Part Nine: Two Sides Of The Same Coin
Robin entered the city library, her body and mind exhausted from the night before. Fake smiling and forced conversations were a lot harder than they looked. She quickly searched the room for the brothers and spotted them at a table near the window and walked over.
"Afternoon," she said softly, taking a seat opposite Sam.
They both stopped their conversation and stared at the girl.
Still don't trust me, she thought to herself.
"Hey," Sam said, breaking the tension, "how did things go last night?"
"Ok. Bit tired," Robin said, throwing her bag onto the table and missing completely. The contents falling onto the floor.
"Yeah, I can see that," Dean retorted.
Robin threw him a dirty look but didn't have the energy to think of a reply.
"Here," Sam said, helping to pick up the girl's things and as he did, he saw her driving license. He scanned the details quickly, Robin Rozier, New York.
"Thanks," Robin muttered quickly, stuffing everything back into her bag.
Sam looked up and smiled, he would have to check her out later, "don't mention it. And thanks for the heads up, last night."
"Well wouldn't want you to get caught, well not before you'd told me what you found anyway," Robin replied, laughing gently, but the brothers didn't seem to share her sense of humour.
"Yeah, so we found this…before you know your boss went crazy on the fat guy," Dean said quickly, sliding the clipping towards Robin.
The girl peered down at the article and started to read:
"Last night the dead body of Jayne Crest-water, 41, was found in her home. It seems that the woman had, had her heart cut out in some sort of black magic ritual, but police have no leads on a suspect. Although it has been speculated that it could have been self-inflicted due to Crest-water's recent mental outbreaks. The middle-aged woman had repeatedly over the last weeks vandalised the property of a number of men claiming them to be unfaithful and sinful. Many people believe her descent into madness was caused years before when she had been jilted at the alter by her fiancée, Martin Bluerette who later run away with the local beauty, Rosaline Klint…"
"She cut out her own heart?" Robin said softly, imagining the pain she must have gone through to commit such a crime against herself.
"It would seem so," Dean replied.
Robin stared down at the photograph of the desperate woman called Jayne; she was quite a plain looking woman with non-descript brown hair and round face. She looked light years different from the stunning Madam Belle. But still there was something in her eyes which Robin recognised, a grit determination that had probably enabled Jayne to start this dangerous path and propel her to the place she was now.
"And I found this later newspaper report about her. Apparently, her body and heart later disappeared from the morgue," Sam carried on.
"Right, so Belle is dead but alive? A kind of zombie?"
"Well yes, sort of but she's actually more than that…"
"She's a succubus," Dean interjected.
"Right…"
"That's a demon that feeds off sexual energy," Dean continued.
"Yeah, I know what a succubus is. Thanks," Robin snapped, trying to take in all the information.
"You know I think I liked you better when you on that potion. I mean, we are helping you out here," Dean muttered, leaning back on his chair.
Robin gazed at the two men and knew he was right, she could at least be nice, they were on the same side.
"Sorry. Just haven't had a lot of social contact recently," Robin said softly, smiling nervously.
And at that moment, Sam and Dean both saw something familiar in the girl, the feeling of being alone.
"So what's the plan of attack then? How do you kill a succubus?" the girl asked, taking a deep breath to try and regain her focus.
Could she really do this?
"Well…there's problem because since she doesn't have a heart, normal weapons aren't going to work on her," Sam said.
"What can we do then?"
"I say, cut the bitch's head off," Dean said loudly, getting a number of strange looks from passer-bys.
"What? Just charge into her office and chop her head off?" Robin said sharply, shaking her head.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Because I think Belle would kick you ass before you got even close," Robin replied.
"There are three of us," Dean said, pointing at each of them in turn.
"Yes, well done, you can count…"
"Come on, let's not do this," Sam said quickly, cutting in.
It seemed like that fight to the death he had thought about, was about to become reality.
"Ok…but what about Sarah? If Belle doesn't have a head, we won't know where she is," Robin said, trying to steady her voice.
There was just something in Dean's voice which annoyed her and she couldn't figure it out what.
"Well we do know where she is," Dean said, giving Robin a look of superiority.
"You do? Why the hell didn't you tell me? Where is she?" the girl shouted, causing their neighbours to give them a multitude of glares.
"She's down in the basement…" Sam replied in a hushed voice, mouthing 'sorrys' to everyone else around.
"Let's get her then," Robin said quickly, getting up.
"We can't…" Sam said, pulling the girl back down, "she's hidden."
"Wait, you say you'd found Sarah and now you're saying, she's hidden. That makes no sense."
"Belle has her under this spell, she's there but not there…"
"Ok. I have no idea what you mean but basically, you're saying we need Belle to get Sarah?"
"Yeah."
"So cutting off her head would be a bad idea?" Robin said, throwing Dean a smirk.
"Hey, I don't see you coming up with anything better," Dean snapped back.
"Well actually, I overhead Belle telling the veterans about a private leaving party she would be throwing for them tomorrow, so I think…"
"Veterans?"
"Girls that have worked there for 3 years."
"Right, well one guess as to where that party is going to be then…" Dean said, a smile on his lips and a plan in his head.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Robin said as sweetly as she could muster.
The chubby guy in front of her laughed nervously before taking a huge gulp of his drink.
Thank god, this was her last night working here; she didn't think she could take much more. But after tomorrow it would be all over and she could get on with more important things like…
"Robin?"
The girl turned and saw the thing she was meant to be killing in front of her.
"Hi Belle."
"Do you mind if I just borrow Robin for a second?" Madam said politely to Chubby.
He nodded and moved his attentions to the next door redhead.
"Come on, Robin, there are some things I want to discuss with you…in my office," Belle said quietly, linking her arm in the girl's.
Robin smiled but felt her heart pound against her chest. Had Belle figured out the plan? Was she going to end up like Fatty, ripped limb from limb?
As they entered the office, Robin felt a lump develop in her throat and she prepared herself for whatever was about to occur.
"So over the past few days, I've been watching you and I've noticed something. Do you know what I noticed?" Belle said nicely, sitting on the edge of her desk.
Oh my god, she knows, Robin screamed in her head.
"I've noticed that you seem to be looking for something…hunting for something," and Belle paused, to see Robin's reaction.
But the girl didn't say anything; she barely even seemed to have registered her words.
Robin could feel the sweat on her palms and the blood draining from her face; this was it she was going to die.
"And I think you've found it, haven't you? Here in 'The Blue Orchid,'" Belle carried on, smiling so broadly you could see all her white, sharp teeth.
But Robin was frozen, there was no escape. There was nothing she could do.
"Doughnut?" Dean asked as he walked into the motel room.
"Nah, I'm good," Sam replied, seeing the frosting ringing his brother's mouth.
"Suit yourself," Dean said, throwing the nearly empty packet onto the table before walking over to his brother who was tapping away on his laptop.
"So find anything on her?"
"Yeah, I find one listing for a Robin Rozier in New York, both parents deceased and currently living with her grandma in Brooklyn."
"Right, so what's a girl from New York doing in San Francisco?"
"That would be the million dollar question," Sam replied, still flicking through the girl's files.
"Wait, what was that…?" Dean said suddenly, gazing at the police statement on the screen.
"It's a missing person's report for a Lucas O'Neill, 24 years old, disappeared a couple of months ago. You think she's looking for him?"
"Don't know but maybe this is the information she was looking for from Sarah Todd," Dean answered, wondering what other secrets Robin could be hiding.
"Look, I'll just get right down to it, shall I?" Belle said loudly, hopping off the desk and walking to where Robin was standing.
I'm dead, I'm dead, the words kept spinning around the girl's head.
"I want you to come with me."
"What?" Robin said, her heart stopping from sheer relief.
"Well I think you've found something here and I want you to stay, to carry on being a hostess for me," Belle said, slightly puzzled by the girl's reaction. What had she been expecting?
"Oh yeah…yes. Umm…can I think about it?" Robin replied, feeling the colour coming back to her cheeks.
"Do you really to think about it? What else is there for you, Robin?"
"Sorry?"
"I can see it in your eyes. You've lost something, something that was important to you," Belle said softly, her face inches from Robin's.
"No, you've got me wrong. No…"
But Robin's heart started to sink again but this time it wasn't fear, it was just heart break.
"My dear, I've lived a long life and I can tell when people are in pain, and you're hurting. And I've learnt that the only way you can get over it is to move on, rise above it and do something else with your life. So why don't you just let it go and start a new life here, with me?"
Robin stared into the clear eyes of Belle and saw the plain Jayne in her, the one that had been through hell and back, the one that was still crying over someone she loved with all her heart.
"I'm sorry, I can't…"
"Robin…"
"No, sorry. I can't…I can't let him go yet," Robin whispered, Lucas' face flashing in her mind.
