AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is Chapter 33. The website is having issues with sending out update notifications to people, so if you haven't read the previous chapters, please do so now!
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Lisa let Sam and Dean into her house. Ben was in the kitchen, eating a plate of waffles.
"So, were you able to get anything out of him?" Dean asked her in a low voice.
Lisa shook her head. "He wouldn't answer me when I asked questions, or he'd start with the 'I love you, Mommy' and keep hugging me."
"I found some articles that suggested that there were some suspiscious deaths in the area lately," Sam said to her. "Have you heard anything about that?
"Just that there's been a lot of bad luck in the neighborhood recently," Lisa told him with a shrug.
"I want to try an experiment," Dean said, "You said Ben likes cars, right?"
"Yeah, they're one of his favorite things, and he's very knowledgeable about them. He mentioned how cool your car was when he was eating dinner last night, before he...left." Lisa told him.
"Hey Ben..." Dean walked over to the kitchen island where Ben sat, finishing his food. "You want to go outside and have a look at my car? I'll even take you for a spin around the neighborhood," his tone was casual.
"Naah, I want to watch cartoons when I'm done," Ben said, and his voice was toneless.
Lisa looked at Dean and shook her head slightly. They walked back into the living room. "My Ben would be so excited if you offered him that," Lisa whispered. "That is not my son!"
"Okay," Dean said. "We're going to find Charlie and get to the bottom of this. You be careful with...him. We're going to go back to those empty houses and look around, see if we can find anything else. Call me if you need anything."
The men walked back up the street until they got to the end. Dean went inside the house they had found the Wolverine figure in, and Sam walked around the perimeter.
"Dean...DEAN!" Sam called loudly. There was a note of panic in his voice. He was behind the house, in what was to become the back yard.
Dean hurried through the house and went out the back and over to Sam."What is it, Sam?"
Sam pointed at the ground. A Hello Kitty purse lay there, the shoulder strap snapped in two, with a dirty footprint on it. Dean bent down and picked it up, suddenly nervous.
"Oh God, Sam, do you think it could be hers..." his voice shook. He unzipped it and opened it, searching around inside. He pulled out a handful of Charlie's little Hello Kitty figurines and a couple pieces of paper. He put the toys back and unfolded the papers.
"This is her ticket to the mini golf we went to...and look, here's the map for that rescue zoo...oh, geez, Sam, it is hers..." tears briefly came to Dean's eyes as he felt a mixture of fear and sadness, which was quickly replaced with a burning desire to rescue his daughter. He looked at Sam, who had a shocked look on his face.
"At least we know she was here, now we've got to figure out where she went. And if someone really did take her," Sam said.
Dean's phone rang. "It's Dad," he commented after looking at the display. "Yeah, Dad," he said. He looked at Sam. "You did? That's great, what was it? Oh-You what? Oh no...are you okay? You are? Well..." Dean glanced at Sam. "We're still looking for Charlie, and we found her purse outside the back of that house she and Ben were in, so we want to go and—we do? Uh—oh, I see. Right. Well...okay, let me write that down, hold on-"
Sam gave Dean a small pad of paper and a pen. Dean wrote an address down.
"Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can. Yeah. Okay, bye." Dean disconnected and sighed.
"Well, Dad caught the creature. He ganked it, but in the process, he broke his arm. And, he's still at the hospital. They kept him overnight because his blood pressure was through the roof when they picked him up. He wants us to come pick him up, they won't release him unless he has help- he can't drive."
"Okay," Sam said. "Let's go, then. What was the creature?"
"He said a changeling...he sounded kinda out of it, though, so we can't be too sure...he must be on pain meds," Dean said. "Dammit!" he said as they walked. "We've got to find Charlie, I'm so worried-"
"We will, Dean," Sam reassured him.
"I know, it's just that- this is going to take time away from finding her and any more time she spends with that monster, if that's where she is-"
"Don't think about that, Dean. Just focus on the task at hand," Sam reminded him of a technique their Dad had taught them when he had been training them. It was no use getting all upset about 'what ifs' because it would distract you and put you off your game.
He went into Lisa's house and let her know of the latest development. Then he and Sam drove to their hotel and packed up. They were on the road in less than an hour.
The drive to the next town over was only about an hour, but for some reason the ambulance had taken John to a hospital that was two hours away.
Dean and Sam found their way through the maze of hallways to the ward where John was staying. He was sitting up in the bed, wearing a hospital gown, with a sling on his arm. And he was not in a good mood- pain was one of the few things that put John Winchester in a bad mood, and at this point he was as grumpy as a bear that had been woken up from the middle of hibernation.
"Hey, Dad," Dean said. He cleared his throat nervously, "So listen, I've got something to tell you..."
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I was cold...so cold...it felt like I would never be warm again. The cage I was in was metal, on the cement floor of an underground place, so there was no light or warmth from anywhere. I had scratchy ropes tied tight around my legs and arms, because I had tried to run away the first time she took me out of the cage. I had fought her, too, and she had hit me and knocked me down. My shoulders hurt from having my hands tied behind me. It was hard to find a comfortable position to lay in. The second time she had taken me out I had tried to bite her and then I had screamed and screamed. She had hit me again, and then tied a cloth around my head in my mouth. It was damp and gross tasting.
Every once in a while I would hear the voice of another kid crying out, they must have been in a different part of the place we were in, but I couldn't see. I was back in a corner where there were lots of piles of planks of wood and big bags of cement and stacks of bricks. I thought I heard Ben calling to me and I tried to answer back, but the cloth in my mouth muffled my voice. My throat was raw from all the screaming I had done.
I wondered where my Daddy and Uncle Sam were... Were they looking for me? Or were they looking for Ben?... I had been so mean to my Daddy at the party and I had said a cuss...I was such a bad kid... No wonder he didn't want me... All I had done since I came to him was misbehave and get into trouble. He and Uncle Sam must be so tired of dealing with me...
I hoped they would try to come and find me anyway, because I didn't want to be here, and the red-haired lady scared me... Each time she bit the back of my neck I felt a little bit worse... I was so tired all the time, and stiff, and everything hurt... Plus being cold... I had had to pee for a long time now... I shifted in the cage, trying to get comfortable... I couldn't hold it much longer... I was so cold... I sighed, and let go... I felt the pee making my pants wet, and then relaxed a little as it felt warm... I felt awful, ashamed that I had wet my pants like a baby, but the little bit of warmth I was feeling on my legs helped me feel a little bit better for a while...
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Dean's ears were ringing. John's voice had gotten louder and more strident as he talked- no, as he lectured his eldest about 'protection' and 'staying safe' and 'keeping it in your pants'. Dean fought the urge to roll his eyes, but with the mood that John was in, he wasn't sure that his Dad wouldn't end up giving him a cuff to the back of the head.
"-I should have taken my belt to you every single time I caught you horn-dogging around, maybe then it would've gotten the message across- you're lucky I'm injured, boy, or I'd be taking my belt off right now!" John glowered up at Dean from the hospital bed.
"Daaad..." Dean said weakly, inwardly cringing at the automatic response that those words still brought forth. His stomach twisted a little nervously. "You can't do that, I'm an adult-"
"The hell I can't! If you're still gonna act like a stupid, horny teenager, then I will most certainly treat you like one!" John shifted in the bed. "And what are you going to do if this kid's mother starts wanting child support? Huh? Or she makes you start taking the kid on weekends- how are you going hunt then, with two kids to take care of? What if- what if she takes you to court?"
"Dad, calm down," Sam said mildly. "You're not supposed to get all riled up."
John shifted his glower to Sam. "How about you, Sam, you got any little Winchesters running around out there that I need to know about?"
Sam blushed. "Uh, no, no sir," he said deferentially. When John was in full bluster like he had been since the conversation started, it was best to be respectful.
"You sure about that?" John fired back. In response to Sam's nod, he muttered, "Good, at least one of my sons is responsible. Good to know at least one of them listened to me."
The blood pressure cuff that was strapped to John's arm began to automatically inflate, and all three of them fell silent as they watched the numbers on the machine change. Once they got above a certain range, the machine began to beep loudly.
"Dammit," John muttered, "It does that when it gets high."
"Well, you need to relax," Dean said.
"How can I relax, when I just found out-" John was interrupted by a nurse bustling in.
"Hello, Colonel Winchester, let's take a look at things," She walked up to the machine, pressing a couple of buttons, and the beeping stopped. She glanced at John. "Are we staying calm and relaxed?"
"Apparently not," Dean said under his breath.
"Well, seeing as how I just found out that I'm a grandfather for the second time, and my son isn't married to either of the mothers, I don't see how I can be calm or relaxed," John growled.
The nurse turned to him. "Honey, grandchildren are one of the world's greatest blessings. And you ought to know at your age that marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be. As long as they all love each other and support each other, I don't see a problem with it," She fixed him with a stern glare. "Now you need to stay calm, we can't be lettin' you go home if your BP keeps throwin' these big numbers at us. Have you been practicin' those relaxation exercises? The breathing ones are particularly helpful. I'll be back to check on you in a couple of hours unless I get another alert from the machine." She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
"Relaxation exercises?" Sam asked. He looked at Dean, who was smirking. Imagining their Dad doing yoga or practicing his breathing was a hilarious image.
"Yeah, they told me I'm too tense, gotta learn to relax," John grumbled. "I'll relax when I get outta here."
They settled in to wait to hear from the doctor. John told them that everyone who worked at the hospital was young, that his doctor looked like he had just graduated from high school.
"What?" John asked, seeing a look pass from Sam to Dean.
"It's just...you're starting to sound more and more like a grumpy old man, Dad," Dean said.
"It's the pain meds," John said blithely. "They always put me in a mood."
"I'm going to go look for some coffee, want anything?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, grab me one too," Dean replied.
"I'd like one as well, but they've told me I need to be on some 'heart healthy diet' or some such nonsense," John complained, "The coffee I got with breakfast this morning was decaf. Decaf! What's the point of that?"
"You've got to listen to the doctors, Dad," Sam said. "They know what they're talking about."
When Sam came back with 2 cups of coffee, John told them what he had discovered. The creature was a changeling, and it kept children in cages in a partially finished basement area of a house that was still under construction. He told them that the creature disguised iself as a woman, a realtor, and that was how she collected her victims.
He explained how to get rid if it- a flamethrower- and that all the changeling children would disappear when the adult was killed. He had been able to get the children out of the cages before the adult had come back, and she had superhuman strength. She had fought with him, and he had broken his arm in the process, and he still managed to light the flamethrower and disintigrate her.
He had tried to interview the families that had had tragedies but only two had been willing to talk to him. He told them that he had noticed a round wound on the back of one of the mother's necks, and that he was pretty certain that the changling child was feeding on the mother. She had seemed pale and sickly and complained of feeling tired all the time.
Dean told John about Ben and how they had discovered Charlie's purse outside the empty house.
"I wonder if we're dealing with a changeling too, and if she took both Charlie and Ben," Dean said.
"It would make sense," Sam said.
"But why didn't she make a changeling replacement for Charlie then? That doesn't make sense. That's what makes me think- and worry- that someone actually did come along and take her like Ben said." Dean mused.
"We've got to try and find out who the changeling is and where she stashed the kids." Sam said.
"I think the first place we should look is that realtor who gave me her card. The fact that the one that Dad ganked worked at the same company can't be a coinicidence."
Unfortunately, the Winchesters had to wait at the hospital almost the whole day. Dean paced the room impatiently, and then when John snapped at him irritably, he paced the hallway. He and Sam both went to the nurse's station more than once to ask when John would be discharged and where the doctor was, but as it is so often in hospitals, they had to wait. Dean was wound tighter than a bow string by the time John was discharged at around dinner time. He went with Dean in the Impala and Sam drove John's truck. They had to stop at the motel and pack up John's things, and then stop at a pharmacy for John's medications and to buy a blood pressure cuff- the doctors had told him to start checking his every day- and a plastic sleeve to cover his cast in the shower.
By the time they got back on the road it was the middle of the evening, and by the time they got back to the town that Lisa lived in, it was late at night. They had to drive around a bit, but eventually Sam found them a motel with adjoining rooms. John couldn't use his arm at all and needed help with some things, which was also making him grumpy, as he was used to being independent.
Sam went out and found a Chinese food restaurant that was open late, and brought food back to them. They ate and then fell into their respective beds for the night. Being discharged from the hospital and driving all night was exhausting. Dean even managed to sleep for a couple of hours even though he was tense and worried.
In the morning they got a late start. Sam had to practice taking John's blood pressure and get used to inflating the cuff and listening with the stethescope. They had to open John's medicine bottles for him, and cut his food up at breakfast. Sam fussed at John about getting 'heart healthy options' like the doctor had told him to when he was discharged. By the time they dropped John off at the motel, Sam and John were both grumpy and ready to kill each other. Dean was frustrated too, almost vibrating with the need to get out there and do something, anything, but he tightened his lips and didn't say anything.
When they got to Lisa's she greeted them with the news that there had been another suspicious death. She had pulled up information on all the houses in the area that had recently been sold, and discovered that they had all been sold by Mrs. Wheeler of Cicero Realty. Three of the houses had had a freak accident resulting in the death of the man of the house.
Sam and Dean drove back to the motel and changed into their suits and spent the afternoon interviewing the families and looking around. They got into the morgue to view the latest body and talk to the coroner. When they went by the realty office, Mrs. Wheeler wasn't there, but they found out that the main construction site was near Lisa's house.
Sam and Dean drove back to Lisa's house. Her face was pale and drawn when she let them in.
"What's the matter?" Dean asked her.
"Oh, I'm just...tired," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Plus Ben, he won't...he doesn't like to be left alone, and that's wearing me down a little. Normally he's very independent."
"Lisa, can I look at something?" Dean asked hesitantly. "Your- the back of your neck."
"Huh?" she frowned. "Well...okay," she leaned forward and moved her hair out of the way. Sure enough, there was a round indentation at the base of her neck- it was red and swollen and you could see little indentations of teeth marks.
She straightened up and looked at them. "What...what is it?" she asked, seeing their expressions.
Dean quietly explained to her what was going on with the changeling. He told her they suspected the realtor and they were going to look for her main hideout. Dean started to ask her where the construction site was, but she pulled back.
"Okay, Dean, I'll admit, I had my doubts the other day when you talked to me, and rest assured, I am going to have Ben tested...but this? This is a little too 'out there' for me, okay? I think...I think I'm done with you for now. Okay? You and your brother...you just need to leave me alone for a while. I need some time to...to think about all this. I'll call you when I get test results back." Lisa's brown eyes flashed angrily at him.
"Lisa-" Dean started.
"No, Dean, I told you, I'm done for now. Please leave, you can show yourselves out," she turned away from them. Sam and Dean glanced at each other, and then walked to the front door.
As Dean was opening the front door, Sam nudged him. "Weren't these the shoes that Ben was wearing when he came from the empty house?" Sam bent down and picked one up. The treads still had red dirt in them. They both looked closely at it.
"We need to find out where that red dirt came from," Dean said.
"Let's find the construction site," Sam dropped the shoe on the floor and they left the house.