Wicked Intent
Coffeemaniac
Warnings: Suggestive situations, Violence
Season 1
Set between The Benders and Shadow
When they arrived at the motel, Sam examined his stomach and chest using the bathroom mirror. When the ghost shoved her hand inside him it had felt like being stabbed with an icicle. He was surprised to find the only evidence was some redness on his skin.
Dean had suffered some bruises though he complained that his head hurt.
They both took Tylenol then Dean took his turn in going to pick up dinner and beer. Sam opened his laptop to start trying to find anything about a ghost with lethal hair.
By the time Dean returned with tacos, refried beans and Tecate, Sam was deep into websites. Research felt like following a rope through a maze. Once he obtained the end he just needed to keep tugging until he found the answer.
Kaylee called at some point to say that she hadn't been able to reach Rick. She pinged his cell and knew that the phone was at his apartment. She assumed that her brother was with the phone. She also told Sam that she intended to visit her husband, Bill, at the jail in the morning.
When Sam told her about the ghost at her parents' home, she grew silent on the other end of the line. When she spoke again, her voice was shrill with emotion.
"I knew it," she said. "Damn it, I knew there was something. Oh my God, it killed them. It could have killed Bill."
Sam tried to calm her down but she finally said that Rose needed her and hung up.
"She didn't take the news about the ghost too well," Sam said as he dropped his phone on the table.
"Yeah, well, a monster killed her family," Dean said.
Sam nodded. After the supernatural death of their mother, they both knew too much about that.
"The trick will be getting proof to exonerate Bill," Sam said.
"Exonerate, huh? Those college years are paying off, I guess."
"Shut up." There was no heat in his words and Dean chuckled.
"She'll be all right," Dean said. "Give her a minute and she'll realize the ghost means that her husband and brother are in the clear."
With the food growing cold beside him, Sam sat back from his computer. He folded his arms across his chest.
Dean gathered up the remains of his wrappers and took a fresh beer out of the six pack. Tossing the trash away, he sat on the end of the bed, set the bottle on the floor and started taking off his boots.
Sam returned to the laptop, following up on some Japanese monsters. As he clicked through screens, he stopped on one with a full color picture.
Looking over at Dean, he said, "Hey, isn't there something in Dad's journal about a Harionago?"
Dean's eyes scrunched up for a moment before he answered. "Uh, yeah, maybe. Hang on a second."
Crossing the room to where he dropped his duffle, Dean dug around inside until he found the leather bound book. He brought it back to the table then started thumbing through the pages.
Stopping about three quarters of the way through, he read out loud. "Harionago. Japanese ghost with hair that turns into blades or razors. Never seen one. Singer says they're rare."
He pushed the journal towards Sam saying, "He drew this."
The crude picture showed an emaciated female with long, black hair and black eyes. The hair had knives and claws extending from the bottom locks.
Sam turned his laptop around to show Dean. The brightly colored picture on the screen resembled the drawing.
"Well, she looks like a fun date," Dean said.
Sam turned the laptop back around and read, "Says that they used to be maidens…I'm guessing unmarried… and, in most cases, they were murdered. As ghosts they wander back roads searching for men. If the man shows interest in her, her hair goes from normal to filled with barbs and claws and she kills him with it."
"I don't remember a proposition," Dean said.
"I don't either but she was screaming in Japanese so who knows what she was saying. And how many Japanese ghosts with razor hair could there be?"
"Not many. At least I hope not."
Sam turned the computer around again. He showed Dean the photo of a painting that showed a young Japanese woman with black hair tied into a tight circle on the top of her head. Dressed in layered silk robes, her hands were hidden in wide sleeves and her lips were pressed into a slight smile.
"This is Hatsu. According to the lore, she was a commoner who was led away from her family home by a man. He took her into the woods, raped her then stabbed her to death."
"So, she's luring men in the way she was lured then she kills them."
"Right. According to this, Hatsu was the first but her death cursed the family so now when one of her female ancestors is murdered, that one becomes a Harionago too."
"But, they're still ghosts, right? So, they have to be attached to something."
"Not so much. When a Harionago rises, she's free to stalk men at will. But…" Sam clicked through a few screens. "But, it says that they can be bound to an item with a spell… I don't know why someone would do that…but, if they did, she'd be attached to it just like any ghost."
"So, if you burn the item, you kill the ghost," Dean said. "What if there's no item, how do you kill it?"
"Exorcism. The spell I'm looking at is almost the same as the one for demons."
"Do you have to do it in Japanese?"
Sam stopped. He hadn't thought of that. A moment later he dismissed it. "Shouldn't. I doubt the demons we exorcise speak Latin."
Dean pointed his finger at him. "Good point."
"Kaylee's been feeling its presence," Sam said. "It might be attached to something Rick brought back."
"Why would he do that?"
"Mad at his family, maybe. Or he did something and didn't realize what would happen."
Dean looked away, apparently thinking about that. Headlights flashed across the curtain in the room. Dean walked over to the window and looked out.
"Huh," he said.
"What?" Sam said.
"It's Kaylee. She's parking. Now she's getting the baby."
Sam turned his attention back to the computer. "She was pretty upset about the ghost at the house," he said. "Probably needed to get out of the room."
Dean joined Sam at the table and the two of them worked together hoping to find the Harionago that followed Rick. After a couple of hours, Dean surrendered and settled into his bed, watching television until he fell asleep.
Sam ate cold food while he searched for any deaths similar to the Sullivan's on local news sites. When his eyes grew too heavy to continue, Sam shut down the computer and went to bed.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The next day, Kaylee arrived at their motel room with Rose sitting in a stroller. The diaper bag was tucked in the bottom and Rose was covered up to her chin due to the chilly morning.
When Dean opened the door, he grinned at the box of donuts balanced on the stroller cover.
"Breakfast of champions," Kaylee said. Her eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with dark circles but she gave him a smile anyway.
"Come on in," Dean said. "Sam's at the office buying a newspaper. You have any problems last night?"
"Miracle of miracles, Rose slept straight through, nearly seven hours. It was wonderful."
"Congratulations?" Dean said, not sure how to answer. "But what I meant, was there any weirdness?"
Kaylee rolled her eyes, her cheeks coloring lightly. "Oh, yeah, of course, um, no. Nothing."
"Did you get any sleep?" Dean said.
"Not much. I can't help thinking about the way my parents died. How terrifying it must have been."
Wearing blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt, Kaylee looked younger than she had the night before. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and she wore just a touch of make-up.
"It doesn't help anyone," Dean said. "You or them, by letting your imagination run away. Focus on the good stuff."
He picked up the box of donuts and set it on the dining table then went into the small kitchenette and grabbed some napkins.
When he came back, Kaylee was lifting Rose out of the stroller. Straightening up, she carried the baby to the middle of the floor then shook out a pink blanket with a silk border and set Rose down on her tummy. Rose pushed up with her arms and smiled in Dean's direction.
Kaylee returned to the table. Opening the box of donuts, she chose one covered in glaze. She snatched one of the napkins and set her breakfast on it. Tearing off a small piece, she popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly while her fingers tore off another small piece.
"Dean," she said, turning serious eyes on him. "I don't want to take Rose to the jail. Bill doesn't want her in that place and neither do I."
Chewing on an oversized bite of a chocolate donut, Dean said, "You must know a friend or someone who can watch her."
Sam walked through the door carrying the local paper tucked under his arm and two Styrofoam cups of coffee. He handed one of them to Dean as he greeted Kaylee. Glancing towards the floor, he gave Rose a grin and she gurgled back at him.
"Not really," Kaylee said to Dean. She ate more of the donut and Dean figured at the rate she was consuming it, they'd never get out of the room.
"We don't live in town," she said after swallowing. "Rick can't do it…obviously. My husband is in jail and I can't think of anyone to call."
"What are we talking about?" Sam said.
"She wants you to watch the baby while we're gone," Dean said. "Also, she brought donuts."
Sam's eyes widened as he took a step backward towards the door. "You watch the baby. I'll take her to the jail," he said.
"No, wait," Kaylee said. Her eyes shimmered as she swallowed hard then turned to look at Rose. She dropped the bite of donut on to the napkin. "You know what? I shouldn't have said anything. Rose is young. It's not like she'll remember seeing her father in handcuffs. Forget I mentioned it."
"You can't take her to a jail," Sam and Dean said in unison.
She turned back to them shaking her head. "I don't know what else to do."
"I'll watch her," Dean said. "Sam can take you to see your husband."
"You don't know how to take care of a baby," Sam said.
"I can field strip an automatic and exorcize demons, I'm pretty sure I can handle one infant."
Dean looked at Kaylee. "Can you write out some instructions?" He said.
"Sure, of course," she said, but uncertainty lingered in her eyes.
"Do that," Dean said. He turned back to Sam. "It's going to be fine. She's been laying on that blanket for fifteen minutes and hasn't moved three inches. How hard can it be?"
Sam took a long breath and blew it out slowly.
Kaylee touched Dean's arm. She smiled up at him and he thought she recovered quickly from her teary concern about asking for help.
"I have bottled breast milk. There's plenty of everything in her bag. I'll write down the basics and you have my number so…"
Choosing to ignore that she had probably manipulated him, Dean watched Kaylee walk over to the baby, crouch down beside her and pat her back. Rose made some sounds and Kaylee tickled under the baby's chin. Standing back up, Kaylee tugged the diaper bag free then rifled through it until she came up with a soft looking giraffe. She stroked it across the baby's hand then set it down. Rose touched it and tried to grab it with her fingers.
Kaylee stood back up again. Sitting down at the small table, she started writing on the motel stationary. She finished her donut while she wrote. Dean wolfed down three and finished his coffee. Sam sat on the edge of the bed watching Rose with the intensity he normally reserved for hunting.
Sam said, "So, I didn't get a chance to give you all the details last night."
"Yeah, sorry," Kaylee said. She stopped writing and turned to face him.
Sam explained the Harionago to her, and that Rick probably brought it back. After he finished she grew quiet for a few moments. Dean watched her, looking for signs of a breakdown but it didn't come.
When she finally spoke, she said, "If you know how to kill it then why not just kill it?"
"We have to find out if it's attached to an object," Dean said. "And what that object is."
"If it's bound to something at my parents' house then it was released on them. Who would do that?"
"It could've been an accident," Sam said. "People tend to underestimate the power of things like this. We won't know until I talk to Bill and Rick."
"Bill didn't go to Japan," she said then stopped, probably realizing that she just implicated her brother.
"One thing at a time," Sam said.
Abruptly, she handed Dean the notepad. He guessed she wanted to stop talking about the ghost and her family so he read it through then spent a couple of minutes asking questions.
Kaylee picked Rose up from the floor. She hugged the baby and kissed her on the cheek then asked Dean if he was sure he could watch her.
Stuffing down doubts, he said he was.