Supernatural... But Better (Vol. I)

Chapter Twenty Seven

I was the first one out of the car when Dean parked.

We'd followed the sirens to Lori's sorority house, which was crawling with cops and inconsolable, crying college girls — half of which seemed to be hungover, if that had anything to do with it.

Leaving the two boys to fend for themselves, I weaved through the crowd, eyes scanning every face I passed by. Then, I saw Lori, sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around her. She was fine. Traumatized, maybe, but fine. As I watched, her dad went and got her, taking her to his car, presumably to take her home.

My gaze fell on the house then. It was mostly roped off, with some girls still lingering just inside the door. Clearly, something had happened inside, but because it was so big and so many people lived inside, I imagined it was very difficult to completely clear it out.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm, and I turned to see Sam and Dean standing there. "How the hell do you slip through a crowd like that?"

I blinked at him. "You just— walk around people. It's really not that hard."

Sam raised an eyebrow, laughing helplessly. "Not that hard. Sure, let's go with that."

Dean crossed his arms, surveying the scene. "Do we know what's going on yet?"

I pointed at the house. "Someone died in there. Not Lori. She's freaked out, so it was probably one of her friends, but otherwise, she's fine. Her dad just took her home."

"The only reason the Hook Man would be so far away from 9 Mile Road is if we were right," Sam observed.

His brother nodded. "This clearly has something to do with Lori, but... if he's protecting her, why would he go after one of her sorority sisters?"

I thought about it for a moment — colleges were breeding grounds for sin, so there had to be something. "There's all sorts of possible reasons. Maybe... maybe she was drinking or doing drugs or whatever and offered some to Lori. Actively encouraging her to pursue an immoral lifestyle."

Sam looked around the edge of the house, pulling us along with him. We walked around the corner and over until we were under a little balcony.

He crouched down, interlocking his fingers together and holding them towards the floor as if he meant to give me a boost. "Ladies first."

I raised an eyebrow at him, looking back up at the balcony. "You're joking, right? You want me to climb up there?"

He smirked at me. "Well, yeah."

Sighing, I looked at the distance between myself and the balcony, immediately realizing a problem. The only way to get onto it was to get over the railing, which I would not be able to do from the height his hands would afford me.

I looked at him. "You're going to have to throw me."

Sam furrowed his brows, confused. "What?"

I braced my hands on his shoulders. "Toss me up in the air. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

He steadied himself, giving me an uncertain look. "Alright. If you're sure."

Stepping up onto his hands, he pushed me up into the air. It gave me just the boost I needed to grasp the railing and plant my foot on the edge of the balcony. At that point, any normal person would've just climbed over the railing, but I had the sudden urge to show off, so I used my grip on the railing to do a little front flip into the balcony instead.

Then, I leaned over the side, smiling down at them. "You coming?"

Sam breathed a surprised laugh, gawking up at my little show. "Uh, yeah."

As the two of them had to climb up the wall the old-fashioned way, I climbed in the window, ending up in Lori's walk-in closet. That seemed odd to me, why anybody would have a window in their closet, but whatever. It was an old building, maybe that used to be more common.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump behind me, and I turned to see Dean practically falling through the window on top of his brother. "Oh, sorry!"

"Be quiet," Sam groaned.

Stifling my laughter, I helped him to his feet, even though I knew he didn't need it. He still thanked me for it, though, which was nice.

Going over to the door, I opened it just a crack, seeing a police officer standing in Lori's bedroom. Holding an arm out to keep Sam and Dean back from the door, I waited until he left, and I heard his footsteps receding down the staircase. Then, I opened the closet door the rest of the way.

The sight stunned me.

"Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?" Sam said, reading the message on the wall, written in blood. "That's right out of the legend."

Dean nodded, looking over at the bed of Lori's roommate — late roommate — which was absolutely drenched in blood. "Yeah, that's classic Hook Man all right." Looking at the two of us, he tapped his nose. "It's definitely a spirit."

His brother nodded. "Yeah, I've never smelled ozone this strong before."

Getting over my initial shock, I joined them in looking around the room, before Sam called us over. "Hey, come here."

Walking over with Dean, we looked at what he was pointing at, a small symbol underneath the message. "Does that look familiar to you?"

It was an odd sort of cross symbol, and I slowly nodded. "Yeah, it... oh, it's in the papers on Jacob Karns!"

Five minutes later, we were back at Dean's car, looking through the papers. "Yeah, look, it's right here."

Sam leaned in, looking over my shoulder. "Well, looks like this is definitely the spirit of Jacob Karns."

I nodded, looking at him, finding our faces a bit too close for comfort, but then he moved back. "Um... yeah, it is, so we should probably start looking for where he's buried."

"What do you mean, looking for it?" Dean asked, gesturing to the pages. "Does it not say there?"

Giving him an unhappy smile, I read off of the paper. "After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave."

He sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. "Super."

I shrugged. "Well, we know that whoever the Hook Man is gonna hit next is gonna be somehow related to Lori, so... if someone just keeps an eye on her, and someone else gets a shovel and heads to the cemetery, then we've got everything covered."

They looked at each other.

"I've got Lori," Sam stated.

"I'll get a shovel," Dean offered.

Then, they turned to me.

I blinked. "Um... I don't particularly want to go dig up a grave, but... like, I can? If you want me to? I don't care, you pick."