The brightness of the sun stirred me awake. My entire body felt really warm but in a comfortable sense. I slowly opened my eyes when I noticed there was an arm around me, holding me close.
I turned my neck a bit to see Sam peacefully asleep and I couldn't help but smile. He looked so beautiful and I really didn't want to wake him up. The prison probably wasn't an easy place to sleep for him and Dean so I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible. The position I was in, though...I needed to change.
I carefully unwrapped his arm around me, trying really hard not to wake him. I pushed him a bit on his back and I laid my head on my chest. Thankfully, he stayed asleep the entire time.
I tried to fall back asleep but I couldn't. I was in a little bit of a bliss and I wanted to stay here for as long as I could. I didn't know when the next time Sam and I will be alone like this. Sure I could always ask Dean to allow us some privacy but for the purposes of the cases, it would be better if we were all in one room.
My fingers traced Sam's abs as the room stayed quiet. The only thing I heard was his breathing. Suddenly, his arm shifted and he wrapped it around to my shoulder, stroking my bare skin. I looked up at his face and his eyes began to flutter open. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on mine, giving me a little tired smile.
"Morning," he said in his husky voice, giving me a kiss on the forehead.
"Morning," I said, putting my head back on his chest, "I woke up before you did but I didn't want to wake you. Figured you needed some sleep."
"Yeah you got that right," he said, "Prison beds aren't exactly what we call...comfortable."
I chuckled. "I can only imagine. Well, thankfully you're not in there anymore."
"Hm," Sam responded. He then shifted himself a bit before pulling me into a bit of a hug, both arms wrapping around as he stroked my back. He rested his chin on my forehead, my head now buried in his chest.
"What time is it anyways?" Sam asked.
"Not sure. I think the alarm clock is on my side, though, if you want to check."
"It's 8:30 am," he said.
I was taken a bit aback by this and looked up at him. He looked back in confusion.
"We normally would be out on the road by now," I said, "Wonder if Dean's passed out as well."
"Probably," he said, "Let's give it until 9 and we can go wake him up."
"Do you know what room he's staying in?"
"Yeah, he's about two doors away from us."
"Oh thank God. I...I don't feature him listening in to what we were doing last night."
Sam chuckled. "Well, while you were asleep in the Impala, he thanked me for not making out with you the entire ride."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah...no. Not into making out in front of people. It just...feels weird."
Sam just laughed in response. He then leaned in and kissed me on the lips. My face heated up a bit as I kissed him back. My hand reached his cheek, stroking it as he began to groan a bit. I smiled, wanting to continue but I knew that we couldn't. I broke the kiss and got up from bed.
"Aw you had to stop it," Sam said, giving me a playful pout.
"We need to get dressed," I giggled, "Even though we're waiting a bit for Dean, he could still wake up before we try to do it."
I reached into my bag and pulled out some fresh clothes and undergarments. Sam got up after pouting to get clothing from his bag. We both picked up the stuff from the night before, tossing items that belonged to the other to be put in the bag.
Once we finished that and we were dressed, I climbed back in the bed as did Sam. We returned to our previous position from earlier as I laid my head on his chest again while he stroked my hair.
We then just spent the next few minutes just talking. The conversations ranged from deep to continuing to catch up about our lives and what we've done these past five years apart.
Pretty soon, Sam's phone rang. He reached over his night stand and bought the phone over.
"Dean?" I asked.
"No," he said, "It's Bobby."
Sam hit ANSWER and put the phone on speaker. "Bobby? What's going on?"
"Sam! I've been trying to reach Dean for the past half an hour! Hasn't he had enough Budwiser or whatever crap he's been drinking lately?"
Sam chuckled. "No, Bobby. We actually did an assignment that took us a while. Dean's probably passed out for a bit."
"He's usually awake at this hour or at least starting to," Bobby said.
"That's what I was thinking," I said.
"Wait...was that Sarah?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah um...you're on speaker," Sam said.
"Hey, Bobby," I said.
"If you're on speaker, though, why isn't Dean waking up from this phone call? You sure he's not dead?" Bobby said.
Sam and I both looked at each other. I gave him a sheepish smile while trying hard not to laugh while Sam just blushed a bit, a small smile forming on his face.
"Bobby...Dean's in another room..." Sam said, "It's...um...Sarah and I...it's just the both of us...in one room."
There was a brief pause on the other line, almost as if Bobby was processing what Sam just said. I tried really hard to contain my laughter but it was getting really hard. Thankfully, Bobby broke the silence.
"Wait...you...and Sarah...you mean to tell me that you two..." Bobby said.
I decided to end the torture and be straight up. "Yes, Bobby. Sam and I are together now. We're...boyfriend and girlfriend."
Another brief pause.
"When the hell did this happen?" Bobby asked.
"Erm...the week before me and Dean's week long assignment..." Sam said.
There was another pause (how many pauses did Bobby need) before we finally heard laughter coming from the other side. Sam and I glanced at each other, really confused on what we said that was so funny.
"Well, it's about damn time!" Bobby said
"Wait...what do you mean??" I said.
"Oh come on! I ain't that stupid you two! The way you've been eyeing each other for the entire 6 weeks you were here, the times I caught you two passed out next to each other after long research nights...Dean and I were practically making commentary like we were watching some sort of sports event mixed with a stupid soap opera."
I found my face getting heated with embarrassment and I buried my head into Sam's neck, as if hiding there would make things better.
"I mean...I'm surprised I didn't find any used condoms the entire time," Bobby said laughing.
"Shut it, Bobby," I said, my face feeling hottter.
"Oh I'm just teasing," he said, "In all seriousness, though, while I am happy for you two, just be careful out there. If there's one thing monsters love more than hunters, it's two hunters who are in love."
"We're doing all we can," Sam replied, "Anyways, what's going on that you were trying to reach out to Dean for?"
"Well, grab a pen and paper..." Bobby said, "Because you three are revisiting an old case..."
"Guess Holmes is making a little bit of a comeback, I see?"
Sam, Dean and I were at a nearby diner, grabbing breakfast before we hit the road to our next stop.
Chicago.
"Yes," Sam said as he typed away at his laptop, "But this isn't Holmes we're dealing with here."
"Pissed off victims out for revenge?" Dean said.
"Posssibly, but the victims...take a look," Sam said, turning the laptop around to Dean. Once he did that, Sam put his arm around me as I moved a little close to him. Dean looked over the articles Sam pulled up and started to get wide eyed.
"Holy shit," he said, "These missing men...all with the same creepo mustache, or at least some form of that mustache, all around their early 30s."
Dean spun the laptop around and handed it back to Sam. "How old was Holmes when he set his huge death trap?"
"They don't know for sure," I said, "He was a really good con man, making him a really good liar. The best guess a lot of these websites and historians have is he began his murder spree around 1891, which would've made him between 29 and 30 years old..."
"Which is the age range for these men," Dean said, "But...why now?"
"Well if the websites are right, and the murder spree started around 1891...that means it started 115 years ago," Sam said, "This isn't the first time they had this issue, though. The site where the hotel once was is now a post office."
Dean scoffed. "Jesus...out of everything they could've build on that property...a freakin' post office?" he said, "Would've expected them to build some kind of haunted attraction to really shake things up."
I chuckled. "Well, the post office opened either after World War I or World War II. I don't remember which year it was but it did cause some uproar within Chicago, especially those who do remember that point in time when the hotel was in full operation. Since the post office opened, though, people have reported seeing faces in the windows, weird noises when the post office was closed."
"The disappearances though...didn't happen until 1966, 75 years after the possible first victim," Sam said, "After that, the disappearances began to happen every 5 years on the anniversary."
"Were all the victims looking like some modernized version of this creep?" Dean said.
"You got it," I said.
Sam closed his laptop and began to put it away. Soon, our food came and we immediately began to eat. I was really hungry as were the boys, though they may have been more hungry as they were stuck with prison food for a week. However, I watched Dean make a little eye contact to our waitress, who just smiled and walked off with a little wink at him.
I rolled my eyes while Dean just scoffed. "Anyways, what's the plan?" he asked.
"Well...first I wanna see what we're up against," I said, "You and Sam can go question the employees inside about what's happening. I'll go to the library, see if I can gather some names of his known victims."
"Why not come with us and see if you can talk to them?" Sam asked.
"I don't think it'll be safe for me to do that just yet. The spirits may not be super welcoming, especially with two men there. You both aren't in the age range these missing guys are in...but I guarantee you they will not be happy seeing two men questioning the recent disappearances and I don't want to further anger them by also being there, attempting to communicate with them."
"But wouldn't you be safer doing the questioning, then?" Dean asked.
"Not if it's VERY busy during the day, and I know that will be the case for a bit, so you and Sam should be safe. Spirits usually don't like to show themselves when a lot of living people are out and about. If I can also figure out what these known victims were like before they passed, I can at least know how to talk to them and gain their trust so they won't hurt us when everyone is gone for the day and it'll just be the three of us in the place."
Dean nodded. "Well...once we finish this meal...it's time we go to the World's Fair."
Chicago, Illinois
When we reached the motel, Sam, Dean and I put together our fake IDs and went over the story we planned on telling people.
We are college students from UCLA, studying Criminal Justice. We're doing a project about older true crime crime cases and we chose H.H. Holmes. All three of us are unaware about the recent disappearances, so do not bring it up until someone else does.
Once we cleared that part up, we all got in the Impala. Dean dropped me off at the library while he and Sam went to the post office.
I approached the librarian desk and rang the bell. A little old lady came out, carrying a stack of books in her hand.
"Hello, miss!" she said, "How can I help you?"
"Hi! My name is Claire," I said, "I'm here on a research trip from UCLA with two of my project partners."
"Oh, that's exciting! What are you doing a project on?" she asked.
"We're doing a project on old crimes for one of our criminal justice clazzes, and we wanted to do a project on H.H. Holmes."
"Ooo, America's first serial killer, huh?" she said, "Well we definitely have a lot of resources here and there is a bus tour you can take. However, due to...recent events, I don't think there's going to be much interest."
"What do you mean recent events?" I questioned.
"Well, where once stood the murder castle is now a post office," she said, "However...some young men who work there have been disappearing..."
"Disappearing?" I said.
She nodded her head sadly. "Press is saying that there wasn't anything left behind," she said, "They think the boys went willingly."
Well, that's definitely some new information. They went willingly? Or were these spirits clever enough to cover their tracks?
"That's terrible. Well, I hope that they find them soon."
"I do, too, dear," she said, "But in the meantime, let's help you out with your assignment. Where are your partners, anyways?"
"They went to the post office to take some pictures for our paper. We figured we may be able to bump our grade up if we had on location photos. They'll be here in a few, though."
"Hopefully they won't be in any danger," the librarian said.
I hope so, too, I thought to myself.
A pile of books were stacked next to me as I read through pretty much all of them. The librarian also had some of the original newspaper clippings from when Holmes was caught. It wasn't a whole lot considering how long ago this was but it should give us enough information.
My phone buzzed a bit and I saw that I got a text from Sam.
We're heading to the library right now. Got anything?
Yes, I said, I've got a few names and some testimonies. I'm in study room 6. Meet me there.
It didn't take long for me to hear a knock on the door. I opened it up and let both Dean and Sam inside
"Surprised you managed to get Dean in here," I said to Sam.
Dean rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I may not have been a nerd but I do know how to read," he said.
"You say you're not a nerd, yet as I said before, you quote and reference Star Wars like crazy. Anyways, what have you two found at the location?"
"Well, for starters, the post office workers there told us that there weren't any signs of struggle," Sam said, "Almost like the men who went missing were lured somehow."
"That's what the librarian told me," I said, "She said that's at least what the press said. I think it's either that or this entity is just really good at covering their tracks, but I would not be surprised if this was a case of a spirit taking the form of a beautiful woman and luring them."
"Well, what did you find, sweetheart?" Sam asked.
Dean scoffed a little bit at the pet name but I did my best to ignore it.
"Unfortunately, the only confirmed killings I could find that H.H. Holmes has done were of Ben Pitezel and his three children. Those didn't occur here in Chicago, or at least that's what reports say. However, when Holmes was caught for the murder of Pitezel, detectives began looking into the hotel and other possible murders that they missed."
"What did they find?" Dean asked.
"Well, Holmes would kill his victims and use their skeleton remains to sell to medical schools...So they weren't 100% sure where some of them went to."
"Aw come on, that's digusting," Dean said, gagging a little bit.
"They did manage to find at least 11 remains at the hotel," I further explained, "However, because DNA and autopsy wasn't the best back in the 1890s, they couldn't determine who some of the remains belonged to."
"He never gave the names?" Dean asked.
"Oh, he gave names. The only issue is...some of the names he gave...he never killed them. Authorities found some of those he claimed to kill to be alive and well. They did stay at his hotel and got to meet him, but they were never a target."
I pulled out my note pad and handed it to Sam. "Fortunately, I did find some names thay weren't just Pitezel's. It's not 100% confirmed that these were actually the people he killed, but it's a high possibility."
"Some of these are men..." Sam said as he looked over the list.
"Holmes wasn't picky," I said, "Though he did kill men as well, a majority of his victims were women...and not just women who were going to the World's Fair."
Sam handed the list to Dean who began to scan over it. "You saying some of these women are Jane Doe," Dean said.
"Well...what is the number one group of women that are usually targeted...because killers know that no one would go look for them?"
Both Dean and Sam looked at me with a bit of confusion, not sure on how to answer that. I raised my eyebrows, surprised that it was taking them too long.
"I'll give you a hint: it's a work occupation that is illegal here but legal in some parts in the world."
Finally, the lightbulb turned on.
"Sex workers," they both said at the same time.
We decided to wait until the next day for me to go to the post office to see if I could pick up on anything, so we wounded up going back to the motel. Dean wanted to do some sightseeing (or knowing him, wind up in some bar and try to pick up women) but I pretty much forced him and Sam back here so we could get some rest after our long drive to get here.
Dean immediately passed out on his bed, which did surprise me because I thought he would either have too much energy working on this case or put up some kind of fight with me, stating how he's not tired despite him yawning two to three times in a row. At least he is sleeping for once.
I finished washing up in the bathroom and put on my PJs. I came out to find Sam on our bed reading a book.
Guess someone here won't be getting some sleep, after all.
"Thought you'd be passed out like dimwit over there," I said, gesturing to Dean.
Sam chuckled, not taking his eyes off the book. "Reading helps me fall asleep a bit," he said, "Plus, I picked up the Devil in the White City book and I wanted to see if that had any information we may have missed."
I got into bed, pulling the covers over me and leaned my head against Sam's chest. He wrapped one arm around me, pulling me a little close so I could see what he was reading.
"Anything new?"
"No, nothing we haven't already found among those piles of records and books you found," he said, "Though I wish we found this book when we were working that case in Philadelphia. This would've helped answer a lot of questions at the time."
"Wait, you already finished this?"
"I may have started this in the Impala," he said sheepishly.
"While helping Dean navigate..."
I looked up at Sam, who just shrugged his shoulders, causing me to chuckle. "Well...count me impressed. Pretty good at multitasking I must say."
He gave me a little smile before resuming the book. I tried to read a bit on what he was looking at, but I felt my eyes getting heavy. There wasn't a whole lot about Holmes in the section, though, as most of the particular chapter was about the World's Fair and how Chicago managed to beat the odds and won a bidding to host it despite almost being burnt to the ground from the Chicago fire.
Sam noticed me fighting sleep a bit and I could tell that he was having a similar issue.
"I'm going to wrap this up for now," he said, bookmarking his last placement, "It's clear that we both are loosing a battle with sleep."
"You got that right," I said.
Sam put the book on the nightstand before finally turning out the light. He gave me a little kiss on the head before I turned around as he put his arms around me.
His hand managed to reach mine as our fingers intertwined while he held me close in a spooning position.
"Sarah?" Sam said.
"Hm?"
"Do you think...these people who were taken...are they still alive you think?"
I sighed. "I don't know, Sam. These spirits...from what I read about the victims, they were tortured and were shown no mercy. They probably were giving these missing men the same treatment they got before Holmes killed them."
He nodded. "I know," he said, "I just hope that...if the off chance some of them are still alive..."
Sam trailed off before he could finish, but I knew exactly where he was coming from. I hoped that some of these missing men were alive as well. Even though I sympathized a bit with the women and men who were killed by Holmes as they never got the peace they deserved, this doesn't give them the right to take out innocent lives of those who had nothing to do with what happened 115 years ago.