Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original character.
Part 23:
Kae gasped for breath and pushed long, sopping wet blonde, red strands of hair behind her ears as she, Dean and Sam ran through the front doors of the hotel. The 'four star' rating on the hotel hadn't been kidding. The Elysian Fields lobby was pretty impressive.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to see a hotel in my life." Kae squeezed the excess water from her hair, ignoring the look of disgust the concierge, a guy whose name was Chad, according to his name badge, gave her.
"Busy night," Dean agreed as they approached the desk.
Chad plastered a smile on his face and slid a paper toward Dean.
"Any port in a storm, I guess." he chuckled. "If you could sign this please."
Dean nodded and picked up the pen lying next to the paper. "Yeah."
Chad frowned. "Sir, I think...shaving nick there." he gestured to the side of Dean's neck. When Kae turned to look, she saw a small cut in the skin. It had been hours since Dean had last shaved - any cut would have clotted by now. Right?
She shook off the bad feeling growing in the pit of her stomach and watched as Chad handed them their room keys. All she wanted was food and bed.
"Thanks," she said gratefully. "Um...do you have a coffee shop?" The coffee wasn't for her of course - she knew Sam and Dean were likely to stay up long into the night researching...or at least, Sam was.
Chad gestured to a room adjacent to the lobby. "Buffet. All you can eat. Best pie in the tri-state area."
Dean grinned at that. "You don't say?"
Kae surveyed the two plates of pie Dean had grabbed from the desert table with disgust. "You've got to be kidding me."
He grinned. "Don't go knockin' my pie."
She snorted. "I wouldn't dream of it." She bumped his shoulder playfully with her own before taking her plate back to the table Sam was seated at.
"We should hit the road," he said without looking up when they sat down.
Kae looked at him incredulously. "In this storm? I-it's -"
Sam looked up and stared at her exasperatedly. "It's biblical. Exactly. It's friggin' Noah's ark out there, and we're eating pie."
Kae smiled. "I'm not." she gestured to the salad on her plate. "He is." she pointed at Dean.
"That's not my point - It feels like -"
"Bobby's got his feelers out, okay." Dean cut across him. "Nobody's giving up. Especially me. We're gonna find a way to beat the devil, okay? Soon. I can feel it. And we'll find Adam."
Sam was silent. Then he nodded.
"Yeah, okay."
"I'm so fucking tired."
"Join the club," Sam yawned and adjusted his hold on his bag as they made their way down the hall to their rooms.
There was a couple in front of the door of the room next to Sam's, which Kae figured were either just about to have a one night stand, or could just be some married couple.
A quick glance at the woman's hand fisted in the guy's suit jacket let her see the ring on the woman's finger. Kae's second guess had been right.
Sam cleared his throat, and Kae didn't understand why until he elbowed her in the ribs and nodded at Dean.
Dean was grinning at the couple like an idiot. Kae rolled her eyes and slapped the back of his head playfully.
"What?" he said irritably.
"Are you twelve or something?" she grabbed their room key from him and inserted it in the door lock.
"I'm young at heart." Dean scoffed as she pushed the door open. "Wow look at this." he looked around the room in awe. Kae didn't blame him - she was impressed by the room too - hell forget room it was like a fucking suite.
Her eyes fell on the king sized bed they had.
"Bed." Kae let out a long sigh and let herself flop down onto the mattress. The lavender colored duvet was soft against her skin, and the mattress underneath it pleasantly comfortable. "Dean you're sleeping on the floor. Bed's totally mine."
"You're insane." he gave her a light shove, pushing her to the left side of the queen sized bed and lay down on it himself. "Holy shit, that's amazing."
She propped herself up on one elbow and grinned at him.
"Told you so." something on the large pillows caught her eye. "Hey check this out - chocolates!"
Dean's head jerked up and he started to reach for the candy, but Kae knocked his hand out of the way.
"No way, D. These are mine." she said before stowing them in her pocket. "Probably left some on your pillow too, Sam - you want 'em?"
Sam shook his head and smiled. "Nah. You go ahead and knock yourself out, Kae."
She grinned back at him and sat up.
"With pleasure."
Suddenly there was a loud crash coming from inside Sam's room. Kae looked at him confused as he ran from the room, Dean scrambling off the bed and following him quickly. Reluctantly heaving herself up off of the bed, Kae followed the two.
She found them inside Sam's room, staring at the wall over his bed. The wall looked like it had been smashed through from the other side, knocking a painting that hung over the headboard of the bed onto the bed, shards of glass everywhere.
"What the fuck?!"
Kae sat nervously on one of the plush white couches in the hotel lobby as Sam and Dean approached Chad at the front desk. She glanced around at the people passing through, and could've sworn that a dark haired woman looked at her for way longer than was neccessary.
Creepy.
"They checked out." Dean sat down next to her and sighed. "Chad says they left just before we got down here."
She frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Tell me about it," Sam muttered.
Kae looked from him to Dean. "So what's the plan?"
"We're gonna scope out the joint," he told her before looking at Sam. "You keep an eye on Norman Bates over there." he groaned. "One night off. Is that too much to ask?"
Kae smiled grimly.
"Apparently."
"This is nuts - go get some sleep."
"Yeah right - and end up in a morgue? So not gonna happen." Kae snatched the EMF from Dean, or at least, she tried to; exhaustion made her movements sluggish and uncoordinated.
He rolled his eyes and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.
"You've gotta get some sleep sometime, alright?" She smiled tiredly and kissed his cheek.
"Yeah...when this is over, okay?" As they passed one room with the door open, a large mass of gray caught her eye.
She did a double take; what was an elephant doing in a hotel room? "Dean..."
He frowned and turned to look at the room - only to see a large man with a towel around his waist.
"Hey, this ain't no peep show!" he exclaimed angrily before moving to slam the door in their faces.
Dean turned back to her. "What exactly did you see?"
She looked up at him with wide eyes. "An elephant." There was a sudden slash of pain across the side of her neck and she inhaled sharply, clapping a hand against her skin.
"Kae?" Dean looked at her with concern. Kae lowered her hand and he could see blood on her palm. When he looked at her neck he saw a small cut - almost identical to the one Chad had pointed out on him when they checked in.
"I'm fine." she told him. "Dean what the hell is going on here?"
"I have no idea." was his response. "C'mon let's go find Sam."
They hurried off down the hall.
Sam stared at Kae like she'd grown an extra head. "An elephant?"
"An elephant." she responded. "Like full on Babar."
"So what the hell is...where is everybody?" Dean frowned and looked around the empty lobby. This was just freaking crazy.
Sam headed for the front doors and tried to open them but couldn't.
"Let me guess - locked?" Kae leaned against the empty desk heavily, feeling burnt out. She was too fucking tired and whatever this thing in the hotel wanted - whatever it was going to do, she just didn't have the energy for it. Sam nodded. "Son of a bitch."
"Roaches check in, they don't check out?" Dean said.
Sam was quiet for a moment.
"Think about how we got here."
Kae cocked her head to the side. "My directions? Don't go blaming this on me, blame it on Mapquest."
He shook his head. "That detour on I-90. The hurricane?"
Dean frowned.
"You saying we were led here?"
Sam nodded.
"Like rats in a maze."
Kae looked from him to Dean, then at the locked doors before them.
What the hell were they supposed to do now?
Sooooooo what'd y'all think? No flames please.