Chapter 1: "Truth In An Old Man's Tales"
One Month Later...
"Well, this is a step up," Dean noted as he and Sam got out of the Impala.
Sam studied the hotel before them. "I sure hope so. A hotel simply called 'Desert Highway Hotel' isn't usually promising though."
"Either way, tomorrow we're heading out," Dean said as they walked over to the back of the car. "Have to make it to San Diego before the full moon."
Sam nodded in agreement and grabbed his bag when Dean opened the trunk.
Once they were inside, they headed directly to the front desk.
"Hello," Gwen greeted them.
Dean smiled. "Hi, we'd like a room for the night."
Gwen did a search of the wall of keys. "Room 206 is available. It has two queens."
"Perfect," Dean said, passing her a credit card.
She scanned it through the computer and gave it back to him with the room key. "Enjoy your stay Mr. Smith."
"Will do," Dean replied, flashing teeth.
Gwen nodded, tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear, then got to work on the computer.
Sam grinned as he and Dean walked away and climbed the stairs. "Charms not working?"
"Shut up."
"So the vics all were cousins to each other?" Dean quizzed.
"Brent and Brice were, and Julie was their second cousin," Sam confirmed.
"I wonder what they did to piss of a werewolf," Dean mused, studying the papers they had taped to the hotel wall.
Sam shrugged. "It's not anything on file. They're clean. Brent had a speeding ticket a year ago, but that is all that I could find."
"Doesn't mean nothing happened," Dean said.
Sam agreed. They both knew how often police missed things.
"I'm going to go check if they have coffee down...Sam do you here that?" Dean inquired. "I think the EMF is going off."
Sam dug into the duffel bag containing their weapons and sure enough, when he pulled the EMF reader out, it was lit up like a Christmas tree, making that all too familiar whining sound.
"What the...," Sam began, but was cut off by the flickering lights in their room followed by a scream.
He and Dean bolted out of their room, into the hallway, as a door slammed shut. Taking a glance around they spotted a woman in her mid-twenties, sliding down against the wall opposite of her room. She was pale and it was obvious something had happened.
Sam approached her, Dean close behind.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked the woman.
She shook her head.
"What happened?" Dean prompted her. "Did you see something?"
A man was strolling down the hall towards them. His nameplate labeled him as Joseph, the manager and owner of the hotel.
"What the hell is going on here?" he inquired, sounding more annoyed than worried.
"I saw something," the woman murmured, shaking.
"Can you be more specific?" Joseph huffed.
The woman bit her lip. "You won't believe me."
"We're listening," Dean promised her.
"I was taking a shower and noticed that the water was turning pink," the woman said. "It was the strangest thing. My hair went up on its ends. I quickly got out and dressed. As I was dressing..."
"What?" Sam questioned.
The woman looked up. "I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I spun round and it was there. A hazy looking image of a woman. I swear, I'm not crazy! I saw it!" she rushed.
"I do believe you think you saw something, miss." Joseph snorted. "And I'm also pretty sure I saw you at the bar with your boyfriend earlier."
"My name's Tiffany," the woman said. "And I'm not drunk, if that's what you're implying. I only had one beer."
"Whatever," Joseph said. "Just keep it down, okay? Around this time people start going to bed and I don't want to hear any complaints."
He walked away, and Tiffany glanced up at Sam and Dean. "You can go back to your rooms if you want."
"We want to help," Sam told her.
"So you believe me?" Tiffany asked.
"We do," Sam replied. "We can help."
Tiffany stared at him. "How?"
"From what you explained, it sounds like there may be a spirit in your room," Dean said. "And we...know how to deal with them."
"So what?" Tiffany cocked an eyebrow. "You like the Ghostbusters or something?"
"Something like that," Dean answered.
"Can you let us into your room so we can look around?" Sam inquired.
Tiffany nodded slowly, and Sam helped her up onto her feet.
Tiffany approached her door across the hall and unlocked it. She held it open for the Winchesters to pass through, but did not follow them in. Instead she continued to stand in the doorway, preventing the heavy door from closing.
Sam pulled the EMF reader out of his jacket and began scanning the room with it. The whining sound and lights were constant.
"Strange," Dean said.
"It's stronger along the walls," Sam noted.
"Wires?" Dean quizzed.
"Maybe," Sam replied.
"What is that?" Tiffany asked, pointing to the EMF reader.
Sam explained.
"Neat," Tiffany said. "So way is it lighting up like that constantly? Is the ghost here?"
"Currently, everything seems clear," Dean told her. "The wires in the wall may be the source."
"Tiffany," Sam paused, "Do you know if you're sensitive to EMF?"
Tiffany frowned. "Not that I know of. Why?"
"Sometimes high EMF areas cause hallucinations," Dean said.
Tiffany straitened in the doorway. "I did not imagine that."
"We're not saying that," Sam rushed. "We've seen enough ghosts to know more often than not people are right about what they saw."
"But until the ghost shows up again, we can't do much," Dean admitted.
Tiffany looked frightened again. "So you're not going to do anything?"
"Here take this," Sam said, passing her a can of salt. "Put a line along the door and windows; it'll stop ghosts from entering your room."
"And if you see or hear anything, we're just down the hall," Dean told her. "Just yell out for Sam and Dean."
Tiffany nodded. "Okay."
"You going to be alright alone?" Sam asked.
"I'm here with my boyfriend, Carlos," Tiffany answered. "He should be coming back soon, but thanks."
Sam and Dean nodded and were about to leave when Tiffany said, "Maybe the bartender could help."
"What?" Dean was confused.
"The bartender," Tiffany repeated. "Carlos and I thought the old man was crazy, but he mentioned the place was haunted. I was so freaked out, I almost forgot to tell you."
"We'll talk with him in the morning," Dean promised.
"Okay, goodnight." Tiffany waved.
Dean and Sam walked away.
"Few hours of sleep then we should give this place a sweep," Dean said. "Start off with talking to the old man Tiffany mentioned."
Sam nodded in agreement.