Episode Referenced: Season 1, Episode 21 - "Salvation"

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Supernatural are not mine.


CHAPTER EIGHT: Pèt Na (The Loss)

Le Mars, Iowa

October 30, 2006 (10:30am)

"Where'd you leave the rock salt?"

Harry looked over the roof of the cab of the truck to where his father stood in the motel room door. "We used the last of it last night. We'll need to stop on our way out to restock your truck. I noticed you only had two rolls of gauze left and only half a flask of Holy Water."

"Right," Caleb ducked back into the room while Harry finished securing their gear in the back of his father's truck.

It had been a relatively easy hunt. Red Caps were notoriously vicious and going after one on your own was practically suicide. This was why Harry had called his Dad in for backup. It was a good thing too. The psychotic little dwarf had brought a pile of imported stones, which had once been the Red Cap's original haunt in Ireland, down on to Harry. Dazed, his blood would have been staining the beast's hat if Caleb hadn't been there to distract it. Once free of the stones, Harry had been able to summon the crimson cap and burn it with an intensified Incendio. It had burned hot and fast and the Red Cap along with it.

"That's the last of it," Caleb called as he closed the room door behind him, the key having been left inside. "We set to go?"

"We're good." Harry cinched the last bungee cord over the tarp covering their bags and hopped out of the truck bed. "Are you sticking around when you drop me off at Bobby's? I wanted you to take a look at that text I found in Taipei last month. The text is a dialect of Aramaic I'm not familiar with and I'd like you to check my translation.

Caleb perked up and smiled at his son eagerly. "Is it the spell?"

A wide grin spread across Harry's face and he nodded. "I think so. Bobby helped me with some of the translating, but he says you've got the better grasp of the syntax of the older dialects. What we've got so far is promising, and so very exciting! I'm almost positive on the incantation but it's the wand motions that have me conflicted.

"So, what is it?" The older man was practically bouncing on his feet.

"If I'm pronouncing it right, and Bobby says I am: Avraka Davra; let the dark be banished. It's either what I've been looking for or a ridiculously involved lighting charm."

"Now wouldn't that just suck," Caleb chuckle and smirked. "A year of research and traipsing across the globe the last six weeks, just to find an ancient version of the Lumos."

Harry snorted. "That would totally suck. So, double check my translation?"

"I could," Caleb leaned against the hood with a mischievous grin. "I don't have anything else lined up that can't wait for a couple of days. But then, you've been in and out of the country for the past two months, I've hardy seen you. What do you say we head down to New Orleans? Halloween and then the Day of the Dead down in the French Quarter is something you shouldn't miss. We're only eighteen hours out. We could be there tomorrow afternoon if we push it."

With a smile of his own, the twenty-six year old hunter mimicked his father's pose. "Are you sure you want to risk it? Halloween and me don't exactly have the best track record."

Attempting, and failing, to stifle his chuckle, Caleb shrugged. "It's not like you've got those crazed British Wizards after you again."

"Perhaps not, but you do remember last year's sinkhole beneath the cemetery in Deming, New Mexico? Or the Jikininki outside of Winnemucca the year before that? And do I really need to remind you about the Ekek in that swamp in South Carolina six years ago? I mean, come on! Seriously? They go after sleeping pregnant women! I was neither sleeping nor a pregnant woman!"

Laughing without restraint now, Caleb tucked his head into his folded arms on the hood of the truck. "Oh god, I'd forgotten about that! When you saw it's proboscis I thought you were going to shit yourself!"

Harry threw his hands up into the air and opened the passenger side door. "My own father laughs at my near death experiences!"

Trying to control himself, Caleb lifted his head and chortled a few more time. "Don't be like that, Harry! You're fine! You're alive! There're just so many of them!"

He was laughing again as Harry climbed in to the truck. "Fine, we'll go to New Orleans, but if something happens I'm blaming you!"

Slamming the door shut behind him, Harry began to chuckle himself. He had to agree with his Dad. Looking back it was funny as hell the stuff that typically happened to him on or near Halloween. Maybe in Louisiana he'd at least get to have some fun before it all went pear shaped. He watched as Caleb worked to calm himself, especially when the older hunter's phone began to ring.

"Reaves," the man answered a little breathlessly. He paused as he listened, the blood rushing from his face and his laughter stopping abruptly. "What?!"

Harry was out of the truck in an instant when he saw the sudden change in his father.

"Yeah," Caleb answered the person on the other end of the call shakily. "Uh, yeah. I can be there in a few hours. My son... Harry Potter-Reaves, that's right. He's with me... Yeah, I can tell him."

"Dad?" Harry asked in a scared whisper when he noticed Caleb's hands shaking.

He held up a hand to stall his son's questions then fisted it against the hood of the truck with his eyes squeezed shut. "I can drive. We'll - we'll meet you there."

Caleb's hand dropped the phone onto the pavement and his breathing was coming in deep ragged breaths. He bent his body in half, a low keening sound emanating from him as he began to rock back and forth. Harry stood there, shocked and afraid at his father's behavior. When Caleb let out a gut wrenching roar, Harry was bolting around the truck to his side.

"Dad!" Harry had grabbed the man by his shoulders, trying to get Caleb to look at him. "Come one Dad, what's happened? You're scaring me!"

"Jim's dead," Caleb moaned, looking up with unspilled tears pooling in his hazel eyes.

Harry felt like he'd been hit. "Wha - How?!"

"A couple hours ago, in the church. Someone slit his throat. One of his parishioners found him about an hour ago."

"Oh god-" He staggered, his knees trembling beneath him as his world began to tilt. Caleb grabbed on to him, pulling him into a tight hug to steady him. Harry latched on, his arms wrapping around his father's girth and clenching his eyes shut.

Jim had been as much family as Caleb. The kindly pastor had taken Harry under his wing from that first night a decade ago. He had been Grandfather, Uncle, Brother, Friend, Mentor; everything Harry ever needed could be found behind Pastor Jim's honest smile. And Harry had loved him.

Minutes passed slowly as father and son clung to each other; each lost in their memories and their grief. He wasn't sure how long it was before Caleb, almost reluctantly, let go and took a shaky breath in. "That - that was a clerk from the Blue Earth Sheriff's office. They're combing the church now for evidence and wanted someone to let them in to Jim's place so they wouldn't have to break in. They'll still be a few hours yet, so we have time to get there."

"Are we sure, Dad?" Harry asked almost desperately. "I mean, maybe it's a mistake."

Caleb shook his head. "People don't tend to make these kinds of mistakes. Get in the truck, Harry. I want to call a few people before we head out."

"No." Harry refused, taking his own steadying breath. "No. Let's just get going and I can make the calls while you drive. Are you okay to drive?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." The men separated, Caleb picking up his dropped phone, and got into the vehicle. As he started up the truck, Caleb started dialing. "You call Bobby; have him meet us at Jim's place. I'll get Johnny."

Harry sniffed, pressing the auto dial with trembling fingers. "Yeah, okay."

Blue Earth, Minnesota

October 30, 2006 (1:30pm)

The drive was empty as they pulled in to it, the house still and peaceful. There were no other vehicles on the street that shouldn't have been there; no police cruisers or forensic vehicles. The scene set Harry's teeth on edge as his father put the truck into park and they sat there.

"Should we have gone to the church first?" Harry asked, undoing his seat belt but not moving from the vehicle. "Bobby was going to head over there first; see if he could find out anything."

"I told the Clerk that we'd meet them here." Caleb dug out his phone and flicked through the numerous recent calls. When he found the one he wanted he pressed send and waited. A full minute passed before he shook his head and hung up. "I can't call back on the number the Clerk called from. I'll have to look up the main number. Jim should have it inside. You still got your key?"

Harry nodded and popped the door open, climbing out on steadier legs than they had a right to be. He was numb now. After retelling what little they knew to nearly a dozen different hunters had desensitized him to the reality he was facing. It didn't seem real. Jim was too strong, too good of a hunter, to be taken out so readily. They didn't even know if it was a human or beast that did the deed. Given the cause of death, Human was more likely.

Once inside the too still house, Harry faltered at the sensation of wrong that washed over him. Jim was always here when Harry came by; always greeting him warmly and with a fond hug that Harry had come to cherish. He should be there, right now, chiding Harry for not wiping his feet or forgetting to call after their Hunt was done. Or just telling Harry and Caleb how very glad he was to see his boys home again.

Caleb's hand on his shoulder grounded him and brought him back to the present. "Wait here," Caleb told him gently. "I'll just grab the phone book and we can wait in the truck."

Desperately trying to keep it together, the younger man nodded and watched his father walk into the back of the house where Jim's office was. Harry stayed by the front door, his eyes not able to focus on anything very long before a memory or thought of Jim was piercing at his heart.

Everything fled from his mind though when he heard the crash from Jim's office and his father shout:

"Harry, run!"

Cursing himself for leaving his guns in the truck, he was flexing his arm to snap his wand out of its holster when they came at him. Two large figures, one from inside the kitchen the other the living room, on either side of him lunged for him. He was able to duck under the vicious fist aimed at the side of his head but the second caught him cleanly in the kidney and had him falling to his knees.

The door slammed behind him as the two muscled goons latched on to either arm and started dragging him into the living room. He was thrashing and yelling, noticing only then that the curtains had all been drawn and the room was dim. Even in the low light he could make out the faces of his assailants and the fact that their eyes were solid black. A second, inhumanly strong, sucker punch to his kidney stole his breath with an explosion of pain in his side and he slumped in the demons' hold.

A large space had been cleared in the center of the room, the furniture having been pushed to one side. A single straight back chair had been brought in from the living room and Harry's heart started pounding at the sight of it. He was taken across the side of the room where he was forced to his knees.

Trying to regain his wind, Harry was gasping for breath as he fought against the hold of the demons behind him. The two on his arms kept a vice-like grasp on his shoulders while they twisted his wrists behind his back. They didn't make a move to bind him but their relentless grips made it impossible for him to release his wand from its holster or reach the spare on his ankle. Harry was helpless and could only watch as two more black eyed demons dragged the limp form of his father between them and into the room.

"Dad!" The young hunter shouted, trying to break free from the hands restraining him. He could see Caleb was conscious, but a bloody gash on his temple kept him dazed and listless as he was placed into the chair and ropes were wound around his wrists and torso.

Hazel eyes took a few seconds to focus, but when he got one look at his son the clarity snapped in to place and he was fighting the demons trying to secure him in place. "Let him go!"

A heavy fist reared back and struck Caleb again and the man's head snapped back from the blow. Blood flowed from his nose as his head fell forward to his chest and there was no more fight as the knots were tied.

Eyes flashing dangerously, Harry pulled against the vice-like fists on his arm with no avail. Even as he fought physically, he began pooling his magic around him. Drawing it from his core and panting with the effort he began chanting, powering his words with his magic.

"Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac, et virtúte tua age causam meam!" The four possessed men twitched as the exorcism started, and one of the pair surrounding his father broke away and moved behind Harry. "Deus, audi oratiónem meam; áuribus pércip- phmph! Fvugh!"

Harry swore venomously through the thick length of cloth that was suddenly hooked between his lips and pulled tight across his face. With the third man now behind him, his arms were moved from behind his back and pulled straight out from his side. The pressure on his shoulders intensified and he growled into the gag as he head was yanked back until it was held against the demon's abdomen.

Silence descended on the room as none of the possessed men deigned to speak. Caleb was blinking rapidly, shaking his head to clear the last cobwebs from his mind, blood still dripping down his lips and chin. Harry watched his father closely; grateful for the lucidity he saw when Caleb finally lifted his head.

"You goddamn fuckers," Caleb moaned when he took in the treatment of his son.

"Such language!"

Then she walked into the room. The petite girl with a blonde pixie cut: Meg. Except, unlike in Chicago, her eyes were solid black - which explained how she was standing there and not a sidewalk pancake. She looked between the two captives, obviously please with what she saw, then focus solely on Harry. She purposefully walked toward him and suddenly he could feel the power oozing off her. It pressed down painfully on Harry's own magic, pushing it back into his core and locking it behind her twisted art.

"Wow!" She inhaled slowly as she came to a stop directly in front of him. He jerked against the restraining hands futilely when her hand rested on top of his head and combed through his hair. Her fingernails scratched lightly at his scalp, and her eyes faded to a pale blue. "I can practically taste your power; it's taking almost all I have to keep it locked down."

"Don't touch him, bitch!" Caleb snarled and wrenched at the ropes keeping him secured to the chair. The demon standing behind the chair reached around and clamped a hand over Caleb's mouth.

The woman ignored him, running her fingers a few more times over Harry's head despite his own muffled profanity spewing her way. Smiling, she crouched down so her fingers could dig into his back pocket and pull out his cell phone.

"Mind if I make a call?" She patted his face and moved to stand beside Caleb, flicking through the saved numbers on Harry's phone before dialing. She held it out on speaker as the sound of the call ringing echoed in the room.

"Harry?" The voice that answered was surprised but not unpleasantly so.

"Fvahm!" Harry choked on the cloth across his mouth as it was pulled tighter and glared right back at woman when she smirked at him.

"Harry, that you?" The youngest Winchester's tone changed; his voice low with concern.

Meg smiled sweetly suddenly but never looked away from the captive Wizard. "Sam?"

"Who is this?" Sam demanded angrily.

The She-Demon smirked. "Think real hard it will come to you."

There was a brief pause before Sam's voice snarled across the connection. "Meg. Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window."

The frown that turned down Meg's lips was mocking. "Yeah, no thanks to you. That really hurt my feelings by the way."

"Just your feelings? That was a seven story drop."

Meg laughed lightly. "Let me speak to your Dad."

Harry was grateful when there was no hesitation in Sam's response. "My Dad? I don't know where my Dad is."

The girl's eyes flashed black and there was nothing mocking about the vicious scowl she now wore. "It's time for the grownups to talk Sam. Let me speak to him, now."

There was another moment's pause before a new voice sounded. "This is John."

"Howdy John." Meg started pacing between the restrained father and son, her free hand clenched around a slender knife. "I'm Meg; I'm a friend of your boys. I'm also the one who watched Jim Murphy choke on his own blood"

Harry inhaled sharply and couldn't stop himself from pulling against the hands holding him again. He growled around the gag, eyes burning with rage and suppressed power as he tried to reach for the bitch in front of him. He managed to get one arm free only for it to be grabbed and twisted forcefully until he cringed with the sharp pain in his shoulder. He looked to his father, their eyes meeting with shared grief and fear. If she killed Jim, it didn't bode well for either of them.

Meg was watching Harry with a bemused grin. "Still there John-boy?"

The pain in the other Hunter's voice was evident. "I'm here."

"Well, that was yesterday." The blonde pranced closer to Caleb, the tip of her knife skating across the bound man's throat. "Today I'm visiting another old friend of yours. He wants to say hi."

Harry's heart was pounding in his chest as he tried again to break free, but the demons holding him were ready for him this time. He kept his eyes locked on his father's while the hand was lifted from the older man's mouth.

Caleb licked his lips as Meg held the phone out closer to him. "John, help Harry! Please! Whatever you do-"

Meg pressed the flat edge of the knife to Caleb's lips, shushing him with a victorious smile. There was resignation in Caleb's eyes and Harry shook his head, pleading with any god listening. Tears stung the corner of Harry's eyes as he watched his father.

"Caleb?" John's voice was tight and grim. His next words were addressed to the Demon. "You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go!"

Rolling her eyes, Meg turned the blade and the tip of the knife nicked Caleb's lips. The magic inside Harry fought against the power restricting it while his breathing was coming in near panicking pants through his nose. His pulse roared in his ears but he could still hear the bitch talking.

"We know you have The Colt, John."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The Demon's eyes bled black and she glared at the phone. "Oh, okay. Well listen to this."

Her wrist flicked quicker than Harry could see and for a moment it seemed as if nothing happened. But then the blood started flowing from Caleb's throat.

"NGGH!" Harry screamed around the gag, yanking and fighting the demons while his father choked on his own blood. Tears pooled in his eyes as he watched Caleb gasping and drowning. Magic surged through him and Meg actually stumbled as her power nearly buckled under the onslaught.

"Caleb!" John's alarmed shout sounded from the phone. "Caleb!"

"You hear that?" Meg was panting as she ignored the dying man behind her, stalking over to Harry and focusing her energy on him. "That's the sound of your friend dying in front of his son!"

His magic burned inside him unable to strike out at the Demon. Harry was sobbing, screaming incoherently as he watched his father's eyes dim and his body still. Feeling the moment Caleb died, Harry went limp in the hands keeping him captive and his head slumped to his chest.

Meg placed a bloody hand on Harry head and ran her fingers through his hair. She trailed her nails down his face and pulled the fabric from his lips. "Now let's try this again. Say Hi, Harry."

"You bitch," he moaned as his tears dripped to the floor. Rage and grief coursing through every fiber of his being, Harry looked up with near glowing green eyes. The power radiating behind the hate with which he glared at her caused her to take a step back. He spat at her through snarling teeth, "I'll have you begging for Hell, you fucking bitch!"

She was silent a moment, unadulterated fear on her face, before she schooled her features. "We know you have the gun John; word travels fast. So, as far as we're concerned, you just declared war. And this is what war looks like. It has casualties."

"I'm going to kill you," John growled over the line, "you know that?

"Oh John please," Meg spat. "Mind your blood pressure. So this is the thing: We're going to keep doing what we're doing." She brought the knife covered in Caleb's blood up to press underneath Harry's chin, forcing his head to tilt back. "And your friends, anyone who has ever helped you, gave you shelter, anyone you ever loved; they'll all die unless you give us that gun. I'm sure I don't have to tell you whose neck is in the noose right now."

Harry's hands were fisted, his arms straining against the demons holding him on his knees. He held his glare on her face, once again pushing his magic against hers, and he could feel her faltering beneath his grief fueled stare. "Let her kill me, John! Don't give the cunt what she wants!"

Snarling, she pulled the knife back from his throat and slashed it across the side of his face. Harry hissed as he felt the blood spilling from his cheek. "I'm waiting Johnny; better answer before the buzzer!"

"Okay."

"John, no!" Harry shouted only to have the knife gouge across the same cheek again and the strip of fabric was once more pulled taught across his mouth.

A triumphant smile burst onto her face. "Sorry? I didn't quite get that."

"I said okay." John's voice sounded defeated. "I'll bring you the colt."

Meg cupped Harry's face ran her thumb through the blood oozing from the pair of gashes. He winced but didn't - couldn't - fight anymore. "There's a warehouse in Lincoln," the woman told John, "On the corner of Wabash and Lake. You're going to meet me there."

"It's going to take me about a day's drive to get there."

Her thumb dug into the wound and Harry grunted involuntarily, the sound carrying through the phone, before biting the sound off and yanking his head away from her. Meg popped her thumb into mouth and sucked the blood from it. "Meet me there at midnight tonight."

"That's impossible," John snapped. "I can't get there in time and I can't just carry a gun on the plane."

The possessed woman's face twisted into an unattractive sneer. "Oh. Well I guess Harry dies, doesn't he? If you do decide to make it, come alone."

Snapping the phone shut she tossed it aside and Harry couldn't help but watch the device as it slid across the floor, stopping when it skidded into the pool of blood surrounding Caleb's body. Clenching his eyes shut, he turned away from the grizzly sight. He was unprepared for the delicate hand that fisted in his hair and yanked his head back.

"Take a good look," Meg's breath was warm against his ear as she pried his eyes open.

Harry cursed her behind the gag and swallowed the lump in his throat as he was made to meet the cold, lifeless eyes of his father.

"John Winchester did that." Her tongue snaked out and licked the shell of his ears. He shuddered in disgust and tried to pull away from her, but barely moved. "All he had to do was agree to give me what I wanted sooner and your dear old Dad wouldn't be a steaming pile of soon to be rotting flesh. Remember that, Harry; Johnny got your Daddy killed."

She let go of him and started walking away. "Get him ready for transport."

Tears welling in his eyes, Harry looked at his father's body praying that it was all a bad dream and he would soon wake up. That Caleb and Jim were still alive and he had only fallen asleep in the truck on their way to New Orleans.

But as the blow to the back of his skull drove him into darkness, he knew it was a nightmare that would never end.