A/N: So as I said in the last chapter I messed up and I'm still behind but I'm trying! This chapter's gonna change it up again. More time travel! Woot! Still don't own any of the shows. Dean, Sam, The Doctor, Clara, Sherlock, etc are not mine.
December 1885
London was quiet. A soft new snow was falling and covering the usually bustling city with a blanket of white. A few carriages braved the weather but most folks had opted to stay inside by the fire. Detective Inspector Lestrade desperately wished he could be one of those people. Instead, he was standing outside an old hunting cabin in knee deep snow waiting for the medic to give him a verdict on the dead man inside. He tucked his head into his armpits and stamped his feet to try and warm up.
A large, beefy man with broad shoulders came out of the cabin. He was wearing a white medical coat and carrying a white bag with a red cross on it. Hi brown hair was combed and parted neatly down the middle. He had large mutton chops that connected to the bushy mustache he was currently running his hands over in thought.
"What is the diagnosis, Doctor Hooper?" Lestrade asked.
"Well, I highly doubt that Mr. Beckham ripped his own intestines out," Doctor Hooper replied bluntly. "There were trace amounts of some weird black sludge coming out of his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. I would call in Mr. Holmes."
Lestrade shook his head and sighed in disgust. It couldn't have been an ordinary homicide.
"Dimmock!" he called across the field in front of the cabin. "I need to go into the city and fetch Mr. Holmes!"
A very tall, skinny officer with a walrus mustache scowled but began to untie his horse. It was common knowledge that Dimmock and Holmes did not get along. Dimmock found Holmes a bit egotistical and Holmes found Dimmock patronizing.
It was another hour before Dimmock returned with not only Mr. Holmes in tow but his associate and friend, Dr. Watson. The three men climbed off their horses and tied them up. Both Holmes and Watson grabbed briefcases and headed for the cabin. Both nodded at Lestrade when they reached him in the entryway.
"What have you got for us, Lestrade?" Holmes asked. Lestrade leaned forward and the other two men followed suit.
"I think it was ghost possession. Dr. Hooper found ectoplasm all over the victim," Lestrade whispered. Holmes nodded grimly and walked inside, motioning for Watson to follow.
The place was a grisly mess. The metallic scent of drying blood didn't mix well with the piney scent of the cabin itself. The victim lay sprawled out on the floor in front of the fireplace. His body had been ripped open just below the breast bone clear to his genitals. His intestines, liver, stomach, and various other organs were in a bloody puddle beside him.
"This is revolting," Watson said scrunching up his nose.
"I have never known angry spirits to be good house guests, Jonathon," Holmes responded as he slowly examined the room with his eyes. Watson rolled his own and settled down in a clean space beside the body. Holmes walked over to end table and set his case on it, popping it open. There were no papers inside. Instead, it was filled with pistols, bullets made of iron and silver, a small iron crowbar, salt pellets and holy water. He pulled out the crowbar and shut the case.
"I'm going to head upstairs and see what I can learn about the original owner of the place," he told Watson. Watson grunted in reply as he examined the ectoplasm around the victim's mouth.
There was one room at the top of the staircase. It contained a cot, a trunk and a wolf skin rug. There were hardly any personal items and present. The cot was moldy, the trunk wood was rotting and he was pretty sure there were bugs crawling in the skin. No living thing had been here in a very, very long time. The victim's suitcase was up here as well. It was in decent condition, used but not beaten. There was a half-put-together rifle poking out of the suitcase. Holmes walked over and pulled it out. He popped open there barrel and examined the bullets. There was rock salt pellets jammed in it haphazardly. The victim had been a Hunter.
Watson was just packing up his things when Holmes came back downstairs. He slipped off the gloves he'd been wearing and tossed them aside.
"Find anything a ghost would be holding onto?" he asked.
"No but I did find a half-loaded rifle filled with rock salt. I think our victim was a poorly trained Hunter," Holmes replied.
"How unfortunate," Watson said standing up. "He should have brought back up."
"We should go read up on this place," Holmes said. "We need to find out all we can about the ghost inhabiting this place."
Watson nodded. Both men closed their briefcases and exited the cabin. Lestrade was speaking with Dr. Hooper in hushed tones by the morgue's carriage. Holmes and Watson promptly joined them.
"You're welcome to take care of the body now, Dr. Hooper," Watson said. "I believe I collected everything of use."
"Was I correct in assuming this was one of your type of case?" Dr. Hooper asked.
"Most assuredly," Dr. Watson replied. Dr. Hooper nodded, grabbed his things and marched back to the cabin. Lestrade folded his arms watching Holmes.
"All right Holmes, what has got you all hot and bothered?" he asked.
"The victim came here intending to dispose of the ghost," Holmes said quietly. "Most likely new to the Hunt."
Lestrade flinched. "Poor sod,"
"I need to do some research. I will let you know what I find," Holmes said briskly walking off to his horse. Watson smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, you know how he gets when he is thinking."
Lestrade brushed it aside with a wave of his hand. "Just keep me informed."
^&$% ^ #%^&%*
"I do not understand," Watson sighed tossing a stack of old police reports on the table and leaning back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes. "Every death in the cabin has been different. Ghosts kill people the same way every time."
"Perhaps there is more than one ghost," Holmes mumbled flipping through some old coroner's reports. "I cannot find a single death in a hunting cabin north of here that did not have clear signs of supernatural involvement. How can there be no original death? This is so damn frustrating!"
"Maybe dinner and a good night's rest would help," a woman's voice drifted in. Holmes started guiltily and he turned around in his chair to face the hallway. A woman stood in the doorway wearing a white house gown. Her long, dark hair was loose and hanging over one shoulder. She held a small candle dish in one hand.
"Evelyn, I thought you were asleep," he said trying not to sound guilty too.
"It is very hard to sleep when you know your husband is downstairs working himself to death," Evelyn replied tartly. She smiled slightly at Watson. "Hello, Jon."
"Hello, Evelyn," Watson replied back. "What time is it?"
"Nearly midnight," Evelyn answered. "Martha is probably worried sick."
Watson flinched. "I need to go, Holmes. Martha is going to ring my neck."
He stood up, grabbed his hat and coat, bowed to Evelyn and left the room. Evelyn listened for the front door to open and shut before moving. She set her candle down on the table and walked up behind her husband. She slowly slid her hands down his shoulders and onto his chest before sliding them back up and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Come to bed, Sherlock. You are exhausted. It will not do you any good to stay up all night."
"I know, I just cannot sleep knowing that there is a mystery I have not solved. Especially when innocent people can get hurt," Holmes sighed rubbing his eyes. Evelyn smiled placed a gentle kiss on his temple.
"I know Hunters are not usually the victims but sometimes it happens. I know you like to think you can save everyone but you are just one man. And men need to sleep to properly function, especially if that man's daughter has a piano recital tomorrow evening that he promised to go to."
Holmes groaned. "Lydia's recital is tomorrow?"
"I will not tell her you forgot but yes, and you promised Benjamin you would go riding with him this week."
"Yes, I know," Holmes sighed placing a kiss on one of her hands. "I will be at the recital and I will take Ben riding."
"You better be or I will be worse to contend with than an angry spirit," Evelyn replied. Holmes chuckled.
"I do not doubt it in the slightest. Well, let me put these all away and I will be right up."
"Okay, and I will be waiting," Evelyn said kissing him soundly before picking up her candle and disappearing down the hall. Holmes smiled slightly as he watched her leave. Then he slowly began shuffling papers together when one document caught his eye. It wasn't a death certificate but a complaint to the police. A little over a month ago, a grave had been desecrated and all the precious jewels stolen. A week later the body was reported missing. The body belonged to Duchess Arabella Stanton. Holmes began to rattle his brain. People had been dying in that cabin for about a month. This duchess had been missing for a month. Had someone stolen a body in order to use the spirit attached to it?
&^^# $%#$^&*
Watson opened his front door sleepily. He groaned when he saw his best friend standing on his front porch.
"Holmes, it is two in the morning. Did not Evelyn tell you to go to sleep?"
"Yes, but we need to go back to the cabin. Do grab your coat and some boots. We must leave quickly," Holmes said jumping down the steps and hurrying to his horse.
"Sherlock, I am not gallivanting around London in the middle of the night in my night clothes!" Watson hissed.
"Then by all means change, Jon," Holmes hissed back. Watson grumbled under his breath but he knew that Holmes would just keep nagging until he followed. So much for sleeping.
A half an hour later the two men stood outside the cabin, pistols loaded with salt rounds and both carrying an iron poker.
"So, what exactly are we doing? You failed to explain on the way over."
"I believe that someone is using a ghost to lure people here."
"Why would someone do that?"
"I do not know. That is why we are here, Jonathon," Holmes said shaking his head and slowly opening the door. "I am going to ask the ghost if she knows."
Watson stared incredulously after his friend as Holmes stepped into the house. He quickly followed.
"You want to have a civil conversation with a ghost?"
"I do not believe she is an angry spirit yet so it should be quite civil, yes," Holmes said. He slipped his poker in one of his belt loops and pulled his match box out of his pocket and began to light some of the candles. They cast an eerie glow on the room.
"Hello?" Holmes called out startling his friend as his voice echoed through the silent house. "I am speaking to the spirit who dwells here."
The two men stood back to back in the center of the room, silent and listening for any little sound to indicate the spirit was listening, eyes darting every which way nervously.
"I am speaking to Duchess Arabella Stanton. We are not here to harm you. We just want to ask you a few questions."
The candlelight flickered.
"Then why do you carry guns full of salt and poles of iron?" a sad voice asked. The two men jumped and turned to face the staircase. A pale woman in funeral garb stood on the stairs. She looked miserable. She faded out and reappeared uncomfortably close to Holmes.
"Precaution," Holmes swallowed nervously. "I have reason to believe someone is controlling you."
The ghost raised her eyebrow. "You are the first to have suggested this. Why?"
"You died after a full and rewarding life at the age of sixty-eight. You have no reason to be holding on. Plus, your grave was robbed," Holmes explained eyeing the ghost as she circled them.
"You are correct," she said after a moment. "I was summoned back by a witch. She bound me to my body and hid it where no one could find it."
"Why would a witch do such a thing?" Watson asked.
"She did it for a demon," the ghost said glumly. "He wanted to lure Hunters here so he could play with them."
The two men tensed. Watson gulped and looked around. "Did we just walk into a trap?"
"Quite possibly," Holmes whispered. "Who is the demon?"
"I do not know his name but I do know the witch."
"Oh?"
"Her name is Charlotte Adler."
A/N: So? What do you think? This will be explained better later on, you know the whole two Sherlocks and ya da ya da. Hope to see some reviews!