Chapter 9: Winchester Rule #7 - Know Your Enemy
Sam had been in searching on his laptop with renewed vigour. He finally knew what these things would look like, their habits, and how they seemed to function. Obviously this going to be much easier now and he wasn't planning on stopping until he found the bastards that caused all of this.
It was twenty minutes into the information onslaught when something caught his eye. He quickly clicked the link entitled "The Smiling Silence" and was taken to a very dark looking page, not that that even crossed his mind seeing as how those were the only pages he had book marked. He began to read the site and immediately knew, not just from the information but also from the sketched illustration, that this was exactly what he'd been looking for.
The first thing he did was book mark the page, then he read further, paying close attention to each word. According to this site these things were called "The Gentlemen", which made a freaky kind of sense, and they had been around since the medieval times. Wherever they went the voices of the town's people would disappear, a spell being placed on the town that would remove the ability to speak.
The voices would be placed inside a box and unless the box was opened and the voices were released, there would be no hope of getting them back. That is until the Gentlemen completed their mission, what they had been brought to do.
IWait a second…brought to do? So what they're summoned to a place?/I
Sam kept reading hoping the answer would reveal itself, which it did. Apparently the Gentlemen did have to be summoned to a specific place, and it had to be done by a very powerful being. This left Sam with another problem, who summoned these things? Considering that who ever did it had to be powerful meant that there was another threat, possibly even in town.
Suddenly a thought struck him, one that had been haunting him ever since Max.
IWhat if it's another psychic? What if they summoned these things…oh god…/I
He wasn't sure but the thought wouldn't leave his head. He had no proof that it was…except for one thing, and this almost made his thought a solid explanation. His vision. He never just had a vision about someone dying, they were always connected to the other psychics or the demon. Luckily this revelation narrowed down the list of possible summoners : it was either another psychic, or the demon.
Neither of the possibilities gave him any comfort though, if anything they made this all a lot worse. This made it all the more personal and to Sam? It now became his own responsibility, in his mind anyways, to see these things destroyed.
He continued his research for the next half hour before he remembered that Dean would be coming for him soon. He packed up and exited the small building, leaving with a much more informed, yet uncomfortable attitude than he had started out with. He knew what these things were doing and why, he knew they had to be summoned…but he still didn't know how to kill these things. He only hoped that maybe there was something on the website he had missed or hadn't gotten to. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had wasted a good amount of time in his own mind rather than researching.
He waited at the curb for about fifteen minutes, thinking he could have just used that time to continue his search, when the Impala finally pulled up and Sam hopped in. He noticed his brother's dour mood and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face.
IWhat? What's got you all sunshine and rainbows all of a sudden?/I
Seeing as how Sam couldn't answer anyways, which was a blessing for him, the younger just shrugged his shoulders with a smug grin that he knew would irk his brother. Dean just shook his head and took off in the direction of the victims house. Sam looked at him questioningly when they weren't heading to the motel.
II didn't have time to go check the vics place…damn writing takes forever you know! My hand I still killing me! And you got off easy…stupid computer…I got to get me one of those these days. I can't let you be the only one surfin porn sites…wouldn't want you to feel embarrassed Sammy!/I Dean thought, a large smile covering hi face when Sam reddened and glared at him from the corners of his eyes.
Sam huffed and rolled his eyes away from his brother to look out the window. They reached their destination pretty quickly and pulled the familiar routine to gain access. With relief, in a sick kind of way, the family of Janice Delong was taking this hit pretty much the same as the first victim's family had. It definitely didn't scare them at least, even if they felt the familiar sorrow and sympathy.
After only twenty minutes they left, again not learning much more from the family, only that their little girl, just like the other victims, had a strong, kind and loving heart. That set one of their theories in stone: the Gentlemen chose good, strong hearted people. The question was why.
Sam hadn't yet filled Dean in on what he had learned because he had wanted to save it until they got to the motel. Finally getting there around two in the afternoon and Sam immediately went to the table and plugged in his laptop, gesturing Dean to come and hover behind him.
This is what Dean had been waiting for and was excited to realize his brother had found something. He enthusiastically set himself in position while Sam pulled up the web page and a blank document to summarize. He started typing, point form, but detailed enough to hive Dean what he needed.
"Called The Gentlemen, there's 7 of them. They remove the hearts of people who are, as we already figured out, strong and caring. They keep them in separate ritual boxes and when they have collected seven hearts, they devour them. I'm not sure why…I couldn't find that part yet but I'm not done looking through this site. But get this, they need to be summoned to a place, they can't just spring up anywhere. And the person who summons them has to be powerful, like a witch or demon or…psychic."
Dean glanced at Sam when he typed the last word and as he guessed Sam was worrying. The older knew what was going on and knew he had to assure his brother that this had nothing to do with his abilities.
ISam, we don't know if a psychic is even involved. And so what if they are? That doesn't mean anything! That doesn't mean you're gonna go dark side or anything Sammy! Trust me man, I know you. We've had this conversation before and I ain't changing' my side./I
Sam looked reassured by his brother's "words" so he continued.
"I don't know who's summoning them…but I'm pretty sure it's either a psychic or THE demon. My vision…there's always a connection right?"
Dean hated to admit it, but he knew Sam was right. His younger brother's vision had proved that it had something to do with the demon and it gave Dean the urge to pack up and run. But he knew he couldn't, he couldn't abandon these people, and he knew that Sam couldn't, and wouldn't, either.
So unfortunately that left them with one option: stay and fight these things. Both boys knew that if the demon was involved, things were going to be much more complicated but they could only hope that Sam's visions weren't connecting to the demon and rather the psychic, if one was involved.
But it appeared as though Sam wasn't quite finished writing out his report. "Only two reports of them throughout history that I found. Once in 1752 in England, where seven people died from major heart failure and soon after that the entire town was wiped off the map. Totally obliterated and no one was ever found from there again. The only reason people know about it is because a villager had a relative who had been travelling at the time. The second record was in 1891 in Russia, where basically the same thing happened. Seven deaths, town destroyed just after that. Whatever these things are, this is just the beginning. They're building up to something and if we don't stop it then everyone in Vale will be dead, including us."
IWell that just sucks out loud. Kinda makes this whole thing personal doesn't it Sam. Well I guess the first thing we gotta do is find out how to kill the fugly sons of bitches. Got anything on that? Maybe a weapon or exorcism or somethin' like that?/I
"No, nothing on the website that I could find yet. I'll keep looking and hopefully this place will have it and if not…then I guess I gotta branch out a bit. It shouldn't take me too long, but we gotta do something about tonight…those things have been attacking non-stop and that's means that it's someone else's turn tonight."
IYah you're right…well try to find something that will take of these things…and I you can't find anything then…we'll wing it. But tonight we should go patrol the streets you know? So that if we spot these things we can at least warn people about them when they come a-knockin./I
"Alright. So when do you wanna leave?"
II figure we should leave once it gets dark…it's like 3 now so that should give you a few hours. While you do that…I'm gonna take a nap. SOMEONE keeps disturbing my beauty sleep and I need to look sharp for the ladies, so if you'll excuse me./I Dean thought with a cocky grin on his face as he flopped down on the bed and buried his face in his pillow. There really wasn't any point in taking off his shoes or anything so he left them on as he dozed off. He left Sam in the waking world to stare incredulously at the older and roll his eyes, then averting his gaze back to the computer screen.
Sam had been feeling more and more drained all day and he knew why. Dean's thoughts, clashing with his own, were taking a lot out o him. Having a head like Sam's with all the thoughts and strategies and concerns and emotions running through it is tiring enough. Then you add someone else who is much the same way, and you get one very tired brain.
It was a relief when Dean fell asleep, leaving his thoughts and emotions behind him. He didn't know it, but by sleeping, he was in fact giving Sam a break too. Now only Sam's thoughts plagued his mind, as dark and disturbing as those were lately, and he was starting to feel the fatigue leave him. With renewed energy h began to frantically type and read, being on a time limit tends to make people move faster.
It was eight by the time the sun started to go down, and Dean was still passed out on the bed, mouth wide open, one arm hanging over the side of the bed while the other was tucked under his pillow as usual. Sam was still sitting at the computer, but with a rather triumphant look on his face as he typed up and prepared the document he was going to show his brother, all the facts he found so far including the new stuff he had gotten.
He got up and moved to Dean's bed, noticing the setting sun on his way over, they were gonna have to keep this short. He put a hand on Dean's shoulder and shook gently to wake him up, next thing he knew his arm was being held in a death grip and there was a knife near his jugular. He stopped breathing momentarily, waiting for Dean's brain to actually kick in and save him from his sleepy brother.
Dean blinked and quickly let go with a rather embarrassed look on his face. He tucked the knife away under the pillow and turned to face Sam again.
ISorry little brother but you should know better to creep up on a guy when he's sleeping. Especially one as deadly and as skilled as me./I Dean smiled as he thought, a devilish grin spreading across his face.
Sam shook off the initial shock and once again found himself rolling his eyes at his brother. It's not like that hadn't happened before, the difference was that this time Sam wasn't able to tell Dean that it was him. That could have actually ended in one hell of an accident, but Sam wasn't about to show Dean how much that had shaken him. Shrugging it off he motioned for Dean to follow him over to the table and take a seat. When they were both settled, Sam handed the computer over to Dean and sat back to wait for his brother to read all the details he had listed.
He was stewing in a feeling of pride and accomplishment, and yet also anxiety and confusion. He had found what was needed to kill these bastards, but actually getting what they needed to do it was a completely different story. He had also found out why these things killed and devoured the hearts of their prey, and that little tidbit was the part causing him the most anxiety and fear.
IOk so that's great, now we know everything we need…now how o we get it? I mean it's not like you can just pick up a human voice anywhere../I Dean abruptly stopped when that thought ran through his head, absorbing the absurdity of that statement before continuing. IWe're kinda lacking in the human scream department and as much as I wanna see these things heads blow up? I don't see how we're going to get our voices back./I
He looked at Sam expectantly, hoping for an answer that he knew probably wasn't going to come. Surprisingly though, Sam had one for him. He pointed out a certain fact that Dean seemed to have missed on his tirade of doubt.
"The Gentlemen use an ancient box, a relic, to contain the voices of the people under the spell. Open the box, release the voices."
IAwesome…how do we find the box?/I
Sam grabbed the computer and typed rapidly, they were losing daylight at a rapid pace and needed to get out on the road soon.
"They keep it in their hideout. They have a kind of meeting place where they sleep during the day. Most likely an abandoned building."
IGreat so we need to make nother trip to the library for a list of abandoned buildings? Well it looks like another job for trusty geek-boy sidekick. But we gotta get goin, sun's goin down and we need to get our asses out their./I
IThis is gonna be a long night/I