The Shape-Shifting Winchester

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Trinity was a traditionally light sleeper, but after hearing about her brother's nightmares, she was sleeping even lighter. Eight years she'd been with the boys, and eight years she'd been solving their fights and helping Bobby take care of them.

A branch hit the window and she jolted. "Dangit, Sammy," she sighed, but knew it was her own fault.

Sitting up, she leaned back on her palm and rubbed her eyes. On the desk glowed a digital clock with the numbers 2:37. She groaned and fell back.

They'd gotten two beds and a couch, and since she was a girl and Sam was too tall, Dean was sleeping on it, his arm outstretched to them as usual. She grinned at that. At first after John had vanished, she and Dean had shared a bed, but now that she was an adult, Dean sacrficed his comfort for her. It was sweet.

Sam started groaning in his sleep, rolling around like he was in pain. Trinity jumped to her feet, nearly tripping over the sheet.

"Sammy!" she shouted quietly, shaking his arm. "Sam!"

He woke up with a gasp, just like earlier. "Trinity! Are you okay?" He sat up and started frantically searching her for injuries.

"I'm fine. Hey. Sam, did you have another nightmare?"

"Yeah." He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Dean! Where's Dean?"

"He's here; he's asleep." Sam fell back on the bed with a thud and covered his face with his hands. "Hey, Sammy. Maybe if you tell me about it, we can avoid it."

He sighed and looked over at her. "Maybe. But I'm with you when it happens, so I don't think telling you would do much good."

"Hey, don't be a pouter. Come on. Start with where we are."

As he answered, he sat up. "The bunker." They'd found it, but had yet to move in.

"Okay, so what happens?"

"You and Dean are both asleep in your own rooms. There's a loud noise-"

"What noise?"

"Like a fire alarm, but not."

"Okay, continue."

He sighed. "It wakes you guys up, and you both run into the hall. Immediately you turn to my room, and I'm in the corner. A demon has me against the wall. You scream, and he lets me go. 'You shouldn't have come in,'. That's all he says before you and Dean start choking. I pull a knife and go after him, but he throws me against the wall, and I can't get down. He just sits there and makes me watch as he chokes you guys. Then, when you're almost unconscious, he stops. Looks at me and smiles." Tears glistened in his eyes, and Trinity could only imagine how it felt to see this not once, but twice.

"He turns back to you two and-" he choked up and looked away. "He-he lights a fire, right between you. Dean scrambles to get you away from it, but the demon pushes both of you to the ground, and just stood there, smiling as you burned to death. I listened to you scream." He put his hands on his face, like he was going to cover his ears, but then lowered them.

"Sammy," she sighed, rubbing his back. "Nothing is going to happen to us. Look, Bobby just left, for good this time, and you're probably just stressing about us too."

"You think?"

"I know. Now get some sleep."

~

"So what're we dealing with then?" Dean asked. "Normal spirits stick with one family, place, or object. This thing is all over the place, and normal spirits can't cause deaths like this."

"I think someone's dosing these people up. First the alcoholic, now a smoker," said Trinity. "The alcohol would be easy, but suffocating a man with a cigarette, not so much. Then again, if it's a spirit, there wouldn't be a problem for them, or it."

Her brothers looked at her. "You think this is more than one spirit?"

"No. Just, I think the next victim is gonna be someone who does drugs or some crazy crap like that. Follows the pattern."

"So we've got a pattern, but no possible suspects?" Sam said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I read something in an old book of Bobby's, one that survived the house fire, that if a spirit was mistreated during its life, then it'll seek revenge on any it sees fit to in the afterlife. That means they can switch M/O's, location, anything, so long as they're punishing people."

"So we're looking for a person who was tortured by some kind of addict, and probably died because of it," Dean said.

"Looks like it," Trinity nodded.

"Sam, you dig up anything on violent deaths in the area in the past hundred years, see if there have been others like this."

He nodded and started to gather up his stuff. Trinity looked at Dean. "You could talk to the wife of the first vic. I'll see if there are any local legends."

"How're you gonna do that?" Sam asked. "No offense, but you're not exactly the researching type."

She pulled out a short skirt and halter top. "Oh, I'm sure I can manage."