Chapter 41

Sam held onto the phone, but his hand started to fall away from his face, he was so shocked. Amelia eased the phone out of his hand. "Asher? I'm a friend of Sam's. We're so sorry about your brother. Is there anything we can do?"

Sam regained his composure, and he took Amelia's usual position and was listening in on the conversation. They could hear Asher moving and a door open and close. "Just needed to get away from my mom; I don't want her to hear this." Asher spoke at a more normal level, after the earlier near-whisper. "They say it was an accident, but I think somebody, or something, killed Mike."

Sam took the phone back from Amelia. "Asher, what happened?"

"Is everything Mike told me about you guys; and what you do, true?" The boy asked.

Sam did the math in his head; if Asher was about seven when he and Dean had been here, that would make him about 15 now. Sam hoped Mike hadn't really told Asher everything when he was only 13 years old. "Asher, what did your brother tell you?"

"He said it was a witch-like thing that made me sick when I nearly died as a kid; and that these two guys, Sam and Dean Winchester, he made me memorize your names, killed it and that he had helped."

"And what makes you think something killed your brother?" Sam couldn't bring himself to shatter a young life if Asher didn't know the truth; and he wasn't admitting to anything over the phone.

"He told me. There'd been a lot of weird shit that had happened to him the last few weeks. Two days before he died he told me he thought a witch was out to get him."

Sam looked at Amelia and she nodded in agreement, not needing to read his thoughts. "We'll be there tomorrow."

X

They got a little more detail from Asher and his cell phone number; he didn't want his mom knowing anything about this. It turns out Mike had become very interested in the paranormal and supernatural; following and researching stories whenever he had time. Before he had left to go away to college at Indiana University, in Bloomington, he had told Asher about his encounter with the Shtriga, and Hunters. He had made him memorize the Winchesters names, and some basic protections he had learned, in case anything ever happened to him. It's why he had asked if it was Dean or Sam; he thought they had finally gotten one of the messages Mike had been leaving on their old phones.

Asher didn't know why Mike thought a witch was out to get him; but he had found a notebook in Mike's stuff, with a lot of weird notes and references in it. And it included a record of all the strange "accidents" that had happened over the last few weeks of his life. Sam told him to keep the notebook safe, but to not try to read anything in it and to not talk to anybody about any of this. He had snorted and said 'Like anybody would believe me. Until five minutes ago, I don't think I believed him.'

After Sam had ended the call with Asher, he and Amelia had just sat and stared at each other, for about a minute. Then they both had gotten busy. Sam had started researching on his laptop the things that Asher had told them. He wondered if maybe it had been another shtriga, out for revenge; but there no reports of several sick children anywhere in the area. Amelia heard him feel guilty for not being there for Mike, when he had tried to reach them. They had changed their phones so many times since they had helped Mike seven years ago; the kid had had no chance of reaching them. She debated trying to offer some reassuring or comforting words; but knew working to stop whatever had killed Mike would be the best way for him to abate his unjustified guilt.

It wasn't until they thought about Andrea and Lucas calling soon, and by this afternoon that they would have two more donated fluids; that it occurred to Sam they had lost one of the fluid donors they had been counting on. He was briefly torn between the need to find a replacement donor and taking care of whatever had killed Mike. Amelia saw it wasn't much of a debate in Sam's mind. He still had ten days to save Dean; whatever had gone after Mike needed to be handled first.

Amelia had decided they couldn't risk taking the fluids with them to Fitchburg. If they were going to be going on a Hunt, the fluids might be used as leverage against them. So, she started looking through the Madison yellow pages for secure cold-storage place while Sam had done his research. It hadn't been hard to find a cold storage/meat locker to rent. Wisconsin was well known for the availability of game and hunting locations; and city-dwelling hunters had to have someplace to store their meat. The second one Amelia called had an available locker, with the 24 hour access they would need; and the proprietor's voice told her he was reliable.

Just as Sam was finishing reserving the locker by giving the personal information on 'Eliot Ness'; Lucas called on Sam's cell phone. Amelia answered while Sam finished the other call on the room phone. "Lucas? It's Amelia. How did it go?"

"Uh, fine. Where's Sam?"

Sam had finished his call and Amelia handed him the phone, adding her nod of confirmation. "Hey, Lucas. I'm here."

"Yeah. So, where's Dean?" Sam smiled, despite himself. Lucas was getting right to the point, just like his brother would.

"He's in trouble and I need your help; it's why I'm here."

"How did you know we were in Madison." Sam could hear uncertainty in his voice.

"I didn't. We were headed to Lake Manitoc; we just stopped in Madison for the night." He didn't want to lie to the boy, but he saw no point in telling him about Mike, now. Sam could hear Lucas relate the information to his mom; and then Andrea came on the line.

"What can we do to help?" Andrea asked without hesitation.

"Can you come to our hotel, this afternoon?" Sam knew how odd that sounded, and then added; "I really don't want to talk about it over the phone."

Sam could hear the Barrs talking for a few seconds, and then Andrea came back on the line. "Where are you staying?"

X

Just as with Haley, there had been some momentary shock when told the situation and what they were being asked to do for Dean. And, just as Haley had done, Andrea and Lucas had both readily agreed to help. Amelia saw Sam was finally starting to understand the impact he and his brother had made on the people they helped.

Neither Sam nor Amelia had put much thought in how to collect the bile and spit from the Barrs. These would be the hardest of the seven fluids to acquire; all the others came out of the body pretty easily. Sam thought about his fluid for a second, maybe easily wasn't exactly the best word to use. Phlegm or spit shouldn't be too difficult for Andrea to cough up; but how do you get bile out of someone? The only thing any of them could think of was to induce vomiting.

Lucas cringed a little but lost none of his resolve to proceed; and he over-ruled his mother's concern about deliberately making her son throw-up. Apsu ruled-out the use of Ipecac to help Lucas start the process, something about contaminating the fluid. That had produced another awkward moment; when Sam and Amelia had needed to excuse themselves to listen to the amulet when it started vibrating around Sam's neck.

They'd all heard stories of bulimic girls inducing vomiting by sticking a finger down the throat; well, all but Amelia. She was shocked when Sam explained why they would do that to themselves. Lucas found it to be a lot more difficult than he had imagined. Then there was taking a shower in a strange hotel room with others waiting for you just outside the door. Amelia knew this would be embarrassing, but still didn't quite understand why.

By the time Sam was putting the cap on the second Thermos bottle, it had been uncomfortable couple of hours for the Barrs. Sam thanked the mother and son; and they insisted they were happy to help. Again, just like Haley, they wanted a call when Dean safely back; and said to call if there was anything else they could do. Amelia placed a protection spell over both of them before they left; which was a much easier since she could just wave her hand over them as they walked out the door. By the time they got to their car and headed back to Lake Manitoc, they remembered seeing Sam, and vaguely that a woman was with him.

Amelia placed the bottles in the cooler and refreshed its protection spell. They now had four of the seven fluids; and knew Cassie and Sam would donate two more. That meant they only had one donor to locate and have pass Apsu's approval. Sam got out his list to think about who the little god might find acceptable. He still thought Evan Hudson in Mississippi was a good choice; but there was also Jenny Cooper in Lawrence. Cassie had managed to find Krissy and Lee Chambers, and she'd also found Matt Pike was in Oklahoma City. Sam also still thought Melanie Goldman was a strong possibility, but didn't want to have to drive to New York if he didn't need to. He would, because he was so close; nothing was going to stop him now. No matter how far away, he'd find a replacement for Mike.

Mike! He put his list away; he had a job to take care of first.