Race to Kill
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke.
Chapter Four
"Teenie said you were looking for me?" Dean asked walking into the kitchen. Autumn had offered to make dinner, since they were the only guests and she felt guilty for making the young woman cook twice as much on their account.
"No, just asked where you were." he nodded and sat down on a stool that sat next to the stove. He reminded her of a little kid watching mommy cook, the way he watched her pure interest in his eyes.
"Wacha cookin' good lookin'?" he asked. She laid down the knife she'd been using to chop onions.
"Lasagna." he cocked an eyebrow at her. "One useful thing my dad taught me. He loved to cook, when Mom first got sick he would cook to relieve stress."
"You're dad taught you to cook, mine taught me to me a warrior." he laughed. Autumn stopped and looked at him, really looked at him, for the fist time since they'd met up in the bar the week before.
"At least your dad taught you something on purpose. Mine only let me in the kitchen because it meant I wasn't driving Mom nuts." Dean was good at keeping emotions locked away, and hiding even the tiniest hint of them from his face. So, he didn't fail this time to look impassive.
"But you had a mom."
"Right, before she got sick she spent endless hours volunteering, while dad worked and Athena and I were amused by babysitters. Then she got sick and was home all the time with us for two years, while she died. That alone literally killed my dad. So don't go so low Dean. Neither of us had pleasant childhoods."
She picked up where she'd left off cooking and the entire time, without saying a single word Dean watched. It didn't take long before she was sliding the meal into the oven to cook. Then Dean remained watching her while she cleaned up what she could of the dishes, dry, and putting them away. Then wiped down the counters, kitchen table, and set out plates.
The next morning Autumn loaded John into the back seat of her car, while Athena and the boys prepared a bag of EMF readers, and a few other supernatural detectors, making sure to pack salt, and a couple of small handguns with rock salt. A few people stared at them as they passed by, on morning walks but didn't see anything beyond 'new aged gadgets' and a girl with a large dog. They weren't dumb enough to get caught with anything 'dangerous'.
Curtis was waiting in the drive when they got there. He didn't waste time in climbing into his pick-up and leading the way to the Haunted House of Kelsey. Even a little run down it was beautiful. Inside the railing on the stairs were finely carved mahogany, the rooms were huge. It was like the rest of the town, perfect. Before the door was even shut EMF readers were out and the four had begun their search for anything supernatural. Autumn took the camcorder, to make it look like they were actually filming for a TV show.
"You can wander around, it's pretty self explanatory." Curtis dismissed Sam and Dean who seemed ready to bust for holding themselves with the group and not running off in search of evil. Athena gave her sister a questioning look, received a nod and took off after the boys to go over every inch of every room. "Not going with you lackeys?"
"No, I wanted to stick with you. They're not much good if this spirit comes back for more revenge." Curtis laughed.
"I never really thought about that thanks." Autumn grinned clicking on her video camera and beginning to tape the room, her EMF reader strapped to a Velcro bracelet on her wrist.
"I wouldn't worry about it coming after you. If you've been here multiple times before you are probably not its target." he followed her out of the entrance room and into a parlor.
"What is its target?" Autumn kept watch through the camera slowly running it over the room, taking in every detail.
"One of two things. Intruders who do damage to the house, or it could be targeting people by race, which is my guess. Has it ever killed any whites, beside the little boy the other day?" he shook his head.
"No, I've got papers back at the house from a research project I did a few years back, if you want you can have a copy." smiling Autumn pushed through to the next room.
"What kind of papers?" she asked him.
"Obituaries, the death records of a few victims, news paper clippings, copies of eye witness accounts, that sort of thing." Curtis answered unsure of whether or not his information would please her.
"Yea, that will save us some researching." Autumn glanced up stairs where she could hear feet beating across the floor.
"You seem pretty close to your crew." he commented. They were nearly finished with the down stairs sweeping through the kitchen and dinning room now before completing the circle and going back to the entrance.
"Athena's my kid sister, so yea we're close. Sam and Dean," she paused "What's that?" she asked pointing to a crib sitting off to the side of the stove.
"They kept it here, the original owners, then who ever had the house afterwards could never get it moved. Every time they moved it somewhere else it would come right back here. What about Sam and Dean?"
"That's weird don't you think. Why would one of the brothers care so much where the crib was?"
"The one that was poisoned had kids. What about Sam and Dean?" Autumn mentally noted the cold spot around the crib, and wondered if it was there before the crib or if it was by the crib kept coming back, before answering Curtis' question.
"We've been through a lot together. We do a lot of traveling together for the show, you spend that much time cooped up with someone you get to know them, for better or worse."
"So you guys aren't like involved?" she shook her head.
"Remind me to bring John through this spot before we leave."
"John?" Curtis looked nervous.
"The dog," she soothed. "But, no we aren't involved. Just buds. Is there a basement or cellar or anything?"
"Out back they had a cellar dug under the smoke house. But there isn't much left now."
"Probably not going to be very interesting then. Why don't we head on up stairs. I'll send Athena down to scan the kitchen." So Curtis led her upstairs, they intercepted Athena and headed for the opposite end of the hall. They swept over the four or five small bedrooms at that end with out much conversation. But her reader started going nuts the closer they got to the master bedroom. "Where did you find the kids?" she asked.
"Master bedroom, all the murders happen there." Curtis said watching the reader strapped to her wrist.
"That's interesting. What room downstairs are we directly over?" she asked the camera was starting to go on the fritz as she tried to film the bedroom.
"The kitchen," Curtis walked in past her and went to stand next to the window. "This is right above the crib." Sure enough there was another cold spot where he was standing. "So what do your parents think of you being in this sort of business?"
"They don't, my parents died when I was little." she said her voice void of all emotion. "My foster parents on the other hand hate it. They always thought we were crazy to believe in this sort of thing, but to get paid for it…" she let her voice trail off as she mounted the service stairs and headed back for the kitchen.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Curtis said following her. "My biological father died before I was born. Mom remarried when I was four, my uncle of all people."
"Happens more often than you would think. Parents are half as sturdy as you would think. They die or can't deal and leave all the time. Not exactly, indestructible heroes we grow up thinking they are." she said dismissing his sympathy.
"You find anything?" Dean asked when she got to the kitchen where they were all gathered around the cold spot.
"The master bedroom is murder on camera, there is a continuation of this cold spot up there too. How about you guys?"
"Well, if the brother in the chimney is doing this he's not active. The chimney checked out." Sam offered.
"What about John, sis?" Athena shot her a warning look, she didn't know Curtis knew they were sisters and was afraid she was slipping up.
"Nothing too much. He's been on edge the whole time we've been in here though." Athena informed her.
"Let's get him out then."
"So is there anything else I can do for you?" Curtis asked as they stood out in the front yard. Autumn was getting a shot of the outside of the house while Sam and Dean returned all their readers and equipment to the trunk and Athena stuck by John who was running around and enjoying his freedom from whatever had him on edge inside.
"No." Dean answered before Autumn could.
"When do you want me to get those papers?" he shrugged.
"I'll copy them when I get home so anytime tomorrow. Or I can run them over to you."
"I'll come get them." Autumn told him, turning off the camera and heading back to the car where everyone else was waiting. She climbed in the back seat with Sam and John and was about to shut the door when Curtis yelled one more question across the yard.
"Autumn?" she looked up. "Why don't I bring them to you, then we can go out for dinner to discuss them." she smiled.
"That sounds wonderful. I'll look for you around seven-ish?"