Secrets Will Kill You

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We got to where Sam wanted to and we walked inside the apartment, going to the living room and seeing blood everywhere with a guy dead in the bed. We found sulfur and Sam found a ring…the girl he told us about, Ava, was missing. We’ve all been staying in a motel room for about a month, just trying to find this girl and today, as Brit and I were helping Sam with some research, Dean came in with four cups of coffee. I was on the phone with Ellen. I sighed.

“Okay, thanks Ellen” I said and hung up.

“What’d she have to say?” Dean asked.

“She’s got nothing” I tossed my phone in front of me on the bed. I still felt Dean’s eyes on me but I ignored him as I tried to focus on this girl.

“We’ve been checking every database we could think of…federal, state and local” Brit added. “No one’s heard anything about Ava…she just…into thin air, you know? What about you?” Sam asked.

“No, same as before, sorry man” Dean said.

“Ellen did have one thing though” Sam said, looking at me. “Hm?” Dean waited for me to talk.

I looked between them and looked at Dean. “A hotel in Cornwall, Connecticut…two freak accidents in the past three weeks” I told him. “What does that have to do with Ava?” Dean asked.

“It’s a job…I mean, a lady drowned in the bathtub, then a few days ago, guy falls down the stairs, head turns a complete 180. Which isn’t exactly normal, you know? Look, I don’t know…it might be nothing. But Sam wanted me to tell Ellen we’d think about checking it out” I said, putting my hands up saying it wasn’t my idea, it was his.

“You did?” Dean asked his brother.

“Yeah. You seem surprised”

“Well, it’s just not the patented Sam Winchester way, is it?”

“And what way is that?”

“I just figured after Ava, there’d be more angst, droopy music, staring out the rainy windows…”

Sam gave him a look as I snickered but quickly recovered and then Brit gave me a look. “Okay, I’ll shut up now” Dean said quickly.

“Look, I’m the one who told her to go back home. Now, her fiancée’s dead, and some demon has taken her off to God-knows-where, you know? We’ve been looking for a month now. We’ve got nothing. So, I’m not giving up on her, but I’m not gonna let other people die either. We’ve gotta save as many people as we can”

“Wow. That attitude is just way too healthy for me. I’m officially uncomfortable now. Thank you” Dean said and Sam laughed as Brit and I did too but quieter.

“All right, call Ellen. Tell her we’ll take it” Dean said and then looked at me again. “I’m right on it” I said and stood up, picking up my phone to walk outside.

The whole time I felt him watching me as I walked out. It’s been about month now since the Gordon thing…and we haven’t talked about it once. We haven’t even tried to talk about it. We didn’t want to talk about it…well…at least, I didn’t.

~~~

We all pulled up outside the building and we all got out. “Dudes, this is sweet! We never got to work a job like this!” Dean said excitedly. “Like what?” Brit asked.

“Old-school haunted houses, you know? Fog, secret passageways, sissy British accents. We might even run into Fred and Daphne while we’re inside” Then he chuckled. “Mmm Daphne. Love her” he added as we all walked toward the door.

I rolled my eyes at him and then saw Brit had stopped. “Hey, wait a sec. I’m not so sure haunted is the problem” she stated.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked and she pointed at an urn so we all looked. It had some kind of weird symbol on it.

“You see this pattern here?”

“That’s a quincunx. It’s a five-spot” Sam finished.

“A five-spot?” Dean asked.

“Yeah”

“That’s used for hoodoo spellwork, isn’t it?” I questioned.

“Right. You fill this thing with bloodweed, you’ve got a powerful charm to ward off enemies” Brit answered.

“Yeah, except I don’t see any bloodweed. Don’t you think this place is a little too white-meat for hoodoo?” Dean asked. “Maybe” Sam said and we all walked inside and walked over to the front desk.

A woman was standing there with a name tag that said Susan. “May I help you?”

“Hi, yeah. I’d like a room for a couple of nights…” Dean said.

Susan eyed me with a small smile. “One room with a king size I’m assuming” she smiled.

Dean and I looked at each other. “Oh, no, no, no…we’re not…” I started to say as Dean cleared his throat awkwardly. “No. We’re not…” he confirmed, shaking his head.

Then she looked at Sam who stood right beside Dean and then eyed them both. “What? Umm no, no. We’re just brothers” Sam said quickly and Brit and I were holding back our giggles and were trying so hard to just not laugh.

“Oh…oh I’m so sorry” Susan said. “Okay, you boys figure out the room situation” I said, patting Dean on the back and Brit and I walked away to look at some of the antiques and pictures.

“You know…you cant just avoid him forever” Brit whispered.

“I know that. How can I? It’s not like we’re in high school and we can just avoid each other for the rest of our lives…I’m being civil with him so leave me alone” I pouted a little and she laughed lightly.

“Hey girls” Dean called lightly.

We looked over at him and he was waving us over. We followed the bellhop, Sherwin, up the stairs and as we got Sam and Dean to carry our bags, Sherwin was dragging Dean’s bag up each step.

“I can give you a hand with that bag” Dean tried. “I’ve got it” he replied with his old man, cracking voice. “Okay” he sang.

“So, the hotel’s closing up, huh?” Sam asked.

“Yep. 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”

“Oh, yeah?” Brit urged as we reached the top and started walking down a hallway.

“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. Here’s your room” he said and unlocked the door for us.

We all walked in throwing our bags onto two of the bags and I turned to see Dean reluctantly going into his pocket to tip Sherwin and I laughed to myself.

~

A little bit later, Sam and Brit were still going through some paper stuff as Dean and I sat in two chairs on opposite sides. As the two got to work, Dean and I wouldn’t take our eyes off of each other. Honestly…I just wanted to just kiss him right then and there…and he seemed to want to do the same by the way he would make his leg bounce a little and make it seem like he was about to jump toward me. But, he restrained. I tried to take my eyes away from him and just ignore his green-eyed stare…but I couldn’t. Then…he was the one who looked away first as he did a double take to look over at the wall.

“What the…” he started to chuckle. I looked too and saw an old, very ugly dress hanging on the wall. “What the hell?” I chuckled as well.

Sam and Brit looked up. “What?” they both asked.

Dean pointed as I nodded at the dress. Then both looked at it. “That’s normal” Dean said, sarcastically. “Why the hell would anyone stay here?” he questioned.

“I’m amazed they kept in business this long” I added.

They both ignored us. “All right. Victim number one…Joan Edison, forty-three years old, a realtor, handling the sale of the hotel” Sam said. “And victim number two was Larry Williams, moving some stuff out to Goodwill” Brittney added.

“Well, there’s a connection. They’re both tied up in shutting the place down” I stated.

“Yeah. Maybe someone here doesn’t wanna leave and they’re using hoodoo to fight back” Sam said. “Who do you think the witch doctor is? That Susan lady?” Dean asked.

“That doesn’t seem likely. I mean, she’s the one selling” Brit said.

“So, what then? Sherwin?”

“I don’t know” Sam answered.

“Of course, the most troubling question is, why do people assume we’re gay?”

Brit and I were trying to hold back our laughter again.

“Well, you are kind of butch. But I think you’re overcompensating” Sam said.

Dean forced a sarcastic smile. “Right”

~~~

Now…thanks to Sam and Brittney…Dean and I were wondering the halls in the most awkward silence ever. She told me not to interfere when she’s the one interfering…oh she was going to get it.

“So…are you going to give me the silent treatment forever?” he finally spoke. “Not forever…just when Sam and Brittney aren't around” I answered.

“You don’t want to do that”

“I do want to do that and I will do it”

“I don’t believe you”

I stayed silent. Then I nodded at a vase. “Look…more hoodoo” I said and then knocked on the door, next to it.

Susan answered. “Hi there” Dean spoke.

“Hi. Everything okay with your room?”

We both spoke nervously and simultaneously, saying it was great. “Good. Well, I was just in the middle of packing, so…”

I looked around her into the room. “Hey, are those antique dolls?” Dean asked, beating me to it. “Cause this one here…she’s got a major doll collection back home” he said and my jaw clenched as I glared at him.

“Don’t you?” Dean raised his eyebrows at me, grinning a smart ass grin. I looked at Susan. “Oh yea…big time” I said.

“Big time. You think we could come in and take a look?”

“I don’t know” Susan said, unsure.

“Please? I mean, she loves them. She’s not gonna tell you this, but she’s always dressing them up in these little, tiny outfits, and you’d make her day”

I stared at him wide eyed and then sighed. “It’s true” I said, monotonously.

“Okay. Come on in” she said and turned around to let us in.

I smacked Dean upside the head and he just chuckled as we walked in. we looked around and there were dolls everywhere. “Wow. This is a lot of dolls. Nice, you know…not super-creepy at all” he said and I nudged him.

She laughed. “Yeah, I suppose they are a little creepy. But they’ve been in the family forever. A lot of sentimental value”

I walked over to a doll house that looked exactly like the hotel. “What is this? The hotel?” I questioned.

“Yeah, that’s right. Exact replica, custom-built”

I got a good look at one of the tiny dolls laying at the bottom of the stair case in the dollhouse. “His head got twisted around. What happened to it?” I asked.

“Tyler, probably” Susan said and then a little girl came walking in with Sam and Brit behind her.

“She wanted to show us the dolls” Brit said slowly as her and Sam looked around the room.

“Mommy, Maggie’s being mean” the little girl whined. “Tyler, tell her I said to be nice, okay?” Susan said.

“Hey, Tyler. I see you broke your doll. You want me to fix it?” I asked.

“I didn’t break it. I found it like that” she stated.

“Well, maybe Maggie did it” Brit suggested.

“No, neither of us did it. Grandma would get mad if we broke them”

“Tyler, she wouldn’t get mad” Susan said.

“Grandma?” Sam questioned.

“Grandma Rose. These were all her toys”

“Oh, really…where’s Grandma Rose now?” Dean asked.

“Up in her room”

“You know, I’d really love to talk to Rose about her incredible doll…” I started.

“No” Susan said, abruptly and we were all confused. “I mean…I’m afraid that’s impossible. My mother’s been very sick, and she’s not taking any visitors” she said and we all glanced at each other.

We left and started walking back to the room. “Well, what do you guys think? Dolls, hoodoo, mysterious shut-in grandma?” I asked.

“Well, dolls are used in all kinds of voodoo and hoodoo, like curses and binding spells” Sam replied.

“Yeah, maybe we’ve found our witch doctor. Melissa and I will go see what we can dig up on Booming Granny. You and Brittney get online, check old obits, freak accidents, that sort of thing. See if she’s whacked anybody before"

“Right” Brit nodded.

“And make sure he doesn’t go surfing porn, that’s not the kind of whacking I mean” Dean winked at Brit and she laughed as I smiled, rolling my eyes and Sam just looked at him with a clenched jaw.

Dean and I began to walk off as Sam and Brit went in the direction of our room. We were silent. I felt him glance at me a few times and I could feel like he wanted to say something…but he restrained. We got to the stairs and I started we walked down them side by side but when we came to a landing, he got in front of me causing me to stop walking.

“Come on Mel…so the crazy, psychopath told me your life story…so what?” he finally said, smiling at me.

“Dean, I know how you feel about Sam…I know you’re getting scared because of what he could become…I know because I feel the same way of Brittney…” I hissed at him. “And now that you know I am or was half demon or whatever, you’re scared of me…”

“I’m not scared of you…yea, I’m a little intimidated, maybe, but I’m not scared…Melissa, you are human. You have feelings unlike a demon, you can drink holy water and not have it burn your insides unlike a demon. Sure, you have weird visions and feelings sometimes but so does Sam…Brittney…I’ve even had a fair share…and yea your senses are enhanced or whatever, but you’re human because you’re still in this thing to protect people”

I stayed silent again. “I’m sorry…” he added, sticking his hands in his jacket and looking down slightly. “About your mom…about what happened to her…about what she did”

“It’s fine…” I murmured. “I didn’t know her…I knew my step mom all my life so she was really my mom…my real mom deserved it anyway for cheating on my dad” I said with venom.

He just stared at me with sad eyes. I looked away at the open hotel door, leading to outside and then so did he. We walked outside and saw Susan was talking to the police. Once she finished, we walked over to her.

“What happened?” he asked.

“The maid went in to turn down the sheets, and he was just…hanging there”

“That’s awful. He was a guest?” I asked her.

“He worked for the company that bought the place. I don’t understand”

“What?”

“I’ve had a lot of bad luck around here. Look, if you’d like to check out, I’ll give you a full refund”

“No, thanks…” Then he looked at me. “We don’t scare that easy” I looked up slightly at him and just stared at him.