Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

54| The Kiss of Death

We assumed Melissa was the shifter after Dan died, supposedly at the hands of Stacy, but she didn't react when she used the silver pen Dean gave her, so we were back to square one. Later that night, Melissa showed up at our motel room, frantic.

"Hey there," Dean greeted her as she hurried inside and scrambled to lock the door. "Everything okay?"

"No. Dan tried to kill me."

"Dan, your dead husband Dan?" I asked.

"You told me to come to you if anything strange or out of the ordinary happened? Well it did. And I think it's all my fault."

"Okay, why don't you come sit down. C'mon."

"I swear, I really did love Dan. Maybe a little too much. I just... I wanted him to love me back. So, I got some advice and I confided in my hairdresser about the affair."

"Wait, women actually do that?" Dean looked over at me.

"And she told me there was a way to get him back. I knew she... uh... dabbled in stuff."

"Wait a second," Sam cut in. "What kind of stuff are you talking about here?"

"She calls herself a, uh..." Melissa thought for a second, "white witch. Listen, I don't know if you believe in that sort of thing. I usually don't, but I was desperate."

"And let me guess," I said. "She gave you a spell."

"Yes," Melissa nodded. "A return to love spell. All I had to do was chant it and seal it with a kiss. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I swear. I just wanted my husband back."

"Do you happen to have a copy of the spell on you?"

Melissa dug in her pocket, producing a piece of paper and handing it over to Sam, who immediately opened his laptop.

"Wow. Okay, for starters. Not a spell. More like an Aramaic curse."

"What?" Melissa asked.

"This roughly translates to the kiss of death," Sam explained.

"What does the lore say?" Dean asked him.

"There is no lore. My best guess is that this is the white witch's home cooking."

"Terrific. Alright so what do we know?" Dean asked. "Um, you kiss someone then they die."

"I guess," Sam shrugged.

"Wait a second," I said. "You didn't kiss Stacy?"

"No, of course not."

"No, but Dan did," Dean pointed out.

"So the curse is transmittable?" Sam queried.

"Like a magic STD. Okay, that works. Kinda makes you nostalgic for good old fashioned herpes."

"Oh God," Melissa gasped. "I killed Dan and Stacy."

"You didn't kill anyone," I assured her. "This is all on the witch."

"Riddle me this," Dean piped up. "Why did Stacy die first if she was kissed second?"

"I don't know," Sam shrugged. "Maybe you're safe if you can pass the curse on?"

"And then if that person dies, it comes back to you?"

"I mean, that would make sense. It would explain why, whatever this is, is working it's way back to Melissa."

"I'm sorry," Melissa looked around at us. "I'm confused."

"That's because it's confusing," I stated. "Look, long story short, it's like a game of hot potato. You gotta keep paying it forward. You don't, you die."

"Melissa, this curse, it started with you," Sam addressed her. "I think it wants to end with you."

"But don't worry, okay?" Dean told her. "We're not gonna let that happen."

Just then, Dan broke through the window and threw Sam aside. While Dean was shooting at it, I grabbed Melissa and kissed her before I could think too hard about it. Sam knocked Dan aside with a chair as Dean stared at me in shock.

"What the hell did you do?" he demanded.

"Come on," I said, hurrying toward the door. "Let's just go."

We all ran out to the Impala and left, Dean driving for a little while before pulling the car off to the side of the road and getting out, Sam, Melissa and I following his lead.

"I'd say that went pretty well. What do you think?" I asked.

"Are you serious?" Dean growled. "You think it's a great idea to give yourself a fatal curse?"

"Well, target's off her back, ain't it?" I jabbed a thumb at Melissa.

"I'm just saying," he continued. "You don't have to do this. Be the guinea pig."

I stepped away from him, knowing he was going to try and kiss me.

"What?"

"Be the martyr. Try to carry the weight by yourself. Do this," he took a step closer to me and I took another step back to combat it.

"I'm gonna be fine, okay?" I told him. "And as long as I'm good, she's good and that's the important thing. Besides. It proved our theory didn't it? That this whole kiss of death thing is transmittable. I mean, I'm not asking for the Nobel here, but thank you."

"Eleanor-"

"Stay away from me, Dean."

"How long do you think we have?" Sam cut in.

"I don't know," I shrugged, moving further away from Dean. "I mean, it's not exactly following a pattern. I don't even know what I'm looking for here. We cut out of there pretty quick, though, so we might have some time."

"What was that?" Melissa demanded and we all turned to her.

"We think it was something called a shapeshifter, but it can't be because I pumped the thing full of silver and it didn't even flinch," Dean told her.

"What kind of FBI agents are you?"

"The fake kind," I said.

"We're hunters," Sam explained.

"Hunters?"

"Look, all you need to know is we save people like you from things like that," Dean said.

"Even if it's not a shapeshifter, it's still shifting shapes," Sam pointed out. "If we can find out what it is, we can find out how to kill it."

"Alright. What do you know about the white witch?" I asked Melissa.

"Not much. Her name is Sonja. She's kind of weird. I don't know. She's only been my hairdresser for a couple of months."

"Do you know where she lives?" Dean asked.

"Not a clue."

"Where did she give you the spell?"

"In the basement of her salon."

The salon was cunningly named 'The Art of Dyeing'. When Dean read it aloud, he snorted.

"Well. Can't say she didn't warn ya," he shot at Melissa.

"Alright, just keep the doors locked and stay put until we get back," Sam told her. "Unless Sonja shows up. Then use this on her."

He handed a knife back to her, and her eyes widened.

"It won't kill her, it will just slow her down," I assured her.

"Are you serious?! I can't stab anyone!"

"Listen to me," Dean said seriously. "Sonja's not just anyone. She's a wicked witch who offed your husband and tried to kill you, so if she shows up here you punch her, you stab her, you drop a freaking house on her if you have to."