Chapter 7

Don't Speak

(Season 1, episode 7 - Hook Man)

Sarah and Dean rushed to the hospital. Two cops were blocking them from getting to Sam.

"It's all right. I'm with him. That's my brother. Hey, brother," Dean called to Sam.

There was another cop interrogating Sam. He waved Dean in. "Let him through."

Sarah tried to follow, but the cops stopped her again. "Hey, I'm with them."

"Sorry. Can't let you through." The one on the left was snotty. He was the kind to take his small jobs way too seriously.

"You can't block me from going through there."

"Yes, we can." He grabbed her arm and starting pulling Sarah in the opposite direction of Sam and Dean. "I think it's time for you to go."

"Hey, get your hands off me, buddy." She tried to push him off, but his grip was too tight. For some reason, this guy really wanted her out.

Dean turned and saw Sarah. She was the damsel in distress and he was compelled to save her. "Hey, get your hands off her. She's with me. Let her go."

The cop that was talking to Sam saw the conflict that was about to break out and decided it would just be easier to just let her through, too. "Let her through."

He kept his hand on Sarah's arm. "But, sir-"

"Just do it," the cop demanded.

Reluctantly, Sarah was released and pushed over to Dean. She pointed her finger at him. "I should have you arrested for assault."

Dean didn't want her to push their luck. "She's kidding," he told them jokingly. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and started pulling her away. "Come on. You caused enough trouble."

"I had it under control, you know," she whispered to him.

"Sure looked like it." Dean didn't give her time to shoot back at him.

The cop let Sam go, too and he walked over to meet Sarah and Dean about halfway. "You okay?" Dean asked his brother.

"Yeah." Sam was clearly shook up by something. The events of last night played over and over in his mind as he tried to connect the dots.

"What the hell happened?"

"Hookman," Sam answered.

The three started walking away from any people in sight, not wanting them to hear their conversation. Talking about ghosts can make a person look crazy. A group of people talking about ghosts is even worse. It had a tendency to escalate the situation.

"You saw him?" Dean asked in shock.

"Damn right. Why didn't you torch the bones?" Sam accused.

"What are you talking about? We did. Are you sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?" Dean didn't like being accused of not doing a job right. Those were definitely Jacob Karns' bones.

"Sure as hell looked like him. And that's not all. I don't think the spirit is latching onto the Reverend."

"Well, of course not." Thank you captain obvious. It had been a long night. Sarah was feeling more irritable than usual. The small things were starting to get to her now, too.

"Yeah, the guy wouldn't send the hookman after himself." Dean was thinking exactly what Sarah was and that scared him.

Sam thought it was time to reveal his new theory. "I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out that her father is having an affair with a married woman."

"So what?"

Sarah leaned away from Dean and stared at him, confused. 'So what?' She's married. He's a reverend. That stuff isn't supposed to happen. Sarah didn't say this out loud of course for the sake of not starting another fight, but her in her mind, she was thinking about how dumb Dean was being right now.

"So, she's upset about it. She's upset about the immorality of it," Sam explained. "She was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished."

Dean nodded, taking it in. "Okay, so she's conflicted, and the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching onto her emotions and doing the punishing for her."

Sam and Sarah agreed.

Sam backed up the theory with the events of the past few nights "Rich comes on too strong. Taylor tries to make her into a party girl. Dad has an affair."

"Remind me not to piss this girl off."

Sarah dropped her shoulders. "That's not funny."

Dean ignored her. "But we burned those bones. We buried them in salt. Why didn't that stop him?"

"You guys must have missed something."

Dean shook his head. "No, we burned everything in that coffin."

"We used enough lighter fluid and salt to make sure that sucker burned." Sarah had the same pet peeve as Dean. She hated when she was doubted about a job she was supposed to do. "There was nothing left."

"Did you get the hook?"

"Excuse me?" Sarah's eyes went wide.

"The hook?" Dean repeated.

"It was the murder weapon, and in a way it was part of him."

"So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power." Sam was obviously the smarter one of the two, but Dean wasn't far behind. He figured that out pretty quickly.

"So, if we find the hook..."

Simultaneously, Sam, Dean, and Sarah finished the sentence. "We stop the hookman."

"Okay, that was weird. Let's never do that again." Sarah felt like they all had some kind of connection right then and that scared her. It had been a long time since she connected with anyone. These boys were really starting to get to her. As much as she wanted to say she wanted nothing to do with the Winchester, she couldn't. They weren't all that bad. That was the problem.

Dean was a bit creeped out as well. "Agreed."

"Back to the library, then?"

Dean sighed. Sam was right. They needed to get back to the library and figure out where the hook went off to, but that didn't mean he had to like it. In fact, this was Dean's least favorite part of the job. It was always so boring. He would rather be out killing things.

Sam noticed Sarah's sudden silence. Even though they had only known her a few days, he knew this was unusual. He hit his brother on the thigh and mouthed, 'What did you do?'

Dean made a face at Sam. He wanted to tell Sam about what happened last night, but now wasn't the time or the place. He didn't want Sarah even more mad or more depressed. That would make him feel more guilty.

They piled back into the car and set off to the library. Dean had begun to worry about Sarah. She had been really quiet since last night. He hoped that his questioning wasn't the cause of this. "Hey, Sarah. You all right?"

Sarah was zoned out, staring out the window. She watched as the people walked around the campus grounds. She appreciated how normal everything looked, despite what was happening. They are so lucky they don't know about the things that go bump in the night.

"Sarah?" Dean tried again.

She snapped out of it. "What?"

"Are you all right?"

She shoved her feelings deep inside and put on a happy face. She could't let them see her being so weak. "Yeah, why?" Sarah asked with a fake smile.

Dean knew she was just acting. "You've been pretty quiet."

"Well, I'm pretty tired. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately," she lied.

Afraid to upset her again, Dean decided to drop it. "Okay. As long as you're okay. I, uh, I just don't want to risk you not being at your best." Damn. I didn't mean to say that.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she added, trying to push him to stop talking.

"Okay." From then to the library, they all sat in silence. The roar of the Impala was the only noise to come from the car. It was the quietest ride they had yet.

Once they got to the library, it was right to work. They had no time to sulk over whatever it was that was on their mind. They needed to find the hook before another person died. They sat in front of piles of books, trying to find anything that would help them locate the hook of Jacob Karns.

Dean was the first to find something. "Here's something, I think. Logbook, Iowa State Penitentiary. 'Karns, Jacob - personal affects, disposition thereof.'"

Sam dropped his pen and looked over at the paper Dean was reading from. "Does it mention the hook?"

"'Upon execution,'" Dean continued, "'all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner's house of worship, St. Barnabas Church.'"

Sarah finally spoke up. "Isn't that where Lori's father preaches?"

"Yeah." Dean nodded and put a pen in his mouth. He was pleased to hear her voice, but wouldn't show it.

"Where Lori lives?" Sam sounded shocked to hear this news.

"Maybe that's why the hookman's been haunting reverends and reverends' daughters for the past 200 years."

Sam saw something wrong with the idea. "Yeah, but if the hook were at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it? I mean, a blood-stained, silver-handled hook?"

Dean removed the pen from his mouth and capped it. "Check the church records." Dean stood up and went to recover the church's records. He came back with the book and flipped it open to about the time Jacob Karns was around.

Sam read from the page. "'St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received - silver-handled hook from State Penitentiary. Reforged." He sighed heavily. "They melted it down, made it into something else."

Sarah threw her pen onto the table. "Damn," she mumbled. This case was becoming more and more of a hassle. She just wanted it over with. "Do we have any idea what or where it could be?"

"We could ask Lori," Sam suggested.

Sarah stood up from her spot and closed the books in front of her. "Lori it is."


A/N: I'm sorry this one took a long time to get out, but I've decided to change things up. When I first started this story, I wanted to break out of my normal routine and give you guys long chapters. Now, I realize it's just not working out the way I'd like it to. I'm sure you all appreciate the long chapters, but not the wait for them. Therefore, I've decided to go back to short chapters. That way, I can get them out faster and you all won't be waiting a month. Again, I'm sorry for the wait and I'm sorry if you enjoyed the long chapters, but it's time for a change. Thank you all for understanding. A new chapter should be out shortly.

This chapter was named after Don't Speak by the Jonas Brothers.