Chapter Thirty-One: Playthings
Sam paced around the motel as he talked to Ellen on the phone. Dean was out getting food, and he was lounging in bed. Well, lounging wasn't really the right word. He was just resting since Dean thought he needed to recover from being tortured.
"Yeah. Ok. Thanks, Ellen," Sam said before he hung up.
Dean walked in with breakfast, but it made his stomach flip at the smell. "What'd she have to say?" Dean asked Sam as he walked over to him. Dean started to tilt his chin to take a look at the bruises on the right side of his face. He pushed the takeout bag further away from himself.
"Oh, she's got nothing," Sam said. "Me, I've been checking every database I can think of…Federal, state, and local. No one's heard anything about Ava, she just…into thin air, you know?"
"Huh," Dean muttered. His brother handed Sam a cup of coffee and tried to hand him a breakfast burrito, but he pushed it away again. Dean scowled, and he knew his brother was about to freak out about him not eating, so he looked over at Sam for help.
"What about you?" Sam asked.
"No, same as before," Dean said. "Sorry, man."
"Ellen did have one thing," Sam said.
"Hmm?" Dean hummed, not really listening. Dean got a yogurt out of the bag and tried to hand him that instead, and this time he agreed. He might be able to stomach some yogurt.
"A hotel in Cornwall, Connecticut," Sam said. "Two freak accidents in the past three weeks."
"Yeah? What's that have to do with Ava?" Dean asked as he took his yogurt back. He scowled since his brother had just given that to him and now he was taking it away. But Dean just opened it and gave it back with a plastic spoon.
"It's a job," Sam said, shooting a look over at him. "I mean, a lady drowned in the bathtub, then a few days ago a guy falls down the stairs, head turns a complete 180. Which isn't exactly normal, you know? Look, I don't know, Dean, it might be nothing, but I told Ellen we'd think about checking it out."
"You did?" Dean asked, sounding surprised and a tiny bit angry.
"Yeah. You seem surprised," Sam said.
"You're doin' it again," Dean said. "Alec shouldn't hunt after what happened, but you jump on the first hunt you can find."
"I can hunt," he said even though he knew his brothers wouldn't listen. He just wouldn't let them drop him off anywhere this time.
"No, you can't," Sam and Dean said at the same time.
"This isn't really the patented Sam Winchester way, is it," Dean said.
"What way is that?" Sam asked, his voice rising slightly.
"I just figured after Ava, there'd be, uh, you know, more angst and droopy music and staring out the rainy windows, and…" Sam gave Dean a look, who nodded back. "Yeah, I'll shut up now."
"Look, I'm the one who told her to go back home," Sam said. "Now her fiancé's dead and some demon has taken her off to God knows where, you know? But we've been looking, and we've got nothing. So, I'm not giving up on her, but I'm not going to let people die either. We've got to save as many people as we can."
"Wow. That attitude is just way too healthy for me, and I'm officially uncomfortable now. Thank you," Dean said. He chuckled, which got him a look from Sam. But his brother was trying not to smile. "Alright, call Ellen. Tell her we'll take it."
"That doesn't mean you're hunting," Sam said to him.
"Look, I've been humoring you two," he said. "I'm fine. And I'm not letting you drop me off somewhere again. If I was actually hurt, then it wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm not that hurt. I just have some bruises. I don't know what kind of hunt this is, but I'm hunting."
"Alec, you looked like you were gonna hurl at the smell of a breakfast burrito," Dean pointed out.
"It smells gross," he said. "And I'm eating the yogurt."
"Which is the most solid thing you've eaten all week," Dean said.
He just ate more of his yogurt, which made Dean sigh, and Sam laugh. "He's done arguing with you," Sam said.
"I know," Dean grumbled. There was a long silence, but then Dean finally said, "Alright, pack up."
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He sat up once the Impala slowed down. It was foggy outside, which made the large old house look super creepy. It looked like it would be haunted, which was really cool. It wasn't a gross creepy; it was just creepy, creepy. He liked it.
Sam and Dean got out, so he followed them, excited that he hadn't been benched for this one.
"Dude, this is sweet," Dean said. "I never get to work jobs like this."
"Like what?" Sam asked.
"Old school haunted houses, you know? Fog, and secret passageways," Dean said. He smiled since he liked it when he thought the same things as Dean before he said it. He was Dean's clone, but he really felt like his little brother when stuff like this happened. "Sissy British accents. Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we're inside." Dean closed his eyes and hummed, "Mmm, Daphne. Love her."
They started up the steps to the front door, but Sam stopped at the first step and pointed out a symbol etched into an urn. "Hey, wait a sec…" Sam leaned closer, "I'm not so sure haunted's the problem…"
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
"You see this pattern here?" Sam said, tapping the symbol. "That's a quincunx. That's a five-spot."
"What's that?" he asked. Sometimes he could count on his brothers to just jump into an explanation, but sometimes they forgot he didn't know a lot about hunting still.
"That's used for hoodoo spellwork, isn't it?" Dean asked, looking at Sam.
"Right, yeah. You fill this thing with bloodweed and you've got a powerful charm to ward off enemies."
"Yeah, except I don't see any bloodweed. Don't you think this place is a little too, uh, whitemeat for hoodoo?" Dean said.
"Maybe," Sam replied with a shrug. He wasn't sure either way. He just thought this place was cool.
They walked in, and a woman walked out of a room to greet them. She had a nametag that said, 'Susan'. "May I help you?" she asked. He walked over to another room to look around a little, wishing he could explore the whole house. He wondered if maybe it had secret passageways like Dean said.
"Hi, yeah, I'd like a room for a couple of nights," Dean said.
He jumped when two little girls ran by him, nearly knocking into him on their way through. The two girls ran by Sam, who also jumped in surprise.
"Hey!" Susan yelled after the girls, who just kept running. "Sorry about that," she said to Sam.
"No problem," Sam said.
"Well, um, congratulations," Susan said. "You could be some of our final guests."
"Well, sounds vaguely ominous," Dean muttered.
"No, I'm sorry, I mean we're closing at the end of the month," Susan said. That was too bad. This place was too cool to close, even if something was killing people. If they stopped whatever it was, maybe they could stay open. "Well, let me guess. You guys are here antiquing?"
He looked over at Sam and Dean, who shared a look. "How'd you know?" Dean asked with a smile.
"Oh, you just look the type," Susan said.
He chuckled since that was pretty funny, and he knew Dean was going to throw a fit later. "So, uh, king-sized bed?" Susan asked.
"What? No, uh, no, we're, we're…two singles. We're just brothers," Sam said. He cracked up, which drew Susan's attention to him. She looked surprised since she hadn't noticed him before.
"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry," Susan said. He felt bad for her, but this was very funny. Sam shot him a glare to shut up, but he was still laughing a little.
"What'd you mean that we look the type?" Dean asked.
Susan looked uncomfortable, like she wasn't sure how to answer, but Sam jumped in before the silence could get too awkward. "You know, speaking of antiques, you have a really, really interesting urn on the front porch. Where did you get that?"
"Oh, I have no idea. It's been there forever," she said. She gave Dean a key to the room, "Here you go, Mr. Mahagov. Do you need a cot for the room?"
"Nah, we'll be ok," Dean said. Dean was in overprotective mode, so that meant he was definitely getting one of the beds, but Dean would probably share with him. Dean was usually freaked out when he got hurt, and he slept better with someone next to him.
Susan rang a bell, and an older man slowly came in behind them. "You'll be staying in room 237. Sherwin, could you show these gentlemen to their rooms?"
"Let me guess. Antiquers?" Sherwin asked.
Sherwin grabbed Dean's duffle bag, and then drug it behind himself up the stairs. His sides hurt from laughing so much. But each time the bag hit another step, he couldn't help but laugh. Why did the guy even bother?
"I could give you a hand with that bag," Dean said.
"I got it," Sherwin replied. The bag hit another step, and he just laughed more.
"Ok," Dean said.
"So, the hotel's closing up, huh?" Sam asked.
"Yep. Miss Susan tried to make a go of it, but the guests just don't come like they used to. Still, it's a damn shame," Sherwin said.
"People are stupid," he muttered. "This place is cool."
Sherwin looked back at him in surprise, "It may not look it anymore, but this place was a palace. Two different vice-presidents laid their heads on our pillows. My parents worked here. I practically grew up here. Gonna miss it." Sherwin stopped in front of a door and unlocked it. "Here's your room."
"Are there any secret passageways?" he asked as Sherwin handed Sam the key to the door.
Sherwin smiled, "Now, I can't tell you that. That would ruin the secret." He smiled since that meant there definitely were secret passageways somewhere in this house. He really, really wanted to find one. Sherwin winked at him before he turned to Dean and held his hand out. Dean just looked at the guy, so Sherwin said, "You're not gonna…cheap out on me, are you, boy?"
He chuckled as Dean rolled his eyes and dug his wallet out of his pocket.
He went into the room, taking everything in that he could. There was an old looking dress hanging on the wall and there were other antique-looking things throughout the room. Dean didn't look impressed when he saw the dress.
"What the…"
"What?" Sam asked.
"That's normal," Dean said, nodding to the dress. "Why the hell would anyone stay here? I'm amazed they kept in business this long."
His jaw dropped in shock. "Are you kidding?! This place is awesome! We should live here." Sam and Dean both just looked at him. "That guy said there were secret passageways in here! How cool is that?!"
His brothers shared a look, and then Dean chuckled and messed up his hair on his way by. "I forget how young you are sometimes."
"Alright," Sam said, getting right to business. "Victim number one: Joan Edison, 43-years-old, a realtor handling the sale of the hotel; and victim number two was Larry Williams, moving some stuff out to Goodwill."
"Well, there's a connection; they're both tied up in shutting the place down."
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Maybe somebody here doesn't want to leave, and they're using hoodoo to fight back."
"Who do you think our witch doctor is, that Susan lady?" Dean asked.
"No, doesn't seem likely. I mean, she is the one selling," Sam said.
"So, what then, Sherwin," Dean asked.
"I don't think so," he muttered. "He's funny."
"Just 'cause you think he's funny, doesn't mean he's not the one behind this," Dean said. He shrugged since he still didn't think it was Sherwin. "Of course, the most troubling question is, why do these people assume we're gay?"
"Well, you are kinda butch," Sam said. "Probably think you're overcompensating."
"Ha. Ha," Dean laughed sarcastically. "Right."
"Can we go exploring now? I wanna find that secret passageway," he said.
Dean chuckled but led the way back out of the room. He tried to look at everything as they walked around. Sam stopped at another urn, which had the same symbol as the one outside.
"Hey, look at that. More hoodoo," Sam said.
They walked over to a door that said 'Private', and he instantly wanted to know what was in there. Dean knocked, but then stepped back slightly when Susan opened the door. "Hi there," Dean said with a smile.
"Hi. Everything ok with your room?" Susan asked. Sam and Dean talked at the same time, both of them saying about the same thing about how great the room was. He tried to peak into the room, but his eyes widened when he saw a bunch of creepy-looking dolls. None of them better look over at him, otherwise he was going to freak out. "Well, I was, I was just in the middle of packing," Susan said.
"Hey! Are those antique dolls?" Dean asked, looking around Susan and seeing the creepy ass dolls. "Because this one," Dean hit Sam's chest, who grunted in surprise. "This one here, he's got a major doll collection back home. Dontcha? Huh?" He had to look away so Susan wouldn't see him laughing.
"Big time," Sam said, shooting a look over at Dean.
"Big time," Dean agree, grinning. "You think he could come…or we could come in and take a look?"
"I don't know…" Susan hedged.
"Please? I mean, he loves them," Dean said. "He's not gonna tell you this, but he's, he's always dressin' 'em up in these little tiny outfits and, um, you'd make his day. You…She would, huh?"
He pretended to start coughing to cover up the laughter that he just couldn't stop. "It's true," Sam forced out.
"Ok. Come on in," Susan replied.
"Alright!" Dean said, slapping Sam's back on the way by. Sam glared as soon as Susan wasn't looking and followed Dean into the room. He stayed at the doorway since the dolls were really creeping him out. He really hoped the secret passageway wasn't in this room. "Wow. This is a lot of dolls," Dean said, looking around. "I mean, they're nice, you know. Not super creepy at all…" Dean looked over at him, knowing he was creeped out.
"Yeah, I suppose they are a little creepy," Susan said. "But they've been in the family forever. A lot of sentimental value."
"What is this? The hotel?" Sam asked, walking over to a large dollhouse that did look a lot like the hotel. That was at least a little cool. He was tempted to walk over to see if he could find the secret passageway in the smaller version of the house, but as irrational as it was, he didn't want to get close to the dolls.
"Yeah, that's right. Exact replica, custom built," Susan said. He desperately wanted to look at it. He figured it was the cat DNA kicking in that made him want to look, but he stayed where he was. Sam leaned forward and grabbed what looked like another doll.
"His head got twisted around," Sam said. "What happened to it?"
"Tyler, probably," Susan said with a shrug.
One of the little girls from earlier ran into the room, and he was guessing this was Tyler. "Mommy! Maggie's being mean," Tyler complained.
"Tyler, tell her I said to be nice, ok?" Susan said.
"Hey Tyler," Sam said. "I see you broke your doll. You want me to fix it?"
"I didn't break it," Tyler stated. "I found it like that."
"Oh, well, uh, maybe Maggie did it," Sam suggested.
"No, neither of us did it," Tyler said. "Grandma would get mad if we broke 'em."
"Tyler, she wouldn't get mad," Susan said.
"Grandma?" Dean asked.
He looked behind him, feeling like someone was watching them, and saw Maggie standing there…looking at him. She smiled a little, and he tried not to be creeped out, and smiled back slightly. She waved at him, and he felt like this was some sort of test, but he couldn't figure out why a little girl would be testing him. He felt a little crazy thinking it was a test in the first place, so he waved back.
"Grandma Rose. These were all her toys," Tyler said.
"Oh. Really. Where's Grandma Rose now?" Dean asked.
"Up in her room."
Sam looked over at Susan and said, "You know, I'd, uh, I'd really love to talk to Rose about her incredible doll-"
"No," Susan quickly cut off. "I mean, I'm afraid that's impossible. My mother's been very sick and she's not taking any visitors."
Dean thanked Susan for letting them look around, and then walked back out into the hallway. Sam and Dean started whispering to each other, and he looked around for where Maggie went, but he didn't see her.
"Well, what do you think?" Dean whispered. "Dolls, hoodoo, mysterious shut-in grandma?"
"Well, dolls are used in all kinds of voodoo and hoodoo, like curses, and binding spells, and…" Sam trailed off in thought.
"Yeah, maybe we've found our witch doctor," Dean said. "Alright, I'll see what I can go dig up on boomin' Granny. You go get online, check old obits, freak accidents, that sort of thing. See if she's whacked anybody before."
"Right," Sam agreed.
"Don't go surfing porn," Dean teased. "That's not the kind of whacking I mean." Sam rolled his eyes and went back to the room, so Dean looked over at him. "What do you wanna do?"
"Explore," he said with a small smile.
"Don't get murdered by a psycho ghost, ok kiddo?" Dean said.
"I won't," he replied.
He walked around for a long time. He saw Susan talking to a guy in a suit, but Susan didn't look happy about whatever they were talking about. He also saw Maggie running around without Tyler. He could hear Tyler playing in the room with the dolls when he walked by, but he didn't know if Maggie went in there to play with her or not.
"What are you doing?"
He jumped and turned around to see Maggie right behind him. "What?"
"You keep walking around like you're looking for something," she said. "What are you looking for?"
"I wanna find a secret passageway," he said. "Know of any?"
"That's a strange thing to look for. If it's a secret, why do you think you can find it?" she asked.
He shrugged, "I don't know. In movies, old houses always have secret rooms." She looked like she didn't believe him. "Do you have a new house already to live in?"
"I'm not leaving," Maggie stated.
"I mean, it would suck to leave this place," he said. He had no idea how to talk to kids. He kind of wished she would go away, but he didn't know how to tell her to go away. Maggie looked at him like she was trying to figure him out, and it was freaking him out a little bit.
"Good luck finding your secret room," Maggie said before she skipped away.
"Thanks…" he muttered.
He frowned when he heard the sirens. He walked over to the lobby again and watched as paramedics came in and went straight up the stairs. A few minutes later, a cop came in and went the same way. They didn't go to the room that he and his brothers were staying in, so he wasn't too concerned. Maybe someone had a heart attack or something. Or it could have been the grandma.
The coroner came in after a while, and he was guessing this could actually have something to do with the hunt. He found Dean, who was talking to Susan outside the hotel.
"What happened?" Dean asked. His brother looked relieved to see him, probably thinking whatever they were hunting could've gotten him or Sam while they weren't together.
"Oh, the maid went in to turn down the sheets and he was just…hanging there," Susan said.
"That's awful. He was a guest?" Dean asked.
"He worked for the company that bought the place," Susan said. Dean hummed in understanding, watching as the coroner loaded the body into the car. "I don't understand…"
"What?" Dean asked.
"Had a lot of bad luck around here," Susan said. "Look, if you'd like to check out, I'll give you a full refund."
"No thanks," Dean replied. "I don't scare that easy."
"What do you think did it?" he asked his brother once they went inside again.
"Don't know," Dean muttered in thought. "Somethin' doesn't want to leave."
"I don't really know how hoodoo works," he said.
"Might not be hoodoo, but if the grandma grew up here, she could be trying to scare people off," Dean said. "The realtor was involved in selling the place, the Goodwill guy was taking things out of the house, and this last guy worked for the company that bought the place. Someone's holding on. Let's see what Sam's found and go from there." Dean looked over at him, and then asked, "You find any secret passageways yet?"
"Not yet," he admitted. "I hope it isn't in that creepy doll room."
"Not a fan?" Dean asked with a teasing smile.
"What if those dolls are haunted? They might look over at you or start moving or something," he said. "It's not irrational."
Dean chuckled, "No, you're right. It's not irrational in our line of work." They walked back up to their room, but Dean stopped when he saw their door partially open. Dean slowly went inside. He didn't pull his gun or anything, and he didn't sense any kind of danger, so he thought it was ok. "There's been another one," Dean said to Sam, closing the door behind him. It was just Sam, so that was good. He wasn't sure why Sam had left the door open, but whatever. "Some guy just hung himself in his room."
"Yeah. I saw," Sam mumbled.
"We've gotta figure this out, and fast," Dean said. "What'd you find out about Granny?"
"You're the boss," Sam slurred. He frowned and looked over at Dean, but his brother was already looking over at Sam in surprise.
"What?"
"You're bossy…And short," Sam said with a laugh. He wasn't sure what was going on. That was a weird thing for Sam to say.
"Are you drunk?" Dean asked. Oh, that made sense.
"Yeah," Sam said, laughing again. "So?"
There were a few empty bottles scattered across the room, and he sort of wondered if maybe he should've stayed with Sam instead of exploring. "Dude, what are you thinking?" Dean asked angrily. "We're working a case."
"That guy who hung himself…I couldn't save him," Sam mumbled, sounding on the verge of tears.
"What are you talking about? You didn't know. You couldn't have done anything," Dean said. Maybe Sam had a vision or something, but he didn't know why he would. This didn't have anything to do with the Yellow-Eyed Demon as far as he could tell.
"That's an excuse, Dean. I should have found a way to save him. I should have saved Ava too," Sam said.
"Yeah, well, you can't save everyone. Even you said that," Dean said as he walked over to Sam.
Sam slammed his hand down on the table, making him jump in surprise. "No, Dean, you don't understand, alright? The more people I save, the more I can change!" Sam yelled. He looked at Sam in surprise since he felt almost the same. He didn't want to kill anyone because he wanted to be good. He tried really hard to save people to make up for what he'd already done. Sam was trying to do the same thing since he thought he was going to go dark.
"Change what?" Dean asked.
"My destiny, Dean!" Sam said, leaning forward to try to get Dean to understand.
"Alright. Time for bed," Dean said as he hauled Sam up. "C'mon, Sasquatch."
"I need you to watch out for me," Sam slurred.
"Yeah. I always do," Dean replied, trying to drag Sam over to the bed.
"NO! No, no, no," Sam said, shaking his head. "You have to watch out for me, alright? And if I ever…turn into something that I'm not…" Sam stopped and grabbed Dean's jacket in a death-grip. "You have to kill me."
"Sam."
Sam pushed Dean suddenly, "Dean! Dad told you to do it! You have to!"
"Yeah, well, Dad's an ass," Dean said. Sam frowned, but he just looked at Dean in surprise. "He never should have said anything. I mean, you don't do that, you don't, you don't lay that kind of crap on your kids."
"No. He was right to say it! Who knows what I might become? Even now, everyone around me dies!" Sam said in distress. He wanted to point out that they went looking for this hunt, and typically, people died while they were hunting whatever it was.
"Yeah, well, I'm not dying, ok?" Dean said. "And neither are you or Alec. C'mon, Sam."
Dean pushed Sam back onto the bed, but Sam didn't lay down. Instead, he grabbed Dean's jacket again and refused to let go. "No, please! Dean, you're the only one who can do it. Promise," Sam begged.
"Don't ask that of me," Dean said.
"Dean, please. You have to promise me," Sam said.
Dean hesitated, but then he finally agreed, "I promise."
"Thanks," Sam muttered. He grabbed Dean's face, "Thank you. You are…"
"Alright, come on," Dean said, pushing Sam's hand away. He pushed Sam back, and this time, Sam laid down and turned to sleep on his stomach. Dean ran his hand down his face, and then looked over at him. He couldn't really interpret the look Dean gave him, but if he had to guess, he'd say he was sorry he'd said what he did to Sam with him in the room.
Dean walked out of their room, so he followed him. "You wanna get a drink?" Dean asked him.
"Sure," he said with a shrug.
The bar was empty, but Sherwin was behind the bar, so they each took a stool and ordered a drink. Sherwin looked at him though when he ordered a scotch, but then didn't say anything about his age. "Find any good antiques?" Sherwin asked Dean. The man set a glass down in front of Dean, and then one in front of him. He frowned when he saw the bubbles in his drink, and then had to hide his smile when he realized it was soda instead of scotch. Sherwin looked amused when he caught his smile.
"Um, no!" Dean said after a moment. He must have forgot their cover was antiquing this time. It was a strange cover. "No, I got distracted."
"Find any secret passageways?" Sherwin asked him.
"Not yet, but it wasn't for lack of trying," he said. He liked the guy; he was funny.
"So, poor guy, huh? Killing himself," Dean said.
"That kind of thing seems to be going around lately," Sherwin said.
"Strange thing to be going around," he muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard about the other ones," Dean said. "It's almost like this hotel is, uh, cursed or something."
"Haunted," he threw in.
"Every hotel has its spilled blood," Sherwin said. "If people only knew what's gone on in some of those rooms they've checked into."
"You know a lot about the place, don't you," Dean guessed.
"Down to the last nail," Sherwin replied.
"I'd love to hear some stories," Dean said.
"Boy, you should never say that to an old man," Sherwin said, but he looked delighted to tell them some stories.
They followed Sherwin out of the bar, and he led them back to the entrance of the hotel. He started up the staircase but stopped and pointed at the photographs hanging on the wall. "This is little Miss Susan, and her mother Rose. Happier days," Sherwin said.
"They're not happy now?" Dean asked.
"Well, would you be? Leaving the only home you ever knew?" Sherwin asked.
"I don't know," Dean replied honestly. "I never really knew one." He didn't miss his home. He did sometimes, but not as much the longer he stayed with Sam and Dean. He never wanted to go back to Manticore, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss the order of it sometimes. But then Dean would mess up his hair and give him some food, and he'd remember that Manticore sucked.
"Well, this is Rose's home," Sherwin explained. "It's been in the family over a century. Used to be the family estate. And now she gets to live in some senior living graveyard, and they tear this place down."
"They're tearing it down?!" he asked in distress.
Dean and Sherwin looked at him in surprise, and he was a little embarrassed about his outburst, but he didn't want this place torn down. It was cool and old, and he liked it. "Yeah, that's too bad," Dean said, rubbing his shoulder when Sherwin didn't answer. "I hear Rose isn't feeling well, either."
"No, she isn't," Sherwin said as they walked back down the stairs.
"What's wrong with her?" Dean asked. He trailed behind them now, disappointed that this place wouldn't be here for very much longer.
"It's not my business to say," Sherwin said.
"Oh," Dean said with a nod. His brother stopped suddenly and pointed at another picture, "Who's this?"
Sherwin picked up with old photograph of a little girl sitting on another woman's lap. The woman had a necklace on with the symbol that Sam had found on the urns. "That's Rose, when she was a little girl."
"Who's that with her?" Dean asked.
"That's her nanny, Marie. She looked after Rose more than her own mother," Sherwin said.
He shared a look with Dean since he knew what his brother would be thinking. He thought that Marie had taught Rose some kind of hoodoo back in the day, and now Rose was using it to try to save her home. He wasn't so sure he wanted to stop her from saving this place.
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Sam was throwing up in the bathroom. It sounded really gross and their whole room smelled bad now. He should've gone with Dean to get breakfast. He'd asked Sam if he needed anything, but Sam couldn't really answer him, and he wasn't going to go into the bathroom if he could help it.
Dean walked in and smiled when he spotted Sam hunched over the toilet. "How you feeling, Sammy?" Dean asked. Sam just groaned. Dean tossed him a yogurt, and he was glad his brother hadn't tried to get him to eat anything else. With this smell, it was going to be difficult to stomach the yogurt. Dean would've freaked if he refused food again. "I guess mixing whiskey and Jager wasn't such a gangbuster idea, was it?" Dean smiled to himself, "I'll bet you don't remember a thing from last night, do you?"
Sam groaned again, "Oh, I can still taste the tequila…"
Dean smiled more, "You know, there's a really good hangover remedy…it's a, it's a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ashtray." He did not like the sound of that.
Sam didn't either since he threw up again. "Oh, I hate you…"
"I know you do," Dean said, walking over to mess up his hair. "Hey, turns out when Grandma Rose was a tyke, she had a Creole nanny who wore a hoodoo necklace." Dean peeked into the bathroom, but made a face and quickly took a step back at the smell.
"So, you think she taught Rose hoodoo?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I do," Dean said.
"I don't know," he threw in. Dean looked at him in surprise and waited for him to say something else. "If this was my house, I wouldn't want them to tear it down…"
"Would you kill someone to keep it from getting torn down?" Dean asked.
He frowned and tried to think what it would be like to grow up in a real home. "I don't think I can answer that since I don't know what it's like to have a home you really like."
"I think we need to talk to Rose," Sam said, swaying slightly where he stood in the doorway to the bathroom.
"You need to brush your teeth first," Dean said, making a face.
He smiled a little and finished his yogurt before following Dean out to the hallway. It smelled a lot better in the hallway. "Hangovers smell bad," he said, which made Dean laugh.
"You should've come with me to get food," Dean said. He nodded in agreement since he'd been thinking the same thing. "You still hungry? Yogurt's not much of a breakfast…Not for you anyway."
"After all that…I don't think I could stomach anything else," he muttered.
"If you want anything…you know…" Dean looked uncomfortable, so he took pity on his big brother.
"I'll let you know," he said with a small smile. Dean reached over and messed up his hair before he pushed him over slightly. He laughed and pushed Dean back.
Sam came out of the room after a moment, so the three of them went back to the private room. He didn't want to go inside, but he wasn't going to wait around in the hallway either while his brothers went in to talk to Rose.
Sam knocked and called out, "Hello? Susan?" Dean looked around before he looked at him. He nodded once to signal that he didn't hear anything. "Clear?" Sam asked.
"Mmhmm," Dean hummed back.
Sam quickly picked the lock, getting them into the creepy doll room. He followed his brothers in, closing the door behind him. He glanced over at house that looked like the hotel, impressed with how close to the real thing they had gotten.
They went to the door in the back of the room, which led to some creepy stairs. He really hoped this wasn't the secret passageway. It was dark and creepy, but it had a door. That wasn't secret.
He snuck up the stairs behind his brothers, moving silently up the creaky, old stairs. Sam and Dean were silent as they moved up the stairs too, which impressed him like it always did.
"Mrs. Thompson? Mrs. Thompson?" Sam asked, walking up to an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair. She didn't move or acknowledge that she'd heard them. "Rose?" Sam walked around to be in front of Rose. "Hi, Mrs. Thompson, we're not here to hurt you, it's ok…" She still didn't answer, but he could tell that she was shaking now. Sam walked back over to where he and Dean were still standing. "Dean…this woman's had a stroke."
"Yeah, but hoodoo's hands-on," Dean said. "I mean, you've got to mix herbs, and chant, and build an altar."
"Sounds like a lot of work," he muttered.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "So, it can't be Rose. Hey, maybe it's not even hoodoo."
"Or she could be faking," Dean suggested.
"She doesn't seem like she's faking," he said.
"What are you gonna do, poke her with a stick?" Sam asked sarcastically. Dean frowned in thought and nodded slightly. "Dude! You're not gonna poke her with a stick!"
"What the hell?!"
"Dude," Dean hissed to him. So he hadn't heard Susan come up the stairs, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't Rose anyway, so they were back to square one.
"What? She's sneaky," he defended. Really he'd been silently laughing to himself imagining Dean poking the old lady with a stick. Where would he even get a stick? They'd have to go outside to find one, and that was just inconvenient.
"What are you doing in here?" Susan said over him.
"Oh, we just wanted to talk to Rose…" Sam tried to explain at the same time that Dean said, "Well, the door was open…"
"Look at her, she is scared out of her wits," Susan said. He shared a look with Dean since he wasn't sure how Susan could tell that Rose was scared since she looked the same. "I want you out of my hotel in two minutes or I'm calling the cops."
Well, that ended that. They took off, but they didn't go far. They parked the car before they snuck back over to the hotel. They were on alert for a while, but it was seriously boring. And now, he was hungry. He leaned back against a tree and sighed to himself. Sometimes, hunting was incredibly boring.
Sam paced back and forth for a while, until Dean told him to stop. He tried to think of who was haunting the hotel, but he didn't have any ideas. They'd ruled out Rose. He thought about asking Dean what he thought, but Dean was focused on the hotel. Maybe they should get everyone to leave. But that would probably mean they would get attacked, which wasn't as bad of an idea as it should have been. He didn't think Dean would go for it though. He was just so bored.
He perked up when the wind started blowing. Just the wind blowing wasn't enough to say the ghost was around, but then he heard something creaking. He went on alert, and he was just about to take off for the hotel when Dean put his hand against his chest, holding him back to let Sam run through. He huffed since Dean was being way overprotective again.
He rolled his eyes once Dean decided it was safe enough for him to move again. He and Dean got there just in time to see Sam tackle Susan out of the way of a car driving itself. Now he was annoyed. He wanted to tackle someone out of the way of a ghost car.
"Are you ok?" Sam asked Susan.
"I think so," Susan replied in shock.
"C'mon," Dean said, looking around for more ghostly things. "Let's get inside. Let's go."
He followed Sam, Dean, and Susan back into the hotel, but he glanced back to see the swings moving by themselves. Sam and Dean guided Susan over to the bar, and he went behind the bar, hiding his smirk when Dean gave him a look.
"Whiskey," Susan said to him.
Now he smiled. He got Susan a glass of whiskey before he filled up a glass of scotch for himself. Dean shot him a glare, and when that did nothing to stop him, his brother grabbed his glass out of his hand. "Seriously?" he asked.
"We're hunting," Dean said.
"Sam got wasted," he pointed out.
"Yeah? And he paid for it," Dean said.
"What the hell happened out there?" Susan asked.
"You want the truth?" Dean asked back.
"Of course," Susan replied. He snorted since people always said they wanted the truth, and then didn't like it when they got it.
"Well, at first, we thought it was some sort of hoodoo curse, but that out there?" Dean said with a nod outside. He quickly downed his scotch while his brother wasn't paying attention. "That was definitely a spirit." Dean looked over at him, and then scowled when he spotted his empty glass.
"You're insane," Susan said before she downed her own drink.
"Yeah, it's been said," Dean said. He hopped up on the back counter, resisting the urge to fill up his glass again. He could get away with it once, but Dean was going to flip if he did it again.
"Look, I'm sorry, Susan," Sam said gently. "We don't exactly have time to ease you into this, but we need to know when your mother had the stroke."
"What does that have to do with any-"
"Just answer the question," Sam cut in when she trailed off.
"About a month ago," Susan said.
"Right before the killings began," Sam said, and then he looked over at Dean. "See? So, what if Rose was working hoodoo, but not to hurt anyone. To protect them."
"She was using the five spot urns to ward off the spirit," Dean said with a nod.
"Right, until she had a stroke, and she couldn't anymore," Sam said, finishing Dean's train of thought.
"I don't believe this," Susan muttered.
"Listen, sister, that car didn't try to run you down by itself, ok?" Dean said. He made a small sound, so Dean amended, "I mean, I guess it did, technically, but the spirit can…forget it."
"Look, believe what you want," Sam said. "But the fact is, you and your family are in danger, alright? So, you need to clear everybody out of here; your employees, your mother, your daughters, everyone." Now they were talking.
"Um, I only have one daughter," Susan said.
His eyes widened in shock. That…he hadn't been expecting.
"One?" Sam asked, confused.
"I thought Tyler had a sister named Maggie," Dean said. Maybe his brothers had seen her too.
"Maggie's imaginary," Susan said.
"But I talked to her," he muttered in thought. "She asked me what I was doing…"
"You talked to her?" Dean asked at the same time that Sam asked, "You could see her?"
"She said she wasn't leaving," he said.
"Can you see her now?" Dean asked.
"Obviously I don't see her now," he said, rolling his eyes. He looked up though, thinking he might know where she would be. He went over to the stairs and quickly went up them, concerned that he didn't hear the little girls playing in the doll room. He looked over at Sam, Dean, and Susan, who had followed him up, and then asked Susan, "Where's Tyler?"
"Oh my God…Tyler!" Susan said, panicking.
"Susan, tell us what you know about Maggie," Sam said before Susan could just take off.
"Uh, not much. Um, Tyler's been talking about her since Mom got sick," Susan said.
"Ok, did you ever know anyone by that name?" Sam asked.
"Uh, no…"
"Think, I mean, somebody that could have lived here, might have passed away?" Dean pressed.
Susan's eyes widened, "Oh my God. My Mom. My Mom had a sister named Margaret. She barely spoke about her."
"Did Margaret happen to die here when she was a kid?" Sam asked.
"She drowned in the pool," Susan said.
He was running before he could even think to ask where the pool was. But he didn't want the little girl to drown. He was going to find her even if he had to search the entire property. He slowed down once he was outside and looked back to see how far Susan was. She saw him looking back and pointed around the garden, so he took off again.
He found the pool house, and he saw the two little girls holding onto a railing. He could barely see the pool down below the girls, covered with a tarp. He tried the door, but it was locked. He tried to force it open, but it didn't budge. His brothers showed up with Susan, who immediately started to pound on the glass of the door to try to get Tyler's attention.
Tyler looked back when she heard Susan yell her name, "Mommy!"
Maggie met his gaze for a moment, but then she grabbed Tyler's wrist and yanked on her arm to throw her off balance. Tyler screamed as she fell, hitting the tarp of the pool and sinking into the water. He could see her trying to struggle to get out, but then Maggie was there, pushing her head back down.
"Is there another entrance?" Dean asked.
"Around back," Susan replied.
"Alright, let's go," Dean said. Susan ran with Dean, but Sam stayed with him.
"Don't tell Dean I did this," he said as soon as their brother was gone. Sam looked at him in confusion. He backed up, and then ran at the door, ducking and covering his head as he crashed through the glass. Dean was going to be pissed when he found out, but he was inside.
He ran over to the railing. He saw Maggie look up, and he expected her to be looking at him, but instead, she was just looking up at the ceiling. He quickly jumped over the railing and crashed into the water. He was almost instantly surrounded by the tarp.
He swam as best as he could through the tarp until he could get to Tyler. She wasn't trying to fight to get above water anymore. She was just sinking. He finally got through the tarp and swam to Tyler. He scooped her up and got her above water, but she was just limp in his arms.
"C'mon, you gotta be ok," he whispered. He heard more glass breaking, so he knew Dean and Susan were inside now. Sam was probably upstairs, getting ready to jump down into the water after him. Tyler had to wake up. Susan couldn't see her like this. She had to wake up and be ok.
He breathed out in relief when she suddenly coughed up water. He smiled and walked over to the side of the pool, passing Tyler over to her Mom. Dean gave him a look, but then couldn't help his smile since he was practically beaming. Sam ran over, having to go around to get down to them instead of jumping in after him.
Dean reached down and gave him a hand out of the pool. He didn't even care that he was soaked. He'd finally managed to save someone, and it felt amazing.
"Tyler, do you see Maggie anywhere?" Susan asked.
"No, she's gone, Mommy," Tyler said.
Dean raised his eyebrows in a silent question, so he shook his head no. He didn't see Maggie anywhere either.
"Don't worry, honey, we're leaving in two minutes," Susan said once they were back inside the hotel, keeping Tyler close to her side. "We've just got to get Grandma."
"I don't get it," Dean said once Susan and Tyler were upstairs. "Did Maggie just stop?"
"Seems like it," Sam said.
"Well, where the hell did she go?" Dean asked.
Susan screamed suddenly, so the three of them ran back upstairs. His heart sank when he saw Rose, dead in her wheelchair.
Dean put his hand on his wet shoulder, and then nodded for him to go back downstairs. They waited for the paramedics to get there since they weren't sure if Maggie was really gone or not. They couldn't just leave Susan and Tyler here to take care of Rose without knowing for sure.
"I feel bad for Maggie," he said when they were outside again.
"Alec, you gotta stop feelin' bad for the bad guys," Dean said. "Maggie tried to kill Tyler."
"She didn't want to be alone anymore," he said. "She was a little kid when she died, and she just wanted someone to play with."
"You better watch out, kiddo. You're sounding more like Sam every day," Dean warned.
"Like that's a bad thing," Sam said with a scowl.
"You know what else? You gotta start tellin' us when you can see a ghost," Dean said.
He frowned, "How was I supposed to know Maggie was a ghost? She didn't look like a ghost and you guys didn't know she was a ghost either."
"We didn't actually see her," Sam said.
"Or talk to her," Dean added.
"I don't like it when you two gang up on me," he complained. Dean reached over and messed up his hair, which spiked up all over the place. He was starting to dry, but he knew he was going to have to change before Dean would let him in the Impala. He didn't want to get his books all messed up anyway, so he wouldn't say anything about changing into dry clothes.
"And another thing," Sam said, ignoring him. "Next time you crash into a glass door to try to rescue someone from a ghost, you're grounded."
"He what?!" Dean asked.
He groaned, and then glared at Sam for telling on him. How would they even ground him? He wasn't even really sure what that was, but it didn't sound fun.
"Yeah," Sam said. "He told me not to tell you right before he ran right into the door. He didn't even think about the fact that he might not be able to break through the door or what would happen if he cut himself on the glass."
Dean sighed, and he knew a lecture was about to happen, so he was relieved when Susan walked over. Tyler wasn't with her, but he was guessing she was packing a bag.
"Paramedics said it was another stroke. Do you think…Margaret could have had something to do with it?" Susan asked.
"We don't know," Dean said, shooting him a quick look.
"But it's possible, yeah," Sam said. "Susan…I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for. You've given me everything," Susan said. Tyler came running out of the hotel over to Susan. "Ready to go, kiddo?" He glanced over at Dean, who chuckled to himself when he caught his gaze.
"Yeah," Tyler said.
"Now, Tyler, you're sure Maggie's not around anymore?" Dean asked.
"I'm sure," Tyler said with a nod. "I'd see her."
"I guess whatever's going on must be over," Dean said.
Susan smiled and thanked them. She surprised him when she suddenly hugged him, and then Tyler hugged him too. He expected Dean to tease him after Susan and Tyler got into the cab and left, but he didn't.
"Good job, kiddo," Dean said, reaching over to mess up his hair again. He ducked his head and smiled. "Feels good getting back in the saddle, doesn't it?" Dean said as they made their way back to the car.
"Yeah, it does," Sam replied. "But it doesn't change what we talked about last night, Dean."
He looked over, surprised that Sam remembered that. Dean looked surprised too, but hedged, "We talked about a lot of things last night."
"You know what I mean," Sam said.
"You were wasted," Dean tried.
"But you weren't," Sam said. "And you promised."
Sam let that threat hang in the hair, and Dean didn't say anything in reply. He chuckled though, drawing his brothers' attention. "You're crazy if you think either of us are gonna kill you," he said. He smiled at Sam, who looked annoyed for a few seconds, but then he reluctantly smiled.
He'd saved someone, and he knew they were going to save Sam too. He looked back at the old hotel, and then smiled to himself when he saw two little girls playing upstairs through the window. Maggie wasn't alone anymore.