#lewis pullman garrett

“You're going to make me call, aren’t you?” Melinda said.

“Yep,” Dean said, smiling. “You still got the number, don’t you?” She rolled her eyes.

“Who or what is Men Off Letters?” Garret said.

“Men Of Letters is a fancy military type organization of hunters and researchers in the UK.” Melinda said. “We used to have them here, but they got whipped out years ago. Our grandfather Henry Winchester was the last member to go down after imprisoning a very powerful demon named Abaddon. Our father John, was just a little kid when our grandfather died. We actually didn’t know there were other Men of Letters till a few years ago. We had a few… issues with them before they became allies.” 

“Issues?” Dean said, he crossed arms. “Is that what you call you and Sam getting kidnapped and torture for a week by the ones that went rogue.”

“What?” Garret said.

“Dean.” Melinda said.

“What?” Dean said. “You were.”

“Yes we were, but you saved us.” Melinda said. “Then you went all Vlad the Impaler and trapped them into that house they held us in and set it on fire.” He smirked. “All the rogue members were killed and now we are allies with the remaining members.”

“One member is more than an ally." Dean said, narrowing his eyes at her. “Isn’t that right kid?” Melinda went off on him in Latin. “Cuss at me all you want in Latin because I don’t understand a damn word you say. So, I don’t care.” He gave her a smug look.

“I do,” Samuel said and Melinda immediately stopped. “A young lady, hunter or not, you shouldn’t be speaking such language. And I appreciate you don’t talk like that in my home young lady.”

“Yes sir.” Melinda said. “My apologies.”

“That’s quite alright. But perhaps we should focus on identifying this creature. Before it attacks again.” Samuel said. “And leave the sibling fighting for another time.”

“Agreed. Can we get back to the case Dean?” Melinda said, Dean waved his hand, telling her to go on. “Anyways.” She rolled her eyes at Dean. “I don’t think we need to make that call, which you should make instead of me if we have to.” Dean rolled his eyes. “Now, to me the creature looks like a mixture of the monster from the movie A Quiet Place and a Demogorgon from the Stranger Things show. I think we may be dealing with a tulpa.” 

“God I hope not.” Dean said. “Those are a bitch to kill.”

“A tulpa?” Garret said.

“It’s a supernatural being created by a whole shit load of people believing in it.” Dean said. “Kinda like the Slender Man. Enough people believe in its existence, a tulpa can be created. We faced one before years ago when it was just me and Sam hunting. We thought it was just another ghost but it turned out it was a tulpa created by a group of stupid kids trying to prank people online. They were telling everyone a ghost of the farmer who killed his kids was haunting the house and killing those that entered it. Since the normal way for us to kill a ghost wasn’t working, we had to change things up. We had to get online and make people believe it had a weakness in order to kill it.”

“And did you?” Samuel said.

“For the most part yeah.” Dean said, nodding his head. “In the end, we burned down the house, with no house to haunt, the tulpa disappeared. But we have hunters in that area that keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t come back.”

“Amazing.” Garret said. “Just by believing in a creature it can bring it to life.”

“Belief is the strongest and most powerful weapon that any person can wield." Melinda said. “It gives power to our talismans and our tattoos. Power to a witch’s sell or ritual. Power to a pray. Even these crosses that are hanging around here, they have power in them. They have power because your belief is giving them power. Just like back at the barn.”

“What do you mean?” Garret said. 

“You all believe that it couldn’t enter it because God was with you, it’s why the roof didn’t give way. Which technically should have, deep down, we all know that.” Melinda said, they nodded their heads. “The arm of the creature weighed around forty pounds. And it’s not even the whole arm, it’s just to its elbow. That creature had to weigh at least four to five hundred pounds. It should have gone through that roof with how big it was the moment it first landed on it. Definitely should have gone through the roof when we put all those bullets in it. But it still couldn’t get in” She shook her head. “All because you and the others believe that it couldn't. That belief gave power to the barn and shield it from the creature from being able to come inside.”

“Really?” Garret said, she nodded her head. “Whoa.”

“Told you before son,” Samuel said. “God will protect you as long as you believe in him.”

“Yeah, you're right Samuel,” Garret said, looking down at the creature's arm. He tilted his head when he saw something under part of the arm. “Mel, do you see that?” He pointed at the spot and Melinda looked. “Right there.”

“Yeah, I do.” Melinda said, getting out her flashlight. 

“What is it?” Dean said.

She shined the light and she was able to see it better. “I think it's a tattoo.” Melinda said, pushing the thin fur back. “It kinda looks like,’

The arm moved, causing them all to jump back. Melinda and Dean quickly grabbed out their guns and took aim. They watched as it twitched and flopped around on the table. Slowly, the fur started to fade away and the greyish color started changing. The claws started to retract and the arm started to shrink down. Their eyes all widened as the creature’s arm stopped moving and turned into a human arm.

“Wow.” Garret said.

“Yeah you can say that again.” Dean said.

“Does that mean the creature is dead?” Melinda said

“Or they shape shift back to a human.” Dean said.

“Or because the arm was detached from it.” Samuel said.

“That’s another possibility.” Dean said, nodding his head. 

“I’m going to check that tattoo.” Melinda said, putting her gun away. “You got me just in case it starts moving again?”

“Yeah I got you kid.” Dean said, keeping his gun on the arm. She reached out slowly, waiting to see if the arm was going to react, but nothing. She touched it and pulled back quickly. “Don’t poke it, just flip it.” Melinda mumbled under her breath. “Yeah I heard that. Now stop being a chicken shit kid and flip the damn arm over.” 

“I’m very tempted to throw this arm at you.” Melinda said. She turned the arm over quickly and they jumped back again, thinking it was going to move but it didn’t. “Okay, I think we are good.” They moved back in and they looked at the tattoo. “Dean, isn’t that,”

“Marine tattoo, just like the one dad had.” Dean said. “But this one is a different unit though.” He put his gun away. “Take a picture of the tattoo kid, maybe some of dad’s old military bodies can figure out the unit and get us a location where they are at.”

“Okay.” Melinda said, taking a picture of it. “Got it.”

“Judging by the arm, the guy has to be maybe in his mid thirties or so. He could still be on active duty.” Dean said, he moved the arm back over as he looked it over. “Now that it’s in human form, we can run finger prints on it at least.” 

“Yeah, but we can’t run finger prints on our own. If you forgot, someone wouldn’t let me swipe one of those portal devices that scan finger prints off that FBI agent when we were in LA a few months ago.” Melinda said, Dean mumbled in a mocking tone. “And since the cops are the only ones that can run prints we have to take it to them.” She smiled at Dean. “So have fun explaining to the cops why you're carrying a severed arm into their station.”

“Oh no,” Dean said, shaking his head. “I’m not doing it, you're doing it.”

“Me?” Melinda said, she shook her head. “You're the big brother here, you do it.”

“Exactly, I’m the big brother. So what I say goes. And I say,” Dean said, pointing at her. “You're doing it.” She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you do it kid. Don’t you do it.” 

“Do what?” Garret said.

“This.” Melinda said, throwing out a fist. “I challenge you to rock paper scissors. Loser takes the arm to the cops to get the finger prints done.” 

“Damnit.” Dean said, throwing his fist out. “Why did I swear we can settle disagreements this way no matter what?”

“Because I was four and you wanted me to stop crying. Now,” Melinda said. Looking into his eyes. “Ready?” He nodded his head. “Rock paper scissors, shot” She throws paper and he throws rock. “Ha.”

“Son of a bitch.” Dean said, grunting. “Every damn time.”

“Gentlemen, I'm going to go to the living room and place a call to an old friend back in Portland. And then I’m going to lay down in front of the fireplace and get some sleep.” Melinda said, she smirked at Dean. “Have fun coming up with that cover story, big brother.” She walked off.

“Is my suit at least pressed?” Dean called out.

“Yes.” Melinda called out. “Your fake F.B.I badge is in it, your Special Agent Spencer Tracy.”

“The actor?” Samuel said.

“Yeah,” Dean said, nodding his head. “We go undercover as different law enforcement agents when we are working a case. So we tend to use classic actors' names or their characters' names. Even some musicians' names.”

“Insteresting.” Samuel said. “Seems like you do a lot of lying and killing in your line of work.”

“That we do.” Dean said.

“Seems like someone may need to confess his sins.” Samuel said. 

“I confess them all the time to my three buddies.” Dean said, smiling. “Jack, Jose, and Daniel.” He took out a flask. “Look, here’s Jose now.” He took a drink out of it. “I’m going to make a few rounds, make sure the place is secure and head to the sheriff station.” He grabbed the arm and placed it back in the box they had it in. “Want to tag along? Might be easier to explain this arm if I had a local with me.”

“Yeah, I’ll go with you. The sheriff is a friend of mine.” Samuel said, grabbing his shotgun off the wall. “Son, get some rest.” Garret nodded his head and headed to the living room. “And Garret.” He stopped and turned back around. “I expect you to be a gentleman and keep your hands to yourself while laying by her. There won’t be any sinning in this house, you understand me son?”

“Of course Samuel," Garret said, nodding his head. “I understand.” He watched them take off through the backdoor and closed it behind them. He went over to the living room where he saw Melinda laying out her guns and clips on the coffee table. “It looks like you're preparing for war.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Melinda said, aiming Big Mama at the large bay window. “There we go, that should do it.” She took her phone out. “Time to make that call.”

“I can step out and give you some privacy.” Garret said. 

“No, it’s alright. You’re good. ” Melinda said. He nodded his head and she placed the call. “I’m just hoping he’s not busy.” The call was answered as she put it on speaker.

“Detective Burkhardt”

“Hey Nick, it’s Melinda.”

“Hey kiddo, how is it going?”

“Pretty good, how’s Adaline and the kids doing?”

“They are doing great. Kelly’s walking around now.”

“Kelly’s walking? Oh my god. Last time I saw him he wasn’t even crawling yet. Has he started to get into everything since he’s mobile now?”

“Oh yeah.” He chuckled. “We had to baby proof the whole place. I don’t know how Rosalee and Monore are going to handle the triples when they start walking.”

“I would run for the hills if I was them.”

“Defintenly.” He chuckled. “So what can I do for you kiddo?”

“We’ve been hunting a creature for a few days now and we finally caught up to it. We haven’t been able to ID it. But to get this, I took its arm off with Big Mama almost an hour ago. And just a few minutes ago, it turned into a human arm.”

“You're thinking it could have been Wesen.”

“Yeah. So I can really use your Grimm expertise on this one please.” 

“Sure, anything I can do to help.”

“I got some pictures of the arm and I drew what the creature looks like, I’ll send them right now.” She pulled up her e-mail and attached the photos, then sent it. “Okay they are sent. Hopefully you can find it in one of your Grimm books or in Adaline’s books. Because so far the hunters I message don’t recognize it. We’re thinking maybe it’s a tulpa, which we are really hoping it’s not.”

“After I finish up here, I’ll take a look and get back to you soon as I can.”

“Thanks Nick, I appreciate it.”

“No problem kiddo, have a goodnight and be careful.”

“Goodnight Nick. Give everyone my best.” 

“Will do.” He hung up.

“Grimm expertise?” Garret said.

“Ever heard of the Brother’s Grimm?” Melinda said.

“Yeah,” Garret said, nodding his head. “They wrote those fairy tale books.”

“That's right. They were also hunters and Nick’s ancestors.” Melinda said, sitting down by the fireplace. “A Grimm is a type of hunter with special abilities. They can see these beings called Wesen. Which are a type of animal-human hybrids.”

“So are they like werewolves?” Garret said, taking a seat on the floor across from her. “Or are they cursed?”

“Not cursed but not really like a werewolf either.” Melinda said. “They look just like us but when they get overwhelmed emotionally their other side shows on their face. Their animal side. Humans can’t see that side, but Grimm’s can. The only time humans can see them is if a Wesen is fully transformed. They’re transformation process is called woge. You heard Nick when he mentioned the names Rosalee and Monroe?" He nodded his head. “They are Wesen, but there's different types. Rosalee is a Fuchsau and when she transforms, she looks like a fox. With Monroe, he’s Blutaden and when he transforms, he looks like a wolf. Adaline, Nick’s wife, is also one. She’s a Hexibeast, which is a Wesen’s version of a witch. And she looks almost like a zombie from those horror films when she transforms.”

“Wow.” Garret said, as he looked at her in disbelief. “That's just… wow.” He chuckled a bit. “Are there books about all this stuff?”

“Yes, but you just got to know where to look.” Melinda said, laying down. “But I have to warn you, if you go down that rabbit hole, you may not like what you find.” 

“Then why do you do it?” Garret said.

“Our family has been doing this line of work for several generations.” Melinda said, looking up at the ceiling. “My father’s side, the Winchesters, have been hunters since our grandfather Henry. But on my mother’s side, the Campbells have been hunters since the sixteen hundreds.” She turned to him. “They were taking out vampires on the Mayflower on their way to America.”

“On the Mayflower?” Garret said, she nodded her head. “That’s incredible." He smiled. “So every generation gets brought up in the life of a hunter?”

“Yes,” Melinda said, looking back at the ceiling. “But it wasn't supposed to be that way for us.”

“What do you mean?” Garret said.

“When our parents got married, they decided to leave the life of a hunter behind. They wanted a normal and safe life for us, something they never were given a chance to have.” Melinda said. “So they elope and settle far away from my mother’s side of the family. Who weren’t happy about them getting married, let alone them leaving the hunter life. It was good for a few years till my second birthday.” 

“What happened?” Garret said. 

“Our grandfather, who also happened to be named Samuel, showed up.” Melinda said. “He claimed that he wanted to meet his grandkids and reconnect with my mother. It was all bullshit and my parents knew that the moment they saw our cousins rolling up. They were getting into it with him and telling him that they all had to leave. They thought he was there to bring us all back with him so we could become hunters. But that wasn’t the case.” She turned to him. “Turns out a nest of vampires were heading our way for revenge."

“Why were they coming after you guys if your parents weren’t hunters anymore?” Garret said. 

“Our grandfather and our cousins failed to wipe out their nest. They only manage to kill a handful of them. And one of them was the mate of the leader.” Melinda said. “Despite being monsters, when they fall in love it’s deadly for those that try to get in between them and the one they love.” 

“They’re capable of loving someone?” Garret said.

“Yes,” Melinda said, nodding her head. “And since our grandfather was the one that took the one thing that the vampire loved, he was going to return the favor. The vampire found out about us through other hunters that our grandfather had kept taps on us.”

“So those vampires,” Garret said. “They found you guys?”

She nodded her head. ”Next thing we knew, the whole house became a war zone.” Melinda said, she rolled onto her stomach and she looked into the fire. “I don’t remember much. I just remember the blood and the screaming from the party guests, and gunfire. Uncle Bobby yelled at Dean to grab us and head to his house. Dean picked me up and grabbed Sam’s hand. He was running as fast as he could out of the house and to the car. As we got in, I heard our mother screaming for our father to look out. Then I heard him screaming her name, that blood curling scream.” Her eyes started to tear up. “Dean peeled out of the driveway as a vampire came for us. Dean unloaded a whole clip into its head to make it back off. Then he drove full speed to our uncle Bobby’s house, running stop signs and lights. When we got there, Dean had me and Sam in the basement, guarded by every protection spell he could find. Then he camped out by the front door with Big Mama, ready to blast whatever came through that door. And the next morning,” She sighed. “Our father and uncle Bobby walked in and they were covered in blood. They both sat down in the living room, they just sat there staring at the floor, not saying a word to any of us or each other. They were like that for hours.”

“And your mother?” Garret said.

She took a deep breath to hold back her tears. “She didn’t make it.” Melinda said, Garret shook his head as he put it down. “After that, our father started training us to be hunters. Our uncle Bobby tried to give us a normal life, but our father wouldn’t allow it. He said there will never be a normal life for us, not with what was out there lurking in the shadows. So he took us on the road, moving us from city to city, from state to state. We were living out of hotel rooms and we would hardly ever see him. Dean was forced to be our mother, our father, and our protector. Dean was robbed of his childhood so he did his best to make sure we had one. But once he was old enough to go on hunts, we didn’t see him either. Then it was Sam’s turn to be mother, father and protector till he was old enough to go on hunts. Leaving me alone in the hotel rooms and wondering if I’ll ever see my family again.”

“And when you came of age you joined them?” Garret said.

“No, I became a hunter much sooner,” Melinda said, looking over at him. “I was ten when a werewolf they were after came for me. I killed it on my own. Our father was so impressed by it, he had me start hunting with them. Though Dean and Sam both beg him not to take me with them and send me to uncle Bobby’s, he refuses to.” She looked back at the fire. “To be honest, it didn’t matter if I went with them when I was ten or when I turned sixteen, I was going to be a hunter no matter what. A hunter's life is the only life I was allowed to have. The only life I will ever have.” She sighed. “Being a hunter, it’s the only life I have ever known since my second birthday. I don’t know any other way to live even if I had a choice. This is it for me.”

“It sounds like a really lonely life.” Garret said.

“It can be.” Melinda said, she turned to him. “But I got my brothers. And when we started joining other hunters, we became a community, a family. Though this life is lonely and dangerous, we save a lot of people doing what we do. It’s worth sacrificing our chance at a normal life to save someone else's. Like Dean always says, saving people, hunting things, the family business." 

“Seems like you're a real hero Mel.” Garret said, smiling. 

“Thanks Garret.” Melinda said, smiling back. “It’s better to be called a hero than a harlot. Speaking of harlot.” She rolled to her side to face him. “You may want to move back a bit from me, don’t want Samuel to accuse us of trying to sin in his house.” 

 “You heard that?” Garret said, she nodded her head. “Sorry about that, Samuel is very proper and strict."

“It’s fine, I've been called far worse.” Melinda said. “Tell me a little about yourself Garret. Are you and Samuel related?”

“No,” Garret said, shaking his head. “He’s just my pastor.”

“Do you live here with him?” Melinda said. 

“Yeah, I do.” Garret said. “Been living with him for about five years now.”

“Why’s that?” Melinda said. He looked down and started playing with the laces on his boots. “That's bad huh?” He nodded his head. “I’m sorry.” He shrugged his shoulders as he kept his eyes down. She moved over to him and pushed his hands away from his boots. Before he could ask what she was doing, she laid her head on his lap. He looked at her with a surprise look as she looked up at him with a smile. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” Garret said, smiling.

“Soooooo,” Melinda said, smirking. “Want to go sin in your truck?” He started blushing. “I’m just saying. Samuel said not in his house, he didn't say anything about your truck. That’s called a loophole my friend.” She gave him a wink and he chuckled. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Garret said, nodding his head. “I do.” He slowly put his hand to touch her hair but he stopped. “May I… touch your hair?” She smiled as she nodded her head. He started touching her hair, gently running his hands through it. “Your hair is really soft.” He smiled. “I like how wavy it is, it reminds me of waves on the ocean.”

“It’s funny you say that.” Melinda said

“Why is that?” Garret said.

“Because your eyes remind me of the ocean with how blue they are.” Melinda said and he blushed. “You're really cute when you blush Garret.”

“How can I not blush?” Garret said. “I have a beautiful girl’s head on my lap.” He smiled. “You know Mel, you’re a real thing of beauty and I’m not just talking about this pretty face of yours.”

“I worry you might think too much of me Garret.” Melinda said. “You don't know how much blood I have on my hands.”

“I don’t but it doesn’t change what I said, which is God's honest truth,” Garrett said, looking into her eyes. “Your eyes, I ain’t never laid eyes on something so pure, like these hazel eyes of yours.” She blushed, making him smile. He moved his hand on to her cheek, feeling how warm it was from her blushing. “I never did answer your question from earlier.”

“What question?” Melinda said.

“If I was single.” Garret said. “I am.”

She smiled. “Why are you single?” Melinda said. “No one caught your attention?”

“No,” Garret said, shaking his head. ‘But that was,” He moved his thumb back and forth, stroking her cheek gently. “Till now.”

She quickly moved off his lap. “We should try and get some sleep.” Melinda said, going back over to her original spot.

“Did I say something wrong?” Garret said.

“No.” Melinda said, shaking her head.

“Was it because I was touching your face?” Garret said. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask permission before I did it."

“No, that was fine.” Melinda said, she rolled over, turning her back to him. “It wasn’t that.”

 “Then what is it?” Garret said. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“No I don’t.” Melinda said, getting herself covered up with her blanket. “It’s something else.”

“Are you promise to another?” Garret said and she looked at him confused. “In our church, the parents arrange marriages with other church members for their kids when they are sixteen and when they turn eighteen, they get married.”

“No, I’m not.” Melinda said, she sat back up. “Were you promised to someone?”

“To Mara, Samuel’s daughter but uh,” Garret said and he sighed. “Her friend told me that Mara was in love with Auggie, Sister Margaret's son. When I found out, I confronted her about it. She admitted it was true and she was pregnant with his baby. Which explains why she was pushing to have the wedding move up, because she was planning to have the baby pass as mine.”

“Oh shit.” Melinda said. “I’m sorry, but that’s fucked up.”

“I know.” Garret said, nodding his head. 

“What did you do?” Melinda said.

“I told her I can’t stand in the way of their love and I released her from her promise.” Garret said. “Her and Auggie left the church and ran away together.” He smiled. “They are happily married with two boys and another baby on the way. They are doing really well for themselves out in San Francisco."

“You're not mad that she did that?” Melinda said.

“I would have been, but I never loved her.” Garret said, he shrugged his shoulders. “It was just an arrangement my parents made with Samuel. I was actually relieved about not getting married. I always wanted to marry someone I’m in love with and have children with. Not because I have to but because I want to, we want to. I know it’s sappy to say but,” He smiled. “Nothing is better than having love in your life. And I want that more than anything, love of a good woman and a family. I want to be in love and I want her to want her in love with me, just like my parents were.” She smiled and nodded her head. “So what’s your reason? Why are you single?”

“Because of this life I live. If I’m with someone, I risk losing them in the worst way imagable.” Melinda said. “Yes I know hunters do still get married and have kids, but we don’t get normal lives, we can’t. Being with someone that isn’t a hunter, makes things harder. It’s one of those do you tell them the truth or lie. Then they have no training which puts them at risk if something comes knocking one night. Our uncle Bobby, his wife Karen, she wasn’t a hunter and he didn’t tell her about what he did. She got possessed by a demon and she started attacking people, and he was forced to kill her.” She sighed and shook her head. “I know one day we all die, but a hunter’s death has never been a peaceful one. There are no natural causes or even a car accident for us. It’s gruesome and agonizing deaths we have in store for us. My father,” she shook her head. “That damn drunken heartbroken fool went after the alpha of the vampires so he could whip all vampires off the face of the earth. The alpha ripped his head clear off and put it on a spike outside of his nesting grounds.” Garret’s eyes widened. 

“Then when it comes to kids, I couldn’t force this life on them like it was on me and my brothers. I can’t, I won’t. Even if I leave this life for a normal one, this life will come back around and find me again.” Melinda said and she started tearing up a bit. “I couldn’t bear giving a hunter’s funeral to a child, my child. It would kill me.” She looked down. “But it’s not like I’ll ever have to worry about that. I can’t have kids, physically I can’t.”

“You can’t get pregnant?” Garret said.

“No,” Melinda said, shaking her head. “During that torture from Men of Letters, they said they wanted to put an end to the Winchester line. They put me under and when I woke up I had stitches across my lower stomach. Sam kept screaming and yelling at them, demanding to know what they did to me. It wasn’t till after Dean saved us and we went to the hospital to be checked out that we found out they uh… They removed my ovaries.” A few tears fell from her face as she looked back up at him. “And what man would want to marry a woman that can’t give him kids? That’s why I can’t be with you Garret, even though I like you.” She smiled. “I can’t give you family. I… I can’t. I can’t. There’s only death with me, not life. I… can’t give you what you want. I can’t. ” She started crying more. “I can’t.”

“Oh Mel.” Garret said. She put her head back down and he moved over next to her. “Come here.” He put his arms around her as she laid her head on his chest. “It’s okay, you don’t have to cry. It’s okay. I’m sorry they took that from you, truly I am. I can’t imagine what you're going through. But I’m here for you, okay? I’m here for you Mel, I’m here.” 

Garret held her tight as she continued to cry in his arms. He rested his hand on top of hers and started rocking her back and forth. He spoke softly to her and reassured her that she wasn’t alone anymore, that he was going to be there for her. He stroked her hair gently and sang a song to her, one that his mother used to sing to him whenever he was feeling sad. By the time he finished singing Melinda was sound asleep against his chest. He moved her slowly and laid her down gently. Garret grabbed her blanket and covered her up. He watched how the shadows of the flames danced across her face. He couldn’t help but smile at how beautiful and peaceful she looked. 

He watched her for a while, smiling as he admired her. Then he started blushing at the comment she made about sinning. Though he was sure she was just joking to cheer him up, he couldn’t help but think about it. Think about what it would be like with her. How it would be like to kiss her and touch her. What it would be like, to make love to her. She let out a soft sigh as she nuzzled her pillow, making him chuckle a bit. Garret slowly reached his hand out to touch her face but he pulled back a bit. He didn’t want to risk waking her up, but he wanted to feel her soft skin again. Then he started moving his hand towards hers again when a sound of metal clanking was heard behind his head, making him freeze in place.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Dean said.

He quickly moved his hand away. “I’m sorry, ” Garret said. “I wasn’t..”

“I’m just screwing with you kid,” Dean said. He put the hammer back on the gun and Garret sighed in relief. He turned around as Dean sat down on the couch. “I get it, you got a thing for my baby sister. Just like she has a thing for you, I'm not blind. Though I want to say, I'll shoot you in the face if you touch her, I won’t. She’s grown, she’s almost twenty one and she can make her own decisions. But you have to know if some crazy chance you and my baby sister get together, if you break her heart, I’ll break your fucking neck. You understand me kid?”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Garret said, looking back over at Melinda. “I don’t ever plan to break her heart.”

“If that’s the case, she’ll break yours.” Dean said. Garret looked over as he laid on the couch. “Get some sleep, kid, because once the morning hits I want you and my sister to do research and make some calls. Hopefully they're done running prints by then and Sam will be here in town. Once he is, we go hunting for that thing.”

“You think it’s still alive?” Garret said.

“I’m hoping it’s not,” Dean said, sighing. “But with our luck, it is.” He closed his eyes. “Goodnight kid.”

“Yeah.” Garret said, laying down facing Melinda. “Goodnight” He closed his eyes and drafted off to sleep.

Faith & Monsters Part 4

Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.

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“Garret move.” Melinda said, grabbing Garret by his jacket and pulling him away from the door. “Stay behind me, okay?” She stepped in front of him and put her hand on his chest, shoved him behind her. “Just stay behind me.” They pointed their guns at the door as the creature threw itself against the door again, making it shake. “Garret, you know how to use a gun?”

“Yeah.” Garret said, nodding his head. “I hunted a few times.”

“Here.” Melinda said, taking out a second gun from her back holster and handing it to him. “Follow my brother’s orders.”  There was another thud against the door. “Dean.’

“Hold your fire you two.” Dean said and they started hearing clacking. “Hear that? It’s moving.” They followed the sound as it started moving around the building. “Everyone get away from the walls and stay low to the ground.” They did what he said as they kept pointing the guns at the walls as they followed the sound. “Don’t fire till I give the word.”

“Okay.” Garret said, gripping the gun tight.

The creature threw itself against the wall, making it shake. “Why is this so familiar to me?” Melinda said. It threw itself against it again, making it shake. It did it again but to another part of the wall, and that’s when it hit her. “Dean, remember the movie Tremors? Where the graboids made it into town and they kept attacking each of the buildings, till they flipped that trailer over?”

“Yeah, what about it?” Dean said.

“This creature is doing the same thing that the graboids did.” Melinda said. The creature threw itself against another part of the wall and made it shake. “It's looking for a weak point in the structure, in order to get to us.”

“Son of a bitch.” Dean said. They kept following the noise and it threw itself against another wall, making it shake. “I think your right kid.” It threw itself against another wall, making that one shake. 

“I hate to say it Dean, but this creature is smart.” Melinda said.

“Yeah and I don’t like that one damn bit.” Dean said. There was a loud thud above them on the roof and they pointed their guns up. “Move the chairs against the wall, we need room.” The younger girls started moving the chairs as the older women kept tending to Nate. “How strong is this barn?”

“It’s withstood two tornadoes.” Samuel said. It made another loud thud and it dented the roof. “The roof however, did have to be replaced.”

There was another loud thud and the dent got bigger. “It looks like it found the weak point in the structure," Melinda said. 

“Shit.” Dean said took off his gun bag and threw it on the ground. “Anyone that has gun experience, armed yourself.” Samuel opened the bag and passed the guns around to a few of the men. “When it makes another noise, shoot it once. Don’t waste bullets because this sucker is going to jump to another spot.” There was a loud thud on the roof and they fired. There was a skriek and it jumped to another spot. “Told you.” They fired and it jumped to a different spot as it shrieked again. Another thud, followed by more gun fire, and another skriek. It kept going on like that for a while. “It’s circling around up there.”

“It’s circling around?” Melinda said, she looked closer at the holes and her eyes widened. “Everyone hold your fire!” 

“If you're seeing something I’m not kid, you better tell me right now.” Dean said.

 “The bullet holes.” Melinda said, she pointed at them. “Look at them.”

He looked around. “Damnit.” Dean said and he looked at the others. “Don’t shoot even if it makes another noise.”

“Why not?” Matthew said. “We need to kill that thing.”

“It wants us to shoot it.” Melinda said and they looked at her. “It’s using our bullets to weaken the roof.” They looked up at the bullet holes. “Enough bullets shredding through it and clustering together like it is. One more good jump on it from the other side of it,” 

“The roof will give way and it’s going to get in.” Dean said and they looked at him. “We have no choice.” He looked at the door. “We’re going to have to bottle neck it by ringing the dinner bell to draw it out. Kid,” he looked at Melinda with a smile. “Get Big Mama out.’

“On it.” Melinda said. She put her hand gun away and pulled off the case was carrying on her back. She put it on the ground and opened it up, revealing a 50 caliber sniper rifle that had been modified. “Hello beautiful.”

“Isn’t that gun illegal in these parts?” Garret said. 

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” Melinda said, she gave him a wink and him blush. “Do me a favor Garret, clear a table off for me and line it up long ways to the door. I need something to put her on.” Garret did as she asked while she started assembling her gun. All the while, the creature kept moving around up top of the roof. “Dean, it’s going to know we’re up to something because we stopped shooting.”

“I know, kid.” Dean said. “I know.

“What is that thing out there?” Samuel said. “A demon?”

“Nah,” Dean said, shaking his head. “Demon’s only possess people. We were thinking it was a Wendigo or a werewolf when we first started hunting it. But we got a small glimpse of it awhile back and from what we could see, it’s something new altogether.” 

“This is all you're doing.” Margaret said. Dean turned to see her pointing at Melinda. “You brought that evil here with all that devil worshiping.”

“Sister Margaret please," Garret said, he sighed in frustration. “I already told you she’s not a devil worshiper.”

“You think that because she has her hooks in you.” Margaret said. “That harlot is poisoning you.”

“Lady, I already warned you once about running your mouth off on my baby sister, so don’t push it.” Dean said, glaring at her. “I may not hurt women, but if you keep blaming her and calling her a harlot I’m going to shoot you in the knee cap and throw you outside with that creature so it can snack on you.” 

“You can’t talk to my wife like that.” Keith said

“Your wife? Cool.” Dean said, smiling as he pointed the gun at him. “I’ll shoot you in the face and pretend it’s your wife.” He backed up as Dean looked over at the others. “If you guys want to make it out here alive, I suggest you guys keep any nasty comments about my baby sister to yourself, alright? She didn’t bring that creature here, we’ve been hunting it for a few days now. Whatever the hell it is.”

“What it is, is smart.” Melinda said, she put Big Mama on the table and aimed her towards the door. “And this creature can be two things.” She started loading the bullets. “It’s either a werewolf type where it can shape shift from creature to a human. Or” She finished loading the gun. “It was once human and was cursed to become that creature.” 

“Curse?” Garret said.

“Yeah,” Melinda said, nodding her head as she put her gloves on. "A lot of humanoid creatures were humans that did something horrendous towards someone else or group of people and got cursed for it.” She put on her safety glasses. “Or Wesen, but that's something completely different all together."

"Wesen?" Garret said.

"I'll tell you more about that later." Melinda said. "She’s all set.”

“Okay, everyone listen up.” Dean said. “We’re going to kill the lights and open the door, she’s going to fire. It’s going to get really loud and that gun can shatter glass. So those wearing glasses, I suggest you take them off.” They quickly took them off. “I want everyone to keep their mouths shut and not fire. Unless I give the word. Got it?” They nodded their heads. “Ready kid?”

She put her ear plugs in. “Ready.” Melinda said, and she gripped the gun tight. 

“Alright, here we go.” Dean said. Went to the door and unlocked it. “Kill the lights.” 

The lights went out and Melinda put the night vision on the scoop as Dean opened the door. He stepped away slowly and quietly so the creature wouldn't hear him. The women held each other's hands as they silently prayed. The men kneel down and keep a hold of their guns, waiting for Dean’s command. Garret was kneeling down behind Melinda, watching the door over her shoulder. They heard a loud thud and then the clanking sound as the creature started moving. They could hear it moving away from them and back into the woods. It was quiet for a while till they heard the clicking noise and the rusting of the trees. They started hearing the clanking noise again that slowly came out of the woods. Melinda could see the creature through the scoop, it was staying low to the ground between the vehicles as it moved slowly towards the barn. It started raising up slowly as it made its way past the vehicles.

“Garret.” Melinda whispered. 

“Yeah?” Garret whispered.

“Covers your ears.” Melinda whispered and he covered his ears. She gripped the gun tighter to hold it firmly in place as she put her finger on the trigger. Once the creature stood up, she took a deep breath and held it. It started charging for the door and she exhaled. “Boom.” She squeezed the trigger. There was a flash of light from the gun and a loud booming sound that echoed off the tint roof and shattered all the glass they had in the barn. There was a high pitch shrieking as the creature stumbled back. “Contact!” All everyone saw and heard was the flash of light and a booming sound from her gun and the creature letting out high pitch skrieks as she kept firing. Melinda kept going till the creature ran out of her line of sight. “I lost visual!”

“Lights!” Dean yelled. The lights turned on and she quickly reloaded. “On me kid.” 

She picked up Big Mama and went to him as the others hung back. He signaled her to wait as he checked first and she nodded her head. He stepped up and swung around to the roof, making sure it wasn’t above them. He turned back around and scanned the area before signaling her to come out. She stepped out and they slowly moved forward as they scanned the area together. They finally reached the spot where she hit the creature and they saw the pool of blood and a trail leading away from the barn. Dean motioned his head to her and he went ahead as she looked back at the barn. She saw Garret standing at the doorway, looking at her. She signaled him to join them and she turned back around to cover Dean. 

Garret looked over at Samuel and the others, and waved them to come over. Samuel nodded his head and they started going to the door. Samuel whispered for a couple of men to stay behind just in case. Him and Garret lead the way as the others follow close behind. They made their way to Melinda and she pointed at the blood trail. Garret nodded his head and they started following her and they joined Dean who was by the vehicles. He pointed down, showing he lost the blood trail. He signaled for them to check under vehicles and in the bed of the trucks. One by one, they checked around the vehicles and found nothing. Dean spotted the blood trail again and he motioned them to hang back. He looked over at Samuel and Matthew and motioned them to follow him. 

They followed the blood trail till it stopped and that’s when they found the arm of the creature. Dean looked around and he saw the trail, it went back into the woods. He looked back at Melinda and signaled her to go up higher and look. She went over to one of the SUVs and Garret helped her up. She got on the roof of it and looked around in her scoop, till she saw the creature slowly moving away. Melinda signaled she spotted the creature was retreating. Dean gave her throat a slice motion, telling her to take it out. She took aim and pulled the trigger, the booming sound shook the SUV under and shattered windows. There was a pitch shrieking in the distance and she fired again, but the creature didn’t get hit.

“It’s out of range, but it's still moving away from us!” Melinda yelled, she kept looking through the scoop. After a handful of minutes, she could no longer see it. “It’s gone!” She looked over at Dean as she took off her ear plugs. “We should be good. It was moving really slow and stumbling around. Judging by the blood trail, it’s losing a lot of blood.” 

“Well you did take it’s arm off kid,” Dean said, picking up its arm and showing her. “This sucker has some weight to it and it reeks.”

“You think it’s going to come back?” Samuel said.

“Not sure, but if it does, it won’t be anytime soon.” Dean said, looking back at the woods. “Hopefull it dies from its wounds.” He looked at Samuel. “Let’s get everyone out of here while we have the chance.” Samuel nodded his head and they started heading back. “We’re calling it kid.”

“Alright.” Melinda said. She got down as the others started heading back to the barn to get the others. “Garret, are you good?’

“Yeah, I think so.” Garret said, nodding his head. “I just got a headache from all that gunfire and it’s shrieking. How about you? Are you okay?”

“Always.” Melinda said, smiling as she took off her safety glasses. “Let me check you and make sure your ears aren’t bleeding from the skrieking.” He nodded his head and she went closer to him. She took a hold of his chin and he smiled at her as she moved his head to the side. “This ear is good, no bleeding. Is my voice coming in clear or is it muffled?”

“It’s clear.” Garret said.

She turned his head to the other side. “No bleeding here either.” Melinda said. “Is my voice still clear or is it muffled?"

“It’s clear.” Garret said. She let go of his face and he turned back to her as she stepped back a bit. “I have to say, your voice is really,” He looked down as he smiled. “Gentle and sweet. I can only imagine,” he looked back up at her. “That’s what an angel would sound like.”

“I’ve never been told anything like that before.” Melinda said, smiling. “Thank you Garret. That’s,” she blushed a bit as she looked down. “Really sweet of you to say. I appreciate it.” She looked back up at him, seeing a big smile on his face. “I wanted to tell you, you did great back there. You were really brave taking on that thing by yourself.”

“I’m not as brave as you.” Garret said. “I froze but you,” He smiled as he stepped closer to her. “You were fearless.”

“I wasn’t fearless, I just have been doing this for years.” Melinda said. “I was actually scared for you when I saw that creature reaching out for you.”

“You were?” Garret said, with a big smile on his face. 

“Yeah I was.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “I’m just lucky it decided not to attack you, even after I screamed your name.”

“Wait.” Garret said, looking confused. “Your screaming didn’t stop it from attacking?”

“No,” Melinda said, shaking her head. “You were right there Garret, didn’t you notice?”

“To be honest I uh,” Garret said, and he put his head down. “I closed my eyes when it picked up its arm. I thought you know,” He shrugged his shoulders. “That was the end. I was going to die. You must think I'm a coward now.”

“A coward would have bailed out as soon as there was a sign of trouble, but you didn't. You stood your ground Garret.” Melinda said and he looked back up at her. “You were facing off with a creature that has been dropping bodies in several states. You took it on without a gun or even with a knife. You did it all with just a log that was on fire. You did that in order to help the others out. You are no coward, you're a hero.” 

“A hero?” Garret said.

“Yeah,” Melinda said, smiling as she nodded her head. “A hero.” She stepped closer to him.

He blushed as he looked down. “So uh,” Garret said, slowly looking back up. “Why didn’t it attack me?”

“No idea to be honest.” Melinda said, shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe it heard me and Dean as we ran up. Because when we got closer to the treeline we saw it reaching out for you but it stopped. It just stood there looking at you with its hand out. We were going to fire, but we didn’t want to risk hitting you. So I screamed your name to get your attention. That’s when it looked over at us.” 

“Yeah,” Garret said, nodding his head. “That could be it.”

“By the way,” Melinda said, smirking. “Next time I say "don't come out at night,” don’t.” 

He chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I’ll try to remember that.” Garret said, nodding his head. “But it’s a good thing I did.”

“Because you saved the others?” Melinda said.

“Not just that.” Garret said, shaking his head. “I got to see you again.” He smiled. “It makes it worth coming out and almost getting killed by that monster.”

She started blushing again. “You really know how to sweet talk a girl don’t you Garret?” Melinda said, smiling.

“Oh I’m terrible at talking to girls but with you, I don’t know.” Garret said, shrugging his shoulders. “You're easy to talk to Melinda.”

“Mel,” Melinda said. “You can call me Mel.”

He stepped closer to her. “Mel.” Garret said, smiling. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, before both of them started to blush. They quickly turned their heads away. “I almost forgot to give this to you.” They turned back to each other. “Here’s your gun back.” He held it out to her as he pointed it at the ground.

“It’s okay,” Melinda said, putting her hand on his. “Hang onto it, you’ll need it.” He looked down at her hand then back up to her. “Sorry.” She removed her hand from his as she blushed again.

“It’s alright Mel.’ Garret said. He took a step closer, nearly closing the gap between them. “I didn’t mind it.” He gave her a crooked smile. She smiled back, making his smile get bigger as they both stared into each other’s eyes once more.

“Are you two done flirting?” Dean said, they both jumped and turned to him.

“Dean,” Melinda said, stepping away from Garret a bit. “How long have you been standing there?” 

“Since the angel commented and you gave him googling eyes for it.” Dean said, batting his eyelashes before he became serious. “What’s the number one rule of hunting kid?”

“Never let your guard down while on a case.” Melinda said.

“And you did just that.” Dean said, stepping closer to her. “If that creature decided to circle back around, you two would have ended up dead. Because you two are too busy flirting with each other instead of minding your surroundings. If you want to keep working on this case, get it together or you're done. You got it kid?” 

“Yes sir.” Melinda said.

“Now, I want you two to post up on one of the trucks and be lookouts so we can get these people cleared out.” Dean said, they nodded their heads and he turned his attention to Garret. “And by the way son. An angel’s voice sounds like a high pitch frequency that can make your damn ears bleed if you're not one of the lucky ones that can actually hear them or if they're in a vessel.” He started walking to the barn. “Now go do what I told you two to do and stay focused on what’s going on and not each other.”

“My truck is this way.” Garret said, leading the way. “So you guys met an angel before?”

“Yeah a few of them.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “One of them became like part of the family. But I’ll have to tell you about that some other time.”

“Maybe over a hot meal.” Garret said, she stopped and looked over at him as he smiled at her. “This is my truck right here.” 

He took down the tail gate and hopped in. Garret offered his hand and he helped her up. They didn’t talk as they kept a look out for the creature. Dean and those with guns walked the others to their vehicles. Keith and Margaret loaded Nate up into their car and took him to the hospital. Dean told them all to keep the guns and to burn some wood piles around their homes to help keep the creature away. After everyone was gone, Melinda and Garret stayed in the bed of the truck while Samuel drove to take Dean back to the impala. Once they got there, Dean and Melinda followed Samuel and Garret to Samuel’s house to give them, monsters are real pep talk.

Faith & Monsters Part 3

Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.

Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.

“A young lady shouldn’t have tattoos.” She said, looking over at Melinda. “Our bodies are temples.”

“Even temples had cravings ma’am.” Melinda said, smirking.

“Kid. Car. Now.” Dean said. She put the stuff on the counter and went outside. 

“You should teach your daughter some manners.” She said.

“She’s not my daughter, she’s my baby sister.” Dean said. “And she’s not the one that needs to learn manners.”

Melinda got into the car and laid down in the backseat. She put her feet out of the window as she waited for Dean to gather up what he wanted. No doubt he was looking for pie like usual. Maybe having a few choice words with the woman on the counter since he never did like anyone talking negative towards her. He just doesn’t like doing it in front of her. Melinda started hearing footsteps outside the car but they weren't heavy so it wasn't Dean coming back. The footsteps sounded unsure, they were dragging around like they were debating where to go. She heard them walking off but soon came back and stopped near the window. A throat cleared and a voice finally spoke up.

“Excuse me miss.” He said, Melinda put her feet down and sat up. “Sorry I don’t mean to bother you.”

“No worries.” Melinda said, she gave him a big smile. “What can I do for you?” 

“I uh,” He said, pausing, unsure what to say as he stared at her smile. His eyes started to wander as he took in her features. Seeing how dark her wavy hair was, how long it was that it draped around her. Her skin was fair and her lips were almost ruby red. Her smile was pure and sweet. She looked like Snow White to him, if Snow White had tattoos. A smile slowly formed on his face as he looked into her hazel eyes. Then she moved around, crossing her arms as she leaned on the window frame. Her movement snapped him out of his trance. He shook his head and quickly looked down.  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare.”

She giggled a bit, making his heart skip a beat as he looked back at her. “You're fine, don’t worry.” Melinda said. “People stare at me all the time. So what’s up?”

 “Oh I uh,” He said, trying to figure out why he stopped to talk to her in the first place. “I was just,” He looked down, seeing her tattoos on her chest and knuckles. “I was just  wondering about your tattoos,” He looked back up at her. “On your knuckles there.” He pointed at her right hand. “What do those symbols mean?”

“These aren’t just any old symbols,” Melinda said, moving her hand forward so he could see them better. “They’re runes, nordic runes.”

“Nordic runes?” He said and she nodded her head. “Do they mean something?”

“Yeah.” Melinda said, nodding her head. “These three right here.” She pointed at them. “They are for protection. This one protects my mind, this one protects my body and this other protects my spirit. These two here," she pointed at her index finger, "is for strength and this one," she pointed at her thumb. "Is for courage. Then I have these ones,” she showed him her left hand. “These ones aren’t Nordic, they are the five elements used in witchcraft or in Wicca.” 

“Are you…you know.” He said.

“A witch?” Melinda said. He nodded his head as he got nervous. “No,” she giggled as she shook her head, putting him at ease. “But my aunt Rowena is.” She saw him tense up a bit. “Don’t worry, just because someone is a witch doesn’t mean they are bad. There are some that are, just like how there’s good and bad people. My aunt was one of the big baddies back in the day, but that changed over time. She helps people out now and heals them.”

“She heals them?” He said.

“Witches heal a lot of people back in the day. They helped out during the time of the black plague, they were the ones that stopped it from spreading and they cured those that were infected.” Melinda said. “A lot of witches were thought evil because they were women that were smart. Let’s face it, back in the dark ages any girl that could read and write was evil to them. Like how people gave crap to Bell in Beauty and The Beast for reading.” He nodded his head. “Witches used herbs like the male doctors used but since they were smart women, they were evil in the eyes of men. So a lot of witches became evil because of their sisters being burned at the stake for helping those in need.”

“I never thought of it that way.” He said as he relaxed a bit. “You said five elements?” She nodded her head. “I thought there were just four.”

“Normally, it’s just fire, air, earth, and water.” Melinda said, pointing at her fingers. “As you can see by the colors in the back of the symbols, you can see which one is which.” He nodded his head. “This one on my thumb is the five element, spirit.”

“What about that one?” He said, pointing at the tattoo she had in the middle of her chest. “That’s a pentagram. Doesn’t that mean you are a…” He lowered his voice. “Devil worshipper?”

She giggled “No,” Meinda said, shaking her head. “I’m far from that actually. Do I believe in him, in the sense he is there? Definitely, he’s there. But I don’t worship Lucifer. And this pentagram, it’s not one of his.”

“What do you mean not one of his?” He said. “Is there more than one?”

“Of course there is.” Melinda said, smiling. “Would you like me to tell you?” 

“Yeah.” He said, nodding his head. “What other ones are there?”

“There’s one that is used by witches and wiccans. It’s wide like the one I have, but has solid lines and each point represents the five elements I mention.” Melinda said and he nodded his head. “It also doesn’t have flames around it like mine does. The one commonly used for Lucifer, is more narrow with thin solid lines. It’s also upside down, with a goat's skull in the middle with different types of runes going around it. The one I have on me, is another form of protection and it's an anti symbol.”

“Anti symbol?” He said.

“Yep,” Melinda said, nodding her head. “It's an anti-possession symbol.”

“Possession?” He said.

“As in, demons.” Melinda said and his eyes widened. “Me and my brothers got it tattooed on so demons can’t possess us. You see, me and my brothers,” She smiled. “We’re monster hunters.”

He chuckled. “You're pulling my leg.” He said.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Melinda said, leaning against her hand as she smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Garret.” Garret said, holding his hand out. “Garret Booner.”

“Nice to meet your Garret,” Melinda said, shaking his hand. “I’m Melinda, Melinda Winchester.” She let go of his hand. “Now,” she smiled big at him. “It’s my turn to ask you some questions.”

He chuckled a bit. “Alright.” Garret said, nodding his head. “What questions do you have for me?”

She smiled. “Are you single?” Melinda said. He started blushing, making her giggle. “I’m just teasing you. You don’t have to answer that question.” He smiled at her. “My real question for you,” her smile faded and her face became serious. “Have you seen or heard anything unusual at night?”

He looked confused. “Like what?” Garret said.

“Shrieking.” Melinda said. “Loud and high pitch shrieking.” 

“No,” Garret said, shaking his head.

“What about clacking sounds?” Melinda said. “Kinda like when two metal pipes hit against each other.” He shook his head. “How about clicking sounds? Like the ones the Predator makes in all those movies.”

“No,” Garret said, shaking his head. “Nothing like that.”

“Have you seen anything that you couldn’t explain?” Melinda said. “Something that people would think you're crazy for seeing?” He shook his head. “Nothing moving fast out of the corner of your eye?” He shook his head again. “Really? Nothing?”

“No, sorry,” Garret said.

“No, it’s alright. It's a good thing you haven’t.” Melinda said, looking away. “Hopefully that means this thing is just passing through and not sticking around like we thought.”

“Thing?” Garret said.

“Can I help you son?” Dean said, they looked over to see him walking up. “Is there a reason why you're talking to my baby sister?”

“Dean, calm down. He’s been nothing but sweet to me.” Melinda said, Dean rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind him, Dean is just doing the big brother overprotective thing.” Dean started going to the other side of the car. “Garret.” He turned back to her. “Do you have a fireplace in your home?” He nodded his head. “While we are in town, I want you to keep a fire going in it as soon as nightfall hits. And whatever happens,” She looked right into his eyes. “Don’t go outside at night, no matter what you hear. Don’t. Go. Outside. Keep all your doors and windows locked. And if it gets in your house, stay by the fire, it hates fire.” Before he could ask her what she was talking about, they drove off.

“What in the world?” Garret said. He heard noise behind him, making him jump and spun around. He sighs in relief seeing it was just the woman that worked the front counter. “Sister Margaret, it’s just you.”

“Stay away from that girl.” Margaret said. “She’s nothing but trouble.”

“Yes ma’am.” Garret said, nodding his head.

“You’ll be at service tonight?” Margaret said.

“Of course.” Garret said

“I’ll see you tonight then.” Margaret said and she went back inside.

Garret looked back down the road where the impala drove off to. He stood there for a while before he went over to his truck. He got in and started driving back home as he thought back to Melinda. He smiled as he thought how beautiful she was. How gorgeous her smile and laugh was. How her hazel eyes just lit up in the sunlight. When he got home and sat down to eat lunch. He started thinking of what Melinda had told him. He really felt she was joking with him, but now he wasn’t so sure. The look on her face when she told him to not go out at night and to keep a fire going. It wasn’t just a serious look she had on her face, it was the look of concern. Her voice and eyes were both pleading with him to listen to her.

He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head trying to get the thoughts out. He went back to eating his lunch and after he was done, he did the rest of his chores. When night time came, he and the pastor, Samuel, were getting ready to drive to church. Garret was about to head for the truck, when he stopped right at the door way. He looked at how dark it was outside and for once in his life, he felt uneasy by it. He went back to the kitchen and opened up one of the drawers, grabbing out a zippo lighter and the refuel bottle for it. He put them into the inside of his jacket pocket and headed outside. He hurried to his truck where Samuel was already inside waiting for him.

“You alright son?” Samuel said as Garret got in. “You seem like something is troubling you.”

“I’m alright.” Garret said and he started the truck.

“Sister Margaret told me about the young woman you spoke with today outside of her store.” Samuel said. “Hope you are not having sinful thoughts about her.”

“Not at all Samuel.” Garret said, shaking his head. “I haven’t given her a second thought since I saw her and her brother drive off.” They started heading to the church and they drove in complete silence. When they got there he parked the truck and turned it off. He was about to open his door when he hesitated about getting out. “Samuel?” He looked over at Garret. “Do you think if God is real, other things are too?” He looked at Samuel. “Like monsters?”

“Only monsters are demons that poison the hearts of good men.” Samuel said. “Come inside son, we will pray and help clear your mind.”

They went inside and Samuel went over to the podium, he signaled for everyone to take their seats. Everyone sat down and he began his service. As he was talking, people mumbled when they agreed or said amen to what he was saying. Everyone except Garret, who couldn’t help but keep looking back at the open door. It was always left open to let the night breeze come in, since they were in a barn. But now, all he wanted to do was go close it and lock it up. He started bouncing his leg up and down, getting anxious as he just wanted the service to be over. But it just seemed to drag out longer than normal.

After the service was finally over, people were standing around and visiting with each other. All Garret wanted to do was head back home. But he had to wait on Samuel who was always the last one to leave. He was standing at the doorway, watching as a few people started to leave. Samuel was outside a little away from him, speaking with Margaret, her husband Kieth and Nate, their neighbor. They were talking about two strangers coming into town and how they checked into a hotel in town. Garret wasn’t paying attention to their talk till he heard Margaret bad mouthing Melinda. She was calling her a devil worshiper and a harlot. 

“She’s not a harlot.” Garret said, they turned to him and he turned red, realizing he said it out loud. “She’s not. She is really nice and sweet. And she’s not a devil worshipper, I asked.”

“Having a pentagram tattoo on your holy flesh means devil worship son.” Samuel said. 

“Not the one she has," Garret said, shaking his head. “It’s for protection.”

“Protection from what?” Samuel said.

“From….” Garret said, he heisted. “From being possessed by demons.”

They started laughing at him. “Now son,” Samuel said, smiling. “I think that girl got into your head. Won’t we go back inside and pray some more.” He started walking towards him when there was a loud high pitch sound in the distance. They all looked at the direction it came from. “That sounded like,”

“A shriek.” Garret said as he his heart started to race. “That’s a shriek.” Slowly the sound got louder as it got closer. More people started coming out of the barn, drawn by the noise. It let out another shriek that sounded close by, sending Garret into a panic. “We need to get inside.” He raised his voice. “Samuel.” He turned to him. “We need to get inside now before it comes for us.”

“Son, what are you talking about?” Samuel said. “What’s coming for us?”

“I don’t know.” Garret said, shaking his head. “Some type of monster.”  They started laughing at him again. “I’m being serious. That girl, Melinda, told me she and her brothers are monster hunters. She warned me not to come out at night and to keep a fire going. She said it hates fire.” They heard another shriek. “That, that shrieking. She asked me if I had heard that at night. Along with clacking and clicking sounds.”

“I heard clicking sounds.” They turned to Matthew. “Two nights ago, we heard noises coming from the chicken coop. We thought a fox got in there and I ran outside, there was blood and feathers everywhere. All the chickens, they were completely gone and the chicken coop was in pieces. When I got closer to it, I heard this clicking sound that went into the woods. I… I thought I saw something. I kept telling myself it was a bear but…the way it moved and how it was shaped. It wasn’t a bear Samuel, it was something else.”

There was another shriek that was very close by. “We need to get inside now.” Garret said, but no one moved. “Please! We need to get inside now!” There was rusting in the trees that made them all freeze. Then there was clacking, followed by more rusting. Things went quiet and then they heard a loud thud, then they started hearing a clicking noise. “Everyone.” He spoke low. “Walking slow and quieting back inside.” 

“There’s no such thing as monsters Garret.” Nate said, Garret shushed him. “Watch, I’ll prove it.” He started walking off towards the clicking sound. They all watched him as he went over to a clearing and looked around. ‘See!” He put his arms out. “Nothing!”  

There was rusting behind Nate, he turned as the creature came out of the woods and lunged at him. They all screamed as it landed on top of him and sunk its teeth into his shoulder. He screamed as Samuel and Keith ran to help. Garret yelled at them to watch out as the creature looked up at them. Garret looked around and he saw the fire wood that was nearby. He looked for the longest piece he could find and he started squirting the lighter fluid on one end of it. He grabbed the other end and set it on fire, then he took off running towards the creature. It started swinging its arms around, trying to claw at Keith and Samuel. 

“Hey! Over here!” Garret yelled as he swung the log at it, making it jump back and away from them. Garret kept swinging the log around, keeping the creature back. “Get Nate!” Samuel and Keith grabbed him and started dragging him back to the barn. The creature tried to swing at the log but Garret moved back to keep it out of its reach. Then he saw it, the flame started to go out from him waving it around. “No”. 

He grabbed the lighter fluid and squirted more on it. The flames jumped up and the creature was forced back again. But it only lasted for a moment before it started going out. Once the flame went out and the creature started coming at Garret. He swung the log at it, but it knocked it out of his hands. Garret went to run, but his legs wouldn’t move. Fear finally sat in and now, he couldn’t move. His heart was pounding, like it was going to come out of his chest. The creature snarled and bare its teeth at Garret as it started raising its monstrous hand above him. He closed his eyes and waited for the end. As the creature brought its hand back down, a single scream pieced the night sky.

Faith & Monsters Part 2

Note: Normally I do gifs in the story as well, but I think I will add them later when I have more time to edit.

Tagging: If you like to be tagged, please leave a comment or a message in the ask box.

“Hey kid!” I turned to the doorway seeing the Sheriff coming up the stairs. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

“Sorry about that, I got caught up in video chatting.” 

“With Garrett?” He said, stepping into my room.

“Me and Garrett are no longer on speaking terms. Well he’s trying to speak, but I’m not.”

“Because of what happened yesterday?” He said, I looked down as I nodded my head. “Yeah I heard about that this morning, among other things.” He sighs. “So who are you talking to kid? Erickson?”

“No I’m not.” I shook my head. 

“Then who are you talking to then?” He said, smirking. “Some boy?”

“Uhh.” Great if I tell him yes, he's going to go all dad mode on me.

“Wait.” He said. “Are you talking to some boy?”

“Maybe,” He slid my chair over slightly so he could see the screen. “This is William. William, this is our local Sheriff Russell Shaw.”

“Hello Sheriff.” William said, smiling. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah I bet,” Russell said, glaring. “What’s your age and location son?”

“I’m nineteen sir.” William said. “I’m all the way over here in England.”

“Good, keep it that way.” Russell said. “Because she’s only seventeen. And she's going to college and I'm not going to let any boy stop here from going. You hear me son?”

"No worries sir. I’m not going to stop her from going to college." William said. "I’m really all for it. I’m really hoping she gets into Royal.”

“Kid,” Russell said, looking over his shoulder at me. “That’s the one in the UK, isn’t it?” I nodded my head and he turned back to William. “Let me guess, when she goes to Royal, you plan to stop by and pay her a visit aren’t you?”

“And if he does?” Russell turned to me. “What if I want him to?” I could see a big smile on William’s face out of the corner of my eye. “What then?”

“Don’t push it kid.” Russell said.

"Be careful Sheriff, your dad side is showing again.”

“Don’t you dare start with that shit.” Russell said.

“Why did you come by so early? Was it because of what you heard?”

“That and you know,” Russell said. “Your mom.”

I sighed. “Morgue or drunk tank?” I could see William looking confused.

“Drunk tank.” Russell said. 

“Okay.” I nodded my head.

“Damn kid don’t get too excited that your mom is still alive.” Russell said.

“You mean like the time I ran away and hitchhiked my way to my therapist's house that’s two towns away. Then he brought me back the next day and my mom was so “excited.” I used air quotes. “To see her ten year old safely back home after she failed to notice I was gone for a day and a half.” He stared at me. "Let's not forget my eighth birthday."

“Touche kid.” Russell said.

“If she’s there, I take it Erickson dropped her off there so I wouldn’t see her shit face?”

“Yep.” Russell said. “He’s the one that told me what happened when he dropped her off this morning.” I nodded my head. “So what’s going on with your window downstairs?”

“Someone threw a brick through it.”

“And you didn’t call it in?”Russell said. I put my hands out. “Right” He nodded his head. “Like those jerkoffs would have taken the report.”

“I found some places that can do the repair but they didn't open for a couple more hours, so I have to wait to call them.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll fix it.” Russell said. I nodded my head. “Alright,” He looked at his watch. “I still have a few hours left in my shift.” He put his hand down. “By the time it’s over your mom should be up from her drunken nap. I’ll drop her off and then I’ll take you to get your groceries for the week. We’ll also grab you some job applications. And also,” He turned to William and back to me. “Does he know what happened yesterday?”

“No” I shook my head. “I was...” I looked down. “I was going to tell him everything.”

“You know he doesn’t need to know your life story, kid.” Russell said.

“I know,” I looked back up. “But I want to tell him.”

“Alright then.” Russell said, nodding his head. “Back to what I was saying. I’m going to start taking you to the shooting range because of another thing I heard. Since you’ll be turning eighteen soon you can carry your own gun. Till then, I’m going to get one under your mom’s name and you can stash it in your room. But I only want you to use it unless you have to. Understand me kid?” I nodded my head. “Now, is William your friend or boyfriend?” My eyes moved to William, seeing him smile. “Well?”

I looked back at Russell. “He’s…” I could see William, anxiously waiting for my answer out of the corner of my eye. “He’s a… friend?”

“Are you asking me or tell me, he’s your friend?” Russell said.

“We just started talking yesterday.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, kid.” Russell said. “Is William your friend or boyfriend?” Damn, he’s really not going to drop this. “I’m waiting, kid.”

I know what will make him back off. “Why do you want to know so much?” I started smirking. “Dad.”

“Don’t call me that.” Russell said.

“Why not? You slept with my mother around the time she got pregnant with me.”

“That was one time.” Russell said.

“It only takes one time.”

“We used a condom.” Russell said.

“Condoms don’t always work.”

“Stop being a smartass.” Russell said. 

“Sorry, I got that from my dad. Just like my singing and playing the guitar.” I leaned back in my chair. “You sing and play guitar too, don’t you, Sheriff?” I smiled.

“And just like that, I’m leaving.” Russell said, he turned to William. “Since she’s refusing to tell me what you two are, I’m sure something is going on between you guys. With that said, I want you to listen up son. You don’t ask her to take off her clothes or ask her to do anything sexual. Understand me son?”

“Yes sir.” William said, nodding his head.

“Good, because if you do I will go Liam Neeson on your ass.” Russell said. “I will find and I will kill you.” He turned back to me. “I’ll see you later kid.”

“Okay dad.” I smile

“Zip it.” Russell said he turned around and I watched him as he hurried to the stairs. “I’ll bring some lunch on my way back.”

“Thanks dad.”

“Shut up!” Russell yelled as he went downstairs. “Bye kid!” 

“Bye dad!” The door slammed. “Put me in an awkward ass position. I’ll put your ass in an awkward position." He turned to William, seeing a big smile on his face. “What?”

“Oh nothing, love.” William said as he continued to smile. “I’m just wondering if I’m your friend,” He crossed his arms and leaned forward. “Or your boyfriend.” I started blushing, making him chuckle. “Don’t worry love, I know what I am to you.”

“And what are you to me?”

“Your future husband of course.” William said. I immediately covered my face, feeling myself turning beat red. “Oh love, you don’t know how incredibly adorable you look right now.” He chuckled. “Uncover your face love, so I can see you.” I shook my head. “Come on love. For me, please.” I uncovered my face, still feeling myself blushing a bit. “You're truly the most beautiful woman I ever laid eyes on.” I started blushing again. “Now love,” His face got serious. “Is the Sheriff your father?” I shook my head. “Who’s your father then?” I shrugged my shoulders. “You don't know who your father is?”

“No,” I looked down. “I asked my mother once and she,” I sigh as I shake my head.

“It’s alright love, you can tell me.” William said. I started fidgeting with my hands. “Love, look at me.” I looked up. “I’m not going to walk away, I promise. Just take your time, okay?”

I nodded my head and looked back down. “She said it could be any of the…” I sigh again. “Any of the ten guys she slept with that week. When she found out she was pregnant with me she slept with Russell. There’s rumors she did that because they always had a thing for each other. And at the time Russell just got accepted to the police academy and his folks, who were also law enforcement, gifted him a car and helped him get his own place. So since he had the means to take care of her and me, she slept with him in hopes to pass me off as his kid. It almost worked. She told him she was pregnant a month later and he was going to move her in with him. But uhh Grace, my Grace, and other church members informed him she was already pregnant. He confronted her and she tried to deny it. He said once I was born he wanted a DNA test done and that’s when she confessed she lied to him. So because of all that, the wonderful and lovely church goers that consume this town call me a bastard and child of sin. They call my mother a whore and Lucifer’s harlot. My mother, she gets paid for, you know.”

“Yeah.” William whispered.

“My mother used to be part of the church actually, she was raised in it. Her and Grace who happens,” I pointed to my left. “To live next door, they grew up together and were best friends.” I put my hand down. “When my mother got pregnant with me, she went to Grace for help to see if she could take her to abort me. Grace pulled the whole Christian card on her and refused to take her. She gave my mother the whole can’t abort a child speech that religious people tended to do. Though they don’t really give a shit, you know.”

“Yeah.” William said.

“ So my mother decided to keep me. They went to the church so my mother could confess her sins and ask forgiveness, and get help. Next thing my mother knew they cast her out of the church. Grace and her father convinced my grandfather to kick her out. And he did.” I nodded my head. “She was my age and pregnant, with no money to her name or anywhere to go. That’s when the whole Russell thing happened. When that didn’t work she just.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Whore self out for money. We lived in and out of motels till I was about two. That’s when my grandfather died and he had left the house to my mother in his will and we moved in here. She tried to get a regular job to support us but no one would hire her because of her reputation. So she just kept whoring herself out to buy the bills and put food on our table. I guess whatever you have to do to survive right?”

“Right.” William said.

“Though everyone knows what she does for a living, including the cops. They don’t bust her for it. I think it’s because of Russell." I looked up at him. “I think he feels guilty for turning her away and she ended up having to do this for a living to make ends meet for us. That or he still has a thing for her.” William nodded his head and I looked back down. “And since I’m her daughter, growing up I always got told by other kids what kind of person my mother was. All the stuff their parents told them that she was. They said because of that, their parents told them they couldn’t be my friend. They couldn’t talk to me or even look at me. Even the adults,” I sigh and shake my head. “Would tell me something too, they didn’t care how little I was. They would look at me and just say I was a bastard. And how I was going to grow up and be a whore just like my mother. That all I would ever be good for, is to be on my back with my legs in the air. Some of these adults told me these things,” I looked up at William. “Were the same ones coming over here and visiting my mother.” I looked away again. “Marry men and church goers, paying my mother to get their dick suck and get fuck, have the nerve to turn around call her a whore and tell me I will be just like her. All of them,” I started feeling my blood boil. “Fucking hypocrites.”

“What makes it even worse?” I looked at William. “Is the fact that these men, don’t get told a single fucking thing. Their wives and their fellow church members don’t say a goddamn word to them. They all blame my mother saying that they were led astray and committed a sin because she’s Lucifer’s harlot.” I started moving my hands around the more I got worked up. “Because somehow she forces them to come in here and throw their money at her so they can get laid. So fault isn’t on them, it’s on her. All those goodman fucking hypocrites just have to go to church and confess their sins, and they are forgiven. Then after that, they walk their happy sinful asses back in here and do it all over again. Over and fucking over again this happens, but they keep getting a clean fucking slate everything singel fucking time.” I slammed my hands on the desk. “But somehow, my mother who was begging for help and confessing her sins, is somehow too far gone to be saved. What kind of fucking bullshit is that?”

“Now, she’s at the point she’s either drinking or popping those pills to numb herself from all their bullshit. It’s so bad that Russell gave me these,” I went into my drawer and pulled a box, showing William. “Narcans William, I have narcans just in case she starts overdosing, again.” I threw them back in the drawer and slammed it shut. “I have to check on her every morning and make sure she’s on her side that way if she starts throwing up and chocks to death on her fucking vomit. I lost count how many times I had to drag her ass into the shower and clean her up because she’s thrown up all over herself. I have to scrub the carpet in here and clean her sheets for her, do her laundry. But when I’m sick, you know what she does? Nothing. I have to take care of myself. I have to set up my own doctors appointments and walk my ass to the store to get medicine or call Russell for a ride. I have to do all that because she’s either a sleep or fucking. I have to take care of myself and her, it’s been like that for as long as I can remember.” 

“It’s like I told you, if you don’t want to be a parent don’t have kids. Even if she couldn’t abort me, she could have used condoms or fucking swallow instead. Or I don’t know,” I shrugged my shoulders. “Not fuck ten different guys in a week.” I looked away. “She blames me for how her life is, she doesn’t say it, but I know she does. She doesn’t act like a mother to me, she’s cold and distant. She barely looks at me or talks to me. The only reason she does talk to me is because she needs something or it’s in front of other people so she’s just acting like she’s giving a shit. But I can hear how fake and condescending she’s being when she talks to me. When she calls me sweetie, I can hear this, this mocking tone in her voice. Not to mention,” I looked at William. “She’s never hugged me. I remember this one time my first day of school, seeing all these parents hugging their kids when they dropped them off. So I tried to hug her and you know what she did?” 

“No,’ William whispered as he shook his head. 

“She shoves me away from her and tells me to knock it off and get to class.” I shook my head and looked away. “After school, I saw the kids hugging their parents again when they got picked up. So I tried again to hug her and like before she shoves me away. But this time she tells me for now on, I have to get to and from school on my own and start doing things for myself, because she wasn’t going to do it. Which she didn’t. It didn't matter what the other was like outside, rain or shine, windy or snowing, I had to get to and from school on my own. So I learned real fast to get up, make breakfast, get ready for school, walk there and back on my own. Then when I got home, made dinner, cleaned up, got myself ready for bed and tucked myself in. Laundry or anything like that, I had to do myself too. Needless to say after that day, I never tried to hug her again. Which I should have known she wouldn’t want to hug because doesn’t even tell me that she... ” I started feeling tears building up. 

“She doesn’t tell you what love?” William said.

“That she loves me.” 

“Never?” William said.

“Never.” I shook my head. “No one has.” I let out a sigh. “You know I didn’t know people celebrate their birthdays or holidays for the longest time.” I chuckled weakly as I looked back at him. “I never had a birthday growing up. I never did the whole trick or treating, but like I could in this church going fucking town. With my luck they would think I'm a devil worshipper on top of being a bastard. I didn’t do the whole Thanksgiving or Christmas, all those holidays. When kids at school talked about gifts they got or things they did on the holidays or birthday, I didn’t understand what they were talking about. To me those days were just,” I shrugged my shoulders. “Like any other day.”

“Before I turned eight, the kids at school found out about this and I thought they were going to tease me about it, but they didn’t. They said they wanted to throw me a birthday party at the park by the lake. They said since it was Christmas vacation and their parents let them go and ice skate there, we can all hangout and their parents wouldn’t know. I asked if Garrett was going to be there, he’s Grace’s son and I have,” I sigh. “I had a crush on him. They told me yes he was going to be there, so I told them I’ll be there. The day of my birthday I showed up and they were all there, except Garrett. I had asked where he was at and they said that his mother found out about the party so he couldn’t come. I was going to leave but they showed me they got me a cake.” I smiled. “It even had my name on it and they had this massive present, that they said they all pitched in to get me. So I stayed. They started singing happy birthday to me and then,” My smile faded as I looked away. “They smashed my face into the cake. They started laughing so I started leaving, that’s when they held me down and just smeared the cake all over me. Next thing I knew they dragged me across the ground for a while while I’m screaming for help. They finally let me go and I started trying to get the cake off my face to see what was happening. The time I did, I saw they dragged me to the closed off part of the lake, where the ice was the thinness. But that’s not all I saw.”

“What did you see?” William said.

“They were all standing at the shoreline with the gift at their feet. They opened it and two of the boys took out a small boulder.”

“They were planning to kill you?” William said.

“Yeah.” I nodded my head. “They started swaying it with their arms, getting ready to throw it to me. I knew once it landed that was going to be it, the ice would break under me and I was going to go under. I didn’t know how to swim at the time and I know none of them would help when they realize what they have done. I was going to die. So I tried to slide across the ice to the more thicker part, but the ice started cracking under me. So I started screaming for help, and they just laughed. They were about to let go of it when there was a single gun shot that caused them to drop the boulder at their feet.” I looked over at William. “It was Russell and Garrett. Turns out they didn’t invite Garrett because they knew he had a crush on me too and he would have stopped them. So when he heard about the party and what they planned to do, he got Russell and they called it in. But the first responders weren’t only some of those kids' parents, they were also church members. So being the daughter of the town whore and in trouble, they took their sweet time. Which I didn’t have, since the ice started breaking more.”

“What did the Sheriff do love?” William said.

“He had Garrett climb up into the nearest tree and broke off the longest branch he could find. They held it out to me to grab it so they could pull me in but it only reached me so far. I had no choice but to try to slide closer to it to grab it but I was so scared to move. Garrett and Russell are trying to assure me it’s going to be okay and I could do it. But at the same time I can hear the other kids,” I looked away as I started feeling tears build up. “They were telling me to just do the world a favor and die already. How no one wanted me around anyways. How everyone hated me and no one could stand me. That I was better off died.” I whipped my eyes before the tears could fall. “Russell yelled at them to leave, but they just kept at it. He had to take his gun out and shoot at their feet to get them to leave.”

“Even though the kids were gone, all I could hear were their voices. I started thinking they were right, so I didn’t try to reach for the branch. Garrett got on the ice and slid it next to me. He told me to just keep my eyes on him and to just listen to him. Eventually I didn’t hear the voices any more, just his voice. He finally convinced me to grab the branch and they pulled me in as the fire trucks finally showed up. When I made it to the shoreline, Garrett took off his scarf and used that to help clean me up. Russell got into it with the fire Captain, demanding why it took them over half an hour to get there. The Captain,” I sigh. “He said,"Why do you care if that bastard drowns or not, it’s not like she’s yours anyways. Besides, her own whore of the mother doesn’t even want her, we would have done her a favor if we just let her drown.” As soon as he said that, I just made a run for it. I could hear Russell and Garrett yelling for me to come back, but I just kept running and running till I got home. I ran upstairs and locked myself in my room. I grabbed out the small pocket knife Russell got me and I just started…”I grabbed my left arm rubbing it. 

“Cutting yourself?” William said and I nodded my head. “Oh love.”

“I just wanted the pain to go away.” I started feeling tears run down my face. “I just wanted to go away.” I felt more coming down as my body started to shake. “I”m sorry.” I turn my chair around so he won’t see me cry. “I’m sorry.”

“Love, you have nothing to be sorry about.” William said, “It’s alright, I promise, it’s alright. Please turn back around love, please.” I shook my head. “Love, please. There’s no shame in crying, especially in front of me. I’m here for you love, I’ll always be here for you. I promise. Come on, love, turn.”  I shook my head again. “Please love, your future husband wants to see your face.”

 I giggle a bit. “Shut up.”

“Ohhh, I heard that little giggle.” William said. “Come on, future wife, turn around for me please. I promise, you have nothing to be a shame about when it comes to crying or you having this need to cut. I promise, I don’t think less of you for it. Believe me love, I never can. All I want to do is be here for you. So please, turn around so I can be here for you and help you, please.” I nodded my head as I whipped my face with my sleeve, then I turned back around. “Now, just take slow and deep breaths okay? Slow and deep breaths.” I started doing slow and deep breaths as he walked me through it. “There you go love, just like that. Keep going.” I kept going till I felt the shakiness go away. “Better love?” I nodded my head. “Good, just take your time okay? Just take your time.”

“So, the more I cut, the more the pain I felt inside started to go away. So I kept cutting and cutting. Till Russell showed up and kicked my door down, and grabbed me. My mother came into my room, wondering what was going on. Russell is yelling at her to call 9-1-1 while he’s holding my wrist, trying to stop the bleeding. My mother.” I shook my head. “Just rolled her eyes and walked away. Russell had to use my pillow case to wrap my arm and he picked me up, and carried downstairs. He just put me in his car and drove me to the ER that was in the next town. They got me all patched up and just sent me on my way. Russell arrested those kids and it went to court but uhhh. The judge said, “kids will be kids” and let them off with a warning. He’s another church member, so what could we expect?” William nodded his head. “I went back home and started cutting again. Russell took me back into the ER and they patched me up again. He tried to do an emergency placement for me so I could move in with him, but he was denied.” 

“Even with the cutting?” William said.

“He didn’t tell them I was cutting.”

“Why not?” William said.

“He was worried about them throwing me into the psych ward and I would never be seen again. Especially with the way this town was already towards me, I wouldn’t doubt it. It would be an easy way for them to get rid of future temptress and save their sons from a sinful life.” I rolled my eyes. “The only counseling we have here in town is from the church. Obviously Russell wasn’t going to take me there and he didn’t want anyone to know if we went to the local clinic. So Russell had to go online to find me some help.”

“The Sheriff was the one that found that therapist?” William said. “The one you mentioned earlier that lives two towns over?”

“Yeah,” I nodded my head. “Dr Erickson. He does therapy over the phone, videochat or in person. Since at the time I didn’t have a phone of my own or computer, Russell would take me over to Erickson’s place on his days off to do therapy twice a week. Though I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to talk because I didn’t know where to begin. And I was ashamed even being there. Though my life is shitty, I just kept thinking other people had it worse than me. So I shouldn’t be crying or cutting over the life I do have. Yeah, my mother is a piece of work, but at least she doesn’t put her hands on me or pimps me out to her customers. So my first therapy session I told Erickson I didn’t want to talk and he said it was fine, that I didn’t need to talk. I thought we would end up sitting in awkward silence but he went over to his piano and started playing. He said when he was upset and sad, that is what he would do to help let out what he was feeling. He said that’s why a lot of the music has real meaning to it, they were telling the artist's story and what they were going through.”

“That’s why you sing and create your own music?” William said and I nodded my head. “And your painting? Was that him too?”

“He started talking about the artwork he had hanging up. He said it was by Vincent Van Gogh” I smiled for a moment. “Erickson started telling me everything about him and what he went through. How Van Gogh turned his pain and torment into works of art. He said all great artists suffer one way or another, and use artist forms to get what was in their minds out.” I turned back to William. “He said no matter how chaotic my mind gets, I can use that and I can create art from it.”

“Art is not what I create, what I create is chaos.” William said, he gave me a crooked smile. “That’s why you chose that for your user name.”

I nodded my head. “He had painting supplies, so I painted while he played the piano and sang. In time I picked up the guitar he had and started playing and singing with him. He said I had a natural born talent for the arts because how I learned to play was just by listening to a beat a few times. When I sing my own songs, he says it sounds like I’ve sung them for years because how will put together the song was. That you wouldn’t have known it was something I created on the top of my head. Then my painting,” I smiled. “He said the way I moved the paint brush, it was as if it was an extension of my mind. That it was flawless and inspiring. After a few sessions, I was about to talk to him about everything going on. I felt I was getting to a good place, till Russell's schedule got changed and he wasn’t able to take me anymore. He was going to get me a phone so I could do my therapy over the phone, but he kept getting busy. Then one day, things just got bad. They got really, really bad.”

The Voices Part 9

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“Yes,” Melinda said, sitting back down. “Eldon Styne was his name. Him and his family kinda did what their ancestor Victor did. But instead of creating a monster from different human parts. They used different body parts to make themselves stronger, faster, and almost damn near immortal. But they made one fatal mistake.”

“What was that?” Garret said

“They took on a Winchester.” Melinda said, smiling. “Dean took revenge for Charlie’s murder and ended the Frankenstein line in a single night.”

“Seems like anyone that crosses your brother doesn’t live long enough to regret it.” Garret said.

“Nope.” Melinda said and her phone binged. “Speaking of the devil.” She looked at her phone. “They got a hit on the finger prints.” She showed Garret. 

“Staff Sergeant Colt Brenner of the U.S Marine Corp.” Garret said, “It says the military reported him A.W.O.L.” Her phone went off again and he read the message, then looked at her. “I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What?” Melinda said. He pointed at her phone and she turned it around. She let out a sigh when she saw what Dean wrote. “Fucking Dean.” She put the phone down. “It’s not like that Garret. He’s,”

“Just a friend?” Garret said. “Yeah I’m sure he is.” He got up. “I guess sister Maragret was right about you.”

She shot out of her seat. “Excuse me!” Melinda said, she slammed on her hands on the table as she leaned over towards. “Are you seriously trying to apply I’m a harlot?!”

“You should do what your brother asked you to do and call that little boyfriend of yours at Men of Letters.” Garret said. “I’ll put the books back and give the two of you some privacy.” He gathered the books up. “And you can forget about that date, I just realized I don’t remember my mother’s recipe." He walked off before she could say a word.

Tears started to form in her eyes and she sat back down. She grabbed out her laptop and opened it up. She was shaking as she put in her password and signed in. Melinda quickly rubbed her eyes, getting rid of her tears. She made sure she was in order before she placed the video call. When she was done she took a deep breath and pressed the call button. In a matter of seconds one of the greatest hackers Men of Letters had answered, William Rollins.

“Hey love,” William said, smiling. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Hey William.” Melinda said, giving a small smile. “How are you?”

“I’m good love, now that I get to see your gorgeous face again.” William said and his smile got bigger. “So to what do I owe the honor of this unexpected call? I hope you're calling to tell me you're coming to London for a visit. It would be great to catch up with you over some dinner love. Perhaps at Evelyn’s Table, where I took you for our first date.”

“I’m sorry William, but I’m not visiting London anytime soon.” Melinda said. “I’m actually calling because we’re on a case and we need some assistants.”

“Oh, I see.” William said and he sighs. “So, what big ugly baddie are you and your brothers hunting love?”

“No clue, every hunter we know in the states has never seen it before. The folklore and books on our end are coming up with a whole lot of nothing.” Melinda said and she grabbed her tablet. “It’s been eating and dismembering its victims across several states now. We finally caught up to it last night when I took its arm with Big Mama. I’m emailing you pictures of the creature's arm that I took off and a drawing I did of it.” She hit the send button and he started reviewing the images. “Anything on your guy’s end?”

“Unfornatualy no love,” William said as he typed away. “In our database there’s no such creature. But you know, it looks like a mixture of that monster from A Quiet Place and a demogorgon from Stranger Things. I would say a tulpa but its arm turned back to a human arm. I would say Wesen but,” He kept typing. “With the Grimm books we collected, I’m still not seeing any Wesen similar to this creature. Have you contacted Burkhardt? I know he has some Grimm books he doesn’t like sharing. ”

“I already spoke with Nick,” Melinda said. “Him and Adeline both came up empty.”

“Hmm,” William said, leaning back in his chair. “Then either this a new monster or one that’s been lurking in the shadows and just now coming out of hiding. Did you run finger prints on the arm?”

“Yes,” Melinda said, grabbing her phone and pulling up her text messages. “The arm belongs to Staff Sergeant Colt Brenner of the U.S Marine Corp.” She put her phone down. “We were hoping you can hack the military database and find out more information about this Staff Sergeant.”

“Already on it love,” William said and he started hacking away. “It says here he’s gone A.W.O.L about five months ago and they discover his whole unit was brutally murder.”

“What?” Melinda said. “He killed his own unit?”

“Looks like it.” William said, nodding his head. “Let’s see what else I can find out here, shall we?” He kept on typing into the database. “What do we have here?” He stopped typing as he read over what he found. “Oh, now that is interesting.” He started typing again. “Very interesting.”

“What is?” Melinda said.

“You’ll see right now love,” William said. “I’m sending it to the printer in the library you are in now."

“How did you know which library I’m in?” Melinda said. She heard the printer a few aisles over starting to print. “How did you do that?” 

“Come on now love, it’s me we’re talking about here.” William said, he started to smirk. “All I had to do was hack into your laptop and access the wi-fi you are using. From there, I was able to find your location and the printer in that library.” She giggled and shook her head. “God, I’ve missed that giggle of yours love.” She looked down. “Since it’s a few things being printed out, mind if we have a quick word?”

“About what?” Melinda said.

“About us.” William said and she looked up. “I know we parted ways a couple years ago due to you not feeling the same way I did about you. Which I understand, we were young and we did kinda jump into things pretty fast. We were barely acquaintances before we got into a relationship together. But now that some time has passed and we’ve grown since then. I was thinking maybe,” He leaned forward on his desk. “We can give us another try.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea William.” Melinda said.

“I know what those rogue members did to you love,” William said and she looked back down. “And I truly, from the bottom of my heart, am sorry for it. But I’m not them love, none of us that work for Men of Letters is like that. And like we discussed before, I’m fine that you can’t have children, I don’t want any.” She tensed up a bit as she slightly shook her head. “And I know, the distance between us is great. But I was thinking maybe you can move here,” She looked up. “You can join the Men of Letters. We can always use more hunters in the field. I mean, you were amazing when you were here. You and your brothers closed so many cases within the four months you guys were here than some of these veteran members did in a year. And you’ll get paid for all your hard work.”

“I don’t hunt for money William.” Melinda said. “I hunt to save people, because it’s the right thing to do.”

“I know love, I know.” William said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just saying. If you come here, you’ll have a better life and we can actually get to know each other better. We can start out as friends and slowly start going on dates. And maybe, who knows, it could go beyond just boyfriend girlfriend. Maybe, marriage.”

“William,” Melinda said, she sighed and looked down. “Look, you're a great guy,” she looked up at him. “You were very sweet to me and kind. You were a gentleman with me and you treated me really good. You showered me with gifts and took care of me. But,” she sighed. “I’m not going to move to London. My place is here, with my brothers. And I don’t want to leave here.”

“Then what if I move there?” William said. “I can just move into the bunker and do my work from there.”

“William, you can’t,” Melinda said and she shook her head. “You can’t.”

“Is there someone else, love?” William said.

She heisted as she looked back down. “There’s,” Melinda said, she cleared her throat and looked back up at him. “There’s no one. I thought there was but uh, I uh.. I read the signals wrong.”

“Will whoever that bollock was, he’s a fool to pass up on a woman like you love,” William said. “A woman that is amazing and sweet. Who’s beautiful and incredible. A woman that’s been on my mind since day one.” He smiled and she looked down. The printer finally stopped and beeped on his end. “Looks like all the information is done printing.”

“Yeah,” Melinda said, she looked back up at him “I should get off here so I can collect it and review it. We’re supposed to go hunting for the creature soon, so I need to get everything in order. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it William.”

“Any time love. Good luck out there and be safe.” William said. “And don’t be a stranger. Call me some time, even if it’s just to get some assistants or to randomly chat, call me love. I would love to hear from you, I miss our talks.” She nodded her head. “Happy hunting love.” He hung up.

She signed out and turned off her laptop, then packed it away. She headed over to the printer and saw it was a large stack, more than she expected. She started collecting it when she heard footsteps coming up to her. Unsure and hesitating footsteps, like the first time he walked up to her.

“Yes Garret?” Melinda said.

“So,” Garret said, stopping right behind her. “He’s not your boyfriend, but your ex boyfriend.”

“Yes, we broke up a couple of years ago.” Melinda said. “We only dated a little over three months out of the four months we were in London. Dean likes to tease me about him because he was my first boyfriend and as Dean says, worked for the enemy. So he likes to refer to William as my little boyfriend.”

“I uh,’ “Garret said, he sighed. “I didn’t know that.”

“Of course not,” Melinda said, she spoke in a harsh tone. “How could you, when you cut me off and accuse me of being a harlot.” She walked off.

“Mel, I’m sorry.” Garret said, he followed her back to the table. “I shouldn’t have,”

“Been a dick.” Melinda said, cutting him off. “Yeah, I know. But whatever it’s not like you need to apologize to a harlot like me.” She grabbed her bag. “We need to get back to Samuel’s and look over what my ex boyfriend found on this Staff Sergeant." She started heading to the door.

“Mel please,” Garret said, he hurried to her and stepped in front of her. “Can we talk about this first?” She tilted her head, looking confused. “What is it?”

“Behind you.” Melinda said. He turned around to the book shelf of books in Spanish as she reached over and grabbed a book off the shelf. “I don’t know why I didn’t stop and think about this before. We’ve been calling the wrong people,” She showed him the book. “We should have been calling her this whole time.”

”I’m sorry Mel but I flunked Spanish.” Garret said. “What does it say?”

“Bruja, meaning witch.” Melinda said. 

“Your aunt Rowena.” Garret said

“If this creature was created by a curse,” Melinda said. “A four hundred plus year old witch should know all about it.”

‘Four hundred years old?” Garret said.

“That’s right.” Melinda said, putting the book down. “I need to call her and see what she knows.” She started heading out again when Garret grabbed her arm, stopping. “Garret.”

“Please, can we talk?” Garret said. “We need to talk.”

“Look,” Melinda said, yanking her arm away from him. “There’s nothing to talk about. We’re from two different worlds, I’m a hunter and you're not. You're religious and in your religion the women are supposed to be stay at home wives and moms. I’m sure in the hell not religious and I’m sure in the hell not the stay at home type. And even if you weren’t religious, you want marriage and kids more than anything. And even if I gave up the hunter life, I can only give you marriage, never kids. Me and you Garret, we won’t work out, no matter what this,” she motioned between them. “Is between us. It won’t work out, it will never work out. So let’s just focus on the case. The faster we solve this, the faster me and my brothers can leave.” She turned around and left.

He sighed. “But I don’t want you to leave.” Garret said.

COUPLE HOURS LATER: OUTSIDE THE CHURCH 

“Alright everyone listen up,” Dean said, they turned to him. “I know yesterday we weren't exactly able to do introductions and explain what the hell was going on. So I’m going to give you guys a quick speech to catch you guys up. I’m Dean Winchester, this guy right here is my brother Sam.” He motioned his hand to Sam, who nodded at everyone. “The kid right here is our baby sister Melinda.” She nodded her head at them. “We are hunters and we come from a long line of them. Saving people, hunting things, the family business. We’ve hunted demons, vampires, werewolves, shape shifts, witches, and a whole lot of other things that go bump in the night. This thing we tracked into your town, we’ve been after it for five days now. It killed a total of twenty seven people that we know of before we caught this case. Last night when we were at Samuel’s, the arm of the creature transformed back to a human’s arm.” They started mumbling and he put his hand up. “I know. I know. I had the sheriff here,” he motioned to the sheriff, “run finger prints and we got a hit on who the arm belongs to. Sam.”

He stepped forward as Dean stepped back. “The arm belongs to a Staff Sergeant Colt Brenner of the U.S Marine Corp.” Sam said. “Over five months ago he was reported to have gone A.W.O.L by the military after they discovered his unit, which consisted of seven other soldiers murder in their military vehicles during a recon mission. They suspect Brenner was taken due to how the bodies were ripped to shreds and partially eaten." They mumbled and Sam put his hand up, they went quiet. “As we all know, that is not the case. After getting assistant from one of our contacts, we discovered prior to Brenner going on a killing spree, he had a report filed against him and his unit for sexual assault against a fellow solider named Monica Vasquez.” They mumbled as they shook their heads. “Him and his unit were all found not guilty of the assault due to lack of evidence. But Ms Vasqueze wasn’t the only one that filed a report against Benner and his unit. There were multiple complaints against them for misconduct and crude behavior towards other female soldiers. Along with several other sexual assaults. But like before, they were found not guilty on all accounts and the complaints against them were all dismissed. Mel.”

She stepped forward as Sam went back. “Our contact also got information about the women that Brenner and his men encounter.” Melinda said. “He found out that Ms Vasquez made a call to a family member back in Mexico after Brenner and his men were found not guilty. This family member is Maria Vasquez, her grandmother. I spoke with my aunt Rowena, who is familiar with Maria. She says Maria is one of the villagers bruja, Spanish for witch.” They started to mumble a bit. “She says Maria is known more of a healer type who doesn’t deal with curses or any form of dark magic. But after what happened to her granddaughter, Rowena believes that has changed.”

“I was able to get a hold of the villager’s elder and I had informed him what happened to Maria’s granddaughter.” Melinda said. “Him and a few others went over to Maria’s home to speak with her, but she wasn’t there. They searched around her priority and found an area where they found Maria’s lifeless body on an altar, meaning she sacrificed herself to perform this ritual,” they mumbled more. “They also found Maria was wearing Brenner’s dogtags, which Monica said in court she grabbed a hold of during the assault. But Brenner reported them missing after the assault before Monica found the courage to report him and his unit. In Benner’s report he claimed he took them off when he showered and forgot to put them back on.”

“After the villagers told me what else Maira used in the ritual I spoke with Rowena again and informed her on their findings.” Melinda said. “She says this ritual that Maria did, was a curse ritual designed to turn the curse one into a creature known as Aparecido, Spanish for revenant. The ritual kills the cursed one and reanimates their body to the creature you saw last night. Aparecido are designed to take revenge on the ones the witch wants the creature to kill. After it kills the others, the Aparecido takes vengeance on itself, completely the witch’s ritual. Since Benner has already killed his unit and took vengeance for Monica, like Maria wanted. It should have killed itself by now, but it hasn’t. Rowena says normally the witch that does this ritual keeps the Aparecido in check to make sure it completes its task. And since Maria used herself in the ritual there is no witch controlling the Aparecido. Also, no other witch but the witch that performed the ritual can control the Aparecido. So otherwise, this Aparecido will continue to kill till we kill it.”

She stepped back as Dean stepped forward. “I want to tell you guys this right now, I know Brenner was once human, but he’s not anymore.” Dean said, as he shook his head. Hell if I’m being honest with you, after reading what he did to Maria in those transcripts. Seeing all those reports filed against him, I don’t think he ever was. Brenner is just another monster me and my family need to put down. But in order to do that, we’re going to need some. That’s why we are here right now, asking you all for your help. Now it’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be down right hard. There’s a chance you're going to get hurt and there’s a chance you may not come back. And if you're afraid of that happening, then you can go. Ain't no shame of walking away, this life isn’t for everyone. So if you need to walk away for yourself or for those that depend on you because you're all they got, walk now while you have the chance.”

One man stepped forward. “I’m sorry,” He said, holding out the gun to Dean. “But I have a little boy at home. I’m the only family he has left.”

“Keep the gun on you till this is over.” Dean said. He nodded his head and walked off. “Anyone else?”

Another stepped forward. “Sorry, but my wife Martha still needs me.” He said.

“Go ahead.” Dean said and he walked off. “Are we good?” Everyone else nodded. “Alright this is how it’s going to work.” He looked around at everyone. “We are breaking up into three groups. Samuel and you six there,” He pointed at them. “You're with me. And the sheriff and you six,” He pointed at them. “You're with Sam. Garret and the rest of you, you're with Melinda.” They started mumbling about Melinda. “Hey! Shut it!” They went quiet. “I know in your guys' religion women are supposed to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen but in hunter's life, it isn’t like that. It doesn’t matter if your a guy or a chick, a hunter is fucking hunter.”

“My baby sister here has ten years of experience in this life. Okay? Ten years.” Dean said. “When she was ten years old, she killed her first werewolf all by herself and that was before she even started hunting. A couple months later she killed a demon along with a hellhound when it came to collect some poor chump’s soul. When she was twelve she took on a coven of witches by herself. When she was thirteen Sam and I fell under a spell by a couple of sirens, she saved our asses. She took on changelings, gorgons, rougarous, and a whole lot of other nasty things that would give you guys nightmares. You all saw her last night,” He pointed at them. “She is the best shooter out of the three of us. If there is anyone you want in your corner when shit hits the fan, it will be her. So I don’t want to hear any bitching about her being a girl or being too young, she is a hunter, a Winchester. I trust her with my life and you all should do the same. Got it?” They nodded their heads. “Good. Now, let’s get to work.”

Faith & Monsters Part 5 coming soon

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