Chapter Seven – Something Wicked
Harry sat in the back of the Impala (once again having be refused persmission to drive it.) and listened to the two brothers argue, again.
"Yeah, you probably missed somethin', that's why." Dean stated, watching the road as he drove towards Fitchburg.
"Dude, I ran LexisNexis, local police reports, newspapers – I couldn't find a single red flag. Are you sure you got the coordinates right?"
"Yeah, I double-checked. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Look, Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important, Sammy."
"Well, I'm tellin' you, I looked, and all I could find was a big, steaming pile of nothing'. If Dad's sending us hunting for something, I don't know what."
"Hey! Maybe he's gonna meet you there and we can all participate in a big Winchester orgy!" Harry piped up from the back, making both brothers grimace and Sam to turn in his seat to face Harry slightly.
"Is this your way of telling us we're ignoring you? We all know Dad's been so easy to find up to this point, right?"
"You're a real smartass, you know that? Don't worry, I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killin'. And there will definitely not be an orgy, whether Dad is there or not."
"Well no, if your father isn't there, then it would be a threesome. Really Dean. Get with it." Harry said, smiling slightly, when, once again, both brothers winced slightly.
"What makes you so sure that there will be something to kill?" Sam asked after a moments silence to change the subject.
"Well, because I'm the oldest, which means I'm always right."
"No it doesn't."
"Yeah, it totally does." Harry watched out of the window as they passed a sign telling him the population of Fitchburg. Why anyone would need to know was beyond him. It was at banal moments like that that made him miss England. No one there gave monkey's how many people lived where.
--
Once they got into Fitchburg, they pulled up outside of the first coffee shop that they saw, leaving Dean to go and fetch the coffee.
"So, what are we going to do here? Just wait and hope that something comes up?" Harry asked, leaning on the car next to Sam as they waited for Dean to come out with the coffee.
"Pretty much. Boring?"
"Yup." Harry admitted, watching Dean walk towards them with two cups of coffee and handing one to Sam. "Where's my coffee?"
"You don't get any. You're hyper enough without. Anyway, the waitress thinks that the local freemasons are up to somethin' sneaky, but, uh, other than that, nobody's heard about anything weird goin' on." Dean told them reluctantly.
"Dean, you got the time?" Sam asked randomly, making both Harry and Dean look at him strangely.
"Ten after four. Why?" Dean told him after looking at his watch.
"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam asked, looking over at the nearby playground. Dean looked where he was looking, the playground was almost deserted, with the exception of a young girl playing. Her mother was watching her from a nearby bench.
"School's out, isn't it?" Harry asked, looking at the playground in confusion.
"Yeah. So, where is everybody? This place should be crawlin' with kids right now." Sam said, watching when Dean straightened and walked over to the playground and the watching mother.
"It sure is quiet out here." Dean said conversationally.
"Yeah, it's a shame." The woman said, not taking her eye of her daughter.
"Why is that?"
"You know, kids getting sick. It's a terrible thing."
"How many?"
"Just five or six, but serious – hospital serious. A lot of parents are getting anxious. They think it's catching."
"Hm." Dean watched the woman's daughter on the monkey bars, then stood up and walked over to Harry and Sam.
"How dumb was that waitress not to tell you about this?" Harry asked, once Dean was standing near him.
"Let's go check out the hospital."
--
"Dude, dude, I am not using this ID." Sam exclaimed, looking at his ID as he and his brother, dressed in suits walked into the hospital, followed by a sniggering Harry.
"Why not?" Dean asked innocently, making Harry burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Bacause it says 'bikini inspector' on it!" Sam exclaimed, making Harry laugh even harder and Dean join in with the laughing.
"Don't worry, she won't look that close. Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence, Sam." Dean told him, getting his laughter under control and turning Sam to the front deak.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Kaplan, Centre for Disease Control." Sam said with a winning smile that made Harry practically swoon where he was standing.
Unfortunately it didn't work for the cold-hearted receptionist. "Can I see some ID?" Which made Harry burst into laughter and Dean try his hardest not to, making Sam glare at the two of them."
"Yeah, of course." Sam told her, smiling at her again, and once more making Harry go weak at the knees, much to Deans disgust. Sam took out the ID from his jacket and quickly showed it her, then put it away. "Now, could you direct me to the paediatrics ward please?"
"Okay, just go down that hall, turn left and up the stairs." Sam smiled at her once more, ignoring the small whimper that came from Harry and led Dean in the direction he was told to go, pausing to glare at Dean.
"See? I told you it'd work." Sam shook his head and walked down the hall.
"Follow me. It's upstairs." Sam told them at a whisper and then led the way.
"Are you sulking?" Harry asked after they had been walking for a couple of minutes in silence.
"Of course not." Sam said shortly as they passed a room which had the door open. Dean stopped and looked inside, causing Harry to roll his eyes.
"Nosy." Harry muttered as he too looked in the room. There was an old woman sitting in a wheelchair. She turned to look at Dean with cold steely eyes, which creeped Harry out. Dean noticed an inverted cross on her wall and the woman turned her eyes away from him.
"Dean." Sam called from the hallway. Dean looked at Sam, as did Harry and Sam nodded his head towards the end of the hallway. Harry and Dean then left and followed Sam down the hallway where he indicated.
It took a little searching once they got to the right hallway, but they finally found the doctor in charge of the case about the children.
"Well, thanks for seein' us Dr Hydecker." Dean greeted, shaking hands with the Doctor.
Oh, I'm glad you guys are here. I was just about to call the CDC myself. How'd you find out, anyways?"
"Oh, some GP, I forget his name, he called Atlanta, and uh, must have beat you to the punch." Dean lied smoothly. Harry would admit he was a little impressed.
"So, you say you got six cases so far?" Sam asked, ignoring Harry who was now snooping around the hallway.
"Yeah, in five weeks." Hydecker said, looking through the window to a small boy in a coma. "At first, we thought it was garden-variety bacterial pneumonia – not that newsworthy. But now..." Hydecker sighed and turned to face Sam next to him.
"Now what?"
"The kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep goin' down. Their immune systems just aren't doin' their job. It's like their bodies are wearing." Hydecker said wearily. Harry looked in the window of the same boy and then glanced sadly at Sam. A nurse chose that moment to walk over to them carrying a clipboard.
"Excuse me, Dr Hydecker."
"You ever see anything like this before?"
"Never this severe." Hydecker admitted, signing the form on the clipboard that the nurse had handed to him.
"The way it spreads – that's a new one for me." The nurse told them as she took the clipboard back.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked the nurse curiously.
"It works its way through families, but only the children – one sibling after another."
"Do you mind if we interview a few kids?" Dean asked.
"They're not conscious."
"None of them?"
"They're near death." Harry muttered, flitting from one room to the other like a demented bringer of bad news.
"No." The nurse told them, confirming what Harry said.
"Can we, uh – can we talk to the parents?"
"If you think it's help." Hydecker said in agreement.
"Yeah. Who was your most recent admission?"
"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to speak to a Mr Tarnower. Both of his daughters were the last to be admitted." Hydecker told them, leading them down the hallway to where a man was standing, looking in the window of a room.
"Mr Tarnower, may we speak with you?"
"I should get back to my girls." Tarnower said, looking past them to the room behind them.
"We understand that, and we really appreciate you talkin' to us. Now, you say Mary's the oldest." Sam asked, ignoring how Harry managed to walk through the wall to the girls room.
"Thirteen."
"Okay. And she came down with it first, right?" And then..."
"Bethany the next night."
"Within twenty-four hours?"
"I guess. Look, I already went through all this with the doctor."
Harry watched the interaction between the brothers and Mr Tarnower with barely any interest at all. No, he was more interested in the two girls in the room behind them.
His Reaper senses were going off the scale. Part of him knew it was too late, they were too near to death to be saved, yet another part of him knew that they were alive, and just... well, just sleeping. They would eventually wake up.
"Confusing isn't it?" Harry spun around to face who was speaking to him. A woman, dressed in black, with a coat similar to Harry's, but a more feminine cut.
"Andrea?"
"Yep. I've been practically trapped here, with all these young souls, confused whether they are going to die or not. Five weeks I've been here, waiting." The reaper, Andrea, told him, sitting down on the bed of the oldest girl.
"Have you taken any of their souls yet?" Harry asked curiously, watching the brothers out of the corner of his eye.
"No, I don't dare to. One minute I'm certain they are dying and so I go to take their sould, then I'll get the feeling that they are alive and they are just waiting. If that makes any sense at all."
"No, it does make sense. It's the feeling I got when I came in here. Has anyone died of this yet?"
"No. But I've seen something like this before."
"You have, when?"
"Some time ago. Just tell your little followers that they are searching for something demonic. This is no ordinary illness. It' not natural. So you tell those boys that, send them in the right direction. I believe Dean will know what it is. Eventually."
"Okay. Well it's looks like they're finishing up with Mr Tarnower, so I'll go back to them, I hope we stop this."
"Same here. Now go."
"Goodbye Andrea. I would say it was nice meeting you again, but under the circumstances." Harry said, then disappeared back through the wall, and ran after Dean and Sam as they were walking away.
"Hey, so did you find anything out?"
"You know, this might not be anything supernatural. It might just be pneumonia." Sam said, as Harry caught up with them.
"Maybe. Or maybe something; opened that window. I don't know, man, look, Dad sent us down here for a reason. I think we might be barkin' up the right tree."
"Dean's right, much as I hate to admit that, this isn't natural. I was told by the child Reaper that Dean has seen this before."
"I have no idea, I'm drawing a blank."
"I'll tell you one thing." Sam said, as they continued to walk down the hallway.
"What?" Harry and Dean both asked, making them glare at the other.
"That guy we just talked to? I'm bettin' it'll be a while before he goes home." Sam said, sharing a knowing look with his brother.
--
"You realise this is illegal right? It's called breaking and entering. I'm supposed to be the one with no morals, yet I'm the one trying to veto this. The world has gone wonky." Harry muttered at he followed the brothers into Bethany's bedroom.
Dean and Sam were both walking around the room, searching it with different equipment. Dean scowled at him, when the little machine started beeping crazily when Dean passed him. Harry chuckled sheepishly, and shrugged before he stepped out of the way.
"You got anything over there?" Sam asked when he heard the beeping of Dean's machine.
"Only a stupid Reaper gettin' in the way. Besides that, nothin'."
"Yeah, me neither." Sam told them, before going to the window and then looking at something closer. "Hey, Dean, Harry?"
"Yep?" Harry asked as Dean looked up from his little machine.
"You were right. It's not pneumonia." Dean and Harry walked over to the window by Sam and looked at it. On the window ledge, there was a long, black handprint. "It's rotted. What the hell leaves a handprint like that?" Sam asked, Dean stared at the handprint, seemingly lost in thought. "What's wrong with him?"
"I told you, Dean's met this thing before."
"I know why Dad sent us here." Dean said suddenly, making Harry and Sam look at him curiously. "He wants us to finish the job."
--
Back at the motel, Dean was telling them about the Shtriga, much to the confusion of both Sam and Harry.
"So, what the hell is a shtriga?" Sam asked, for the both of them, as they all got out of the car.
"It's kind of like a witch, I think. I don't know much about 'em." Dean admitted with with a shrug as he got some things out of the trunk of his car.
"Well, I've never heard of it. And it's not in Dad's journal."
"Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin about sixteen, seventeen years ago. You were there, you don't remember?"
"No."
"Yeah, I guess he caught wind that the thing's in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates."
"So, wait, this...."
"Shtriga."
"Right. You think it's the same one Dad hunted before?" Sam asked, watching Dean search for something in the trunk then shut it.
"Yeah, maybe."
"But if Dad went after it, why is it still breathing air?" Sam asked.
"Cause it got away."
"It got away?" Sam deadpanned, ignoring Harry, who was making abortive movements behind Dean's back.
"Yeah, Sammy, it happens." Dean snapped.
"Not very often." Sam pushed, still not noticing Harry, who gave up with a groan and slowed to a walk behind the two.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you, I mean, maybe Dad didn't have his wheaties that morning." Dean told him with a shrug, glaring at Harry when he snorted.
"Yeah right. John Winchester not being on top of his game. Pull the other one, it has bells on it." Harry muttered from behind them, ignoring the glares coming from both brothers.
"He does have a point though. What else do you remember?"
"Nothin' I was a kid, all right?" Dean said, walking ahead of them to enter on his own.
"Ooh, he's getting snappish. Me thinks there is more to this than meets the eye. And why do you ignore me when I try to hint to let it drop?" Harry asked, standing next to Sam, watching Dean go.
"I ignore you when I feel fit to ignore you. Sometimes, the information you offer is of no help to anyone but yourself. And sometimes, not even then!" Sam snapped, making Harry flinch and look away from him.
"I'll wait out here then." Harry muttered and turned to walk back to the car, ignoring Sam who followed Dean inside.
Harry sighed and picked at his fingernails as he waited for Sam and Dean to come out of the motel with their key. He was beginning to feel less and less human the more he stayed with the Winchesters, but at the same time, he had never felt so alive in his life.
--
"Well you were right. It wasn't very easy to find, but you were right. A shtriga is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about 'em date back to ancient Rome. They feed off o f spiritus vitae." Sam said later when they were back in the motel room, where Harry was still sulking, sitting on top of a chest of drawers, since there was no table.
"Spiri-what?"
"Vitae. It's Latin for breath of life. I suppose it would be you life force or essence." Harry explained dully, bristling at the shocked looks that got.
"How did you know that?" Dean asked him, completely shocked.
"I'm fluent in Latin. There really isn't much to do when you're a Reaper with no one to reap." Harry admitted with a shrug.
"Whatever. Didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were wearin' out?" Dean asked, ignoring Harry once again and not noticing the look Sam threw at the two of them.
"It's a thought. You know, she takes your vitality, maybe your immunity goes to hell, pneumonia takes hold. Anyway, shtrigas can feed off anyone, but they prefer-"
"Children."
"Yeah. Probably because they have stronger life force. And get this – shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man." Sam said, making Harry sigh at the predictability of it all.
"No. That's not right. She\s vulnerable when she feeds." Dean told them, making Harry look up in interest once again.
"What?"
"If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought irons, buckshots or rounds, I think."
"How do you know that?"
"Dad told me. I remember." Dean told him shortly.
"Oh. So uh, anything else Dad might have mentioned?"
"No. That's it. What?" Dean asked when Sam stared at him.
"Nothin'. Okay, so, assuming we can kill it when it eats, we still gotta find the thing first, which ain't gonna be a cakewalk. Shtrigas take on a human disguise when they're not hunting."
"What kind of human disguise?"
"Historically, something innocuous – it could be anything. But it's usually a feeble old woman, which may be how the whole witches as old crones legend got started." Sam told them, getting an interested look from Dean, who took out a map from his bag.
"Hang on."
"What?"
"Check this out." Dean said as Sam walked over to him to look at the map, "I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now, these are the houses that have een hit so far, and dead centre."
"The hospital."
"The hospital. When we were therem, I saw a patient – an old woman."
"An old person, huh?" Sam deadpanned, making Harry snort in amusement as Dean glared at him.
"Yeah."
"In the hospital? Whew. Better call the caost guard." Sam said laughing and getting a glare once again from Dean.
"He does have a point Dean. It's funny!" Harry said chuckling.
"Well, listen, smartasses, she had an inverted cross hangin' on her wall." Dean told them smugly. Harry sighed and jumped down from his perch on the drawers.
"So when do we go terrorise the poor little old dear?"
--
"So we sneak in to terrorise old people huh? So glad no one can see me, 'cause you two look stupid. Anyone else got Mission Impossible stuck in their head?" Harry asked, leaning against the wall opposite the two brothers, who were sneaking through the halls of the hospital.
"See you tomorrow Betty." The nurse called to Dr Hydecker.
Harry snickered, "The nurse is called Betty. Nurse Betty!" Harry snorted, getting a glare from Sam as he and Dean tried not to get noticed.
"Try to get some sleep." Hydecker walked off down the hallway, then Harry signalled for Sam and Dean when the two had wandered off and left the hall.
"Seriously, you both look daft." Harry pointed out as Sam and Dean snuck through the halls until they reached the elderly woman's room. Her door was closed, and Dean pulled out his gun and went to open the door. Pausing when Harry seemed to burst into hysterical laughter. "You're seriously going into a little old biddy's room with a gun? What is she going to do? Stab you with her knitting needle?"
"Shh." Dean hissed. Sam opened the door and they all entered, Sam also took out a gun, to Harry's amusement. The woman didn't move at all during all this, she just sat and stared at the wall ahead of her. Sam stod behind her as Dean leant closer to the woman, they watched her intently, as Harry leant back against the wall and watched all three. He was the only one who didn't jump when the woman suddenly jumped forward.
"Who the hell are you?" The woman looked around at Dean, who jumped at being addressed by a seemingly blind woman. Sam jumped also and lowered his gun. "Who's there?" Sam turned on the light, glaring at a chuckling Harry as he passed. "You tryin' to steal my stuff? They're always stealin' around here."
"No ma'am, we're maintenance. We're sorry, we thought you were sleepin'" Sam said whilst a still shaken Dean tried to calm himself down.
"Oh, nonsense. I was sleepin' with my peepers open!" The woman laughed, and Harry quietly chuckled along with her. "And fix that crucifix, would ya? I've asked four damn times already." Dean turned and saw the cross on the wall behind him. He moved over to it and moved it back to it's upright position. He and Sam exchanged an amused look, then both turned and glared at Harry.
--
The next morning Sam and Dean got out of the car, having stayed at the hospital for most of the night, Sam laughing hysterically, though they both turned to look at Harry when they stopped the car.
"You knew she wasn't the shtriga." Dean accused an amused Harry.
"Yup. I felt when she was ready to pass on. She's mortal as they come, though maybe a bit more hardy than most."
"Still, you have to admit it was amusing." Sam said as Dean went to open the door to their room. "You should have seen your face!"
"Yeah, well, laugh it up, man. We're back to square one." Dean looked u and over to where a small boy was sitting on a bench nearby. "Hang on." Dean told them and they all went over to the boy, who was crying. Dean crouched down next to him. "Hey Michael. What's wrong?"
"My brother's sick." Michael sniffled, making Harry freeze and glance at the two brothers.
"The little guy?"
"Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault."
"Oh come on, how?" Dean asked with a snort.
"I should've made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched." Dean listened sadly and then placed a hand on Michaels arm.
"Listen to me. I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?"
"It's my job to look after him." Michael exclaimed, getting a nod of understanding from Dean. A moment later, his mother came out of the motel with her arms full with blankets and pillows.
"Michael." They all walked up to her as she put the items in the passenger seat of the car. "I want you to turn on the 'No Vacancy' sign while I'm gone. I've got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with any of the rooms."
"I'm going with you." Michael stated firmly, getting a sigh from his mother.
"Not now, Michael."
"But I gotta see Asher!"
"Hey, Michael. Hey, I know how you feel, okay? I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mom right not, okay?" Michael nodded and his mother shut the car door and dropped her purse.
"Dammit!"
"I got it." Sam said, picking up and handing her the purse. "Here."
"Thanks."
"Hey, listen, you're in no condition to drive. Why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital huh?"
"No, I couldn't possibly-"
"No, It's no trouble. I insist." Dean told her. She thought about it for a moment and then handed him the keys.
"Thanks." She said softly, then leant down and kissed Michael's forehead. "Be good." She got in the car and Dean shut her door and then leant closer to Sam.
"We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?"
--
Later on in the Stowe Public Library, Sam was doing research on the computer then picked up the phone and rang Dean.
"Hey. How's the kid? Are you being nice to Harry? You know he likes you right?" Sam said, looking through the different sites on the internet.
"I'm at the library. I thought Harry would have told you that. I'm tryin' to find out as much as I can about this shtriga."
"Well, bad news. I started with Fort Douglas, around the time you said Dad was there." Sam told him, looking at the site.
"Same deal. Before that, there was Ogdenville. Before that, North Haverbrook and Brockway/. Every fifteen to twenty years, it hits a new town. Dean, this thing is just gtttin' started in Fitchburg. In all these other places, it goes on for months – dozens of kids, before the shtriga finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas, and then they die."
"I don't know. The earliest mention I could find was this place called Black River Falls back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show." Sam told him, looking at a page of an old issue of The Fitchburg Chronicle. The picture features a group of doctors crowded around a patients bed. "Whoa."
"Hold on. I'm lookin' at a photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the doctors is Hydecker.
"And this picture was taken in 1893."
"Yeah. Yeah, absolutely sure."
--
Dean hung up the phone and turned around, infuriated and looked at Hydecker. Harry glanced over at him and sighed, getting Dean's glare aimed at him instead.
"Don't worry Your son's in good hands. I'm gonna take care of him." He told Asher's mother and then walking over to Dean. "So, what's the CDC come up with so far?"
"Well, we're still workin' on a few theories. You'll know something as soon as we do." Dean told him, trying to remain calm.
"Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids."
"Mm."
"Just let me know if I can help."
"I'll do that." Dean said, gritting his teeth. He then looked at Harry and checked his head to the door, leaving the room and people behind and then spinning to face Harry. "You knew! You knew it was Hydecker!"
"Maybe. No one asked me though. Look, I said I would help, but you and your brother don't seem to need it! I didn't tell you because you wouldn't have listened to me. You honestly don't care about my opinion so I don't give it anymore."
--
"I can't believe you never told us who the shtriga is! We could have seriously hurt someone before you told us!" Dean yelled at Harry when they got back to the motel.
"I wouldn't have let you go that far, plus your reactions to the little old lady were hilarious."
"Don't yell at him, it's not his fault. We should have thought of this before on our own. A doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted, you can control the whole thing." Sam stood in before Dean actually tried to kill the Reaper.
"Huh. That son of a bitch." If asaked, Harry couldn't honestly say who he thought Dean was talking about at that moment, he'd like to think it was the doctor though.
"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there." Sam admitted, with a glance at Harry.
"Yeah, well, first of all, I'm not gonna open fire in a freakin' paediatrics ward." Dean admitted, getting a snort of laughter from Harry.
"As opposed to killing a little old lady." Harry snickered. Dean glared at him and Sam sighed, wondering if the little Reaper actually had any self-preservation.
"I wouldn't have had to go through that if you had actually told us!" Dean yelled, making Sam sigh again and stand in between the two.
"Look, Dean, you made a good call on the whole killing the doctor in front of witnesses."
"Well the other reason I didn't was because it wouldn't have done any good because the bastards bullet-proof unless he's chowin' down on somethin'. And third, I wasn't packin', which is probably a really good thing 'cause I probably would've just burned a clip in him off of principle alone."
"Getting' wise in your old age, Dean." Sam said, both brothers choosing to ignore the snicker from Harry.
"Damn right. So now I know how we're gonna get it."
"What do you mean?"
"The shtriga – it works through siblings, right?"
"Right"
"Well, last night..."
"It went after Asher."
"So I'm thinkin' tonight, it's probably gonna come after Michael."
"Then we gotta get him outta here!" Sam exclaimed, practically grabbing his gun and running out of there, before Harry stopped him by jumping off the chest of drawers he was sitting on.
"I think the whole point Dean is trying to get across is that we use the little boy as bait."
"Okay, I wouldn't have put it like that, but yeah, he's got a point. It's the only way. If this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance." Dean admitted, much to Sam's growing horror.
"Michael's a kid. And I'm not gonna dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook. Harry! Agree with me here!"
"Actually, I'm with Dean."
"I should have guessed you'd side with him!"
"I so do not want to know what you meant by that, but that's beside the point. Dad did not send me here to walk away."
"Send you here? He didn't send you here, he sent us here!"
"This isn't about you, Sam! All right, I'm the one that screwed up! It's my fault. There's no tellin' how many kids have gotten hurt because of me." Dean yelled, rubbing the back of his head.
"What are you saying Dean? How is it your fault?" Dean stayed silent and Sam sighed and moved over to his brother.
"Dean, you've been hiding something from the get-go. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away?" Sam asked, watching as Dean sat down on his bed. "Now, talk to me, man. Tell me what's goin' on."
"Fort Douglas, Wisconsin." Dean muttered quietly.
"What about it?"
"It was the third night in this crap room, and I was climbin' the walls, man. I needed to get some air." Dean said quietly, Sam and Harry watched in silence, knowing that Dean needed to get this off his chest. "So I left you alone in the motel and went to a nearby arcade. I stayed until it was closin' time.
"When I got back, I aw the shtriga hovering over you, feedin', suckin' the life force out of you. So I grabbed the rifle and when I cocked it, the shtriga stopped and saw me. Dad entered at that point.
"Dad missed and I could tell he blamed me for it. Anyway, after he told me off for leavin' you alone, Dad just grabbed us and booked – dropped us off as Pastor Jim's about three hours away. By the time we got back to Fort Douglas, the shtriga disappeared. It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now. Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask. But he, uh – he looked at me different, you know – which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order, and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed." Dean admitted softly.
"You were just a kid."
"Don't – don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. And he sent me here to finish it." Dean told him. Harry and Sam stood in silence for a moment before Sam spoke up.
"But using Michael? I don't know, Dean. I mean, how about one of us hides under the cover, you know, we'll be the bait." Sam suggested, tugging at loose ends.
"No, that won't work. It's gotta get close enough to feed. It'll see us. Believe me, I don't like it. But it's gotta be the kid." Dean said, standing up and walking away, tears in his eyes.
"You can use me. I can tell you when it gets too far with the kid. I can tell you exactly when to move. Lets hope that shtriga's don't see Reapers.
--
They decided to explain to Michael what they wanted to do, including using his as bait against a creature that technically, he would have been told didn't exist. It didn't quite go as they planned understandably.
"You're crazy! Just go away, or I'm calling the cop!" Michael yelled at them, holding the phone tightly in his hands.
"Hang on a second. Just listen to me. You have to believe me, okay? This thing came through your window, and it attacked you brother. Now I've seen it, I know what it looks like. 'cause it attached my brother once too." Dean explained, watching warily at Michael put the phone down.
"This thing – is it, like... it has this long, black robe?" Michael asked quietly.
"You saw it last night, didn't you?"
"I thought I was havin' a nightmare."
"I'd give anything not to tell you this, but sometimes, nightmares are real."
"So why are you telling me?"
"Because we need your help."
"My help?"
"We can kill it. Me and him, it's what we do." Dean told him, nodding towards Sam, much to Harry's disgruntlement. "But we can't do it without you."
"What? No!"
"Michael, listen to me. This thing hurt Asher, and it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, you understand me?" Dean asked, not liking the silence coming from Michael.
--
"Well that went crappy. Now what?" Dean asked later when they were in the motel room.
"What' you expect? You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid." Sam told him, Dean was about to answer when he got interrupted by a knock on the door. When he answered it, Michael was standing on the other side.
"If you kill it, will Asher get better?"
Dean sighed and glanced at Sam before answering. "Honestly, we don't know."
"You said you're a big brother?"
"Yeah."
"You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?"
Dean glanced at Sam again and then answered in such a heart-felt way Harry swore it gave him toothache. "Yeah, I would." Sam looked touched, ignoring the exaggerated heaving coming from Harry.
"Me too. I'll help."
--
"Now, this camera has night vision on it, so we'll be able to see as clear as day." Harry and Sam watched from their motel room as Dean set the camera up in Michael's room. Dean then turned to face the camera. "Are we good?"
"Hair to the right." Sam told him, both watching again as Dean adjusted the camera so that it's focus was on Michael's bed. "There, there. Stop." Dean moved away from the camera and sat down on Michael's bed.
"What do I do?"
"You just stay under the covers."
"And if it shows up?"
"Well, we'll be right in the next room. We're gonna come in with guns. So, as soon as we do, you roll off this bed and you crawl under it."
"What if you shoot me?"
"Kids got his priorities in order." Harry muttered, receiving a glare for his efforts.
"We won't shoot you. We're good shots. We're not gonna fire until you're clear, okay? Have you heard a gunshot before?"
"Like, in the movies?"
"It's gonna be a lot louder than in the movies. So I want you to stay under the bed, cover your ears and do no come out until we say so, you understand?" Dean waited until Michael nodded. "Micahel, you sure you wanna do this? You don't have to, it's okay. I won't be mad."
"I will be. Stupid Dean. What's he giving him a way out for."
"Shh."
"No, I'm okay. Just don't shoot me."
"Great, the kids a damned Gryffindor."
"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise."
--
Later that night, Dean, Sam and Harry sat around the small monitor watching Michael's room and waiting for the shtriga to enter.
"What time is it?" Harry whined for the seventh time that night.
"Three. You sure these iron rounds are gonna work?" Sam asked, looking at the gun doubtfully.
"Consecrated iron rounds. And yeah, it's what Dad used last time."
Sam was silent for a minute, before turning to face Dean again. "Hey, Dean, I'm sorry."
"For what?" Dean asked, confused about his brothers mood.
"Well, you know... I've given you a lot of crap for always followin' Dad's orders. But I know why you do it."
"Oh, God, kill me now." Glancing at Sam, then at a surprisingly chirpy Harry, "It was a joke, don't go all trigger happy on me, Reaper." Dean stilled, noticing something something on the feed. "Wait, look." They watch as the shtriga unlocks the window and enters the bedroom. Quietly they pick up their guns, watching as, in the room, the shtriga stills by the bed for a moment.
"Now?" Sam whispers, watching the feed.
"Not yet." The shtriga moved closer to the bed and bent down over Michael, beginning to suck out his life force. Not long after, Sam and Dean burst into the room, with Harry staying in the doorway. "Hey!" The shtriga turned to face them, "Michael, down!" Michael rolled off the bed and shuffled under it. Sam and Dean shot at the shrtriga repeatedly until it fell to the ground. "Mike, you all right?"
"Yeah."
"Sit tight." Sam and Dean walked over to the shtriga and looked at the bullet holes in its robe. Dean looked at Sam, who lowers his gun.
"It's not dead." Harry told them suddenly, just as the shtriga jumped up and threw Dean into the closet across the room.
"Dean!" In an instant, the shtriga came over to Sam and pushed him to the groun, choking him. Sam tried to pick up his gun, but he couldn't reach it. The shtriga lowered its head and began to suck out Sam's life force. His face began to loose colour.
"Hey!" Harry lefted the gun from where Sam had dropped it and fired, shooting it between his eyes. "You okay Sam?" Breathing heavily, Sam gave Harry a thumbs-up. Dean stood up from his pile on the floor by the wardrobe and walked over to help Sam up, nodding his silent thanks to Harry.
Michael came out form under the bed, looking at Harry curiously. "Who are you?"
"Me? Oh, um... I'm hired help." Harry told him with a wide grin, ignoring the snort of derision from Dean.
--
"Hey, Joanna. How's Asher doin'?" Dean asked the next morning, as they loaded their car back up.
"Have you seen Michael?" Joanna asked, just as Michael appeared at the door.
"Mom, Mom!"
"Hey!" Joanna called, hugging him close to her.
"How's Ash?"
"I've got some good news. Your brother's gonna be fine."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. No one can explain it. It's a miracle." The trio exchanged a look, "They're gonna keep him in overnight for observation, but after that, he's comin' home."
"That's great." Dean said with a wide smile.
"How are all the other kids doin'?" Sam asked.
"Good. Real good. A bunch of them should be checkin' out in a few days. Dr Travis says the wards gonna be like a ghost town."
"Dr Travis? What about Dr Hydecker?"
"Oh, he wasn't in today – must've been sick or something."
"Yeah. Yeah, must have." Dean agreed absently.
"Mm." Joanna turned to Michael, "So, did anything happen while I was gone?"
"No. Same old stuff." Michael said, Harry was actually impressed with his ability to lie.
"Okay. You can go see Ash."
"Now?"
"Only if you want to." Michael smiled and looked at Dean, who nodded knowingly at him. Michael then ran to the car. "I better get going before he hotwires the car and drives himself." They all smiled and Joanna walked away. Dean closed the trunk and then looked at Sam.
"It's too bad." Sam said suddenly, making Harry and Dean look at him.
"Oh, they'll be fine."
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant Michael, He will always know there are things out there in the dark. He'll never be same, you know?" Dean and Harry nodded knowingly. "Sometimes I wish that..."
"What?"
"I wish I could have that kind of innocence." Dean and Harry turned and watched Joanna and Michael drive away, then turn back to Sam.
"If it means anything, sometimes I wish you could, too." Dean then got in the car, quickly followed by Sam and Harry.
"If we were all that innocent, think of the lives that wouldn't have been saved." Harry added, making Sam and Dean nod in agreement with him for once.
A/N – Another chapter out. Like I said before (dunno when) this is only going as far as Season one. Season two will be another story altogether, so we're veeery close to the end of this one!! Meep! Season Two, for those that don't know, is a little darker. Harry is a little darker in it as well.