The story might get a little bit dark in the next few chapters and the M rating is probably going to come into play a bit more.

Chapter 5

Wanting the Normal Life

After Lex left the mansion, the other three guys stayed behind to clean up the library. Clark took care of the glass, while Sam handled the books. Dean, however, was having issues with his EMF reader again and was slapping and cursing at it.

When Dean finally gave up, he tossed the device down to the floor. "Well boys, I think I know what we're up against. This bitch ain't a poltergeist, but she seems to be turning into one."

Sam stacked a handful of books horizontally on one of the shelves, and then he turned to look at Dean. "Now we have to figure out who she is. Then we can burn the bones and it'll be over."

"What did the girl look like?" Clark asked.

Dean made a gesture with his hands to show how far the girl's hair hung down. "She had dirty, brown hair and her nightgown was all torn to hell. It also looked like she was strangled."

"Strangled?" Sam asked. "Are you sure?"

Dean nodded. "She had a frickin dark circle around her neck. My guess is, she either did it to herself or she was murdered."

Clark looked down at the floor and shook his head. "That poor girl must've gone through hell. I can see why her spirit's so angry."

"Which is why we have to put her to rest," Dean added.

Clark looked up at Dean and asked, "Is it possible for us to talk to her? Maybe we can try to reason with her."

Dean scoffed and shook his head. "In my dad's experience, that has never worked. Finding the remains is the best shot we have."

"But it can't hurt to try," Clark argued. "Maybe we could check out the armory and see if she's attached to something in there. That is where Lex and Victoria had their first experience, after all."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, but neither of them said anything, so Clark retrieved Dean's EMF reader from the floor and went out into the hallway, without waiting around for their approval.

"Clark, wait!" Sam called out, before following him out the door with his shotgun in hand and his EMF reader ready to go.

Dean shook his head and picked up his own weapon. "Going into a room full of medieval weapons with a pissed off spirit… Terrific!"

As soon as he was armed and ready, Dean hurried after Sam. When the three of them got to the armory, Clark gave the EMF reader a soft tap and it started working again. Sam held up his reader as well and Dean followed them in with his gun aimed and ready, just in case the girl showed herself again.

Clark went over to the fireplace, but he didn't detect anything, so he went over to the small table where he saw Lex set the damaged one the day before. Sam walked over to a section of the wall that was decorated with swords, maces, and a medieval flail, which is when his detector finally went wild.

"I've got something!" Sam shouted. "She's in here!"

Dean turned towards him, still aiming his shotgun, and then the undamaged bronze ax floated into the air, just as the lights started to flicker all over again.

"Dean!" Sam cried.

Dean dropped his gun and threw himself to the floor, just as the ax flew straight at him. Luckily, it missed him and ricocheted off the wall.

Sam immediately went to his brother's side and put down the EMF reader so he could help him up with one hand. "Dean, are you okay?"

Dean held up one of his hands and let his brother pull him to his feet. "Yeah, but we need to get the hell out of here."

Realizing he was right, Sam looked over at Clark, who was now looking at them and not paying attention to what was going on behind him. "He's right, Clark. It's too dangerous in here, we have to-"

Then the brothers' eyes went wide when they saw the medieval flail rise up in the air behind Clark and Dean screamed, "Clark! Look out!"

Clark turned, just as the round striking head hit him in the side of the face, causing the spikes that were on it to crumple up and break off. The chain that kept the head secured to the handle snapped and then he spun around in a circle and fell onto his back.

"Clark!" Sam cried as soon as he hit the floor.

The floating weapon fell to the ground and Sam and Dean hurried over to Clark's side, to see if he was still alive. When they got to him, he sat up suddenly, surprising them, and shook his head really fast.

Sam stared at him and gasped. "Clark, what the hell?!"

"That one almost had me seeing stars," Clark said quietly as he stared back at them in shock.

Then Dean grabbed him and picked him up off the floor. "You should be seeing the pearly gates! Come on, we're getting the hell out of here!"

Clark glanced back at the weapon that hit him and then he followed Sam and Dean out of the room. No longer interested in hanging around the mansion, the three of them left in the Impala and went to the Kent Farm.

As soon as Dean pulled into the driveway, Jonathan Kent stepped out of the barn and glared at them with his arms folded over his chest. He stood in the headlight beams as he watched the Impala inch its way closer, before coming to a stop mere inches from him. The guys all got out and Clark prepared to face the music.

"Where have you been, Clark?" Jonathan asked.

Clark's deer in the headlights look appeared as he answered back, "I was at Lex's."

Then Jonathan looked at Sam and Dean. "And who are those boys?"

"John Winchester's sons," Clark admitted.

"Please tell me you weren't out hunting with them," Jonathan pleaded.

Clark glanced at Dean, who then looked at his brother. "Sammy, I think we should go."

Jonathan glared at Dean. "That's right. You should do that."

Clark's attention returned to his father, after Sam and Dean got back in the car and started backing down the driveway. "Dad, all we were doing was looking into a possible haunting at Lex's mansion. There's this ghost-"

Jonathan held up his hand, to stop him from saying more. "I don't care what kind of thing it was this time, I specifically said that I didn't want you to hunt monsters anymore!"

"But Dad, I can take care of myself!" Clark argued.

Jonathan shook his head. "I'm not so sure of that. When it comes to this supernatural stuff, you might not be as invincible as you think. Meteor infected people are one thing, but this is a whole different ball game."

Clark slowly looked down at the ground and then his father put a hand on his shoulder. "Son, I just don't want you to get in over your head, that's all. This stuff could actually hurt you and I don't want to take that chance."

At that moment, it finally dawned on Clark that his father was probably right. Even though he survived the ghost's attack in the mansion, it was definitely more painful than it should have been. Despite this realization, he still wanted to help Sam and Dean solve the case. That poor girl was more poltergeist than human spirit at this point, so all he cared about was getting her out of the Luthor mansion, before things got worse.

As they were leaving the driveway, Sam looked up at Clark and watched him put his head down in defeat. Dean backed out onto the road, but just before they took off, Jonathan put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Now I know what Clark meant," Sam said quietly.

Dean looked at his brother, confused. "What he meant about what?"

Sam sighed and looked out at the road ahead of them. "Before that girl attacked Lex, he said something about wishing he had a normal life. I thought he already had one, but now I understand."

"He's a hunter like us," Dean said. "And apparently, he's damn near invincible, so it makes sense."

Sam became silent for a moment, as he thought about what he wanted to say next. His brother started to reach for the controls on the cassette player, but then he decided to speak up again, before he had a chance to crank up the music. "It's interesting that his dad got pissed off because he was hunting with us, instead of being upset because he wasn't."

Dean pulled his hand away from the cassette player and put it back on the steering wheel. "What's your point, Sam?"

Sam glanced at his brother, now feeling defensive. "My point, is that his dad is probably just concerned about his safety, but our dad-"

"Our dad what?" Dean glared at his brother as he sensed what was coming. "What are you trying to say, Sam?"

Glaring back at him, Sam stood up for himself. "Our dad doesn't even want me to have a normal life. He just wants me to be a part of his never-ending quest for revenge!"

Dean looked ahead at the road and shook his head. "Damn it, Sam…"

"I am going to college, whether you and Dad like it or not," Sam reminded him. "I'm going to law school, because I don't want to be a hunter for the rest of my life!"

Dean angrily slapped the steering wheel. "Me and Dad need you out here! He said it was a demon that killed Mom, and we have to stick together if we want to gank this thing! Don't you even care about that?"

"I don't even remember Mom!" Sam cried. "And Clark seems to be the only person that understands where I'm coming from! I'm sorry, but I have to do this."

"Sorry? Sure, you are," was all Dean said, before he turned on the cassette player and cranked up the volume.

Giving up on trying to talk some sense into his brother, Sam looked out the window and watched the farm fields and utility poles go by, as they headed back to their motel on the outskirts of Smallville. All he wanted to do was get the case at the Luthor mansion over with and make a run for it, before any other monsters got in his way. He wasn't about to let anything prevent him from living a normal life.

When Lex awoke the next morning, he was in bed with Victoria, but his experience with the ghost girl the night before still haunted him. It was the first time he had ever seen anything like it in real life and he didn't know how to deal with it.

He glanced over at Victoria, who had her back to him, and he gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Victoria, are you awake?"

She stirred almost immediately and rolled over to look at him. "Sort of… I've been wondering about last night. Whatever happened really shook you up."

Lex sat up in bed and looked down at her. "I saw the thing that's been terrorizing you. It was a girl."

Victoria sat up as well and gave him a worried look. "A girl? What did she look like?"

"She had dark hair," Lex explained. "She was young, maybe a couple years younger than Clark, and she had a dark ring around her neck. It was like she'd been strangled."

As soon as she heard the description, Victoria became visibly disturbed. "Oh."

"Does she sound like someone you know?" Lex asked.

Then Victoria became irritated. "Of course not! Why would you think I know her?"

Realizing that she didn't want to discuss it, Lex looked away and shook his head. "I don't know. It was just a hunch."

Still sounding angry, Victoria snapped back at him. "The next time you have a hunch about something as ridiculous as that, don't even bother bringing it up!"

Then she got out of bed, went into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut behind her. Now feeling suspicious, Lex decided to get up and out of bed. After he got dressed, he stepped out into the hallway of the hotel and looked around, before pulling out his cellphone.

He dialed Clark's cell number and put it up to his ear. After a few rings, he answered. "Hey, Lex, how's it going?"

"Clark, how did things go last night?" Lex asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Clark sighed. "Things got worse as soon as you left. I know you told me to leave, but I didn't listen."

"What happened?"

"We went into the armory, to see if we could communicate with the girl," Clark began. "Then she started throwing weapons around. It was terrifying!"

Lex glanced around at the hallway again, to make sure no one could hear him, and asked, "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Clark replied. "We're just a little shaken up."

"Clark, listen," Lex said. "I think Victoria knows who the girl is, but she won't tell me anything."

"Really?" Clark asked, sounding surprised. "I'll let my cousins know."

"Don't go back into the mansion," Lex told him. "Like I said last night, Sam and Dean know what they're doing, but you don't. It's too dangerous."

Clark chuckled. "Don't worry, Lex. There isn't much I can do to help them anyway, so I'd just slow them down."

"I'm gonna head back there," Lex said. "The library's a mess and I don't even want to think about what the armory looks like."

"We took care of the library, so don't worry about that," Clark told him.

Lex smiled. "Cool. I'll see you around."

Clark and Lex said their goodbyes and then they hung up. Then he went back into the hotel room to try talking to Victoria again.

He went over to the bathroom door and gently tapped on it with his knuckles. "Victoria?"

"Go away!" Victoria cried.

Lex stopped and listened. He could have sworn that she was crying in there, so he said, "Victoria, I don't know what's going on, but there's an angry spirit coming after us. I'm going back to the mansion, but you need to protect yourself while I'm gone."

Then he heard Victoria unlock the door and she opened it just enough that they could see each others' eyes, which were definitely brimming with tears, just as he suspected they would be. "What should I do?"

Lex peered at her through the slit between the door and the wall. "This might sound crazy, but Clark's cousins used salt to slow her down. If you can find some, it'll help."

"Okay," was the last thing she said, before closing the door again.

Then Lex left the hotel room and headed out to his Porsche so he could return to the mansion and see what was left of the armory.