ALTON, ILLINOIS

A black Jeep Renegade pulled up at the side of the road into a street parking spot. It was early evening, not an awful day but not a great day either. It was murky and gray skies all day long, nothing that could truly inspire anyone to really do much. This was no different for the driver of said vehicle. An average height woman, dark blonde hair, long in length that just about framed her face. Dark brown eyes and a slender build covered in jeans, a black vest and black biker jacket. Pulling the keys out of the ignition, she gave a little sigh. "Man that drive was a killer" she complained to herself. Taking a moment to just de-stress from the drive that took her a good 14 hours from her last case, Harper found herself stretching her arms up and behind her as best she could in the confines of her jeep. "right woman, get some food, a drink then head straight to the church" she commanded herself, knowing if she didn't eat something now, it would no doubt be another long several hours before she did eat. The last thing she wanted was to faint on the hunt or Bobby Singer would have a lot to say.

Ever since Ellen and Jo died, Bobby took it upon himself to be her liaison and give her cases, along with checking in ever now and then. It was something she was thankful for as she did miss the Harvelle's greatly and missed having the roadhouse bar to pop into and just let off steam. Snapping the out of her thoughts, she shoved her car keys in her jacket pocket, grabbed her wallet and got out of her vehicle, walking into the diner she had parked in front of. Stepping up to the bar, she looked at the menu before ordering a coffee, burger and fries as she sat on the stool. "well not seen you here before beautiful" a grubby older man greeted her and sat beside her. She rolled her eyes and slowly turned to face him, "correct, you've not seen me before and before you continue with whatever mindless spiel you think would sweep me of my feet? Don't. It won't work, I'm not interested, will never be interested. I just wanna eat my food, drink my coffee and leave." She said flatly as she smoothly turned back to face the bar and continue on with waiting for her food and drinking her coffee that a waitress had been pouring whilst she roasted the man beside her.

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FOUR HOURS LATER

She pulled up round the back of the first Unitarian church, parking in a place that had no cameras in sight and got out. Walking round to the trunk, she popped it open grabbing her duffel bag that she had earlier on packed with anything she may need for a ghost hunt. Slinging it over her shoulder, she closed the trunk, made sure it had locked shut and stepped back round to head to the back door. She didn't notice anyone else around which she took as a good sign and walking up to the back door, she pulled out her pick lock kit to use to gain access to the church. She had earlier cased the joint on a tour so she knew the layout beforehand, something she didn't think enough hunters did. To her it proved vital to do such an action if the opportunity was there, and tonight was no different. With access gained, a torch on, she knew exactly the kind of places to check on. "Alright ghosts, where you hiding? I know you're causing problems here than the tour guides are letting on" she quietly spoke.

A crash was heard downstairs in the basement and Harper sighed. "Always the bloody basement" she complained, pulling her handgun from her jeans, already loaded with salt rounds. Cautiously walking through, she headed right for the basement door, opening it slowly and flashing her torch light down the stairs as she carefully stepped down. Part of her wanted to call out, but the sensible side of her brain knew not to say anything, just on the off chance that it wasn't the ghost she was hunting, but a real very much alive

Wood River, Illinois

It was early the evening, and a slender framed biker, clad in a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, and black boots, pulled up to a slightly rundown diner on a black and dark purple Harley. It wasn’t until they killed the engine, put down the kickstand, got off the bike, and removed their helmet, that their gender was revealed. After removing her helmet, she gave her head a shake and ran a hand through her hair to remove it from her face and give it a slight fluff. Setting her helmet on the seat of the Harley, she stretched her arms over her head with a slight groan. “Man, what a ride.” she spoke to herself. “Maybe I should have brought the car for this one.” Arching her back, several pops were heard before she straightened herself and let her arms fall and her hands landed on her helmet. “Ah, that’s better.” she said softly to herself. Picking up the helmet and her keys, she unlocked and opened up the traveling box and placed her helmet inside it, closed it, and locked it back. As she shoved her keys into her pocket, she walked up to the diner door. Just before she took hold of the handle, a rather handsome man came up and opened the door for her. “Allow me.” he said in a kind tone with a charming smile. “Thank you.” she replied in a kind tone in return. Stepping through the door, she headed over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. She preferred it over a table. She always felt a little confined when sitting at a table in a diner or any other place. Picking up a menu, she looked it over to see what they offered. She was pleased to see that one of her favorite burgers was on the menu, and it was what she had her mouth set for. Setting down the menu with a soft sigh, she waited for a waitress to come over and take her order.

A few moments later, an older woman came over with a large, warm smile on her face. “What can I get you, Sugar.” the lady asked just as warmly as her smile. This made the younger woman smile in return before she spoke. “I’ll have the mushroom burger, with fries and a sprite.” The older woman jotted down the order and gave a nod. “I’ll get this put in and have it out shortly.” she told her. “Thank you.” The older woman smiled once again at her and walked off to put in the order. Now by herself, no one was on either side of her, she pulled out her phone and began going through the messages to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Then she pulled out a book from the inside pocket of her jacket and began scanning the pages. As she did this, the waitress brought over her drink. She gave a “Thank you.” and went back to what she was doing, falling deep into thought. She didn’t even notice someone had sat down beside her and was watching her intently until they spoke. “Hey, Beautiful. What do you say we get our orders to go and we go somewhere and get to know one another better.” Releasing a sigh through her nose, she closed her book and tucked it away before turning and looking at the one that spoke. I was the man that had opened and held the door open for her. “Sorry, I’ll have to rain-check that. I have somewhere to be after this.” she told him. “Aww, come on. Can’t you go later?” he said, acting hurt. “No, I can’t, actually.” she said flatly. He went to speak again, but she cut him off before he even got a word out. “Look, I don’t have the time to go mess around with some random guy. I just want to eat and be on my way. Alright?” she said flatly. “Fine, but can I at least get your number to call you for a date?” Sighing with a nod, she wrote the number to the rejection hotline on a napkin with a fake name. “Thanks, gorgeous.”

About Four hours later
Alton, Illinois

After a good meal in her belly and a slight altercation with another over her Harley, she finally made it to the town she was headed for. Before it had gotten too late, she got in on one tour for the Church she was headed to. As the tour guide spoke about the place and what was going on, she had a feeling more was going on than they let on, and this intrigued her greatly. She actually enjoyed a good haunted place. At one point, she snuck away from the group and do a little investigating on her own, then join the group again before anyone noticed she had left. It was definitely an interesting building, to say the least. So much history and beautiful architecture in one place. One could easily get lost within its walls if they weren’t careful. After the tour and taking another look around outside, she left and found a place to camp out until later that night. She couldn’t just stay parked out front with her Harley without it looking suspicious. Once the time was right, she made her way back to the Church, parking her Harley down a little way from the Church, and made her way to the little window for the basement while staying out of sight of the security cameras. Kneeling down, she pulled out a knife, worked the lock free, opened it, and slid her slender frame through, being careful not to knock over the totes that were below the window. Once her feet were on solid ground, she tucked away her knife and pulled out a flashlight, and shone it around the room. This was the one room she hadn’t made it to when she was there earlier. “Alright, I know you're here. It’s the only place with an ominous vibe.” she spoke out into the cool room. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” she called out slowly as she made her way to the center of the room.

The longer she was in the basement, the more uneasy she became. Even when nothing happened after she had called out to the ghosts, she still felt uneasy. Sighing heavily, she walked around the basement, looking at the things lining the walls and in the boxes that were there. She had found nothing of any importance but felt she was close when her EMF device went crazy within her top jacket pocket. Before she could even turn to look around the basement room, she was grabbed and sent flying across the room. “GET OUT!!” An angered voice rang out in the room as she slammed into the wall at the end of the room, then crashed into the boxes and other various items on the floor. “Son of a bitch! That smarts!” she groaned as she pushed herself upright. “You’re going to pay for that, Casper!” she growled. She heard giggling before being thrown once again into a wall. “You’ve made a mistake coming here.” a ghostly child-like voice said. “Maybe, but I will send you where you belong!” Child-like giggling was heard again at her comment. She pulled out her gun just as a ghostly figure of a man appeared before her. “We’d like to see you try!” he laughed moments before she shot him with a salt round.

Hearing the crashing from below made Harper not think twice about going downstairs to check out the commotion, as she crept down the stairs she heard the yelling going on and knew instantly from the back and forth it was another hunter on the case. "dammit Bobby, why you put me on a car with someone else?" she thought to herself as she then reached the bottom of the stairs. It was at that moment she saw the spirits in question fighting with another woman. She had to admit for a split second she was surprised it was another female hunter as she usually found herself clashing with a male hunter who always would under estimate what she was capable of. Raising her gun slightly higher than the angle she currently had it at, she was ready to shoot from behind but saw the other woman had it under control to that extent. "You good?" She asked her flatly, as she turned round and shot the child spirit as they rushed her next. "I don't think so kiddo. I hate kids" she commented.

She cautiously headed toward Arabella to give her extra backup. "Got any idea who they are?" She asked, not entirely happy she's alone on the car but a tiny part of her was thankful for it at the same time as it meant she wasn't the only one getting thrown around like Arabella had clearly been, judging by the state of the environment around her. She was also asking to see just how prepared this fellow hunter was as she somewhat wasn't entirely sure if she recalled seeing this woman on the tour earlier or not. She wanted to say that she was sure the items these spirits were attached to were in one of the displays in the upstairs rooms, as she seemed to remember hearing on the tours all the graves behind this church were empty and just there as markers for who died there once, but not actually occupied. However, she wasn't going to say anything just yet to almost rest this woman.

The female ghost from earlier resurfaced herself and rushed Harper so quickly, Harper didn't have time to fire off a round into her before being thrown toward the stairs, her back landing hard on the steps edges. "Ow son of a bitch!" She complained, feeling lucky she didn't crack her head on the wooden steps. "Leave us alone!!" The female ghost yelled at her. "Sorry love, but no can do. You need to move on!" She coughed, pushing herself back onto her feet. "Never!" Came the harsh reply as Harper started to feel her oxygen get cut off, dropping her gun and scrambling her hands at her throat as if to try and stop the invisible strangling that was happening.

"shit shit shit! This is it! My last hunt!" she thought to herself as she hoped this other woman would help her. If she could just get herself free from this ghost's grip, she could find the item she needed to salt and burn upstairs.

After shooting the elderly ghost with a salt round, she pushed the stuff that had fallen on her off and to the side. Then looked up at the voice of another, a slight smirk forming on her lips at the woman’s question and comment about kids. “Peachy.” she replied flatly as she pushed herself to her feet with a slight groan. It was easy to see that the woman was a hunter like herself based on her attire and the way she carried herself. As well as how she handled the child ghost. She was both agitated and pleased to see the other woman, she was supposed to have the case all to herself, but she was glad for the help of another woman with how these ghosts were turning out to be. It wasn’t every day that she ran into another female hunter on the cases she took. Sighing softly, she knelt down and moved some things around, uncovering her gun, and picking it up. Once her gun was back in her hand, she stood upright once more, scanning the room before her eyes fell on the woman next to her briefly. She didn’t want to be caught off guard by the ghosts.

At the question, she inwardly sighed, knowing this had to be some sort of test to prove herself and to show she had done her homework before showing up. “From what I gathered, we have little Kenny Fleet, who slipped into a pond and drowned during an egg hunt. I’ve seen him hiding in a corner this whole time. We have Catherine Coker who died in a tragic accident. Then there is Raden Barlow who was mugged and beaten to death.” she told the woman next to her. “I’ve heard and caught glimpses of another I wasn’t expecting. I’m not sure who they are.” Adjusting her jacket, she stepped out of everything she had been thrown into and sighed heavily. “And before you say anything, I know everything that these ghosts should be attached to is upstairs in display cases. I just wanted to make sure nothing was overlooked and stuck down here in one of these boxes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the item was in a display case just to find out it wasn’t the right item, and then had to go searching through boxes or piles of junk while fighting off a ghost or two.”

Before she could say much else, the dark blonde huntress she was talking to was attacked by the female ghost, Catherine, from before. The sudden action caused her to gasp slightly as she saw the huntress thrown into the wooden stairs of the basement, as Catherine yelled at the dark blonde huntress. She held up her gun, trying to find the invisible Catherine. “Catherine, we’re only trying to help you and the others. We aren’t here to hurt you.” she called out to the female ghost. Her words were answered by the elderly ghost, Raden, appearing before her and slamming her into a wall. “Liar!” he yelled. She grunted as her back and head were slammed hard into the wall, her gun falling from her grip. “No, it’s not a lie.” she managed to get out before she felt pressure on her throat. The honey blonde huntress struggled under Rayden’s ghostly grip. “Please, let us help you.” she choked out. “Never!” he yelled as he tightened his grip around her neck. "Who would have thought I would be taken out by a ghost? I thought it would have at least been a Vamp, Werewolf, or Hellhound." she thought to herself.

"No, I can’t think like that!" she yelled at herself. She continued to fight under Rayden and look around for anything that would be useful. Her gaze landed on the child ghost, Kenny, still hiding in the corner. It was clear to see that he was too afraid to even try to help if she spoke to him, but she decided to try anyway. “Kenny?” she choked out. “Please…. Help us…. So we can…. Help you…… Don’t you want…. To see…. Your parents again?......” she said to him. “I…” she squeaked out as Rayden’s grip tightened once again around her throat. She was finding it hard to get any air now. She was growing dizzy and she could see darkness creeping into the corners of her vision. “I… Know you miss…. Them…… They have…….. To miss you…….. Too.” As she struggled to speak to Kenny, she also struggled to get into one of her jacket pockets for an item. “Give it up hunter! He’s far too scared to help you!” Raden yelled into her face. “Besides, I’ll have choked the life out of you before he can even decide if he wants to help!” The honey blonde huntress gasped for breath, a small smirk came to her lips when her hand finally made it into her jacket pocket and her fingers wrapped around the item she needed.

Pulling her hand from her pocket, she flicked her wrist while pressing a button, an intricately designed staff made of iron and black steel appeared in her hand. She swung it right through Rayden, causing him to become a wispy mass before disappearing. She collapsed to her hands and knees, drawing in a breath and coughing heavily. Rocking back on her knees while still coughing, she was going to throw the staff to the other huntress, but the unidentified ghost came out of nowhere and attacked the ghost Catherine. The distorted ghost stood before the dark blonde huntress and spoke in a distorted voice. “If you really plan to help us move on, do it now.” Turning, they held off another attack by Catherine to give her the chance to get to her feet and up the stairs. “Why are you helping them?! They don’t really want to help us!” wailed Rayden and Catherine in unison that echoed throughout the basement.

Harper was convinced she was going to be choked to death by this spirit- Catherine that this other huntress mentioned before she got ambushed, her vision was beginning to blur, she could almost feel the oxygen leave her brain and she knew any moment now she would no doubt pass out and probably never wake up. She barely saw the moment when Arabella manifested an iron staff out of seemingly nowhere, at least from Harper's angle and position it seemed to be out of nowhere. Continuing her grasping and scrambling at trying to get free, she suddenly began to give up when all air came rushing back to her lungs and oxygen came rushing back to her brain. It was then that she noticed it was the young boy spirit who helped her out and got rid of this Catherine. Listening to the kid tell her to get moving if she was serious about helping them, she nodded and clambering up onto her feet. A wave of adrenaline hitting her all over, swiping her handgun off the floor in a clean swoop as she turned to face the stairs and rushed upstairs.

"Follow or stay down here to hold the fort, I don't care! Just be useful!" She called back toward Arabella, kicking the basement door back open with her combat boot clad foot and rushed into the main hallway. There was no time to waste and she knew if she didn't get the job done, she wouldn't just risk her own life, but she would risk the other blonde downstairs as well. She refused to see another hunter go down on a hunt gone bad, too many have been lost over the years and she was not going to be somewhat responsible for another. "display cases, display cases" she muttered to herself as she ran through and found the room that had the cases inside. Right as Arabella said, she saw the items and the plaques stating which was which, so at least this part was easy for her. The difficult part? Finding something to smash the cases open as she left her bag by the front door as the noise from the basement had earlier made her drop her bag and focus on just having her handgun.

Darting her eyes around, she landed her eyes on an emergency hammer to break glass with and rushed over, parkouring herself over another display case to get to the wall quicker. She grabbed the mini hammer off the wall and went back to the first display case nearest to her that she needed. "Harper smash I guess!" she said to herself as she forcefully swung the hammer up and then back down, right onto the glass, smashing it easily enough. With her spare hand, she rummaged into her jacket pocket to pull out her trust zippo lighter, flicking the top open and with some quick but thorough movements, she lit it up and lowered it to the first item, a pendant, she needed to burn. It was then she realised she forgot the salt and cursed to herself. "Dammit it!" she complained, running back to where she left her duffel bag and running back to the displays. Slamming her bag down on an adjacent display case she hadn't smashed open, she unzipped it and grabbed for her salt box. Popping the resealable lid off it, she scattered the salt into the flames hoping that it would be enough. "One hopefully down and now some more to go" she sighed to herself. "Just hold out a little longer down there" she muttered, hoping the other hunter was still very much alive and fighting.

Running to the second display case she needed, she saw two old cotton dolls that were clearly homemade for the children that still haunted the place. This time she did it the correct way and smashed the case, covered the dolls in salt and then set them on fire. "rest easy now kids" she commented. She may hate children but that didn't mean she wished the kind of existence that they were having as spirits. No person deserved to be stuck in this world and to go crazy in her mind. If you died, you stayed dead and moved on. Unfinished business to remain on this earth just didn't help anyone. It just gave people like herself a job to do that no one else knew how to do. Snapping out of her thoughts, she went to the last case she needed and smashed it open, but just as she was about to salt the items, she felt a force throw her sideways. "son of a bitch!" she cursed with gritted teeth, scrambling back up onto her feet. Standing in front of her was the male Rayden. "just give it up already mate. Staying here is doing no one any good." she told him.

"I'll do what I want in a place that was mine!" he barked, making Harper roll her head side to side, bones in her shoulders cracking in the process. "you know I'm really tired of you lot refusing to move on. You think I enjoy this job!?" she said back at him, unamused and fed up with the whole night. "All you hunters do!" he snapped back at her. "Alright, thats it. I've had it" Harper grunted, pulling out her handgun with salt rounds and in a swift action, raised it, aimed and pulled the trigger to give her the opening she so desperately needed. With Rayden gone, she run back to the last case and poured her salt all over the items. An old bible, sash and glasses. She wasn't taking any chances. Lighting her zippo once more, she chucked it into the case, watching all the flames envelope the items and burn brightly.

Using her bo staff for support, Arabella took to her feet now that she had the opportunity to. Once on her feet, she rubbed her sore neck as she looked over at the steps as Harper called over to her. “Don’t worry about me. I have things covered down here.” she called to her in a raspy voice. As soon as Harper disappeared up the stairs, Catherine and Rayden appeared just feet in front of her, Arabella smirked as she stared them down. “Bring it on, Caspers.” she taunted. Lifting her staff from the floor, she spun it over her head, then brought it around behind her as she took a fighting stance. Holding out her other arm, palm up, she closed and opened her fingers to get the ghosts to attack her. “You and your friend won’t be leaving her alive tonight!” Rayden yelled as he and Catherine attacked in unison. Arabella’s smirk grew as she moved from her spot, in almost a dance-like manner, and brought her staff down on both ghosts. “We’ll see about that!” she called out. She hoped that she could keep these two distracted to give Harper enough time to locate the items to salt and burn them.

Arabella continued to move around the room, fighting off the ghosts with her bo staff with the help of the distorted ghosts, which were beginning to look like a female in their early to mid-teens. As she moved around the room fighting, she was also looking for her gun that had been knocked from her hands, she finally found it and tucked it into her pocket after picking it up. Things were going smoothly until Catherine and Rayden grew enraged and they both went invisible. They double-teamed her and slammed her into a wall, causing her to lose her grip on the staff, then they picked her up and threw her into the stairs with such force they broke under her weight. “Dammit to hell!” she groaned, struggling to get up. Before she could even make it onto her knees, she was lifted into the air by her neck. She lifted her hands to her neck, trying to pry the invisible hands from it. Rayden’s face materialized in front of her face with a wicked grin. “We’re going to rip you apart!” he laughed in her face. Catherine then materialized just as she took hold of Arabella’s arm and began to pull.

Before she could even get out a scream of pain, the distorted ghost came to her rescue once again. She attacked Catherine, who cried out as she was held back. That still left Arabella with Rayden squeezing her neck and fighting for air once again. What’s taking her so long? she thought to herself. Seconds later, the boy in the corner disappeared in an all too familiar way. Harper had found the cases and was burning the items. She found them. she thought in relief. A few more seconds passed and Catherine went with a scream. Enraged, Rayden squeezed Arabella’s throat even tighter, cutting off all her air, and causing her to struggle in his grip. The distorted ghost came to her rescue, hitting Rayden just before Arabella lost consciousness. She fell into the rubble of the broken stairs, coughing and gasping for air. “I’ll kill her before she has a chance to burn my things! I’m not leaving this place!” he yelled and disappeared. Struggling to her feet, Arabella grabbed her things, jumped over the broken steps, ran up the rest, and bolted through the door to meet up with Harper. Before she could reach the room, she heard a crash and an exchange of words between the blonde huntress and Rayden. Just as she entered the room, she saw Rayden going up in flames. She’d done it.

Arabella dropped her bag and leaned against the doorframe, looking into the room at the smashed cases and burning items. “I see you found them. Are you alright?” she said, bringing a hand up to her sore neck. It was then the last ghost of the place showed up, she looked at both women, the distortion fading from her appearance to reveal a young girl about the age of sixteen. “Thank you for setting them free. I know it wasn’t an easy task.” she spoke kindly. “If you could do one more thing before leaving, I would be very grateful.” Arabella looked from the ghost to Harper, then back. “And what is that?” she asked her. The young ghost smiled kindly to Arabella and turned to fully face her. “Set me free as well. I’ve only stayed to try and keep the others from harming the people here.” she told her. She then turned and walked over to one of the glass cases, looked within it for a moment, and back to Arabella. “These are my things. Please help me move on.” she pleaded. Arabella nodded, then retrieved her salt from her bag and walked over to the case, opposite the ghost.

Using her staff, she broke the glass and poured salt over the items after popping the top of the container. After pulling her lighter from her pocket she looked back at the ghost. “Thank you for helping us down there.” Arabella said kindly. The ghost smiled warmly in return. Flipping open her lighter, she lit it and set the items on fire, looking up to watch the ghost go with a pleasant smile on her face and hear a “Thank you.” from her. With a sigh, Arabella walked back over to her bag and put her salt back in it. “Man, this one turned out to be a tough one.” she said as she zipped up her bag. Turning back to Harper, she leaned against the doorframe again. “Thanks for your help on this. I know you couldn’t have been happy about another hunter showing up on your case.”

Catching her breath from finally sending the ghosts back to wherever they were destined to be going made Harper feel glad that it was finally over. This was one of those cases that made her feel like it did not need to be this chaotic, but yet it became as such anyway. She didn't even realise that Arabella had made her way upstairs and was leaning in the doorway until her spoke broke the now silence that rang through the room. "Yeah, I'm fine. Worn out but alright" she replied, not even noticing at first the glass shard that was stuck in her right side just above her hip.

She was about to place her hands on her hips when the last ghost of the building decided to show up, putting Harper on edge, however it seemed this ghost didn't want to fight, instead wanted to be set free. She kept back as Arabella took over in doing the last one. The fact that this last girl was actually thankful and had done all she could to have helped them and even thanked them for freeing this establishment from the negative energies.

With the last spirit taken care of, she gave a nod to Arabella's words. "Likewise, I'm not exactly much of a team player in this business but I gotta say, this night proved it needed to be a two hunter job. It's certainly been one hell of a night that's for sure." she replied seeing the woman lean against the wall.
Harper leaned against one of the few glass cases that hadn't been smashed before whelping ever so slightly in a hiss making her look down at her sides. "well shit...." she complained in a huff. "Guess I'll be sorting that out back at the motel" she commented seeing the blood seep into her t-shirt a little and the shard of glass just poking out. Her reaction was one of more annoyance at the now ripped shirt than it was for having glass sticking out of her body. She was used to getting unnatural things lodged into her, but she hadn't long gotten this shirt and now it was already distressed.

"I'm staying at The Golding, where you staying at?" she asked her finally as she grabbed her lighter now that the flames had died off.

Arabella gave a slight smile to Harper’s response to her words. She had to agree that this case had turned out to be a two-hunter job. Which was a surprise to her. She never thought a case involving a few ghosts would have required two people to get the job done. But being in this line of work for as long as she had, she should have known it was bound to happen. Then again, who could have prepared themselves for ghosts being such a pain in the ass like these? She watched Harper lean against one of the unbroken display cases, her attention being perked as she heard the woman hiss in pain. Her eyes followed Harper’s to her side to the shard of glass poking through her shirt. With how much the two of them were thrown around, it wasn’t a surprise that one of them would have something lodged into their bodies from it. Arabella almost laughed at how annoyed Harper seemed to be over it. Must be a new shirt. she thought to herself.

Her eyes came back up to Harper’s face at her question and she gave a light laugh as she brushed some hair from her face. “You know, for the first time in a while, I didn’t stop to get a room before coming here. After going through the tour earlier, I ended up going and camping out at the park and going over everything I had gathered.” she admitted. “But I had thought about staying at The Golding after the ghosts were taken care of.” It was true, she had completely forgotten to go and reserve a room before doing anything involving the case they had just taken care of. This wasn’t like her in the slightest, but she also hadn’t wanted to lock herself in a room and pour herself over her research while she waited. She had needed the fresh air even if she had arrived on her motorcycle.

“If you need help with that, or making sure you don’t have any more glass in you. I could lend a hand.” she offered. She then tucked her lighter back into her jacket pocket as she looked over at Harper. She then looked around at the mess in the room they were in, it wasn’t too bad, mostly glass, which made it look like a robbery happened. She knew the basement looked far worse than this room did, thanks to her being thrown around like a ragdoll by Rayden and Catherine. Arabella began to wonder if it was even worth it to even try to clean up after everything. She took a deep breath to sigh and instantly regretted it, as pain shot through her right side, causing her to wince. Looking down, she moved her jacket to the side and saw a good-sized piece of wood protruding through her shirt.

Walking over to a mirror that was in the room, she turned sideways to get a better look to see just how bad it was. The shard of wood had gone through the back of her jacket, pinning it to her body. She reached around and felt around, feeling some of it protruding from her jacket. “Damn….. Looks like those stairs had some bite after all.” she complained. “This is my favorite jacket too. At least it feels like it’s not life-threatening.” she added mostly to herself. She then turned back to Harper as she let her jacket fall back into place. “Looks like we’ll both have something to take care of when we get to the motel.” she laughed softly.

Harper was surprised that Arabella hadn't already booked in somewhere to stay, as for her it was always the first thing on her agenda, no matter where she went. Though hearing that she was going to see if there was a room in The Golding after the case was dealt with, made her smirk ever so slightly as it seemed they were of the same mindset without even knowing each other. "good job I'm staying there then, you can follow my car there if you want. It seems pretty quiet there to be honest, so can't see you struggling in getting a room and if ya do. you can always crash in my room" she explained to her, getting a sense that this woman was trust worthy unlike a lot of hunters.

Her impression of Arabella was only cemented when she offered to help in getting the glass shard out of her side. Giving a nod of thanks, she looked up at the other blonde and replied "that'd be great thanks." all whilst watching her grab her lighter to put in her pocket and glance around at the mess they had created. Like Arabella, Harper also looked around and figured it could have been worse all things considered. At least from what she could see, there wasn't any of their blood on the floor to bring the chaos back onto them and keep them off the local police's radar. She was about to make a comment about the mess and how she was so ready to leave when Arabella winced, making her step closer to the woman. Seeing the bit of wood protruding out of her and her jacket.

She gave her own wince at the injury, and couldn't help but think how they both weren't coming out of this completely unscathed after all. "Seems so, so why don't we get the hell outta here and get back to the motel before one of us bleeds onto the floor and incriminate ourselves to this scene and clean our wounds up?" she suggested, walking passed Arabella to grab her bag that was in the doorway on the floor, leaning down with pain and slinging her duffel over her shoulder. She really didn't want to be here any longer than necessary at this point and just wanted the glass out of her side. She didn't feel like she was going to pass out just yet, so she figured she'd make the most of the adrenaline whilst she could to drive back to the motel.

Giving Arabella time to grab her belongings and sort herself out, she lead the way out of the building, letting Arabella go to her bike whilst she herself went to her car. Unlocking the trunk, she threw her duffel bag into it, closed it and walked round to the driver's side where she opened the door and got in, being careful not to catch the glass sticking out of her side.

AT THE MOTEL

Pulling into the parking lot of the motel, she leaned over to the passenger seat and decided she would hide her injury just in case a by stander or another guest of the motel was out of their room and nearby. The last thing she needed tonight was someone seeing and freaking out at what they were witnessing. SO she grabbed her jacket and pulled it on, wincing as the movement made the glass shift ever so slightly. "Please don't kill me" she murmured to herself and to the glass before stepping out of her car.

Walking back to the trunk, she popped it open to grab her bag and her first aid kit bag that she disguised as a bathroom wash bag for discretion. Waiting for Arabella, she leaned against her car after closing the trunk door and sighed. The room she was about to head into wasn't the greatest but she knew after tonight it would be better than sleeping in her car once again.

As Arabella looked over at Harper, she gave a light laugh at her words which was followed by a nod. “That sounds like a great idea.” she told Harper. She watched as Harper walked past her and grabbed her duffle that was on the floor in the doorway. Once Harper had her duffle, Bella grabbed her own duffle off the floor with a wince and threw it over her shoulder. She took two steps out of the room before turning and looking back into the room at the damage. She gave a small sigh as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. She was happy to be leaving this place, this case took way longer than it should have but she was glad to have gotten the ghosts to move on, even if it was by force on a couple of them. She was also glad there wasn’t any evidence to tie either one of them to any of this.

Turning on her heel, she followed Harper out of the building and walked over to her motorcycle. Once there, she threw her duffle on the back of it and securely strapped it down to the seat along with the other bag that was there. Pulling her keys from her pocket, Bella unlocked and opened the traveling box, and pulled out her helmet, then put it on after shutting the box. She then carefully mounted her motorcycle, put the key in, and started it up. Looking up ahead, Bella found Harper's Jeep and gave a signal letting her know she was ready before pulling away from where she was.



Bella followed close behind Harper but not too close. Pulling into the parking lot, she headed to where the reception desk was while keeping an eye on where Harper went. Once there, she parked, killed the engine, put the key in her pocket before getting off her motorcycle, zipped up her jacket to hide her injury, then headed in as she took off her helmet. As she walked up to the desk, she ran a hand through her hair to get it out of her face, then gave the man behind the desk a warm smile. “Good evening, Miss. How can I help you?” he asked her kindly. “I’d like to get a room for the night.” she told him as she held her helmet under one arm. “Sure thing.” he said with a small nod.

After a bit of small talk and a little flirting, Bella paid for a room and received her key. Making her way back to her motorcycle, she pulled around to where her room was, right next to Harpers thanks to her flirting and sweet talking. She parked next to Harper’s Jeep, quickly killing the engine, she took the keys in her hand and carefully got off. “I think I may have gotten lucky.” she told Harper, as she went to the travel box. “He seemed a little reluctant about giving me a room close to yours. Perhaps he was hoping something would happen tonight.” she laughed softly. She then unlocked and opened the box and placed her helmet inside, then pulled out her first aid kit, which was disguised as a toiletry bag. After locking the box, she placed her keys in her pocket and unbuckled her bags from the seat.

After freeing her bags, she leaned against them, careful not to bump her side, and looked at the room doors. She knew this wasn’t the best of places but it was better than sleeping outside tonight in the cold as she had done before. She then looked over at Harper with a soft look on her face. “So, which one of us gets patched up first?” she asked in a light tone. She felt like she and this woman were more alike than they both knew. She also thought that she could trust this woman. Funnily enough, Bella wasn’t one to trust other hunters easily.

Waiting for Arabella to get a room, Harper continued to wait by her jeep, trying to stop herself from showing her pain on her face just in case some by stander came by and noticed. She didn't want any unnecessary attention coming her way after the evening she has had. So as she waited, she people watched as they passed on the street ahead until her phone buzzed with a text message from Bobby Singer. Pulling her phone out of her pocket with a wince, she opened the message and read it, 'you alive? -B' it simply read which made Harper smirk in reaction. She typed out a short reply as she saw Arabella exiting the reception building.

'I'm alive, coulda told me there was another on the same job though. But we're both alive, job done' was the message before she put her phone away once again and looked up at Arabella as she got closer to her. Noticing the signs of a hunter's tricks to disguise certain objects, she knew the toiletry bag was also a first aid kit. She chuckled lightly at the woman's comments about the reception staff member, "Doesn't surprise me. He gives off that vibe of expecting favours for giving rooms to women" she replied. As Arabella finished up with getting what she needed and putting other things away in her bike, she grabbed her bags off the jeep with a small grunt. "I can feel this glass shard shifting deeper, so if it's all good with you I'd rather get patched up first then I can focus on the wood that in you" she explained.

Pushing herself off her jeep, she pulled out her room key from her jacket pocket and began to walk to her room door, where she put the key in the lock, turned it and opened the door, stepping inside before offering Arabella to come inside after her. Once Arabella would make it inside, she closed the door behind them both and dumped her bags on the bed where she perched herself down, carefully wriggling herself out of her jacket and yet again wrinkling her nose in irritation at the ripped shirt. "This is gonna suck so bad" she muttered, deciding to carefully pull the fabric off the glass shard so she could lift her shirt up to make things easier for Arabella to help her out with the actual wound. Normally she would have just pulled the shard out first, but this time she felt like doing things the opposite way might be a bit better for first impressions.

She did feel like she could trust Arabella, the woman certainly gave off trust worthy vibes compared to a lot of hunters she had come across in her time. Lifting her shirt up she looked down at the injury and sighed, reaching out with her other hand she unzipped her duffel bag and pulled out a bottle of vodka from it. Using her teeth to unscrew the cap, she tipped the alcohol over her injury to sterilize it and winced sharply at the contact. "son of a bitch!" she cursed through gritted teeth before quickly taking a normal swig of the alcohol to try and numb her mind as well as her body. "Okay...lets get this done I decide to just knock myself out and pretend this isn't in my side" she told Arabella, glancing back up at her, clearly in pain but there was still that glimmer of sass in her eyes.

Still leaning against the bags on her bike, Arabella nodded to Harper's words as she fiddled with a charm on her bracelet. She could understand her reasoning for wanting to get patched up first. If she were the one with glass stuck in her side and could feel it working its way in deeper, she’d definitely suggest being patched up first. “Yeah, that’s perfectly fine with me…. It actually makes more sense for you to get patched up first.” she replied to Harper’s explanation. “Plus, I don’t think you’d want me digging around in your side for that glass once it works its way out of sight.” she added. A slight shiver ran down her spine at the thought of digging out the glass from Harper’s side. That’s one thing she didn’t want to do to someone she had just met. Digging a bullet out of someone was just as bad, which she had done a few times.

Carefully lifting herself off her bags, she grabbed the strap of the top one and put it over her left shoulder, wincing slightly at the movement. She then took hold of the other bags' handles and followed Harper to her room, then stepped into the room after she was invited in. After Harper closed the door behind them, Bella dropped her bags by the door and out of the way. She then gingerly worked herself out of her jacket while Harper did the same, then gingerly, and with some difficulty, she worked the jacket off the wood protruding from her side. She then draped it over the back of the chair close to the door. As she turned away from the chair, Bella caught Harper wrinkling her nose in irritation at her ripped shirt, which made a smile tug at the corner of her lips despite the throbbing pain in her side. She too was irritated that her jacket and shirt now had a hole in them now.

A silent sigh escaped Bella at Harper’s mutter, that was her thoughts exactly. As Harper freed the glass shard from her shirt, pulled out the bottle of vodka, and sterilized the wound, Bella cleaned her hands and prepared herself to extract the glass shard and close the wound. Harper’s voice brought her out of her head and back to the situation. “Right.” she replied, walking over to the bed, seeing the look in Harper’s eyes. “You know, you don’t strike me as someone that would normally do it this way. You strike me as someone that would have just pulled out the shard as if it was nothing, sewed up the wound, and then slapped on a bandage and called it a night.” Bella said with a small laugh in her tone. That was her normal thing to do if she was on her own somewhere. She was tempted to do the same thing with the wood protruding from her but knew that she risked the chance of making the wound worse if she didn’t do it right.

“Anyway, let’s get this out of your side.” she added quickly as she sat on the bed. Grabbing the first aid kit, she laid it out next to her, took out what she would need, and sterilized the needle as well. Once she had everything she was going to need laid out and within reach, she looked up at Harper briefly. “Alright, here we go.” she said, giving her a warning. Bella then set to work removing the shard of glass, trying to cause Harper as little pain as possible as she worked the glass out of her side. Once the glass was out, Arabella laid it to the side, then began to stitch up the wound after she gently wiped away some of the blood. After the last stitch was in place, she cleaned around the stitches, put ointment on and around them, then put a bandage over her work. “There we are.” she sighed as she pulled away from Harper.

Slowly taking to her feet with a wince, Bella walked to the bathroom to wash Harper’s blood from her hands. “Those should hold up pretty well.” she said from the bathroom. Once her hands were clean, she came back and sat on the bed. “You still feel up to helping me with this?” she asked, gesturing to the wood sticking out of her side. “If not, I think I might be able to take care of it myself.” she added in a warm tone.

The moment Arabella openly expressed her opinion of what sort woman she thought Harper was, Harper couldn't help but smirk at the opinion. It was pretty spot on she had to admit, as normally she wouldn't care about having someone else patch her up but tonight she was tired from all the fighting and decided if someone else was going to be in the near vicinity then she may as well as her associates always nagged her to do, and actually seek help when it was available to her. She had practically lost count of the amount of times people who knew her well, especially the Harvelle family telling her she needs to stop being so stubborn when it came to accepting aid. She could almost hear them now, "how many times do we have to tell you Harper? We didn't save your ass all those years ago just for you to become a stubborn fool and be independent to an absolute fault". "Gotta say you're pretty damn observant to get that from me. Though I don't exactly make it a habit to hide it. As you must know, being a woman in this job means you gotta fight extra hard to be respected and taken seriously. I guess that mindset leaked into other traits such as rarely asking for help" she admitted to the woman. "Also I'm just too tired to do it myself" she gave a half chuckle and smirk.

Harper let Bella sit on the bed and get everything out that she needed to help her out. She knew this was going to be rough, but surely she had gone through worse injuries that she had to fix herself? She couldn't think of anything right in this moment, but she was still sure of it. As Bella gave her the warning, she made herself relax but also brace for the pain that was about to be inflicted on her as she felt the glass move out of her skin. Just as she predicted, she found herself gritting her teeth tightly and hissing as the feel and sound of the glass scraping against her skin and muscles in her side as it got removed. "fuck!" she said through her gritted teeth but breathed in relief when she felt the last of the glass be removed. Bella may have been as careful as possible and was being light handed which she appreciated but it seemed that no matter how lightly the other woman worked, Harper would still be feeling that removal. She braced herself once more as Bella began to do the stitches which although did sting, didn't hurt nearly as much as the removal process did.

"nice work" she complemented her when she was done, letting her head to the bathroom to clean up. As she was done, she stood up and chucked the bloodied cloths and such away in the nearby trashcan before looking up again as Bella came back into the main part of the room. Giving her a nod, "Yeah I'm still good for patching you up. It's the least I can do after you helped me out" she replied to her, shifting over once more onto the bed and just as Bella did just moments ago, she got a new needle and sterilized it, got everything else that she would need out and placed in an order that she would need them. "I'm not gonna lie, this ain't gonna be fun but it's gotta be better than having that wood shard in your side" she warned her as she waited for the woman to sit back down in a position that would be good to work with and comfortable for her.

Arabella smiled warmly as Harper spoke. “Ah, it was nothing. I was just trying to help out a fellow hunter.” she told her. “Plus, us women have to help each other out every now and then in this business. We can’t rely too much on these men who act like boys.” she added with a light laugh and wince. As she sat on the bed and Harper sterilized a new needle and pulled out what she needed, Bella tried once again to at least pull her left arm out of the sleeve of her jacket. This time being successful, unlike the last time. Bending her body slightly, to loosen some tension from her jacket, she pulled her right arm from the sleeve with a wince and a slight hiss. Her attention was pulled away from the pain at Harper’s voice, causing Bella to sigh and nod softly as she held her jacket. “Don’t I know it.” she replied. “But you’re right, I’ll be better than having it sticking out of my side, that’s for sure.” she told her. Moving her jacket into her lap, Bella laid on her left side across the bed, placing her right arm above her head.

It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but she figured it would make things a little easier for Harper and a clear view of what she was working with. Resting her head on her left arm, she looked over at Harper. “Ready when you are.” she told her. Bella then tried to relax as much as she could and prepare herself for the pain she was about to feel. She knew Harper was going to have a little trouble freeing her jacket from her side before she could even get to work on the wood shard. The more she thought about it, the more she knew that it would more than likely have to happen, which she didn’t like. Sighing inwardly she forced herself to say it. “If you need to, you can get my pocketknife from my jacket pocket and make that hole in the jacket bigger so it’s easier to take off.” Bella told Harper. Bella only hoped that the hole left wouldn’t be too big, that way she could patch the hole herself. Come to think of it, she's repaired most of her clothes that had become ripped or gotten holes in them over the years from cases.

Harper let Arabella get into a position that was good for her whilst she finished sterilizing the needle and such. At the permission to use a pocket knife on the woman's jacket, she gave a nod and inspected what the size of the rip was as it stood now. She knew how annoying it was when you had tears in clothing, she still wasn't over the rip in her latest replacement jacket tonight herself. "I think I might have to, if I don't I can see this shard getting snagged and making it all the more painful." she honestly said to the other hunter. Grabbing for Arabella's pocket knife, she carefully and neatly made the rip just that little bit longer and wider so she could pull out the shard and use her other hand to hold the jacket away from the injury, then she put the knife down.

Putting the needle down in the first aid box so it stayed clean, she carefully placed one hand on the jacket and carefully placed the other on the shard. She made sure not to get splinters from the shard as she did so and took a deep breath. "Okay...I'm gonna pull the shard out now" she warned Arabella then before Arabella could put too much anxiousness on what was to come, she gently but swiftly pulled the shard out, finding it didn't snag once. She gave a quick inspection of the wound after chucking the shard down beside her on a piece of tissue, next to the glass shard that was moments ago in her own side, making sure no splinter was left which luckily there wasn't.

Grabbing for the needle and thread, she began to stitch Arabella's wound up after she gave it splash of alcohol to clean the wound itself. "I'm almost done..." she said after a couple of stitches, "just a few more......aaaand you're done" she spoke to Arabella throughout to try and distract her from it all. "You should heal up pretty well, considering it was a wooden shard in your side, it was a clean wound in regards to the entry point." she explained, grabbing some clean gauze and tape to place onto the wound so Arabella could keep it clean.

After she fully finished with the other hunter's injury, she grabbed the dirty and used equipment, getting up off the bed and walking to the bathroom trashcan so she could chuck it all away safely. "You know, I'm pretty thankful we both ended up on the same case. You're help proved really useful tonight. Believe it or not, it was much less chaotic tonight than when I've joined a couple of other male hunters." she said, thinking about the infamous Winchester Brothers. Those two made her roll her eyes far too many times in her hunting career and could always see why her adopted family at the late Roadhouse would try and insist she didn't spend much time with them.

Arabella nodded to Harper’s response to using her knife to make the rip bigger. She knew going forward without widening the tear that removing the shard would be more painful and cause more problems later. As annoying as it was, it would have to be done. From the corner of her eye, Bella watched Harper retrieve her knife from her jacket and carefully make the rip broader and longer before setting the pocket knife down. Then she saw the signs of Harper preparing to remove the shard and heard her warning, but Harper quickly pulled out the shard before she could even inhale to hold her breath. “Son of a Banshee!” Bella hissed through gritted teeth. She then took in a sharp breath through her nose as her wound was splashed with alcohol. Bella hardly felt it when Harper began to stitch her up. The shards removal was much worse than the stitches, which was slightly funny to her. As Harper talked through her stitching, Bella nodded, glad that this part of the night was nearly over. “You do nice work. I guess I should consider myself lucky it wasn’t any worse.” she said with a light laugh and smile.

Once Harper had finished with her injury and got off the bed, Bella carefully sat up on the bed and pulled her arm out of the sleeve of her jacket as she stood up. After adjusting her shirt, she looked at Harper as she spoke and gave a light laugh, feeling she could relate relatively well to her. “I have to say I’m pretty thankful myself. With what we went through tonight, I’m pretty confident we wouldn’t have come out looking very pretty if we had gone it alone. And don’t even get me started on being on a case with male hunters and having it turn chaotic. It’s a wonder I came out of them in one piece.” She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips as a couple of those cases came to mind. As chaotic as those cases were, she was still glad she hadn’t gone alone. Garth and the hunter that came with him had proven to be a big help. However, she thought she may have unnerved the men by choosing her bo staff as her weapon, her fighting style resembling dance-fighting, and how she seemed to enjoy the fighting. Which was half true.

Pulling herself from the memory, Arabella focused her attention back on Harper. Even though the two of them had just met, she felt that they worked well together, which was a rarity for her when it came to meeting someone new. It was a bit disappointing thinking about them parting ways in the morning. Sighing inwardly, brushed the thought from her mind. “So, what’s your plan for the rest of the night? Order in and turn in, or go out and blow off some steam?” she asked Harper.