10

Sam was overwhelmed by the enormity of the hulking behemoth that lay sprawled out before them. The picture was becoming clear to him and he was beginning to understand what had happened, not only to them, but to the other victims as well. Beside him Kya was shivering and he watched his older brother remove the well worn brown leather jacket around his shoulders and place it over her smaller frame. For once without the ulterior motive of a bedroom romp or phone number, he drew the petite woman into his arms, wrapping her tightly against him to ward off both fear and the plaguing cold.

"Okay guys," Sam said, through slightly chattering teeth. "Here's what I'm thinking."

"Get our asses inside that thing and get warm?" Dean guessed.

"I'm not really jumping for joy at the idea of being in there," Kya managed to say. "Although out here isn't much better."

Sam shook his head. "No. I think I know what's going on."

"Well, save it for indoors Sammy," Dean said. "We're going to freeze to death out here."

They began the intimidating walk to the front door of the mansion and each step seemed to get heavier as they approached. The mansion rose up taller than ever in front of them, looming and imposing, a shadow of death on a dark landscape. It seemed to gaze down at them with hunger, hundreds of lightless windows flashing like eyes in the lightning, as if it could sense their presence and watched their every move. Sam's stomach turned even as his skin froze to match the temperature his blood was reaching. He had seen a lot of things in his life, things that scared small children and adults alike. The horror movies were often times more bloody and gruesome than real life, but all the same, the monstrosities that lurked around the corner waiting for the foolish to come their way was nothing short of terrifying, especially when those monsters were real. Even so, Sam Winchester could easily claim that little in his line of work had ever truly scared him. He knew that his brother would say the same. And looking at this house now, everything changed. There was something about it, a heaviness that permeated the air, an aura of evil that radiated off the wood and brick skin that made his heart trip hammer and his breath catch in his throat.

He looked at Dean clutching Kya's hand tightly, the way his lips were pressed together in a thin line and his eyes gleamed dully in the thin light, and knew that his older brother felt the same terror that he did.

Without realizing it they had reached the front door. It was carved from solid oak. It towered above them at least fifteen feet high and the brass knockers were embedded in the mouths of polar opposites. One side was guarded by the silver face of a cherub, miniature wings outspread behind the tiny face that gleamed with saintly mischief. The other side held a demon that stood vigilant, face frozen forever in a gold grimace of hatred, possibly for being paired next to its mortal enemy for all eternity. All over the door, expertly carved into wood, were the faces of angels and demons meshed together in one bizarre tapestry of the ancient battle between good and evil. They seemed to meld together until the stunned onlookers couldn't tell where an angel began and a demon ended. It seemed as though the carver in question had been trying to convey a message to those that viewed his work: good and evil were so closely bound they could never be separated, and soon one wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.

"Okay," Kya offered, a tremor breaking her usually steady voice. "That's just creepy."

"Should we knock?" Sam wondered.

Dean reached up a hand that proved to be as equally unsteady as Kya's voice and grasped the knocker of the angel, taking more comfort from the left side of the door rather than the right. He banged it once then released it and stepped back.

The door swung open and Sam wasn't at all surprised to learn that nobody had opened the door. He heard his brother let out an explosive breath that he probably hadn't even realized he had been holding. Sam led the way through the doors that now stood open into a giant grand foyer.

Sam also wasn't surprised when the doors slammed shut behind them. It was so cliché that even in his fear he almost laughed. What did surprise him was the soft glow that erupted from a candelabrum that hung suspended overhead. Sam craned his neck, having trouble taking in the whole room at once, and scanned each thing individually. He noticed that both Dean and Kya were doing the same.

Above him the brass candelabra was lit by nearly a hundred white candles, each one in a holder that ran in an elaborate spiral from the center outward. Sam was amazed that the ceiling didn't catch on fire but then he realized that the chain holding the suspended chandelier was rather long. He gazed into the shadows that loomed around the room and made out two hallways to his left that disappeared into shadows so deep it was impossible to tell where they lead. Beside the hallways was an arched doorway that also led into blackness. To his right were two other arched doorways, side by side, huge in design. In front of him was a spiraling staircase that lead onto an upper floor landing. The staircase came from both sides of the room, each side meeting on opposite sides of the landing in perfect union. Along the walls that lead up to the second floor burning candles lit, again not catching the house on fire. The room was now bright enough to see adequately and Sam could make out two small doorways behind the double staircase, one on each side, that lead towards the back of the house. Behind him, on either side of the imposing front door that had sealed itself shut, were two double paned glass windows overlooking the front of the property. The windows were huge and curtained by thick black velvet that was separated down the middle enough to see outside. Sam dropped his backpack on the floor, letting it dangle from his fingers by the straps.

Beside him Dean opened his own backpack and began loading up on weapons, sliding a gun into his waistband among other things. Kya's brow furrowed as she stared around the room and she kept fingering a Zippo that was clipped onto her belt with a black lighter casing.

"Now do you want to know what I think?" Sam asked impatiently.

His voice echoed back at him slightly and he jumped in mild surprise.

"You already told us," Kya said, distracted. "But tell us again. It's way too quiet in here anyway."

"I think that we're inside the book," Sam said. "I think that when Colton wrote this damn thing he put some kind of curse on it that transports the readers inside. It makes sense as to why there was no trace of supernatural activity where the victims were found. They died in here, and their bodies were thrown back out where they had been taken."

"Oh that's morbid," Kya commented.

"So it's like a demented Choose Your Own Adventure," Dean added. "I used to read those when I was kid."

"Please say that you didn't always die," Kya said.

"I didn't always die."

"Liar," Sam said absently. "Anyway, I'm assuming that Colton's ghost is somewhere in this hell hole. He was tied to the book so it makes sense that his ghost would be bound to it as well. I'm thinking that if we find him, we can find the way out of here."

"I'm assuming that the catch is we have to live long enough," Dean responded.

"This is by far the craziest thing I've ever come up against," Kya said dully.

"Ditto," Sam agreed.

She took a deep breath and cast a glance at both brothers. "Well since we're in this for the long haul, I have to come clean."

She watched as both Sam and Dean quit adjusting their equipment to focus sharp gazes on her. She knew that they had been waiting for this, for the reason why she knew what she did. She hadn't been planning to tell them anything about her, especially not what she could do, but it seemed that no that they were in this for life or death there wouldn't be any other choice.

"Actually," she said, removing the Zippo from her belt with practiced ease and flipping it open with a deft movement of the wrist. "I think I'll just show you."

She thumbed down on the wheel and a flame sprouted. She focused on it and held out her right hand palm up. The flame lifted from the Zippo and moved across the short expanse to settle above her opened hand, hovering there.

"What the hell?" Dean gaped.

"Pyrokinesis," Sam stated, obviously as shocked as his brother. "I've heard of it but never seen it before."

"I was born with it," she said, skimping over the details. "My father urged me to learn to control it, so that he didn't have to keep calling the fire department."

Dean laughed. "That's a handy trick. Do you have to have flame available?"

Kya shook her head and tossed the fireball up and down in the air absently, as if it were a tennis ball. "No. I can create it with my mind but that just lights things up on fire. If I use flame that's already available I can manipulate it."

She focused on the bouncing flame and it roared higher, lifting from her palm until it sprouted eight waving arms. It resembled a tiny sun hovering in the air, as if a kindergartner had drawn his depiction of the live giving object and brought it to life. She focused again and it returned to the fireball that it had originally been. One more focus and she returned the flame to the lighter, depositing it in its place so that it seemed nothing more than a Zippo that someone had struck. She flicked the lighter shut and returned it to her belt clip.

"Pyrokinesis," Sam said again. "That's quite a destructive power you've got there. The stories I've heard all say the same thing. Not to mention that Stephen King book, Firestarter."

Kya laughed. "Actually, pyrokinetic is the technical term. I am a firestarter. And yes, it's a powerful ability. It's more dangerous in an uncontrolled mind though. Not to say that it gets weaker with control, it gets stronger that way, but it's far more unpredictable if you can't control it."

Sam nodded. "I was wondering what you were hiding."

"Just that," she said. "I know about the things you hunt because my own search to understand this led me to the supernatural. I got interested in it, and my dad travels a lot, so when I went with him I encountered things I couldn't explain on a world wide basis. Being able to start fires with my mind didn't make it so far a stretch to believe in ghosts and demons. I was searching for who I was and I happened to find other things along the way."

"Well, now we know," Dean said.

He glanced around the room and all of the imposing structures, from doorways to staircase, seemed to hide the worst of what lay under children's beds and lurked in their closets.

"And now I have another question," he said. "Which way do we go?"