Chapter Text
Dean rushed at her and grabbed the receiver out of her hand, slamming it back down on the phone and closing the display. She pulled out of her trance right then and there, looking up at him fearfully.
"You never touch this stuff, do you understand me? Never!" Dean growled. He looked at the display then back at Eileen. "What happened - what did you hear?" he demanded.
Eileen shook her head and swallowed, scared.
"I don't-"
"Jesus fuck!" Dean exclaimed all of a sudden, turning away and grasping his arm. Eileen could see it was an elaborate-looking scar - more like a brand - that'd begun to flare up like lava. He looked back at her and waved his arms in the classic signal to stop. "Don't talk!" he yelled and Eileen could read his lips loud and clear. She swallowed and nodded, now shaking over what had just happened - what sounds she was emitting when she was trying to talk, why it'd triggered Dean's brand... what it all meant.
Dean and Eileen just stood there, staring at each other.
"Stay right here - don't touch anything," Dean said and Eileen nodded, trembling in the skimpy workout shirt.
Five minutes later, Dean was rolling Eileen in a wheelchair out to the main library. He stopped her at the table and bent down to face her, his expression warm but still authoritative.
"Don't worry. We'll figure this out, okay?" he said and Eileen blinked watery eyes and mouthed 'okay' as she looked around the room, taking in the gorgeous interior for the first time. Dean turned around, following her gaze. "Yeah, I know. Man, I wish you could've seen this all under different circumstances," Dean muttered even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
He turned for the kitchen to get Sam just as Sam walked in with a plate of grilled cheeses. His relaxed smile fell at the sight of them, clearly displeased to see Eileen out of bed.
"Sam, we've got a problem-"
Sam's face twisted at first right before he collapsed, the plate shattering to the floor next to him.
"Sammy!"
Dean ran to his howling, writhing brother, sliding to his knees on the polished wood.
"Sam! Sam, what is it?!" Dean yelled and Sam screamed harder. "Sa-!" Dean cried out, then choked on the word as Sam aimed and launch his palm straight into Dean's solar plexis, knocking the wind out of him and onto his ass. From there, Sam practically jumped on top of Dean to smack a palm against his mouth, gasping and gagging with pain across Dean's chest.
Realization dawned, and Dean shut his mouth. He held his brother steady and let Sam regain composure before propping him up against him. Dean heard a rolling sound nearby and realized Eileen had managed to get her way over to them in the wheelchair. Before Dean could stop her, she leaned over to gently but firmly place her palm over Sam's mouth.
Sam startled but looked up at Eileen, who mouthed something as dramatically as possible but he still couldn't understand. Still, he got the message to be quiet: he shook his head, confused, hazel eyes sparkling as he looked between Eileen and his brother.
Eileen started signing rapidly, then stopped at the boys' respective head-shaking. She rolled her eyes and crudely mimed for a pen and paper.
Dean used a nearby chair for leverage and got up, grabbing one of Sam's legal pads and a pen from off the table. Sam sorely but quickly began collecting the shattered dish and grilled cheeses before setting them on the table and reaching for his computer. He heard two sharp claps and looked up to see Dean and Eileen looking at him, Eileen holding up the pad so he could read it: "It's Contagious!"
Sam brought the computer over to them and sat down. Dean pushed Eileen to one side of him and pulled up a chair on Sam's other side. Sam opened Microsoft Word and barely began to type "what happene-" when Dean elbowed him off and angled the computer towards him.
"Found Eileen down the hall in a room we've never seen before. She'd opened a display case that had a rotary phone in it and she'd picked up the receiver to listen to it. After that, when she spoke, I had the same reaction to it that you just had to my voice."
Sam swallowed nervously and looked at his brother when he was done typing. He reached for the keyboard when he noticed Eileen was gesturing for it. She grunted as she leaned forward to reach the keys and Sam pulled her closer next to him and the table.
"I'm sorry - it felt like it was calling to me. I don't even know how I knew to get into that room," she paused and looked at them, eyes wet with worried guilt. Sam mouthed and signed 'it's okay' to her compassionately. Dean leaned forward so she could see him and mimed a telephone as he mouthed the words: "what did you hear?"
Eileen acknowledged Dean with a nod and reached for the computer keys again.
"When I picked up the phone, I heard it like it was in my own head -- it just said, 'Hear No Evil; Speak Evil' over and over again."
Eileen looked up and Sam's brow was furrowed, his lips thin with concentration.
"What does it sound like when I speak? Or when Dean spoke to you, Sam?" she added. Dean pulled the laptop around to answer.
"I couldn't tell exactly - it was like a screeching static sound. But it affected the Mark - it burned when Eileen started to speak."
Dean turned the laptop screen and tapped Sam to pay attention. Eileen mouthed 'The Mark?' just as Sam's eyes widened when he read Dean's words.
"I heard the same thing out of Dean's mouth only I felt like I was on fire," Sam wrote, then paused. Dean pulled the laptop and wrote to Eileen.
"The Mark of Cain, Eileen. Cain gave it to me so I could destroy a Knight of Hell by becoming one," Dean wrote slowly, struggling to describe it as simply as possible. Eileen squinted to read his answer; her eyes widening when she finished and glanced over to see Dean rolling his sleeve all the way up to give her a good look at it.
"Damn," she mouthed. It would've been breathless if she'd been able to speak.
Sam startled and snapped with his fingers to get their attention before leaning over the computer, highlighting and bolding "I felt like I was on fire" and adding to it: "--MY BLOOD."
Sam sat back and looked at their uncomprehending faces. He shook his head, annoyed, and launched back to the computer.
"It's affecting the evil inside us!!!" Sam wrote quickly. Dean gave Sam a meaningful look and sat back. Eileen couldn't see Sam's expression since he was turned away from her facing Dean, but she knew they were having some kind of silent conversation.
Eileen took advantage of their moment and grabbed the laptop.
"Your blood is evil?" Eileen typed. Sam broke the connection with Dean to look at the screen. He huffed and shook his head, not even looking at Eileen as he replied. Eileen watched him type; subtle hints of guilt and sadness flitted through his demeanor as he wrote.
"I have demon blood inside me; a demon fed me his blood when I was 6 months old."
Eileen leaned back and looked at Sam, then Dean, wondering if this was a joke. She unconsciously signed while mouthing "What the fuck."
Sam shrugged apologetically and rubbed his fist over his chest, the sign for 'sorry' and with that, Eileen softened. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Who the hell were these two? What had she gotten herself into with them and this secret Men of Letters legacy shit?
She heard keys clacking and wearily looked back up to see what Dean had typed.
"Affecting the evil inside us like purifying?" Dean looked up, a glint of hope in his eyes. Sam winced and shrugged.
"Maybe. Didn't feel like it to me though."
Dean read Sam's response and nodded unhappily. He sighed and then added another question to the document.
"Eileen doesn't have any evil inside of her though but she's still got it?"
Sam pursed his lips and nodded, clearly indicating Dean had a good question there.
"We need to know more about this thing. Most artifacts in this bunker have archive codes. Corresponding documentation should be in that room somewhere."
Sam turned to Eileen, his expression clearly asking if she was up to revisiting that room with them. She swallowed, squared her jaw, and nodded.
Ten minutes later and the brothers had gotten Eileen comfortable with a blanket around her shoulders and another one covering her lap, flowing out over her legs. Stocked with another full water bottle and a box of granola bars lodged on either side of her and the laptop settled warm and whirring on her lap, the trio moved silently into the room, Dean rolling Eileen as carefully as possible.
When they passed by where she knew the rotary phone was just a couple aisles down to the right, Eileen felt the pull of it again and gave a small gasp that she didn't think anyone would hear but Sam put his hand on her shoulder, gentle and grounding reassurance. She shifted and patted his hand before looking up at him with a small smile, letting him know it was all right: she wasn't going to get tranced - or whatever it was that'd happened to her earlier - again.
They set her at the large table with the stools underneath it. She saw Dean tapping Sam's chest and directing him to where the phone was. Sam nodded and gave her a 'two seconds' signal and she nodded with the universal 'A-OK' sign.
The brothers disappeared behind the aisles and Eileen pulled a granola bar out and started in on it. She pulled up Search the Web and did her best to research anything related to 'rotary phone hear no evil myth legend.'
A few minutes later she saw Sam and Dean moving out of the corner of her eye and looked over to see them shuffling around different shelving units that held books and binders instead of artifacts, Dean touching the shelves as he went one by one and Sam standing back in a clear effort to understand the system. They both zeroed in on the same place almost at the same time and Sam pulled out a black, dusty binder.
Dean pointed backwards with his thumb to Sam. Sam nodded and moved to Eileen while Dean stayed at the shelving unit. No doubt to go through the rest of the shelf and see if there was anything else relevant to their situation.
Eileen couldn't help but appreciate the smooth nonverbal communication Sam and Dean already had in place. It was rare to see among those who weren't deaf but, as a deaf person, it was easy to spot. It made sense though: they'd grown up together and they now lived and worked together nonstop. It was always a pleasant surprise to be reminded that some of the truest relationships depended upon nonverbal behavior just as much (if not more) as verbal.
Sam pulled out a stool next to her and opened the binder. Eileen pointed at herself and the computer, then him and the binder. He nodded with an 'A-OK' and turned to concentrate on the binder while Eileen continued researching on the internet.
An hour later, Sam sat up straight. She couldn't see his face but she saw Dean's when he looked up expectantly. A split second later, Dean's spasmed, his expression dissolving into pure agony. He crunched in on himself and smacked his hands on the table for balance before grabbing his glowing red forearm.
Sam nearly fell off the stool in an effort to get to him and although Eileen wanted to get up too and do something, she knew she was in no condition. She watched, helplessly, knowing her only course was to stay out of the way as Sam bent over Dean and braced him in his arms, one hand wrapped around Dean's torso so he wouldn't fall off the stool and the other getting a visibly firm grip on Dean's hand, smacking it on the table so they could all watch as the Mark slowly lost its red light. Dean's pain dissipated with it, his gasping breaths evening out until he could nod and pat the arm Sam had around his waist, signaling he was okay again. Eileen's expression softened as Sam slowly let go of his brother and rubbed his back. He glanced at Eileen, guilt-stricken, and mouthed "I forgot I couldn't talk."
Eileen unconsciously signed as she mouthed "Yeah, I figured that out," sympathy written over her face.
Sam pursed his lips and nodded, looking back down at Dean who was still pale and sweaty but all right. He gripped Sam's forearm and squeezed it with reassurance before twirling his pointer finger in a circle in front of him, indicating he wanted them to start moving forward again. He pointed at the binder Sam was looking at and looked up at Sam inquisitively.
Sam nodded grimly and beckoned Dean over to sit along the same side of the table with him and Eileen before taking the laptop from her and opening a document to type.
Eileen and Dean waited in silence. Dean poked her and managed to gesture his question whether she'd found anything on the internet. She shook her head and shrugged.
When Sam was finished, they scooted close together so they could read what he'd written.
"The rotary telephone is a curse that links up with the power of one of the three wise monkeys that represent the 'See No Evil Hear No Evil Speak No Evil' Japanese proverb. The monkeys were not actually all that wise and peaceful together - Iwazaru and Kikazaru especially fought. They cursed items against one another - one of them being the rotary phone. Anyone who hears no evil - so any deaf person - gets cursed to speak nothing but evil when they come into contact with this rotary phone. It's supposed to drive those who hear the cursed person insane."
Eileen made a face and gestured to Sam and Dean, shaking her head and then twirling her finger next to her temple: but you two aren't insane.
Sam nodded and leaned over the laptop again.
"When you speak evil, since we already have evil inside of us, it hurts us because it's a clashing effect but nothing more. We're immune... and so we become carriers of it too."
Nobody spoke as Sam's text sunk in.
Dean's cell phone started vibrating and lit up on the table next to the binder. Dean unconsciously grabbed for it but Sam's reflexes were faster, his eyes wide with fear as he looked at the caller ID and shook his head at Dean. He slid the phone away from all three of them and got to typing quickly.
"We're CARRIERS. We talk to anyone on the phone and they go insane. We need to stop this before it gets outside the bunker."
Eileen snapped and gestured for the computer.
"Does it only spread through us? Can a crazy person spread it to make other people crazy?"
Sam read her words and mouthed "I don't know," then leaned over to type, "I don't want to find out."
Dean swallowed and nodded, closing his eyes and getting himself together. He leaned over at the computer.
"How do we stop 'speaking evil'?"
Sam chewed on his finger for a second, clearly deep in thought, before writing back.
"Give me more time - I haven't gone through everything yet."
Dean and Eileen nodded solemnly, all three of them scared, realizing this could be ground zero of an epidemic if they didn't keep their voices quarantined.
---
An hour later saw Sam hunched over the binder still, Dean on the opposite side of the table looking through other resources he'd found, and Eileen still at work on the laptop. Dean started clapping and both Eileen and Sam looked up from their side of the table. Dean pointed an accusatory finger at Eileen, then opened his palm out to Sam as an appeal, genuinely like he was begging for support. Sam was chuckling when he looked over at Eileen and Eileen still had no idea what was going on.
Sam licked his lips and smirked as he took her sixth partially-eaten granola bar from her hand. She looked at him with exaggerated loss and he laughed when he pointed to it and then his ears, expanding his fingers out to indicate her chomping and chewing the food was loud. Dean had been busy writing on his legal pad and lifted it up to show her: "You're driving me insane anyway!" and she started laughing. Thank god this 'evil speech' was human speech only and not human sounds or noises like laughter.
Sam went and got her bananas, and they continued their research.
---
Dean was fidgeting with his phone when he heard Sam jump off his stool and jogged into the aisle where the rotary phone was located. He gestured to Eileen he was going to follow him and Eileen nodded, curious. He heard his brother's laughter start to bubble out of him into full healthy delight as he approached. He rounded on Sam to catch sight of him holding an antique megaphone. Sam gestured for Dean to get the rotary phone out of the display case and bring it back with them to set on the table.
Eileen watched with wide, interested eyes, then looked to Sam as he leaned over the computer screen to explain.
"Iwazaru cursed a telephone where you hear something that makes you speak evil. Kikazaru cursed this megaphone where you speak something - anything - and it makes you HEAR evil." Sam stopped, then looked at Dean and Eileen, eyes lively and excited. Eileen was somewhat in the dark until Dean snapped and it was clear he'd made the connection Sam already had.
Dean moved the two devices next to each other and mimed putting the megaphone up next to the phone receiver. Sam clapped excitedly, mouthing 'yes!' and Eileen clapped back, giving the thumbs up with a smile, understanding now.
Sam hurried back to the keyboard. "IT SHOULD CANCEL BOTH CURSES OUT - NEITHER IWAZARU NOR KIKAZARU WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE THEIR RESPECTIVE CURSES CURSING THEM. IT'LL FORCE THEM TO END THE CURSE."
Eileen grinned but then stopped and reached for the keyboard.
"How do we know the curse will lift from us though? Maybe they'll just un-curse the objects but leave us still carriers of it."
Sam visibly deflated as he read Eileen's words. He bit his lip and hesitantly responded.
"I don't think it will. If it does, we'll have to figure something else out," Sam finished, then shrugged helplessly, looking between Eileen and his brother. Dean smacked his palms together and rubbed them, clearly interested to get the show on the road and try it.
Sam nodded and looked to Eileen, who gestured for them to go for it.
---
Sam thought this was as good an idea as any. He was nearly certain it would work as he and Dean placed the devices in the center of the table; it almost reminded him of that Bloody Mary case years ago, where he'd managed to use the cursed mirror against Bloody Mary herself. It'd worked then; it could work this time too.
Sam mouthed the countdown from three with Dean, both of them psyching each other up to get this done. Simultaneously, they picked up the megaphone and placed the narrow end against the top of the rotary phone's receiver.
The sound emitted was horrible; worse than either of them had heard yet - Sam was sure. The screeching, piercing, static noise that coming out loud and crisp through the megaphone's amplifications were torturous, spreading all through Sam's veins - conducting and shattering him through the demon blood that pumped inside him. There was just no way to keep it going, Sam realized. Both of them roared in agony and bolted off the table, letting the antique devices fall away from each other on the table as they rolled to the floor, clutching their abused, ringing ears. Sam felt moisture against his fingertips and knew it was blood. He glanced under the table to check on Dean, spotting the same bright red fluid seeping down his neck as well.
He felt like he was underwater, only vaguely hearing Eileen's sharp, urgent clapping to get his and Dean's attention.
Dean got up first, favoring his arm and the Mark, squinting at her. Her eyes were wide and she was pointing at the devices, mouthing "Me! I have to do it! Me!"
Dean looked for Sam, who was also struggling to reclaim his wherewithal, but saw Eileen just as well.
Eileen leaned over the computer and typed something before turning the screen so they could both see the words in bold at a hundred font size. "I'M FUCKING DEAF. I NEED TO DO THIS."
Despite the pain, Dean managed to smirk and Sam gave her a thumbs up. It made sense and they were out for the count anyway now.
They situated the devices carefully in her lap and she took a deep breath, ready to get this over with. Her side still burned - the pressure she was under unconsciously tensed her muscles and she had to calm herself down and let the waves of palm diminish before she could begin.
Slowly, she unhooked the telephone's receiver and moved it closer and closer to the megaphone lying sideways on her thigh. She was so focused she barely even noticed Sam and Dean crumple and writhe under the onslaught of the evil sound that only simply vibrated through her body. She was truly immune.
Her hands and her lap started getting warm - then hot - and sparks began flashing out from the telephone and even the megaphone. Light smoke emitted out and Eileen began to cough, her hands burning, but she didn't let go. She needed to make sure this was over - that these objects totally and completely nulled each other by virtue of their own curses.
It was when the agony became nearly unbearable, her hands seared red and bleeding across the palms, that the pain began to recede and her vision began to blur into something altogether different.
She was no longer in the bunker, holding steaming cursed objects in the middle of self-destruct mode. Instead she was standing on the steps of an ancient Shinto shrine, staring at the pagoda's stable carvings of the Three Wise Monkeys. She tilted her head, squinting and fixated on what she intrinsically knew was Mizaru, the monkey that saw no evil. The other two faded away from the carving - from her vision - as Mizaru became more detailed and lifelike. She startled and took a step back when its eyes turned to look down at her. Without moving any further, Mizaru spoke to her, his words more inside her mind than anything.
"My siblings are foolish. You are clever; you see your advantage for what it is. I will give you another. Woman of Letters, see evil so that you may defeat evil."
Everything went white and Eileen fell unconscious.
---
Eileen woke up with a start, realizing there were way too many blankets and pillows bombarding her every side and puddled around - even on the floors. She whipped her head to look at the nightstand and fumbled with the alarm device she had used earlier - it felt like it'd been a week instead of less than a day. She felt the thing start to tremble and within twenty seconds Sam and Dean raced into her room talking a mile a minute, grinning from ear to ear.
At first glance, Eileen's eyes sparkled with happiness, realizing everything had worked out; their voices obviously weren't carrying any more insanity-inducing evil. It was an immediate reaction before she could take everything about them in but then her sight registered and she realized they both looked... different.
Sam especially, where it seemed as though subtle gray-black shadows passed over his face, moving under and around his skin, slow as molasses. The shadows seemed independent of Sam... like they were writhing beneath the surface but without any power or direction. Just dormant things... evil, Eileen realized, suddenly remembering the Shrine. It was evil she was seeing in Sam... "so that she may defeat evil."
But it was evil constantly fluxing with no purpose and no agency... and with Sam to keep them contained and controlled.
She shifted her sight to Dean and saw the Mark of Cain illuminating his entire arm a bright red even though she was positive neither Sam or Dean were seeing it that way right then and there.
Sam brushed her shoulder. He'd come up to sit next to her in bed and she jerked to look at him, alert and alarmed in the face of Sam's solicitous expression.
"Are you okay? Can you say something?" he asked, and Eileen saw Sam glance past her to his brother, no doubt having another silent conversation over her reaction. When she felt the other side of the bed sink, she understood Dean was now sitting on her other side too.
"I'm okay," she spoke, looking back and forth between them, and they all broke into relieved laughter. Sam gently gripped her arm, reassurance flowing from him, and Dean rubbed his face, his pale anxiety visibly draining and his normal healthy color returning.
"I can see evil," she announced suddenly, not interested in keeping it a secret. They both looked at her and Eileen almost laughed over their respective curious puppy dog head-tilts. She looked into Sam's eyes intently. "I see the demon blood inside you," she said and watched him swallow and glance nervously for his brother. She turned to Dean: "I see the Mark of Cain glowing on your arm."
Sam tapped her so she could look at him.
"How?" he asked.
"Mizaru - he rewarded me as a Woman of Letters for destroying the curses. I can see evil now."
Sam's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Seriously?"
Eileen smiled and nodded. Dean leaned over her to get into her frame of vision. It would've been comical if he didn't look so concerned.
"You're really okay with that?"
"I am more than okay with it," Eileen said, signing expansively with her hands. "It makes me a better hunter. It's a gift."
"So... you're not gonna hunt us though, right?" Dean joked, rubbing his forearm and casting a furtive glance towards his brother. Eileen caught the insecurity in his expression.
"No, don't worry," she replied quickly, needing to wipe that look off Dean's face. She took them in with a contented sigh, then glanced at her own injured, exhausted body.
"Well, maybe one of you," she said, eyebrows lifting, glancing between the two now-surprised and concerned brothers.
"Whose ugly shirt am I wearing right now?"
Fin