Supernatural

Something weird sure is going on (part 2)

Once we were at the hotel, we went over everything we knew, what their dad knew, and if wasn't for our fathers we wouldn't have known s**t.

Sam was on his laptop. "Well, you were right. Heh. It wasn't very easy to find but you were right. Shtriga is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about them trace back to Ancient Rome. They feed off spiritus vitae."

"Spiri-what?" Both Dean and I asked.

"Vitae. It's Latin, translates to 'breath of life'. Kinda like your life force or essence." Sam said. "Your an angel/demon don't y'all suppose to know latin?"

"Eh, I'm rusty charge me." I said.

"Didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were wearing out?" Dean asked.

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

"Children." I had yelled out.

"Yeah. Probably because they have stronger life force. And get this. Shtrigas are '...invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man.'" Sam said.

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

"What?" I said.

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

"How do you know that?" Sam asked.

"Dad told me. I remember."

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

"Nope, that's it."

Sam keeps staring at Dean, while I'm sitting on the bed watching them talk/argue a little. Brothers, I swear.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Nothing. Okay. So, assuming we can kill it when it eats we still gotta find the thing first, which ain't gonna be a cakewalk. Shtrigas take on a human disguise when they're not hunting."

"What kinda human disguise?"

"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."

As Dean is crossing the room. "Hang on."

"What?"

Dean grabs the map and looks at it. "Check this out. I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now these are the houses that have been hit so far, and dead center?"

"The hospital." Sam and I said together.

"The hospital. Now when we were there I saw a patient, an old woman."

"Wait the old lady with the cross upside down." I had said.

"Yeah."

Sam quickly looks up, serious. Dean raises an eyebrow at him. I just stare at them for a moment. We all got up and jumped into the car heading back to the hospital to check out that woman. When we got there, we were coming down a hallway, quickly ducking back when they see Dr Hydecker.

Sam, Dean, and I hide until Hydecker passes, then continue on to the old woman's room. We open the door and sneak in, Dean taking the front, Sam hanging back, guns drawn, and me keeping an close eye out. The woman is in her wheelchair facing toward the corner. She seems to be sleeping. Dean slowly leans in closer and closer to her face.

The woman turning her head to look right at Dean "Who the hell are you?!" She yells.

Dean freaks, leaping back against a wall cabinet, pulling his gun up.

"Who's there? You trying to steal my stuff? They're always stealing around here." She says.

Sam turning the light on. We can see she has cataracts. "No! Ah, ma'am, we're maintenance. We're sorry. We thought you were sleeping."

"Ahhh, nonsense. I was sleeping with my peepers open." She laughs, then gestures at the wall. "And fix that crucifix, would ya? I've asked four damn times already!"

Dean, still looking slightly freaked out, jogs the crucifix and it swings the right way up. As scared Dean was and I was with him, we got out of there after asking some questions.

The Impala pulls up to the motel parking lot and we get out of it heading towards our room.

Sam was laughing his ass off from what had happened. ""I was sleeping with my peepers open?" Hahahaha."

"I almost smoked that old girl, I swear. It's not funny!"

Sam still sniggering. "Oh man, you shoulda seen your face."

Me in the background snickering as well. But trying not to get caught but did. He glared at me.

"Yeah, laugh it off. Now we're back to square one." Dean sees the owner's son sitting behind the office looking forlorn. "Hang on." He says then spoke to the boy. "Hey what's wrong?"

"My brother's sick."

"The little guy?" Dean says.

The boys nods his head. "Pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault."

"Ah c'mon, how?"

"I shoulda made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't've got pneumonia if the window was latched."

Dean looks away for a moment. Sam watches him, frowning thoughtfully. And I felt once again bad. With this mission, I'm really feeling like s**t.

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

Dean was sweet when he wants to me and that is one thing I liked about him.

"It's my job to look after him." The boy says crying.

Sam looks back and forth from Dean to the kid. His mother hurries out of the motel toward her car.

"Michael, I want you to turn on the no vacancy sign while I'm gone. I've got Denise covering room service so don't bother with any of the rooms." His mother says.

"I'm going with you." The boy says.

"Not now, Michael."

"But I gotta see Asher!"

"Hey Michael. Hey. I know how you feel -- I'm a big brother too -- but you gotta go easy on your Mom right now, ok?"

The woman dropping her handbag in her haste. "Dammit!"

"I got it." Sam says bending over to pick it up.

"Thank you."

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

"No, I couldn't possibly..."

"No, it's no trouble. I insist" Dean says as he takes her keys.

"Thanks." She says then looks at her son. "Be good."

"I'll keep an eye out on little Michael here." I had said as I put my arm around his shoulders.

Dean helps her into her seat then turns to Sam as the woman nodded her head at me.

"We're gonna kill this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?" Dean tells us.

After Dean left, I walked Michael back inside and Sam went to our room. I hung out with Michael for a while until, I started to feel tired myself. As I went to our room, after telling the boys goodnight, the brothers were talking.

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

"What do you mean?"

"Shtriga, works through siblings right?" Dean asked.

"Right."

"Well last night...."

"It went after Asher."

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

"Well we gotta get him outta here." Sam said.

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

"What?" I had yelled. "You wanna use the kid as bait? Are you nuts? No! Forget it. That's out of the question."

"It's not out of the question Heather 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." I yelled at him.

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

"Send YOU here? He didn't send you here -- he sent us here." Sam said.

"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." Dean had said.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"What are you saying, Dean? How is it your fault?" Sam asked.

There was a very long pause.

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

"Fort Douglas, WIsconsin. It was our third night in this crap room and I was climbing the walls. Man, I needed to get some air." Dean said as he was telling us the story of what had happened long time ago when the last time their father faced the witch.

As he was telling us the story about how he f****d up and Sam almost dying like the other kids, I see where this was going to end and I DID NOT like it one bit.

As well walked over to the front to talk to Michael, I felt off about it in the get-go. I didn't want to use him but Dean did have a point. It was now or never.

"You're crazy! Just go away or I'm calling the cops." The kid said.

"Hang on a second. Just listen to me. You have to believe me, ok? This thing came through the window and it attacked your brother. I've seen it. I know what it looks like. Cause it attacked my brother once too." Dean told him.

Michael slowly hanging up the phone. "This thing...is it...like....it has this long...black robe?"

"You saw it last night didn't you?" Dean asked.

"I thought I was having a nightmare."

"I'd give anything not to tell you this, but sometimes nightmares are real."

"So, why are you telling me?"

"Because we need your help."

"My help?"

"We can kill it. Us, that's what we do. But we can't do it without you."

"What? No!"

"Michael, listen to me. This thing hurt Asher. And it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it, understand me?"

Michael stares at Dean, horrified. And I knew what he was feeling.

"Well that went crappy. Now what?"

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

There's a knock at the door. Dean goes to open it to see Michael standing there.

"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" The boy asked us.

"Honestly? We don't know."

"You said you were a big brother."

Dean nods. "Yeah."

"You'd take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?"

"Yeah I would." Dean tells him. Of course I smiled.

"Me too. I'll help."

Dean completes hooking up a security camera in the corner of the room, staring into the lense. Michael is behind him in bed. Sam is watching the security feed in the other room. And I standing at the door way watching the boy just stare at Dean.

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

"A hair to the right. There, there." Sam says to Dean.

"What do I do?" Michael asked.

I moved to sit on his bed. "Just stay under the covers."

"And if it shows up?"

"We'll be right in the next room. We're gonna come in with guns. So, as soon as we do you roll off this bed and you crawl under it." Dean tells him.

"What if you shoot me?"

"We won't shoot you. We're good shots. We're not going to fire until you're clear ok? Have you heard a gunshot before?" Dean says.

"Like in the movies?"

"Just like in the movies, kid," I started to tell him.

"It's gonna be a lot louder than in the movies. So I want you to stay under the bed, cover your ears, do not come out until we say so. You understand?" Dean tells him.

Michael nods slowly, looking scared. Of course I hug him. I didn't want to use him, not like this. I didn't want to ever use a kid for anything.

"Michael, you sure you wanna do this?"

Michael doesn't answer for a long moment. "You don't have to, it's ok, I won't be mad." Dean tells him.

"No I'm ok. Just don't shoot me."

"We're not going to let anything happen to you. I promise." I said then got up from him bed and headed into other room with Dean.

I leaned against the wall close to the door, so if in had to hurry and get over there, I was there. Sam and Dean talked about their issues with their father about this case a little more. Me, I was only praying that the kid would be okay.

As I had my eyes closed, I was concentrating on sensing the witch. I wanted to be on my best when the time was here.

It was starting to get dark now, a little after 8pm. It was close to the time, that the witch would hit. But then right on cue, I felt it. I gasped making the brothers turn to look at me. My vision got cloudy.

"Heather?" Dean asked me.

"She's here?" I said.

I grabbed ahold of them and teleported us into the room. There she was, sucking the life force of Michael.

"Hey!" Sam yells at the b***h. I mean witch.

"Michael, down!" Dean yells at him.

Michael rolls off and under the bed and Sam and Dean open fire, shooting the shtriga multiple times each. It falls to the ground. Me, I was trying to get to Michael.

"Mikey, you all right?" I holler when I got to the bed.

"Yeah." Michael says under the bed.

"Just sit tight." Dean says.

I approaches the shtriga, gun at the ready. There is no movement. I relaxes slightly and glances at the boys. The shtriga suddenly rises, grabs me by the throat and throws me against the wall.

"Dean!” Sam yells and pointed at me. "Heather!"

The shtriga moves and throws Sam to the wall; he hits the ground, and the shtriga comes on him and forces his mouth open. Sam struggles to reach his gun. The shtriga begins drawing his energy and Sam stills and starts going grey.

"Hey!" Dean yells at the b***h.

The shtriga looks up and Dean shoots it between the eyes. He falls backwards and Sam lies gasping for breath.

"You ok little brother?"

Sam nods and unsteadily holds up two thumbs-up. They both pull themselves to their feet and look to the shtriga. The energy the shtriga stole begins to escape from its mouth. Dean raises his gun, shooting it three more times at point blank range. More energy escapes. The shtriga falls in on itself, disintegrating.

Michael peeks from the side of the bed. Looking at me, since I'm the closest since I'm on the floor catching my breath.

"It's ok, Michael, you can come on out." I told him, waving my hand for him to come over.

Michael comes out from under the bed and comes to me, smiling tentatively but still somewhat scared. Dean comes over to us places his hand on Michael's shoulder and smiles. Then offers a hand for me to get up. Once I am up, Dean wraps his arms around me. Least he's glad I am safe as well. Before he let go of me, he kissed me making Michael feel all types of weird.

He made a disgusting noise from us kissing, getting a laugh from all of us. I looked at him and smiled then rubbed his little head.

"How did y'all get into my room so fast? I didn't even hear the door open." He asked.

"I'm an angel kid, I can teleport from place to place." I told him. "But your good. Your safe now, just get some rest, we'll be in the next room of you need us. Just pray and I'll hear you, since I'm next door."

He nodded his head and done what I asked him.

As for us, we went back to our room and done the same. We need it since we stayed up half the night waiting for the stupid b***h, witch. We done a good thing, yes he used a kid for it but everything came out good.

The next morning the mother came to check on her son and the business. When she told us that her other son was fine and so were the other kids, we were relieved of that. Least we know, if it ever happens again, I hope not but if it does, we know what to do.

As well set off that afternoon to start our next mission from what their father let out for us.

What else would we have to face in our journey of mission of hell. Not literally hell, but close to it for us.