Title: That's What You Get For Waking Up in Vegas
Author:
princess_schezCharacter(s)/Pairing(s): Sam, Dean
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,500+ (total for both parts)
Warnings: Some language and violence, spoilers for S6.
Author's Notes: . Takes place in between "Mommy Dearest” and "The Man Who Would Be King.” Since there is no clearly defined timeline between those two episodes (as listed by
hells_half_acre's incredible timeline
here), I decided to place this near Sam's birthday. Beta'd by the talented
sendintheklowns and
lisa725. Title is from the song, "Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry. Banner by me.
Summary: Helping out one of their father's old friends, Sam and Dean travel to Las Vegas to investigate a reported haunted casino. Written for the
50states_spn community challenge.
Part 1
The drive was boring. But then, long car trips, traveling from place to place - often times cross-country - was always the boring part of their job. And now, Sam was having a hard time keeping the boredom at bay. He could only look out at the same desert landscape for so long, and it didn’t help that Dean had been listening to the same couple of cassettes since leaving the California coast hours ago. Sam had insisted they step away from hunting, even for just a day, to clear their heads from the burden of learning there was a possibility that their angel friend was secretly helping their enemy.
It had been a lot for Dean to absorb. Hell, it had been hard for either of them to believe. But it seemed to be hitting Dean the hardest. After all, Cas had been the one who had pulled him out of Hell.
Sam sighed, watching as the mountains and various cacti whizzed by them in a blur. They rode in silence. Dean was being unusually quiet and not like himself - that is, until his cell phone rang, cutting through the sounds of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” guitar rift on the speakers.
It had been a pretty interesting call from what Sam could hear of the one-sided conversation. Their father was mentioned, and Dean conducted the usual inquisition they put people who called them out of the blue through. Dean’s facial expressions went from disbelief to surprise before going back to the almost-scowl he’d been wearing lately.
When Dean finally closed his phone, Sam was dying to know who called, but his brother only cleared his throat, driving on for a few minutes, during which Sam guessed his brother was still processing the strange call.
"So,” Dean said, finally breaking the agonizing silence. “Supposedly one of Dad's old friend's, Zach McLachlan, called and asked if we could come down to Vegas for the weekend and investigate a reported haunted hotel room." The scowl on his face slowly turned into a grin, the first of any smile Sam had seen on his brother’s face in a while. "Since we're not doing anything at the moment, saving the world-wise, I told 'em we could come over and check the place out."
Sam wasn’t sure what to say. He was surprised that someone claiming to know their dad had called, and he was surprised they hadn’t heard about him before. But then, there was still a lot about their dad they didn’t know.
Dean quickly shot a look at his brother, who wasn't giving him the reaction he'd expected. He figured Sam would be just as excited as he was over the prospect of finally having a case pop up in Sin City. It was something to, at least, distract them for the moment.
"What?" he asked, turning his attention back to driving. "This is what we've been looking for, to investigate something in Vegas for a change and not some dinky-ass little town!"
"Well, how much time will we actually get to spend there if we're investigating?" Sam asked, amazed at how Dean actually seemed excited - even … dare he think it … happy - for a change. It beat moody, depressed Dean any day, and Sam was glad for that.
"Trust me; we'll have plenty of time. It's just a simple little ghosty problem," Dean replied. "Salt and burn the bones, and we'll have the rest of the weekend to kick back and relax. Besides, how often do we get to do something exciting? And considering your birthday is coming up …."
Sam just nodded as images of how wrong this weekend could turn out played in his head. Dean would totally be in his element at the party capital of the world; he could just see it now. Sam couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of this, and Dean noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing," Sam lied. "So, um, what do we know so far about the case? And I didn’t know Dad had any friends left - especially ones that sound as if they were still on speaking terms with him."
"Dad was full of surprises, I guess. And the job seems to be pretty straightforward in that a woman jumped from the fourteenth floor at the Luxor casino, and she's been haunting it ever since."
“Anything else we should know?”
“Just that the girl keeps appearing in the fourteenth floor hallway, and more specifically, near the room in question. It must be bad for business ‘cause they can’t seem to rent anything on that floor without guests leaving in the middle of the night,” Dean replied.
Sam nodded his head as he leaned back into the well-worn seat of the Impala, feeling how good it was to just have a simple case to look forward to. No demon-helping angels or supposedly-dead rulers of Hell to deal with. Just a simple ghost case to get lost in.
-0-
Having just passed through the tiny town of Baker, California, home of the world’s largest thermometer, it was Dean who commented on it first.
“Looks rather phallic if you ask me.” He chuckled quietly to himself. “Though, I’ve been told mine is bigger.”
Sam just closed his eyes. Though it was nice to hear Dean make a joke, he just wished he could tune out his brother’s 12-year-old sense of humor.
After another 30 minutes, they were finally in the Promised Land, having crossed over the state line. The sun was just starting to set behind the mountains, leaving trails of dark crimson streaks across the sky.
Off in the distance, both brothers could see the tiny pinprick lights of Las Vegas shining over the mountain range like a welcome beacon. Sam wanted to cheer. They would be reaching civilization soon, and he could finally get out of this car and straighten out his legs, which were beyond cramped. He felt like an intricately folded origami and wondered how long it would take before he regained feeling in them.
Before long, they passed by the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Dean couldn’t keep the smile off his face now. He was a like a kid at Disneyland. Even Sam had to admit that this place looked pretty awesome.
Dean let out a low whistle. “Look at this place, Sammy. This is freaking cool!”
“Sure is.”
“You know, when you were off at Stanford doing the whole geek-boy college thing, Dad and I came here to help some hot show-girl chick with a poltergeist problem. Afterwards, it was one of the best weekends of my life.”
“Lemme guess, you gave her the ol’ Dean Winchester weekend special?” Sam asked, trying to keep the smirk off his face and not caring that he was indulging his brother’s immature humor.
“Bite your tongue; you say that like it’s a bad thing. I’ll have you know …”
“Digressing now,” Sam interrupted, clearing his throat and trying to keep any unwanted mental images from entering his head. That was the last thing he needed and the last thing he thought of before Dean slammed on the breaks and cursed loudly.
“Aw, c’mon! I had the right of way, you douche!” Dean shook his fist and a certain finger at a cab driver who’d deliberately cut him off.
"That's the thing with big cities, traffic is always a nightmare," Sam commented. "And, by the looks of things, there's roadwork up ahead too." He pointed to a spot where yellow flashing lights and orange cones indicated impending road construction.
"Damn it," Dean muttered darkly.
-0-
They arrived at the Luxor resort later than they wanted, owing to the fact that even just the short drive they had to reach it turned out longer due to traffic, tourists jaywalking, and road construction.
"If there’s one thing I hate about this place," Dean said, throwing the demon-killing knife into the trunk and locking the Impala's doors, "it’s that traffic is a nightmare."
"Hard to imagine, but it's actually worse in L.A. than it is here."
"Yeah, well, it still blows. At least Vegas has other aspects that more than make up for it. I mean, how many other places can you think of where they have a giant Sphinx replica?” Dean looked at his brother with a smile on his face, indicating the large human head set upon the body of the lion. “Where else can you jump from Egypt to Paris in under 10 minutes?”
“True.”
The Egyptian theme outside the Luxor carried over heavily in the inside, too. Every space, nook and cranny their eyes fell upon was themed. Even the cocktail waitresses’ uniforms - if that’s what they could even be called - fit in with the decor.
Sam was going to comment on this to his brother, but Dean was already cattle-driving him by the arm over to the lobby where a busty receptionist was busy typing something and balancing a phone in the crook of her neck.
“Excuse me, miss?” Dean asked. She looked up and smiled widely when she saw them, but her eyes were mainly focused on the elder brother.
“Hello! Are you staying at the hotel?” she asked pleasantly, hanging up the phone.
“Of course,” Dean began. “My brother and I are in town for the weekend on work-related business.” Sam wasn’t sure whether Dean was intentionally flirting or if the receptionist was doing all the work, but Sam couldn’t help but mentally rolling his eyes - silently coming to the conclusion that he just couldn’t take Dean - the walking chick magnet - anywhere. Clearing his throat, he broke the eye contact between the receptionist and his brother. This had to end; there were more important matters afoot.
“This must be your brother,” she said, giving Sam a very meaningful smile, to which he nodded his head ever so slightly.
“Um, Dean, we really should be looking for our friend,” he added with hidden emphasis on the word ‘friend.’ Dean got the hint and turned his attention back to the girl, eyeing the nametag on her ample chest.
“You’re right. Well, it was nice talking to you, Nicole, but we’re trying to find our friend, Zach McLachlan. He said he worked here. He knew our dad, and we’re trying to catch up for old time’s sake.”
Dean had a smile plastered across his face. He was a pro at getting women to do what he wanted, whether for personal gain or not.
“Sure thing! I’ll just go grab him real fast. Nice talking to you, Dean.” Hurriedly she scribbled something onto a piece of paper and slipped it into his hand, winking coquettishly before leaving to grab Zach for them. Sam had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was written on that paper.
Dean had a particular gift when it came to the ladies, considering they weren’t in this casino more than a few minutes, and his brother already had a hook-up waiting to happen. Whether it was intention on Dean’s part or not, but five minutes after meeting one, he could have them ready to take their clothes off in a heartbeat. This had to be some kind of a record, even for Dean.
Though, whether his brother actually followed through was another. Since his imploded relationship with Lisa, Dean hadn’t even so much as shown interest in another woman. Sam wasn’t sure if he was just going through the motions for the sake of the case right now or not.
As the girl left and an older man appeared, Sam noticed that his brother slipped the paper inside his pants pocket.
-0-
"I'm glad you guys could make it on such short notice," Zach greeted, the moment he saw Sam and Dean standing the lobby.
Zach McLachlan was in his 50s with tanned skin, blue eyes, and dark brown hair streaked with grey. He seemed generally friendly as he shook the brothers' hands.
"We're glad we could make it, too," Sam replied, as Zach called over to a woman that he was taking his break and then led the boys into the vacant employee break room for privacy.
"So how exactly did you know our dad?" Dean asked, taking a seat at a small, circular table. Dean wasn’t much of one for preamble, especially when it came to people claiming to know their dad. One could never be too careful.
"He saved my butt on a few occasions," replied Zach with a grin. "I was a complete skeptic, didn't believe a thing about the paranormal until weird, unexplainable stuff started happening to me. John came to town and solved my demon problems. We had a few beers, did the whole guy bonding thing, stuff like that. The rest is, as they say, history.”
To confirm his statement, he pulled out a rumpled piece of paper from his wallet and handed it to Dean for the brothers to see. It was a picture of John Winchester standing in front of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Dean flipped the picture over, and scribbled on the back was their dad’s cell number as well as Dean’s.
Dean looked over the picture for a moment, thinking over what Zach had told him. Their dad was not the type to ‘bond’ with other people. But then again, he did have a son with a nurse neither brother had known anything about until actually meeting him a few years ago, or at least the ghoul version of him, so anything was possible with John.
While the pic of their father was interesting, what caught Sam’s attention was a glimpse of something shiny and dark nestled alongside a picture of a young woman with dark, wavy hair and striking eyes. Zach saw Sam looking at it and pulled it out. It was a lock of brunette hair tied together with black ribbon.
“My daughter’s,” he said with a hint of wistfulness in his voice. “She’s all grown up now and has her own family on the other side of the country. I keep this as a reminder of her. It makes me feel close to her.”
Dean shot a look at his brother before turning back to Zach, photo in hand.
“So what seems to be the problem now?” Dean inquired. “You mentioned something on the phone about a ghost haunting one of the upper floors.”
“I must be attractive to ghosts or something, because almost as soon as I started working here a few months ago, I felt something weird."
"Like what?" Dean asked.
"I was up on the fourteenth floor - I had left something up in room 1408 - when an awful cold spot seemed to follow me around. I had a sinking feeling, and having already dealt with prior supernatural experiences, I realized it was a ghost. I only saw her out of my peripheral vision, but I could definitely make her out to be a woman."
"Could you make anything else out on her? Any kind of identifying features?" inquired Sam.
Zach's face scrunched up as he tried to remember. “Kinda. Like I said, I only saw her out of my peripheral vision; but from what I could see, she was a bloody mess. She did have dark hair and kind of a petite frame.”
“Any chance you might know her name?”
“No. I did try asking around, but the only info I could get was that she jumped around the time I started here. I just don’t wanna keep bringing it up, as I'm afraid I’ll lose my job if the upper management thinks I’m nuts. So if you guys could keep it quiet, I would appreciate that.”
“Trust me, it’s not a problem,” Dean replied.
“I can take you guys up to the room, but then I’ll have to leave and head back to work. And thankfully, the room’s vacant and the surrounding ones are, too, so nobody should disturb your investigation.”
-0-
“Jumping off the fourteenth floor … damn, I can think of better ways to go,” Dean muttered to himself, looking over the handrail and taking in the sense of just how far a drop it was. Not that Dean was afraid of heights, but the almost tiered layout of the floors below gave him a slight feeling of vertigo, so he gripped the handrail tighter than he needed to. He hoped Sammy would be able to do his geek bit and get the info they needed quickly.
Backing away, he opened the room door using the card key Zach gave him, and then he pulled out his EMF meter with his free hand as he closed the door, not wanting the other guests to see what he was doing. Squinting in the darkness, Dean turned on a small lamp by the bed and looked around, immediately setting out to do an EMF sweep. The detector hummed and groaned loudly almost as soon as he turned it on. Checking to make sure nothing electronic hindered the reading, Dean smiled. There was definitely something supernatural here. The rhythmic noise was like music to his ears, but the goose bumps on his arms signified something else. Dean looked up.
Standing just a few feet from him was the form of a transparent young woman, arms outstretched, blood dripping from her head and the corners of her mouth. A low gurgle escaped from her mouth as she flicked in and out from sight, her dark hazel eyes focusing on Dean.
Dean watched her for a second before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and everything went black.
Part Two...