Women In The Night

Working Together

When Dean opened her eyes, she found herself back in her childhood living room, surrounded by flames.

Dean sighed and crossed her arms, blowing a piece of hair out of her face in annoyance.

“Alright,” she said aloud to the room, “Who’s it gonna be tonight? Dad? Mom? Some poor schmuck mauled by a monster? Let’s just get this over with.”

Sure enough, the fire began to take shape, moulding into a person standing in the centre of the room. It looked like a feminine figure, but the head was far too large, almost inhuman.

“Dean….”

Dean froze at the sound of Sera’s voice floating around the room, the figure becoming more detailed, the large head revealing itself to be a halo of black hair framing Sera’s face.

“No,” Dean said, as if that would change the outcome of the dream.

Of course, it did not, and Sera’s face looked at Dean through a wall of flames, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Why is this happening to me?” Sera cried out, “I was safe, I was happy!”

“I’m sorry!” Dean yelled back, “I didn’t mean to – you’re the one who’s tagging along!”

“You could have stopped me!” Sera shrieked, “And you know it!”

“I just want to be friends again!”

“Oh, just so you can lose me too?!”

“No, Opal!” Dean cried, but Sera just screamed as the flames grew brighter and bigger.

“Dean!”

“Opal!” Dean reached out a hand only to have her vision go white and find herself being shaken awake.

She gasped when she saw Sera’s face above hers and bolted upright, smacking their foreheads together.

Both girls yelped and pulled back, clutching their heads as Dean sat up.

“Ah, Jesus – what the hell, Opal?” Dean grunted as she rubbed her eyes and pushed her hair out of her face.

“Sorry! You were yelling, I thought you were having a nightmare!”

“I was. Happens a lot. Why are you dressed like that?”

“Like what? Oh, my PJs!” Sera glanced down at her loose pink shorts and blue top with a pink kitten on it, “It’s Saturday so I don’t have to be anywhere, thought I might get a jump on some research. C’mere.”

Dean stood up off the couch and made her way over to the kitchen counter where Sera had her laptop set up. As Sera poured some coffee, Dean looked her over, seeing how the years had changed her friend.

Sera had grown up of course, a stark difference from her child self, though there were similar aspects. Her face was still round, her eyes the same wide shape, the same pretty brown. Her skin was still dark as ever, her hair was still thick and curly. Back when they were kids, Sera’s mom used to braid her hair in the coolest of ways, and Dean always remembered being so jealous of her friend’s beautiful hair. She was still jealous, though Sera now wore it loose, letting it take its natural shape as a large, gorgeous halo of black hair.

Sera turned to Dean and placed a mug in front of her, and Dean grunted in thanks. She happily drank as Sera sat back down, returning to her laptop.

“So I’m friends with a handful of people who work in haunted houses on ghost tours and stuff like that,” she began, “and I called in a couple of favours in order to get the guest logs. I thought I might cross-reference them and see if there were any common names, and only one person has been to all of the locations with violent ghost sightings recently: Tyler Bradbury.”

“Any solid evidence that this Tyler is our guy?” Dean asked.

“I did a quick search on him, and I found his instagram.” Sera switched tabs to display a social media feed of a young white man with piercings and tattoos, the page absolutely filled with all kinds of New-Age witchcraft. Most of it seemed pretty normal, as far as the New Age wave went, but Dean pointed at one of the photos.

“There, stop there! That one, look.”

Sera scrolled back up and clicked on the picture, enlarging it.

It featured the same young man with black hair and blue eyes, a selfie taken in front of a home-made altar filled with little velvet drawstring bags. There was a caption, reading “Ready for some ghastly chaos, Toronto?”

“That’s him, that’s our witch,” Dean said.

“That seems a little, I dunno….” Sera admitted, “on the nose?”

“You’d be surprised how obvious these people can be once you know what to look for,” Dean scoffed, leaning back, “Is there any way for you to check to see if he’s been to the building?”

“No,” Sera said with a sigh, “we have a guest book, but so many people come and go in that building, and I doubt he would’ve signed in.”

“Well, what about security cams?”

“No way in hell I have access to those. But!” Sera turned to Dean with a smile, “I can get us into the building!”

“Really?” Dean asked.

“Sure! It’s not high-tech or anything, and I need to get my bag from the office anyways. Since it’s a Saturday, it’ll be empty, so I might be able to dig around Anita’s old office and see if I can’t find that spell bag.”

“Her office is still there?!”

“Well...yeah,” Sera replied, “She was killed in it, freaked people out too much. There was a boss a while back that tried to move in, since it is a nice office, but she was way too creeped out by Anita. So everyone has left it alone, it’s pretty much untouched, aside from cleaners of course. Sometimes I like to leave little snacks and stuff on her desk, too.”

“Seriously?” Dean scoffed, “You leave offerings for a ghost? You sure you ain’t a witch?”

Sera just rolled her eyes, “No. I’m just...compassionate for the dead.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cuz the dead have no compassion for us.”

It was the afternoon when Sera strode into her office building, catching the eye of the security guard at the front desk.

“Oh, hey!” He called, looking up from his computer, “Sorry ma’am, but this building isn’t open to the public on weekends.”

“Oh, sorry,” Sera apologized with a smile and a wave, “I work here, up in data analysis and marketing. I stayed late and left my workbag here last night, I’m just gonna zip up and get it.”

The guard looked her over before nodding and waving her through. Sera thanked him before heading to the elevators, but the guard’s voice caught her attention.

“Well, looks like I’m busy today. Sorry ma’am, building is closed on weekends.”

Sera turned to see Dean striding up to the guard’s desk with confidence, wearing nice dress pants, a plain emerald green blouse, and her regular leather jacket.

“Sergeant Dean Winchester, RCMP,” she said as she pulled back her jacket to flash a badge on her hip, “I’ve been tracking a dangerous person and I have reason to believe that they came through here. May I have access to your security footage?”

“Oh, of course Sergeant!” The guard said, quickly standing up from the desk, “Please, right this way.”

Dean nodded and allowed the guard to lead her away. As they passed the elevators, she caught Sera’s eye and winked at her.

Sera just shook her head with a smile and went into the elevator, heading to her floor.

It wasn’t long before she reached her work area, happy to see her bag still sitting at her desk. Sera grabbed that first before heading to the far corner of the area, to an office with opaque walls right along the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Sera took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

It’s daytime, she told herself, she’s not powerful enough to hurt you. Imagine a bubble around yourself. You’re okay.

Sera smiled as she opened the door.

The office was just as she had last seen it – clean, untouched. There were a couple of apples on the desk, left there by Sera. She had taken to leaving little offerings, and the cleaning staff didn’t seem to mind dusting around the food, even throwing it out when it went bad. But the apples had only been on the desk for a day or so, so they were still fresh.

After another quick mental shake, Sera began to poke around the office, opening drawers.

It wasn’t until she reached the middle drawer in the filing cabinet that she saw it – a little violet, hand-sewn bag with a sigil painted on it in dried blood. She tossed it between her hands, feeling the odd weight of it. Not the physical weight – it was actually quite light – but it had a weird spiritual heaviness to it, filling Sera with guilt, rage, sorrow….

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” she said cheerfully as she tossed it in her work bag and snapped the flap shut. Sera then bowed her head before leaving the room and heading back to the elevator.

She made it back down to the main lobby, surprised to see no one at the security desk. Sera supposed that made sense though, since Dean was likely still looking at tapes with the security guard.

As Sera went outside, she considered waiting by the car, but the spell bag was itching at her for some reason, but not in an emotive way. Sera just had a feeling that something was off, and she wanted to check it out as soon as possible.

So, she sent a text to Dean that she was going back to her apartment for some research and headed towards the nearest subway stop.

Dean waited impatiently while Sera came to the door. As it was opened for her, Dean entered the apartment, wasting no time in speaking.

“It’s him – I saw him on the tapes, tracked him to Anita’s office. No cameras in there, probably thanks to the ghost. But I saw him go in and out of the office right around the time the first attack happened. Now all we gotta do is figure out where the bastard lives, and I can take it from there.”

“Dean –” Sera began, but Dean was already looking for her bag and digging out some more comfortable clothes.

“And don’t even think about trying to convince me to let you come along,” Dean continued, pulling out a handgun and checking the ammo, “This is some dark magic we’re dealing with, and I don’t want you anywhere near it until you’ve had some experience in hunting.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you a–”

“So just stay here. I’ll call you before I go in and once I come out.”

“Dean!” Sera suddenly yelled, clapping her hands and finally catching Dean’s attention. She turned to see Sera standing in front of the kitchen counter, which had her laptop as well as a bunch of random stuff laid out.

“What?” Dean asked.

“I don’t think this Tyler is our guy,” Sera said, gesturing to the stuff on the counter.

“Did you not hear me? I saw him go into Anita’s office before the attacks!”

“Yeah, but….something about this isn’t right.” Sera turned to the counter and Dean followed, looking at all the stuff laid out.

“What is this?”

“It’s the spell bag I found in Anita’s,” Sera explained, “I’ve been going over the ingredients since I got home, and some of this stuff is pretty run of the mill witch ingredients; astragalus, birch bark, ashes – even graveyard dirt and blood are pretty common for spells, even benign ones.”

“Okay,” Dean said, “so what seems to be the issue?”

“There’s a bunch of stuff in here that is basically impossible to get. We’ve got bones and as far as I can tell, they’re human.”

“So someone went gravedigging,” Dean said with a shrug, “It’s not exactly hard. What’re these?” Dean pointed at a pile of teeth as well as some pointed black things.

“Crows’ beaks, I think. And I’m almost certain that these are big cat teeth. I think they might be tiger or lion, but I don’t know. Either way, that is some black market kinda s**t, impossible to get.”

“Maybe he’s got some kinda connections? You never know.”

“But it doesn’t fit,” Sera said with an annoyed sigh, gesturing to her laptop, which was still open to Tyler’s insta page, “Tyler seems to be kind of a dunce, in all honesty. Not a bad witch though – his stuff seems pretty legit, at least from the perspective of his social media.”

“And how would you know what’s ‘legit’?” Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, um,” Sera said with a nervous chuckle, “I’m kinda into this stuff, even done a spell or two.”

“I thought you said you weren’t a witch?”

“I’m not!” Sera defended, flinging her hands up in a ‘surrender’ type of gesture, “I just think it’s neat stuff! Remember, I live a very boring life, so I kinda started getting more into the psychic stuff, which led me to some witchy stuff. The most I’ve done is spend way too much on crystals and maybe make a sleep spell or two.”

“...Alright,” Dean finally said, eyeing her friend up, “just don’t let me catch you sacrificing black cats or anything.”

“No worries there,” Sera joked, “I’m allergic to cats! Anyways, I’ve checked this guy out, and he’s super public about his craft. That’s not completely abnormal, considering the whole New Age wave and all that, but it’s totallu out of left field for him to have access to s**t like human knuckles and lion’s teeth. Oh! And this!”

Sera held up a small piece of black fabric with some kind of sigil written on it in blood. She picked it up with a tissue so she wasn’t touching it, which Dean had to admit was smart.

“Every witch does their sigils a little differently, sorta like how everyone’s handwriting is different. This style is way too sharp and precise, it looks really practised. It doesn’t fit his style, look.”

Sera scrolled down to a picture of a few drawn sigils, and while Dean didn’t really know too much about magic itself, she had to admit that Tyler’s sigils were loopier, almost messier.

“Okay….” Dean finally admitted, “so some stuff isn’t adding up, but no one else came anywhere near that office, and he fits all the other information.”

“I’m not sure,” Sera sighed, then she smiled, “But I think it’s worth paying our friend a visit.”

Dean and Sera didn’t have to wait long before Tyler opened the door.

“Um, hello?” He asked as he looked the two of them over. They probably looked like quite a pair; Dean in her loose jeans, plaid shirt, and leather jacket; Sera with a long pastel purple skirt and soft yellow sweater.

“You Tyler?” Dean asked.

“Yes?”

“Good.”

Dean shoved past him into his apartment, leaving Sera to follow along.

“Hey, what the hell?!” Tyler demanded, watching as the two girls entered his apartment, looking around at the messy place, “Who are you?! Get out!”

“Watch yourself,” Dean said coldly, shooting him a glare, “You’re just lucky I’m not trying to kill you right now.”

“What?!” He cried, “I’m calling the cops!”

Before he could reach his phone, Dean slammed him chest-first into the wall, pressing his face into it as she held onto his back.

“Opal, find the spell bags!”

“I’m on it!” She replied cheerfully as she began to dig through his apartment, opening drawers.

“Wait, are you guys with that Chaos Witch?!” Tyler cried, muffled slightly by the wall, “The-the bags are in the cupboard above the toaster! With the bread!”

“Got it!” Sera said as she found the bags nestled amongst some whole-wheat nonsense, “Woah, there’s so many of them!”

“Now just what the hell were you planning on doing with all those?” Dean growled in his ear, “And who is this Chaos Witch?”

“I was gonna burn ‘em, I swear!” Tyler cried, “Please just lemme explain!”

“Alright,” Dean said as she leaned off of him, grabbing him by the shoulder and maneuvering him to the couch. She and Sera stood over him, the bags on the coffee table between them.

“Talk.”

“Okay okay!” Tyler said before taking a breath, “Look, a few weeks ago, I started getting more attention online for my witchy stuff. It was all fun, and I was totally about it! Someone started DMing me with the name “ChaosWitch”, asking about my thoughts on witchcraft, why I practiced, that sorta thing. I tried following their account, but all of their stuff was private. Anyways, after a little bit, they offered me this weird opportunity, some kinda test. They’d supply me with these spell bags and I would have to put them in haunted buildings around town. All they said was that it would cause some chaos. If I did well, they would teach me more, and I could do some crazy magic. So I agreed – but I had no idea what the bags were gonna do!” Tyler defended, “I thought it was just gonna be regular, run of the mill witchy s**t; people forgetting their keys, tripping over their feet, minor s**t!”

“So lemme get this straight,” Dean snarled, “You agreed to put spell bags in about a dozen buildings across Toronto, for someone you met on the internet with no public profile, and you didn’t even know what they did?!”

“I had no idea it would be this powerful!” He cried, “I didn’t realize this stuff was legit!”

“Well then not only are you an i***t,” Dean spat, “you’re a dangerous one. People died because of you!”

“Please don’t hurt me!” He begged, wide eyes filling with tears, “I had no idea, I didn’t mean it! I went back and got all the curses! I was gonna burn them tonight, I just needed the one from the office building, but it was gone when I went to go get it!”

“That’s because I found it,” Sera said sadly, looking down at Tyler with disappointment in her eyes, “and I saw what was in it. It didn’t even take me an hour to parse together the components, figure out it was a ghost strengthening spell. Your laziness and hunger for power has led to death. I think it’s only fair that we should kill you.”

“No, please!” He begged, beginning to openly cry.

“Damn, Opal,” Dean said with a crooked smirk, “I’m surprised. Pleasantly, but still surprised. Didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I don’t,” Sera admitted with a sigh, turning back to Tyler, “Life isn’t fair, and quite frankly, I’m not in any position to play God. I can only hope you’ve learned your lesson.”

“Wait, so we’re not killing him?”

“No! He didn’t know what he was doing!”

“That’s no excuse!”

“Criminal negligence is still bad, but he shouldn’t be killed for it!”

“So what do we suggest we do?!”

“I dunno!” Sera threw her hands up in frustration, “You’re the hunter! You think of something!”

“Argh!” Dean yelled, looking around the apartment, “Alright uh….I guess I could chop his hand off or something.”

“What?! No please!”

“Dean! That’s too much! Just like, threaten him or burn his tarot cards!”

“Take anything!” Tyler begged, “Please, just let me go!”

“Ugh, he’s a p***y,” Dean complained, “he’s just not worth it. If you don’t think he’s gonna kill anyone, then I guess it’s fine.”

“Alright,” Sera said with a shrug, “I’m good with that.”

“So you’re….going to let me go?”

“Unfortunately,” Dean sighed, “C’mon Opal, let’s go.”

“Kay!” She chirped as the two began to exit the apartment, Sera gathering the spell bags into her bag to burn later.

Just as they were about to leave, Dean paused.

“Dean?” Sera asked, already in the hallway of the apartment building.

“I’ll just be a sec,” Dean said, patting her pockets as she looked around, “I think I dropped my lighter when I tossed him around.”

“Okay! I’ll just be outside!”

“Yeah, this won’t take long.”

Sera nodded as the door shut, then Dean turned to Tyler with a glare. He was still sitting on the couch, watching the two of them. He yelped when he saw Dean turn back to him, ducking back behind the couch.

“Oh, calm down,” Dean scoffed, marching back over to him and hauling him to his feet, “I ain’t gonna kill you.”

“T-then what?”

“I’m just gonna threaten you,” she snarled, getting in close to his face, watching his eyes grow in fear, “Because ya see, Opal’s a sweetheart, but she’s not a hunter. Not yet. You got lucky, because if it was up to me, you’d be in a dumpster fire by now. Because I don’t want to disappoint my friend, I’m going to let you live. But I’ve got my eye on you – if I hear even a whisper of trouble in your neck of the woods, I know who to go to. You got that?”

“Yes!” He yelped, still crying.

“God, you’re pathetic. Best hope we never meet again, for your sake.”

As soon as Dean let go of him, he fell to the couch and began to weep. Dean just rolled her eyes as she left the apartment, reaching into her pocket to pull out her green lighter.

“Did you find it?” Sera asked.

“Yeah,” Dean said with a chuckle, “it was actually in my pocket!”

“Uh huh,” Sera said as she looked Dean over, “So why is Tyler crying?”

“I just gave him a warning while I was looking around, told him to watch his step, he’s just a baby. C’mon, let’s go back to your place.”

“Sure!” Sera replied cheerfully, the two of them walking down the hallway, “Hey, what’re you thinking for dinner?”

“Depends, you paying?”

“You’re already crashing on my couch! Why do I have to buy you dinner?!”

“Because I’m gonna have to be the one paying the bills from now on,” Dean explained with a shrug, “so you may as well treat me while you can!”

“And why is that?”

“Well, like I said before, hunting isn’t exactly a viable career option, and it’s not very legal either. So I live off the grid – I do cash jobs, gamble, pawn cool s**t I find, run a couple of credit card scams to hold me over if I need them.”

“Oh. So I basically can’t buy anything from now on?”

“You might want to withdraw everything in your bank account,” Dean advised, “Do everything you can to get all the cash you need.”

“Right.” Sera sighed, “Man, I guess I didn’t realize how….different hunting is. I can’t imagine just living on the road like that, off the grid, cash only. I almost never have cash on me.”

“Y’know…” Dean said slowly, eyeing Sera as they both got in the elevator, “you don’t have to do this. In fact, I think it might be better for everyone if you didn’t get into the hunting life.”

Sera frowned, looking at Dean with sad brown eyes and a pout, “Are you...saying you don’t want me to come with you?”

“What? Oh, no!” Dean quickly amended, “That’s not what I meant! I just – it’s really dangerous, and I don’t wanna have to worry about you, but you’re my friend and I’m happy to have you along but hunting isn’t easy and –”

Dean was interrupted by Sera’s giggle, “Dean, I’m kidding! I know you’re just worried about me. Besides, I never said different was bad. In fact, I think ‘different’ is exactly what I need.”

“Really?” Dean asked with a smile, “Well then, let’s go celebrate being different, yeah?”

Sera smiled back at her friend, “Yeah. I think that’s a great idea.”