Sam is on a payphone outside the cafe while Dean and I are on the laptop. I'm drinking my coffee, black with three sugars, same as Dean's when Sam comes back over.
"Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Francis." Dean tells him and I smirk.
"Bite me." Sam retorts as he sits down.
"So, anything?" I ask and Sam shakes his head.
"I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations." Same informs us and I sigh.
"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think Dad wants to be found." Dean tells him and Sam looks disappointed. "Check this out." He tells him, showing him an article we found about a college student's death. "It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here." He explains.
"The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road." Sam reads out loud.
"Keep reading." Dean tells him.
"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible." Sam continues to read.
"Could be something interesting." I speak up, shrugging my shoulders.
"Or it could be nothing at all. One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man." Sam dismisses.
"But what if it is? Dad would check it out." Dean replies and we head to the impala. We stop at the dead guy, Rich's, fraternity house. The guys look confused until I get out of the backseat and they all check me out. I'm wearing a cropped Van Halen v-neck, my dark ripped jeans, and my black chucks.
"One more time, why are we here?" Sam asks and I nod, feeling uncomfortable by the stares.
"Victim lived here." Dean explains as we walk up to a couple guys fixing a car. "Nice wheels." Dean compliments and the guys look at him strangely. "We're your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We're new in town. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay." He explains, grinning, until he notices the stares in my direction. "And this is my girlfriend, Sophie." He states, pulling me close to him and sizing up the guys, which causes me to roll my eyes. We walk up to a dorm room and find a shirtless frat boy in yellow shorts painting his face and body purple. We knock on the open door.
"Who are you?" Yellow shorts asks us.
"We're your new roommates. And this is my girlfriend, Sophie." Dean tells him, smiling as he walks over to him. The guy holds the paint brush and can out to Dean.
"Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today." He asks and I suppress a giggle.
"He's the artist. Things he can do with a brush." I interject and Sam looks mortified as he takes the brush and can. Dean is grinning at me as he sits on a chair picking up a magazine.
"So, Murph. Is it true?" He asks after finding out the name from the magazine.
"What?" Murph asks, confused.
"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week." I supply from my place sitting on the arm of the chair Dean is in.
"Yeah." He replies, sadly.
"What happened?" Sam asks, as he paints Murph's back.
"They're saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy." Murph informs us.
"Rich he was with somebody?" Sam asks him, knowing he was by the witness report.
"Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen." Murph tells us, like that is supposed to mean something.
"Who's Lori Sorensen?" Dean asks Murph. He looks over at Sam. "You missed a spot. Just down there, on the back." He tells him and Sam looks annoyed while Dean and I grin.
"Lori's a freshman. She's a local. Super hot. And get this: she's a reverend's daughter." Murph explains and I roll my eyes.
"You wouldn't happen to know which church, would ya?" I ask him and he tells us. We head into the impala to drive to the church.
"What is it with guys and reverend's daughters? Does that make a woman extra hot if she was raised believing in God? I will never understand what makes that more attractive to men." I rant from the backseat as we pull up to the church. Dean turns the car off and turns to me.
"Personally, I'm more attracted to a hunter, someone who doesn't need rescuing. Besides, a woman that knows her weapons and her cars is way hotter than a girl who knows bible verses, hands down." He tells me, smirking and I smirk right back.
"Way to score some points, Winchester. Never know when you need to cash those in." I tell him, winking as we walk up to the church, with Sam mumbling about us flirting outside a church.
We walk in, and the door slams behind us. The congregation goes silent and turns to look at us. "As a community, and as a family. The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings." The reverend continues his sermon as we sit down. A brunette, about Sam's age, stares at Sam and he smiles weakly at her. "So, please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children." The reverend says and everyone bows their head in prayer, except me and Dean. Sam looks over and elbows Dean, while giving me a look, and Dean and I bow our heads too. We walk outside after the mass ends, and we spot the girl that was staring at Sam talking to her friend, and when she hugs her friend, and she leaves, we walk up to her.
"Are you Lori?" Sam asks her.
"Yeah." She confirms.
"My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean and his girlfriend, Sophie." He introduces and Dean waves while I just smile at her.
"Hi." Dean greets her.
"We just transferred here to the university." Sam lies with his hands in his pockets.
"I saw you inside." She says, nodding slightly.
"We don't wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and..." Sam starts.
"We wanted to say how sorry we were." I tell her, sympathetically.
"I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone..get hurt once. It's something you don't forget." Sam tells hers, and Lori nods slightly. Reverend Sorensen walks over.
"Dad, um, this is Sam, Dean and Sophie. They're new students." Lori introduces us to her father and Dean shakes his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon." Dean compliments him.
"Thank you very much. It's so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord's message." The reverend tells us and Dean chuckles.
"Listen, uh, we're new in town, actually." He tells him, as he leads the reverend away from us so we can talk to Lori. "And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group" We hear him say as they leave.
"Tell me, Lori. What are the police saying?" I ask her as we start to walk in the other direction.
"Well, they don't have a lot to go on. I think they blame me for that." She admits and I look at her.
"What do you mean?" I ask her, confused as to why she would think they'd blame her.
"My story. I was so scared, I guess I was 'seeing things'." She says and we stop walking.
"That doesn't mean it wasn't real." Sam tells her and they look at each other for a few seconds while I raise my brows. We head over to the library to research this 'Invisible Man' that killed Rich.
"So you believe her?" Dean asks as we sit at a table, discussing Lori's story about Rich's death.
"I do." Sam tells him.
"Yeah, I think she's hot, too." Dean says playfully, and scoff before scooting my chair away from him.
"No, man, there's something in her eyes. And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car." Sam explains to him.
"Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the-" Dean says, interested.
"Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend." Sam agrees with him.
"That's one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don't think that we're dealing with the Hook Man?" I ask him, unsure that it's the Hook Man we're dealing with.
"Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began." Sam informs us.
"Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?" I ask.
"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all. What if it's some kind of spirit?" Sam prompts. We ask the librarian to find arrest records for us, and she comes back with a few big boxes, which she puts on the table.
"Here you go. Arrest records going back to 1851." She tells us, and Dean blows some dust off a box, causing him to cough. "Thanks." He says to her.
"Ok." She replies before walking away.
"So, this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?" I ask Sam, playfully, gesturing to the boxes.
"Welcome to higher education." He jokes back before we begin reading. Hours pass and we're still looking. I'm leaning my head against Dean's shoulder, napping, until he nudges me awake.
"Hey, check this out. 1862. A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, 'some of the deceased were found in their bed, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh.'" Sam reads to us.
"Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook." Dean informs us after looking at another page. Sam looks at another page.
"Look where all this happened." Sam says, handing it to Dean and we both read it.
"9 Mile Road." He reads out loud.
"Same place where the frat boy was killed." Sam adds in and I smile.
"Nice job, Dr. Venkmen. Let's check it out." Dean says, impressed, and Sam gathers the research and we head to 9 mile road to investigate. We get out of the car and walk over to the trunk, opening up the weapons compartment. Dean grabs Sam a rifle.
"Here you go." He says and I look at it confused.
"If it is a spirit, buckshot won't do much good." Sam tells him.
"Yeah, rock salt." He tells us, handing it to Sam
"Huh. Salt being a spirit deterrent." I figure out. Dean takes out a coil of rope and shuts the trunk.
"Yeah. It won't kill 'em. But it'll slow 'em down." He says and we start walking toward the trees, me lagging behind, in case something comes up behind us.
"That's pretty good. You and Dad think of this?" Sam asks, sounding impressed.
"I told you. You don't have to be a college graduate to be a genius." Dean replies and we hear noised in the trees, and we stop walking. I turn, looking behind us.
"Over there. Over there." Dean whispers, and Sam aims the gun, cocking it, A figure comes out of the trees, and it's a freaking sheriff. I stand there, hiding behind Dean, playing the innocent girl part.
"Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head." He orders us, raising his gun.
"W-w-wait, okay, okay!" I stutter, trying to sound scared. He looks at me and nods his head, indicating I'm not getting arrested.
"Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it! On your knees!" The sheriff demands and they do as he said. "Now get down on your bellies. Come on, do it!" He orders them.
"He had the gun!" Dean objects as they lay down. I go to the sheriff's station and convince the sheriff to let Sam and Dean go after making up a story about why we were in the woods. I wait outside the station and see the guys leaving, I walk up to them, now wearing a black leather jacket, white tank, light ripped jeans and black combat boots.
"Saved your asses! Talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dude, I'm the best girlfriend and best friend ever."
"But how?" Sam asks, confused.
"I told him you were a dumbass pledge, that Dean was hazing you and I was there because I'm his girlfriend. I also said Dean and I had been making out in the impala and I didn't want him to call my parents." I explain to him, pretty pleased with myself.
"What about the shotgun?" Dean asks, amused.
"I said that Sam was hunting ghosts and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank." I tell them.
"And he believed you?" Sam asks, sounding surprised.
"Well, you look like a dumbass pledge. And I'm a very convincing liar, Sammy." I tell him, playfully. Seconds later, several sheriffs run out of the building and speed away in police cars. The three of us share a look as we watch them leave. We park a couple streets away and walk to the back of Lori's sorority house.
"Why would the Hook Man come here? This is a long way from 9 Mile Road." Sam observes.
"Maybe he's not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it's about something else." Dean suggests. Two sorority girls come out the side entrance of the building, but they don't see us. We lean against the side of the house next to some bushes to hide. "Dude, sorority girls! Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?" Dean asks hopefully and I elbow him in the side before turning to help Sam climb onto the balcony. Dean helps me climb up, his hands resting on my butt longer than necessary, before climbing up himself. As soon as we're on the balcony, we climb into Lori's window. Dean falls on top of Sam as he climbs into the window after him. "Oh, sorry!" He apologizes. I climb in after them and sigh.
"Be quiet." Sam tell him.
"You be quiet!" Dean retorts and I roll my eyes.
"Both of you be quiet!" I scold them and we hide in the walk-in closet waiting for the sheriffs to leave. Sam opens the door to see another sheriff leaving. We wait until he goes downstairs before opening the door, and walking into Lori's bedroom. As soon as we're in the bedroom, we see writing on the wall in blood.
"'Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?' That's right out of the legend." I observe.
"Yeah, that's classic Hook Man all right." Dean agrees, tapping his nose. "It's definitely a spirit."
"Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before." Sam says and Dean moves over to the window "Hey, come here." Sam tells him and Dean walks back over to us. Sam points to the cross symbol beneath the writing. "Does that look familiar to you?" He asks us and I recognize it. We go back to the car, sit on the hood, and look at a picture of the cross symbol that we saw during our research.
"It's the same symbol. Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns." I tell them.
"All right, let's find the dude's grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down." Dean suggests.
"After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave." Sam reads and we all share an annoyed look.
"Super." Dean says at the same time I mutter "Perfect".
"Ok. So we know it's Jacob Karns. But we still don't know where he'll manifest next. Or why." Sam summarizes and I nod.
"I'll take a wild guess about why. I think your little friend Lori has something to do with this." Dean tells him and we get in the car. We're at a college party and Dean walks up to me and Sam.
"Hey." Sam greets him.
"Man, you've been holding out on me. This college thing is awesome!" He says, smiling at a passing girl, and I snap my fingers in front of his face.
"Hello? Girlfriend, remember? Do you even want one anymore?" I ask, irritated by his constant flirting with other women in front of me, and he looks guilty before Sam clears his throat.
"This wasn't really my experience." Sam tells him, referring to Dean's comment.
"Let me guess. Libraries, studying, straight A's?" Dean asks and Sam nods. "What a geek. Alright, you do your homework?" He asks Sam.
"Yeah. It was bugging me, right? So how is the Hook Man tied up with Lori? So I think we came up with something." Sam tells him as he unravels a piece of paper that we found.
"1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage." Dean reads.
"There's a pattern here. In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immorality. And then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings carried out—get this—with a sharp instrument." I explain to him.
"What's the connection to Lori?" Dean asks us.
"A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?" Sam prompts and recognition flashes across Dean's face. "Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he's just trying to save his only daughter." Sam suggests.
"Reverend Sorensen. You think he's summoning the spirit?" Dean asks us.
"Maybe. Or, you know how a poltergeist can haunt a person instead of a place?" I ask him, still mad.
"Yeah, the spirit latches onto the reverend's repressed emotions, feeds off them, yeah, okay." Dean says.
"Without the reverend ever even knowing it." Sam adds.
"Either way, you should keep an eye on Lori tonight." I tell Sam and he nods.
"What about you?" He asks us and Dean looks at me, silently apologizing and I scoff.
"We're gonna go see if we can find that unmarked grave." Dean tells him before I just shake my head and walk off, with Dean trailing behind me. We head over to Old North Cemetery and it was silent the entire drive over. Once we get there, Dean parks the car and sighs, looking over at me. We get out, grab two flashlights and begin looking for the headstone.
"Soph, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I do still want this, I just have no idea what I'm doing." He admits and I rub my temples.
"Not flirting with every freaking girl you see would be a start in the right direction. I mean, I know that they'll still flirt with you, I mean, look at you. You're hot. I know that they aren't going to stop. Just, try not to encourage them or I'll have to start flirting with every guy I see until you get the message." I rant and he smirks.
"Message received." He tells me and I laugh, continuing our search for the unmarked grave.
"Here we go." Dean calls out and I walk over, to see he found the headstone with the cross. He goes to the impala and grabs a shovel. He digs while I sit in the grass, watching him, or more accurately, drooling over him.
"That's it. Next time, we get to watch the girl's house and Sam can dig up the grave." He tells me.
"I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying myself, Winchester." I mutter, watching the way his back muscles contract as he digs. He turns and looks at me, before leaning against the shovel.
"Keep looking at me like that, sweetheart, and I'll have to do something about that." He threatens and I bite my lip to suppress a groan.
"God I hope so." I admit and he chuckles as he turns back to the grave, he opens the coffin and we grab the salt and a match, lighting it.
"Goodbye, preacher." Dean says before throwing the match in the coffin, burning his bones. We get back into the impala and head over to Lori's house, where we see police cars, and we learn that Lori, Sam and Reverend Sorensen are at the hospital so we hurry over there. We're escorted by two sheriffs.
"No, it's alright, We're with him. He's my brother." Dean tells them. "Hey! Brother!" Dean calls out and Sam, along with the sheriff, turn around to see us. I smile, while Dean waves.
"Let them through." The sheriff tells them and they let us pass.
"Thanks." Dean tells the sheriff before we walk towards Sam. "You ok?" He asks, concerned.
"Yeah." Sam tells him, reassuring him he's fine.
"What the hell happened?" I ask him, curious about what happened.
"Hook Man." Sam replies and Dean and I share an alarmed look.
"You saw him?" I ask him, worriedly.
"Damn right. Why didn't you torch the bones?" Sam asks us.
"What are you talking about, we did. You sure it's the spirit of Jacob Karns?" Dean asks him.
"It sure as hell looked like him. And that's not all. I don't think the spirit is latching on to the reverend."
"Well, yeah, the guy wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself." I reply, crossing my arms.
"I think it's latching onto Lori. Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman." Sam informs us and I connect the dots but Dean is still confused.
"So what?" He asks and I sigh.
"So she's upset about it. She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished." Sam explains to us.
"Ok, so she's conflicted. And the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching on to repress the emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her, huh?" Dean suggests and we nod.
"Right. Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her into a party girl, Dad has an affair." I add.
"Remind me not to piss this girl off. But we burned those bones, Soph buried them in salt, why didn't that stop him?" Dean asks, confused.
"You must have missed something." Sam tells us and I shake my head.
"No. We burned everything in that coffin." I insist.
"Did you get the hook?" Sam asks and I swear under my breath realizing, we did in fact, miss something.
"The hook?" Dean asks, obliviously.
"Well, it was the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him." Sam explains to him.
"So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power." I interject.
"So if we find the hook..." Sam starts.
"We stop the Hook Man." They say at the same time and smile at each other while I snort.
"So lame." I tell them and Dean kisses my forehead after nudging me playfully. We head back to the campus library to figure out what happened to the hook. I'm sitting in between Sam and Dean as we comb through the records, and I'm chewing on a pen cap as I read.
"Here's something, I think. Log book, Iowa State Penitentiary. 'Karns, Jacob. Personal affects: disposition thereof.'" Dean reads to us and I lean towards him so I can read over his shoulder.
"Does it mention the hook?" I ask him, resting my head on his shoulder as I read the log.
"Yeah, maybe. 'Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner's house of worship, St. Barnabas Church.'" He reads out loud.
"Isn't that where Lori's father preaches?" Sam asks and I straighten up in my chair, nodding.
"Yeah." Dean confirms.
"Where Lori lives?" I ask, piecing things together.
"Maybe that's why the Hook Man has been haunting reverends and reverends' daughters for the past 200 years." Dean suggests and I smile.
"Yeah, but if the hook were at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it? I mean, a bloodstained, silver-handled hook?" Sam asks us, confused.
"Check the church records." I tell him and he goes to get them. He comes back a while later and turns to the correct year.
"'St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received silver-handled hook from state penitentiary. Reforged." He reads, sighing. "They melted it down. Made it into something else." He informs us. We head over to the church and get out, knowing that it's empty.
"Alright, we can't take any chances. Anything silver goes in the fire." I tell them and Dean nods.
"I agree. So, Lori's still at the hospital. We'll have to break in." Sam informs us.
Alright, take your pick." Dean prompts him.
"I'll take the house." Sam chooses and I nod.
"Ok." Sam begins walking towards Lori's house. "Hey." Dean calls out and Sam turns around. "Stay out of her underwear drawer." He tells him playfully, and I laugh nudging him as Sam walks away. Dean and I round up everything silver from the church and go down to the basement, throwing it in the furnace, and Sam comes down with a bag of silver objects from Lori's house.
"I got everything that even looked silver." He tells us.
"Better safe than sorry." Dean comments and we throw everything into the fire. We hear footsteps above us. "Move, move." He tells us and taking his gun, we go upstairs with Sam. Upstairs, we see that it's Lori sitting in a pew, crying. Dean lowers his gun, motioning for me to follow, and we go downstairs while Sam comforts Lori. Dean and I are throwing the rest of the stuff in the fire, when we hear things breaking and then hear Sam cry out, so we run upstairs, Dean with his gun raised, and see the Hook Man standing over Lori and Sam is bleeding.
"Sam, drop!" He yells and Sam crouches down as Dean shoots the Hook Man once, causing him to disappear into dust.
"I thought we got all the silver." Sam tells us, still sitting on the floor in front of Lori.
"So did we." Dean agrees and I sigh.
Then why is he still here?" Sam asks us.
"Well, maybe we missed something!" I snap and we look around for anything silver.
"Lori, where did you get that chain?" Sam asks her suddenly and I notice the silver cross.
"My father gave it to me." She replies.
"Where'd your dad get it?" Dean asks her.
"He said it was a church heirloom, he gave it to me when I started school." She explains.
"Is it silver?!" I yell, done with wasting time.
"Yes!" She yells back and Sam rips the chain off her neck. I turn to see the Hook Man, now invisible, making a long scratch on the wall.
"Sam!" Dean yells as he throws Sam the rifle filled with rock salt and Sam tosses Dean the necklace. Dean and I run back downstairs and throw it in the furnace, watching it melt. We run back upstairs to make sure that Hook Man is gone and we walk over to Sam and Lori, giving them a knowing look. Outside the church, sheriffs are walking around, an ambulance parked out front where Lori and Sam are, and Dean and I are standing by the impala talking to the sheriff.
"And you saw him, too? The man with the hook?" He asks Dean and I, causing us both to nod.
"Yes, I told you, we all saw him. We fought him off and then he ran." Dean tells him again.
"And that's all?" The sheriff asks us, suspiciously.
"Yeah, that's all." Dean insists.
"Listen. You, your girlfriend and your brother-" The sheriff starts to tell us.
"Oh, don't worry, we're leaving town." I tell him, and we walk to the car, getting in. Dean is watching Lori and Sam in the side mirror and I roll my eyes.
"We could stay.: Dean offers, looking at me, and Sam shakes his head. I look through the back window to see Lori watching, sadly and I turn to see Dean shake his head, clearly disappointed before driving away to find another case, and hopefully soon, we'll find John.