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.
Somewhat Evil- (Something Wicked II)
Alex woke first. Knowing the other two hunters, she silently slipped into the kitchen and began to make coffee for them. Not needing it herself, she let the aroma waft through the room, and woke Sam and Dean without the need for a wrestling match. They both gratefully accepted their cups, and Alex saw it as an improvement that they didn't pour it in the sink for fear of it being poisoned.
As the boys sat and sipped their morning drink, no one said anything. The thing that ended up breaking the silence happened to be Dean's stomach. Sam and Alex looked over at him and smiled. Everyone knew what they were going to do now, and headed off for something that would pass as breakfast.
As they drove back, the talk changed to Dean and his hordes of women. Alex knew what Dean was like, and she knew he was proud of it. She also knew he was cocky and arrogant, so she decided to have an argument for the fun of it. Eventually, like she knew it would, the argument turned to the old lady they'd met the night before.
When they pulled up outside the motel, Sam and Alex were laughing their heads off.
"'I was sleepin' with my peepers open'?" Sam cried as he got out of the car before continuing to laugh. Alex joined him, not really listening to Dean's responses anymore.
"I almost smoked that old gal, I swear. It's not funny." Dean replied to the, sick of their collective laughter at his expense. You'd think it'd die down after a while, but apparently that wasn't happening.
"Oh, man, you should've seen your face, Dean." Sam cried again. He pulled the room's keys out of his pocket and began to unlock the door.
"Yeah, well, laugh it up, guys. We're back to square one." Dean shook his head. As he did so, he noticed the young boy, the one that had reminded him of himself sitting outside the motel reception. Strangely, he was sitting still, not even fidgeting, and he was slumped in his seat, as though something had beaten him. "Hang on." Caught by Dean's tone, Alex and Sam stopped laughing and followed his gaze to the young boy. When Dean started walking towards him, they weren't far behind.
As they reached him, they could tell the young blonde was crying. His face wasn't littered with tears but he had that look about him, one that said that the world had crashed around his head. "Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asked once he'd crouched to the boy's level. He looked over at them, and his face held a deep sadness that didn't belong on one so young.
"My brother's sick."
"The little guy?" Dean asked. He knew how the boy felt. Sam had been sick enough times, and he'd always stayed by his side, looking after him.
"Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault." That feeling Dean knew as well. But, he'd learnt not to beat himself up about it too much. Then Sam would worry and it'd be his fault all over again.
"Oh, come on, how?" he wanted to show the boy that this wasn't his slip, that he couldn't blame himself for every little thing that happened.
"I should've made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched." Dean listened to the young boy and glanced at Sam as he spoke. Yes, he knew what it was like to think something like that was his mistake. But there was always a difference from when it was his slip-up and when he just felt like it was.
"Listen to me. I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?" Dean told the young boy, knowing it probably wouldn't help, but trying it anyway. He didn't want the boy blaming himself for something he couldn't prevent.
"It's my job to look after him." Dean nodded, understanding the boy's pain and wanting to do something to help. He also understood that nothing but his brother getting better would make a difference to him. Sam watched Dean, knowing how protective he was. Alex observed from behind, noticing the similarities between Dean and the boy. She looked up as she heard the door open and the boy's mother walked out. She was holding a bear, pillow and blanket, and was obviously in a rush, worried about her youngest.
"Michael." She walked to her car and threw in the items. They followed the boy, Michael, to his mum as she rushed to get to her son. "I want you to turn on the 'No Vacancy' sign while I'm gone. I've got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with any of the rooms." She told him, her voice shaking as she suppressed her tears.
"I'm going with you." Michael demanded, his guilt showing all too plainly to everyone but his mother.
"Not now, Michael."
"But I gotta see Asher!" when his mother ignored him, Dean stepped forward, trying to help the mother and her son cope. It was one of the only things he could do right now, and he wanted to help them, even if it wasn't much.
"Hey, Michael. Hey, I know how you feel, okay? I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mum right now, okay?" Michael nodded, somehow seeming to recognize someone else that had been through the same thing he was. Unknown to him, though, those things hadn't been sickness, it had been broken bones and skin. As Michael's mother closed her car door, her purse fell out of her grasp.
"Dammit!" she cried. Alex hurried forward and picked it up, knowing that a girl's personals were in there, not that she'd had one herself. She just put everything into her pockets or a backpack.
"Here." Alex handed the purse back to its owner, not looking at the contents.
"Thanks."
"Hey, listen, you're in no condition to drive. Why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital, huh?" Dean asked as the purse exchanged hands. He knew that in her distracted condition, it would be dangerous for anyone on the road near her.
"No, I couldn't possibly-" she began, but Dean, knowing when to press people interrupted.
"No, it's no trouble. I insist." He held out his hand, expectantly, and after a moment's thought, she handed the keys to the kind stranger. Something about him made him seem trustworthy.
"Thanks." She moved to her son and leaned down, kissing his forehead. Michael was still sad and angry about not being able to go and guilty it had happened in the first place. "Be good." His mother got into the car and Dean closed the door behind her, glad he could help someone, even though it wasn't the kid. He leaned in, closer to Sam and Alex, not wanting the family to over hear him.
"We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?" Dean growled. Neither Sam nor Alex took his tone to heart. They both knew he was just feeling for the family, trying to get them to live as happy a life as possible. As Dean pulled the woman's car out, Alex turned to Sam.
"So, where do we go now?" she asked. Sam just looked at her, rasing his brow. Alex sighed. "Oh, god, please no." never-the-less, Alex followed Sam to the Impala, and watched as they pulled up outside A.W. Stowe Public Library. She groaned inwardly as the sight. After the first hunt, libraries had taken a new meaning to her. It meant a few long hours of bloody research, reading and looking over things.
After twenty minutes, she'd found a few books that looked promising, and began to read, not quite sure what exactly they were trying to find. After an hour, Sam made sure she was looking at the right things and went to the computer, like normal. After another half hour of looking for more information on Shtrigas, Alex began to try hunt it back from where Dean had mentioned it. After a few tries, Alex realised that it popped up some place every fifteen to twenty years. And it stayed there for a few months.
She didn't see the point of it, but she searched for the Shtriga right back until there was no more records. After that, she left it to Sam, and rested her head on the book, swinging her necklace back and forth in front of her face, like she was trying to hypnotize herself. Sam wasn't sure if the pendent was following her eyes or her eyes following the pendent.
Sam picked his phone up after a few hours and nudged her arm to get her attention. She looked up, and nodded, sliding the book she'd written her findings down in across the table.
"Hey." Dean picked up on the other line. He'd stayed with the boy and his mum though all this, wanting to help where he could.
"Hey. How's the kid?" Sam asked quietly. He didn't especially want everyone in here to listen in to his conversation. Alex was listening to the one side of the conversation she could hear, trying to fill in the blanks.
"He's not good. Where you at?"
"At the library, tryin' to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga." Sam answered, trying not to laugh at the waves of hate he could feel pouring off Alex at the mention of the building's name.
"Yeah? What do you got?"
"Well, bad news. I," Sam froze as he remembered what had happened last time he'd taken all the credit for something Alex had helped with. She hadn't put the itching powder in his boxers, but she hadn't mentioned anything about them either. "We started with Fort Douglas, around the time you said Dad was there."
"And?"
"Same deal. Before that, there was Ogdenville. Before that, North Haverbrook and Brockway. Every fifteen to twenty years, it hits a new town. Dean, this thing is just gettin' started in Fitchburg. In all these other places, it goes on for months—dozens of kids, before the Shtriga finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas, and then they die."
"How far back does this thing go?" Dean was holding back tears now. He couldn't believe the destruction this thing left in its wake.
"I don't know. The earliest mention I could find was this place called Black River Falls back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show." Sam moved back though the issue of The Fitchburg Chronicle he'd been reading as he talked. The front page came up and Sam froze on it. "Whoa."
"Sam?" Alex looked over at Sam's muted exclamation. He tapped the screen with the picture on it before pointing out the date. Alex got out of her chair and walked out of the library, probably so she could scream a few profanities, and maybe take her anger out on something other than a book or human.
"Hold on. I'm lookin' at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the doctors is Hydecker."
"And?"
"And this picture was taken in 1893."
"You sure?" the sound of a single, far off gunshot reached Sam's ears.
"Judging by Alex's reaction? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely." Not able to stay on the phone, Dean snapped it shut before turning back to the family. Doctor Hydecker was there as well, hand on Asher's head as he talked to the boy's mother. He got up and walked over to Michael's mum, trying to comfort her.
"Don't worry. Your son's in good hands. I'm gonna take care of him." He told her before walking over to Dean. "So, what's the CDC come up with so far?"
"Well, we're still workin' on a few theories. You'll know something as soon as we do." As Dean didn't have a gun or knife on him, it took all he had not to start using the 'Doctor' as a punching bag.
"Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids." The thing that pissed Dean off even more was that he still looked and sounded sincere. In a way, though, he was telling the truth. The most important thing to a Shtriga is feeding time.
"Mm."
"Just let me know if I can help." the Doctor walked away, completely at ease.
"I'll do that."
Once Dean hung up, Sam collected the few things he'd brought with him and went to look for Alex. It wasn't too hard. He walked around the back of the library, and found her walking up the street. He waited for her to reach him before walking back to the car. Sam needed to get Dean before he did something stupid, like Alex just did. At least she'd had enough sense to try get away from people.
He made Alex stay in the car, knowing her hidden belt would be packed. She had a silver knife on it, a proper one -courtesy of Dean-, nun-chucks and a gun. Her anger was still in full throttle as well, so he wasn't entirely sure if she wouldn't strike out at someone innocent.
Once he'd dragged both Dean and Alex back to their room, he took the belt off the livid girl. She was still dangerous, sure, but now she wouldn't be able to take out the wall.
"A friggin' Doctor!" Alex hissed. She was seething. Sam and Dean had learnt not to let their anger rule them, as they made stupid decisions when they were under it. Like Alex was doing now.
"We should have thought of this before. A doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted, you can control the whole thing." Sam summarised what they were all thinking. Well, the small part of them that was thinking. He sent Alex a feeling of calm, hard as it was to dredge up out of himself. She held onto it, drawing strength from the tiny comfort.
"Huh. That son of a bitch." Dean growled, getting up from his chair and pulling his jacket off.
"I thought you'd have drawn on him." Alex said from her place on the floor. She was glaring at the wall, and Sam was half surprised it didn't burst into flames from the intensity of her stare.
"Yeah, well, first of all, I'm not gonna open fire in a freakin' paediatrics ward." Dean growled. Alex was calming, slowly: Dean talking like this was helping. Sam pushed Dean on, trying to get Alex's emotions back to a safer level. The image of her sister pinned on the wall by Alex's gaze was stuck in Sam's mind.
"Good call."
"Second, it wouldn't have done any good because the bastard's bullet proof unless he's chowin' down on somethin'. And third, I wasn't packin', which is probably a really good thing 'cause I probably would've just burned a clip in him off of principle alone." As he spoke, Dean paced around the small room.
"Gettin' wise in your old age, Dean." Sam complemented, not really sure what Dean would have done if he did have his gun on him.
"Damn right. So now I know how we're gonna get it."
"The hell are you talkin' 'bout?" Alex asked from her spot on the floor. She'd almost completely calmed down by now, and Sam decided he didn't have to watch out for any uncontrolled telekinesis.
"This Shtriga—it works through siblings, right?" Alex wasn't sure she liked the way this was going. Dean seemed almost excited about this.
"Right." Sam agreed. Sam didn't like it anymore than Alex did. He was used to Dean coming up with all kinds of crazy plans, but he wasn't sure that this one was going to be any good.
"Well, last night…" Dean trailed off, letting Sam and Alex finish the sentence.
"It took Asher." Alex finished. She saw where he was going, and she didn't like it, not at all.
"So I'm thinkin' tonight, it's probably gonna come after Michael." Dean confirmed her suspicions. She really didn't like the idea, but maybe, just maybe, it was one they should go with. She wasn't sure which side to take, though.
"Then, we gotta get him outta here." Sam voiced her first instinct. She really didn't like the idea of putting a kid in the line of fire. Alex decided to let the argument unfold, and take the side that she thought was the better one after.
"No. No, that'd blow the whole deal." Dean didn't seem to see anything wrong with the idea.
"What?" Sam didn't believe it. He couldn't see the other side just yet. Alex remembered Dean saying something about the only way to kill it was to shoot it when it was feeding. Still, she wasn't able to pick a side, her maternal instincts screaming at her to take the kid out of the firing line.
"Yeah."
"Then you wanna use the kid as bait?" Dean ducked his head in agreement. Alex noticed he didn't seem too happy about it and realised that he'd come to terms with the idea. He knew it was dangerous, but it may have been their only chance. "Are you nuts? No! Forget it, that's out of the question."
"It's not out of the question, Sam, it's the only way. If this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance." That was when Alex made her mind up. She agreed with Dean. While her maternal instincts told her it was wrong, common sense told her that even if the kid died, he would have saved a lot of others.
"Michael's a kid. And I'm not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook." Alex was about to jump in and defend Dean when he slipped up.
"Dad did not send me here to walk away." Dean yelled.
"Send you here? He didn't send you here, he sent us here." Alex once again stopped herself from getting in the middle of the fight. If anyone could get Dean to crack out of his shell, it was Sam.
"This isn't about you, Sam!" Dean turned away from Sam, and Alex moved into a more inconspicuous position, so it seemed like he was just talking to Sam. She knew it would be hard enough for him to confess to Sam, let alone to Sam and her. "All right, I'm the one that screwed up. It's my fault. There's no tellin' how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."
"What are you saying, Dean? How is it your fault?" Dean froze as he realised he'd said too much, knowing he'd now have to explain it to Sam. He really didn't like the idea. Sam sighed before going on, realising Dean wasn't going to say anything for a while. "Dean, you've been hiding something from the get-go. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away?" Dean sat down, and looked at his hands, ashamed of what had happened. "Now, talk to me, man. Tell me what's goin' on."
"Fort Douglas, Wisconsin." The room was silent as Dean began to tell his tale. Alex and Sam shared a look, and Alex moved a bit, knowing that now Dean was telling them, it wouldn't make a difference if she put a chicken costume on with a grass skirt and break danced to Britney Spears. All that would achieve would be to embarrass her.
"It was the third night in this crap room, and I was climbin' the walls, man. I needed to get some air." Dean was once again lost to his memories. He was vaguely aware that he was still talking, but he was mostly reliving the night. He remembered the over powering need to just get out, the near claustrophobia that had driven him.
He'd scanned the channels for something good, anything to take his mind off where he was. There was nothing. He couldn't sleep, not full of energy the way he was. So he slipped out of the room, pausing to check on Sam and lock the door.
He headed to the reception offiice where he'd seen an arcade game. It would be perfect, he thought. He was on it for a while, though he wasn't sure how much time had passed. The game kept him busy, and he was thankful that it chased away most of the energy that had built up.
"Kid." Dean turned to look at the keeper, not sure how long he'd been standing there. It was confusing; he'd lost all sense of time as he played. "We're closin' up."
He walked back to the room, unlocking the door. As he turned, he immediately knew something was wrong. There was a light from the room where he'd last seen Sam. The door was slightly ajar, and he'd left it wide open when he left. He silently walked over and pushed the door out of the way. Sam was there, but so was something else.
It had Sam lying on the bed, and it was crouched over him, covered in a brown cloak. He knew it was doing something to his little brother- his responsibility- by the white light that filled its mouth. He quietly grabbed the rifle that his dad had left for situations like this and pulled it up to aim it at the thing's head. He cocked the gun, and the noise made the thing aware of him. It lifted its head and growled at Dean.
The door slamming made Dean aware of someone else in the room. He didn't know who it was, but he watched the other thing, the more prominent threat to Sam.
"Get out of the way!" Dean recognised the voice as his dad's and moved quickly to one side of the door. John shot at the thing, and it reacted to the hits, but it didn't die. It raced out of the room, crashing through the window. Once it had disappeared from sight, and the gun was empty of bullets, he rushed over to his youngest son.
"Sammy. Sammy. Sammy! Are you okay?" he quickly pulled Sam into a sitting position on his arm. Sam woke, not understanding why there was such a fuss.
"Dad, what's goin' on?" Sam asked, still sleepy, having just woken to the sound of his dad's voice.
"You all right?" John hugged Sam close, his voce soft and worried. Dean, alerted by the absence of gunfire, moved into the room, carefully, wanting to see for himself that Sam was ok. "What happened?" John's voice went immediately from caring to his normal tone, demanding and slightly cold.
"I-I just went out." Dean wanted his dad to understand. But, apparently that was too much to ask for.
"What?" John asked, sharp and horrified.
"J-just for a second." Dean ducked his head in shame, knowing that there was really no excuse. "I'm sorry."
"I told you not to leave this room. I told you not to let him out of your sight!" John held Sam close, crying as Dean watched on. He didn't know what was worse: knowing he'd almost gotten his little brother killed or the way his father looked at him. Guilt, shame and pain lanced through his chest as he watched his father check Sam for any kind of harm, knowing it was entirely his fault.
"Dad just grabbed us and booked—dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away. By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the Shtriga disappeared. It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now." Dean noticed that while he'd been talking, Sam had sat next to him, and Alex was standing on his other side. Neither of them spoke and Dean continued on. "Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask. But he, uh—he looked at me different, you know—which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order, and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed."
"You were just a kid." Sam tried to comfort Dean, knowing how hard it would have been for him. Their dad was practically his idol, and that he'd placed that weight on a nine or ten year old said much about why Dean followed orders to the letter.
"Don't—don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. And he sent me here to finish it." Alex took what she'd just learnt about the boys and their dad to heart. She hadn't even met the guy, and she really didn't like him. It probably wasn't fair, but she didn't care. It didn't matter who you were, you didn't treat your kids like that. Placing that kind of weight on a child wasn't right. They were all silent for a second.
"But using Michael? I don't know, Dean. I mean, how about one of us hides under the cover, you know, we'll be the bait?" Sam suggested. Alex saw he was coming around to the idea, understanding that this could be their one chance. Alex didn't like the idea anymore then he did, and she wasn't sure if that once could work.
"No, that won't work. It's gotta get close enough to feed. It'll see us. Believe me, I don't like it. But it's gotta be the kid." Dean stood up and walked off, partly to hide his tears, partly to go talk to Michael.
Sam and Alex looked at each other, not sure what to think. Alex shrugged her shoulders and got up to follow Dean, Sam a few steps behind her. She caught Dean easily, and stayed by his side as they neared the motel reception. Sam joined them when they reached the doors. As expected, Michael wasn't out when they entered.
"Michael!" Alex called for the young boy. None of them liked the idea, but she knew it was their only option. She also knew that this would be hell, trying to tell the boy about something that was supposedly mythical.
Michael appeared a few seconds later, his eyes red from crying. Alex turned to the brothers, and Sam took it to mean 'take it away, boys.' He took a deep breath, not knowing if the boy would attack them, or call the police.
"A witch attacked your brother last night." Sam said. With out a moment's hesitation, Michael had the phone in his hands and was looking at them determinedly.
"You're crazy! Just go away, or I'm calling the cops." He yelled at them. Alex threw her hands in the air and went to walk out side. Dean caught her arm as he started speaking.
"Hang on a second. Just listen to me. You have to believe me, okay? This thing came through your window, and it attacked your brother. Now, I've seen it. I know what it looks like. 'Cause it attacked my brother once, too." Alex turned around when she heard the phone being put down. After a long pause, Michael spoke again.
"This thing—is it, like," he stopped for a moment, as though searching for the right word. "It has this long, black robe?"
"You saw it last night, didn't you?" Dean asked, remembering the one time he'd seen it.
"I thought I was havin' a nightmare." Michael confessed, half pleading for them to understand. Alex knew there was no need. A few weeks ago, and she'd have thought the same thing. Now, she was killing things that weren't even supposed to be real.
"I'd give anything not to tell you this, but sometimes, nightmares are real." Dean sounded like, for the second time that night, he was suppressing tears. Alex didn't blame him, though. He'd been through hell, and he didn't want to press it on anyone lightly.
"So, why are you telling me?"
"Because we need your help." Alex told him. Michael's gaze didn't even flicker away from Dean, so she left the whole thing up to him, letting him explain.
"My help?"
"We can kill it. Me, him and her." Dean nodded to Alex and Sam as he mentioned them. "It's what we do. But we can't do it without you."
"What? No!" Alex wanted to walk away then. He'd given them his answer. But, once again, Dean held her back.
"Michael, listen to me. This thing hurt Asher, and it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, you understand me?" Michael didn't say anything. Sam and Alex had to physically drag Dean outside before he would go back to their room.
"Well, that went crappy." Dean exclaimed as soon as Alex had closed the door. "Now what?"
"What'd you expect was gonna happen?" Alex asked him as she walked in. She pulled off her jacket as Sam spoke, backing her up.
"You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid." Just as Sam had finished talking, a knock on the door sounded throughout the room. Dean walked over to get it, Alex and Sam behind him. Outside, his blond hair ruffled, Michael stood.
"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" he asked. Alex was surprised at the question and the fact that it was so straightforward. Although, she wasn't sure why she expected anything less. The boy was so much like Dean, it was scary.
"Honestly, we don't know." Dean answered the young boy. Although surprised, Alex couldn't see any point in lying to him. It wasn't like giving someone a get well card. Michael would be risking his life: it would be better for him to know what he was doing it for.
"You said you're a big brother?"
"Yeah."
"You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?" Michael was serious when he asked that. To Alex, it was obvious he was trying to find something in common with Dean, something that told him Dean was telling the truth. That something just happened to be their relationship with their little brothers. She felt jealous of Sam in that moment. She and her sisters had been close, but never that close. They'd been more like best friends. There was no one she was that close to, never had been.
"Yeah, I would." Dean meant those words, that much was blatantly obvious. Even the blind would be able to see that. Obviously Michael saw it as well.
"Me, too. I'll help."Michael nodded, looking over at Sam. Dean fished in his pockets and pulled out the keys, throwing them to Alex. It was funny how much that meant to her, the fact the Dean trusted her enough to give her the keys. It was almost like he'd stamped his seal of approval on her forehead. She knew how much that car meant to him.
Somehow knowing what they needed, Alex pulled up the fake floor in the boot and pulled out the camera and a few cords. Sam had followed Dean to the reception that doubled as Michael's house, helping to set it up for their visitor. She handed Dean the camera, hearing the unspoken agreement that until the attack, Dean was the only one to go into Michael's room.
Dean set the camera on one of the shelves in Michael's room, making sure that it was placed properly. Sam looked at the screen on the computer, watching as he tried to make Michael as safe as he could.
"Now, this camera has night vision on it, so we'll be able to see as clear as day." Dean tried to reassure the young boy. "Are we good?" Dean called to Sam. Alex came to stand behind Sam as he looked at the screen, seeing the room through the camera.
"Make sure we can see that window." She told Sam. He looked at the live feed they were getting, noticing the window was barely showing.
"Hair to the right." Sam called back. He watched as Dean slowly moved the camera, waiting till it showed all that they needed. "There, there."
"What do I do?" Michael asked from his place in his bed. Dean turned to him, and, once again, saw a slightly brighter reflection of himself.
"You just stay under the covers." Dean answered. He walked over and sat on Michael's bed, much in the way a parent might.
"And if it shows up?" that was what they were hoping for, and Michael wasn't an exception to that.
"Well, we'll be right in the next room. We're gonna come in with guns. So, as soon as we do, you roll off this bed and you crawl under it." Dean didn't order him to do it, instead, like a teacher, he just said the instructions.
"What if you shoot me?"
"We won't shoot you. We're good shots. We're not gonna fire until you're clear, okay?" Michael nodded a bit reluctantly. "Have you heard a gunshot before?" Dean very much doubted that he had. It wasn't exactly normal for kids to be around guns. His own upbringing wasn't much in the way of 'normal'.
"Like, in the movies?" Michael nodded, and Dean took it to mean he'd heard gunshots in a show or something similar.
"It's gonna be a lot louder than in the movies. So, I want you to stay under the bed, cover your ears, and do not come out until we say so, you understand?" once again, Michael's nod was reluctant. Dean picked up on it, and gave him one more chance to back out. This wasn't something every kid had the guts to do. "Michael, you sure you wanna do this? You don't have to, it's okay. I won't be mad."
"No, I'm okay. Just don't shoot me."
"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise." Dean got up, off the bed and turned the light off as he left the room. "'Night Michael." He said as he closed the door. He thought he heard a goodnight in return, but he couldn't be sure.
The night dragged on as they waited for the Shtriga to appear. Fortunately for them all, Alex had remembered to get them all coffee earlier in the night. They sipped at their second cup as they watched and waited for some kind of movement from the feed on the computer.
"What's the time?" Alex asked. The dark sky did nothing to give her any ideas, but her body protested that it was way past midnight. Sam checked his watch and looked back at Alex.
"Three. You sure these iron rounds are gonna work?" Sam asked Dean.
"Consecrated iron rounds. And, yeah, it's what Dad used last time." Dean didn't take his eyes off the computer screen. It was hard to tell what he was feeling, mind, that might have had something to do with the late hour.
"Hey, Dean, I'm sorry." Dean's eyes flickered to Sam, his confusion evident on his face. It wasn't like Sam to randomly say things, and Dean knew there was something behind this.
"For what?"
"Well, you know… I've really given you a lot of crap for always followin' Dad's orders. But I know why you do it."
"Oh, God, kill me now." Dean said, staying with his rule of 'no chick-flick moments. Sam smiled happy that he'd at least heard his side. He turned back to the feed, watching the window. The shadows from the trees shifted on it, making weird patterns fall across the glass "Wait, look."
Sam and Alex noticed the movement as Dean pointed it out to them. A hand with long fingers crept across the window, opening it with touching anything. Sam and Dean quietly picked up their guns, and Alex grabbed hers from the holster on her belt. The Shtriga stood inside the room for a moment before walking over to the young boy.
"Now?" Alex asked, knowing even as she said it that if it were time, one of the boys would have said so.
"Not yet." Dean replied instantly. The feed from the camera blurred for a second, reacting to the supernatural aura. As the malevolence began to feed, taking Michael's spiritus vitae, Dean kicked the door open, and called the thing's attention upon himself, away from the kid.
"Hey!" as it turned, it released Michael, something Alex was quick to notice.
"Michael, under the bed!" she yelled at the boy. He quickly complied, crawling under it as Dean had told him to do before hand. The hunters were quick to get their shots off, all of them hitting their mark. After a few shots, the malicious thing crumpled to the floor in a heap of black material.
"Mike, you all right?" Dean asked the brother. He didn't take his eyes off the thing on the floor, but Alex crouched to check on the boy.
"Yeah." Michael answered, giving the trio some relief.
"Jus' sit tight." Dean told him as he rounded the bed. Once he'd convinced himself that the thing was actually well and truly dead, he lowered the gun, Sam and Alex following his example. The Shtriga, however, had other plans. It was up and at Dean's throat in a second, throwing him into a cupboard in the next.
"Dean!" Alex and Sam cried at the same time. Moving too fast for either of them to pick up, the Shtriga was across the room and throwing Alex across the bed, into the space it had occupied only moments before. Moving quickly, it threw Sam to the ground, pinning him and separating him from his gun. Forcing Sam's mouth open, it began to steal his life force.
"Hey!" Dean called out to the thing in the cloak, and it lifted its head to look at him. With a perfect shot, Dean's bullet went straight through the middle of the brain. It fell, rolling of Sam as it did so, once again lying on the floor. "You okay, little brother?" Sam managed to give Dean the thumbs up, and Dean looked to where Alex still lied. She'd been knocked out when the thing had thrown her, but her breathing was steady, meaning she was alive at least.
Sam got to his feet as Dean Shot the thing three more times. The body under the cloak crumbled to dust, disappearing entirely. The only thing that remind as a reminder of the creature's existence was the cloak.
"It's okay, Michael, you can come on out." Dean remembered the boy who'd helped them. Michael crawled out of his hiding spot and looked at the proof of the thing's death. He smiled gratefully at Dean afraid of what had just happened. Dean smiled back, once again, completely understanding.
Between the boys, they managed to carry Alex body back to their room after helping clean up the mess the Shtriga had made in its death. Alex whimpered as they lied her down in her space she'd claimed as her own, and rested her head on a pillow. Sam got the first-aid kit and they checked her for injuries, finding nothing. Then, knowing the sleep was needed, they both fell on their respected beds, sleep claiming them.
Strangely, Dean was the first up. He began packing their bags, Sam soon joining him. Alex woke slowly, quickly claiming the aspirin that had been left out for her. She added her sleeping stuff to the bags in the trunk, Sam and Dean beside her, making sure she didn't fall suddenly. She would probably sleep for a while in the next few days, and they knew it was a good idea to let her. Her system needed to get over the shock of being a hunter and needed to recuperate, fix her head and get her strength back.
"Hey, Joanna. How's Asher?" Alex asked, noticing the other woman. She walked over to the trio, eyes showing she was a bit worried about something.
"Have you seen Michael?" she asked. Before any of them could say anything, however, the boy in question came running out side.
"Mum, Mum!" he yelled, running over. Joanna picked him up and spun him, happy that he was alright.
"Hey!" she cried as she set him on his feet. Alex, Sam and Dean watched in silence, happy for the family. As Sam and Dean knew they could never have a normal one, seeing the fruits of their effort was good enough.
"How's Ash?" Michael seemed to have a single track mind when his brother was sick or hurt in anyway, even if it was just a cough.
"I've got some good news. Your brother's gonna be fine." Joanna told her son, running her hand through his hair.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. No one can explain it. It's a miracle. They're gonna keep him in overnight for observation, but after that, he's comin' home." Joanna turned to tell Sam and Dean the last part, knowing they'd helped her family get through their crisis.
"That's great." Dean told her.
"How are all the other kids doin'?" Sam was the only one not caught up in Joanna and Michael's moment to spare a thought for the others.
"Good. Real good. A bunch of them should be checkin' out in a few days. Dr. Travis says the ward's gonna be like a ghost town."
"Dr. Travis? What about Dr. Hydecker?" Sam asked, knowing the 'good Doctor' should never make an appearance in history again.
"Oh, he wasn't in today—must've been sick or something." Joanna replied. Alex nodded, knowing that was a good thing. She stopped quickly because it made her head pound.
"Yeah. Yeah, must have." Dean agreed.
"So, did anything happen while I was gone?" his mother turned to Michael, unknowing the boy's life had probably changed forever. In some ways good, others bad.
"No. Same old stuff." Michael lied, not looking at any of the hunters.
"Okay. You can go see Ash."
"Now?"
"Only if you want to." Michael turned to Dean, smiling, almost asking permission. Dean nodded to him, practically telling him to get to get his ass to his little brother. Michael raced off, leaving his mother with the hunters. "I better get going before he hotwires the car and drives himself." Joanna excused herself before she walked off.
"It's too bad." Sam remarked, looking after Joanna and Michael as they drove off.
"Oh, they'll be fine." Dean told him. Alex agreed, trusting Dean to know when something was dead even though he'd gotten her knocked out because of a mistake on that part.
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant Michael. He will always know there are things out there in the dark. He'll never be the same, you know?" Alex and Dean nodded, Alex remembering when Sam had old her about their lives. She known then that she'd never be able to go back. "Sometimes I wish that…" Sam trailed off, not sure how Dean would take it.
"What?" Dean asked, pausing at his door.
"I wish I could have that kind of innocence." Sam confessed.
"If it means anything," Dean stated after a minute's silence, "sometimes I wish you could, too." Dean got into the car, followed by Alex and Sam.
"So, does this mean the 'no chick flick moments' rule is dead?" Alex asked. She already knew the answer to that.
"Hell no." Dean growled.
"Jerk." Sam replied to the rule.
"Bitch." Alex knew the names they called each other, and jumped in before Dean could.
"Princess." Dean shot at Alex when she stole his word. As one, the hunters grinned before Dean pulled the Impala out of the parking spot.
A/N: Hey. The next one may not be up for a while, so just bare with me, kay? I've got a lot of crap on my plate and a two week camping trip. I'd love to come back and have a few more reviews. Anyway, happy hunting!
-Jasper's Imaginary Friend