Staring at the sprawling two story English Tudor in front of him, Dean realized he could put itoff no longer. Having just completed yet another emotional smackdown with Sam, he was so not in the mood to have a confrontation with a hormonal sixteen year old. But, as Sam had so delicately pointed out, the quicker they find out what exactly she had done to bring Monica and the stowaway demon back, the quicker they could get the hell out of town. So, after a quick hair check in the rearview mirror, Dean headed to the front door.
He was about to ring the doorbell for the second time when a mildly surprised Bill Morgan opened the door. His initial look of confusion was replaced with one of cautious hope. "Dean? What are you doing here? Did you get rid of the poltergeist?" Taking in Dean's battered appearance, he added, "Are you ok?"
Not sure which of the questions he should answer first, Dean went with, "Can I come in? We need to talk."
Stepping aside, Bill motioned for Dean to come in. As the two men entered the cozy living room, Dean was relieved to see Ashley sprawled on the couch, her leg cushioned by several pillows. The same deer-in-headlights expression she had in the diner crossed her face again when she saw her dad's visitor. As if realizing escape was impossible, she started to shift to make room for him when he held up his hand. "Stay where you are, I'm fine." Dean said as he sat in the chair opposite the couch.
Bill stood next to his daughter, his arms folded across his chest. "So I'm assuming you've come to tell me you have this all figured out." he said pointedly.
"Well, yes and no." Dean took a deep breath. He could really use Sam's support right about now. Sam tended to have a gentler touch when it came to these things. He sure picked a hell of a time to make his ploy for alone time. "Turns out it isn't a poltergeist after all. It's the spirit of Monica Brooks. And she's not alone."
As Dean said the words, Ashley's face paled as her eyes flicked up to her father. Her guilty reaction went unnoticed by him as all his attention was focused on Dean.
"I don't understand. You and your father got rid of her over a year ago!" Bill exclaimed.
Dean shifted uncomfortably under the pleading stare of the teenager. He could practically hear her begging not to divulge her secret to her father. Beneath the pale makeup andblack hair he could still see the pretty if somewhat lonely girl who had once developed an adolescent crush on him. But as he remembered the hell his little brother had gone through, that they'd both been through the last few days, whatever sympathy he had felt vanished.
Bracing himself for the inevitable tirade of emotions that was soon to follow, Dean went forward with his explanation. "We did. However, someone brought her back. From what we can tell, a spell was cast to summon the spirit of Monica Brooks. But it was cast by a very inexperienced person." He looked directly at Ashley, who was struggling to keep the tears at bay. "Not only did Monica's spirit come back, but some kind of demon was also brought back."
Bill blinked several times, as if trying to bring his whirling thoughts into focus. "Why in heaven's name would someone want to bring a ghost back? So, wait, this…this demon, you think that's what's been haunting the mansion?"
Dean started to nod his head, then stopped. "Sort of. Most demons need a host body to inhabit, kind of like a parasite. From what we can tell, this one is using Monica as a sort of energy source to carry out its destruction. She's been able to keep it under control for the most part, but recently it's been taking her over. So basically we need to perform an exorcism on a ghost."
Bill sat down on the arm of the couch. "How did you figure all this out?"
Oh, my psychic brother had a Vulcan mind meld with the lovely ghostie and she showed him the whole bedtime story. Yeah, maybe avoiding the specifics would be a good thing for now. "That's not important. What is important is finding the person who cast the spell so we can find out exactly what she did. Then we can dust this demon."
" 'She?'" Bill repeated. "So you know who it was?"
Dean slowly moved his gaze from the Bill to Ashley, whose silent tears finally overflowed. As she gave a small sob Bill looked down at her.
"Ashley, what…?" Bill broke off as comprehension dawned on him. Standing up, he moved to face her. Though he was looking at his daughter, his words were directed to Dean. "Are you saying my daughter, my teenaged daughter did this?"
"I'm afraid so." Dean said softly.
Ashley raised her tearstained face towards her father, who knelt in front of her. "Ashley, please tell me this isn't true!"
Her silence was her only testimony. "How is this possible? What did you do?" he questioned.
Ashley met her father's gaze for a moment before giving the standard answer teenagers have been using for centuries. "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Billrepeated loudly. "So what, you're some kind of witch now, is that it? I bet that bastard Isaac had something to do with this."
"No!" she shouted. "He doesn't know anything about it! I just, I don't know…" she broke off tearfully.
Dean cleared his throat, startling the Morgans. "Ashley, do you remember what spell you used?"
Ashley wiped her face with right hand, smearing the mascara and eye liner that already ran down her cheeks. Her left hand encircled the pendant she wore around her neck. "I found it in a book in the mansion's library. I didn't think anything would happen, really I didn't."
"But why?" Bill asked, still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that his daughter was responsible for all the chaos that had been happening over the past year.
"I missed her." she said miserably. "She was someone I could talk to. I mean, it's not like we sat down and had conversations over coffee, but she was there. I could feel her. She was an outcast, too; she understood me when no one else did. When she left," she glared over at Dean, "when you and your dad got rid of her, I felt so alone."
Dean's heart broke for Ashley; she looked so despondent. He was about to offer words of comfort when he noticed her necklace. It was a silver pendant about an inch in diameter. In its center was a raised ornate cross. He'd seen it before somewhere. "Ashley, where did you get that necklace?"
A surprised gasp escaped her lips as she tried to hide the cross down her shirt before her father saw it.
Bill reached forward and pulled the necklace up off her neck. "I don't believe it! You took this from the mansion! You stole this!"
Dean snuck a peek at his watch. He had almost everything he needed. He had just a few more questions. "Ashley, what spell did you use? Did it involve the necklace?"
She nodded glumly. "It was some sort of summoning spell, used to find loved ones who had passed. It required a personal item from the deceased, so I took the necklace from the display room and replaced it with one of her other ones. This is the necklace she wore in all of the paintings and pictures. I figured it was the most special to her."
Bill sat on the coffee table and looked forlornly at his daughter as she continued. "I had to light some candles and say a bunch of strange words; I think they were in Latin. All of a sudden there was this big flash of light, but after that nothing happened. A few weeks later the weird stuff started happening again. I was so excited, she was back! But then people started getting attacked."
"Yeah, and you almost got killed! Why the hell didn't you say something?" Bill yelled.
Ashley sniffled. "Oh sure, Dad. By the way, I stole a necklace from your work and cast a spell to bring back the ghost that I wasn't allowed to go near in the first place. How was your day?"
Dean felt terrible. He'd been furious at Ashley for all the trouble she'd caused; for the danger she'd put Sam and himself in. But seeing her lying on the couch, her eyes red from crying, his heart broke for her. He remembered how tough his own teenage years had been, and Sam's…well, forget about it! But he didn't have time to stay and help the family begin to mend their emotional wounds. He was fairly certain Sam was in no further danger of being psychically attacked by the spirit, but he didn't want to waste anymore time than they already had.
Dean moved over and crouched in front of the girl. Giving his most sincere smile, he asked her for the necklace. At Bill's protest, Dean explained that they needed it to complete the exorcism.
As she handed it over, Dean grabbed her hand with both of his and gave it a warm squeeze. "It'll be ok. Don't worry." He said to both of them.
Dean let himself out, a firm plan in his mind. First stop, some Mickey D's. Then, swing by to pick up Sam, and finally, head over to the Brooks' Mansion to kick some demon ass, Winchester style.
Author's Note: I know, I know! There was no Sam anywhere to be found. As a Sam-girl, this was a rough chapter to write, especially with all of the exposition. Things will pick up very soon, I promise.
