Wicked Intent

Coffeemaniac

Warnings: Suggestive situations, Violence

Season 1

Set between The Benders and Shadow

Sam thundered across the crumbly asphalt in the middle of the motel parking lot. The bright, cold morning irritated him. He paced by Dean twice while his brother stood, arms hanging loosely at his sides and an unreadable expression on his face. Dean's silent observation only infuriated Sam more. Finally, Sam stopped.

"What do we do now?" He said, his tone demanding and deep.

"She's your girlfriend."

Sam tossed his hands up. "Seriously?"

"We can't desert a mother and baby without even checking into it. If she's lying, we'll find out fast enough."

"I don't trust her."

"Then we approach it like any other case. Let's do the research and see what shakes out."

Sam shook his head. "You really want to help her?"

"I don't want to see a headline about a dead infant."

Sam scowled, hating the mental image Dean's words evoked. He thrust his hands into his pockets and took a long, slow breath. He glanced towards the motel room door where Kaylee and her baby waited for them. Torn between wanting to do their job of saving innocents, and not trusting the victim, he didn't want to go back inside.

"How do we even know the baby is hers?" Sam said. "She just conveniently has one the minute we kick her to the curb?"

Dean shook his head, and rolled his eyes. "You really think she borrowed it?"

No, of course not, Sam thought.

"No, I don't think she…I still don't like it."

Dean scowled and waited. Silently.

Sam sighed. In a lowered tone, he said, "What about finding Dad? What about finding the thing that killed Jess and Mom?"

"We don't know where Dad is. Until something turns up or he contacts us, there's not much we can do."

Sam shoved his hands in his pockets. "I hate this."

"I know," Dean said. "I want to find him too. But, in the meantime, we can do this."

It took another minute to prepare himself, but grudging every step, Sam followed behind Dean back to the room. Dealing with Kaylee irritated him, made him uneasy. If it weren't for the baby, he wouldn't.

Dean opened the motel room door. Sam hesitated when he felt a change in the air around him. It felt like a small, electrical surge but it passed quickly. He trusted his instincts but the sensation came and went in a flash, and he wasn't sure it happened.

As he crossed the threshold, he found Kaylee sitting on the bed with Rose at her breast. The baby murmured softly as it ate. The pink blanket lay on Kaylee's knee. She looked up at them without any embarrassment but Dean tossed a surprised look over his shoulder at Sam. Sam gave him a small shrug knowing it shouldn't be uncomfortable but feeling odd about her exposure anyway.

Dean turned away from her, speaking towards Sam even as he addressed her. Sam found himself doing the same thing.

"So, tell us about the days leading up to the attack. Was there anything unusual? Weird sounds or smells, anything with the lights in the house…anything you can remember?"

"Not like that, no. But, Rick was staying there because he'd just got back from Japan. He had come home a few days early and I guess he was waiting for his house sitter to move out. He and my parents were acting odd."

"What do you mean?" Sam said.

"They were, I don't know, maybe nervous? It's hard to explain because it wasn't blatant. But, like Rick, I mean, he's always quiet but he was almost antisocial," Kaylee said.

"And your parent's were different too?" Sam said, still looking at Dean.

"I knew there was something bothering them," Kaylee said.

"Was Rick still living there when the attack happened?" Dean said.

"It's okay now, boys, she's done," Kaylee said.

Sam turned towards them to see that Rose was propped against Kaylee's shoulder with a white cloth beneath her. Kaylee was patting her back.

"I talked to him the day after he went back to his place," she said. She rocked slowly as she spoke. "Now that I'm thinking about it, he was a lot happier. Much more like his old self. He was joking with me…laughing…he was in a weird, goofy mood."

Sam wondered if Rick was happy because he had left his parents' house. Maybe he felt something there that had made him uneasy. Kaylee's description of her brother sounded like relief.

"But, my parents were the same," she said. "My mom told me she wanted to sell and my dad just sat outside as much as he could."

"And all this coincided with Rick's return from Japan, right?" Dean said.

"I'd never heard my mom complain about that house until then. That's why I know that it wasn't some intruder that killed them. It has to be related to the house."

"It might not be the house," Sam said. "It might be something that followed Rick from Japan or maybe, Rick himself."

"My brother didn't kill them. He wouldn't…couldn't. And even if I didn't know that, the police cleared him."

"It doesn't have to be your brother," Sam said. "He might have brought something back with him."

Sam looked towards Dean. "We should go to the house," he said.

Kaylee shifted the baby and Rose let out a surprisingly loud burp. Moving her to her lap, Kaylee wiped her mouth then stood up. Setting the baby on the bed, she began bundling her back up.

"She needs to be changed," she said. "I guess you'll let me know if you find anything."

"Wait," Dean said. "Why do you think you and the kid are in danger?"

Kaylee hesitated. She glanced away from him then back again.

"It's more of a feeling," she said. "Like someone's in the room when there isn't anyone there. Like a pressure sometimes, at my back. I don't if I'm just being paranoid but after what happened, I'm afraid. For her and me."

"Are there cold spots, maybe unexplained mist, flickering lights, anything like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Cold spots, I mean. But, it's random, you know? I could say it's the wind or the weather changing. It's not consistent like in one place but I do have this feeling of dread a lot. The only way I can describe it is that it's like someone is watching us. I can feel a presence even when there's no one there."

"And it feels like negative energy?" Sam said, knowing that malevolent spirits tended to feel evil or angry.

"When it's bad, I break out in goosebumps. I know it's a cliché but I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up."

"Other than sensations, has anything else happened?"

Kaylee shook her head. "But, I feel like it's going to."

She shifted the baby so she had one arm wrapped across her and hooked under Rose's arms. Rose stared out, her blue eyes drifting between Sam and Dean. She gurgled and smiled. A tiny trail of drool slipped down her chin.

"I really need to get her changed. She's going to start stinking up the place."

Dean widened his eyes, apparently alarmed.

"If you have any problems, head to the main lobby. Call us after you're there. Don't wait for something to happen," Sam said.

Kaylee nodded her agreement. Carrying Rose, a diaper bag and a purse, she walked out into the cool afternoon.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

An hour later, Dean maneuvered the Impala around the twisting, country roads heading towards the former home of Bob and Jane Sullivan. Cherry Lane was a small town populated by farmers and factory workers. According to local newspapers, the killings had rocked the community since no one had ever been murdered there before.

"The police chief instituted a curfew the day after the murders," Sam said as he flipped through a thin newspaper.

"That's extreme," Dean said.

"Small town thing. Afraid of a copycat," Sam said.

Thumbing through the folder, he continued. "Bill was the only one in the house. According to his statement, he stopped by to pick up Rose and something dark appeared from nowhere and attacked him. He got knocked down and blacked out. When he came to, the Sullivan's were dead."

"The ghost must have assumed he was dead already," Dean said.

"Yeah. If he's telling the truth."

"Rose was in the house? Wonder why she was spared."

"Infant?"

"Not really a barrier for most monsters." He hated the words as soon as he spoke them.

For a moment, he imagined Kaylee's infant shredded, and he shuddered.

Deliberately changing the subject, Dean said, "So, what's with you and Kaylee? Why don't you like her?"

Sam scowled. "That should be obvious."

"Everyone is an idiot in high school. You're still carrying a grudge?"

"First of all, how would you know?"

Dean scowled. He hadn't finished high school but he had attended through his sophomore year.

"And secondly, it's not that." Sam sighed. "Not all of it."

While Dean waited for him to explain, Sam turned his gaze towards the passenger side window. Rubbing his eyes, he finally looked back at Dean.

"She was the first girl I ever…tried to…"

"Boink?"

"Seriously?"

Dean shrugged.

"Okay, yes," Sam said. "And her reaction made me question everything after that. For years."

"It wasn't that long before you nailed Coraline Webber."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah…I know… but still it…for a while I was hyper aware of everything."

"That's not a bad thing."

"It's not great either. It's just…look, if she was a man, I could punch her in the mouth and it'd be over…but, she's not."

"Probably shouldn't punch her," Dean said. "On the other hand, if she was a man, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Sam chuckled.

"She was young, Sammy," Dean said. "Probably a virgin. She panicked. I don't think you need to hold a grudge…"

"I'm not…"

"Or question everything you did that night. You were young too. Inexperience can lead to stuff, right? No one was at fault."

"Then Dad gave us the big speech about women that was all kinds of uncomfortable."

Dean nodded. He remembered their father's talk. It was the first time he really discussed females as needing to be treated differently than men. Dean had watched his father throughout his life and learned by example about holding doors, speaking politely, not cursing in front of women but "the talk" shined a new light on the subject.

"This is the exit," Sam said.

Dean turned off the freeway and on to Cherry Lane. He followed Sam's GPS directions to the house where the Sullivan's were murdered. Yellow police tape still covered the front door. He parked on the street and took a long look up and down the neighborhood. It seemed like one of those quiet suburban places where the bad stuff is covered up.

He walked to the trunk so he and Sam could retrieve their shotguns, salt rounds, knives and holy water. They both carried handguns as well.

"According to the police report, it looks like Jane was attacked first," Sam said. "Bob walked in on it and was killed second. They don't know if the killer intended to murder both of them. Rose was in a crib that they kept in the study."

"Who called the police?"

"A neighbor heard Bill calling for help."

Dean rolled his eyes. He didn't understand why people always panicked at crime scenes.

He strode up to the front door, pushed the caution tape out of his way and plugged Kaylee's key into the lock. Carefully, stepping over the threshold, Dean hesitated until Sam joined him then the two of them moved into the living room. Dean's mutilated Walkman-turned-EMT detector started beeping angrily.

"That's not good," Sam said.

Even as Sam spoke the words, Dean caught a glimpse of something near the dining room entryway. Tall and shadowy, the figure looked like someone peeking around the wall. Dean tapped Sam's arm and pointed. The two of them started moving slowly forward, both of them holding shotguns loaded with salt. As they reached the threshold, Dean noticed the smell of black licorice floating around him

"You smell that?" He said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Licorice…wait…look." He pointed towards the kitchen.

Standing in the corner of the room, a willowy, woman with Asian features glared at them. She wore a long dress that fluttered as if a breeze blew it. Thin black hair floated around her shoulders. Just as Dean turned in her direction, she shimmered out of view only to drop back in just a few inches from him.

Dean flinched backward and she hissed through blackened teeth.

Clenching his finger on the trigger, he fired just as she shoved out with both hands. Dean took the blow to his chest and tumbled backward into the wall. The ghost blew apart. Sam spun, searching for her while Dean pushed up from the floor. His chest hurt but he barely felt it as he scanned the room.

"Okay, it's a ghost," Sam said.

"Ghost," Dean said, agreeing with the obvious statement.

The woman appeared again behind Sam. She screamed out, something guttural and jumbled, something foreign. Sam flinched at the sudden noise. The locks of her hair curled upward almost like coiling snakes.

Heart pounding with adrenaline, Dean yelled out a warning to duck and Sam dropped to the floor. Dean blasted her and she dissipated only to return immediately. She slammed her hands into Dean's chest again and sent him airborne into the living room.

Sam shot her from where he crouched on the floor then scrambled back up as she puffed out of view. Dean moved too, getting to his feet while shaking off the jarring flight. Just as he straightened, the ghost shot up from the floor, directly behind Sam. She drove into his back and Sam grunted, sprawling forward and dropping the shotgun as he slammed both hands against the dining room table to keep from falling.

Dean shot her again. She screamed as she smoked away.

Grabbing Sam's arm, he yelled, "Retreat."

They didn't know the identity of the spirit and there was no way to destroy her until they did.

Just as Sam reached for the gun, she dropped beside him, hissing loudly into his face. Her hair glinted in the light, clacking like metal. Dean squinted, trying to make sense of it when she drove her fist into Sam's abdomen. Her whole hand and half her arm disappeared inside him. Sam yelled as he lurched backward. Like Medusa, her hair, now clinking with silver knives instead of snakes lashed towards Sam's face. He dove towards the floor, avoiding her stabbing locks and landing with a thud.

Dean fired his last salt round. The ghost screamed in frustration, or pain, or anger, and disappeared.

Sam staggered to his feet, bringing the shotgun with him. Dean held his arm as they stumbled towards the living room. The ghost shimmered into view again. Sam turned the gun on her as her lethal hair stabbed towards him. She caught his shoulder in a slice and he flailed, firing as he thumped to one knee.

Dean pulled him up, furiously cursing while they made their way to the door.

The ghost appeared again, screaming the same guttural noise. Stark white skin made her red soaked eyes glow inside her skeletal face. Her hair clicked and clanked as she screeched and waved her arms like a puppeteer was pulling her strings.

"Bitch," Sam said as he fired again.

The licorice odor made Dean's eyes burn as they reached the door. While the spirit snarled over jagged teeth they pushed outside on to the porch. Clinging to Sam, Dean stumbled down the steps, righting both of them as they hit the sidewalk. Sam steadied and the two of them jogged to the Impala, both of them breathing hard.

Dean cursed as he started the engine.

Pulling away from the curb he said, "You all right?"

Breathing hard and holding his shoulder, Sam said, "Yeah. You?"

"Who was that bitch?"

His heart was slowing but nausea lingered as the adrenaline eased off.

"I don't know," Sam said, wincing and shifting in his seat.

Dean drove to an empty parking lot and pulled over. He took a moment to breathe a few calming breaths before getting out and going around to the trunk. Opening it, he pulled out the first aid kit and moved around to the passenger side.

Sam leaned forward to give him a look at the gash in his back and Dean clicked his teeth.

"Well, you'll live," Dean said. "It's not too deep."

Sam fell silent while Dean cleaned the shallow slice in his brother's shoulder. Dean made sure the ghost hadn't left anything foreign behind then he bandaged the wound. Sam stayed still, not speaking or complaining, but he fisted his hands through the procedure.

Once the first aid was done, Dean made his way back to the driver's side, stopping to put away the kit, then sliding back into the car.

"How are we going to track a Chinese ghost?" He said.

"Japanese," Sam said. "And I don't know. We'll have to trace Rick's steps. Do you think he brought a body back with him?"

"Why would he?"

Sam shrugged then winced and rubbed his neck.

"Maybe he brought back a person and killed her," Dean said.

"Sounds more likely than a body."

"What was the licorice scent?"

Dean massaged his arm, trying to ease the throbbing bruise.

Sam didn't respond for a moment. Then he said, "Maybe not licorice. Might've been incense, uh, anise…star anise, maybe."

"Figures you'd know about that. Hippie," Dean said, enjoying Sam's huff of indignation.

"It comes from a Japanese tree, or plant, I think," Sam said. "It's toxic if you eat it."

Dean scowled. "Did Rick bring back a tree?"

"I don't know. Let's go talk to Kaylee and see if she got hold of him. I think it's time we had a conversation with her brother."

Dean agreed.