Rule 6: Don't let your little brother out of your sight
"…Okay, I've got it. Thanks for your help. No, we should be good now."
Dean listened anxiously as Sam finished with his call to Bobby. He looked up eagerly as his brother stuffed his cell phone into the pocket of his jeans.
"So, what are we up against?" Dean asked.
"A Gorgon," Sam replied and Dean frowned; that word sounded oddly familiar.
"Why-" the elder brother began but Sam, as though reading his mind, answered.
"Medusa was a Gorgon," he told Dean, "She was turned into a monster for offending the goddess Athena."
"What she do to Athena?" Dean asked curiously, "Steal her man?"
Sam didn't return the smile that had come across his sibling's face at the thought of ancient Greek gods and maidens acting like petty high schoolers.
"Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena's temple," Sam answered.
"Oh…uh, shit that sucks," Dean muttered.
Changing the subject from the reason for Medusa's punishment Sam continued, "Bobby doesn't think we're dealing with the real Medusa or her sisters but some sort of descendent."
"Wait," Dean held up a hand, "She has sisters?"
"Two of them," Sam confirmed, "Stheno and Euryale."
"And did they get turned into monsters too?"
Sam nodded.
"What the fuck is wrong with Greek gods?" Dean asked out loud.
Sam just shrugged.
"Did Bobby say how we kill this thing?" the elder Winchester asked and the younger nodded, "The same way it was done in legend: get the Gorgon to see its reflection and petrify itself."
"That sounds easier said than done," Dean commented.
Sam agreed, thinking of the poor people now lying paralyzed in the city's local hospital.
The attacks had started up about four weeks ago, at first not setting off any warning signs that the perpetrator was something supernatural. The victims had been attacked at night and many were members of the city's large homeless community.
Then, a businesswoman who had been walking her dog in the later hours had met the Gorgon; both the lady and her Pomeranian paralyzed.
Now there was a police curfew in effect, trying to prevent anymore attacks but just as always, people thought it was okay to break it and a group of teenage boys out prowling the deserted streets had been the latest victims.
Although legend described Medusa as being able to turn men into stone with one look, the civilians now lying in the hospital were in a state of paralyzed catatonia. They were not dead despite the fact that all their muscles seemed to be as hard as rock beneath their skin as doctors frantically searched for a way to reverse the affects of the strange affliction. Sam didn't think they could be helped and would remain the rest of their days as living statues.
"Do we have any idea where this bitch is?" Dean asked and Sam nodded.
"There's a boarded-up bar downtown that keeps having trouble with people prying off the plywood covering the back door and sneaking inside," Sam replied, "The only problem is, the plywood has some pretty clear signs that it has been scratched at by something sharp like claws recently."
Dean frowned, "How do you know that?"
Sam's expression grew sheepish; "I might have checked it out while you were at the library today."
"Sam! Why didn't you wait for me? You could have gotten hurt! Did you go in too or-"
The younger brother shook his head, "I heard about it from checking out the police reports. The property owner complained to the cops about it and they apparently can't do anything about the 'vandalism' unless they catch whose doing it. I didn't go inside, Dean, I'm not stupid."
Dean grumbled but decided to drop the topic.
"Are we ready to kill this thing?" Dean asked instead.
"We just need a couple of mirrors," Sam told him.
Checking his watch, the older Winchester stood, "Let's get going then, we'll buy the stuff we need and then head over to the bar before it gets too dark."
W
Dean felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle as he parked the Impala across the street from the empty bar.
He normally didn't get nervous like this before a hunt- he was more likely to be excited- but this wasn't going to an easy kill-the-baddie-then-get-out kind of gig.
Not when they couldn't even look at the monster they were trying to kill.
Sam had told him that Bobby had suggested they close their eyes while in the bar because he wasn't sure if it was the Gorgon's face that would petrify them or her body in general.
The idea of stumbling around an abandoned bar did not turn Dean's crank at all.
Besides, if he kept his eyes closed, how could he keep an eye on Sam?
No, Dean decided he was not going to like this hunt at all.
Cutting the Impala's engine, Dean climbed from the driver's side as Sam exited the passenger's.
The mirror Dean held cut coldly into the side of his hand as he jogged across the street beside his brother, ducking into the alley beside the bar and into the small rear courtyard that was covered with grease-stains, old cigarette butts and bits of broken glass.
The sun was only starting to go down and although Dean would have liked to go after the Gorgon at noontime, they couldn't risk the monster having one more night to claim another victim.
Across the bar's backdoor was a large rectangle of pressboard, visible gouges cut out along either side of it.
Even though hooligans breaking into the bar had incensed the owner, the plywood board was not nailed down and Dean easily moved it aside.
"You ready?" he asked Sam and his brother nodded, his grip tightening noticeably on the mirror he carried.
Yanking the door open, Dean stepped into the dark back room of the bar.
The first thing the hunter noticed as his brother stepped in behind him and pulled the door closed, was the pervasive smell of stale alcohol and dust. It was clear that the building had been in disuse for a long time- months, maybe even as long as a year.
The second thing Dean noticed was just how dark it was. The hunter could barely see an inch in front of his face. He could only tell that Sam was close by because he could hear his brother breathing quietly and feel the heat coming off his body.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Dean pulled out the small penlight he had stashed there, just in case. Flicking the light on, he shone the thin beam around the immediate area; trying to get an idea of where everything was so he wouldn't bark his shins against the furniture.
"Dean," Sam said quietly but the older brother ignored him.
"There's a staircase on the other side of the room that must lead up to the bar itself," Dean told Sam and the younger man followed his gaze.
"Okay," Sam acknowledged, "Cut the light though."
Dean did as his brother asked and turned off the penlight, returning it to his pocket and walking carefully across the storeroom towards the far end.
The Winchesters carefully climbed the staircase leading to the bar, struggling to keep quiet as the wooden planks groaned and creaked under their weight.
"Hey, Sammy," Dean muttered as he reached the top of the stairs and pulled on the doorknob, finding the jamb stuck against the doorframe swollen, "How is this Gorgon supposed to see her own reflection if its dark like this?"
Dean heard Sam give an exasperated sigh from behind him, "She can see in the dark, Dean."
The older brother didn't reply but put his full weight into the door and it opened reluctantly with a screech of wood against wood.
Stumbling ever so slightly onto the upper floor, Dean looked around, waiting to see if his eyes would adjust to the darkness.
They did. He was able to make out the darker, brooding shapes of the bar's silent denizens- chairs and tables, a foosball and pool table, the bar itself hovering along one wall.
"Close your eyes," Sam instructed and for a moment Dean didn't before he slowly lowered his eyelids.
This is so stupid, he thought, how are we supposed to find the Gorgon when we can't even see-
The hunter stopped his thought as realization dawned on him.
They weren't going to search for the monster; Sam was planning on it finding them. That was why he was adamant that they keep their eyes closed, in case they be caught by surprise.
A sliver of fear slipped down Dean's spine and he remained where he was, suddenly afraid to move.
Sam, coming up behind him, knocked his shoulder and moved forward without a word.
"Sammy!" Dean whispered frantically, barely able to make out his brother's tall form in the darkness.
"Dean?" Sam asked, turning partway to try and see him.
"Be careful," the older brother advised and Sam assured Dean he would.
The hunter slowly made his way across the bar, one hand out so that he wouldn't run into anything, fingers trailing along tarp-covered pieces of furniture.
It was so quiet that Dean's own breathing seemed extremely loud in his ears. He couldn't even hear Sam's footsteps anymore.
Shhusshh shhusshh shhusshh
Dean paused as a barely perceptible sound broke through the silence. It was like someone was dragging something heavy across the floor, pausing for a couple of seconds before moving onwards.
The hunter, his heart skipping a beat, clenched his eyes shut and gripped his mirror tightly, the edge cutting into his hand.
Shhusshh shhusshh shhusshh
"Sam," Dean breathed, hoping that his brother would hear- if he hadn't heard the sound already- and have time to protect himself.
Muscles tense for the attack, Dean began to raise the mirror when something thick and heavy hit him on the side of the head and bright flashes of light appeared before his eyes before he lost consciousness, slumping unceremoniously to the floor.
W
Dean woke slowly, groggily, confused.
It took him a moment to realize why it was dark and why the side of his head was throbbing like a son of a bitch.
Raising himself up on his elbows, the hunter gingerly touched his head, grimacing at the sticky feel of blood beneath his fingers.
"Sam?" Dean called out as he got to his feet, fingers searching for his mirror and finding it, unbroken, underneath the pool table.
"Sammy?" Dean called out again.
He waited for a second and when he received no response he knew something was wrong.
A vision of his brother, hands held up in a futile attempt to protect his eyes, paralyzed and helpless, rose unbitten in Dean's mind and he gritted his teeth, telling himself that Sam was alright.
Taking a step forward, the hunter gasped as a wave of vertigo overcame him and he nearly lost consciousness for a second time.
"C'mon," Dean whispered to himself, "Sam needs you."
Fighting through the dizziness, Dean moved forward, listening intently for any sound that would give his brother away.
Across the room, behind the bar, came a faint rustle of clothing and what sounded like nails going down a chalkboard, causing Dean's hair to stand on end.
"Sammy," Dean spoke his brother's name and, despite the risks, grabbed his penlight again and turned it on, illuminating a thin path across the room.
Lifting the light higher, Dean froze when he made out an upper torso, and head that definitely belong to his brother. The Gorgon had its back to Dean and from what the hunter could see, the creature looked more snake than woman.
Starting from the nape of the woman's neck were small, brown scales that grew in number across her shoulders and the portion of her back that Dean could see. The Gorgon's head, just as legend foretold, was covered in tiny, writhing snakes with scales the same colour as the ones on her back.
Dean could see the curve of a full breast as she turned slightly; her arms raised shoulder-level as she struggled with something or someone standing in front of her.
The hunter felt his stomach lurch as he recognized the large form standing opposite the Gorgon; it was Sam.
"No," Dean breathed, his fears once again coming to the forefront of his mind and he stepped forward, penlight held high, not even concerned for his own safety.
As he approached the bar, the eldest Winchester could see his brother with more clarity. Sam stood with his back pressed against the empty shelves behind the bar; his eyes squeezed shut, a grimace of pain on his face.
Dean saw why. The Gorgon had one hand, tipped with talons, gripping Sam's shoulder tightly, drawing blood, while the other hand was tangled in the hunter's longish hair.
Glancing down, Dean saw that the lower half of the Gorgon was no longer that of a human and instead ended in a thickly coiled serpent's tail, the tail itself wrapped around Sam's legs. His brother's mirror lay smashed a few yards away.
The monster was so focused on Sam that she didn't even notice Dean's approach or even the thin beam of the penlight.
Before Dean could distract her away from his brother, he noticed that all was not as silent as he had first thought.
The Gorgon was talking, speaking to Sam in a pleading voice.
"Look at me," she said in a voice halfway between a feminine human tone and a snake's hiss, "Please, why won't you look at me?"
With a jolt, Dean wondered if the Gorgon even realized what she looked like and why no one ever wanted- or could- look at her.
Shoving those thoughts to the side as the monster continued to speak entreatingly to Sam- please, oh please, I won't hurt you, look at me- he raised his voice.
"Hey bitch!" Dean shouted as loud as he could, "Why don't you take a look for yourself and see why no one wants to look at you!"
The hunter closed his eyes before the words had even left his lips so he didn't see the Gorgon whip around towards him with lightning speed and gaze longingly into the mirror he held.
Dean heard the creature gasp- a gasp that was both shocked and sad- before it was cut off abruptly.
Carefully, the hunter eased one eye open an inch and saw the Gorgon, her eyes wide, mouth hanging open, snake hair froze mid-writhe, a living statue.
Avoiding looking directly at the monster's face, Dean grabbed the tarp that covered the bar and draped it over her head.
"Sam? Sammy!" Dean reached out and touched his brother, fearing the worst.
The younger man flinched and slowly opened his eyes.
"Dean!" he gasped and then saw the shroud-covered Gorgon inches from him.
"Is she?"
Dean nodded, "Worked like a charm."
Carefully the older brother helped Sam pull his legs out from the stiffened coils of the monster and they both took a step back, breathing heavily.
"I d-din't even h-hear you," Sam panted, "I j-just wasn't g-gonna open m-my eyes."
"That probably helped give me the element of surprise," Dean told his brother.
"What should we do with her?" Sam asked, one hand unconsciously going up to his injured shoulder, "We can't leave her here."
Dean smiled, "Take her with us. Maybe Bobby can put her on his lawn to scare away trespassers."
Sam chuckled quietly.
"I feel sort of sorry for her," he commented, "She didn't even know what she looked like. She just wanted people to look at her."
Dean grunted noncommittally.
"Let's get her out of here and head over to Bobby's," he said, more than ready to leave.
Sam nodded and walked around the bar, starting to make his way through the bar.
"Hey Sam!" Dean called, "Stay where I can see you!"
Author's Note:
Thanks to Links6, elliereynolds777, jensensgirl3, StyxxsOmega, SamDeanLover28, GuardianOfMusic27855, BranchSuper, and reannablue for reviewing.
If anyone has an idea for another 'rule' I'd love to hear it!
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