Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. I merely enjoy their company and play with them. (sometimes includes pain and torture)

Mullet Rock

Chapter Six:

Dean had been gone nearly seven hours. Sam and Allie had met at the restraunt across the street from the motel and had dinner. Dean would be disappointed to learn that nothing else had happened, but for Sam it was enough. A pleasant evening spent in the company of a beautiful woman was more then Sam had allowed himself since the job in upstate New York where he'd met Sarah.

They spoke only very briefly about the incident. Just enough for Sam to learn that she could only tell him the mask the price tag had come from was big and ugly. They'd had dinner and several beers spending nearly three hours talking about everything from the concert to annoying older siblings. It was almost laughable how similar Sandy and Dean acted towards each of them. It was after ten when Sam walked Allie to her car. They shared a long lingering kiss before she got in and drove away leaving Sam with a smile on his face and promising they would get together again the following day.

Sam walked back to the room and spent the next hour and a half surfing the net looking for information on African Masks. Some of the things he discovered made his skin crawl just thinking about them. He always had a hard time figuring out why anyone would willingly call evil spirits from the netherworld.

"So what did you find?" Dean asked walking into the motel room and tossing his keys on the counter. He'd been half hoping not to find his brother here doing exactly what he was doing. He would have much preferred to find him still out with Allie.

"To much," Sam replied.

Dean frowned. "What's that supposed to mean."

"It means," Sam said. "That without more information on the mask I have no idea what we are up against."

"How's that?"

"These masks were made for so many different reasons it could be cursed because that's what it was made for or it could be a simple haunting. You know a spirit attached itself to the mask and follows it where ever the mask goes."

"What are you talking about?"

"Each mask is made for a specific purpose. Some were made to use in official ceremonies like weddings, funerals, to cure illness or for rights of passage initiating boys to men. Those are some of the mild ones. Others were made to protect the people from evil spirits and to communicate with ancestors and spirits."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Dean said. "Except maybe the communicating with spirits part, that's normally not a good idea."

"Uh huh," Sam replied. "Then you get to the more malevolent uses like calling and holding evil spirits to use their powers of destruction or putting a curse on someone. Some were even used as mediators between the living world and the supernatural world of the dead and other entities."

"Okay," Dean said. "That's not good. How are we supposed to know what this one is used for?"

"I have no idea. There were like two dozen masks in the pictures you took we don't even know which one it is."

"Didn't you talk to Allie?" Dean asked.

Sam smiled and looked away leaving Dean to believe they may have done more then just talk. His brother though was not one to share that kind of event so he'd have to ask Sandy. On second thought he better not. Sandy was a bit to overprotective of her little sister. When she found out that Sam and Allie were getting together tonight too Dean had to assure the girl that Sam would not take advantage of her sister. For goodness sake the girl was twenty two years old and her sister didn't think she could take care of herself.

"The only thing she could tell me about it was that it was big and ugly," Sam replied.

"Not much help there," Dean said. "Guess we do this the old fashioned way then. Let's go figure out which one it is, grab it and burn it."

"Dean," Sam cautioned. "That might not work remember the painting in New York."

"You got any better ideas?"

"No," Sam said.

"Then let's just go get this done so we can get back to our little vacation," Dean told him.

They parked the car at the KOA camp grounds just outside the gates of the park and made their way in on foot. "Allie said there's only one security guard in here at night," Sam told his brother. "She also said he's pretty freaked out about the murder and won't go near the gift shop… seems the guys a bit superstitious."

"Good for us," Dean said making his way through the park towards the back of the gift shop. "That makes our job a bit easier."

Sam picked the lock while Dean stood guard with the shotgun. It took less then thirty seconds for Sam to pick the lock and open the door. He knew there was no security system and the camera was still not working so they were relatively safe from outside interference while they worked.

He pocketed the lock picking tools and took the shotgun from Dean who reached into his jacket pocket for his EMF. The second he turned it on it started going haywire. "Oh yeah," he told Sam entering the building. "This is going to be fun. Come on the stuff we're looking for is right over here."

"Damn," Sam said looking at the things that adorned the table. "How much do you want to bet they don't even know what most of this stuff is or what it's used for?"

Dean, who was busy using his EMF to pinpoint the mask in question answered, "No bet. Whoever put this collection together didn't have a clue. If they did they probably wouldn't have…" He stopped mid sentence as the EMF suddenly increased the noise and light show. Dean was holding the device right in front of the biggest mask on the wall.

"Allie was right," Sam said. "It's ugly."

The mask was made of wood. It was nearly a two feet tall and depicted a nearly human face. Horns swept down on each side of the face. Some kind of plant was used as hair and was spread out behind the mask almost like a grotesque halo. It had a crown of Cowry shells on its head and the same shells were used to form the teeth within its mouth. A white line stretched from the top of the masks forehead to the bottom of its chin and a large tongue hung from its mouth twisting off to the side as though it was blowing in the wind.

Sam reached for the mask intending to put it in the duffle bag he was carrying. He pulled it off the wall but before he could get it into the bag he knew something was wrong. His arm went numb and he could not let the mask go. "Dean…" he said in despair, but before he could say anything else pain exploded in his head as something tried to force its way into his mind. Dropping the shotgun he fell to his knees still gripping the mask and through the pain he watched in horror as his arm began to raise itself to place the mask on his face.

As soon as Sam uttered his name Dean knew his brother was in trouble. He was looking Sam in the eye when he literally saw the pain hit his brother so hard it knocked him to his knees. Dean tried knocking the mask out of his brother's hand but Sam wouldn't or couldn't let go. Then Sam began to lift the mask to his face. "Oh, no Sammy," he said as he pushed his brothers arm back down. "That's not a good idea."

Sam knew his bother was speaking to him, but he couldn't hear what he was saying. The pain in his head increased and a strange chanting began in a language he did not understand. His eyes were open but he saw nothing as he fought with the thing trying desperately to enter his mind. Even the visions didn't bring this kind of pain it felt as though someone had stuck an ice pick in his head and was painfully heating the thin metal blade.

Dean was struggling to keep the mask off his brothers' face when he was suddenly picked up and thrown across the length of the gift shop. He was slammed into a shelf head first. His eyes clouded as darkness began to close in but he shook his head to clear it refusing the freedom of unconsciousness and climbed back to his feet.

Sam fought the pain and the intrusion. Sweat poured down his forehead and he struggled to keep from passing out. He wasn't aware of what happened to his brother. He wasn't even aware he was lifting the mask towards his face. A sudden fire ripped thought his mind engulfing him in an intense pain that sent him reeling away.

Dean turned back to look at his brother. Sam was on his feet again the mask firmly affixed to his face. He turned to look in Dean's direction but it wasn't his brother's eyes that looked out of the mask at him instead eyes of flame danced in their place.

A/N And now the real fun begins... Please review!