Diary of a Hunter

Dean, Sam, John, and I left early in the morning. I had said goodbye to Bobby even though I knew that he was reluctant to let me go. He knew though, like what John had said, there were important things for me to learn if I was going to survive on my own someday. What if I came up against something supernatural? Going on this hunt, and many more would teach me what to do. So what if I was going to be gone for about a week? Maybe it'd be even less time! Their last hunt had only been about two, three days.

I hadn't been on many hunts before though so I was nervous. These boys had been hunting since birth while I barely knew what I was doing. Bobby had taken me on hunts every now and then during summers, but he never let me go during school. It was actually kind of exciting… John had let Dean and I go in the impala while he went in the black 1981 GMC K1500.

"So when did your dad actually give you the impala?" I asked, looking around Dean's car as we followed his father to Montana, the place where the case was.

"Well I started getting privileges once I got my official license but you know Dad taught me to drive when I was like… thirteen," Dean said.

"Yeah," I said back.

"And he kind of just gave it to me right before we showed back up at your house after the summer," Dean shrugged.

"It means a lot to you, doesn't it?" I asked, detecting the pride in Dean's voice, although he was attempting to play it off as if it were nothing. I could tell though. I knew Dean too well to know that he was extremely proud that his dad had given him the precious Impala.

"I guess so," Dean replied, shrugging. I laughed. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," I said, shaking my head.

"Oh come on," Dean whined.

"Nothing, it just, you're acting like it doesn't matter when this car is practically your baby, Dean. And the fact that your dad gave it to you…" I trailed off.

"Nah, I don't do that sensitive stuff," he warned.

I shot him a look, "You took care of me after the Stephen thing…"

"Okay well that's a different story!" Dean defended. I laughed at how defensive he was getting about this.

"So you're saying if I banged up the Impala then you'd maybe show a teeny, tiny ounce of sensitivity?" I asked.

"You better not," he warned, a playful smile on his face.

"I'm just sayin'," I shrugged, my eyes looking out of the windshield out onto the open road. My gaze followed exactly what was in front of us. There was another pause where all we could hear was the rock music that Dean loved.

"I told you I'd find us time to be alone together," Dean said, breaking the silence and changing the subject.

"This is true, but you're driving so it's a little bit different," I said back.

"Yeah, but Bobby isn't around to say anything or to intrude. Now I can kiss you whenever I want," he smirked.

"Yes, this is also true," I said in response, my lips curling into a little smile.

"You know, I could pull over right and now and we could-," he started, sliding his arm around me. He leaned in close to me, his lips right on my neck. He grazed it my neck with his lips and I had to fight the temptation to give in to what he wanted. "Well… you know." He whispered.

"Okay, quit it!" I giggled, pushing him off of me.

"What? I'm just trying to seduce my very hot girlfriend right now. Is that such a crime?" he asked.

"No! But you're also supposed to be driving! You may kill us before you even get close to the seduction," I exclaimed, teasingly.

"I am a good driver!" Dean declared.

"Yes, I know you are but sometimes you are not the multi-tasker of the year," I said.

"Sure, I am! I'm an Aquarius," he said.

"That's Gemini, you dumbass," I laughed.

"Hey! I am great a multi-tasking. I could show you in the backseat if you wanted me to," he cooed.

"Dean!" I groaned. "Just drive."

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "We will have our moment in the backseat, Meredith Summers. Just you wait."

"Okay, if you say so," I replied, pretending to be unconvinced.

"So what? This is the part that you fall totally and complete in love with me, isn't it?" Dean asked.

"Maybe," I shrugged, challenging Dean.

I looked over at him and he looked over at me and we exchanged laughter. I looked down as I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and then looked back at Dean. The look that Dean gave me completely caught me off guard though. It was just this look of love and admiration and it was something that I returned for him. I knew that neither of us was ready to say it yet, but it was a look of love and we truly loved each other. The thing is, we had for a very long time… Now we were actually just finding it out.

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John, Dean, Sam, and I ended up going to breakfast at a local diner before we started our case work. None of us but John didn't even know what the case was about. After we ordered and the waitress was long gone, John pulled out a manila folder, opened it, and placed it in the middle of the table for the four of us to peer around.

"Here we are, in Crow Agency, Montana," John said.

"Yeah, Dad. So what's this case about?" Dean asked, eager to begin the case. Sam took a bite of his breakfast while trying to avoid this conversation.

"It looks like this is a simple salt and burn case but we don't know who. An elder from what is left of the Cheyenne tribe was murdered a few days ago. It's in the obituaries in the paper. There has been a history of mysterious deaths of Indians in the past year," John started.

"Indians… you mean, like Native Americans, Dad? We're dealing with Indians?" Dean asked, as if it was something dumb.

"No, we're dealing something that's trying to kill the Indians. We'll have to go and talk to the next victim. Well, I think it's the next victim. Tayo Park is a descendent of Sitting Bull, a legendary chief during the Indian Wars in the 1800's and there have been reports of haunting around him," John informed. Dean ruffled through some articles and pictures that were in the file folder while Sam looked at others. I looked at the articles over Dean's shoulder.

"So why this guy? If it's just a simple salt and burn case then why is this such a huge deal? We've done tons of these, Dad," Dean asked.

"Oh my God. We're at… Crow Agency. That's… historically that's where right about where the Battle of the Little Bighorn took place. George Custer and his seventh cavalry were brutally defeated by the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho," I said.

"Exactly," John said back, smiling at the fact that I caught on to the case quickly. "A Cheyenne was killed two days ago and an Arapaho was killed a week ago.

I turned to face Dean, "Tayo Park is the descendent of Sitting Bull who was the main reason that the Native Americans were able to defeat the Seventh Cavalry. He completed this ritual called the Sun Dance where he had a vision of attackers and the Native Americans were able to prepare and defend themselves. Whatever has been targeting the reservation must be an angry spirit that was never able to leave, someone who couldn't accept the defeat."

"Precisely. Well done, Meredith. Dean, Sam, you could learn something from her," John replied in approval after my long explication of the history of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

"Well how were we supposed to know that?" Dean asked.

"Do you ever pay attention in US history?" I asked back.

"Nope," Dean replied, popping the 'p' at the end of the word.

I chuckled and then felt Dean grab hold of my hand under the table, lacing his fingers with mine. I could feel his thumb rubbing over mine while he held my hand which made it hard to think straight. I was so crazy for this boy…

"So what? We question this guy? Stake out? Monitor him? Make sure nothing crazy happens and then rush in when he has a knife dangling over his head?" Dean asked.

"You said it was simple salt and burn case," Sam chimed in.

"But we don't know who exactly it is," John said back.

"So what, we're going to use him as bait?" Sam asked, challengingly.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat not only because of the tension between Sam and his father but also because of the fact that John wanted to use this man as bait.

"I never said that, Sam. We wait to find out who the men are. We watch Park but we'll make sure he's completely safe," John replied, attempting to cool down his son.

"Alright," Sam mumbled, although I could tell that he was still in disagreement.

"If I can… perhaps the ghost is George Custer? I mean, I may be totally and completely wrong but he was the commander of the seventh cavalry. If the defeat didn't sit well with anyone, it should be Custer," I suggested.

John nodded his head in agreement, "That's what I was thinking but we can't exactly just go and dig up a legendary general's grave and burn it in hopes that we were right. We have to be sure."

I nodded, "Yeah, okay. So what do we do now?"

"Well, right now, we finish breakfast and you and Dean will go talk to Park while Sam and I will be ready to come in if anything is to happen," John said.

"Okay," I said.

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Once Dean and I got back into the Impala to follow John Winchester to Tayo Park's house, I was surprised that Dean didn't turn the music back on.

"So what was that all about?" Dean asked, casually.

"What?" I asked back.

"Back there? You and my dad were nerding out," Dean pointed out.

I shrugged, "I really like history class. I guess it comes in handy sometimes." I rolled down the window and let the cool breeze graze my face. It was really nice this time of year and I liked the free feeling that the wind brought on.

"He seemed to think so," Dean mumbled.

"Dean… are you jealous? Am I stealing your thunder?" I asked.

"No!" he replied, almost too quick to answer my question. Even though Dean had said no, he and I both knew that answer to that. We left things in an awkward silence for what seemed like a long time but he and I both knew it really had just been a minute.

"I guess… that means I have to make it up to you, doesn't it?" I asked coyly, knowing that'd change his mood around. And it worked. I could practically feel the air change.

"Yeah, it does," he said, with a smirk curling upon his lips. I looked over at him and shrugged innocently, a little smile playing on my face.

"Later," I said, as I turned to look out of the window. I could tell it was killing Dean that I wouldn't look at him and I tried to hide my growing smile. This was just so damn fun. I sighed, trying to keep myself from laughing and I felt Dean's hand on my knee. "Later." I repeated. I pushed his hand off of my knee and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Tease," he whined.

"You know you love me," I shrugged.

"I hate you," he grumbled, because he knew I was right.

Dean parallel parked his car right behind his dad's. The two of us got out of the car and I looked around, confused. The whole reservation seemed to be lit up. Despite the previous deaths, women and children were out cooking or doing some sort of crafts while the men were doing heavy work. It was almost as if we'd regressed back to the 1800s. What was going on here? There was even a large tent-like teepee set up.

We walked up to a house and John knocked on the door. A man in his mid-50s answered the door.

"Hello?" he said, looking at the four of us.

"Hi, Mr. Park, my children and my oldest son's girlfriend are actually doing a project for school on the Lakota-Sioux and were referenced here to ask you a couple of questions… for their project. If that's alright with you," John started.

"Of course. Why don't you come in?" Tayo Park said, a smile spreading across his face once John had told him that this was for educational purposes.

"What's going on here? The place seems vivid. Are you celebrating something or-," I started.

"Yes. It's the girls' coming of age ceremony. Many of the girls on the reservation are about at that age right now and the ceremony is tonight," Mr. Park replied.

"So what can you tell us about your culture it seems-," I started.

"Actually, just out of curiosity, and we're sorry for your losses, but what's been happening with the recent deaths we've heard about in the news?" Dean asked, eagerly.

"Oh. I should've expected questions like that. Uh, evil spirits, son," Mr. Park replied.

"Now, you can't possibly believe in that sort of thing," John said, playing the skeptical dad.

"You wanted to learn about the Native American traditions well here is one. Anything is possible," Mr. Park replied.

I opened my mouth to say something and then all of a sudden we all heard a scream. Our heads turned to the outside and the five of us raced to the porch of Mr. Tayo Park's house. We hurried towards the center of the activities where there was a woman crying.

"He's, Robert, he's, he's he's gone!" she cried.

"What's happening?" I asked, in fear.

"Oh God, another one of our tribe, the Lakota's, killed…" Mr. Park trailed off. He shook his head and he began to run towards the people. "Everyone stay calm! We'll call the medicine men and the elders and we see what we can do to protect what's left of us. As for Robert, we'll hold a proper burial before the ceremony tonight."

"Is this a bad time?" John asked Mr. Park.

"I'm so sorry. It's not safe for you to be here. If you could… leave a phone number I could call you when it's an okay time to come back," Mr. Park said.

"Alright," John said, giving him a strange look. Wow, John was really good and making himself seem like nothing was going on.

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Back at the motel we poured over John's file and researched things on John's laptop. I had gone and gotten some library books too.

"Wait a second, it can't be Custer because Custer was buried in New York. Sure, he died here but his remains are in New York and can't possibly be tied here," John said.

"Well that rules on option out," Dean said.

"Guys, I think I found something," Sam said, looking at a legend book that I had checked out. The three of us looked up from our research to see what Sam had found.

"Yeah?" John asked.

"This legend… I mean, I don't know… the legend is about an angry spirit that killed what killed him and then he materialized," Sam said, hesitantly.

"By that you mean… came back to life?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, he just became human – flesh and bone – and avenged his death," Sam replied.

"So if it's not Custer… there could be so many options. The whole seventh cavalry fought in that battle," John pondered.

I scanned over another passage before something hit me, "What about James Calhoun? He was a brother-in-law to Custer meaning he'd be loyal and have a reason to avenge Custer and his death. And look! He was buried in the cemetery on the memorial that used to be the battle grounds."

"That's good. We could run with that," John said.

"But wait, didn't Tayo Park say that another the man that was killed today a Lakota Sioux?" Dean brought up.

"Three… he's materialized. Calhoun is alive again. Damn it," John swore.

"So why hasn't he attacked yet?" Dean asked.

There was a silence where we all tried to come up with a reason. It wouldn't make sense why he hadn't attacked yet.

"If the legend isn't-," Sam started.

"The Wounded Knee Massacre," John and I both said at the same time.

"Oh my God, he's trying to recreate the Wounded Knee massacre. The whole town will be at the coming out ceremony. They'll be innocent and vulnerable… women and children. Calhoun is trying to recreate it… Oh shit…" John said.

"So what? We go and salt and burn the bones. He's still a ghost right? I mean, he's flesh and blood but-,"

Dean said.

"But all of those people…" I trailed off. "They can't have the coming out ceremony tonight!"

"They have to. That's when Calhoun will come out of hiding. We can't salt and burn his bones anymore. We have to kill him as man," John said.

"So what do we do?" Sam asked.

"We wait for the ceremony and we go back when it starts and keep an eye on things. When things go awry, we charge and we take action. We find Custer, and we kill him," John said. The three of us nodded. I felt like a soldier.