Windmill Point
Emery Kyle wasn't the brightest of men, but he was a hard worker and he always tried his best. Unfortunately, his best wasn't enough to get him anything more than a job paying minimum wage. He was still a young man, barely into his twenties, but he was a realist. He knew this was pretty much the best he was ever going to be able to accomplish. He had accepted it long ago when he hadn't even been accepted into the local community college. It didn't even bother him anymore. He was happy with his place in life. His parents were long dead, but he had his older sister and a girlfriend who both loved him.
They were out shopping now, at the twenty-four hour Wal-Mart a few miles away. But he had their pictures right there, smiling up at him with their arms around each other and he smiled back at them. They should be back soon, since they had told him to start up dinner when they left and it was just about done. Emery's cooking didn't always look like the best, but it tasted damn good and that was the most important part.
Outside, their dog began barking and Emery frowned, trying to remember if anyone had fed her recently. Probably not, so he grabbed a bag of kibble from the kitchen counter and headed out the door of their trailer (mobile home, he reminded himself).
"Hey, Lucy girl," Emery greeted fondly, shaking the bag. "I got what you want." He stopped as he noticed Lucy's food bowl was filled, but she was still barking. "What is it, girl?"
Lucy lunged at something, pulling her chain tight, and Emery peered into the dimly lit night. He thought he saw something move, but soon realized it was only his neighbor, checking to see what the noise was about.
"Sorry Kaylie," Emery called. "I'll get her quieted."
Kaylie nodded, disappearing back into her trailer without saying a word.
"That girl sure has been different since Jeff died," Emery told his dog, who had quieted down to the occasional growls. "Come on, Luce, I'll take you inside."
He started to undo the dog's chain when she picked up the barking again. He murmured something soothing to her as he finished untying her and turned around to lead her back in the house. Standing in front of him was a woman, a few years older than him, and wearing some kind of old-fashioned nightgown. Emery let out a yelp, nearly dropping Lucy's chain. Lucy went crazy, whimpering and trying to lunge in the opposite direction of the women.
"Hey," Emery protested, trying not to sound scared. "You, uh, you shouldn't…Who are you?"
"How could you?" the woman demanded in an accent that sounded vaguely French.
"I, I don't know what you're talking about," Emery stammered, taking a few steps backwards.
"It'll never be yours," the woman informed him, reaching her hand out to him.
Emery started to run, but before he could even turn around he felt his body go weak. The last thought that occurred to him was that his dinner would burn if someone didn't turn off the oven soon.
"Grosse Pointe, Michigan," Sam said, setting the newspaper he was reading on top of the duffel bag that Dean was packing.
"What's in Grosse Pointe, Michigan?" Dean asked, looking up at Sam.
Sam waited for Dean to pick up the newspaper, then rolled his eyes when it became obvious that Dean was just going to leave him to explain. "A couple of unsolved deaths, all at the same mobile home park."
Dean picked up the newspaper, but he didn't look at it. "How many's a couple?"
"Three," Sam replied. "Jeffery Simon, age eighteen, Richard Gerard, age forty-two, and Emery Kyle, age twenty-two. They have nothing in common, except that they're all guys, and they all live at Windmill Pointe Village."
"Uh-huh," Dean said. "And Windmill Pointe Village is the trailer park?"
"Mobile home park," Sam corrected.
"Yeah, whatever, PC college boy," Dean commented. "The cops have any ideas?"
"No, not really," Sam said, fishing around in his backpack and pulling out a couple of sheets of paper. "Found this online last night. Cause of death? Looks exactly like arsenic poisoning. But there's no trace of arsenic anywhere in the bodies. Seems like they're stumped. They've been doing an investigation into the park, looking in the water, the paint, the AC and heat, since the second guy dropped, but they can't find anything."
"Sounds like our kinda gig," Dean said cheerfully, shoving his last pair of jeans into the duffel bag and zipping it up. "You think it's our normal kinda thing or one of those bastards that got out?"
"Dunno," Sam replied, trying to sound as casual as Dean and giving a shrug. "The first death was right around that time, I think. But, hmm." He paused to rifle through the papers. "A little bit before, actually."
"Hmm," Dean murmured, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. "Well, whatever's doing it, it's gonna get wasted. Let's get going. How far is it?"
"Well, it's a little over two hundred miles from here to Detroit, and Grosse Pointe's a little bit before that," Sam said, following Dean out to the car. "I figured we'd stay in Grosse Pointe Park or Grosse Pointe Farms. They're basically the same thing, but the motel rates are cheaper."
Dean shrugged, starting up the engine and heading off. "Whatever, dude, it's not like we really have to worry about spending a few dollars less a night."
Dean turned up the music, then, cutting off whatever reply his brother had been planning on making. They drove for awhile, mostly listening to the music and occasionally making light banter, until they were nearly there.
"Hey, Dean, slow down," Sam commented.
"What?" Dean asked, though he instinctively took his foot off the gas pedal. "Why?
"Take a look," Sam replied, gesturing to the road ahead of them where two women were standing off to the right side.
Dean shrugged. "Hitchhikers? So?"
Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Dean, it's after midnight."
"Yeah, well, this is Detroit," Dean said.
"No, this is a dark, foresty road twenty minutes outside of Detroit," Sam corrected. "And women hitchhikers? Wearing long white dresses?"
"There are two of them," Dean said. "That doesn't fit the profile of any woman in white I've ever known."
"There's always something that doesn't fit the profile," Sam returned.
He looked ready to continue, so Dean waved a hand to shut him up. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, we'll check it out." He grinned. "And if they are regular hitchhikers, we might get lucky."
"Dean," Sam said disapprovingly.
Dean did his best to look innocent. "What? Gotta get my kicks in while I'm still young, pretty, and alive."
"Dean," Sam started, but was cut off when Dean sped the car up and stopped in front of the two women. Sam shot him a look, but rolled down his window to look at the women. They were about the same height, both wearing simple white dresses and no shoes. One of the women had black hair and green eyes and looked to be of Native American ancestry, while the other had light red hair with fire engine red streaks, blue eyes and tan skin. At their feet was a pair of sports bags about two feet long and one foot wide.
"Hey girls," Dean said, flashing them a smile. "You need a ride?"
The women glanced at each other, then down at their bags before nodding.
"Sure, that'd be great," the redhead said.
"Thanks," the dark-haired one added.
Sam nodded, then asked, "You need help with your bags?"
"No, we got 'em," the Native American woman told him with a smile.
The redhead climbed into the backseat, and her friend carefully passed her the two bags before sliding in herself. The two women seemed completely normal, but just incase, Sam absently gripped the gun in his jacket pocket.
"So where can we take you?" Dean asked, glancing in his rearview mirror at them.
"Um, Grosse Pointe Park?" the redhead told him.
"I think we can get you there," Dean said, exchanging a look with his brother.
Sam gave a very slight shrug. "Any place specific?"
"There's a bar there, called Sunrise Sunset? We can give you directions once we're in the city, it's not too far," the dark-haired woman said, looking at him to see his response.
Dean pulled forward, sending the car cruising down the road. "Sure, no problem. We'll have you there in no time."
The Native American woman smiled. "Thank you. We really appreciate it. Oh, I'm Pru, by the way, and this is my sister Piper."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Sister?"
"Yup," Piper agreed, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that they didn't look much like sisters.
"Right," Dean muttered, then added, "I'm Dean. This is Sam."
"Nice to meet you," Sam said politely.
"And you," Pru returned, smiling at him. "You guys saved our lives, really. And you have one hell of a car."
"I didn't think we'd get a ride at all, let alone in something like this," Piper said. "Our luck usually runs in the opposite direction."
Dean smiled widely, patting his car on the dashboard. "She is gorgeous, isn't she? Rebuilt her myself, and that wasn't…"
"So what're you doing out here at this time anyway?" Sam asked, cutting him off.
"Some friends were having a party out here," Piper said. "A costume party. We kinda wandered off a bit and got lost. We're not from around here."
"A costume party, huh?" Dean repeated. "You know it's June, right?"
Pru grinned. "Doesn't have to be Halloween for people to like dressing up."
Sam glanced back at them. "What are you guys dressed as?"
"Pagan goddesses," Piper replied cheerfully. "We had flowers in our hair, but they kind of got all wilted and then fell out."
"I've still got a couple," Pru said, running her fingers through her long hair and pulling out a medium-sized red flower. Up close, faint green highlights could be seen in her hair. "Nope, just that one."
They rode a few minutes in silence, then Dean asked, "So where're you girls from?"
"Oregon," Piper told him.
"Uh-huh," Dean said. "And you came all the way out here for your friend's party?"
"He, um. Has really great costume parties," Pru offered, sounding like she realized exactly how lame that seemed.
"Yeah, really great," Piper agreed, exchanging a glance with Pru.
"Maybe we should get in on these parties," Dean commented. "If they're country hopping good, I know I wanna get hooked up."
"Frequent flyer miles," Pru said, a little too suddenly.
"Had to use them somehow," Piper added.
"So what about you? What are you guys doing out here?" Pru asked.
"Just passing through," Sam replied. "We're on a road trip."
"Oh yeah?" Piper asked. "Cool. Where've you guys been so far?"
"Oh, just about everywhere," Sam answered, looking over at Dean.
They rode in silence for a little while, with Sam glancing at the two girls in the rearview mirror ever so often. He was pretty sure he was wrong about the woman in white stuff. They were weird, sure, and definitely lying, but they didn't seem supernatural weird. A couple of times, though, he thought he caught sight of their bags moving. All of their own accord, like there was something alive in them. But he wasn't sure, and really, it wasn't like he was just going to demand they open their bags.
When they got to Grosse Pointe Park, Pru spoke up, telling Dean to make the first right, then the next left, then left again on Charlevoix Street. Dean followed the directions and sure enough, there was the bar, crowded at this time of the night.
"You can just drop us here," Piper said as Dean slowed on the street in front of the bar.
"Thanks again, guys, we really appreciate it," Pru said, handing Piper her bag and climbing out of the car. She took the two bags and set them on the street, then, while waiting for Piper to get out, leaned back in a smiled at them. "And hey, maybe if you guys are staying around here for a bit we'll get to see your car again." She winked and Piper laughed, then the two picked up their bags and started for the bar.
"We're just letting them leave? What happened to your suspicions?" Dean asked.
"They look like ghosts to you?" Sam returned, shrugging. "They're probably just normal hitchhikers. Weird, but not spirits."
"I don't know," Dean said. "Maybe we should touch them, just to make sure."
Sam shot him a look.
"What?' Dean protested. "They could be evil! Evil, hot women who know what a good car is…"
"Stop drooling and start driving," Sam said, shoving him in the shoulder.
"All right, all right," Dean replied, easing the car forward. "You never let me have any fun."
"Right, because I'm your baby-sitter or something," Sam muttered. "Pull into the first motel you see, okay?"
"Figures with all the hot teenagers out there earning extra money baby-sitting, I get you," Dean commented, turning into the parking lot of a motel just under two blocks from the bar. "Found a motel. Do I get a cookie?"
"Shut up," Sam said. He opened his door and climbed out of the car, eying the door of the motel lobby. "I'll go get us a room."
"Great," Dean agreed. "Then maybe we can head back to that bar, see if our spirits are still there."
Sam glared at him and Dean waved a hand.
"Right, right, early start, blah blah blah, I'm a boring old woman," Dean grumbled. "Go get us a room."
Piper watched the car drive off, then turned back towards Pru. "Maybe we should have asked them if we could borrow some shoes."
Pru grinned. "That wouldn't have made us seem less weird at all."
"True. But it would have made walking back to the motel easier," Piper commented.
Pru laughed and pulled out her cell. "Oh, good, I've got service now. I'll call Paige."
"I'll take Phoebe," Piper said, taking out her own cell phone.
There was a moment of silence, then Paige's voice said, "Oh, thank God. You okay? Is Piper with you?"
"Yeah, she's right here," Pru replied.
"Good," Paige said, sounding relieved. "Pheebes is here with me, so tell Piper to stop calling her."
"Phoebe's with Paige," Pru told Piper, who nodded and pressed the end button on her own phone.
"Where are you guys?" Paige asked.
"Outside the salon," Pru replied. "You?"
"Headed back that way," Paige said. "We got back to the car and started looking for you. How'd you get back?"
"We, um, hitchhiked," Pru told her, dropping her voice to a low whisper on that last part.
"You what?" Paige demanded, followed closely by Phoebe asking, "What? What'd they do?"
"You were right, they're freaking," Pru commented jokingly to Piper.
"Yeah, well, we're the ones who got to ride in the great car," Piper said.
"You guys are stupid," Paige informed them once she and Phoebe had stopped talking with each other.
"Hey, we had Taliesan and 'Crawler check them out. If our familiars can't scope out weirdos, then we're screwed," Pru said.
Piper's bag moved a bit and a red bird's head peeked out through the space between the zippers. It was far too big to be a normal bird's head, and slightly oddly shaped as well as faintly tinged with gold.
"Taliesan agrees with that comment," Piper said.
"So there," Pru told Paige. "So can you guys hurry up and come get us? We're kinda barefoot in front of a bar here."
"We could just make you walk back to the hotel," Paige grumbled.
"Tell her we could just hitchhike again," Piper said.
"Piper says we'll just hitchhike more, then," Pru relayed. "Actually, I'm sure we could get those two guys back."
"Ask her if they were hot," Phoebe's muffled voice said.
"That's for us to know and you guys to…not," Pru replied. "Are you guys almost here yet?"
"Yeah, we'll be there in a couple minutes. Just wait for us," Paige told her.
"Okay, see you guys soon," Pru said, then hung up.
"So, now that we've got the protection spell stuff taken care of, are we heading out to watch the stables?" Piper asked.
Pru nodded. "Much as I'd like to get some sleep, we should watch the place tonight. Charles said it didn't happen last Sunday, but that doesn't mean it won't happen tonight."
"We could take shifts," Piper suggested.
"Hmm, that might be a good idea," Pru agreed. "Who's gone the longest without sleep?"
"That would be you, sweetie," Piper informed her.
"Oh. Well, never mind, then, I don't like this plan," Pru said.
Piper rolled her eyes. "We'll bring it up with the others and see what they say."
A short while later, Paige pulled up in Pru's car, a 1971 Volkswagen bus painted black with ghosted turquoise flames. Phoebe was sitting in the front seat, so Pru and Piper climbed into the second seat, carefully setting the bags in first. Once inside, the two women opened up the bags. What could only be a phoenix fluttered out of Piper's and perched on the back of her seat, while a miniature dragon about a foot and a half long, not including the tail, clambered out of Pru's. He was a deep orangey color with undertones of red in random spots and slowly swirling green eyes. Pru scooped him up into her lap and he curled up with the tip of his tail over his nose.
"Stables or motel?" Paige asked, glancing back at them.
"I vote we take shifts," Piper commented before Pru could say anything.
"Shifts sounds good," Phoebe agreed, shifting carefully so she could see them without disturbing the large black cat resting in her lap. "Who's up first?"
"Me and you," Piper replied. "Pru and Paige drove all the way here, so they're up for sleeping first."
"You guys suck," Paige grumbled.
"Yeah, that's what I said," Pru said.
"Although, I wouldn't say no to a shower," Paige added as an after-thought. "Okay, we'll drop you off and come back in a couple of hours."
They drove to the stables while Piper and Phoebe changed from their dresses to their normal clothes in the back of the bus, then Paige and Pru headed back to the motel after agreeing to be back at four am.
"I'm claiming the shower," Paige commented as they walked into their room.
"Okay," Pru replied. "I'm gonna do a little reading."
Paige nodded and went into the bathroom, filling the sink with water first so her own familiar, a two-and-a-half-foot-long sea serpent, could have a place to spend the night before she climbed into the shower. She had stepped out and was drying off when she heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the motel room. Halfway to the bathroom door, the accompanying girlish scream and dramatic music hit her ears. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and glanced at her familiar.
"One of these days, Krakken, something's actually going to be out there and I'm just going to assume it's her movie," she grumbled, slightly mollified when she felt Krakken's disgruntled agreement with her statement. Paige went back to toweling off her hair, then wrapped the towel around herself and headed out into the room. The lights were off and the curtains pulled shut, and Pru was settled under the covers of one of the beds with 'Crawler asleep next to her. The TV was on, playing some horror movie.
"You are so lucky I was already out of the shower when I heard glass shattering," Paige commented, rifling through her suitcase for some clothes.
"Sorry," Pru apologized, glancing over at her. "I thought I had it turned down low enough."
"Yeah, yeah," Paige grumbled as she pulled out a pair of underwear and an oversized, long-sleeved shirt. "Why do you watch that crap, anyway? Like we don't have enough freaky shit in our lives."
"I like them," Pru protested. "They're funny. And the good ones are interesting."
"Yeah, well, they give me nightmares," Paige replied, tugging on her clothes and dropping the towel on the floor. "So turn it off, okay?"
"Oh, all right," Pru said, fumbling for the remote and changing the channel. "What else are we supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe that sleep thing that we're supposed to be doing?" Paige suggested. "Piper and Phoebe are gonna be pissed if we're can't function on our shift."
"I know," Pru said with a sigh. "I still think I should be out there."
"Sweetie, you haven't slept in over twenty-four hours. Your bond with the horses isn't going to help much if you don't get some sleep," Paige told her.
"When did you start making sense?" Pru muttered, but she switched off the TV. "Oh, I was doing some reading while you were in the shower."
"Yeah?" Paige asked, finding her way to the other bed in the dark and slipping under the covers. "What'd you find?"
"Three people have died around here in the last month," Pru said. "All male, different ages, but all from the same trailer park."
"Hmm," Paige commented. "You think it's our thing or just something wrong with the park?"
"Dunno," Pru answered. "But we might as well check it out while we're here."
"Yeah, good point," Paige agreed. "We can tell Phoebe and Piper when we take over for them."
"Uh-huh. You set your alarm?" Pru asked.
"Yup," Paige replied. "Several of them."
"Great," Pru murmured, rolling over and snuggling closer to the small dragon sleeping next to her. "Night."
"Night," Paige returned sleepily, closing her eyes and settling into sleep.
The first alarm sounded just before three-thirty in the morning. Pru woke up almost instantly and reached over her familiar to grab Paige's phone from the nightstand and shut it off. 'Crawler stirred under her arm and stretched, making a soft sleepy noise before moving out of her way.
"Thanks, love," Pru murmured, sliding out of bed. "Paige, come on. Time to get up."
Paige mumbled something and curled up in a tighter ball, pulling the blankets close around her.
"Sleepy time is over, sweetie," Pru commented, reaching over to tug the blankets off.
Paige grumbled in protest and opened one eye to glare at Pru.
"You awake?" Pru asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Paige muttered sleepily.
"Good," Pru said, then grabbed some clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.
Paige promptly tugged the covers back up to her chin and fell asleep again, jerking awake only when she heard Pru yelling her name again. Her eyes shot open to see Pru standing over her, already fully dressed.
"Why's your hair in a ponytail and braided?" Paige asked sleepily.
"Because if I just put it in a ponytail it goes everywhere," Pru said in a "I've told you this a thousand times" tone. "You said you were awake."
"I am awake," Paige muttered. "I was just waiting for my turn in the bathroom."
"Uh-huh," Pru said. "Get your ass up. I'm going to grab some coffee."
"Yup," Paige agreed, then waited until she heard the door shut before closing her eyes again. Unfortunately, this time she barely managed to get back to sleep before another alarm went off and she was jolted awake. "Okay, okay, I'm up." She rolled out of bed, and grabbed her phone, shutting off the alarm and glancing at the time. "Shit."
She had about five minutes before they were supposed to leave. Not enough time for her to get ready. Well, she had ways around that. Ways that came from hundreds of mornings of catching an extra twenty minutes of sleep. And, okay, ways that came from being a witch and knowing how to modify certain spells to get dressed in seconds flat. Paige darted to the bathroom and did the things she couldn't get a spell to do, then quickly cast the one that was by now second nature. She checked in the mirror to make sure everything had gone okay before skidding out into the main room just as Pru came back.
"Damn, I'm good," Paige commented under her breath.
"What?" Pru asked.
"Nothing," Paige replied. "You get coffee?"
"Yup," Pru said, handing her a paper cup. "Piper's and Phoebe's are in the car. Come on, let's get going."
Paige sipped happily at her coffee as she followed Pru to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. Once they were on their way, Paige pulled out her cellphone and texted Phoebe to let them know they were on their way. "She says they're glad," she commented once Phoebe replied.
Pru grinned. "Yeah, bet they are. Probably bored out of their minds."
Two minutes later, Pru pulled up in front of Piper and Phoebe, who were waiting for them out in front of the stables.
"Finally," Piper commented as they got out of the car. "Now you get to sit here and watch nothing."
"At least I can talk to the horses," Pru teased. "Which, actually, I'm gonna go do now." She headed for the stables.
"Go get some sleep, guys," Paige said, handing Piper the keys. "We'll come join you in a couple of hours."
She watched the pair drive off, then walked off to join Pru in the stables. "Pru?" she asked as she looked around, frowning when she didn't see anyone. "Pru, you in one of the stalls?"
Footsteps sounded behind her and Paige rolled her eyes. "Yeah, funny Pru," she commented, just as she heard Pru's voice call, "Yeah, be out in a second."
Paige's eyes widened and her hand flew to her pocket, grabbing the bottle of rock salt before she whirled around to face the thing behind her.