Alive

Chapter 26: Spectres

After going to see Sam and Dean's childhood home, we drive toward Nebraska.  A hunter called Garth to let him know about a possible case near us during the car ride.

Dean needs a break from driving and the weather is getting bad, so we decide to stop at a motel and spend the night. We're already in the area and its late, it's almost midnight. The snow comes down light but fast and it's sticking to the ground and the roads pretty quickly. We pull into the parking lot of the motel and park. Dean quickly goes inside and gets our room situated while Sam, Garth, and I get all of our things out of the trunk.

I shiver uncontrollably as we hold the bags and wait for Dean to return with our room key. "You alright?" Sam asks, the smoke-like cloud coming out of his mouth as he speaks because of the coldness. He notices my shivering. I nod, "It's cold as hell! I can't tell you how long it's been since I've seen snow. I love it, but it's so damn cold." I say as I cross my arms, hugging myself in an attempt to stay warm. "Here, take my jacket." Sam says as he takes off his almost snow covered coat. He comes up behind me and puts it over me. He's so sweet, except, now he'll be cold.   "Oh no, Sam you don't have to do that, it's cold for you too. Keep it on, I'm fine I promise." I assure him, beginning to remove the jacket. Sam walks away from me and next to Garth. "No Elena, really it's fine. Don't worry about me. You're smaller than me too, you need more heat than I do." He kind of chuckles. I give in and smile at him. I mean it is really cold and since he's offering...I'll just take it. "Thank you Sam." I say.

Finally, Dean quickly walks out from the office door and over to us. "Our room is at the very end down there." He says, pointing. His hand slightly shakes as he points because of how cold it is. We all quickly walk together to the door of our room. You can hear all of our feet loudly as they shuffle quickly against the snow covered sidewalk. Dean unlocks it quickly and opens the door. We all pile in as fast as we can, Sam shutting the door behind us. It's a lot warmer inside. I rub my hands together as I feel my body begin to get warm again. "Okay, there's only two beds. I sleep with Elena, Garth you sleep with Sam." Dean says as he walks over to me, taking the bags from my hands and placing them down in the closet area for me. Sam immediately whines. "Oh, no c'mon man. I'll sleep in the—uh...the—uh chair...over there." Sam says uncomfortably.

Garth begins to whine, "Sam what the frick man I thought we were like brothers. It's totally not weird at all for us to sleep in the same bed. There's no way I'm letting you sleep in that hard chair over there." Sam fake smiles and awkwardly thanks Garth. "Thanks...Garth..." Dean laughs at Sam and grins as he walks back over to the small table that's in the corner of the room. "All right. So what's the possible case? Give us the info." Dean says as he opens up the bag that has Sam's laptop in it. 

He sits it on top of the table and opens it, ready to do some research.  Sam sits at the end of his bed, listening.  "Okay, so we may have a possible vengeful spirit or Spectre on our hands.  A woman attempted to call the police a few days ago about her thinking someone had broken into her home and placed a green-like substance throughout her house.  The police came to take a look at it and informed her no one had broken into the home, but that her house just had some sort of issue or a leakage of some sort.  After the police left, she called a specialist in to come check her home.  The specialist got there later in the evening, like around 7 or 8:00pm.  Yesterday, the woman and the specialist were found dead in her home.  The woman's body was covered in bruises and cuts while the specialist on had one stab wound to the stomach.  It's as if the specialist beat her to death and then stabbed her a bunch of times after.  After he finished her he stabbed himself.  And get this, when the cops interviewed the woman's sister who actually saw her a few days before, she told them that Holly, the name of the woman that died, kept telling her over and over that she had been hearing strange things in the house lately and she was afraid to go home after work.  She said she never felt alone and that it was like her house was haunted or something.  She was paranoid as hell."  Garth explains. 

Dean slowly nods as he looks up the article and police report.  "This could definitely be something.  I'm thinking it's probably a Spectre because they leave behind green ectoplasm while vengeful spirits leave behind black ectoplasm."  Sam says, looking over at Garth.  Garth nods in agreement. 

Okay, what the hell is a Spectre? 

"Okay, wait.  What exactly is a Spectre?"  I ask.  "Spectres are a particular type of avenging ghost that possess a person.  The Spectre gets inside your head and senses your grudges.  It then makes you act against a person who wronged you.  It makes a person act on anger in a crazy violent way.  Or sometimes, they just use humans to kill people they care about.  They ruin people's lives.  They can be distinguished from other vengeful spirits, or ghosts in general, in that they leave behind green rather than black ectoplasm."  Sam says, explaining it all to me.  "Yeah, they're nasty little bastards."  Dean says as he reads the article, scooting his chair in closer to the table.

A cut on Garth's forehead begins to bleed again and I notice it as I look over at him. "Oh gosh Garth, you're bleeding again.  Hang on a second." I say as I get up from the edge of my bed. I walk into the bathroom and find a wash cloth. I run warm faucet water over it and get it wet. I walk back into the room and sit next to him. "Here, let me see." I say as I raise my arm. He watches me as I softly and carefully dab the blood away from his wound. Katherine is such a bitch. This makes me so angry.

"I'm so sorry she did this to you. She needs to die.  Why didn't Crowley just kill her right there?"  I say looking over at Sam and Dean for answers.  My tone shows annoyance and anger. "I don't know, he may want to leave her alive in case he wants to use her.  I mean he could really use her against all of us.  As much as I hate to say it, she's stronger than your average vampire.  I've never seen anything like it.  And she's good at pretending to be you...He may have kept her alive for the very same reason he kept you alive."  Sam says as he gets up and walks over to Dean.  He leans over the table and rests his hands on the tabletop.  He reads the article while Dean continues to do so.  I stop the bleeding on Garth's head finally, and pull away, smiling.  "You might not want to sleep for a while.  You're not really supposed to sleep when you have a head injury."  I say as I get up and take the washcloth back into the bathroom.  "Yeah I'll probably be up for a while researching anyways."  Garth says as he gets up and joins Sam and Dean.  "So, how do you get rid of a Spectre?"  I ask; curious.  "The same way you get rid of any spirit.  Find the bones of the dead person and burn them with salt.  If there's no body, burn whatever item they're using to continue to attach themselves to our realm."  Dean says as he scrolls down the article, Sam and Garth's eyes follow down the screen.

I go over to mine and Dean's bed and I pull the covers down, getting ready for bed. I'm so exhausted, even though all I've been doing for hours is sitting in a car. All the stress and worry just wears me out. Dean glances over at me and notices I'm getting into bed. I climb into the bed and snuggle up under the covers, still letting out a few shivers. Dean grins as he gets up, Sam taking his place. "All right boys, I'm headed to bed. I'm so tired from all the driving. You two can research and work on this tonight as much as you want and let me know if you find anything else out tomorrow." Dean says. "A.K.A. he just wants to go get in bed with his girl..." Garth says, chuckling. Sam just laughs as he begins to type.

"Well—yeah, that too." Dean admits. I smirk as I look over at him. "I'm okay with that." I say with the biggest grin on my face. Dean grabs the bottom of his shirt and slowly removes it, lifting it over his head to reveal his amazing body. Damn he's so perfect. I stare at his body and wait excitedly for him to come cuddle with me. Dean's shirtless cuddles are literally the best thing in the world. He comes up beside the bed and pulls the covers down. "Scoot over, babe..." He says with a warm smile. He also has the sweetest smile ever, it's like his eyes sparkle.

I slowly move over, making room for him to lay next to me. He gets under the covers and lays right next to me. I lay facing him and he lays facing me. He takes his muscular arm and rests it over my waist, pulling me in close to him. I lay my head on top of his shoulder/arm and I place my hand on his chest. I feel his heart beating as we cuddle, his chest moves up and down as he breathes. He kisses my forehead. "Sam, can you turn the light off please?" Dean asks. "Yup. Got it." Sam says, flipping the light switch off. The room gets pretty dark, but the laptop light acts as a nightlight almost. "I love you." Dean whispers. "I love you too." I whisper back. It's at this very moment that I feel safe. I feel at home.