Thank you to my chapter seven reviewers Fanspired, Dirtdevil76, Meggin Lane, Baltimoron48 and my guest reviewer. I'm up to 42 reviews woo hoo. That is way more then I thought I would get. Thanks to all the people following the story. I appreciate the support. This chapter is long and rambling; I'm hoping it moves the plot forward and you guys like it. I'm sad to say I didn't create Supernatural that would be Eric Kripke. All I own is large house mortgage.
Sam woke up to the darkness of the room. He reached for his watch and hit the light to see the time, 6 A.M. He felt a moment of frustration, why was he awake this early? He realized it was the ship, it was no longer moving. His body was use to the gentle rocking motion of the ship. Also, his hay fever allergies were killing him. He didn't realize how bad they were until he was out to sea with no pollen to bother him. Sam glanced over to Dean's bed and noticed he was out cold.
Sam closed his eyes in an attempt to fall back asleep but then his brain started making a to-do list. They needed iron and salt. All they had was a silver knife Dean somehow snuck through security. But silver was useless against a ghost, unless it was the ghost of a werewolf, then maybe the knife would work. Sam shook his head, of course it wouldn't work against a werewolf ghost. Wait was there such a thing as werewolf ghost? Didn't werewolves normally go to purgatory after they died? So no ghost. Now that Sam's brain finished the tangent it was on maybe he could focus back on the problem.
This ghost's uniform appeared to be thatof a sailor from the 1800s. Sam thought back to the list, they needed salt and iron. They needed to know why the ghost was picking these targets and they needed to identify the cursed object. Moments like this Sam missed Bobby most of all. There was no one they could trust who knew as much about the supernatural as their bearded, whiskey guzzling friend. Sam's throat tightened realizing he would never again be called in idjit by his second dad. Sam pushed the thought away; dwelling on his friend's death wouldn't help anything. So he forced his brain back on topic. How was he going to find this cursed object?
Sam's bouncing around the bed caused Dean to open one sleepy eye and mutter. "Keep it down Sammy I'm trying to sleep." Then Dean rolled over and Sam could hear his snores start back up. Lucky bastard can fall to sleep in five minutes.
Sam glanced back at the clock, 6:42 A.M. damn it. He closed his eyes to try and sleep. But his traitorous brain refused to comply. Instead it asked what if a werewolf died in human form? Since they died as a human maybe they wouldn't go purgatory. If this was the case it was possible for a werewolf ghost to exist so the silver knife would work. However, since they died as a human and not a werewolf they would just be a normal ghost; so they wouldn't be affected by silver. He killed Madison when she was human, he really hoped that meant she went to heaven and not purgatory. Stop brain! I need to sleep, Sam thought as he rolled over again. Finally, while listening to Dean's rumbling snores Sam was able to enter a restless sleep. In his dreams he was chased by werewolf ghosts that only reacted to silver, but he lost the silver knife. Every time he tried to get back to the cabin he had to wait for the elevator. This was because the stairs had an out of order sign. In the dream he stood helpless watching as elevator after elevator whizzed past him. He tried to hide behind a pole from the werewolf ghosts. Finally the elevator opened and a bright white light assaulted his eyes and he heard Dean's sing song voice shouting, "Wakey wakey hands off snakey."
He realized the bright light from his dream was actually the overhead lights Dean had flipped on. He shot Dean a bitch face and was shocked at the sight of the snake cake. It was now missing a section that Dean eating with gusto.
"Ah Dean you're eating the snake?" Sam questioned shock.
"Dude, this cake is awesome." Dean said.
The head of the snake was still intact, but the body had a large missing piece. Oddly enough the cake was even creepier this way. A clever baker had made the snake out of red velvet cake so the inside was a bloody red color.
"You want a piece?" Dean asked around a mouth full of cake.
Sam looked at the head of the snake. The face seemed to be asking why he was being subjected to Dean's ravenous appetite. Sam guiltily looked away from the snake.
"No thanks." Sam replied heading for the bathroom since his bladder was now fully awake.
Leaving the bathroom Sam noticed Dean slicing another piece of cake. He could have sworn he heard the cake hiss in distress as more of its moist red body was removed. "Dude we're going to breakfast. Why are you still eating?"
"I'm hungry, besides, Kaa understands. Don't you Kaa?" Dean said patting the snake's head.
"You named the cake after the snake in 'the Jungle Book'? I thought you said you hated that movie?" Sam said surprised.
"I hated it after the 50th time you insisted we watch it! Besides, he looks like a Kaa cake to me." Dean said amused at his own turn of phrase. Sam just rolled his eyes.
Dean muttered under his breath "one." Sam heard, but chose to ignore.
"We need iron and salt." Sam said.
"Okay." Dean said, a few cake crumbs clinging to his chin held in place by yellow icing. The sight disgusted Sam.
"You got some crumbs." Sam said gesturing to his chin. Dean wiped the wrong side. "No other side." Finally the crumbs were removed and Sam could look at him again without cringing.
Dean explained their main problem. "So the EMF meters are worthless because we're floating around on an electric power plant. So how're we gonna locate the object?" Dean questioned.
"We need to know more about the ghost. I need to find an internet café in Jamaica so I can get online, I want to research the uniform the ghost was wearing." Sam told Dean.
"We'll find you an internet café." Dean said as he set his empty plate down. "But first we need to get ready. The buffet will be a mess this morning. I say we hit the gym then get some breakfast after the crowds have cleared out."
"Is it really that bad?" Sam questioned.
"Oh yeah, remember hell? Picture it with screaming kids." Dean said shuddering at the memory. Sam smiled at Dean's reaction; he always did hate the shrill screams of children.
They changed and headed to the gym, looking forward to hitting the boxing ring again. Andro greeted them after they finished their treadmill and weight training. "Hello gentlemen, my friend is a MMA fighter and he was looking for a sparring partner. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping him out."
Before Sam could reply, Dean answered. "Sure it would be interesting to spar with someone new."
"Great, he's lifting weights, I'll go grab him." Andro said, excited Dean had agreed so easily.
"I'm not sure that was such a great idea, MMA fighters are seriously well trained." Sam warned his brother.
Dean just scoffed, "how much worse can he be than what we normally fight?"
Dean felt like eating those words when Andro came back with a man who was about Dean's height and 230 pounds of solid muscle. The man's square jaw and crew cut completed the intimidating mountain of man.
"This is my friend Mirko Filipović. Mirko this is Sam and Dean Osbourne." Andro introduced his friend. Mirko smiled and shook hands with the boys, Dean was relieved to see his express softened and he wasn't so intimidating when he smiled.
"So who will spar with me?" Mirko asked the boys who looked at each other and threw rock, paper, and scissors. Dean threw rock and Sam threw paper. Smirking Sam handed Dean the boxing gloves.
"In what world does paper beat rock?" Dean grumbled as he entered the boxing ring. Dean's first shock sparring with Mirko was the fact that Mirko was a southpaw. Dean was unprepared for the many left handed punches thrown his way. Being a hunter he was trained for the unexpected and he managed to avoid the left handed punches. But then Mirko's left footed round house kick caught him in the head and had him seeing stars. Dean staggered back a couple of steps, but quickly shook it off and started after the big man with a couple of good kicks of his own.
He landed a right roundhouse kick that set Mirko back on his heels; it also seemed to put the big man into fifth gear. Mirko started in with a flurry of jabs that Dean mostly dodged. Mirko was used to hitting his target and was getting winded following Dean's footwork. Mirko had listened to his friend Andro rave about the guys at the gym, but he hadn't realized just how good they were. Twenty minutes into the fight the two men looked to be evenly matched in speed and skill so they decided to conclude the session. Sam hadn't had a chance in the ring so Dean agreed to spar fifteen minutes with his brother. Mirko was truly impressed with the boys. Sam's long reach gave him an advantage, but Dean appeared to have endless stamina.
Andro came over to Mirko, "Didn't I tell you?"
"Where do they fight?" Mirko asked.
"They don't fight anywhere. They said it was a hobby" Andro replied. Mirko looked at him in shock.
"No one learns to fight like that for a hobby." Mirko said just as Sam and Dean finished their session with Sam once again on the ground.
Mirko went over to thank them for the session. "Most of my sparring partners go down when I hit them with the roundhouse kick. You really are a great fighter."
"Thanks that kick seriously rang my bell." Dean replied with a smile. Mirko was intense in the ring, but outside of it he seemed like a fun loving guy.
"Andro says you don't fight professionally. Why not? You could make a lot of money?" Mirko asked.
"We're pretty busy with our current jobs." Sam replied to which Dean said under his breath. "That no one pays us for." Sam gave Dean, the shut up you are going to get us in trouble look.
"Well if you ever change your mind, look me up." Mirko said. "I have worked up an appetite for breakfast. The Krvavica on this ship is almost as good as in Croatia."
Dean looked confused and asked. "What is Krvavica?"
"It's a type of Croatian sausage. They call it by the Spanish name of Morcilla at the breakfast buffet," Mirko replied.
"I'll have to try that out." Dean said smiling.
"Thanks for the work out. We need to hit the showers and get some breakfast." Dean said patting his stomach.
"Bye Andro." Sam called out at they headed back to the cabin.
The boys took a couple of quick showers, then headed to the buffet. Dean insisted on trying the Morcilla. Sam gave the sausage a doubtful look, it was almost black in color with bits of rice mixed in. He didn't think it looked very appetizing despite Dean's claims that it was amazing. After eating their fill, the boys stopped by the front desk to see where the nearest internet café was. The closest was in Montego Bay about 17 miles away called Cybershores.
After leaving the ship, Sam and Dean walked out of the security area to be greeted by men wearing green and yellow clothes and walking on stilts. They were taking pictures with the tourists for tips.
"Dude you're almost as tall as those guys." Dean said laughing.
Sam gave him an eye roll, which Dean silently counts as number five. "I'm not that tall! Let's just find some iron, please."
Past the men on stilts was a large shopping area. The boys checked the different shops with vendors encouraging them into the store, and then pressuring them to buy different souvenirs. Dean was fast losing his patience with the pushy sales people. The tacky souvenir shops or the jewelry stores in the area had no iron.
"Let's just get a taxi to Montego Bay. Maybe we'll have better luck there. At the very least we can check out the internet café and research this hunt." Sam suggested much to Dean's relief.
They found a taxi quickly, in fact they found four. They watched as the drivers fought each other on who would get the fare to Montego Bay. Finally the drivers worked out their differences and the boys were off to the internet café. The roads were rough and their driver was crazy. He sped so fast that the car caught air on the larger potholes in the road. Sam and Dean bounced around the back seat like a couple of pin balls. They almost kissed the ground when they arrived at Cybershore internet cafe. The building was brightly painted purple, teal green and bright yellow. Normally this would be gaudy, but it seemed to fit the tropical island. After paying a flat fee Sam hooked up the internet and was happily researching the uniform.
Dean set out in search of iron. After an hour of searching and pushy sales people Dean was no closer to finding an iron object than when he started. He was about ten seconds away from punching the next person that grabbed his arm to force him into their store. Damn the sales people here were pushy. He really hoped Sam was having better luck. He was getting ready to try another store when he heard a scream. He ran towards the sound to find himself in a dark, narrow alley. Dean was surprised to find that Althea was the source of the screams. She was kneeling down tending to a man her age who had been hit. There were four other men staring at the couple on the ground. Dean saw the flash of a blade from one of the men.
He quickly intervened before someone got stabbed. "What's going on guys?" He said addressing the four menacing men.
"You can go, we don't need you here." The biggest of the four men replied.
"Well, Althea is my friend so she can come with me." Dean said staring the man right in the eye, while reaching for the silver knife he had bought along.
"I don' tink so, Althea and her man will be staying here." A tall thin man who appeared to be the leader stated.
"You see, that just doesn't work for me. I tink it would be best if Althea and her man joined me." Dean said mocking the man's accent.
The mocking did the trick; the four men were now entirely focused on Dean. They tried to circle him, but Dean kept his back to the alley wall so they couldn't attack him from behind. He got into his fighting stance preparing for the imminent violence. Two men ran at him at once. He was able to block the punches directed at him and knocked one of his attackers out cold with a lighting fast roundhouse kick to the head.
However, the second man gave him a punch to the gut that made the air whoosh out of his body. He controlled his breathing and to the man's surprised disappointment Dean didn't fall down. Seeing the punch didn't have the desired affect the man pulled a large knife and came at Dean slashing so wildly it was a wonder he didn't hit his companions. Dean took out his much smaller silver knife and where his attacker's swings were wild and unpredictable, Dean's were precise. The man quickly dropped the knife and leaped away when his hand was slashed by the silver blade. Dean faced the other two men with blood dripping from his blade a steel glint in his eye.
"Well let's get this show on the road." He yelled at the remaining men. Both men ran at him, thinking a coordinated attack would be best. Dean grabbed both men's heads and conked them together with a sickening thud. The men fell to the ground out cold. The man with the bleeding hand decided now would be a good time to run and took off down the alley.
"Are you guys alright." Dean asked Althea in concern. He noticed the man on the ground was bleeding from his lip and his left cheek was quickly swelling up.
"We need to get some ice on that cheek." Dean said helping a very shaken up and silent Althea. "Althea are you with me?" Dean said sharply trying to break her out of her panic induced trance.
"Yea, there is a restaurant around da corner. They'll help." Althea replied helping Dean gently lift her dazed husband to his feet.
"What's your husband's name?" Dean asked to get her talking and keep her from going into shock.
"His name is Daevon; Daevon this is Dean, he is one of da passengers on da ship."
Althea spoke directly to her husband who despite his dizziness looked up at Dean and said. "Thank you for helping us. Those men were going to hurt my Althea." Dean was surprised to hear Daevon's perfect English accent. Althea laughed seeing his reaction.
"He is from da islands, but he is taking college at Cambridge. My man is smart. He is a structural engineer" Althea said with pride in her voice.
"Right now I would prefer to have Dean's fighting skills to protect you." Daevon said embarrassed at needing a stranger's help to protect his bride.
"I'm glad you is no fighter. You are much better as a lover not a fighter." Althea said and leaned in for a kiss. Dean was feeling uncomfortable, wishing Sam was there. Sam was so much better at the sensitive talking thing. They sat Daevon down in the restaurant and Dean excused himself to grab the ice, he called Sam for help.
"Hello" Dean was relieved Sam picked up on the first ring.
"Hey Sam, I ran into Althea and her husband Daevon being attacked. I stopped the men doing it, but they're still pretty shaken up. I could use your help." Dean almost pleaded on the phone.
"Oh my God, are you guys alright?" Sam said in concern. Dean could hear rustling as Sam put away the laptop and rushed towards the door.
"Daevon got a bit banged up, but he'll be fine. We're at a restaurant called The Pork Pit. It's bright yellow with a thatched roof and there's a picture of whole pig on a spit. Seriously dude you can't miss it. Plus it smells amazing in here." Now that the excitement was over Dean's stomach was reminding him it was lunch time.
"I'll be there soon." Sam said hanging up rushing out of the cyber café.
Now that Sam was coming to deal with the emotional aftermath and the adrenaline was leaving his body, Dean was feeling the aches and pains from his fight. He had sparred with a giant this morning, and then fought off four full grown men. He could feel a large bruise forming on his stomach. He felt tired and wished they were back at the ship. Taking hits like that was more damaging now that he was in his thirties instead of his twenties. He would never let Sam know it but his body didn't snap back after a beating the way it used to.
Dean came back to the booth where Althea and Daevon were sitting. It looked like a McDonald's type booth, but was green with yellow accents. Dean handed Althea the ice pack that she gently placed in on Daevon's cheek to help with the swelling. "Why is you boys in Montego Bay?" Althea asked after a few moments of silence.
"We were looking for souvenirs. I was looking for a fireplace set or something made of iron for a friend back home." Dean lied smoothly or so he thought until he met Althea's skeptical eyes.
"You boys are fighting da ghost Rose saw. You needing the iron to fight it." Althea said not pulling any punches. Just than Sam entered the restaurant saving Dean from responding to Althea's statement. Sam rushed over to his brother to check for injuries. He knew Dean would downplay his own injuries to protect others. Once Sam was satisfied that Dean was okay he checked on Althea and Daevon.
"Are you guys alright?" Sam asked in concern. Althea removed the ice pack to show Sam the injury on Daevon's cheek. Sam reached into his pack hidden under his clothes pulling out a white tube with purple writing that Dean smiled when he saw it.
"This is Arnica Cream, it will help with the swelling." Sam explained opening the tube, the sudden smell of sunflowers mixed with the smell of cooking meat in a pleasant way. For Dean the smell of sunflowers was comforting. The cream worked miracles for pain relief and reduced bruising in no time flat. He would love to borrow some for the large bruise he knew was forming on his stomach, but he didn't want Sam to know how much he was hurting.
"That stuff is great." Daevon said surprised at the reduced the pain in his cheek. Sam looked up shocked at Daevon's accent.
"Cambridge." Dean and Althea answered Sam's unasked question.
"Oh yeah." Sam said his interested peaked. Dean cut him off.
"We don't really have time for you to geek out. We still need to buy those souvenirs and get back to the ship." Dean said trying to give Sam the hint.
Althea gave Dean a knowing smile. "Try the Craft Market. I remember seeing walking sticks with cast iron animal heads. They would make good gifts." Althea said with a wink. Sam was done checking Daevon over and declared he had no broken bones.
Sam felt funny just leaving them after they had been mugged. "Do you need to speak with the police?"
For the first time they heard the perfect mix of Daevon's deep laughter alongside Althea's light laughter. Daevon answered Sam's question. "There is no point going to the police. There's nothing they can do. Don't worry about us. Althea's brother is a taxi driver. He'll drive us back. In fact Althea has to head back to the ship in an hour. Why don't you finish your shopping and Althea's brother can take you back to the ship."
"That would be great, if it's not too much trouble." Dean replied.
"After you saved us it's the least we can do. We were coming here for lunch when we were jumped. This place has the best jerk chicken on the island." Daevon proclaimed. Dean wished he could stay and eat, but Sam was already thanking Daevon and Althea and heading for the door. Dean gave one last regretful look and followed his brother. They found the craft market and the walking sticks Althea was talking about. The walking sticks were perfect because they had a nice long reach. Sam's walking stick had an iron owl with outstretched wings on the handle. The handle of Dean's stick had an iron eagle sitting on a rock in the sea.
As they walked back to the restaurant, Sam explained what he found out. "The uniform is Spanish in origin probably from around the 1700s. The gold bars Rose saw on the sleeves are a sign of rank. In the Spanish military high ranking officers didn't have epaulettes on their shoulders. Instead the ranking was on their sleeves. I think our ghost was a Spanish captain general, this is similar to an admiral." Sam waited for Dean to take this information in.
"So what's a 1700 Spanish captain general doing on a cruise ship?" Dean asked.
"I don't know, but I think we need to talk to Waldo. He's a navy nut; he might be able to tell us." Sam answered but something was nagging on the edge of his memory, and wouldn't come through.
"That's a good idea; we need to talk to him outside of the dining room. I don't think we want to bring the other tablemates into this." Dean said, Sam nodded as they entered the Pork Pit, the smell once again assaulting Dean's nose. He watched in envy as Althea and Daevon finished up their meals.
Dean tried not to wince in pain as he sat down in the booth putting pressure on his badly bruised stomach. Luckily Sam was to busy chatting with Althea and Daevon to notice. Dean closed his eyes as the exhaustion rushed up to greet him. He was so happy to just sit quietly and wait, he was in no hurry to move.
It wasn't long before Sam tapped his shoulder. "Our ride is here. How are you feeling?" Sam said in a concerned voice, regretting having to disturb Dean's rest.
"I'm fine." Dean replied getting up to fast causing pain to shoot through his stomach. Sam saw the pain flash across Dean's eyes and was annoyed to receive Dean's standard reply.
"Yeah, you look fine." Sam said sarcastically. He attempted to help Dean walk, but Dean pushed his hands away. However, he did lean heavily on his new walking stick as he headed for the taxi. Althea rode up front with her brother while Sam and Dean rode in the back.
"Thank's for the ride back." Sam said to Althea's brother Adric.
"No problem, mon. Tanks for saving my baby sister from da bad men." Adric said with a bright smile. "Althea is telling me you're hunting a ghost."
The words caused Dean to snap his eyes open. "Uh no." Sam answered.
"Tis okay mon. We know iron repels ghosts. Plus, Althea's friend Rosie told her all about da ghost. He is looking for his son." Adric explained. Dean knew Althea wasn't going to be fooled, plus she could help them get salt.
"Rose told you about that?" Dean questioned. At Althea's affirmative head nod Dean continued. "Okay, yes, we're hunting the ghost. We could use some salt and a way to find the object the ghost is attached to. This ghost is old, like 1700s old. Is there anything onboard that old?"
"No nothin, I've seen is being dat old." Althea told a disappointed Dean. They arrived at the ship and the boys offered to pay for the cab ride, but Adric flatly refused and thanked them again for helping his sister. While Althea said goodbye to her brother the boys headed for the ship to allow her some privacy.
As Sam and Dean entered deck two of the ship they felt a rush of cold air and they could see their breath. Dean tightened his hold on the walking stick quickly heading to the elevators in an attempt to find a less crowded area. Just as they got to the elevators the ghost manifested in full military dress and shouted at Dean. "¿Dónde está mi hijo!" when Dean didn't reply the ghost rushed forward and threw him into the wall. Dean's head hit the wall and he slumped to the ground. Sam took his owl and swept it through the ghost's body. The ghost screamed in anger as he disappeared. Dean struggled against the darkness in his vision as Sam bend down to ask him questions. But Dean couldn't process the words coming out of Sam's mouth as the darkness increased in his vision until he was out cold.