Chapter One
"Where the hell is this place again?" Dean asked as he stared out the windshield of is 1967 Chevy Impala. "We've been driving for God knows how long and I would like to get some shut eye."
"Tacoma, Washington." Sam answered, staring avidly at his cell phone.
The sign letting them know that Tacoma was twenty miles away came up. Dean let out a disgruntled sigh. "And what exactly was there again? I have no idea what Cas was sayin' over the phone."
"Yeah, it was a bit garbled, but what I gathered is that it was a bunch of demons luring families to their demise over a friendly house tour." Sam said.
"You think Crowley is a part of this?"
"Doubt it. It's not his usual M.O." Sam scrolled quickly through his phone. "It says here on a local watch site that a little girl has been seen numerous times looking through the windows of the house. When CPS goes to visit, she's gone, and the person they sent vanishes as well."
"Ghosts?"
"Seems like it."
"Well which is it, ghosts, or demons?"
"Both?"
"Since when do ghosts and demons work together? This ain't no frat house kegger, some other shit is going down here and it ain't sitting well with me." Dean furrowed his brow and groped around for his water bottle next to him.
The two brothers drove in silence, thinking hard on what could possibly be going on in a house that involved demons and a ghost. It didn't even seem logical to have the two together. Swerving at least once or twice, Dean was relieved to see the exit they needed to get off at. Driving a ways through Tacoma he found a cheap motel to stop at. Sam did all the talking with the woman at the front, who kept eying Dean and wondering if the two were some gay lovers on a secret rendezvous. Sam paid for the room under the name Henry Johnson and grabbed the key cards from her. On the way out Dean gave a wink to the cute blonde, who gave him a flirty smirk. Dean couldn't remember the last time he had gotten laid and she was looking mighty fine in her sheer tank.
Setting up in their room, Sam didn't hesitate to set up his laptop and prepare to do some more research on the house and street. As he clicked away on the keyboard, the only thing he could find was that twenty years ago, a family by the name of Lavender lived there with their eleven year old son and six year old daughter. One night while the family was sleeping, it was reported that a bright light shined from the home. The husband, wife, and son were emitted into a mental institute and the daughter was missing. People believed that the family murdered her, but there wasn't any more speculation on the subject.
Dean had taken the liberty to sprawl out on the furthest bed and crack open a cheap beer. He took a long gulp, and then let out a loud belch. Sam looked up from his computer just to shake his head. Dean only shrugged his shoulders and began flipping through the channels on the t.v. He landed on the news where a broadcast of the house they were to be checking out was being videoed. It was an amateur video, but still good quality.
"Earlier today, a group of teenagers were seen here, as you can see, walking up to the rumored Hell House." The newscaster said slowly. "They walk in, a bright light flashes, and they do not come back out." The light was so bright it whited out everything on the feed. When the light vanished there was suddenly an image of a little girl standing in the front window, staring directly at the camera person. The person was obviously shaken since they shouted and dropped the camera on the ground. "Now you see the figure of a little girl between the ages of five and seven standing in the window. The same little girl no one has been able to find. More on this story later."
Dean turned the volume down and looked at Sam. "I'm thinking that little girl is a demon."
"You might be right" Sam said staring at the television set. It had already changed but he was still seeing the look on the girls face. She looked angry, it was grainy, but she was definitely angry.
The next morning, the two put on their suits and headed to the mental institute. Flashing their badges that said they were Agent Smith and Agent Wesson, they were promptly led to the infamous Lavender Family. Robert Lavender was watching the small TV. while Gwen and Neville Lavender played a game of checkers together. The family didn't look insane, but you could never tell from the outside if someone was lost to society. They approached Robert slowly, just in case he spooked. The stocky black man peered through his fingers to see them coming up. He smirked.
"You feds?" Robert asked.
"I'm Agent Smith," Sam said. "This is my partner, Agent Wesson," Dean nodded his head. "We were wondering if you could enlighten us on your daughter, Felicity."
"Well, that's a first. Usually reporters come in here asking if we murdered her, not if we know what she's up too."
"Are you saying she's not dead?" Dean asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyways." Robert laughed. He caught the attention of his son and wife. Gwen's eyes widened in fear as she looked at Sam and Dean.
"Dad…." Neville said slowly, standing up. "Is everything alright over there?"
Neville was as stocky as his father. Dean wondered how he could get so big with the crappy food they served here. "No issues, we were just wondering about your sister, Felicity." Sam said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Gwen let out a cry. The orderlies turned their attention to the woman immediately, making sure everything was alright. "Mom, mom, it's okay." Neville rushed over to his mother's side, stroking her frail hand. Neville looked over at Sam and Dean, staring at them hard. "Don't bring her up around her. The orderlies should have mentioned that." He spat.
"Our apologies." Sam said, glancing from Neville to Robert. "Mr. Lavender, could we get your version of the story, I promise you, we aren't your typical agents."
Robert eyed them suspiciously. "Call me Robert, and if you want to hear it, I guess I got nothing better to do."
"Thank you." Dean said.
They moved farther away from Neville and Gwen, making sure she couldn't even hear a whisper of Felicity's name. Robert held a cup of water in his hands as he stared blankly out the window. "I remember that damn day, night, whatever the fuck it was so clearly it could have just happened."
"Then why aren't you sure if it was at day or night?" Dean asked. Sam jabbed him in the elbow.
"Because it was day when it happened, and night when we returned, disoriented and starving. We were gone for a goddamn month and no one noticed. The tabloids had said we came home and then shit went down, but that's not what happened. Someone fed that story out there." He slowly put the cup to his lips and drank. "We should have been listening to Felicity. She told us there was something in her damn closet. We'd do the normal parent thing, look in the closet and go no sweetie, nothing is there. It was going on and on and finally over dinner I snapped. I said there's nobody in this house except for us. To prove it, we moved all her furniture from her room and set up a family sleepover. We had a tent and everything. We slept through the night, and in the morning I went to tell her that nothing was there, but she wasn't there. I could see her small figure standing in front of her closet, but she wasn't alone. I leapt from the tent and there was a tall woman. Tallest I have seen. She had hair like spun gold, and skin like porcelain." He turned his attention to Dean. "You've seen them. I can see it. Once you've been there, you are marked for life."
Dean choked on his saliva, caught off guard. "What…."
"Don't play dumb. You probably were there for only a second if you can't see the silver mist, but you definitely have it. You've seen the fae."
Dean was flabbergasted. He didn't even want to remember that night, but heaven knew he remembered them trying to kill him. "Those suckers tried to cut me apart!" he grumbled. "You tellin' me faeries are involved."
"Whether they are still is the question. I've seen the news, and what's happening is not the same." Robert's eyes darkened.
"How do you mean?" Sam asked.
"They let us go." Robert said simply. "Whatever is happening now is not the work of the fae. They wanted children, and slaves."
"That must have didn't go over well with you." Dean chuckled, causing Sam to jab him again.
"Sorry, my partner doesn't think before he speaks, he means well." Sam apologized, smiling awkwardly "Could you tell us the price you had to give to get out?"
"We couldn't speak of what happened, and we had to give up our daughter." A tear fell from his eye. "We thought we were there for only two days, but it was a month. In those long two days we dealt with torture and starvation, I made the decision." He said softly.
"You let them take my baby girl, and now you've doomed us all!" Gwen shouted as she rushed her husband. The orderlies turned quickly and headed for her. Gwen looked to Sam and Dean. "You do what we couldn't do!" The orderlies were struggling to contain the woman. Sam and Dean couldn't take their eyes off of her. "You save her! You get her out of there! Save her and you save hundreds of other mothers from this agony!" they finally got the tranquilizer into her veins. "You…save…her…." She finished right before she slumped into their arms.
Sam and Dean left the mental institute with their mind whirling. Faeries, Jesus. Dean remembered his time in Faerie only very vaguely. Like Robert said, he was only there for a moment, but it had taken him half a day apparently to return back. Dean absentmindedly stroked his car as he headed to the driver seat.
"Faeries," Sam said, staring out the window.
Dean shook his head, still not wanting to believe everything he just heard. "I thought this crap was done with back in Elwood, Indiana."
"Back there the locals thought it was aliens." Sam said flourishing his hands.
"Yeah and you were all soulless and didn't bother to figure out how to get me back." Dean muttered.
"Really, Dean, you're bringing that up?" Sam stared at his brother incredulously.
"Hey, it's the truth." Dean spotted a bar. "Oh, let's get a burger, and a beer. We need to come up with some sort of a theory here."
"Yeah, and I'll try calling Cas again. Where ever the hell he is." Sam agreed. Sam dug out his phone as Dean pulled into the nearby. The phone only rang twice before Castiel picked up.
"Sam." Castiel stated.
"Cas, where are you? We just left the Lavender Family at the Mental Institute. We need more to the story."
"My connection here is weak Sam. The warding's here are strong." Castiel said, static muffling his voice.
"Where are you?" Sam got of the car and sped up to Dean.
"The house…Sam?"
"Cas?" Sam raised his voice, causing people to stare at him.
"I'm trapped…the house…." Castiel was breaking in and out terribly. "Iron!"
"What about iron? Is there a ghost?" Sam yelled some more. Dean smiled awkwardly at the people in the bar. "Cas!"
"Crowley…." The line went dead.
Sam stared darkly at his phone. "I lost him."
"What was going on? Why did you have to alert the whole place that we may be escapees from a psych ward?" Dean grumbled.
"I think Cas is in trouble, and I think Crowley is involved."
"You shittin' me? I knew he was too quiet after the whole first blade fiasco." A skinny brunette came slinking up to the table to take their order. "Hello there." Dean flirted.
"Hey guys, what can I get you too?"
"I want the best burger in the house and a pint of the house beer." Dean smiled.
"Just a coke please." Sam said, pulling out his laptop.
Dean frowned. "A coke for the sissy please." Sam just shook his head and began to click away on his computer. The waitress smiled and turned to put in their orders. "A soda? Really Sam. Washington is home to awesome beers and you want a damn soda."
"Sorry if I have other things to worry about than trying every beer in Washington." Sam cleared his throat. "Cas said he was trapped, and something about the house is warded. He shouted iron, and I was thinking there was a ghost but just now I typed in iron and faeries and it turns out its extremely toxic to them, and if they are evil, pure silver will harm them. Cream…."
"Cream? Really?" Dean laughed.
"It doesn't kill them but it makes them drunk."
"I'm trying to figure out what the hell Crowley has to do with this crap."
"I guess we should ask him then." Sam said right as his soda came to him.
"I think so." Dean said, gracious for his beer showing up.
