The Winchester brothers, Heaven and Hell come across an unfinished business.
How far will they go to save a soul?
***The story takes place throughout the whole series but does not necessarily follow its storylines*** 👻
People love being misled. Everybody is okay with a tooth fairy being in their room while they sleep but nobody expects what crawls into their bedroom to actually be a bogeyman. Everybody rather believes a nice cover story than ugly truth. That's why you don't say to a pretty librarian that you're looking for a lore on a mythical creature that killed at least three people in the town so far. John Winchester knew patterns of deceiving through and through. He wasted no time and stopped right at the circulation desk.
"Can I help you, sir?" The girl that could've been John's daughter smiled at him politely.
"Yes, please. I'm doing a piece on local urban legends. Could you point me in the right direction?" John had no interest in wandering through the maze of bookshelves. Slayton wasn't a big town but the library held three stories of reading material.
"Oh, you've never been in here?" The young librarian sounded skeptical, it was hard to believe a writer wouldn't know his way around the local library.
"I'm out of town, actually. I'm trying to cover more ground, not only your town." John adjusted a journalist bag on his shoulder to let his guide know he was ready to move.
"I understand," her face lit back up. "Follow me, the reference section is in the basement."
"I've heard your library kind of specializes in this kind of literature." John was easily keeping up with her fast pace.
"Certainly. We've only recently gained access to some journals that were believed to be long gone. I myself have spent endless hours restoring the books so we could put them into system. I've learned quite a number on the creatures myself."
"You're actually into these things?" John almost stopped in his tracks.
"I love mythology." She turned her head for him to see she was dead serious about it. Most people thought she wasn't.
"Impressive." His lips formed a thin line in recognition.
"You really think so? Everybody's telling me I must be crazy wasting my time on things like that." They were now walking side by side down the stairs into the basement.
"It's never bad to be ready if anything came up, isn't it?" John winked at his partner in crime and smiled.
"In the case of zombie apocalypse? Absolutely." She chuckled.
"It's nice to know that not every teenage girl is only into those romance stories."
"Nope, no chick flicks." She said with a straight face.
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John laughed. "You just sounded like my son. Do you have any brothers?"
"Oh no, I'm the only child. I guess it's all me. No influence." She took the lead again so John couldn't see her awry smile.
"Never change." He said to her back.
"Never will. And we're here." She opened the door and they passed all the bookshelves and stopped only by the furthest one. "This is what you're here for." She pointed to the wall of books.
"Are you serious? This is all on the local legends?"
"These are only the printed versions and these," she turned to the wall made of boxes, "are the handwritten journals. We're very lucky to have them." She looked at the boxes like they were the most precious treasure in her lair.
"Is there even a slight chance I could have a look into these?"
"Of course not. Officially. But I'm sure I can call in a few favors for the sake of your writing. Only if you're willing to do your research here, though."
"It's okay. I don't mind me a quiet afternoon." He took in the stack of books he could easily build a fortress with.
"Alright, I'll be just over there if you need me, I've got some re-shelving to do."
"Thank you, Miss ... "
"It's Riley, please."
John held out his hand.
"Hello, Riley, I'm John." He did not even flinch while telling her his real name and he has never done that while on the job. But it felt just wrong to lie to a fellow folklore enthusiast.
"Nice to meet you, sir. I mean ... John." She squeezed his hand. And oddly she didn't want to let go. Hardly anybody dared to meet her eyes lately, let alone touch her. Like she was cursed or something. "Just call if anything." She smiled and forced herself to let John's hand go.
"Thank you, Riley." He put his bag down on the table in the middle of the aisle and turned to the shelves.
Riley was sorry the room fell into silence again but she had loads of work to do so she turned and walked to her working station. Nobody ever visited this side of library. Not young people like John anyway. It was nice to feel a presence of another human being and not talking to ghosts all day.
Couple hours later, Riley was just in the middle of a furious adhesive-taping session with the copy of one of the books when John materialized by her desk.
"Riley ..." He startled her and her head flew up in shock.
"What can I do for you?" She asked when she remembered she had this rare visitor in today. Once she dive into her work, the outside world ceased to exist.
"Do you hold old copies of the newspaper? And when I say old I mean like Gutenberg old."
He seemed concerned but she actually laughed. He felt relieved she knew who Gutenberg was. And even more mesmerized that she got his joke.
"We don't go that far back, I'm afraid, but we're not that bad either. Just tell me the period and I'll get the paper for you."
"1805."
"Did you find something interesting in the journals?" She asked him while he was following her once again.
"They're priceless."
"Right? I could spend hours reading those."
Riley made a turn to the opposite side of where John was reading and found a box with the year he was looking for.
"Here you go." She put the heavy box on his desk. "You're gonna have to navigate through the box though there isn't much left from that year."
"I'll manage."
She smiled again and headed back to her desk. She had to turn the lights on, the dusk hit the basement early, the small windows let only little light in. When she lifted her head up again, it was completely dark outside and John was still silently turning the pages.
"I'll have to head upstairs but I'll be right back." She stopped by the John's desk. He was covered in reading material. "Knock yourself out, if you're in need of more of those papers."
"Thank you, Riley, I really appreciate your hospitality."
