A/N: Sorry for the lateness guys! Coursework is a nightmare right now. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER!
Chapter 2: The Hell House
Mia held the pistol with shaking hands as Sam instructed her on how to properly handle the foreign object.
"Just relax your right hand," he explained, gently laying his hand on top of hers to steady it.
"It's okay, the safety is on. We're just going to practice aiming and positioning for now."
"That's all you're going to end up doing anyway," Dean called bitterly. He leaned against the door of the Impala, which was parked a few yards back from the makeshift shooting range Sam manufactured.
After driving most of the night, they stopped to catch some sleep by an abandoned farm off the highway and that morning Sam decided to teach Mia to shoot.
The elder Winchester's arms were crossed over his chest and eyes narrowed at his brother and the new girl. He was still livid with Sam for agreeing to let Mia join them. Hunting was their family business, not for some amateur, fresh-out-of high-school girl, who had never held a gun before yesterday.
Sam flashed his brother an annoyed look and resumed helping Mia.
"I think you've got the basics down. Just remember to hold the bottom firmly so you don't get surprised by the recoil."
The young woman nodded in understanding. She was eager to please Sam, to prove that she was good hunter material and he'd made a good choice by letting her join him and his brother.
Her heart pounded in fear as Sam leaned forwards to take the safety off the gun and instruct her how to pull the trigger.
"Hold the gun now, and position your index finger over the trigger, but don't pull it yet," Sam said, ensuring she did as told.
Dean rolled his eyes and called, "Sam she's gonna blow herself up."
Sam ignored his brother's complaint and gave the girl an encouraging smile.
"You can do this. Just relax a little, go to a happy place," He suggested, in an attempt to get Mia to ease her iron grip on the pistol.
Dean snorted loudly at his brother's instructions.
"Shoot whenever you're ready," Sam told the girl before giving Dean a dirty look.
Determined to remain visibly unaffected by Dean, Mia took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused. When she opened her eyes they were trained on her target and nothing else. She held her breath, making sure her aim was trained on the silver can.
"Any day now," Dean sighed loudly.
Mia channeled all of her fury to the point where she wanted the bullet to embed itself and pulled the trigger.
The shot echoed, deafening her for a moment. When her hearing returned it was greeted by the sound of Dean's mocking laughter.
"Great shot, Annie Oakley," He chuckled with a smirk forming on his lips.
Confused, Mia turned to see that instead of the beer can, her bullet had whizzed past it.
Embarrassed she turned to Sam to find him smiling patiently at her.
"Ignore Dean, he thinks he's the best shot in the world. Don't worry about it. Next time, focus more on where the barrel of the gun is pointing and make sure it's matched with where you're looking."
She smiled, appreciative of how gracious Sam was about her missed shot.
Recalling what he had said, she trained her eye and the gun to match the same point and bent back the trigger.
Another deafening shot rang out, but this time Sam was the one making noise because she hit the beer can right on the mark.
"WOO HOO! I did it!" She cried, jumping up and down happily.
Dean, who had been silent up until that point, muttered; "Decent."
"Decent? Dean, she hit the bull's eye on her second attempt," Sam countered in disbelief at his brother's poor sportsmanship.
"It was just a pistol, Sam!" Dean replied still staring at Mia who gazed at him in surprise.
"Good point," Sam said with a calculating look. He then walked over to the Impala and pulled out one of their larger guns. He cocked the gun and walked over to hand it to the wide-eyed brunette.
Sam showed her how to hold this gun and how to stand while Dean watched with a slight interest.
"Fire when you're ready," Sam said and stepped back to give the girl room to shoot.
She took a deep breath and concentrated on her target, just as she was about to pull the trigger Dean spoke up.
"Sam, she can't use that gun. The kickback is going to knock her right over. She needs to stick to guns her own size."
Mia, who had been doing a good job masking her irritation with Dean, lost her patience.
The girl spun around, gun in hand. "What is your problem?!"
"Geez! Watch where you put that thing!" Dean exclaimed moving out of her range.
Sam, who had been trying to stifle his laughter, grinned. "Watch your trigger finger, Mia"
Mia turned back to her tin cans and shot them. She managed to hit the three remaining cans within five shots, having missed two by aiming too high.
When she finished, she whirled around, expecting another snarky remark from Dean but was greeted with silence.
"Okay, I admit it. You're not terrible with a gun," Dean mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with the pleased nineteen-year-old.
"Wow, a compliment, that wasn't so bad was it?" She chided with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah, don't push your luck," Dean snapped, now glaring at her.
Mia glared back at him with a satisfied smirk still on her lips.
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."
With a quick exchange of dirty looks the two resumed clearing the empty field and loading the guns into the trunk.
The three of them climbed into the car and drove off together.
Mia took the backseat and splayed out to catch some more sleep. Four hours a night did not suit her. After some time Sam fell asleep too leaving Dean to amuse himself.
Mia awoke sometime later to Sam and Dean's bickering about some childhood pranking contest.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up in time to overhear Sam discussing their new case.
"About a month or two ago, these young kids decided to go poking around some local haunted house."
"Haunted by what?" Dean interrupted.
"A pretty misogynistic spirit," Sam continued as he read off his paper, "legend says it takes girls and strings them up in the rafters."
Dean snuck a glance back at Mia to see her visibly freaked out then chuckled to himself.
"Anyways, these kids saw a dead girl hanging in the cellar."
"Anybody ID the corpse?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head, "When the cops got there, the body was gone so they just think the teenagers were pulling a prank."
"Maybe they're right," Dean replied.
Sam said, "Maybe, but I don't know man, I've read a couple of the kids' accounts of it and it seems pretty real."
Mia leaned forwards to hear them better.
"Where did you read all of that?" the older Winchester questioned.
Sam cleared his throat before saying softly, "Hellhoundz lair dot com."
Dean chastised his brother, telling him most of the people running them didn't know anything about ghosts but Sam remained confident.
"It's worth looking into. I mean, we need a new case to keep us busy and to train Mia," He said, peeking back at Mia who smiled and nodded appreciatively.
"Besides, with Dad gone, we need all the distraction we-"
"Alright, then where do we find these kids?" Dean interrupted loudly as if to block out the recollection of their last meeting with their father.
Mia finally spoke up; "Same place you always find kids in small towns like these..."
They arrived at the drive-in after a half hour, but Mia was already restless to start. To satiate her, Sam gave her their dad's journal so she could read up on monster lore. Dean was extremely irritated by this but chose not to comment on it.
After interviewing the teenagers, only two facts became apparent.
One; they had no shared memory of the particular details of the event.
Two: Craig took them there.
The three of them then headed out to where Craig worked; a small record store and posed as journalists to get him to talk.
"Oh cool, I'm a writer myself. I write for my school's Lit magazine," He told them with a self-satisfied smile on his lips.
"Good for you, Morrison," Dean replied with a hint of sarcasm that the kid didn't seem to notice.
Sam nudged Mia forwards and she smiled at the boy.
"We were wondering if you knew of any local myths or legends you'd like to talk about," She prompted.
Craig looked at them for a moment before a spark of recognition flashed in his eyes. "Oh! You mean the Hell House."
Dean nodded, "Yeah; know anything about it."
The young boy then launched into a gruesome tale of the history behind the property. He told them how the farmer living there, Mordechai Murdoch, was dirt poor. Being unable to take care of his daughters, he decided he couldn't watch them suffer and resolved to kill them instead of letting them starve. Then he killed himself.
Sam listened intently and Mia winced throughout the tale but Dean seemed the most collected as he perused the record store throughout most of the story.
"They say that his spirit is now trapped in the house forever," he continued, "and he strings up any girl who comes inside."
"Who told you all this?" Dean asked, tearing his eyes away from an apprehensive-looking Mia.
"My cousin Dana, she told me but I don't know where she heard it from," Craig replied, "you gotta understand I didn't believe in it at first, and now… I don't know what the hell to think."
Mia felt some sympathy for the boy. It seemed he was clearly freaked out and she knew, from personal experience, that it must've been hard for him to go from finding ghost stories as merely amusing to factual.
"I'll just tell you what I told the police, that girl was real. This isn't some prank and I swear I don't ever wanna go near that house again," He insisted.
Finding his story satisfying Dean and Sam thanked him and left the store with Mia for their motel.
The next morning came way too early. The three of them got dressed and headed out to the haunted house.
Mia stumbled behind the boys, nearly delirious from lack of sleep as they headed up the marshy terrain to the house.
Clumsily, she slipped into a mud puddle and managed to dirty the entire left side of her jeans.
"Dammit these are my favourite," She moaned to herself but Dean overheard her.
"If this style of work doesn't suit your clothing options, then you should just go home," He told her flatly.
Mia scowled at him. He hated her and she didn't even understand why. He knew barely anything about her and neither did she him but she was already starting to resent him. As she followed him and Sam up the path she imagined Dean slipping in the mud and smiled to herself at the thought.
"Well, this definitely has real estate appeal," Dean commented.
The house was the stereotype of haunted. It was grey, falling apart with rusting sides and rotting wood.
In spite of the situation, Mia smiled to herself, this was just what she imagined hunting in a haunted house would be like! They entered the house and examined it thoroughly.
"Well I guess old man Mordechai was quite a tagger in his time," Dean remarked, as they gazed around at the painted symbols on the walls.
The brothers exchanged observations on various symbols while Mia investigated a few of her own.
Her findings were puzzling, "That doesn't seem right. I mean, it all looks like it was spray-painted."
"What?" Sam called, having heard her mumbling to herself.
"These symbols look like they were painted," She explained, glancing at the pentagram on the floor, "that's not what I would expect from someone who had 'no other choice,' but to string up his daughters to save them from starvation. This looks like a teenage hangout, not a haunted house."
Dean stared at her, "Well what would you expect demonic symbols to be written in? Blood?"
Offended by his directness, Mia glowered and thought of a good comeback but paused.
"Actually… yeah. That's what I would expect."
The brunette flushed and walked away to observe the rest of the room.
"Dean, be nice" Sam chided.
"What?" He whispered back harshly.
Sam sighed in irritation before running his finger over the symbol Dean had claimed looked familiar.
"Well, she's right. It was painted, and recently too."
Before the older Winchester had any time to react a loud noise sounded from the next room.
The brothers leaped into action, pulling their guns out of their pockets and taking each side of the door. Dean gestured for Mia to stand behind him and she nodded, pulling out her own pistol.
Dean kicked open the door; his brother and Mia followed with their guns raised.
Instead of the spirit or a victim, they came across two nerdy-looking boys wielding blinding flashlights.
"Hey whoa!" The ginger-haired boy with glasses exclaimed as he and his partner raised their hands.
Immediately their guns were dropped.
"Ugh, it's just a couple of humans." The boy groaned putting down his camera and flashlight.
"What are you doing here?" Dean asked bluntly as his eyes adjusted to the natural light.
"We're paranormal investigators working a case," The other said, handing Sam a card.
Sam smiled in recognition of the names. "You guys run ,"
They both nodded with smug smiles.
"We are huge fans," Dean added sarcastically as he passed them to investigate the room.
"We know who you guys are too," said one of them.
The Winchesters froze.
"You're amateurs, looking for ghosts and cheap thrills," He continued.
Dean spoke, "Oh, really? Have you guys ever seen a real ghost before?"
Ed turned to him with the most serious expression he could muster. "Once. We were investigating this house and a ghost made the vase fall."
"Well, we weren't really in the room but it was intense," Added his comrade.
"Yeah, stuff like that really changes people," Ed added.
Dean agreed, "You know what. I totally get the picture; come on Sam, Mia. Let's not get in their way."
The three of them exited the house while fighting back laughter.
"So they-" Mia started when they were finally out of the house.
Sam just smiled. "We see guys like these a lot. They think they know everything about finding ghosts but when it comes down to it; they've never even seen a ghost much less caught one on film."
"Alright, so now comes the fun part." Dean cut in, warming his hands with his breath.
"Research?" Sam asked, giving his brother a knowing look.
He nodded back, "Research."
"Research…" Mia repeated with a mixture of dread and delight.
After spending nearly half the day in the library; Sam and Mia met up with Dean outside with minimal information, proving yes there was Murdoch living in the house but he had no daughters, criminal record, or data; meaning there was nothing to prove the legend was real.
"Yeah the kids weren't exactly helpful either," Dean grumbled as they turned the corner to the car, "I seriously think this is a bust Sam, made up for attention or something. Let's just get out of here."
Mia looked away sadly. She didn't want this case to be a bust, it was her first one and she'd enjoyed it so far.
Sam glanced at her and recognized the disappointment radiating from her features. He knew she'd been excited for this case but he knew his brother was right.
"Yeah, okay," He agreed softly.
Dean smiled, "Why don't we hit the bar for a couple of beers," he paused and turned to Mia, "and for you I mean root beer, underage."
Mia snorted, "That didn't stop you a few days ago."
He shot her an irritated look before climbing into the car, Mia attempted to do the same but was stopped by Sam who smirked and whispered. "Wait."
As soon as Dean turned on the car, the radio blared loudly causing him to jump in surprise.
"Whoa! What the-!" He freaked as he rapidly began turning the volume knob.
Sam and Mia laughed loudly as they climbed into the Impala.
"That's all you guys got?" Dean asked turning to the backseat to glare at the brunette.
"No no, I'm not getting in the middle of a sibling fight again. Last time that happened I ended up with spiders in my sleeping bag. You and Sam go for it by all means." She replied insistently.
Sam groaned, "But Mia, I thought you were on my side."
"Nope, I'm not. I'm neutral I'm-"
"Switzerland?" Sam suggested.
"Yes exactly! Now you two enjoy a world war while I watch movies on my laptop." The young girl stated as she pulled out her computer and plugged in her earbuds.
Dean set his sights on Sam, "I will get you back for that."
"How much longer do we have to wait out here? I can't feel my anything." Mia shivered.
"Soon," Sam promised.
The three of them were waiting in the woods nearby the haunted house. After getting a call from the Sheriff that morning, they'd discovered that a young girl 'apparently' hung herself in the basement.
Meaning the hunt was back on to Dean's despair and Sam and Mia's delight.
They were currently waiting in the dark for the cops to leave so they could investigate the house again but to no luck.
"I don't believe it," Dean said in disbelief as the paranormal specialists; Ed and Harry loudly approached the house from the other side of the woods.
Mia grimaced, "Great, the Ghostbusters are here."
Then Dean grinned widely, "That gives me an idea."
He got to his feet and cupped his hand near his face. "Who you gonna call?" he shouted towards the house.
The police, alerted by Dean's noise; came investigating and chased Ed and Harry away from the house.
Mia and Sam exchanged amused grins and followed Dean's lead into the house.
He slammed the door behind them and Sam distributed their weapons.
Holding the pistol in her hands made Mia feel a lot calmer, especially since the ghost was targeting girls.
They hurried down into the cellar where the body was found and began looking around.
"Hey Sam," Dean called to his younger brother as he picked up a jar with God-knows-what floating in it, "I dare you to drink this jar."
Sam just brushed him off while Dean insisted.
There was a shuffling sound nearby and Mia called them over. They trained their guns on the cupboard, Sam opened it quickly, and out came…
"Ugh, I hate rats!" Dean exclaimed as a pack of them scurried out of the crate to their disgust.
Mia, who was used to them as Steven kept a few as pets, couldn't help but giggle at Dean's reaction.
"What's the matter, afraid of a little rat?"
Dean shot the girl an irritated look.
"Would you rather it be a ghost?" Sam asked with amusement in his tone.
"Yes," He responded honestly.
Mia stopped smiling and shrieked, "Wish granted!" as Mordechai appeared behind them.
Sam and Dean turned and fired a round of salt bullets while Mia clutched her flashlight in shock. The ghost didn't even vanish he just sort of flew away!
"THE HELL KIND OF SPIRIT IS IMMUNE TO ROCK SALT!?" Sam shouted enraged.
"I don't know!" Dean answered fearfully.
There was a high-pitched scream behind them.
The brothers whirled around to see Mordechai stringing up Mia who had luckily managed to fit one arm through the noose to prevent it from strangling her.
Sam began firing more salt rounds while Dean attempted to untie the knot.
"I can't breathe," Mia wheezed, her legs kicking out in desperation.
Dean groaned, "Stay still! I can't get it-"
"WATCH OUT!" Mia choked when Mordechai appeared in front of her with his axe raised to swing at Dean.
Hearing her warning he ducked and instead of cutting Dean, the spirit's swing split the rope allowing Mia to fall and tear it from around her neck.
"Let's go!" Sam cried, firing his last bullet and leading his brother and friend up the stairs as fast as they could manage.
The three of them burst out of the house and tumbled into the grass beside Harry and Ed who'd managed to elude the cops and return with their video cameras.
Sam got up first and ran into the woods calling back; "Let's get out of here."
"Get that thing out of my face!" Dean shouted as he pushed past the boys and followed his brother.
"He's coming!" Mia screamed as she ran after the Winchesters.
Back in the motel room, Sam conducted more research on his computer while Dean tried to remember where he'd seen one of the symbols in the house before.
Mia, still traumatized from the past events, decided to take a long shower.
When she finally came out fully dressed, her wet hair tied into a ponytail; Sam revealed that the website's story changed. Not only had Mordechai killed his daughters but he was also a Satanist and an axe murderer who chopped up his victims and slit his own wrists.
Dean jumped up with a 'eureka' look on his face. "I know where I've seen that symbol before."
He took them back to Craig's record store; one of the first places they checked out and Dean showed them the symbol on a Blue Oyster Cult record.
Then Craig admitted it; that he and his cousin made the whole thing up and designed the 'haunted' house for fun but now that there was a girl who died there, Craig was not dealing very well.
Mia believed him but it didn't explain the salt-immune ghost living in the basement.
Back at the motel, Mia flipped through the pages of John's journal in fascination. So many creatures she had just dismissed as a legend or fairytale were in this book; vampires, werewolves, witches. It was incredible but terrifying.
Suddenly a knock sounded at the door causing her to jump in surprise.
Taking a leaf out of Sam's book, she grabbed the .45 caliber pistol and headed to open the door. Dean was on the other side and she sighed in relief. Admitting him.
Dean found her relief comical and snickered as he walked past her into the motel room.
"Who were you expecting? Mordechai?"
Mia scoffed, "Don't be silly, Mordechai can't leave the house, it says so online."
She climbed back on top of her couch to read more. As she glanced up to ask Dean where he'd been, she gasped once she realized what he had in his hands.
"Dean? Is that you?" came Sam's voice from the bathroom.
"Yeah, I'm back." He called as he began fiddling with the bag of itching powder.
Normally, Mia would have simply kept her mouth shut and allowed the brothers to sort things out themselves but recently Dean had been getting on her nerves so she took this as an opportunity for payback.
"SA-" Mia began to cry out but Dean jumped and clamped a hand over her mouth.
"I will give you ten bucks if you stay quiet," He whispered.
The girl maneuvered her head so she could cry out Sam's name again.
"Twenty!" Dean pleaded, keeping her mouth covered.
She grinned and pulled his hand off, "Done!"
They shook hands and Mia climbed back onto the couch while Dean began pouring the itching powder into his brother's pants.
"Hey Dean, I've been doing some research and I was thinking, what if Mordechai is a tulpa." Came Sam's muffled voice through the thin bathroom door.
"A tulpa!" Dean cried in surprise when Sam walked through the door clad in a towel.
He hid the itching powder behind him as Sam explained his theory.
"I gotta go," The elder Winchester said spinning past his brother in order to reach the bathroom without him seeing the empty bag.
The brunette excused herself to laugh outside while Sam changed.
The three of them headed off to grab something to eat afterward from a nearby fast food restaurant. Sam repeatedly scratched at himself, Mia tried to ignore it knowing if she acknowledged his itching, she would crack.
"So what exactly is a tulpa?" She asked as they sat down at a table to eat.
"It's an ancient Tibetan thought-form. There was this incident in Tibet in 1950 where a group of monks took a golem in their hands and meditated on it so hard they brought the thing to life," Sam explained.
"And?" Countered Dean as he took a sip of coffee.
Sam huffed, and opened his laptop "That was twenty monks, think about what thousands of web surfers could do when they come across the story on the website."
"Wait so, these people are bringing Mordechai to life?" Dean asked in disbelief.
His younger brother shrugged, "Maybe."
"But people believe in Santa Claus, how come I'm not getting hooked up every Christmas?" Dean questioned.
"Because you'd probably end up with a lump of coal," Mia retorted.
Sam smirked at his brother's stunned response and slid over his laptop.
"Also because of this; it's a Tibetan thought sigil on the wall in the house. It acts as a magnification for meditative thought. Now think about it, people on the site looking at this symbol and thinking about Mordechai might be enough to bring the tulpa to life."
Mia and Dean listened intently as the young hunter explained that this was the reason behind the ghost changing to match the story people believe and why it was immune to rock salt.
"Okay, why don't we just get it removed from the website; problem solved," Dean contributed, hiding a smile at his brother's incessant squirming in his itchy jeans.
Sam grimaced, "Once Tulpas are created, they take on a life of their own so I don't think that will work."
Leaning over Dean to see the screen Mia groaned, "And look at the amount of views. One hundred thousand and still going!"
Dean sighed as he tried to come up with a way they could kill it. He then stood up quickly announcing that he'd devised a plan but they needed to go to a copy store first.
"Man, I think I'm allergic to our soap or something," Sam complained as he scratched relentlessly against the waistband of his jeans.
Unable to hold back her laughter any longer Mia cracked and Dean shot her an irritated look.
"Did, did you do this?" Sam growled at his older brother who began snickering in response.
Sam glared at Mia, "And you knew about it too!"
The brunette blushed, "He bribed me, I'm sorry. Speaking of which, hey Winchester, you owe me twenty bucks!"
Dean who had watched the exchange with amusement, quickly turned and hurried out of the restaurant before Mia could force the money he owed her out of him.
Sam called his brother a jerk and hurried after them.
"Are you sure this is gonna work, Dean?" Sam asked as they headed towards the hellhoundz lair (a.k.a their mobile home).
Dean shrugged, "It's the best plan we've got. Now, which one is theirs again?"
His brother went to check the address on the website but Mia stopped him.
"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say…that one." She pointed to a mobile home decorated with bumper stickers for ghost hunting and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the side.
Dean, Sam, and Mia walked over to it and knocked loudly on the door.
Ed opened it cautiously while Harry hid behind him.
"Would you look at that, action figures in mint condition, who'd have thought," Dean laughed to himself.
The boys looked unimpressed and after Dean told them to take down the website they told him off for causing them so much trouble with the police.
"I had to pee in that holding cell you know, in front of people. And I get stage fright!" Harry exclaimed angrily.
Mia raised her eyebrows.
Sam spoke up, telling them what they'd seen was real and now thousands of people would be rushing to the house because of their website and those people could get really hurt.
"Look," Ed started, "we have an obligation to our fans and…"
"Oh yeah, well I have an obligation to kick both of your asses," Dean replied getting angrier.
Sam grabbed his brother's arm, "Hey, Dean. It's alright, they're not gonna help us, even though I could tell them that thing about Mordechai. Let's just go."
Immediately the two ghost hunter's faces lit up. Mia smiled to herself, they were taking the bait.
"Wait, what thing about Mordechai?" They chased Sam, Dean, and Mia to the Impala all while pleading for answers.
"Sam, it's no use. They have an 'obligation' they won't shut the site down." Mia sighed shaking her head.
Sam turned to them, "This is a huge secret and I'll only tell you if you promise to shut down the site."
Ed and Harry eagerly affirmed they would while Dean rolled his eyes.
Sam proceeded to tell them a fake story about how Mordechai shot himself with a .45 caliber pistol and to this day he's petrified of them and one shot will kill him. He even handed over the fake 'death certificate' Dean made.
As expected the paranormal investigators reacted positively, as Harry nearly tripped sprinting back to their headquarters to post the news while Ed trailed behind calling for him to slow down.
"I think this calls for a celebration," Dean said with a small smile as they watched the two boys scramble into their mobile home.
The three of them headed out for some dinner at a pub. As they ate, Sam repeatedly checked the site while Dean decided to aggravate Mia by eating off her plate.
"Will you quit it? These are my fries!" She complained, pulling her plate away from him.
Dean chortled and reached around her for another one.
"I'm serious! If you want fries, buy your own plate!" Mia exclaimed as she struggled to push him away from her.
"Yeah, well too bad I had to give my last twenty bucks to you." He retorted as he munched on the stolen fries.
Mia opened her mouth to talk back but groaned when Dean reached over to steal another fry.
"Seriously? What if I just decided to have some of your beer,"
She reached over to grab his beer bottle but stopped when she felt a kick to her shin under the table.
She winced in pain and looked up to see Sam shooting her a warning glance.
"Don't," He mouthed, to her confusion.
His brother snickered, "Sam's right, you should never touch a man's beer."
Mia rolled her eyes. Dean began continually pulling the cord of a fishing ornament hanging over their booth and every time the string pulled, the wooden fish began to laugh annoyingly.
"Pull that string one more time and I'll kill you," Sam said to his brother irritably.
The boy laughed and told him he needed to relax. When he went to take his first sip of beer, he realized he couldn't let go of the bottle. Sam began to laugh loudly.
Dean frowned, "You didn't."
"Oh," Sam answered in a taunting tone as he pulled out a gorilla glue container from his pocket, "I did."
Mia laughed and reached over to high-five Sam, realizing that was why he hadn't wanted her to touch the beer.
"So when should we head back out to the house?" Mia asked Sam after they finished laughing.
He smiled, "Nightfall. By then the information we gave them should be well circulated."
The two of them watched in amusement while Dean groaned as he attempted to pry his hand away from the bottle, cursing under his breath all the while.
When night came, they left the pub. Dean nicked the irritating carving off the wall to act as a distraction to the cops guarding the house. Sam tied the string to a tree and they ran to the house with the figurine's loud sniggering fading into the distance.
The three of them held their flashlights in the tactical maneuver Sam taught to Mia. Her heart pounded as they searched the main floor for any signs of Mordechai. She was sure it would burst out of her chest if the spirit appeared to them now.
When they finally made it to the cellar door, Dean looked at Sam.
"You think old Mordechai's home?"
Sam shook his head in response; "I dunno."
"Me either," came another voice.
Mia jumped and aimed her gun in the direction of the voice, luckily her finger slipped on the trigger and the gun didn't fire at the two idiot paranormal investigators.
"DO YOU HAVE A FREAKING DEATH WISH?!" Mia shouted in exasperation.
"Look, we're just trying to get a book and movie deal okay?" Ed replied fearfully seeing the rage behind the three hunters' eyes.
Dean was about to yell too, but they were all silenced by the sound of sharpening metal coming from the basement.
Instinctively, Mia reached for the closest person to her, which happened to be Sam, and gripped the fabric of his shirt sleeve. She felt her heart beating in anticipation as they waited for the spirit to open the door.
Suddenly, the door flew open and Mordechai appeared snarling with his axe.
Petrified, Mia froze until Dean shouted at her to fire along with them.
The gun shook in her hands as she continuously unloaded bullets into the ghost's smoky form.
It disappeared and they stopped firing for a moment. Dean told Mia and Sam to spread out to check the perimeter.
Mia stayed close to Ed and Harry as she checked the kitchen. She heard them muttering about their camera and felt the urge to kick something. There was an axe-wielding ghost ready to kill them and they were worried about catching it on film?!
Harry shouted out in fear when the ghost materialized beside him and knocked him over. Mia spun around and shot the ghost before he could cause any more harm to them.
Dean burst through the doorway followed closely by Sam.
"Didn't you guys post that BS story we gave you?" The older Winchester asked after realizing the ghost was still there.
"Of course, but our server crashed," Ed replied apologetically.
Sam groaned and Dean cursed, "That's fantastic. The guns won't work. Now what?"
"We're getting out of here," Harry and Ed exclaimed as they sprinted to the door.
Dean shot Mia and his brother incredulous glances as they heard yells and the cry, "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU."
Sam bolt out of the kitchen to help them while Mia and Dean tried to come up with a plan.
"The legend says he slit his wrists, maybe if we can get that axe from him-" Mia offered but Dean shook his head.
"We need something fast like, uh…"
"A fire?"
He grinned, "Perfect,"
He then grabbed oil from the kitchen and poured it on the floor. Then caught up with Mia and his brother before they ran for the door.
Dean pulled out his lighter and chucked it into the kitchen where it caught fire instantly, engulfing the place in flames.
They ran deep into the woods and watched as the house lit up and Mordechai watched them from the front door, unable to leave the house.
Mia caught her breath as the brothers argued over whether setting the house afire was the right thing to do. Personally, she was just happy to get the hell out of the hell house.
"Kinda makes you wonder," said Sam after a while, "if all of the things we've hunted only exist because people believe in them."
Mia's head spun at the idea and it continued to haunt her as they watched the house burn to the ground.
After some time, they headed back into town. Mia was quiet mostly as she reflected on what just happened. This was her first official case, she didn't know whether to be ecstatic or terrified so she felt a little of both.
She recalled a day when she and Cleo drove up to Dallas for a Halloween festival. She remembered feeling terrified the entire time they were in the haunted mazes but once they came out she felt relieved and light-headed. As if all the fear welled up inside her had vanished. That feeling was similar to the end of this hunt.
"Congrats, on your first official hunt," Sam grinned handing her a pop bottle he'd bought from the nearby store.
She thanked him and downed it all in one gulp.
Dean winced, "Great, now we're gonna be stuck with Gassy here for the whole trip."
Mia snapped angrily, "I'm not gassy. I-"
Mortified, she let out a loud burp causing Sam to laugh and even Dean to smile.
"Yeah, okay, you're definitely sitting in the backseat," The younger Winchester told her with a smile.
Mia blushed and looked away to see none other than the infamous ghost hunters walking out of the store.
"Hey guys," Ed said nonchalantly.
"Should we tell them?" Harry whispered, not so quietly, to his partner who shrugged.
"Might as well, they'll find out eventually."
They went on to tell the three of them that a producer who saw their online video, wanted to make a movie, book and roleplaying game out of it had called them.
"Wow," Sam gushed, "that's amazing, congratulations."
"That's really awesome," Dean added enthusiastically.
Mia congratulated them as well.
"Hey Mia," Harry asked smoothly, "you know, me and Ed are gonna be rich and famous."
Mia nodded, "That's pretty great, Harry. I'm happy for you guys,"
Harry grinned, "Umm, I was wondering; can I have your number?"
She froze and looked from Sam and Dean who were internally dying of laughter to Ed who gave his friend a thumbs up and mouthed something but all Mia caught was 'sex'.
"Sure," she shrugged as she punched it into his cell phone.
They said their goodbyes and when the two of them drove off Sam and Dean burst into laughter.
"I have a confession to make," said Sam between laughs, "I called them and pretended to be a producer."
Dean laughed loudly, "I put a dead fish in their car."
By now, Mia was laughing too. "I gave them a fake phone number."
Sam and Dean paused in surprise.
"What number did you put?" Sam asked.
Mia smiled and sang, "Eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-niiine!"
Both brothers chuckled at her recognizing the song lyrics.
"Truce?" Sam asked his brother.
"Sure, at least for the next hundred miles." Dean joked, sliding into the driver's seat.
Mia yawned and climbed into the back, "I am so tired, I'm just gonna sleep, and AHHHHHHH!" She shrieked and jumped back in her seat.
Dean smirked; "What's wrong Wilkins, afraid of a little rat?"
Identifying his words as a mockery of her own, she growled and chucked the plastic rat toy she'd sat on out the window.
Sam laughed loudly at her expense and Mia turned to him, realizing he'd been in on it. "Hey! What was that for?"
He shrugged, "You should have told me about the itching powder."
Both brothers exchanged grins and Mia rolled her eyes, "Very funny. You two are hilarious."
"Welcome to the hunting life, Princess," Dean countered as he gunned the engine and blasted some rock song loudly enough to make Sam complain.
All the young girl could do was smile and shake her head thoughtfully, wondering why, despite Dean's hostility and the teasing, she already felt more at home here than she ever had at the Millers'.
So what did you guys think?! Please review, those things keep me inspired! Thanks again for reading and the next chapter should be posted soon!
In the next chapter Sam, Mia, and Dean face off with the Shtriga from their past.