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SEASON 01, EPISODE 18
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"Are you sure you got the right coordinates? I see no red flags," Delaney said as she sat cross legged in the front seat of the Impala, scrolling through all the information she dug up on Sam's laptop who had passed out in the backseat around an hour ago.
"Maybe you just missed something," Dean remarked and glanced at the screen before his eyes focused back on the road. "I even double checked the coordinates. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important, Della."
Delaney shut Sam's laptop and placed it on the seat between her and Dean. "Well, I looked and all I could find was a big, steamy pile of shit. Whatever Dad thinks is here, I don't know what it is because there's nothing suspicious."
"Maybe he's going to meet us there."
Delaney highly doubted that. Ever since they had been separated the three Winchester siblings had been trying to find their dad's whereabouts again, but he had gone back to how it was before. Only calling or texting them if there were coordinates for a hunt he found that he thought they should tackle.
"Yeah, 'cause he's been so easy to find up to this point."
Dean turned to her with a bored expression. "You're a smartass, you know that? Just... stop worrying for thirty seconds, would ya? I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killing."
"OH? What makes you so sure?"
"I'm the oldest, which means... I'm always right."
Delaney snorted and shot her brother an amused look. "That's not how it works, Dean."
"Yes it is!"
The youngest and the oldest Winchester stared down each other for a long moment before Dean broke out into a cheesy grin before he had to focus back on the road so they wouldn't crash. Even though it was just them on the lonely road that lead into Fitchburg.
After a few minutes of driving through the town of Fitchburg that seemed pretty deserted - save for a few of the business owners and their customers. They were in the middle of the town, so shouldn't there be more people out and about?
"I'm gonna run into that coffee shop and see if I can get information out of the waitress," Dean stated as he parked the car across the street from a small shop with a green awning that read GLASOW'S LUNCH. "I'll bring you back a coffee."
Delaney shooed him away and got out along with him because who knew how long he would be, especially if the waitress wound up being a young girl. She reached through the open window and lightly tapped Sam's face. "Sammy!"
Sam startled awake and looked around him, his eyebrows furrowing when he noticed they were parked. "Where are we?"
Delaney slid over so Sam could let himself out and stretch his legs out as well. He leaned against the car next to her and he seemed to be wondering the same thing as her. Where the hell was everyone? She looked across from where her and Sam were propped against the car and noticed that even the small children's playground was empty except for one little girl that was playing on the jungle gym.
"Sammy?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"What time is it?" Delaney questioned and grabbed his arm to look at the watch he kept wrapped around his left wrist. She wondered how the thing still even worked because she had gifted it to him as a present when she was ten and had practically begged their Uncle Bobby to take her to the store to get her older brother a nice gift for his fourteenth birthday. "It's 4:10."
Sam scanned the playground as well but came up with the same result as his sister. Just one little girl and her mother that sat on the bench. "School is out for the day isn't it?"
"That's the weird part, Sammy!"
"Okay, so," Dean walked back over to his siblings and handed them both a coffee. "The waitress thinks that the local freemasons are up to something sneaky, but other than that, nobody's heard about anything weird going on."
Delaney took a long sip from her coffee as she stared thoughtfully at the playground. "The playground being empty after school is pretty weird to me."
Dean followed his sister's gaze and he seemed to be having the same thoughts as her. He mumbled something about being right back and waltzed his way over to the mom that sat on the bench, keeping an eye on her daughter.
"You think this could have something to do with what Dad sent us to do?" Delaney asked Sam, looking up at him.
"I don't know," Sam replied as he raised his coffee cup to his lips. "It's definitely odd that there are no kids, but not sure if it's our weird or not."
After a few minutes of talking with the mom, Dean made his way back over to his siblings. "Six kids are in the hospital because of some sickness outbreak. Parents are keeping their kids in the house because they think it's catching."
"Guess we have to hit the hospital up then, boys."
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"Dude, I'm not using this I.D," Sam complained as he rushed after his siblings into the Dane County Memorial Hospital, shoving the I.D. in his older brother's face.
"Why not?"
Sam gave Dean an exasperated look. "It says bikini inspector on it!"
Delaney choked on her laughter as she looked at the I.D. and saw that it indeed read just that. This was going to get real interesting. "Oh she probably won't even look that close, Sammy. Just flash her it and put it back in your pocket."
Sam glared at his baby sister's obvious use of the word flash to which she merely shrugged innocently.
"Hell, she won't even ask to see it!" Dean chimed in and pat Sam on the shoulder. "It's all about confidence, Sammy!"
Before Sam could protest, Dean spun him around to face the reception desk as he and Delaney stood off to the side. The two siblings exchanged amused smirks before wiping them off so they seemed professional and not at all suspicious.
"Hi," Sam nervously greeted with a timid smile. "Um, I'm Dr. Jerry Kaplan, Center for Disease Control."
"Can I see some I.D.?" the receptionist asked politely.
Delaney stifled her laughter in Dean's arm as her older brother just rolled his lips in his mouth to stop the onslaught of laughter that was fighting its way out. She could feel Sam's glare on the both of them but she couldn't help it.
"Yeah, of course," Sam whispered and reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and took out the card. He showed it to the receptionist quickly so she only had time to see Sam's fake name on the card but he shoved it back in the pocket. "Now, could you please direct me to the Pediatrics Ward?"
If the receptionist was suspicious, she didn't say anything as she gestured to the hall next to Delaney and Dean. "Just go down that hall, turn left, up the stairs. You'll see them."
Delaney giggled as Sam walked over to them, looking less than pleased with them. "Oh come on, Sammy. Don't be a sour sport. She didn't even look at the I.D. when she asked for it. We told you it would be fine."
"I hate you both," Sam grumbled as he lead the way up to the Pediatrics Ward.
Delaney felt her heart strings tug as they passed by a couple of rooms with sick children inside of them, most looking so pale that they already looked dead. She hated seeing kids so sick that they had to spend their childhood in a hospital. No child deserved it. Granted, no one deserved a life spent in a hospital, but still.
"Dean?" Sam called and Delaney stopped walking to notice Dean had stopped outside of a patient's room, a calculating look on his face. She tilted her head as she tried to figure out why he would be inspecting a random patient's room, but she chose to ignore it for now.
Delaney walked ahead and looked around for the head doctor of the Pediatrics Ward and was pointed in the direction of a man with dark that had just stepped out of one the little kids' rooms. She nodded her head in his direction to her brothers and they made their way over to him.
"Hi, Dr. Hydaker. We're with the Center for Disease Control and we were hoping we could have a quick word with you?"
Dr. Hydaker placed the file he held in his hand into the folder on the wall next to the kid's room he had just exited and smiled softly. "Of course follow me. I'm actually happy you guys are here. I was about to call the CDC myself. How did you find out anyway?"
"Oh, some G.P. - I forget his name - he called Atlanta and must have beat you to the punch," Dean lied swiftly as the siblings followed Dr. Hydaker through the ward. "So you say you got six cases so far?"
Dr. Hydaker stopped in front of a glass wall that looked into a spacious room, six children's bed placed next to each other. It broke Delaney's heart to see the children look so weak and defenseless. "Yeah, in five weeks. At first I thought it was Bacterial Pneumonia, not that newsworthy. Now..."
"Now what?" Sam asked, noticing Dr. Hydaker's hesitation as he looked at the children through the glass with a pained expression.
"None of the kids are responding to antibiotics. Their white-cell counts keep going down. Their immune systems just aren't doing their job. It's like their bodies are wearing out," Dr. Hydaker informed as a nurse ran over to him to have him sign a form.
"You ever see anything like this before?" Delaney inquired next.
The female nurse shook her head as she looked up to the three Winchesters. "The way it spreads - this is new to me."
"What do you mean?"
"It works its way through families, but only the children, one sibling after another."
Dean scanned the children in the room next to him, each one looking more worn out than the next from whatever was plaguing them. He chewed on the inside of his lip as thoughts visibly flashed through his mind. "You mind if we talk to some of the kids?"
"They're not conscious," the female nurse explained.
"Wait, none of them?" Delaney questioned in confusion. How fast was this thing working its way through these kids? She knew kids typically had lower tolerance to illnesses and it's why they got sick quickly, but this quick? It was a little odd to her.
The female nurse sadly smiled and shook her head again. "You can try talking to the parents if you think it'll help."
"Who was your most recent admission?"
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"I really should get back to my girls."
Delaney nodded her head and gave the man an apologetic smile. They were stood in the hallway just outside his daughter's room as he sat on one of the orange plastic chairs against the wall and the three siblings stood in front of him. "We understand that and we really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. Mary's the oldest, right?"
"Thirteen," the father confirmed.
"Okay, and she came down with it first, right?" Sam asked. "Then..."
The father exhaled shakily as he nodded. "Uh, yeah and then Bethany the next night."
"Within twenty-four hours?"
"I guess?" the father responded, a bit confused. "Look, I already went through this with the doctor."
"Right. Just a few more questions if you don't mind," Dean responded as he held a hand up to stop the father from getting up from his seat. "How do you think they caught pneumonia? Were they out in the cold, anything like that?"
The father shook his head and looked down to his hands that were folded in his lap, his thumbs fidgeting with each other a bit. "No, we think it was an open window."
"Both times?" Delaney asked.
The father seemed thoughtful for a second as he tried to conjur up the memories of that night his oldest got sick. "The first time, I don't really remember, but the second time for sure, and I know I closed it before I put Bethany to bed."
"Do you think she opened it?" Sam inquired.
"It's a second-story window, no ledge. No one else could have," the father explained.
The siblings politely thanked the father for his time before they made their way out of the Pediatrics Ward.
"You know this might not be anything supernatural," Sam suggested as he walked alongside his siblings. "It could just be pneumonia after all. Their kids so their immune systems aren't as strong as ours would be."
"Maybe or maybe something opened that window," Dean retaliated. "I don't know, guys. Look, Dad sent us down here for a reason. I think we might be barking up the right tree here."
Delaney chewed on her lip as all their options raced past her mind and only one really stood out. If they were going to get to the bottom of this being supernatural or not, it would be their best bet for right now. "You know... the guy we just talked to - I can bet you both it'll be a while before he goes home."
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How her brothers got the guy's address she didn't even want to know, but here they stood in one of his daughter's bedrooms. Delaney held the EMF meter and slowly walked around the lilac painted room as her brothers ran a blacklight over all the walls.
"Kiddo, you got anything?" Dean asked over his shoulder.
Delaney turned away from the window and shook her head. "Nope, nothing. What about you guys?"
"Dead end," Sam sighed as he lowered his arm to his side. He made his way over to the window that Delaney stood in front of and ran the light over it, but came up empty again. Unlocking the window, he slowly pushed the window open.
"Sammy, what are you doing?" Delaney stepped closer to inspect the window, trying to see whatever it was Sam was. She froze when she noticed a large black hand print branded into the windowsill outside of the window. Its fingers were too long to be human. She felt Dean step up behind her and looked at whatever his siblings were looking at. "Well, it's definitely not pneumonia."
"It's rotted," Sam noted as he tilted his head, inspecting it. "What the hell leaves a handprint like that?"
Dean stared at the handprint as he had flashbacks to when John had faced something like this before. He remembered that he had been nine, Sammy had been seven and Delaney had recently turned three. Their father was headed out for another hunt as he had Dean recount to him the rules that he had in place for the two boys to follow while he was gone. Dean wasn't to answer the phone unless it rang once first then rang again, signaling it was John being the one to call. Then if he didn't come back after a set number of days, he had to call the Pastor that lived in town who had been a close friend of John's.
The most important rule for the boys was to look out for Delaney, who had been sat in Sam's lap on the chair in front of the TV, asleep as her little hand gripped onto the front of her older brother's shirt. There had been a small photo of the same exact handprint in the hotel room that was put with the rest of their dad's notes for the hunt. He never finished it.
"He's faced this thing before," Dean eventually informed his younger siblings as they both turned to him in confusion. "He wants us to finish the job."
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Later that night the three siblings pulled up in front of a vacant motel and Delaney could practically hear the bed calling for her.
"So what is a Shtriga?" Delaney inquired as she stepped out of the Impala with her brothers, stifling a yawn into her hand.
"It's kind of like a witch... I think," Dean responded. "I don't really know much about them."
Sam sighed as he continued to flip through their dad's journal for the tenth time. "I've gone through Dad's journal over and over and he never mentions this Shtriga. I never even heard of it."
"Well, Dad hunted one in Wisconsin about sixteen or seventeen years ago," Dean explained as he dug around in the Impala's trunk. "You were both there. You don't remember?"
"Delaney was only three, Dean, how would she remember? I only remember watching after her when Dad would leave for hunts," Sam reminded, leaning against the side of the Impala.
Dean shrugged and continued with his search in the trunk. "Anyways, I guess he caught wind that the thing's in Fitchburg now and kicked us the coordinates."
"You think this thing is what Dad haunted almost two decades ago?" Delaney asked, part of herself not necessarily believing it all.
"Maybe."
Sam seemed to become as skeptical as Delaney because he rose an eyebrow at that. "If Dad went after it, why is it still breathing air?"
Dean closed the trunk after grabbing the three duffles from inside and began to make his way over to the office to get their roomkey. "It got away."
Delaney scoffed and jogged to keep up with her brother's long strides. Seriously, why couldn't she be born taller? "Got away?"
"Yes, Della, it happens," Dean remarked.
"Not very often," Sam countered.
Dean groaned and turned to face Sam and Delaney who just lived to make his life difficult apparently. "I don't know what to tell you guys. Maybe Dad didn't have his wheaties that morning."
Delaney crossed her arms and chewed on her lip. "What else do either of you remember?"
"Nothing. I was a kid, alright?" Dean sighed before he turned and walked inside to get their room set up.
"Do you remember much?"
Sam shook his head and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, watching as Dean talked to a little kid inside. It seemed odd that a child was taking their money, but he just brushed it off because who was he to judge? "Not much, to be honest. I remember watching over you a lot with Dean and making sure you were okay. You didn't know what dad was out doing so Dean had to make up stuff quite a bit around you when you asked where Dad went."
Delaney grinned up at her brother as she sat sideways on the hood of the car, swinging her legs back and forth. "Must have been tough because we both know how much I liked to ask questions."
"You were and still are definitely too smart for your own good, kiddo."
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"Okay, so you were right, Dean," Delaney announced from her seat at the table, her eyes burning from the lack of sleep. She had been able to sleep for about three hours before her nightmares bugged her again and she just couldn't fall back asleep. If she couldn't sleep, Delaney might as well have just did some research on this thing. "It took me hours to find, but you were right. A Shtriga is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about them date back to ancient Rome. They feed off of Spiritus Vitae."
Dean leaned his arms on the kitchen counter across from where Delaney sat at the round table in the corner of the room. "Spiri - what?"
Sam rolled off the bed he laid on and walked over to sit next to Delaney, his eyes scanning the webpage Delaney had open. "Vitae. It's Latin. It translates to breath of life, kind of like your life force or essence."
Dean furrowed his eyebrows as he swirled his coffee mug around. "Wait... didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were all wearing out?"
"It's a thought. You know, she takes your vitality, maybe your immunity goes to Hell, pneumonia takes hold," Delaney suggested, glancing back to the screen to click around more to open the other pages of research she had. "Anyway, Shtrigas can feed off anyone, but they prefer - "
"Children," Dean finished for his sister, skimming through the books that littered the countertops around him.
Delaney nodded and leaned back in her seat. "Yeah because they have a stronger life force. Shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man."
"No, that's not entirely true. She's vulnerable when she feeds," Dean countered, making his way around the counter and over to his bed where his duffle sat, opening it up. "If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought irons, buckshots or rounds I think."
"How do you know that?" Sam asked.
Dean dug out a small black notebook and shrugged nonchalantly, walking back over to the counter. "Dad told me. I remember."
Delaney rose an eyebrow and crossed her arms over chest. "OH? Anything else Dad might have mentioned that you would like to tell the class about?"
"No that's it."
Delaney narrowed her eyes at her brother as she analyzed his obvious ticks that practically screamed he was lying. He would barely look her in the eye and he fidgeted with everything in front of him to make it look like he was busy. The truth was, he just wanted something to do with his hands so he would have an excuse not to look at his sister. She noticed Sam eyeing Dean from the corner of her eye and it made her feel better knowing she wasn't alone.
Sam knew some of the information from when they were younger because when he finally got old enough, John would keep him in the loop as well Godforbid something were to happen while he was gone. This way not only Dean could protect Delaney, but so could Sam. However, Dean was always the golden child of the three of them and he always got told the stories and information of hunts or got the special treatment from John.
"Anyway, assuming we can kill this thing when it eats," Sam began, deciding to just switch the topic back to the case before Dean or Delaney could start an argument. " We still have to find the thing first."
"It won't exactly be a cakewalk," Delaney warned. "Shtrigas take a human disguise when they aren't hunting. It's usually something innocuous. It could be anything, but it's usually a feeble old woman, which may be how the witches-as-old-crones legend got started."
"Hold on," Dean pushed himself away from the counter and walked over to the table where a stack of papers laid at the end of the table. He shuffled through them quickly before he pulled out a small map of the town where he had marked multiple red x's and circled the center of the map which was the hospital. "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."
Delaney looked over the map and it seemed to slip a few pieces of the puzzle into place for her. She was still a bit confused on most of it, but slowly it was beginning to make sense now and her head felt less heavy.
"When we were there at the hospital," Dean continued, snapping Delaney out of her thoughts. "I saw a patient, and old woman."
"An old person, huh?" Sam mused and Dean nodded in response.
"In the hospital? We better call the Coast Guard, Sammy," Delaney chimed in, giggling behind her hand while Dean glared at the both of them.
"Well, listen, smartasses, she had an introverted cross hanging on her wall."
Sam and Delaney seemed to sober up at the newfound information and the three siblings had a silent agreement on what they had to do next.
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The three siblings found themselves at the hospital again, the two youngest following Dean as he lead them towards the room he had seen the old woman in. He pushed them both against a wall when he heard Dr. Hydaker's voice and he waited for the doctor to pass exit the area before they went off sneaking around again.
They stopped in front of room 237, the white door closed shut and all the shades on the viewing window shut closed. Sam slowly reached his hand out and made sure Dean was ready for him to open the door. Dean had taken out his gun and Delaney gave him an odd look. Was he seriously going to go in gun blazing? He simply shrugged at her and motioned for Sam to open door, who did so quietly and slowly.
Inside the darkened room, sat an old woman in a wheelchair in front of a window that overlooked the courtyard outside. She had white, shoulder length hair and she looked so old that Delaney realized why this thing took on the persona of an old woman. It made the Shtriga look so defenseless and innocent that you wouldn't ever think it was really a menacing soul eater in disguise.
"Who the hell are you?" the old woman screamed in Dean's face as he neared her and he flew back into the wall in fright. If they weren't here for serious business, Delaney might have laughed at the act. "Are you trying to steal my stuff? They're always stealing around here."
Dean gave both of his siblings a crazed look, begging them to save him.
"No, ma'am, we're maintenance," Sam lied quickly and tried to sound as assuring as he could. "We're so sorry. We thought you were sleeping."
"Ah, nonsense," the old woman replied, her voice raspy and deep. "I was sleeping with my peepers open." The laugh that followed would definitely be haunting Delaney at night. It wasn't necessarily evil, but it was a bit crazed and kind of reminded Delaney of a witch. "And fix that crucifix, would you? I've asked four damn times already."
Sam and Dean slowly turned to Dean with equally annoyed and disappointed expressions. He just made them barge in on an innocent woman's hospital room and disturbed her sleeping. Dean sheepishly flicked the cross on the wall next to him and it swung around to hang the proper way.
"Ma'am, we are so sorry again," Delaney quickly apologized and glared daggers at her eldest brothers. "We'll be getting out of your hair now. Let us know if you need anything else." She marched up to Dean and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him out of the room and the hospital.
"Ow, Della!" Dean snapped and ripped his ear away from her grip once they were by the Impala. He huffed as he got in and drove back over to their motel which was only a few blocks away.
Sam laughed as he hopped out of the Impala. "I was sleeping with my peepers open. Oh, dude, that was great. I love old people."
"I almost smoked that old gal, I swear," Dean said as Delaney and Sam continued to laugh on their way towards the room. "It's not funny!"
Delaney leaned against the wall next to their motel door as Sam got the room key out and tried to gain her breath back, but she only continued to laugh harder with Sam as Dean's frightened face appeared in her mind again. "Oh, Dee, you should have seen your face."
Dean frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, mentally plotting how he was going to off both of his siblings for laughing at him. "Shut up. We're back at square one now." He sighed as he looked at their surroundings and seemed to pause when his eyes landed on the kid he had spoken to the night prior. He sat outside the office on a green bench, looking like he was thirty seconds from crying.
"Hang on," he mumbled as he made his way over to the kid, Delaney and Sam trailing behind him. "Hey, kid. What's wrong?"
The kid's brown eyes slowly met with Dean's green ones and Delaney felt her heart hurt at the sadness that was so clear in them. "My brother is sick."
Dean squatted down in front of the blonde haired boy and frowned. "Wait, the little guy?"
"He has pneumonia and is in the hospital," the boy explained sadly. "It's my fault."
Delaney shook her head and sat down next to him as she rubbed his back comfortingly. "How could it be your fault?"
The boy sniffed and wiped at his eyes that started to leak the tears that built up in them. "I should have made sure the window was latched. He wouldn't have gotten pneumonia if the window was latched. I'm the worst big brother ever."
"Listen to me," Dean said after a long beat of silence. "I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?"
"It's my job to look after him," the boy countered and went back to looking at his hands that still fidgeted in his lap.
Delaney felt both of her brothers' eyes on her, but before she could ask them why they were looking at her so oddly, the boys' mother walked out of the office with bags, a pillow and a little stuffed animal in her arms.
"Michael, I want you to turn on the no vacancy sign while I'm gone," his mother explained, opening the back door to their car and stowed everything away inside before closing it. "I've got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with the rooms."
"I'm going with you."
"Not now, Michael," his mother stressed gently.
The boy stomped his foot in frustration and clenched his fists at his side. "But I have to see Asher!"
"Hey, Michael," Dean called as he walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know how you feel. I'm a big brother, too, but you have to go easy on your mom right now, okay?"
The mother cursed quietly as she dropped her purse and keys. She politely thanked Sam as he bent down and picked it up for her. "Thanks."
"You're in no position to drive. Why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital?" Dean offered, holding his hand out for her car keys.
"No, I couldn't possibly - "
"No, it's really no trouble," Dean assured and took the keys from the mom when she handed them over. He helped her into the passenger seat before closing it and stepping closer to his siblings, lowering his voice so Michael didn't hear. "We are going after this thing. I want it dead, you hear me?"
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Delaney sat crosslegged on a chair next to Sam in the public library. She leaned her chin on his shoulder as he scrolled through countless research pages that talked about the Shtriga. They figured if Dean was going to be stuck at the hospital and Michael would be okay on his own for a bit, they would make their way to the library to do more research on this thing. They needed to get this thing killed before it took any more kids.
Sam picked his phone up and dialed Dean's number, putting it to his ear as Delaney put her ear to the outside of the phone so she could listen in on the conversation.
"Hey."
"How's the kid feeling?" Delaney questioned.
"He's not good. Where you at?"
"Delly and I went to the library. We are trying to find out as much as we can about this Shtriga," Sam explained as he continued to aimlessly scroll through all the information.
"Yeah, what do you got?"
Delaney pouted and moved Sam's hand away so she could click around on the screen next. "Well, we have some bad news. We started with Fort Douglas around the time you said Dad was there."
"And?"
"Same deal. Before that there was Ogdenville. Before that, North Haverbrook and Brockway. Every fifteen to twenty years, it hits a new town. Dean, this thing is just getting started in Fitchburg. In all these other places, it goes on for months, dozens of kids, before the Shtriga finally moves on. Kids just languish in comas and then they die," Delaney informed as her eyes flitted back and forth across the computer screen.
"How far back does this thing go?"
Sam shook his head and took over the mouse again to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to look for the oldest article about the Shtriga attacks. "We aren't exactly sure yet. The earliest mention we could find so far is this place called Black River Falls back in the 1890s. Talk about a horror show."
Delaney's eye caught on an article and quickly shot her hand out to stop Sam from scrolling again. He gave her a confused look and she scooted her chair closer to the screen to get a better look at the picture on the screen. It showed an operating room with three female nurses and three male doctors with a small kid laid on the operating table in front of them.
Grabbing the phone from Sam who let out a noise of protest, she placed the phone to her ear. "Dean, I'm looking at this photograph right now of a bunch of doctors standing around a kid's bed. One of the doctors is Hydaker."
"This should mean something why?"
Delaney pointed her finger to the date on the article for Sam to see and she noticed his expression morph to mirror her horrified one. "This article is from freaking 1893."
Dean was quiet for a really long minute and Delaney could practically hear the gears turning in his head. "Kid, are you sure?"
"Never been more positive in my life."
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"We should have thought of this before!" Sam ranted as he paced around their motel room once the three siblings regrouped. "I mean, the doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted. You can control the whole thing."
Dean let out a short laugh as he pushed himself up from his seat on the bed and threw his jacket off, chucking it at the wall. "That son of a bitch."
"I'm just shocked Dean didn't off his ass right there," Delaney commented from her spot on the bed where she sat crosslegged in the middle, her hands placed in her lap.
Dean scoffed softly as he grabbed a towel and ran it across his neck to dry his sweaty neck. "Yeah, well. First of all, I'm gonna open fire in the freakin' Pediatrics Ward," he replied, tossing the towel to the side when he was satisfied. "Second, it wouldn't have done any good because the bastard is bulletproof unless he's chowing on something. Third, I wasn't packing, which is probably a really good thing 'cause I probably would have just burned a clip in a him off of principle alone."
"You're getting wise in your old age, Dean," Sam teased, earning him a deadpan look from his brother and a laugh from his sister.
"Damn right," Dean stated. "Now I know how we're gonna get it."
Delaney rose an eyebrow at her brother as she clearly expected an explanation. "Oh really? How do you plan on us doing that?"
"Well, he works through siblings, right?" Dean rhetorically asked. "Well, last night..."
"It went after Asher," Sam recalled.
"So now it'll go after Michael," Delaney finished the train of thought. She didn't like the sound of this dude chomping on another kid. "We have to get him out of here."
Dean shook his head and leaned his hands against the kitchen counter. "No, no, we can't. That would blow the whole deal."
"You want to use this poor kid as bait, Dean?!" Delaney accused in shock. Using a defenseless kid who didn't deserve this as much as the next kid was just horrible in her mind. She couldn't imagine putting the kid in danger like that.
Sam seemed to share her thoughts before his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Are you nuts? No. Forget it. That is out of the question."
"This is not out of the question! Guys, it's the only way - if this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance."
Delaney stood to her feet, shaking her head defiantly. "No, Dean! Okay? Michael is a kid and I will be damned if I just dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook."
Dean slammed his hands on the counter causing both of his siblings to flinch slightly at the sudden sound. "Dad did not send me here to walk away, damn it!"
"Send you here?" Delaney repeated in disbelief. "He didn't just send you here! He sent us here."
"This isn't about you, Delaney!" Dean snapped and turned around, tugging at his hair. "I'm the one that screwed up. It's my fault. There's not telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me."
Delaney and Sam shared a look. There was definitely Dean was bottling up which wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence in the Winchester family.
"Okay..." Delaney whispered and took a deep breath. "I know you've been been hiding something since we got here, Dean. Since when does Dad bail on a hunt? Since when did he let something get away? 'Cause from the stories you and Sam told me, it doesn't seem like he just walks away from a case with it being finished first. No matter how long it takes."
Dean kept quiet as he walked over to his bed and plopped himself down on it, his face giving away how much whatever he was hiding was bothering him. Delaney never wanted to see that look on her brother's face again because she didn't think she had ever seen him look so troubled.
"Talk to me," Delaney begged as she walked over to her brother and sat down next to him. She looked to Sam for help but he looked just as lost as she did. "Tell me what's going on. Please."
"It was in Fort Douglas, Wisconsin..."
A nine year old Dean sat on the bed he would later share with his sister when he was ready to go to bed. For the past hour, he had been trying to put the three year old down but, much like the rest of their family, she was stubborn. Mainly because she wanted to be like her brothers and get to stay up past eight o'clock. "Come on, baby girl, you need to sleep."
A three year old Delaney sat under her covers, her tiny arms crossed as a pout formed on her face. "I don't want to! You and Sammy get to stay up so why can't I?"
"I've told you already, Della, you're smaller so you need more sleep than Sam and I. You don't want to be too tired to play with Sammy and I tomorrow do you?"
"Would you go to sleep if I go to sleep too?" Sam asked as he walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to Delaney and Dean's.
Delaney nodded silently and watched as Sam walked over to her to give a kiss goodnight on the head before crawling into his own bed. She looked away from Sam when he closed his eyes and trained her big green eyes on her eldest brother. "Will you stay too, Dee?"
Honestly, with those adorable and innocent big green eyes Delaney was giving him, Dean would have given her a mountain of candy if she asked. Which she tended to do... a lot. As much as he wanted to get out of the room for just ten minutes because they had been cooped up in the room together for three days straight, he relented anyway and laid down next to Delaney who instantly cuddled his arm and shut her eyes.
Once Dean was sure both of his siblings were actually asleep, he wrote a quick note for Sam in case he woke up and he was gone. He only asked that he kept an eye on Delaney till he got back in a little bit because he just wanted to step outside and get some air. He wasn't going to be all that long because he knew he had two siblings who he needed to protect and keep safe at all costs.
Dean found himself at a small arcade across from the motel room the three were staying in and used some of the money Dean had saved for himself in situations like this. He was able to play a bunch of the games and just let himself relax for five minutes, even though his mind constantly worried about his siblings. He still was able to let himself be a real kid for a little while before the owner of the arcade was closing up and kicked him out.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed but he wasn't prepared for what was floating above his baby sister when he reentered the motel room.
The thing reminded him of what a Dementor from those Harry Potter movies looked like, but instead of bones, the thing under the black cloak was an elderly woman whose skin was gray and wrinkly. Sam was still asleep in the bed next to Delaney's, his back turned to the events currently taking place and Dean wondered how quietly the thing had gotten into the room.
Behind the mock elderly woman, Dean noticed the window was pushed open. It confused him because the windows were all closed and locked when he left the room a little bit ago. How this thing got the window to unlock and open was beyond him, but the thing that was most worrying right now was the fact that it looked like it was sucking Delaney's soul right out of her.
Dean slowly reached for the shot gun that was kept by the door to the bedroom and he raised it, pointing it directly at the cloak. At the sound of the gun cocking, the elderly woman thing turned to Dean and let out a roar just as John burst into the room.
"Dean, get down!"
Dean immediately followed his dad's instructions and heard a round of gunshots go off as the cloak escaped back out the window. The loud sounds seemed to scare Delaney because she woke up crying and reached up to her father who was already at her side and bringing her into his lap as he dropped to the bed.
"Are you hurt, princess?" John whispered into Delaney's hair as she wrapped her little arms around his neck and hid her face in his shoulder. "I know, baby, I know. Daddy's here."
Sam sat up in his bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What's going on?"
"Dean, what happened?" John demanded as he held a distraught Delaney in his arms, rocking her gently to help calm her down.
"I - I only stepped out for a second," Dean stammered, his fear still coursing through him at the sight of his baby sister being attacked by whatever that thing was.
John's face turned to stone and Dean stumbled back a step. He knew his father was angry and that was never good for anyone. "What?"
"I'm sorry..." Dean whispered as he slowly walked over to his baby sister and brushed the hair away from her now soaked face. Her cries were slowly calming down and he frowned as the thoughts of him not being here to protect her or Sam kept running through his mind.
"Then Dad just grabbed us and booked, dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away," Dean explained, avoiding his siblings' gazes. "By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the Shtriga had disappeared. It just disappeared and hasn't resurfaced until now. Dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask."
Dean paused as tears welled in his eyes and he tried to hide the sniffle that escaped his nose, but his siblings heard it anyway. "But he, uh... he looked at me different, you know, which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order, and I didn't listen, and I almost got my baby sister killed."
Delaney frowned as she wrapped her arms around Dean and hugged him tightly, hoping she could comfort him. No wonder Dean had wanted to get this sucker killed and done. He had almost lost her to this Shtriga and eventually would have lost Sam because it would have gone after him next. She couldn't be mad at him though because he was just a kid. Of course he couldn't sit still in a room for too long.
"You were just a kid," Sam whispered. He was now sat on Dean's other side, having walked over half way through Dean's tale about what happened.
"Don't," Dean warned as he continued to stare at a spot on the floor, not even moving to wrap an arm around his sister. "Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. He sent me here to finish it."
Delaney leaned her cheek against Dean's shoulder and looked up at the side of his face. The pain still evident on his face slowly digging a knife deeper and deeper into her heart. "But using Michael - I don't know, Dean. I mean, how about one of us hides under the cover? You know, we can be the bait instead."
Dean licked his lips and shook his head. "It won't work. It's got to get close enough to feed. It'll see us. Believe me, I don't like it either, but it's got to be the kid." He untangled Delaney's arms from around him and pushed himself off the bed, stopping in front of the window across from the beds.
"I don't blame you, Dean," Delaney whispered.
Dean made a small noise in the back of his throat that sounded like a cross between a whimper and whine. "I do."
◆ ◇◆ ◇
"You're crazy!" Michael yelled, holding up the phone as he stood as far as he could against the wall behind the office desk. "Just go away or I'm calling the cops!"
Dean ran his hands over his face before pushing them against the desk in front of him. "Hang on a second, Michael, okay? Just listen to me. You have to believe me. This thing came through the window and attacked your brother."
Michael adjusted the grip on the phone and shot a suspicious look between the three siblings. None of them could blame the kid because it did sound every single level of crazy if you weren't familiar with what went bump in the night.
"I've seen it," Dean continued and he jerked his head towards Delaney. "I know what it looks like 'cause it attacked my sister once, too."
Michael seemed to think it over for a long moment before he finally agreed, lowering the phone back onto its base. "This thing - is it, like ... it has this long, black robe?"
"You saw it last night, didn't you?" Dean asked.
Michael's face seemed to fall as he remembered the events of the night prior. "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?"
"We need help," Delaney chimed in. "My brothers and I can kill it. It's what we do, but we can't do it without you."
Michael's face scrunched up at the idea and it perfectly depicted how Delaney felt about the situation, but she knew it was something they had to do if they wanted to kill it. "What? No."
"Michael, listen to me," Dean pleaded, desperate to kill this thing that almost killed his own sibling. "This thing hurt Asher, and it's gonna keep hurting kids unless we stop it. You understand me?"
Michael refused and and locked himself in the room behind him, causing the three siblings to retire back to their room.
"Well, that went crappy. Now what?" Dean huffed as he paced the room.
Delaney slapped a hand to her side as she gave Dean a look. "Did you expect anything less, Dean? You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid."
Before Dean could fire something back at his sister, a knock was heard and the three siblings turned to the door. Walking forward, Dean slowly opened the door to reveal Michael, which was a shock in itself. "Michael?"
"If you kill it, will my brother get better?"
"Honestly, we don't know," Dean admitted, leaning against the doorframe. "Doesn't hurt to try though."
Michael looked around Dean's body to where Sam and Delaney stood in the middle of the room, watching the conversation intently. He moved his eyes back to Dean and took a deep breath. "You said you're a big brother. You'd take care of your little brother and sister? Do anything for them?"
"In a heartbeat," was Dean's immediate response. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for those two."
"Me too. I'll help."
◆ ◇◆ ◇
Dean stood in Michael's room as he positioned a camcorder to his liking, hidden behind a stuffed monkey. "This camera has night vision so we'll be able to see you clearly."
"Sammy, are we good?" Delaney yelled so Sam could hear her from the living room.
"Hair to the right!"
Dean moved the camera a few inches to the right and stopped when Sam yelled for him to. He turned to face Michael who was already ready for bed and under the covers. "Now all you need to do is stay under the covers."
"If it shows up?" Michael questioned, looking between Delaney and Dean.
"Don't worry, Michael, we will 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."
Michael seemed to shrink a bit from nerves and fright. "What if you shoot me?"
"We're good shots don't worry," Dean assured Michael, but the kid still looked apprehensive about the whole thing. "We aren't gonna fire until you're clear okay?"
"Have you heard a gun shot before?" Delaney asked and Michael shook his head. "Well, just know it's going to be loud, a lot louder than it would be in a movie or TV show. So just stay under the bed, cover your ears, and do not come out until we say so, okay?"
Michael nodded his head, the scared expression only getting worse as time passed.
"Michael, are you sure you want to do this?" Dean confirmed, noticing Michael's nervousness as well. "You don't have to, it's okay. We won't be mad."
Michael closed his eyes and took a moment to get his breathing regulated. "No, no, I'll be okay. Just don't shoot me."
"We won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
Delaney and Dean wished Michael good night and quietly exited the room, closing the door behind them. They both dropped onto the couch that was next to the chair that Sam sat in, a headphone held in his hand as he placed it to his ear to keep an ear out on what noises were going on the room.
The three siblings sat in a tense silence as the hours slowly ticked by. Delaney leaned against the arm of the couch while her feet propped in Dean's lap as he absentmindedly played with the end of her pant leg. They each tried to make themselves comfortable, but not too comfortable to where they couldn't get up in a moment's notice. At least, Delaney could just roll onto her feet if she stayed like this.
"What time is it?" Dean quietly questioned after the night continued to grow darker.
Delaney rolled her head to look at the digital clock that sat underneath the TV and sighed. "Three AM. Are you sure those iron rounds are gonna work?"
Dean stole a glance at his sister before focusing his attention back on the camera that still showed a peacefully sleeping Michael. "Consecrated iron rounds, and yeah it's what Dad used last time."
Delaney chewed on the inside of her lip as she stared at her eldest brother. He looked so tense as he continued to watch the camera. It was as if Dean wasn't seeing Michael in that bed, but the baby version of her with a Shtriga over her. It tore her heart up because Dean had always been this stoic, no fucks given guy and it was always just a front. He bottled up way too much for his siblings and it sucked because Delaney wanted to be there for him.
It also made Delaney feel insanely guilty because here he sat fighting something that could have really killed her. She had been so hard on him almost her whole life because of their Dad. It was really the only thing the two ever fought over, and those fights were never pretty. The whole situation and what he shared with her and Sam just a few hours prior, just settled the guilt that was already growing ever since she left school to help her brothers stalk down what killed their mother and Will.
"Dean, I'm sorry..."
Dean furrowed his eyebrows and snapped his gaze to his sister. "Della, what could you possibly be sorry for?"
Delaney sighed and sat forward on the couch, her hands laying in between her knees. The movement caused Dean's hand to stop fiddling with the pant leg. "I've really given you a lot of crap for always following Dad's orders, but I now understand why you do it."
"Oh God kill me now," Dean grumbled, forcing himself to look away from his sister's guilt ridden expression and onto the laptop screen again. He slowly sat forward at the sight of movement by the window and he quickly pushed Delaney's feet off his as he moved closer to the screen. "Guys. Look."
Michael was now awake in his bed, his attention on the window where a branch like hand was slowly creeping over to the latch on his window. The window creaked as it finally got the window to unlock and slide up.
Delaney, Dean and Sam slowly reached for their guns and got them ready to shoot as they watched in anticipation for the Shtriga to move from its place in the corner of the room, next to the window.
"Now?" Delaney asked, her gaze locked on the figure.
"Not yet."
The feed on the laptop screen began to distort as the Shtriga slowly glided its way over to Michael's bed until it was right next to him. It bent down over Michael, bringing its face close to his as it opened its mouth, a white mist emitting from it.
"Michael, down!" Dean yelled as the three siblings burst into the room.
Once Michael rolled off the bed, the three siblings opened fire on the Shtriga as it growled at them. Gray smoke puffed out as each bullet sank into the Shtriga and they didn't stop until it dropped.
"Michael, you all right?" Dean asked as he lowered his gun.
"Yeah," Michael shakily replied from under the bed.
"Just sit tight," Dean ordered gently as he crept over to where the Shtriga originally floated, Sam and Dean trailing behind him. They each gripped their guns as they kept them raised in the chance the thing popped up.
Like in all the horror movies Delaney saw, the killer was back for more as it popped up and grabbed Dean around the throat and flung him into Michael's bookcase across the room. Sam barely had time to react as it grabbed him next and flung him into the wall across from Delaney.
Delaney stumbled back as the Shtriga grabbed her next and pinned her to Michael's bed. Her eyes widened as the Shtriga brought its face close to hers as it had done to Michael. She quickly fumbled next to her for her gun that had fallen, but as luck would have it, it was just out of her reach. She grunted as she tried to shimmy her way out from under it to try and reach the gun, but her attempts were futile. She was stuck.
It opened its mouth to reveal the white light and slowly began to suck her life energy from her. Delaney slowly felt her body start to weaken as her life source was drained from her body. Now she knew how those kids felt and how the victims of Dementors felt. Her eyes started to feel heavy until a gunshot was heard and the Shtriga was blasted off her.
Delaney inhaled sharply as her energy and life source were slammed back into her.
"You okay, Della?" Dean yelled, the smoke from his gun slowly blowing out.
Delaney, who tried desperately to get her breathing back, gave her brother a shaky thumbs up as her chest heaved to try and get more air into her lungs. She felt Dean hook his arms under her armpit and pull her to her feet. He held her face in his hands as he looked her over, but she quietly assured him she was fine.
"It's okay, Michael, you can come out," Sam informed and helped Michael get back to his feet.
Michael slowly walked over to stand in front of the Shtriga that smoked for a few seconds before disappearing, leaving behind a scorched black cloak. He looked up at the siblings who all gave him assuring smiles.
This was officially over.
◆ ◇◆ ◇
The next morning, Delaney stood by the Impala with her brothers as they stuffed their stuff in the trunk after having checked out of the motel now that their job was done.
Joana ran out of the office and looked around the lot.
"Hey, Joana!" Dean called to the woman who startled slightly at the sudden voice. "How's Asher doing?"
Joana walked over to the Winchesters, a worried expression on her face. "Have you guys seen Michael?"
As if hearing his name, Michael came barreling out of the motel and over to his mom, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "How's Ash?"
Joana pulled away from her son and ran a comforting hand over his hair, a smile now taking over the worried expression she had moments ago. "I've got some good news, sweetie. He's going to be fine."
"Really?" Michael sighed in relief.
"Yeah really. No one can explain it," Joana responded. "It's, uh, it's a miracle. They are gonna keep him overnight for observation, but after that, he's coming home."
Delaney returned the smile that Joana was giving the siblings now. "That's really good to hear. How are the other kids doing?"
"Really good. A bunch of them should be checking out in a few days. Dr. Travis says the ward's gonna be like a ghost town."
"Dr. Travis?" Sam cut in, feigning surprise even though Joana didn't pick up on that. "What happened to Dr. Hydaker?"
Joana shrugged and didn't seem too bothered by the doctor's sudden disappearance. "He wasn't in today. Must have been sick or something."
"You can say that again," Delaney mumbled, earning her a nudge in the ribs from both of her brothers.
"So did anything happen while I was gone?"
Michael shared a sneaky look with the three siblings and shook his head. "Um... no. Just same old stuff."
"Okay, well, you can go see Ash."
"Now?" Michael gasped, visibly getting excited about getting to see his brother.
Joana chuckled softly and pushed some hair out of Michael's face. "Only if you want to."
Michael didn't have to be told twice before he sped over to the car and hopped inside of it, without so much as a goodbye to the Winchesters. Joana politely excused herself before Michael drove himself to the hospital and waved to them before getting in the car.
"That's too bad," Delaney sighed as she watched Joana drive away.
"They'll be fine," Dean shut the trunk and made his way over to the driver's side.
"No... I mean... Michael will always know what's hiding in the dark. He'll never be the same now," Delaney clarified and leaned her side against the door to the backseat. Her brothers seemed to silently agree with her as they both nodded silently. "Sometimes I wish that..."
Dean raised his eyes to his sister and seemed uneasy with her trailing off. "What?"
"I wish I could have that innocence back," Delaney replied with a breathy laugh.
Dean fiddled with his car keys and gave his sister a pitiful look. "If it means something, I wish you could have it back, too."
"Yeah, I hate that you had to get dragged into this life," Sam added, mirroring Dean's expression. "It sucks that you had to drop your whole normalcy like that out of nowhere. It wasn't fair."
Delaney shrugged her shoulders and rocked back on her heels. "I wouldn't trade getting to spend all this time with you guys for the world though."
"Neither would we, kiddo."
authors note
Hi hey hello.
So... that happened. We got to live a small flashback through Dean's eyes and I actually loved doing it. I originally was just gonna have a paragraph or two just describing the flashback from this episode OR just having Dean verbally speak in a summed up version. However, I thought it would be better to have it as a flashback through Dean's memory because it would set the tone and emotion more for why Dean was so adamant about them going after this case and killing whatever was lurking in Wisconsin, WHICH THEY DID SO YAY!
WE OFFICIALLY DOWN TO THE FINAL THREE CHAPTERS FOR THIS BOOK AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS! Almost two years later for this story and we are finally about to move on to Season 2/Book 2 for this series. It's almost bittersweet to be closing my child up, but also excited for Season 2!!
ANYWAYS, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE/COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS. I LOVE HEARING WHAT YOU GUYS THINK AS TIME GOES ON AND WHAT YOUR THEORIES OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT ARE!