Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, but I wish I did. It would be so much fun!
Hunted
John Winchester is hunted by more then just demons.
Chapter eighteen
John started to put his stick back up in the rack when he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. "The lady's talking to you, Winchester. You're not going anywhere until she's done."
Rather then put the put stick back in the rack John gripped it in both hands and prepared to defend himself as best he could. This was going to get ugly fast.
John spun to the left raising his left arm over that of the biker and taking a step closer he wrapped his arm around the man's right arm removing it from his shoulder and effectively pinning it to John's side. At the same time the pool stick came swirling around aimed at the side of the bikers head.
"Stop!" Samantha shouted. "John wait!"
The pool stick stopped less then an inch from the bikers head and hung there. The man's wide eyes slid from the stick to John and back. "Shit, you're fast." The man practically whispered as John lowered the pool stick.
Samantha pushed her way between John and the biker "Quit you two! Damn why do men always gotta go all macho like that." The spry little lady pushed the huge biker away from John who released his arm and allowed him to move away. "Danny, quit I got this go get the man another beer will ya." Then she turned to face John and said, "Really, I just want to talk. You are not in any danger here, I promise."
John raised an eyebrow in response. He looked around the room and saw that the other bikers had returned to what they were doing though most of them glanced occasionally in their direction.
"Come on let's get a table so we can talk." Samantha said grabbing John's hand and leading him in the direction of the tables. They were all full, but that didn't stop her she just walked up to the table in the farthest corner and told the three men sitting there, "Jerry, David, Henry, go shoot some pool, I need the table." The men in question stood up picked up their beers and left with only a nod in her direction.
Danny returned with three beers and set one in front of each of them. "Sorry, man I didn't mean to startle you," he told John.
"No problem, but you should thank her," John replied nodding at Samantha. "She saved you from one hell of a headache."
"John," Samantha said, "Billy is my friend. He told me what happened in Utah, the real story."
"How is he doing? I couldn't stick around to find out, it was too dangerous."
"He's facing murder one, but he's alive and that thing is not in him anymore."
"I wish I could help, but no one would believe the truth anyway."
"There were plenty of witnesses who all saw what happened and what you did. They are all backing Billy up on it so maybe he'll at least get a reduced sentence."
"He shouldn't have to face any charges, he didn't do it. The demon did."
Samantha paled, "Demon?" she asked. "I thought it was, you know maybe a ghost or something."
"A ghost would have been easier." John replied, "It was a demon, but thankfully not a very powerful one."
"You knew it was in him. How?" Danny asked.
John turned to him and replied, "Its eyes were a dead giveaway they were solid black, but you can't always tell. This one wanted me to know it was there. I have been surprised by them before. Sometimes it's hard to tell especially if the person being possessed is a stranger. If they are you have no way of knowing if they are acting different."
"You've fought a demon before?" Samantha asked?
"A few," John said nodding.
"Why?" Danny asked.
"They attacked me."
"Why?" Danny asked again.
"Because they know I'm going to kill their master."
"The devil?" Danny asked, "How are you going to kill the devil?"
"No, not him, God I hope not, but an upper level one."
This time it was Samantha that asked, "Why?"
John took a deep breath and looked away trying to decide how much to tell them. He finally decided the truth would be best so he replied, "It killed my wife."
"I'm so sorry John," Samantha said.
Danny shook his head, "I've seen some weird shit, especially out at our place, but a demon, that can't be good."
John nodded, not knowing how to reply to either of them. Instead he chose to change the subject especially since Danny had just left him the perfect opening. "Your place is that old abandoned hospital out on Edith isn't it?"
"Yeah," they both replied together.
"I heard there was a… problem with the place and some people are getting hurt. So I came to check it out."
"Wait? You came here just to find out what's going on out there?"
"Yes."
"So, what you just go around finding these types of things? What are you some kind of paranormal investigator?" Samantha asked.
"Para what?" Danny asked her.
Samantha looked at him and said, "Ghost hunter."
"Not exactly," John replied. "I just… I stop them from hurting anyone else."
"Them what?" Danny asked.
"Whatever I find, I've learned to destroy most things one way or another."
"Should I ask what kind of things you've found?" Danny asked.
"Only if you really want to know," John replied.
"I'll think I'll pass. I've already heard too much." Danny said. "How do you sleep at night?"
"With one hand on my knife and the other on my gun," John said seriously. He noticed the bikers from the next table had turned their chairs and were now listening to the conversation he was having with Samantha and Danny. Looking around the pub he realized many of the bikers were paying more attention to them then what they had been doing.
"That's a hell of a way to live," Samantha told him.
"I manage." John told her looking back in her direction. "These things, they're evil, I destroy them so they can't hurt anyone else."
"This thing out at our place, what is it?" Danny asked.
"I don't know, but there is something there. I found it in the courtyard today."
"Wait, you've been out there?" Samantha asked.
"Of course, how else am I going to destroy it?"
"And Killer just let you waltz onto the property?" She asked.
"The dog?" John asked, "I have a way with animals."
John hoped the dog was awake by the time the Banditos returned. He didn't really want to tell them he'd drugged their dog.
"No way, that thing is crazy!" Danny said, "It doesn't even like us most of the time. Samantha is the only one it will let near it."
"Whatever," John said. "The thing in the court yard when did it start to manifest?"
"About six years ago. We used to use the court yard for parties, because it was surrounded by the house and kept the cops off our backs, but one day that thing showed up and now no one will go out there," Danny told him.
A new round of beers arrived brought by one of the other bikers who had apparently noted the empty mugs. He took a chair a few feet away and sat silently as they continued their conversation.
"Were you there when it showed up the first time?"
"No, but Samantha was," he replied.
John turned to Samantha and said, "Tell me about the first time it showed up."
"I don't know what the thing is, but I can tell you where it came from," she said. "Like Danny said it was about six years ago and we were having a party out there. About half the people in this room were at the party but by the time the thing showed up most of them were pretty wasted."
John looked around the room many of the bikers were nodding their heads in agreement with her statement.
"Several of the guys had been searching through the building looking for more chairs and things to throw on the bonfire we had going. Billy and David came out carrying this big ugly couch damn thing must have been left from the thirties. The material was worn and faded and the couch itself was almost falling apart, but they figured if it broke when they sat on it they could always add it to the bonfire."
One of the men from the group that was listening said, "Billy and I were wrestling around on it when it broke. The whole side of the couch just broke off."
"You two were being pretty rough," Sally said. "You both had too much to drink by then and were at it again. I swear back then I needed clubs to keep the two of you in line."
John looked around the room everyone, even the bartender was not pay close attention to the conversation at the table.
Sally took a sip of her beer and continued relating the events of that night to John. "Anyway, the side of the couch broke off so the guys decided to toss the whole couch into the fire. When they did it burst into flames and we all heard a loud crack then a dark billowing smoke started to pour from the fire."
"We didn't really think anything of it at first because it looked just like smoke from a fire which was what we had going." Someone else said.
"Yeah, until it started to move around and touch us," one of the female bikers said. "When it did it was creepy. Kind of like a rough wet tongue that ran across the area it touched."
"And it burned, it felt wet, but it burned," someone else said.
"It tried to get me," one of the guys said, "I have never been so scared in my whole life. I started praying hard and it backed away."
Finally, John thought, something he could use. "What prayer did you use?"
The man looked sheepish for a minute then said, "Well, I used to be an alter boy back in the day so I used the first thing that came to mind. I used the Lords prayer."
Cat calls, hooting and laughter erupted in the room as the man in question admitted to being an alter boy. When the din died down John continued his questions. "Did you say it in English?"
"No, Latin."
"Juan, you speak Latin?" Samantha asked him.
"Yeah, I also speak Spanish, French and German."
"It's English he has a problem with!" someone said from the back of the room.
John understood their attempts to lighten the mood so he said nothing about the now constant interruptions. "Did it go away after you said the prayer, or just move away from you."
"It just left me alone and tried to go to Steve, but he backed away from it and I guess he got far enough away that it couldn't follow him. Everybody was freaking out and running, but Sally fell and the thing was on her pretty quick. It surrounded her, engulfed her completely. Then the thing seemed to grow bigger and darker. We could hear Sally screaming, but we couldn't see her anymore."
"Everyone was terrified, but Aaron, he was amazing," one of the girls said. "He ran over to it shouting something we didn't understand and he walked right through the wall of darkness, grabbed Sally and pushed her out the other side."
"Yeah, we're sure he saved her life," Samantha said. "But she was never the same after that."
"And this thing, it couldn't leave the courtyard?" John asked.
"No, actually it can't seem to get much more then ten feet past he bonfire." Aaron said.
"Since that night has it ever happened again?" John asked.
"Never to one of us because we don't go near the courtyard anymore. But twice idiot kids have broken in and got messed up by it. That's why we got the dog so we could keep the kids out." Samantha replied.
"Yeah, but that dog went nuts not long after we got it." Danny told him.
"That's because the dog can sense the entity in the courtyard. Dogs have a very strong ability to sense the supernatural." John told him. "Most animals do."
"So are you going to be able to get rid of it?" Samantha asked John.
"I think so, but I need to come out and do some more digging around in the morning. Then depending on what I find out I may be able to get rid of it tomorrow night."
"Why not do it during the daylight? Seems to me that anything like this would be stronger at night," Aaron said.
"It will be, but I'm going to have to be able to get it to manifest so I can exorcise it."
"Are you a priest?" someone asked.
"Oh God no," John laughed, "I'm the farthest thing from a priest you could, but I was trained by one to do exorcisms."
"Well, if you can get rid of this thing then we'll owe you… again." Samantha told him.
John stayed for a few more hours shooting pool with Samantha and Danny. She discovered that they were actually brother and sister. And at the end of the evening the energetic young lady tried to get John to go home with her but as usual when that happened he politely refused and she left with a smile even though she hadn't even been able to wrangle a kiss from the hunter."
The next morning John drove over to the old hospital and met Samantha and Danny. Aaron joined them as they entered the building and walked out to the court yard. Using a shovel he had brought with him John started digging around in the fire pit. It was mostly ashes, but there were still some unburned wood and other trash in the area.
As he dug he again heard the whispering wind that sounded like voices calling out breathlessly. He continued to dig in the pit keeping the ashes and dirt within a few feet of the original ring of the fire. "Have there been any other bonfires burned here since the one when this thing arrived?" He asked the others who were standing well back from the fire pit.
"No." Samantha said.
"Hell, no one would even come out here." Aaron said. "Samantha and I were the ones that found the two kids and they'd already wandered back into the building."
John's shovel thunked as it hit something solid in the ashes of the fire. He reached down and lifted the item from the pit. It was a stone statue of a man. There was nothing remarkable about the statue other then the crack that ran across the belly of the man. There were no markings or other indications on the statue, but John was sure it's what was used to imprison the thing. It had to be there was nothing else in the pit.
"Well, so much for detailed answers." John said quietly.
"What's that?" Danny asked.
"The cause of the problem," John told him. "It must have been hidden in that old couch until it was tossed on the fire. The fire was hot enough to crack it, but not hot enough to destroy it."
"What would have happened if it had been destroyed?" Danny asked.
"It would have probably released the thing completely, allowing it to move around freely. I think it's still tied to this statue."
"Fine, get rid of the statue." Aaron said.
John grinned at him, "It's not going to be that easy. I'm going to have to destroy the statue, and then exorcise the entity after it's completely release from the stone."
"You just said destroying the statue will release the thing." Samantha said.
"Yeah, but I can't exorcise it while it's still partially imprisoned."
"That does not sound like a good plan John." Aaron said.
"Well it's the only one I've got. Have you got a better idea?"
"Um, we could just bury it in a block of cement."
"Nice though," John said, "but it won't work. You can't seal the crack with cement the thing will still be able to get out."
"Okay, so how do we make sure the thing can't just float away once you break its prison stone?"
"I'll need to make a special pentagram to restrain it while I recite the exorcism."
"A what?" Danny asked.
"A special symbol on the ground to hold the creature so it can't get away. We're going to need to clear the area as much as possible. I'm also going to need a large bag of salt and a sledge hammer."
"Why salt?" Samantha asked.
"Most evil things can't cross salt. It acts like a repellent."
"Okay, so why don't you just put a ring of salt around the fire pit. Why do you need this symbol?"
"Because I'm not sure exactly what I'm dealing with, better to be safe then sorry."
John set the statue back down in the fire pit and together with the other three began preparations for the ritual that he planed on performing that evening.
Late that night John met again with the three that assisted him earlier. He explained in detail the plan for the ritual and was surprised when Aaron told him, "Wait, that's not going to work."
"What's not going to work?" John asked.
"You can't be in the pentagram when you release the thing. The first thing it's going to do when it realizes it can't get away is attack you."
"Aaron, I told you I don't have a choice, the statue has to be broken in order to exorcise the entity."
"Yeah, but you don't have to be the one that breaks it. I'll do it that way you can stay outside the pentagram and complete the ritual."
"It's going to be dangerous in there and you won't be able to leave. If you so much as scuff the pentagram on the ground the thing will get free."
"I know, trust me I don't want to do this, but I'm not seeing another option." Aaron said.
Not for the first time John wished Dean and Sam where with him. If they were here he could enter the pentagram and they could recite the ritual. If something happened to him inside the Pentagram they'd still be able to finish it. If he was inside the pentagram he would not be able to complete the ritual and thing might get away, or worse it might be able to posses him. Aaron was right someone else would need to break the statue.
Seeing no other way John agreed to the change Aaron had suggested.
With everything ready it was time to start the ritual. John looked at Danny and Samantha and said, "No matter what you see or hear, you can not interfere. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Both said nodding and stepping as far away as possible.
John checked the pentagram one more time as Aaron stepped inside of it and picked up the sledge hammer. The statue was lying on its side on a large stone placed in the center of the large pentagram. He picked up the book and looked once more at Aaron. "This thing is going to be stronger once you release it but it should still be affected by the name of God. Use is as much a necessary to keep it off you. Do you remember the name of God in Latin?"
"Criesto." Aaron said nodding.
"Good. I'll do this as fast as I can, you just hold on until I'm done," John told him then said, "When ever you're ready."
Aaron raised the sledge hammer and brought it down hard on the statue. It shattered into dozens of small pieces and John began the ritual immediately. A great cloud of black obsidian appeared over Aaron's head as he looked around expecting the thing to come from the statue itself.
"Above you Aaron," Samantha yelled and started to move forward to help.
Danny grabbed her and shook his head. "We can't. Not yet," he said.
Aaron looked up and his eyes widened in fear he looked at John who was watching the creature and Aaron. The hunter nodded at Aaron who took up began reciting prayers in Latin. The entity swirled angrily around Aaron not touching him, but swirling faster and faster like a dark tornado.
John continued the incantation as the center of the tornado that was the entity got closer and closer to Aaron. Aaron's hair was being whipped around his head ashes joined the entity and mingled with it momentarily before being blown at the man standing in the pentagram. He was blinded by the ashes and couldn't see the stone at the center of the pit rise and come hurtling at him.
Danny saw the stone and yelled, "Aaron Drop!" Praying his friend would react in time.
Aaron heard Danny's call and dropped to the ground. But not fast enough, the stone struck him in the shoulder knocking him back and tumbling him to the ground. He landed part in and part out of the pentagram destroying part of the symbol that was keeping the entity imprisoned while John performed the ritual.
Sensing its freedom the thing darted outside the pentagram and went straight for John. It was stopped from attacking John directly by the words of the ritual, but began picking up things from the ground and hurtling them at John with speed and accuracy.
Danny and Samantha went to Aaron giving the thing a wide berth. Danny picked up the injured biker and carried him away from the thing that was now attacking John.
John saw what happened but didn't stop the ritual. If he so much as paused now the creature would get away. He had to complete the incantation as quickly as possible and the thing seemed to know it. John was suddenly trying to duck flying objects as he read the ritual. He wasn't fast enough to duck them all and several struck home with enough force to cause him to stumble back several steps. A broken wooden chair leg hurtled at him and pierced his shoulder before he could get out of its way.
John dropped the book he was reading from, but continued the last line of the ritual. As the last word passed his lips John looked at the entity and watched as it seemed to implode on itself before shattering into a million dark obsidian molecules that rained down and were seeped into the ground.
John's knees gave way and he sank to the ground as Samantha ran up and caught him.
A/N I probably should have made this two chapters, but I was having trouble deciding where to split it so I decided to just leave it like it was. I know it was long, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Please read and review!