Chapter Three:
"Right if we're not back in ten minutes call Bobby and he'll come and help." Maggie instructed Matt, handing him her phone,
"Okay." He agreed with a weak smile, "Be careful." Matt took her face gently into his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs,
"Same goes for you, if anything goes wrong get yourself out of here." Maggie replied, placing her hands on his, before pulling away and turning away towards the entrance of the hotel, following her brothers closely through the revolving doors of the hotel.
Dean kicked open the door of the hotel room, his gun drawn, But he lowered it as soon a she saw Lola in the middle of the room, bound to a chair with a tea towel tied around her mouth. He dove forward, fumbling at the rope to untie her feet. Lola began to force a muffled scream, alerting Dean to turn around. As he did so, he was faced with a shocking image; Sam was standing in front of Maggie, his gun raised to her head,
"SAM, what the hell? ...put the gun down!" He ordered, but both Maggie and Sam remained frozen in their positions,
"SAM!" Dean repeated,
"I can't." Sam spoke with a frown,
"Sorry Dean…" From what seemed like nowhere, the dark haired demon, skulked into the room, "…Sammy's taking orders from me now."
"That's a good one…" Dean scoffed, staring the demon dead in the eyes as he rose to his feet, "…you really think he's going to shoot his own sister, just because you tell him to."
The demon smirked and narrowed his eyes at Dean; Suddenly Sam lifted the gun into the air and fired a shot into the ceiling, causing Maggie to flinch,
"You were saying." The demon smiled back at Dean with satisfaction,
Lola looked on in shock, angered by what the demon was putting them through and frustrated by her inability to do anything to help,
"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time…" The menacing man began, "Are you going to help me or not?"
Dean simply looked back, his face awash with fury, the demon tilted his head and once again Sam lifted his gun, only this time he fired at Lola, She felt the bullet wiz past her ear as she ducked out of the way,
Dean whipped his head round to the far wall, which now had a bullet sized hole in it, fracturing the plaster, "Fine I'll do it." He said through gritted teeth,
"Awesome." The demon beamed with a sly grin and with a wave of his hand, his hold on Sam and Maggie was released.
"But I'm doing it on my terms; I chose the location for the summoning." Dean stated sternly,
"Fine by me." The demon replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "You've got 24 hours." He added before turning to walk towards Maggie, he pulled her into an embrace, pressing his lips against hers. Maggie cringed as she forced the man back, disgusted by his actions,
"If you ever get tired of hanging around with this pathetic lot, I'm just a cross road away." He smiled before walking out the door,
"Please you have an idea to wipe the smile off that slimy bastard." Maggie said to Dean sternly,
""What do you think." He replied, pulling off the ropes from around Lola's body,
"Well you haven't exactly got a great track record when it comes to that guy." Lola spoke, finally yanking the tea towel away from her mouth, jumping up from the chair, smoothing out her black tank top and jeans,
"Oh it's nice to know you all have faith in me." Dean remarked, throwing the ropes to the floor in frustration, slightly offended by the comments being made,
"It's not that we don't trust you Dean." Sam interjected, trying to lift the tension, "It's just that he's going to stop at nothing to get what he wants."
"And that's what I'm going to give him." Dean replied firmly, the others looked back, shocked by what he was proposing,
"I'll summon the demon, but then send his ass right back down to hell." He added, holding his hands out dramatically, "And by the time I'm finished with him, he'll be begging me to end it."
"And what makes you think he's going to fall for that?" Lola argued,
"Yeah I do." Dean answered confidently,
Lola scoffed as she brushed past him, picking her bag up from the corner of the room, "And where is this fool proof plan going to take place?" She asked sceptically, pausing in the doorway,
"Bobby's."
"We'd better get going then."
"So you do think it will work?" he called after Lola as she turned to leave,
"I'm going to help you Dean…" She replied, looking back at him tilting her head to the side, "…that doesn't mean I agree with what you're doing." Giving Dean a look of despair, Lola turned on her heals and made her way downstairs,
Sam and Maggie exchanged awkward looks before following an irritated Dean out of the hotel.
When the trio stepped out onto the street, Lola was stood by the Impala, leaning back on the driver's door, talking to Matt through the window,
"So the demon got to you too huh?" Lola asked him, her arms folded as she did so,
"Yeah…he just turned up at my apartment." He replied, giving Maggie a smile as she walked up to the car,
"Everything okay?" He asked, leaning out of his window,
"Yeah." She replied, smiling weakly,
"Excuse me." Dean mumbled as he reached behind her for the handle, Staring him in the eyes, Lola pulled herself off the car, her gaze fixed on Dean as she slumped down in the back seat,
With a frown, Dean threw open his door and fell into the seat, before slamming the door shut,
Sam looked at Maggie, exhaling loudly with his eyebrows raised, as he walked round from the boot of the car, a black t-shirt in his hand, "Here you go Matt." He handed the shirt to him through the window, before sitting himself in the front next to Dean.
"Gum anyone?" Maggie offered as she shut her won door, trying to lift the tension, but she soon became fully aware that her efforts were in vain as Dean revved the engine and drove off down the road at full speed.
"So you just woke up in the hotel?" Maggie asked, rolling down the window on her side,
"Yeah, I was in my brother's bathroom and this strong smell of sulphur came out of nowhere…" Lola began to explain, "…and then everything went black."
Sam turned round in his seat, listening to Lola's story,
"Next thing I know I'm tied to a chair with that asshole Ian standing over me."
"Ian?" Sam asked,
"Yeah, he was kind enough to give me a full introduction." Lola replied sarcastically,
"Ooh lucky you." Maggie sniggered, but the laughs didn't last for long as she suddenly felt her chest tighten,
"Hey are you okay?" Sam asked, noticing his sister, frowning in pain,
"Yeah…it's just uh…my chest hurts." She replied, "So…how are we going to summon this demon if we're at Bobby's?" Maggie added, quickly changing the subject, "I thought you have to be at a cross road to do that."
"Not necessarily." Dean replied, quickly looking over his shoulder then back at the road,
"There's a summoning ritual that can be done anywhere, I just need to pick up some herbs and stuff first."
"Right." Maggie replied, clearing her throat as she did so,
"So I'm going to drop you guys off at Bobby's first so you can get a second devils trap set up."
Sam nodded in agreement as he shifted round in his seat, after looking back at Maggie who was still rubbing at her chest, he sat back with a concerned frown, Something wasn't right.
"Can I just ask?..." Matt began, "…why is this demon after us anyway?"
"He's not after us, he's after Dean." Lola answered gruffly,
"Alright that's it." Dean growled, swerving the car off to the side of the road, slamming on the breaks so much so that his passengers where hurled forward,
"What is you're problem?" He asked in a sharp tone, turning in his seat to face Lola,
"I'm sorry?" She replied with a frown,
"You've been giving me the cold shoulder ever since we got to the hotel." He said, his voice slightly raised, I'm just a little curious as to what I've done to piss you off?"
"Oh I don't know Dean maybe it's the fact that you basically dumped me and left me behind at my brother's." Lola answered an air of anger in her voice,
The other passengers sat in silence, not knowing where to look and feeling increasingly uncomfortable,
"Then you go and make another stupid deal to save me and you expect me to be all over you." The hot headed hunter continued,
"Well maybe I shouldn't have bothered then!" Dean shouted,
"No what you shouldn't have done was treat me like a child who didn't know how to look after herself!" She napped back,
"I was just trying to protect you."
This statement took Lola aback, so used to Dean keeping his feelings to himself,
"Look …I'm a hunter, I'm going to run into trouble whether I'm with you or not." She said, her voice low and calm, smiling at Dean who returned her gaze with a weak smile but lined with a frown of defeat.
All the time the two hunters were arguing, no one notice Maggie had been coughing repetitively,
But they soon took notice when the subtle clearing of her throat had suddenly grown into a violent cough,
"Maggie?!" Sam exclaimed, startled by the wheezing sound coming from his sister,
"I…can't…." Maggie tried to speak but her chest only grew tighter,
"She can't breath!" Lola exclaimed as she kicked her door open and helped Maggie out of car,
Matt jumped out of his seat and rushed to her side, "Maggie look at me." He said calmly, "You're panicking, you need to calm down."
"What's happening to her?" Dean asked, looking at his sister's pale face, her lips turning blue,
Finally with one last painful cough, Maggie her a hand to her mouth, as a she moved it away she noticed a clear substance covering her palm, "What the hell?" She croaked as she caught her breath,
"What is that?" Sam asked with a frown, watching Maggie with concern as she held her hand under her nose,
"It's sulphur."
"What?" Dean replied with a look of both disgust and worry,
"I'm telling you its sulphur." Maggie repeated holding her hand up to his face,
"Okay I believe you." He replied, pushing her arm away. Sam raised his eyes to the sky before scooping up a sample of the substance onto a tissue that he wrapped around his finger to smell it for himself, "She's right."
Just then Dean's phone started to ring; he pulled it out of the pocket of his black cargo jacket before holding it to his ear,
"How's my girl Maggie doing?" Ian spoke over the line,
"What did you do?" Dean asked, his tone low and stern, the others looked on nervously,
"Oh she's just got a little chest infection; it'll clear right up. That is as long as you trap that demon within the next four hours."
"You son of a bitch…" Dean fumed, "…you said I had twenty four hours."
"I changed my mind. You've got four hours before the sulphur completely infects her lungs and her organs start to shut down."
"I told you I would help you, why are you doing this?"
"Think of it as insurance, to make sure that you don't try and weasel your way out of it."
Dean shook his head as his frown deepened, breathing heavily in anger,
"Four hours Dean…or she's dead."