Once a Winchester, Always a Winchester
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Supernatural as they are the property of Eric Kripke. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.
Summary: Life is always full of wonders and surprises. Life is also always full of truths and lies. For 16 year old Eris Lily Winchester, she's about to get a taste of both sides of the track. Raised by only her mother in a small little town in California, Eris seems to live a normal life of working at the town's local library and hanging out with her friends. Living the life of a typical teenager. But that all changes when she begins showing signs of psychic ability and weird things begin to happen to her town. It doesn't help matters when her mother suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving Eris in the hands of two strangers who are in search of their father. What she doesn't know is that these two brothers are connected to her in more ways than she will ever know. How far is she willing to rely on the brothers when secrets and lies of her family put her into severe danger? Can the brothers keep their baby sister safe from the evil that lurks in the Simms family heritage while trying to find their father?
Pilot
"In other news, the car of Troy Squire was found on the Centennial Highway bridge this morning by a morning jogger, who alerted authorities when she discovered Squire nowhere to be seen and no evidence in a sign of struggle or a fight. Authorities are baffled and have given no indication to what may be the cause of the disappearance. Troy is the 5th male victim to disappear along the Centennial Highway in the last couple of months in the same manner that…."
"You would think that they would have caught the killer by now since the victims are all dying the same way."
"You don't know that they're dead."
"Mom, I may only be 16 years old and not know much about killing people like these serial killers do or know much about the legal system in finding killers, but I'm not stupid when it comes to knowing that these people disappearing along Centennial Highway are actually dead. The news reporter just said that the jogger saw no sign of Troy. The same with all the other victims. They disappeared within the last couple of months with not as much as a ransom note in sight. They're dead." A sigh and a shake of the head told me that I had made my case to my mother and had won.
"Sometimes I wonder about how you became so smart. Definitely not from my side of the family," she said as she set a plate of eggs, sausage, and hash browns in front of me before making her own plate and sitting across from me at the kitchen table. I gave her a grin before shoving a forkful of hash brown in my mouth.
"Mrs. Greer called this morning and has asked for you to stop by the house on your way home from the library for a cup of tea and brownies. She says that it's the least she can do for you since you helped her last week when her cat died. I think she just wants to thank you for the new kitten you got from the shelter to keep her company," she said, causing me to nod.
"I was planning on stopping by anyways. Had extra material from the collar I made Rain last week and made Mrs. Greer's new kitten one. Figured I would drop it by the house so that Mrs. Greer can parade her kitten around town like she does with her cats," I said, causing my mom to chuckle and shake her head.
"You're a good girl, Artemis. 16 and already graduated out of high school, you go out of your way to help everyone in this town, and you're the sweetest little girl a mother could ask for. Too bad your father didn't stick around long enough to see this," she said, causing me to chuckle.
"You did great on your own, mom, and it's his fault for not being here. I'd love to stay and have this enlightened conversation further, but I've got to get to the library before Liz gets too overwhelmed by bodies wanting to check out books," I said as I stood from the table and rinsed off my plate before placing it in the dishwasher and drying my hands. My mom gave me a rather odd look, causing me to give her a grin as she caught on to the joke and laughed.
"Only people like you love to spend their weekends working at the library. Don't forget to tell Liz that I'll be sending you with my blueberry pie tomorrow for her since I didn't have time to make it during the week for her birthday. I know how much she loves my blueberry pie. And make sure you stop by the produce store on your way home to pick up those fresh tomatoes Larry got in this week. I've already called him up to tell him you would be there once you were done helping out Liz and he's put aside four of his freshest ones," she said, causing me to roll my eyes as I grabbed my bag and kissed her on the cheek.
"I won't forget. I will see you for dinner. Rain!" I yelled as I kissed my mother once more before leaving the kitchen with a sharp whistle. "Down, Rain," I said as I pushed slightly at the heavy body against me, kissing her nose It was about two seconds before the thunderous sound of Rain's body could be heard as I turned into the foyer where the stairs were. I let out a laugh as my 200 pound white Bengal tiger jumped at me, nearly knocking me over in want of affection.
"Down, Rain," I said, giving her nose a kiss and shoving her off my body before opening the door and heading outside with her at my side. Shouts of good morning and hellos came from my neighbors as they did their yard work or sat upon their porches gossiping. I waved hello and continued on my way to the library, which was a good 15 minute walk from my house. I really didn't mind it. Unlike some of the normal kids my age, I preferred walking places instead of driving, especially in this small town of Jericho where cars weren't exactly necessary unless you were working outside of town or traveling. I was a pretty average teenager. For the most part anyways. I was only 16 years old and I had just recently graduated from high school being the top person of my class and several ready scholarships to just about every school around the country. Everyone in town was ecstatic for me.
"Thank goodness you're here. The library is just too full of people." I let out a laugh as I walked into the library to see Liz typing away on one of the front desk computers while periodically watching the few people that were actually in the library.
"I can see that. Have they tried to kill each other to be first in line to be checked out?" I asked as I set my bag on the floor and gave her a look. She merely chuckled in response and gave Rain a pet on the head.
"It's rather quiet today minus the few people who are coming and going. You might be able to leave early today," she replied, causing me to nod and whistle quietly for Rain as I began to pull a cart full of books from behind the counter.
"Sounds good to me. Oh. Mom told me to tell you that she will be sending me with her delicious blueberry pie for you tomorrow since she wasn't able to make one this week for your birthday," I said, causing her to give me a nod before I walked away toward the many large book cases full of books. Although I wasn't exactly paid for the library work I was doing, I liked helping out because it kept me out of trouble. Don't get me wrong. I loved hanging out with my friends and being a normal teenager, but I liked to keep myself out of trouble as well. It's the least I can do for everything my mom had done for me growing up.
It's always been my mom and me ever since I was born. Sure I had a father, but she never talked about who he was or what he did or even why he left us. She basically told me that he left in the middle of the night when I was about a week old and never came back. I know there's more to the story than just that, but considering everything she's done for me to make sure I had everything I wanted growing up, I didn't ask and I probably won't ever ask. It had always been myself, my mom, and Rain in this small town. My mom had gotten her when she was just a cub when I was about 2 or 3 years old and I have had her ever since then. I really don't know how my mom came to be able to get her, especially since I hadn't really heard of someone having a wild animal as a pet before in the states, but I loved Rain too much to question. At first most of the town was skeptical about having the tiger in the town at first, but they seemed to get use to the idea since Rain never showed any signs of aggressiveness unless it came to protecting me. She was quite affectionate and loving.
"Uh….excuse me?" I was broken out of my thoughts and turned my head slightly to see two guys standing at the end of the aisle looking a bit nervous as they glanced between me and behind me. Looking back, I saw Rain stretched out on the floor with her eyes pinned curiously on the two guys.
"She's not going to attack you. She's pretty affectionate. Is there something I can help you with?" I asked as I petted Rain on the head before putting the last few books on the bottom shelf and standing up to look at them. I knew right off the bat that they weren't from town since I knew just about everyone in town and they all knew me. And they really didn't look like small town kind of guys. One was taller than the other, which actually made them a lot taller than I was. I was only 4'8 and these two had to be at least 6 feet tall or even taller than that. Maybe 6'2 for the short one and 6'3 or 6'4 for the other. The tallest guy had brown eyes and seemed to give off a friendly vibe as he gave me a small smile while the other was green eyed and had this bad boy attitude going on, but at the same time a friendly vibe as well. Almost too friendly. Maybe.
"Uh…are you Eris?" the taller one asked.
"Depends on who's asking," I replied as I put more of the books back on the shelves.
"We were told we could find her here. Some locals we talked to say that she seems to be a walking encyclopedia of weirdness, especially on local legends," the other one said, causing me to snort with laughter.
"Walking encyclopedia of weirdness. That's a new one. I'll have to remember that one," I said.
"We were also told that we could find you here with a huge tiger at your side. I'm assuming this is the tiger the locals were talking about," he said, causing me to give him a look.
"Can I help you with something?" I asked, causing the taller one to sigh slightly and give his companion an annoyed look.
"I'm sorry about him. My name is Sam and this is my brother, Dean. We were just talking to some locals about the disappearance of Tony Squire and we heard an interesting tale about the Centennial Highway Bridge just outside town. They said that you would know more about it," the taller one said, causing me to lift an eyebrow in curiosity.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"We heard it was a supposedly a murder and how a woman hitchhikes along the same 5-mile stretch of road, picking up various men along the way," Dean replied, causing me to snort with laughter and roll my eyes.
"Some of these locals have been living here a lot longer than I have and they still don't the legend," I said, causing Sam to look at me in curiosity.
"So the legend isn't right?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.
"It's right about the hitchhiking part. That's always been the same for a couple of years now. But it was never a murder that killed the girl up on Centennial Highway Bridge," I replied.
"What was it?" he asked, causing me to give him a suspicious look as I took in some of the questions they were asking me.
"Why are you so interested in knowing this stuff?" I asked, causing them to look at one another before looking at me. Rain sensed something wasn't right and put herself between the three of us with a slight growl that caused the two of them to back up just slightly.
"If you're so interested in the local legend, look it up yourself. I've got work to do. Come on, Rain," I said as I grabbed the book cart and pushed it toward the exit of the aisle. As I made to exit the aisle, Rain let out a ferocious growl, causing me to quickly turn around as Dean nearly fell backwards trying to move away from her as she stood in front of me.
"What are you two trying to do?" I asked as I backed up slightly.
"We just wanted to ask you about the jersey you're wearing. The name on the back," Sam replied just as Liz came around the corner with a concerned look on her face.
"What is going on here? Eris, are you alright?" she asked, causing me to nod.
"Yeah. Rain just thought these two guys were going to hurt me, but they were just asking a simple question. I'm alright. Don't worry," I replied, causing her to give both Sam and Dean a suspicious look before nodding and casting one last look over at me before returning back to the front desk. Once I knew she wasn't paying attention to me, I turned my attention back to the two brothers in front of me and narrowed my eyes slightly.
"What the hell are you two trying to pull?" I asked.
"The name on the back of the jersey. It yours?" Dean asked, causing me to give him a slightly offended look.
"Of course it's mine. It's my jersey that my mother paid for when I was a freshman at the town high school. I played soccer for the time that I was there. I was even offered a scholarship to play at just about every college all over the United States. So yeah, the jersey is mine and the name on the back of jersey is my last name. What about it?" I asked, causing him to stare at me for a second before speaking.
"Nothing. It's just not a common name. That's all. Come on, Sammy. We've got some researching to do. Nice chatting with you, Eris," he replied before he pulled his brother with him, leaving me very confused. There had never been a spoken word from strangers about my last name other than to ask if it was just like the rifle. Until now that is.
"Weird," I muttered as I watched the brothers take a seat at one of the computers, shaking my head as I pulled the cart down the next aisle. It was definitely too weird.
"It's absolutely lovely, Eris. Mr. Jingles will absolutely love it. He'll look so dashing in it that he'll be the talk of the town!" I let out a soft chuckle as Mrs. Greer bustled around the living room in search of her new kitten to put the collar I had made on him. I liked being around Mrs. Greer even though she was an elderly woman. Maybe that's because I spent a lot of time with her when my mom had to work two jobs when I was younger to keep us afloat. I had never known my grandparents on either side of my family and I took to her like she was my own grandmother, which she seemed to enjoy as she spoiled me and such like grandmothers do for their grand-daughters.
"And of course I didn't forget a special cookie just for Rain," she said as she held out a cookie like biscuit toward Rain, who gave a nudge of the hand to say thanks before taking the cookie and munching down on it. I politely declined another brownie as I sipped at my tea.
"I must tell you, Eris, that you are one lucky little girl," she said, pouring herself more tea as I gave her a curious look.
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Because you have a wonderful mother who loves you dearly and a whole town who loves you just as much for all the wonderful things you do for us. You can't get any better than that," she replied, causing me to chuckle.
"Yes, well I wouldn't call it lucky. I don't think luck has anything to do with it," I said.
"You are one very smart girl. I just don't understand why you won't go to college this fall. All the top universities around the country are wanting you for your athletic skills and your brains. Smartest little girl this town has seen in decades of years," she said, causing me to sigh just slightly.
"I just don't think that college is right for me at this time. Too big and too noisy. Too many drunks and not enough nice people like this small town. I like simple and quiet. But maybe in another year or two when I feel that I am really ready to go. Besides, I don't think any university would want me when they discover that they have to take both me and Rain or it's no deal," I said, nuzzling my nose against hers with a giggle.
"They would have a hard time competing with that. But I should be sending you on your way home. I know how your mother gets when you're late for dinner. Tell her to send some of her blueberry pie my way the next time she makes it and you be careful going home. It's getting a bit dark out," she said, causing me to nod as I gave her a hug before heading out and heading toward my house. The sun was starting to set and it was slightly breezy outside, which was nice. However, the soft growl of Rain caught my attention and I looked to find her in the prowling position, causing me to stop and give her a look.
"What's the matter, girl?" I asked as I looked around to find nothing really out of the ordinary, but Rain in prowling position meant that she could see or sense something that I couldn't. However, the sight of a black car parked somewhat down the street caught my attention and I swallowed slightly as I got the creepy feeling that whoever was in that car was watching me.
"Come on, Rain," I said before I set back to getting home. Thank god I was only a few minutes from my house because when I reached the porch, I turned around to see the black car speed off down the street, which gave me the slight chills as I quickly made my way into the house and locked the door. Was someone following me? And if they were, what for?
"Creepy things have been happening, Rain, and I don't like it," I said as I double checked to make sure the door was locked before heading into the kitchen where I completely stopped in my tracks at the sight of the kitchen. It was completely wrecked with dishes thrown all over the place from the cabinets and tonight's dinner on the floor. It was like someone had ransacked the kitchen or something.
"Mom?!" I called out as I quickly left the kitchen in search of my mom. This wasn't like my mom to not come get me when something bad happened. And why hadn't the neighbors heard something and come to investigate or something.
"Mom?! Mom, where are…." But I let out a whimper and nearly fell down the stairs as I stumbled slightly, a searing pain ripping through my head.
"Take me home."
"No."
I let out a cry and clutched at my head as I saw a guy in a car sitting in front of an abandoned house.
"Don't do this."
"I can never go home."
"You're scared to go home," the guy said as he looked into his rearview mirror at the chick sitting in the back, but she merely appeared next to him and tried to attack him.
"Hold me. I'm so cold," she said as she tried to cuddle or caress him into holding her.
"But you can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been," he said.
"But you will be. Just hold me," she said before kissing him. She seemed to kiss him for a few seconds before he let out a yell as she appeared in and out, grasping at his chest with her hand. It was only a few seconds before she pulled his heart completely out of the body and splattered it all over the inside of the car, leaving the car to gasp for air as he died.
"No!" I screamed, hitting my head against the railing of the stairs as I violently gasped for air. My head was pounding as I struggled to stand, ignoring the concern of Rain as I pushed her away from me to give me some room. What the hell was that? I just saw some guy dying in my mind, almost like a vision or something. But those things weren't real. There was no such things as people being able to have visions or psychic powers. Especially not me.
"Artemis, are you alright?" My head snapped up, despite the severe pounding it was going through, to see Mrs. Greer standing at the bottom of the stairs with a concerned look on her face. Rain was growling just slightly, but I think it was just because of what had just happened to me, which caused me to wave it off just a little bit.
"I'm ok. Just a little bit of a dizzy spell. How did you get in?" I asked.
"The front door was unlocked. I heard screaming and came to investigate," she replied, causing me to give her a strange look as I looked to the open front door before looking back at her "concerned" looking face. I know I remembered locking the front door and nobody but my mom and I had a key. Something wasn't right.
"Is everything ok?" My head snapped from Mrs. Greer to Mrs. Henderson, who was my next door neighbor, as she stood at the threshold of the house. Something wasn't right about this situation as she too had a creepy concern look on her face.
"Everything is fine. You can all go home now," I said.
"Not likely. The kitchen is a mess. Where's your mama, girlie?" I started backing away up the stairs as one of the local deputies came around the corner from the kitchen to give me a look. Nobody in this town called me girlie.
"Come on now, Eris. Don't be so afraid. We just want to talk to you," Mrs. Greer said, her eyes turning pitch black, causing Rain to let out a ferocious growl as I turned and ran up the stairs to my room. I slammed the door shut as I heard footsteps and struggled to tip over the book case against the wall by the door, causing me to back away from the door as I heard pounding on the other side of the door.
"Now, now, Eris. Be a good girl and open up the door. We promise we won't hurt you like your poor little kitty." I swallowed a sob at her words about Rain and wanted to open the door to tear her apart, but I knew I couldn't stay here and who knew what they did to my mom. They weren't the same people they were earlier in the day. Throwing open my window, I struggled with the screen until I broke it through just enough for me to get through.
"Eris! You open this door right now!" I let out a scream as the door busted open just as I crawled out the window and to the edge of the roof. Peering over the side, I knew it was not a long way down, but I knew I could get hurt if I jumped.
"Come here, Eris." I turned my head to see Mrs. Greer's head sticking out the window with those pitch black eyes, causing me to shake my head and take the jump. I landed on my feet with slight force, which caused me to tumble and roll, before looking back to the house where Mrs. Henderson and the deputy were starting to come out the door. I didn't think twice and took off running, not caring where my legs took me as long as they took me away from the weirdness that was happening at my house. I looked back slightly to see the deputy chasing after me, my eyes widening as I saw him gaining speed. As I turned my head back around to see where I was going, I skidded to a stop and twisted my body away from the lights that came upon me all too quick. The sound of tires skidding across the pavement of the road caused me to look up slightly to see the same black car from earlier stopped just inches in front of me. With the two guys from the library in it.
Sam's POV
"So she definitely doesn't want us digging around, which allows us to know that she is the one making all these men disappear along that 5 mile stretch of road."
"Yeah, well she's definitely dead when I see her again. We might as well just check into a motel and see what else we can dig up on ol' Constance." I nodded and turned my gaze back to the road as Dean pulled away from the bridge where Constance tried to run us off. It apparently didn't work, but it was pretty funny in a way since Dean was covered head to toe in mud from having jump from the bridge into the murky water below it. This whole job was starting to get to me just a little bit and….
"Dean! Look out!" I yelled as a figure darted in front of Impala, causing Dean to slam down on the breaks pretty hard. I watched as the figure seemed to become aware of the car and twisted her body in such a way to try and avoid as much impact as possible, but I only let out a sigh of relief when the car stopped just inches in front of her.
"What the hell is your problem, kid?" Dean asked as he got out of the car, causing me to groan as I realized this could be a problem and got out of the car myself. I made to intervene on the kid's behalf, but I stepped back in shock when the girl from earlier at the library looked at us in shock.
"Eris?" I asked with slight caution as I didn't want a repeat of the library and I definitely didn't want to frighten her anymore than what she already appeared to be, whether it was from earlier when I know she saw the Impala kind of trailing her home or whether it was from something else.
"Stop!" She let out a scream and made to take off, but I grabbed her around the waist to keep her from running from the cop that was closing in.
"No! Let me go!" she yelled as she struggled to get out of my grip.
"Dean…"
"Sam, get in the car," he said as he started moving toward the driver side door quickly.
"De…"
"Now! Her too!" he bellowed, causing me to pick up the tiny struggling female body and throw her into the front seat of the Impala before slamming the door shut just as Dean hit the gas. The deputy, who had somehow gotten to the Impala by that time, jumped onto the hood of the car, which caused Eris to scream and bury herself into my side. Dean merely slammed on the breaks, causing the guy to go rolling off, before putting the car into reverse and heading back in the direction we had just come. Glancing back through the rear window, I saw the deputy slowly stand.
"Dean, is that guy…"
"Yeah. Is she alright?" he asked, nodding his head to the female that was shaking like a leaf against my side.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling not so much. Hey. Eris, look at me," I said as I gently pulled her face out of my shoulder in order to get her to look at me. Her bright icy green eyes were filled with so many emotions all wrapped up together behind the tears that were slowly starting to run down her face. There was no doubt that she was frightened and had no idea what had just happened.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I just saw Mrs. Greer not even ten or fifteen minutes before she showed up at my house. I know that the front door was locked," she replied, causing me to give a sigh and look over at my brother. There was no way that we could tell her that the deputy that was chasing her, and probably even the elderly Mrs. Greer, had been possessed.
"And Rain…." But her voice trailed off as she buried her face back into my shoulder, the fabric becoming wet as I realized that she was crying more. My brother gave me a puzzling look, which I didn't blame him for since I was just as puzzled, until I realized that the tiger that had been by her side the entire time that we saw her was not even with her when Dean nearly ran her over.
"I'm sure Rain is alright," I said as I looked to my brother for help. Although I was use to female antics such as this having been with Jess for the last three years, this was a little bit awkward for me because there was something bugging me about her. When I had questioned Dean about it earlier after the confrontation about "Winchester" being on the back of the jersey that she was still wearing at this point, he seemed to have suspicions but had yet to talk to me about it. It was just all too familiar with her clinging to me, but I just couldn't place the thought.
"We'll go to the outskirts of town to get a motel and once we get a lead on what we're dealing with, we'll take her home and see what's going on. I would think it's too dangerous at this point to take her home with it being so dark and the lovely neighbors trying for her head," Dean said, causing me to nod. There was no way that we could let her go home at this point in time, but I was just a little bit worried about her being with us with the whole Constance and Centennial Highway Bridge thing.
"What did you fall in?" I couldn't help but let out a laugh as Eris seemed to manage a question through her tears as she brought her head out of my shoulder to give Dean a look. He merely glared at her and turned his attention back to the road. By day break, Dean pulled into a motel just outside the town after spending most of the night driving around to another city or so to throw off suspicion just in case someone said something or the people that were no longer possessed raised questions, especially if Eris' home was wide open and no one was home. She was nestled into the side of me sleeping and looked so peaceful and innocent like a child. For now.
"Come on. Let's go get a room, get cleaned up, and then we'll talk strategy and figure out what we can do about her," Dean said as he shut the car off and got out, leaving me to wake up her. I gently shook her until her eyes slowly opened and focused on me.
"Morning," I said with a slight laugh as I helped her balance herself out once she had gotten out of the car.
"Where are we?" she asked sleepily as she looked around.
"We're going to check into a motel so that we can get cleaned up and help you out after last night's events," I replied as I guided her toward the reception building where my brother was waiting. She seemed to understand as she nodded and gave a yawn, causing me to chuckle and shake my head.
"One room please," Dean said as he dropped a credit card onto the receptionist's desk. The elderly man picked it up and looked at it before looking at us.
"You guys having a reunion or something?" he asked, causing me to give him a confused look.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"That other guy, Burt Aframian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month," he replied, causing Dean and I to look at one another.
"Do you know which room he's staying in?" I asked, causing the gentleman to nod and give us the room number before we thanked him and walking back out the door.
"You think…."
"No doubt," Dean replied as we started walking toward the room number.
"Didn't you guys want a room?" Eris asked as she gave us confused looks as to why we didn't get the room like we had said we were going to.
"Yeah, but our dad seems to have already gotten it for us," he replied as I knelt in front of the door and picked the lock while Dean stood watch to make sure no one stopped us for looking suspicious. Eris made to say something but decided against it as she rubbed her eyes, causing me to wonder if she wasn't really going to ask a whole lot of questions after what happened last night. She didn't really talk after asking Dean what he had fell in once we rescued her from her possessed neighbors, but that still didn't stop Dean and I from wondering what had happened and what was going on in the town. As I pushed the door open, my eyes widened at the state of the room and yanked both Dean and Eris into the room before slamming the door shut.
"Whoa," she said as she also took in the state of the room. I glanced at her for a second as she stared at some things on the wall, but turned my attention to the salt line that had been drawn in the middle of the room.
"I don't think he's been here for a couple of days, at least," Dean said.
"Salt. Cat's eye shells. He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in," I said as he looked at me before he walked toward the far side of the motel room to look at the wall.
"Who was here? And what kind of nut are they?" Eris asked as she turned to look at me.
"Our dad. He was here but now he seems to be kind of missing. What have you got there?" I asked as I turned my attention back to my brother.
"Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it. They're different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities, etc. I mean, there's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?" he asked. I glanced over to another wall and let my eyes wander until I came upon a small sign above the same article that Dean and I had found in the library yesterday. Flipping on the small lamp, I saw that it said "Woman in White" and a couple of pictures that showed women in white dresses.
"Dad figured it out," I said, causing Dean to look over me with confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"He found the same article that we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white," I replied, causing Eris to tilt her head slightly at the picture as she came to stand next to me.
"Her husband lives in town," she said, causing me to give her a look.
"How do you know that?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.
"I know everyone in this town and they all know me. Besides, I'm a walking encyclopedia of weirdness, remember? I know the legend. And what are you guys so interested in it for anyways? You do realize that these things on the wall make you and your dad look very suspicious?" she asked, causing me to sigh and run a hand through my hair as I gave my brother a look.
"Uh…yeah. Anyways, if we're dealing with a Woman in White, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it," he said, slightly ignoring her.
"She might have another weakness," I said, causing him to shake his head and walk toward me.
"No. Dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up. Does it say where she was buried?" he asked.
"No, not that I can tell. If I were dad, though, I'd go ask the husband. If he's still alive," I replied, causing Eris to throw her hands up as we looked at her.
"What?" Dean asked as he gave her a slightly annoyed look.
"Did you two not just hear me say that the husband is still alive? He lives in town. And who are you guys? I should really be calling the cops on you two for this and talking of grave desecration," she replied, causing Dean to snort with laughter as he headed toward the bathroom.
"And tell them what? That two strangers saved you from three of your neighbors whose eyes were pitch black like night. That were chasing you down and possibly trying to hurt you? Who's going to believe you if they deny it? Isn't it usually a rule that you don't argue with your elders?" he asked.
"Dean!" I exclaimed as I gave him a glare. He merely ignored me and kept his eyes fixed on Eris. She gave him a glare but didn't say anything, causing him to smirk in satisfaction.
"Thought so. Sam, why don't you see if you can get an address out of Miss Thing over there while I go get myself cleaned up," he said, causing me to sigh before I remembered something and stopped him.
"Hey Dean. About what I said earlier about mom and dad? I'm sorry and…."
"No chick flick moments. Get the address out of the girl," he said as he stopped me from finishing my sentence before heading into the bathroom and shutting the door. I gave a chuckle and sat down on the bed and watched as Eris peered out the window while watching me through the glass.
Eris' POV
"We're going to get you help as soon as we can talk to the husband of Constance Welch. We might…"
"Your brother seemed to know about the black eyes. How?" I asked as I watched him through the glass of the motel mirror. Even though the curtains were drawn, there was a small opening that let the sunlight in and I couldn't help but peer out it. If need be, I could see both of their movements and could try to bolt if necessary.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"He seemed to know that the deputy's eyes last night were black. How?" I asked as I decided that this Sam character wasn't going to do me any harm since he had seemed to protect me from last night's attack. He seemed like a genuine guy concerned for me, but I wasn't about to get all nice and friendly just yet.
"Some girls told us that you seemed to know all about local legends and lore of just about every mythological creature there is. Do you ever believe in some of that stuff?" he asked, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Was he serious?
"I like mythology whether it's Roman and Greek or whether it be something like vampires and werewolves. I find it all fascinating, especially because Eris is the Greek personification of discord and strife," I replied, causing him to chuckle.
"So you became interested in mythology because of your name?" he asked, causing me to nod.
"Eris Lily isn't exactly two names you put together since they're both oxymoron," I replied.
"It's a nice name. A little on the weird side, but it's unique like you seem to be with the fact that you have a white Bengal tiger by the name of Rain as your pet. Very unique. But I'm asking because I want to know if you believe in any of the lore that you've read about vampires and werewolves and anything else you've read," he said, causing me to shake my head.
"They're not real. It's just a bunch of stuff people made up for money and entertainment. So how did he know what I saw last night?" I asked, causing him to sigh and rub at his neck with a nervous chuckle. I stared at him for a second before I shook my head in disbelief.
"Oh my god. Tell me you don't believe in that bullshit," I said as I gave him a look.
"Eris, they were demons," he said.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"What do you know about demon lore?" he asked.
"Not much. I was never interested in it the way I am vampires or werewolves. What does that…."
"Everything. You said yourself that you wanted to know how Dean knew that the deputy's eyes were black last night. Demons possess people and the only way to know that they're possessed is the pitch black eyes. Your neighbors were possessed last night. You can also tell that they're demons because they can do things that normal people wouldn't. Do you remember anything strange last night?" he asked, causing me to think back to last night when I was trying to escape. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as she busted through my…
"The door," I said, causing him to give me a look.
"What door?" he asked.
"Mrs. Greer…"
"The elderly lady?" he asked, causing me to nod.
"Yeah. She busted through my bedroom door last night just as I escaped out the window. There was a book case preventing from anyone getting into the room, but she got through," I replied. He studied me for a second before sighing as he ran a hand over his face.
"Eris, you're just going to have to trust me when I say that those were demons possessing your neighbors. Now, I don't know what they wanted or why they were trying to get to you, but you can not go back to your house until after Dean and I take care of what we're trying to take care of here. Ok? We'll take you back to your house once that's over. But until then, you're going to have to stick with us," he said, causing me to shake my head.
"I can't. I have to go home. My mom is…." But I stopped when I remembered that the kitchen was a mess.
"Eris?" he asked as he gave me a concerned look just as Dean came out of the bathroom.
"The kitchen was a mess when I came home. Cabinets open and dishes thrown everywhere. Dinner was on the floor. I knew something wasn't right then," I replied as Sam looked over at his brother.
"Definitely demons last night at her house. Mom is MIA just like dad it seems," he said, causing Dean to look at me.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Dean asked.
"Yesterday morning at breakfast right before I left for the library. But there was no sign of struggle or anything. The rest of the house was in one piece," I replied, causing him to give me a look before grabbing his jacket.
"Alright. We'll look into it as soon as we can get rid of Constance's spirit. But at the moment, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner down the street. Either of you two hungry?" he asked, causing the both of us to shake our heads before he rolled his eyes and left the motel room.
"Is he always this moody?" I asked, causing Sam to chuckle.
"Uh…yes and no. It's just that our dad is MIA too and we're trying to find him. Your mom disappearing might not be a coincidence. Or it could be. We won't know until Dean and I check out the kitchen for you," he replied, causing me to nod before I sat down next to him on the bed.
"What are you guys?" I asked, causing him to look at me.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You guys seem to know a lot about this stuff. And Dean just said that he wanted to get rid of Constance's spirit. Is she really a spirit that's haunting the Centennial Highway?" I asked, causing him to chuckle before nodding.
"Yeah. Believe it or not, yeah. And we need to find a way to get rid of her before she hurts anyone else. Eris, look. I know it's hard for you to believe in any of this, but it's all true. The demons possessing your neighbors and spirits killing people. It's all real. And we hunt it," he replied, causing me to give him a confused look.
"Who's "we"?" I asked, causing him to sigh.
"Alright. Dean and my dad hunt the supernatural," he replied, causing me to give him another confused look.
"But…"
"I'm only here to help Dean find our dad. Obviously he's been here, so he might still be around. This life style is just not for me. I had to leave Stanford to help Dean out for a few days before I have to go back and continue living my normal life," he said.
"But if you…" But I never got to finish that sentence as Sam's cell phone started to ring, causing him to pick it up. He listened intently for a few minutes, asking questions here and there, before hanging up and standing up to head toward the bathroom, motioning me to follow him as he did so.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I noticed the facial expression on his face.
"Cops are outside and have spotted Dean. Come on. Up you go," he said as he opened the bathroom window and easily hoisted me up so that I could crawl out. As soon as I was out, I turned around and helped Sam pull himself up and out of the bathroom just as the door of the motel was opened.
"Come on. Go," he said as he pushed me slightly away from the motel and into the nearby bushes. Great. Now I was with some guys that were running from the law. Could my day get any worse?
"Fake 9-1-1 call, Sammy. I don't know. That's pretty illegal."
"He didn't make the call. I did. You're welcome."
"And here I was thinking you were a little saint. Listen, Sammy. We got to talk." I rolled my eyes as Sam chuckled slightly at Dean's sarcasm and adjusted his cell phone that he had put onto speaker. A little saint my ass. Everyone in this town was wrapped around my finger.
"Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a Woman in White. She's buried behind her old house, so that would have been dad's next stop…"
"Sammy, would you shut the fuck up for a minute?" Dean asked with a little bit of annoyance.
"I just can't figure out why he hasn't destroyed the corpse yet," Sam said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.
"Well that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho," he said, causing me to look at Sam as he stared at his phone in slight confusion.
"What? How do you know?" Sam asked.
"I've got his journal," he replied.
"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing," Sam said.
"Yeah, well he did this time," he said.
"What's it say?" Sam asked.
"Ah, that same old ex-Marine shit to let us know where he's going," he replied.
"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure yet," he replied.
"I don't understand. I mean, what could be so important that dad would just skip out in the middle of a job. Dean, what the hell is going on? I mean, it's…Whoa!" Sam yelled as he slammed on his brakes, causing me to shriek just slightly as I realized we were going to hit a woman in the middle of the road. However, the car just ran right through the woman and she completely vanished, the car skidding to a complete stop as Dean yelled through his phone at us.
"You alright?" he asked, looking over at me. I merely nodded and took a deep breath before letting out a shriek as I noticed a woman sitting in the back seat through the front window of the Impala.
"Take me home." Sam snapped his head to the rearview mirror to see the same woman I was seeing.
"Take me home."
"No," he said, causing the woman's eyes to narrow slightly before I felt the seat belt in the car becoming undone and the passenger side door to open.
"Eris!" he yelled as he grabbed onto me just one second before I seemed to want to fly out of the car. I could feel the force tugging on me and I let out a cry as I slammed against Sam's body when the bitch realized that Sam wasn't letting me be thrown out of the car. The locks locked in place and the car began to drive itself as Sam tried to bring the locks back up despite having to hold onto me. This day was just getting so much worse.
"Sam…"
"It's alright, Eris. Nothing is going to happen to you. I won't let it," he said as the car came to a stop in front of this old abandoned home, which caused me to stare at it for several seconds before realization hit me. This was the house from the vision I had the day before. Looking behind me to the back seat, I saw that Constance had vanished and before I could turn around and say something to Sam, I was torn from his loose grip and thrown a couple of feet away from the car before the door slammed shut.
"Sam!" I yelled as I tried to get myself up off from the ground. He was the one I saw in my vision having his heart torn out. I couldn't believe I was saying it, but it was about to come true. As I struggled to make my way over to the car to try and help, shots rang off and I hit the ground with a scream. Several more rounds were fired off before the car suddenly came to life and lurched forward toward the house.
"Sam!" I felt myself being picked up and set right by Dean before he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him toward the house that Sam had just driven through. He had a gun drawn and we quickly made our way through the wreckage to where Sam was sitting inside the car.
"Sam, you alright?" Dean asked as he moved to get the passenger side door open.
"Yeah. Where's Eris? She alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Sam," I said as I grabbed onto his other arm to help balance him out. My grip tightened on him just slightly as I saw Constance pick up a picture and look at it before looking over at us and moving out of the way. My eyes widened and before I could do anything, I let out a yell as I found myself pinned to the side of the car. And it hurt having that desk or drawer or whatever it was pinned against you. It was like Rain laying on top of you on purpose.
"Now what?" Dean asked as Constance started toward us. But before we could reply, the lights in the house started flickering and I noticed water starting to trickle down the stairs. I watched as two young children ascended the stairs quickly and launched themselves at the woman, who let out a shriek as she began to disappear. For good. I watched as she became nothing but water against the dusty hardwood floors before Sam and Dean pushed the heavy object off of us and walked over toward where she had disappeared.
"So this is where she drowned her kids," Dean said as Sam nodded.
"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them," he said.
"You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy," Dean said as he hit him in the chest, causing him to laugh out in pain. I stared at the spot where Sammy was standing for a minute before I rubbed my hand over my face. This couldn't be happening. This stuff was not real. I didn't have a vision about Sam dying but then surviving it. Did I? This could not be happening.
Dean's POV
"Well doesn't this look nice. White picket fence and everything."
"Shut up."
"Dean, this whole place looks deserted. There's no police tape or anything up along the house to indicate a crime scene or something." I turned my head from Eris giving me a glare to see what Sam was talking about. And he was right. The neighborhood was quiet and the front door was still open with no yellow tape or anything over it like there should have been.
"The cops seemed to be ok when they took me into jail. No possession or anything," I said as I cocked my gun and walked in front of her and Sam to make sure everything was safe before they even walked through. There was indeed traces of sulfur along the skirting of the door and some on the floor, but other than that, there was no sound or trace of anyone. Looking into the kitchen, I saw what Artemis had been talking about when she said that no other room had been touched but the kitchen. There was no sign of struggle and by looks of things, her mom had taken off on her own.
"Rain!" I turned from the kitchen and hurried out to the entrance of the house at her shouting and saw her knelt down over the huge white animal. Sam and I watched as she placed her head against the animal's body before seeing her eyes go wide.
"She's alive," she said as she stroked at the face of the animal before looking at us.
"What?" I asked.
"Um….how do you know if someone is possessed?" she asked, causing me to look over at Sam, who nodded to tell me that he had done a little bit of talking to her and that she seemed to understand, or at least was trying to understand, the concept of demons.
"Holy water. If they're possessed, they kind of give off smoke in a sense," I replied as I pulled a flask out of my jacket and dumped it over the tiger. She stared between the animal and myself before giving me a questionable look.
"No smoke, no possession," Sam said, causing her to nod in understanding as she went back to trying to wake it up. Watching her for a second more, I pulled Sam to the side enough to keep an eye on her, but at the same time keeping an eye on her, and took out dad's journal.
"What?" he asked.
"There was also this at the bottom of the page of coordinates," I replied as I flipped to the page with coordinates and handed the journal to him. He stared at it for a second before looking at me.
""Take care of Eris. N.S." What the hell does that mean?" he asked.
"It means that Natalie Simms, Eris' mother, is with dad," I replied, causing him to give me a confused look.
"Ok. So why didn't she just tell her daughter that? And why did she leave her to us?" he asked.
"Because she wants us to take care of our baby sister," I replied. There was about a minute pause before he looked at me with wide eyes.
"What?" he asked.
"Eris is our baby sister," I replied.
"Wait a minute. I would remember if we had a baby sister, Dean. When did this happen?" he asked, causing me to sigh.
"16 years ago. Dad met Natalie at one of the bars he was at one night and they seemed to hit it off well. Dad seemed happy enough even though he was still looking for the thing that killed mom. Then Natalie got pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl," I replied as I stuck my hand in my back pocket for my wallet and pulled out a picture to hand to Sam. He stared at it for a moment before looking at me.
"Dean, Sam, and Eris Lily Winchester. May 24th, 1989," he said, causing me to nod.
"Natalie took this picture of us when Eris was just a week old," I said.
"So what happened to her? Why are we just now hearing about it?" he asked, causing me to sigh.
"Natalie disappeared when Eris was just a week old. She took Eris with her. I guess she hid herself well because dad was never able to find her and was really hurt when he couldn't," I replied.
"Does Eris know?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.
"No. I don't think she should know just yet. Her mom is "missing" and that'll be too much on her. Let's just stick to what we are right now. But we have a responsibility right now to keep her out of harm's way. Those demons were after her and that's not a good thing," I replied.
"You do realize that she's going to put up a fight about that tiger," he said, causing me to glare at him.
"That tiger ain't getting in my car," I said.
"Why would I put her in your car?" We turned around to see Eris giving us confused looks as Rain crouched in a defensive position in front of her, obviously remembering earlier events.
"Um….the rest of the house is untouched except for the kitchen. No signs of struggle or anything that could result in a kidnapping against will. We think your mom might have just left on her own and we're already in search of our dad, so we think it might be wise if you come with us," Sam replied, causing me to give him a look. He merely rolled his eyes before returning his attention back to Eris.
"Sam…"
"Eris, it's not safe here by yourself. Not even with the neighbors. You saw what happened last night. If we can find your mom, we might be able to have her explain to you what's going on," I said, causing her to sigh as I could tell those wheels in her head were turning.
"How long have you had Rain?" Sam asked, causing her to pet the tiger's head with a small smile.
"Since I was 2 years old. She protects me," she replied, causing me to shoot Sam a glare as I knew where this was going.
"No, Sam. No way in hell is that tiger getting into my car," I said, shaking my head.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into letting that tiger into my car. I'm going to kill you if it ruins the interior of the car."
"The tiger has a name, Dean. You might want to remember it since it's going to be with you for a while." I gave Sam a glare before looking into the rearview mirror where Eris was snuggled against her animal asleep, causing me to shake my head and turn my attention back to the road.
"Ok. So here's where dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado," Sam said.
"Sounds charming. How far?" I asked.
"About 600 miles," he replied.
"If we shag ass, we can make it by morning," I said, causing him to sigh and give me a look.
"Dean, I…."
"You're not going," I said as I realized what was going on.
"The interview's in, like, 10 hours. I gotta be there," he said.
"Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home," I said as I turned my head back to the road. I couldn't believe him. Dad was missing, or at least we think he's missing, and we had just discovered we had a baby sister I thought was long gone years ago, but he was still worried about making that damn interview. A few hours later, I pulled up to the apartment he lived in and he got out.
"You'll call me if you find him? Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" he asked as he looked at me.
"Yeah, all right," I replied with a small hint of sarcasm in my voice.
"Take care of her, Dean," he said as he motioned to our baby sister, who was still fast asleep in the back. Looking back at her and then at him, I nodded and started up the car again before pulling away. However, just as I round the corner, the radio starting flicking in and out of sound as the wind picked up just a little.
"Ahh shit," I muttered as I quickly turned around and headed back toward Sam's apartment building, Eris waking up just slightly from the motion of the car.
"What's going on?" she asked as I made to get out.
"Stay here and don't move. Scream if something happens," I replied, causing her to nod before I quickly got out of the Impala and hurried up to Sam's apartment. Kicking in the door, I heard my brother yelling and I quickly made my way toward him.
"Sam!" I yelled as I made it to the bedroom, only to find my brother's girlfriend pinned to the ceiling in flames just like our mother had been years before.
"No! Jess!"
"Sam! We gotta get out of here!" I yelled as I grabbed onto my brother and started shoving him out the door.
"No! Jess! Jess!" he yelled as the room burst into flames galore. I couldn't believe that this was happening again. And to my little brother. About an hour later, I watched them put the last of the flames out of the apartment building before walking over to where my brother was loading a shot gun and my baby sister was watching him with a worried expression, Rain pressed against her side. Looking at him, he looked at me before cocking the gun and throwing it into the trunk.
"We've got work to do," he said before slamming it shut and making his way over to the passenger side of the car. Looking at me, I noticed that Eris was a bit confused but wasn't opening her mouth to further any confrontation.
"Come on. Get in the car," I said, causing her to nod and get in. Getting in myself, I looked at my little brother and my baby sister before putting the car into drive and peeling out of there. That son of a bitch took my mother and now my brother's girlfriend. I was done with this. No way, especially now that I had to put forth my promise I made 16 years ago to my baby sister, was I going to let it harm another hair on my family's head.
We had work to do.
