Chapter 4
Back with our guys in the hotel.
-oOo-
Dean glowered at the leather bound menu.
"What's a 'compote' Sam? Would I eat one?"
"You're onto the dessert menu already? Ok, well, basically it's stewed fruit."
"Right. So it's a posh name for baby food...You think maybe it comes with a side order of hot momma? 'Cos man..!"
"Better order two if it does."
Dean looked at his younger brother in mock astonishment.
"Wow! An' here I was thinkin' you sang soprano these days!"
"Just 'cos I'm not the man whore you are, it don't mean I've been castrated, slut. What're you havin' for your main?"
"They do a steak, they've called it Aberdeen Angus, guess he's come all the way from Scotland just so's we can eat him."
"Aberdeen Angus is a breed of Scotch cow. They've got big horns an' they're seriously hairy."
"Really? Hairier than you? Not possible...Ok, I'll give old Angus a miss. Call me weird, but I don't fancy eatin' a hairy steak."
Sam stared at his brother's profile while Dean continued to gaze at the menu.
"You're kiddin' man...Right?"
Not taking his eyes off the menu, Dean simply smiled. Their small talk was interrupted by the return of Leon.
"Sirs. Your room is ready. I can escort you up whenever you're ready."
Dean's face lit up when Leon led them to the spiral staircase that was the access to one of the Castle Hotel's pair of towers.
"Dude, you booked us a tower room? Awesome!"
As far as Sam was concerned, Dean's delight meant the extra cost for the tower room was money well spent.
"Yup. Kings of the castle bro'."
Leon said nothing. Virtually everybody who ever booked a tower room came out with that line or something similar. He himself had stayed in the room once when the snow had fallen too thickly for him to get home. He hadn't slept much. He'd found the room spooky, flinching at every little creak and squeak he heard.
"Here we are sirs, and here's your room key. I can take your orders for dinner if you're ready? If not, there's menus in the room and a phone that's connected to reception. You can ring your order down."
Leon's eyes drifted to Sam's duffel.
"Um, there's no, um, requirement to dress for dinner tonight."
Dean looked at the youth seriously.
"Will it be ok if we do though? Only, I need somewhere to tuck my napkin."
"Erm?"
The door closed, leaving the two Hunters to take stock of their surroundings. The room was, as Dean had secretly hoped, round like the tower it occupied. The level they were on held one king sized bed. There was also a dark wood coffee table and two tan leather armchairs, carefully positioned to take in the view out of the room's single window, classically arched in shape. The TV was unobtrusively mounted on the wall and hidden behind a short tapestry curtain when not in use. On top of a dark oak chest of 'two over three' drawers sat a wooden butlers tray. The tray was set with cups, saucers, sachets of tea, coffee, sugar and sugar substitute, as well as four bottles of spring water, four drinking glasses and a silver plated jug filled with fresh milk. There was even a porcelain dish brimming with dainty individually wrapped cookies. The wooden plank flooring was topped off by a large circular oriental style rug in dark, rich tones; it's deep pile was soft and luxurious underfoot. The room also had a balconied mezzanine level accessed by a wooden spiral staircase that rose from the centre of the walk in level. On the mezzanine sat a queen size four poster bed, complete with red velvet drapes, green velvet bed throw and a veritable herd of silk covered cushions in various hues 'artfully' scattered over the bed. Dean didn't waste a moment.
"Bags downstairs. I'm gonna try my bed out."
Sam didn't bother answering. Gazing at the whole bed concoction, he couldn't decide whether it actually looked kinda, what's that word? Oh yeah...Snuggly. Or was it the sight of what had so recently become 'his' bed that was causing his sudden bout of nausea? Looking around Sam saw the mezzanine had one straight wall with a door in it. Opening the door a light automatically came on and he smiled to see a shower room and toilet. At least he was likely to win the race for a shower, and he didn't have to negotiate the spiral stairs if he needed the toilet during the night. His area also had one armchair, again placed by an arched window looking out over the hotel's gardens and to the forest beyond, a wardrobe he had no use for and a small music system with headphones. Maybe he'd not done so badly after all?
"Hey Princess? When you're done searchin' for peas under your mattress, I made coffee...You found a toilet yet?"
Sam smiled.
"Nope. Maybe it's at the bottom of the tower stairs?"
He listened to his brother muttering things about 'dumbass idea' and 'use the damn window' until there was the sound of a door closing, instantly creating a rare silence. Wandering back down to the room's lower level, Sam grabbed his coffee and sat down with the hotel menu while he waited for Dean's unlikely to be silent return.
In contrast to Dean's concerns about 'stuck up starters', 'miserly mains' and 'pretentious puddings', the Hotel's restaurant offered far more than three peas and a half ounce of meat. Full and content, the brothers drifted into the bar area, laid claim to a table tucked into a corner and settled in for a relaxed evening of, as Sam happily highlighted, 'being like normal people'.
The bar staff left for the night at 11pm and the hotel manager stepped in as bartender. He nodded his head towards Sam and Deans almost empty glasses as he passed their table.
"Same again gentlemen?"
Sam gazed into his glass, then shrugged his shoulders.
"Why not? But then I'm off to get acquainted with my bed. Dean?"
"Sure. There's always room for a nightcap, or three. What time do you close the bar?"
The manager smiled.
"When the last resident to finish their drink decides to retire to their room."
Dean hiked both eyebrows.
"You mean I could sit here drinkin' all night without getting' thrown out?"
"That's right sir."
"Awesome! But what about you? When does your shift end?"
The manager gave another small smile.
"When the last resident to finish their drink decides to retire to their room."
"Oh. Not so awesome for you then."
"Quite, sir."
Setting his empty glass down, Sam's mouth opened wide in an unrestrained yawn and cringing, Dean leaned his upper body away from his brother.
"Damn! Came close to bein' swallowed by a black hole right then!"
"Never gonna happen Dean, there's no black whole in any universe that's big enough to swallow your head. You comin' or stayin'?"
Looking around, Dean realised that the scattering of other residents who were in the bar area had already disappeared and he grinned, liking the idea of being the only person left.
"I'm gonna stay for one more, you go ahead, just watch out the bed cushions don't try suffocatin' you."
As his brother departed, Dean stood and strolled over to the bar counter where the manager was re-loading one of the optics.
"I'll be right with you sir. What will it be?"
"Straight bourbon when you're ready, an' how about droppin' the 'sir' an' callin' me Dean?...It's a nice place you've got here."
"Thank you. We all do our best to make people's stay a pleasant one. We hope people will want to stay with us again and they won't do that if they have a bad experience. Your bourbon sir...Dean. Sorry, force of habit."
"Forgiven. Sam an' me? Our work means spendin' a lotta time on the road, you know? Most often we book into some local motel overnight, it keeps our expenses down. Place like this? I'd definitely expect room rates above what we're payin', especially with breakfast an' a fancy ass supper thrown in. This place should be turnin' 'em away at these prices, but I don't think you're even close to bein' booked up solid. My guts tellin' me there's somethin' here an' it's nothin' to do with the staff or service. Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong."
The manager delayed answering, instead pouring himself a tonic water as he considered his response. He ended his silence with a sigh.
"You're absolutely right of course. No hotel likes carrying empty rooms, and our booking numbers have been in decline for some time now. They have, in fact, fallen below any sort of comfortable level. The Castle had built up a large returning customer base, company reps, traders and the like. We also hosted a busy calendar of conferences, each lasting two or more days. More often than not the attendees as well as the facilitators and guest speakers required accommodation. That's where we have been hardest hit. I've been forced to let good staff go, both for financial reasons and because lower customer numbers need less staff. I took the decision to reduce our normal room rates in an attempt to attract new customers, such as your good selves...But Dean, I really must apologise for talking about all this to you. I have no right, please forgive me."
"Hey friend, it's me who asked. Any clues why your bookin's started goin' down?"
Dean's interest flared at the manager's next words.
"Do you believe in ghosts Mr Cooper?"
-oOo-
Chick xxxxx
