Tall Deer


12-year-old Martin Bartel ran through the dark Colorado woods. His ankle was twisted and the brush cut at his arms and legs but he didn't pay it any attention. The only thing he knew was the pounding of hoof beats coming up behind him, faster and faster. It was after him, it was getting closer. How could he do this? How could he have taken that dare? Why didn't he listen to his mother?

Why didn't he stay out of the woods?


It was nearing midnight so Dean had given the Black Sabbath a rest and seemed rather content just driving silently along in the dark. Sam was in the seat next to him as usual, leaning back and trying to get some sleep. They had decided, after some discussion, to return to Colorado. Their father had sent them there on purpose and neither felt confident they had found out why. It really wasn't much, but it was all they had. A tune from a random commercial Dean had seen recently found its way into his head and his hand began to tap slightly on the steering wheel. Sam didn't notice, with his back to his brother all Sam cared about was how uncomfortable the car suddenly felt and how little leg room he had.

Sam's attempts at sleep were interrupted when the distant sound of a car horn blaring reached them.

"What the...?" Dean said looking in the review mirror as the horn became louder. Curious Sam turned around and saw car lights gaining on them in the darkness.

"Joy riders," Dean grumbled and steered closer to one side of the (until now) lonely road. The small Honda passed by them so quickly the Chevy shook slightly. The car's horn died out as they passed. Casually Dean looked in the rear view mirror again as he steered back to the middle of the road.

"Now what?" he asked himself. Sam looked back again anyway. There was a fierce red light behind them now, it was getting closer. The sound of hoof beats filled their ears and Dean swerved out of its way. Regaining themselves, Dean and Sam watched the vanishing image of a man riding a horse.

"What the hell was that?" Sam demanded, not quite in a panic.

"I dunno. But it sure looked evil, didn't it?" Dean replied, his voice almost enthusiastic. The car began to roar as Dean pressed harder on the accelerator.

"We're chasing it?" Sam asked surprised.

"Hell yeah! We got to help those people, right?" Dean said as an excuse for a car chase. Sam gulped and nodded, tightening his seat belt. Finally the red light came back into view, and though they were lost in the horse's glare, so were the tail lights of the Honda.

"Do you see a head on that guy?" Sam yelled to be heard over the car's engine.

"What are you thinking, Ichabod?"

"I dunno, I just can't really see a head!" Sam said and Dean pressed the gas a little further. Just as they could hear the hoof beats again the ghostly figure stopped. Dean quickly hit the brakes and the Chevy screeched around and around before coming to a full stop. Both men got out quickly, Dean heading for the trunk and some weapons. They saw the Honda smashed rather securely into a tree, both doors wide open. The red ghosts were about twenty feet away from the wrecked car on the driver's side. The man (who had a head) had gotten off of the horse and was kneeling on the ground battling with something. The horse was prancing back and forth in front of woman trying frantically to get past it. Dean took a pistol and fired it at the horse. The bullet passed through it and hit a tree somewhere in the forest. The shot got the attention of the ghosts and the woman battling with the horse. As Sam and Dean got closer they could see the man had long hair and some sort of a knife in his hand. He had someone pinned under him, struggling to get him off. The distraction of Dean's shot caused gave woman enough time to jet past the horse and tackle the man. He shrugged her off as if she were nothing.

"Nikki!" the person under the man yelled. It was a woman's voice with a Southern accent. Dean and Sam watched as Nikki got up and tried again to tackle the man, but they didn't see what happened as the horse began to charge at them. Dean took several more shoots at it before a loud whistle filled the air and the horse vanished. They looked over and saw only the two women on the ground. Nikki was leaning tentatively over the one that the man had been attacking.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked as they approached. Both women looked at him. Several strands of Nikki's long wavy brown hair had come out of her ponytail and gave her a slightly crazed looked. The other woman sat up with a grumble and put her hand to her forehead. Blood covered much of her face and up into her short dreadlocks. Both women were Black and could easily be sisters. Nikki looked to be in her early 20's, while the other could be almost 30.

"We're fine, thanks," the bleeding woman said as Nikki helped her up.

"What was that thing doing to you?" Dean asked finally feeling safe enough to lower the pistol.

"Trying to scalp me…" the woman said as Nikki walked her over to lean against the Honda. Nikki opened one of the back doors and leaned into the car. The other woman looked at it in disgust and shook her head. "I'm glad we have insurance…"

"What exactly was that thing?" Sam asked her.

"It was nothing," she replied as Nikki returned to her side with a first-aid kit. Sam offered to hold it for her.

"It was a ghost. Why was it chasing you?" Dean asked as the woman pulled her hand away from her head. The wound seemed largely superficial.

"'Cause we pissed it off. Now who are you guys?" she demanded right before Nikki swabbed the cut with alcohol.

"I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean," Sam said, flinching a bit at how much the alcohol must sting. The woman's reaction left little to the imagination.

"Yeah, who the hell are you?" Dean asked curtly. Sam turned back and gave him a stare.

"I'm Alex, this is my sister Nikki," Alex said. Nikki looked at them briefly and smiled.

"Are you hunters?" Dean asked seriously. Alex was silent for a moment.

"Yeah," she finally admitted. It was then Sam finally realized that Alex's neck and wrists were covered in necklaces and bracelets; he could make out several religious symbols and protective charms. Nikki only had one necklace, but he couldn't see what was on the end of it.

"You must not be very good at it," Dean said and made an almost snorting sound. Alex frowned.

"Bad night…" she grumbled. Nikki nudged her with her elbow as she applied butterfly bandages to Alex's head. Alex sighed in defeat. "Thank you for helping us," she said reluctantly.

"No problem. We're hunters too," Sam told her.

"Sam!" Dean yelled at him.

"What? I've never met another hunter before!" Sam defended himself. Dean scoffed and shook his head.

"So you guys are ghost hunters too?" Alex asked. She had somewhat assumed it after Dean asked if she was.

"No," Dean told them, "we hunt more than just ghosts."

"There's more?" Alex asked, now genuinely surprised. Even Nikki turned to look at them.

"There's a lot more," Sam told them, almost amused they didn't know it. The women looked slightly, nervous, about that.

"So are you here for Tall Deer?" Alex asked them.

"What's that?" Sam answered her question.

"The ghost, it's his name," she explained as Nikki began cleaning the blood off of her face and hair.

"Has he attacked people before?" Dean asked her, finally taking a step forward in interest.

"He's killed over a hundred in the past 150 years, only one survivor on record."

"How's he do it?"

"Scalps them. Some bleed to death before they can get help, some have been known to be scared to death."

"So he doesn't mean to kill them?" Sam asked. Alex shrugged.

"That's open to interpretation…" she said. Nikki tapped Alex on the shoulder and pointed to her watch.

"Oh!" Alex said, "he attacks at night, so we're still in danger here," she told them. She looked back at the crashed Honda and frowned. "I don't suppose we can get a ride into town?"


Dean frowned at the road ahead of them. He didn't like having people he didn't know in his car. He especially didn't like having their stuff in his car.

"So Tall Deer, what's his story?" Sam turned around in his seat to ask Alex, who now sat behind him.

"Why?" she asked. Sam shrugged.

"Maybe we could help," he said. Alex glanced over at Nikki, who made a face telling Alex it was up to her. She sighed and looked back at Sam.

"He was killed in 1853 in a battle with the US... Settlers moving in and all that. His horse too. These woods used to be his village, what he died protecting…" she explained.

"And he still is," Sam finished and she nodded. Dean looked up into the rearview mirror so he could see Nikki sitting behind him.

"Don't you talk?" he asked. Her eyes met his in the mirror.

"Nikki's never spoken, at least…" Alex paused, "not without help."

"Help? What kind of help?" Sam asked. Alex looked to Nikki again, who nodded.

"She's a medium."

"No kidding…" Dean said sarcastically.

"How?" Sam asked, looking at Nikki. Usually people who could communicate in some way with the dead had some incident to cause it. Sam just happened to be interested.

"Let's just say the tunnel was opened for her as a baby," Alex answered for her.

"Is that why you hunt?" he asked. Alex nodded rather sadly, and Sam didn't ask anything more about it. If he started asking about their reasons, they might


start asking about his.

"No, it's right over here. Yeah, the big one," Alex told Dean as he pulled up in front of a large, rather fancy looking house. Sam and Dean stared up at it almost in a state of awe. The house would have been over the top by Liberace's standards.

"This is where you guys are staying?" Sam asked as the women got out of the car, hauling their stuff out with them.

"Yeah. The guy we're working for is letting us crash at his house," Alex explained slamming her door shut.

"Working for?"

"Hey, whatever you girls do to make money is no business of ours," Dean said putting his hands up. Both women frowned at him.

"He's hired us to get rid of Tall Deer."

"Wait…Wait…" Dean said, closing his eyes so he could concentrate, "you actually found someone to pay you to get this ghost?" he asked in disbelief. Sam was rather impressed, though no one could see him from inside the car.

"Yeah. He's hired a lot of people over the years. Only pays on return, though, so he's never paid anything."

"What kind of money are we talking here?" Dean asked her. Alex looked at him for a moment.

"Twenty thou…" she finally answered. Dean's heart skipped a beat.

"Have I told you how incredibly sexy I think you are?" he asked her. Alex rolled her eyes but Nikki grinned, a little amused.

"Dean you're such an ass," Sam said from inside the car. Dean turned around and gave him a brief glance.

"It's not like I said she owed us," he defended himself. While he did this Nikki nudged Alex in the back slightly. Alex sighed.

"But…" she got the men's attention back, "we do owe you, and… we could, um…"

Nikki nudged her again.

"We might need your help with this…" she mumbled. Dean's smile lit up.

"What split are we talking here?"

"70-30."

"Pfft. Nice knowing you," Dean said placing his hands on the steering wheel and looking forward. Nikki nudged Alex so hard she stumbled slightly.

"Alright! Fine, 60-40. But I'm being generous," she told him. Dean turned to her and smiled.

"That sounds fair," he said, "can we get a place to stay?" he motioned his head to the large house behind them. Sam yawned, but that was coincidental.

"That's up to the boss man, you can ask him," Alex shrugged. She didn't really think they needed help, but the pain in her forehead kept her from thinking straight.

"That's fine. When would be a good time?" Dean asked politely.

"He'll be waiting up for us," Alex told him. Dean popped his door open and got out, Sam followed suit.

"Lead," Dean told Alex. She frowned at him and did so. "I really do think you're sexy, by the way."

"Shut up," she said and Dean grinned. Sam watched as the house got bigger the closer they got to it. He saw a lot more of the details then he could from the street. The thing must have cost a fortune when it was built, he couldn't even guess what it'd be worth now.

"So why's this guy willing to pay so much?" Sam asked once they were on the porch. Alex rang the bell.

"Because it took something from him," Alex replied somberly, ringing the bell again.

"What?" Sam asked.

"His scalp…" Alex answered as the door opened. In front of them stood a man no younger then 70. He was hunched over slightly and dressed in a fancy bathrobe and matching night cap. In his hand was a small plate with a half eaten cookie on it. He looked as though he may have been a pirate in another life.

"Girls! Girls! Come in? How'd it go? Who are they?" he asked ushering them all inside.

"Oh, this is Dean and Sam, they helped us out of a tight spot tonight," Alex explained walking into the living room, already knowing the way. The inside of the house seemed to be in various states of disrepair, various bits where peeling away or rusted through. You could write you name in the layers of dust.

"So, have we got him?" the man asked excitedly. Alex lowered her eyes.

"Almost. If it weren't for that horse we would have…" she tried to reassure him.

"Yes… Yes… That horse," the old man said and fell silent. They all knew he was listening to those hoof beats in his mind.

"Sam and Dean here have offered to help us out. They're expert hunters," Alex told him. Dean liked being called an 'expert,' while Sam wondered if Alex had just lied or not. The man brightened up considerably at this.

"Oh, really? Have you had experience with this sort of thing?" he asked Sam, who he saw to be the older based purely on height.

"Um, yes Sir," Sam said with a strong nod.

"And worse," Dean added.

"Worse? Oh my. Well my boys, you must spend the night here. I trust you've sorted out money details with the girls?" he asked.

"You don't have to worry about that, Mr. Bartel," Alex reassured him. He nodded.

"Good, good. Well then, I'll say goodnight, and, good hunting!" he said with a little giggle. The women smiled back, while Dean and Sam wondered if he was insane. The old man shuffled off to his room upstairs. The fate of his cookie is unknown.

"What's under the cap?" Dean asked Alex, pointing to his own head.

"Scars. Come on, I'll show you guys to a room," she said beginning to walk off.

"Right. Sam, go get our bags," Dean said.

"Like hell I will," Sam replied. Dean just shook his head as if disappointed.

"Hey, if you guys are staying here, what's in the bags?" Dean asked, indicating the two duffle bags they were carrying.

"Nothing," Alex grumbled. Dean was about to let it go when Nikki tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at her and saw she was pulling what looked like a net out of her bag.

"A net!" he exclaimed in surprise. Alex spun around immediately and stared at him. Nikki tried to jam the net back into the bag. Alex quickly turned her glare to Nikki, who took a step back rather intimidated.

"You tried using nets?" Sam asked.

"It was worth trying! Here's your room. Good night!" she told them opening a door and pulling Nikki down the hall with her. Nikki waved at them and both men found themselves waving back.


"Legends of Tall Deer have been around for nearly a century and a half," the old man said around the breakfast table. Dean was half asleep in his over easy eggs, but Sam was listening rather intently. Alex and Nikki had heard it before, and therefore weren't very interested. The sixth person at the table, Mrs. Bartel, an elegant looking old woman, rolled her eyes and tried to pretend her husband wasn't talking. He had told the story of Tall Deer to so many people she had come to hate the ghost as much as he had.

"He only strikes at night, and it don't matter how many people it is, he'll hunt them down to the last," Mr. Bartel said from underneath his cap.

"Isn't there some sort of barrier to where he'll go? A creek, the forest line, the town line?" Sam asked him. The old man shook his head.

"Story goes he once chased a man straight into town hall, and one clear across the state!" he said, waving a bit of sausage around on his fork.

"Then how'd you survive?" Dean asked, wiping some yolk off his face.

"He caught up to me while I was in earshot of some people. They got me to the hospital right away. It's a miracle, isn't it Maggie?" he said looked down the table at his wife. The woman kept looking blankly at the table between them.

"I said, isn't it, Maggie!" he said a little louder. The woman looked up.

"Yes, yes. A miracle…" she muttered. She hadn't been paying attention, that's just what he always said to her during the story.

"How old were you?" Sam asked him.

"Just twelve. A group of us boys dared each other to spend a night out there. He killed them all but me," Mr. Bartel closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to banish the images still with him.

"That was stupid," Dean told him bluntly. Mr. Bartel nodded.

"Yes. A lesson learned too late, I'm afraid."

"So why do you keep sending people out there to get it?" Dean asked, not really understanding the lesson learned there.

"Because I want it gone!" the old man slammed a boney fist onto the table, rattling the silverware slightly. That got everyone's attentions. Sometimes the need for revenge outweighs the safety of other people.

"And you sent two girls?" Dean asked perplexed. Someone kicked him in the shin, but it is not known who.

"These girls have had a better shot then any I've met," Mr. Bartel told him, jabbing his fork in Nikki's direction.

"That's not what we saw," Dean told him, a little too tired to realize he might have been putting eight thousand dollars at risk.

"Well you didn't see what I saw," Mr. Bartel told him.

"And what's that?" Dean asked. As an answer the old man looked down the table at Nikki.


"Put it there? Thanks Sam," Alex said as Sam placed a chair in the middle of a smaller sized room in the house. Nikki sat in it and Alex walked around behind her with two scarves, "now I'm going to remind you again Mr. Bartel. Any valuables in this room you don't want destroyed you may want to take out."

"They're still removed from last time," he reassured her from where he stood beside Dean and Sam, in front of and away from Nikki. Alex nodded and began to bind her sister's hands and feet to the chair.

"Do you always tie her up?" Sam asked.

"Well yeah, or she'd scalp us all, Sam," Dean told him. Dean was making it more than obvious he thought this whole thing was silly. He had met plenty of 'medium's over the years, and he believed this one as much as he believed the others.

"Actually," Alex shot Dean a death glare, "this is just a precaution. We've only encountered one spirit strong enough to move Nikki's body," she paused, "and it wasn't pretty."

"Better safe then sorry," Mr. Bartel understood. Alex stood in front of her sister and looked down at her.

"Ready?" she asked. Nikki nodded. Alex reached behind her sister's neck and unlatched the necklace chain. She jogged a few steps backward, jewelry in hand, and stood beside Sam.

"Hang on to your hat Mr. Bartel," Alex said softly. For a moment, Nikki just sat there, looking at them.

"Ooh, I'm impressed," Dean said. Sam elbowed him. Then Nikki's head fell. Some strands of her hair came out of the ponytail and whipped about. Dean turned his head to the side and narrowed his eyes to see her lips moving. Suddenly a man's voice filled the room, chanting in a native language. When Nikki's head came up the voice became English.

"It's not yours! It's not yours!" the man's voice came out of her. Her eyes had gone completely black. Mr. Bartel elbowed Dean in an 'I told you so,' sort of way.

"What do you want?" Alex asked. It was impossible to tell, but there was the thought the black eyes had turned to her.

"I want you gone!" Nikki's lips moved and the voice said, "away from my home!"

"It's not your home anymore!" Alex told him.

"It will always be my home! The home of my people!"

"Your people have a new home! They don't want this one anymore!"

"Liar! I will not listen to you!" Tall Deer said and apparently meant it, because Nikki's head dropped limp and her hair became once again under gravity's control. Alex rushed over to her and latched the necklace back around her neck. Mr. Bartel sighed as Alex untied her sister.

"And that's our problem," he told Sam and Dean. Sam's face contorted as he thought, while Dean only seemed mildly interested. Alex helped her sister to stand.

"Do you believe us now?" she asked Dean. He shrugged and nodded slightly.

"I guess so. But I don't see what the problem is…"

They all stared at him.

"You see Dean, it kills people…" Sam told him. Dean glared at him briefly.

"I know that. Look, he isn't going to listen to you about his people not wanting this place, right?" he asked. There was a group nod. "So find someone he will listen to."

And the room fell silent.

"You know," Mr. Bartel said, "the boy has a point." Dean nodded proudly.

"I intend to earn that fifty percent," he said.

"What! Fifty! Are you out of your mind?" Alex demanded from him, advancing on him slightly. For some reason Mr. Bartel chuckled.

"I'll let you kids settle that out. You girls let me know of any progress…" he said as he left, closing the door behind him, expecting the 'kids' to argue. Alex sighed and turned to her sister who was sitting back in the chair to rest.

"Did you learn anything knew about him?" she asked. Nikki shook her head.

"What would she learn that we didn't?" Sam asked.

"Oh. Sometimes Nikki sees things. Little snippets of their lives. Usually not anything helpful," Alex shrugged it off.

"Any idea who he might listen to?" Sam asked Nikki. She thought for a moment and then signed something with her hands.

"Just someone from his tribe," Alex translated.

"Well, isn't there a local lodge or whatever?" Dean asked. Both women shook their heads.

"About a year after Tall Deer was killed his tribe was moved down to New Mexico."

"Well maybe he'd listen to us," Dean suggested, "maybe he prefers men to women."

The other three stared at him.

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"I'm sure he takes the word of two White men very seriously, having such great experiences with them in the past," Alex said sarcastically. Nikki signed something to add.

"Yeah but that didn't work, did it?" Alex replied to her.

"What she'd say?" Sam asked.

"Just that we were hoping the fact we were Black might warm him up to us, but that didn't work…" she absentmindedly pressed her fingers to her head.

"Maybe there's an Asian dude we can try out," Dean was sarcastic.

"Our best bet is finding a Native American… by far our best bet," Sam wanted to make clear.

"I told you, they've cleared. There might be one in the county, maybe! And the chances of them being a Jicarilla Apache are nothing."

"So what do we do?" Dean asked, since she seemed to hate all of their ideas.

"What are the chances of finding his remains?" Sam asked, trying to be a diplomat.

"Less than nothing," Alex said. Sam continued offering suggestions that Alex kept turning down with some reason or another. After a while Dean began to tune them out and turned his attention to Nikki, who was sitting on the chair looking out the window. Dean narrowed his eyes and walked casually beside her. He bent slightly and looked out the window with her.

There was a wind chime blowing in a slight breeze outside. Metal horses clanked against each other in a noisy melody. Dean thought for a moment and turned his attention back to Alex and his brother, who were discussing bellbottoms for some reason.

"Hey," he got their attention, "what about the horse?"

"What about it?"

"Would he listen to the horse?" Dean asked. They had to take a moment to make sure they had heard him correctly.

"You want my sister to channel a horse!" Alex demanded angrily. Dean looked down at Nikki.

"Do you think you could?" he asked. Nikki thought about it for a moment before shrugging. She signed something and her face looked like she'd be willing to give it a try.

"Are you nuts?" Alex asked them honestly.

"Dean, how are we going to get the horse to believe us?" Sam questioned him, feeling a little weird saying such a thing.

"Someone in town must have a horse it can talk to."


"And eight thousand…" Alex said placing one last bill into Dean's hand. They stood by his car, Dean leaning against the driver's door and rolling the money into his pocket. Sam was already buckled in and couldn't see the grin on his brother's face. Earlier they had found a stable with a friendly horse, and uniquely were able to persuade Tall Deer and his companion that they could leave. It had been quite the experience, and Dean and Sam were going to wait until they left town before they laughed.

"Thank you very much," Dean told her. She glared at him, plotting his death.

"Just take the money and go, and never come near me or my sister again!" Alex yelled and stormed off to argue with a mechanic about the Honda. Dean grinned and got into his car. Just as he was buckling up Nikki leaned on his open window. She gave them both a nice smile and handed Dean an envelope.

"Bye," Sam said as she leaned away and they drove off. Dean flung the envelope at his brother.

"What's it say?"

"'Call us if you ever need us,'" Sam read off the front of the envelope. He opened it and pulled out a card. Hand written on it was 'Nikki and Alex Charles' followed by a cell phone number and an e-mail address. Sam laughed slightly.

"We should keep this," he told Dean, who scoffed.

"I bet her sister doesn't know she gave us that," he said. Sam shrugged, supposing that could be true. He began to look around for a safe place to put it.

"Give me that," Dean said grabbing it from Sam's hand and placing it up in his visor. Sam smiled as they continued driving down the road.

A mile later they were both in laughter.