Chapter 2
The Legend of the Ghost Rider
"Who the hell is this guy? Or what the hell is he? He's not a spirit; that much is for sure. Spirits hang on to objects or places, not just riding around killing random people on open road."
"Dean, chill out, alright? I'm as freaked out about this as you are."
The two Winchesters were sat in their motel room in midday debating about the creature they had seen the night before. Dean was pacing the length of the room while Sam sat on the bed with his silver laptop rested on his knee.
"Yeah, but, come on, man. His head was on fire! Not to mention his fists and his bike, and, dude, he looked at a guy and killed him! It's like Bloody Mary all over again. Except this time with a lot less blood, a few less mirrors, and a lot more fire", Dean stated sarcastically.
"Yeah, Dean. I get it. Anyway, I looked up that penance stare like he told us to and I found some interesting results."
Dean suddenly turned away from the window and toward Sam, his interest piqued.
"Oh? What are they?"
Sam sighed.
"Well… it took a while to find penance in the right context, but I found it in an urban legend."
"What urban legend?"
"Dean… we're dealing with the Ghost Rider."
Dean laughed under his breath.
"You're kidding? The Ghost Rider? Dude. Come on. There's no such thing. There's no bounty hunter from Hell, all right? It's just a story."
"Well how else do you explain it, Dean? I mean, they never said what the rider looks like. It could very well be a skeleton on fire. We don't know."
Dean shook his head while running a hand through his short, messy hair.
"Yeah, whatever. Just read what that stare thing was."
Sam placed a finger on the computer's touch pad and scrolled down the web page, searching for where to begin.
"Uh… okay. Well, this penance stare is the Ghost Rider's most famous and important weapon. They use it to basically sear your soul. They only use it on those who are truly evil; those who don't even deserve to be sent to Hell."
"Huh. That's nice of him."
Sam ignored Dean's feeble attempt to lighten up the moment with humour and continued explaining.
"He shows them images of the pain they've caused throughout their entire life all at once. Then they themselves experience those people's pain. I guess it becomes too overwhelming and they die."
Sam didn't have the slightest tone of sympathy in his voice, which made Dean worry since he was the sympathetic one.
"You seem uncomfortably comfortable with this."
Sam gave Dean a pair of dagger eyes back.
"Sorry", he responded agitatedly.
Dean rolled his eyes, brushing off Sam's remark.
"So… what else do you know about this Ghost Rider, assuming that's what this thing is?"
"Well, as you know, the Ghost Rider changes every few years. A person makes a deal with the Devil and sells their soul for something they desire most. The Devil tells them what to hunt if something big has escaped, or they just ride around on whatever vehicle they own, killing things at night. Of course they are normal during the day and at night they turn, but only in the presence of evil. Assuming the legend is right, that guy at the bar last night must have done some seriously bad things."
"So, what do we plan on doing about this?" Dean asked suddenly.
Sam was taken back. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, how do we plan on stopping him? Or it? Whatever."
"Why do we have to stop it?"
"Because it kills people, Sam. Because he's controlled by the Devil. How do we know the people it kills are bad? No Devil or demon I know would actually want to kill bad people. That defeats the purpose of what they are."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. And the people that become Ghost Riders get that way by making deals. That kind of thing is usually greed or desperation related. I mean you have to be in some serious head space to want to sell your soul to the Devil himself. He could be unpredictable, reckless; and with the power of the Rider, maybe more so. Some of his kills may not have been charges."
Dean pointed a poignant finger at Sam as if making a statement.
"Exactly!"
"Alright. So what are we gonna do?"
Dean grabbed his leather jacket off the back of a chair.
"Let's go get him," Dean suggested.
"Come on, dude. We can't just go in half-cocked. We gotta think about this."
"Why? You said the Rider is human in the day. So let's go now while there's daylight."
"We don't even know who he is. It could be anyone in this city."
Dean halted by the door to think.
"Okay, you stay here and do some digging. See what kinds of miracles have happened around here that might be the result of a deal, and I'll drive around, see if anything stands out."
Sam nodded as Dean headed out the door.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Sam shouted after him, but Dean was already gone.