Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 12. I can't wait to get to Tall Tales, Born Under a Bad Sign, Heart, and What Is and What Never Could Be. I hope that you like this chapter. The ending of this episode is going to be different, that's for sure. I am not going to reveal what it is. But without further ado Chapter 12.
Chapter 12
The three hunters were in Peoria Illinois still trying to find a lead on Ava who had gone missing. They had been here for an entire month trying to find a lead on where Ava could have gone. Anything to get her back and to her family.
Aeron rubbed her face. There was no way that they would find Ava. Not without some kind of lead. She was using her laptop talking to Ash to see if she could get him to find anything. But Ash was coming up on dead ends. It bothered her that Ash wasn't coming up with anything. It scared her that they might not be able to save Ava from this demon that had taken her.
"Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Ellen." Sam hung up his phone. He rubbed his face. This wasn't good. Ellen hadn't told him anything that they already knew. Nothing new on Ava. Hell he even looked in the databases. He hadn't found a damn thing. But he had gotten word of a case from Ellen. But he wasn't so sure of taking it just yet. He wanted to run it by Dean when he got back from getting coffee for the three of them.
Dean came into the room. "What'd she have to say?" Dean questioned what Ellen might have come up with. He was concerned about all of this hunting for Ava. They hadn't gotten a single lead and everything was just kind of starting to go to hell since they couldn't find much of anything.
"Oh, she's got nothing. 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 placed a cup of coffee next to Aeron and then handed one to Sam.
"What about you?" He asked hopefully. He was hoping that Dean had found something. Anything that would keep them going.
"No, same as before. Sorry man." Dean felt bad that he wasn't able to come across something.
Sam looked at Aeron. "What about you?"
"Ash can't find anything." Aeron said softly. "I'm sorry Sam." She felt bad for bringing Sam's hopefulness down. She wasn't sure if they could find Ava alive. She could only hope for Sam's sake that Ava was still very much alive.
"Ellen did have one thing." Sam said softly.
"Hm?" Dean looked at his brother.
"A hotel in Cornwall, Connecticut. Two freak accidents in the past three weeks."
"Yeah? What's that have to do with Ava?"
"It's a job. I mean, a lady drowned in the bathtub. Then a few days ago a guy fell down the stairs, head turned a complete one-eighty. 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 in confusion. That was different. Sam was so concerned about finding Ava that he didn't want to take any cases on.
"Yeah. You seemed surprised." Sam said, crossing his arms. He was kind of surprised that Dean was surprised that he was thinking about taking this case that Ellen was talking about. Hell anything to get something done and save lives.
"Well yeah, it's just, you know. Not the, uh, patented Sam Winchester way, is it?"
"What way is that?" Sam asked in a mildly challenging tone.
"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 him a look and Aeron rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I'll shut up now." Dean said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Look. I'm the one who told her to go back home. Now her fiance's dead and some demon has taken her off to God knows where. You know? But we've been looking for a month now, and we've got nothing. So I'm not giving up on her, but I'm not going to let other people die either. We've got to save as many people as we can." Sam told Dean with a sigh. He wouldn't give up until Ava was found, but they needed to save lives as well. He knew that Dean wanted to go out and do things. And he knew that Aeron was getting cabin fever because they had been here for the entire month not even going on hunts.
"Wow. That attitude is just way too healthy for me, and I'm officially uncomfortable now. Thank you."
Sam ducked his head and laughed.
"Alright, call Ellen. Tell her we'll take it."
Sam nodded his head. He was thankful that he had gotten Dean to agree to this. He knew that Aeron would be happy to go out on a hunt.
"I'll call her. I had a few things to ask her anyway." Aeron said, picking up her cellphone and getting up on her feet. Her leg was still sore from being shot by Gordon, but it had healed up nicely.
"Where are you going?" Dean asked in confusion.
Aeron opened the door. She looked at Dean. "It is kind of a private thing that I have to ask her." She said, slipping out of the motel room, closing the door behind her.
SNSNSN
The three of them got out of the Impala outside of the Pierpont Inn.
"Dude, this is sweet. I never got to work jobs like this." Dean said with a smile.
"Like what?" Sam asked, looking at his brother.
Aeron shook her head. She couldn't help, but wonder what the hell Dean was going on about.
"Old school haunted houses, you know? Fog, and secret passageways… sissy British accents. Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we're inside." Dean closed his eyes. He opened them again. "Mmm, Daphne. Love her."
"God Dean really?" Aeron said, shaking her head as they began to go up the stairs.
Sam noticed something that was on the side of the porch. "Hey wait a sec." Sam looked at it closely.
Aeron turned and walked down to Sam. "What is it Sam?"
"I'm not so sure that's the problem."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked looking back at Sam. He came down to see what Sam was looking at as well as Aeron.
"You see this pattern here?" Sam tapped the five point symbol that was engraved into the urn. "That's a quincunx, that's a five-spot."
"Five-spot."
"Yeah."
"That's used for hoodoo spell work, isn't it?"
"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, white meat for hoodoo?"
"Maybe." Sam shrugged his shoulders.
"How about we find out." Aeron said with a small smile.
SPNSPN
The three of them entered the inn.
Susan walked briskly towards them. "May I help you?" She asked, looking at the three of them.
"Hi, yeah, I'd like a room for a couple of nights."
Sam had a young girl dart in front of him.
"Hey!" Susan yelled at her daughter. "Sorry about that."
"No problem." Sam said, offering her a small smile.
"Well, um, congratulations, you could be some of our final guests."
"Well. Sounds vaguely ominous." Dean said, crossing his arms.
"No, I'm sorry. I mean we're closing at the end of the month." She looked at the three of them. "Let me guess. You guys are here antiquing?"
Dean shared a why not look with Sam and Aeron. "How'd you know?" He asked, looking at her.
"Oh, you just look the type."
Dean looked uncomfortable.
"So, uh, king-sized bed?"
"What? No, uh, no, we're, we're… three singles. We're just brothers and she's a friend." Sam said looking at Susan shifting a little bit uncomfortable with what she thought. Why did people think that they were gay?
"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry."
"What'd you mean that we look the same?" Dean asked, looking at her.
Susan didn't answer them.
"You know, speaking of antiques, you have a really, really interesting urn on the front porch. Where did you get that?" Sam asked, looking at Susan.
"Oh, I have no idea, it's been there forever." She handed Dean a key to their room. "Here you go, Mr. Mahagov."
"Thanks." Dean said with a smile.
Susan dinged the bell. "You'll be staying in room 237. Sherwin, could you show these gentlemen and ladies to their rooms?"
Dean turned and saw the man Sherwin coming up behind him.
"Let me guess. Antiquers?" Sherwin asked, looking at the three of dragged Dean's duffel bag behind him and the three hunters followed him.
"I could give you a hand with that bag." Dean said softly, worrying about his bag a little bit.
"I got it."
"Okay."
"So the hotel's closing up, huh?" Sam asked as he felt Aeron's hand on his arm. He looked over and saw the pained expression. He knew what that meant. Her leg was beginning to bother her. Sam wrapped an arm around her and began to help her the best that he could without Dean seeing him helping her. He had gotten made fun of every time that he had helped her. It wasn't often that her leg would start bothering her, but it was only when it came to stairs he realized that she had problems. Her leg would ache and he would help her.
"Yep. Miss Susan tried to make a go of it, but the guests just didn't come like they used to. Still, it's a damn shame." Sherwin said, shaking his head.
"Oh really?" Aeron asked curiously, doing well in hiding the pain in her voice.
"It may not look like it anymore, but the 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. Here's your room."
Dean unlocked the door and opened it. He handed the key to Sam. as he was brushed by the two young hunters. Dean turned to shut the door.
Sherwin stood there with his hand out. "You're not gonna… cheap out on me, are you boy?"
Dean shrugged, looking annoyed.
Aeron rolled her eyes and pulled her wallet out. She grabbed two twenties and handed them to Sherwin. "Here." She said with a smile.
"Thank you, Miss."
Aeron nodded her head. "Welcome."
SNSNSN
Sam was going through the papers with Aeron.
Dean paced back and forth when he saw a wedding dress on the wall that was like a ghost. "What the…"
Sam looked up from the paper that he was reading. "What?"
"That's normal." He gestured to the dress. "Why the hell would anyone stay here? I'm amazed they kept in business this long."
Aeron rolled her eyes. She continued to look through the papers that she had in front of her. She bit her lower lip in thought as she looked.
"Alright." Sam rolled his eyes a little bit at what his brother said. "Victim number one. Joan Edison, forty three 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." Dean said, crossing his arms in thought.
"Yeah. 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, looking at his brother.
Sam shook his head. "No, it doesn't seem likely. I mean, she is the one selling."
"So what then, Sherwin?"
"I don't know."
"Of course, the most troubling question is why do these people assume we're gay?" Dean complained.
Aeron laughed at what Dean said.
Dean shot her a look.
"Well, you are kinda butch. Probably think you're overcompensating."
Dean mocked a laugh. "Right."
Aeron rolled her eyes. "It's true. "You kind of are a butch."
Dean sent a glare her way.
Aeron shrugged her shoulders not caring if she upsetted Dean or not.
SNSNSN
The three of them poked around the hallways to make sure that no one noticed that they weren't really what the people thought they were.
Sam saw another urn. He picked it up. He saw that it had a quincunx inscribed. "Hey look at that. More hoodoo."
The three of them approached a door marked private.
Dean knocked on the door.
Susan opened the door seeing the three of them there.
"Hi there." Dean said with a small smile.
"Hi. Everything okay with your room?"
"Yeah. Yea, yeah, everythings great. Yeah." Sam and Dean talked over each other.
Aeron shook her head. Boys, they just had to talk over one another.
"Well, I was, I was just in the middle of packing."
"Hey!" Dean said, looking past her. "Are those antique dolls? Because this one." He looked at Aeron instead of Sam. "This one here, she's got a major doll collection back home. Dontcha? Huh?"
Aeron rolled her eyes crossing her arms. Why did Dean have to drag her into this? She hated dolls. She shot him a look. "Yeah…"
"Big time." He said with a smile. "You think she could come… or we could come in and take a look?"
"I don't know…"
"Please? I mean, she loves them. She's not gonna tell you this, but she's always dressing them up in these tiny outfits and, um, you'd make her day. You…. she would huh? Huh?"
Aeron sent him a look that could possibly kill the older Winchester. "Yeah."
"Okay. Come on in."
"Alright. Alright!" Dean said with a pleased smile. He slapped her on the back before following her into the room.
Aeron glared at him.
"Sorry." Sam softly apologized for his brother's behavior.
She walked into the room with Sam right behind her. She shook her head. No, the one that needed to be sorry was the bow legged Winchester.
"Wow. There are a lot of dolls."
Aeron looked at the porcelain dolls. The one thing that she feared was those types of dolls. Her fingers fidgeted at her sides.
"I mean, they're nice, you know. Not super creepy at all."
"Yeah, I suppose they are a little creepy. But they've been in the family forever. A lot of sentimental value."
"What is this?" Sam questioned looking at the replica of the hotel. "The hotel?"
"Yeah, that's right. Exact replica, custom built."
Sam leaned down and picked up a broken doll from earlier. He frowned. "His head got twisted around. What happened to it?"
"Tyler probably."
Tyler ran into the room. "Mommy! Maggie's being mean."
"Tyler, tell her I said be nice, okay?"
Sam crouched down looking at Tyler. "Hey Tyler. I see you broke your doll. You want me to fix it?"
"I didn't break it. I found it like that."
"Oh. Well, uh, maybe Maggie did it."
"No, neither of us did it. Grandma would get mad if we broke 'em."
"Tyler, she wouldn't get mad." Susan told her daughter.
"Grandma?" Dean asked in confusion, looking at Susan.
"Grandma Rose. These were all her toys." Tyler told Dean, looking at him.
"Oh really. Where's Grandma Rose now?"
"Up in her room."
"You know, I'd, I'd, uh, I'd really love to talk to Rose about her incredible doll…" Sam said, standing up on his feet.
"No." Susan said, cutting Sam off. "I mean, I'm afraid that's impossible. My mother's been very sick and she's not taking any visitors."
SNSNSN
The three of them exited the room.
"Well, what do you think? Dolls, hoodoo, mysterious shut in grandma?" Dean asked, looking at the two of them.
"Well, dolls are used in all kinds of voodoo and hoodoo, like curses, and binding spells, and…"
"Yeah, maybe we've found our witch doctor. Alright, I'll see what I can go dig up on boomin granny. Aeron came with me. You go online, check old obits, freak accidents, that sort of thing, see if she's whacked anybody before."
"Right."
"Don't go surfing porn. That's not the kind of whacking I mean."
Sam rolled his eyes and went into their room.
Aeron smacks Dean.
"Ow what was that for?"
"Moron. One of the worst things that you could have done."
"What did I do?"
"I don't like porcelain dolls." She hissed out hating that she was telling Dean her fear of porcelain dolls.
"Are you scared of porcelain dolls?"
"They are creepy looking. They seem to have eyes that follow you." She shivered at the thought.
Dean clapped his hand on her shoulder. "Let's get information on Granny."
Aeron rolled her eyes and followed him.
SPNSPN
Dean and Aeron were outside meeting up with Susan. They heard that the lawyer was killed there at the hotel meaning that there was something major going on. They still hadn't found out who was doing this. They didn't even get the information on the grandmother. So they weren't even sure if it was her yet.
"What happened?" Dean asked Susan. He wanted to know what was going on.
"Oh, the maid went to turn down the sheets and he was just…. hanging there."
"That's awful. He was a guest?" Aeron asked softly, looking at the woman.
Susan nodded her head. "He worked for the company that bought the place."
Dean hummed at the thought.
"I don't understand."
"What?" Dean asked, looking at her.
"Had a lot of bad luck around here. Look, if you'd like to check out I'll give you a full refund." She told the two of them.
"No thanks. I don't scare that easily."
"Sorry Miss. I don't get scared that easily either." Aeron said with a nod of her head. "I'm gonna go and check on your brother."
Dean nodded his head. "I'm going with you."
Aeron nodded her head.
The two of them went back to the room going into full business mode entering the room.
"There's been another one. Some guy just hung himself in his room." Dean said, looking at his brother.
"Yeah. I saw." Sam said darkly. He was upset with himself that he couldn't stop it.
"We've gotta figure this out, and fast. What'd you find out about Granny?"
"You're the boss."
Dean looked around in surprise. "What?"
"You're bossy. And short." Sam laughed drunkenly.
Dean and Aeron's eyes widened.
"Are you drunk?" Dean asked in confusion. Of all times his baby brother just had to go and get drunk.
"Yeah." He laughed again. "So? Stupid."
Dean looked around and saw all of the empty bottles.
Aeron shook her head. "Why?"
"Dude, what are you thinking? We're working on a case." Dean scolded his brother.
Sam felt tears come to his eyes and he stared off into space looking at nothing. "That guy who hung himself. I couldn't save him."
"What are you talking about? You didn't know, you couldn't have done anything."
Sam's gaze went to his brother. "That's an excuse, Dean. I should have found a way to save him. I should have saved Ava too."
Aeron moved over to him slowly. "Sam." She said softly.
Dean came over. "Yeah, well, you can't save everyone. Even you said that."
Sam slammed the table with his hands. He didn't care if the one was bothering him because it was still in a cast. "No, Dean, you don't understand alright? The more people I save, the more I can change!"
"Change what?" Dean asked, wanting to know what the hell was going through Sam's head. Even in this drunken state it bothered him a lot.
Sam leaned forward a little bit and brought his hands up to his chest thinking about what he was going to say. "My destiny, Dean."
"Alright. Time for bed. Come on, Sasquatch." Dean said, shaking his head.
"I'll help you."Aeron said softly, helping Dean get Sam up onto his feet.
"I need to watch out for me." Sam told Dean, looking at his older brother.
"Yeah I always do."
"No! No, no, no. You have to watch out for me, alright? And if I ever… turn into something that I'm not... you have to kill me."
"Sam." Dean said in a dismissive tone.
Sam shoved the both of them to face his brother. "Dean. Dad told you to do it, you have to."
"Yeah, well, dad's an ass."
Sam frowned in confusion.
"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!"
"Yeah, well, I'm not dying, okay? And neither are you. Aeron's still alive and kicking. Come on Sam."
The two of them pushed Sam onto the bed but he stayed sitting up.
Sam clutched onto his brother's coat.
Dean's hand was on Sam's shoulder curling into the fabric of his shirt.
"No, please. Dean, you're the only one who can do it. Promise."
"Don't ask that of me."
"Dean, please. You have to promise me."
Dean pursed his lips. "I promise." He said softly.
"Thanks." Sam reached up and grabbed his brother's face with both of his hands. "Thank you. You are…"
"Alright, come on." Dean said, batting his brother's hands away.
Aeron pushed Dean lightly. "Go… I'll make sure he rests."
"Meet me down at the bar."
Aeron nodded her head. "Right."
Dean left the two of them. He could only hope that Aeron would have better luck with getting Sam to go to bed.
Aeron shook her head and looked at Sam. She didn't get a chance to say anything when she felt a pair of lips slightly chapped and warm on hers. Her eyes widened. Sam was kissing her and she was drunk.
Sam pulled away from her. "Find a good man…" He said falling back onto the bed rolling over and grabbing the pillow.
Aeron shook her head. She knew that he was out. "He's certainly going to have a hangover when he awakes." She said as she walked towards the door and slipped out of the room. She headed to the bar where Dean had asked her to join him at.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard about the other ones. It's almost like this hotel is, uh, cursed or something." Dean said, holding onto the glass that Sherwin had given to him.
Aeron came up beside Dean. "He's asleep." She told him softly. Her cheeks were still pink from the thought of Sam Winchester even kissing her.
"Every hotel has its blood spilled. If people only knew what's gone on in some of those rooms they've checked into." Sherwin told them.
"You know a lot about the place, don't you?" Dean asked curiously.
"Down to the last nail."
"We would love to hear some stories." Dean said with a smile.
"Boy, you should never say that to an old man."
Aeron grinned. "It's something we are curious about. We love hearing stories."
SNSNSN
Sherwin led them up the wide staircase showing the two of them old framed photographs on the walls. "This is little Miss Susan, and her mother Rose. Happier days." Sherwin said fondly.
"They're not happy now?" Dean asked in confusion.
"Well, would you be, leaving the only home you ever knew?"
Aeron looked down. She knew how that felt. She had done that with her grandfather's cabin. She hadn't set foot there since he had died.
"I don't know. I never really knew one." Dean said, shaking his head. He had spent so many years on the road in motels never having a real home.
"Well, this is Rose's home. 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."
"Yeah, that's too bad."
They started to go down the stairs.
"I hear Rose isn't feeling well, either."
Sherwin shook his head. "No, she isn't."
"What's wrong with her?"
"Not my business to say."
"Oh." Dean nodded his head. He looked at another photo of two little toddlers. "Who's this?"
Sherwin picked up the yellowing photograph of a girl sitting on a chair with a young black woman. "That's Rose, when she was a little girl."
"Who's that with her?"
"That's her nanny, Marie. She looked after Rose more than her own mother."
Dean frowned. He shared a look with Aeron.
Aeron nodded her head.
SNSNSN
Sam was kneeling miserable over the toilet.
Dean entered the room and a grin came across his lips. "How are you feeling, Sammy?" He said loudly.
Sam groaned.
"I'm guessing mixing whisky and Jager wasn't such a gangbuster idea, was it? I'll bet you don't remember a thing from last night, do you?"
Sam groaned again, rubbing his face a little bit. "Oh, I can still taste the tequila."
Dean smiled in relief. "You know, there's a really good hangover remedy… it's a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ashtray."
Sam heaved. "Oh, I hate you."
"I know you do."
Aeron came into the room with a glass.
"Is that a Bloody Mary?"
Aeron rolled her eyes. She walked over to Sam. "It's a virgin bloody mary." She told Dean to hand it to Sam.
"What…" Sam said in confusion.
"Drink it. It'll help." She said with a small smile.
Sam took a small drink of it.
"Hey, turns out when Grandma Rose was a tyke, she had a Creole nanny who wore a hoodoo necklace. Whoo."
"So you think she taught Rose hoodoo?" Sam asked before taking another drink of the virgin bloody mary that Aeron had given to him.
"Yes, I do."
"Alright." Sam slowly got up off the floor. "I think it's time we talked to Rose, then."
Dean grimaced. "Oh. You can brush your teeth first."
Aeron swatted Dean a little bit. "After he finishes drinking that hangover remedy I gave him."
Dean rolled his eyes.
SPNSPN
The three of them had gone to the door that was marked private after Sam had drank Aeron's remedy for a hangover.
Sam knocked on the door. "Hello? Susan?"
Dean looked around to make sure that no one was around.
"Clear?" Sam asked.
"Mm-hmm."
Sam got on his knees and pulled out his lock picks. He picked the lock letting the three of them into the room.
The three of them entered the room that was filled with dolls and went to the door in the back. They went through it to see a dimly lit staircase. They slowly walked up the stairs trying their best not to alert anyone that they were there. They slowly walked down the hallway and a door was ajar. They walked to it cautiously going into the room. They saw Rose sitting in a wheelchair facing the window.
"Mrs. Thompson? Mrs. Thompson?" Sam said softly, trying not to scare her.
She was trembling.
"Rose? Hi, Mrs. Thompson, we're not here to hurt you, it's okay."
She didn't respond, trembling more.
"Rose?" Sam looked at Dean. "Dean. Aeron." Sam said, looking at the table. "This woman had a stroke."
"Yeah, but hoodoo's hands-on, I mean, you've got to mix herbs, and chant, and build an altar." Dean said, looking around the room.
"Yeah. So it can't be Rose. Hey, maybe it's not even hoodoo."
"Or she could be faking."
Aeron rolled her eyes. "I don't think she's faking."
"What are you going to do Dean, poke her with a stick?" Sam questioned looking at his older brother.
Dean frowned. He nodded his head.
"Dude! You're not gonna poke her with a stick."
Susan entered the room. "What the hell? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, we just wanted to talk to Rose…"
"Well, the door was open…"
Aeron shook her head. Damn those brothers.
"Look at her, she is scared out of her wits. I want you out of my hotel in two minutes or I'm calling the cops." Susan told them.
The three of them left without saying a single word.
SNSNSN
The three of them quickly got into the Impala and left the parking lot.
"I have a bad feeling about this. There is something going on there." Aeron said looking back at the hotel that they had left.
Sam rubbed his face. "I know, but I don't think Susan would like us being there."
"But someone else is going to die."
SNSNSN
Sam saw a car heading towards Susan. He tackled her out of the way. Sam looked at her. "Are you okay?"
"I think so."
"Come on!" Aeron yelled from where she was at.
"Let's get inside." Dean said helping his brother with Susan getting her into the inn.
The four of them went into the bar and to a table.
"Whisky." Susan said softly.
"Sure. I know the feeling." Sam said softly to her. He went to get a glass and the whiskey.
"What the hell happened out there?"
"You want the truth?" Dean asked, looking at her.
"Of course."
"Don't think we are crazy alright. We get that enough." Aeron said, crossing her arms a little bit.
Susan nodded her head.
"Well, at first we thought it was some sort of hoodoo curse, but that out there? That was definitely a spirit." Dean explained.
Sam handed her a glass of whisky. "Here."
"You're insane." Susan said, looking at them.
"Yeah, it's been said." Dean said, running his fingers through his hair.
"Look, I'm sorry, Susan. We don't exactly have time to ease you into this, but we need to know when your mother had the stroke." Sam told her.
"What does that have to do with any…."
"Please just answer his question." Aeron said, cutting her off.
"About a month ago."
"Right before the killings began." Sam looked 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, thinking it over.
"Right, until she had a stroke and she couldn't anymore."
"I don't believe this."
Aeron rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"Listen, sister, that car didn't try to run you down by itself, okay? I mean, I guess it did, technically, but, but the spirit can…. forget it." Dean said scoffing.
"Look, believe what you want. 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." Sam interrupted what his brother was saying.
"Um, I only have one daughter." Susan revealed.
Aeron's eyes went wide.
"One?" Sam asked in confusion.
"I thought Tyler had a sister named Maggie." Dean said, looking at Susan.
"Maggie's imaginary." Susan told him.
"Where's Tyler?" Sam asked urgently.
"And we don't have much time." Aeron said, looking at the brothers.
They knew that what Aeron had said was very much true.
SNSNSN
Susan led them up to the playroom. "Tyler!" She yelled.
They ran into the room and saw the floor littered with broken dolls.
Susan felt fear rise inside of her. "Oh my god. Tyler." She ran out of the room. "Tyler!" She ran back into the room. "She's not here."
"Susan. Tell us what you know about Maggie." Sam trying to keep his voice calm trying to calm the woman.
"Uh, not much. Um, Tyler's been talking about her since Mom got sick."
"Okay, did you ever know anyone by that name?"
"Uh, no…"
"Think, think, I mean, somebody that could have lived here, might have passed away?" Dean questioned her.
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 questioned.
"She drowned in the pool."
Aeron closed her eyes. Really? It had to be the pool?
"Come on." Dean said to them.
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The four of them ran through the gardens to the pool house. They reached the doors and pounded on it.
Dean and Sam start pounding on the glass to try and break it.
"Tyler!" Susan yelled.
"Mommy!" Tyler yelled.
They heard a scream from inside.
"Is there another entrance?" Dean questioned Susan.
"Around back." Susan replied.
"Alright, let's go. Keep working." He told Sam and Aeron. Dean took off with Susan.
Sam and Aeron tried to break the glass.
Sam looked back and saw a potted plant. He pulled the plant out of it and picked up the pot. "Ry move."
Aeron moved quickly out of the way.
Sam slammed it into the door trying to get it to break the glass. He finally got it broken.
Aeron slipped through the opening and was gone.
Sam followed her quickly. He saw Aeron jump. He leapt up over the railing and down into the pool. He grabbed Tyler seeing that Aeron was pushing her up. Sam lifted her up into his arms. Sam brought her over to the edge as Dean and Susan ran in.
Tyler coughed and her eyes fluttered open.
"Thank god. Thank god, thank god."
"Mommy."
"Yeah, I'm here."
"Tyler, do you see Maggie anywhere?" Sam asked.
"No, she's gone. Mommy."
Dean looked at Sam. "Sam, where is Ryan?"
Sam's eyes widened. He thought that she would be with him at the edge of the pool. He turned and moved quickly back towards where Tyler was. He slipped under the water and saw that Aeron was at the bottom of the pool. He swam down to her and gathered her into his arms. He swam up to the surface quickly bringing her over to the edge of the pool.
"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered.
Sam laid her down on the edge. He brought his head down to her chest and tried to see if she was breathing. "Dean."
Aeron turned her head coughing up the water that she had swallowed.
Sam and Dean looked at one another in relief.
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Susan held her daughter close to her as they went up to Rose's room. "Don't worry honey, we're leaving in two minutes, we've just got to get grandma."
Dean looked at the two young hunters. "I don't get it, did Maggie just stop?"
"Seems like it."
"Well, where the hell did she go?"
Susan screamed.
The three hunters ran up the stairs and went to Rose's room to find her dead in her wheelchair.
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Susan looked at the three hunters. "Paramedics said it was another stroke. Do you think… Margaret could have had something to do with it?"
"We don't know." Dean said, crossing his arms.
"But it is possible. Yeah." Sam ran his hand through his hair. "Susan, I'm sorry."
Susan looked at Sam. "You have nothing to apologize for. You've given me everything." She saw her daughter come out. "Ready to go, kiddo?"
"Yeah."
"Now Tyler, you're sure Maggie's not around anymore?" Dean questioned the little girl.
"I'm sure. I'd see her."
"I guess whatever's going on must be over."
Sam opened the door of the taxi for them. "You two take care of yourselves, alright?"
Susan got her daughter into the taxi. She turned and gave Sam a hug.
Dean smirked.
"Thank you. The three of you." She got into the taxi.
Sam closed the door. He walked over to his brother and Aeron.
"Think you could have hooked up some MILF action there, bud. I'm serious, I think she liked you."
Aeron smacked Dean.
Dean rubbed his arm.
"Yeah, that's all she needs." Sam said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, you saved the mom, you saved the girl. Not a bad day. Course you know, I could have saved 'em myself, but I didn't want you two to feel useless."
Aeron rolled her eyes.
"Alright, I appreciate it."
"Feels good getting back in the saddle, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does. But it doesn't change what we talked about last night, Dean."
"We talked about a lot of things last night."
"You know what I mean."
"You were wasted."
"But you weren't. And you promised."
They got into the car. Sam looked out the window broodingly. Dean flicked his eyes towards his brother full of anxiety. They pulled away from the inn.
"What happened back there with Aeron?" Dean questioned looking back at her.
Aeron cleared her throat. "Can't swim."
Sam looked back at her. "And you thought that it was wise to jump into the pool when you know you can't swim?" His voice laced over with concern.
"I wasn't thinking. I was thinking that a girl's life was more important." Aeron said looking out the window. "It's a lapse of judgment. Don't fault me for it."
Sam couldn't believe that she would do something so reckless. But he was glad that Tyler was alive and he was glad that he was able to save Aeron from drowning in the pool. His thoughts went back to what he and Dean had talked about the night before. He thought he passed out after talking to Dean. But there was something telling him that there was something else that had happened. But what it was, he couldn't remember.
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That is the end of Chapter 12 of Temporary Home. What did you guys think? Please let me know in a review. Should Sam remember at some point that he had pissed Aeron? And what did you guys think of learning something else about Aeron? Please review and I will get the next chapter out soon. Until next time.