Wicked Intent
Coffeemaniac
Warnings: Suggestive situations, Violence
Season 1
Set between The Benders and Shadow
This is the final chapter. Thank you to all those who are reading, especially those who sent reviews.
No vehicles rested on the street or in the driveway of the small house, but Dean had knocked and rang the bell at the front door to make sure no one was home. Then he headed down the side yard towards the back.
The house was surrounded by a fence. He had to unsnap the baby carrier from the stroller, with Rose inside, then drop it on the other side of a locked gate, holding his breath when it thumped softly on to the ground. Rose didn't wake. Picking up the stroller, he dropped that over next then he followed, landing neatly beside the baby.
He fitted the carrier back in the stroller then pushed it across the brick walk and on to the back porch. Carefully and quietly he picked the lock with Rose snoring softly beside him. He felt the click as the tumblers dropped and pushed the door open.
He rolled the stroller into a nice, recently painted kitchen then started searching the cupboards for salt. His meager supply would not be enough to make a proper circle.
Dean opened cabinet doors and was happy to find a large bag of rock salt, probably for use in dissolving ice during the frigid winters. He shoved the kitchen table out of the way then started making a circle that would contain him and the baby. The stroller would need to be outside the protected area since anything inside could be ghost-nip.
The air grew noticeably colder and the curtains above the kitchen window billowed outward. The cloying smell of licorice started building around them.
Dean cursed. The granules started to shift in the new breeze. He worked faster. Just as he closed the circle, the back door slammed shut. Dean reached into the stroller and stripped off the cotton, one piece thing that Rose wore, leaving only her diaper on. She complained with a gurgle and clenched fists. He scooped her up and brought her into the circle. Setting her down on her back on the kitchen tile, he turned in a full circle, looking for the Harionago.
She remained invisible but the kitchen cabinets clattered wildly, and one of the drawers flew open. Adrenaline rushed through Dean, his heart beat in time with the cupboards. He shook off his over shirt and dropped it the middle of the floor. Continuing to scan the room, he moved Rose off the cold tile and on to his shirt. He covered her from head to foot, determined to keep her safe from breaking glass and splinters.
Sliding the gun and the iron rod out of the stroller basket, he backed himself inside the circle, set the rod on the floor and hoisted the shotgun.
A moment later the ghost appeared, shimmering near the stroller then taking shape. Her long hair curled into razors and scissors and knives. She bared her teeth with a hiss that sent tendrils of smoke spiraling upward. Dean fired the shotgun into her and the Harionago evaporated with a scream.
His cell phone rang. Ignoring it, he turned in a slow circle, waiting for the ghost to appear again. She burst back into view, hovering near the stroller, her lips pulled back into a snarl while her lethal hair snapped and clicked, lunging towards Dean but not crossing the salt line. His phone fell silent then immediately started ringing again. He fumbled it out of his pocket, bracing his feet on either side of the baby.
The ghost appeared again with stark white skin and pale lips. Spit dribbled from inside her blackened mouth. Razors danced from the tips of her hair. Dean fired, the ghost puffed into smoke. The breeze grew colder as he watched the salt line tremble.
Swearing again, he managed to press the speaker button with his thumb.
"Dean," Sam's voice called out.
"It's here." Dean said. The Harionago snarled loudly. Dean thought her hair grew longer with more clanking, deadly blades. His stomach turned at the overpowering stench of star anise. He fired again.
"The blanket, the green blanket," Sam said. "That's the object."
"Where are you?"
"On my way. Did you make a circle? Are you in it?"
"Yes, but, it's…"
"Stay in the circle. I'm on my way."
Dean reloaded. The Harionago hissed from behind him. Spinning, he fired but she moved and he missed. He fired again, catching her center mass this time, and she evaporated. In the space of a heartbeat she appeared again. Dean cursed as he reloaded.
The salt line was deteriorating quickly so it was just a matter of time before she crossed inside. He needed to get to the blanket. It was laying enticingly close on the floor by the stroller. Closing his eyes, he took a breath then glanced at the baby. Rose had shimmied his shirt off her face. She stared up at him, not crying but watching.
Dean dropped the shotgun and picked up the iron rod. He needed to be standing over Rose to safely use the gun.
Just as stepped out of the circle, the Harionago leaped at him. Razors swiped through his shirt, leaving bloody scratches down his arm. He barely felt it as he somersaulted around her. Landing a foot away, he rolled to his feet. Swinging the club, the iron swept her away. He dove towards the stroller and grabbed the blanket. The ghost's bladed hair jabbed into his shoulder. Dean shuffled backward, yelling out in anger with pain burning down his arm as she drove closer to him.
He swung the rod again. She screamed as she disappeared. He fumbled for his lighter, flicking it once, twice. She came back, her vicious weapons uncoiling like snakes. Another knife lunged, tearing open his shirt and nicking his side. Dean worked the lighter, glad when it flared to life. He set it against the corner of the blanket. An unwelcome thought strayed through his brain, 'is it fire retardant?". A moment lighter, the material lit. The Harionago screeched, angry and offended, as she struck out with all her locks. Dean dove away, landing with a jarring thud as he watched the flames lick across her wretched body.
"Sayonara," he said as she disappeared. He dropped on to his back, sighing as adrenaline still pumped through him.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Sam slammed the Impala into park before jumping out, running the short distance to the front door and bursting inside of the "for sale" house. He ran through the living room, around a jutting wall and into the kitchen. Sam's breath caught when he saw Dean sitting in the middle of a destroyed salt circle with Rose squalling in his arms. Blood dripped from his side and shoulder. His eyes were slits.
"She's okay," Dean said, his voice strained.
"What about the Harionago?" Sam said to Dean.
"Gone. You were right about the blanket."
"Come on," Sam said to Dean. "Let's get you fixed up."
Sam took the baby and set her inside the stroller. She was sleeping peacefully as if being wrapped in flannel and huddling in a salt circle was normal. He wondered if she'd notice her mother was gone.
"Where's Kaylee?" Dean said.
"Dead," Sam said.
"What? Why? Did you?"
Sam shook his head. "She's the one who bound the Harionago to the blanket. Rick shot her."
"How did that happen? You know what…tell me outside."
Going to the Impala, Dean settled heavily into the passenger seat and Sam spent a few minutes putting some bandages in place to stop the bleeding while he told him about the events at Rick's apartment. After he finished, Dean seemed dumbfounded.
"Let's get back to the motel," Sam said to Dean. "You're going to need stitches for the shoulder. Probably for your arm too."
Following Dean's directions, Sam disconnected the seat of the stroller and buckled it into the car. Apparently, it acted as a car seat too.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Dean drank beer while Sam stitched up his ripped open shoulder. Complaining throughout, Dean watched him push the needle through his skin. Three beers later, the job was done. They agreed bandages would suffice for the rest of the gouges he received from the Harionago, including his forearm.
"We should've trusted our instincts," Sam said. "Kaylee tracking us down like that, tossing the baby into the mix, we should've known."
"She manipulated us, no getting around that."
"She was pretty batshit crazy at the end."
"Kind of have to be if you think summoning a ghost to kill your parents is the best way to go."
Sam settled on to the edge of the bed opposite from Dean. He cradled Rose in one arm while he fed her a bottle. Melancholy washed over him as he stared down at the motherless infant.
"I wish she hadn't been," he said. "Rose depended on her and she just threw it away for nothing."
"She made some bad choices. I don't think she thought it would get her killed."
"I did not see that coming," Sam admitted.
Dean chuckled. "Neither did she."
The sound of Rose sucking on the bottle was the only noise for a few minutes. Then Dean announced that he was hungry. Sam winced inwardly when he noticed how pale and unhappy his brother looked.
"I'll go if you want to babysit," Sam said. "What sounds good?"
With no segue, Dean nodded towards Rose, "What are we going to do about her?"
"This," Sam said. He took his phone out, scrolled through a search and came up with the phone number for the Cherry Lane Police Department.
After getting put on hold and speaking with a receptionist then Officer Haskett, Sam was finally connected to the Chief. He already knew about Kaylee and had told Bill about it.
"I have Rose with me," Sam said. "We were babysitting. What's going to happen next?"
"We're releasing Houston in the morning. Rick Sullivan confessed to killing his sister and said that the two of them planned the murder of his parents."
"He did?"
"Still not sure I believe all of it but a confession is a confession."
Dean looked up and Sam gave him a surprised look.
"So, what about the baby?"
"Give me your address and I'll send Child Services over to pick her up."
Sam hesitated, hating the idea of turning Rose over to strangers.
"It's not a gulag, Winchester. They'll take good care of her."
"Yeah, okay," Sam said. He gave the address of the motel and disconnected.
After relating the information to Dean, the two of them sat silently for a moment while Dean burped Rose. She spit up on the towel he had draped over his shoulder. Groaning, he wiped her mouth off and handed her to Sam.
"It's better this way," Dean said. "We need to blow town, get back to looking for Dad."
Sam exchanged a look with his brother. Dean was right. The need to find what killed Jess and his mother burned as strongly as ever. By morning, Rose would be safely with her father, he and Dean would be on the road and Kaylee would become a distant, unpleasant memory.