Empire of Dirt
AN: Thanks for sticking with me on this! Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Still not mine!
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By the next afternoon Caleb's nerves were wearing thin. Sam had finally fallen asleep by mid afternoon but now Dean was demanding to know about what was going and the research him and Joshua were working on about the house.
"You're not really acting like yourself you know Dean." Joshua commented when Dean stopped for a second from his complaining.
"Really? And how is "myself Caleb?" He asked.
"You know, good little solider, always does what Daddy says. Why are you acting like this?"
"Because Sammy's sick," Dean said simply. "And last time I checked, you weren't Daddy." Caleb laughed.
"Good point." Right at that moment, Joshua walked back in. He'd been at the local library for the past few hours doing research on the family who was behind all this mess. "Thank God you're here Josh! You're the one who wanted to tell him the truth, so please get him off my back."
"What's up?" Joshua asked Dean.
"You guys have been researching all day. I just want to know what you found out." He said simply.
"You know," Caleb said turning to Dean. "If you had asked me that nicely, I would have told you." Dean just starred at him for a minute and then looked back at Joshua.
"You said you would tell the truth." He said. Joshua sighed and sat down on the bed across from Dean.
"Alright, the deal is, your new house is cursed." He said.
"Cursed?" Dean asked. "By what?"
"Kind of like a poltergeist or a demon. The story goes that in the 30's, a widow and her 8 year old son moved in to the house. Soon after he got…well he died." Joshua said stumbling over how he would word it. "Then the widow, overcome by grief she put a curse on the house and then killed herself. So ever since then children go missing and are never seen again."
"Basically this poltergeist or demon thing comes and takes the children." Caleb said picking up the story. Dean starred at them and then looked over at Sam's sleeping form on the bed.
"It takes kids?" He asked and they nodded. "Well I guess I won't complain about going in the house anymore."
"Thank God!" Caleb said and Dean threw a pillow at him and turned back to Joshua.
"So who is the woman?" He asked.
"That was just what I was finding out." Joshua said pulling out a paper from his pocket. "Bethany Chambers and her son moved in to the house in 1932 and 3 weeks later her son died. In the following month she killed herself. Then in 1933 the LaRosa family moved in and they had a 7 year old son and with 2 weeks he was gone and never seen again." Joshua passed the paper to Caleb for him to get a better look at it.
"And that started a pattern." Caleb said handing over his own research. "At least 3 kids every 15 years. Now the house has been empty for over 20."
"It's got to be getting desperate by now." Joshua pointed out. Dean sighed and moved closer to Sam with the sudden need to be close to his brother. He put his hand on his forehead to brush the hair out of the way but was shocked by how warm he was.
"Sammy!" He exclaimed grabbing his face.
"What's wrong?" Joshua asked.
"He's way too hot!" Dean gave Sam a small shake but he didn't wake up. "Sammy!" Joshua rushed to their side and he gently pushed Dean aside to get a look at him.
"Caleb, go fill the tub with cold water." He ordered and Caleb ran to the bathroom. Dean sat at Sam's side and grabbed his hands.
"Sammy, please open your eyes." He said firmly. To Joshua relief Sam's eye fluttered open.
"Dean?" Sam's voice was weak. "Dean!" Sam's voice became frantic when he couldn't see Dean.
"I'm here Sammy." Dean said now pushing Joshua out of the way.
"I don't feel good." Sam said
"I know, I'm gonna take care of it." Dean reassured. Joshua stood back and watched. He was getting worried. Sam getting this bad this fast wasn't good and Dean was on the verge of cracking.
"The water's ready!" Caleb called. Joshua reached down to lift Sam, but Dean had already had him in his arms and was carrying him to the bathroom. There they gently put him in the cold water.
"Dean!" Sam cried out. "It's too cold!"
"I know Sammy," Dean said soothingly. "But it's gonna make you feel better and I promise you won't have to stay in there long."
"Something's wrong," Caleb said quietly to Joshua.
"I know, but right now we need to focus on Sam." He said back. After a few minutes they took Sam out of the tub and wrapped him up and went out to the other room. Dean held Sam on his lap and close to his chest. By this point Sam was crying.
"I don't understand. He was getting better." Dean said
"We need to leave for a little bit." Joshua said rushing around, gathering dry clothes for Sam and tossed them on the bed.
"What? Where?" Dean asked.
"We need to take care of something." He and Caleb were almost out the door when Dean called out to them.
"Did my Dad know?" He asked. "About the house before we moved in?"
"I…" Caleb said looking at Joshua. "He didn't think he would still be gone when something happened." Neither were sure if Dean had caught on about the sickness. He didn't say anything else, just held tighter to Sam. They chose right them to rush out and get into the car.
"So what's the plan?" Caleb asked as they drove off.
"We get rid of it. We've got two things we need to do and one we can take care of now." Joshua explained. "We find mommy dearest and salt and burn her bones."
"You know where she's buried?" Caleb asked and Joshua nodded. "What's the next step?"
"The demon, poltergeist thing is "killed" by silver."
"Silver bullets?" Caleb asked.
"No, silver dagger, and it can only be done as it's bearing down on the sick child."
"Well," Caleb said. "That confuses things."
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"I hate digging." Caleb said as the two made their way back to the motel. "I hate burning bones. It takes forever to get that smell out."
"Will you stop your whining?" Joshua said.
"Have you tried calling John again?" Caleb asked.
"Still no answer,"
"You know, he is quickly becoming my least favorite person."
"Do you think something's wrong? Maybe he got hurt." Joshua said.
"He better be cause he needs a hell of an excuse for not picking up right now." Caleb said.
"Should we tell Dean about the sick kids?" Joshua asked.
"I think he already knows." Caleb said. "Besides, I would like to give that task to his caring and loving father." They were getting closer to the motel and something about their room caught Joshua's eye.
"Do you see that?" he asked pointing. They got into the parking lot and now clearly saw a strange blue light coming from their room.
"Shit," Caleb said and they jumped out and ran.
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