Women In The Night

All Star Hostel

Dean was in the middle of formulating a plan to confront the person at the front desk in order to get access to the guest log when she noticed something by the front door.

There was a small symbol in what looked like red paint right on the corner brick; a three-pointed knot with a circle in it. Dean recognized it immediately.

“Dean?” Sera asked, obviously noticing her pause, “Did you see something?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, tapping the symbol, “You were right – Mom was here. C’mon.”

Dean opened the door and held it for Sera, allowing them a look inside.

Dean had never stayed at a hostel before, so she didn’t really know what to expect. Honestly, she felt like she was introducing, as the “lobby” of the hostel was styled like someone’s front room. The area had wooden floors as well as a handful of armchairs, a TV on the wall, a coffee table with some books and magazines, and a bunch of different paintings and photos.

There were a couple of people in the room – a middle-aged woman typing away on a laptop by the TV, a young man reading a book who looked up at their arrival, and a person about their age who forced a smile behind the front desk.

“Hello,” they greeted cheerfully, adjusting their glasses and picking up a pen as the two approached, “and welcome to All Star Hostel! How can I help you today?”

“We’re looking for someone,” Dean said, approaching the counter and leaning an elbow on it, noticing how the person’s cheeks turned a little pink and they leaned back a bit, “and we think she might be staying here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the receptionist said pleasantly, “but I can’t divulge any information for our guests. Confidentiality and all that.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Dean sighed, leaning forward a bit and pushing one of her hands through her hair, “It’s just...well, it’s my mom that we’re looking for, and I’m really worried about her. Can you at least tell me if she passed through here? She’d be about 5’6 – a little shorter than me – with blonde hair like mine but longer, probably had an aviator jacket?”

“Um….that does sound familiar,” the person said, eyeing Dean up. It was clear that they wanted to help, but they also didn’t want to break any rules.

“Look,” Dean said, dropping her voice and turning so she was fully facing the receptionist, “I could really use your help here, um…?”

“Muse.”

“Right. Well, Muse, the last thing I want to do is cause any trouble, and I could care less about the guests. I just want to see if my mom checked in here recently, and then I’ll be out of your very pretty pink hair. Did you do that yourself?”

“Oh, um, yes actually,” Muse said with a smile. Then they sighed, “Alright, I can’t let you look at the guest log.”

Dean opened her mouth to try something else, but Muse continued.

“But I might be able to show you her room. Can you just tell me her name?”

“She might be going under Thelma Todd.”

Muse raised an eyebrow, “Might be?”

“Mom’s paranoid, never uses her real name at these kinds of places,” Dean admitted with a small smile, “You know how it is.”

“I do, actually,” Muse joked, “I’ve seen loads of interesting people, and Thelma Todd sounds really familiar. Just give me a sec and I’ll look in the guest log.”

“Thanks,” Dean said, watching as Muse went into a back room.

“That was rude!” Sera hissed as soon as Muse was gone.

“What?” Dean defended quietly, “How is that rude? I was very polite!”

“You’re leading them on just to get information!” 

Dean scoffed, “Bold of you to assume I won’t follow through. They’re not exactly my type, but they’re cute.”

“Not in my apartment,” Sera said, “I don’t wanna see that.”

“That’s a little homophobic.”

Sera immediately flushed and began to stutter, “I–I, no! That’s not what – I just – I don’t want to see you with anyone –”

“Relax,” Dean laughed, clapping a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “it’s just a joke. If it goes anywhere, I’ll just use the van. Oh, I think they’re coming back.”

Sure enough, Muse returned from the back room, a sleek card in their hand.

“I’m sorry, you just missed her,” Muse said, “She checked out a few hours ago.”

“Dammit,” Dean sighed.

“But I can still show you her room – we have a cleaning crew, but they don’t come until later, so her room hasn’t been touched since she left.”

“That’s awesome, thank you so much,” Dean said as the two girls began to follow Muse through the hostel. They led them through a communal kitchen as well as some bathrooms and Dean began to wonder how the hell someone could stay in a hostel with so little privacy. At least in her van, she was by herself. Though, Dean supposed, that was likely going to change now that Sera was joining her in her travels.

Soon, Muse led them to a door and unlocked it, revealing a plain, simple room with one twin bed, a nightstand, and a TV. It looked neat, the bed made perfectly, everything put away, even $10 on the pillow for the cleaners.

“Wow, are you sure it wasn’t cleaned?” Sera asked as they went into the room, Dean immediately surveying it. 

“Nah, Mom is just tidy like that,” Dean lied, then she began to look around the room. For what, she wasn’t entirely sure, but her mother was definitely here, so she would’ve had to leave some kind of clue behind for Dean, right?

“Um, what’re you looking for?” Muse asked, and Dean saw them glance at Sera, who only shrugged.

“Anything,” Dean said as she got on  her hands and knees to look under the bed. She used the flashlight on her phone to see that there was something stuck to the bed frame. She grinned as she pulled it out, then frowned when she realized what it was. 

“Um...is that a knife?!” Muse cried.

“Don’t worry, her mom is just kinda paranoid,” Sera quickly said, “That’s why it’s so hard to find her right now. It’s totally common for her to have...um, a black steel knife?”

“It’s obsidian,” Dean said, looking it over, “Aztec. Carved bone handle. I know where she is.”

“Um, okay?” Sera glanced at Muse, “You sure?”

“Absolutely.” Dean sheathed the knife and put it in her jacket, “This is the clue I was looking for. Thanks, Muse. Here….” Dean used the notepad and pen in the room to write down her phone number before handing it to Muse, “Call me if you hear anything else, or if you just wanna get a drink. C’mon, Opal.”

“Um, thanks,” Sera said to a shocked Muse as the two of them left. Once they were out the door, Sera turned to Dean and hissed, “Dean, what the hell?! A knife? And what does it mean?”

“I’ll tell you over dinner,” Dean promised, “Casa Loma, right? I’ll even pay.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It wasn’t until they ordered their entrées that Dean spoke.

“The knife was a gift from a friend,” Dean explained, playing with the straw in her drink, “Something Mom keeps on her at all times. She knew I would’ve recognized it, that’s why she left it behind.”

“Um… okay?” Sera shifted in her seat uncomfortably, “Who gave it to her?”

“An old hunting buddy, Professor Quinn Iorfida. He’s a researcher who works for Queen’s University, but he’s also a one-man hub of information for the hunter community. He and Mom go way back; Quinn actually used to watch me a lot growing up when Mom was on her hunts.”

“So...what? She’s hanging out with him?”

“Hm, I doubt it,” Dean admitted with a sigh, “He and Mom got into a bad fight a couple of years ago and they don’t really talk much. Either way, this is definitely a clear sign that I should pay the Professor a visit.”

“Oh, okay, that makes sense,” Sera said, then she began to mentall consider everything that she needed to do, “I’m still working, but I’m off on the weekend. I was gonna start sorting through my stuff – what I need to put into storage and what I can take. But we can head up to Kingston.”

“No, I’ll just go tonight.”

“Wait, what?” Sera paused, feeling her heart stutter a bit in nervousness, “You’re just gonna leave?”

“I’ll come back,” Dean promised, “I just wanna see what this means. It’s possible that Quinn knows something and can lead us to finding her.”

“I dunno…. I think we might want to try and get some more information before jumping to any conclusions.”

“I’ve found my mother going off of less. And besides, we’re only behind by a couple of hours! I might be able to catch up to her and figure out what’s going on.”

“What then?”Sera asked, glancing at Dean.

“What do you mean?” She asked with a frown.

“Um, well…” Sera gestured uselessly with her hand, “Once we find your mom...what about….” Sera took a breath, “What about me?”

Dean looked at Sera for a moment before smiling, “I’m not just bringing you along to find my mom, Opal.”

Sera blinked, “Y-you’re not?”

“Of course not! You’re my friend, and if you really want to be a hunter – no matter how dangerous I tell you it is – then you’re more than welcome to come along with me! Honestly, I’m glad we found each other again.”

Sera smiled, “Yeah, me too.”