Eye of Horus
Chapter One: Small Town, Big Haunting
Sam and Dean were sitting down in a diner. They sat across from each other as Dean was shoving a double bacon cheeseburger down his throat. A laptop was open in front of Sam as articles scroll across the screen. Not much paranormal activity has been occurring across the country lately. An article flashes across the screen and stays as Sam reads the title, "Mutant Teenagers Spotted in New Mexico Town."
"Hey Dean, I think I got something…" Sam says skimming over the article. It appeared to be more questioning than anything. Something that the reporter clearly didn't want to believe. "Teenagers in a small New Mexican town disappear and return with animalistic features. Six teenagers went missing on a camping trip in the desert and returned with a primal rage. One other teenager was believed to be spotted with catlike eyes and sharp claws in her hands and feet."
"We should check this out. Sounds like trouble," Dean comments around the burger before using her forearm to wipe off his mouth. Sam just looks at Dean in annoyance getting the normal "What?" from his older brother.
"Let's just get the check and leave. We have 24 hour drive ahead of us." Sam says as he waves over the waitress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A young adult with short black hair was walking down the empty street. The sun was just starting to rise making the cracked concrete of the road lighten up and look brand new. Birds start to chirp as the town begins to wake up. Bike with bells ring as they pass the girl on their ways to work or school. She waves to a couple of shop owners on her way to the University on the outskirts of town. A brown leather satchel slung over her shoulder filled to the brim with notebooks and maps. She had spent the night at the local library doing research on the town history.
"Morning, Lotus Flower!" One of the delivery boys calls out to the girl. A laugh instantly erupts from the girl as she rolls her eyes. The boy looked about her age but was wearing a high school letterman jacket. His brown eyes sparkle as a short growl erupts from his throat.
"Jack, I told you that my name is Zahra. Not lotus flower. I've lived here for 3 years and you still haven't remembered," the girl, Zahra, says not even bothering to hide her Egyptian accent. Her light skin practically glowed as the sun hit it, causing a golden hue that made her shoulder length black hair shine. Her brown eyes glimmered as a small grin plays on her lips, "Now if you excuse me, I have to get to class. Some people actually believe in having a future outside of stocking shelves at a grocery store." She quickly turns causing her hair to fly over her shoulder before walking off towards the bus stop.
Jack glared at the retreating form of the college student as his eyes begin to glow. His hand briefly turns into a paw as a growl is clearly released from his throat. He glances down and instantly turns his hand back to normal before going back to moving boxes into the store.
A black Impala passed the grocery store as Jack's hand turned from a bear paw back to a regular human hand. "We definitely made the right call in coming here… we should go talk to that cute girl, she may know something about this," Dean suggests glancing towards the bus stop where Zahra was sitting on the bench. She was flipping through a leather bound notebook that had been tied closed with a leather cord.
"You just want to flirt with her," Sam comments as he grabs the fake FBI badges that were in the glovebox. Flipping through the various badges, he settles on the FBI ones deciding that those will be the most useful.
"I just want to make sure that he's safe from bear boy there," Dean says acting like he's just after her safety and not to get laid. He drives to the bus stop and puts his Impala in park in front of the bus stop. He rolls down Sam's window and leans forward to be seen by the girl. "Hi there."
Zahra glances up at the brothers with a cold look in her eyes. The bags under her eyes were prominent as she didn't have the chance to put on any makeup yet. "Can I help you?" she asks as she closes her notebook noticing Sam looking at it. The pages were covered in pictures and hieroglyphics that she copied down months earlier. "The bus is supposed to park here."
Sam opens up his fake FBI badge and shows it to Zahra through the open window. "We're with the FBI. Could we ask you a few questions, miss? It's about the teenagers that had gone missing," Sam says before giving Zahra an apologetic smile. He figured that she would be a better person to ask. The hieroglyphs in her notebook looked similar to that of a curse he once studied. Well one that he never paid much attention to because of it never having been seen in the past 3000 years.
"Would you give me a ride to my dorm while I answer the questions? I'm running late and need to get my notebook for class," Zahra asks getting up from her spot on the bench. She picks up her bag and slings it over her shoulder. She rolls her eyes as Dean looks her up and down, being used to people staring when she was wearing her normal gold tank top with short shorts.
As Sam goes to say no, Dean leans over and opens up the passenger seat door. "You can sit up here next to me, my partner can sit in the back," he smiles at the clearly foreign girl. Sam rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. At this point, he had grown used to Dean putting him in the backseat so he could flirt with another girl. Zahra smiles at Dean before climbing into the front seat, bag in hand. Sam closes the door before getting into the back of the Impala right before Dean speeds off. "Soooo… have any roommates?"
"No, and that's irrelevant. Feel free to cut the FBI crap whenever you want. Every hunter knows you boys and this Impala," Zahra says lifting her tank slightly exposing a pentagram tattoo she got to protect herself from possessions. She lowers her tank top before leaning back in the seat. The brothers glance at each other before Sam leans forward to get a closer look at Zahra.
"You're a hunter? We've never crossed paths before and you look kinda young to be a hunter" Sam comments thinking that Zahra couldn't be any older than 18. She appeared to be 19 at the oldest to him. He looks her up and down and notices a pistol in her bag underneath all of the maps and notebooks. "You also look more like a college student."
"That's because I am a college student. I stopped hunting at 15 to get an archeology degree, I spent most of my time hunting in Egypt or here in New Mexico. Depended on which dad I was living with at the time," Zahra shrugs knowing that she was too young to be a hunter. She looks forward as Dean drives towards the college, following the signs pointed towards it. "Turn left in 2 lights. My dorm is the third building on the right," she says before grabbing the key to her dorm apartment from her bag.
Traffic lessens as Dean heads towards the building and parks in front of the 10 story building. He turns in his seat to face her as he has an arm over the back of the front seat. "Archeology… so you've studied multiple cultures? How much do you know about what's been going on around here? And do you have a boyfriend?" Dean asks finding the third question as the most important. He was going to leave the research portion of the case to Sam again.
"You boys can look through my research. I have it up in my dorm, I'm on the 5th floor. And no, I don't have a boyfriend but you won't score with me. I'd rather keep my dignity," Zahra says before getting out of the Impala and heading to the stairs to go up to the higher floors.
"I like her," Sam chuckles as he climbs out of the backseat as Dean grumbles and follows him to where Zahra was standing. She was bounding up the steps as if they weren't even there. She was propelling herself up the steps from her toes so she could go three steps at a time, which shouldn't have been possible with her 5'5" figure.
"That is not natural!" Dean says under his breath as he and Sam run to keep up with the former hunter. The steps seemed to go on forever until they stopped to catch their breath on the fifth floor, where Zahra was leaning against an open doorframe that has a metal ankh hanging on a hook on the outside of the dorm door. Her eyes briefly flicker yellow before she ducks on into the room and turns on the light. Sam follows her on into the dorm with Dean close on his heels.
The dorm was covered in blueprints of various Egyptian temples and relics. Scrolls with hieroglyphs and English translations covered each available surface that wasn't around the coffee maker. The sink was filled with dirty mugs and spoons while the trash can was filled with paper plates and bowls. Sketches of an Eye of Horus amulet was pinned to the wall next to a blueprint of a temple. Amongst all of the research, was various scraps of fabric, a sewing machine, and a bunch of cases for Tomb Raider games scattered on a table in the corner. Zahra clears some notebooks off of the couch and puts it into her messenger bag and puts the leather bound notebook filled with hieroglyphs on the already cluttered table. "Sorry about the mess. I've been researching this curse for months now. Ever since that cat girl showed up this summer," Zahra says closing the door after the Winchester Brothers. The brothers look around before sitting down on the couch.
"You've spent months researching this? Can you help us stop these animal people?" Dean asks as Sam reaches forward and grabs a book full of notes and translations of Egyptian curses. Zahra chuckles and shakes her head before searching through the cupboards for a clean mug.
"Sorry boys, but I can't help out with more than research. Finals are coming up and I'm trying to get approved for a research expedition in Machu Pichu," Zahra says as she turns on the coffee maker to make a pot of coffee. "I'd recommend checking out the mayor's office though. His family owns some land around the town and that's where the teenagers went missing. There's nothing wrong with the woods themselves, I checked."
"Thanks… sorry I don't believe that we got your name. I'm Sam, and that's Dean," Sam smiles at Zahra pointing at Dean before holding his hand out to shake her hand.
"I'm Zahra. It's a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Winchester brothers in the flesh," Zahra smiles before shaking Sam's hand. "Feel free to stick around here to look through my research while I'm in class. Just don't answer the door, I don't need anyone else in the building to think I was in a threesome." She laughs before pouring her coffee into a travel mug before leaving with her bag.
