.
The impala roared down the road, Sam, Astra, and dean wear making a quick stop in the town closet to the road house to grab some junk food. They wear staying a couple of days and Astra was glad for it, her and Jo wear becoming friends and they had talked about a possable case earlier that day. Now as they entered the town and dean went to get some junk food,mostly pie, Sam fiddled with a phone, Astra still didn't have one and he wanted her to be able to contact. Him or dean if she needed to. Dean got back into the impala and drove back to the roadhouse. He looked over at Sam and tried to keep in a huff of laughter,Sam was watching Astra sleep in the back he still hadent told her he liked her and had taken to watching her when he could. suddenly she stopped breathing and began shaking violently . Sam jumped over the seat and desperately tried to rouse Astra. After a while he placed his mouth over hers and started breathing air into her lungs. She stopped the convulsions but at the same time her heart stopped. Sam swore and shouted at dean to stop the impala. Once they wear stopped Sam started chest compressions and dean pulled out his cell phone. A car came roaring past then screeched to a stop. A man about the same age as the winchestes and Astra stepped out. He caught sight of Astra and rushed over "shit! Astra honey can you hear me? Wake up!"if Astra was awake she would have identified the man as the creator Sam however thought it was a ex boyfriend or an old lover, the creator shoved Sam away from Astra and slapped her hard across the face, he succeeded in waking her up and with a gasp she started breathing again but a moment later Sam punched the creator just as hard as he slapped Astra his eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw
"don't touch her" he hissed looking livid. astra scrambled to her feet, rushed past Sam and embraced the man shouting happily, Sam looked devastated 'well there goes another one, some ex comes by and she is all over him' Astra twisted around a huge grin in her face as she pulled the creator to Sam and dean,dean was watching sam's expression and knew what his brother was thinking even without Sam saying a single word. He patted Sam on the back encouragingly. Astra finally stopped in front of Sam and spoke.
"Remember how I said that I was taken by the creator? Weeelll this is him...a younger body but it's him" Sam instantly brightened
"um sorry for punching you..." Sam fidgeted nervously before Astra smiled it quickly dissipated and she whirled around
"why are you here?" The creator sighed
"I felt that you wear in Trouble and I came as soon as I could. Your personal wards made it hard and if Sam hadn't done that CPR stuff you would probably be dead." As he spoke the creators features changed back to the way he usually was. Astra nodded and turned back to Sam, she planted a kiss on his cheek and smiled warmly
"your a life saver Sammy" dean chuckled at the expression on sam's face. The creator smiled and with a snap of his fingers he, and his fancy car, vanished. Astra twisted around and started back to the car. Sam sat beside her using the excuse
"I just want to make sure you're okay"dean sat in the front and drove reached the roadhouse and yells could be heard from inside. The group exchanged glances and raced inside.
"What are you gonna do, chain me to the floor of the basement?" screamed Jo.
"You know, you've had worse ideas than that lately," retorted Ellen, "You don't wanna stay, then don't stay. Go back to school."
"I didn't belong there. I was a freak with a knife collection."
"Yeah, but working on some dusty back road? That's where you belong?" Jo looked over Ellen's shoulder, suddenly noticing the audience . Ellen also turned around. "Guys. Bad time."
"Yes ma'am," said Sam.
"Yeah, we rarely drink before ten anyway,."
"Wait." They stopped and turned back to Jo. "I want to know what they think about this."
"I don't care what they think about this." Just then a family consisting of a couple with two young children walked in.
"Are you guys open?" asked the husband.
"No!"
"Yes!" Jo and Ellen shouted at the same time. The couple looked at each other startled.
"We'll just… check out down the road." The family backed out of the door, shutting it behind them. It was quite fro half a heart beat before the phone rang jk and Ellen had a stare off before Ellen went to awnser it. Jo held the folder out to dean.
"Three weeks ago, a young girl disappears from a Philadelphia apartment." Dean just looked at the folder, Jo rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Take it, it won't bite."
"No, but you're mom might." .
"This girl wasn't the first. Over the past eighty years, six women have vanished. All from the same building. All young blondes It only happens every decade or two, so the cops never eyeballed the pattern. So we're either dealing with one very old serial killer or-"
"Who put this together? Ash?"
"I did it myself."
"I gotta admit. We've hit the road for a lot less," said Sam looking over the papers.
"Good, you like the case? You take it." Ellen reappeared determination pasted on her face..
"Mom!"
"Joanna Beth, this family has lost enough. I won't lose you too. I just won't." The room was dead silent. Jo and Ellen stared at each other.
"We'll take it," said Dean trying to evade an argument.
after a long ride they arrived at the site and they quickly gather their things and inspected the room, dean and Sam found ectoplasm explaining that only.
"Majorly pissed off ghosts " produced it . They wear finishing looking around in the room when they heard two voices outside, one sounded very familiar. They walked out into the hall and wear greeted with the sight of Jo talking to the manager. Jo faulted for a half second before picking up her game again.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Dean.
"Hey, there you are honey," Jo walked up to Dean Jo hung off of dean and turned to the manager "this is my boyfriend dean, his brother Sam and his grilfriend." Jo raised her eyebrows meaningfully at Astra nod instantly the other woman assumed her role. She leaned over and peaked Sam on the cheek giggling.
"Good to meet ya." The man shook hands with Dean. "Quite a girl you got here."
"Oh, yeah. She's a pistol." Dean forced out a rough laugh.
"So," interrupted Jo, "Did you already check out the apartment, the one for rent?"
"Yes. Loved it. Great flow," Dean smiled.
"How'd you get in?" asked the man suspiciously. Dean's smile faded a bit.
"The door was open." Astra butted in, saving everyone from suspicion
"Now Ed, when did the last tenant move out?" questioned Jo.
"Uh, about a month ago. Cut and run, too. She stuck me for the rent."
"Well, her loss our gain 'cause if Dean loves it, it's good enough for me."
"Aw, sweetie." Dean forced out trying to sound cheerful
"We'll take it." Jo pulled out a wad of cash handing it to Ed
"Okay." Ed took the cash, obviously deciding it wasn't worth it to question them. "Here's the key. Let me know if you need anything." He dropped the key into Jo's outstretched palm.
"Will do," promised Jo. She pulled Dean around, Sam and Astra in their heels.
the group quickly sorted out jobs , Sam and Astra wear to scout one area for EMF and Jo and dean took the other areas. Astra couldn't complain she was enjoying her first real supernatural hunt and Sam's company even more. Sam and Astra 's hunt turned up empty and the went back to the room. Jo and dean wear already back.
"When did you get back?" Sam questioned.
"About forty-five minutes ago. Find anything?"
"No. You?"
"Jo picked something up in a vent. I felt around and found this." Dean held up a bloody clump of blonde raided an eyebrow.
"That's gross man. You think it's from one of the victims?"
"Probably."
"So it's living in the vents?."
"We're not really sure yet.".
after hours of searching they found nothing, the boys had fallen asleep a half hour ago but Jo and Astra wear enjoying the silence.
"Hey Astra?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for being a bitch when we first meet, I kinda have a thing for dean and I thought you did to."
Astra laughed "nope nothing for dean, everyone seems to think that" Jo smiled. Sam stirred from his spot and groaned as he stretched. He looked over at Astra and Jo who had stopped their conversation
"Have you two slept ?" He asked concern already clouding his face
"Nope."
"Figure out anything interesting ?"
"Yeah, you snore in the cutest way when your exusted ," astra smiled.
"Other than that fact we found nothing" Jo said frowning.
"Well, I'm going to get some coffee." Sam grabbed the car keys off the counter and left .a few minuts later dean woke up with a snort, he looked around supposing why for Sam but only found the girls
"Mornin' princess," greeted Jo. Astra laughed quietly at Jo's remark
"Where's Sam?"
"He went to get coffee." Dean moved his legs over the arm of the chair and sat up. He stifled a groan.
"My back." he complained earning eye rolls from the girls.
"How'd you sleep on that big soft bed?" asked Dean, standing up.
"I didn't," Jo said Astra nodded in agreement . Dean eyed the knife in Jo's hand. He picked up his bag and rifled through it, pulling out another knife. He handed it to Jo.
"Here." He offered
"What's this for?"
"It'll work a hell of a lot better than that pig stick you're twirling around." Jo gave her knife to Dean. He turned it around in his hands. He frowned at the name written on the blade.
"William Anthony Harvel." said Jo sadness leaking into her voice .
"Sorry, my mistake." They traded knives, and Dean put his knife back in his bag.
"What do you… what do you remember about your dad? I mean, what's the first thing that pops into your head?" Dean thought for a moment .
"I was six or seven and he took my shooting for the first time." Dean sat down in the chair between Astra and Jo. "You know, bottles on a fence, that kind of thing. I bulls-eyed every one of 'em. He gave me this smile like… I don't know."
"He must have been proud." Dean smiled sullenly.
"What about your dad?"
"I was still in pigtails when my dad died, but I remember him coming home from a hunt. He'd burst through that door like Steve McQueen or something… and he'd sweep me up in his arms, and I'd breathe in that old leather jacket of his. And my mom was sour and pissed when he left, but she started smiling again. And we were… a family. You want to know why I want to do the job? For him. It's my way of being close to him. Now tell me what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing." There was a moment's pause before Sam barreled through the door. "Where's the coffee?" Jo complained . Sam jerked his head toward the window. And Astra looked out and swore softly
"There are cops outside. Another girl disappeared."
"I'll go check it out," offered Dean, "You three stay here."astra and Jo snorted .
" um no we won't" the two stated. Dean exchanged a glance with Sam at the twin act the girls wear pulling
dean frowned and reasoned that one person would get in easier than all of them. Jo and Astra turned to Sam "so information on this girl?"
"Theresa Ellis, apartment 2F. Her boyfriend reported her missing around dawn."
"Her apartment? Anything important?" asked Jo.
"There's cracks all over the walls, ceiling. There's ectoplasm, too."
"Between that and the tuft of hair, I'd say this sucker's coming from the walls," concluded Sam.
"Yeah, but who is it?" muttered Dean. "The building's history is totally clean."
"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place," said Jo.
"What d'ya mean?"
"Check this out." Jo handed a photo to Sam to Astra it seemed Indiffrent .
"An empty field," said Sam.
"It's where this building was built. Take a look at the building next-door."
"The window have bars."
"We're next-door to a prison," dean announced .
"Okay," Jo hung up the phone, "Moyamesing Prison. Built in nineteen thirty-five, torn down in nineteen sixty-three. And get this; they used to execute people by hanging them in the empty lot next-door."
"Well then, we need a list of names of all the people executed there," said Sam. Jo nodded.
"Ash is already on it. I told him to send the list to your computer." Sam grabbed his laptop from off the floor and placed it on the table. Sam clicked on a few keys and entered his account. The e-mail from Ash was already waiting.
One hundred fifty-seven names," Sam groaned once he reached the bottom.
"We got to narrow that down," remarked Dean.
"Yeah."
"Or else we're gonna be digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs." Sam scrolled down the list, slowly this time. He stopped and clicked on a single name.
"Herman Webster Mudgett." Sam looked over his shoulder at Dean. "Wasn't that H.H. Holmes' real name?"
"You gotta be kidding me. Let me see that." Sam got up and Dean slid into the chair. Sam pulled out a printer and plugged it in. One of the pages that printed caught everyone's eye 'Multi-Murder Meets His Match'. "Yup, Holmes was executed at Moyamesing Prison May seventh, nineteen eighty-six." Sam shook his head.
"H.H. Holmes himself. Come on, I mean what are the odds?"
"Who is this guy?"
"The term multi-murderer, they coined it to describe Holmes," clarified Dean. "He was America's first serial killer, before anyone even knew what a serial killer was."
"Yeah," Sam cut in. "He confessed to twenty-seven murders, but some put the death toll at over one hundred."
"His victim flavor of choice was, petite blondes. At his place, the cops found human remains including bone fragments and long locks of bloody blonde hair. Boy, you sure know how to pick 'em."
"But we just find the bones, salt them, and burn them, right?" confirmed Jo .
"Well, it's not that easy," corrected Sam, "His body is buried in town, but it's encased in a couple tons of concrete." .
"What? Why?"
Dean coughed "Story goes,That he didn't want anyone mutilating his corpse because that's what he used to do."
"You know something," Sam began rifling through the papers on the desk, "We might have an even bigger problem than that." Jo looked at him skeptically.
"How does this get bigger?"
"Holmes built this apartment in Chicago. They called it the Murder Castle. The whole place was a death trap. They had trapdoors, acid pits. He had these secret chambers in the walls. He'd lock his victims in for days. Some he'd let suffocate. Others starved to death."
"So Theresa could still be alive? She could be inside these walls."
"We need sledgehammers and crowbars. We need to smash these walls anywhere it's thick enough to hide a girl," decided Dean. "We'll get that out of the car." Dean passed everyone a crowbar and a flashlight and they went back inside to deal with the ghost.
Astra immediately pared herself with Sam who knocked on the wall trying to find a hollow spot. Once found the two set to work breaking a hole large enough for atleast Astra to fit inside. Suddenly she heard Sam yelp and then nothing. She tried to move but icky black goo started falling on her. She started at in in bewilderment "what the fuck? I am not a blond why are you after me?" She heard a crackle from her right and a erie voice spoke "you are helping them" and then she blacked out . Sam raced out of the room and searched along the wall. Dean came rushing around the corner and the brothers collided. "It's got jo!" Dean gasped out "it has Astra to,don't know why it took her she doesn't fit his preference"
Astra woke up in a dark cell she could hear Jo talking to another person she assumed was the missing girl. She coughed
"Jo? Is that you?" Jo stopped talking and her voice became disbelieving
"Astra? I thought the ghost liked blondes! Why did it take you?" Astra coughed out her answer of "I have no clue" when suddenly she could hear dean she looked through the slot in her cage and yelped, the ghost was right there.
"Hey!" Dean yelled and pulled the trigger of his gun, sending rock-salt straight through Holmes' ghost. It quickly vanished.
"I'm here." Jo's voice drifted out of one of the compartments in the wall. Dean hurried to get her out. Sam rushed over to Astra and she reached through the slot and Sam gently touched her hand Sam tore the door's hinges off and let it clatter to the floor. Astra crawled out and Sam enveloped her in a hug. Jo and dean came over quickly
"Are you alright?" Dean asked both girls .astra nodded
"I've been better. Let's get out of here before he comes back." Suggested Jo
"Not yet."
"What?"
"You remember when I said you being bait was a bad plan? Now it's kind of the only one we've got." There was another crash as Sam broke the lock on another compartment. He opened it up to help Theresa Ellis out.
Sam wanted Astra away from the ghost and he told her to help the girl out of the sewers. When Astra returned everyone was standing by the opening for the sewers
"
What are we waiting around for?" she questioned .
"For that," said at the cement truck dean just backed up into the ally. Dean stopped the truck and leapt out. He and Sam lowered the slide above the hole. .
"You ripped off a cement truck?" Jo and Astra asked amazed
"I'll give it back." Dean pulled a lever on the back of the truck and cement began to pour out and down into the hole. "Well, that ought to keep him down there until hell freezes over." .
A few hours later, They wear back at the road house and no went inside leaving Astra with the boys, a silence had fallen over them . Ellen had yelled at dean for a long time. Then she turned on Jo, dean quickly stood up for the blond
"Ellen, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have lied to you, and I'm sorry. But Jo did good out there. Her father would have been proud."
"Don't you dare say that, not you,Now I need a moment alone with my daughter."
Jo came out a few minuts later looking devastated.
"That bad huh," said Dean trying to joke. It Jo didn't even turn around. "Hey, what happened? Talk to me." Dean put a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly pushed away.
"Get off of me!" She hissed .
"Sorry, I'll see you around." He made as if to leave.
"Dean." He turned back. "Turns out my father had a partner on his last hunt. He usually went solo and this guy usually did too but I guess my father figured he could trust him. A mistake. This guy screwed up and got my dad killed."
"What does this have to do with-"
"It was your father, Dean." Astra was shocked no wonder Ellen was weary around them
"What?"
"Why do you think your Dad never came back, never talked about us? 'Cause he couldn't look my mom in the eye after that, that's why."
"Jo."
"Please, just get out of here. Go. Just leave." Jo walked away from dean with a stiff back. Astra looked from dean to Jo but decided not to interfere. She turned to Sam and shrugged. She decided she was going to make a move on Sam, she leaned over and kissed Sam. He stiffened and she almost pulled away but he circled her with his arms and pulled her closer. She broke the kiss and Sam put his forehead in hers Astra smiled and whisperd "I like you sam I am going to take you out tonight or maybe tomorrow but soon." Sam chuckled at her strange wording. "You have no idea how long I was waiting for you to say that." They kissed again and dean, now in the car, grumbled angrily before driving away, that night in the motel room Astra didn't sleep on the floor or couch she slept with Sam's arms around her and her head resting in his chest.
