take my eyes off of my sister.
"Yeah, but I don't really hunt much. I go to school and when I find wind of a case I want to do, I go for it. I…do you guys do this for a living?" Annie asked me.
"A 'living' would imply that we get paid and we do not," I said, laughing a little bit. "But uh, yeah…we kind of cruise around from town to town, vanquishing demons. The demon that we're looking for that was behind Dad's death and the death of Sam and Dean's parents, has eluded us for the time being, but we're helping people. How did you…?"
"I was on vacation actually. I finally moved out of my foster parents' house and…does it feel weird to know I'm alive and I know about you?" Annie asked me suddenly.
"Trust me, Annie, there are weirder things out there, believe me." I told her.
"I just—Mom didn't want me to tell you. After the Shtriga, she wanted me to be away. She thought that if she split us up we would both forget about our powers and not be hunted." Annie explained to me. "I, however, had to live with the knowledge of you being in pain and I guess…after being visited by Mr. Yellow-Eyed Demon, I realized that keeping us apart was just no longer important."
I looked at her, my eyes widening as I took that information in—that meant that Annie was like Sam, didn't it? Now I really needed to know what it meant to be psychic because this was starting to get complicated and I was even more involved in this. What the Hell was going on around here? Mom had been right…Annie was special.
"Wow…you're a psychic." I said slowly.
She nodded at me. "Yes, but I'm not evil. The demon came to me in a dream and I told him to go to Hell."
"That's my girl," I told her, hugging her again and then pulling back. "God, I'm sorry—I'm totally smothering you with love right now, aren't I?"
"It's fine," Annie laughed. "After that these bad things started happening and so I moved out with a couple of friends, still close to Kate, Kalli, Kat and everyone, you know? I've been gradually trying to fit in and outrun the demon, and then this—now you're here."
I nodded at her. "Yeah, Annie…I'm here and I'm always going to be."
I held her to me as she came to hug me again, and I kissed the top of her head as she continued to hug me and talk. I just really couldn't believe that my little sister was back with me and that I was being given a second chance here. Things for me were finally looking up, and I wasn't sure how exactly to deal with it all. I knew one thing though—I was finally getting something back for dealing with all of my bad vibes.
"I don't know exactly what is going on here, but it has to do with hoodoo. Some kind of spirit is here, and I don't know exactly what it is. I don't normally do this sort of stuff—the researching—but I can fight." Annie assured me.
I laughed at that. "You don't have to fight, Annie. It's all right."
"No, Lanni, I do. I have to help you guys. This is what you do." She told me.
I nodded as she pulled away. "I really didn't mean it like you couldn't, I just…do you want to stay in our room tonight? I'm sure that Kate, Sam and Dean don't mind."
"Of course not," Dean told me, and I realized that I still had yet to actually introduce them to each other.
"Wait a minute…Sam and Dean? As in Winchester?" Annie asked, a smile spreading across her face. "From what I've heard about you from the two demons I've taken care of, you guys are amazing! Kate's here, huh? That bitch totally set this up."
Dean smiled at that. "Oh, it's nothing."
I rolled my eyes because of how flattered he sounded—it was like he realized that he had a fan. He just kind of grinned and then Annie looked back at me and he gave me a look…he wanted Annie to know who he was. I understood that, and at the same time I really just wanted to listen to Annie and see what had been happening with her. I could make it up to him later and he knew that, and he was going to have to accept my attention shift right now.
"Yeah, she set it up," I told her nodding. "I'm glad she did though. Besides, now you get to meet the two people I spend the most time with."
"And you…wow. You hang out with them?" Annie asked me.
I nodded at her. "Yeah—but don't be fooled…they're not all giggles and hotness all the time. I met Sam and Dean at Chelsea's wake…"
"Chelsea's dead?" Annie asked me.
I nodded sadly—Chelsea, Jen and I grew up together, so it wasn't strange that Annie would inquire about them…or feel sad that Chelsea was dead. The thing was I wasn't going to let her mourn Chelsea for too long. She deserved to be mourned, but now she was a power hungry vampire, and Annie needed to know that in case Chelsea came after her too…and I wouldn't put that past her.
"Well yes…and no. She's…a vampire." I explained to Annie.
Annie's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," I told her softly.
"And how's Jenny?" Annie asked me.
I smiled at that. "She's actually married now—recently got pregnant with twins."
"Wow! That's pretty amazing." Annie told me with a smile.
"Yeah, Kevin just couldn't keep his hands off of her." I told her, and I yawned as she laughed, which made her laugh even more. "You want to get to the room?"
Annie nodded and held my hand. "Yeah…let's get you to bed, Missy."
xx
The next morning, I woke up early and went out to the couch and smiled softly. Annie had insisted on sleeping on it, and I smiled at her, brushing the hair out of her face and kissing the top of her head softly. I looked up as Dean came out, putting on his jacket, and he smiled at me a little, me straightening up and looking at him.
I put my hands in my back pockets. "Where are you going?"
"Out to get some breakfast," Dean replied slowly. "You want to come with me?"
"Of course I do." I told him with a smile on my face.
I grabbed my coat and Dean and I went out to go to a café, and we sat there, eating a bit until Dean looked at me. It was nice to be out with him and it was nice that he was glad to have me with him, but at the same time I knew he was kind of upset. I had spent the whole night talking to Annie and I still hadn't really given Dean a chance to get to know her—Sam had still been passed out and was actually probably experiencing a rather terrible hangover, but Kate was there for him and she could introduce him to Annie.
"So…how are you?" He asked me.
I shrugged but smile at him. "I'm—I'm amazingly okay."
"Really?" Dean asked and I knew he really wanted me to be okay.
"Yeah, I mean sure I ran into my long lost sister, and maybe you think this is some sort of scam by the demon, but she's—she's my sister, Dean. She's my little sister and she and Sam have something in common—they're psychic." I explained to him. "And…and I didn't get my little sister killed."
"You don't think…what if she turns like Sam might?" Dean asked me and I knew he hadn't wanted to ask it, but he thought it was important.
I didn't like where he was going with this and I sent him a look that said that. Mostly I understood where he was coming from because what John had told him was hanging over him, but she was my sister. I had thought that I had lost her once and I was definitely not going to kill my sister…we still didn't even know what this 'turning' thing meant.
"Dean, if you're talking about killing my sister if she turns, you can take that comment and stick it—" I began.
"—Lanni, that's not what I meant." He told me, cutting me off. "I know better than that given I won't let anyone touch Sammy and I know you won't let anyone touch Annie."
I nodded slowly. "It better not be. Besides, someone who is attractive enough to get the Dean check-out shouldn't be talked about this way."
"Well you two have the same genes, and you know what I think about you," Dean said with a shrug. "Obviously you both got the good genes."
"I'm going to take that as a twisted compliment…so…what did you mean?" I asked him.
Dean took a deep breath. "I meant that her coming out of nowhere—not that I don't trust her but—I mean she knows so much. Then again, she was with Kate, right?"
"Yeah, she, uh…Mom had been worried about us for a while. She's been in this whole thing pretty deep and after the Striga thing, Mom wanted us to be apart." I explained to him. "See, Annie and I are half siblings—different Dads. Annie's biological father was my father too for a long while until he was brutally murdered the month before I thought I'd gotten Annie killed. So, Mom had had enough and wanted us away from her to protect us. She let me think that Annie was dead so that we wouldn't be in the same place at the same time for anyone to strike."
"That seems heartless," Dean said slowly. "Letting you think it was your fault your sister was dead when she was living a good life."
I nodded slowly. "Maybe, but at least Annie's alive. Mom dropped her off with a family that lives just across town from Kate and her family, knowing that her sister would look after her own niece, you know? So she's been safe and protected and mostly out of the hunting game, but my Uncle Thomas—Kate's Dad that's married to my Mom's sister, Allison—wanted Annie to at least know how to defend herself and taught her things when she hung out with Kate's youngest sister, Kat since they're only a year apart. She's wanted to find me, but Mom said 'no' and she's the obedient one out of the two of us, that's for sure. Now she's here because Kate was tired of the secret being kept and wanted me to know and Annie to be able to see me."
It seemed like Mom had been going to great lengths to keep Annie and I apart and I wondered what that could all mean. Was she trying to keep Annie extra protected because she was a psychic and that could mean something bad? I mean I was half demon because of my dad and then Mom is finally happy with Annie's dad and he gets brutally murdered and then the Striga and Mom separated us…was this somehow my fault and now all of these things were happening to me because of something bigger than all of us combined?
"Does she—in this heart to heart did you tell her anything?" Dean asked me hopefully.
I nodded again. "I told her lots of things, Dean. The only things I didn't mention were the relationship things. I told her about all of the demons we hunted, I opened up about Dad—your dad—and I—I told her she could travel with us if she wanted."
"Of course, we're not going to kick her to the curb, Lanni. You just found her, and you should be allowed to be with her." Dean told me.
I wanted to just grin at that and thank him and tell him he was the best, but there was pain in his voice. I hadn't told Annie about my involvement with the boys—about my relationship with Dean. It wasn't that I was ashamed of it—because I wasn't—I just hadn't wanted to lay everything on her when she was just joining us and had so many things on her own plate as it was. Still…why hadn't I told her? Why wasn't I telling her how much Dean really meant to me?
"God, I owe you so much," I told him, leaning across the table.
Dean smirked and leaned in a little too. "Yes you do."
"I swear that I'm going to tell her everything, Baby, I just need time to ease her into everything, all right?" I asked him.
"Lanni, stop worrying about it, I understand—you'll tell her eventually." Dean told me.
I smiled at him. "I promise I will, but, hey, we should get back before Sam wakes up and freaks out that she's there, even though Kate's there too."
Dean nodded at me. "Very true…"
Dean and I hurried back to the hotel since he'd taken me to a diner for breakfast down the street, and when he reached for the knob, I took his hand. He looked at me, confused at first, but nodded a little into the kiss I placed to his lips, stepping closer to me and cradling me in his arms. I pushed my tongue into his mouth with ease, him slipping his fingers into my hair, and then he pulled back and kissed me swiftly, me nodding and the two of us walked into the room. I smiled at Annie as she ate a granola bar—we were alike in many ways—and then I sighed as I saw Sam leaning over the toilet bowl, Kate sitting on the bed with a magazine in her hand.
"How you feeling, Sammy? I guess mixing whiskey and jager wasn't such a gangbuster idea, was it? Hey, I bet you don't remember a thing from last night, do you?" Dean asked him.
"No, I can still taste the tequila." Sam answered, and Dean smiled, relieved that he had said that.
I laughed a little. "It's a good thing I didn't have any, otherwise we would have had a 'Tequila Makes Her Clothes Come Off' moment and that would have been bad."
"You know, there's a really good hangover remedy. It's a…it's a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ashtray." Dean joked and smiled all cheeky-like as Annie chuckled at him, Kate giving him a thumbs up.
"Oh, I hate you." Sam told Dean, leaning over the toilet again.
"I know you do. Hey, turns out when Grandma Rose was a tyke, she had a Creole nanny who wore a hoodoo necklace." Dean explained, going up to the bathroom. "Ugh."
Sam ignored Dean's protest to the smell. "So you think she taught Rose hoodoo?"
"Yes, we do." Annie answered.
"Who was that?" Sam asked suddenly.
I smiled at that and sat down next to her, looking over at the bathroom door and then at Annie. I was surprised that he hadn't seen her since he had gotten up—then again it could have been that he only woke up to the churning in his stomach and needed to relieve himself of all of the alcohol he had ingested…and Kate, though very into Sam, would enjoy him coming out, seeing Annie and freaking a little bit.
"He hasn't seen you yet?" I asked Annie.
She shook her head. "He ran in there and has been there ever since. I—I felt weird just going up to him and asking him if he needed anything."
"Besides, I had it under control," Kate responded with a smile. "I was waiting until he came back out and then saw her."
Told you…
"Lan?" Sam asked me, wanting to know and everyone was letting me explain it.
"Long story short for now—until I can explain it in length—Annie is out here, Sammy—Annie, my little sister." I told him. "Kate set it all up and now we're together and everything is good."
He was surprised but kept his cool. "Oh. I'm sorry you have to meet me this way."
"Trust me, it's all right. So…Rose and hoodoo?" Annie asked him.
"Alright, uh. I think it's time we talk to Rose, then." Sam told us, standing up.
Dean nodded at him. "Oh, you need to brush your teeth first."
"Yeah, no kissing until the acidic thing is taken care of," Kate teased with a wink thrown Sam's way.
I laughed because Sam had breathed on him and Dean was teasing but it was well deserved, and Sam gave him a look as he left the bathroom. Then I turned all of my attention back to Annie who was definitely observing our behavior, trying to figure as much out about all of this as she could. She was aware that Sam, Dean and I were close, and though she wanted to ask what Dean and I had been doing and wanted to know where we had gone, she kept her mouth shut and Kate wasn't even teasing me and Dean about our whereabouts, so it was time for business.
"You sleep all right?" I asked Annie.
She nodded and smiled. "It was comfortable."
"Not as comfortable as a bed." I told her. "I should have let you have the bed."
"I got to catch up with you, Lanni—that was all I needed." She assured me, giving my closest hand to her a squeeze.
"No one thank me or anything," Kate said aloud.
I smiled at Kate. "Thank you, Katie, for finally letting me have my little sister back."
Kate made a mock annoyed face. "I'll take it."
I smiled and then after Sam brushed his teeth and got himself to look a little more presentable, I introduced him to Annie. We were all happy enough to have her along—even though I knew the boys were only acting okay with it for me—and I was really happy with them for doing this for me. Then when the introductions were out of the way, we all went to Susan's door, and I turned to Annie.
"We're kind of…we're going to pick a lock." I told her. "So…I hope it doesn't make you think that we're these wanton criminals or something."
"Please," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "The girl has hunted with me…"
Annie nodded and laughed, resting her hand on my shoulder. "Lanni, it's all right. I understand."
I nodded, and the two of us stood with Dean as look-outs while Sam picked the lock and Kate got ready to be a distraction as necessary. We honestly didn't need five people here, but that meant getting this done sooner rather than later. Annie and Kate even opted to stay behind while Sam, Dean and I went upstairs to see Rose and we found her, sitting in a wheelchair. Sam tried to talk to her, but she was unable to answer him. I was getting some vibes from her, but definitely not the vibes that I had been hoping for—Rose wasn't our girl.
"This woman's had a stroke." Sam said as I looked her over.
Dean sighed loudly. "But hoodoo is hands-on. You got to mix herbs and chant, build an altar and all that."
"So it can't be Rose. Heck, maybe it's not even hoodoo." Sam told him, giving up.
"You know, she could be faking," Dean suggested with a look thrown to Sam.
"Well, what do you want to do? Poke her with a stick?" Sam asked him and when Dean shrugged and got hit by me, Sam shook his head. "Dude, you're not gonna poke her with a stick."
"What the Hell? What are you doing in here?" Susan asked as she entered the room.
I turned to her and tried to pull my 'Lana smile'. "We just wanted to talk to Rose."
"Look at her she's scared out of her wits. I want you out of my hotel in 2 minutes or I'm calling the cops." Susan warned, and so the three of us left.
"You are the crappiest look-outs ever," I told Kate and Annie when we joined them.
Kate gave me a look. "What did you want me to do? Make a crow noise? Cause that's not suspicious at all. Then again…we probably could have come up with something for her to help us with…"
"You think?" Annie asked her.
I was really worried about the fact that something was going on here but we kept hitting dead ends, and Annie looked troubled. She started to bite her nails which made me smile—I used to do that and then I took to chewing on my lip. We were definitely related, and just that thought made me smile some more because I really liked knowing that she was alive, and that she had grown up so well.
"That was strange," Annie said and chewed on her right pointer fingernail. "Something is still going on there…we have to stay around."
Sam smiled at her. "You are definitely Lan's little sister."
"Agreed," Dean said with a smile.
"So how exactly did you guys meet?" Annie asked them, flattered that they had compared her to me.
Dean smirked and I sent him a look. "Well Sam and I were on this hunt, and we ended up at Chelsea's wake, looking to speak to her parents, when we ran into Lanni and in turn Jen. Your sister was wearing this amazing little black number—"
"—Dean!" I chastised, smacking his arm. "You are talking to my baby sister."
He just chuckled. "Yeah, anyway, she's been doing this for a while, and we helped her with a case, and helped her cope with Chelsea's…well death…and she just kind of became part of our messed up family."
"More like I forced my way in but you loved it." I replied and then I shrugged. "The only thing I left out last night was that Jen and I got Chelsea turned. We still feel responsible for it—and we always should—and we need to figure out how to kill her before she gets too powerful."
"I'm sorry, Lana," Annie told me, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'll help you as much as I can."
I smiled at her and kissed her hand, pulling her into a hug and then letting her go when Dean got that look on his face. It was suddenly no longer kind of a playful moment and we were flirting with that line of 'care and share' and he didn't want to be dragged into it. At the same time, he and Sam were both genuinely happy for me and it warmed my heart to know that they were both so supportive of me.
"So before we go and save the hotel…what's with you two?" Annie asked, pointing between me and Dean.
I turned to Dean and was about to say something out loud to her, but the wind rose and one of the seats of the swing set started moving near the hotel. The see-saw then the tourniquet also started moving by themselves, and so the four of us watched until the car started and almost ran Susan over, but Sam saved her. Kate, Annie, Dean and I joined them and went inside watching as Susan asked for a glass of whiskey.
"What the Hell happened out there?" Susan asked us.
Dean glanced at her. "You want the truth?"
"Of course," Susan told him like he should have known that.
"At first, we thought it was some sort of a hoodoo curse, but that out there, that was definitely a spirit." Dean explained, laying it all out there like she had said she wanted.
"Here," Sam said holding a glass out to her.
Susan stared at us. "You're insane."
"Yeah, it's been said." Kate replied with a nod.
"Look, I'm sorry, Susan." Sam told her honestly. "We don't exactly have time to ease you into this, but we need to know when your mother had the stroke."
Susan gave Sam a look. "What does that have to do with—"
"—just answer the question." Kate interrupted her.
Susan was still looking at us like we were crazy, but she just nodded a little and tried to remember. She was helping us even though she still wasn't sure that she believed us, and I knew it was hard for her, but I was glad she was trying here. We really needed to get to the bottom of this before anything else bad happened.
"Uh, about a month ago." Susan remembered and nodded in affirmation.
"Right before the killings began. You see?" Sam told Dean. "So what if Rose was working hoodoo, but not to hurt anyone, to protect them?"
I nodded at that. "She was using the five-spot urns to ward off the spirit. That means that the spirit is probably still connected to her somehow."
"She protected her family until she had a stroke and she couldn't anymore." Annie added with a nod.
"I don't believe this," Susan intervened.
"Listen, that car didn't try to run you down by itself, okay? I mean, I guess it did technically, but with a spirit—forget it." Dean said, rubbing his temples.
Kate looked at her. "Just believe what you want, alright? But the fact is, you and your family are in danger, alright? So you need to clear everybody out of here: your employees, um, your mother, your daughters, everyone."
"Uh, I only have one daughter." Susan told us.
"One?" Sam asked a little surprised.
I smiled and then shook my head. "I thought Tyler had a sister named Maggie."
"Maggie's imaginary." Susan told us, and the four of us knew then that we were dealing with Maggie's spirit.
Actually it was all starting to make complete and utter sense in my head. There were still some missing pieces but it was obvious that Maggie wasn't imaginary, and that she was doing this. The question was why was she doing this? Who was she, and what did she have against the people involved with selling the hotel?
"Where's Tyler?" Dean asked her.
Susan suddenly looked panicked and I couldn't blame her—her daughter was missing and we needed to know where she was so that she wasn't in any danger. We all went to go and find Tyler, starting at Susan's apartment where we found all of the dolls broken, and Tyler was no where to be seen. Kate was immediately in full on hunt mode now and she was the first to talk and I could see Sam looking at her with affection in his eyes.
"Susan, tell us what you know about Maggie." Kate told her.
Susan swallowed and pondered. "Not much. Uh, Tyler's been talking about her since Mom got sick."
"Okay, did you ever know anyone by that name?" I asked her.
"No," Susan replied slowly.
"Think, think." Dean tried quickly. "It could be somebody that could have lived here that might have passed away."
Susan's eyes suddenly changed. "My God…my mom…my mom had a sister named Margaret. She barely spoke about her."
"Did Margaret happen to die here when she was a kid?" Sam asked her.
"Yeah, she drowned in the pool." Susan replied slowly.
I nodded and headed for the pool. "We have to go now."
We hurried to the indoor pool door because Maggie's ghost would have wanted to bring Tyler here—she was feeling abandoned. Problem was, the door was locked and we couldn't get it open even though we were trying to. We called Tyler's name, and then saw Tyler look over at us, and then fall into the pool. Dean, Annie and I headed for the other entrance with Susan, while Sam and Kate continued to try and open the door.
I took a deep breath and made Susan, Dean and Annie take a step back, saying an incantation and then getting us inside. We got inside just in time to see Sam jump into the pool, me hurrying towards him along the edge, the others behind me. After a moment, Sam came towards us, Tyler in his arms, setting her down, unconscious. Suddenly the water came out of Tyler's lungs, and Sam looked down at her, smiling because he was so glad that she was all right—we all were.
"Can you see Maggie anywhere?" Sam asked her as she snuggled into her mother.
Tyler looked around and shook her head. "She's not here…she's gone."
xx
"I don't get it. Did Maggie just stop?" Dean asked us a little while later as Susan and Tyler got their things ready to head out.
Annie nodded slowly. "Seems like it."
"Where the Hell did she go?" Dean asked her.
Before any of us could answer, we heard Susan scream, going upstairs to find Rose dead. We called the coroners, and watched them take Rose's body away, joining Susan on the steps of the hotel. I looked up towards the room that Rose had once been in, and I smiled a little, nodding because I had an idea…I could sense them still.
"Paramedics said it was another stroke. Do you think...Margaret could have had something to do with it?" Susan asked us.
Dean looked at her. "We honestly don't know."
"But it's possible, yeah," Sam added with a nod. "Susan, I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for. You've given me everything." Susan told him, and smiled brightly at Tyler as she came over to her. "Ready to go, kiddo?"
Tyler nodded up at her. "Yeah."
"Tyler, you're sure Maggie's not around anymore?" Kate asked her.
"I'm sure. I'd see her." Tyler told her.
Dean nodded slowly. "I guess whatever's going on must be over."
"You two take care of yourselves, alright?" Sam told them and Susan hugged him, which made me smile—Sam needed to feel like a hero because he was one.
Susan smiled when she pulled back. "Thank you."
"Yeah," Sam replied softly.
She nodded and then looked at Dean, Kate, Annie and I. "All five of you."
We all nodded at her and watched as she headed away with Tyler, Dean looking at Sam and I rolled my eyes—my man was about to be vulgar. Honestly I loved him that way, but at the same time this wasn't the time nor the place, but it was Dean…he picked his moments whether they were good or not.
"Think you could have hooked up some MILF action there, bud. Serious, I think she liked you." Dean said with a grin, and then Kate hit him. "Ow!"
"Is he always this vulgar?" Annie asked me as I wrapped an arm around her.
I laughed and nodded. "Unfortunately…don't worry though—you get used to it."
"Yeah, that's all she needs," Sam told Dean sarcastically.
"Well, you saved the mom, you saved the girl. Not a bad day. Of course, you know, I could have saved them myself, but I didn't want you to feel useless." Dean joked and then moved out of Kate's way. "I'm sorry, okay? Sam? Ravish, Kate. Ow!"
Sam chuckled because Kate had hit him again. "I like you more and more, you know that?"
"I'm a good catch," Kate said with a shrug and a wink at Sam, taking his hand.
I smiled as Annie looked the Impala over with awe as we neared it. "Are you feeling better, Sammy?"
"Yeah…but it doesn't change what we talked about last night, Dean." Sam said slowly and I swallowed—oh he definitely remembered.
Dena shrugged at him, choosing to ignore it. "We talked about a lot of things last night."
"You know what I mean," Sam stressed, giving him a look.
"You were wasted," Dean protested, trying to get out of this.
"But you weren't...and you promised." Sam told him, getting inside the car as Annie and Kate followed into the backseat.
"Honey…we'll figure this out," I assured Dean, taking his hand for a brief moment before getting into the car after Annie and sitting next to her, and though I was worried when Dean didn't say anything, I knew he and I would talk more at the motel or wherever we ended up next when he got into the car too.
Note: So, there's Annie and Kate is going to have a much bigger part in a little bit—something big is going to happen first though. You will learn more about Annie's and Lana's biological fathers soon, I promise. Feedback is always appreciated!