"How are you related to Sam and Dean Winchester?" The woman pacing in front of Rian asked. She was trying to appear intimidating but Rian was having so much fun that she could not bring herself to even consider the woman as a threat.
Rian shrugged but didn't answer. This was the fifth time she has been asked that in the last half hour. The woman should know by now that she wasn't going to get an answer. She huffed and then stopped pacing and placed her hands on the table she leaned forward with a glare for Rian.
"What's your name?" The woman, Diana her badge read, asked.
Rian shrugged again and Diana sighed. Rian felt a rush of pleasure at the obviously infuriated look that Diana was giving her.
"Did you know that Dean is wanted for murder?" Diana asked and Rian widens her eyes in mock surprise. Diana noticed this and hid a small smile behind her hand. She apparently couldn't read sarcastic expressions.
"If you give up information then you'll get a lessened sentence." Diana pointed out.
Rian shrugged again and Diana left the room in frustration. As soon as Rian's alone she starts laughing. She knew she ought to be taking this whole thing seriously, she had been arrested after all. But it was just so difficult to do that. Especially when she knew the outcome.
It was kind of nerve-wracking, being in the interrogation room. But she had warned Sam and Dean about this case and they had told her to just let it happen. So she did. And she hoped that they would find a way to get her out of there.
Rian sat on the full sized bed closest to the door when Sam and Dean walk back into the room. They had gone to get some more food for Rian, who refused to continue eating greasy take-out and diner food. She smiled at the boys then went back to working on her document.
She was writing down episode titles, and when major characters would be popping up. Nothing too dangerous, just things to help her jog her memory. She was already unable to remember details from the middle seasons. She remembered the big things, but that was it.
Rian had been waiting for the brothers to get back to tell them about their next case. When they did get back Rian told them about what was supposed to happen soon in as few words as possible. She gave them an out but they decided that they wouldn't just run. They hadn't even been caught yet. Plus they needed to stop whatever was killing people.
"So, what should we do?" Sam asked, looking from Rian to Dean.
"Well, tell the story like it is. Whatever happens, before we get arrested, because I think we should, be honest." Rian paused for a moment and then nodded, "Except for me."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, watching Rian.
"I mean that I'm not actually supposed to exist here," Rian pointed out, "I'll have no records. What should we do about that?"
"Okay, well, you did say to tell them how it is," Dean asked, leaning back in his seat and locking his fingers behind his head. "You're the one who knows what's going to happen"
Rian sat down at the table with them and put her chin on her interlocked fingers, her elbows resting on the table. After a moment, she grabbed her computer from Dean and opened a new document and began typing.
"Okay, first I need a name." Rian began. "I don't know about you guys but having a record of someone who doesn't exist doesn't actually sound like that good of an idea."
"Dorothy Gale." Sam suggested after a minute, getting a weird look from Dean and a smile from Rian. She knew what he was suggesting, "The wizard of Oz?" Sam asked Dean whose expression didn't change, "Nothing?" Sam sighed with exasperation "Ok Dean."
"Dorothy, I like it," Rian nodded, "Let's tell them the story of the Wizard of Oz."
"Wow." The man, Pete if Dean remembered correctly, said. He had short black hair and was wearing a gray suit. Dean just stared at him not changing his facial expression.
"First I thought you were just stepping up your game." Pete continued "Credit-card fraud, breaking and entering. This one, a puzzle Grave desecration. But still, these are a long way from murder. Then we get a fax from St. Louis where you're suspected of torturing and murdering a young woman. However, no one could prove anything, of course, because supposedly you died there. But I got to tell you something. You look pretty healthy to me. So, now we know Karen Giles wasn't the first person you murdered. But I guarantee you she's the last."
Pete walked around the room and Dean turned his head to watch him go.
The door to the room that Sam was in opened and he stood up from where he had been leaning on the filing cabinets. His arm was in a cast from a hunt a few days ago and he was wearing his clothes from the previous day. A woman with shoulder length reddish brown hair entered the room and Sam frowned. The woman, Diana Sam remembered Rian mentioning, was holding a cup of coffee and a file.
"Thought you might be thirsty." Diana said setting a cup of coffee down on the table that was in between her and Sam.
"Okay, so you're the good cop." Sam commented, "Where's the bad cop?"
"He's with your brother." Diana offered.
"Okay." Sam nodded, "And you're holding us why?"
"He's being held on suspicion of murder." Diana explained, "And you? We'll see." She added with a shrug, "and who knows what we'll find for your lady friend"
"Murder?" Sam asked, his face contorting in shock.
"You sound genuinely surprised." Diana remarked, "Or are you that good of an actor?"
"Who is he supposed to have murdered?" Sam asked.
"We'll get around to that." Diana quipped
"You can't just hold us here without formal charges." Sam argued
"Actually, we can for 48 hours." Diana corrected opening up the file she has in her hands "but you, being a pre-law student, would know that. I know all about you, Sam. You're 23 years old. No job, no home address. Your mother died when you were a baby. Your father's whereabouts are unknown. Then there's the case of your brother, Dean, whose demise was, well, just a little bit exaggerated." She glances "Feel free to jump in whenever you like." Sam said nothing.
"Shy?" She asked, "No problem. I'll keep going. Your family moved around a lot when you were a kid. Despite that, you were a straight-A student. Got into Stanford with a full ride. Then about a year ago, there was a fire in your apartment. One fatality Jessica Moore, your girlfriend. After she died, you fell off the grid, left behind everything."
"I needed some time off to deal." Sam explained slowly "So I'm taking a road trip with my brother."
"How's that going for you?" Diana asked, closing the file
"Great." Sam told her, "I mean we saw the second-largest ball of twine in the continental US." He grabbed the chair he was standing next to and pulled it so the back was against the table before sitting down in it "Awesome."
"We ran Dean's fingerprints through iafis." Diana mentioned walking around the table, "Got over a dozen possible hits."
"'Possible' hits, which makes them worthless." Sam pointed out.
"But makes you wonder, what are we gonna find when we run your prints?" Diana questioned.
"Yeah, well, uh you be sure to let me know, all right?" He said before gesturing to the coffee in front of her "May I?"
"Please."
"Great."
"Tell me a bit about your lady friend," Diana demanded sitting down on the corner of the table looking at Sam. "Why's she with you guys."
"We picked her up along the way." Sam began, "Her name is Dorothy Gale. Nice girl. She has a little dog that she just adores, best friend in the world. She's been our 'lady friend' as you put it for about a seven or eight months now."
"Dorothy Gale? The main character from the wizard of Oz?" Diana asked with a smirk.
"Her parents were fanatics." Sam said with a shrug, "Her dog is even named Toto. She was born in Liberal, Kentucky even. And get this. When she was younger, um… You know the story, right? She lived that. People tried to tell her it was a dream but she had the heels. Of course, it's normal for girls to have heels right? Not Dorothy though, she couldn't even walk two feet in heels. Weird, ain't it? The amount of therapy she got as a kid, man its no wonder she's a little messed up."
"Sam, you seem like a good kid." Diana said, "It's not your fault Dean's your brother. We can't pick our family. Right now detectives in St. Louis are exhuming a corpse. They're trying to figure out how your brother faked his own death after torturing all those young women. Dean's a bad guy. His life is over. Yours doesn't have to be. Neither does Dorothy's."
"You want me to turn against my own brother?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow
"No." Diana replied, "We already caught him cold, red-handed at the Karen Giles murder scene. We just need you to fill in some missing pieces. Why would I do that? Because I can talk to the D. A., make a deal for you. You can get on with your life. Dean's as good as gone."
"My dad and Tony Giles were old friends." Sam offered, "They were in the service together. We've known him since we were kids, you know? So we came as soon as we heard about his death."
"Here you go." Dean said, handing Sam the paper he'd been reading since Sam had gone off to little boy's room, "Anthony Giles."
"Who's Anthony Giles?" Sam asked glancing at the paper then back at Dean.
"The Baltimore lawyer. Working late at the office. Check it out." Rian said, leaning back in her seat after finishing the Chai Tea she had in front of her.
"'His throat was slit but the room was clean' - Huh," Sam said looking back that the
"No DNA, no prints." Dean grinned, "Keep reading. It gets better."
"'Security cameras failed to capture footage of the assailant' either somebody tampered with the tapes or it's an invisible killer."
"My favorite kind." Dean grinned, "what do you think, Scully? We check it out?"
"I'm not Scully." Sam said, "You're Scully."
"No, I'm Mulder." Dean said, "You're a redheaded woman."
"If any one's Scully it's me." Rian said, grinning, "You guys can be Mulder and his lesser known good looking brother."
"So it would've been hard for Dean to kill Tony," Sam finished his retelling of the events, "considering we weren't in town at the time."
"So, tell me what happened next," Diana demanded.
"Okay, uh, that's when we went to see Karen." Sam continued, "She was barely holding it together. We just wanted to be there for her, you know?"
"Insurance." Karen in front of Sam, Dean, and Rian- Karen- sighed, "I totally forgot about the insurance."
They were sitting in Karen's dining room. It was a nice room, most of the furnishings were dark wood. Karen sat at the head of the table. Rian next to her and Sam and Dean were seated at the sides. Rian wore a black pencil skirt and a white frilly blouse while the Winchester boys were wearing their normal suits.
"We're very sorry to bother you right now, but the company is required to conduct its own investigation." Sam told Karen, "You understand?"
"Sure," Karen replied.
"If you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died," Rian asked kindly, placing one of her hands over Karen's hands
"Tony and I were supposed to have dinner." Karen started, "He called and said that he was having computer troubles and that he had to work late. That was it."
"Do you have any idea who could've done this to him?" Dean asked.
"No." Karen shook her head, sniffing "It's like I told the police. I- I have no idea."
"Did Tony mention anything unusual to you in the days before his death?" Dean asked
"Unusual?" Karen asked tilting her head in confusion, Rian gripped her hand comfortingly
"Yeah, like strange," Dean affirmed
"Strange?"
"You know, Karen, weird." Dean scoffed. Rian glared at him but Dean continued anyways, "Weird noises, visions, anything like that?"
"He had a nightmare the day before he died," Karen told them.
"What kind of a nightmare?" Rian asked kindly
"Uh, he said that he woke up in the middle of the night, and there was a woman standing at the foot of the bed." Karen explained, "He blinked." Karen blinked, "She was gone. I mean, it was just a nightmare."
"Did he say what she looked like?" Dean asked
"What the hell difference does it make what she looked like?!" Karen said forcefully
"Uh, it's just our company is very thorough," Sam said awkwardly.
"He said she was pale, and she had dark, red eyes." Karen conceded.
"So I gave Karen a hug, told her to call us if she needed anything, and that was it." Sam finished, "end of story."
"Sam, I am trying to help you here, but you have got to be honest with me." Diana informed him, "now, we have an eyewitness, someone who saw two men and a woman fitting Dorothy, your's and your brother's description breaking into Giles' office."
"Ok, look, Karen called us later, said that there was some stuff she wanted from Tony's office," Sam explained, "but the police weren't letting her in. Like a picture of the two of them in Paris and some other stuff. Look, it was wrong to enter a crime scene, but she gave us the key."
They entered the office room quickly and got to work. The room was of a decent size with white walls and sparse furniture. There were fake potted plants and simple pictures and a leather couch, all things one would expect to find in an office.
"Hey." Sam said shining his flashlight on a puddle of blood to the right of an entrance through the door, "Anthony Giles' body was found right about here. Throat slit so deep, that part of his spinal cord was visible"
"What do you think? Vengeful spirit? Underline 'vengeful'?" Dean asked
"Yeah." Rian agreed.
"Maybe." Sam said, "I mean, he did see that woman at the foot of his bed."
"Look at this," Dean said picking up a piece of paper off the table.
"danashulps. What's that, a name?" Sam asked
"Street name, I think. But I can't remember which one." Rian remarked looking through some files in the filing cabinet. She pulled out papers from the file she was looking at, all of the papers said "danashulps"
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" Dean smirked
Sam noticed something on the glass desk he was sitting out and breathed on it, the word danashulps appearing in the fog his breath had created "I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird."
"Maybe Giles knew her." Dean pointed out
"Maybe it's the name of our pale, red-eyed mystery girl." Sam countered
"Well let's see what we can see," Dean said
Rian looked up from her third file and grimaced, "Are you guys just going to ignore me?" She asked, "I'm trying to save you troubles. Dana Shulps is not the name of the mystery woman. "
"Well, I think I'm pretty close to cracking Giles' password," Sam said, ignoring Rian who glared daggers at him.
"Fine, fuck you too," Rian muttered turning back to her file, "I offer to help and I get ignored. I don't offer and I get yelled at. Great."
"Maybe there's something in his personal files, you know" Sam continued
"By "close" you mean?" Dean asked and Sam looked up at him shaking his head,
"Thirty minutes"
"Awesome." Dean complained, "So, I guess I just get to, uh, hang out."
Dean sat in his chair make weird noises as Rian walked over to read over Sam's shoulder. Rian started to glare at Dean while Sam looked up every couple seconds.
"Dude, seriously," Sam asked after he'd had enough.
"Alright." Dean said standing up "I'm gonna go talk to Karen again, see if she knows anything about this Dana Shulps, huh?"
"Great," Sam replied distractedly
"Keep going, sparky," Dean said closing the door to the office
"Dana Shulps is not a name," Rian cried after him, "Jesus Christ will you guys just listen to me"
Sam didn't listen. Forty-five minutes later they were on their way back to the motel. Sam hadn't found anything.
Rian had been staring at the man in front of her since he walked in the room. Pete stared back at her. This had been the situation for the last ten minutes. Pete had tried to get Rian to speak but she had refused. After another minute, Pete looked away and Rian shouted in triumph.
"I win," She yelled, the first words she had spoken since Pete entered the room. "Take that."
Pete glared at her for a moment before speaking, "Tell me about yourself, Ms. Gale." He demanded.
Rian grinned and then told Pete the backstory that she, Sam, and Dean had come up with. Pete obviously did not believe her. But then again, that was kind of the point.
Once she finished Pete sighed and covered his eyes with his hands. "So you're telling me that you were caught in a tornado at your house in Kansas and ended up in Oz?" He sighed again glared at Rian
"You know if you got more sleep you'd sigh less," Rian said with a slight smirk, "Maybe you should do a confession or something, I heard that telling a priest of your sins helps. But then, you've got a lot of those, don't you?"
"How stupid do you think I am?" Pete yelled, getting fed up with this act of Rian's, well, Dorothy as she was known.
"Pretty stupid actually. Especially if you think Dean could murder Karen." Rian growled, "Dean's twice Pete you'll ever be."
Pete stood up to glare at Rian from a higher position, as if that would intimidate her, "watch what you say."
"Watch what you say," Rian mimicked, "You're trying to be threatening but lemme tell you. The cowardly lion was scarier than you are."
Pete slapped Rian on the right cheek and she brought her hand up to cover the spot.
"Mature, real mature." She hissed, glaring at Pete "I won't talk anymore if you're in here. You may as well leave."
"Then Dean went back to Karen's place to check up on her." Sam said, "I mean, you know, she had been pretty upset earlier."
"So why didn't you and Ms. Gale go with him?" Diana asked.
"We just went back to the motel." Sam explained, "How did you know we were there, by the way?"
"We found the motel matchbook on your brother when we arrested him." Diana told Sam, "Let's quit fooling around. Now, you and Gale were with your brother the whole time you were in Baltimore. Why separate now?" She didn't give Sam the chance to respond. "Because your brother left you two to go murder Karen."
"He didn't kill anyone." Sam insisted.
"I heard the 911 call!" Diana yelled, "Karen was terrified! She said someone was in the house."
Karen looked up from the TV and removed her glasses. She'd been crying ever since Sam, Dean, and Rian had left her house. When she puts her glasses back on she screams.
In the decorative window between the hallway and the living room was a woman. She's wearing all white and looks pissed. Karen looked away for a second and when she looked back the woman was gone.
Karen got up and searched the house for Diana. When she couldn't see anyone she ran upstairs to her room and locked the door behind her. She scrambled to her phone and started dialing 911.
"Emergency services." the voice on the line said after Karen finally managed to dial the number.
"Hello? I think I saw somebody in my house." Karen stuttered.
"What is your address, ma'am?" The voice asked calmly
"It's 421 Clinton Avenue," Karen replied. "Please," the line went dead, "Hello?"
The lights in Karen's house started to flicker. The fax machine turned on and out came a paper saying danashulps over and over again. She opened her closet door cautiously and grabbed a flashlight. When she turned around she screamed. The woman was there again.
Dean knocked on the door downstairs and started calling when he got no answer, "Karen, are you in there?" There was no answer again so Dean picked the lock and entered the house cautiously.
He searched the entire house and finally found himself in Karen's room "Oh, god." He said upon finding Karen's body, "Seriously, what the hell?" he said upon finding the piece of paper that said danashulps.
Dean knelt to check Karen's pulse and was in that same spot when two cops walked into the room with their guns raised.
"Freeze." One of them said Dean looked over his shoulder, "Stay on your knees. Hands where I can see them." Dean hesitated "Now!" he raised his hands slowly, "Cuff him."
"Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps" Dean mused, tapping his fingers on the table, "Maybe it's not a name. Maybe it's not a name?"
"Mr. Winchester?" A man asked entering the room that Dean was in.
"Yeah," Dean affirmed
"I'm Jeff Crouse." The man introduced himself, "I'm with the public defender's office. I'm your lawyer."
"Oh, thank god." Dean said, sarcastically, "I'm saved. Can I, uh, steal a pen from you and some paper?"
"Sure." Crouse said handing Dean a pen and pulling out a pad of legal paper, "Well, the police haven't found a weapon yet. So that's good. But, uh, they got your prints and literally blood on your hands. And with your police record Mr. Winchester, - what are you doing?" Dean was ignoring Crouse and writing different forms of the word danashulps on a piece of paper.
"I think it's an anagram," Dean said finally
"A what?" Crouse asked
"An anagram." Dean explained, "Same letters, different words. Could you do me a favor? See if you recognize any of these words, you know. Local names, places, anything like that."
"Do you understand how serious these charges are?" Crouse asked
"I'm handcuffed to a table." Dean said pulling on the handcuffs and laughing, "Yeah. I get it. Humor me. Take a quick look.
"Well, S-U-P? I don't know about that," Crouse said looking at the different words, "but Ashland is a street 's not far from here."
"Street?" Dean asked, "Shit that's what she said. Should'a listened."
"Let's start with where you were the night that Anthony Giles died," Crouse said ignoring Dean.
"Can you get in to see my brother? Dorothy too?" Dean asked suddenly after finishing two notes and tearing the paper in half.
"Mr. Winchester you could be facing the death penalty here," Crouse said, getting a little frustrated.
"Hey, thanks for the law review, Matlock." Dean said with a grin, holding his paper out to Crouse "But if you want to help me I need you to see my brother and Dorothy."
Rian looked up when a man entered the room she was stuck in. "Ms. Gale," The man said, Rian nodded watching him. He held out a piece of paper to her and Rian took it looking confused, "Dean asked me to give this to you. I'm Jeff Crouse, your defense attorney"
"Thanks, Matlock," Rian grinned.
"You must be really close to the Winchester boys," Crouse said, causing Rian's grin to widen.
"Closer than you can imagine, I'm sure," Rian said with a wink. The man blushed and Rian couldn't help but smirk at him.
"Ah, I wanted to talk to you about your case," Crouse said deciding to ignore Rian's innuendo.
"What case can there be?" Rian asked and Crouse looks at her in confusion, "unless they believe that I'm actually Dorothy Gale? Cause they're not holding me here on any charges. In two days time, I'll be free to walk out on my own."
Crouse shook his head, "Yes but-"
Rian interrupted him with a glare, "There's no case here. Go see Sam."
Crouse left the room in a hurry. He had nearly had enough of dealing with the trio and he hadn't even met one of them.
"I hope that was meaningful," Crouse said handing Sam the other slip of paper from Dean. "But I'd like to discuss your case now."
"Sure thing, Matlock," Sam said with a grin
"You three really are close, aren't you?" Crouse commented before continuing, "Now as you know, the D. A. might be interested in-"
"We need you with the other one," Pete said upon entering the room.
"This should be nice." Pete commented sarcastically as Crouse walked into Dean's interrogation room, "Counselor your boy decided to confess."
"Mr. Winchester, I would advise against that strongly." Crouse urged walking over to Dean who just grinned at the man.
"Talk directly into the camera." Diana said, wanting to get this over with, "Start by stating your name for the record."
"My name is Dean Winchester." Dean said smirking at the camera, "I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. And I did not kill anyone, but I know who did. Or rather what did." He cleared his throat. By this point Crouse looked defeated, Diana looked confused and Pete looked like he was about to kill Dean.
"Of course, it can't be for sure because our investigation was interrupted." Dean continued seriously, "But our working theory is that we're looking for some kind of vengeful spirit."
"Excuse me?" Diana said
"You know, Casper, the bloodthirsty ghost." Dean explained, glancing at the woman, "Tony Giles saw it. I'll bet you cash money Karen did, too. See, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason, it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across a veil ain't easy. And sometimes the spirits, they get things jumbled. You remember "Redrum". Same concept. You know, it could be word fragments. Other times its anagrams. See, at first, we thought this was a name, Dana Shulps. But now we think it's a street. Ashland. Whatever is going on, - I'm betting it started there."
"You arrogant bastard." Pete growled from his spot by the door, "Tony and Karen were good people, and you're making jokes."
"I'm not joking, Ponch," Dean said he wants to say more but Pete was already talking
"You murdered them in cold blood just like that girl in St. Louis," Pete said, stalking over and slamming his hands on the table
"Oh, yeah, that wasn't me, either." Dean said, unperturbed, "That was a shapeshifter creature that only looked like me."
Pete finally had enough and he pushed Dean. Pete hauls Dean to his feet and slams him into the wall. Then he started to punch him.
"Pete that is enough!" Diana yelled pulling Pete off Dean.
"You asked for the truth," Dean smirked.
Pete glared at him before storming out the door, Crouse followed, and Diana collected the camera before joining them.
"Lock this guy up," Pete ordered the remaining officer before the door closed behind them.
Not even ten minutes later Diana walked back into the room, closing the door cautiously behind her. She watched Dean for a moment before Dean broke the silence.
"Can we make this quick? I'm really tired." He smirked, "It's been a long day, you know, with your partner assaulting me and all."
"I want to know more about that stuff - you were talking about earlier." Diana started, unsure of how to continue
"Time life, 'mysteries of the unknown'. Look it up."
"Let's pretend for the moment you're not entirely insane." Diana said, "What would one of these things be doing here?"
"Vengeful spirit?" Dean confirmed Diana nodded, "Well, they're created by violent deaths, and then they come back for a reason, usually a nasty one, like revenge on the people that hurt them."
"And, uh, these spirits they're capable of killing people," Diana asked and Dean finally gave the woman his full attention
"Where did you get that?" Dean asked after a moment, looking pointedly at the bruises on Diana's wrists.
"I don't know," Diana replied
"It wasn't there before." Dean looked from Diana's wrist up to Diana, "You've seen it, haven't you? The spirit."
"How did you know?" Diana asked
"Because Karen had the same bruises on her wrists." Dean explained, "I'm willing to bet that if you look at Giles' autopsy photos, he's got them, too. It's got something to do with the spirit. I don't know what."
"I know," Diana said
"You think you're going crazy." Dean stated and Diana nodded her reluctant agreement, "But let's skip that part, shall we? Because the last two people who saw this thing died pretty soon after. You hear me?"
"You think I'm gonna die," Diana said numbly
"You need to go to Sam." Dean ordered, watching Diana closely "He'll help."
"You're giving your brother up," Diana said, shocked.
"Go to the first motel listed in the yellow pages." Dean ignored Diana's comment, "Look for Jim Rockford. That's how we find each other when we're separated. You can arrest him if you want. Or you can let him save your life."
Sam and Rian met outside the motel, Sam having gotten all their things and Rian having run there, not having enough faith in herself to do anything other than that. Sam got a room under the name Jim Rockford and they both deposit their things by one of the beds. The first thing Rian does is shower and change her clothes. Then she put some ice on the cheek that Pete had slapped.
"Pete," Rian said suddenly, startling Sam, "Pete's the guy we have to watch out for. He slapped me and Dean and he's using us as a scapegoat."
Sam nodded and they both look at the door when there's a knock. Rian answered and let in Diana who looked like a scared sheep. Rian patted her arm reassuringly and led her to the kitchen table after she shut the door and made sure that the salt line Sam had put there was undisturbed.
"These showed up after you saw it?" Sam asked, looking at the bruises that Diana had shown them.
"Yeah, - I guess," Diana said, unsure.
"All right." Rian said, standing up from her spot next to Diana, "You're gonna have to tell us exactly what you saw." Of course, Rian knew what she saw but the woman was already doubting them.
"You know, I must be losing my mind." Diana said suddenly, "You're a fugitive. I should be arresting you. Both of you."
"All right, well, you know what?" Rian said, losing her patience, "You can arrest us later, alright? After you live through this. But right now, you got to talk to us. Okay?"
"Okay." the detective replied quietly
"Great." Sam said, glad that Rian was helping, "Now, the spirit, what did it look like?"
"She was, um," Diana hesitated and Rian gave her a reassuring smile, "really pale and her throat was cut. And her eyes, they were like this deep, dark red. It appeared like she was trying to talk to me, but she couldn't. It was just a lot of blood."
"You know what? Here." Sam said, handing the research they'd been doing to Diana, "I've been researching every girl who has ever died or gone missing from Ashland Street."
"How did you get those?" Diana asked, "Those are from crime scenes and booking photos."
"You have your job." Rian started
"We have ours." Sam finished "Here. I need you to look through these. Tell me if you recognize anyone."
"This is her." Diana said after a moment of going through the pictures, "I'm sure of it."
"Claire Becker?" Sam asked, looking at the photo, "eight or nine months ago."
"But I don't even know her." Diana cried, standing up, "Why would she come after me?"
"Well, before her death, she was arrested twice for dealing heroin." Rian explained, "You ever work narcotics?"
"Yeah, Pete and I did, before homicide," Diana told them
"You ever bust her?" Sam asked
"Not that I remember," Diana said. Rian guided her back to the table so that she could sit down
"said she was last seen entering a house on Ashland police searched the place, didn't find anything," Rian said
"Guess we got to check it out ourselves, see if we can find her body," Sam told the two women.
"What?" Diana squeaked
"Well, we got to salt and burn her bones." Rian explained, putting a hand on Diana's shoulder "It's the only way to put her spirit to rest"
"Of course, it is," Diana muttered
They took Diana's car, Sam, up front and Rian in the back. Rian tapped her fingers on her knee for a minute before looking up. "Where's the best place to hide a body outside of town, probably on the way to St. Louis. There's a giant tree I think. Do you know where that might be?"
"Ya," Diana said cautiously.
"Shit, that sounded bad didn't it." Rian grumbled, "I'm not killing people. But I know who is. And I'd really rather avoid a scene over it. I know where they're gonna go and I wanna get there first."
"With what car," Sam asked
"I know where the impala is and I actually do know how to hotwire a car. It'll cause less trouble for you later." Rian explained with a smirk, "I'm not as innocent as you seem to think, Winchester."
"About twenty miles outside of town, going southeast. There's a giant tree where we've found bodies before, I think that's what you're looking for." Diana finally said, figuring it was best if she didn't actually know what Rian was doing.
"Ok, can you let me out by the impound? At least walking distance?" Rian asked before she lost her nerves.
"Sure." Diana agreed. A few minutes later they were a block from the lot. Rian got out of the car and stepped up to Sam's door, gesturing for him to lower the window.
"Sam, remember what I said about that asshat. And try the basement."
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Diana asked walking around the basement of the building cautiously
"I'll let you know when we find it." He knew they needed to look in the basement but that was all that Rian had told them.
"Sam!" Diana called and Sam ran over to where the woman was freaking out. She had seen Claire walking towards her.
"Hey, I'm here," Sam said, trying to call Diana down. "What is it? - What happened?"
"Claire." Diana breathed pointing to the window in front of her.
"Where?" Sam looked around but he couldn't see the other woman.
"She was here," Diana said, her breath quickening in panic.
"Did she attack you?" Sam asked Diana shook her head.
"No. No, she was just like reaching out to me. She was over there by the window." Diana moved to a shelf and started pushing on it. "Here, help me move this."
"All right." Sam said moving to the shelf, "I got it."
"Our little mystery word," Diana said when the shelf is moved. On the window in front of them is the word 'Ashland' Sam turns to the words mirrored onto the wall behind them
"Now the extra letters make sense," Sam said pulling out his EMF and walking towards the other wall.
"What is that?" Diana asked curiously
"Spirits and certain remains give off electromagnetic frequencies." Sam explained, "So if Claire's body was here,"
"-that would indicate that?" Diana finished
"Yeah." Sam confirms, "Well, that's the theory." He added. He put the EMF back in his pocket and took a step back from the wall before kicking it.
"Yeah" He repeated breaking the brick off the wall and looking in the little hole he'd made, "Yeah, there's definitely something in there. You know, this is bothering me."
"Well, you are digging up a corpse." Diana quipped
"No, not that." Sam grunted with some mirth, breaking the wall more, "That's, uh, pretty par for the course, actually."
"Then what?" Diana asked
"It's just I mean, no vengeful spirit I've ever tussled with wanted to be wasted, so why the hell would Claire lead us to her remains? Doesn't make any sense."
"All right," Diana said as Sam reaches in to grab the bag in the wall
"Here." Sam said, "Give me your hand."
The two of them pulled the bag out and set it on the ground Sam opened it and they looked at the body for a moment before Diana compared her wrists to Claire's.
"Her wrists," Diana said when she sees that they look similar
"Yeah, they'd be bruised just like yours," Sam said as Diana reached for the necklace that Claire was wearing. The necklace was triangular with roses and a silver chain.
"That necklace mean something to you?" Sam asked
"I've seen it before." Diana said cautiously, "It's rare. It was custom-made over on Carson Street." She reached in her shirt and pulled out her own necklace, showing it to Sam, "I have one just like it."
While Rian did know how to hotwire a car she wasn't good at it. She was even worse at breaking and entering on her own. For unknown reasons, the impound lot was closed despite what the clearly printed hours had stated. Rian was able to hop the fence and locate the impala but getting it out of the lot was another matter.
After hotwiring the car she went to the gate and attempted to pick the lock. It was a lot more difficult than the locks that Dean and Sam had started her practicing on. If Rian didn't fear the wrath of Dean Winchester she would have used the Impala to break the cheap looking gate.
It was after breaking a lockpick that Rian noticed how poorly chained the lock was to begin with. After some maneuvering, she was able to lift the chain off the gate and swing the thing open. She sprinted back to the impala, her heart racing.
Traveling through Baltimore in the middle of the night in a 1967 Chevy Impala was not where Rian thought she would ever be at any point in her life. And when the red and blue lights started flashing behind her she cursed every being in every universe capable of bringing her there. She couldn't afford to be pulled over.
Rian's foot suddenly felt like lead as she picked up her speed. She was not used to driving the old vehicle, or anything, at such high speeds. In a spur of the moment decision Rian took a sharp right and by some stroke of luck the cop car sped past. She slowed down immediately and circled around so that she was going to the same direction but on a parallel street.
Rian's heart was still pounding when she made it to the road that Diana had told her about without any further incident. It was only after seeing the giant tree that she pulled off to the side of the road. She didn't want to risk Pete spotting the impala further back on the road.
Pushing her growing anxiety away Rian quickly went through the trunk of the impala and started digging around for a flashlight and a gun. There was no way that she was going into this unarmed. She checked her phone, wincing despite the screen being dimmed. She still had around thirty minutes until Pete and Dean were supposed to show up.
Rian had to force herself not to think about the fact that she was in the middle of the woods at night. She loved being outdoors at night but only with other people. A sense of paranoia crept up on her, causing her to look over her shoulder and click off the safety of her gun.
It wasn't even the idea of monsters that was freaking her out. She crept to the road and started back the way she had come, looking for the tree with the convenient clearing. After a ten minute search, Rian started to panic, thinking that she had gone the wrong way. It was only the sound of voices that told her she had the right place.
"You're a cocky son of a bitch," Pete said, not noticing Rian creep up to the front of the van. She made eye contact with Dean and winking at him."You think those people in St. Louis are gonna buy that crap you're paddling? Here's the deal-"
"I'll tell you what the deal is. One move, one step, and I shoot." Rian told Pete, who started and turned to her, drawing his gun at the same time. She shot, purposely missing both him and Dean. "And I'd be careful, I'm aiming at your thigh right now, but I'm afraid my aim isn't that good. I might hit some precious jewels of yours."
Pete paled and Rian grinned manically at the man. They stayed that way for a moment before Pete noticed Rian's hands shaking.
"I don't think you're really going to shoot me." Pete said with a smirking, pointing the gun at Dean now, "which really sucks for this here friend of your."
The shot rang out and Rian flinched at the impact of a bullet on skin. Pete dropped his gun and clutched at his thigh, uncomfortably close to his precious spot. Rian lowered her gun before running over to Dean.
"Yeah, you really shouldn't turn your back on the one with a gun, dumbass," Rian told him, her voice deadly quiet.
Pete just glared at her, he was trying to staunch the flow of the blood. Rian had to look away, feeling very uncomfortable with herself. She had shot an actual human being. Sure, he was worse than a lot of monsters, but still.
Not even a minute later Diana and Sam showed up on the scene. Sam ran over to Dean and Rian while Diana went to confront the injured Pete. She shot Rian a questioning look to which she shrugged and did her best not to throw up.
"Pete!" Diana yelled, drawing the man's attention to her.
"Diana? How'd you find me?" Pete gasped out.
"I know about Claire," Diana said, completely ignoring the blood pouring down Pete's leg.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Pete said calmly, getting control of his body's senses
"Why are you doing this?" Diana asked.
Rian wondered why Diana hadn't pulled out her gun yet. It took her a moment to realize that Diana couldn't see Pete's gun which his body was partially hiding. She wanted to warn Diana but she didn't want to distract the woman and escalate the situation.
"I didn't do anything, Diana." Pete lied, trying to garner sympathy
"It's a little late for that," Diana remarked snidely
"It wasn't my fault." Pete tried to explain, "Claire was gonna turn me in. I had no choice."
"And Tony? Karen?" Diana asked with disgust.
"Same thing." Pete said," Tony scrubbed the money. Then he got skittish. And then he wanted to come clean. I'm sure he told Karen everything. It was a mess. I had to clean it up. I just panicked."
"How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?" Diana asked
"There's a way out." Pete explained, "This Dean kid is a friggin gift. We can pin the whole thing on him. Okay? No trial, nothing. Just one more dead scumbag."
"Shut up." Rian said coldly, "Shut the fuck up you piece of shit."
Pete turned to glare at her and winced at the look she had trained on him. He flexed his hand over the gun, checking to make sure the safety was off.
"The next thing you're going to say is that you still love Diana. Which, I might add, is a load of bullcrap." Rian growled, "Diana hear is going to shoot you, you're gonna fight through the pain and Diana is going to end up killing you." Rian's voice suddenly became an offbeat sort of cheerful, "You're not even worth killing. Peter Sheridan. No. You're going to shut the hell up right now or I'll shoot. Saving about two minutes of time."
"Rian," Sam said cautiously and Rian glanced at him before looking back to Pete.
"But I-" Pete started and Rian shook her head.
"I'm not fucking kidding. I've seen monsters who are better than you. Fucking hell, the very King of Hell is a better man than you'll ever be. So shut the fuck up. Put your gun down right now."
The death omen Claire was right behind Pete then, giving Rian all the warning she needed. She aimed the gun and shot Pete before the man had the chance to get his own weight off of his gun. The man's eyes went dull and he slumped forward, a hole right above his left brow.
"Thank you," Rian said graciously to Claire, who disappeared a second later.
Everyone was silent for a moment before the realization of what she had just done hit Rian hard. She was able to crawl away from the other three people before throwing up into the bush. The sound of her retching seemed to break the spell cast on the other three as they started to move.
Sam went straight for Rian while Diana went to check on Pete. Dean was left in the middle, still in handcuffs.
Rian jumped at the feeling of hands on her shoulders but then leaned into the warm touch. Sam didn't say anything but Rian accepted the comfort nonetheless. They settled into a strange trance, Rian shivering against Sam who was rubbing her back.
It was the grunt of "can I get some help here?" From Dean, that broke them out of the trance. Sam squeezed Rian's shoulder then went to pick the lock on Dean's handcuffs.
Rian watched numbly as Dean and Sam spoke with Diana. She felt numb. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, knowing that the numb would probably persist for days. It wasn't really something that she didn't have experience with, but she had had help the last time it had happened.
"You doing all right?" Sam asked Diana quietly, making sure to keep Rian in his sight.
"Not really," Diana said, "The death omen, Claire, what happens to her now?"
"It should be over." Sam assured, "she should be at rest."
"So, uh, what now, officer?" Dean asked
"Pete did confess to me." Diana said, "he screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say there's a good chance that we can get your cases dismissed. And Ms. Gale won't have to go to court since it was self-defense."
"You could take care of that for us?" Dean asked, shocked.
"I hope so." Diana said, "But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I-I can't help you." She paused, "Unless I just happened to turn my back and you walked away. I could tell them that the suspects escaped."
"Wait." Sam said," Are you sure?"
"Yeah, she's sure, Sam," Dean said elbowing Sam in the side
"You could lose your job over something like that." Sam reminded Diana.
"Look, I just want you guys out there, doing what you do best." Diana smiled, "Trust me. I'll sleep better at night. And Dorothy needs you two right now." The brothers both sobered at that, "Listen, you need to watch your back. They're gonna be looking for both of you right now. Get out of here. I got to radio this in."
"Hey, uh you wouldn't happen to know where my car is by chance," Dean asked hopefully
"Dorothy has it," Diana said
Rian blinked when everyone turned to her, she pointed in the direction she had parked the impala. The movement brought the body that had once been Pete into her sights. She turned and threw up again.
Diana came over and placed a gentle and understanding hand on Rian's shoulder. Rian glanced at the woman and tried to smile but found that she couldn't
"Finley Errian Ora Fitzgerald," Rian said to Diana, startling the woman
"What?" She asked
"My name, it's Finley Errian Ora Fitzgerald. I go by Rian." Rian explained, talking was distracting her, "not Dorothy. Just wanted you to know.
Diana smiled at her before pulling Rian into a bone crushing hug, "Thank you, Rian."
When Rian was released Sam was there to help her stand up. He kept an arm around her shoulders, not wanting Rian to fall to the ground. He used his body to shield her from the sight of Pete as he led her to the waiting impala.
A/N: I write less when I actually have time to write, turns out. I'm adding in an episode I didn't do in the original write. I'm also deleting "It's Not Possible" on April first (not a joke). My spring break is over this week too. Which means I'll be writing more...
-Ryn