Carpe Diem, Baby
Chapter 5
Ced-Rel Motel, Highway 30, outside Cedar Rapids
Sam couldn't hide his grin as he watched his brother squirm on the motel bed. After Tommy had given them all the details he could remember about the night of the attack, they had assured the boy and his parents they would do everything possible to figure out exactly what had happened to Zach. The Sattlers had been grateful, finally seeing some hope that the mystery of their son's death could possibly be explained.
After leaving the small family, the Winchesters had found a room in a small motel on the outskirts of the city deciding to research the information they had gotten and try to come up with an idea of what they were up against. While Sam had made himself comfortable at the small desk against the far wall and booted up the laptop, Dean had dug Dad's journal from his bag and settled on one of the double beds. It only took a few minutes for his still smarting sunburn to assert itself, causing the older man to grimace in discomfort.
Slamming the journal onto his thigh, Dean threw his head back against the low wooden headboard and actually growled in frustration.
"You okay there, Sebastian?"
Dean glared at his brother. "Nice, Sammy," he drawled. "Stooping to Disney characters? That's low, dude."
Sam chuckled. He dropped his gaze for a moment and nodded before returning his eyes to his brother, not bothering to hide the amusement on his face. He watched as Dean tugged his flannel shirt off, followed quickly by the dark t-shirt, revealing the raw looking red skin that covered his back and shoulders.
"Dude, you look like a french fry."
"Bite me."
Sam laughed at his brother's mumbled reply. "That was good, Dean. Glad to see your sense of humor is still sizzling."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Lame, Sammy." He stretched out on his stomach and nodded toward the laptop. "Aren't you supposed to be researching instead of trying out your new stand-up routine, geek boy?"
With a grin, Sam returned his attention to the computer and scanned the results of his current search. After a few moments, one entry caught his attention and he clicked the mouse to open the page. Twenty minutes and quite of few mythology sites later, Sam sat back with a small grunt of surprise.
"What?"
Having assumed his brother had drifted off to sleep as he researched, Sam turned toward the bed to see Dean still sprawled face first on top of the comforter, still doing his convincing impersonation of a lobster. Taking pity on his brother's misery, and biting back any remarks about his brother's obvious discomfort, Sam decided to stick with the business at hand.
"I think I know what we're up against."
Dean painfully pushed himself up onto his elbows and gave his brother an inquiring look. "Feel like sharing?"
"I think we're dealing with a Harlequin."
Dean instantly frowned. "Huh? Like those smutty romance novels?"
Sam returned the frown. "What? No. What would romance novels have to do with these deaths?"
"I don't know," Dean shrugged. "But I've seen the covers of those books in the supermarket. Pretty creepy, man." He gave an exaggerated shudder to punctuate his observation and gave his brother a look of utter distaste.
Sam just shook his head wondering at the way his brother's mind worked.
Dean's look grew indignant and he shifted his eyes from his brothers. "I'm just saying…."
Sam waved a hand, effectively ending the stream of the conversation. "Whatever, dude." He turned back to the laptop and clicked onto a website. "I mean a Harlequin. In ancient mythology they were liked to court jesters or buffoons –"
"Clowns?"
Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, sort of." Ever since they had come up against the Rakshasa, Dean had been tormenting him about his reaction to clowns. Sam had hoped they would never come up against anything like that again, but…. He cleared his throat and thrust his fear to the back of his mind. "There's a whole lot of different lore about them – mostly harmless stuff – but check this out."
Dean slowly pushed himself up and settled on the edge of the bed. He leaned forward, arms braced on his thighs and squinted at the screen.
"Hellequin?'
Sam nodded. "Yeah. A Hellequin is kind of a… well… dark clown." He watched his brother's eyes widen at the mention on Tommy Sattler's description. "According to legend, it was an emissary of the devil that roamed the country side with a pack of hellhounds chasing damned souls to hell."
"Huh," Dean continued to squint at the screen as his brother continued.
"I also found this."
Sam clicked the mouse a few times and the web page was replaced as a new site loaded onto the screen. He pushed the laptop closer to the edge of the desk and motioned for Dean to read the tagged text.
"The Wild Hunt is often for damned souls who have managed to avoid Hell, but the Devil's emissary can be summoned inadvertently resulting in payment of the soul. Witnessing the Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophic event, usually resulting in the death of all who see. Mortals interfering with the emissary were thought to be kidnapped from their corporeal existence and brought to the land of the dead."
Dean rubbed a hand down his face and leaned back. "Sounds like a good time." He looked back at Sam. "Yeah, okay. It fits. But why did it come after those kids? I can't believe Tommy's brother was damned at the tender age of thirteen."
Sam stared at the screen, his brow furrowed in thought. "Didn't you say Tommy mentioned Zach finding some kind of horn?"
Dean scratched his head as he ran the boy's testimony back through his mind. "Uh, yeah. He said it was just some old cow's horn. That Zach was screwing around and blew threw it, but it didn't really make any noise."
"Maybe it doesn't make any noise to us."
Dean nodded. "You think maybe Zach accidentally summoned this Hellequin thing with it?"
It was Sam's turn to shrug. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Great," Dean sighed. "It's not enough we have hundreds of demons to hunt down and send back to hell, now we gotta find some freaky clown whistle to summon them. Could things get any weirder?" He shook his head and stood, reaching for his t-shirt. "Come on. We need to go take another walk in the park,"
Morgan Creek Park, Edge of town
Dean pulled the Impala to a stop near the clearing inside Morgan Creek Park. As the engine rumbled to a stop, both brothers squinted past the crime scene tape that flapped in the slight breeze, momentarily stunned at the sight of Tommy Sattler standing, bathed in the harsh glare of the headlights.
"Dean…" Sam breathed, his attention focused on the large white horn the boy held in his hands.
"Yeah, I see it."
The doors creaked as both hunters emerged from the car. They slammed the doors simultaneously and proceeded forward, ducking under the flittering yellow barrier.
"Tommy," Sam called. He kept his voice soft, trying not to scare the boy who was still gazing at them like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
Despite the casualness of Sam's call, Tommy jumped as if struck and dropped the horn into the soft grass at his feet. He backed away a step, his frightened gaze jumping between the horn at his feet and the two men slowly coming toward him.
As soon as they reached the center of the clearing, Sam kneeled down to retrieve the horn as his brother crouched down in front of the boy, grabbing both his arms before the kid could dart away.
"Tommy, what the hell are you doing out here?" Dean hadn't meant for his tone to be quite so harsh and he cringed inwardly as he saw Tommy chin begin to quiver as he fought to hold back his tears. Nice move, Winchester. Like the kid isn't scared enough. He relaxed his hold on the boy, quickly tightening it as the Tommy tried to shake himself free. While it wasn't smart of Tommy to have come out here all alone, it certainly wouldn't be wise to let him take off now. If he was with them, they could watch out for him. Dean did not intend to let the damn demon take another victim, let alone an innocent little kid.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to make his voice as non-confrontational as possible. "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to scare you. But you shouldn't be out here." Tommy wasn't trying to squirm away anymore, and Dean removed his hands from the boy's arms and leaned back on his heels. "What did you think you were doing?"
"I wanted to do what you said?" Tommy's voice shook as the tears began to track down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around his chest and looked up from under long lashes, his eyes boring into Dean's, silently begging for understanding.
"What I said?" Dan's brow furrowed in confusion. "Tommy, what are you talking about?"
"I wanted to do it for Zach. Like you did for your brother."
I found the son of a bitch responsible and I made sure he paid.
Dean heart skipped in his chest and his shoulder's slumped as his own words echoed in his head. "Damn," he whispered. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, understanding all too well why the little boy would risk his own safety to try and avenge his brother. Swallowing hard, Dean stood, carefully avoiding Sam's gaze. He could feel his brother's eyes on him, but Sam's concern was something he didn't think he could deal with at the moment.
He felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the boy before him as his own emotions from the past few months surfaced. He placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and squeezed. "It's okay, kiddo." Tommy looked up with teary eyes and took a step closer. He leaned against Dean, his head tilting to lye against the man's leather jacket.
Dean gave Tommy an awkward hug, looking up to see Sam grinning at them. Dean rolled his eyes and motioned toward the piece of bone in his brother's hand. "At least we have the horn. As soon as we come up with a way to toast this sucker, we'll be able to give it a call."
Sam's expression froze, his eyes going wide as his attention shifted from his brother to a spot directly between them and the Impala. His face paled in the harsh lights of the Impala's beams and he thrust his chin in the direction of the vehicle.
"Uh, Dean," Sam whispered, his voice so low it was barely discernable in the stillness. "I think we're too late."
TBC