A Shining in Colorado

[artfulforger]

Whatever life Arthur and Eames had dreamt of for their future, all of that ended one Halloween when they got drawn into a house they came to know as Rose Red. Since then, their plans of working in dream share for the time they had was gone. Instead they were dealing with the supernatural. Whether they wanted to or not. Even when they tried to ignore it, the preternatural found them time and again, and so they had given in to the spirits and ghouls about them and changed their life plans.

Which was how they ended up in a private car on a long and winding road up the side of a mountain heading for a hotel built by a man with his hand in everything at the turn of the century. The Stanley Hotel.

The owners had been directed to them by someone, and that they couldn't say who recommended them left Eames nervous. Or maybe it was the way they kept heading up, the way the driver had said little, and that all he had found online was a lot, A LOT, of stories about hauntings. Including twin girls and people going missing.

"So... Did you tell Peter where we were? In case we don't come back?" He still found it odd they were relying on a werewolf, but at least they had someone with supernatural knowledge and some serious strength watching their backs.

Comments

[bamf_pointman]

It wasn't as though they hadn't tried either. That first job of his right after they found out had been a job that hadn't gone as smoothly as possible. Never did when you had some sort of creature straight out of Incan mythology.

"Funny to find out they're less likely to sell each other out than those we've known longer," he agreed with an almost annoyed roll of his eyes. How many time had that happened to them put together?

Arthur glanced at him when he mentioned hunters then nodded. "Good point. We'll have to ask about that. I'm curious myself. The last thing we need is to get mixed up with them." It had originally seemed to surprise Peter, if surprise was really an emotion that the werewolf experienced much, that they weren't going in that direction and instead leaning toward helping where they could.

"Remind me again why exactly we took this job..." Though, Arthur knew as well as Eames did why they took it and it was definitely not the money. These jobs never did pay as well as their old jobs did which was a disappointment in of itself.

[artfulforger]

He smirked at that, but it was a tight, pained look. They had to laugh at it, make fun of it, treat it like it was nothing major because otherwise it would weigh on them and no matter what job they were doing, they couldn't let that happen. For their own lives.

"And we need to be wary if we do have to worry about who we run into when we're doing all of this. And what will stop them if we do." Because he assumed they'd be human, but with the world they're tangled up in, who knew what kind of hate was going on between them all.

"Because if we didn't, we'd be hearing about the next person that disappeared up here and then how would we feel?"

Which was the long and the short of it. They were criminals, but they were good men.

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Exactly. So. Business as usual," he said, glancing at Eames for a moment, tightening his hand around Eames'. His tone may be nonchalant but his eyes, if someone looked hard enough, showed something differently. He didn't have a good feeling about this at all.

"Horrible," he answered his rhetorical question before exhaling a slow breath. He shifted closer to the forger, pressing his leg against Eames'.

It was mere minutes later when the car came to a stop in front of the large hotel. Arthur silently surveyed the hotel then looked at Eames. "Let it be said on the record that I do not have a good feeling about this." Not that Eames felt any better, he was sure.

[artfulforger]

He laughed, the sound not quite as bitter as he felt thinking about it. His fingers held Arthur's securely, not willing to let go while they're dealing with all of this. He wanted to cling to him, to hold him tight. Just because this was becoming so normal doesn't mean that it is easier, or becoming more normal to them. Normal didn't make it entirely okay.

That was all the encouragement Eames needed though, moving to slide his arm around Arthur and pull him closer. "We'll handle it and make it okay," he murmured, leaning over to kiss the shell of Arthur's ear.

"Oh? You have a bad feeling about the huge creepy hotel," he murmured, hugging Arthur once more. "Seconded though."

[bamf_pointman]

Arthur went willingly and settled into Eames' hold. He was thankful that if he was going through this with someone, it would be the forger. He nodded. "We will," he agreed, resting a hand on Eames' leg, giving it a squeeze.

His mouth quirked up wryly. "Imagine that," he said, looking over the hotel. "This is the first one in a long time that has given me this sense of dread." They practically lived out of hotels and more recently AirBnBs. He was no stranger to them but this one? No thanks.