The World You Thought You Live In 12/12
Chapter 12
"You shouldn't have lied to you brother." Victor pointed out.
"I didn't exactly lie to him." Sam threw the bag over his shoulder and turned the flashlight on.
"You told him we would get him out of the hospital in the morning and take care of Scully together." He spread his arms. "And now we are here in the middle of the night. Looks pretty much like lying to me." Victor got it, of course he did. After Sam had told his brother what they had to do to put Scully to rest Dean insisted to come along. In his condition? Not a good idea. So yes, he got why Sam wanted Dean to sit tight in the hospital while they were out here to take care of things. It still felt wrong.
"He knows." Sam said over his shoulder, Victor had to hurry to catch up with him. "Sort of."
"What? Did I miss something?" In his mind he went through the conversation between the brothers but he found not even a hint of what Sam had been planing to do.
Sam let out a sigh. "Dean went through my notes and he knows this ritual has to be done by midnight. And he knows it's not really dangerous." They reached the house. It was still standing, nothing indicated there had been a fire just days ago. It loomed over them like something right out of a horror movie. "This way he can pretend he doesn't know I'm in a potential dangerous situation and doesn't have to go into that protective big brother mode of his." He sucked in his bottom lip. Victor guessed this was the first time one of the brother ever explained some of the dynamics of their relationship. And this was only the part Sam was conscious about.
"He will, however, bail out of the hospital if he hasn't heard form us till two in the morning." Sam finished his explanation with a grin. "Of course he will scream at me for coming here alone."
After a second he realized what he had just said. "I didn't mean to … em." In the darkness Victor couldn't see his face but he was pretty sure the boy just blushed.
"Alone like not with Dean, I get it." They stopped to get the shotguns ready. They didn't expect trouble with Scully but better safe than sorry, right?
In silence they made their way to the basement.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Victor didn't point the beam of his flashlight to the floor where he knew he would find Dean's dried blood. A lot of Dean's blood.
"The closer we are to the place he performed the original ritual the better." Sam didn't quite answer his question.
Still no sign of the fire. Victor smelled smoke but the air was breathable.
"The trap door is shut." Sam was ahead into the room while Victor stayed back to cover him with the shotgun. "Melted actually."
"So that's why the house is still standing." At least that mystery was solved.
"Give me a hand." Together they moved the furniture aside till they had a free spot next to the trap door. Sweat and dust covered Victor within minutes and he had the taste of smoke deep in his throat. Coughing he tried to clear his airways, Sam did the same but he sounded a lot more labored. So much for his throat being fine.
"We won't end like Libbey, right?" Victor asked when Sam started to chalk symbols on the floor. He copied them from the book Libbey had used. After all, Libbey had died trying a ritual from that book. Not in a pretty way. And he had to use a human sacrifice.
"The original ritual was the one with the black magic." Sam explained and wiped his fingers on his jeans. "This is more like a seance. We call her, thank her for her service and release her."
That simple, huh? Victor still waited for the day statements like that would sound reasonable.
"Hold that." Sam shoved a bowl in his hands and dug for the other ingredients in his bag. With a routine Victor didn't want to think about Sam mixed herbs in the bowl and placed some candles on the ground.
"You do that often?" Victor couldn't quite hide the nervous edge in his voice. He had the picture of Libbey's remains stuck in his head.
"Only if I have to." Sam looked him straight in the eye. "You don't want do play around with this stuff if it's not absolutely necessary."
Victor nodded his understanding. Before he had seen Libbey's corpse he would have laughed at the idea of some scratches on the floor, candles and burning herbs doing something else than let you look stupid. Now there were to many way this could go wrong.
They finished the preparation and took their positions. While Sam knelt on the floor, Victor stood guard with the shotgun.
"Only fire if she attacks." Was Sam's last introduction before he started to read Latin from the book. At some point he cut himself with a knife and mixed his blood with the herbs in the bowl. Victor winced in sympathy - the cut on his own arm had just recently healed - but Sam didn't even flinch. The Winchesters were tough bastards, both of them. Victor was pretty sure he himself couldn't do that without minutes of hesitation.
Fresh smoke from the burning herbs with the undertone of sizzling blood filled the air.
"You came back." With a drop of temperature Scully stood on the other side of the drawing on the floor. Victor raised his shotgun just in case.
"We are here to help you." Sam stood up, holding his hands in the universal gesture of I-won't-harm-you.
"You already did. He's gone." A sad smile crossed her face. "I fought him for so long but he grew stronger and then …" She broke up with tears in her eyes. So ghosts could cry. Victor hold his breath, afraid to blink and miss something.
"What he made you do is not your fault." Sam reached out and grabbed her hand. "You helped us to stop him. We couldn't have done it without you."
"I hurt you." Searching she looked around. "And that other man? Is he ...?"
"I had worse and my brother is in the hospital but he'll be fine." Sam explained and Scully visibly relaxed. If Victor didn't know she was a ghost he would have mistaken her for a living person.
"What's your name?" Sam asked. The question came out of the blue. In his mind Victor still referred to her as Scully but of course that wasn't her real name.
"Susan. Susan Walker."
"Hi, Susan." Sam flashed her his smile with the dimples. "I'm Sam and this is Victor." When she turned her head in his direction Victor hastily lowered the shotgun he somehow still had aimed at her. "You know that Donald Libbey did something to bind you? To subdue you?"
The tears were back when she nodded. "He wanted me to help him kill those women. He wasn't strong enough to do it alone. Not yet. He grew stronger and I fought him off as long as I could, but …"
"You held him off for decades." Sam wanted to say more but was cut off by Scully - Susan - Victor corrected himself.
"He wanted me to collect their souls. Even if I knew how to do that, I would never …" She broke up, determination in her eyes. "Never."
"We know that and we want to thank you." Sam smiled at her and picked up the book again. "Are you ready to leave this place?"
"Yes." It came right from her heart.
Sam read Latin again and Susan closed her eyes.
"Thank you." Victor heard her whisper and then with a bright light she was gone.
"Wow." Victor searched for words. "That was. Wow."
"Yeah." Sam grinned at him and started to collect his stuff. "Most of the time it's like it was with Libbey. But sometimes." His smile got brighter.
"Is she in a better place now?" Victor unloaded his gun and dropped it into the bag.
"Honestly? I don't know. But I think, yes, she's in a better place."
Together they made their way back to the car.
With a sigh Victor settled into the passenger seat. He could hear his bed calling and wouldn't mind to sleep for three days straight but Sam had other plans.
"Okay, let's get Dean and then hit the road."
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