Chapter 27
Everybody had made it out all right. I was really the only one who had had any injuries but it was mostly bruises and dehydration besides the holes in my shoulders. But those are healing nicely, apparently.
As soon as the Harpy had disappeared with me in its clutches, Dean had rushed over to the police station and demanded that they send out search and rescue helicopters flying and they had seen Greg, Nathan, Hailey, Leish, Natalie and Corissa trying to find their way out after I had been taken by the Harpy again.
They had also been the ones to kill the Harpy. After it had disposed of me it went back for them. They had been waiting for it and started attacking it with the weapons that they had. Hailey had sprayed it with the fire extinguisher and then the others had beaten it with their pipes and crowbars when it was distracted.
When they were found by search and rescue, Dean had been in one of the helicopters. Can I digress and mention how seriously jealous I am that while I was stuck in a box, Dean was flying in a helicopter? Only he wasn't having as good a time as I would have; him being deathly afraid of flying and all that. Natalie suggested to the group that they keep the Harpy thing on the down-low but when Dean started asking about me they realized that he was my boyfriend and told him what happened. Then he demanded that search and rescue go through every single storage container until they found me.
"You okay?" Dean asked softly from his seat, glancing over at me before turning his attention back to the road. I nodded and smiled. I still didn't have my voice which was okay. We were headed to Santa Cruz, California so I had enough time to recuperate.
He reached over with his right hand and grabbed my left hand. I squeezed it gently, to let him know I was still there. He wasn't going to let me out of his sight for a really long time now, probably never if he had it his way. That was okay with me. The past few nights, or whenever I had fallen asleep, I had the same nightmare. I'd be in the storage box and nobody would come to save me. There was no chance in hell I was ever going in a dark, small enclosed space ever again. Spending more than a day in that box had made me claustrophobic, which was understandable. You try it and tell me how much you like it.
"We're here Rosie," Dean said gently, shaking me awake. I had just nodded off and didn't have the chance to dream of anything, thankfully. I stretched in my seat before looking out the window. Dean had found the cheapest motel right near the beach.
"What's the job?" I said, whispering. My throat was still out of whack but if I whispered then I'd probably be fine the next day. I got out of the car and welcomed the warm sun. I hoped we'd have enough time to just relax on the beach. Neither of us had beach wear, but we would definitely have to get some.
Dean smiled and came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He kissed my cheek. "There is no job."
I turned to look at him, confused. "Then why are we here?"
"We are taking a vacation." He said. I grinned.
"Seriously?" I asked, waiting for the joke or the punch line. In all my 20 years I'd never had a vacation and Dean had to be joking. There was no time in our line of work to take a break.
"Seriously." Dean said, grabbing my hand and leading me into the front office to check-in. The lady behind the counter looked genuinely nice.
"How can I help you today?" She said, looking up from her computer.
"One room, king-size bed." Dean said. She nodded and started typing things into her computer. I tuned them out and turned to look out the window to watch the waves crash in and out. I couldn't wait to get onto the beach.
Dean grabbed my hand again, this time he had a key in his other hand. He handed me the car keys and we stopped by the Impala to grab our bags.
"Wait here and I'll be right back," he said.
"Why?"
"Well, Rosemary," he said like he was explaining something to a three year old. I rolled my eyes. "If you want to go to the beach you'll need a swimsuit."
"I could just wear my underwear," I smirked and saw the gears turning in his head. He bit his lip and looked over my shoulder at the beach. When he saw how many people were there he shook his head.
"Nope, you are getting a swim suit. Probably a one piece." I laughed and kissed his cheek as he left to drop off the bags and came back quickly. We got back into the Impala and he started driving around looking for the nearest shopping center. He parked when we found an outlet and we decided to go into the store that was the closest to us.
They had a lot of options and Dean followed me as I started looking through the bikinis. Every now and then he'd hold one up but he was obviously thinking with his downstairs brain when he chose them.
"Why aren't you looking for trunks?" I asked.
"Because I have shorts that I can wear." He answered. I shrugged and found a cute orange and white polka dot bikini and went to try it on. Despite Dean's pleading for me to show him, I redressed and came out with the bikini in my hand.
"I like this one." I said with a smile. "And I think you'll like it too."
Dean took them from me and went to pay for them. It was ridiculous how much they were. I could have made my own but I guess it didn't really matter since we were scamming credit cards and shit.
When we got back to the motel we quickly changed and I put on one of Dean's large t-shirts over my swimsuit and found my old flip-flops at the bottom of my duffel. I giggled as we made our way to the beach. Dean was holding the towels and he spread them out on the sand.
"What's so funny?" He asked, sitting down on his. I sat down next to him.
"If your dad knew what we were doing he'd slaughter us." I told him. He smirked and chuckled.
"This is true. It's also why we're never going to tell him about it okay?" He said. I nodded and crossed my heart.
We stayed on the beach for a long time. After soaking up some sun on the beach we had eventually headed down to the water and splashed around in it. It was definitely relaxing and fun and we both needed it so badly.
When we got back to the motel later that night we were two shades darker and extremely tired. Dean got a little burnt on his shoulders but I had some Aloe Vera in the first aid kit. I gave him a nice massage with that. We ended up calling for Chinese delivery since we were too tired to even drive anywhere to eat.
We went to bed relaxed and happy and I couldn't remember the last time that had happened. I couldn't even recall any time it had ever happened. I didn't have any nightmares and I was sleeping so deeply I didn't have any sort of dream.
I woke up with a smile on my face to the smell of reheated Chinese food. I looked up and saw Dean sitting at the table with a pensive look on his face eating chow mien.
"What's up?" I asked. He seemed to notice I was awake only then.
"There's a ghost on the beach." He said. I got out of bed and plopped down on his lap, stealing his chow mien. "I thought a lady was trying to drown herself. I went down to the beach to try and help her."
I only just noticed that his hair was wet.
"What happened?" I asked. He shrugged.
"As soon as I swam out to where she was she disappeared." He said, taking the chow mien back. "I talked to the lady at the front desk. She said that it happens every night for a week every year."
"And I guess this is the week?" I asked. Dean nodded.
"Last night was the first night." I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.
"I guess this means our vacation is over." I said.
"It doesn't have to be, we could just forget about her." I shook my head and pinched him. "Ow."
"You know we can't do that." I got up and started to get dressed. "What if she starts drowning people with her?"
Dean sighed and nodded again.
"Let's go down to the beach while it's still early and use the E.M.F. reader to see if we pick anything up." I nodded and slipped on some shorts and a shirt and my flip-flops and we headed out to the beach. We stopped at the Impala to get the reader and continued on down to where Dean first saw the lady on the shore.
The E.M.F. reader started beeping like crazy and Dean started smacking it against his hand.
"Damn thing," he cursed. "It so old. We need a new one."
"Where the hell are we going to get a new E.M.F. reader?" I asked sarcastically. "They don't exactly sell them at tourist shops."
Dean frowned in thought before smirking and turning to look at me. "Do you ever use your walkman anymore?"
My eyes opened wide in fear. I loved my walkman.
"You are not taking apart my walkman to make a new E.M.F. reader! I put my foot down." I dramatized stomping my foot so he would get the picture.
"Come on! It's not like they sell walkmans or cassettes anymore. It's the only way I know how to make the reader." He said. I shook my head.
"No." I said. He smiled and stepped closer to me. He smelled amazing and I knew he was trying to persuade me. He ducked his head down to mine but swerved down to my neck instead. I felt his hot breath and he started to play with my ear lobe on the other side. I closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep from moaning.
"Please," he asked. He was so quiet that I wouldn't have heard him if he wasn't as close as he was.
"No," I stammered. Damn him and his amazingly sexy and sadistic ways to get me to cave. "I hate you."
"No you don't," he chuckled. He kissed my neck and nibbled on the skin just the tiniest bit. He knew exactly how to drive me crazy.
"Only if I can listen to my music on your stereo whenever I want to." I said, finally caving. He pulled back and kissed my lips.
"Sure," I narrowed my eyes to make sure he wasn't lying. He laughed and held his hands up. "I'm serious. You only have like three cassettes and they aren't that bad."
"I have more than three." I said with my eyebrow raised. "I have Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, The Clash, Cheap Trick, Journey and the Ramones."
Dean grimaced and sighed heavily.
"You all ready agreed." I said, smirking. I started skipping back to the Impala. This was a great deal. I really never did listen to my walkman anymore anyway. "Oh, and I should probably mention that I have one guilty pleasure cassette."
"Which is?" He asked quickly. I could tell he was kicking himself in the face for making the agreement.
...
"You are my fire," I sang to the stereo while Dean started taking apart my walkman and the old E.M.F. Reader, "the one desire. Believe when I say I want it that way."
"Will you turn that shit down?" He yelled. I ignored him and started singing louder.
"But we are two worlds apart, can't reach to your heart," Yes, Backstreet Boys was my guilty pleasure, "when you say, that I want it that way."
Dean finally reached over and shut it off. I could help but laugh. Seriously, he brought it onto himself. What girl didn't have a guilty pleasure of a 90's boy band? Plus, Nick Carter is kinda my husband. As is Ben Affleck, but don't tell Dean.
Dean started putting the two electronics together to make a really janky looking E.M.F. reader. I tilted my head down and closed my eyes.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked, getting out of the car. I held up my finger to tell him to give me a minute. "Are you okay?"
"I was having a moment of silence for my walkman." I said, looking up again with a smirk. He rolled his eyes and motioned for me to hurry out of the car. We went back down to the beach and noticed more people were showing up. We ignored them and walked over to the where Dean had first seen her. The new reader was definitely picking something up.
"So what do we do?" I asked. Dean raised an eyebrow and glanced at me.
"Now we have to do some research. You know the drill." He said. I sighed dramatically and nodded. He grabbed my hand and I linked our fingers as we walked back to our motel.
"Yeah, I know. Just wishful thinking I guess." I said wistfully.
...
I won't bore you with the nitty-gritty details of all our research. We talked to the owner of the motel and she said that this had been happening for at least ten years. When we searched the database in the library we found that 12 years ago a woman had been thrown off the dock and had drowned in a really nasty storm.
When we talked to some of the locals they said that nobody had ever gotten hurt from the ghost. It just kept reliving its death every night for a week once a year. Dean thought that we should just leave it.
"It's not hurting anyone," he said as we sat in our motel room.
"But that person's spirit is dying over and over again." I argued. "You know that the spirits can feel strong emotions. That woman drowns 7 times every year. We have to help her move on."
"How?" Dean asked. "She was thrown over the dock in a storm. She died of natural causes."
I shook my head and reread the article about her death that we had printed.
"It never said it was because of the storm that she was thrown over. It just says she was thrown over and because of the storm she couldn't swim to shore." I said, pointing out where it said that to Dean. He sighed and reread the article again.
"Okay, then say somebody pushed her over," Dean said, "how the hell are we going to find out who it was that pushed her over?"
I rolled my eyes. "How do we ever figure this stuff out?"
I went over to my duffel and pulled out my professional clothes and my heels. When I noticed how old and how badly my shoes were falling apart I made a mental note to get new ones. I never realized I wore them that much. Dean groaned when I pulled out my State Marshall badge.
"Seriously?" Dean said. "This was going to be our vacation."
"I could always go alone," I said, smiling. Everything that had happened with the Harpy was still fresh in both our minds and I felt kind of guilty pulling that card. I only did it because I didn't want to go alone and I wanted him to come with me. He shook his head, glaring at me slightly before getting out his own professional clothes and badge.
...
The ghost's name was Amy Walker and we found out that her husband, Thomas Walker, still lived in Santa Cruz with their now 13 year old daughter, Katherine. We decided to start there.
Dean knocked on his door and a young girl, probably Katherine, opened it. She looked between the two of us.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Katherine," a man called from behind her, "who is it?"
"I'm Ginger and this is Fred," I said. Dean always hated when I beat him to our names. I liked coming up with new identities for us. "We're State Marshalls and we'd like to talk to you about Amy Walker's death."
Thomas came up behind his daughter.
"That happened over a decade ago." He said, obviously upset. "Why are you bringing this up now?"
"We've found some evidence that indicates something else happened that night." Dean said. "Something that tells us she wasn't just thrown over the dock by the storm."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Thomas said. He was getting angry. He gently pushed Katherine away from the door. "We've put this behind us. I got remarried and we've moved on. Please leave us alone."
He shut the door and we started walking back to the Impala.
"She had a sister, Mary Williams," I said. Dean nodded and started the engine.
"Where does she live?" I told him and we ended up in front of her house a few minutes later. I knocked on the door this time.
"Hi, I'm Fred and this is Ginger," Dean said.
"We're State Marshalls and we'd like to ask a few questions about your sister's death." Her eyes opened wide but she nodded and let us into her home. She led us to her living room and motioned for us to sit.
"Why?" She asked.
"We were going over the files and some things just didn't add up for us." I said. She nodded. "Can you tell us what happened?"
She shrugged. "I wasn't there. I told them they were crazy for going."
"Going where?" Dean asked.
"To the dock." She answered. "Tom wanted to go but she didn't want to. We both knew it was suicidal but Tom really, really wanted to go. They gave me Katie to babysit and when Tom picked her up the next day he said that she had gotten blown over the dock and drowned."
"Was anything happening at the dock? Why did Tom want to go?" I asked her. She shrugged.
"There wasn't anything. Tom had said something about the moon, but it wasn't even full that night."
"Would you say that maybe he had something to do with Amy's death?" Dean asked as gently as he could. Sometimes it wasn't ever gentle enough.
"No," she said. She started to avert her eyes before she looked back at us. "Okay, promise to keep this between us?"
Dean and I both nodded.
"Katie had been really sick." She said. "She wasn't supposed to recover. All the doctors Amy and Thomas took her to, told them that she would die before she turned two."
"Okay," Dean said. We both weren't sure where this was going.
"Tom had shown me this book the week before. He said it was full of poems but when I read it, it was all in Latin." Dean and I glanced at each other. Witchcraft. "After Amy died Katie was miraculously better. She hasn't gotten sick since then, ever."
"All right," I said, standing up. "We'll leave you for now."
"We might come back, with more questions." Dean said. She nodded and showed us out. Dean started to undo his tie as soon as we were back in the Impala.
"So what do you think? Daddy loves his daughter so much that he'd do anything, even sacrifice his wife for her?" I asked. Dean nodded and glanced at me before turning the key to start the engine.
"Sounds about right." He started to drive back to the motel. "We need a way to search the house, make sure it is witchcraft."
"Well, I bet you Tom works during the day and Katie goes out with her friends while he's gone." I checked the time. It was almost five in the afternoon. "I'd say we have between ten and three tomorrow to search the house."
"But here's the thing," Dean said. "Even if we find a book of witchcraft, how are we gonna get rid of her spirit?"
I stopped to think about it. I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe just us figuring out the truth will set her spirit free."
"Maybe we'll have to burn her bones if it doesn't," Dean said. "She was buried, after all."
"And here's another question," I said, remembering what Mary had said about Katherine. "If we find the book we'll probably have to find the hex bag Thomas made for this whole deal and burn it. What'll happen to Katherine? He did all this to keep her alive."
Dean sighed as he pulled into the motel parking lot and parked in front of our room. He looked over at me. "I don't know."
...
Dean was watching the street while I picked the lock at the Walker house. We had watched Thomas and his wife leave this morning and Katie had just left with her friends so we had at least a couple hours before any of the three got home. I grinned as I swung the door open and we quickly went inside, closing the door behind us.
"Okay, I'll take the upstairs, you take the downstairs," Dean said. I glared at him.
"Who made you the boss?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm older!" He said. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him. He groaned. "Fine, if you want to take the upstairs, go for it."
I grinned and reached up to give him a light peck on the lips before going past him and up the stairs. I started with the first door on my right which was Katherine's bedroom. It was facing the street so I was careful not to be seen by anyone through the window. I checked through her desk and under her bed. Even between the mattresses. I looked through her closet and her dresser but this girl didn't have any hex bags in her room.
I decided to check Thomas' bedroom. I checked all the same places before moving over to the bureau. The first drawer I opened and I found a hex bag. I opened it to make sure. It was definitely a witchcraft hex bag. I continued looking, just in case.
"Holy shit," I whispered. The last drawer I opened and there were seven more hex bags. I quickly snatched them all up and went back downstairs to Dean.
"You'll never guess what I found, Rose," he said, coming around the corner.
"I think I have a good idea." I told him. He stopped when he saw the pile of hex bags I was carrying and then looked down at all of his. He cursed.
"What are we going to do?" He asked. I bit my lip and looked around in thought.
"This is a pretty nice place," I said. Dean nodded, obviously confused at where I was going. "And they seem to be pretty well off."
Dean raised an eyebrow, finally catching my drift.
"Arson Ms. Bennett?" He asked. I grinned and nodded.
"Arson, my dear Mr. Winchester."
...
We made a pile of all the hex bags we could find (we had found six more on top of the ones we had found all ready) and the two books we discovered full of charms and spells and such. I had found a box of lighter fluid and started spraying it everywhere, being careful not to get any on myself or Dean.
Dean lit a match and threw it on the pile and we quickly left through the backyard in case anyone might see us. We high tailed it back to the Impala and we watched as the house started going up in flames. Nobody seemed to notice that a house was burning and Dean and I didn't hear sirens until the second story was about ready to cave in. We had stayed to watch to make sure that everything burned but as soon as we heard the sirens we started the Impala and drove away.
It was about a quarter to three and we decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. We stayed for the sunset and we waited to see if Amy's ghost would appear.
"This was a good vacation," I said, leaning my head on Dean's shoulder as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. Dean wrapped his arm around my shoulders and chuckled.
"I'm glad you think so, Rose." He said. "It's probably the only vacation we'll ever get."
Amy's ghost didn't appear again but Dean and I went to her grave and salted and burned her remains anyway. There was really no such thing as being too careful in our job. As we drove away from Santa Cruz we were sure that Amy Walker's spirit wouldn't have to relive her death anymore.
...
...
Hey everyone! Thanks for all the amazing reviews :) Sorry this chapter is a little late, I've been a little preoccupied with packing for my awesome trip to St. Thomas. Which leads me to some bad news for you guys: if you know anything about St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands, then you might know that most people who have internet still only have dial-up, which is the case for my grandpa's house. Sadly this means that I won't be able to update until I come back home July 14th. Unless I get another chapter edited for you before I leave for the airport at 2 in the morning Wednesday (not likely since the next chapter hasn't been written yet), this'll be the last chapter you guys have until then. But that doesn't mean that I won't be writing. I'm bringing my laptop with me and I'll be writing as much as I can on my unbelievably long flight there and back, and possibly some in between.
So please, please leave me some reviews for me to read when I come back home. It'll be much appreciated and I promise I'll have a really great chapter to post when I return. :)
-Erin