Fic: Salt and Blood 18/25
Chapter 18
When I crossed the salt line at the door I felt that cold rushing through my body and that alone told me that there was something about what the Winchesters had said. It was insane, yes, but I'd had my doubts before. The cases from St. Louis and that bank in Milwaukee made sense now. If I was willing to believe in shapeshifters.
I got in my car and Harry sat in the passenger seat.
"Where have you been?" He asked with a layer of steel in his voice.
Hmm, that was odd. Usually Harry seemed to know everything I did. I'd never questioned that before because until now I'd thought he was just a fragment of my damaged mind, part of my imagination, but now the Winchesters had revealed another possible explanation.
"What are you?" I asked instead of an answer.
"Dexter?" He looked at me in confusion. "You know who I am."
Yeah, I knew who he was, about the what I wasn't so sure anymore.
"Where have you been?" He repeated his question now more urgent.
"I met the Winchesters." The flask of salt set heavy in my pocket. I wanted to use it just to see what would happen. I didn't want to hurt Harry or make him angry so I didn't throw the salt at him.
"I couldn't see you. One second you were there the other you were gone. I was worried." Harry confessed. "Are you alright?"
"They have sealed their room with salt." I answered and out of the corner of my eye I watched his reaction. "Apparently it keeps ghosts out."
Silence fell between us for a long moment while I drove.
"Don't go anywhere were I can't see you." Harry said and when I blinked he was gone. I hadn't noticed the temperature dropping but I noticed for sure when it went up again to normal. Weird, those little details I had never paid attention to before.
At the crime scene my mind was busy with work and I forgot about Harry, the Winchesters and ghosts for the moment.
Angel filled me in on the details and after a quick look around the case was pretty clear. Why had they bothered to call me in the first place? A three-year-old could have figured this one out.
"Okay, he attacked her first with the knife here. Stab in the back." I pretended to stab somebody standing at the sink in the kitchen. It was still half full with by then cold water and dirty dishes. "She turned. Stab. Stab. In the chest." My movement mirrored my words. "She went down, tried to crawl away. Stab in the lower back, two stabs in the thorax one of them penetrated the heart." I looked around to make sure that I didn't miss some blood like in the drug case we had worked the other day. It had paid out in my favor with me killing Jack Harris but that had been a rookie mistake I didn't intent to repeat.
"Do you need me here any longer?" I asked my sister who had just finished a phone call. I wanted to go home to think. Too bad I had to share my apartment with Debra. Usually I didn't mind. Much. But in times like this I needed some space for myself.
For a second I thought about telling her about the Winchesters. She would arrest them on the spot, that was for sure. And in their motel room they would find evidence that the Bay Harbor Butcher was still active, enough for LaGuerta to reopen the case and that was something I absolutely didn't want to happen. So I kept my mouth shut and waited for Deb's answer.
"Are you staying at Rita's tonight?" She asked still fiddling with her phone.
"That was Dean, right?" Great, so much for a quiet night at home. Then another thought crossed my mind. Was he really interested in Debra or did he use her like I used people to get information? After we had put the cards on the table - well, they had - it wasn't necessary anymore, right? If they wanted to know something they would ask me.
Debra nodded with her bottom lip between her teeth.
"You know someday you need your own place." I pointed my finger at her while I headed for my car.
"Thanks, Dex." She shouted after me. "You are the best."
Once again I was late for dinner but Rita had saved me some. The kids were ready for bed and after that the house went quiet.
Without prompting Rita told me about Sam's visit earlier that day and as far as I could tell he had been curious about Doakes and later about Paul. Rita hadn't told him about the drugs and that I had been the reason Paul had been in prison that time. Neither had she mentioned my so called addiction. Those were things nobody needed to know. Especially the addiction part. I was kind of an addict but not that kind.
"Long day?" Rita asked. We sat on the couch watching TV. She had her feet in my lap and she watched me from under hooded eyes. At first I thought she was sleepy but the purring noises she made when I gently rubbed her feet told me something else.
"Had been called to a crime scene on my way back home." It was a half-truth but she didn't want to know the details of my work, anyway.
"Oh, baby." She came up till she knelt next to me on the couch and cupped my face with both hands. For a long second she studied me and then she kissed me.
Sometimes, like now, I was in awe that I actually liked this, enjoyed it even. I liked kissing her, I liked sex with her. Concepts that had been alien to me for most of my adulthood, with her it suddenly made sense. I kissed her back and my hands were on her hips and we barely made it to the bedroom.
Later that night Rita slept with her head on my shoulder while I stared sleeplessly at the ceiling. At work and in private I dealt with human monsters on a daily basis. And suddenly there was a whole new world of evil out there. In some ways the Winchesters did the same thing that I did. However, they would probably not understand my interpretation of fighting evil.
In the wee hours of the night when I could pretend to believe in ghosts and monsters, I wondered if I could shift my need and stop hunting humans. Could I do that? The answer was no, I realized.
I had read the Winchester files and in the light of the new information Sam had given me everything made sense in a whole new way. With Harry around I'd accepted the concept of ghost pretty quickly and the shapeshifters answered my questions I had about the other cases and I wondered what other kinds of monsters were out there. Vampires, werewolves? My mind wandered through every horror movie I ever saw. Most of it had to be fake.
However, hunting those thing would mean a lifestyle close to the way the Winchesters lived. Maybe not that nomadic but certainly not with a steady job and a home and a family. Sam had painted a very clear picture of that.
And - and that was the most important fact - hunting monsters instead of humans would mean to let go of the Code, let go of my ritual. Silver through the heart would work for me but burning corpses not so much. I couldn't do that. I needed my ritual. I needed my trophy. I needed things to be in order.
It was one of the ideas you have late at night which looked tempting at first sight but didn't pan out in the end.
Eventually I fell asleep but it wasn't restful. I dreamed of Harry demanding me to stay in sight while the Winchester brothers chased us with giant salt shakers.
In the harsh morning light I could think more clearly about the whole situation. The Winchesters wouldn't leave me alone till my so called ghost-problem was solved.
What did they say? They were here to help. But did I need help? Harry wasn't a threat. Or was he?
In the kitchen the busy family life of the Bennett's buzzed around me but my thoughts were back at what had happened in the car the other day. Harry had been worried.
Don't go anywhere where I can't see you. I didn't know if it was meant as an expression of worry or an order or even a threat. There was a lot I didn't know.
"Dexter, you're coming, right?" Cody drew me out of my thoughts.
I blinked at him. "What?"
"Saturday." Rita helped me out. "The day at the beach. You said you can make it."
"The beach?" I repeated. Oh, right we had talked about that. "Sure, wouldn't miss it." I ruffled Cody's hair and smiled at Astor and both seemed satisfied. Handling kids wasn't that bad. And the way Rita looked at me I had to do something right.
"Oh, gotta go." I made a point looking at my watch. "See you all later." Because Dean and Debra are doing it like rabbits back at my place, I thought while I kissed Rita goodbye.
During the drive to the department I thought about ghosts. Was there something like Casper the Friendly Ghost or were they all evil? Sam had told me how to get rid of a ghost with salt or iron for a short time and to salt and burn the corpse for a more permanent solution but nothing about what they actually did.
Their first idea had been that Doakes used me to kill so apparently ghosts could do that. It had sounded like something like that was pretty rare, though. But what else were they capable of? What was Harry capable of?
Mumbling "Morning" to everybody I met I made a bee line for my office. I had some research to do.
Lucky for me my assistance wasn't needed that much today. I had some tests running but the case from yesterday was pretty clear and they were looking for the husband. They were also looking for Jack Harris but they didn't even have a name for him so good luck with that one.
"So Debra." Masuka suddenly spoke up next to me. "She's seeing this Dean guy?" His eyes were fixed on Debra who sat at her table working her way through some files.
"Jep." I said and pretended to be busy with some blood samples. I hoped to scare him off that way.
"Who is he anyway?" Masuka kept going. "A wannabe journalist."
"I think he's good at his job." Good enough to pick up a pattern the police hadn't eyeballed. If he and his brother hadn't thought of a ghost first and instead had been looking for a more common explanation I would be in real trouble by now.
Masuka snorted. "Has he even published something yet?"
"Don't you have something to do?" I tried the blunt way and was ignored.
"About that strip bar." His grin grew wider. "I can get us exclusive VIP reservations."
In the last few days some really big things had happened so I needed a second to figure out what he was talking about.
"Still with that double date?" I shook my head. Rita at a strip bar, that was just wrong. Even I knew that. "Didn't we established a minute ago that Debra is seeing Dean?"
"That's only a phase." Masuka stated. "She'll see where the real qualities lie in the end."
"If you say so." Couldn't he just leave?
When I was finally alone I started my research on ghosts. The internet was full of pseudo scientific ghost sites - seriously, hellhoundslair? - , new age crap and supposed to be haunted houses and places which in most cases turned out to be cheesy tourist traps. I found a lot of lore, some mentioned salt or iron most didn't.
I was certain that all the answers were somewhere hidden in the depths of the internet but I had no idea where to look.
Frustrated I sat back. I could always ask the Winchesters, though. I only had to be careful not to reveal too much about myself.
So when my phone rang and Sam invited me over for dinner and to talk I said yes.
continue to chapter 19
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