Tyler had to cover his ears. He heard the dark whispers. They were calling for those with special powers. He prayed hard no one sensed him or Jesse. He hoped Claire got there soon, Jesse's time was running short.
"How far is it to Kansas?" Jo yawned. She and Claire were taking turns, they kept stopping for cases. Like that case in Philadelphia. Both Jo and Claire had to pose as college roommates, in order to infiltrate the building.
Blonde young women were going missing. There was no hunters around willing to check it out, most thought it was a random serial kidnapper. Even Claire refused to check it out. She insisted to leave it to the cops. But Jo couldn't let it go. Especially when news reports mentioned hearing a ghostly male voice laughing. While both were in a bus stop somewhere, Jo started looking into the case. That building had six young women disappear, but what made the case stick out to Jo was the timeline. Two women, every decade for 80 years.
Once she showed Claire, both women changed their bus route to Philadelphia. Once Jo sweet talked the landlord, both women moved in the apartment. There, they looked into the case for anything unusual.
"Tyler is waiting for us in Kansas. And you drag me up here. There are hunters that live around here. Anyone could have took this case." Claire complained.
"Jenna and Piper are close to Tyler. Either one could be there for him anytime. No demon will fuck with a Charmed One." Tyler was staying in a town a few miles away from Lawrence. Jo, she wanted this case.
"Tyler doesn't want to see Piper. But he said he'll wait. This case better be worth it." Claire grumbled. She called Dean, he wasn't answering. No way was she calling Sam, she couldn't chance spooking Tyler. "So tell me about the first disappearance."
A few hours later both women were using EMF readers around the building.
"So which one should be the bait?" Both Claire and Jo had blonde hair, were young and fit the M.O of the ghostly killer.
"Both of us are no amateurs. Either one can be the bait. I'll volunteer." Claire says. She smirked at Jo's expression. "What? I promised your hubby to bring you home safe and sound."
Jo snorted.
"What about your parents? Your brother? What will they say if they lose their other child? I cannot do that to Cas and Hannah." Jo, she knew how important she was to them.
"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors?" Jo swore when Claire won. "I win. Scissors always beat paper."
"I should have been rock. Okay, you head left, I'll head right." Jo, she goes down the hall.
Claire walks around the hall, searching for any clues. Hearing the EMF going crazy, she uses the machine to see where the signal was coming from.
The ghost watches the two women. Either one would make a fine prize, but he already chosen his victim for tonight. As for tomorrow, he knew which one would be perfect for his little collection. He watches as the tough looking blonde crawls inside the vent.
Claire grimaces as she pulled out a piece of a scalp, with blonde hair still attached to it. She took it with her, not to keep it as a prize, but to see if she could use it for clues. Hopefully this woman was still alive, the scalp was fresh, a day at least.
Jo sniffs the air.
"What is that?" That smell, she recognized it. Men of Letters, they used chloroform on many witnesses before they erased their memories. Was this a work of a ghost, demon or monster? Or was it human? She went to fetch Claire to regroup.
Theresa Ellis walks in her apartment. She was reading her mail when she heard noises. Looking up, she sees a crack.
"This building I swear." For what she pays for, this building should have been more well maintained. She tossed her mail onto the counter, she wanted to have a light snack before turning in for the night. Before she can turn around she hears a cracking noise. The ceiling crack started moving.
Spooked, she went to call the caretaker. She didn't want a fire. When her phone gave nothing but static, she saw her walls falling apart.
"I'm so outta here." No way was she staying to be buried alive. Before she could leave, she felt thick, black gunk on her. "What the..." She screamed when she felt something knocking her down. The last thing she remembered is getting dragged in her vent.
Claire was exhausted when she woke up. This couch, it wasn't a comfortable as it looked.
"Tonight, it's your turn." She tells Jo. Jo was already awake, she was spinning her small knife. "Kinda small. You use that to peel apples?" That knife was tiny.
"It was my dad's." Jo showed her his initials. W.A.H. (William Anthony Harvelle).
"I thought your dad was alive." Jo told her about the Valkyries.
"Kind of. It's complicated." Jo, she missed him everyday. But she was glad her parents were together, same with many of her hunter friends.
"My dad. I miss how he used to make us pray every night before grace." Claire smiles as the memory. "He used to scold me for sneaking food. Especially during Thanksgiving." Jo smiled at Claire's story. Claire rarely talked about herself. "I hope he and mom are happy." Claire closed her eyes and gave a quick prayer for their safety. It was Heaven, but she didn't trust Michael.
"My dad, he taught me how to hold a bow and arrow. All I mentioned is that my school was holding a amateur archery tournament." It was the first grade, but Jo wanted to enter.
"Did you win?"
"Nope. Mom pulled me out of the competition before I got up to take my shot. I was angry for weeks. She and my dad fought. She was afraid it would lead me to hunting like them. Guess she was right." Jo remembered that memory. It was her most cherished. Her and Bill were alone, Bill secretly trained her everything he knew whenever her mom wasn't around. Sadly he died before her twelfth birthday. She hunted since, she felt close to Bill when she hunted.
"Sounds like you were happy." Claire, she and Jo stayed quiet for the next hour. When they heard there was a break and enter in a apartment downstairs from the police scanner Claire brought over, both women listen intently.
"Theresa Ellis, apartment 2F. Disappeared last night. Ectoplasm, huge cracks, sound familiar?"
"What did you dig up?" Claire, she was interested now. Jo, she was good.
"See this picture?" Jo was holding up a picture of a empty lot.
"What about it? What am I looking at?" Claire couldn't figure it out. "Is this land cursed?
"Sort of. See this building next door? Bars."
"Any executions or murders?"
"The building there was built in 1835, torn down in 1963. They executed people in the empty field next door."
"Moyamensing Prison." Claire was reading the old articles online. "So many hangings. We need to narrow it down." Both were looking at the names, trying to see any that stuck out. One name caught Claire's eye. Good thing she watched crime documentaries. "Herman Webster Mudgett."
"H.H Holmes? No way." Jo watched that same crime show. "What are the odds?"
"Who cares? Asshole is getting salted and burned." Good thing Claire had her lighters. She can always run down to the gas station for lighter fluid.
"You have sledgehammers? Guy's under at least six feet of concrete." He was a killer, but was well known as America's first famous serial killer. He was executed at Moyamensing on May 7 1896. "He loved killing blondes. All young, all with chloroform." Jo knew she recognized the smell. "He confessed to 27 murders, but it is most likely is over a hundred."
"Okay. Then if he was executed here, why does he bother haunting this place. His old murder palace is still standing." It was now a museum. It fascinated Claire, she went there on a tour. What he did to those women. Even monsters didn't go to those lengths to torture people.
"He probably can't leave the grounds. This building though, he must have felt like he won the jackpot. We need to solve this case quickly before more women go missing." So far there were two missing girls. Jo wasn't sure if the first one was still alive, it's been weeks. But Theresa, she was just taken the night before.
"Okay, you sure you'll be okay?" Claire, she was going inside the walls to look for a hidden passage. Jo was going to go with her, but she needed to stay behind just in case. She saw another blonde woman walking by and needed to keep an eye on her.
"I have silver and salt. Remember the plan."
Jo sighed.
"Fine. I don't like this though." She knew Claire was good, but ghosts can be unpredictable. "Be careful." She hands her a walkie-talkie. "Here. I know we have phones, but I don't know if your signal will reach down there."
"I'll be fine." Claire, a ghost won't stop her. She went in the wall.
Jo went back to the apartment.
"Okay, I just went down an air duct. How's things up there?" Claire's voice says over the walkie-talkie.
"Fine. I'm keeping an eye on the girl." She was right next door. "Yourself?"
"I need a shower." Claire sneezed. "Achoo!"
"Bless you." Jo was looking down the old blueprints of the building. What she didn't notice was the black ooze coming out of the electrical outlets.
Claire was about to go further when she heard Jo's screams.
"Jo! Jo!" Nothing but static. "Dammit!" Luckily, she had a hammer.
Ten minutes later Claire was back in the apartment looking over the blueprints. She knew she only had a short time before Jo was killed. She never thought she admit this, she wished Ellen was here. She was always overprotective of her daughter according to the stories Jo told her.
Jo woke up in a coffin. Or what looked like a coffin. It smelled like shit.
"Hello?" She called out. Hopefully Holmes didn't answer.
"Is someone there?" A woman's voice called out.
"Theresa?"
"Are you here to save us?" Theresa called out in a pitiful voice.
"How many are you?" Jo called out.
"Myself and Ivy." She named the blonde that went missing weeks ago. "But I don't know if she is still alive." Ivy, she heard her whimpers. She screamed when she felt cold hands.
"Theresa? Theresa! What is happening?" Jo, she felt so helpless. "Hurry Claire."
Claire was outside with a metal detector. Luckily the local tool store rented equipment. She walked outside looking for a entrance since the field was overgrown.
"Gotcha." The detector pinged. She had shovels as well as a crowbar.
Holmes screamed when Jo stabbed him with her knife.
"Dipped in salt water, asshole!" Ew. Those hands. Gross. She prayed hard that Claire was safe.
"Glad I lost weight." This sewage line was narrow. Really narrow. God she hoped she didn't get stuck, she heard of that prince in the middle ages who got stuck. Rats ate through his skull. She knew if she got stuck, her and Jo were dead. She wasn't stupid, she had her equipment with her.
Jo wanted to vomit. The hands that was covering her mouth. They smelled like death. Holmes, he was going to suffocate her. She was about to pass out when she heard a shot.
"Jo!" Claire, she was covered in sewage and rats feces, but didn't care.
"Here!" She coughed when Claire pulled her out. Its been only a few hours, but felt like days. "Theresa, Ivy, hurry."
Ivy, she was still alive, but barely. Her head was covered in dried blood with bugs crawling on her head. Theresa was okay, although thirsty.
"Theresa. You and Jo, go to the surface and call 911." She hands her a cell. She points to the passage she came from.
"Claire?" What was she up to?
"Trust me."
Claire, she was sitting in the middle of the ground waiting for Jo's kidnapper. Sure enough, she heard his breathing. She closed her eyes. When she heard wings, she breathed hard.
"Kinda weak, but he'll make a fine candidate." Michael's cold voice tells Claire.
"Where's Jack?" She hated Michael, but he was her only lead to Jack.
"I don't know." Michael, he knew Jack was special, but he was gone. He knew God was afraid of Jack, how powerful he was. It was unknown if He knew about Grace's existence. "I only answered your prayers to find my daughter."
"I promise to bring her home. She is family after all." She was Jack's cousin.
"Remember you work for me now."
"Yes sir." Claire, she was so screwed.
Jo and Claire watch as the liquid concrete was being poured down the sewage entrance.
"I thought Holmes was gone?" Claire, she lied and told Jo that a reaper took him away.
"We can't chance it." Once the concrete was done, she put an iron plate on top of the sewage grate. "How's Theresa and Ivy?"
"Ivy is in a coma, but doctors say she'll live. Theresa, she told the cops she was taken by a Holmes wannabe. Police are searching for someone with his description."
Claire. She knew she had to abandon her plans to meet up with Tyler. Michael, he will immediately take him away.
"Jo, something's come up. I have to return to California. Can you meet up with Tyler?"
"Why?"
"It's complicated." Claire, she knew she was stuck. Michael, he already gave her her first assignment. "Good luck."
Tyler was walking down the streets of Lawrence. The town was nice, he was bored waiting for his friend. He decided to go to the local library to pass the time. Just before he went inside, he saw a demon.
"Damn." He knew he had to run. He goes quickly to an alley and waits for the demon. One demon he can handle. But when he saw who the demon brought, he swore.
"Tyler Michaels. You are a very hard person to track down." Asmodeus tells him in his southern accent.
Tyler, he didn't want to use his powers, but he didn't have much of a choice. Before he can activate them, the demons froze in place. He thought he saw his old mentor Piper Halliwell, but this woman was different.
"Who are you?"
"Not here. There's a powerful archangel on his way here. Come with me." Tyler didn't have much of a choice, he followed the woman.
It took Jo a few hours to fly here. But when she went to the hotel room where Tyler was at, the maid told her that he checked out hours ago.
"Did he say where he went?" She asked the maid.
"No, sorry. He just came here to grab his stuff. He left quickly with a dark haired woman."
"Was her name Piper Halliwell?" Piper, she lived in town.
"She never said a word."
"Okay thanks." Damn! She knew Claire would be pissed.
Ruby watches at the hunter walked away. She needed Tyler, that's why she came here. She just hoped she didn't run into Piper or Asmodeus. But that woman, she instantly knew who she was. Last time she saw her was before she died and went to Hell. That witch, she was the First. She had to get out of here, she didn't want to see Michael.
The maid woke up passed out on the floor. How did she get here? Last thing she remembered was taking a shower.
"That's the last time I drink margaritas before bed." She chuckled.
Apocalypse World
The young witch was walking around aimlessly, she stopped to save a young girl that was surrounded by hungry werewolves. Thankfully, she wasn't bit. She saw her mentor killing a angel that tried to kill him.
"Leo!"
He put a finger over his mouth. Sure enough, a demon appeared. Before the demon could throw a energy ball at Leo, Leo vanquished it with a potion.
"Leo? What's going on?"
"There are outsiders here. They must be after the Rock." Leo, he found It when Cain dropped It just before he was killed by a angel. Leo, he was surprised when the angel Raziel handed It to him without a word. He then killed himself with his own angel blade.
"The Rock? Why bother? This world was finished." Herself, Leo, and the young girl, they were the last three humans alive. Everyone else died from sickness or starvation.
"Don't underestimate the Rock's Power." Leo, he opened the bible he always carried around. "Revelation 21:11. Ahem. It shone with the glory of God, Its brilliance was that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal."
Even with everything the angels did, Leo never lost his faith. Even as a ex-whitelighter, he believed in God. That God had a True Plan. That His reasoning was beyond everyone's understanding. Leo, he prayed every night.
"Some God. We're dead. My sister. My family. Everyone. Michael, he was right about his Father. That He doesn't care." She hated God.
Leo didn't say a word. He dreamt about another world. A world that was magical. He wanted to save the two charges he had left. But before he can cross over, he needed to see the nephilim. Give him the Occultum. Once he gets his hands on it, he and the others can leave.
"Both of you. I have energy bars and water. You two need to eat. We have a long trip tomorrow." Leo, he had to find the fruit from the Tree. It was the only way all three can stay alive for a long period of time without food and water. Since the angels are no longer on Earth, no one was guarding the Tree anymore.
Once all three finished eating, Leo stayed up to watch the first shift. He opened the bible to read his favorite passage.
Revelation 22:1-27
Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the Throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And He who was seated on the Throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also He said, "Write this down, for these Words are trustworthy and true." ...
Leo, he wasn't sure what that meant. When the angels invaded and slaughtered everyone, most of the world's religions turned away from the Bible. Funnily enough, Leo didn't. He was never a religious man, but after he fell as a whitelighter, he found himself lost and afraid. He found a copy of a Bible when he was searching for shelter from the rains that never stopped. When he found shelter from a church, he read it cover to cover. Leo, he found peace in the bible when no one else didn't.
"Lord, what is Your message?" As expected, there was no answer. But Leo, he had a feeling God was silently listening. Once his 'shift' ended, Leo went to sleep. He dreamt about a beautiful world. A world without pain, without evil, without illness. He just hoped the One known as It didn't destroy it.