February 2nd - February 6th, 2014

I was standing in the dining room looking over a collection of jars full of summoning ingredients. I double-checked the contents of the jars with what was on my list. I got to the jar, which was supposed to have devil's shoestring, only to find it empty.

Nate walked in from around the corner, carrying a stack of papers. "How's it coming along? Have everything we need?"

I shook my head. "Almost. I thought Garth was supposed to get the devil's shoestring."

Nate walked over to where the jars were and looked in the empty one. "Hmm. Guess he hasn't got it yet."

"Well, we gotta get that soon so we can do this," I said.

Nate set the papers down. "Are we sure we wanna summon Crowley?"

I nodded. "Yes. We're sure."

"Okay, just double-checking. It's a pretty big deal," he said with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know, you keep saying that."

Nate gave me a serious look. "I just want to make sure you're okay. You've been through a lot with him, and I want you to be certain that this is the right move."

"Do you think I forgot? I'm literally fine," I snapped.

"Well, I know that you've been on edge 'cause Sam disconnected his phone," Nate said.

I smiled. "Okay, I'm done talking to you now."

Nate sighed just as Garth came walking in from the other room.

"Hey, guys. I was just on the hunter's forum trying to track down some of that devil's shoestring and—"

I interrupted him. "Wait, wait… Hunter's Forum? What's that?"

Garth smiled. "Ya know, a place where hunters go to exchange information and spell ingredients on the internet."

I furrowed my brow. "Hunters have their own website now?"

"Oh yeah, Garth goes there all the time to look for books or whatever," Nate said.

"Or even answer questions about creatures," Garth added.

I looked at Garth, confused. "I don't get it. I thought we were supposed to stay on the down-low with all of this."

Garth shrugged. "I mean yeah, but honestly, if anyone is searching that hard for this kinda stuff, they either have their foot in the door anyway, or they're crazy conspiracy theorists, who nobody will believe, or they'll just think it's a website for occult fanatics. Besides, it's kept pretty hidden behind the backdoor of a candle and lotion site."

I nodded my head, not sure if I was fully understanding. "Okay, I guess that makes sense."

Garth continued, "Yeah, but anyway. I was looking on there, and someone had posted a few articles about a few townsfolk going missing in Payson, Utah. Whoever wrote the articles believes the disappearances have something to do with an abandoned hotel outside of town."

"You want to check it out?" I asked.

Garth shook his head. "I don't know, a lot of people were commenting that it's nothing, and the town has a ton of urban legends floating around it."

I shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to look."

"Yeah, it doesn't seem right to leave it be if people are really going missing," Garth said.

"Eh, I'm not sure," Nate said, "It doesn't really sound like the real deal if it's surrounded by a bunch of conspiracy anyway. Besides, we're so close to getting this ritual together, and I want this place prepped for when Crowley shows up. We are already a little bit behind and need all hands on deck if we want to get this done by tomorrow night."

I looked from Nate to Garth. "Okay, then I'll go, and you two keep working on it."

Nate gave me a serious look. "Maddi, we don't do hunts by ourselves. You know how risky that can be."

"I understand, but you said it yourself. It might not be anything. I'll just go check it out, talk to some people and decide for myself. I'd rather know for sure than continue to let people go missing if we can stop it," I said.

Nate sighed. "But—"

"And if I get there and it is something, I'll let you guys know." I interrupted. "And either one of you can meet me, or Garth can send one of his hunting buddies who's nearby to help."

Nate shook his head. "I don't like that idea."

I nodded. "I won't put myself in danger. If I know it's something, I'll back off and wait for back up."

Nate continued shaking his head and sighed again. "Maddi—"

I put my hand out towards Nate to stop him from continuing. "Nate, I promise I won't do anything stupid. We've got two fish to fry now… getting Kevin back and making sure no one is dying when we're aware of the situation."

Nate put his hands up in forfeit. "Fine, but if anything… even something small comes up… you tell us right away."

I stood up as straight as I could and saluted Nate. "Yes, sir."

I hopped into one of Garth's "Boogie Rides," as he called them, and made my way towards Payson, Utah.

About two hours outside of Payson, I stopped at a gas station to fill the tank and grab some food. Before filling up the tank, I grabbed the folder that Garth had given me with information about the case. I walked into the gas station and started flipping through the papers in the folder while absentmindedly grabbing things off of the shelves and from the cooler.

It looked like Payson was a pretty small town, and quite a few stories were surrounding the abandoned hotel just outside of town.

One of the articles had a bold title, "Native American burial site cause of mystery surrounding the Grand Payson? We think so!"

I read through the article, which was basically all speculation. The author even added at the end, "Though we have not been fortunate to recover any hard-hitting evidence to support our claim, we fully believe that the Grand Payson hotel was constructed on the burial site of a Native American tribe, therefore cursing the hotel and all those who stay on the premises."

I set everything I had grabbed onto the counter and paid the cashier. I quickly turned to leave and bumped shoulders with someone on my way past them. I turned my head towards them.

"Sorry!" I shouted hurriedly and then continued walking outside and back to the car.

Once I got to the car, I finished reading an article about the original hotel owner.

A second article was written by some web blog called The Yuppie Ghost Hunter. They claimed that they had a relative who knew the original hotel owner's nephew. On multiple occasions, the nephew had said that they saw the owner wandering the Grand Payson's halls after he died.

I shoved the papers back into the folder and sighed. I put the key in and continued my drive to Payson.

I made it to Payson just as the sun was beginning to set, so I found a motel in the town square and booked a room. I unpacked my things and got settled in to dig a little deeper into the rumors surrounding the Grand Payson.

I opened my laptop, and the screen lit up, displaying the list of items that we needed to summon Crowley. I stared at the screen for a moment, and my mouth started to get dry as anxiety began creeping in.

I hadn't seen him since Dean disappeared. He was the one who manipulated me. If it wasn't for him, would Dean still be here? Would Kevin be here too?

If I wasn't so messed up, could I have helped stop any of that from happening?

The lingering anxiety began welling within me as my mind raced. I could feel myself starting to panic, but instead of getting more anxious, my face became red with anger. I quickly moved the cursor to the top of the screen and closed out the list.

I pulled the folder of research Garth gave me out of my bag and got to work. It didn't take long for me to come across an article from an archaeology and anthropology professor at the University of Utah.

In the article, she stated that there was no record of archaeological digs in or around Payson that resulted in Native remains being found. According to her records, it would be possible that one of the Native tribes buried their own in Payson, but was unlikely as it had not yet been uncovered, even after years of dig sites in and around the town.

Strike haunted Native lands off the list.

One of the articles that Garth had printed was of a blog post claiming that the owner of the hotel was a wicked man who was always fighting with the mayor and other townsfolk. The post said that they wouldn't be surprised if the man's spirit was haunting the hotel's grounds and kidnapping Paysoners who came near.

Unfortunately for that blog post's author, there were multiple articles in the Payson newspaper about the hotel's former owner. Vanessa Yardsmouth was a charitable member of Payson. The town even named the local Fourth of July festival after her. It appeared that whoever wrote that blog post was either severely misinformed or was just looking to draw attention and hopefully gain some level of fame.

I decided to quit my research for the night and see what sort of info I could get from the townies in the morning. Hopefully, the people who lived here would know something about the strange things going on with the hotel.

I woke up bright and early to get ready for the day. My plan was to meet people at local businesses and parks and pose as a journalist for a magazine.

My first stop was Liam's Café. It was a solid five-minute walk from the motel I was staying in. I walked around the corner to the street where the café was. I could see a line of people standing on the sidewalk in front of the café waiting for them to open.

I got about twenty feet or so away from the line and could see that most of the people standing outside looked like they were around my age or a few years older. I got in line behind an older gentleman.

A few minutes later, a woman came walking down the sidewalk towards everyone standing in line.

"Excuse me, is this the line for Liam's?" she asked as she got closer to me.

I looked up and nodded. "Uh, yeah."

She smiled and took the spot behind me. "Thanks so much. Are you new here? I've never seen you here before."

"Yeah. I'm just in town for a few days. Heard this was the best coffee shop in town." I smiled.

"Sure is." She nodded at me.

I perked up for a moment. "Hey, I'm actually here to do some research for an article I'm writing. Would you mind if I interviewed you for a minute while we are waiting to get inside?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, of course." She stuck her hand out, "I'm Beth Fengler. I teach at the elementary school here in Payson."

I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sarah Connor. I write for the Coffee & Cryptids Chronicler."

"I'll be back," a deep, gruff voice said from behind me.

I turned and saw the older man that was standing in front of me in line was laughing.

"Oh yeah, I get that all the time." I chuckled.

Beth pulled her hand back and smiled. "What can I do for you?"

I reached into my bag and pulled out a pen and notepad. "So, I'm in town to investigate the Grand Payson. I've heard rumors and came here to see if there is any truth to them."

"Oh, I've been by that place before," the same gruff voice said. "Strange vibes, that's for sure. I try to avoid it on my route as best I can." He nodded.

Beth stepped up next to me so that we were both facing the man. "Yeah. I definitely get the feeling that there is something off about that place."

I took down a small note. "What kind of 'vibes' are you getting from it?"

The man shook his head. "Weird ones. The kind that makes you go, 'Wow, that place is kinda creepy.'"

Beth nodded. "Yeah, I don't know if it's anything supernatural or anything. But it's the type of place where things just seem to go wrong."

I looked at Beth. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in the '70s, there were a few murders in the area, and investigators had found the bodies of the victims on the stretch of road that goes right in front of the hotel," she said.

I jotted some more notes down on my notepad. "Do you think that the hotel has any connection to recent disappearances in the area?"

Beth shrugged. "It's definitely possible. Although, people are constantly traveling through town on their way to Provo and Salt Lake City. So, disappearances could just be chalked up to them reaching their destination and just getting carried away in the big city."

I nodded. "Thank you both for your time." I pulled a business card out of my pocket. "If either of you has anything else you would like to contribute to my article, feel free to reach out."

The man and Beth took my cards, and we all made our way into the café.

After some time, it was finally my turn to order at the counter. I walked up and was greeted by a tall man about my age.

"Hi, my name is Bryan. What can I whip up for you today?" he asked with a smile.

"Can I just get a green tea lemonade, please?" I asked.

"Of course," Bryan said.

He gave me a price, and I stood to the side while waiting for them to make the drink.

Bryan called my name, and I approached the counter to get my tea.

"Hey, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Beth and Frank. I have a little info that you might be interested in. If you're staying here for a bit, I go on break in like twenty minutes. I can come over then, and we can talk about it," Bryan said.

I took my tea from the counter and nodded. "Yeah. That works for me. I'll find a table somewhere."

He smiled as I walked away to find a table in the crowded café. I began looking over the notes I had taken when he walked up to my table, sooner than expected.

"Hey." He pulled out the chair and took a seat.

I sat up. "So, you said that you might know something related to the Grand Payson?"

Bryan took a sip of something from a bottle he was holding. "Oh yeah. Big time. But you have to be serious about this 'cause it's gonna sound crazy."

I nodded. "Of course."

He leaned in a little bit, and his eyes got wide. "Aliens." He sat back in his chair with a grin on his face.

I looked at him, confused. "What about them?"

"Well, they've been crawling all over the place. Have been for years, probably since it was built," he said very matter of fact.

"Do you have any sort of proof?" I asked.

He got excited. "Oh yeah!" He pulled his phone out and showed me an article from the '60s. "So a few different times during the '60s, people saw unidentified flying objects around that part of town."

He scrolled through a few articles of first-hand accounts of UFOs from that time. "And that's not all." He smiled. "A few summers ago, I was out for a run and saw this hovering over the hotel. Now you tell me what you think that is."

Bryan pulled up a video and played it for me. Unfortunately, it was very blurry. All I could really see were a few flashing lights. And then, what sounded like a younger Bryan was whisper-yelling into the microphone.

"Oh my god! Did you see that?" The camera panned quickly to the right. "And there's another one. Holy crap, dude. UFOs!"

The video went on for another ten or fifteen seconds, and I looked up to see Bryan wide-eyed and smiling.

"See?! I told you. I don't know what they were doing there, but I haven't seen them since," he said.

I nodded. "Yeah. That does seem kinda strange."

We both looked at each other and nodded for a moment before he stood up suddenly.

"Well, I must return to my station," he said abruptly. "If there is anything else you need, you know where to find me." He smiled and walked off in the direction of the counter.

I sat in the café for another twenty minutes or so, just enough time to finish my tea and organize my notes. I left the café and headed in the direction of my next stop, the local library.

I made it to the library and continued inside. An older man with glasses was sitting behind a counter, rummaging through a cabinet. He turned in his office chair and greeted me with a smile.

"Is there anything I can help you find this morning?" the man asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, do you have a section with historical information regarding the town?"

The man stood up, squinted, and pointed to a section across the library. "Our historical section is over there. You'll find a shelf dedicated to the town's history between the shelves about war and art."

I smiled back at him and nodded. "Thank you!"

I walked across the library, which wasn't busy at all. There were a few people over by the computers, but they were all huddled together and looked like they might be playing a video game.

I came to the historical section and found the shelves that the man was telling me about. I grabbed a few books and found a table in the back of the library.

After about ten or fifteen minutes of looking through the stack of books I grabbed, a girl scooted into the chair across from me. She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen and kept glancing over her shoulder like she was being followed.

She reached across the table and grabbed one of my books titled, How Grand is the Grand Payson?

"Ah, I see you're interested in the old building as well." She smirked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually doing some research for an article that I'm writing. Is it weird for someone to be interested in the hotel?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. Everyone is interested in that place in one way or another. So, what are you looking to know about it?"

I shrugged. "Well, I heard a rumor that it was haunted. And I came to see if there was any truth to it."

The girl got an excited look on her face and nodded. "Oh, yeah, that place is definitely haunted. The original owner used the meat cooler to hang the bodies of his victims. That and at least another dozen deaths. Oh, and Quincy. I'd say the place has had its share of a dark history."

I looked at her, confused. "Quincy?"

She perked up, realizing I didn't know who or what she was talking about. "You don't know Quincy?"

I shook my head. "This is the first I've heard of them."

"Yeah. He was deranged." She sat up straight in the library chair. "He used to be the butler for a wealthy family in Payson. One night, the family was brutally murdered. Which left Quincy without a job. So, he went searching and found one at the hotel."

"Oh, wow. Anything else?" I asked.

"Many believe that he was the one who murdered all those people who they found in the '70s. Some believe those were just a few of his victims." She kind of stared off past me.

"Well, that sort of explains the bodies they found." I looked over my notes.

Her gaze met mine once again. "Oh yeah, that place is super haunted. The spirits there are so powerful that they suck the energy from vehicles that drive by. My dad was driving by it one day, and the battery in his car mysteriously died. Same thing happened to my friend's parents."

Suddenly the man from the front counter came around the corner and walked straight up to the girl like he was irritated.

He put a hand on her shoulder and looked over at me. "I'm sorry if she was bothering you. Sometimes she doesn't know when people want to be left alone. Come on, Kelsey, time to get back to work."

The girl stood up and walked away with the man.

I couldn't really find anything in the library to corroborate any of the stories I heard from the locals. So, I decided I would head back to my motel room to do more research on my computer. I was starting to get the feeling that this was nothing, just as Nate had thought.

I stood up and walked the books I had taken back to their shelf. As I was putting the last one away, a voice called out from behind me.

"You know it's all crap, right?"

I turned and saw a kid who was maybe eighteen or so. He was standing there holding one of the books I had taken from the shelf.

"You forgot this one, by the way." He reached out and gave me the book he was holding.

"What do you mean it's all crap?" I asked.

He brought his hands up and made air quotes. "The whole 'Grand Payson is haunted' thing. Sometimes people like to make things up to help cope with reality."

I turned and looked at him. "So what explains all the things that people say about the hotel?"

He shrugged. "The idea that the spirits within drain power from cars going by. There's a power plant a mile away from the hotel. It causes weird electrical interference all the time. And the whole thing about the hotel having a bloody history. People die. Sometimes it happens to be within a building. All old buildings have a few people who kicked the bucket in them. Doesn't mean they're haunted."

I nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. How do you explain the UFO sightings, though?"

He snorted. "Don't make me laugh. UFOs? Try mandatory safety inspections for the power plant. They would always have to fly up and take air quality measurements to make sure there wasn't any radiation leaking out from the plant. People made a big fuss about it being UFOs, so the government had measuring devices installed on rooftops in the town instead."

I looked down at my notes. "So, what do you think of all the disappearances that have happened lately?"

"Provo is twenty minutes up the road. People come through here all the time and stay overnight or whatever before continuing on." He shrugged. "No big deal if you ask me."

I looked back up at him. "Well, thanks for the info. It'll definitely help me sort through my notes."

He smiled. "No problem."

At this point, I had spent the whole morning and some of the afternoon out on the town doing research and interviews. All of this left me back at basically square one. I returned to the motel and did some deeper digging. It turned out that the only Quincy with ties to the Grand Payson was the owner's young son.

I looked into the missing-persons cases that were recently opened in the town and found out that most people were from out of town and were just passing through or were runaways.

Pretty much every person who had a missing person case filed on them reached their destinations safely or were found to not be legitimate missing-persons.

The only thing that seemed to stay consistent was that the hotel closed in 1989. Other than that, everything was super inconsistent or disproven.

After a few hours, I decided that it was time to check out the hotel to see if there was anything there, any EMF or other anomaly.

I packed a bag and drove the fifteen minutes out to the hotel. I pulled into the road that drove a few hundred feet from the main road. The Grand Payson looked like it would have been beautiful when it was fully operational, but now walls were being overgrown with moss and vines, and windows were smashed out. There was even some graffiti on the exterior walls.

I pulled up near the front door and parked the car. I grabbed my flashlight and EMF, turning them on before getting out of the car. I walked up to what was the front door of the hotel. A large Do Not Enter sign was nailed to the partially open door.

I cautiously opened the door and made my way inside. I was instantly met by the smell of musty earth. I continued on for a few minutes, but my EMF meter showed no signs of spirit activity.

I walked through most of the halls and even went into a few rooms. Everything was relatively empty except for some trash and things that had been blown in from outside. No EMF. No sulfur. Nothing.

I walked back to the car and gave Nate a call.

It rang a few times before he picked up. "Hey."

"Looks like you were right," I said.

"No case?" he asked.

I sighed. "Nope. Not unless you believe there's a creature out there that is part ghost and part alien and also doesn't actually exist but sometimes does."

He laughed. "I don't even know what that means. How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"Interviewing townspeople, literally every story was different, nothing lined up. I just checked out the hotel to be sure, but there was nothing. No EMF, no sulfur, no sign of literally anything sinister other than just looking like an old abandoned creepy hotel," I said.

"So, when are you coming back?" Nate asked.

"About to head back to my motel room and grab my stuff," I said.

"Okay. Well, drive safe. I'll see you in the morning," he said.

I nodded. "See ya then."

I put my phone away and pulled out of the driveway for the hotel. I quietly drove back to town and thought about all of the weird stories and interactions I had throughout the day. I knew a lot of towns had these same sort of superstitions. It was strange to me that it almost seemed like people wished for these things to be real… if they all only knew the truth, maybe they wouldn't think their lives were so boring.

It took me a few minutes to pack my bag and check out from the motel.

As I headed out of town to get back to Nate and Garth, I had a strange feeling as I drove by the street that led to the Grand Payson. Like I needed to check one more time, just to be sure I hadn't missed anything.

So, I turned around in a grocery store parking lot and then made my way back down the winding road that led to the decrepit hotel. I just couldn't shake this feeling that I might have forgotten something important.

Once there, I parked and quickly grabbed my things before heading back into the hotel lobby.

I crept past the front desk with my flashlight out, scanning the floor, walls, and ceiling for anything out of the ordinary or unusual.

Suddenly everything got silent like the air left the room. I stopped my progress and just listened. My heart started pounding in my ears as I waited in anticipation for something to happen.

A few seconds passed, and I was just about to give up and leave again when a scream broke the silence and echoed through the abandoned hotel's hallways. I turned back behind me where the cry seemed to come from and darted towards it, making sure to not be taken by surprise by anything that might be lurking around a corner.

There was another scream that rang out. It was closer this time and seemed to be coming from a janitor's closet in the hallway just off the lobby. I ran up and prepared myself before opening the door. I took a deep breath and swung the door open.

I was startled as a handful of mops and brooms tumbled from the closet and onto the floor. The small closet was overfilled with random cleaning supplies and tools. What piqued my curiosity about this closet was that there was a bit of a draft coming from within it.

I brushed a few boxes of cleaning materials to the side and revealed a small stairwell that led down. I took a deep breath and started to make my way down the steps. Every step I took brought me closer to the screams.

Finally, I got to the landing, and there was a hallway that continued further into the basement. At the end of the hall was a flickering light. I looked around carefully before hearing another scream and then took off running in that direction.

I turned into the room with the flickering light and found a girl tied to a chair. She was bloodied, bruised, and sobbing.

I quickly approached her. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here to help."

"Please, hurry before it comes back," the girl said desperately.

I hurried to untie her. "Do you know what it was?"

She shook her head frantically. "I don't know, just some freak."

"Okay, let's get you out of here," I said as I untied the last rope.

The girl stood up and followed me down the hall. As we got to the stairs, I turned to make sure she was still behind me. Except when I turned, her face was twisted into a sinister grin, and then she threw a punch in my direction, and everything went black.

As I came to consciousness, my vision was blurry, but I could see a figure standing in front of me. They were speaking to me, but their voice was muffled, so I couldn't make out the words.

Then I was slapped across the face. Instantly, my vision and hearing came back to me.

"Answer me!" the girl yelled as she came into view.

"Wha— What?" I asked groggily.

"How did you find me?" she snapped. "You're a hunter, aren't you?"

"Bodies were piling up. Did you expect no one to come looking?" I asked.

She started pacing. "I was so careful, though."

"You almost got away with it. Honestly, I was convinced nothing was actually happening. Why would you set all this up?" I asked.

"You came back, and I knew there could be others," she said.

"You don't think there will be more coming after you if I don't show up at home?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'll be long gone by then."

"They will find you," I said, "You can trust me on that."

She flung her arms out and groaned in frustration. "Why did you have to come back! I had the perfect setup!"

"People were coming up missing. It was only a matter of time before your 'perfect' setup ended," I said.

"Yeah, people that didn't matter," she said.

I shook my head. "What?"

She sighed. "Look, I used to dig up bodies at the cemetery until I got caught. So, I ran and camped out here to figure something else out. But I was so hungry… until a boy came and spent the night. I figured if he was sleeping here, he was like me, and no one would look for him anyway. So, I ate him. I've been eating fresh meat ever since, and I'm not going back. I only take the ones that don't matter anyway. It's not hurting anything."

"You're killing people, so it matters," I said.

"Well, it didn't matter for months. This place is surrounded by so many made-up stories that the people in charge don't believe any of it anymore. Stories of missing people around this place don't phase most of the people in this town besides giving them an interesting story to tell," she said.

I nodded. "You had it made."

"Yeah, until you showed up," she said as she backhanded me.

I spit blood on the floor next to me, and then we glared at each other.

I don't know how many hours passed before she came back into the room. Honestly, it felt like days. My wrists were covered in dried blood from trying to loosen the ties around them. If I couldn't heal myself, they would be completely raw at this point.

"Okay, I think I worked something out, so we can both be happy," she said as she paced in front of me.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" I asked.

"Since killing you won't solve my problems, then I'm prepared to make a deal," she said confidently.

I raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to let me in on this deal she cooked up.

"So, I let you go, you let me go. You return to your hunter friends and tell them you took care of me. That way, we go our separate ways, no one dies, and I have no one chasing after me." She nodded. "Yeah, that's about it."

I shook my head. "Nah, I don't like that deal."

"I could easily kill you right now. I have the power here," she said.

"You're just gonna go out there and kill more people. I can't just let you walk away," I said.

She laughed. "You aren't exactly in a position to let me do anything."

Then we heard a door creak and heavy footsteps echo throughout the building above us.

"Who's that?" she asked angrily?

I shrugged. "How would I know that?"

She glared at me. "Just stay quiet."

Then she moved behind a pile of boxes and waited there to see if anyone was going to come down the stairs.

A few minutes later, a young man about my age descended the stairs with a machete in hand. We made eye contact, and I subtly directed his attention to the boxes with quick glances.

He nodded and walked over to me. "Hey, you okay?" he asked with a slight southern accent.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm—"

Then the girl jumped out from behind the boxes to attack him while he had his back turned.

"She's a ghoul!" I yelled.

He smiled. "Easy."

He swiftly turned and sliced her head clean off as she finished lunging toward him. Then he turned his attention back to me but hesitated before moving to untie me.

"Hey, I know you," he said, "You're the rude girl."

I furrowed my brow. "Excuse me?"

He nodded as he started untying me. "Yeah, the other day at the gas station, you walked straight into me. Barely acknowledged it." He chuckled. "Small world." He stood up as he finished untying the last rope and held his hand out to me to shake. "I'm Jake. Garth sent me to find you. You're Maddison, right?"

"Uh, yeah." I hesitated to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you…"

"He said you might be in trouble, and I was nearby, so I came to check out the place, and sure enough, he was right." He chuckled. "I thought you were a hunter."

I stood up and walked past him toward the stairs, now a little annoyed by him. "I am."

"You came here alone," Jake said as he followed behind me.

I glanced back at him. "So did you."

"Yeah, to save your ass." He shrugged. "Besides, I always hunt on my own. Kinda like a lone wolf that way."

I rolled my eyes and continued up the stairs. "Wow, you're super cool." I feigned being impressed.

He chuckled. "All right, rude girl. I'm not the one that got kidnapped by a ghoul."

"You can call me Maddison, by the way," I said as we stopped walking in the lobby of the motel.

Jake nodded. "Well, nice to meet you, Sonny."

I gave him a look. "Uh, just Maddison is fine."

He shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. That's not really sticking for me. I like Sonny."

I nodded in annoyance and gave him a fake smile. "Kay, well… thanks for—"

"Coming to your rescue?" he asked and then shrugged. "Yeah, no problem, can't leave a beautiful damsel in distress." He gave me a smile that could melt hearts if he wasn't so annoying.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a damsel in distress, but still, thanks for the help…" I turned to continue out of the building.

"Aw, come on, Sonny, it's just a joke!" Jake called from behind me.

I just continued walking.

"Hey, you gonna help me clean up the body or not?" he asked.

"Or not!" I shouted as I walked out the door.

When I got back to Garth's, Nate would not leave me alone about what happened. He had to have asked me hundreds of times if I was okay or if I needed anything.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," I said as I added ingredients to a bowl to summon Crowley, "I told you that a hundred times now."

"Maybe we should wait to do this," Garth said.

I looked up at them, annoyed. "No, I told you guys I'm fine. We're doing this today. I'm not waiting anymore."

Garth put his hands up in defense. "Okay, sorry. Just want to make sure."

"I'm sure, guys, okay?" I said, "Anyway, the blood's the last thing, so the real question is, are you guys ready?"

Garth and Nate looked at each other and then back at me.

"Yeah, we're ready," Garth said.

"All right." I nodded and quickly slit the palm of my hand with my knife, letting the blood drip into the bowl.

"Whoa." Nate grabbed my hand. "I could've done it."

I wiped the blood off with a cloth and showed him my now healed palm. "Did you forget?"

He nodded as he looked at my palm with a slight shock on his face. "Yeah, actually."

"What do you want?" Crowley snapped as he appeared in front of us in a devil's trap.

I glared at him. "Where's Kevin?"

"You think I know?" He scoffed.

I nodded. "Yeah, you are the one who took him after all."

"Ah." He chuckled. "You're a little too late." He looked at me as I tensed up. "Relax, he's alive." He shrugged. "Well, maybe. All I know is, I wasn't the one who killed him if he turns up dead. I don't know where he is. The slippery fella escaped a few months back and disappeared entirely."

I shrugged. "Okay, then you're useless."

"Good, then set me free," Crowley said as he gestured to the devil's trap.

"You really think that I wouldn't kill you while I've got you here, after everything you've done to my family and friends?" I asked.

"Maddi, we didn't talk about that," Nate said, "I don't think it's a good idea."

I looked at him. "What did you think was gonna happen after we asked him about Kevin?"

"He's the King of Hell. You really think we won't have demons hunting us down after we kill him?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing new."

Nate gave me a look. "Maddison—"

"You should listen to your dim-witted boyfriend," Crowley said, "My men will not stop until you're all dead. Where is your moose, by the way?"

I didn't answer him.

He nodded. "Ah, went your separate ways?" He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. They will find him too." He nodded at the trap on the floor. "Clear the line, and we'll all walk away from this unscathed."

"And if I don't?" I asked.

"My men are already on their way," he said, "In fact, they should be here any—"

Just then, the door burst open, and two demons in the bodies of truckers charged in.

Garth shook his head at the door in disappointment. "Well… need to reinforce that."

The men stomped over to us.

I put my hand on one of them. "Take this," I said as I handed him a demon blade. "And kill your friend."

His eyes fell dull, and he turned to the other demon and stabbed him. The demon's body exploded with light, and then he fell to the ground.

Then the demon turned back to me with anger in his eyes.

I smiled. "Now—"

He swiftly stabbed me in the stomach before I could finish my sentence. I gasped, and pain surged through my body.

"Maddison!" Nate shouted.

I put my hand on the demon's face and winked at him. As he pulled the knife out, he started bleeding from his stomach, and then light surged throughout his body as he screamed and fell to the ground, dead.

I turned to Crowley.

"My turn?" he asked.

I glared at him and then stepped forward and scraped my shoe through the trap. He stepped out.

"Good girl," Crowley said with a smile. "Now. Men for men?" he asked. "I think so."

He turned to Garth and Nate, and they immediately leaned over, grabbing their stomachs in pain as they bled from their mouths.

"No!" I shouted and ran to them. I turned to look at Crowley. "Stop!"

Nothing happened, and he continued to hurt them.

"I said stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I charged up to his face. "Now!"

Anger filled my body, and the room rumbled slightly. For only a split second, Crowley's eyes went blank. Garth and Nate took deep breaths, and they were no longer in pain.

Crowley looked at me in surprise. "Interesting."

"If you ever try to hurt either of them again, I will kill you. You did this to me, and I have no problem making you regret it," I snarled.

He smiled at me. "You've got a little…" He gestured to his nose.

I wiped my hand under my nose and pulled away to see blood.

"We'll see," he said and then vanished.