SuperPotter 3

Chapter 14 Chapter 14 Long-Distance Call

Sam and Hermione walk across a city square towards Dean, who is sitting on a bench.

'Yep. I got it. Okay, bye,' Dean says into the phone. He hangs up then in one motion picks up and throws two unopened cans of soda to Sam and Hermione. He stands up and shoves the last of the food he is eating into his mouth. 'So?' He asks chewing.

'So, the professor doesn't know crap,' Sam responds.

'Shocking. Pack your panties, we're hitting the road,'

'What? What's up?'

'That was Bobby. Some banker guy blew his head off in Ohio and he thinks there's a spirit involved,'

'So you two were talking about a case?'

'No, we were actually talking about our feelings. And then our favourite boy bands. yeah, we were talking about a case!'

'So a spirit, what?' Hermione asks.

'Yeah, the banker was talking about some sort of electrical problems at his pad for like a week. Phone was going haywire, the computer was flipping on and off,' Dean explains.

'Huh...' Sam thinks out loud.

'This is not ringing your bell?' Dean asks him.

'Well, sure, yeah. But, Dean, we're already on a case,' Sam points out.

'Whose?'

'Yours,' Hermione responds.

'Right. Yeah. Well, you coulda fooled me,' Dean responds.

'What the hell else have we been doing lately other than trying to break your deal?' Sam asks.

'Chasing our tails, that's what. We've talked to every professor, witch, soothsayer and two bit carny act in the lower 48. Nobody knows squat! And we can't find Bela, we can't find the Colt. So until we actually find something, I'd like to do my job,'

'Well there's one thing we haven't tried yet...'

'Sam, no,'

'We should summon Ruby,'

'I'm not gonna have this fight with you,'

'She said she knows how to save you,'

'Well, she can't,'

'Oh really, you know that for sure?'

'I do,'

'How?' Hermione asks.

'Because she told me, okay!'

'What?' Sam asks.

'She told me. Flat out. She can't save me, nobody can,'

'And you just somehow neglected to mention this to me?'

'Well, I really don't care what that bitch thinks and neither should you, so...'

'So what, now you're keeping secrets from me, Dean?'

'You really wanna talk about who's keeping secrets from who?' Dean asks. They stare at each other in silence for a long moment. Sam turns away. 'Now where are you going?'

'Guess I'm going to Ohio,' 

Sam, Dean and Hermione are in the study of the house where a man had died.

'I found him here,' Mrs Waters says as she points to the room.

'Why don't you tell us everything you saw, Mrs Waters,' Dean points out.

'You mean beside my dead husband?'

'Just everything else you saw. Please,' Sam adds.

Mrs Waters sighs. 'Blood. Everywhere. The phone was ripped from the wall, his favourite scotch on the desk, what else could you possibly want to know?'

'Why was the phone ripped from the wall?' Hermione asks, looking up from her notebook.

'I don't know,'

'You mind if I take a look?' Sam asks.

'I already went over this with the other detectives,'

'We'll be out of your hair in no time, ma'am,' Dean points out.

'Ma'am, what time did your husband die?' Sam asks, pressing a few buttons.

Mrs Waters sighs again. 'Sometime after 11,'

Sam waits until Dean looks at him, then taps the phone display. 'What about strange phone calls? Receive any of those lately, weird interference, static, anything like that?' Dean asks.

'No,' Mrs Waters responds in a defensive tone. Dean raises his eyebrows at her. 'No!'

'Mrs Waters, withholding information form the police is a capital offence,' Sam noisily clears his throat. Dean glances at him and receives a bitchface. 'In some parts of the world I'm sure,' Dean says under his breath.

'A couple of weeks ago, uh...there was this...'

'This what?'

'I woke up one morning, I heard Ben in his study. I thought he was talking to a woman,'

'What made you think that?' Sam asks.

'Because he kept calling her Linda. The thing is, I picked up the other line and nobody was there, Ben was talking to nobody,'

'There was nothing?'

'Just static,'

'Did you ever speak to Ben about this phone call?'

'No. I should have but...no,'

'Did he ever say who Linda was?' Hermione asks.

Mrs Waters was getting upset. 'What difference does it make, there was nobody on the other end!' The trio exchange a look.

Dean is sitting with Hermione at the table as he's on the laptop. Sam is laying on the bed.

'Linda is a babe. Or, was,' Dean points out.

Sam rises up. 'Did you find her?'

'Yeah, Linda Bateman,' Hermione moves closer towards Dean to see the laptop screen. 'She and Ben Waters were high school sweethearts,'

'So what happened?'

'Drunk driver hit them head on. Ben walked away,'

'So, what then? Dead flame calls to chat?'

'You would think, but Linda was cremated. So why's she still floating around?'

'You got me,' Hermione responds.

'What about that, uh, caller I.D?'

'Turns out, it's a phone number,' Sam answers.

'No phone number I've ever seen,'

'Yeah, because it's about a century old, back from when phones had cranks,'

'So why use that number to reach out and touch someone?'

'Got me there too, but we should put a trace on it,'

'Well how the hell are we going to put a trace on something that's over 100 years old?'

Sam, Dean and Hermione follow a suited man down the stairs and along a hallway.

'We don't get many folks from HQ down here,' The man points out.

'Yess well the main office mentioned that there would be lunch,' Dean responds. Sam gives Dean a bitchface behind the man's back. Dean shrugs.

'Well I'm sure we can arrange something. The man you wanna be speaking to is right this...' Sam swipes at a fly that has flown into his hair. 'I know, sorry. We've got something of a hygiene issue down here if you ask me.' The man enters the basement office. 'Stewie? What did I tell you about keeping this place clean,'

Stewie sits at a large console with multiple screens and keyboards. Various packets and junk food are strewn about. He jumps at their entrance and desperately tries to close down the multiple screens in front of him showing advertisements for porn sites. 'Spam mail...spam mail...' Stewie says as he quickly clicks it all away.

'Stewie Myers. Mr Campbell. Mr Raimi. Ms Baker,'

'I don't know how all this got here...' Stewie responds, still clicking.

The man reaches out and flicks the back of Stewie's head, making him jump again and grunt. 'From headquarters?' Stewie spins around in his chair, then quickly crosses his legs and places his hands together on his lap. 'Give these gentlemen and lady whatever they need,'

'Yeah,' The man leaves. 'So... Can I help you?'
Dean checks to make sure the man is gone, then gestures towards the screen. He smirkes. 'Is that, ahhh, BustyAsianBeauties.com?'

'No,' Stewie answers quickly.

'Oh, me so horny,' The woman on the computer says.

Stewie quickly clicks again. 'Maybe,'

'A word to the wise? Platinum membership? Worth every penny. Ha?' Dean nods knowingly. Hermione looks over towards Dean with a questioning look.

'Right, anyway. We're here to trace a number' Sam jumps in. He hands Stewie a piece of paper.

'Where did you get this?'

'Off caller I.D,'

'Oh no, that's impossible,'

'It hasn't been used in a few years, we know,' Dean replies.

'A few years? It's prehistoric. Trust me, nobody is using this number anymore,'

'Could you run it anyway, please?' Hermione asks.

'Sure. Why don't I just rearrange my whole life first,' Stewie replies snarkily. Dean and Sam glance at each other.

Dean leans closer to Stewie. 'Listen, uh, Stewie. You got like six kinds of employee code violations down here, not to mention the sickening porn that is clogging up your hard drive. Now when my partner says run the number, I suggest you run the number!' Sam and Dean give Stewie a hard look. While Hermione keeps the polite almost treating smile up. He looks between them then turns back to his console. Dean grins and Hermione smiles back.

'Okay, whatever, jeez!' Stewie clicks a few more buttons. One of his screens fills up with a long list of numbers. 'Holy crap,'

'What?' Sam asks.

'I can't tell you where the number comes from, but I can tell you where it's been going,'

'What do you mean?'

Stewie pushes print, goes to the printer and hands some paper to Sam. 'Ten different numbers in the past few weeks, all got calls from the same number,' He looks between Sam, Dean and Hermione as they stare at each other, then sighs and walks between them back to his console. He sits and stares at it for a moment, then looks back. 'So, are we done here? Cause I was...sort of...busy?'

Dean smirks. 'Right,'

Sam and Hermione get out of a rental car. They make their way up a footpath, knocking on the door. It gets opened by a middle-aged man. His son comes to stand beside him, around 6-7 years old.

'Yeah?' The man asks.

'Hello sir, we are with the phone company,' Sam replies.

'We didn't call the phone company,'

'Oh no sir, we're calling you. We've had a lot of complaints from the neighbourhood lately,' Hermione responds.

'Complaints?'

'Yes sir. Dropped calls, static, maybe even a strange voice on the other end of the line?' Sam explains. A teenage girl steps into the hallway while Sam is speaking, looking startled.

'No, we haven't had any of that here,'

'Nothing?'

'No,'

'Okay. Great, just thought we'd check. Thanks,'

'No problem,' The man moves to his son. 'Come on, Simon,' As they turn to close the door Sam sees the girl staring at them, looking scared. She turns away as the door closes. Sam stares after her.

Sam and Hermione return to the car. As Sam opens the door the girl appears.

'No way you work for the phone company,' She points out.

'Sure we do,' Sam responds.

'Since when does a phone guy drive a rental or wear a cheap suit?'

Sam huffs a laugh. 'Yeah, well. Maybe we're both keeping secrets,'

'Why did you ask my Dad if he's hearing strange voices on the phone?'

'Why, did you hear something?' Hermione asks.

'No,'

'My mistake, I thought maybe you did,'

'Well I didn't, okay?'

Sam smiles. 'Okay. Sorry to bother you,' The girl looks uncomfortable but doesn't move. Sam looks down at his keys. 'Because you know...if you did...then I would have told you that I've been right where you're standing right now. Hearing things, even seeing things that can't be explained. Maybe I would have been able to help out a little bit. Anyway...'

'Hey wait. Maybe...maybe I've been talking on the phone...with my Mom,'

'Well that's not so strange,'

'She's dead. Like three years now,'

'How often does she call you?' Hermione asks.

'A few times. It started a week ago. I thought I was like, crazy or something,'

'Well I can tell you one thing for sure, and you're going to have to go with me on this, okay? You're not crazy,' Sam informs her.

Sam and Hermione are sitting in the rental car when Sam's phone starts to ring.

'Yeah,' He answers as he puts the phone on speaker so Hermione could listen along.

'Dude, stiffs have been calling people all over town,' Dean says.

'Yeah, tell us about it,'

'I just talked to an 84 year old grandmother who is having phone sex with her husband, who died in Korea!'

'Eww,' Hermione and Sam respond.

'It redefined my understanding of the word "Necrophilia",'

'So what the hell is going on here, Dean?' Sam asks.

'Beats me, but we'd better find out soon. This place is turning into spook central,'

'Yeah. All right, I'll call you later,'

'Yeah,' They hang up.

Sam and Hermione sit at the table of the motel room, looking at Dean who is pacing around the room.

'Dad? You really think it was Dad?' Sam asks.

'I don't know, maybe,'

'Well what did he sound like?'

'Like Oprah! Like Dad, he sounded like Dad, what do you think?'

'What did he say?' Hermione asks.

'My name,'

'That's it?' Sam asks.

'Call dropped out,'

'Why would he even call in the first place, Dean?'

'I don't know, man. Why are ghosts calling anybody in this town? But I mean, other people are hearing from their loved ones, why can't we? It's at least a possibility, right?'

'Yeah, I guess?'

'Okay, so what if...what if it really is Dad? What happens if he calls back?'

'What do you mean?'

'What do I say?'

'Hello,'

'Hello?' Sam shrugs. 'That's what you come back with. Hello?'

'Uhh...'

Dean grabs his jacket and heads for the door. 'Hello!' Dean walks out. Sam and Hermione look after him, concerned. Sam shakes his head.

Later Sam is sitting on the couch with the laptop in front of him. Hermione was sitting at the table looking through some files. Dean returns into the room.

'Find anything?' He asks.

'After three hours we have found no reason why anything supernatural would be going on here,' Sam responds.

'Well, you know, you think a Stanford education and a high school hook up rate of zero point zero would produce better results than that,'
'Hilarious,'

'Sammy, Mione, you're just looking in the wrong places,'

'And what are the right places, Dean?' Hermione asks.

Dean reaches into his jacket pocket. 'Motel pamphlet rack,' He drops some literature on the coffee table. 'Milan, Ohio. Birthplace of Thomas Edison,'

Sam flicks through the papers. 'Yeah, right. So what?'

'Keep reading,'

Sam scoffs slightly and keeps looking. He sighs, but after a few moments his eyebrows go up and he looks at Dean. 'You're kidding,' Dean raises his eyebrows back, smiling.

A young female guide shepherds a tour through the museum.

'And we're walking. And, here we have one of the museum's most unique and treasured possessions. Thomas Edison's "spirit phone". Did you know that Mr Edison, as well as being one of America's most beloved inventors, was also a devout "occultist?" Ooh!'

'What's with the quote-y fingers?' Dean whispers to Sam and Hermione.

'He spent years working on this, his final invention, which he was convinced could be used to "communicate" with the "dead". Pretty spooky, huh?' The guide checks her watch, twirls her fingers in the air and begins leading the group into the next room. 'And we're walking. We are walking. We're walking. And we're not touching that. And we're walking. And stop,' Sam quickly gets out his EMF and holds it over the spirit phone.

'Anything?' Dean asks.

'Nothing,'

'What do you think?'

'Honestly? It kinda looks like and old pile of junk to me,'

'It's not even plugged in,' Dean points out.

'Maybe it didn't work like that,' Hermione responds.

'Okay. Maybe it's like a radio tower, broadcasting the dead all over town,'

'Could be,' Sam responds.

'You know, this caller I.D. is 100 years old, right? Right around the time this thing was built,'

'Yeah, but why would it all of a sudden start working now?'

'I don't know. But as long as the mouldy are calling the freshers around here it's the best reason we've got,'

'Yeah, maybe,'

'So maybe it really is Dad,'

Sam and Hermione are sleeping. Dean is sitting at the table with a large takeaway coffee cup in his hand. His phone is lying beside him. He stares into space. The phone rings, the display shows "SHA33". Dean grabs it quickly and heads into the bathroom.

'Dad?' He whispers into the phone.

'Dean,'

'Is it really you?'

'It's me,' John responds.

'How can I be sure?'

'You can't. Dean, how could you do it?'

'What?'

'Sell your soul,'

'I was looking after Sam, like you told me to,' Dean responds concerned.

'I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy, I love you. I can't watch you go to hell, Dean,'

'I'm sorry. I don't know how to stop it,'

'Because if you break the deal Hermione dies, right?'

'What?'

'Well I know a way out. For both of you,'

'How?'

'The demon who holds your contract. He's here. Now,'

The next morning Dean is typing furiously on the laptop. Hermione is writing down some stuff in her notebook, sometimes glancing over towards Dean concerned. Sam enters the motel room.

'What's up?' Dean asks.

'That girl Lanie, her Mom's ghost spooked her out pretty bad last night,' Sam answers.

'That sucks,'

'Yeah it does. What are you doing?'

'I think Dad's right. I think the demon is here. Check it out,' Dean hands Sam some papers and goes to his bag.

'What is this, weather reports?'

'Omens. Demonic omens. Electrical storms everywhere we've been for the past two weeks,'

'Ahh...I don't remember any lightning storms,'

'Well, I don't remember you studying meteorology as a kid either. But I'm telling you, that bastard's been tailing me...wearing some poor dude's meat,'

'And it's following you because...' Sam starts. He looks over towards Hermione hoping that she would be on his side. But instead she was looking down at the table with a sad frown on her face.

'I guess I'm big game, you know. My ass is too sweet to let outta sight,'

'Okay. Sure,'

Dean snatches the papers back. 'Don't get too excited, Sammy. Might pull something,'

'Dean, look, I wanna believe this man, I really do...'

'Then believe it! If we get this sucker, it's Miller Time,'

'Yeah, that's another thing. Dad rattles off an exorcism that can kill a demon? I mean not just send it back to hell, but kill it?'

'We've checked it out. This is heavy duty Dark Ages. Fifteenth century,'

'Yeah, I've checked on it too Dean. And so did Bobby,'

'Okay, and?'

'Look. It definitely is an exorcism, okay, there's just no evidence it can kill a demon,'

'No evidence it can't,'

'Come on man...'

'Hey, as far as I'm aware the only one of us who has actually been to hell is Dad. And maybe he picked up a couple of tricks down there, like which exorcisms work,'

'Maybe it does. I hope it does too, but we gotta be sure,'

'Why aren't we sure?' Dean asks.

'Because I don't know what's going on around here Dean! I mean, some guy blows his brains out, a little girl is scared out of her wits,'

'Wow, a couple of civvies are freaked out by some ghosts. News flash Sam, people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts!' Dean looks over towards Hermione. 'Tell him Hermione,'

'Tell me what huh?' Hermione rubs over her left under arm and looks at the boys, who stare at her. Sam sighs and Dean drops his head in frustration. 'Dad tell you where to find the demon?'

'I'm waiting for the call!' Dean shouts.

Sam sighs again. 'I told Lanie I'd stop by,'

'Oh, good yeah. No, you go hang out with jailbait. Just, uh, watch out for Chris Hansen. Meanwhile I'll be here getting ready to, you know, save my life,' Sam keeps moving towards the door. 'You're unbelievable, you know that? I mean for months we've been trying to break this demon deal. Now Dad's about to give us the freaking address and you can't accept it? The man is dead and you're still butting heads with the guy!'

'That is not what this is about,'

'So what is it!' Dean shouts.

'The fact is we've got no hard proof here, Dean. After everything, you're still just going on blind faith!'

'Yeah, well maybe! You know, maybe that's all I got, okay?' They stare at each other again. Dean looks down.

'Please. Just please don't go anywhere until I get back. Okay, Dean? Please,' Dean remains silent. Sam shakes his head and turns for the door. Dean watches him go and continues staring at the door for a long moment. He shakes his head and moves to sit heavily at the table.

'Just go with him,' He says towards Hermione. She is about to say something but he stops her. 'You clearly don't believe in it either. So don't stay here with me, because you feel like you owe me something. I'll just save myself alone,'

'Dean, that's not true we want to...' But Dean isn't listening anymore. Hermione gets up and walks over towards the door. She glances back one last time before following Sam.

'Have you told your father about any of this?' Sam asks towards Lanie as he and Hermione had arrived there.

'And bother him at work? No. He wouldn't believe me anyway, he'd just chuck me into therapy,'

'So what did your mother say?'

'She wanted to see me. So at first I thought I was supposed to go to the cemetery,'

Did you?'

Lanie nods. 'Nothing happened. But then she started asking me to do other things,'

'What sort of things?'

'Bad things,'

'Lanie please. Tell me what happened, it's very important,'

'Mom told me to go to Dad's medicine cabinet,'
'And?'

'She wanted me to take his sleeping pills, take all of his sleeping pills,'

'She wanted you to kill yourself?' Hermione asks.

Lanie nods and starts crying. 'Why would my Mom want me to do that?'

'I don't know,'

'I mean, just so I could come to her?'

'What did you say?'

'She wanted me to come to her,'

'No, how'd she say it?'

'"Come to me". Like a million times,'

'Lanie. That's not your mother,'

Dean sits at the table staring at nothing. His phone rings and he snatches it up.

'Dad?'

'Yeah,'

'Where is the demon?'

Dean pulls up to a stop at a suburban street and gets out. He grabs his weapon's bag from the trunk, looks around and moves towards a house.

'Listen to me. Don't answer the phone. Don't use the computer. Don't do anything unless I say so, all right?' Sam asks. Sam and Hermione start down the stairs, until Sam realizes Lanie is not following them. 'Lanie,'

Lanie is standing in a doorway. 'Where is Simon?'

Dean quietly enters and moves down the hallway, listening. A floorboard creaks on the second floor.

'Hello?' He asks. Dean drops a rosary into a large bottle of water. He grabs a paint can and starts shaking it before spraying a devil's trap on the floor.

Sam rushes to the road as Simon was walking across the road. He grabs him and dives for the verge. They lay panting as the truck roars past.

'Dean, it's not Dad,' Sam says on the phone with Dean as he and Hermione are back in the rental car.

'Then what is it?' Dean asks.

'A crocatta,'

'Is that a sandwich?'

'Some kind of scavenger. Mimics loved ones, whispers "Come to me", then lures you into the dark and swallows your soul,'

'A crocotta, right, damn that makes sense,'

'Dean, look, I'm sorry man, I know...'

'Hey, don't these things live in filth?' Dean asks, deflecting the conversation.

'Yeah,'

'Sam, the flies at the phone company,' Sam and Dean hang up the phone and they start to head over towards the phone company. Sam looks over at Hermione who leaned her head against the window and was fiddling with an angel wings charm.

'New necklace?' Sam asks.

Hermione snaps out of her thoughts and looks down at her necklace with a surprised face. 'Oh this. No it's uh quiet an old thing,' She responds hastily. Sam looks confused at her.

'You've been quiet. Are you all right?' Hermione sighs. 'Is it about Dean?'

'Yeah...I've just been feeling a bit guilty about this whole situation,'

'What do you mean?'

'I just can't forget what Dean said when you had left,'

'What did he say?'

'Dean always puts himself last when helping others and now he needs our help, we don't help him,'

'Venefica you must remember that it wasn't real. It was just something that the crocatta made up,'

'I know but... you didn't see him after you left. He looked as if there was no-one that cared for him. Like he was all on his own,'
Sam looks ahead of the road and says nothing. He wasn't sure what he should say.

Sam and Hermione creep along an alley and peek in a window at Stewie, sitting at his console. They get distracted by a banging noise. When they look back Stewie is leaving the room. They run back up the alley. Stewie is leaving the building. Sam and Hermione hide behind a van.

'Call Dean,' He orders Hermione. Hermione grabs her phone and holds it to her ear.

'This is Herman Munster. Leave a message,' Dean's voicemail goes.

'Dean, we're in the parking lot. He's here. Hurry,' Hermione looks over towards Sam who was already on his way towards Stewie. Instead of following Sam, Hermione stays behind the van. 'Um there is something else I want to say it might not be a good timing but I really need to get this off my chest,'

Stewie unlocks his car. Sam rushes him, pushing him into the car and holds a metal spike to the back of Stewie's neck.

'What the hell!' Stewie grunts.

'I know what you are,'

'Wait, mister,'

'And I know how to kill you,'

'Please. Okay, wait, wait. If we're overcharging you for the call waiting or something I...I can fix that. I am your friend!' Sam looks confused. 'Please. Please just don't kill me!' The manager sneaks up behind Sam. 'Don't kill me, please!' The manager hits Sam over the head with a bat. Sam slumps to the ground. Stewie turns around, when he notices the manager, he grins and starts bouncing up and down. 'Yeah! That's what happens when you mess with the phone company, dillweed! Thank you, Clark!'

Clark lifts the bat again. 'Forget about it,'

'Clark?' Clark smashes Stewie with the bat.

Stewie and Sam are tied to chairs in the phone company basement.

'I'm sorry, Clark. I'm sorry for whatever I did to you. I'm sorry...please...' Stewie snivels.

'Wait! Don't do it,' Sam says as he comes back to his senses.

'You're awake,' Clark says to Sam. Clark leans over Stewie and places the tip of a knife against his thigh.

'You're not a killer Clark, no! There's a good man inside of you. I know it,'

'What do you think, Sammy, am I a good man?'

'Just let him go,'

'I would. I really would. If only I'd had more than a salad for lunch. You see, I'm starving,' He lifts the knife high above his head and plunges it into Stewie's chest.

'No!' Sam shouts. Clark moves in front of Stewie's body. His mouth opens, revealing a blood red interior and razor sharp spikes. He crouches slightly, holds Stewie by both shoulders and unhinges his jaw, his mouth becoming impossibly wide. Placing his mouth close to Stewie's face he sucks in his energy. Sam shudders and looks away. Clark stands, wiping his mouth. 'My last call with Dean. That was you. You led me here,'

'Some calls I make, some calls I take, but you have to admit, I had you fooled for a while. All that Edison phone crap,' Clark laughs and moves over to the telephone exchange cabinet. He places his hands against the glass and leans back in ecstasy.

'What are you doing?'

'I'm killing your brother. Or maybe I'm killing another guy. We'll just have to see how it goes,' Clark removes his hands from the glass and walks over towards Stewie. He pulls the knife out of Stewie's chest.

'You know, mimicking Dean is one thing. But my Dad. That's a hell of a trick,'

'Well once I made you three as hunters, it was easy. I found Dean's number, then your number, then your father's number. Then emails, voicemails, everything. You see, people think that stuff just gets erased, but it doesn't. You'd be surprised how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked,'

'Dean is not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy,'

'Then the guy kills him,'

Car headlights shine across the window into the room where Dean waits. He silently moves towards the hallway. A car door slams. Dean removes the lid from the bottle of holy water. He hears a noise toward the back of the house and frowns, moving down the hallway towards the back door. He pauses, then looks from the back to the front door. The back door slams open and the man appears, raising a rifle and firing. Dean leaps out of the way, dropping the bottle of holy water. The man begins reloading the rifle. Dean glances at the holy water as it is draining away. He waits to hear the bullet shell being removed and runs for the man, using his forward movement to slam him back into the wall. He hits him a few times, then knees him viciously. The man drops the rifle, Dean moves towards it but the man follows, grabbing Dean and slamming him backwards onto a table. He gets in a few hits before Dean headbutts him. As the man falls backwards to the ground Dean kicks him in the stomach. He kicks him four times, pauses, then kicks him once more, even more viciously, grunting as he does so.

Clark stands over Sam. 'Technology. Makes life so much easier. Used to be hiding in the woods for days, weeks, whispering to people, trying to draw them out into the night. But they had a community, they all looked out for each other, I'd be lucky to eat one or two souls a year. Now when I'm hungry, I simply make a phone call. You're all so connected. But you've never been so alone,' Clark opens his mouth and begins to unhinge his jaw while raising his knife. While he was talking Hermione sneaked up behind him. She uses her magic to throw Clark away from Sam. He falls to the ground losing the knife. Hermione rushes over towards Sam to untie him from the chair.

'Hermione watch out!' Sam shouts as Clark thrusts the knife into Hermione's shoulder. Hermione screams and tries to get the knife out of her shoulder. Sam erupts out of the chair and grabs onto Clark, falling to the ground. Clark grabs Sam's jacket and swings him around into a metal grate. Hermione pulls the knife out of her shoulder and flinches. She throws the knife into the back of Clark.

Dean and the man slam through a glass door. The man is groggy. Dean quickly reaches for the man's belt. He pulls out a handgun, flicking the cartridge out and tossing it aside. As the man struggles to get to his feet, covered in glass, Dean pulls back the rug, showing the devil's trap sprayed onto the floor. He turns away, pulling the exorcism out of his pocket. The man, confused, stares at the markings on the floor.

'What is this?' He asks.

'Your funeral,' Dean begins the exorcism in Latin. The man glares at him and slowly moves forward out of the circle.

'You do this to my daughter too?'

Dean stares at the devil's trap. 'How the hell did you get out?'

'Did you do this to my daughter too?' The man shouts.

'Wait, this is a mistake,'

'You killed her!!'

'No, wait,' The man leaps at Dean.

Sam gets up and hits Clark, who was distracted by the knife Hermione had thrown into his back. They exchange blows as they move about the room. Sam hits Clark, forcing him backwards into the wall. One of the spikes on the corkboard, jams into the back of Clark's neck, killing him.

The man falls on Dean as he lies on the ground, laying onto him.

'She was nine years old!!'

'Stop! I didn't! You gotta believe me!' The man keeps hitting him. Dean manages to twist around and grab the rifle, smacking the man in the forehead with the butt. He falls backwards. Dean rises, standing over the man.

'Why did you kill her?' Man asks, crying.

'I'm sorry. I didn't kill your daughter,'

'Then what are you doing here?'

'I don't know,'

Dean enters the motel room. Hermione and Sam weren't there yet. He walks over towards the bathroom to clean his wound. He hopes that Hermione would still want to heal his wounds even after the way he had acted before. Dean grabs his phone and notices a voicemail from Hermione. He plays it and puts the phone on the sink as he looks at his face.

'Dean, we're in the parking lot. He's here. Hurry,' Hermione says. It's quiet for a moment. Dean wonders if that's the whole message. 'Um there is something else I want to say it might not be a good timing but I really need to get this off my chest. I'm sorry, Dean. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you are all alone in this. But you're not, we are still here and we want to help you. I guess the reason I didn't believe in it was because I didn't want it to be false hope. We've been let down so many times already. You know I would've rather wanted me and Sam to be wrong and that you were right. We—I care about you Dean. I might not say it that often but...' Hermione lets out a soft chuckle. 'But I do. And you did so much for us, you were always there to help people. And we weren't there for you. It is selfish, I won't deny that. We need you Dean and we can still try that exorcism. Maybe there is still hope, I want to believe in that. I—Shit! I gotta go. Please come and help us,' The message ends. Dean holds the facecloth to his cut eye, letting Hermione's words come over to him. Sam enters the room and comes to the door of the bathroom followed by Hermione, who was holding a bloodied cloth against her shoulder.

'I see they improved your face,' Dean points out to Sam.

Sam sniggers. 'Right back at ya,'

Dean moves past Sam and Hermione into the main room. They sit on a bed each, with Hermione next to Sam. 'So, crocotta, huh?'

'Yep,'

'That would explain the flies,'

'Yeah it would. Hey, um...look I'm sorry it wasn't Dad,'

Dean huffs. 'Nah, I gave you two a hell of a time on this one,'

'Ahh,'

'You were right,'

'Forget about it,'

'I can't. I wanted to believe so badly that there was a way outta this. I mean I'm staring down the barrel at this thing. You know, Hell. For real, forever, and I just...'

'Yeah,'

Dean starts to tear up. 'I'm scared, Sam. I'm really scared,'

'We know,' Sam responds, also tearing up.

'I guess I was willing to believe anything. You know, the last act of a desperate man,'

'There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean,' Hermione points out, close to crying.

'Hope doesn't get you jack squat. I can't expect Dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anybody to, you know. I mean the only person that can get me out of this thing is me,'

'And us,' Sam responds earnestly.

'And us?'

'What?'

'Deep revelation, having a real moment here, that's what you come back with? And us?'

Sam raises his eyebrows. 'Uh...do you want a poem?'

'The moment is gone,' Sam smiles slightly. Dean flicks the TV on, reaches between the beds, grabs three bottles of beer and holds two out to Sam and Hermione without looking at them. Sam takes one and Hermione each takes one. They crack them open and drink in unison, while staring at the TV. 'So, Hermione, I don't think you would heal up my wounds?'

Hermione scoffs. 'Only if you help me heal my shoulder,'

'All right let's get these clothes off,' Dean says as he rubs his hands. Hermione rolls her eyes but still laughs. Sam looks at Hermione and Dean with a playful smile before he takes another sip of his beer.