//------------------------------// // Ch. 1 Old Place, Fresh Case, New Face // Story: Transdimensional // by GoodieTwo-Shoes //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Old Place, Fresh Case, New Face “Man, you’re crazy!” a teenager spat out, peering skeptically into a large wishing fountain. He was part of a group that was gathered around the fountain at Lucky Chin’s Chinese restaurant. “I swear! It worked last time,” a young teen defended to the group of older kids. “Yeah, right, Todd,” another boy sarcastically said. “You know it worked! I tipped over a truck! This fountain gave me super strength!” Todd retorted, pointing to one of the boys. “We were kids, Todd. There’s no way that actually happened. It was just our imagination. It was all just pretend, just a game, a bad dream,” he explained, looking away. “What?! No! You know it happened!” the light-brown haired boy cried, causing three of the boys to take a step back. Todd’s shout reached the ears of a businessman who had stopped by for lunch on his way to a hotel. He was only in Concrete, Washington for his meeting tomorrow afternoon and had never heard about the wishing fountain. Intrigued, the middle-aged man paused his meal to listen in on the interesting conversation. “I’ll prove it!” Todd said, pulling a coin from his pocket and tossing it in the water. As he closed his eyes and silently wished, a few of the boys tensed in anticipation. The businessman raised an eyebrow as they all waited and watched. After a hushed minute, one of the teens spoke. “Nothing happened. Come on guys,” he said, waving the group towards the exit. “Wait guys! Come with me. I’ll show you that it worked,” Todd said, following after them, “We’ll have to go to the…” His voice faded out as he ran after the others. As the businessman finished his food, he studied the fountain. Could it really work? It was crazy to believe a wishing fountain could actually grant wishes. Things didn’t just happen or appear because someone wished it so, no matter how much they wanted it. It was just crazy, he thought. He finished off his lunch and headed for the exit. Stopping with one foot out the door, he looked back over his shoulder at the rocky fountain. Crazy. But it was worth a try. Making his was to the back of the restaurant, he fished a coin from his pocket. He turned the coin around in his fingers as he watched the water flow. He held his breath, closed his eyes tight, and dropped the coin. “Please…” he whispered, thinking hard on his wish. Splash! He opened his eyes as he heard the coin hit the water. Watching the coin float to the bottom, he nervously chewed his lip. The coin swayed for a few moments before gently meeting the hard bottom. The man hopefully looked around, optimistically searching for his wish. As the seconds ticked by, his face and hope sank. Yeah, crazy, he thought as he turned away to leave. As the businessman’s car started up outside, the gentle ripples in the fountain began to harshen. Although the small waterfalls continued to leisurely flow, the tiny ripples quickly turned into large waves that splashed over the edge and into the floor. The customers took notice, and all conversations ceased. As quickly as it started, it stopped, and the fountain returned to is usually calm state. Before the heads could turn away, a bright yellow light rose out of the fountain. A startled, collective gasp filled the small eatery. The light floated up about a foot out of the water before shooting forward and all around the restaurant. In a chaotic panic, everyone scattered about, some racing for the door, others hiding under their tables. Soon enough, the light burst through the front exit, throwing the doors wide open as it left. Stopping for a moment outside, the light flew down the street in the direction of the hotel. Passersby took notice and immediately filed into the restaurant as others inside attempted to leave, causing a jam in the doorway. On its path, the light whipped passed a young girl, who watched it with suspicious interest rather than with shock. She rushed down the street after the light with determination and concern on her face. ~ “I’m just saying, Ghoul-pyre is way better than…uh…” Dean argued as he drove he and his brother back to the Bunker in his beat-up, blood-covered Impala. “Nachzehrer,” Sam finished tiredly from the shotgun seat. Sam and his brother Dean were hunters of the supernatural. Their self-selected job was to hunt things (vampires, werewolves, ghouls, demons, etc.) and save people who were targeted by these monsters; it was a family business. Their latest case was a new one for them. They had fought with creatures they had previously never heard of: Nachzehrers. These things were sort of a hybrid between vampires and ghouls. They had just finished this case about an hour ago and were headed back to their home, which was a bunker left behind a group of supernatural researches called the Men of Letters. “Yeah, that’s…” Ring! “Hold that thought,” Sam said, reaching into the glove box and digging out an old cell phone, “It’s one of dad’s.” “That’s strange. Put it on speaker,” Dean said, as his brother answered the phone. “Dean, is that you?” a young voice spoke through the cell. “It’s Sam. Dean’s right here,” the younger replied, “Who is this?” “It’s Audrey…Audrey Elmer from Conrete, Washington, the girl with the sick teddy bear,” the girl answered, sounding concerned. Audrey Elmer had been a young girl of about five who had made a wish in the wishing fountain of a local Chinese restaurant called Lucky Chin’s. A lonely man named Wes had turned on the wishing well by throwing in one of his grandfather’s old coins, which allowed the wishes to actually come true, including his own of making a beautiful woman fall madly in love with him. Audrey had wished for the teddy bear to be real. The wish had worked, but like all other wishes made in that fountain, the wish turned bad. Her now real-life teddy bear had become a depressed alcoholic, who no longer waned to live. The two hunter brothers had told Audrey, whose parents were away on vacation due to a wish they had made themselves, to go to her neighbor’s, Mrs. Hurley, house. They had told her they were teddy-bear doctors to gain her trust. Before leaving Audrey, Dean had given her the most reliable phone number he had: one of his dad’s old phones that was tucked safely away in the glove compartment of his precious car. After some research and battle, Sam and Dean had found Wes, and eventually he was convinced to remove the coin from the well, which undid all the wishes brining back Audrey’s parents and turning her teddy back into a small stuffed toy. “Yeah…hey, kid,” Dean replied, shocked to hear from the little girl they met and hadn’t seen in seven years, “What’s up? Your teddy’s not, uh, sick again, is he?” He exchanged a cringe with his brother. “No, it’s not the bear. It’s the wishing well,” she explained, “It’s working again!” “Ah, hel*!” Dean grunted. “How?! H-How do you know, Audrey?” Sam asked. “I saw it. T-this light shot out of the restaurant!” she exclaimed, “I followed it on my bike to a motel. I couldn’t catch up to it fast enough to see which room it went in, but I saw a car parked outside room six. That car had just left Lucky Chin’s a few minutes before. I think whoever was driving that car made the wish.” “Okay. What’s the name of the hotel?” Sam asked. As she answered and described the car, Dean spun the car around to head back passed where they had just left an hour ago. “We’re on our way. Is there anything else you can tell us? What did the light look like? Did anyone else have their wish granted?” Sam questioned. “The light was bright and yellow with a long tail, like a very small comet,” she recalled, “And I saw a lot of people going into the restaurant. They must have saw the light too and went inside to make a wish.” “Wait, so these people saw a light flying around and then ran inside where the light came from? Why would they run towards the source of the weird?” Dean asked. “What would make them think it came from the wishing well?” Sam asked. It made since that Audrey would come to that conclusion because she had seen it grant her wish before, but why would everyone else. Only about a handful of people had their wishes granted last time, that they knew of anyway. “You guys don’t know?” she asked, surprised. “Know what?” Dean questioned. “After what happened last time, rumors spread, everyone gossiped. Those people who got their wishes granted didn’t keep their mouths shut. There was talk all over town about the wishing fountain that really worked. Of course, no one really believed it at first, but there was evidence. My parents disappearing and reappearing with a bad sunburn, the flipped truck that Todd turned over, the lottery fraud, the naked guy that just suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the small storm cloud that struck a guy with lighting…” “Hey, that was you,” Dean remembered. “The naked guy?” she asked. As his brother laughed, Sam replied, “Ah, no. The guy that got struck by lightning.” “Anyway, there were a lot of people that witnessed all these strange things that others claimed were caused by their wishes. Still, most didn’t actually believe, especially when no other wishes came true. But word still spread about the wishing well that once worked. It spread all the way out of town, even people from other states have come to make a wish. To everyone else it’s just fun and games, just a local attraction. But not to those who know the truth, not to me. This is not a joke, and it’s happening again,” Audrey explained. “Calm down, okay, kid,” Dean said, “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” “When will that be?” she asked. “About seven hours,” Sam guessed. “That’s a long time. It’ll be after dark before you get here,” she said worriedly, but ready to help, “What am I supposed to do until then? All those people are making wishes right now!” “She’s right, Dean. That many people making wishes on a real working well…it could be total chaos by the time we get there. Those people have no idea how bad their wishes will turn,” Sam said quietly to his brother, covering the phone with his hand. “Make it six,” Dean said, pressing the accelerator to the floorboard. “Audrey, you need to go home, and make sure your parents don’t leave the house,” Sam instructed, “And definitely don’t let them make another wish.” “Okay, I will,” she said confidently. “But, what about everyone else, and the town?” “Leave that to us. Your only job is to keep you and your family safe,” Dean said. “Okay. I’ll head home now,” she said. “Good,” Sam said. “Stay safe,” Dean added. “I will,” she said hanging up her cell phone and jumping onto her bike, Teddy tucked securely in her basket. “This is bad, Dean,” Sam said, placing the phone back in the glove box. “It took over a month for things to get bad last time,” Dean reminded him, still speeding down the road. “Yeah, but that was before the well turned into a tourist attraction,” he argued, “One that maybe a dozen or more people just saw grant a wish.” “Yeah,” he agreed. “I don’t get why it suddenly started working again, after all these years,” he commented, “You think Wes threw in another one of his grandfather’s coins?” “I don’t know. He saw for himself how bad things were, and he did remove the coin by his own choice. I was struck by lightning, and you were busy getting you’re a$$ kicked by a kindergartener,” he recalled, attempting to lighten the mood. “Hey! He had super strength!” he defended, “He could have killed me!” “It was probably the guy at the motel Audrey saw leaving the restaurant. He’s our best culprit for the first wisher,” Sam said. “We’ll start there,” Dean decided, still flying north as fast as his battered Baby could handle. ~ Bright afternoon sunlight crept into a dark modest one-person motel room as the door slowly creaked opened. The silhouette of an average sized man slummed in the doorway and took in the small hollow that would be his home for the next couple of days. Dragging his large rolling suitcase behind him, he stepped through the doorway and into the small kitchenet. Using the briefcase he held in his other hand, he pushed the door shut. The quiet room was now mostly dark with curtain covered sunlight providing the only illumination. He laid the briefcase on the small, but sturdy kitchen table and rolled the suitcase to rest against it. With a sigh, the thirty-something-year-old took a seat, placing his short black hair covered head in his hands. Although not obvious by his light jacket, dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and jeans, the gloomy man slouched in the wooden chair was a businessman. Dejected and lonely, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through the pictures of happier times. The focus of the majority of the photos was a cute, blonde-haired, blue-eyed five-year old, his beloved daughter, Ruthie. He missed her so much. He hadn’t seen her since his devoice finalized a few months ago. He couldn’t wait to see her at her birthday party. But with his busy schedule sending him all over the country, he hadn’t had time to find a good gift, just souvenirs. He hadn’t found that one special thing that would bring that beautiful bright sparkle in her eyes. If only his wish had come true, then she would want to stay with him instead. Back into his pocket he shoved his phone that held to many now painful memories. He quickly stood up, which threw the chair back in the process and caused it to squeak against the laminate floor. He sighed and glanced at his suitcase. Too tired, he decided to unpack what he needed later. He’d nap for a few hours and then get some supper first. He made his way to the bed, then flopped down onto the semi-hard mattress. Epp! Oddly, the bed squeaked. He would have thought it was just the sound of an old, worn-out bed protesting his slightly overweight body collapsing on top of it, but it sounded more like the surprised or frightened squeak of an animal. Maybe it wasn’t the chair that had squeaked before. He groaned, hoping-to top everything else-that this place wasn’t infested with rodents. He wasn’t much of an animal person, especially the little creepy, crawly ones. Shivering, he quickly pulled his dangling feet onto the bed. He sat up and took one tennis shoe off that he was too lazy to remove before lying down. Then he crawled to the end of the bed, shoe in hand ready to strike. Inhaling deeply through his nose with his brown eyes closed tight, he psyched himself up. Belly to bed, he slowly pulled up the bed skirt and peeked into the darkness. Something that was definitely not a mouse was curled up against the wall at the head of the bed. Gasping at the sight of the larger creature, he slung his head back up. With a shaking hand, he slipped his phone out of his pants pocket again and turned on the flashlight. Slowly, he took his previous position and shined the light under the bed. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Taken back by the English Bulldog-sized animal that was hiding under the bed, he fell forward onto the carpeted floor. Thud! Epp! The creature squeaked in surprise again at the loud noise. The man quickly righted himself on his stomach and looked back under the bed. Still not believing his eyes, he dropped the bed skirt and scanned the room, as if the empty room would make this seem more real. He slowly lifted the skirt and glanced back under the bed. After repeatedly lifting and dropping the bed skirt while staring under the bed did not make the creature disappear, the man finally had to accept the fact that the creature was real. He slowly sat up and leaned his back against the bed. He stared forward, still in shock. Was this his wish? He had only wished for the perfect gift for his daughter, one that she would love so much that she would want to live with him. Was that little thing really meant to help him win Ruthie over? It had to, right? Why else would it be in his motel room? And where else would it had come from, if not from the wishing well? Well, he thought, if that thing were there to help him, then he’d better try to coax it out. He would need it to be ready for the birthday party, so it could be a proper gift. He couldn’t have it scared and hiding from Ruthie and her friends. So, he laid down on his stomach looked back under the bed as he tried to call it out. It only shivered in response. Changing his tactic, he crawled back out and walked to the head of the bed instead. Getting back down, he peeked underneath and reached out to gently pull the little thing out. Sensing the man nearby, the creature’s eyes suddenly appeared, wide and frightful. The instant his fingers made contact, he knew he had made a mistake because that’s when everything escalated completely out of control. ~ After three more hours on the road, the Impala finally pulled off into a gas station for what Dean insisted would only be a quick stop. They had only been driving for about an hour before they got the call from Audrey, so they hadn’t made a stop since leaving the Markham family. “Stop your bit**ing, Samuel; I’m parking now,” the older brother said. “Finally,” Sam complained, hoping out of the car, “I asked you to stop over an hour ago.” As Dean stood out of the car to pump the gas, he said, “You know we have to get there A-SAP.” “I know, Dean, but…geez, you’ve been driving like ninety miles per hour; we’re making good time,” he said, closing the passenger door, “We can spare two minutes for a pit stop.” “Exactly, two minutes is all we can spare, and Baby’s tank wasn’t running on empty yet,” Dean said, filling the tank, “You don’t get to empty your tank until Baby needs to fill her’s.” “Huh, w-whatever. My tanks about to explode; I’ll be right back,” he said, quickly walking into the store. His brother chuckled at him before looking at his battered car. “Sorry, Baby. Duty calls,” he said, picking up the gas station’s window squeegee, “This will have to do until we get you back to the bunker.” As the gas poured into the tank, Dean quickly cleaned the bloodied passenger windows, swept out the broken pieces of all the other windows, and straightened the front bumper the best he could without any tools. The pump clicked, signaling the hunter that the tank was full and his time was up. “Not too bad for a speedy fix-up,” he said, rehanging the pump before heading inside. On the way to the men’s room, he ran into his brother, who looked to have spent a little of his time cleaning his bloody face. “Get some snacks. The good stuff. Not just that health crap and rabbit food,” Dean instructed, opening the single restroom door, “And get another cooler for the road.” “Yes, sir,” Sam said sarcastically, but fulfilled his request. He picked out a larger cooler, so he would have room for his smoothies, and his brother would have plenty of space for beer. After gathering plenty of “good stuff” and healthy snacks, he headed for the register as Dean met back up with him. “You could have cleaned your face,” he said, sitting down the stuff. The cashier gave the two brother a strange look, seeing the blood and cuts. “Bar fight,” Dean said, as the staring man rang up the food. As Sam grabbed the bags and cooler, Dean paid for everything and added, “We won.” They quickly went back to the car, threw everything in the back, and, after finally getting Baby to start up again, sped back onto the road. Sam reached in the back, grabbed the bag of snacks, and set it open in between them. “Selection good enough for you?” Sam asked. Dean inspected the bag but didn’t see something that should have been included. “Where’s the…” Reaching to grab another bag, Sam pulled out a small, round, baked, apple dessert. “Pie?” Sam finished his sentence with a smirk. The older brother couldn’t contain his joy and smiled at his favorite dessert. Both brothers filled up, preparing themselves for the chaos that lied ahead. Sam yawned tiredly and settled back into the seat. With one piece left, Dean handed his small pie plate over to the sleepy younger man. “Here,” the older said. Thinking his brother was too full to finish the pie, Sam went to place the leftover piece in the back for Dean to finish later. “No, you take,” he said, looking ahead at the road. “Wait, what?! You’re giving me your last slice of pie?” Sam asked, shocked as he set the little pie in his lap. “Yeah,” he replied. He turned his eyes to his brother and said, “That was kinda a douche-y thing for me to do. I should of just stop when you asked the first time.” “Dee, it’s fine. I mean, you don’t have…” “I was a jerk, okay,” he said, “So, just take it.” “Man, I get we’re in a rush, but seriously,” Sam said, “You couldn’t just pull over for a minute and let me out.” “You know I could have ruined these seats,” he added, half-joking. Dean frowned and threatened, “It’d have been the last thing you would have done.” Sam laughed, knowing his brother wouldn’t really hurt him. “The job we just finished, the one that was probably nothing, the little milk run…I mean, how did it turn into this? Monsters building armies to fight the Darkness? The car, us, we’re a mess, man! And now, here we are, speeding off to another job before we’ve even got any R and R. We don’t have any real clue what we’re driving into, and we’ve done this job before,” Dean said with frustration, “I just want to get there before it gets bad.” “We’ll figure it out, Dean. All of it. We always do,” Sam assured him. “Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “In the meantime, we’ve got about three hours left in the car, so…,” Sam said, popping in one of his brother’s favorite tapes, “Let’s enjoy it.” Dean hummed in agreement as the song began to play. ~ Just as the sun set, the two brothers arrived at the motel. Climbing out of the car, the older commented on their quicker commute. “Right at six hours,” Dean said as Sam got out. Seeing the dried blood still on the other face, the taller swiftly opened the back door and came back out with a small package, “Here.” He pulled out a small white cloth from the package and tried to hand it to the other man, who just eyed it. “It’s just a wet wipe to get that blood off,” he explained, “I got them at the last stop.” After hurriedly wiping his face, Dean shoved the dirty wipe into his jacket pocket and said, “There. Let’s go.” He headed for the door labeled with a number six where the car Audrey had descried was parked in front of as Sam threw the package back into the car, closed the door, and rushed after him. Before the former could knock on the door, there was a sudden loud commotion inside. After a quick exchange of looks, Dean threw himself at the door and broke it in. Startled, a dark-haired man with his back against a door at the opposite end of the motel room stared at the pair of gun-wielding intruders. Seeing no immediate danger, the two hunters lowered their weapons but kept them ready in their hands. The man relaxed a bit but continued to stare and stand in front of the door. The man said, “Now what? First the wish, now…who are you guys?” “Wish. Audrey was right,” Sam said to his brother. “Who? Wait, wish. Did you make a wish?” the man asked. “No, but we know that you did,” Dean said, stepping further inside. “And judging by the way you’re guarding that door, I’d say whatever you wished for is in there,” Sam said, pushing the cracked door closed and nodding at the door behind the man. “I-uh…I’m not saying anything until you tell me who you are,” he replied, nervous but firm. The loud commotion erupted again, and it was clearing coming from behind door. It sounded as if something had fallen. “What’s behind that door?” Dean asked, rising his gun and approaching man. Throwing his hands up, the man caved, “Alright, alright. Yes, I made a wish. But something’s not right. After I accidently scared it trying to coax it out from under the bed, I chased it into the bathroom, but it locked itself inside. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it out. It was quiet until a few minutes ago. I don’t know what’s going on in there, but I’m afraid it’s going to hurt itself. I need to get in there and make sure she’s okay.” “She?” Sam questioned. “Uh…I thought if I researched more about it, I could convince her to come out. I hadn’t found anything yet, but after learning more…I-I just feel it’s better to say she,” he explained. “What exactly is it…or she?” Dean asked, pointing his gun at door. “Well…okay. First of all, I want to make it clear that I made the wish for my daughter. It, she was supposed to be a birthday gift for her. She’s turning five in a few days, and I just wanted the perfect gift,” he went on. Tired of the small talk, Dean interrupted, “Cut the chit-chat. What did you wish for?” Suddenly, the door burst open, knocking the man down to the floor. The sight before Dean was enough to stop his finger from pulling the trigger. Just outside the door, steadily flew a small, dull yellow creature uniquely featuring a set of large bat wings on its back, big hairy pointed ears, two large bright red eyes, a pair of sharp fangs, long scruffy pink hair and tail, four hooves, and a mark on each hip that featured a trio of pink bats. Sam froze as well, gun still hanging in his limp hand by his thigh. “W-What is that?” Sam asked, wide eyes glued to the strange creature. “It’s…it’s a horse-pyre!” Dean exclaimed.