Chapter 7
-oOo-
Daniel was quieter than Sam or Dean thought possible when, after lunch, the house keeper sat himself at the kitchen table with the print outs, pencil and eraser and began his given task. Father Hanrahan headed into the church to be available for anyone wanting to make use of the confessional box, or just to have a chat to him. Both Hunters politely turned down his offer to join him at the monthly parishioner's meeting he was hosting during the afternoon. Sam made himself comfortable in the living room with his laptop and began researching creatures with bat type wings; while Dean went to their shared bedroom and carefully compiled and checked a selection of weapons that he hoped might be helpful that night in the event of either himself or Sam running into trouble. As he sat cleaning Sam's Taurus, his thoughts drifted back to the creature responsible for the marks on his face, bringing to mind again the image of her gazing up at the stars before she became aware of his presence. He could not recall ever having seen anything like her previously, she completely intrigued him, not least because of her beauty, and he was surprised to realise just how irritated he felt towards Sam for having won two rounds of rock, paper, scissors in succession and then awarding himself the graveyard duty. Dean stood and walked to the window, his eyes drawn to the portion of ruins the view afforded him during the daylight hours.
-o-
Daniel was holding one of the printouts up into the daylight coming in through a window when Dean walked through the kitchen, heading for the back door in silence, without even a glance in Daniel's direction.
"Off out anywhere nice, lamb chop?"
Opening the back door, Dean answered, still not bothering to look at the housekeeper.
"Just gotta check on somethin'."
Daniel frowned, sensing something amiss.
"Sam know you're heading out there?"
Dean halted abruptly, one foot over the threshold. Slowly turning to look back over his shoulder, cold eyes glared at Daniel who froze, the blonde hairs on the back of his neck standing to attention. Dean's voice, deeper than normal, carried a clear edge of warning.
"Hear this, pal. I'm not a man who makes a habit of reportin' to my baby brother whenever I need a fart. Right?"
-o-
Shocked, Daniel stood open mouthed, staring after Dean as he took another couple of strides before halting again and, this time, turning around to fully face Daniel, an apologetic look on his face.
"Look, Danny. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was out of order. Sammy's my little brother. Ever since we were kids an' mom died, it's been my job to look after him. I'm worried about him bein' on his own out here tonight. So I'm goin' to do a quick sweep of the place myself first. In our job, it pays to do whatever you can to increase the odds in your favour...Hunter's most often don't get to grow old, an' that's fine for me. It is. But I intend for Sammy to be able to sit in his back yard some day with his shiny bald head and his grey beard, watchin' his great grandkids playin' catch. Understand?"
Daniel swallowed down the lump in his throat.
"I understand...Dean? I think Sam's very lucky to have you around. You be careful."
With a single nod, Dean closed the door and was gone, leaving Daniel sitting quietly, thinking over what he had just heard. Eventually, the housekeeper closed his eyes.
"Hi...Um...It's me. Look, if you are my guardian angel, look after him while he's out there. Keep him safe will you? Please?...Er...Thanks...Amen?"
-o-
Sam stared at the list on his notepad. Sticking out his lower lip, he blew a puff of air upwards to move the fine strands of hair that were lying across the bridge of his nose out of the way. He hadn't realised before just how many creatures of myth and legend, whether rightly or wrongly, were purported to have bat type wings as part of their anatomy. Some he knew about, such as vampires and, specifically, Dracula. The Jersey Devil was a familiar one, as was the description of the Mothman having wings more akin to a bat's than a moth's in some versions of the stories relating to him. He had also heard of the Tehi Tegi and in fact had, in the past, come up against a very similar creature called a Kishanta. Carrying on with his search, he soon came across yet another familiar monster. Sam unconsciously leaned in closer to the monitor, gazing attentively at the various pictorial representations, reading and re-reading the accompanying writings, his heartbeat increasing with excitement, he was almost certain this was what they were hunting and, if he was right, then they already knew how to kill it.
-o-
Adding Succubus to his written list, Sam then drew a ring around the name. He smiled when he came across a reference to Gargoyles. The author had repeated the commonly held and widely mistaken belief about them. Sam knew that Gargoyles were nothing more than elaborately carved run offs for excess rain water, a fantastical architectural adornment. It was their counterpart, the Grotesques, that were supposedly there to protect important structures from harm and, as a knock on, anyone on the inside of those same structures. Back in the day they had been frequently carved in order to encourage the populace to feel safe on entering buildings whereon Grotesques were sited. The information to be found about Dragons reflected the popularity of the legend and myth, making it all the harder to pull out fact from fantasy. The majority consensus however, favoured bat shaped wings. Sam knew for a fact that there was at least one type in existence that were able to take on human form. Sam decided he wasn't ready to discount the possibility of a dragon just yet.
-o-
Sam was able to reduce his list by crossing off those creatures who were consistently described as being male, as well as some he was familiar enough with to feel happy about discounting. His focus turned to some of the creatures he had neither previously come across or heard of. The Camazotz, a Myan bat God, was duly discounted for being a purely male creature. The Kongamato turned out to be a flying creature coloured either red or black who's habitat was close to rivers in Africa, and which was thought by some to actually be a Pterodactyl. The creature was also commonly referred to as the Breaker of Boats and, again, most often referred to ashe. More for the lack of a permanent river, African or not, running through the church grounds than for any other reason, Sam struck a line through Kongamato.
-o-
His eyes were beginning to feel gritty and tired when he came to consider the next creature on his list, and he decided that once he had explored more about the Cyhiraeth and made the decision whether or not it should remain on his list, it would be a good time to take a short break from research. Glancing at his watch, he was surprised to see that over four hours had passed since he had begun his searching and he now had less than thirty minutes before Father Hanrahan would be back to prepare for his evening service. It was also over four hours since he last had a drink. The thought of coffee won out and Sam decided the Cyhiraeth could wait a little while. Leaving his laptop open, Sam headed for the kitchen in search of fresh coffee.
-o-
Daniel looked to be on the verge of getting set to leave when Sam walked into the kitchen.
"You about finished for the day?"
"Very nearly, but don't worry. I'm not about to leave my three charges starving. Seeing as you're here, I can save myself some writing. First, I've made a nice rich stew for this evening. It's in the slow cooker, all you have to do is help yourselves when you're ready and turn off the slow cooker when you've done. Dessert's under that towel, freshly baked today. There's plenty of bread in the bread-bin, I only baked it yesterday. There's a fresh pot of coffee...Oh, you found it already. In the fridge you'll find two plastic containers, one for you and one for Dean. They're to take with you tonight in case you get peckish while you're on watch. Help yourselves to anything out the refrigerator. There's a variety of snack food in there for your supper or whatever, as well as some cold beers. Fresh fruit if you want it is in the pantry. Now, let me think, is that everything?...Whoops! The printouts. I've done what I can, but there wasn't much to work with."
-o-
Picking up two of the printouts, Daniel passed one to Sam.
"That's one where I've drawn over the bits that seemed to be part of the thing's shape. Like I said, not much to work with."
Sam studied the few, mainly disconnected, pencil strokes.
"It might not be much, but this part? That could definitely be the edge of a bat shaped wing."
Daniel grinned,
"True...Or possibly an umberella?"
He handed the second sheet to Sam.
"Based on what I've been able to pick out on the others, I used that one to have a go at filling in the blanks. It's only how I imagined the whole thing might come together, so don't take it too seriously."
-o-
Sam gazed at the finely crafted drawing.
"This' really good! Did you take a Fine Art degree?"
Daniel seemed surprised by Sam's compliment and, as usual, made light of it.
"Who me? Sadly, no...And that, darling, is why I'm a humble housekeeper, instead of holding my rightful place as the ingénue of the art world."
From the small partial view on the first printout, Daniel had lightly drawn the back view of a slender female sporting a complete set of large wings. He had given the figure wings in an elongated batwing shape, the end result being quite dragonesque in appearance.
"Well, I gotta say, I don't think you're far off in your interpretation...I'll show this to Dean, it backs up somethin' I'd wondered about. Thanks for this Daniel. It's really useful."
"Glad to be of service. Could you let Father Hanrahan know I'll be in at six thirty tomorrow morning? Right, that's that then. You and that brother of yours be careful and stay safe tonight, ok? I'm assuming Dean got back without any new bumps and bruises earlier?"
Sam stalled with his mug of coffee half way to his lips.
"What're you talkin' about? Got back from where?"
-o-
The door to the guestroom was banged open and Sam strode in, swiftly glancing around.
"Dean? You in the bathroom? Dean?"
No longer caring about privacy, he pushed open the bathroom door. Closing it again, Sam turned to face Daniel who hovered anxiously in the doorway to the bedroom.
"How long ago did he set off?"
-oOo-
Chick xxx