A/N: Revised 4/14/15

After Chicago we had hightailed it south, spending over a week in the car. Now we were cruizing down I-35 in Texas. The windows were down and I was just enjoying the fresh air from the back seat. For late fall it was surprisingly warm, at least to me. Being from the north gave me a little different perspective on that type of thing. Sam was snoozing in the front seat. Blue Oyster Cult was playing over the radio. Dean looked over at Sam, then he started rummaging around in the front seat. He hisses, "Jen."

"Hmm?" I look to the front seat. He held up a plastic spoon and showed it to me, "Watch and learn."

Dean placed the spoon in Sam's open mouth. Grinning, he flips open his cell and takes a picture. I shake my head and roll my eyes. Boys. Dean cranked the radio and started singing as loudly and obnoxiously as he could, "Fire...of unknown origins...took my baby away!"

Sam jerked awake and panicked when he realized something was in his mouth. He spits it out. Dean air drummed with the song on the steering wheel. He smirks looking over at Sam. I can't help but laugh. Sam wiped his mouth and turned down the music,"Ha ha, very funny Dean."

"Sorry, not a lot of scenery here in East Texas, kinda gotta make your own."

"Man we're not kids anymore Dean. We're not going to start that crap up again." Sam snaps.

"Start what up?", Dean asked innocently.

"That prank stuff. It's stupid, and it always escalates".

"Aw, what's the matter Sammy, scared you're going to get a little Nair in your shampoo again huh?"

I snorted, "Well he could use a haircut." Dean laughed.

Sam shook his head, aspirated. "All right, just remember you started it."

"Bring it on baldy"

Sam looked around, "Where are we anyway?"

"We should be a few hours outside of Richardson." I said and Dean nodded, "You want to give us the lowdown again?" .

Sam pulled out some pages from under the seat."All right, about a month or two ago this group of kids goes poking around in this local haunted house."

"Haunted by what?" Dean asked.

"Apparently, a pretty misogynistic spirit. Legend goes, it takes girls and strings them up in the rafters. Anyway this group of kids see this dead girl hanging in the cellar."

I look over his shoulder at the newspaper article, "Fantastic. Just another Tuesday. Anyone ever I.D. the body?"

"Well, that's where it starts getting to be our type of thing. By the time the cops got there the body was gone. So cops are saying the kids were just yanking chains."

Dean looked over, "Maybe the cops are right."

Sam shrugged, "Maybe, but I read a couple of the kids firsthand accounts. They seemed pretty sincere."

I looked at him, weird, "Where the hell did you find those? I don't remember reading that in the papers, not that any paper would publish shit like that."

Sam got embarrassed, " Well, I knew we were going to be passing through Texas. So, umm, last night, I surfed some local ... paranormal websites. And I found one."

Dean snorted, "And what's it called?"

"Hell hounds lair "

"Well that sounds credible as hell." I joked.

"Yeah, streaming live out of Mom's basement." Dean said. Sam grinned, "Probably."

Dean shook his head and stared out the windshield, "Yeah. Most of those websites wouldn't know a ghost if it bit 'em in the ass."

"Look. We let Dad take off. Which was a mistake, by the way. And now we don't know where the hell he is, so meantime we gotta find ourselves something to hunt. There's no harm checking this thing out."

Dean sighed, "All right. So where do we find these kids?"

"Where else do you find kids in a two goat town," I said, "the local dinner or dive."

A few hours later we pulled up in front of a fast food outlet named Rodeo Drive.

"I think I was right when I said dive," I snorted. The place was dirty and shitty. Even worse, it was crawling with high schoolers. There was a couple making out by the entrance.

"Uck," I said with a face.

"Jen, aren't you only a few years older than them?" Dean asked in that smartass voice.

"Sure, but I never want to go back to high school, and I certainly never acted like that."

He laughed and then tried to keep his face straight, "I don't know, I could kind of see you in a cheerleader uniform. Mmm."

I lost it and he started chuckling as well, "Dean, you do realize I was a huge tomboy? Plus a nerd?I think I spent more time in shop and the labs than with boys."

He bumped shoulders with me "Captain of the mathleague?"

"Damn strait." I laughed again. Sam held the door for us both to go in, shaking his head. We looked around for a second and then Sam went up to the counter.

"Hey do you know a.." He looks down at a paper he pulls from his pocket, " Jerry Youler, Nick Lander or a Kelsey..."

"You guys are looking for people who were at the Hell House?" The guy behind the counter asked excitedly then his face fell and he started to clam up. Alright, you want to play that way. I pulled down on my tank under my button-down so that just a smidge more boob showed and stepped up to the counter,

"Yeah, we are reporters from Dallas." I smiled. The pimply boy looked me up and down and looked nervous, "Really? C-cause I'm Nick. Jerry is over there..."

He pointed to a booth in the corner, "...and Kelsey is sitting at that high table with the guy in the Letterman jacket."

I smiled, leaning on the counter, "Thanks, Nick. We just have a few questions for you."

"Yeah, s-sure."

I nod reassuringly, "What was it like in the house?"

"From the moment we walked in the walls were painted black." He looked between the three of us. I nodded for him to continue.

"Crosses and star and Pentecostals. We went down to the basement and there was a girl with black hair hanging under the rafters...Shouldn't you be writing this down."

I shook my head, "Good memory."

He continued, "I guess she was kinda hot," I raised my eyebrows, "Ah, you know, in a dead sort of way."

"O-Kay," Dean said mouthing 'wow', at me, "Thanks for your time."

We started to walk away and he leaned out the window, "Hey, do you need my number or a follow-up interview?"

I turned, walking backwards, "I think we are good."

I turned again and looked up at Dean, making a face, "Yikes"

Sam chuckled, "That was hardly fair. I thought you said you didn't know how to handle high school boys."

"In high school. Once I got to college I realized that boys kinda like boobs. They aren't too complicated."

Sam laughed, Dean looked confused, "You went to college?"

"Yeah" I shrugged. It wasn't exactly the highlight of my life, but I had gone. Before he could inquire any more we were over to Jerry. We questioned, the story was pretty much the same except for now the walls were red and the girl was a blonde. When we interviewed Kelsey, the walls were bloody and the girl was a redhead. The only useful and consistent information that we got from them was that they had heard about it from a guy named Craig Thurston.

We headed to the car, Dean spoke before grabbing the handle, "It is getting pretty late, do you just want to get a good nights sleep and start in the morning?"

Sam nodded. We drove to this motel with a western ranch theme that was super overdone. We got two rooms for the night. The boys went to theirs and I went to mine. I showered, washing off, whore baths just didn't cut it for me. I pulled on some sweats for the night. I was laying on my bed watching TV when there was a knock on the door. I looked through the window before I opened the door. It was Dean, " Hey do you want any food, Sam is going to pick something up."

"Sure I could go for a burger."

He turned, Sam was standing by the Impala waiting. Dean yelled across the lot, "One more burger!"

Sam nodded and drove the car away. Dean walked in and sat on the edge of my bed, "What the hell are you watching?"

"Don't know, just flipped it on. It's Thursday, so probably the game once I find it."

There was an awkward silence where he watched the TV and I wasn't sure where to look. He looked up at me, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I scooted beside him, cross-legged and watched the game. I tried my best to focus on the game but I kept looking over under my wet hair. One of the players smashed the receiver.

"Nice tackle." Dean said.

"He is gonna be asking for a license plate after that."

Dean laughed. I met his eyes and smiled. His face got serious again and he reached out, tucking my wet hair behind my ear and his hand lingered on my neck. He began to move his hand to my face, all my muscles stiffened involuntarily. He searched my face, confused by my reaction. We sat there like that for a moment and just when I felt like something might happen there was a knock at the door. Dean shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Shit."

He got up to open the door, and kept mumbling under his breath. I looked back down, trying to stop blushing. It was Sam with the food, "Alright, the salad is mine and the two double bacon cheese burgers are for you two."

I smirked, "A salad, are you a rabbit?"

"Excuse me if I don't want to die from a blocked artery." I rolled my eyes, freaking health nut.

We all sat in my room and watched the game. After it was over they headed back and I fell asleep.

The next morning we headed to the music shop where Craig worked. A guy who was doing inventory looked up, "Fellas..." He looked behind them and saw me as well, "...miss. Can I help you with anything?"

Sam spoke, "Yeah, are you Craig Thurston?"

"I am."

Dean cleared his throat, "Well we're reporters with the Dallas Morning News. I'm Dean, this is Sam and this is our intern, Jen."

"No way. Well I'm writer too. I write for my school's lit magazine.", he looked over at me and did that little head flip thing that guys do when they are trying to sound impressive.

I half smiled, trying not to roll my eyes, "Impressive, good for you."

"Umm. We're doing an article on local hauntings and rumor has it you might know of one." Sam said. Craig raised his eyebrows and spoke dramatically, "You mean the Hell House?"

"That's the one." Dean snapped his fingers.

"I didn't think there was anything to the story." Craig said slowly but I spoke up, "Well, why don't you tell us the story?"

He cleared his throat, becoming serious, "Well, supposedly back in the '30s this farmer, Mordechai Murdoch, used to live in this house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression, his crops were failing, he didn't have enough money to feed his own children. So I guess that's when he went off the deep end."

"How?" Dean asked.

"Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick, rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. They screamed, begged for him to stop but he just strung 'em up, one after the other. And when he was all finished he just turned around and hung himself. Now they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringing up any other girl that goes inside. "

"Where'd you hear all this?" I asked, still skeptical about this tale.

"My cousin Dana told me. I don't know where she heard it from. Ya gotta realize, I - I didn't believe this for a second."

Sam nodded, "But now you do."

"I don't know what the hell to think, man. You guys, I-I'll tell you exactly what I told the police, ok? That girl was real. And she was dead. This was not a prank. I swear to God, I don't wanna go anywhere near that house ever again, ok?"

"Thanks." Dean said and we headed out. Once we were all in the car Sam spoke, "What do you two think?"

I shrugged, "It definitely sounds like a haunting, but I think it is weird that it hasn't happened before. You know, like a pattern or anything? We aren't at like an anniversary of it or anything, ya know?"

"Well I guess let's just go and check out the house." Dean added.

The house was probably ten miles or so out of town. We couldn't get near to the house because of how muddy the road leading up to it was. We trekked through the mud up to the house. The thing was in shambles, abandoned for years. One thing was right though. It was creepy as hell. I scoffed, "Not much for curb appeal is it?"

Dean laughed and pulled out his EMF meter. Immediately it started going nuts.

"You got something?" Sam asked. I looked around and smacked Dean on the shoulder. He turned and I pointed and he nodded.

Dean sighed, "EMF is no good."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"I bet those power lines still have some juice in them. It will screw with all the readings." I replied.

Dean put the meter away, "That will do it. Let's just go check it out."

We opened the door and started looking around. There were symbols all over the walls, but none of it made sense. They were all over the place, Chinese, Tibetan, African, and a shit ton of others. Sam started taking pictures of all of them on his phone. Dean let out a whistle, "Looks like old man Murdock was a bit of a tagger here in his time."

"And after his time too. That reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries but this sigil of sulfur didn't show up in San Francisco until the '60s." Sam said, obviously as confused as I was. Dean stared over at Sam, "That is exactly why you never get laid."

He walked over to the wall and stared up at a symbol above the fireplace. I vaguely recognized it, like I had seen it in passing but couldn't place it. It looked like a cross with a dot in the middle and the top stroke was a question mark. Dean pointed at it, " Hey what about this one, you seen this one before?"

Sam shook his head, "No."

I shrugged my shoulders, he looked harder, trying to place it,

"I have. Somewhere." was all he said. Sam walked up to it and rubbed the symbol, "It's paint. Seems pretty fresh too."

"I don't know Sam. You know I hate to agree with authority figures of any kind, but ... the cops may be right about this one." Dean said as he started to turn away.

"Yeah, maybe." Sam was still looking at all the symbols. A crash behind a door made me jump. They both turned around. Sam goes to one side of the door and me and Dean are on the other. Dean holds up three fingers. Counting- 3,2,1... Sam flings open the door. We are blinded by a bright light. It is just two nerdy looking guys with headlamps on.

One of them speaks, "Oh, cut. It's just a coupla humans. What are you guys doing here?"

Dean looked confused, "What they hell are you doing here?"

The first guy speaks again, "Ah-We belong here, we're professionals?"

"Professional what?" Sam asked.

"Paranormal Investigators..." He pulled out a business card and hands it to Sam, "There you go, take a look at that, boys."

I start to choke, trying not to laugh, "You gotta be shitting me."

I look over at Dean and he shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

"Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler? . You guys run that website." Sam said.

Ed replied, "Yeah."

Dean tried to keep his face straight, "Oh yeah, yeah, we're huge fans."

Ed shakes his head and looks between us, "And ahh, we know who you guys are too."

Dean and Sam stiffen and look at him sharply, waiting for the response. Sam swallowed, "Oh yeah?"

"Amateurs . Looking for ghosts and cheap thrills."

Dean's jaw tightens and he gives me a look, he has totally lost any interest. I bite my bottom lip, still trying not to laugh. Harry finally spoke, "Yep. So if you guys don't mind, we're trying to conduct a serious scientific investigation here."

"So what have you guys found so far? I mean, this place is creepy as hell." I asked.

"Harry, why doncha tell 'em about EMF?" Ed answered.

"Well..."

"EMF?" Sam played dumb and was also suppressing a smile.

"Electromagnetic field? Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector. Like this bad boy right here." Harry held out a meter and turned it on. Dean smirked at me and Sam had to turn around to hide his face.

"Whoa..." Harry exclaimed, "Whoa. It's 2.8mg."

"2.8. It's hot in here. " Ed was also getting excited

I whistled, "Wow, that's nuts.."

"Huh. So you guys ever really seen a ghost before, or..." Dean asked.

Ed got real serious, "Once. We were, uh...we were investigating this old house and we saw a vase fall right off the table..."

"By itself." Harry finished.

"Well, we, we didn't actually see it, we heard it. And something like that...it uh...it changes you.",

Dean swallowed, his jaw fighting the smile, "Yeah. I think I get the picture. We should go, let them get back to work."

"Yeah, you should." Ed said defensively.

We turned and left. Once we were outside I doubled over laughing. Sam chuckled and Dean smiled.

"Can you believe those jokers?" I asked.

"Nothing but the best." Dean said as he climbed into the car. We headed back to town and dropped Sam off at the library and parked the car. Dean and I headed to the police station to see if there were any missing person reports that we could link to the girl. No such luck. An hour later we rondevued back with Sam.

"Hey!." Sam called as he walked up the block.

"What did you find?" I asked.

"Well I couldn't find a Mordechai but I did find a Martin Murdock who lived in that house in the '30s. He did have children but only two of them, both boys, and there's no evidence he ever killed anyone."

"Huh." Dean said.

"What about you?"

By now we had walked back to the Impala and leaning on the top. Dean was frustrated, "Well those kids didn't really give us a clear description of that dead girl but we did hit up the police station. No matching missing persons. It's like she never existed. Dude, come on, we did our digging, man, this one's a bust all right. For all we know those hellHound boys made up the whole thing."

Sam nodded, "Yeah all right."

Dean looked over at me, "I say we find ourself a bar and some beers and leave the legend to the locals."

"I agree with that."

Dean went to get into the car but I noticed Sam just standing there smiling. Oh, shit, no. Dean turned the ignition and Latin dance music blasts from the speakers. Dean leans back, trying to turn the speakers off.

"WHOA! What the..." and he finally gets everything off. Sam laughs and climbs in. He licked his finger and makes a one in the air and then points to himself.

Dean gives him a dirty look, "That's all you got? Weak. That is bush league."

We pulled away and went to a dive outside of town. We grabbed a table and Sam went up to the bar to grab us some drinks.

"Jen..." Dean asks, "You wanna play some pool?"

"Umm... I was planning on trying to work."

He shrugged, "Don't worry about it. We can pull in enough with the credit cards and you playing darts."

"Why? If I can pull in a grand that really helps." He grabs my wrist, leans in closer and talks into my ear. Voice low. "I don't want you to have to do that anymore...I can't see you do that to yourself again. You deserve better."

I meet his eyes. Dean stares until I nod. He turned and walked to the closest pool table and racked the balls. I was confused but I walked over, "Are you ready to get schooled Dean?"

"Ah, you may be the dart queen, but pool is my thing."

I winked at him, "Suuure it is."

Sam came over and watched us the entire game. Me and Dean shit talked each other the entire time. He ended up beating me by a shot. I saw some guys betting over at darts. I looked at Dean and then raised my eyebrows. He just smiled and shook his head.

I sauntered over, "You boys playing darts?"

They looked me over, "Yeah, honey. You want in?"

"Why not?"

Dean walked over behind and watched. The guys were okay, but nothing to write home about. I let them win the first two games while I continued to do shots.

"Double or nothing?" The pot would be about six-hundred.

"It's your money baby." One of the guys said and they all took their turn. Dean walked up behind me as I was about to make a throw, "Hey Jen, you gonna play lefty all night?"

"Thanks Dean, I almost forgot." I switched the dart into my right hand and threw three bull's-eyes. I turned around and bit my lip, "Sorry boys, don't know where that came from."

The grudgingly hand over their money. Sam, Dean and I spent the rest of the night playing pool and drinking until close. Then we drove back to the motel and passed out.

I woke with a fuzzy head to a pounding on my door.

"Jen!? Get up." It was Dean.

"Go away," I managed to get out. But I pushed myself up and walked over to the door and opened it, rubbing my eyes.

"What?" I groan. He pushed his way into my room.

"Get dressed, let's go. I went to town this morning and there was another murder in the Hell House."

I groaned, "Are you freaking kidding me? The guy isn't even real."

"Well apparently he is real enough to hang another girl. Let's go."

"Okay, okay. Let me get dressed."

I go to pull my t-shirt off when I pause, hold up a sec. I look over and Dean is still standing there watching me.

"Get out." I snap.

"Oh, yeah, right... Sorry." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Out!" I say again. He jumps in place and walks out the door

Not five minutes later I was running out of the room to the Impala, they were just getting in as well. Dean pushed the car to high gear and we made it to the Hell House in record time. There were first responders rushing around, the body was just being brought out on a stretcher. We walked up to a man that was standing outside.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A coupla cops say a girl hung herself in the house."

Sam made a face, "Suicide?"

"Yeah. But it is strange. She was a straight A student, with a full ride to UT too. It just don't make sense." The man walked away.

Sam looked over at Dean, "Whaddaya think?"

Dean watched the cops, "I think maybe we missed something."

We stood there and watched them load the stretcher into the back of the ambulance and went to walk away.

"We are going to have to wait until tonight to get in, aren't we?" I said.

Dean nodded, "Yeah, just feels like we are wasting time though...Shit."

We wasted the entire day seeing what else we could dig up on the property. What did we came up with? Absolutely nothing. At nightfall we made our way back to the house, parked on the main road and hiked the last couple of miles through the woods with bags filled with shotguns. When we got close I could see that there was a patrol car parked outside and two cops checking the perimeter. We crouched down behind a few bushes.

"I guess the cops don't want anyone else screwing around in there." Sam hissed

I looked over at him, "But we still gotta get in there."

"How?" Sam asked.

We all turned at a noise crashing through the trees behind us. Walking the side of the path were the geeks from before. We can hear the muffled whispers. I scoffed, "I don't believe this shit."

Dean grabs my shoulder and half stands, "I got an idea," he hisses. Then he yells,

"Who ya gonna call!"

Ed and Harry start looking around, surprise. The cops spot them,

"Hey! You!" They start to run back down the path, the two cops chasing them, "Freeze! Get back here."

We are all laughing and make a break for the house. Once we are inside, Sam opens the bag and hands me my 870 and Dean a sawed-off. We load them quickly. Dean turned on a flashlight, but made sure to keep it low. He pointed it over that symbol again quickly.

"Where have I seen that symbol before? It's killing me!"

Sam shoved him, "Come on, we don't have much time."

I followed Dean down to the basement with Sam following quietly behind. We shined the flashlights around, but there really wasn't much to see. Dean reached on a shelf and picks up a jar and examines the contents, "Hey Sam. I dare you to take a swig of this."

Sam looked at him for a moment, "What the hell would I do that for?"

Dean looks from him to the jar and smirks, "...I double dare you."

Sam just shakes his head, annoyed. Dean just keeps grinning and I can't help but giggle. Then there is a crash in a nearby cabinet. We all go on alert. Sam looks between us and then opens the door. Shining the light down in, all it is are a couple of rats that scurry away. Dean grunts, "Arghh! I hate rats."

Sam rolls his eyes, "You'd rather it was a ghost?"

"Actually yes ."

I had turned around as Dean was saying this, "Ahhh, guys?"

Right behind them was the ghost of Mordechai appearing, he has an axe in his hand.

"GET DOWN." I yell, they drop, and I pump eight rounds into the son of a bitch, but he is still standing there, misting. Once they recover, the boys also unload their guns into him and he fades away.

Sam looks nervous, "What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?"

Dean pushes him toward the stairs and grabs me, "I dunno. Come on. Come on come on! "

As we run for the stairs, Mordechai appears again and starts smashing his axe, shelves are coming down around us. On a backswing he catches Sam, who falls. Dean and I grab him and drag him up the stairs. We keep bolting for the door, dragging Sam with us. We fall out the door, rolling and almost run headlong into Ed and Harry. We spring back up and keep running. They had their cameras aimed at the house.

"Get that damn thing outta my face." Dean growls.

"Dean! Come on!" I am still half dragging Sam. Dean grabs under Sam's other shoulder and we make for the woods.

"Sweet lord...of the rings. RUN!" I hear behind us as we make it to the woodline. They must have caught a glimpse of Mordechai. I pull up and look back and Harry and Ed turn straight into the cops.

"Look, there's a...look. There's a man over there...I saw...where'd he go?" They were pointing toward the door. The cops just grabbed them and hauled them to the patrol car.

After a few hundred more yards Sam shoves me and Dean off, "I'm fine."

Dean grabs him and gives him a once over.

"Old plowhand get the jump on ya?" I ask.

"Shut up Jen." Sam says, but I can hear the humor in his voice.

"What the hell was that shit?" Dean said.

I grabbed the door handle, "I dunno."

Dean got behind the wheel, "We need to get back to the motel and figure this out."

I sat with the boys in their room for the night. Spread out on the lower half of Dean's bed, I looked through pages after pages of books, desperately looking for something that could match this gook. I kept trying to match up the symbols with their origin. Just as I had thought when I entered the house, the symbols were all over the place, nothing matched up. Sam was looking through stuff on the web, trying to find something that could help us. All night Dean sat at the head of his bed, drawing that damn symbol over and over again.

"What the hell is this symbol? It's buggin' the hell outta me. This whole damn job's buggin' me. I thought the legend said Mordechai only goes after chicks."

"It does." Sam said absent-mindedly.

Dean nudged me with his foot lightly, "All right. Well I mean that explains why he went after you, Sam, but why me?"

I smiled.

"Hilarious." Sam huffed, " The legend also says he hung himself but did you see those slit wrists?"

Now that I thought about it, "Yeah, they were slashed open. By the way, what was that? And the axe? Ghosts can't change like that. There are rules."

Dean furrowed his brow, "But this mook keeps changing."

Sam kept clicking at his laptop, "Exactly. I'm telling ya, the way the story goes ... wait a minute."

Me and Dean both looked up, "What is it?"

"Someone added a new post to the Hell Hound site. Listen to this. 'They say Mordechai Murdock was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an axe before slitting his own wrists. Now he's imprisoned in the house for eternity."

I looked down at the symbol Dean was drawing. I stop breathing.

"Dean..." I pulled the notebook out of his hands and flipped it around so that the question mark is upside down for him.

He shook his head, "Son of a bitch."

Sam had ignored us, "Where the hell is the lore even going?"

Dean got up and grabbed his jacket, "I don't know but I think I might have just figured out where it all started."

I rushed out after him and Sam followed closely behind, "Where the hell are we going?"

"The music store" I replied as I jumped into the back seat.

The bells on the door chimed as we entered the record store for the second time. Craig is sitting behind the counter and turns away when he sees us.

"Hey Craig, remember us?" Dean calls.

"Guys, look I'm really not in the mood to answer any of your questions ok?"

"Oh don't worry. We're just here to buy an album, that's all." Dean goes through a stack and picks up an album and flips it for me to see. Our eyes meet and I nod. I had been right. Sam and Dean walked up to the counter, "You know Sammy, I couldn't figure out what that symbol was and then I realized that it doesn't mean anything. It's the logo for the Blue Oyster Cult. "

Then he looked over at Craig, "Tell me Craig, you, uh, you into BOC? Or just scaring the hell outta people? Now why 'n't you tell us about that house ... without lying through your ass this time."

"Man I don't know anything."

I didn't have time for this shit. I pushed past the boys and grabbed Craig by his coat collar and shoved him against the wall, lifting him up.

"Woah, Jen." Sam went to grab me but Dean pulled him back.

"Alright you little SOB, you are going to tell me exactly what you did with that house or I am going to beat your sorry ass so hard..."

He pulled up his hands, "Okay, okay... My cousin Dana was on break from TCU. Ah, I guess we were just bored, looking for something to do. So I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it would be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So we painted symbols on the walls, some from some albums, some from some of Dana's theology textbooks. Then we found out this guy Murdock used to live there so we ...we made up some story to go along with that. So they told people, who told other people. And then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean I, I thought it was funny at first but... now that girl's dead! It was just a joke, you know. I mean, none of it was real, we made the whole thing up. I swear!"

I shoved him back hard and let go. He brushed himself off and backed away from me. I headed straight for the door.

"Alright," Sam said softly.

They caught up with me and Dean asked the question all of us were thinking out loud, "If none of it was real how the hell do you explain Mordechai?"

We went back to the motel room and researched for hours more. This case was kicking our ass. Dean finally got up, "Jen, you wanna run to town with me and pick up some stuff?"

"Sure." We got up and headed out. I rode shotgun.

"This case really bites." Dean said.

"Something will turn up Dean, we just need to figure out what the hell he is. I know one thing, we can rule out ghost."

He nodded, "That's for damn sure."

I turn and catch him looking at me. I watch him look forward at the road, clenching and unclenching his jaw. I swear I saw him stop himself from reaching over, but I couldn't be sure. A long silence passes until we pull into town.

"Mind waiting here for a sec?" He asks me.

"Nah."

"You want anything?"

I shake my head. He comes back out of the store quickly. He sits down and pulls his buy out of the bag. Itching powder. I laugh.

"You can't be serious?"

"As a heart attack. I guarantee you the second we left he jumped into the shower. This is too perfect to pass up."

When we get back, sure as shit Sam is in the shower. Dean turns to me and gives a devilish smile, and mouths 'told ya.' He grabs Sam's boxers and starts spreading it in them, "Hey, we are back!"

"So I think I might have a theory about what's going on." He yells.

"Oh, yeah?"

Sam turns the knob and Dean jumps around, "What if Mordechai is a Tulpa?"

"Tulpa?" Dean looks at me.

I dig way into my useless knowledge. "It is Tibetan. Right?"

Sam comes out in nothing but a towel, "A Tibetan thought form."

"Ahh, yeah, I know what a Tulpa is. Hey why don't you get dressed, I wanna go grab something to eat." Dean said as he pushes into the bathroom and shuts the door. I wait outside and they emerge a few minutes later. "Where to?

"Let's just hit up that fast food joint." Dean says.

We got there and ordered a couple of coffees. I wasn't hungry and I knew Dean was waiting for Sam to connect the dots. He kept moving uncomfortably, trying not to scratch himself as we sat at a nearby table. Dean bumps shoulders with me, smirking and looks to Sam, "Dude what's your problem?"

Sam tries to sit the best he can, "Nothing, I'm fine."

"You sure?" I ask.

"Yeah."

Dean and I exchange a glance, "So, ahhh, alright keep going. What about these Tulpas?"

Sam opens his laptop, "Oh, yeah, so there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. Group of monks visualised a golem in their head. The meditated on it so hard they bought the thing to life. Outta thin air."

"So what?" Dean asks.

"That was 20 monks. Imagine what 10,000 web surfers could do. I mean Craig starts the story about Mordechai, then it spreads, goes online. Now there are countless people all believing in the bastard."

I was confused, "Hold up. Are you telling me that just because people believe in that, he is real?"

Sam shrugged, "I dunno. maybe."

Dean scoffed, "People believe in Santa Claus - how come I'm not getting hooked up every Christmas?"

"Cause you're a bad person. And because of this..." Sam turned his laptop so that me and Dean could see it. It was one of the symbols from the house.

"That's a Tibetan spirit sigil. On the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a theology textbook. I bet they painted this, not even knowing what it was. Now that sigil has been used for centuries, concentrating meditative thoughts like a magnifying glass. So people are on the HellHounds website, staring at the symbol, thinking about Mordechai ... I mean I don't know, but it might be enough to bring a Tulpa to life. "

Sounded pretty legit, "That would at the least explain why he keeps changing."

Sam grimaced and adjusted his pants again, "Right, as the legend changes, people think different things, so Mordechai himself changes. Like a game of telephone. That would also explain why the rock salt didn't work."

Dean nodded, "Yeah because he's not a traditional spirit."

Sam kept fidgeting, "Yes"

"Can we just get the thing of the wall and off the website? Will that get rid of him?" I asked.

Sam grimaced, "I don't think it will be that simple. You see, once Tulpas are created they take on a life of their own."

I shook my head, "You can't kill an idea."

"Great..." Dean said. "So how do we get rid it?"

Sam itched again. "Well it's not gonna be easy with these guys helping us. Check out their homepage."

He turned the computer towards us again. It was a video of last night. First we came crashing out of the house and then in the door, plain as day was Mordechai.

"Since they've posted the video their number of hits have quadrupled in the last day alone."

Dean stood up, "I got an idea. Come on."

"Where we goin'?" I asked.

"We gotta find a copy store."

Sam keeps itching as he gets up, "Man, I think I'm allergic to our soap or something."

Dean laughs, keeps walking and puts his arm around my shoulder playfully. "Told ya it would be good."

"You did this?" Sam was pissed. "You're a friggin jerk!"

Dean opens the door, "Oh yeah."

Two hours and a copy store later we were in the trailer and RV park right out of town. We were looking for trailer 336. We found it a few minutes later,

"Charming." I said. It was a small silver camping trailer with a pink flamingo out front.

As we approached we could hear Ed and Harry inside.

"...Ed, I've never seen a real ghost before Ed, like a real ghost, an apparition!"

"This stuff here...this is our ticket to the big time right here. Fame, money, sex. With girls. OK? Be brave. WWBD. What Would Buffy Do. huh?"

I look over and Dean just shakes his head and inhales, Sam just stands there smirking. I reach up and pound on the door. There is scampering, "Who is it?"

I roll my eyes, "The Easter bunny, who the hell do you think? Come on out boys."

"It's them!" They slowly stick their heads out of the door.

"Ah, would you look at that! Action figures in their original packaging - what a shock." Dean says.

"We need to talk to you guys." I said.

Ed looks at us nervously, "Yeah, um, sorry guys. We're ahhh, a little bit busy right now."

"Fine, " Dean started, "well we'll make it quick. We need you to shut down your website."

Ed laughed, "Man, you know, these guys got us busted last night, spent the night in a holding cell..."

Harry looked between all of us, "I had to pee in that cell urinal. In front of people. And I get stage fright."

"Why should we trust you guys?" Ed asks.

Sam stepped forward, "Look guys. We all know what we saw last night, what's in the house. But now thanks to your website there are thousands of people hearing about Mordechai."

"That's right. Which means people are gonna keep showing up at the Hell House, running into him in person, somebody could get hurt." Dean finished.

"Yeah, yeah..." Ed said.

Harry started, "Ed maybe he's got a point, maybe..."

"Nope..."

"No."

"We have an obligation to our fans, to the truth."

Enough of this shit, time to reel them in, "Well I have an obligation to kick both of your asses right now."

"Woah Jen," Dean grabbed me by my jacket collar.

Sam shook his head, "Hey, just, forget it, all right? These guys ... you could probably bitch slap them both, I could probably even tell them that thing about Mordechai ... but they're still not gonna help us. Let's just go."

Ed and Harry got excited. Hook, line and sinker, "Whoa.. whoa..."

"You know, Sam, you are right." We all started to walk away. Ed and Harry were trailing right behind us.

Ed was getting excited, "What you say about...?"

"Hang on a second here." Harry finished, "What thing about Mordechai you guys?"

"Don't tell 'em Sam." Dean said.

"But if they agree to shut the website down Dean."

I shook my head, "They aren't going to do it."

Ed held up his hand, "No wait. Wait. Don't listen to her ok? We'll do it. We'll do it."

Dean looked over at Sam, "It's a secret Sam."

Sam turned to Ed and Harry, "Look, it is a really big deal all right. And it wasn't easy to dig up. So only if we have your word that you'll shut everything down."

"Totally." It was like kids in a candy store.

"All right." Sam said and Dean pulled out some paperwork from his jacket.

"That's a death certificate." I told them, "It's from the '30s, found it in the town records. According to the mortuary the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

Ed looked over the paperwork with vigor. Dean looked over at me, we definitely had them. "That's right he didn't hang or cut himself."

Ed handed it to Harry and looked up, "He shot himself?"

Sam nodded, "Yep. With a .45 pistol. To this day they say he's terrified of them."

Dean said in a low voice, "Matter of fact they say if you shoot him with a .45, loaded with these special wrought-iron rounds - it'll kill the son of a bitch."

Ed and Harry snigger and then catch and themselves, then look between us. Harry spins around and bolts toward the trailer. Ed walks as nonchalantly as he can manage, "Harry. Slow your roll buddy. They're gonna know we're excited."

I look between Sam and Dean and we all start laughing as we walk back to the car.

"That was easy." I spoke, "Now we just have to wait for it to get up on the website."

An hour later we were sitting in a local dinner in a booth. I was eating a burger, as was Dean. Sam ate a freaking salad and we all had a beer in front of us. Sam was using his laptop to keep track of the website. Dean keeps reaching up and pulling on a cord that makes a fisherman laugh in this choked, mechanical way. Sam reached up and pulled the cord to stop it, "If you pull that string one more time I'm going to kill you."

Dean just looks deadpan at Sam and reaches up and pulls the string again. Sam grabs the string and immediately stops it. Dean snickers, "Come on man, you need more laughter in your life. You know you're way too tense."

Sam gives Dean a dirty look, and it's my turn to laugh. "Did they post it yet?"

Sam turns the laptop so that we can read it. Dean reads it aloud under his breath, "We've learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdock has a fatal fear of firearms. All right. How long do we wait?"

"Long enough for the new story to spread, and the legend to change. I figure by nightfall iron rounds will work on the sucker." Sam holds his beer up and we all lift ours and tap them together.

"Sweet," Dean says and swigs his. Sam is grinning across the table. Oh, damn. I put my bottle down. Dean goes to put his down, but the bottle is stuck to his hand. Sam doubles over. Dean looks over, pissed, "You didn't."

Sam keeps laughing and flips up a thing of super glue, "Oh, but I did."

Dean keeps shaking his hand and Sam keeps laughing and pulls the fisherman, making it laugh again. He gets up to leave. Dean keeps trying to shake off the bottle, "Son of a bitch."

I laugh, "Here..."

He holds up his hand and I grab the bottle. "Ready?"

He nodded and I ripped the bottle away from his hand, peeling off skin. Dean exhaled painfully, "Freak-ing-ay."

"Suck it up Sally." I went to head out.

"Hold up a sec..." He turned to the waitress, "I'll give you forty bucks for that laughing fisherman."

...++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++...

At nightfall we were heading back into the Hell House with 45's filled with wrought iron rounds. After having that fisherman run and annoy the shit out of Sam the whole way here, Dean had left it running in the woods. Through the trees I could see the flashlights from the cops looking for it, "I'm telling ya, I heard something. Coming from over there."

We didn't stick around long enough to see if they found it. We enter the house with our guns drawn, S.W.A.T. style sweeping the house room by room. Dean adjusts the gun in his hand, "Dammit Sam,I barely have any skin left on my palm."

Sam chuckles, "I'm not touching that line with a ten foot pole."

Dean frowned and shined the light in Sam's eyes and he winced.

"You guys think Mordechai's home?" I ask.

Dean shook his head and there was a sound behind us that made us all jump.

"Me either." came a voice and we all pulled our guns up.

"Woah, woah. It is just us." Ed said. We lowered our guns and the flashlights. I picked my light back up and shined it right in their face, "You assholes trying to get yourselves killed?"

Ed shrunk away, "We're just trying to get a book and movie deal, ok?"

I shook my head and then I heard a noise. All the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I draw up on the basement door. I can hear the sound of a knife being sharpened clearly. Sam and Dean flank me, guns up.

"Oh crap, " Ed breaths and creeps behind us with his camera, "Ah guys, you wanna ... you wanna open that door for us?"

Dean never looks away, "Why don't you?"

A few seconds pass and then Mordechai bursts through the door with an axe. We all empty our guns into him. He holds there for a moment and then fades away. Sam, Dean and I look at each other and then check the room around us. Something still doesn't feel right. Ed breaths, "Oh God. He's gone. He's gone."

"Did you get him?" Harry shakes Ed.

"Yeah they got him."

"No, on camera, did you get him on camera."

"Ah, ah, I ..." Ed fumbles around with his camera. I catch the misting out of the corner of my eye and before I can say anything, Mordechai slams his axe through the camera and disappears turns and grabs Ed by the collar, "Hey! Didn't you guys post that B.S. story we gave you?"

"Of course we did. But our server crashed."

I exhale, "Shit. Dean, the story isn't up."

"Great. So these guns don't work. Sam? Got any bright ideas?

Ed scurried around us, pulling Harry with him, "Yeah, we are outta here."

As they run past us Mordechai appears between them and the door, screaming. They run to another door but it is locked. I am looking around for anything, Sam starts throwing stuff around, searching.

Ed is yelling, "The power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you. THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!"

We are out of options, "Hey!..." I yell and Mordechai looks around, "Come and get me you piece of shit."

He swings his axe but I grab it and shove him against the opposite wall. He shoves back and lifts up the axe handle against my throat. Ed and Harry scamper out behind me. Mordechai shoves the handle forward, I can feel it crushing my windpipe. I shove back, struggling.

"DEAN!," I struggle to breath, "DEAN!"

He comes running around the corner, "Hey ugly!"

He holds up a spray can and sets it on fire. Mordechai mists.

"Go go go!" He grabs my shoulder and pushes me toward Sam. Under my feet there is kerosene spilt everywhere. Sam pulls me toward the door and just about when we are there I turn, "Dean, what the hell are we gonna do?"

"Mordechai can't leave the house, we can't kill him - We improvise." Dean holds up the lighter, flicks it and throws it on the kerosene. We all stumble outside.

Sam turns, "That's your solution? Burn the whole damn place to the ground?"

Dean is contemplating his decision, "Well nobody will go in anymore. I mean look, Mordechai can't haunt a house if there's no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty but it works."

"Well what if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?" Sam asks.

"Well - well then we'll just have to come back."

We stand there and watch the house burn. Dean looks over at me and raises an eyebrow. I mouth, 'I'm fine'. He nods and we return to the car. Sam pauses, "Kinda makes you wonder. Of all the thing we hunted, how many existed just cause people believed in them."

I snort, "Sam, that's way above my pay grade."

The next evening me and Dean are sitting on the top of a picnic table at the trailer park watching Ed and Harry pack up their shit in the distance. Sam is making a call in the car, looking for a lead on a new case. Dean grabs my chin and lifts up, I try to jerk away but he clamps his hand down. "Stop that shit and just hold still."

He turns my head back and forth a little, checking the bruises I knew were starting to show from the axe handle, "I told you that I am fine."

"You seem to have a habit of underplaying stuff. I just wanted to make sure." He holds my head and watches my eyes, not letting go. I finally let up and relax into his hand. He pulls my face closer...we both jump at the sound of the car door closing. We get up and walk over to meet Sam. We could hear Ed and Harry coming around on the road.

"...I was thinking that Mordechai has a really super high attack bonus." Harry was saying. Ed giggled, "Man I got the munchies right now." He spots us standing there and nods.

"Hey guys." Sam says.

"Should we tell 'em?" Harry asks.

Harry smiled, "Hey, might as well, you know, they're going to read about it in the trades."

"So this morning we got a phone call from a very important Hollywood producer."

Dean scoffs, "Oh yeah, wrong number?"

"No, smart-ass. She read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion picture rights. Maybe even have us write it." Ed said. They throw their bags into the back of their already overloaded car.

"Oh and create the RPG." Harry added.

Dean raised his eyebrows, "The what?"

"Role-playing-game." Ed said, annoyed

"R-ight." Dean said.

"A little lingo for you. Anyhoo, ahhh, excuse us, we're off to la-la land." Sam slapped Ed on the shoulder, "Well congratulations guys. That sounds really great."

"Yeah. That's awesome, best of luck to you." Dean suppresses his amusement.

"Oh yeah, luck. That has nothing to do with it. It's about talent. Sheer, unabashed, talent. Later."

They pull away with the trailer creaking on the hitch. Dean shakes his head, "Wow!"

"Hey guys, " I start, "I have to tell you something."

They both turn and look at me, "I made that call this morning and said I was a producer. Promised them the movie deal."

Dean flips his head back and laughs. Sam giggles and looks over the roof of the Impala at Dean, "Truce?"

Dean pauses and presses his lips, "Yeah truce. At least for the next hundred miles."

I smile, we climb in and drive off. Before we get twenty miles Dean gets a text. He looks over at Sam, "It's from Dad."

He holds up the phone for me to see. All it says is Fitchburg, Wisconsin.