1.18

We're driving down another beautiful road. Wisconsin. Fun. But Sam and I found nothing. Dean got a text with coordinates and there's nothing in the town. Fitchburg might as well be Boring-burg.

"Yeah. You probably missed something, that's what," says Dean as he drives.

"Dude, I ran LexisNexis, local police reports, newspapers, I couldn't find a single red flag. Are you sure you got the coordinates right?"

"Yeah, I double checked. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important Sammy."

"Well I'm telling you I looked and all I could find was a big steamy pile of nothing. If Dad's sending us hunting for something I don't know what."

"Well maybe he's going to meet us there."

I sit up straight in the backseat.

"Yeah. Cause he's been so easy to find up to this point," says Sam.

"You're a real smart ass you know that?... Don't worry I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killing."

"Dean, seriously?" I say from the backseat. "That's where your priorities lie?"

"Yeah?" says Sam. "What makes you so sure?"

"That's not what I meant, Sam," I say.

"Well I'm the oldest," says Dean. "Which means I'm always right."

"No, it doesn't," Sam and I say at the same time.

"It totally does."

We get into town and Dean goes to get coffee. Thank god it's Dean. I had like three hours sleep last night and I swear the next time Sam hands me hot chocolate when I ask for coffee I'm going to pour it all over his head. Sam and I wait at the car, Sam is just staring ahead and I don't want to interrupt whatever deep thought thing he's got going on.

Dean comes over and hands me my coffee that was balancing on Sam's. Sam takes his.

"Well...the waitress thinks the local freemasons are up to something sneaky but other than that no one's heard about anything freaky going on," says Dean.

"Dean you got the time?" asks Sam.

"Ten after Four. Why?"

Sam nods forwards. "What's wrong with this picture?"

There's a playground. With one kid.

"School's out isn't it?" asks Dean.

"Yeah. So where is everybody? This place should be crawling with kids right now."

"Maybe there's a better park somewhere nearby?" I ask.

"This one is in the center of town," says Sam. "It's probably the best one."

Dean and Sam dress in their casual suits and we go to the hospital.

"Dude," Sam says to Dean as we go through the doors. "Dude I am not using this ID."

"Why not?" asks Dean.

"Because it says, 'bikini inspector' on it."

I laugh.

"Don't worry she won't look that close all right?" says Dean. "Hell, she won't even ask to see it. It's all about confidence Sammy."

Dean spins Sam around and Dean grabs my arm and pulls me away. Dean and I watch. Sam hesitates, glares back at us, and then pulls out his bikini inspector ID. Sam comes back over.

"See," says Dean. "I told you it would work."

"Follow me it's upstairs," Sam says.

I laugh again at Sam's grumpy face. Sam grunts as me and pushes me up the stairs.

"You need to hang back," says Sam.

"This place is depressing," I say.

"It's a hospital," Sam says and stops walking. He grabs me by my shoulders. "Hang back, okay?"

"Why?"

"You're 12, you're clearly not from disease control," Sam whispers.

"Same as you," I whisper back. "Also, I'm thirteen next month."

"Uh huh."

"Dean!" Sam calls down to Dean looking in another room.

I wander down the corridor, peering in. All the kids look…sick is right, but it's definitely more than that. They're all asleep. In the same sort of position. I look back down the corridor and Sam and Dean are talking to a doctor and a nurse.

"We'll be back," Dean whispers to me as he and Sam pass me down the corridor. He slaps five bucks in my hand as they walk past.

Ugh. Paid off with vending machine money. Pathetic. But also, helpful. I go and get a chocolate bar.

"So what is it?" I ask as we get back to the car.

"Could just be pneumonia," says Sam.

"We came all this way for pneumonia?"

"I don't think so," says Dean.

We go to the house of the Dad that now has two kids in the hospital. The bedrooms are upstairs and it's eerie. Too quiet for a house with kids. I'm on watch, which means I get stand near windows and check no one's coming home.

Sam and Dean are checking the bedroom with EMF.

"You got anything over there?" asks Sam.

"No nothing," says Dean.

"Yeah, me neither."

"Maybe it really is just some sort of flu-y pneumonia thing…that is very specific in how it spreads?" I say from staring out the window. Dean checks the window where I'm standing with the EMF. "Do you mind?" I ask as he shoves me with his elbow out of the way.

"Got a job to do here, Munch," says Dean.

"Uh huh."

"Hey Dean?" says Sam from the other window.

"Yeah."

Dean and I look over. Sam is staring at the windowsill.

"You were right," says Sam, "it's not pneumonia."

Dean goes over and looks.

"It's rotted," says Sam. "What the hell leaves a handprint like that?"

Dean goes quiet for a moment. Staring at the windowsill. "I know why Dad sent us here," he says after a bit. "He's faced this thing before. He wants us to finish the job."

We find another classy motel that night to check it into.

"So what the hell is a shtriga?" asks Sam as we all get out of the car.

"Kinda like a witch, I think," says Dean. "I don't know much about them."

"Well that's super helpful," I say.

"And I've never heard of it," says Sam. "And it's not in Dad's journal."

"Dad hunted one in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin, about 16-17 years ago," says Dean. "You were there, you don't remember?" Dean asks Sam.

"No."

"Guess he caught wind the things in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates."

"So wait, this..."

"Shtriga," Dean says.

"Right, you think it's the Same one Dad hunted before?"

"Yeah maybe."

"But if Dad went after it how come it's still breathing air?"

"Cause it got away."

"Got away?"

"How?" I ask.

Dean's getting frustrated. "Yeah, it happens."

"Not very often," says Sam.

"And not since I've been around…" I add.

"Well I don't know what to tell ya," says Dean. "Maybe Dad didn't have his Wheaties that morning."

"What else do you remember?" asks Sam.

"Nothing," Dean says in a weird tone. "I was a kid alright?" Dean goes into the reception and the door closes behind him.

"Touchy," I say.

"Yeah," Sam agrees.

"Now are you sure you didn't mess up the hunt and Dean's covering you butt, Sammy?"

Sam huffs. "I was like five, 17 years ago."

"I was five when I joined in the family business and I learned what not to do…like, immediately."

"That's different," says Sam. "I didn't know then."

I blink. "Know what?"

"About hunting."

I frown. "How could you not?"

"I just didn't, okay."

"Jeez, you're touchy too. Not my fault my house was haunted, and it killed my mom before Dad could save her."

Sam sighs and shuffles his feet, clears his throat. "Yeah. I know. That's not what I meant."

We get into our room, which is surprisingly okay. There's even a twin bed shoved in the far back corner of the room. I get my own bed tonight. Score! Dean makes me do my schoolwork while Sam researches on the laptop. I give up after a couple of hours and go have a shower. I'm towel drying my hair in the room when Sam says,

"Well you were right. It wasn't very easy to find but you were right. Shtriga's is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about them trace back to ancient Rome. They feed off spiritus vitae."

"Spiri-what?" asks Dean.

"Vitae. It's Latin, translates to 'breath of life'. Kinda like your life force or essence."

"Didn't the Doctor say the kids bodies were wearing out?"

"It's a thought. You know she takes your vitality maybe your immunity goes to hell, pneumonia takes hold. Anyway, shtriga's can feed off anyone but they prefer..."

Dean glances over at me. "Children."

"Why you staring at me?" I ask.

"You're a child."

"I'm nearly 13."

"One of the kids in a coma is 14, Janie," Sam says.

"Well I don't have kid siblings, so would it's less likely to come for me, right?" I say.

"Hopefully," Sam says. "And get this. Shtriga's are '...invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man.'"

"No, that's not right," says Dean. "She's vulnerable when she feeds."

"What?"

"If you catch her when she's eating you can blast her with concecrated wrought iron. Ahhh... buckshots or rounds I think."

"How do you know that?"

"Dad told me. I remember."

"Oh. So uh, anything else Dad might have mentioned?"

"Nope, That's it."

Sam stares at Dean.

"Should I get a knife…or?" I offer to cut the tension.

"What?" Dean says glancing between Sam and I.

"Nothing," Sam says. "Okay. So, assuming we can kill it when it eats, we gotta find the thing first. It ain't gunna be a cakewalk. Shtriga's take on a human disguise when they're not hunting."

"What kinda human disguise?" asks Dean.

"Historically, something innocuous. Could be anything, but it's usually a feeble old woman, which might be how the witches as old crones legend got started."

Dean goes across the room and grabs a map. "Hang on."

"What?" asks Sam.

"Check this out," says Dean laying out the map. Sam and I look over. "I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now these are the houses that have been hit so far, and dead centre?"

"The hospital."

"Yeah. Now when I was there, I saw a patient, an old woman."

"An old person huh?"

"Yeah."

"In a hospital? Phew." Sam shakes his head and sniggers. I hold back a laugh. "Better call the coast guard."

"Well listen smart ass, she had an inverted cross hanging on her wall."

"Isn't that a bit…you know, obvious?" I say.

Dean shrugs. "Worth a shot."

I go to follow them out and Dean puts his hand out to me. "Woah, woah, woah, you're not coming, Jane."

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"Shrtiga that feeds on children, no way you're coming anywhere near that thing."

I stare at Dean. "All the kids got sick in their homes. This isn't a home."

"I'm not risking it."

"Dean, come on," says Sam.

"No way," says Dean. "Just stay here…and don't fall asleep."

"You're kidding?" I say, crossing my arms.

"Fine, you know what, sit outside until you need to go to sleep. Then sleep on the couch. No bed. No shtriga. Problem solved."

"You don't think you're being a little ridiculous?" Sam says to Dean as I sit on the metal chair outside and Dean throws me a blanket. I wrap in over myself.

"No," is all Dean says.

My arms are crossed under the blanket, and I glare up at Dean from the chair.

"See you soon, kiddo," Dean says, pretending to be chipper.

I just glare at him as they get in the car and drive away.

I sulk for about 10 minutes before I go inside, locking the door behind me. I watch TV and must fall asleep because next thing I know I hear voices and running outside. I jump up, but a jacket on and peep out the window. There's an ambulance driving off. I'm about to go to bed seeming as it's daybreak but then I see the owner and her older son out the front, arguing about something. The woman goes inside. The boy sits on chair outside the office, he looks…awful. I bite my lip. Telling myself to mind my own business. But this can't be good. I get up and walk across the carpark over to him.

"Hey," I say.

He looks up at me. "Hey," he says softly.

"What's going on?" I ask.

He looks at his shoes. "Nothing."

I nod. "Sure it is," I move over to the side of him. "Mind if I sit?"

He shrugs. I sit down next to him. "I'm Jane," I say.

"Michael," he says. He thinks for a moment, then glances up at me. "You came in with those guys the other day…"

"Yeah," I say. "My brothers."

"Oh."

"My brother Dean said you have a little brother? Where is he?" I ask, trying to sound casual but I have a put in my stomach. I think I know the answer.

"Hospital. He got pneumonia."

Of course he did. I take a breath and close my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"I know but-"

"It's mine," Michael says.

"What? How?"

Michael shakes his head and looks out at the carpark, into nothing.

I see Sam and Dean pull up, they're laughing about something. Sam goes to our door to open it and Dean looks over and sees me and Michael. I gesture my head to Michael, my eyes wide. Sam and Dean come over.

"Hey what's wrong?" Dean asks Michael, kneeling down.

"My brother's sick," he says.

"Little guy?"

Michael nods. "Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault."

"It's not," I say.

"How is it your fault?" Dean asks.

"I shoulda made sure the window was latched," says Michael. Dean cocks his head. "He wouldn't have got pneumonia if the window was latched."

"Listen to me. I can promise you that this is not your fault. Okay?"

"It's my job to look after him."

Michael's mom comes out of the motel carrying a few things to her car. We all stand up. "Michael," she says, throwing everything in the car. "I want you to turn on the no vacancy sign while I'm gone. I've got Denise covering room service."

"I'm going with you," says Michael.

"Not now Michael."

"But I gotta see Asher!"

"Hey Michael," says Dean. "Hey. I know how you feel, but you gotta go easy on your Mom right now ok?"

Michael's mom drops her bag. "Damnit!"

"I got it," Sam says, picking it up for her.

"Thank you."

"Listen, you're in no condition to drive," Dean says to her, "why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital."

"No I couldn't possibly..."

"No, I insist. It's no trouble." Dean takes her keys.

"Thanks," she says. "Be good," she says to Michael.

Dean helps her into the car then whispers something to Sam. Dean glances back at me and gives a sad smile. He gets in the car and drives away.

Sam and I go to the library. We get all sorts of newspaper articles and Sam finds a microfiche machine. None of this is good. Like at all.

"This is depressing," I tell Sam after a couple of hours.

"Yeah," Sam sighs. "And there's more here," Sam says flicking through articles on the machine. "I gotta call Dean."

I sigh and pick up another article about the pneumonia thing. So many kids.

"Hey," Sam says on the phone. "How's the kid?...We're at the library. We've been trying to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga…Well, bad news. I started with Fort Douglas around the time you said Dad was there?..Same deal. Before that there was Ogdenville, before that North Haverbrook and Brockway. Every 15-20 years it hits a new town. Dean this thing is just getting started in Fitzburgh. In all these other places it goes on for months. Dozens of kids before the shtriga finally moves on. The kids languish in comas and then they just die…Ah, I don't know," Sams says glancing at me. I have no idea what he's talking out. "The earliest mention I could find is this place called "Black River Falls" back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show...whoa." Sam pauses on the machine. I look over. "Hold on...I'm looking at a photograph right now of a bunch of Doctors standing around a kids bed. One of the Doctors is Heidacker…And this picture was taken in 1893. ..Yeah. Yeah absolutely."

"So, the good doctor is a witch?" I ask.

Sam's frowning. "Seems like it."

Dean comes back to hotel room with Sam and I.

"We should have thought of this before," Sam says. "A Doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted, you can control the whole thing."

"That son of a bitch," says Dean.

"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there."

"Yeah well, first of all, I'm not going to open fire in a paediatric ward."

"Good call."

"Second, it wouldn't have done any good. The bastards bullet proof unless he's chowing down on something. And third, I wasn't packing, which is probably a good thing cause I probably would have burned a clip in him on principal alone."

"You're getting wise in your old age Dean."

I smile.

"Damn right. Cause now I know how we're going to get it."

"What do you mean?"

"Shtriga, works through siblings right?"

"Right…" says Sam.

"Well last night..."

"It went after Asher."

"So I'm thinking tonight it's probably gunna come after Michael."

"Dean," I say. "You can't."

"Well we gotta get him outta here," says Sam.

"No. No, that would blow the whole deal," says Dean.

"What?" asks Sam.

"Yeah."

"He wants to use Michael as bait," I say.

"Are you nuts?" Sam yells. "No! Forget it. That's out of the question."

"It's not out of the question Sam it's the only way. If this thing disappears it could be years before we get another chance."

"Michael's a kid. And I'm not going to dangle him in front of that thing, like a worm on a hook."

"Dad did not send me here to walk away."

"Send you here? He didn't send you here, he sent us."

"This isn't about you Sam. I'm the one who screwed up, all right. It's my fault. There's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."

"What are you saying Dean, how is it your fault?"

Dean doesn't answer. Sam and I look at each other.

"Dean?" I prompt. He doesn't say anything.

"You've been hiding something from the get go," says Sam. "Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away? Now talk to me man. Tell us what's going on."

"Fort Douglas Wisconsin," Dean says. "It was our third night in this crap room and I was climbing the walls man. I needed to get some air." Dean tells us the story of the shtriga. And how it nearly got Sam.

"You were just a kid," says Sam.

"Don't. Don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. He sent me here to finish it."

"But using Michael, I don't know Dean. I mean, you wouldn't use Janie as bait, would you?"

Dean glances up at me. "I honestly don't know."

"How reassuring," I say.

"How bout one of us hides under the covers, we be the bait?" suggests Sam.

"No, it won't work. It's gotta get close enough to feed it'll see us," says Dean. "Believe me I don't like it, but it's gotta be the kid."

"Well that went crappy," says Dean when he and Sam come back.

I look up from where I was working at the table. "He didn't buy being the bait for the creepy monster deal?" I ask.

"No he did not."

"What did you expect?" asks Sam. "You can't ask a adult to do something like that, much less a kid."

I shrug. "I'd do it."

"You're nuts," says Sam.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

There's a knock at the door. Dean answers it. It's Michael.

"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" asks Michael.

"Honestly?" says Dean. "We don't know."

"You said you were a big brother?" Dean nods at this. "You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?"

"Yeah, I would."

"Me too. I'll help."

"What am I to you then? Chopped liver?" I ask Dean.

Dean looks back at me. "Oh, baby sisters are a whole different deal, Munch."

"I'm not a baby…and what's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out when you're older."

I look at Sam. He shrugs and makes a face that means he just doesn't want to tell me. I huff.

We set up a night vision security camera in Michael's room. Sam and I check the feed when Dean plugs it in. Michael is in bed.

"This camera has night vision on it so we'll be able to see clear as day," Dean says. "Are we good?" Dean calls.

"A hair to the right," Sam says. The feed adjusts, we can see the bed and the window. "There, there!" Sam calls.

"Better get comfortable," Sam says to me, leaning back in his chair.

"Why?" I ask.

"You're here too, all night."

"But Dean said I wasn't going into the room?"

"And you think we're gonna let you be in the motel room alone. Dream on."

"So I'm stuck here. All night?" I glance around. "There's nowhere to sleep."

Sam shrugs. "You're in your bed."

"Haha," I say flatly.

Dean comes in and squishes in next to me.

"Sam says I'm here all night?" I say.

"Yep," is all Dean says.

"But…"

"I want to know exactly where you are while this thing's on the loose."

I roll my eyes and lean back. "I can't wait until I'm older and everyone stops treating me like a baby."

Sam and Dean say nothing. I worry that means nothing will change. But I'm too scared to ask.

We sit quietly all night. I doze off several times. Startling awake on either Sam or Dean's shoulders each time. Neither of them says anything. Even when I awake for like the tenth time and notice I've left a puddle of drool on Sam. I worry if I move, he'll notice and get mad, so I pretend I'm still asleep.

"What time is it?" Dean asks quietly.

"Almost 3," says Sam. "Are you sure these iron rounds are gonna work?"

"Consecrated iron rounds, and yeah it's what Dad used last time."

"Hey Dean, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"You know, I've really given you a lot of crap, for always following Dad's orders. But I know why you do it. I mean, I'm fine. And Janie's never been seriously hurt by like…anything. And that's on you."

Neither of them say anything for a moment. I forget how to breathe normally.

"Wait, look," Dean says.

Sam and Dean pick up their guns, and I sit up, pretending to have just woken up. The shtriga is in the room. I watch. Staring at the feed.

"Now?" Sam asks.

"Not yet," says Dean.

The shtriga moves closer and leans over the bed, Michael doesn't move. The shtriga leans closer…They go in. I watch on the feed.

"Hey!" Sam shouts.

"Michael, down!" yells Dean.

Michael rolls off the bed and Sam and Dean shoot at the shtriga. It falls.

"Mike, you all right?" asks Dean.

I don't hear Michael's reply.

"Just sit tight."

Dean goes closer…the shtriga is just laying there. But then it gets up…grabs Dean and throws him.

"Dean!" I yell and go to the doorway.

The striga moves and throws Sam to the ground, and gets on top of him.

"Sam!" I shout and go in.

The striga starts doing it's…gross thing on Sam. I go closer and Dean shoves me back as he goes past me. I stumbled back into the other.

"Hey!" I hear Dean yells. Then shooting. Then…nothing. I get up.

"You ok little brother?" Dean asks.

I go inside and Dean shoots the striga on the floor more. It…disintegrates.

Michael comes out from the side of the bed.

"It's ok Michael," says Dean, "you can come on out."

Michael comes out. Sam pulls me to him in a side hug and Dean puts a hand on Michael's shoulder. The thing is dead. Nice.

We're packing the car up when Michael's mom comes out of the reception.

"Joanna," Dean says. "How's Asher doing?"

"Have you seen Michael?" she asks.

Michael comes running up to her. "Mom! Mom!"

"Hey," she says and hugs him.

"How's Ash?" Michael asks.

"Got some good news. Your brother's going to be fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. No one can explain it, it's a miracle. They're going to keep him in overnight for observation and then he's coming home."

"That's great," says Dean.

"How are all the other kids doing?" asks Sam.

"Good," says Joanna. "Real good. A bunch of them should be checking out in a few days. Dr Travis says the ward's going to be like a ghost town."

"Dr Travis? what about Dr Heidecker?"

"Oh he wasn't in today. Must have been sick or something."

"Yeah. Must have," says Dean.

"What a shame," I mumble.

"So, did anything happen while I was gone?" Joanna asks Michael.

Michael looks at Dean. "Nah, Same old stuff."

"Ok. You can go see Ash."

"Now?" Michael asks excitedly.

"Only if you want to."

Michael runs and gets in the car.

Joanna laughs. "I'd better get going before he hot wires the car and drives himself." She smiles at us, gets in the car.

"It's too bad," says Sam.

"Oh, they'll be fine," says Dean.

"That's not what I meant. I meant Michael. He'll always know there are things out there in the dark, he'll never be the Same, you know? Sometimes I wish that..."

"What...?"

"I wish I could have that kind of innocence."

Joanna and Michael drive away.

"Wouldn't that be kind of boring?" I ask.

"Nah…" says Dean. "If it means anything, sometimes I wish you could too…" Dean looks at me. "Both of you."