Downtime – chpt 3.
by: sifi.
A/N – hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Just so y'all know... one of the many things I have to be thankful for is each and every one of you and your incredibly generous support and enthusiasm. So Thank You.
OOooOO
"You two crazy kids have fun now... don't stay out too late," Dean teased watching them walk arm in arm through the lobby and out into the night.
Back in their room he was still smiling, they're a good match. But still feeling oddly empty for a moment when he thought about the warmth of another body beside his, s'okay, just makes things that much sweeter when she gets back. I hope she's recovering alright, I swear she gets stabbed like Sammy gets choked and I get tossed into walls. I'm glad it wasn't a complete impalement this time though.
As he stripped out of his clothes and slid into the swim trunks he'd bought earlier this afternoon the hackles on his neck rose again and he wheeled around, "Y'know I might be able to help you rest if you'd show yourself." He offered and waited for a long moment while chewing his lip thoughtfully, "We're putting down salt tonight so if you got something t'say you'd better do it soon." He warned tossing a towel over his shoulder, smirking, "Ffft... talking to a ghost..." then headed down to the pool.
A flash of pale blonde caught his attention through the leaves of the plant at the corner of the jacuzzi and then a hint of powder blue on talc pale skin.
Let's see if Sammy was right, "Hi," he greeted tossing the towel on a chair, "Julie right?"
"You remembered," she smiled nodding.
"How's the water?" he asked stepping down into the roiling pool.
"Wonderful," she hummed leaning back and sinking up to her neck, her gaze trailing over his chest as he sat directly across from her.
"Wow..." she drawled languidly, "what happened there?" then sat up, covering a coy smile though her eyes never left his, "I'm sorry that was..."
Dean slid down into the water and smiled, "Mmm bear."
"A bear?" she perked up, her foot tapping against his, "sorry," she grinned grasping his foot between hers and rubbing it slowly. "a REAL bear?"
Sam was right, she's crushing. "No prob... and yeah..." he withdrew his foot from hers and angled his legs off to the side.
"Nice tat," she tried again, this time sliding all the way under the water and coming up in the middle, gliding a moment later to his side, "So... where'd you run across a bear?"
Hmm, Dean slid several feet away and came to a rest again, "Indian burial ground."
"Really?" She gasped sliding down the bench to him again, "Stuff like that is just fascinating don't you think?"
He slid away again and made big business of running his left hand through his hair and down his face. "Pays the bills."
She slid to him yet again, this time locking him between herself and the railing.
"Please don't." He asked gently.
Still, she leaned forward, this time her hands fell to his thighs and slid upward as she leaned toward him, giving him an easy view of her nearly non-existent cleavage.
"I could make you feel better."
Memories of similar lines he'd used since Mercy's first tutelage overlapped themselves through his mind, how many times have I just 'made it go away'? How many times have I just taken both our minds off whatever it was that was on them? How did I not get slapped more than I did? He wondered placing his hands on her shoulders, "Look Julie you're a really sweet girl, and if the timing was anything different I'd be the one making the moves..."
"Is it your wife?" she asked perching on his lap and grasping his left hand out of the water, "'cause she'll never know." She half-pouted.
Gotta be some kind of karmic payback... he nodded half frowning, "That's not how it works." He shook his head and stepped from the jacuzzi, drying himself off quickly and after dropping the towel over his shoulder again ducked his head to meet her eyes, "It's not you." He tried to console but there was something blank in her stare, something that felt dark behind her eyes. "Christo." he said instinctively and found himself both oddly relieved and genuinely unnerved by her expressionless countenance when she turned her still blue eyes back to him.
He wanted to apologize but couldn't. Instead his belly flipped over and he took a step backward. He continued to watch as she turned in the water, her head, her expression, her everything completely without emotion. Well Elvis has left the building... his stomach crawled and his short hairs stood on end as he moved toward the elevator and once in it, got off on his floor, then doubled back down the stairs with every instinct screaming that something was about to go horribly wrong.
Teach me to try and get us a little downtime... shit. He thought approaching the jacuzzi again. Peering over the glass enclosure the water seemed to be just settling down and Julie was nowhere to be seen.
OOooOO
"What?" Sam asked as Kitsune stopped in her tracks and scanned the street up and down.
"We're being followed."
"Since the Ice Cream shop," he nodded turning her toward him and running a thumb down her gently sloping cheek, "and earlier today Dean thought something might have latched onto him for a little while." He smiled turning her gently and continuing to walk.
"Poltergeist you think?" She asked.
"He wasn't sure, he really didn't seem too worried about it though."
"That's because his mind is full of fear for you." She explained still scanning the street and sidewalk, trying to keep her tone conversational.
"I know he's worried."
"You are too my lord."
"Please don't call me that."
"Old habits die hard," she blushed, "what do you wish for me to call you then?"
He cocked his head and grinned, this time instead of just thumbing her cheek he levered her lips upward brushing them with his.
"As you wish..." she smiled demurely, "Sam."
"Good," he smiled, "Now that that's settled, how's about you give me a solid slap and head on back around that alley we just passed while I go..." his head whipped to the side and his cheek seemed to burst into flames as she yelled at him in Japanese and stormed back the way they'd come.
Sam shook his head and rubbed his cheek, "Ow," looking as if he was about to give chase, but then appearing to think better of it, waving his hand in frustration behind her while he continued on up the street.
OOooOO
"What the hell?" Dean muttered looking down into the words scrawled into the carpet, 'Get Out!' The stack of gold wrappers that made up the exclamation point at the end assured him the smeared writing was actually chocolate instead of what he'd first thought it might be. Several small flecks of white within the letters, that's gonna be a bitch to get out, caught his attention.
He crouched down and picked up one of the flecks, what the hell?...is this? It is... it's a freakin' roofie... the closer he looked the more of them he saw until he'd picked no less than twenty whole pills and fragments from the carpeting.
"Now that is NOT funny..." he shook his head as the tv came on.
He could almost feel the muscles in his neck creak when he turned his head and found himself watching what appeared to be a security tape of himself changing into his trunks. A second later it was Sam in the shower, "Okay that's wrong..." he muttered averting his eyes until Sam had a towel wrapped around his hips. Next it was another shot of himself, this time taking a leak. "What the FUCK..." he snarled leaping to his feet, examining the walls and taking notice of any place a camera could have been hidden, in particular air vents.
Behind him the tv went crazy, switching channels, turning off and on over and over again, "Hold your horses!" he hollered standing on a chair to get a good look into the vent. Just as he stepped up however, the chair was whipped out from under him and across the room.
"Alright! Alright! I get it!" he snarled picking himself up and returning to the foot of the bed where he leaned forward watching another segment of tape that started with a woman seemingly passed out on the very same bed he'd chosen.
A sliver of yellow light grew into a slice just before a shadow moved through it and apparently closed the door. He realized a moment later that the newcomer was dressed in black, including a billed hat and that as they moved through the room they kept their face turned in the opposite direction from wall that separated the bedroom from the bathroom, exactly where he'd been looking just a moment ago.
He watched that black clad figure move directly to the bed and stand at the side for long moments just looking down at the woman. He noticed on the nightstand was a pyramid of those same specialty candies, only it appeared that a couple of them were gone.
"Son of a bitch..." he snarled quietly unable to tear his eyes away from the screen.
The newcomer reached out, snatching the woman's ankles in his hands. A moment later she was on her back, still largely unconscious though her head moved back and forth in protest as her clothing was removed.
"Aw come ON I don't wanna see this!" Dean protested but remained on the edge of the bed, sole witness to the last breaths of an innocent life stolen.
When she was naked the newcomer bound the woman's hands and feet with a pair of panty hose from her own luggage, then stuffed a pair of underwear into her mouth, gagging her with yet another pair of hose.
He watched as the woman on the bed began to come around and as realization dawned on features that twisted with fear and certain knowledge.
"Okay, okay I get it... just point me to the remains and you'll be free okay..." he got up and checked the built in video tape and dvd slots on the console, then checked around back for any secondary wiring that could indicate a separate signal source.
"One way to check if this is legit or some sick bastard's idea of a joke..." he muttered unplugging the set and unscrewing the coaxial cable from its jack in the back.
"Son of a bitch..." he groaned taking a glance at the screen which now showed the newcomer in the act of raping the woman while a gleaming blade lay against her throat. "Come ON! Shut OFF...Please!" He looked around the room hoping to see something hoping to see anything that could replace the grotesquery that was playing out. "I don't want to see this!" he turned away picking up the chair again and bringing it back to the air duct that seemed to be where the camera was hidden.
Pressure clasped from all around him, literally throwing him across the room into the desk until he slid to the floor. Can't...breathe... the crushing force pressed hard against him like a truck backing him against the wall as he was dragged across the floor and pinned to the foot of the bed, his head held firm at the angle necessary for him to watch whatever the ghost needed him to see.
"Don't make me watch this please!" I don't want to see this... I can't watch another person go through that... please! He barked weakly as the pressure eased off and air flowed easily into his lungs. "Alright alright..." he reached for the computer bag, "C'mon Sammy have something in here..." he pulled a CD from the bag and ripped it open before lurching to the TV set again. He plugged it back in but didn't re-connect the coaxial. "You really want something done about this... you better burn this baby..." he slid the disc into the player. No sooner than the drawer slid shut the letters 'REC' appeared on the screen and Dean was slightly more gently forced back to the foot of the bed.
Whoever the presence had been would not let him turn away or close his eyes or move, and in just another couple moments, breathing hard and fighting the mist that was building over his eyes he understood why.
When the newcomer was finished raping the woman he stayed, lounging and tormenting her, never once even glancing toward the camera as that blade was used to slice and shave off bits of skin while she flailed and bucked soundlessly, trying to escape the torment until blood loss alone finally set her free.
As the body was cut into manageable pieces and taken somewhere off screen the scene continued to play out. When he thought there could be nothing more the psychopath returned once more and set to work stripping the bed.
"What the hell?" He asked leaning forward, peering intensely into the screen as the man removed what looked like a plastic sheet, bundling it carefully up and taking it into the bathroom where he washed the blood meticulously from it, dried it and replaced it on the bed before putting on a new set of sheets and spread. As a final insult, the woman's belongings were packed and the shadow could be seen leaving the room with two suitcases in hand.
"Oh God..." he breathed when the images now burned into his brain finally faded to black on the tv screen. "Son of a bitch."
He turned realizing the pressure was gone and threw back the bedspread then lifted up the flat and fitted sheets. Chills went through him as he felt the elastic of a plastic liner beneath it all.
Again, the tv screen illuminated only this time a husband and wife entered the room laughing and appearing to have a great time, until they went for the pyramid of candies on the night table between the beds.
"Oh God...no..." he shook his head compelled to watch this travesty unfold as well.
"What the hell did he do with the bodies?" he muttered almost an hour later as a fourth murder was committed, each of them sexually assaulted whether male or female. The next one however was different.
The floor in the room in the fifth scene was scrawled exactly as his was, the words "Get Out!" pressed into the carpeting, except this time it was directly on the edge of the rise the beds were on rather than right at the front door like it was for him.
It was another couple that entered. The woman pointed to the warning and they appeared to start arguing, the woman packed her bag, the man snatched it back, she grabbed it again, the tension between the couple was palpable despite being soundless, but apparently after a couple more back and forth's the woman left and he let her.
He flopped onto the bed with the remote in hand and after a moment of channel surfing and obvious confusion he leaned forward, then moved to the tv going through almost exactly the same motions Dean had nearly two hours ago now.
"C'mon... get the hell out of there..." Dean urged as the man stripped down to his shorts and slid into the bed, "Don't be stupid!"
He tossed and turned for a while until the door opened and that sliver of light became another pie wedge.
Seconds later he leaped out of bed as the psycho stalked toward him, the woman barely conscious in his grip as he used her as a control over the man. The woman slipped from the psycho's grip and the man took his opportunity to pounce.
Dean was able to watch a fair amount of the fight before the camera shook and seemed to tilt, taking the bedroom out of the equation and angling out toward the anteroom of the suite.
"Well what the hell good is that... come on..." he groaned needing to know what was happening, what had happened.
Before long he had his answer as the psycho in black carried severed pieces out into the anteroom but didn't turn to the right where the door out into the hall was, but instead turned left and disappeared behind a separation.
"Son of a bitch!" He leaped to his feet charging out into the anteroom.
OOooOO
"Yeah Chuck what's up?" Julie huffed striding into the main monitoring station for hotel security.
The late thirty-something man tapped a monitor numbered 12. "I saw you got shot down in the jacuzzi." he smirked then tapped the monitor again, "Hail Mary Hallway's out again..."
"We were just talking Chuck."
"Looked a little more like a grayhound going for that hare if you ask me..."
"Well I didn't, besides, the guy's got a wife." She turned the monitor off and on a couple times then checked the wiring behind it.
"Maybe you wouldn't get shot down if you actually went for guys that aren't attached." He huffed looking up at her, "You know there are some non-hollywood types that would love to get their hooks into a girl like you."
With her hands on her hips she huffed and rolled those pale blue dove's eyes, "Yeah and you're just the type to show me the error of my ways I suppose. I told you I don't date guys I work with."
"Fill out the maintenance requisition and put in the call to Joey." She shook her head exiting the security room.
"'I don't date guys I work with...'" he mocked, "No just the ones you work FOR... you know what THAT says don't cha?" he muttered.
OOooOO
Moments later on a flat screen monitor the access security menu appeared with 'HMH' highlighted in red. It was accessed but the words 'Off Line' flashed on the bottom of the screen. The cursor moved back to 'HMH' and a right click window was opened. The cursor highlighted 'HMS – Bed' and clicked. On the screen Dean lay on his bed sprawled out on his tummy apparently channel surfing. On the night table between the beds the candy pyramid was missing several chocolates. The right-click window opened again and this time 'HMS – Bath' was highlighted and clicked. The bathroom appeared empty.
The feed switched back to the bedroom for several long moments before the security menu was exited and the desktop returned to normal.
OOooOO
tbc.
Please R&R.
Thanks.
sifi