Chapter Text
My thanks to Sioux_Sioux for the wonderful beta on the story.
Adams, Tennessee.
The road faded into a dirt track just barely visible in the knee tall grass of the meadow. The fall weather was remarkably mild for this time of the year and the rain had not began falling leaving the grass dead, yellow and sharp bladed. Wading through the mass of vegetation two teenagers halted their progress across the meadow looking back at the burgundy colored Pontiac Grand Am parked just off the road. The car was a small dot on the horizon and the girl nervously glanced up at her companion.
"Jessie," she said tugging on the blue jean jacketed arm around her waist. "Maybe we should just go back to the car. I don't think we should go all the way to the cave. My daddy'll be real mad if I'm late for supper."
The boy rolled his eyes and tugged her around to face him.
"Crystal Ann, we just need to get one stupid little rock from the cave and take it back to Tyler. It'll be our proof that we went all the way..."
He grinned at her and she punched him on the arm.
"All the way to the cave, I mean. Jeez don't you have any kind of a sense of humor anymore?"
Crystal Ann looked doubtfully at him and Jessie could see the furrow beginning to form between her brows. It was her 'I want' look and he was increasingly subject to it in the recent weeks that they had been dating. He also knew that if he didn't get her moving he risked losing the battle before the war even started. Turning he dropped his arm from around her waist and took off in a long loping stride toward the creek and the little stone bridge crossing it. On the other side of the creek was a path up the rolling foothill to the old coal mines and the even older Civil War cave. The cave supposedly had been a hideout for Confederate soldiers who deserted from the battle of Adam's Meadow, a little known and unremarkable battle early in the war.
All that anyone was sure about the battle was that two Confederate and three Union soldiers had died in Adam's Meadow, near the mouth of the old cave. Their graves were set aside in the cemetery of Prospect Baptist Church on Brickyard Road. The only thing that Jessie could remember hearing about the deaths was that they were 'funny', not funny ha-ha, but funny peculiar. All five boys didn't have a mark on them. But all were as dead as proverbial doornails come morning time.
It was only after the war that rumors started with distance cousins or some relatives of old John Bell relating that the Bell girls had died in the same 'funny' way. All three girls stone cold dead and not a mark on them either. It was then that tales began circulating about the Bell Witch.
Jessie turned back smirking at the girl following reluctantly behind him.
"Come on, Crystal Ann."
He waved her forward and frowned when she stopped short, jutting her chin out at him. He turned back to the mouth of the cave.
"I'm going to get a geode from the cave. Charlie Marcum said that there are about a hundred in there and that way Tyler will know that we actually went into the place instead of just picking up any old piece of granite out of the meadow."
Crystal Ann glared at him, the 'I want' line forming between her brows again.
"There are bats in that cave, too. What if one of them gets caught in my hair? They bite you know. Can bats get rabies?"
"I don't know," he replied not looking back. "Look, we don't have to go too far in, just enough to get to that first big room, area, whatever you call it. That's were all the rocks are. I'll just grab something quick and we'll get out. We'll be back at the car before you know it."
The hike to cave was a short one, but both kids were still winded when they got to the top of the hill. Jessie gasped for breath grabbing Crystal Ann's wrist and hauling her the last few inches up the hill. She leaned back against him. His arm came up around her waist automatically, without conscious effort. With a panted breath Crystal Ann pulled her hair out of the collar of her blouse and wrapped it around her fingers. Quickly she tugged the scrunchie she was wearing on her arm over her wrist and wrapped her hair into a sloppy ponytail.
"God, I'm sweating," she hissed glaring at the boy. "This had better be worth all the trouble."
He offered her a lame smile and then glanced at the mouth of the cave. The interior of the cave was inky black and he fished a small flashlight out of his jeans pocket.
She looked at him.
"Is that it? That's all you brought for light? We'll never find anything in there."
He was beginning to get seriously annoyed with her now.
"Oh shut up," Jessie hissed and flinched at the look that earned him. "I...mean. It'll be enough."
"I'm not wasting another Saturday afternoon with you doing this, Jessie McAllen."
Crystal Ann put out her hand for the flashlight and Jessie surrendered it with modest good grace. She flicked the light on and aimed it at the mouth of the cave. Both kids ducked although the cave opening was more than high enough for them to enter.
The cave entrance was narrow and they had to squeeze in slightly sideways. Jessie slipped past her as she played the light beam over the cave floor. The entrance opened up into a fairly large room.
The cave was rough hewn almost as if it had been purposely cut out of the living rock. When Jessie stepped closer to the cave wall he could see that the surface was covered in some kind of slimy moss. The slick mass glowed with a faint, sickly green luminescence that cast a pale glow on the cave walls and floor. Tentatively Jessie stretched out his hand, swiping his fingers through the sticky mass. The moss clung to his hand. He jerked it away, half expecting the stuff to burn but it did nothing. Crystal Ann leaned in close behind him and the boy jumped. She snickered into his ear,
"Boy, if I knew that you were going to be such a scaredy cat, I wouldn't have come up here with you."
Jessie shot her a look over his shoulder. Quickly he picked up the pace, tugging her along in his wake. She resisted.
"Don't go so fast." Grumbling under her breath Crystal Ann struggled to keep up. "I can't see in this dark. I don't want to trip over something."
"I don't see anything for you to trip over. I was hoping that the geodes would be here in the entrance so we didn't have to go too far inside. But there's nothing."
Crystal Ann demurred, "Look, I don't want to get lost in here. It would take them forever to find us. Maybe we should go back..."
Jessie shook his head, swearing softly.
"Just a little bit further, I know that they're in here somewhere. We won't go off into any of the side paths, okay? One way in and one way out. We can't get lost."
"We better not."
The girl paused cocking her head to one side. From some where far off she could hear a faint sound, like the creaking of a tree branch in a hard wind, or the tread of a footfall.
"Do you think that there's anyone else in here but us?"
"No, I don't think so why?"
"I think that I hear something. Maybe like an animal or something. It's not your stupid friends, is it? If you think they're going to jump out all covered in fake blood or something and scare me, you'd better think again."
Jessie rolled his eyes,
"I swear it's nobody. There is nobody here but us. Come on I see a little dip in the wall, maybe there's a rock there and we can get out of here."
The path that they were walking on veered sharply to the right and the little dip in the wall became the entrance to another room in the cave. Jessie flashed the light over the wall. The opening to the other room was covered by wooden railroad slats nailed into the wall with rusted iron spikes. There were at least fifteen boards, some laid haphazardly over the others and held in place by the thick iron nails. Jessie leaned against the boards, tugging at the overlapping slats. The boards wouldn't budge. He handed the light to Crystal Ann and ducked his head under the topmost board.
"Hey, shine the light in here. I see a whole new room. I wonder what's in there. Look at all the boards they used to keep the opening closed. They must have really wanted to keep people out."
Nervously Crystal Ann stepped back.
"Maybe they wanted to keep something in."
Jessie shrugged.
"Well, we're not getting in there."
He bent down trying to look under the bottommost board. Slipping he dropped his hand down quickly to steady himself. Then he glanced down. Quickly he flicked the flashlight beam onto the floor. The ground in front of the entrance was covered in white crystals. They were large and coarse and he raked his finger through the pile, lifting them to inspect the stuff. He put his hand to his nose and sniffed experimentally.
"What is it? Is it a diamond?" Crystal Ann asked, pressing up against Jessie.
He shook his head.
"No, it's just rock salt and ashes. It's piled up all around the entrance to the room. And it looks like its all over the inside, too."
Jessie rose, his feet slipping in the loose soil breaking the line of salt, scattering it over the floor. He stumbled over something just beneath the board and dropped to his knees scraping the dirt and salt away from the entrance. With a gleeful grin he triumphantly raised a small, egg-shaped rock into the air. Quickly Jessie turned to the girl handing her the flashlight.
"Crystal Ann, shine it over here."
Dutifully she flashed the beam over the rock as Jessie turned it over in his hands. It was grey in color and broken open just at mid point. The crystals inside the dull outer shell were blood red, deep crimson and strikingly beautiful. Crystal Ann leaned over running her finger over the inner surface of the geode. Suddenly she jerked her hand back.
"Ouch, damn it, I cut my finger."
She held up the wounded digit for the boy to inspect. Jessie squeezed the finger and several drops of blood well up, spattering on the floor.
"Hey, stop it that hurts."
The drops of blood sank into the salted ashes and the faint breeze stirred causing the dust of the cave floor to dance and whirl. The breeze rose lifting the helm of the girl's shirt and she shivered, hugging her arms around her self. Jessie noticed her shaking and touched her arm.
"Jeeze Louise, you're freezing. Let's get out of here; we got what we came for."
"Yeah, come on, it is getting pretty cold in here. That sure is a pretty one. You're not going to give it to Tyler are you?"
Jessie smiled at her, knowing a hint when he heard one.
"No, I'll just show it to him. You can have it."
Crystal Ann smiled up at him, tucking the geode into the crook of her elbow.
They had almost made it to the mouth of the cave when the earth began to tremble. From somewhere behind them an explosion rattled the walls of the cave. The boards covering the side room in the cave bowed outward, sending shards of wood through the air. A splinter caught Jessie in the face, digging a trench in his cheek but he barely noticed the pain. Stumbling he hit the wall of the cave, putting up a hand to steady himself. Crystal Ann grasped his arm trying to keep him from falling to the ground but Jessie was thirty pounds heavier than the girl and both kids bounced once off the cave wall and tumbled to the floor.
There was a rush of cold air jetting out of the cave mouth and something large and black swirled out of the darkness. The thing floated above both teenagers briefly and Crystal Ann screamed throwing one arm over her head. The black figure swooped down and then flew out of the mouth of the cave.
Shakily Jessie rose to his feet. Quickly he pulled the girl up beside him staring out of the cave into the late evening sky. The sun had dipped behind the hills and the meadow was shrouded in deepening gloom. Far above their heads the first faint glimmering stars sparkled in the sky.
"Did you see that?" Crystal Ann asked brushing her hair out of her face. "What was it; it looked awfully big for a bat."
Jessie shrugged.
"It was probably just an owl. They get pretty big. Come on it's a lot later than I thought and I've got to get to football practice. I'll drop you off at your house on the way."
The two kids raced across the meadow as fast as the tall grass would allow. Jessie slammed the car door shut and revved the engine. The Grand Am swung into a shaky
u-turn and headed back toward town. As the lights of town came into view Jessie slowed the car. As he turned the last curve onto Brickyard Road they passed the church and the cemetery. The faint shapes of the headstones darker shadows beneath the lush branches of the oak trees. Jessie pulled the car into the driveway of a large white and brick house a few blocks down from the church. A Sheriff's department patrol car was parked beside a jeep and a mini-van. Crystal Ann jumped out of the Grand Am rushing up the driveway. A man dressed in a kaki uniform and green jacket raised a hand waving at Jessie as the boy pulled out of the driveway and sped off up the street.
The man frowned after the car and then motioned his daughter over.
"You need to tell that boy to slow down before he gets himself or you killed."
Crystal Ann hugged him and he dropped his arm around her shoulder before propelling her toward the porch with a gentle push. She danced up the stairs then scramble into the room. Holding her treasure up in the warm light she tugged her father's arm.
"Daddy, look what we found."
Glancing down he took the geode and turned it in the light.
"Yeah, that's real pretty. Did you forget you were supposed to go to Betty's for supper tonight since your Momma is out? Unless you want to eat my cooking."
Crystal Ann pulled a comic grimace, digging her elbow into her father's side.
"No thanks. I'll head over there then. I'll call you when I'm ready for you to pick me up."
"Did I say I was picking you up, girl?" he looked out the window frowned a little, then sighed. "It is getting pretty dark. Why don't you let me take you over there? I promise we won't go in my patrol car again."
The girl rolled her eyes.
"Daddy, its three blocks over. I know the way. Besides I'll cut through the cemetery."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Daaaaddy! What are you afraid of? That the zombies will eat me." She chuckled under her breath and the man laughed with her.
"Hell no, they'd probably choke on you."
He looked around but the door had already swung closed. Picking up the mail he disappeared into the kitchen.
Crystal Ann had been going to the Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery for as long as she could remember. All her Grandparents were buried there, most of her other family including her older brother Jimmy was there as well. She flipped the latch on the wrought iron gate and pulled it open. The gate squealed a little and she frowned making a mental note to call Jules Botner the groundskeeper about oiling the hinges. She took a family pride in the well maintained grounds of the neat white church building and the rolling green hills of the churchyard.
Far across the flat grassy area of the newer graves with their flat bronze plaques was the mausoleum with its gleaming white marble walls. The fountain in front of the mausoleum was still jetting the thin stream of water that pattered on the fountain lip. Behind the fountain a trio of marble angels stood guard, their vacant eyes following Crystal Ann's every movement. She paused cocking her head. From somewhere farther up the trail she could hear the faint rustling of cloth. She paused, the cemetery had always been a comforting place for her and she was not afraid of it as so many of her peers were. She often came to read or sketch sitting on a bench by Jimmy's grave. She had no qualms about being here, even in the night. She had no fear of the dead, they couldn't hurt you.
A sudden thought caused her to pause, the dead might not hurt her but the living could.
"Who's there?" she asked her voice trembling.
The rustling sound grew closer. A twig snapped and she jumped. Turning around Crystal Ann skirted around the fountain.
"Betty?"
A second twig snapped causing her to flinch.
"That's not funny. Who's there? My daddy is the sheriff so you'd better just move along."
The rustling was noticeably louder and the sound of footfalls was audible now. With a frightened bleat the girl whirled heading back down the path to the gate. Her shin barked up against the fountain and she tumbled. Her arm sank into the cold water, a thin scream emanated from her lips. Jerking around Crystal Ann scanned the hill. The dark, amorphous shapes of the tombstones bled into the darker gray of the underbrush and it was impossible to see who might be walking among the trees. Quickly Crystal Ann walked towards the well lit walkway circling the mausoleum. She paused at the corner of the building. She could see the lights of Seventh Street just beyond the fence on the opposite side of the cemetery. Taking a deep breath she stepped off the marble walkway and onto the dirt trail.
The wind whipped the branches of the oak trees lining the path and dust flew into her eyes. The girls wiped at her face with the sleeve of her shirt stumbling toward the nearest tree. A dark shape rose up out of the ground blocking out the light. Before she could scream, a thin bony hand closed over her mouth. Her eyes bulged and she grasped weakly at the thin arms circling her body.
Choking and gasping Crystal Ann tugged at the iron-like fingers throttling her. Her head was pounding and her vision was beginning to blur. She managed to pry one of the hands free and whirled striking out with her free hand. The staring face made Crystal Ann shriek in terror. Pale, gray-white skin was stretched over a bony visage with deep sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. Lank gray hair fell around the shriveled cheeks and bony forehead. Only the pale orbs inside the black sockets held any life. They gleamed with an insane hatred. The iron fingers clutched her throat; the face loomed over her until the toothless maw gaped open. The crone cackled faintly drawing a deep breath.
Suddenly the old hag thrust a hand out, her fingers dug into the girl's chest. Crystal Ann jerked violently as the bony digits buried themselves deep inside her flesh. Her face contorted in agony as the witch squeezed her hand, clasping the girl's heart. Within moments the girl hung lifelessly in her hands. With a sigh the witch pulled her fingers free of the dead flesh and tossed the body on the ground. Crystal Ann laid sprawled on the marble walkway her eyes staring blankly at the night sky.
The door to the motel room opened briefly and a head poked out. The tall young man yawned hugely and ducked back inside.
"Dean, what the hell is so important that we have to get up at five o'clock in the morning? It's not even light outside."
Sam Winchester turned to his brother. Dean pulled a tee-shirt over his head then shoved the rest of his clothing back into the canvas duffle bag lying on the bed.
"I saw something on the news last night; I just wanted to check it out."
Sam frowned again taking the bag from his brother's outstretched hand.
"I thought we went over this before. You have got to stop trying to make something out of every little thing that we see or hear."
Sam followed his brother around the room as Dean tucked his shirt into his jeans and gathered his watch up from the bedside table.
"I was right the last time, Sammy. It's not inconceivable that I may just know how to do this job. Dad....I learned to do it right. So just cut me some slack. Besides the case is in Tennessee and I thought we could check in with Aunt Maggie. I haven't told her...she doesn't know about...."
Dean snagged the duffle bag from Sam's hand as he walked past. Sam closed his eyes. Every time Dean stuttered just a little bit more when he mentioned their father, Sam felt a tightening in his chest; a sort of vague fluttering that had nothing to do with visions or demons. At least not the ones they were looking for.
Gathering his own bag from his bed Sam trudged out into the cold morning air. Dean was already standing beside the Impala when Sam walked up. Sam pulled the collar of his jacket a little tighter around his neck and then swung his bag onto the bumper while Dean opened the trunk.
"Dean, I thought that you called Aunt Maggie. I asked you to."
"I did call her. I just hung up before she could answer."
Dean pulled up the trunk lid and shoved the contents of the trunk around making room for their things. Sam waited while his brother arranged things in the trunk, just the way he wanted and then hoisted his bag up. He stopped short, mouth gaping open a little. His eyes fell on the black duffle bag with tan canvas straps still snuggled deep into the back of the trunk. He coughed,
"Dean, I thought that you were going to take care of that too..."
"Take care of what, Sammy?"
Dean dropped his bag into the trunk half covering the other one. With an annoyed glare he held out a hand and Sam tossed his own bag to Dean. His brother pressed both knapsacks back into the trunk so that they could still get to the door in the false bottom and the weapons cached inside. Sam sighed, so that was the way it was. They were back not talking about it, again. He glanced at Dean but his brother refused to look at him. He just slammed the trunk lid shut and headed to the driver's door. Sam stood looking down at the trunk thinking about the duffle bag full of clothes and personal effects of a man who wasn't going to use them again. This not talking was getting to be a habit. Sort of like that elephant in the room no one wanted to mention, only Sam prayed that they weren't hip deep in shit before they finally got around to mentioning it.
They ate breakfast at the diner just across the street from the motel. Dean had spent a good part of the night making phony ids for them again. He handed Sam a driver's license from Alaska that went with the credit cards Dean had scammed for them. These ids and cards were brand new and would cut any paper trail that they had left behind at the last case.
While Dean finished the last of his food, Sam glanced at the laptop sitting on the table.
"So what have you got?" he asked casually.
Dean looked up at his brother and pushed the computer over. Sam leaned down scanning through the news article from the Knoxville Herald. The headline read that two teenagers had been killed in Adams, a small town just south of Knoxville. The deaths were ruled natural, but both teens had died of cardiac arrest on the same night. Sam glanced at Dean.
"Two otherwise healthy teenagers, both with no history of heart problems just keeled over on the same night of cardiac arrest, not a mark on either of them."
Sam frowned.
"It could be drugs," he said.
Dean shook his head.
"The medical examiner says otherwise. No drugs in either one of them. And that article was from last week. Last night on the news I saw a story about another teenager dying of cardiac arrest in the same town."
Sam nodded,
"Okay, maybe three in two weeks is pushing it. So I guess we head to Tennessee. It's going to take a couple of days though. We'll watch the newspapers and see if anything else happens."
"Yeah," Dean added. "And Kingston is not too far from Adams. We can stop by Aunt Maggie's on the way. She may already be working on it, hell; I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't take care of it before we get there."
Sam shook his head.
"Aunt Maggie doesn't hunt anymore, not since the accident. But she'll know what's going on for sure."
Dean picked up the check and moved to the cash register. He smiled at the middle-aged waitress who was standing behind the counter and handed her a credit card. She took it indifferently, rang the check and handed it too him. Sam was standing beside the car, gazing at the traffic on the road when Dean came up behind him. Dean shuffled from foot to foot for a second then touched his brother on the arm.
"Sammy, you okay?"
Sam shrugged and then nodded.
"Yeah, I'm doing okay. I just wish that you would admit that you're hurting too..."
Dean opened the car door and slid behind the wheel.
"I'm not hurting. Sam. I know that Dad made a choice; that he did it to get me back. I should have died, Sam. I'm just pissed off that Dad thought he had the right to make that choice for me."
"When did he ever give us a choice?"
Sam slammed the car door and Dean shot him a look.
With a growl Sam pulled his seatbelt over his shoulder.
"You're not pissed off. You and Dad spent more time together than I did with him. It's okay for you to be scared and lonely."
Dean dropped his head to the steering wheel thumping it several times.
"Jeezus, give me a break, Dr. Phil. Will you?"
He started the engine and pulled into the lane of traffic. It only took a few minutes to reach the on-ramp to the highway and they were off and running again.
Sam turned toward the window staring out at the passing landscape and Dean stared straight ahead as the road churned under the wheels of the Impala. The car ate up the miles between Missouri and Tennessee and the car crossed into Chattanooga City limits just after midnight. There was a Motel 6 on the exit ramp of the 75 Freeway and Dean turned into the parking lot, one more cheap motel, one more non-descript, bland room. The clerk barely glanced at the younger man as he ran the credit card through the reader and pushed a slip at Dean for a signature. He didn't even pick up the driver's license Dean casually dropped on the counter. Dean collected both the receipt and the i.d. before walking back to the car.
Sam tugged the key from Dean's fingers, turning it over to find the room number. The door swung open silently and Sam flicked on the lights. The carpet and furniture were clean, a dull beige with darker highlights. There were two beds along the far wall separated by a table with two matching lamps. Sam tossed his bag on a chair beside a small round table and Dean dropped his duffle on the floor beside the farthest bed. He toed his sneakers off, while Sam sat down in the second chair bending down to pull off his hiking boots.
Dinner was consumed at the table with the Channel Six News playing in the background. Dean ate two of the BBQ sandwiches they had gotten from Sweet Baby Rays, which were surprisingly delicious and a far cry from the microwaved fare of the AMPM variety they had been chowing down on for days now.
Suddenly Dean stiffened in his chair, turning quickly he motioned Sam to be quiet. A pretty middle-aged woman in a gray suit was standing on what looked like stairs to a courthouse somewhere. Sam cocked his head and Dean thumbed the volume up on the newscast.
The woman turned to stare directly into the camera, her face solemn and pale.
"For the third week in a row the sleepy little town of Adams has been rocked by tragedy."
The reporter turned glancing behind her at the stately, columned façade of the building.
"Last night, here on the steps of the Adams County Courthouse, two boys were found dead. Both boys played football at Adams High School. The dead boys have been identified as Charlie Parker and Jessie McAllen. This brings the total number of dead children to five. The first girl to die, in the Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery was identified as Crystal Ann Callahan, the daughter of Sheriff Roy Callahan. Just last week nineteen year old Jules Botner, the groundskeeper at the Cemetery was also found dead.
The following day a second body, that of an unidentified runaway was found on Braintree Highway. All five young people have died of unexplained causes."
Dean shot Sam a look and a slow smile crept across his face. "Still think there's no case, Sammy boy?
TBC