Cherry Pie

Like, A Virgin

[Rayne]

Dean and I stood in front of the stairs of the mansion, right between two large urns, looking up at the building in awe. "Cas said two mysterious deaths?" I asked.

"That's what he said."

"And we have nothing else to go on?"

"Nothing."

"So this is just a figure-out-what's-killing-the-maids-before-it-kills-you type of hunt?"

"Seems like."

"Should be interesting," I mumbled under my breath.

"This is sweet!" Dean said. "I never get to work jobs like this."

"Like what?"

"Old school haunted houses, you know? Fog and secret passageways... sissy, British accents. Might even run into Fred and Daphne while we're inside." He closed his eyes briefly and chuckled. "Mmm...Daphne. Love her."

I raised an eyebrow at Dean. "Is that right?"

He gave me a cocky grin. "Yeah. Might have something to do with the fact that she's a sexy redhead." He winked at me. "I seem to have a thing for those."

Hopefully the embarrassing flush on my cheeks wasn't visible. I was a mature, grown-up woman — comments like that weren't supposed to fluster me.

Instead, I turned to look at him and asked, "Ready, Freddy?"

He looked down at me with an eager smile. "Let's do this."

We intertwined our fingers and headed up to the wide double-doors.

~~~

I was admiring the gorgeous, wooden interior of the foyer when an attractive woman entered through the entryway behind us and took a spot behind the check-in desk. She smiled at us professionally. "Hello, I'm Susan. May I help you?"

"Hi, yeah, I'd like a room for a couple of nights," Dean said.

As I moved to stand next to him, a young girl darted in front of me, laughing. For a moment, I thought I heard someone else's laughter but the four of us were the only ones in the room.

"Hey!" Susan shouted at the girl before glancing at me. "Sorry about that," she apologized.

A slight vibration ran down my spine and my eyes narrowed in alert at the warning. The sensation usually meant that danger was close by. Twisting my head, I looked for any signs of a threat, but all appeared calm. I mentally shook off the feeling and turned back to Susan. There was plenty of time to figure out what was wrong with the place, but first we needed an in.

"No problem," I told her.

"Well, um, congratulations," she said to us. "You could be some of our final guests."

"Sounds vaguely ominous," Dean remarked as he handed her his credit card.

"No, I'm sorry, I mean we're closing at the end of the month." She then paused to appraise the two of us. "Let me guess, honeymoon?"

Dean and I shared a 'why not?' look. "How'd you know?" he asked.

Susan smiled. "You have that newlywed glow about you."

That was probably just the heavy make-out session we had outside not even five minutes ago. Surprisingly, Dean didn't seem too freaked out by the comment; he even put an arm around me and smiled at her. I mentally tucked away that revelation for later.

"So, uh, king-sized bed?" she asked.

"Yes!" I confirmed before Dean could say anything else. I probably sounded way too eager, but I spent way too long sleeping on my own. I missed falling asleep next to him.