Hello! I've managed to get the next chapter finished for you guys! Since there are few of you who are officially following along, I'd like to give a proper welcome and say thank you! It's only the beginning so we're going to be stuck together for a while yet! As always, I claim no rights over anything Supernatural. As always, I hope you like it! Enjoy! -Xoxo NickyLynn
Ariella was drenched, freezing, covered in a thick layer of mud, smelt like she had crawled out of a sewer, and was irritated beyond belief. Her and Dean had jumped into the river and had come out looking like they had taken a tango with the swamp thing, while Sam had managed to grab hold of part of the bridge as he jumped, saving him from the same fate. They had trudged back ashore like two angry kittens thrown into a tub, Sam trying and failing not to laugh at the sight of them.
In desperate need of a shower, they had driven back into Jericho to get a room to get cleaned up in. The sun had crested over the horizon by the time they pulled up to the small motel. They walked into the front office, leaving muddy tracks along the carpet as they did, garnering a bewildered look from the old man standing behind the desk.
"One room, please." Dean said, throwing one of his credit cards down on top of the attendant's logbook.
"Make that two rooms." Ariella said as she came to a stop in front of the desk as well. "Please."
"What in heavens happened to the two of you?" the man asked, eyes shifting between Dean and Ariella in confusion. "You look like you've been pulled from the creek."
Ariella gave him a tight smile, knowing she had to look awful given her current state. "Believe me you don't want to know." She said, rubbing at her temples and the headache brewing beneath.
The man just shook his head before picking up the credit card Dean had tossed between them. "Sorry Mr….Aframian…" he said, reading the name off the fake card. "But we're all booked up. Got no availability."
"You're kidding." Ariella said, letting out an audible groan.
"Aframian." He said again, eyebrows dipping together in thought. "You guys having a reunion or something?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked in confusion.
"That other guy, Bert Aframian, came in and bought out a room for the whole month." He explained. "Sorry I can't help you out though. There's another motel off Route 6 you could try." He offered, holding the card back out to Dean.
"Right. Thanks." Dean said as he took it. "What room was Bert in again?"
"Oh, let me see here." He said, dropping his eyes down to the book before him. "Looks like he's in room ten." He told them.
Knowing it was likely John who booked the room, they made their way towards room ten. Once they found it, Ariella threw her fist up against the door a couple of times to make sure no one was inside. When no one answered, she turned to Sam and Dean with a quirked brow.
"Well, if we had something to pick the lock we could-" Sam began before Ariella stuck her hand into the front pocket of her jeans, digging out two small metal pins before holding them out towards him. "That works." He said as he took them from her, surprise coloring his face.
"You accidently get stuck in handcuffs one time and you learn to keep those handy." She told him, lifting one of her shoulders in a shrug.
"And how exactly did you manage get stuck in handcuffs?" Dean asked as Sam dropped down to a squat in front of the door. Ariella rolled her head to the side with a quired brow as Sam began picking the lock, the look she gave Dean being all the answer he needed. "You know what, I don't think I want to know." He then said, turning away from her as he wiped a hand down his face, trying to physically scrub away the image now filling his mind.
"You asked." Ariella told him with a grin as Sam managed to manipulate the door enough to unlock it. He stood back up as he pushed it open, he and Ariella then stepping inside. Seeing Dean still lingering in the doorway, preoccupied with trying to rid himself of unwanted thoughts, Ariella grabbed hold of him and pulled him into the room as well.
The room was dark and filled with stagnant air as they entered, and by the sheer amount of newspaper articles and other items posted along the walls, they knew it had to have been where John was staying. Dean yanked himself free of Ariella's grasp as he walked further into the room, switching on a lamp to brighten up the dark space. "I don't think he's been here for a couple days at least." he said after sniffing a questionable half-eater burger sitting under the lamp, nose crinkling in disgust as he did.
"Looks like he was tying to keep something out." Ariella commented as she caught sight of a thick line of salt blocking off the doorway as she moved deeper into the room, careful not to break the circle as she stepped over it. She then moved towards the far side of the room as Dean moved towards the wall decorated with all the Centennial Highway victims, curious to see what John had dug up during his own investigation.
"I don't get it." Dean said as he studied the images. "I mean, different men, different jobs…age…ethnicity. There's always a connection. What do these guys have in common?"
Ariella studied the papers taped up all around her as well, trying to decipher John's trail of thoughts as her eyes flicked over the madness. When she caught sight of an image of a woman dressed in all white taped up above the article on Constance's suicide, she felt the light go off in her head. "Infidelity." She said as she moved towards it, turning her head to look at Sam and Dean as she motioned towards what she found. "John figured it out."
"What?" Dean asked as he and Sam moved towards her.
"She's a woman in white." She explained, mentally kicking herself for not thinking of it earlier. "That's the connection between all the men…they were unfaithful."
"You sly dogs." Dean said with a shake of his head as his gaze flicked around the room. "So, if we're dealing with a woman in white then Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it." He reasoned.
"She might have another weakness." Sam supplied.
"No. Dad would have made sure. He would have dug her up. Anyone see anything on where's she's buried?" Dean asked, knowing that would have been John's next step.
"No, but if I were Dad, I would have started by having a talk with her husband." Sam said, motioning to the image of Constance's husband. "I'll go do some digging around and see if I can find an address on him while you two get cleaned up." He supplied before stepping away as he moved back towards the door.
"Marvelous." Ariella said as he left, shutting the door behind him. "I call dibs on the shower first." She then said, wincing as she began peeling the mud-covered jacket off herself. She tossed it onto the floor before dropping herself onto the edge of the bed as she began prying off her boots as well.
"Whoa." She heard Dean say as she managed to pry off the second boot. "Ari, you're bleeding." He said, voice dipping in concern.
"What?" she asked, turning her head to find him walking towards her. His eyes were focused on her back, and as she dropped her eyes over her shoulder she understood why. Slamming into the river must have reopened some of her wounds, for the back of her shirt was saturated in blood. "Shit." She groaned.
"Hey, that look's pretty bad, let me see." He said, motioning for her to stand.
"I'm fine." Ariella said with a shake of her head as she stood back up, having been hoping to keep him from knowing about her latest hunting mishap.
"Like hell you are. Now, let me see!" Dean pressed, moving to block her path toward the bathroom.
"I'm fine, Dean." Ariella maintained with a huff of annoyance. "It's just an old injury that tore open from the fall."
"Old injury?" Dean asked, eyebrows dipping together as she tried brushing past him. "You're hurt? Hey, just wait a minute!" he said as she moved towards the bathroom, reaching out to latch onto her arm and pull her to a stop. "Let me see." He said again, voice dropping as he leveled her with a serious look.
"Why do you even care?" she bit out as she pulled her arm free from his grasp.
"Because that ain't no little scratch, Ari!" He told her, concern quickly morphing into frustration. "Now, stop being so difficult and let me see it!"
Ariella let out a scoff before grabbing hold of the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head. She quickly peeled the blood-soaked shirt away from her body, leaving her in nothing but her bra as she spun around to display her back for him to see. "Happy?" she bit out unhappily. The look on his face as she turned back around, however, was impossible for her to decipher.
"What happened?" he asked lowly.
"I was on a case with a werewolf and made a stupid mistake." She told him angrily, having to fight back tears that were suddenly threatening to fall.
"You were hunting a werewolf alone?" he asked, anger now flashing across his face as well. "Are you insane?! You should know better Ari! You don't go after something like that on your own! It's suicide!" he fumed, reprimanding her like a disobedient child. "You should have called-"
"WHO!?" Ariella yelled in defense, cutting him off as angry tears began slipping out of her eyes despite how hard she was trying to keep them held back. "You?" she asked, thrusting a hand towards him. "Because let's be real honest here, if I had called would you have even picked up?"
The silence that filled the room then as Ariella studied Dean's face was nearly deafening. His jaw twitched as they stared each other down, but they both knew the answer to that question without him having to say a word. "Exactly." She scoffed with a disappointed shake of her head. "Stop acting like you care, Dean." She told him before turning on her feet and storming toward the bathroom. "We both know you don't." she said before slamming the door behind her.
She showered as quickly as she could, ensuring that her back was flushed out well enough, finding that it was already done bleeding, before redressing and emerging from the bathroom twenty minutes later. Sam had returned at some point while she was in the shower, for she came out to find him reclined on the bed, shuffling through some papers. "Got an address." He said once she stepped out of the bathroom, not bothering to look up from his papers as she moved back through the room.
"Cool." She said, doing her best to avoid looking at Dean while she slipped back into her still-wet boots. "I'm going to go grab something to eat before we head out." She said, using the excuse as a chance to get away from Dean and Sam for a moment.
Ariella was struggling. Struggling under the weight of all the emotions being dredged up from being thrust together with the Winchesters again. It reminded her of all the things she once had…and the pain she had gone through losing it all. The truth was, she missed it…she missed being a family...she missed Dean. She missed it so much it hurt. But those were all things she couldn't deal with. So, instead of letting the hole in her chest consume her, she instead filled it with a feeling she could handle…anger. Afterall, hating Dean was so much easier than missing him.
She ended up walking across the street to a gas station, spending the time alone mentally rebuilding the walls she kept everything hidden behind. She ended up getting a pre-made turkey sub and large cup of coffee, knowing they wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon, before heading back towards the motel. As she was walking back through the parking lot, however, she caught sight of something that made her halt in her tracks. A group of cops were crowded around the room they had taken over, pressing Dean into the hood of a police car as they cuffed him.
"Shit." She breathed out, quickly ducking behind a truck as she pulled out her phone. She entered Sam's number into the dial pad before bringing the speaker up to her ear as she watched the cops push Dean towards the backseat.
After the third ring Sam picked up. "Yeah?" he asked, the calmness he answered with indicating that he had no idea what was going on.
"Dean's getting arrested." She told him in a rush, knowing they would be coming for Sam next. "Get out."
"What?" he asked, sounding as if he was now moving about the room.
"They're right out front. There's a window in the bathroom big enough to sneak out of. I'll meet you back there." She said before snapping the phone shut.
While the cops were busy dealing with Dean, she quickly made her way across the parking lot, heading towards the back half of the motel. She moved quickly but kept the pace slow enough not to draw too much attention on herself. Once she was sure she was out of their line of sight, she took off in a run towards the window she knew Sam would be emerging from. Sure enough, hanging halfway out of the window as she turned the corner, was Sam, frantically trying to pull himself through the slim opening.
"I was gone for five minutes!" she complained as she rushed up to him, quickly latching onto his upper arms to help pull him through.
"Don't blame me!" Sam said in response as Ariella helped take his weight while he got his legs under him. Once he had his feet back on the ground she pulled away with a heavy sigh. "Now what?" he asked with his own sigh.
"Divide and conquer?" she offered with a shrug. "You go talk with Constance's husband and figure out where she's buried while I work on rescuing out damsel in distress." she said, jutting her thumb in the direction Dean was being hauled away.
"What are you going to do?" he asked, knowing it would be complicated at best to break Dean out of custody.
"Well, lucky for him, I have a history of escaping the police." She said in response. In fact, the first day she had met John, he had broken her out of police custody. She subsequently spent the majority of her life wanted and on the run, so she was proficient in avoiding and outsmarting them to say the least. "You just track down where our woman in white is buried and give me a call when you figure it out."
The two of them split up then, Ariella silently cursing Dean for having to go and make things so complicated. She waited for the cops to clear out the motel room before trailing after them as they brought Dean back to the station. Luckily for her, it was a small town, which meant a small police force, and even smaller station. There were limited options when it came to holding rooms, so she figured it wouldn't be terribly hard to get in and find him.
Once she had a decent plan formulated, she walked right into the front doors, heading straight for the front counter where a rather portly officer was sitting. "Can I help you miss?" he asked as she stepped up to him.
"Yeah, I need to file a report." She told him with wide eyes, trying to look innocent and scared. "I..um…my purse was stolen out of my car last night."
"Right. Just have a seat right there and I'll have one of the officers take a statement in a minute." He told her, motioning for her to take a seat along the wall while she waited. She obediently took a seat and waited the few minutes until another officer came out to greet her.
"Hi there. I'm Officer Goodman. I hear you need to file a report for a stolen purse?" he asked as she stood back up, giving him a nod. "Alright, why don't you follow me back and I'll get you taken care of." He said, waving for her to follow as he moved back through the door he had come through.
Ariella followed him deeper into the station, eyes sweeping around in attempt to find where they were keeping Dean. She took note of a few shut doors she thought he might be hiding behind, before being guided to a desk where the officer she had been following sat down at. "Have a seat." He said, motioning for the chair opposite him.
Just as she went to sit, however, an officer pulled open one of the doors she had been eyeing up, and she caught sight of the back of Dean's head briefly before the door shut once more. "Actually-" she said, eyes snapping back down on the man tasked with taking her fictitious report. "Is there a bathroom I can use first?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, of course." He said, pointing down a hall to Ariella's right, a hall that just so happened to be sitting right next to the room Dean was being held in. "It's right down there. First door on your left."
"Thanks." She told him before heading in the direction he pointed out. Once she was in the bathroom, she made sure the door was locked before pulling out her phone. She made a 911 call then, telling the operator on the other end of the line that there was a man on the far end of town wielding a gun and firing at passing cars and houses. She ended the call before the operator could get any details from her, making sure to wait a couple minutes before cautiously poking her head out. Sure enough, the entire police force seemed to be pushed into a frenzy with the 911 call. There were officers rushing about, and when she was sure they were all distracted enough not to pay her any mind, she crept back down the hall. She kept an eye on the door to the interrogation room then, waiting for her chance.
When the door opened again, the sheriff emerging alongside another officer, both of whom looked just as panicked as everyone else, she slipped in behind them as quickly and silently as she could. She leaned against the door as it latched shut, letting out a relived sigh. Her eyes fell on Dean then, handcuffed to the table he had been placed at, and when his eyes landed on Ariella, they blew wide with surprise.
"Ari?" he asked as she moved towards him. "What are you doing here?"
"What's it look like I'm doing here?" she asked, digging into her pocket for her lock-picking tools.
"Let me guess, you made the 911 call." He guessed as she reached for his cuffed hands.
"And they won't be distracted long, so let's just try to hurry this along as quickly as we can, please." She told him before beginning the task of manually picking the lock. "Not so upset with my experience with getting stuck in handcuffs now, are you?" she tossed at him with a smirk as the mechanisms came undone.
Dean just rolled his eyes as he pulled his wrists free, reaching out to grab a thick leather journal off the table in front of him before standing. He moved towards the far side of the room where a window big enough to escape through was, grabbing hold of a filing cabinet to use for a boost up. "Give me a hand pushing this cabinet over." He said, straining against the heavy weight of it.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I heard a thank you in there." Ariella said with a huff as she repocketed the metal pins. "I could have just left you here, ya know."
"Thank you." Dean said with a roll of his eyes, not sounding at all sincere about it. "Now help me so we can get out of here before they come back."
"I mean, as far as gratitude goes, that was pretty lame, but okay." She said under her breath, moving towards the cabinet to help none-the-less.
"Where's Sammy?" Dean asked as they both pushed against the heavy container, sliding it over a few feet until it sat underneath the window.
"Working the case." she answered as she climbed up onto the filing cabinet, reaching up to slide the window open.
"Well, we've got to find him. Dad's not in Jericho." He said as Ariella began pulling herself through the frame. She paused in her movements with that revelation.
"What do you mean he's not in Jericho?" she asked, turning around to look down at him in confusion. "How do you know?"
"He left me a message." He told her, lifting up the journal she only now realized must have been John's. "He left me a coded message with coordinates."
Ariella rolled her eyes as she turned her focus back on climbing through the window. "What? He couldn't have called and said that?" she asked in a strained voice as she slipped out the window, carefully dropping herself out the other side. Her head swiveled around once her feet hit the cement, making sure no one was around as Dean pulled himself through as well. Luckily, they ended up coming out in an alley behind the building and could easily slip away unnoticed. "Why would he ditch town mid-case?" she then asked as Dean landed on the ground next to her. "And leave all his stuff? Something's off about all of this. It doesn't make sense."
"Which is why we need to find Sammy and figure it out." Dean said with a nod.
Ariella let out a sigh as she pulled out her phone, punching in Sam's number. It rang a few times before he answered. "You get him out?" he asked.
"Yeah, but listen we've got to talk." She told him, having to swat away Dean's hand as he tried reaching for the phone. "Where are you?"
"Heading towards Breckenridge Road. So, listen, the husband was unfaithful." He told her. "We are dealing with a woman in white. She's buried behind her old house, but I can't figure out why Dad hasn't destroyed the corpse yet if he knew all this."
"I don't know either but John's not here anymore. He left." She told him.
"What?" Sam asked, sounding just as confused as Ariella had been. "How do you know?"
Ariella's mouth fell open again, but Dean grabbed hold of her phone before she had a chance to answer. "Hey!" she complained as he pulled the phone up to his own ear, Ariella trying to snatch it back from him.
"I've got his journal." Dean told Sam as he held Ariella back, having been able to hear the whole conversation.
"He doesn't go anywhere without that." Ariella heard Sam answer as Dean commandeered the conversation.
"Well, he did this time." Dean said as Ariella gave up her attempts at retrieving her phone, letting out a huff of air as she pulled away in defeat.
"What's it say?" Sam asked.
"Same old ex-marine crap when he wants to tell us where he's going." Dean told him.
"Coordinates? To where?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure yet." Dean answered with a sigh, just as lost and confused and both Ariella and Sam.
"Dean, what the hell is going on?" Sam questioned before Ariella heard him let out a loud yell. She watched as Dean's face morphed into worry, her own quickly following suit.
"Sam? Sam!" Dean yelled out in concern before he pulled the phone away from his ear, looking down at the screen with furrowed brows. "The call dropped." He told Ariella as his eyes snapped back up to hers, fear flashing behind them. "It's got to be Constance. We've got to get out to that house!"
Fear for Sam coursed through Ariella then before her eyes landed on the rows of cars parked behind Dean. "Right, well, I have a really stupid idea, but it's the only one I've got, so come on." She said before taking off in a run towards the empty police cruisers.
"You want to steal a cruiser?" Dean asked as they rushed up to the one on the end, Ariella making sure no one was around before pulling open the driver door.
"You got any better ideas?" she asked as she slid inside, quickly reaching down and ripping out the cables from under the dashboard. Dean ducked into the car as well, knowing they needed to get to Sam, and within a matter of seconds they were tearing out of the parking lot.
Breckenridge Road was only a few miles away, but no matter how much she pressed down on the gas pedal, Ariella felt like it took far too long to get there. She knew the damage a possessed spirit could wreck and worry for Sam sent her heart hammering away within her chest. "Faster, Ari!" Dean nearly yelled as they turned onto Breckenridge, the tires throwing dirt and stone as they drifted around the corner.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Ariella yelled back at him, willing the tires to move faster as she pressed the gas down to the floor.
By the time they made it to the old, abandoned house, Ariella had topped nearly 130 mph. As she steered them into the long driveway, the Impala came into sight, parked just in front of the house. They came to a screeching halt next to the car, Dean throwing open the door and jumping out even before Ariella brought them to a complete stop. She was out of the car right after him, not bothering to stop the engine. She could hear the sound of Sam's pained screams coming from the Impala before she jumped in surprise as Dean began firing bullets into the driver's side window. The screaming stopped and Ariella rushed for the door, but before she could pull it open and get to Sam the engine rolled over and the car took off straight towards the house.
"SAM!" she yelled as she watched him speed forward, not bothering to slow even a little as he drove right into the front of the house, wood, siding, and everything else exploding inward as he crashed into it. The car crashed through the wall and disappeared inside, leaving Ariella and Dean to run after in worry. They jumped over the broken pieces of housing as they ran through the now gapping hole, Ariella making it to the car first. There were beams and all sorts of debris laying across the majority of it, completely blocking the driver's door, so Ariella rushed up to the passenger side. "You okay?" she yelled, pushing a heavy beam out of her way before leaning in though the window to check on him.
"Yeah. I-I think so." He responded, sounding out of breath and looking a little scratched up, but otherwise okay. "Help me out." He said, reaching out towards her.
Ariella reached in and grabbed hold of his extended hand, helping pull him free from the wreckage with a groan. Once she managed to get him all the way out, Dean was on him in an instant checking for injuries. Ariella pulled away but froze when she caught sight of Constance not even five feet away from them. She was holding a large, framed photograph of her and her children, looking downright furious. She threw down the frame and in the next moment a large desk came flying at the three of them from across the room.
"Oh crap." Ariella breathed out in fear before the heavy wood slammed into her, sending her crashing back against Dean behind her and driving the air from her lungs. Constance forced the desk back, sending the three of them crashing against the Impala, effectively holding them against it. Ariella had managed to get trapped between Dean and the desk, the wooden edge of it digging into her hips painfully.
"Get off!" Dean ground out, the two of them being crushed together so tightly it was difficult for either of them to draw in a single breath.
"I'm trying!" Ariella yelled back at him, but no matter how hard she pushed against the desk, it refused to budge.
"Well, try harder!" Dean said, reaching around her body to try pushing against the wood as well, but it remained immovable.
The lights of the house began to flicker then, and Ariella stopped her attempts at escape as she felt a wave of cool air creep up her spine despite how close Dean was pressed up against her. Her eyes snapped up to the stairs then, watching as water began cascading down them. Constance noticed the water too, and as she moved to the bottom landing of the steps Ariella swore she saw a flicker of fear pass over her pale face.
"You've come home to us, Mommy." Two small voices called out from the top of the stairs, and though Ariella could not see them from where she was trapped, she knew it had to have been her children. They appeared behind Constance then, a young boy and girl looking drenched to the bone, and in a flash they were on her.
Constance let out a scream as they latched onto her, her face flashing into distorted images of decay as they attacked. She continued to scream as they drained the power from her, the entire house shaking as bright flashes of light filled the room. Within seconds it was over, the three spirits disappearing in a puddle of water as Constance's screams died out.
The force pressing the desk into Ariella, Sam, and Dean vanished as the spirits did, and Ariella pushed it away with a shove as a relived sigh escaped her. "Oh, thank god." She breathed out as she stepped away from Dean, able to fill her lungs properly now. "Is it over?" she asked, eyeing the puddle left on the ground warily.
"This is where she drowned her kids." Dean said as he and Sam stepped closer to it.
"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them." Sam said, the adrenaline still lingering in his system leaving him breathing heavily.
"You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy." Dean complimented, bringing a hand down on his chest as he turned.
"Wish I could say the same for you." Sam said as Dean walked back towards the car, rubbing at his tender chest. "What were you thinking? Shooting Casper in the face…you freak."
"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Sam on this one. That was dumb." Ariella interjected, still trying to get her heart rate back down to a normal level. "You could have hit Sam." She admonished.
"But I didn't." Dean said in defense, pointing at her before swinging his finger towards Sam. "And I managed to save your ass."
Ariella let out a long breath as she turned towards the Impala and began pulling the reminder of debris from it. "Alright, the wicked bitch of the west is dead. Can we please get out of here before the police mange to figure out we stole one of their cruisers and sends the entire force down on us?"
"You stole what?" Sam said, eyebrows shooting into his hairline as his head whipped around towards the massive hole in the side of the house, catching sight of the stolen vehicle for the first time.
"Yeah, the sheriff is going to have a raging hard-on for us, so can we get out of here, please?" Ariella pressed, pulling off one of the largest beams from the hood. As she shifted the wood, several other pieces that had been resting on top of it shifted, sending small pieces raining down onto the car with small bangs.
"Hey!" Dean yelled out. "If you screw up that paint job I'm going to kill you." He threatened.
Ariella rolled her eyes as she tossed the lumber down onto the ground next to her. "Sam's the one who drove it into the side of a house!" she defended with a huff, holding a hand in Sam's direction.
"Yeah, and I'll kill the both of you!" Dean said, carefully removing a few of the pieces of wood as well. "It's okay, Baby." He cooed to the car then, trying to buff out one of the scratches with his sleeve.
"God, you're such a freak." Ariella commented as she watched Dean treat his car like an injured child.
"Bitch." Dean tossed back as he continued to buff out of the paint.
Ariella gave yet another roll of her eyes as she continued digging the Impala free. "Ass."