.Luna was in the backseat, as always. She was playing her gameboy that she’s had since she was little and had quite the selection of games that she kept at Bobby’s when she and her brothers where on the road. Dean was driving, as usual, and she noticed Sam having a nightmare. She hated when they had nightmares. Made her feel like she could do something about it, but she didn’t know how. So, she settled for shaking him awake. Something that always worked. “Sam, Sam!” She yelled softly, waking her brother.
“Hem, huh? What, I’m up, i’m up.” He said, shaking off his Nightmare filled fears and tiredness.
“You where having a nightmare.” Luna said.
“Uh, yeah...yeah…” Sam said with a sigh.
“It was Jessica...wasn't it?”
“...Yeah… Just… I just wanna find the son of a bitch that killed her and get back to…”
“Back to…?” Luna prodded.
“Back to at least trying to be normal. I love you sis, and Dean but… I was out. I could sleep without fearing something was gonna shake me in my sleep. Without having to bless every bottle of water I bought. Without having to waste salt on the doorways, windows and around my bed and just use it for cooking and meals! It was… nice.”
“Well can’t lie, sounds nice.” Dean spoke up. “Apple Pie kind of life. If it was me, I’d be like you, well, no college. I’d have my own garage, work on the classic cars. Restore them, charge up the ass for parts and services. Have a nice girl, maybe, MAYBE, a kid or two, and road trips like this, just for the heck of it.”
“If I could have a normal life, I guess I’d work with technology.” Luna spoke. “Maybe Data entry or in the media, testing new games or working with the camera’s to movies, t.v. shows, heck, even minute long commercials. So long as I’m with tech and wires, I’d be happy.”
“So I guess we all admit if you had the chance, you’d live normal lives.” Sam sighed. “I just wanna get back to mine.”
“Well… I guess if it suits you, it suits you.” Dean said. “I stick with this cause A, it’s the family business, and B, I like helping people. So, while you’re with us, what’s this town called again?”
“Un, right.” Sam said, pulling out a map and a notebook. “Blackwater Ridge, large mountain forest filed place in Colorado. Nothing special from initial impression, well received camping ground hotspot, even during the winter. So, what should we look for in terms of finding dad here?”
“I dunno. Last town we nearly got arrested, plus it’s odd dad left so much of his stuff there.” Luna pointed out. “Even his journal. I think he could have only taken his weapons.”
“Yeah, and that’s worrying.” Dean said. “I know every monster in the book would want a shot at dad but what would make hims drop almost everything to hightail it out of there?”
“Demon maybe?” Sam added.
“Hm, possible. We’ve exercised a lot of demons in the past, if any managed to crawl back out of that flaming pit I can see them wanting a shot at dad, with backup.”
“Well, lets hope when this is all over dad will be alright.” Luna said.
“Yeah, he’s been helping you with your...unique abilities.”
“Wait, Dad has been helping Luna train her magic?” Sam asked, surprised.
“Yeah. Back when she was little, a demon broke into the hotel room and tried to steal her, but she freaked out, horn lit up and crushed it’s body, but when Bobby got a loot at it, the demon itself was dead too.” Dean spoke.
“Wait, Luna can kill demons?”
“Seems so.” Luna said. “Pushing out that much magic gives me a headache, but Dad learned from a witch we hunted back in Alabama that we can store my unique magic inside objects. Mainly, bullets and Knives.”
“Wow. How many can you make at once?”
“So far just a bullet a day, and only small knives… pocket knives. Bobby says it’s cause my magic is nothing like what Witches and demons use, so it’s uncharted territory in terms of knowledge.”
“Oh. How many do you have?”
“Six. Two for each.” Dean said. “Luna keeps two in her favorite revolver, I keep two the very end of my handgun, and the last two are shotgun slugs, so you can take that and the double barrel in case.”
“Wow, you love that thing.”
“Yeah but I got a spare just in case. “
Once arrived, Dean, Sam and Luna stopped at the local ranger station to gain intel. Some campers went missing and the sister of one of them, despite it being a day and the paperwork was all in order. When talking with the sister Luna got more out of her than Sam and Dean did, sisters thing they suspected. After some research they did on the abnormality in the inhumanly fast shadow in the background of a video call sent by her brother the night before he suspectedly vanished.
“Demon, maybe?” Luna threw out.
“Doubt it, demons make deals, not outright murder.” Sam said.
“Not if they were bound to the land by a witch or something?”
“Is that where the case this thing would show up everytime a camper entered those woods, not every so many years.”
“Hey, check this out.” Dean said, bringing his laptop to Luna and Sam’s attention. “Last attack reported of this thing left one survivor, a kid at the time. He must be like ancient now, but I did a search and he is alive and living a ways away from here.”
“Road trip.” Luna said, the trip closing their books and computers and heading off.
The trio was now with Shaw, the only survivor from 1959. At first he tried getting them away, but Luna has a way with blunt force speech that made him take a seat and speak truth. “I… I didn’t see the thing. It moved too fast.” Shaw finally said, lighting a cigarette to ease him. “Mom and dad where in their room, and I was sleeping by the fireplace. It was so...cold. I barely felt the fire. It was always cold up at the cabin, but I swear it was like the ice age that year. I only woke up when I heard my parents screaming. I hid under the covers of my blanket, too scared to look. I heard it, walking towards me…
“Then, it got even colder. So cold I thought I was gonna freeze to death. In the corner of my eye, I peeked out of the covers and saw this...half mangy, half frozen… I dunno, large dog or something standing over me, growling at whatever it was that got my parents. I was too scared to realize until later… but that one… saved me. Protected me from that thing. It was only about my height at the time. It stood over me until the other thing was gone. When it left I saw so cold, and the fire went out. I heard something, it was the gas stove. The thing turned it on and brought over one of the long matches and relit the fireplace. I didn’t see it’s face, but I saw it’s hat.”
“It...had a hat?” Dean asked.
“Yeah. Like an old cowboy hat. Was really old looking. All tattered and withered. I think it was only held together because of all the frost on it. I told ya it was unbelievable.”
“It’s out there.” Luna spoke. “But nothing too strange can deter us.”
As the trio left they began discussing what these two creatures could be. “It’s gotta be a ghost or something like it man.” Dean spoke up.
“Yeah but then why did the other one drag off the guy’s parents? Ghosts don’t usually drag off their victims unless with a reason, and why only so many year. He said it himself it’s always cold up at that cabin, so why was that year any different for a ghost?” Sam countered.
“Guys.” Luna said, looking at one of the older news papers they printed out from old documents. “Listen to this. Apparently Black Water Ridge is home to something the whole down had blocked off from campers and tourists.”
“Being?” Sam asked.
“They call it the Ice Cave. All year round ice forms and does not melt within it. IT’s cold enough to freeze water within a few hours and while not too big is also holds a single statue that seems to be made from the ice itself.”
“Wait, ice all year round? Summer this time of year around here is like almost a hundred degrees at times. That cave is not normal.” Sam declared.
“Exactly. According to other, later news papers scientists studied the cave but after one of them got severe frostbite when examining the ground in front of the statue, study was halted. When examining the ground around there again, even with high grade weather wear and heaters, they still got frost bite, this time losing two fingers. The cave was closed off, and considered cursed. Not many papers talk about it at all after that, and park rangers keep away out of superstition.”
“So...what the hell is going on then?” Dean asked. “Cause we got more questions than answers out of this.”
“Cursed object maybe?” Sam asked.
“Either way, checking out that cave will be the next, smartest move.” Luna said, her brothers nodding in agreement.
The hike into the cave took most of the day. Dean had gotten a call about that sister of the missing guy heading off to find him with a paired guide. While Dean went off to make sure that they didn’t get killed, Sam and Luna went up to the cave. Once inside, they spotted many old human remains, mostly bones, all frozen within the ice itself, almost like a display or as trophies. “It’s freezing, even for me,” Luna said, While having her own natural coat was handy for chilly nights/seasons, she felt the frigid air pass her coat and into her very bones.
“Yeah. So, where is this statue supposed to be?” Sam asked,
“The backmost of the cave.” The two came across a medium sized room inside the cave, an engraved mark of something not moved for a long period of time rested in the ice and in front of it, was a pile of broken ice and dug up dirt. “Right...here?”
“Looks like a grave.” Sam commented.
“Yeah, but look at the shatter pattern. It goes outwards. Like whatever was buried there was...dug up from inside the grave.”
“What the…” Sam questioned.
“Get… Out…” The low growl of a thick southern voice spoke from behind. Sam and Luna turned fast, pointing their guns up, but there was nothing. “Get. Out.”
“Cold air...shallow grave...ghost?” Sam questioned.
“Never seen a ghost that froze things to this degree.” Luna added. The ice began to grow outwards from the wall behind them, Sam and Luna looking just in time to see a figure form from it… It was like Luna, no horn, or wings,s skin covered in ice with patches of what once was orange fur, and an almost blonde mane, and an old, frost covered cowboy hat. “GET OUT!!!” She screamed, ice shooting out at the two. Both Sam and Luna getting cut from the razor sharp ice. The string holding Luna’s illusion charm was cut, the charm falling off and Luna’s true form revealing. When the creature saw this, her attack stopped, and the two stared at one another for what seemed like hours.
“Y-you are like me?” Luna spoke.
“”Y-yeah.” It chuckled. “Seems so… I’m… I’m Applejack.”
“Luna…”
To Be Continued…