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"No, I'm not a fan, okay. Not fans. In fact, I think
the Dean and Sam story sucks. It is not fun, it's not entertaining. It is a
river of crap that would send most people howling to the nuthouse! So you
listen to me. Their pain is not for your amusement. I mean, you think they
enjoy being treated like-like circus freaks?"~~~~Dean, "The Real
Ghostbuters
__________________________________________________________________________-
Barnes sat in front of his laptop, hands poised over the keyboard. He still
wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. It had been almost a week since the
convention and he couldn't block out all that had happened from his mind.
Ghosts existed and salt-and-burns really worked. What else from those books was
out there? Werewolves? Vampires? Wendigos? He shuddered.
He then remembered those two guys, especially the one who claimed to be the real
Dean and what he said about his life, how it wasn't fun or entertaining, that
it wasn't anything to be wished for. "Their pain is not for your amusement."
He had been thinking about it on-and-off since they got home but didn't say
anything to Demian because he would just explain it away. He decided to pull up
a web search using some of the dates and places Carver Edlund used in the
books.
He typed in "November 2, 1983" and "Lawrence, Kansas". When too many entries
popped up, he added "fire" to narrow it down. One of the first links was to the
Lawrence Journal-World and an article about a house fire in which the
mother, one Mary Winchester, died but the father, John, and his two sons, Sam
and Dean, survived.
"Winchester." Barnes jotted down the name. Now that he had something more to
work with, he entered "Dean Winchester" and looked under images. What he saw
shocked him. "Oh, my God!"
"What're you looking at?" Demian was back. He looked over Barnes' shoulder.
"Hey, isn't that the guy from the convention? Why am I not surprised he has a
record?"
Barnes looked at his partner. "It's him. He wasn't lying. He is Dean."
"Nah, he's just someone who really went too far with the LARPing.
Psychotic break, maybe."
"The stuff he's wanted for matches exactly what it says in the books,"
"Of course it does. He just Photoshopped it."
"It's the FBI website." Demian still wasn't sure. "OK, let me try something
else." Barnes typed in the address for Stanford and searched for Sam
Winchester. Yep, there he was and all in information matched the books,
including his 174 LSAT score.
"Holy crap, dude! They're real!" Demian pulled over a chair and sat down next
to him. "Does this mean everything they hunt is real, too?"
"I would think so."
"We are so stocking up on salt, iron and holy water. Oh, and we're getting
those tattoos."
"We don't know what they look like. Those things have to be precise. We have to
find some of the books they used."
"Right. We'll just head down to the library and ask for all their old, musty
books on the occult."
"There's got to be somebody who knows." Barnes was feeling nervous now that he
knew what was out there.
"There is." Demian pushed Barnes aside and typed into the laptop. The official
site for the books came up. "If anyone should know what the tats should be,
it's Carver Edlund."
There was a thread on the forums about the anti-possession tattoos but no one
had a definitive description or picture. Demian started a new thread and Barnes
read as he typed.
"You can't tell them that!"
"Why can't we let people know that all this stuff is real and they have to protect
themselves?"
"Well..." Barnes thought for a moment. "If we say that Sam and Dean are real and
were at the convention, that would let the FBI know they're alive and they'd be
after them again."
"Do you really think the FBI read these forums?"
"If it has to do with the Winchesters, yeah, I do. Besides, I'm never going to
look at the world the same way again. I don't want to ruin that for anyone
else. No, we just contact Mr. Edlund and let him know that we know and see what
he can advise." He grinned. "Maybe he'll let them know."
"I doubt it, but it would be cool."
Together they composed their email to Carver Edlund and then went out to the
hardware store with a side trip to St. Mary's.