Putting In Doors
Title: Putting In Doors
Author: immortal_jedi aka jedipati
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG
Warnings: Ghosts, and the hunting thereof
Prompt: 17)The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there--you build yourself. Those are the high ones, the thick ones, the ones with no doors in. --Ursula K. LeGuin (born October 21, 1929), present-day American author, particularly well-known in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
Summary: Jo is one of the Hunters who Hunts alone, though she wishes she had a partner. It's hard, doing this job alone. It's even harder doing this job when you know your family doesn't approve.
Author's Notes: This story was written for the femgenficathon, a multifandom ficathon to write gen fiction about women in various canons. Many thanks to paper_rose16 for the beta work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo couldn’t go home, no matter how much she wanted to. Never mind that the Roadhouse had burnt down four months ago- if she went to Ellen, her mom would keep her from Hunting.
Jo didn’t want that. She wanted to Hunt, like her dad had. She wanted to help people, and this was the best way to do it. Jo knew that Hunting was all she wanted to do, and that was what she was going to do.
Today, she was in a small town in eastern Nebraska, a town that had somehow just barely survived the Depression. Something was attacking people out on the old Pierce farm and someone needed to find out what was going on.
Might as well be Jo.
Sure, demons were everywhere, and it was all hands on deck to Hunt them down, but even the Winchesters would take time off to deal with a ghost, or a Pagan god, or whatever, if it fell into their laps.
Jo had stopped for the night and found this Hunt by accident. She might as well take it.
The next morning, Jo headed for the library. She needed to know just what was going on before she checked out the Pierce place.
She walked into the library and stopped dead. She glanced around slowly. She had become used to small town libraries that were dimly lit, usually with a year’s worth of dust, and probably still had card catalogues. If she was lucky, there would be a fifteen year old computer that she could use instead of the card catalogue.
But this library was spacious and bright, and had three computers sitting on a table near the front. One of them had a sign that said it connected to the internet, while the other two were catalogue only. She smiled and headed for the open catalogue.
Three hours later, Jo was deep in her research- mostly back issues of the local newspaper- and happily reading.
There had been three different attacks in the last four months, and before that, only ten in fifty years. Something had gotten the attacker excited, and Jo had a good guess as to what.
Four months ago, the Devil’s Gate had been opened and everything related to Hunting had gotten much more active. That was the only reason she’d found out about this, because the creature’s activities were escalating.
Jo had a guess as to what the creature was now, but she wasn’t sure yet. She needed to head out there and look around the Pierce place. She sighed. If only she could call Ash and ask his opinion. She wanted his advice so badly; especially now that she knew she’d never get it again. She wanted her mother’s advice, even if Ellen yelled at her.
But she couldn’t call her Mom.
Jo cleaned up her work area and headed out of the library. She made sure to smile at the librarian, and keep things nice and neat. She might have to come back, and she wanted to be remembered fondly.
It was time to get a bite to eat, and then head out to the site of the attacks.
Jo figured it was one of two things. A ghost bound to only one building, or a black dog of some type. The area where all the attacks had taken place was surrounded by an iron fence, and if it was a black dog, it was trapped there. If it was a ghost, it’d have the same problem. Of course, a ghost would be a lot easier to handle, so it was probably a black dog, just based on the luck Jo tended to have.
Jo grinned at herself and got in her truck. “Here doggy, doggy, doggy,” she called out as she drove to the diner. She figured there was enough time to see how the locals cooked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo slid out of her truck slowly. She had parked it behind the old house where the attacks had been taking place, just outside the fence.
She grabbed her gear- an EMF detector, shotgun with salt shells, and her pistol loaded with iron bullets and headed for the house. Ghosts would dissipate if they were hit by the salt shells, while both the possibilities would be hurt by the iron.
She snorted. Most possibilities would be hurt by iron. It was a nice general weapon against evil. It didn’t always work, but it did more often then not.
Jo glanced around to make sure no one was in sight before picking the lock to the gate. She made sure to close it behind her- but not lock it. She wasn’t going to lock herself in with something supernatural.
It was easy to get inside the house. Some people said it was an old church that had been converted into a house, but Jo didn’t see any evidence that it had once been a church. In fact, it looked more like a converted barn.
She saw the evidence of previous attacks- the blood still staining the walls, scratches in the floor.
She frowned down at the scratches. They looked like claw marks. “Maybe it is a black dog,” she said to herself.
She pulled out her EMF detector and turned it on before putting it in her jacket pocket. She’d hear it if it went off. She switched out the shotgun for the pistol and headed further into the old house.
She was halfway down the hallway when the EMF went off, frantically shrilling a warning. She stopped and looked around. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but she approached a nearby door and the whining increased.
She opened the door cautiously, and ducked as something jumped out at her.
She spun around and tried to track it. The creature yelped as it hit the far wall. It was definitely some sort of dog.
It disappeared. “Damn it!” she swore as she looked around. The EMF detector continued to wail at her. She heard a low growl behind her.
Jo froze. Slowly, she turned around. The dog was staring at her from inside the room again.
She frowned. It didn’t look like a black dog. And if it was a Hellhound, she wouldn’t see it. So, really, she had no idea what it was. Except angry. She leveled her gun at it. The growls increased in volume.
She fired. Hopefully, this thing was something that iron affected. The bullet blew through the dog, and it disappeared like a ghost.
Jo blinked. “A ghost dog?” she asked the air.
That did explain a lot. Except for when the dog was killed, where it was buried, and how to take care of it.
Jo paced through the rest of the old house. The dog didn’t show up, and there were no other EMF hotspots. She returned to the room where the dog had appeared.
The dog growled at her as soon as she opened the door. It lunged at her, but she was ready for it and ducked down. It flew past her, hit the nearby wall again, and disappeared.
She switched to her shotgun and entered the room. The EMF detector wailed again. She shut it off. Clearly, the ghost made its home in this room. She glanced around. Maybe it was protecting something.
Jo smiled as the dog appeared right in front of her. She’d expected it, so she was ready and filled it full of rock salt before it could do more then growl at her.
It disappeared with a yelp. She sighed. She loved dogs, and she hated to think about a dog that had become a ghost.
Still, a ghost was a ghost. She had a bit of time now, to search the room. It looked just like every other room in this house.
The floor was wood, just like every other room, it was covered in dust, but there was no sign that there was anything special about it.
But the ghost dog was clearly protecting something about this room. Or it thought it was protecting something.
She took a closer look at the floor. In the back corner, the boards looked warped, as if they’d been pried up and then nailed back down.
She smiled slowly and began backing out of the room. She knew what she needed to do. Now, she just had to see if she had a pickaxe in her truck. If not, there was the general store in town. And it would probably be a good idea to wait a bit to let the dog calm down. And then she’d have to lure it out and trap it into a salt ring so she could dig up whatever was hiding below the floorboards.
And maybe a bit more research was in order. The dog looked like it had been a German Shepherd when it was alive. Perhaps there were some old photos and she could get an idea of how long the thing had been a ghost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo took her time in town. She stopped at the store and bought a pickaxe. Then she headed back to the library. It was only open for another hour, but that might give her enough time to get some information.
She smiled at the librarian again and headed back into the stacks. There might be a history of the town book she could take a look at.
She grinned. She was going to be spoiled by this library by the time she was done here.
Unfortunately, she didn’t find any useful information before the library closed. She sighed and headed out to find dinner.
After dinner, once it was dark, Jo headed back to the old house. This time, she brought a bag of rock salt in with her, along with everything else.
It took her two trips to get everything to the hallway just outside the room the ghost dog had claimed before she was ready. If she had a partner, it would go a lot faster. It’s just that there was no one she could trust as a partner who’d actually work with her. She bit her lip. She really, really wanted to talk to her mom. Ellen would have been a wonderful partner. Jo was sure they’d have worked well together. But Ellen just couldn’t see that Jo was a Hunter.
She’d have to go it alone.
Working by flashlight, she spread salt all around the building, carefully marking out certain tracks for the dog to follow.
It was clear from the markings that the dog would chase people through the house, even right to the edge of the door, but would otherwise stay in that little room.
Once she had a track that the dog could follow, but would allow her to quickly track it, she opened the door once again. The dog snarled at her and leapt out at her. Rather then duck, Jo took off running down the hall. She could hear the dog behind her as she ducked into another room.
She jumped over a salt line and edged around the room as the dog slid to a stop at the salt. It was bristling and growling at her.
She grinned at it. “It’s your own fault, you dumb dog,” she said. She slid to the side and grabbed the bag of salt she’d left in the room. The dog watched her closely.
She’d have to work fast to get it trapped. She shook the salt out from behind another salt line, and nearly finished trapping it. However, she’d have to cross the line to get to the far side, and that would leave her open to attack.
The dog hadn’t stopped growling, and was now starting to bark furiously as it realized that she was trapping it.
She smirked. As she stepped over the line to finish the last trapping line, the dog lunged at her.
She didn’t pause, and finished the salt line just as the dog hit it.
The dog growled and pawed at the ground just in front of the line. “Oh, shut up,” Jo snapped. “You’re trapped, and that’s not going to change.”
Jo sighed and headed for that room.
She stared at the odd corner, resigned. This wasn’t going to be fun. After a long moment, she picked up the pickaxe. It was going to take forever to get the wood up. She started to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo groaned as she pulled the last of the warped boards. There was hard-packed dirt underneath them, so she switched to her shovel. “Just like digging a grave,” she said.
Well, it was a bit harder, since the dirt was so hard-packed.
Still, she didn’t have to dig for long before she hit something.
She cleared the dirt from around her find. There was a large dog skeleton there… right above another, smaller skeleton. A child’s skeleton.
Jo gasped. A child had been killed here, and then buried with a dog skeleton.
No wonder the dog was so protective; it had probably been a beloved pet.
She sighed. By the looks of things, and based on the attacks, the kid had been killed over fifty years ago. There was really nothing she could do for him or her now, not even bring the killer to justice.
On the other hand, she had a pretty good idea who did it. The Pierce family left town fifty three years ago, after their farm failed. Their youngest boy had disappeared the year before with his beloved dog.
Jo was pretty sure that she knew what happened to the boy and his dog now.
And somehow, while the boy had moved on, the dog had remained behind, protecting his master in the only way he knew.
Jo could appreciate that, but it was time for the dog to be put to rest. She sighed and grabbed the salt. The little boy would need to be salted and burned as well.
She glanced around and decided that the dirt of the shallow grave would protect the rest of the house. It was the work of just a few minutes to get the salt and gasoline onto the bones and set them alight.
She detoured to the room where she’d trapped the dog. It was howling inconsolably.
“Don’t worry,” Jo said. “Your master is safe. You need to go to him to protect him now.”
The dog didn’t stop howling, even as the fire made it impossible for it to stay. The spirit burst into flames and vanished.
Jo sniffed and returned to the burning bones. She waited until the fire went out, and then buried what was left again.
She left the wooden boards pried up and began carrying her gear out to her truck.
She’d stay the rest of the night, and maybe a day or so longer in town before leaving. She needed to make sure that there was no trace of the dog before she left.
She’d spend a good portion of tomorrow night in the house.
She stopped short as she exited the house. There was an SUV parked next to her truck. Ellen was leaning against the SUV. “Mama?” she asked.
“Hey, baby,” Ellen said.
Jo rushed at her mother, who met her with a hug and clung to her tightly.
“You take care of it?” Ellen asked after they pulled away.
Jo nodded. “I did,” she said.
“So, what was it?” Ellen asked. “My sources said it might be a black dog.”
Jo grinned. “The ghost of a dog,” she said.
Ellen glanced at her. “Seriously?” she asked.
Jo nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “It was guarding its bones and a child’s bones. I think it was just loyal to its master.”
Ellen snorted. “Well, since you have a motel room, Joanna Beth,” she said. “Your call if we stay here for another day.”
“We?” Jo asked.
Ellen smiled. “Well, if you’re going to be Hunting, then you need a partner. I might as well watch your back.”
Jo smiled slowly. Maybe she did have someone she could trust. But more importantly, she had her mother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: immortal_jedi aka jedipati
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG
Warnings: Ghosts, and the hunting thereof
Prompt: 17)The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there--you build yourself. Those are the high ones, the thick ones, the ones with no doors in. --Ursula K. LeGuin (born October 21, 1929), present-day American author, particularly well-known in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
Summary: Jo is one of the Hunters who Hunts alone, though she wishes she had a partner. It's hard, doing this job alone. It's even harder doing this job when you know your family doesn't approve.
Author's Notes: This story was written for the femgenficathon, a multifandom ficathon to write gen fiction about women in various canons. Many thanks to paper_rose16 for the beta work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo couldn’t go home, no matter how much she wanted to. Never mind that the Roadhouse had burnt down four months ago- if she went to Ellen, her mom would keep her from Hunting.
Jo didn’t want that. She wanted to Hunt, like her dad had. She wanted to help people, and this was the best way to do it. Jo knew that Hunting was all she wanted to do, and that was what she was going to do.
Today, she was in a small town in eastern Nebraska, a town that had somehow just barely survived the Depression. Something was attacking people out on the old Pierce farm and someone needed to find out what was going on.
Might as well be Jo.
Sure, demons were everywhere, and it was all hands on deck to Hunt them down, but even the Winchesters would take time off to deal with a ghost, or a Pagan god, or whatever, if it fell into their laps.
Jo had stopped for the night and found this Hunt by accident. She might as well take it.
The next morning, Jo headed for the library. She needed to know just what was going on before she checked out the Pierce place.
She walked into the library and stopped dead. She glanced around slowly. She had become used to small town libraries that were dimly lit, usually with a year’s worth of dust, and probably still had card catalogues. If she was lucky, there would be a fifteen year old computer that she could use instead of the card catalogue.
But this library was spacious and bright, and had three computers sitting on a table near the front. One of them had a sign that said it connected to the internet, while the other two were catalogue only. She smiled and headed for the open catalogue.
Three hours later, Jo was deep in her research- mostly back issues of the local newspaper- and happily reading.
There had been three different attacks in the last four months, and before that, only ten in fifty years. Something had gotten the attacker excited, and Jo had a good guess as to what.
Four months ago, the Devil’s Gate had been opened and everything related to Hunting had gotten much more active. That was the only reason she’d found out about this, because the creature’s activities were escalating.
Jo had a guess as to what the creature was now, but she wasn’t sure yet. She needed to head out there and look around the Pierce place. She sighed. If only she could call Ash and ask his opinion. She wanted his advice so badly; especially now that she knew she’d never get it again. She wanted her mother’s advice, even if Ellen yelled at her.
But she couldn’t call her Mom.
Jo cleaned up her work area and headed out of the library. She made sure to smile at the librarian, and keep things nice and neat. She might have to come back, and she wanted to be remembered fondly.
It was time to get a bite to eat, and then head out to the site of the attacks.
Jo figured it was one of two things. A ghost bound to only one building, or a black dog of some type. The area where all the attacks had taken place was surrounded by an iron fence, and if it was a black dog, it was trapped there. If it was a ghost, it’d have the same problem. Of course, a ghost would be a lot easier to handle, so it was probably a black dog, just based on the luck Jo tended to have.
Jo grinned at herself and got in her truck. “Here doggy, doggy, doggy,” she called out as she drove to the diner. She figured there was enough time to see how the locals cooked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo slid out of her truck slowly. She had parked it behind the old house where the attacks had been taking place, just outside the fence.
She grabbed her gear- an EMF detector, shotgun with salt shells, and her pistol loaded with iron bullets and headed for the house. Ghosts would dissipate if they were hit by the salt shells, while both the possibilities would be hurt by the iron.
She snorted. Most possibilities would be hurt by iron. It was a nice general weapon against evil. It didn’t always work, but it did more often then not.
Jo glanced around to make sure no one was in sight before picking the lock to the gate. She made sure to close it behind her- but not lock it. She wasn’t going to lock herself in with something supernatural.
It was easy to get inside the house. Some people said it was an old church that had been converted into a house, but Jo didn’t see any evidence that it had once been a church. In fact, it looked more like a converted barn.
She saw the evidence of previous attacks- the blood still staining the walls, scratches in the floor.
She frowned down at the scratches. They looked like claw marks. “Maybe it is a black dog,” she said to herself.
She pulled out her EMF detector and turned it on before putting it in her jacket pocket. She’d hear it if it went off. She switched out the shotgun for the pistol and headed further into the old house.
She was halfway down the hallway when the EMF went off, frantically shrilling a warning. She stopped and looked around. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but she approached a nearby door and the whining increased.
She opened the door cautiously, and ducked as something jumped out at her.
She spun around and tried to track it. The creature yelped as it hit the far wall. It was definitely some sort of dog.
It disappeared. “Damn it!” she swore as she looked around. The EMF detector continued to wail at her. She heard a low growl behind her.
Jo froze. Slowly, she turned around. The dog was staring at her from inside the room again.
She frowned. It didn’t look like a black dog. And if it was a Hellhound, she wouldn’t see it. So, really, she had no idea what it was. Except angry. She leveled her gun at it. The growls increased in volume.
She fired. Hopefully, this thing was something that iron affected. The bullet blew through the dog, and it disappeared like a ghost.
Jo blinked. “A ghost dog?” she asked the air.
That did explain a lot. Except for when the dog was killed, where it was buried, and how to take care of it.
Jo paced through the rest of the old house. The dog didn’t show up, and there were no other EMF hotspots. She returned to the room where the dog had appeared.
The dog growled at her as soon as she opened the door. It lunged at her, but she was ready for it and ducked down. It flew past her, hit the nearby wall again, and disappeared.
She switched to her shotgun and entered the room. The EMF detector wailed again. She shut it off. Clearly, the ghost made its home in this room. She glanced around. Maybe it was protecting something.
Jo smiled as the dog appeared right in front of her. She’d expected it, so she was ready and filled it full of rock salt before it could do more then growl at her.
It disappeared with a yelp. She sighed. She loved dogs, and she hated to think about a dog that had become a ghost.
Still, a ghost was a ghost. She had a bit of time now, to search the room. It looked just like every other room in this house.
The floor was wood, just like every other room, it was covered in dust, but there was no sign that there was anything special about it.
But the ghost dog was clearly protecting something about this room. Or it thought it was protecting something.
She took a closer look at the floor. In the back corner, the boards looked warped, as if they’d been pried up and then nailed back down.
She smiled slowly and began backing out of the room. She knew what she needed to do. Now, she just had to see if she had a pickaxe in her truck. If not, there was the general store in town. And it would probably be a good idea to wait a bit to let the dog calm down. And then she’d have to lure it out and trap it into a salt ring so she could dig up whatever was hiding below the floorboards.
And maybe a bit more research was in order. The dog looked like it had been a German Shepherd when it was alive. Perhaps there were some old photos and she could get an idea of how long the thing had been a ghost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo took her time in town. She stopped at the store and bought a pickaxe. Then she headed back to the library. It was only open for another hour, but that might give her enough time to get some information.
She smiled at the librarian again and headed back into the stacks. There might be a history of the town book she could take a look at.
She grinned. She was going to be spoiled by this library by the time she was done here.
Unfortunately, she didn’t find any useful information before the library closed. She sighed and headed out to find dinner.
After dinner, once it was dark, Jo headed back to the old house. This time, she brought a bag of rock salt in with her, along with everything else.
It took her two trips to get everything to the hallway just outside the room the ghost dog had claimed before she was ready. If she had a partner, it would go a lot faster. It’s just that there was no one she could trust as a partner who’d actually work with her. She bit her lip. She really, really wanted to talk to her mom. Ellen would have been a wonderful partner. Jo was sure they’d have worked well together. But Ellen just couldn’t see that Jo was a Hunter.
She’d have to go it alone.
Working by flashlight, she spread salt all around the building, carefully marking out certain tracks for the dog to follow.
It was clear from the markings that the dog would chase people through the house, even right to the edge of the door, but would otherwise stay in that little room.
Once she had a track that the dog could follow, but would allow her to quickly track it, she opened the door once again. The dog snarled at her and leapt out at her. Rather then duck, Jo took off running down the hall. She could hear the dog behind her as she ducked into another room.
She jumped over a salt line and edged around the room as the dog slid to a stop at the salt. It was bristling and growling at her.
She grinned at it. “It’s your own fault, you dumb dog,” she said. She slid to the side and grabbed the bag of salt she’d left in the room. The dog watched her closely.
She’d have to work fast to get it trapped. She shook the salt out from behind another salt line, and nearly finished trapping it. However, she’d have to cross the line to get to the far side, and that would leave her open to attack.
The dog hadn’t stopped growling, and was now starting to bark furiously as it realized that she was trapping it.
She smirked. As she stepped over the line to finish the last trapping line, the dog lunged at her.
She didn’t pause, and finished the salt line just as the dog hit it.
The dog growled and pawed at the ground just in front of the line. “Oh, shut up,” Jo snapped. “You’re trapped, and that’s not going to change.”
Jo sighed and headed for that room.
She stared at the odd corner, resigned. This wasn’t going to be fun. After a long moment, she picked up the pickaxe. It was going to take forever to get the wood up. She started to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jo groaned as she pulled the last of the warped boards. There was hard-packed dirt underneath them, so she switched to her shovel. “Just like digging a grave,” she said.
Well, it was a bit harder, since the dirt was so hard-packed.
Still, she didn’t have to dig for long before she hit something.
She cleared the dirt from around her find. There was a large dog skeleton there… right above another, smaller skeleton. A child’s skeleton.
Jo gasped. A child had been killed here, and then buried with a dog skeleton.
No wonder the dog was so protective; it had probably been a beloved pet.
She sighed. By the looks of things, and based on the attacks, the kid had been killed over fifty years ago. There was really nothing she could do for him or her now, not even bring the killer to justice.
On the other hand, she had a pretty good idea who did it. The Pierce family left town fifty three years ago, after their farm failed. Their youngest boy had disappeared the year before with his beloved dog.
Jo was pretty sure that she knew what happened to the boy and his dog now.
And somehow, while the boy had moved on, the dog had remained behind, protecting his master in the only way he knew.
Jo could appreciate that, but it was time for the dog to be put to rest. She sighed and grabbed the salt. The little boy would need to be salted and burned as well.
She glanced around and decided that the dirt of the shallow grave would protect the rest of the house. It was the work of just a few minutes to get the salt and gasoline onto the bones and set them alight.
She detoured to the room where she’d trapped the dog. It was howling inconsolably.
“Don’t worry,” Jo said. “Your master is safe. You need to go to him to protect him now.”
The dog didn’t stop howling, even as the fire made it impossible for it to stay. The spirit burst into flames and vanished.
Jo sniffed and returned to the burning bones. She waited until the fire went out, and then buried what was left again.
She left the wooden boards pried up and began carrying her gear out to her truck.
She’d stay the rest of the night, and maybe a day or so longer in town before leaving. She needed to make sure that there was no trace of the dog before she left.
She’d spend a good portion of tomorrow night in the house.
She stopped short as she exited the house. There was an SUV parked next to her truck. Ellen was leaning against the SUV. “Mama?” she asked.
“Hey, baby,” Ellen said.
Jo rushed at her mother, who met her with a hug and clung to her tightly.
“You take care of it?” Ellen asked after they pulled away.
Jo nodded. “I did,” she said.
“So, what was it?” Ellen asked. “My sources said it might be a black dog.”
Jo grinned. “The ghost of a dog,” she said.
Ellen glanced at her. “Seriously?” she asked.
Jo nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “It was guarding its bones and a child’s bones. I think it was just loyal to its master.”
Ellen snorted. “Well, since you have a motel room, Joanna Beth,” she said. “Your call if we stay here for another day.”
“We?” Jo asked.
Ellen smiled. “Well, if you’re going to be Hunting, then you need a partner. I might as well watch your back.”
Jo smiled slowly. Maybe she did have someone she could trust. But more importantly, she had her mother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~