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spn_summergenTitle: A Horse With No Name
Recipient: anactoria
Rating: PG-13
Word Count or Media: 7,791 words
Warnings: A bit of violence
Author's Notes: This story was totally inspired by one of the fantastic prompts I was given and by this gorgeous artwork from last year's SPN Summergen Challenge. The inspiration I got from both booted my muse into action and this is the result.
Summary: Sam and Dean follow up on a case of missing children and are surprised to find that a horse is the culprit.
Prologue
Trey Hampton was terrified. His heart pounded frantically and he knew he should run. Wanted to, but his feet wouldn't obey.
"Oh God," his friend, Dave said. They were standing on the beach, rooted to the spot, watching as their friends Billy, Carrie, and Lena struggled to get away from the horse who suddenly reared up from the ground, pulling their friends up with him, and whinnied, the sound sending fresh waves of terror down Trey's spine.
"Oh, God," Dave said again. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!"
The horse turned toward them and Trey could see its glowing eyes... at least they seemed to be glowing in the moonlight. The horse snorted and pawed at the ground, shaking its head as if fending off flies, and fresh horror raced through Trey when the horse reared again, snorted once more, then came straight at him.
"Oh God," Trey screamed. He grabbed his friend's arm and turned to run. Dave didn't resist. In fact, he took the lead, both running straight for the woods. Trey heard the hoof beats as the horse chased them, but it was the screams of his friends clinging to the horse that scared him the most. They were high pitched, terrified screams that seemed to slice through him.
He wanted to help, but didn't know if he could.
He and Dave stopped once they got past the trees. Trey put his back up against one of them, while his friend stooped over with his hands on his knees. Both were gasping for breath, but Trey finally got his breathing under control and decided he had to know. He turned to look behind the tree he was pinned to and was relieved to see that nothing was there, although it was much darker now that they were undercover in the woods. He listened hard, trying to discern whether the sounds he heard were normal woodsy sounds or if the horse was just beyond the trees.
"It was just a horse, man," Dave said softly breaking into Trey's concentration. "Just a horse."
Trey turned to look at him and nodded with a weak smile. "Yeah," he replied with a half chuckle. "Nothing to be scared of, right?"
Dave nodded, but Trey knew in his heart that the beast wasn't just a horse. The memory of his friend's screams told him that much.
Still, he needed to know. "Let's go back," he said.
"What?" Dave asked with an incredulous look on his face. "Go back to face the killer horse?"
"We don't know that it's a killer horse," Trey said as he built up the courage to go see if his friends were okay. "For all we know, Billy talked the girls into scaring us."
"Nuh uh," Dave said with a great deal of conviction. "They couldn't get away. Didn't you see? The horse was dragging them along, but it didn't have a saddle on it, so what were they hanging on to?" He had straightened up by then, and grabbed Trey's coat sleeve while glaring at him through the darkness. "They couldn't get away."
"They were hanging to its mane," Trey said stubbornly. He really didn't want to believe in killer horses.
"There was no mane toward the back of the horse where Lena was patting him." Dave insisted. He let go of Trey's coat sleeve, then said, "We go back and it will get us."
"We can't just leave them," Trey said after a moment of gathering his courage. "We have to at least try to help them." He turned to go, then smiled to himself when he heard a deep sigh behind him followed by Dave's footsteps. They walked as quietly as they could, fear creeping up in Trey as the got closer to the beach. The faint sounds of his friend's screams wafted over to them, growing louder with each step. But real terror came when they stepped out onto the beach and saw the horse, its gray coat almost silver in the moonlight, as it stood near the water's edge.
The kids were still clinging to the horse, kicking and struggling to get away. Lena had pulled her feet up off the ground to kick the horse, but now she was stuck to its side by both feet and arms. Carrie had one arm around the horse's neck and the other hand pressed against its face, her feet swinging widely as she struggled to get away. All Trey could see of Billy were his feet kicking everything he could find on the other side of the horse. All three kids were screaming and yelling, and completely ignored by the horse, who stood on the shoreline looking out toward the water.
Dave took a step toward them, but Trey grabbed his arm. "Wait," he said quietly. "Maybe he'll let them go." Trey wasn't sure he believed it, but he also knew that if they got close, or caught, they too would be stuck to that thing.
They watched as the horse reared again, then took off toward the lake, throwing his head up when its hoofs splashed in the water, sending ripples of shiny moonlight across the waves. Trey wanted to help, but he knew in his heart he was too late. He fell to his knees and wept, the sound of his sobs mingling in with the distant screams of his friends. He lowered his head when those screams suddenly died out in the midst of the splashing sounds the horse made when they were dragged down into the depths beneath the silvery waves of oblivion.
The Investigation
Dean Winchester looked down at the two kids sitting on the park bench and had a sudden overwhelming urge to help them with their personal demons. They were dealing with a boat load of guilt, a feeling Dean knew all too well, but he also had a case to solve. He stared at the boys, and thought, what the hell. Why not do both?
He looked over at his brother, Sam, and gave him a meaningful look. Sam nodded slightly, then turned his attention to the kids.
"I know you've been through a lot," Sam said in his soft, 'I feel for you' voice. "But we really want to find your friends."
The kids nodded in unison, but neither offered any explanations. None whatsoever. Dean stared at them for a moment, taking in their appearance. There were some similarities, both boys were around twelve or thirteen years old; both wore jeans and a hoody, one was blue, the other was gray; and both had brown hair. But the one wearing the blue hoody had brown eyes and sported an earring in the shape of a cross in one ear, while gray hoody had blue eyes and sported a haunted look that Dean knew just as well as the guilt these guys were carrying around.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Sam said in that same tone of voice, the one that usually melted anyone within shouting distance. People always seemed to cave in whenever Sam gave them that sad smile and soft voice. These kids were no exception.
"It was a horse," said blue hoody. "They just wanted to pet the horse."
"Yeah," gray hoody put in with a nod. "A horse."
Dean and Sam exchanged a glance, but the mention of a horse didn't seem to shed any clues, so Dean nodded at Sam, who tried again.
"A horse," he said in that same silky voice. "What kind of horse."
"A horse," gray hoody said with conviction. He turned to look at his friend, but it was apparent they were afraid of something. More than likely afraid they would sound crazy, Dean thought with a weary sigh.
"Okay, let's start over." He pointed at them and said, "First of all, can you tell me your names?"
"Trey Hampton," blue hoody said with a small smile. Apparently, this was a good question. "This is my friend Dave Marstine."
"Trey and Dave," Sam said approvingly. The boys grinned at him, while Dean plodded on.
"Okay," Dean said. "Trey, tell me what happened the night you boys were at the lake."
"We were just hanging out," Dave said.
"We go there sometimes," Trey said as if in defense of something.
"But this time there was a horse standing in the middle of the beach," Dave continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Lena and Carrie wanted to pet it, but Trey was afraid to go near it."
"I'm not afraid of horses," Trey said with a slight tremor in his voice. Dean had his suspicions, but Dave wasn't paying attention.
"I stayed with Trey to talk him into coming with us, but then Carrie started yelling and then Billy and Lena started screaming and..." he shook his head, then looked down at the ground. "We couldn't help them," he continued in a small voice.
There is was, Dean thought. Guilt in all its shining glory.
"Why were they screaming," Sam asked. "Was the horse hurting them?"
"No," Trey said. "It looked like they were trying to get away, but they couldn't. And the horse was nipping at Carrie and then it reared up and Billie and Carrie were hanging on and kicking their legs..." He looked away then, but Dean had seen the demons lurking in the kid's eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Trey was a fighter. He struggled past those fears and continued with his story.
"This sounds crazy, I know," he said with an apologetical expression, "But it's the truth, I swear it!" Dean and Sam nodded in encouragement, and Trey said, "Billy, Carrie, and Lena were all trying to get away from the horse, but they couldn't let go. And Dave and I got scared..."
"Then the horse saw us and came after us," Dave added. "And we ran for it. But I looked back and I saw that Billy and Carrie were dangling from the horse's head their feet kicking and dragging, and it was pretty bad, man." He looked up at Dean and Sam with such a miserable expression that even Dean felt sorry for the kid.
"There's no shame in running when your life is in danger," Sam told them softly. "You did the right thing."
"He's right, you know," Dean said. "If you guys had stayed, you'd be missing too. You saved each other by getting away."
Both boys were now looking at them with expressions that was tinged with surprise and hope. "I guess you're right," Trey admitted, albeit a little cynically. Dean could see that Trey was feeling a little better about things. All in a day's work, he thought with a smug look at Sam, who promptly ignored Dean and pushed on with his questions.
"What happened when the horse chased you?"
"We ran into the woods down there by the lake," Dave said. "We got away, but then we thought we should go back..." Trey gave his friend an amazed look, but Dave paid no attention and just kept on with his story. "We saw the horse at the water's edge and next thing you know, he took off and ran into the water dragging my friends with them."
"We wanted to help them," Trey said in a quiet voice. "But it dragged them down into the water and never came back up." He looked over at his friend and said in a fiercer voice. "We wanted to help them."
Dave nodded, then looked up at Dean. "They never came back up," he repeated his friend's words. "We waited, but after a while, we figured we'd better go get help." Dean nodded in approval, and Dave gave him a slight smile in acknowledgement.
"What did this horse look like?" Sam asked. "Black, brown? Do you know who it belongs to?"
"Sort of gray," Trey said with a frown.
Dave nodded in agreement, then added, "With a black mane. Big too. I've never seen it before though."
"Okay," Sam said, He looked over at Dean, who nodded slightly, then said, "That's all we have for now. Thank you. You've been very helpful."
The boys looked at each other, then jumped up, obviously ready to get out of there. Dean watched them leave, then turned to Sam. "What do you think? Lake monster? " He grinned at the last statement, knowing what Sam's reaction would be and wasn't disappointed.
"Lake monster?" Sam said with a snort. "Really?"
Dean shrugged. "I've seen crazier. I don't know if anything can surprise me anymore."
Sam looked at him for a moment. "You do have a point there," he admitted with a grudging shrug. "But we have something to follow up on, so let's hit the lore."
"The lore," Dean groused as he followed his brother down the path toward the car. "Sammy's happy place."
------
Their motel room was on the dingy side, with white walls, beige curtains, a few posters of mountain landscapes, and brown carpeting. But it was clean for the most part, and a nice quiet place to research monsters so Dean was happy. The fact that there was pizza on the table and beer in the refrigerator only made things that much better.
He swallowed the last of the beer he was currently working on and looked over at his brother. Sam was sitting at the table staring intently at his laptop. An expression like that, Dean thought with a wry grin, it can't be porn he's looking at. He set the bottle down on the bedside table and went back to his own reading. Despite the fact that he really didn't think they were facing a supposed lake monster, he still found himself on a webpage that discussed that very thing.
"Hey," Sam said. Dean looked up from his reading to see Sam leaning back in his chair and running his hands through his hair. "I think this is it."
"What?" Dean had to ask.
Sam grinned, his features taking on that boyish look that always meant he was in his element.
Dean suppressed a smile and tried to look interested. "Lake monster?" he said.
"What? No." Sam gave him a snarky glare and swiveled the laptop around for Dean to see. "It's probably a kelpie."
"A kelpie?" Dean said thoughtfully, then screwed up his face when a memory came to him. "Isn't that one of those dolls that had the creepy expressions?" He thought about it a little more, then grinned. "I knew a girl once in school who carried one of those around." His smile grew wider as memories washed over him. "A couple guys told her that the doll was really a voodoo symbol of death, and of course my dumbass perked right up. Heh. I told Dad about it when I got home, and he couldn't even keep a straight face." Dean looked up and grinned broadly at his brother, "Remember that, Sammy?"
Sam nodded, his smile just as broad as Dean's. "It's not a kewpie, Dean. It's a kelpie. A shape shifter that normally resides in Scotland."
"Shape shifter?" That perked his interest. He got up and went over to the table to see for himself.
"Yeah," Sam said, then went on with his story. "Apparently it's a shapeshifting water demon. They dwell mostly in lakes and rivers in Scotland, and can take on human form, but apparently, it can also turn into what most people refer to as sea serpents."
"Lake monster," Dean said with a knowing look at Sam. "And you scoffed at me when I brought it up."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said in a snide tone. "Whatever. Anyway, kelpies have a fondness for humans, especially children." He turned the laptop back toward himself so that he could click on an image that showed several children on the back of a horse. "The kelpie entices children with offers of a ride on its back, and when they get on, they can't get off. Kelpies have a sticky substance in their skin."
Dean stared at the picture of a benign looking kelpie on the screen as he listened to Sam's narration. It really did look just like a horse.
"Once the kelpie has its prey," Sam continued, "It drags them down to the bottom of the lake and devours them, leaving only the entrails to indicate anything has happened."
"Entrails?" Dan asked. He screwed up his face in disgust, then saw a picture of a naked woman sitting on a rock on a shoreline, his expression changing to reluctant admiration. "That doesn t look like a sea monster to me."
Sam looked at the picture and nodded in agreement. "They can take on human form in order to entice sailors." Dean looked up at Sam, who nodded. "Mermaids, sirens. Many myths have derived from these sightings."
"Let's not forget Nessie," Dean said as he scrolled through another page Sam had on the screen.
"Of course," Sam said with a soft chuckle.
Dean scrolled past more pictures, trying to find the most important information. "How do we kill it?"
"Silver," Sam said simply.
Dean looked up at his brother and nodded. "That's easy enough."
"They can also be controlled by whoever possesses their bridle," Sam said as he maneuvered the cursor to yet another page on the screen and clicked on it to bring it up. "The bridle usually has a sign of the cross stamped into it, and some accounts even say it has magical powers."
"Magic," Dean said with a slight sneer. Wonderful.
Sam ignored that remark. "Get the bridle and we'd have complete control over the kelpie. It will have to obey whether it wants to or not."
"Okay," Dean said as he straightened, grabbed Sam's beer and took a swig before Sam could snatch it back. "In order for us to find the bridle, we need to find the owner. Any ideas where to start?"
"Check out the nearby farms, I guess," Sam said with a shrug. "There can't be that many around here, right?"
------
As it turned out, there were quite a few farms in the area, but fortunately, they only had to visit two of them before they hit pay dirt. The owner of the second farm told them that a neighbor's horse had gone missing, so Dean found himself following Sam onto the neighbor's porch just in time to avoid the sudden downpour that seemed to come out of nowhere.
He shook off the drops of rain that had landed on his jacket, then knocked sharply on the door. Probably out in the barn, he thought when no one answered right away. He glanced around to see if anyone was about while at the same time reaching into his pocket for his tools, only to step back and put on his best innocent smile when the door suddenly opened.
The man standing on the threshold was tall and about thirty-five years old. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and was wearing an apron over a shirt and blue jeans. Dean looked at the apron with wary suspicion, but the smells coming from the interior of the house had his stomach rumbling. If the food was as good as it smelled, he could forgive the man his attire, just this once.
"Mr. Thatcher?" Sam said and stretched out his hand. The man nodded, but didn't respond, so Sam went on with the introductions as he and Dean pulled out matching badges. "We're from the County Animal Control Unit, and we're investigation some reports of a rogue horse that's been causing havoc down by the lake."
Thatcher's eyes lit up at that bit of news. "You found my horse?" He looked over at Dean. "Where is he?"
"That's what we're trying to find out," Dean told him. "Like my partner said, he's causing trouble and we want to catch him and bring him back home."
Thatcher nodded, although he still had a wary expression. Dean didn t care. They needed to find the horse, whether this guy believed in them or not.
"Can you tell us where you got the horse?" he asked point blank.
The man's expression turned from wary to complete bewilderment. "What?" He looked at Dean, then at Sam. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"We're pretty thorough," Sam said to placate the man. "And we need this information for our report."
"You know how it is," Dean added in a conspiratorial tone. "Paperwork."
Thatcher nodded in understanding. Smooth, Dean thought wryly, then tensed up when the man turned in the doorway and yelled out to someone, "Animal Control," he said. "I'll be there in a minute."
A woman's voice yelled back from somewhere in the house, "Don't be too long." Her voice got louder as she added, "Dinner will ready in a minute or two." She peaked out at them from behind Thatcher's shoulder for a moment, then withdrew back in to the house. "I'll get the bread out of the oven," they heard her say as she retreated. "Don't be long."
"Sorry about that," Thatcher said with a guilty grin." He shrugged then said, "When you find that horse, you're going to bring him back here, right?"
"Yes sir," Sam said with a firm nod. "You were telling us where you got him?"
"He belonged to the old man," Thatcher said. "I mean, my Uncle George," he reiterated when he realized he was being vague. "He brought that horse over here from Scotland a long time ago... maybe about thirty years ago." Thatcher stared out over the yard as he searched his memory. "I was just a kid when he moved here to live with us. Dad was okay with that though, especially when he saw how strong that horse was." He brought his attention back to his company and said, "Best horse we ever had."
"I'll bet," Dean said snidely.
"Is your uncle here?" Sam asked almost at the same time. "We'd like to talk to him."
Thatcher shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. He died about a week ago. We had the funeral the other day."
Well that explains things, Dean thought as he put on his sympathetic face. "Sorry to hear that," he said to the man.
"Yes, we're very sorry for your loss," Sam added softly.
Thatcher nodded, then turned his attention back out to the yard. "Gonna miss that old man," he said with a sad smile.
"We'll find your horse," Sam said to break the awkward silence that had built up in the last few minutes. "We just have a few more questions and we'll leave you to your dinner."
Thatcher sighed and turned to them. "Okay," he said with nod.
"Did the horse have a special bridle," Dean asked to get the show on the road. "You know, something designed special for him?"
"A special bridle?" Thatcher asked in surprise. He screwed up his face in thought, then shook his head. "Not that I know of. We always used the ones in the barn."
"There wasn't one with a cross etched into it?" Dean insisted. He tried to look like it was an innocent question, but then realized he couldn't keep his eagerness out of his expression. "You know, a special bridle?"
Sam gave him an exasperated look, then took over. "We just wondered if there was something the horse had that might help us in identifying him as yours."
"Oh," Thatcher said with a lingering look at Dean, obviously wondering if maybe he was dealing with a lunatic. He then turned his attention to Sam and said, "You're welcome to check out the bridles in the barn, but I'll tell you right now, there isn't one with a cross etched into it."
"Okay," Sam said with a smile. "We'll check it out and leave you to your dinner. Thank you for your help."
"No problem," Thatcher said with a sigh. "But you'll bring him back here, right?" Dean and Sam both nodded, while Thatcher added, "That sumbitch is the best horse I've ever had."
The Kelpie
The rain had stopped by the time they left Thatcher's farm. They had searched the barn thoroughly before leaving and true to the farmer's word, they didn't find anything that came even close to being a bridle with a cross etched into it. They drove down the road leading away from the farm with the same thought. They were just going to have to deal with the kelpie the way they always did when monsters were involved - face it and kill it.
"Silver," Dean said thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Sam replied absently. He was tapping the mouse pad on his computer and frowning down at the screen.
"Problems?" Dean had a pretty good idea what was going on, but he asked anyway.
"No service out here," Sam said, confirming Dean's suspicions.
He smirked at Sam, but decided not to be petty. "We'll just go to the lake and see if we can find the kelpie," Dean said instead. "Find it and kill it and then go find a nice little hole in the wall to celebrate." He thought about that for a minute, then said, "Yeah. That sounds like a great plan."
"Celebrate?" Sam asked as he closed the lid of his computer, finally giving up on his quest. He grinned out the window as he added, "Depends on whether we can find the thing or not."
"We'll find it and put it out of its misery," Dean said with conviction. He looked over at his brother and grinned. "Have some faith, Sammy. We got this one."
"Okay," Sam drawled. He sat up suddenly and said, "There's the sign. Turn here."
Dean did as he was told, and they soon found themselves in an empty parking area next to a beach that also had a small playground. He parked his Baby closest to the shoreline and immediately got out so that he could raid some of the weapons from his trunk.
"Nobody out here this time of day," Sam observed, his tone indicating approval.
Dean grunted and looked around. It was late afternoon and the western horizon already had streaks of reds and oranges showcasing the skyline. He knew it would be night soon. He just hoped they got the job done before it got to be too dark.
"Good thing it rained all afternoon," he said as an afterthought. "We got this beach all to ourselves."
Sam grinned in acknowledgement as he came over to get what he needed for the upcoming fight. Dean had grabbed a gun loaded with silver bullets and was reaching for a silver knife, while Sam pulled out the crossbow already loaded with silver tipped arrows.
"We don't have the bridle," Sam said as he grabbed another silver knife for himself. "So we won't have any control over it. But we can kill it. We just need to keep our distance."
"One of us gets caught," Dean added as he pulled out another gun and checked to see if it was loaded, then popped the clip back in and handed it to Sam. "The other one fills it full of silver."
"Got it," Sam said with a grin. He reached in and grabbed a roll of rope and Dean couldn t pass it up.
"You planning on lassoing that thing?"
"What? No." Sam hefted the rope in his hand. "We may need to tie it up."
"Uh huh," Dean said with a grin. "I can just see you now. Yippee ki yay, mother..."
"Whatever," Sam cut in with a roll of his eyes. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Dean replied with a broad smile. He closed the trunk with a thud. "Let's go."
They walked toward the shoreline, keeping an eye out for their prey. It was quiet for the most part, only the sound of waves hitting the shore and the wind as it whispered through the trees kept them company as they trudged through the wet sand. Dean divided his attention between the water and the woods that bordered the beach as he searched. His nerves were taut, he kept expecting the kelpie to jump out at them, which was good he supposed. It kept him on his toes.
"Dean," Sam whispered and pointed toward a place a little way down the beach. The horse stood in silhouette as the setting sun lit up the sky behind it. From a distance, it was a beautiful animal, tall and sleek, its black mane a brilliant contrast to the gray coat and the sunset that framed its body. Dean stared at it a moment in awe, before realizing the real danger the beast represented. He shifted his stance and grabbed his gun with both hands, noticing with satisfaction that Sam did the same thing.
"Careful," Dean told his brother when the horse looked over at them. "Try not to touch it."
Sam nodded and moved slowly away from Dean, putting himself in a better position to attack, or defend, if that was the case. Dean did the same, steeling himself for a fight. He'd never faced a kelpie before, which meant he had no idea what to expect, but he was determined to win this fight. He wouldn't accept anything less.
The horse had noticed them. It stared at them as it pawed at the ground, seeming to contemplate its next move. Dean stared back, while Sam readied the crossbow. He let an arrow fly, but not fast enough. The kelpie took off at a run and came straight at them, easily dodging the arrow as it did so.
"Crap," Dean said as he aimed and fired at the horse. "Crap," he said again when he realized he had missed. The horse was coming at them at top speed and Dean decided to forgo shooting the thing and dove for cover. Sam followed suit, leaving the kelpie to make a decision. Dean fervently prayed the thing would decide to head back to the lake so that he and Sam could just kill it and get it over with, but he knew better. The kelpie apparently decided to grab what he could and it seemed that Dean was a good a choice as any. It came after him, causing Dean to take off down the shore again.
"Dean!" he heard Sam shout. "The bridle."
Dean had no idea what Sam meant by that, but he kept moving, zig zagging through the sand, hoping to avoid getting caught by the kelpie, and to avoid any stray bullets whenever Sam had a clear shot at the beast. He turned toward the woods, hoping to give Sam a better chance at hitting the kelpie, but then stumbled on something in the sand and fell to his knees. He jumped back up and chanced a look over his shoulder, only to see the kelpie within a few yards of where he fell. Dean pulled up his gun to shoot, but then dropped it when the kelpie slammed up against him, effectively pinning Dean's chest to its side.
"No!" Dean shouted, panic racing through his veins as he struggled to get away. He could hear his brother calling his name, but Dean was too busy trying to loosen himself from the kelpie's side to answer. He reached down with his right hand and grabbed his knife out of his pocket, gripping it tightly as he plunged it into the kelpie's back. The beast screamed and reared up in pain, pawing at the air for a moment or two before landing on all fours and taking off at a dead run toward the water.
A bullet whizzed past Dean's ear, the whispery sound registering only because of the blood that appeared on the horse's neck a few inches from Dean's nose. He stabbed again, then realization dawned on him when the blade entered the kelpie's skin just below the bridle it wore. The bridle, Dean thought with a wild exhilaration filling his soul. All he had to do was get that bridle and he'd have complete control. He slipped the knife into the space between the bridle and the kelpie's neck, and tried to cut through the leather. It didn't slice through easily, and Dean realized he was going to have to saw away at it. He looked up in frustration, then stared in shock when he saw where the horse was headed. The water. The kelpie was racing straight for the lake, and Dean knew what that meant. He sawed harder at the bridle, swearing nastily when he realized his right elbow was now stuck to the kelpie's hide.
The kelpie hit the water in a running stride, splashing and clattering through the waves. It ran with ease until the water was nearly to Dean's neck. He grasped the bridle with his left hand, not even caring that it would also be stuck, and continued the awkward sawing motion he was able to achieve with his right. The kelpie slowed for a moment and Dean took advantage of the respite to take in a few deep breaths, then a final huge gulp of air a second before the kelpie pulled him under.
Dean took his determination to get the bridle off the kelpie to a whole new level at that point. He frantically sawed through the leather, putting in as much effort as he could. He drew blood from the kelpie when the knife slipped, but Dean kept going. He tugged at the bridle with his knife and with his left hand, until the kelpie suddenly twisted and took a bite out of Dean's side, causing him to cry out. Not a good thing to do when under water. Bubbles escaped upward and Dean pulled up on the knife as hard as he could, freeing the bridle with the effort, while his throat and nose burned with the force of water seeping in. His vision dimmed and the urge to cough made things so much worse. He was dying. Drowning in this freaking lake and all he could think of was getting out.
Let me go, he thought viciously, knowing it was all in vain. The kelpie had won. He looked up to see the dying rays of the sun reflected through the water, floated lazily for a moment, then realized with a start that he was free. That thought kicked his instincts into gear and gave him the strength to move his arms and legs. He swam upward in a frantic motion, kicking and moving his arms until he finally broke through the surface of the lake, taking in a huge lungful of air when he did so.
He coughed and spluttered for a moment, then went into panic mode again when a head popped up in the water a few feet from where he treaded water. His heart calmed a second later, when he recognized who it was.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, his voice registering his own panic. He turned suddenly and saw Dean, then called his name again, this time with relief lacing his tone.
Dean gave Sam a weak smile and held up the bridle. "I got it," he said in a hoarse voice.
Sam grinned. He swam over to Dean and pulled him into a quick hug, before pulling back and saying, "Dude. I thought I'd lost you."
Dean could only nod. He had thought the same thing for a while there.
"Is it dead?" Sam asked as he put an arm around Dean and started to swim toward the shore.
"Dunno," Dean said. He had to struggle to keep up through the pain in his side. "I think so... maybe." He shook his head and decided to let Sam do most of the work to get them back on dry land. "I was concentrating on getting out of there."
"Let's get you to shore," Sam said with a worried glance around. Dean was all for that. They swam until their feet touched ground, and they waded the rest of the way. Dean ended up leaning against his brother with his arm around his shoulders in an effort to stay on his feet. He stumbled on some rocks anyway, and groaned as waves of pain raced through him.
"Hold up," he said softly. "Give me a minute, okay?" He stood in the water for a moment, pressing his hand lightly against the wound in his side, and groaned again when the pain got worse.
"Jesus," Sam said when he saw the blood on Dean's shirt. "What happened?"
"It got mad at me." His voice was barely a whisper now. He was so tired, and in pain... and in a hurry to get out of that lake to get his gun. He had a bad feeling that the creature was still among the living, and Dean was determined to kill that thing now. It was all that mattered. "We need to get to shore, Sam. Gotta get my gun."
"Yeah. Okay." Sam pulled him up against him and they started off again, only to stop and turn when something else came out of the water next to them. It was a man, almost as tall as Sam, with long black hair and gray eyes that stared at Dean with hateful malice.
"Great," Dean said with a sigh. It was the creature in its human form. Just what they needed.
"Back off," Sam told the beast, then yelped in pain. The kelpie had swiped at his arm, its long nails drawing blood which caused Sam to loosen his grip on Dean. But Sam was tough. He turned slightly to face the monster, and held his knife in a warrior's stance, ready to put up his own fight.
The creature tilted his head and regarded Sam in a nonchalant way, then spoke up, his words holding just a hint of a Scottish brogue. "I will kill you, and you will pay."
"No you won't," Dean said as he held up the severed piece of leather. "I have your bridle. I own you."
The creature smirked slightly as he turned his attention to Dean. "Not for long," it said. "You are dying. I can wait."
"He does have a point," Dean admitted in a soft voice.
Sam gave him one of his patented, 'don't even go there' expressions, then said to the beast. "Well, he's still alive, and we're leaving this lake." He grabbed Dean, bent his knees to get a better grip, then pulled him along as he began wading toward shore again. "And besides," he said over his shoulder, "From the looks of all that blood, you may not have long to live yourself."
Dean glanced back and saw that Sam was right. There was a trail of blood dribbling down the side of its neck and onto its chest, and even more blood on one of its arms. Dean's knife had done some damage after all, not to mention the bullet that whispered past his ear before they went into the water. And the creature was pale as he stood there watching them leave, although Dean didn't know if that was because of natural coloring or loss of blood.
He turned and stumbled along, with Sam practically dragging him out of the lake. He sank down to his knees once they were on land, but he knew he couldn't stay there. He may be safe from the kelpie, but Sam wasn't and Dean didn't want to take the chance the beast would defy his orders. He looked around, trying to remember where he dropped his gun.
"I would have enjoyed eating you," he heard the kelpie say. He looked over to see it standing in the shallow waves, glaring menacingly at him. "If you hadn't forced me to let you go, I would be having a feast right now."
Dean wasn't quite sure how he had forced the kelpie to do anything, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He was alive. That was all that mattered.
"Sorry to disappoint," he said with a sarcastic smile. He stopped for a second, then said with a shake of his head. "Nah. That's not true. Not really sorry at all."
The kelpie didn't respond. It stood there, watching them, and Dean got worried all over again. He took another look around, wondering again where he had dropped his gun. He saw Sam standing close by, but taking a step away from Dean every few seconds or so. The kelpie noticed this as well, and apparently had a good idea what Sam was up to.
It reared its head back, and Dean watched fascinated as its skin seemed to shimmer in the fading light of the sun. The man-like creature in the water then lowered its head to glare at them, while its face seemed to lengthen and its body morphed into the gray horse that had pulled him into the depths of the lake. The transformation only took a few minutes, but it was an awesome sight with all the shimmering and smooth changes. Dean shook his head and tried to draw his attention back to looking for his gun. Not an easy feat, given that he was seriously exhausted.
Then he saw it. A glimmer in the dying light of the sun several yards from the water's edge. He glanced back at the kelpie who now stood magnificently in the shallow water, and wondered if he could make it.
"Stay there," he commanded to the kelpie. "I order you to stand your ground."
The kelpie shook its head, the long silky strands of its mane flying back when it did so. Dean glared at it for a moment, letting the kelpie know with his expression that he was the boss, then struggled to get up to go get his gun.
He needn't have bothered. Sam saw his opportunity and dove for the crossbow, pulled it up, aimed and fired all in one smooth movement. The silver-tipped arrow hit the kelpie square in the chest, causing it to scream in rage as it reared up, its hoofs pawing desperately in the air, before coming down with a force that splashed water almost to where Dean stood. It stared at him for a long moment, a dull look that sent a wave of satisfaction through Dean. Got ya, he thought with a vicious grin as the kelpie fell over in a heap.
He looked over at Sam, who stared back with a grim look. Sam nodded slightly and went over to pick up something on the beach. He shoved the gun into the back of his jeans, and then came over to help Dean.
"You need a doctor," he said as took a better look at the wound in Dean's side. He grimaced and added, "Definitely need a doctor."
"I'll be all right," Dean grouched. He pointed at the dead creature. "We need to burn that thing first. Then maybe I'll consider a doctor."
"Dean..."
"Burn it first," Dean insisted. Sam nodded slowly, but still managed to give him an exasperated glare. Dean took a deep breath, then said, "I'm gonna get my gun." He nodded again and added. "Yeah. It's just over there."
Sam shrugged, but stood there watching Dean with a grin.
Whatever, Dean thought as he sank to the ground. Sam chuckled and left him there while he went to get the gun instead. He brought it back and dropped it into Dean's lap, then headed toward the water. Dean watched him go, too tired and in too much pain at the moment, but extremely grateful that Sam was there.
------
They drove out of town the next afternoon. Dean sat in the passenger seat, dosed to the gills with pain killers and enjoying the scenery that raced past his window. Trees. Nothing but trees. Not a drop of water anywhere.
Nice.
He dragged his gaze from the scenery when Sam braked at a stop sign. Baby purred gently as they idled for a moment, and Dean closed his eyes at the sound. He couldn't help but appreciate it.
Sam pulled away from the intersection and said, "How are you doing?"
"Good." It was the truth. Those pain killers were a godsend. "You?"
"Yeah," Sam said with a nod. He turned to look at Dean for a second. "Arm doesn't even hurt that much."
Dean nodded and went back to checking out the scenery. He caught glimpses of the late afternoon sun between the trees, which made him think of the sunset on the lake the day before.
Sam apparently was thinking along the same lines. "I've been meaning to ask you," he said in a hesitant way. "What did that kelpie mean when it said you forced it to let you go?"
Dean looked at Sam in surprise, but then looked out toward the road as he shook his head. "Not sure." He thought about it for a minute, then said, "I kinda remember screaming at it in my head to let me go when we were in the water." He wasn't sure he believed it, but said, "Maybe it read my thoughts?"
"Maybe," Sam agreed.
They rode in silence for a moment, then Dean asked his own question. "What I want to know is how it got the bridle back from that old man?" He looked at Sam. "I mean, did Uncle Whatever put it on him before he kicked? Did the horse go looking for it once the old guy passed? What?" He stared out at the scenery again as he wondered what would have happened if Sam hadn't killed the kelpie.
"I was thinking about that," Sam said slowly. "I think the minute that old guy died without passing on that bridle, the kelpie was able to take it back. Maybe he went looking for it, or it just appeared, I don't know." Dean scoffed at that last statement. Sam turned to him and grinned. "The lore did say it had magical properties. You can't tell with these things."
Dean shrugged at that. Sam had a point. They had seen some strange things in their lifetime. Who knew what else was out there.
"I guess it doesn't matter now," he said to the scenery outside his window. Sam gave a little sound of agreement, and Dean leaned his head against the glass. "Another monster gone. And we still need to celebrate."
"We will," Sam told him. "Soon as we get home."
Home, Dean thought with a sleepy sigh. Now that was something he could look forward to. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of his car as it rolled down the road. Another one down. It had been a good hunt.
Recipient: anactoria
Rating: PG-13
Word Count or Media: 7,791 words
Warnings: A bit of violence
Author's Notes: This story was totally inspired by one of the fantastic prompts I was given and by this gorgeous artwork from last year's SPN Summergen Challenge. The inspiration I got from both booted my muse into action and this is the result.
Summary: Sam and Dean follow up on a case of missing children and are surprised to find that a horse is the culprit.
Prologue
Trey Hampton was terrified. His heart pounded frantically and he knew he should run. Wanted to, but his feet wouldn't obey.
"Oh God," his friend, Dave said. They were standing on the beach, rooted to the spot, watching as their friends Billy, Carrie, and Lena struggled to get away from the horse who suddenly reared up from the ground, pulling their friends up with him, and whinnied, the sound sending fresh waves of terror down Trey's spine.
"Oh, God," Dave said again. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!"
The horse turned toward them and Trey could see its glowing eyes... at least they seemed to be glowing in the moonlight. The horse snorted and pawed at the ground, shaking its head as if fending off flies, and fresh horror raced through Trey when the horse reared again, snorted once more, then came straight at him.
"Oh God," Trey screamed. He grabbed his friend's arm and turned to run. Dave didn't resist. In fact, he took the lead, both running straight for the woods. Trey heard the hoof beats as the horse chased them, but it was the screams of his friends clinging to the horse that scared him the most. They were high pitched, terrified screams that seemed to slice through him.
He wanted to help, but didn't know if he could.
He and Dave stopped once they got past the trees. Trey put his back up against one of them, while his friend stooped over with his hands on his knees. Both were gasping for breath, but Trey finally got his breathing under control and decided he had to know. He turned to look behind the tree he was pinned to and was relieved to see that nothing was there, although it was much darker now that they were undercover in the woods. He listened hard, trying to discern whether the sounds he heard were normal woodsy sounds or if the horse was just beyond the trees.
"It was just a horse, man," Dave said softly breaking into Trey's concentration. "Just a horse."
Trey turned to look at him and nodded with a weak smile. "Yeah," he replied with a half chuckle. "Nothing to be scared of, right?"
Dave nodded, but Trey knew in his heart that the beast wasn't just a horse. The memory of his friend's screams told him that much.
Still, he needed to know. "Let's go back," he said.
"What?" Dave asked with an incredulous look on his face. "Go back to face the killer horse?"
"We don't know that it's a killer horse," Trey said as he built up the courage to go see if his friends were okay. "For all we know, Billy talked the girls into scaring us."
"Nuh uh," Dave said with a great deal of conviction. "They couldn't get away. Didn't you see? The horse was dragging them along, but it didn't have a saddle on it, so what were they hanging on to?" He had straightened up by then, and grabbed Trey's coat sleeve while glaring at him through the darkness. "They couldn't get away."
"They were hanging to its mane," Trey said stubbornly. He really didn't want to believe in killer horses.
"There was no mane toward the back of the horse where Lena was patting him." Dave insisted. He let go of Trey's coat sleeve, then said, "We go back and it will get us."
"We can't just leave them," Trey said after a moment of gathering his courage. "We have to at least try to help them." He turned to go, then smiled to himself when he heard a deep sigh behind him followed by Dave's footsteps. They walked as quietly as they could, fear creeping up in Trey as the got closer to the beach. The faint sounds of his friend's screams wafted over to them, growing louder with each step. But real terror came when they stepped out onto the beach and saw the horse, its gray coat almost silver in the moonlight, as it stood near the water's edge.
The kids were still clinging to the horse, kicking and struggling to get away. Lena had pulled her feet up off the ground to kick the horse, but now she was stuck to its side by both feet and arms. Carrie had one arm around the horse's neck and the other hand pressed against its face, her feet swinging widely as she struggled to get away. All Trey could see of Billy were his feet kicking everything he could find on the other side of the horse. All three kids were screaming and yelling, and completely ignored by the horse, who stood on the shoreline looking out toward the water.
Dave took a step toward them, but Trey grabbed his arm. "Wait," he said quietly. "Maybe he'll let them go." Trey wasn't sure he believed it, but he also knew that if they got close, or caught, they too would be stuck to that thing.
They watched as the horse reared again, then took off toward the lake, throwing his head up when its hoofs splashed in the water, sending ripples of shiny moonlight across the waves. Trey wanted to help, but he knew in his heart he was too late. He fell to his knees and wept, the sound of his sobs mingling in with the distant screams of his friends. He lowered his head when those screams suddenly died out in the midst of the splashing sounds the horse made when they were dragged down into the depths beneath the silvery waves of oblivion.
The Investigation
Dean Winchester looked down at the two kids sitting on the park bench and had a sudden overwhelming urge to help them with their personal demons. They were dealing with a boat load of guilt, a feeling Dean knew all too well, but he also had a case to solve. He stared at the boys, and thought, what the hell. Why not do both?
He looked over at his brother, Sam, and gave him a meaningful look. Sam nodded slightly, then turned his attention to the kids.
"I know you've been through a lot," Sam said in his soft, 'I feel for you' voice. "But we really want to find your friends."
The kids nodded in unison, but neither offered any explanations. None whatsoever. Dean stared at them for a moment, taking in their appearance. There were some similarities, both boys were around twelve or thirteen years old; both wore jeans and a hoody, one was blue, the other was gray; and both had brown hair. But the one wearing the blue hoody had brown eyes and sported an earring in the shape of a cross in one ear, while gray hoody had blue eyes and sported a haunted look that Dean knew just as well as the guilt these guys were carrying around.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Sam said in that same tone of voice, the one that usually melted anyone within shouting distance. People always seemed to cave in whenever Sam gave them that sad smile and soft voice. These kids were no exception.
"It was a horse," said blue hoody. "They just wanted to pet the horse."
"Yeah," gray hoody put in with a nod. "A horse."
Dean and Sam exchanged a glance, but the mention of a horse didn't seem to shed any clues, so Dean nodded at Sam, who tried again.
"A horse," he said in that same silky voice. "What kind of horse."
"A horse," gray hoody said with conviction. He turned to look at his friend, but it was apparent they were afraid of something. More than likely afraid they would sound crazy, Dean thought with a weary sigh.
"Okay, let's start over." He pointed at them and said, "First of all, can you tell me your names?"
"Trey Hampton," blue hoody said with a small smile. Apparently, this was a good question. "This is my friend Dave Marstine."
"Trey and Dave," Sam said approvingly. The boys grinned at him, while Dean plodded on.
"Okay," Dean said. "Trey, tell me what happened the night you boys were at the lake."
"We were just hanging out," Dave said.
"We go there sometimes," Trey said as if in defense of something.
"But this time there was a horse standing in the middle of the beach," Dave continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Lena and Carrie wanted to pet it, but Trey was afraid to go near it."
"I'm not afraid of horses," Trey said with a slight tremor in his voice. Dean had his suspicions, but Dave wasn't paying attention.
"I stayed with Trey to talk him into coming with us, but then Carrie started yelling and then Billy and Lena started screaming and..." he shook his head, then looked down at the ground. "We couldn't help them," he continued in a small voice.
There is was, Dean thought. Guilt in all its shining glory.
"Why were they screaming," Sam asked. "Was the horse hurting them?"
"No," Trey said. "It looked like they were trying to get away, but they couldn't. And the horse was nipping at Carrie and then it reared up and Billie and Carrie were hanging on and kicking their legs..." He looked away then, but Dean had seen the demons lurking in the kid's eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Trey was a fighter. He struggled past those fears and continued with his story.
"This sounds crazy, I know," he said with an apologetical expression, "But it's the truth, I swear it!" Dean and Sam nodded in encouragement, and Trey said, "Billy, Carrie, and Lena were all trying to get away from the horse, but they couldn't let go. And Dave and I got scared..."
"Then the horse saw us and came after us," Dave added. "And we ran for it. But I looked back and I saw that Billy and Carrie were dangling from the horse's head their feet kicking and dragging, and it was pretty bad, man." He looked up at Dean and Sam with such a miserable expression that even Dean felt sorry for the kid.
"There's no shame in running when your life is in danger," Sam told them softly. "You did the right thing."
"He's right, you know," Dean said. "If you guys had stayed, you'd be missing too. You saved each other by getting away."
Both boys were now looking at them with expressions that was tinged with surprise and hope. "I guess you're right," Trey admitted, albeit a little cynically. Dean could see that Trey was feeling a little better about things. All in a day's work, he thought with a smug look at Sam, who promptly ignored Dean and pushed on with his questions.
"What happened when the horse chased you?"
"We ran into the woods down there by the lake," Dave said. "We got away, but then we thought we should go back..." Trey gave his friend an amazed look, but Dave paid no attention and just kept on with his story. "We saw the horse at the water's edge and next thing you know, he took off and ran into the water dragging my friends with them."
"We wanted to help them," Trey said in a quiet voice. "But it dragged them down into the water and never came back up." He looked over at his friend and said in a fiercer voice. "We wanted to help them."
Dave nodded, then looked up at Dean. "They never came back up," he repeated his friend's words. "We waited, but after a while, we figured we'd better go get help." Dean nodded in approval, and Dave gave him a slight smile in acknowledgement.
"What did this horse look like?" Sam asked. "Black, brown? Do you know who it belongs to?"
"Sort of gray," Trey said with a frown.
Dave nodded in agreement, then added, "With a black mane. Big too. I've never seen it before though."
"Okay," Sam said, He looked over at Dean, who nodded slightly, then said, "That's all we have for now. Thank you. You've been very helpful."
The boys looked at each other, then jumped up, obviously ready to get out of there. Dean watched them leave, then turned to Sam. "What do you think? Lake monster? " He grinned at the last statement, knowing what Sam's reaction would be and wasn't disappointed.
"Lake monster?" Sam said with a snort. "Really?"
Dean shrugged. "I've seen crazier. I don't know if anything can surprise me anymore."
Sam looked at him for a moment. "You do have a point there," he admitted with a grudging shrug. "But we have something to follow up on, so let's hit the lore."
"The lore," Dean groused as he followed his brother down the path toward the car. "Sammy's happy place."
Their motel room was on the dingy side, with white walls, beige curtains, a few posters of mountain landscapes, and brown carpeting. But it was clean for the most part, and a nice quiet place to research monsters so Dean was happy. The fact that there was pizza on the table and beer in the refrigerator only made things that much better.
He swallowed the last of the beer he was currently working on and looked over at his brother. Sam was sitting at the table staring intently at his laptop. An expression like that, Dean thought with a wry grin, it can't be porn he's looking at. He set the bottle down on the bedside table and went back to his own reading. Despite the fact that he really didn't think they were facing a supposed lake monster, he still found himself on a webpage that discussed that very thing.
"Hey," Sam said. Dean looked up from his reading to see Sam leaning back in his chair and running his hands through his hair. "I think this is it."
"What?" Dean had to ask.
Sam grinned, his features taking on that boyish look that always meant he was in his element.
Dean suppressed a smile and tried to look interested. "Lake monster?" he said.
"What? No." Sam gave him a snarky glare and swiveled the laptop around for Dean to see. "It's probably a kelpie."
"A kelpie?" Dean said thoughtfully, then screwed up his face when a memory came to him. "Isn't that one of those dolls that had the creepy expressions?" He thought about it a little more, then grinned. "I knew a girl once in school who carried one of those around." His smile grew wider as memories washed over him. "A couple guys told her that the doll was really a voodoo symbol of death, and of course my dumbass perked right up. Heh. I told Dad about it when I got home, and he couldn't even keep a straight face." Dean looked up and grinned broadly at his brother, "Remember that, Sammy?"
Sam nodded, his smile just as broad as Dean's. "It's not a kewpie, Dean. It's a kelpie. A shape shifter that normally resides in Scotland."
"Shape shifter?" That perked his interest. He got up and went over to the table to see for himself.
"Yeah," Sam said, then went on with his story. "Apparently it's a shapeshifting water demon. They dwell mostly in lakes and rivers in Scotland, and can take on human form, but apparently, it can also turn into what most people refer to as sea serpents."
"Lake monster," Dean said with a knowing look at Sam. "And you scoffed at me when I brought it up."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said in a snide tone. "Whatever. Anyway, kelpies have a fondness for humans, especially children." He turned the laptop back toward himself so that he could click on an image that showed several children on the back of a horse. "The kelpie entices children with offers of a ride on its back, and when they get on, they can't get off. Kelpies have a sticky substance in their skin."
Dean stared at the picture of a benign looking kelpie on the screen as he listened to Sam's narration. It really did look just like a horse.
"Once the kelpie has its prey," Sam continued, "It drags them down to the bottom of the lake and devours them, leaving only the entrails to indicate anything has happened."
"Entrails?" Dan asked. He screwed up his face in disgust, then saw a picture of a naked woman sitting on a rock on a shoreline, his expression changing to reluctant admiration. "That doesn t look like a sea monster to me."
Sam looked at the picture and nodded in agreement. "They can take on human form in order to entice sailors." Dean looked up at Sam, who nodded. "Mermaids, sirens. Many myths have derived from these sightings."
"Let's not forget Nessie," Dean said as he scrolled through another page Sam had on the screen.
"Of course," Sam said with a soft chuckle.
Dean scrolled past more pictures, trying to find the most important information. "How do we kill it?"
"Silver," Sam said simply.
Dean looked up at his brother and nodded. "That's easy enough."
"They can also be controlled by whoever possesses their bridle," Sam said as he maneuvered the cursor to yet another page on the screen and clicked on it to bring it up. "The bridle usually has a sign of the cross stamped into it, and some accounts even say it has magical powers."
"Magic," Dean said with a slight sneer. Wonderful.
Sam ignored that remark. "Get the bridle and we'd have complete control over the kelpie. It will have to obey whether it wants to or not."
"Okay," Dean said as he straightened, grabbed Sam's beer and took a swig before Sam could snatch it back. "In order for us to find the bridle, we need to find the owner. Any ideas where to start?"
"Check out the nearby farms, I guess," Sam said with a shrug. "There can't be that many around here, right?"
As it turned out, there were quite a few farms in the area, but fortunately, they only had to visit two of them before they hit pay dirt. The owner of the second farm told them that a neighbor's horse had gone missing, so Dean found himself following Sam onto the neighbor's porch just in time to avoid the sudden downpour that seemed to come out of nowhere.
He shook off the drops of rain that had landed on his jacket, then knocked sharply on the door. Probably out in the barn, he thought when no one answered right away. He glanced around to see if anyone was about while at the same time reaching into his pocket for his tools, only to step back and put on his best innocent smile when the door suddenly opened.
The man standing on the threshold was tall and about thirty-five years old. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and was wearing an apron over a shirt and blue jeans. Dean looked at the apron with wary suspicion, but the smells coming from the interior of the house had his stomach rumbling. If the food was as good as it smelled, he could forgive the man his attire, just this once.
"Mr. Thatcher?" Sam said and stretched out his hand. The man nodded, but didn't respond, so Sam went on with the introductions as he and Dean pulled out matching badges. "We're from the County Animal Control Unit, and we're investigation some reports of a rogue horse that's been causing havoc down by the lake."
Thatcher's eyes lit up at that bit of news. "You found my horse?" He looked over at Dean. "Where is he?"
"That's what we're trying to find out," Dean told him. "Like my partner said, he's causing trouble and we want to catch him and bring him back home."
Thatcher nodded, although he still had a wary expression. Dean didn t care. They needed to find the horse, whether this guy believed in them or not.
"Can you tell us where you got the horse?" he asked point blank.
The man's expression turned from wary to complete bewilderment. "What?" He looked at Dean, then at Sam. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"We're pretty thorough," Sam said to placate the man. "And we need this information for our report."
"You know how it is," Dean added in a conspiratorial tone. "Paperwork."
Thatcher nodded in understanding. Smooth, Dean thought wryly, then tensed up when the man turned in the doorway and yelled out to someone, "Animal Control," he said. "I'll be there in a minute."
A woman's voice yelled back from somewhere in the house, "Don't be too long." Her voice got louder as she added, "Dinner will ready in a minute or two." She peaked out at them from behind Thatcher's shoulder for a moment, then withdrew back in to the house. "I'll get the bread out of the oven," they heard her say as she retreated. "Don't be long."
"Sorry about that," Thatcher said with a guilty grin." He shrugged then said, "When you find that horse, you're going to bring him back here, right?"
"Yes sir," Sam said with a firm nod. "You were telling us where you got him?"
"He belonged to the old man," Thatcher said. "I mean, my Uncle George," he reiterated when he realized he was being vague. "He brought that horse over here from Scotland a long time ago... maybe about thirty years ago." Thatcher stared out over the yard as he searched his memory. "I was just a kid when he moved here to live with us. Dad was okay with that though, especially when he saw how strong that horse was." He brought his attention back to his company and said, "Best horse we ever had."
"I'll bet," Dean said snidely.
"Is your uncle here?" Sam asked almost at the same time. "We'd like to talk to him."
Thatcher shook his head. "No. I'm sorry. He died about a week ago. We had the funeral the other day."
Well that explains things, Dean thought as he put on his sympathetic face. "Sorry to hear that," he said to the man.
"Yes, we're very sorry for your loss," Sam added softly.
Thatcher nodded, then turned his attention back out to the yard. "Gonna miss that old man," he said with a sad smile.
"We'll find your horse," Sam said to break the awkward silence that had built up in the last few minutes. "We just have a few more questions and we'll leave you to your dinner."
Thatcher sighed and turned to them. "Okay," he said with nod.
"Did the horse have a special bridle," Dean asked to get the show on the road. "You know, something designed special for him?"
"A special bridle?" Thatcher asked in surprise. He screwed up his face in thought, then shook his head. "Not that I know of. We always used the ones in the barn."
"There wasn't one with a cross etched into it?" Dean insisted. He tried to look like it was an innocent question, but then realized he couldn't keep his eagerness out of his expression. "You know, a special bridle?"
Sam gave him an exasperated look, then took over. "We just wondered if there was something the horse had that might help us in identifying him as yours."
"Oh," Thatcher said with a lingering look at Dean, obviously wondering if maybe he was dealing with a lunatic. He then turned his attention to Sam and said, "You're welcome to check out the bridles in the barn, but I'll tell you right now, there isn't one with a cross etched into it."
"Okay," Sam said with a smile. "We'll check it out and leave you to your dinner. Thank you for your help."
"No problem," Thatcher said with a sigh. "But you'll bring him back here, right?" Dean and Sam both nodded, while Thatcher added, "That sumbitch is the best horse I've ever had."
The Kelpie
The rain had stopped by the time they left Thatcher's farm. They had searched the barn thoroughly before leaving and true to the farmer's word, they didn't find anything that came even close to being a bridle with a cross etched into it. They drove down the road leading away from the farm with the same thought. They were just going to have to deal with the kelpie the way they always did when monsters were involved - face it and kill it.
"Silver," Dean said thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Sam replied absently. He was tapping the mouse pad on his computer and frowning down at the screen.
"Problems?" Dean had a pretty good idea what was going on, but he asked anyway.
"No service out here," Sam said, confirming Dean's suspicions.
He smirked at Sam, but decided not to be petty. "We'll just go to the lake and see if we can find the kelpie," Dean said instead. "Find it and kill it and then go find a nice little hole in the wall to celebrate." He thought about that for a minute, then said, "Yeah. That sounds like a great plan."
"Celebrate?" Sam asked as he closed the lid of his computer, finally giving up on his quest. He grinned out the window as he added, "Depends on whether we can find the thing or not."
"We'll find it and put it out of its misery," Dean said with conviction. He looked over at his brother and grinned. "Have some faith, Sammy. We got this one."
"Okay," Sam drawled. He sat up suddenly and said, "There's the sign. Turn here."
Dean did as he was told, and they soon found themselves in an empty parking area next to a beach that also had a small playground. He parked his Baby closest to the shoreline and immediately got out so that he could raid some of the weapons from his trunk.
"Nobody out here this time of day," Sam observed, his tone indicating approval.
Dean grunted and looked around. It was late afternoon and the western horizon already had streaks of reds and oranges showcasing the skyline. He knew it would be night soon. He just hoped they got the job done before it got to be too dark.
"Good thing it rained all afternoon," he said as an afterthought. "We got this beach all to ourselves."
Sam grinned in acknowledgement as he came over to get what he needed for the upcoming fight. Dean had grabbed a gun loaded with silver bullets and was reaching for a silver knife, while Sam pulled out the crossbow already loaded with silver tipped arrows.
"We don't have the bridle," Sam said as he grabbed another silver knife for himself. "So we won't have any control over it. But we can kill it. We just need to keep our distance."
"One of us gets caught," Dean added as he pulled out another gun and checked to see if it was loaded, then popped the clip back in and handed it to Sam. "The other one fills it full of silver."
"Got it," Sam said with a grin. He reached in and grabbed a roll of rope and Dean couldn t pass it up.
"You planning on lassoing that thing?"
"What? No." Sam hefted the rope in his hand. "We may need to tie it up."
"Uh huh," Dean said with a grin. "I can just see you now. Yippee ki yay, mother..."
"Whatever," Sam cut in with a roll of his eyes. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Dean replied with a broad smile. He closed the trunk with a thud. "Let's go."
They walked toward the shoreline, keeping an eye out for their prey. It was quiet for the most part, only the sound of waves hitting the shore and the wind as it whispered through the trees kept them company as they trudged through the wet sand. Dean divided his attention between the water and the woods that bordered the beach as he searched. His nerves were taut, he kept expecting the kelpie to jump out at them, which was good he supposed. It kept him on his toes.
"Dean," Sam whispered and pointed toward a place a little way down the beach. The horse stood in silhouette as the setting sun lit up the sky behind it. From a distance, it was a beautiful animal, tall and sleek, its black mane a brilliant contrast to the gray coat and the sunset that framed its body. Dean stared at it a moment in awe, before realizing the real danger the beast represented. He shifted his stance and grabbed his gun with both hands, noticing with satisfaction that Sam did the same thing.
"Careful," Dean told his brother when the horse looked over at them. "Try not to touch it."
Sam nodded and moved slowly away from Dean, putting himself in a better position to attack, or defend, if that was the case. Dean did the same, steeling himself for a fight. He'd never faced a kelpie before, which meant he had no idea what to expect, but he was determined to win this fight. He wouldn't accept anything less.
The horse had noticed them. It stared at them as it pawed at the ground, seeming to contemplate its next move. Dean stared back, while Sam readied the crossbow. He let an arrow fly, but not fast enough. The kelpie took off at a run and came straight at them, easily dodging the arrow as it did so.
"Crap," Dean said as he aimed and fired at the horse. "Crap," he said again when he realized he had missed. The horse was coming at them at top speed and Dean decided to forgo shooting the thing and dove for cover. Sam followed suit, leaving the kelpie to make a decision. Dean fervently prayed the thing would decide to head back to the lake so that he and Sam could just kill it and get it over with, but he knew better. The kelpie apparently decided to grab what he could and it seemed that Dean was a good a choice as any. It came after him, causing Dean to take off down the shore again.
"Dean!" he heard Sam shout. "The bridle."
Dean had no idea what Sam meant by that, but he kept moving, zig zagging through the sand, hoping to avoid getting caught by the kelpie, and to avoid any stray bullets whenever Sam had a clear shot at the beast. He turned toward the woods, hoping to give Sam a better chance at hitting the kelpie, but then stumbled on something in the sand and fell to his knees. He jumped back up and chanced a look over his shoulder, only to see the kelpie within a few yards of where he fell. Dean pulled up his gun to shoot, but then dropped it when the kelpie slammed up against him, effectively pinning Dean's chest to its side.
"No!" Dean shouted, panic racing through his veins as he struggled to get away. He could hear his brother calling his name, but Dean was too busy trying to loosen himself from the kelpie's side to answer. He reached down with his right hand and grabbed his knife out of his pocket, gripping it tightly as he plunged it into the kelpie's back. The beast screamed and reared up in pain, pawing at the air for a moment or two before landing on all fours and taking off at a dead run toward the water.
A bullet whizzed past Dean's ear, the whispery sound registering only because of the blood that appeared on the horse's neck a few inches from Dean's nose. He stabbed again, then realization dawned on him when the blade entered the kelpie's skin just below the bridle it wore. The bridle, Dean thought with a wild exhilaration filling his soul. All he had to do was get that bridle and he'd have complete control. He slipped the knife into the space between the bridle and the kelpie's neck, and tried to cut through the leather. It didn't slice through easily, and Dean realized he was going to have to saw away at it. He looked up in frustration, then stared in shock when he saw where the horse was headed. The water. The kelpie was racing straight for the lake, and Dean knew what that meant. He sawed harder at the bridle, swearing nastily when he realized his right elbow was now stuck to the kelpie's hide.
The kelpie hit the water in a running stride, splashing and clattering through the waves. It ran with ease until the water was nearly to Dean's neck. He grasped the bridle with his left hand, not even caring that it would also be stuck, and continued the awkward sawing motion he was able to achieve with his right. The kelpie slowed for a moment and Dean took advantage of the respite to take in a few deep breaths, then a final huge gulp of air a second before the kelpie pulled him under.
Dean took his determination to get the bridle off the kelpie to a whole new level at that point. He frantically sawed through the leather, putting in as much effort as he could. He drew blood from the kelpie when the knife slipped, but Dean kept going. He tugged at the bridle with his knife and with his left hand, until the kelpie suddenly twisted and took a bite out of Dean's side, causing him to cry out. Not a good thing to do when under water. Bubbles escaped upward and Dean pulled up on the knife as hard as he could, freeing the bridle with the effort, while his throat and nose burned with the force of water seeping in. His vision dimmed and the urge to cough made things so much worse. He was dying. Drowning in this freaking lake and all he could think of was getting out.
Let me go, he thought viciously, knowing it was all in vain. The kelpie had won. He looked up to see the dying rays of the sun reflected through the water, floated lazily for a moment, then realized with a start that he was free. That thought kicked his instincts into gear and gave him the strength to move his arms and legs. He swam upward in a frantic motion, kicking and moving his arms until he finally broke through the surface of the lake, taking in a huge lungful of air when he did so.
He coughed and spluttered for a moment, then went into panic mode again when a head popped up in the water a few feet from where he treaded water. His heart calmed a second later, when he recognized who it was.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, his voice registering his own panic. He turned suddenly and saw Dean, then called his name again, this time with relief lacing his tone.
Dean gave Sam a weak smile and held up the bridle. "I got it," he said in a hoarse voice.
Sam grinned. He swam over to Dean and pulled him into a quick hug, before pulling back and saying, "Dude. I thought I'd lost you."
Dean could only nod. He had thought the same thing for a while there.
"Is it dead?" Sam asked as he put an arm around Dean and started to swim toward the shore.
"Dunno," Dean said. He had to struggle to keep up through the pain in his side. "I think so... maybe." He shook his head and decided to let Sam do most of the work to get them back on dry land. "I was concentrating on getting out of there."
"Let's get you to shore," Sam said with a worried glance around. Dean was all for that. They swam until their feet touched ground, and they waded the rest of the way. Dean ended up leaning against his brother with his arm around his shoulders in an effort to stay on his feet. He stumbled on some rocks anyway, and groaned as waves of pain raced through him.
"Hold up," he said softly. "Give me a minute, okay?" He stood in the water for a moment, pressing his hand lightly against the wound in his side, and groaned again when the pain got worse.
"Jesus," Sam said when he saw the blood on Dean's shirt. "What happened?"
"It got mad at me." His voice was barely a whisper now. He was so tired, and in pain... and in a hurry to get out of that lake to get his gun. He had a bad feeling that the creature was still among the living, and Dean was determined to kill that thing now. It was all that mattered. "We need to get to shore, Sam. Gotta get my gun."
"Yeah. Okay." Sam pulled him up against him and they started off again, only to stop and turn when something else came out of the water next to them. It was a man, almost as tall as Sam, with long black hair and gray eyes that stared at Dean with hateful malice.
"Great," Dean said with a sigh. It was the creature in its human form. Just what they needed.
"Back off," Sam told the beast, then yelped in pain. The kelpie had swiped at his arm, its long nails drawing blood which caused Sam to loosen his grip on Dean. But Sam was tough. He turned slightly to face the monster, and held his knife in a warrior's stance, ready to put up his own fight.
The creature tilted his head and regarded Sam in a nonchalant way, then spoke up, his words holding just a hint of a Scottish brogue. "I will kill you, and you will pay."
"No you won't," Dean said as he held up the severed piece of leather. "I have your bridle. I own you."
The creature smirked slightly as he turned his attention to Dean. "Not for long," it said. "You are dying. I can wait."
"He does have a point," Dean admitted in a soft voice.
Sam gave him one of his patented, 'don't even go there' expressions, then said to the beast. "Well, he's still alive, and we're leaving this lake." He grabbed Dean, bent his knees to get a better grip, then pulled him along as he began wading toward shore again. "And besides," he said over his shoulder, "From the looks of all that blood, you may not have long to live yourself."
Dean glanced back and saw that Sam was right. There was a trail of blood dribbling down the side of its neck and onto its chest, and even more blood on one of its arms. Dean's knife had done some damage after all, not to mention the bullet that whispered past his ear before they went into the water. And the creature was pale as he stood there watching them leave, although Dean didn't know if that was because of natural coloring or loss of blood.
He turned and stumbled along, with Sam practically dragging him out of the lake. He sank down to his knees once they were on land, but he knew he couldn't stay there. He may be safe from the kelpie, but Sam wasn't and Dean didn't want to take the chance the beast would defy his orders. He looked around, trying to remember where he dropped his gun.
"I would have enjoyed eating you," he heard the kelpie say. He looked over to see it standing in the shallow waves, glaring menacingly at him. "If you hadn't forced me to let you go, I would be having a feast right now."
Dean wasn't quite sure how he had forced the kelpie to do anything, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He was alive. That was all that mattered.
"Sorry to disappoint," he said with a sarcastic smile. He stopped for a second, then said with a shake of his head. "Nah. That's not true. Not really sorry at all."
The kelpie didn't respond. It stood there, watching them, and Dean got worried all over again. He took another look around, wondering again where he had dropped his gun. He saw Sam standing close by, but taking a step away from Dean every few seconds or so. The kelpie noticed this as well, and apparently had a good idea what Sam was up to.
It reared its head back, and Dean watched fascinated as its skin seemed to shimmer in the fading light of the sun. The man-like creature in the water then lowered its head to glare at them, while its face seemed to lengthen and its body morphed into the gray horse that had pulled him into the depths of the lake. The transformation only took a few minutes, but it was an awesome sight with all the shimmering and smooth changes. Dean shook his head and tried to draw his attention back to looking for his gun. Not an easy feat, given that he was seriously exhausted.
Then he saw it. A glimmer in the dying light of the sun several yards from the water's edge. He glanced back at the kelpie who now stood magnificently in the shallow water, and wondered if he could make it.
"Stay there," he commanded to the kelpie. "I order you to stand your ground."
The kelpie shook its head, the long silky strands of its mane flying back when it did so. Dean glared at it for a moment, letting the kelpie know with his expression that he was the boss, then struggled to get up to go get his gun.
He needn't have bothered. Sam saw his opportunity and dove for the crossbow, pulled it up, aimed and fired all in one smooth movement. The silver-tipped arrow hit the kelpie square in the chest, causing it to scream in rage as it reared up, its hoofs pawing desperately in the air, before coming down with a force that splashed water almost to where Dean stood. It stared at him for a long moment, a dull look that sent a wave of satisfaction through Dean. Got ya, he thought with a vicious grin as the kelpie fell over in a heap.
He looked over at Sam, who stared back with a grim look. Sam nodded slightly and went over to pick up something on the beach. He shoved the gun into the back of his jeans, and then came over to help Dean.
"You need a doctor," he said as took a better look at the wound in Dean's side. He grimaced and added, "Definitely need a doctor."
"I'll be all right," Dean grouched. He pointed at the dead creature. "We need to burn that thing first. Then maybe I'll consider a doctor."
"Dean..."
"Burn it first," Dean insisted. Sam nodded slowly, but still managed to give him an exasperated glare. Dean took a deep breath, then said, "I'm gonna get my gun." He nodded again and added. "Yeah. It's just over there."
Sam shrugged, but stood there watching Dean with a grin.
Whatever, Dean thought as he sank to the ground. Sam chuckled and left him there while he went to get the gun instead. He brought it back and dropped it into Dean's lap, then headed toward the water. Dean watched him go, too tired and in too much pain at the moment, but extremely grateful that Sam was there.
They drove out of town the next afternoon. Dean sat in the passenger seat, dosed to the gills with pain killers and enjoying the scenery that raced past his window. Trees. Nothing but trees. Not a drop of water anywhere.
Nice.
He dragged his gaze from the scenery when Sam braked at a stop sign. Baby purred gently as they idled for a moment, and Dean closed his eyes at the sound. He couldn't help but appreciate it.
Sam pulled away from the intersection and said, "How are you doing?"
"Good." It was the truth. Those pain killers were a godsend. "You?"
"Yeah," Sam said with a nod. He turned to look at Dean for a second. "Arm doesn't even hurt that much."
Dean nodded and went back to checking out the scenery. He caught glimpses of the late afternoon sun between the trees, which made him think of the sunset on the lake the day before.
Sam apparently was thinking along the same lines. "I've been meaning to ask you," he said in a hesitant way. "What did that kelpie mean when it said you forced it to let you go?"
Dean looked at Sam in surprise, but then looked out toward the road as he shook his head. "Not sure." He thought about it for a minute, then said, "I kinda remember screaming at it in my head to let me go when we were in the water." He wasn't sure he believed it, but said, "Maybe it read my thoughts?"
"Maybe," Sam agreed.
They rode in silence for a moment, then Dean asked his own question. "What I want to know is how it got the bridle back from that old man?" He looked at Sam. "I mean, did Uncle Whatever put it on him before he kicked? Did the horse go looking for it once the old guy passed? What?" He stared out at the scenery again as he wondered what would have happened if Sam hadn't killed the kelpie.
"I was thinking about that," Sam said slowly. "I think the minute that old guy died without passing on that bridle, the kelpie was able to take it back. Maybe he went looking for it, or it just appeared, I don't know." Dean scoffed at that last statement. Sam turned to him and grinned. "The lore did say it had magical properties. You can't tell with these things."
Dean shrugged at that. Sam had a point. They had seen some strange things in their lifetime. Who knew what else was out there.
"I guess it doesn't matter now," he said to the scenery outside his window. Sam gave a little sound of agreement, and Dean leaned his head against the glass. "Another monster gone. And we still need to celebrate."
"We will," Sam told him. "Soon as we get home."
Home, Dean thought with a sleepy sigh. Now that was something he could look forward to. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of his car as it rolled down the road. Another one down. It had been a good hunt.