Hook Man:
They were just standing in the drive way and it was annoyingly loud already. How did anyone stand living in a house with twenty other boys was Chris' line of thinking. But she couldn't talk, living in motel rooms with her two brothers. "One more time, why are we here?" Sam was the one to ask. He may have gone to collage but this was the one aspect of it he tended to avoid.
"Victim lived here." Dean explained. Chris nodded, at least his mind was on the job and he wasn't on planning to figure out when a party was so they could gate crash. Chris pulled to a stop in her step when her brothers did. "Nice wheels." Dean said to a couple guys. One was under the hood fixing it and the other had a wrench under the car. From they're looks, she bet they had no idea what they were doing. The two boys looked at them confused. Chris scowled when she notice they're quick glimpse of checking her out. Frat boys, only one thing on they're mind. Dean knew he was protective of Sammy but just now did he realize how much stronger the protective urge towards Chris was. Sammy was strong and bigger than him, knew how to fight. He had seen Chris defend herself but just now was he realizing how she looked to other guys not related to them. Her blonde hair pinned up with pieces in her face, the same green eyes as his own, body lean and he knew she had curves from the few times she would plop down on his and just go to sleep. He wasn't worried because he knew Chris could take these punks after seeing her hunting the last several months but that didn't make him any less pissed to see other guys looking at her like he did girls he met at a bar. Dean made it no secret he hated them on principle with his glare. Chris was startled when Dean stepped half in front of her, half shielding her from view of the hormone ridden boys. "We're your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We're new in town, transfers. Looking for a place to stay, my sister is helping us with the move." Chris felt like she could be an actress with the different roles she'd come to play when fishing for information.
Five minutes later, Chris glared up at Dean while elbowing him harshly in his ribs. It was nice having people who cared but this was annoying. Sam remained oblivious as Dean glared at every boy he saw. Chris couldn't pretend nothing was happening with him practically walking on top of her to make sure nobody made a grab for her. She may be pretty but she wasn't supermodel pretty in her opinion. They ended up in a small bedroom and Chris was looking at a guy about nineteen or twenty wearing nothing but yellow shorts. His entire skinny little body he was in the process of covering in purple paint. He looked up as Sam knocked, seeing them in the mirror. "Who are you?"
Chris tired of the few minutes being in her brother's shadow made her step forward. She ignored Dean's look of exasperation, he should have known she wasn't going to stand there and look pretty. She was a Winchester after all. "They're you're new roommates. I'm the sister helping them scope the place out." Wasn't that what sisters did when it was time to go to collage? Help family members move in? She didn't know but she went along with it.
The frat boy was more involved with his paint job then the woman in they're frat house. He barely blinked an eye at her, making Chris feel some kind of respect for the guy. Well...not really, at least she didn't feel the need to punch the guy out. Chris smirked as he held the paint can and brush out to Dean. "Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today." The square of his back was the one part he couldn't reach.
Chris could have giggled at her older brother's expression. Like all big brothers seem to do, he was quick to push off all unwanted or embarrassing or just plain awkward work to his younger brother. Dean was quick to jab his thumb at Sam. "He's the artist...things he can do with a brush." Chris hid a smirk by casually placing a hand near her mouth. It was funny how mortified Sam was as he took the brush and can. This wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last time Dean would pull something like that. Sam swallowed hard and lightly dabbed the paint on to the patch of tan skin still visible. Chris found herself leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. Dean sat himself down on an empty chair and picked up a stray magazine like he belonged there. Which according to they're lie, he did. "So," he stopped to look at the name subscribed to the magazine cover. "Murph, is it true?"
'Murph' as he was named, looked at Dean through the mirror. "What?" Not surprising, how were the three strangers suppose to know what happened half a week ago. He didn't know they were only here because of the news story.
"That some guy died here last week." Chris said casually. She looked indifferent, like she didn't care either way. But she was paying attention to every word.
Murph looked away hesitant. "Yeah," he admitted softly. It wasn't something he liked to be reminded of, was Chris' thoughts.
Sam asked with those puppy dog eyes and kind voice, "What happened?"
Murph shrugged uncertain. He repeated what he heard from rumors running around the collage. "They're saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy." Chris rolled her eyes. Nobody was truly good, maybe this guy just had hero worship...bad. She'd read the victim was a football player.
"So was Rich with someone?" Chris asked. She was trying to subtly get the information of the witness. Odds was he wasn't alone, he was a collage football player.
Murph nodded with a sly grin. "Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen." Chris let a sly smirk appear on her face for a brief second. They had a name, now they just needed to know who she was.
Dean was flipping through the magazine but not actually looking at it. "Who's Lori Sorensen." The Dean looked at Sam. "You missed a spot." Sam glared at him annoyed from where he was painting on the guy's back. Dean grinned innocently. Chris covered her mouth and bit down on her lip to muffle her laughter.
Murph explained. It was clear he'd thought of her more than a time or two, Chris thought. "Lori's a freshman. She's a local, super hot. And get this, she's a reverend's daughter." Chris raised an eyebrow. Well that made things more easier to find her.
Dean abandoned the magazine he'd poorly been pretending to read and leaned forward. "You wouldn't happen to know which church, would ya?" Of course he did, Chris thought with a slight eye roll as he sprouted out the address. Made her wonder how many times he'd gone to a service just to see her.
Chris was relieved as they left the house. The smell wasn't that great, you try being in a house where twenty guys lived close together. It was like when Chris and her brothers hadn't had laundry day a week or two later then they should. It was a large church when they got there. One of those kinds that have been standing for ages. Chris winched when the door shut heavily behind them as they entered. The entire church people turned around in they're seats to stare at the three intruding strangers. Chris whistled, awkward. The preacher slowly continued on. One by one, they all turned back around. The Winchester's looked out a place in they're jeans and leather jackets compared to the fancy dresses and suits. "As a community and as a family, the loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passing." Chris quickly sat herself down in the last row that was empty. Dean sat to the right of her and Sam next to him. Chris looked around but she couldn't tell which was Lori. The preacher kept talking. "So please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children." Chris let her head drop in prayer. She wasn't a very religious girl but she could at least give some respect to bow her head inside a church.
After the prayer, it was time to get out. Chris relaxed under the rays of the sun. Church had always put her on edge, it wasn't her usual scenery. "Excuse me?" She stopped one of the older men waking. "We're looking for an old friend of ours. Lori?"
"Over there." The man grunted, blindly pointing out a woman about eighteen. Lori was a thin woman with shoulder length honey brown hair, tan skin and brownish green eyes. She was talking to a dark skin girl before the other girl walked away.
Chris joined her brothers, leading them over to Lori. She looked startled at the three strangers taller than her suddenly show up in her field of vision. "My name is Sam. This is my brother Dean and sister Chris." Chris nodded at her name. "We just transferred here to the university."
Lori nodded, "I saw you inside."
Chris smirked chuckling, "Well I'm pretty sure everyone saw us." They did interrupt and that heavy door slamming certainly didn't help any.
Sam looked at her with those puppy dog eyes he always seemed to have with witnesses. "We don't wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and..." He trailed off, mind freezing on what to say next under her sullen face. Chris thought how sad it was that innocent people would get drag into a big supernatural mess.
"We just wanted to say how sorry we were." Dean finished up quickly. The sooner they got the information they needed, the sooner they could make sure this thing never hurt anyone else again.
Chris nibbled on her lip for a moment before saying, "Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure there was nothing you could've done to stop it." She knew from experience with Brooke. She kept thinking it was her fault, she should have kept better watch on people she went out, should have never let her go out that night. She was finally moving on.
Chris raised an eyebrow curiously when Sam started to speak again. "I kind of know what you're going through. I-I saw someone...get hurt once. It's something you don't forget."
That was when an old man in preachers clothes walked up. "Dad," Lori said startled as he walked up. "This is um, Sam, Dean, and Chris. They're new students."
Chris was closest and shook the reverends hand. "It's amazing to meet you sir. That sermon was the most inspirational I've heard in a very long time." She pulled the words out of her ass. She used to fall asleep those few religious foster homes she would stay in. Every time actually.
The reverend smiled proudly. "Thank you very much. It's so nice to find young people who are opened to the Lord's message."
Dean chuckled. Chris followed as they casually led the reverend away so Sam could talk to Lori. "Listen, we're new in town actually. And we were looking for uh,"
"A church group." Chris filled in on the spot. It was the first thing she could think of.
"Really?" The reverend said pleased. "Well we have several different kinds within our community..." Chris pretty much zoned out after that. It would be another five minutes of chatter before Sam would show up a few feet behind, signaling he was finished.
Afterwards, Chris found herself picking at her nails as she sat on the stone bench outside the library. "So do you believe her?" Dean asked after Sam explained what Lori had seen that night.
"I do." Sam said firmly. Dean was standing nearby but Sam was sitting beside her.
Chris rolled her eyes, lowering her hand. "Yeah, I'm sure lots of guys think she's hot." But Chris was a girl. She didn't exactly make it a habit to check out other girls. But even she could see weather a girl was cute or not. Chris was often self conscious about her own looks, especially as a teenager and more than the normal teenage girls outlook on life. But she'd learned to accept who she was in adulthood. Her looks and fascination with weapons were probably why she never got a steady guy when she lived in one place.
Sam rolled his eyes, shaking his hands. "That's not it. Just wait and listen to this, she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car."
Chris looked up curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Suspended? Where have I heard of that before?" She was mentally going through everything supernatural she knew that left victims suspended in midair. Could always be a ghost?
Dean shook his head. "You need to brush up on your legends, sweetheart." Dean said the term of endearment like he and Chris called Sam Sammy. "It sounds like the hook man legend."
Chris looked up startled. "The hook man? Evil jerk of a guy with a hook for a hand, hook-man?" That was why it sounded familiar. She'd done a class report on him in sixth grade. Unfortunately they were learning Greek mythology so she got an F. It was still more interesting than what she was supposed to be reading.
Dean nodded, "That's one of the most urban legends ever. Could we really be dealing with The Hook Man?" Dean asked. Chris didn't see why not. They'd found and done Bloody Mary after all.
Sam shrugged. "Every urban legend has a source. A place where it al began." Every story in the word had an origin. Someone had to make it begin somewhere by either telling a random story they think of as time goes...or witnessing such an event that would later be spread across the country.
"But what about the phantom scratches, tire punctures, and invisible killer?" Dean asked. They had to go through all the bases. Imagine hunting one thing only to find out it's another. Can you say, dead in two seconds flat?
Chris glanced around cautiously at passing collage students. "Let's considering he possibility that the hook man may not even be a man? Possible it could just be a spirit attached to the hook man legend, maybe the guy that inspired the legend to begin with." As always when they needed information, they went to the local library.
At the local library, a Chris jumped as several large boxes were suddenly heavily landing in front of her. "Here you go, arrest records going back to eighteen fifty one." The librarian said. Chris looked wide eyed and exasperated at the amount of papers inside.
Dean blew off the dust coating one of the boxes. Chris practically coughed up a lung cause it blew right in her face. Dean nodded, "Thanks." He said with a tight lip smile, coughing a little with dust floating in the air. The librarian waked away. Dean turn to Sam shaking his head. "So this is how you spent four good years of your life, huh?"
Sam pried open one of the boxes that clearly hasn't seen light in the last decade or so. "Welcome to higher education." Sam said, pulling out some of the papers.
Chris glared at the boxes as if they personally offended her. "Now this is why I never considered going to collage." Chris said huffing like. She reached in, scowling as she pulled out dust soaked papers that were hard to read with they're tiny print and cursive hand written wordings.
Hours later found Chris hunched over the desk ready to just drop her head down. She had a major headache and the words were starting to blur together. "Hey, check this out." Sam said. Chris shot up eager, shoving the papers she was looking at away. She was pleased for any excuse to clear her head. "Eighteen sixty two, 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 thirteen prostitutes." Sam paused to quote the written words. "'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'"'
Chris shook her head, ponytail flying behind her as she did so. God help them from people who think they're doing God's word. "So to stop the sins of the flesh before marriage, he decides to get into with murder? He does realize murder is also a sin, right?" Stop one sin by commenting another. The road to hell is paved with good attentions, and all that. He was probably burning away as they speak...or his spirit was killing people.
"I'm sure he did." Sam sighed, flipping through a few more pages. "He was a preacher after all." Clearly that little known fact wasn't going to stop him from going on a murder spree.
Dean held up a page he just found. "Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook."
Chris let out a low whistle. "Not fair, you guys finding everything." She was doing the same as them and she hadn't found a shred of useful information. Made her want to beat her head in a time or two.
Chris pulled the paper from Sam, wanting to deliver some news herself. "And it all happened on nine mile road." The same place that boy had been killed and suspended over the car.
Dean nodded, pleased with what they found. "Let's check it out." Dean said, eager to leave this dust covered place. Sam and Chris quickly grabbed the papers they needed, hiding them in they're pockets in case they were needed for remembrance later on.
At Lori's sorority house, Lori was pouting as he dad parked. He was dropping her off and it was clear that he wasn't pleased about it. Lori continued they're argument. "I know this is your first time living alone since mom died." All Lori wanted was to be an adult for the first time in her life and that included living in a dormitory like she did. Dad was once again trying to make her come home.
Reverend Sorensen put the car into park and twisted around to fully face his only child and daughter. "That's not it. I worry about you." He admitted. It was a father's right to worry about his child.
Lori rolled her eyes, after all, what could possibly happen. "There are twenty two girls in there and it's perfectly safe." Why couldn't her dad ever see things her way?
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. You don't think I know what's going on in there." The reverend demanded. After all, he'd been young once to. He didn't want to see his daughter making similar mistakes he himself had once made. She could get herself pregnant and even worse, not know the dad. That was his biggest scare. He'd had a few scares like that himself but paternity tests always cleared that little bit up. Lori was the only one that had actually been his and at least he had been married to her mother.
But Lori wasn't going to sit here and listen to this without a fight. "Dad, do we have to have this argument again? I'm over eighteen, I can live my own life." Frustration was starting to swell up inside her.
Reverend Sorensen said getting louder towards a more screaming level. "Oh, which means drinking, partying with that roommate of yours!" He had never approved of that girl after first meeting her and she'd been wearing a tube top with a mini jean skirt.
Lori was finished with this argument they'd had a dozen and more times already. "I'm an adult. I can take care of myself. Good night." She ignored him calling her name and slammed the car door shut. Lori walked silently as to not wake anyone before making it to her bedroom upstairs. She almost turned on the light before realizing Taylor was peacefully asleep. Lori smiled and waked into the bathroom to get dressed for bed.
On nine mile road late that night, Chris took the rifle Dean handed her. She wasted no time checking to see if it was loaded and like all they're weapons, it was pre-loaded after the last time it had been used. "If it's a spirit, buckshot or do much good." Sam warned, as if the others wouldn't know this little fact.
"That's why it's filled with rock salt." Dean said. Upon closer inspection, Chris realized the bullets had been coated with salt. She should've seen that one a mile away with her close eye on all things she could use as a weapon.
"Great." Chris said. Now they had to make sure this ghost was that preacher guy. Then they could track down his grave and put an end to kill sinful killing spree of all things sin.
Dean pulled out a circle of rope he snagged from the shapeshifter lair incident and pulled it onto his shoulder. "It won't kill 'em but it'll slow 'em down."
The Winchester three made they're way at a slow pace towards the tree line. "Did you and dad think of this?" Sam asked with cautious curious. This family was awkward on the dad conversation. Sam and dad always fought. Dean was dad's little soldier. And Chris had never actually met the man in her memory.
Dean grinned cockily. "I told you, you don't have to be a collage graduate to be a genius." He said quiet proudly.
"I didn't even try to go to collage." Chris smirked. Why, she had money from hustling people at the local bars to pay her share of the rent. She didn't really buy anything other then food and a new weapon here or there, maybe a new clothing if her own was getting worn out.
The three quieted down as noises like someone walking came from inside the tree line. Chris tensed, raising her gun. Dean pointed where the sound was coming from. Chris was seconds from shooting when a loud voice carrying a flashlight and hand gun came out of the woods shouting. "Put the guns down! Now! Put your hands behind your head!" The sheriff of the town shouted.
Chris' heart jumped to her throat. They'd been prepared for a spirit coming at them with a hook. Not a human man clearly living with a badge and a gun. Dean raised his hands stuttering panicked, "W-w-wait, okay!" Chris let her gun drop next to Sam's, Dean dropping the rope, hands raised on either side of her head.
"Now get down on your knees, on your knees!" The sheriff shouted in a commanding voice. He cautiously stepped forward." Chris was happy she at least wore jeans to prevent the dirt from biting into her knees. She wasn't to concerned about dirt stains, she's had worst. "Now get down on your bellies!" Chris grumbled as she went down, hands going behind her head. It was a familiar poise she'd been in a few times before.
"They had the guns." Dean grumbled on one side of her. Chris wondered how long it'd be before they escaped this one and if they would make it before another killing.
At the collage campus, Lori had just finished getting dressed and was walking out the bathroom. She stopped in the doorway and watched Taylor shift around in her sleep. Lori smiled and climbed into bed to sleep. She never noticed the closest door that had been closed when she first walked in was now ajar.
The next morning, Lori smiled as she was greeted by the sun from her window to wake her up. It was so warm and comforting. Lori rolled over onto her side. She slowly lifted her head as she noticed something odd. Something dark red and thick was dripping, a huge puddle on the floor. Did Taylor wake up in the middle of the night and spill something? Lori raised her eyes to Taylor still in bed. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw Taylor's throat was slit. The puddle was Taylor's blood pooling under her. Lori flew up in bed, a feeling of dread as she saw the words written in blood on the wall opposite of her. "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Underneath was a weird drawing of crosses. Taylor did the only thing she could. She opened her mouth and screamed, waking up all the girls in the sorority house.
At the police station, "Damn, and I thought motel beds were bad!" Chris exclaimed as they walked down the stairs after a night in jail. Dean and Sam had been put in one cell and she shared one across from them with a girl that was in there for public intoxication. The girl had been to drunk to find a bed and passed out on the floor when they brought her in halfway through the night, waking everyone up in the process. Chris might have helped with that. The girl didn't realize the bed she was about to climb in was taken so Chris kicked her off and left her on the floor.
"Least I saved your asses!" Dean laughed loud and proud. "Talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dudes, I am Matlock." Chris rolled her eyes, a small smile playing in the corner of her lips.
"But how?" Sam asked. They had been questioned separated so neither sibling knew exactly what Dean had said to get most of the charges dropped to a simple fine instead of jail time they would have broken out of the next day.
Dean grinned cockily. "I said Sam was a dumbass pledge and that we were hazing you." Chris threw her head back and burst into laughter.
"And what'd you have to say about the guns?" Chris asked, her face flusher than normal from the happy mood and excitement they had. It was felt good to have some fun even if they knew the nightmares that hid in the dark.
Dean laughed again, lips stretched out into a wide grin. "I said that Sam was hunting ghosts and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical hell week prank."
"And he believed you?" Sam asked, disbelief clouding his voice.
Chris said, "This is a collage town. Probably isn't the first time they had dumbass punks pulling pranks on each other."
"Doesn't help when Sammy here looks like a dumbass pledge." Dean mocked the way only a bother could. Chris smirked as Sammy gave them his standard 'bitch face.' The good mood ended as multiple police cars came speeding by heading towards the collage. Chris exchanged a similar look with her brothers. Looks like they were back on the job.
At the sorority house, Lori was sullen as she sat in the backseat of an ambulance. She had a blanket she was clutching they'd given her wrapped tightly around her. She slowly looked up, seeing Sam, Dean, and Chris looking out they're open windows as they drove passed slowly. The Winchesters parked down the street and climbed out. Chris walked behind Dean but in front of Sam sneaking to the back of the house where nobody would be. Everybody else was out front trying to figure out what was happening. Sam was the one who asked the question on mind. "Why would the hook man come here? This is a long way from nine mile road."
"Well what does all these attacks have in common?" Chris asked but was drawing up a blank. Different locations, victims seem to have nothing in common. Both killed differently but by the same.
"That's what we're going to find out." Dean said. Chris stepped back into the bushes, her brothers hidden by the shadows as two sorority girls walked passed. Dean grin stretched out into an excited grin, "Think we'll see a naked pillow fight?" Dean gave Sam a boost up seeing him having already climbed half way up.
Chris rolled her eyes, "On the off chance we do, I'm shoving you through the window. I'll be sure to record what happens when twenty odd girls learn they have a peeping Tom."
"Yeah, they'll be all over me." Dean said cockily, stepping up behind her. Chris rolled her eyes as he put his hands on her waist, grunting as he lifted her up. Chris grasped the edge of the roof and Sam grabbed her by her wrist, pulling her up. Then Dean jumped high enough to grab the roof and pull himself up. The opened window they climbed through was luckily enough Lori's bedroom, at least they hoped it was with the bloody message written on the wall and blood puddles soaking into the floor.
Dean apologized as Chris grunted when he nearly fell on her climbing in. This started a three way 'be quiet' shushing argument.
"Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Sam was the one that read from the wall after being the first to turn away. "That's right out of the legend."
"Yeah, that's classic hook man al right. It's definitely a spirit." Dean said. What else could it possibly be? The only thing that came to Chris' mind would be the ghost of the original 'man with a hook for a hand.'
Chris wrinkled her nose as she delicately sniffed the air. "Hopefully I'm not he only one that smells the ozone." It was much stronger than anything she'd usually smell during a ghost haunting.
"Hey, doesn't this look familiar?" Sam asked, pointing out the drawing underneath the words. Now that he said something and brought her attention to it, Chris was sure she'd seen it somewhere before. But where? Ten minutes later, the Winchester's had shimmied back through the window and blended in with the crowd, making it undetected to the impala parked around the corner. Chris was bent over the car with Sam to her right, Dean to the right of him. She found herself looking at the same symbol on a page of research they'd stolen from the library. She knew those pages would come in handy. Sam traced over it with his finger. "Seems like it is the spirit of Jacob Karns."
Dean straightened up, "Alright, let's find the dude's grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down." Easier said than done.
"Great, it wouldn't happen to say where he was buried?" Chris squinted at the tiny print wording. It was so hard to read this old faded scraps of paper after being in an old box for years.
Sam started reading having an easier time reading the script after his years at Stanford. "After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave." Sam finished with an irritated sigh.
None of the three realized they had an identical face of annoyance. "Super." Dean muttered. Couldn't anything be easy for once?
Chris pursued her lips. "Wonderful, who knows how many unmarked graves is in that cemetery." Sure, digging up graves was her pastime as a teenager but that still didn't mean she wanted to dig up a dozen graves before finding the right one.
Sam straightened up, folding they're papers together. "At least we know it's Jacob Karns. But now we have to know where he'll manifest next. Or why."
Dean had an idea he was all to ready to share with the class. "I'll take a wild guess and say Sam's little friend Lori has something to with this." It made sense now that she thought about it, as Chris climbed into the back of the car. First her boyfriend and now her roommate, both were people close to Lori.
Later that night, Chris rolled her eyes as she entered the frat house having a collage party. "How is any of this supposed to be fun?" She scowled as she watched a girl who drunk to much stumble pass and throw up in one of those fake plant things set up against the wall.
Dean waved an arm, "You just gotta ignore all that. This collage this is pretty damn awesome!" He stopped to wink as a girl passing by. Chris rolled her eyes again, horny brothers, not exactly what she found pleasing to watch.
"Hey babe, wanna take some fun and go upstairs." A clearly drunken frat boy with a football leather man jacket grinned, waving a nearly empty beer bottle around. He looked like he was having trouble just walking from how shaky his legs looked.
Before Chris could politely tell him to 'fuck off', Dean was painfully reminded that this was a collage party and his little but adult sister was right in the middle of it. "How about you don't even think of her again." Dean growled, pissed that anyone would look at his sister in a way he really felt ill thinking about. Chris poured as Dean pulled her away. It wasn't like she would actually go. She was tired of one night stands with horrible guys she would never look twice at again. She'd had boyfriends before, and one night stands far too many times. It was just becoming an annoyance nowadays.
Sam didn't notice Chris being eye-raped as she and Dean came walking up behind him. He'd still been walking those few minutes they'd wondered away, mind firmly on the case. "It's bugging me." Sam started after sensing the familiar presence of his family walking up, that still didn't make him realize they'd been gone. "I've been thinking about why the hook man is tied up with Lori." He turned around and show them a paper from they're research he unfolded.
Chris gave up on struggling to read and just let Dean read it aloud. "1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage." Chris didn't get it.
"So is there a connection?" Chris asked. There could be all kinds of things but on the other hand, they're could be nothing at all.
"There is," Sam said, quickly going on to explain his theory. "In both cases, the suspect was a man of religion who openly preached against immortality. And then found himself wanted for killings he claimed were the work of an invisible force. Killings caries out-get this- with a sharp instrument." A sharp instrument? Well there was only one thing that fit that description in this case.
"The silver hook." Chris clarified. After all, what else could it possibly be? The dots were slowly connecting in mind.
Dean was a little slower on the update. "What's the connection to Lori?" Lori was the daughter of a reverend and all these people had a clear relation to religion and faith was Chris' train of thought.
Sam rolled his eyes but explained patiently. "A man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?" Comprehension showed up on Dean's face. Sam continued. "Except maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he's just trying to save his only daughter."
Chris scratched her head thinking, "Makes sense." She said. "Why wouldn't a religious man do anything to protect his child, even if it's killing others." Lots of fathers.
"So wait," Dean stopped them from continuing on. "You think Reverend Sorensen could be summoning the spirit." Well he was a man of religion and that seemed to be what the hook man was attracted or pulled to.
Sam shrugged, thinking of different cases he'd been apart of in the past. "Maybe it's similar to a poltergeist haunting a person instead of a place?"
Chris got this look on her face that said she remember something. "That happened to me once with one of my foster moms when I was sixteen. She wanted to protect her businessman husband from slander. So her dead grandmother started killing people that hurt him, like people who wouldn't give him a business deal or people that wrote a bad article about him." Dean's jaw tensed as it always did at the mention of any one raising her since it was like one big betrayal. Her dad did give her up instead of being a man and raising her alongside his two sons. Sam looked away, fingers twitching over the handful of papers he had.
Dean swallowed hard, once again pushing any mention of Chris' raising to the back of his mind. And so he changed the subject, "So the spirit is latching onto the reverends repressed emotion and feeds off them."
"Without the reverend ever even knowing it." Sam said, saying the thought everyone was thinking.
"Since Sammy here is already making a connection with Lori," Chris clasped a hand to his shoulder. "He should keep an eye on her."
Sam nodded with no hesitation, it was clear he had a little crush on the teenager. Oh well, at least she was legal. "What about you?"
"Maybe I'll stay her-," Chris started, glancing around. Maybe she could find someone not completely drunk and have a semi-interesting conversation.
Dean interrupted her as he pulled his eyes away from an attractive blonde, "With me." No way was he leaving his little sister at a collage party. "We'll go try and find that unmarked grave." Then he pulled her away ignoring her scowl.
It was complete silence in the ten minutes it took to find and drive to the local cemetery where the reports said they're hook man was buried. A few minutes later, they were searching for a mysterious headstone with flashlights and shovels on they're shoulders. Chris glanced over, trudging through the headstones, "So what's with the over protective act lately?"
Dean glanced over, "What act?" He played dumb.
Chris rolled her eyes, glancing over passing headstones. "You know, the act where you won't get two inches away from me after seeing a guy other than Sam look at me." It hadn't been to hard to notice, Dean wasn't exactly known for his subtly ability. It was really irritating but Chris couldn't deny some part of her felt warm, like comfort. She'd never had anyone that actually wanted to protect her, she had always done the protecting.
Dean suddenly stopped, making Chris turn back when she noticed. "I found him." Dean said, staring at one of the headstones on his row he'd been searching. Chris walked between two headstones and joined him at the one that had the same cross marking carved into the stone.
"We are still having this conversation later." Chris said, sinking her shovel into the dirt. Dean hummed, joining her. She wasn't going to forget...but maybe she'd let it go till next time he pulled the I'm The big brother and don't like guys glancing at you act.
Sometime later, Chris was crouched down next to the hole. She was now holding the flashlight, wiping the sweat from her brow from the hot night. She'd already taken off her jacket. Dean had done the same, grunting at he reached he casket. "That's it. Next time, I got to watch the cute girl's house."
Chris scoffed at the ridiculousness of this statement. "Don't know what you're talking about, you have to get in line. I'm the next one watching over our victim."
Dean scoffed similar to what she had done before, hoisting himself out of the hole. "We'll just see about that." Dean said. Chris got busy prying open they're salt canister. Once she succeeded, Chris wasted no time pouring generous amounts of salt all over the preacher's bones. Dean busied himself by pouring the lighter fluid, it mixing with the salt and dusty bones. Dean dug his matches box from his pocket and lit the end of fire with practiced ease. "Goodbye preacher," Dean said, tossing the match in. All the two could do was watch as the grave burst into flames, Chris could feel the heat nearly licking her face.
"Let's cover our tracks." Chris muttered. Dean silently agreed and they started digging the dirt back into the grave now that everything was burned, the flames already dying. It wasn't hard to see everything had been destroyed in the grave and the fire had died since it had no where else to go in the six foot hole. To make sure no one realized they're late night activities, the two siblings put the dirt back into the hole. Chris could just see the sun starting to peak out but it was still quite dark. They had been out all night, Chris yawned deeply as she realized this.
"Let's go find Sam." Dean said after they finished smoothing down the grave dirt. Chris nodded in agreement and slung her shovel over her shoulder. Since it was still early, they made it to the car unseen.
"So do you think Sam had as much luck as we did?" Chris asked after several minutes of Dean singing along to the radio. They had been driving along the street, Chris tapping along to Dean's far too aged rock music tapes. Chris casually unwrapped one of her last suckers and stuck it in her mouth.
"I think," Dean started with a cheerful but tired voice. But then his expressions changed and Chris quickly saw what drew that kind of reaction. Surrounding Lori's house was multiple police cars and even an ambulance, many people milling around trying to figure out what was going on. Chris let her jaw drop, her sucker falling into her lap.
It took surprisingly little to pry information about what was going on from a rather chatty cop they happened to corner. From his description, the man that lived here, Lori's father, was attacked. Lori and Sam got caught in the crossfire. The reverend had been injured and they were already on they're way to the hospital. Hearing this, Dean and Chris wasted no time driving to the hospital.
Chris quickly swallowed the candy she bit off from the stick before tossing it on the ground as they arrived at the hospital. The hospital floor the lady at the desk told them the reverend was staying on had nothing but police protection. A police officer stopped them calmly explaining this floor was closed to the public. "No, we're just looking for someone." Chris said quickly, trying to peer over his shoulder. Sam was standing at the other end of the hallway talking to another officer.
Dean saw him as well and said, "No, it's aright. I'm with him. He's our brother." Dean got louder, raising a hand to get Sam's attention, "Hey, brother!"
Chris unnecessarily put her fingers in her mouth to whistle sharply. "We're over here, little bro!"
"Let him through." The officer Sam was talking to called, waving them through. Dean thanked him and Chris nodded as they passed the officer.
"You ok?" Was the first thing Dean asked when Sam met them halfway. Chris looked him up and down worriedly but he seemed alright, no noticeable injuries and walking tall.
Chris only relaxed slightly as Sam nodded. "So if you're alright, then what happened? Why is the reverend in the hospital?" Chris demanded, pushing her bangs out of her eyes.
"Hook Man," Sam said, wearing a bitch face usually reserved for Chris or Dean.
Dean and Chris shared a startled look. That couldn't be, they'd torched everything. "You saw him?" Dean asked.
"Damn right." Sam said. "Why didn't you torch the bones?" Of course he would think they didn't since the spirit of the hook man was still hanging around.
Chris huffed, "Of course we did! I don't have dirt stains for nothing." She indication to the brown spots of dirt still clinging to the knees of her jeans. "Maybe it's not the spirit of Jacob Karns after all?" She suggested.
Sam shook his head, "It sure as hell looked like him." And all Chris could do was take his word. After all, he was the only one that had actually seen the spirit. "And that's not all, I don't think the spirit is latching onto the reverend."
"Well yeah," Dean said like it was obvious. Which it was to them, an outsider would be clueless or think them nuts. "The guy wouldn't send the hook man after himself." He had a point.
Chris crossed her arms over her chest. "So if it's not the reverend, then what is attaching this spirit?" It could be anything, the hard part was narrowing it down.
"I think it's latching onto Lori." Sam admitted, waving his arms a little as he spoke. Chris' eyes widened only a smidge. Well that did make sense. Sam continued on with his explanation. "Last night, she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman." Chris winched, no wonder she was so mad. Norma teenagers would normally be upset about that.
Dean didn't seem to see a problem with this. "So what?" Was his big bright question.
"Idiot." Chris said. She slapped his shoulder a little harder than necessary. Dean gave her a scowling wounded look, rolling his shoulder in response.
"So she's upset about it." Sam said in a tone that said it was obvious. "She's upset about the immorality of it." What else do you expect from a reverends daughter? "She told me she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished." Chris shook her head.
"Ok so she's conflicted." Dean said. "And the spirit of preacher karms is latching onto repress the emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her, huh?" He suggested.
Chris arched her neck and scratched lightly at her chin in thought. "Alright, let's think. What did everyone do to Lori that would make an angry spirit attack them."
"I already thought about it." Sam said, waving his arms a little as he spoke with his hands. "Rich comes on to strong. Taylor tried to make her into a party girl. Dad had an affair." Chris let out a low whistle. Yeah, for a preacher's daughter who was raised to be proper and live by the bible type of girl, those were big offenses. Of course, it was nothing new to her seeing all kinds of different people and pressure but for someone like Lori, she probably hadn't been prepared to deal with such things she probably never even considered. Even though it wasn't even a fraction of anything by Chris. Guy came on to strong with her? She'd punch him. Trying to force her into those skimpy little clothes she'd seen in Taylor's half of the closet? She'd probably rip them in half. Her dad had an affair...well what did she care? Not like the man was ever there for her in the first place.
Dean shook his head, "Remind me not to piss this girl off. But we burned those bones. I watched Chris bury it in salt, why didn't that stop him?" That should have worked against a vengeful spirit, it was usually the bones connecting the spirit to life.
Sam bit his lip and suggested they'd missed something. Chris scoffed, "That's not even possible. I made sure everything was gone before we put the dirt back." She wasn't bout to have anyone pretty much say her skills her knowledge was amateur. As if she would leave anything left in a grave.
"Did you get the hook?" Sam asked, glancing between the two of them.
Chris and Dean shared a similar frozen expression look on they're faces. The hook...Chris didn't remember seeing a hook? Wouldn't it be hook not to see a silver hook in a coffin filed with nothing more than dust, bones, and worn clothing. "...The hook?" Dean repeated. He didn't seem to remember having seen the hook either.
"There was...supposed to be a hook?" Chris asked cautiously. The hook wasn't exactly his body but he had used it as a hand, it wouldn't be the first time a spirit was connected to an object instead of they're bones. But that was usually because they'd already been cremated.
Sam look up towards he ceiling for a second in exasperation and explained. "It was the murder weapon and in a way, it was a part of him." Like always, Sam was thinking outside the box. Chris hadn't considered the hook.
Dean continued on, "So like the bones, the hook is a source of his power."
Chris was really craving a candy but she ignored it, feeling the rush of satisfaction at finally realizing what they had to do. It was like finally solving the hardest puzzle you could think of. Frustrating but having excitement at the realization. "The only way to stop the hook man," Chris raised an eyebrow with a small smirk appearing on her lips.
"Is to find the hook," All three said, sharing an identical smile. Easier said then done, now to find out what happened to the hook after it was taken into police custody. There was more research to do.
They were quick to leave the hospital. Chris was relieved by that, it always made her feel like she was gonna get sick or catch something. She went to the hospital for a checkup when she was three. She was fine when she got there but ended up getting sick in bed for a week because some kid kept coughing on her. That kind of thing...it could be traumatizing for an active kid whose never sick. Chris found herself sitting at the library feeling angry at the dust covered smeared ink aged papers. Dean and Sam sat across from her doing the same. Just like last time, the boys had all the luck. "Here's something I think." Dean read the paper, squinting. Chris pushed her papers away, relieved to give her eyes some rest. "Log book, Iowa state penitentiary. Karns, Jacob. Persona affects: disposition thereof."
Sam asked the important need to know now question. "Does it mention the hook?"
"Yeah, maybe." Was Dean's answer before he read further down the page. "Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner's house of worship. St. Barnabas Church." Chris could see how a church would want a blood stained silver hook hanging around.
"Wait a minute," Chris suddenly straightened up. The connection finally hit when she remembered. "Doesn't Lori's dad preach at that church." It was the biggest church in this large collage town actually. Dean nodded at her.
"And Lori lives there." Sam said eyes widening a fraction.
Chris chewed on her thumbnail for a fraction of a second. "So it's been hunting reverends and they're daughters for what, two hundred years?" God help them from people who thought they were doing God's work. Just because you were killing sinners didn't mean you weren't a sinner yourself. After all, murdering itself was a sin.
"Yeah," Sam said, snapping Chris from her thoughts. "But if the hook was at the church or Lori's house, don't you think someone might've seen it? I mean, a bloodstained, silver handed hook?" He had a point, Chris thought. Something like that wouldn't exactly go unnoticeable.
"Check out the church records." Dean flipped the book around. Chris and Sam leaned over the table to read what happened to the 'blood stained silver hook'.
Chris leaned back in her seat as Sam started to read. "At. Barnabas donations, eighteen sixty two. Relieved silver hook from state penitentiary. Reforged." Chris groaned, letting her head drop back. Nothing was ever easy, was it? "They melted it down, made it into something else." Sam sighed equally annoyed.