Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural nor do I own Sam or Dean. And, well, let's face it, thank god for that. Otherwise, it would probably suck.
Beta: Wingedteen
Defiance
'Thy angels watch me through the night and keep me safe till morning light.' A little girl's prayers are no match for a Shtriga, a powerful witch with terrifying ties to the Winchester brothers' childhoods.
Something Wicked.
They were on the road again, headed to someplace called Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Alex wasn't sure why exactly, but they were. Dean had gotten a text message, pulled out a map and they'd left, Sam looking for something supernatural in the town. Alex had seen the message; all it contained was bunch of numbers.
"Yeah, you probably missed somethin', that's why." Dean argued with Sam, once again. Alex rolled her eyes at them both. While she loved them, she really did, they some times pissed her off to no end.
"Dude, I ran LexisNexis, local police reports, newspapers—I couldn't find a single red flag. Are you sure you got the coordinates right?" Sam maintained his idea the whole trip, and Alex was surprised. She was getting sick of their squabbling. At least she knew what the numbers were for now.
"Yeah, I double-checked. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Look, Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important, Sammy." Dean answered. Alex had long ago learnt to listen to them, finding out more from their arguments then she did from her questions. Their dad, however, was someone she never asked about. Somehow, she knew it was an untouchable subject, one they would close down on her if she so much as mentioned him.
"Well, I'm tellin' you, I looked, and all I could find was a big, steaming pile of nothin'. If Dad's sending us hunting for something, I don't know what." Sam responded. Alex shook her head and went back to lifting the necklace in her hand. She'd written all the information in John's journal down in her own, so, now, she was just trying to master her new gift.
"Well, maybe he's gonna meet us there." Alex perked at the idea, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet the man who cut himself out of his son's lives so completely and utterly.
"Yeah, 'cause he's been so easy to find up to this point." Although Alex never let on about it, she had witnessed Sam searching for any sign of his father on the net many times. She would call it pathetic, but, if she knew who her real dad was, she'd probably be doing the same thing.
"You're a real smartass, you know that? Don't worry, I'm sure there's somethin' in Fitchburg worth killin'." Dean assured them. Alex began sweating, although she wasn't warm. The effort of holding the pendent with her gaze was tiring. She let it fall into her hand and, and clipped it back around her neck, bracing herself for the migraine that she knew was coming.
"Yeah? What makes you so sure?" Sam asked. Alex hissed quietly as something began beating the inside of her head with a bat. Sam shot her a worried glace, telling her that she had hide the fact better next time. She didn't want or need them to be worried about her. Dean, however, hadn't seemed to have heard her, and continued the argument.
"Well, because I'm the oldest, which means I'm always right." Dean improvised.
"No, it doesn't." Alex disagreed. She was the youngest, Sam beating her by a day.
"Yeah, it totally does." Dean grinned at her, happy that she'd joined the family's recreational activity: being annoying. He was glad he'd finally gotten under her skin.
"So, by that reasoning, does that mean that I'm always wrong." Alex knew she was only pressing so hard because her head hurt like hell. She couldn't help it, though.
"Something like that." Dean replied.
"Enough!" Sam told them both, knowing Alex's temper, and the way she was eyeing Dean. If they insulted each other much more, with Alex's headache, temper and abilities, they'd be cleaning up after Dean's body.
They entered the town, and Dean went to get his much needed coffee. At the same time, he'd try find out about what the hell was happening, using all he had at his disposal. Needing to get out of the car, Sam and Alex stood against it, looking opposite ways.
"Do you know the time?" Sam asked. Alex glanced over at him.
"No, why?" Sam glanced at her and shook his head. Alex shrugged at him and went back to watching her side of the car.
"Hey." She called out to Dean when she saw him. Her headache had abated, so she could think, and she knew that Dean was the one with most the knowledge, so she had some sucking up to do. "Anything?" she asked.
"Well, the waitress thinks that the local freemasons are up to somethin' sneaky, but, uh, other than that, nobody's heard about anything weird goin' on." He answered. Alex nodded, not sure what that meant.
"Dean, you got the time?" Sam asked once again. Alex began wondering what his fascination with time was. Dean checked his watch, reading it in a few seconds.
"Ten after four. Why?" he looked over at Sam and Alex did the same, hoping that he would at least answer his brother.
"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam asked instead. Dean and Alex followed Sam's gaze, looking out to a playground. Generally, kids would have flocked to it, running around screaming, playing and having the occasional fight. But, for one reason or another, it was practically empty, save for a small girl and her mother.
"School's over, right?" Alex asked, looking at the wrongly peaceful scene.
"Yeah. So, where is everybody? This place should be crawlin' with kids right now." Sam answered. Memories of her childhood raced through Alex's head, many of them in a playground, sprinting from her sisters.
Dean walked over to the girl's mother, and Alex moved to follow. Sam grabbed the back of her shirt, jerking her to a stop. She sent him a thought of curiosity, and he shook his head at her.
"Let him handle it." he answered.
"It sure is quiet out here." Dean observed as he walked over. The women glanced at him before turning back to her book.
"Yeah, it's a shame." She agreed.
"Why's that?"
"You know, kids getting sick. It's a terrible thing." Dean nodded, agreeing, knowing how parents felt about their kids. After all, he'd practically raised Sam.
"How many?" he asked, wondering if this was just a bad case of the common cold and they were being paranoid, or if this was something they should look into.
"Just five or six, but serious—hospital serious. A lot of parents are getting pretty anxious. They think it's catching."
Dean nodded and watched the girl on the abandoned playground equipment for a few more minutes before walking back to Alex and Sam.
"Now what?" Alex asked, seeing what she had come to name as Dean's hunting face. Dean looked up at them and got into the car.
"Now, we go to the hospital." He answered. They stopped by a copy store to make an ID for Alex. She knew it was annoying Dean a little, but she also knew that she was going to have to get used to the idea of fake IDs and even faker names, judging by the crap the boys had. She felt all wrong as they handed her a fake one, but she knew that she need to do this. They stopped by a few clothes stores to pick up an outfit, which made her look the part more than the jeans and leather jacket she had on.
They changed quickly, Alex pulling on the brown shirt and blue leggings with out complaint. She traded her boots for some ugly white shoes, and pulled a white coat on. She was ready to go. Meanwhile, the boys had jumped into suits, Dean in a black one, white undershirt and a white spotted red tie. Sam however, had a tweed suit, light blue undershirt with squares and a horrid bronze tie.
Alex snickered when she saw them, and they both payed her back in kind. Just before they entered the hospital, Dean gave them their IDs.
"Dude, dude, I am not using this ID." Sam said, looking at it as they walked in. Alex looked at Sam like he was crazy, and sent him the same thing through their link. Sam ignored her, still looking at Dean, so she voiced her confusion.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because it says 'bikini inspector' on it." Sam refused to back down. Alex snickered, laughing along with Dean. They were walking towards the front desk so they knew this conversation was going to be short.
"I guess a guy's gotta have fun somehow." Alex muttered.
"Exactly." Dean agreed. When Sam continued to glare at him he continued. "Well, this is her first time, so Alex can't do it, and I don't particularly want to. Don't worry, she won't look that close. Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence, Sammy." Dean finished the argument by turning Sam to the front desk, leaving him no choice in the matter. Alex followed Dean, and they waited in the middle of the room, watching him.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Kaplan, Centre for Disease Control." Sam said, sounding sure of himself, he smiled like he did it all day.
"Can I see some ID?" the receptionist asked him, as they all knew she would. Dean and Alex struggled not to laugh at him, and Sam sent them both a glare, making it all the harder for them.
"Yeah, of course." He smiled again, this time through gritted teeth. He took the ID out of his jacket and showed her it, pulling it away almost immediately, not wanting to show her the joke his brother had played. "Now, could you direct me to the paediatrics' ward, please?" he asked.
"Okay, just go down that hall, turn left, and up the stairs." Sam smiled at her, before turning a giving Alex and Dean a murderous glare. He was getting sick of being the butt end of the jokes.
"See? I told you it'd work." Dean smiled at Sam. Sam didn't relent, though, glaring at Dean more than Alex. As far as he knew, she might find it funny, but she wouldn't put him in the position herself. He shook his head at his older sibling.
"Follow me. It's upstairs." He muttered, walking off, Alex and Dean following behind him.
As they went, Dean stopped, forcing Alex to pause behind him. She moved to see what he was staring at. A door to one of the rooms was open, but Alex couldn't see what had caught Dean's eye. The only thing remotely interesting in the room was an old lady, seventy or eighty sitting in her wheelchair. The lady turned to give them both a glare, stronger then what you'd expect from a woman that age. She still didn't find what had caught Dean's interest, but from what she knew, it could have been anything.
"Alex, Dean" they both turned their attention to Sam. He jerked his head towards the end of the hall, his meaning clear. Dean moved, allowing Alex to continue following. She gave the room another look, still wondering what had caught Dean's attention, before she followed after Sam knowing she had a part to play.
"Well, thanks for seein' us, Dr. Hydecker." Alex nodded to the man in question as they walked up to him. He tuned to match their pace, obviously wanting to get back to the kids.
"Oh, I'm glad you guys are here. I was just about to call the CDC myself. How'd you find out, anyway?" he asked. With out so much as a second of hesitation, Dean answered.
"Oh, some GP, I forget his name, he called Atlanta, and, uh, must have beat you to the punch."
"So, you say you got six cases so far?" Sam questioned, getting back to business, for both of them: finding out what was wrong with these kids. True, they were going about it in completely different ways, but they were trying to do the same thing.
"Yeah, in five weeks. At first, we thought it was garden-variety bacterial pneumonia—not that newsworthy. But now…" they stopped by a wall made of glass windows. Behind them, they could see kids, obviously very sick, probably in isolation considering their condition.
"What?" Alex questioned. Even with her lack of knowledge, she knew it wasn't good when a Doctor trailed off.
"The kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep goin' down. Their immune systems just aren't doin' their job. It's like their bodies are wearing out." Alex looked at Sam and Dean, raising a brow, before turning back to the doctor.
"Excuse me, Dr. Hydecker." A blond nurse called to him, walking up.
"You ever see anything like this before?" Sam questioned. Alex reframed from looking over eager for this information. She knew she was probably doing a very poor job at role playing a Doctor, especially from the Centre of Disease Control.
"Never this severe." He took the clip board the nurse was holding up to him and signed it.
"The way it spreads—that's a new one for me." the nurse added. Alex's interest jumped up a level, copying her limited sense of hunting.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked. A new way of spreading would be very bad. After all, they already had it by touching, coughing, sneezing, breathing and plain being in the same room. That wasn't including hereditary diseases, either.
"It works its way through families, but only the children—one sibling after another." The nurse answered. Alex shot a look at the brothers she was with, thinking that it might just be because they were closer then the parents. She remembered that she would go to her sisters before her Dad, just because she trusted them more. Her dad was there to teach her how to behave as well as be her Dad. Her sisters would comfort her.
"Do you mind if we interview a few of the kids?" Dean asked, knowing a first hand account could make everything fall into place. It had happened countless times before, and it could happen now.
"They're not conscious." The nurse answered. Alex froze with shock. That really couldn't be good.
"None of them?"
"No."
"Can we, uh—can we talk to the parents?" Dean asked. He knew that wouldn't be as good as the kid's words, but it was probably better then nothing. Or, at least, he hoped it would be. The idea of sick children always seemed worse then adults.
"If you think it'll help." The Doctor agreed.
"Yeah. Who was your most recent admission?" Dean asked. The Doctor nodded, and motioned for them to wait in another hall. He went to a door, knocked on it. Alex only just heard the name he called out to whoever was inside.
"Mr. Tarnower?" there was movement and a man appeared. He talked briefly with Hydecker, before disappearing for a few seconds and emerging again. He walked over to where Alex, Dean and Sam were and sat, looking at them expectantly.
"I should get back to my girls." The man said. Alex nodded and sat next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.
"We understand and really appreciate you talkin' to us. After all, this could help save your kids and all the others." She told him before pulling her hand off. She turned away and bit her lip, hoping she hadn't just over done the sympathy.
"Now, you say Mary's the oldest?" Sam asked, knowing this was a delicate subject, and there was no way in hell that he was just leaving it to Dean. Sure, he knew it was a touchy subject when your child was in hospital, but he didn't really know how to handle it properly. He wasn't sure if Alex did either. She'd probably just sit there and try comforting them. Her idea did help get the information, though. Her instincts on these matters were fairly good.
"Thirteen."
"Okay. And she came down with it first, right? And then…" Sam continued looking for clues as to what was happening.
"Bethany the next night."
"Within twenty-four hours?" Alex asked, slightly amazed. If it was some kind of really dangerous virus, it was fast moving. On one hand, she hoped this thing was supernatural. That way they could stop it from happening to a lot of other children. On the other, she hoped it was normal, because there was no guarantee that getting rid of a supernatural origin would help the kids to recover.
"I guess." The man looked towards the room he'd just come out of. Alex felt for the father. "Look, I already went through all this with the doctor."
"All right, now, just a few more questions, if you don't mind. How do you think they caught pneumonia? Were they out in the cold, anything like that?" Dean asked, getting to the point. He was sick of Alex and Sam skittering around the issue.
"No, we think it was an open window." Mr. Tarnower answered, turning to Dean.
"Both times?" Dean asked ignoring the looks Sam and Alex were giving him. He was fairly sure that the father appreciated the fact that he was getting down to the point. If a window was open, it could mean anything. Something got in, something they needed to kill. Or it could just have gotten too cold.
"The first time, I don't really remember. But the second time, for sure. I know I closed it before I put Bethany to bed."
"So, you think she opened it?" Sam was surprised. Most children weren't as stupid as their parents might have thought.
"It's a second-story window, no ledge. No one else could have." Sam, Dean and Alex looked at each other. Alex was the one to act first, thinking of the poor father.
"Thank you for your time. You've been a great help." She told the man. He hurried back to the room. Alex joined Sam and Dean as they made their way out of the hospital.
"You know, this might be pneumonia, plain and simple." She told Dean. He looked at her and nodded.
"Maybe. Or maybe somethin' opened that window. I don't know. Look, Dad sent us down here for a reason. I think we might be barkin' up the right tree." He answered. Alex rolled her eyes, not understanding why Dean was acting so strange. It was like he would follow the man to his death if he so much as asked. She didn't understand it.
"I'll tell you one thing." Sam interrupted Alex's thoughts
"What?" Dean asked.
"That guy we just talked to? I'm bettin' it'll be a while before he goes home." Sam and Dean shared a look, once again leaving Alex in the dark. Dean pulled out the file for the girl whose dad they'd just seen, and began reading. Alex followed behind them, though, keeping silent, trying to get one of them to explain to her without her asking. Her patience wasn't angelic, however.
"What?" she asked just as they reached the doors. They walked out, moving quickly to the car. They got into their constant companion, and they all quickly changed out of the annoying outfits that they'd been in. Alex ripped the stupid white coat off, and pulled of the shirt. She was still wearing a thin, tight singlet, and she pulled her normal clothes on over that. The pants were a little more difficult, and made her a lot more self conscious, but she pulled off the shoes, and stupid leggings, and tugged her jeans back on. Sam and Dean were changing at the same time, and no one looked at any of the others.
Alex still had no idea what they were doing when they pulled up outside a house. Sam and Dean jumped out, grabbing a few things out of the trunk. Alex followed, and they threw things at her to carry before racing to one of the houses. Dean pulled something out of his pocket, something that looked a bit like a nail filing kit. The instruments inside, however, looked nothing like what Helen had owned, and it finally clicked on what it was when Dean got to work opening the lock.
"We're breaking and entering?" she hissed at them both. They looked at her, Dean's brow raised, questioning her outburst.
"It's not like we didn't do this at the hell house." Dean answered, reminding Alex of their last job, her first hunt.
"That was different. It was an old shack that no one lived in." she hissed back.
"Yeah, well, we did worse there. We could get done for destruction of property." Dean continued at the lock, trying to get them damn thing open.
"It was going to burn down eventually." Alex reminded them. Sam watched them arguing back and forward before stepping in.
"What did you think we were doing when we entered the shack?" Sam asked, getting in the middle of their fight.
"I considered it fact finding." Alex answered. At that moment, Dean heard the lock click, and twisted the handle, pushing the door open.
"Then consider this fact finding." Dean told her, giving her his trade mark smile before disappearing inside. Sam followed after him, and after a second's hesitation, so did Alex. They quickly located the room, and Sam and Dean grabbed the tools out of Alex's hands. She recognised one of them as the EMF reader, but she still had no idea how it worked. They moved quickly around the room, looking for something.
"You got anything over there?" Sam asked after a while. Dean looked at the instrument in his hands and noted that it had absolutely no reaction: no sound at all, no lights.
"No, nothin'." He answered.
"Yeah, me neither." They continued looking, Alex watching. She had no idea what the hell they were doing, but she turned as Sam went to the window. He went to move away, before spinning back, getting her attention immediately. "Hey, Dean?"
"Yeah?" Sam opened the window. He looked down at something, and Alex hurried over to see what it was.
"You were right. It's not pneumonia." Dean looked down at the black handprint, fingers stretched out over the white window. "It's rotted."
"What the hell leaves a handprint like that?" Alex asked. Dean continued to stare at the mark, his mind straying back. He'd seen it before, in a photograph. He fell into the memory, watching in his mind as John came out of the bedroom in their rented space, carrying his bag of weapons.
"All right. You know the drill, Dean. If anybody calls, you don't pick up. If it's me, I'll ring once and then call back. You got that?" he said. He grabbed the photo off the table and placed it into the journal, away from Sam's prying eyes. He took the journal with him, that way Sam would never stumble across it.
"Mmhmm. Don't answer the phone unless it rings once first." Dean responded. He knew this like his own name by now. He'd done it so many times.
"Come on, dude, look alive. This stuff's important." John chided his eldest son.
"I know, it's just—we've gone over it, like, a million times, and you know I'm not stupid." He was far from it, actually. He knew all about what his Dad did, and what was out there, killing people.
"I know you're not. But it only takes one mistake, you got that?" John tried to enforce this on Dean, who nodded. "All right, if I'm not back Sunday night?"
"Call Pastor Jim." Dean knew he could recite this crap in his sleep.
"Lock the doors and windows, close the shades, and most important-"
"Watch out for Sammy." Dean looked at his younger brother. He was still innocent, watching TV. He had no idea about any of this stuff. "I know."
"All right, if somethin' tries to bust in?" John asked the most basic question. He knew he'd drilled it all into him, but he wasn't sure if it would take affect. He sure as hell hoped it would, as it could mean the difference between them living and dieing.
"Shoot first, ask questions later." Dean answered the obvious. John put his hand on Dean's shoulder. He wasn't a very affectionate father, so it was practically a hug.
"That's my man." John left the room, leaving Sam in Dean's hands. Dean quickly locked the door and turned back to his innocent little brother.
Dean pulled himself back to the room, Alex and a twenty-two year old Sam next to him.
"I know why Dad sent us here. He's faced this thing before." Sam was confused at the idea. His dad never left something like that alive. "He wants us to finish the job." Dean clarified. He walked out of the house, Alex and Sam following. He got into the car, throwing the EMF reader in the back for Alex to catch. She placed it down on the seat next to her, happy that she hadn't had to resort to her ability to save the thing from breaking. It'd been close, though.
As they drove, Sam and Alex pushed Dean for information. After racking his brains the whole trip for something safe to tell them, Dean remembered something as he pulling up at motel.
"It's called a Shtriga."
"And what the hell is that?" Alex asked, yet again feeling like she was out of the loop. She had a feeling they'd do this over and over again, and she'd just have to sit back and watch.
"It's kind of like a witch, I think. I don't know much about 'em." Dean said as he decided it was safe. He walked to the trunk to grab a few things, namely a gun.
"Well, I've never heard of it." Sam told him.
"And it's not in your Dad's journal." Alex added. She didn't feel so out of the loop at the fact that Sam had no idea what it was either. It was strange, though, that Dean knew something that Sam didn't. Sam was the research guru.
"Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin about sixteen, seventeen years ago. You were there," he said turning to Sam. "You don't remember?"
"No."
"Yeah, I guess he caught wind that the thing's in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates." Dean seemed to be hiding something, Alex noticed. She didn't know what and she had no idea how she knew, but it was a gut feeling. And after a short time in this world, she'd leant to trust it, no matter what.
"So, wait this…" Sam started, forgetting the thing's name.
"Shtriga."
"Right. You think it's the same one Dad hunted before?" Sam questioned. Alex stayed out of the squabble, knowing it wasn't her place. Dean shut the trunk and walked to the motel reception.
"Yeah, maybe." Dean answered. Alex had no idea why he was pressing so hard.
"But if Dad went after it, why is it still breathing air?" Sam didn't relent. Alex stayed very quiet, trying to put the pieces together about their Dad. It wasn't easy, as they mostly had arguments, scattered here and there.
"'Cause it got away."
"Got away?" Sam seemed incredulous, like it was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard of. Apparently, their dad killed anything he came across.
"Yeah, Sammy, it happens." Dean seemed on edge about having to clarify it, annoyed even.
"Not very often." Sam replied. Alex noted this in her head. Apparently, their dad was like some legendary hunter, one that didn't let things live. Or, at least that's what she made of their comments. Or, and to her, this seemed unlikely, he didn't go hunting often and only hunted something relatively easy. But, from the way the boys acted, and how she imagined they'd been brought up, she was inclined to go with her first idea.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. I mean, maybe Dad didn't have his Wheaties that morning." Dean retorted. Sick of the argument, although she was getting much wanted information, Alex tried to make some kind of temporary peace between the brothers. Or distract them from arguing with each other again.
"Do you remember anything else?" she asked. This was still slightly on topic, and wouldn't be a blunt distraction.
"No, I was a kid, all right?" Dean half yelled at her. She didn't take it personally. He was annoyed, and they didn't like her asking questions. He was still worked up, and disappeared into the reception office by himself. She didn't blame him.
The counter was unattended when he reached it, so, taking notice of the bell in front of him, he rang it. A young boy, twelve or thirteen came out from the back. His hair was long, rivalling Sam's, but it was a muddy blond. His eyes were a light green, matching his shirt.
"King or two queens?" he asked, and Dean could tell he was just reciting what he always asked. Although it wasn't intentional, or at least, he hoped not, Dean glanced outside, looking at Alex and Sam. He didn't really want to have to share with either of them, and was fairly sure the feeling was mutual between them.
"Two queens." Dean answered, smiling. Alex could have the floor again. After all, she was the tag along and didn't seem to mind all that much. The boy looked outside, noticing Sam and Alex. Sam looked up from the notes Alex had handed him when Dean left, and tried to see how the check in was going at that time.
"Yeah, I bet." The boy muttered.
"What'd you say?" Dean warned, sick of the gay jokes. He looked up from where he was writing down the room number and gave Dean something else he'd noticed at his glance through the window.
"Nice car." The boy smiled, a very fake smile, but Dean knew the comment about the car was true. He didn't take offence or try to tell the boy off. That was for his parents. As he thought that, a lady walked in, the door opening loudly. Dean turned to face her and he smiled.
"Hi." She said, smiling back at him.
"Hi."
"Checking in?" she asked. She seemed friendly, if a bit districted.
"Yeah."
"Do me a favour, go get your brother some dinner." She said to the boy.
"I'm helpin' a guest." He complained. The lady, his mother by the look of it, glared at him before rounding the desk. The boy nodded to Dean before heading off. "Two queens." He raised an eyebrow suggestively before walking out the back to do as his mum bid.
"Funny kid." Dean said, hoping to let the lady relax a bit. She smiled at him.
"Oh, yeah, he thinks so. Will that be cash or credit?" was her response to Dean's observation. She was good at this, he noticed. Answering questions and staying on task. He wondered how long she'd been doing this job.
"You take MasterCard?"
"Mmhmm."
"Perfect." He took the said card out of his wallet and placed it on the desk. She took it and went to swipe it while pushing the book towards Dean to sign. He looked up and saw the boy that had just been serving him pouring milk for someone a few years younger. He reminded Dean much of himself, living in motels, growing up and looking out for his younger sibling. The sight made him think back to one of the times he was looking after Sam when he was younger. He'd been nine or ten, he couldn't really remember, and Sam had been five or six.
At the time, Dean had also been pouring milk for Sam. His little brother had gotten hungry, reminding Dean that he needed to feed the youngest.
"When's Dad gonna get back?" Sam asked. He didn't know what their father did, and Dean wanted to keep it that way for a while.
"Tomorrow." Dean put the milk carton down and pushed the cup of milk to Sam before returning to the stove for the requested Spaghetti O's. It wasn't the oldest's favourite kind of food, but it was what they had at the time.
"When?" Sam asked. Dean spooned the food into Sam's bowl, forcing down the repulsive shiver that had made itself known at the sight of it.
"I don't know. He usually comes in late, though. Now, eat your dinner." Dean hoped that it was enough information for Sam and he'd stop asking questions. He wasn't sure though.
"I'm sick of Scabetti O's." Sam said, looking at his bowl. Dean was happy that he'd dropped the subject now, but he wasn't sue he liked the turn it'd taken.
"Well, you're the one who wanted 'em." Dean was surprised and annoyed now. He'd wanted them five minutes ago, and now he didn't? It was enough to drive any kid up the wall.
"I want Lucky Charms." Sam responded. Dean had a sinking feeling in his gut.
"There's no more Lucky Charms." He told Sam. He was lying, but it wasn't fair. Sam had eaten nearly the whole thing and he had to give him what he wanted?
"I saw the box." Sam knew what he was talking about. There was more of the marshmallow-y goodness left.
"Okay, maybe there is, but there's only enough left for one bowl, and I haven't had any yet." Sam looked pleadingly at Dean, his face going sad. Feeling slightly guilty at his outburst, Dean walked over and grabbed the bowl of spaghetti O's. Knowing that they wouldn't be any good in the morning, and having no inclination to eat them himself, he chucked them into the bin and snatched up the box of charms. In his other hand, he grabbed a fresh bowl and slammed them both on the table in front of Sam. Sam looked inside the box and pulled what he was looking for out of the box.
"Do you want the prize?" Sam asked, eyes shining in hope his brother wouldn't be mad.
"Sir?" the lady held his card out to Dean, and he blinked away the memory. Now wasn't the time for it. He took the card out of her waiting hand, giving her a smile.
"Thanks." He took another form from her, signed it, and took the offered key. His gaze still flickered to the young boy that reminded him of him. Dean headed out to where Alex and Sam were waiting for him, and drove the Impala closer to their room.
Alex quickly claimed a piece of the floor for her bed before searching the books for a Shtriga. Sam settled himself on his own bed and began to research as well, using a satellite internet deal he'd made back at Stanford. After a while, Dean got himself a coffee, tired from reading the books they had in search of a kind of witch.
"Well, you were right. It wasn't very easy to find, but you were right. A Shtriga is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about 'em date back to ancient Rome. They feed off of spiritus vitae." Sam said finally. Alex sighed as she gladly peeled her eyes away from the folk lore books she'd been assigned to. If she had to read one more page, her brain would turn to mush.
"Spiri-what?" Dean asked. Alex silently agreed with him. She'd just read half a book and wasn't up to playing twenty questions right now.
"Vitae. It's Latin—it translates to 'breath of life'." Sam answered as he read it off the computer. They could read and understand basic Latin, but they didn't know every word. After all, it was supposedly a dead language.
"Like your soul or life force?" Alex asked. She'd heard the phrase before, somewhere, and knew it wasn't an exact term.
"Yeah."
"Didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were wearin' out?" Dean added. There was that, too. Alex remembered that the Doctor had mentioned something like it.
"There's an idea. Most things say that it's impossible to live without it, so maybe their bodies are slowly dieing, and the cells aren't able to duplicate themselves fast enough. Then pneumonia sets in." Alex summarised what they were all thinking. Sam and Dean gave her an odd look that she ignored, not knowing what it was about.
"Anyway," Sam continued the discussion, "Shtrigas can feed off anyone, but they prefer-"
"Children." Dean finished the sentence. Sam and Alex shot each other a feeling of annoyance, knowing what the other meant. He'd said he couldn't remember anything else.
"Yeah. Probably because they have stronger life force. And get this—Shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man." Sam once again read from the website.
"No. That's not right. She's vulnerable when she feeds." Dean said. Alex and Sam turned to look at him, and Alex voiced her confusion.
"What?" she asked, keeping her exasperation out of her voice. It wouldn't help anyone if Dean was annoyed as well.
"If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought irons, buckshot's, or rounds, I think." Dean expanded his answer. Sam and Alex shared a glance when Dean's back was turned. Sam was shocked at Dean's answer. He'd never expected Dean to lie to him. Alex was just annoyed. Couldn't he see that it was a stupid idea?
"How do you know that?" Sam asked, showing his slight feeling of betrayal. Alex looked at him, and tried to give him some comfort through their link.
"Dad told me. I remember." Dean replied, not noticing the emotion in Sam's voice.
"Did he mention anything else?" Alex hissed at Dean.
"No. That's it." Dean answered, nonchalantly. He looked up at them, and noticed their stares. Alex knew he was lying at worst and omitting at best. "What?"
"Nothin'." Alex answered. She turned to Sam, who got off his bed and went for a cup of coffee.
"Okay, so, assuming we can kill it when it eats, we still gotta find the thing first, which ain't gonna be a cakewalk. Shtrigas take on a human disguise when they're not hunting." Sam continued talking like there was absolutely nothing wrong, something Alex knew was hard. If they were lying, it'd be a bitch to find out.
"What kind of human disguise?" Dean responded, trying to find out about this hunt. Not that research was his favourite part. Far from it actually. He much preferred the hands-on parts.
"Historically, something innocuous—it could be anything. But it's usually a feeble old woman, which may be how the whole witches-as-old-crones legend got started." Dean looked at Sam with interest before rushing to his bag sitting on the end off his bed.
"Hang on." He pulled out a map and spread it across the table. Alex got up and joined him in staring at the map, not sure what she was looking at.
"What?"
"Check this out." Sam moved over to look at the map. Three houses had red crosses on them, obviously drawn on by Dean. He ran his finger around them, in an arch. "I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now, these are the houses that have been hit so far, and dead centre?" he was talking to Sam, that was obvious, but Alex answered, just to remind him she was there.
"The hospital." She said.
"The hospital." Dean voice almost overlapped hers. "When we were there, I saw a patient—an old woman." Alex remembered the women. He'd stopped to look in the room. She still didn't know why, and she wasn't following his train of thought, either.
"An old person, huh?" Sam asked. He sounded half serious, which was better then Alex would have managed.
"Yeah." Dean answered, looking weirdly at Sam. Alex smiled at him, silently encouraging him to go on.
"In the hospital? Whew. Better call the coast guard." Sam laughed and Alex joined him, nudging Dean because he didn't seem to get the joke.
"Well, listen, smartass, she had an inverted cross hangin' on her wall." Sam's smile faded, and Alex looked at him in confusion.
"So what?"
"As a general rule, the inverted cross means that which is evil." Dean told her. She thought back to the old lady's room, and the cross, seeing it with new meaning.
They didn't have to sneak into the hospital. They just walked in and strolled down the halls. No one really took any notice of them, just paid attention to their own business. They did, however try not to draw attention to themselves, making it look like they were supposed to be there.
"Good night, Dr. Hydecker." Betty, the nurse said. They all froze, and turned around, hoping he wouldn't look at them and recognise them as the 'CDC'.
"See you tomorrow, Betty."
"Try to get some sleep." The doctor walked past Dean, Sam and Alex into another hall, and they waited for the pretty nurse to leave the hall as well before moving on. Using Sam's memory, they found the room that Dean had seen the inverted cross on. Dean took his gun out and Alex did the same, knowing the boys as she did that Sam was more cautious than Dean when it came to discovery. Sam looked at them strangely, before Dean twitched his gun, telling Sam to open the door.
They slipped in almost silently, Sam closing the door behind them. Dean went to stand next to the old woman, while Alex and Sam, who had pulled out his own gun, covered her from behind. Once they were all in place, Dean leaned closer to her, and she didn't move. He looked at her, taking in her white hair and cloudy grey eyes. They were open, for what ever reason. He'd heard stories of people going to sleep with their eyes open.
"Who the hell are you?" the old women asked suddenly, turning to face Dean. He jumped and stumbled back, hitting a cupboard on the floor. He quickly sat on it, his legs momentarily unable to support him. Sam and Alex started, but not as badly as Dean. They all lowered their guns. "Who's there?" Alex moved to the door and turned the light on. "You tryin' to steal my stuff? They're always stealin' around here."
"No, ma'am, we're maintenance. We're sorry, we thought you were sleepin'." Sam tried to assure the woman. Dean rubbed his hand down his face, trying to calm down. Alex looked over at Dean, trying to gauge whether or not he was well enough to talk.
"Oh, nonsense. I was sleepin' with my peepers open!" the old woman laughed, and Alex suppressed a shudder at the noise. It was very creepy, and may haunt her for the rest of f life. "And fix that crucifix, would ya? I've asked four damn times already." Dean turned around and tapped the top of the cross. It swung down into the normal position. He turned to Sam and Alex and jerked his head, as a 'huh' gesture.
They headed back to the motel, and although it went against what she'd done her whole life, as she'd been quite a night owl, Alex fell asleep, preserving her strength. Sam noticed the change from her habits although Alex didn't. It was strange that she'd fallen into the motions of a hunter so quickly and easily. And that she seemed to fit with him and Dean.