┏                                                            ┓

┗                                                           ┛

chapter three:
⤵︎ ⤹
⤷ BLOODY MARY ⤶
01 x 05

̔ ̔ ᴡᴀɪᴛ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ʏᴏᴜʀ
ʙɪɢ ᴘʟᴀɴ,
sᴍᴀsʜ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɴɢ? ̓ ̓

̔ ̔ ʏᴇᴀʜ . . . ̓ ̓

❏❐❑

"SAM, WAKE up." Dean demanded as he shook his brother awake who was sat in the seat next to him.

Sam woke, confused. He sat up and looked around, noticing that they were at a complete place than to where they were when he fell asleep. He then peered to the back seat to see Eirene, who smiled and waved at him.

"I take it I was having a nightmare." Sam sighed out as he readjusted himself in his seat.

Dean looked to him with a sympathetic gaze, which Sam absolutely hated. "Yeah, another one."

"Hey, at least I got some sleep." Sam commented, trying to stay on the positive side of things as usual.

"You know, sooner or later, we're gonna have to talk about this." the older man reprimanded, still not looking away from Sam as he said this.

"Are we here?" Sam questioned, not wanting to linger on the topic any longer than they had already been.

Dean grimaced slightly before gesturing dramatically with his hands. "Yup. Welcome to Toledo, Ohio."

Sam picked up a newspaper with Steven Shoemaker's obituary circled prominently in black ink.

Shoemaker, Steven
The Shoemaker family is sad to announce the sudden death of their beloved husband and father, Steven Shoemaker. Steven was 46. A short service will be held on Wednesday, [. . .] 31 at 2:00 p.m. at the Toledo [. . .] and cherish you [. . .] Your [. . .]

"So, what do you think really happened to this guy?"

"That's what we're gonna find out." Dean replied as he grinned at his brother.

"Let's go."

The three hunters exit the car, shutting the car doors in unison as they head up towards the hospital.

UPON SEEING on of the Doctor's names, Eirene frowned slightly. "I say go with the morgue technician guy, at least we can pronounce that."

The morgue technician looked up upon hearing some footsteps, greeting them all with a small smile. "Hey."

Eirene felt as though this conversation wasn't about to go as pleasant as they all assumed it would. Mainly, Dean's temper would get in the way if this man didn't cooperate with them (which the brunette assumed he wouldn't as their cover story was pretty trash).

"Hey." Dean greeted the man back with a forced smile.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah. We're the, uh . . . med students." Dean tried to lie as he motioned to Sam and Eirene next to him, the latter smiling as he looked upon her.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, Doctor -" he began but fumbled over the name.

Eirene stepped in, attempting to dig themselves out of the non - existent hole Dean had dug them into. "Figlavitch didn't tell you?" she asked with a small frown. The hunter walked close to him as she smiled at him warmly. "We talked to him on the phone. We're from Ohio State." The brunette added me n a confident and sultry tone. If they couldn't get in normally, then she'd have to flirt their way in, even if she didn't even find the guy at all attractive.

"He's supposed to show us the Shoemaker corpse. It's for our paper." she added, smiling once more.

The morgue technician just swallowed deeply, trying his best to avoid eye contact with the woman as he replied. "Well, I'm sorry, he's at lunch."

"Oh well, he said, uh -" Dean began once more.

It was at this moment that Eirene realised how much of a bad liar Dean Winchester was. Eirene could lie for days on end with ease but Dean however proved to be a different story. They truly were screwed.

" - oh, well, you know, it doesn't matter. You don't mind just showing us the body, do you?"

"Sorry, I can't." he denied sharply as he looked back past the woman's face to Sam and Dean who stood still as statues.

"Doc will be back in an hour. You can wait for him if you want."

Dean looked shocked, there was no way they could wait an hour. "An hour? Ooh. We gotta be heading back to Columbus by then."

Dean looked towards Sam and nudged him slightly.

Getting the message, Sam agreed while rubbing his shoulder slightly. "Right, yeah."

"Uh, look, man, this paper's like half our grade, so if you don't mind helping us out -"

The man only scoffed as he once more looked back to Sam and Dean. "- Uh, look, man . . . no."

Dean laughed a little as he turned around and mumbled to Sam as quiet as he could muster without the man actually hearing him.

"I'm gonna hit him in the face I swear."

Eirene, who had now made her way back over to the two, frowned as she grabbed his arm slightly and pulled him down to her. "No you're not! You're not punching anyone. Not unless you want to get inside."

Sam groaned slightly as he stepped forward slightly, taking his chance with the man. He opened his wallet and pulled out a couple of twenties. He lied a few of them down on the desk which added up to at least $100. Now the technician was intrigued. The technician picked up the money with a grin on his face, perhaps this is what he had hoped for.

"Follow me." he gestured for the trio to come close to him as he walked around his desk to lead them the way.

"Huh," Eirene hummed as she stared at the man now walking away. "so it's true what they say. The way to a man's heart is through money." she then scoffed. "Ridiculous." the woman then began to follow the technician who wasn't too far ahead of them.

Dean grabbed his brother's arm when he tried to follow. "Dude, I earned that money."

Sam snickered slightly. "You won it in a poker game, Dean."

"Yeah, your point?"

Sam didn't say anything as he began to follow his friend and the morgue technician.

"NOW THE newspaper said his daughter found him. She said his eyes were bleeding." Sam recalled as he looked to the technician.

The man didn't say anything yet as he pulled back the sheet over Steven's face.

Eirene grimaced slightly at the gory sight in front of them.

"More than that. They practically liquefied."

"Any sign of a struggle? Maybe somebody did it to him?" Dean intrigued.

"Nope. Besides the daughter, he was all alone."

"What's the official cause of death." Sam asked as he looked from the body to Dean and Eirene wearily.

"Ah, Doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurysm? Something burst up in there, that's for sure."

Eirene furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"Intense cerebral bleeding. This guy had more blood in his skull than anyone I've ever seen."

The hunters all looked to each other in apprehension. This surely was something they hadn't come across before. Demons? Sure. Angry spirits? Definitely. But a guy bleeding endlessly in his skull with his eyes liquified was something new to them.

"The eyes mash; what would cause something like that?" Sam asked, still slightly grossed out from the sight of Steven's dead body below them.

"Capillaries can burst. See a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims." the man replied simply.

Dean stared at him in question. "Yeah? You ever see exploding eyeballs?"

"That's a first for me, but hey," he replied as he put his hands up innocently. "I'm not the doctor."

"Hey, think we could take a look at that police report? You know for, uh . . . our paper."

"I'm not really supposed to show you that." the man answered.

Sam sighed, extremely annoyed as he pulled out a couple more $20 dollar bills out of his wallet that was growing smaller by the minute.

"MIGHT NOT be one of ours. Might just be some freak medical thing." Sam said as they were walking down the stairs of the hospital.

Dean scoffed. "And exactly how many times in Dad's long and varied career has it actually been a 'freak medical thing' and not some sign of an awful supernatural death?" he asked.

"Uh, almost never." Sam replied.

"Exactly."

"He has a pretty good point you know." Eirene pointed out to Sam with a grin. "That guy's book is like, filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff."

Sam chuckled, ignoring his friend's words. "All right, let's just go talk to the daughter."

SAM, DEAN and Eirene all walked into the house where the funeral was being held. A picture of Steven Shoemaker was stood upright on the desk. The attendees were all men in black suits and women in black dresses, except for of course Sam, Dean and Eirene. The brunette felt rather out of place as she shifted in her outfit. She supposed her dark jeans helped but her bright red top definitely made her stick out like a sore thumb (the dark jacket overtop not helping in the slightest). At least Sam and Dean's clothes were somewhat fitting and darkly coloured.

"Feel like we're underdressed." Dean muttered to the two stood on either side of him.

"Oh, you think?" Eirene questioned incredulously as she gestured her hands down her body. "I hadn't noticed."

Sam laughed at his friend's usual antics as Dean only rolled his eyes, walking forward. The two then following him all the way to the back of the house.

A WHILE of walking around had eventually led the hunters to a man who pointed them straight towards Donna and Lily Shoemaker, who were with their friends Jill and Charlie.

"You must be Donna, right?" Dean asked as they made their way over.

Donna looked at Dean with uncertainty. "Yeah." she answered at last.

"Hi, uh - we're sorry." Sam said with a truthfully sorry gaze.

"Really sorry." Eirene added. "I uh - I know what it feels like to lose a parent so I know how much it can suck."

Both brothers looked to the girl with sadness looming in their eyes, their hearts feeling considerably more heavy than they had just moments ago. Eirene never really talked about what had happened to her parents and sister. Sam only knew that they had been attacked and murdered (presumably by something supernatural) and that's all she had said. Along with the disturbing detail of how her sister was missing and was assumed to be dead by the police, and the fact that her house had burnt down just months after the incident. After that, it was never brought up by the brunette again. Dean, however, knew far less and would most likely never know unless she decided to tell him. And that was a big if. The two were at each other's throats more than anything.

"Thank you." Donna thanked in appreciation.

"I'm Sam, this is Dean and Eirene. We all worked with your dad." Sam began as he pointed out to each of them with their name.

Donna peered at Charlie then back at Sam, Dean and Eirene.

She lifted her eyebrows. "You did?"

"Yeah. This whole thing. I mean, a stroke."

Charlie looked to the three before intervening. "Look, I don't think she really wants to talk about this right now."

Donna shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm okay."

"Were there any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?" Eirene asked the grieving woman softly.

"No."

Lily turned around to face the three. "That's because it wasn't a stroke."

Donna sighed as she set her sights on the little girl "Lily, don't say that."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, she's just upset." Donna replied as she looked back at them.

"No, it happened because of me."

"Sweetie, it didn't."

"Lily." Sam knelt down on the grass to reach eye level with the girl.

"Why would you say something like that?" he intrigued as he looked her in the eyes.

The girl sniffled slightly as she looked back at him. "Because, right before he died, I said it."

"You said what?"

Lily looked slight uncertain as she spoke her next words. "Bloody Mary, three times in the bathroom mirror."

A pause fell upon the group.

Lily took this as a sign to continue. "She took his eyes, that's what she does."

Donna shook her head as she denied what the girl had said to Sam, thinking she was just being ridiculous. "That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault."

"I think your sister's right, Lily." Dean added as he crouched slightly to meet her eye lines "There's no way it could have been Bloody Mary. Your dad didn't say it, did he?"

"No, I don't think so."

DESPITE THE obvious task at hand, Eirene couldn't help but feel mesmerised by the beautiful house that was the Shoemaker's. It had been long since she had slept in a proper bed and ate proper food since she was so used to sleeping in motels or the impala and eating from whatever diner or crappy restaurant they could find. What with Sam's desire to keep as healthy as he could with salads etc and Dean's firm dislike on the matter, it wasn't exactly easy.

It hasn't been long before they came across the bathroom. The same room that poor Stevenson Shoemaker has been found dead. Sam reluctantly and albeit rather hesitantly, pushed the door open. The hunters all walked in. Almost immediately, they noticed the dried blood still lingering on the walls and looming on the once pale white floor.

"The Bloody Mary legend . . . Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?" Sam questioned as he stepped closer into the room.

"Not that I know of." Sam replied as he eyed the bathroom, it sure was a grim sight to anyone who dared to enter.

"I mean, everywhere else all over the country, kids will play Bloody Mary, and as far as we know, nobody dies from it."

"Yeah, well, maybe everywhere it's just a story, but here it's actually happening." Dean reasoned as he peered around the room once before before looking to Sam and Eirene.

"The place where the legend began?"

Dean only shrugged before he opened the medicine cabinet.

"But according to the legend," Sam began. "the person who says B -"

Sam looked at the medicine cabinet mirror, which now faces him before he and closed it.

"- The person who says you know what gets it. But here - "

Eirene suddenly realised what he was getting at. "- Shoemaker gets it instead, yeah."

"Right." Sam nodded.

Dean sighed as he turned around to face both of them. "I've never heard anything like that before. Still, the guy did die right in front of the mirror, and the daughter's right. The way the legend goes, you know who scratches your eyes out.

"It's worth checking in to."

The three hunters all agreed and began to make their way out of the bathroom and through the rest of the house upstairs. That was until they got caught.

"What are you doing up here?" Charlie enquired as she looked to them all rather suspiciously.

"We had to go to the bathroom." Eirene smoothly replied knowing Dean's inability to lie well.

"Who are you?" she now asked as she crossed her arms and walked a step closer to them.

"Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad." Dean answered rather too quickly for someone who was telling the truth. Unfortunately, for them, they weren't telling the truth.

"He was a day trader or something. He worked by himself."

"No, I know, I meant -"

"- And all those weird questions downstairs, what was that? So you tell me what's going on, or I start screaming. Or do you need to time to rehearse another lie between you?"

Sam sighed as he looked to Charlie. "All right, all right. We think something happened to Donna's dad."

"Yeah, a stroke."

"That's not a sign of a typical stroke. We think it might be something else." Sam denied simply. Sometimes ignorance really wasn't bliss.

"Like what?" Charlie questioned in disbelief, desperate to catch any of them out in a lie.

"Honestly? We don't know yet. But we don't want it to happen to anyone else. That's the truth." Sam replied as he looked to the skeptical woman.

"So, if you're gonna scream," Eirene added, gesturing her hand to her, "please, go right ahead."

Charlie huffed. "Who are you, cops?"

Sam looked over his shoulder at Dean and Eirene who merely shrugged.

"Something like that." Dean managed to get out.

Sam suddenly walked forward towards the girl. "I'll tell you what. Here." Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, he then started write down his cell number for the girl. "If you think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary . . . just give us a call."

He then handed her the piece of paper, nodding as she took it from his hand. The three then made their way out of the house, Eirene more glad than anything that they could finally leave.

AFTER THE time they had spent in the Shoemaker house (that had gotten them relatively nowhere) Sam decided the local library would of course be the next stop much to Dean and Eirene's dismay. It was rather dark for the time of day making the library look rather un illuminated.

"All right, say Bloody Mary really is haunting this town. There's gonna be some sort of proof - Like a local woman who died nasty."

"Yeah but a legend this widespread it's hard. I mean, there's like 50 versions of who she actually is. One story says she's a witch, another says she's a mutilated bride, there's a lot more."

Dean looked around the rather empty library in thought. "All right so what are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Every version's got a few things in common. It's always a woman named Mary, and she always dies right in front of a mirror. So we've gotta search local newspapers - public records as far back as they go. See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill."

Eirene grimaced. "Well that sure sounds annoying."

Sam shook his head, attempting to say positive. "No it won't be so bad, as long as we . . ." the man trailed off as he peered to the computers which all had a sign plastered on top which displayed the words 'OUT OF ORDER'. He then looked back to the two hunters stood near him. "I take it back. This will be very annoying."

Eirene raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, a none too amused look on her face. "You don't say."

AFTER HOURS of unsuccessful research, the trio of hunters had drove back to the motel they were currently staying in. It definitely wasn't the most pleasant of places that was for sure but it'd do for now. Surprisingly enough, Dean and Eirene had taken to doing some more research on Sam's laptop as he slept.

The silence of the motel room was deafening to the two hunters, only the sound of the keyboard keeps clicking and Eirene's pen scratching against a piece of paper could be heard. That was until a sudden gasp broke through the room, alerting both of them. Looking over, they noticed that Sam was now awake on the bed to the left of them. He had shot up, presumably just haven woken up from a nightmare.

"Why'd you let me fall asleep?" Sam's groggy voice echoed through the room. Dean and Eirene shared a regretful gaze as they peered to each other in silence.

"Cause I'm an awesome brother." Dean replied. "So what did you dream about?" he asked as he continued to type on the laptop.

Sam only sighed slightly, rubbing a hand over his tired face. "Lollipops and candy canes." he deadpanned.

Dean merely rolled his eyes, turning his gaze back to the laptop. "Yeah, sure."

"Did you find anything?"

Once more, Dean rolled his eyes as he looked annoyed. "Oh besides a whole new level of frustration?" he questioned. "No. We've looked at everything. A few local women, a Laura and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror, and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave, but uh, no Mary."

Sam collapsed backwards onto the bed from his upright position in defeat. "Maybe we just haven't found it yet." he commented hopefully.

"We've also been searching for strange deaths in the area, you know . . . eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here, maybe it just ain't Mary." Eirene winced at Dean's choice of words.

Before anything more could be said, Sam's phone rung, prompting the man to answer it.

"Hello?" Sam asked to the voice in the other end of the phone. From where they were sitting, Dean and Eirene could tell whatever it was wasn't good at the look of concern that formed on his face.

IT HAD turned out that Jill was found dead. Her eyes were also gone when she was discovered which only convinced Sam further that there was something going on here, they just needed to find out what.

Which is where they were now. In a park on search for Charlie who they found sitting on one of the benches, crying her eyes out. Eirene sat next to the woman trying to reassure her as Sam stood next to them and Dean sat on the back of the bench from behind Charlie.

"And they found her on the bathroom floor. And her - her eyes. They were gone."

"I'm sorry." Sam apologised with sincere guilt, as though it was somehow his fault. Charlie dismissed this and thanked the man anyway.

"And she said it. I heard her say it. But it couldn't be because of that. I'm insane, right?" Charlie added while wiping her eyes with the tissue Eirene had passed her mere moments ago.

"No, you're not insane." Dean denied but with a hint of hesitation.

"Oh God, that makes me feel so much worse." Charlie cried as she looked down from the three.

Sam looked to her with a kind gaze. "Look. We think something's happening here. Something that can't be explained."

Dean nodded his head at his brother's words and added on, "And we're gonna stop it but we could use your help.

THE PROCESS of climbing up the drain pipe to Jill's bedroom was most definitely not pleasant - even more so for the female hunter as she was wearing slightly heeled shoes -. However, Eirene being who she was denied help from both brothers (mostly Dean) as she climbed up the pipe after the older brother who grabbed her hands and pulled her through the rest of the window. She smiled lightly in thanks as she put her shoes back on and made her way over to the bed where Sam was sorting out the usual equipment they brought along with them.

"What did you tell Jill's mom?" Sam asked as he retrieved something from the bag that Charlie couldn't even tell what it was.

Charlie sniffled slightly. "Just that I needed some time alone with Jill's pictures and things." while the girl was talking, the three hunters got to work. Sam pulled something out of the bag while Dean shut the curtains and Eirene that no light got through the room. "I hate lying to her."

The older Winchester brother looked to her. "Trust us, this is for the greater good."

"What are you guys looking for?" she questioned.

Eirene chuckled to herself slightly. "We'll let you know as soon as we find it, believe me."

Sam adjusted the digital camera in his hands and passed it to Dean. "Hey, night vision." in response, Dean turned it on for him making Sam nod in thanks. "Perfect."

Sam aimed the digital camera at Dean who mockingly glared at his brother and friend.

"Do I look like Paris Hilton?"

Eirene scoffed as she looked to him with a teasing grin. "You wish you could look like Paris Hilton."

Dean's cocky attitude from before faltered. "I do not!" he denied brashly. He then looked towards Sam in defence but he just shrugged his shoulder and turned away, a smile on his face. "Hey, don't look at me."

Dean sighed but chose to ignore the two. This case was important after all.

Sam walked away with the camera to the other side of the room, Dean and Eirene following behind him. The man opened Jill's closet door and begins filming around the mirror.

"So I don't get it. I mean . . . the first victim didn't summon Mary, and the second victim did. How's she choosing them?" Eirene asked, confused as ever.

Dean let out a puff of air as he looked towards her. "Beats me."

Sam closed the closet door and him and Eirene were quick to move across the rest of the room as Dean stepped out to talk to the blonde.

"I want to know why Jill said it in the first place." Dean commented, this time towards Charlie.

Charlie looked at the man in disbelief. "It's just a joke."

"Yeah well somebody's gonna say it again, it's just a matter of time."

"Hey." Sam interrupted as he peeled out of the room, Eirene now holding the camera. Dean and Charlie quickly turned to look at him. "There's a black light in the trunk, right?" he questioned, pointing to the trunk in mention.

Dean nodded and went to retrieve it as Sam and Eirene tore the mirror down from the wall and lied it upside down on the bed on the middle of the room. Dean threw the black light to the female hunter who caught it and shone it over the back of the mirror as she peeled of the brown paper covering the back. Charlie gasped in shock as a handprint was revealed with the name 'Gary Bryman' written on the back.

"Gary Bryman?"

"You know who that is?"

The blonde stuttered slightly making the three hunters think she knew more than what she was letting on. "No." she denied.

ONCE MORE, the hunters had found their way to the park bench. Sam and Eirene had gone to do some more research in order to find out just who Gary Bryman was.

After a while, they had finally discovered who the man was. They were now heading on their way back to the place where Dean and Charlie were waiting for them.

"This case is pretty odd don't you think?" Sam questioned as they were walking down the path that led to the park, his hands were firmly in his pockets due to the slightly chilly temperature.

Eirene looked to her friend and chuckled slightly. "Aren't they all?"

Sam nodded and hummed in agreement.

"I mean, what really matters is that we save people." the brunette added as she too stuffed her hands in her jacket pocket and moved closer to him in order to get a bit warmer.

"Even if we get hurt?" Sam retorted in a slightly sad tone.

The female hunter peered to the man with a look of confusion on her tanned features. This was definitely quite a morbid topic, why was he not bringing it up? "You're never usually one to talk like this Sammy." Eirene replied in an attempt to lighten to the mood.

She failed in that area however . . .

"SO, GARY Bryman was an 8 - year - old boy. Two years ago he was killed in a hit and run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry. But nobody got the plates or saw the driver." Sam's voice broke the two out of their discussion.

Charlie gasped in shock as tears welled in her eyes. "Oh my God."

Eirene, confused as ever asked, "What?"

Charlie took a deep breath before replying. "Jill drove that car."

Dean nodded in silent realisation. "We need to get back to your friend Donna's house."

FOLLOWING THE revelation that Jill had killed Gary Bryman, the three hunters drove back to Donna's house and headed straight to the bathroom. They tore the mirror down and shone a black light over it only to to reveal a handprint and this time there were the words 'Linda Shoemaker'.

"Linda Shoemaker." Sam read with a knowing glance towards the others. Dean and Eirene nodded slightly, knowing what this could mean.

They all said nothing more as they hung the mirror back up and traipsed down the stairs to where Donna and Charlie were seated.

"I don't understand, why are you asking me this?" Donna inquired as all eyes were on her.

Sam sighed and looked towards her. "Look, we're sorry, but it's important."

"Really important." Eirene added as the woman peered to her with a sad gaze in her eyes.

Donna still didn't look fully convinced but answered anyway. "Yeah. Linda's my mom okay? She overdosed on sleeping pills, it was an accident, and that's it. I think you should leave."

Dean looked slightly alarmed but looked to the woman and held his hand out to her as he made slow steps towards the woman. "Now Donna, just listen."

"Get out of my house!" Donna yelled in tears as she abandoned her seat and ran up the stairs in a hurry.

Charlie's voice broke the solemn silence. "Oh my God. Do you really think her dad could've killed her mom?"

"Maybe."

Charlie nodded slowly. "I think I should stick around."

"All right. Whatever you do, don't -" Dean warned.

The blonde interrupted him. "- Believe me, I won't say it." she said firmly.

EIRENE ALWAYS hated the research part of the cases. Though unfortunately, that was what most of hunting was. Researching. So, that's where there all were right now. Sam was looking at some things posted on a bulletin board, Dean was scrolling through a computer and Eirene flipping through tons of old books. Well, that was until Sam interrupted them.

"Wait, wait, wait, you're doing a nationwide search?" he asked.

"Yep. The NCIC, the FBI database - at this point any Mary who died in front of a mirror is good enough for me." Dean replied.

"But if she's haunting the town, she should have died in the town." Sam added as he looked down to the two collectively sat down on the bed.

"I'm telling you there's nothing local, I've checked. So unless you got a better idea -" Dean denied with a hard gaze and as usual, an extreme apt to prove that he was right.

Sam sighed as he looked towards his brother. "- The way Mary's choosing her victims, it seems like there's a pattern."

Dean only nodded as he pointed to himself and then Eirene. "I know, we were thinking the same thing."

"With mister Shoemaker and Jill's hit and run."

"Both had secrets where people died." Dean pieced together. Finally, this was starting to make sense.

"Right. I mean there's a lot of folklore about mirrors - that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets, that they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them."

"Right. So maybe if you've got a secret, like a really nasty one where someone died, then Mary sees it, and punishes you for it." Eirene added as she looked towards the two with a grim expression.

"Whether you're the one that summoned her or not."

Dean beckoned Sam over quickly. "Take a look at this." he demanded as he pulled up a picture of a woman lying by a mirror in a rather large puddle of, presumably her own, blood making the younger two hunters grimace. Dean hurriedly printed out another picture and handed it to Sam. This time it was a picture of a handprint and the letters 'Tre'.

Sam took the picture and quickly analysed it. "Looks like the same handprint." he acknowledged.

Eirene confirmed his theory with a nod of her head. "Her name was Mary Worthington - an unsolved murder in Fort Wayne, Indiana."

THIS NEW discovery had led the three travelling hunters towards a detective agency. It was rather large and had the words 'FORT WAYNE, INDIANA' plastered on the front in bold.

It wasn't too difficult to worm their way inside and before they knew it they were talking to a detective.

"I was on the job for 35 years - detective for most of that. Now everybody packs it in with a few loose ends, but the Mary Worthington murder - that one still gets me." the man spoke as he answered their question.

"What exactly happened?" Dean inquired as he peered to the man.

The detective only looked skeptical, understandably so, as he gazed across to them. "You three said you were reporters?"

Sam chose not to answer the man as they were wasting precious time and he along with Eirene, knew that Dean couldn't lie to save his life, so he just settled for a nod. "We know Mary was 19, lived by herself. We know she won a few local beauty contests, dreamt of getting out of Indiana, being an actress. And we know the night of March 29th someone broke into her apartment and murdered her, cut out her eyes with a knife."

"That's right."

"See sir, when we asked you what happened, we wanted to know what you think happened. Not what you were told." Eirene commented as she looked to the detective with a small smile as he sighed slightly.

The detective didn't say anything as he gestured for then to follow him. The quartet walked down many twisting hallways and up many winding sets of stairs until they were finally led into a room filled to the brim with drawers. It was the kind of thing you'd see in a police movie. Although Eirene supposed they were currently living one as of right now.

The man walked over to a specific drawer and pulled out some files from a filing cabinet and walked half over to them. He opened it to a page which had a picture that was all too familiar to them.

"Technically I'm not supposed to have a copy of this. Now see that there? T - R - E?"

"Yeah." Dean replied.

"I think Mary was trying to spell out the name of her killer." the man theorised.

Eirene furrowed her eyebrows, just when things were suddenly all falling into place something has to pop up to confuse them all. The chance of them finding this person was almost one in a million. " You know who it was?" she questioned curiously.

The detective shook his head no. "Not for sure. But there was a local man, a surgeon - Trevor Sampson." he then pulled out a picture of the man he was talking about. "And I think her cut her up good."

Dean and Eirene peered to each other at the man's words. What he was saying did make sense. If this guy really did kill her and he was a surgeon no less, he would certainly know how to perform a gruesome act like that. And it would also explain why these people were constantly being found without their eyes.

"Now why would he do something like that?" Sam asked him, still recovering from his words.

"Her diary mentioned a man that she was seeing. She called him by his initial, 'T' Well, her last entry, she was gonna tell 'T's wife about their affair."

Dean nodded but was still not convinced. "Yeah but how do you know it was Sampson who killed her?"

"It's hard to say, but the way her eyes were cut out . . . it was almost professional."

"But you could never prove it?" Dean inquired.

The man declined. "No. No prints, no witnesses. He was meticulous."

"Is he still alive?" the brunette queried.

"Nope. If you ask me, Mary spent her last living moments trying to expose this guy's secret. But she never could."

"If you don't mind me asking, but where is she buried?" Sam asked.

"She wasn't. She was cremated."

"What about that mirror" the older brother questioned as he pointed to the one in the file which now lied splayed out on the table where the man now sat. "It's not in some evidence lockup somewhere is it?"

"Ah, no. It was returned to Mary's family a long time ago."

"Do you have the names of her family by any chance?"

AS THE detective turned out to be more than helpful, and without being bribed this time round, the three hunters were now driving down a road while Sam was on the phone.

"Oh really? Ah that's too bad Mr. Worthington. I would have paid a lot for that mirror. Okay, well maybe next time. All right, thanks." Sam replied to the unknown man and was quick to hang up and turn to the other two present in the car.

"So?" Eirene asked as she had both of her hands on the half of their seats and leaned forward in between them.

"So that was Mary's brother. The mirror was in the family for years, until he sold it one week ago to a store called Estate Antiques. A store in Toledo." Sam answered.

"So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?" Dean reasoned.

"That's commitment." Eirene muttered under her breath,

Sam ignored his friend's usual comments and nodded in response. "Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow."

"Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?"

"Yeah there is. Yeah, when someone would die in a house people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped."

Eirene looked to them both. "So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit?"

"Yeah but how could she move through like a hundred different mirrors?"

"I don't know, but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it."

"Smash it?" Eirene raised an eyebrow. "Why do your plans always include violence? First you wanted to punch a guy and now you just want to smash a mirror with a spirit trapped inside."

Dean nodded making the brunette roll her eyes in annoyance.

Before Sam could say anything, his phone rung alerting him and making the pair stop what they were talking about immediately. "Hello?" he asked, confused. The look on his face only deepened when he heard who was on the other end. "Charlie?"

DURING THE call, Sam had told Charlie to meet them where they were staying and she was quick to do so. Charlie was sitting on the bed with her head on her knees while Eirene comforted the girl. Sam and Dean had all of the curtains drawn shut and were hurriedly throwing sheets over any and all of the mirrors or just facing them to the wall or floor. The brunette was motioning them to hurry it up.

After they were finished, Sam sat on the other side of Charlie to her left as he spoke to her. "Hey, hey it's ok. Hey, you can open up your eyes Charlie. It's okay, all right?"

Charlie hesitated but listened anyway as she looked up slowly.

"Now listen. You're gonna stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? And as long as you do that, she cannot get you." Sam warned with a kind gaze.

Charlie shook her head vehemently. "But I can't keep that up forever. I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"No. No. Not anytime soon." Eirene denied as she looked up to Dean, gesturing for him to say something with a hard gaze.

"All right Charlie. We need to know what happened."

Charlie sniffled slightly. "We - we were in the bathroom. Donna said it."

"That's not what we're talking about. Something happened, didn't it? In your life . . . a secret . . . where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?"

"I had this boyfriend. I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know? And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said 'Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm gonna kill myself.' And you know what I said? I said 'Go ahead.' And I left. How could I say that? How could I leave him like that? I just . . . I didn't believe him, you know? I should have." at the end of her words, Charlie started to cry again as she put her head back on her knees.

"YOU KNOW her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault." Dean reasoned as he drove the car through the hammering rain, the windshield whispers not doing much to prevent the amount of rain falling onto the window.

"You know as well as we do spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, Dean. Charlie had a secret, someone died, that's good enough for Mary."

Dean sighed. "I guess."

"You know, I've been thinking. It might not be enough to just smash that mirror." Sam commented as he looked to his brother.

The older man furrowed his brows. "Why, what do you mean?"

"Well Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean she moves around from mirror to mirror so who's to say that she's not just gonna keep hiding in them forever? So maybe we should try to pin her down, you know, summon her to her mirror and then smash it."

"How do you know that's going to work for sure?" Eirene questioned this time. She wasn't one to usually doubt Sam's plans as he was the smart one but even his ideas failed from time to time.

"I don't, not for sure." he denied, not feeling as confident as he had done before.

"Well who's gonna summon her?" Dean harshly interrogated.

"I will. She'll come after me."

Dean sighed. "You know what, that's it." the man pulled the car over as he twisted around to face his younger brother. "This is about Jessica, isn't it? You think that's your dirty little secret that you killed her somehow? Sam, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares and calling her name out in the middle of the night - it's gonna kill you. Now listen to me - It wasn't your fault. If you wanna blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me? I mean I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place."

Throughout Dean's whole speech, Eirene really noticed just how he cared for his brother even though he pretended not to at the best of times. It reminded the brunette of her younger sister.

"I don't blame you." Sam replied firmly.

"Well you shouldn't blame yourself, because there's nothing you could've done."

"I could've warned her." Sam continued.

"About what? You didn't know what was gonna happen! And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway."

"No you don't."

"I don't what?" Dean asked.

"You don't know all about it. I haven't told you everything."

Dean looked to Eirene with a confused gaze. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it wouldn't be a secret anymore if he told you now, would it?" Eirene scoffed.

Dean looked shocked. "No. I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, forget it."

"Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? Now we're doing this. You've got to let me do this."

The older man let out a shaky breathe as he contemplated what his brother wanted to do. It was dangerous of course and he didn't want Sam to get hurt but what choice did he really have?

THEY WERE now at the shop where the mirror was located. Sam was trying, and failing, to pick the lock on the door. Eirene shared a hesitant look with Dean as they watched the man struggle continuously. It certainly looked like they weren't getting in anytime soon.

"Sam . . ." Dean began. "maybe you should -"

Sam shook him off with his left hand and readjusted his gaze on the locked door in front of them. "- No it's fine. I got it."

"Do you though?" Eirene inquired skeptically with her arms crossed and folded by her chest.

"Yep. Definitely." he replied hesitantly making the brunette roll her eyes.

"Oh move over." the woman sauntered over to where Sam was as Dean confined to keep watch for any nosy onlookers. They definitely didn't need anyone interrupting them.

Eirene crouched down to where Sam once was and took a bobby pin out of her, now down - styled, hair and bent it backwards slightly until it formed the shape of a 'V'. She then placed it in the lock firmly and jiggled it around left, right, up and down continuously until she heard a click! and the once locked door swung open with a creak!, as though daring them to enter.

She turned around to the two with a smile as Sam looked defeated and Dean in awe. Not because of her ability to pick a lock (well, it was partly that) but mainly because he had never seen the woman with her hair down before, the sight being new to him. He only snapped out of it when he felt a harsh shove to his shoulder. Knowing immediately who it was, Dean glared at him as he moved past Sam to follow after Eirene who had already went inside and was now presumably waiting for them.

The two walked around a bit before they spotted the brunette peering at her reflection in one of the many mirrors. "Oh there you two are, take your time why don't you?"

Both brothers chuckled slightly at that.

"Anyways, what took you two so long?" she asked as she looked to either of them for a reply.

Dean was about to speak when Sam answered for him. "Well, you see Dean here was just admiring the scenery. It is quite beautiful at this time of night isn't it Dean?" and with that, Sam shoved his brother's shoulder once more in order to get him to reply.

"Oh yeah. You know me, I love . . . stars and . . ." he trailed off while he cleared his throat. "nature . . ."

Eirene raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Right . . ." the girl replied as her voice died out. "Do you want to get looking or not?"

Dean immediately nodded in order to get out of the awkward situation.

They all split up and walked around the store as Dean made sure to keep his eyes on the brunette at all times.

"Maybe they've already sold it." Dean guessed as Sam's flashlight stopped on the mirror.

"You wanna rethink that, Winchester?" Eirene proposed as she too shone her flashlight on the mirror.

Dean walked over to it and pulled out the picture again to compare, and it was indeed the mirror they were looking for.

"That's it." he sighed out. "You sure about this, Sammy?" he asked as Sam handed Dean the flashlight.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." Sam looked back to Dean, who gave him an unsure look, and then to Eirene, who gave him a look as it though to say 'be careful'. Sam then picked up the bat Dean had given him. "Bloody Mary."

Dean and Eirene turned to see a light coming through the store. They didn't get long to complete their mission as a flashlight shining through the place alerted the hunters.

"I'll go check that out. Stay here, be careful." Dean warned, speaking to the both of them. "Smash anything that moves.

"Wait, that's your big plan, smash everything?" Eirene asked incredulously as she looked from brother to brother in disbelief.

Sam shrugged while Dean looked slightly offended. "Yeah . . ." he then proceeded to give Eirene a crowbar while Sam readied his bat once more.

As Dean crawled away towards the front door, the other two hunters continued with what they were doing. "Let's just get this over with already."

Sam nodded as he peered to the girl apprehensively. Before he could say another word, Mary appeared in the mirror next to him as Sam was quick to rush over. "Brace yourself." he said towards the brunette as she moved backwards slightly so her back was facing another mirror. A loud smash! echoed throughout the empty room as glass flew everywhere from the bats' hard blow.

"Do you think you got her?" Eirene questioned him as he turned around with a nervous look on his face. His eyes then focused on something behind her as his eyes went wide. "Eirene, behind you!"

The brunette spun around so quickly she could have thought she got whiplash. And true to his words, Mary was indeed in the mirror behind her. Eirene didn't waste a second as she angled herself to the side and brought the crowbar onto the mirror with brute force. Glass flew everywhere, and some went into her hair, but that wasn't one of her main concerns as of right now.

WHILE THE two hunters were inside, Dean had found himself in quite the predicament.

"Hold it." the police yelled as Dean stopped in his tracks.

The man tried to laugh it off as he looked to them all with his hands up. "Whoa guys, false alarm, I tripped the system."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the boss' kid." Dean attempted to lie. Dean just knew that if Eirene was here right now or god forbid, if she ever heard about this, she would no doubtedly mock his inability to lie.

"You're Mister Yamashiro's kid?"

ANOTHER SMASH echoed throughout the room as Sam broke another mirror after seeing Mary in it. The two were back to back and occasionally turning round in order to see from all angles at once.

Mary appeared in yet another mirror as Eirene rushed forward and, this time, yanked it to the floor. Both of them watched as it clattered to the ground and smashed underneath itself. They were going to get so much bad luck for this.

"Come on. Come into this one." Sam muttered under his breath, slowly growing annoyed.

Another few minutes passed, and Eirene looked to another mirror, seeing her friend's face in it. For a moment, he was just staring oddly at it before blood began to trickle out of his eyes. The brunette immediately grew alarmed as she sprinted forward to get to the mirror, though before she could, a familiar voice spoke her name. She turned around only to see the face of her younger sister staring back at her. Only she looked different. She had blood leaking from an open wound on her head, and her skin was lifeless and pale. Lastly, her eyes were cool and dull. No longer were they the brilliant shade of blue she oh so loved. No. Now, they were just empty sockets of what once was. It was horrifying.

"LIKE I said, I was adopted." Dean added once he got a shocked look from the officers.

"Yeah."

The cops obviously didn't seem to believe him as they began to cover him from the back and front by two cops. "You know, I just - I really don't have time for this right now." And with that, he punched one cop, backhanded the other, then punched the cop in front of him again. Both of them were now in the ground, clutching their wounds.

"HOW STUPID are you? You couldn't even save your own family, and now you're going around hunting? Pathetic!" the spirit seethed out towards the girl as it slowly reached for the abandoned crowbar lying freely on the ground.

Eirene felt her eyes well with tears as she listened to the words. She couldn't help but think that they were true. How could she go around hunting things and saving people when she couldn't even save her one family? It was pathetic. She was pathetic.

She drowned out the rest of the spirits' words as she felt her heart suddenly squeeze. Eirene winced and clutched it in pain. Blood ran out of her eye sockets as the spirit only grinned wickedly at her. She could fairly hear Dean in the background as he yelled at her not to listen to whatever Mary was saying but not enough to break her out of her gaze. Unbeknownst to her, the spirit had grabbed the crowbar and had it raised high in front of her. Before she could even bring herself to brace for impact, a heavy set of arms grabbed her waist and dragged her out of the way as they both fell to the floor, Dean making sure he fell on the ground as he kept his grip right on Eirene.

The man was quick to grab her face and wipe away the blood from her eyes as he smoothed her hair back, small shards of glass falling as he did so. "You okay?" he asked.

Eirene smiled a little as she looked back at him. "Just peachy."

"Come on, come on." he picked up Sam by his left arm and Eirene with his right, supporting the two steadily. That was until Mary came out of the frame of the mirror. They all turned around, with much difficulty, to see her crawling over the broken glass. May walked towards them, and they all fell back on the ground. This time, all three of them started bleeding from the face, but Dean reached up and pulled over a mirror so that Mary is forced to see her own reflection.

Mary started choking to death and melted into a pile of blood as they all watched with grim expressions. Dean threw down the mirror he held harshly, and it shattered into a million pieces.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"How many years of bad luck do you think we'll get?" he asked.

Sam chuckled weakly at his brothers question. "One thousand . . . if we're lucky . . . but then again, when are we?"

This time, Eirene laughed slightly. "True. But I think it'll be a bit more than that, Sammy."

"SO, THIS is really over?" Charlie asked the three with a hesitant voice.

Dean nodded firmly in affirmation. "Yeah, it's over."

Charlie smiled at them all. "Thank you." Dean reached back to shake her hand, which the blonde takes without hesitation.

"Charlie?" Sam called out, making her turn around. "Your boyfriend's death . . . you really should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably couldn't have stopped it. Sometimes, bad things just happen."

Charlie smiled faintly before turning around and walking back into the house.

Dean gently nudged Sam's shoulder. "That's good advice, you know." he complimented as he began to drive off. "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Now that this is all over, I want you to tell me what that secret is."

Sam looked back at Eirene, who gave him a small thumbs -- up gesture. "Look . . . you're my brother, and I'd die for you, for both of you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself."

The brunette looked to him with warm eyes and a kind expression. "Yeah, we understand. Don't we, Dean?" she questioned as she kicked Dean's seat harshly, making him fall forward slightly, making the car swerve slightly as Sam grabbed onto the handle above and Eirene the door handle.

Once he regained control of the vehicle, Dean turned back to glare at the girl who only winced slightly. "Sorry . . ."

Sam only laughed at their usual antics as he readjusted himself in his seat, listening to the two constantly go back and fourth at each other.