Saving Grace

Yellow Fever -- Japanese, You Idjit

~*****~

Back at the motel, Dean is sitting inside, out of breath. "We looked everywhere for you, Dean." I mention as I set Mary's car seat on the ground and fish her out. "How the hell did you get here?"

"Ran." Dean answers breathlessly. I settle Mary in her crib and sit besides Dean, curling my arms around him. Dean immediately melts into my embrace. "What do we do now?" He asks. "I got less than four hours on the clock. I'm gonna die, guys."

"No you're not. Not if we have anything to say about it." I mention. Dean flinches upwards and gazes at the two of us in shock. "Dean?" I hum softly. "Hey, hey, hey-- Dean, it's okay--" I exclaim as he begins to panic. "You're okay, baby, I promise." I coo as Sam and I manage to snap him out of it. "Breathe." Dean sucks in a few hurried breaths and nods. I gaze up at Sam. "You should stay with him and the baby-- Bobby and I will handle this."

"You sure?" Sam asks as Dean lays back on the bed, his hands twisting and turning with each other.

I nod. "I'm sure."

The next morning, Bobby pulls up to the factory. "Howdy, Lottie." Bobby chirps out.

"Hey, Bobby!" I call back. "Thanks for coming up so quick." I greet Bobby with a kiss on the cheek.

"Where's the others?" Bobby asks.

"Sam's watching Dean and the baby." I explain.

"So, have his hallucinations started yet?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah, a few hours ago."

"How are we doing on time?"

"The boys saw the Coroner about eight a.m. Monday morning, so, uh... just under two hours." I say after gazing at my watch. "What about you? You find anything?"

"This, uh, encyclopedia of spirits." Bobby recites as he tugs out the blue book from his jacket. "It dates to the Edo period.

"You can read Japanese?" I ask.

"Kimi ga umareru mae kara zutto dayo," Bobby recites perfectly.

I snort. "Yeah? You old fart."

Bobby grins. "Anyway, this book lists a kind of ghost that could be our guy. It, uh, infects people with fear. It's called a Buruburu."

"It say how to kill it?"

"Same as usual-- Burn the remains." I sigh irritably at Bobby's answer.

"Yeah, problem is, remains are a no-go. Is there a plan B?" I ask hopefully.

Bobby hums. "Well, the Buruburu is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says we can kill it with fear."

I leap off the car. "You're telling me we can scare a ghost to death?" I ask.

"Pretty much."

I clap my hands together and rub wildly. "Let's get started!"

"Whatdya got planned?" Bobby asks.

I beam. "No clue, but we'll figure it out."

~*****~

I send Sam a quick text and toss my phone into the car before popping open the trunk. "Lottie-- this is a terrible plan." Bobby says irritably.

"Yeah? You got any better ideas?" I ask.

"I know I said scare a ghost to death, but this?" Bobby rolls his eyes.

I shrug. "Since you ain't got a better one, my idiotic idea is what we go with." I enter the factory with my shot gun cautiously. I make it back to the room we found Luther's ID.

"Any luck?" I hear Bobby on the radio.

"I don't know. Last time we were here, he came right at us. It's almost like he's... Like he's scared." I bait. I set my shotgun down.

"So now what?" Bobby asks.

"Guess I got to make him angry." I retort and start rifling through his desk and tearing up the papers he'd so carefully drawn. "Luther, honey!" I call out as I continue to rip. "Bring you punk ass out! C'mon! Oh-- this one's pretty~!" I coo and rip it up. I turn around and grin as the big behemoth snarls down at me. "That's what I'm waiting for. Bring it, buddy!"

Luther drags me around the room, and for a moment, I'm wondering if I can even get to the chain in time. When I finally do and wrap it around Luther's throat, I shout.

"Punch it!" I shout as loud as I can.

Luther lurches from the room, being dragged out of the factory, kicking and flailing wildly as the fear finally kills it. The factory dies down and I take a moment to palm at my battered body.

"Lottie, you all right?" I hear Bobby shout.

"I'm good!" I call back as I hunch on my knees.

~*****~

"So, you guys road-hauled a ghost..." Dean trailed off as he passed me a beer. "With a chain?"

"Iron chain with a spell word etched into it." I retort almost haughtily.

Dean huffed. "That's a new one on me."

"It's what he was most afraid of." I shrug. "It was pretty brutal, though..."

"On the upside, I'm still alive, so, uh... Go team." Dean chuckles.

"Yeah. How you feeling, by the way?" Sam asks as Mary tugs at his hair.

"Fine." Dean shrugs.

"You sure, Dean?" Bobby asks. "Cause this line of work can get awful scary." Bobby teases.

I snort and angle my gaze down my bottle as Dean turns his glare on me. "I'm fine." He says adamantly to Bobby. "You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything."

"Aw..." Sam and I coo.

"He's adorable." Bobby adds.

We all laugh. "You know, you're the only one on my side, huh." Dean retorts irritably as he takes Mary from Sam.

Bobby chuckles again. "Well, I gotta get out of here. You guys drive safe."

"You, too, Bobby!" I call back. "And thank you!"

"So, uh... what did you see?" Sam asks Dean as Bobby finally drives off. "Near the end, I mean."

"Besides the cop cold clocking you and beating my ass?" Dean asks.

"Seriously." Sam urges.

"Howler Monkeys." Dean says after a beat of silence. "Whole roomful of them. Those things creep the hell out of me."

"Right." Sam says as I roll my eyes.

"No, no," Dean says. "Just the usual stuff, Sammy. Nothing I couldn't handle."

I hum. "So, there's no chance we get that private concert of Eye of the Tiger?" I ask curiously.

"Shut up!" Dean immediately belted and hurried to get Mary in her car seat. "Your mom's betraying me, tell her something." Sam and I are laughing hysterically.