Chapter 8- Runnin with the Devil
(Van Halen)
The boys headed out from the garden district and made their way to the lower ninth ward. Once again getting lost along the way, but 45 minutes later they arrived at the home of Sylvia. Sam strode up the front steps and rang the buzzer. Waiting for someone to answer, Dean looked around and felt himself shutter. He knew they were in a bad part of New Orleans, and defiantly had his guard up. Even though he could feel the cool metal of his 9mm tucked into the back of his pants, Dean clutched the grip. He wasn't taking any chances. Suddenly a voice called out from inside the dwelling. "Who is it?" "Hi, uh hello my name is Sam I'm here with my brother Dean. We are trying to speak with a Sylvia." Slowly the front door opened and a short black woman peered out. "What cha want with me?" "Hi ma'am I'm Sam. We are here about Claire. We know about the creature that's after her, and we want to help destroy it." Sylvia invited them in. Her living room was dimly lit by a lamp in the corner. The house smelled of strong herbs, and there were old ratty books everywhere. Sam and Dean sat down on her couch and Sylvia took her place across from them in an old arm chair. "So you say you know about the creature….then you should know there's no easy way to kill it." Dean scooted to the edge of the couch as he started to speak, "It's not impossible though right?" "No it's not impossible, but very hard." "Hard how?" Sam asked. "These creatures, they come about through a mixture of witch craft and voodoo. That's what makes them difficult to kill. There are several methods that could be attempted, but to pin point the correct one is the problem. These things they're called grabbers. They aren't known creatures, because very few people ever resort to this kind of punishment when they are seeking revenge." "I don't understand? Claire's just a girl. What could she have done to deserve this?" Sam inquired. "Not her…it's all to do with her father. When most people meet the Alva's they figure he's wealthy because he's got what some refer to as old money, but that's not the case. I can't prove this, but I believe the Alva's are where they are today, because of Claire's father, Edwin. I was a maid in their house hold for years. I helped raise their older boys and saw them go off to college. Working that close to a family for so long you start hearing things. Then sooner or later you start eavesdropping on things. I think Edwin made some very shady business dealings that went wrong and someone wanted to get back at him." "What's all that have to do with Claire?" Dean asked. "Edwin and his wife Patricia always wanted a little girl, but after their two boys Patricia had trouble conceiving. Mrs. Alva had 4 miscarriages before Claire came along. Everyone knows that Claire is Edwin's crown jewel. He loves his Stanford boys, but that girl will always be his pride and joy." Sam let out a sigh as he thought through everything. Dean put a finger in the air and asked, "Uh question. Why did Claire disappear in the church and why was she all cut up?" "The story goes that a grabber will take a person, and absorb it into itself. However, it can't simply absorb into your body. It can only get in through an open wound. It only takes a single cut from its nails to start the process, but when it does start you get transported into another realm. You're still there, but not exactly. Claire would have been conscious of everything going on around her, but no one would know where she went. It starts with a cut, and then it grabs you and takes you. Lucky for Claire she was still able to draw out the symbol and ward it off before it took her entirely." Sam shifted uneasily, "So does this grabber know how to get to Claire at all times? I mean does she have any kind of delay before this creature gets her?" "It been tracking her for so long it has her scent by now, but it can only show up in the last place in tried to take her. It can sense when Claire isn't protected by the pendant and it will immediately start hunter her again." Dean got up from the couch, "OK so let's dig around and see how we kill this thing before that pendant comes up missing again." Sylvia got up and walked to a nearby book shelf. She clutched an old binder to her chest and gestured for the boys to follow her to the kitchen. Sam and Dean stayed at Sylvia's kitchen table researching different ways to kill this thing.
Across town Claire was just stepping out of the shower. She slid into pajama shorts, a sports bra, and a grey wife beater. She yawned and checked her phone. It read 8:20pm. Claire went back into her bathroom to retrieve her necklace out of her jean pocket. She reached into her front pockets then the back ones. They were empty. A wave a dread spilled over Claire as panic set in. She frantically started tearing her bedroom apart looking for her pendant. In minutes her room was destroyed, and Claire was shaking. She snatched her phone up and dialed her mom's number. It rang twice before Mrs. Alva picked up. "Yes baby what does my princess need?" "MOMMA! MOMMA WHAT DID YOU DO?" "Darling I don't know what you mean." "YES YOU DO! WHAT DID YOU AND DAD DO WITH MY PENDANT!" "Sweetie we got rid of that piece of trash before we left. You are far too old to still believe in that nonsense. Your father saw you slip it from around your neck and slid it in your back pocket. The chain was dangling and daddy took it. Monsters and such…baby they just aren't real. Now you need to…" Claire hung up on her mother and scanned her room for pin and paper. She spotted her notebook poking out from underneath a pile of shirts. She dropped to her knees as she lunged for it. As she grasped it in her hands Claire felt the tips of her fingers go numb. Her body got cold, as she saw the shadow of a tall figure being cast from behind her, "Oh….no…."
Dean, Sylvia, and Sam had found a concoction of herbs and spices that they hoped would take down a grabber. They had enough to fill a syringe and only this one shot to do it with. Earlier when they were grinding together the ingredients they attempted to form a plan, but that plan would quickly be shot to hell. Sam's phone began to ring. He answered, but before he could speak Claire was screaming into the receiver. "SAM! SAM IT'S HERE IT'S COMING FOR ME!" "WE'RE COMING!" Sam hung up the phone and practically snatched the syringe out of Sylvia's hand. "We gotta go right now Dean! I don't know what happened, but it's there!" In seconds the boys were flying out of Sylvia's house and speeding away in the Impala. Five minutes from Claire's home and Sam's phone rang again. "SAM YOU GOTTA HELP ME PLEASE HURRY!" "We are right around the corner Claire just hang on ok. Hang on, and don't let it get you!" Minutes later Dean was drifting the Impala around the corner of Claire's street and pulling it right up in front of her house. The boys jumped out and desperately started pushing the buzzer. "CLAIRE ITS DEAN LET US IN! CLAIRE!" There was a faint crash that came from inside the house. Dean and Sam began frantically pushing on the gates. They gave just a little, but not enough for them to break through. Sam searched the walls, but there was no way for them to get over the 8ft brick enclosure. "What the hell do we do Dean?! There's no way we get over that wall." "I know Sam, and we can't jump the gate without being impaled." Another crash came from inside the house. "Damn it we gotta get in there Sam!" Sam's eyes were darting all around searching for an entrance when it clicked. "Help me Dean!" Sam had dropped to the ground and started digging up the gravel underneath the gate. If they couldn't go over it they were going under it. The brothers flung dirt and rocks ever which way until there was a hole just big enough for them to shimmy under. Sam squeezed beneath the gate first. He knelt down on one knee and helped pull Dean under when a crash came from the back of the house. "PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE!" "CLAIRE IT'S US WE'RE COMING!" As Sam and Dean rounded the corner of the house, guns drawn, they saw the back of the creature as Claire was struggling against it. Dean took a shot, and hit it in the back, as it fell forward into the pool and pulled Claire down with it. Sam dove in a split second later. The grabber was injured, but it still desperately clung to Claire as she fought back underneath the water. Sam got to Claire just as she was starting to wriggle free, and pulled her up from the bottom of the pool. The grabber swung out to slash at her leg, but Claire kicked it in the head. When they broke the surface Dean was there to help them out of the pool. Sam came up first, and as he was turning around to help pull Claire out he didn't have enough time to react. "NO!" It was too late. Claire let out one long gargled scream as the grabber scratched deep cuts into her legs and latched on to her. As soon as he did so, Claire disappeared. A soaking wet Sam stood at the edge of the pool and searched the water for any signs of life. "Where'd she go Dean!?" "I don't know Sammy I don't see her." Seconds past that seemed like hours, and then at the far end of the pool Dean spotted bubbles. "There Sam look!" he shouted. Sam pulled out the syringe from his pocket. He quickly whipped off the cap and dove back in. He couldn't see Claire, but he started reaching around hoping he could feel her. Sam was kicking around under the water and quickly running out of oxygen. He was about to go up for air when he felt her hand. Sam squeezed tightly on it and gave her the syringe. Sam gurgled to Claire, "Stab it". Sam's lungs were burning and he couldn't take it anymore. He had to go up for air. He grasped the side of the pool and Dean squatted down beside him. "Sammy are you alright!?" "Yea, I'm fine…I just….don't know what's happening with…" Suddenly Claire's body reappeared at the bottom of the pool. She quickly swam for the surface and gasped loudly as air filled her body. Sam swam out to her and helped her out of the pool. Claire would lay there pool side catching her breath for the next 15 minutes, and within the hour police and Claire's parents were called out to the Alva residence. Sam and Dean told the cops that they were coming to check on Claire when they heard a crash from inside the home. Apparently Claire's attacker had dug a hole under the gate to their house and broke in through the sliding glass doors in the back. There was a struggle, but lucky for Claire detectives Simmons and Tyler were there to save the day. Sadly though, the unknown suspect escaped back out through the holl he dug in the front. NOPD and Claire's parents totally bought that story. Now Claire sat in the back of an ambulance getting ready to be taken to the hospital. Sam and Dean found her as she sat alone and got in a few words, before leaving. "Hey kid, how ya holding up?" "I'm alright. Thanks again detective Simmons." Claire smirked. "Ah well I didn't do anything. It was all my partner here." Dean slapped Sam on the back. "Yea…ow Dean. Anyways, we just wanted to come and make sure you were doing alright." "I will be now that I don't have some monster chasing me. Thanks a lot of all your help." Dean winked at Claire and replied with, "Anytime." The boys were heading back to the Impala when Sam stopped. He had one more question. "Hey Claire by the way what happened to the grabber after you stabbed it?" "Well to be honest it just dissolved. It turned to ash and faded away into the pool." Sam smiled, "Hmm…good to know. See ya round Claire." "See ya round Sam."
Dean and Sam were great at what they did, and they knew it. So to celebrate their accomplishment for the day they found a bar on Canal Street and had a few drinks. The brothers were sitting at a table, getting ready to clink their beers together and chow down on burgers, when the familiar voice of their infamous foe called out to them. "Hello boys." Sam and Dean flinched, but found themselves frozen in their seats. Crowley casually walked up to the boys and straddled a backwards facing chair. Dean's teeth clench as his body shook hard against Crowley's power. "Oh you sick son of uh bitch. You gotta lot of balls ya dick." Crowley was entirely un-phased by Dean's comment. "Yes, squirrel I love you too sweets." Crowley caught eyes with Sam, who was too hyped to say anything. "And moose how I've missed you too." Sam mustered up the strength to reply to his remark. "What the hell do you want Crowley?" "I want the three of us to come to a truce, an understanding if you will. All we do is go back and forth trying to kill and capture each other, and not that this isn't fun, but it's getting old. So what do you say we make a deal to keep all hands, feet, and other objects to ourselves from now on?" "Are you nuts? What makes you think we'd ever agree to something like that?" Dean snarled. Crowley gently placed a hand on Sam and started caressing his arm. Sammy tried to flinch away at his touch, but Crowley's power was a force to be reckoned with. "You'll agree to it, because I know that your little pet Zoey is still alive, and the only reason I haven't finished her off myself is because I'm a kind and generous king. I did terrible things to that girl. I even tried to kill her, now it may not seem very gracious of me from your side of things, but if she can survive all that then she deserves to live." "NO!" Sam snapped. Crowley stopped rubbing Sam's arm. He sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. Crowley was confused. "No…is that really the answer you want to give me moose?" "It's not enough. Just leaving us alone is not enough. I want you to swear never again to harm her. I want you to go a step further…" "Sam what are you…" "Shut up Dean!" Sam snapped. Crowley couldn't help himself. He chuckled at the exchange between the brothers. "Ooo a little feisty there moose." Crowley looked at Dean and pretended to zip his lips. When he did so, Dean's mouth sealed shut. Crowley waved his hand over the table as if to present something to Sam and said "The floor is yours." Sam took a second and cleared his throat. What he was about request would change things forever. "I'm not as strong as I want to be, but you are. You're the king of hell and if anyone can provide protection I know you can…. And I know Cas can. So I want you to look after her. Zoey can't stay with us anymore and I want you to make sure she's protected. I want my child to be protected and to live as normal a life as possible." Crowley placed a hand on his chin and thought about what Sam asked. He narrowed his gaze on him, and let Sam loose from his powers. Crowley held out a hand for Sam to shake. "We have a deal moose." Dean began violently shaking his head in disagreement. Sam breathed out a long sigh, and finally took Crowley's hand in his. "Pleasure doing business with you boys." Crowley chuckled. Then in a flash he was gone. Dean gasped as his body un-tensed. "SAMMY! What the hell?"