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Things That Go Bump in the Night

Chapter One

Prompt: The Apprentice - "Motel 666"

I swallowed convulsively as my tired eyes focused on garish neon pink flashing sign by the side of the road. Now, I wasn't superstitious by nature, but in our line of work where evil things lurked in plain sight, I had learned the value of spotting an omen.

And that sign...that was a literally glowing portent of doom if I had ever seen one.

"Uhmm...Rossi?" I stuttered, frowning as Dave angled our SUV into the mostly full parking lot, "Did you see the sign back there?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder anxiously, hoping what I'd seen had been the product of my overtaxed imagination.

Nope. Still there. Still blinking. And it still said exactly what I'd thought it said.

"Yeah," Dave grunted, squinting as he tried to see the yellow lines demarking the parking spaces through the thick fog and rain shrouding the night. "It said, Motel 6."

"I...ah...think you might have missed some important additional numbers on the sign," I replied, again darting a look over my shoulder. "It actually says Motel 6-6-6," I said, trying to keep my voice even and level…and failing spectacularly.

Watching as the senior agent looked over his shoulder, I heard his noncommittal grunt. That did not bode well for me.

"Huh. So it does," Dave shrugged, turning back around and cutting the engine with a flick of his wrist.

"What are you doing?" I asked nervously, watching with a frown as he extracted the key from the ignition.

"What do you mean, what am I doing?" Dave asked impatiently, reaching a long arm over his seat and grabbing his go bag. "I'm going to find a bed for the night. What are you doing?"

"Rossi, I don't mean to sound overly sensitized, but don't you think we could find a hotel with a more welcoming name?" I asked, scanning the highway for any other flashing signs. Signs with a more inviting name than Motel 666. Surely one such place existed…didn't it?

"Reid," Rossi replied with a long-suffering sign, "It's just a play on the name. More Halloween propaganda for the masses. I assure you that the motel is not possessed in any shape, form or fashion."

"But..."

"Look, Reid, I've been driving in the pouring rain for over two hours. I'm stiff. I'm tired. And quite frankly, there is only one words on that sign that interests me. Vacancy," he said, stressing the word as he turned to glare, once again, at me.

"Fine," I muttered, eyeing the questionable structure in front of us with a critical eye, feeling his dark eyes boring into me. "But if I'm murdered in my sleep by a homicidal maniac..."

"Trust me, Doctor. The only threat you're under right now is emanating from me," Dave growled as he pushed open his door. "Now, get your bag and let's get a room."

Fifteen minutes later, I stood wide-eyed beside Rossi as we waited for our geriatric desk clerk to check us in. But for the life of me, I couldn't seem to calm my racing heart, the sign outside flashing through the pane glass windows in a silent mockery of the entire situation. Clearing my throat as the clerk took Dave's credit card and typed information into a computer that had definitely seen better days, I decided to follow my mother's advice. After all, she was the one that had taught me that there was no such thing as a stupid question.

"Uh, sir, may I ask a question?" I inquired haltingly as Dave shot me a disgruntled look from the corner of his eye. Squaring my shoulders, I told myself that I was entitled to one free question…and one phone call in case I was about to witness a murder, namely my own.

Glancing up from his screen, the elderly man adjusted his glasses on the end of his nose and bobbed his head once.

"I...ah...is there a reason that you've added two extra sixes to your sign outside tonight?" I asked, gesturing toward the neon billboard outside.

"Oh, for the love of God," Dave grumbled under his breath. "Would you just let it go?"

"It's a holiday tradition, sonny," the desk clerk answered with a laughing wheeze. "See, this here motel," he said, tapping the scarred desk in front of him, "It was built over a cemetery back in the fifties."

My face must have paled dramatically because I heard Dave groan deep in his throat. "How 'bout those rooms, old timer?" he asked quickly, darting his eyes from me to the motel employee.

"A cemetery?" I echoed, my mouth suddenly dry. Wasn't that the same thing that had happened in more than one Stephen King novel? And we ALL know how those poor characters turned out, don't we?

"Yes, sir," the white haired man nodded emphatically. "Oh, yes, indeed! It caused quite a scandal back in the day! Now, they tell us all those graves were supposedly moved, but every year, management tries to capitalize on our less than popular start. And, I can't deny, that over the years, I heard more than once something goin' bump in the night."

Turning to Dave as the old man passed Dave a room key, I shook my head. "I'm going to take my chances in the SUV tonight," I told him emphatically, crossing my arms over my chest.

Rolling his eyes, Dave glared from me to the motel clerk. "Thank you so much," I heard him tell the old man sarcastically as I hurried out the door. Honestly, at that moment, he could have been discussing an entire discourse on the source and solution of thermodynamic plane shifting and impacts on the space time continuum, and I STILL would have left the room. A man has his priorities, and at that moment, mine was saving my own skin.

A moment later I'm not ashamed to admit that I shrieked like an overwrought teenage girl when I felt someone tug unexpectedly on the back of my shirt, halting me in my tracks.

"Relax, kid, it's me," Rossi muttered as he glanced around self-consciously. "The room's this way," he said, jerking his head in the opposite direction.

"But..."

"Forget about it, Reid. Hotch would kill me if I let you sleep in the damn truck tonight, and there aren't too many men from which I'd worry about that kind of threat. But, knowing Aaron, he'd follow through on it. So, either walk willingly to our room or I can handcuff your ass and drag you there."

Author's Note 2 - Also guys, please don't forget that if you'd like to advertise the awards on your own profile pages or stories, there's a short blurb on my (ilovetvalot) and Tonnie's (tonnie2001969) profile page for you to copy and paste if you choose!

Again, thanks to everyone reading, reviewing, alerting and favoriting this story!