1

Mary and Shaun were walking down the long dirt path to Mary's house after going to see a movie. The path was surrounded by trees, and it was late, so Mary stayed close to Shaun. There was a crack from the woods, and Mary dug her face into Shaun's chest.

"Hey now," said Shaun. "Come on, it's probably just an animal."

"You're probably right," Mary said, chuckling slightly. "I'm sure it's nothing." They walked along a little more until they saw a light up ahead, but it wasn't a light in the window, the house was up in flames. "No," Mary muttered. "No," her voice rose, fear welling up. She started running toward the house, screaming, "No!" When she got to the end of the tree line, something swooped down and lifted her into the air, and the after a second the screaming stopped.

"Mary," Shaun said, fear now welling up inside him, he started to walk backwards. He turned to break into a run and was met with a sight so horrible he let out a bloodcurdling scream…

"I'm telling you," Sam Winchester said to his brother, "there is definitely something going on here."

"Sammy," Dean Winchester said, "I know you want to get your mind off of this Leviathan thing, along with your Devil problem, but that doesn't mean every town we go through has some weird ass thing going on."

"Dean," Sam insisted. "Just listen to this! Every twenty third spring there has been a series of disappearances, but after twenty three days the disappearances stop as suddenly as they start. But ever since we caged Lucifer the disappearances have shifted; now it's been every three weeks for three days."

They were both silent, until finally Dean said, "Alright, that does seem a little fishy. What else do we know?"

"Nothing," Sam said, shaking his head, then, "Hey, hold up, it says that there is a guy in the hospital who says he's seen this thing."

"How reliable is this source?" Dean asked.

"The entire hospital staff thinks he's crazy," Sam said.

"Hmm," Dean said, turning left. "He sounds reliable to me."

After showing their credentials to the police officers standing guard outside the man's room, Sam and Dean walked in and looked around the room. There were pictures and news clippings from the past century hanging from the wall.

"Looks like we aren't the only ones investigating," Dean said as a man with a sling over his left arm came out of the bathroom, hospital robe untied and flying free.

When the man saw Sam and Dean, he grew red with embarrassment. He pulled his robe back and held it. "Sorry," he said, waddling past the Winchesters with more clippings. "I wasn't expecting company." He turned and looked them over. "You guys feds?"

Dean looked down at his suit and looked at Sam, he said, "Uh, yeah, well you know, more like Point Break feds." He looked at Sam and said, "I call being Keanu Reeves, you can be Gary Busey." Sam rolled his eyes.

"So," Sam said, getting back to business, "tell us what you saw."

"Yeah right," the man said, chuckling. "You'll think I'm crazy, just like the rest of them."

"Try us," Dean said.

"Alright," Shaun said. "He was this freaky ass bastard, he was like this brownish green colored. He had these skin flaps, like those lizards from that book Holes." ("Great flick," Dean whispered to Sam, who shushed him.) "His face was… divided, I guess. He has indents in his forehead and chin, shaped like a V."

"What did it do?" Sam asked, writing all this down.

"You're taking me seriously?" Shaun asked.

"Sir," Dean said, "You have no idea what we've seen in our days."

"Uh, okay… well, when he first arrived, he swooped down and grabbed my girlfriend, Mary. Oh god, Mary." Sam and Dean looked at each other; his reaction was all too familiar.

"You said it swooped down," Sam said. "From where?"

"The sky, of course!" Shaun said, pointing out the window as if it were obvious. "That sucker had wings!"

Sam and Dean looked at each other again; they thanked Shaun for his time and turned to leave.

"Wait," Shaun said, running to the wall, still holding his robe behind him. "Go see this woman," he handed them a picture and address. "I always thought she was a kook, but after everything that's happened, she seems like the sanest person on Earth."

Sam and Dean left the hospital, Dean looked at the address.

"What do you think?" He asked his little brother.

"Dragon?" Sam asked.

"Maybe, let's head to the coroner's to see if she had any jewelry on her," Dean said.

"That dragon would have taken it," Sam said.

"Yeah," Dean said nodding, then he said, "But there may be trace elements of the jewelry on her skin." Sam looked at Dean, eyebrows raised. "What? You think Porn is the only thing I watch? What do you think I do when you go off to get food? I love NCIS."

"Whatever you say, DiNozzo," Sam said, Dean slapped him in the back of the head.

They arrived at the coroner's office around 7 in the evening, the sun was starting to set, and they wanted to get in and out so they could get to their motel, which was on the outskirts of town. They walked in and flashed their badges, the coroner pulled out the body, which was mutilated completely.

"Was there any jewelry?" Sam asked the coroner.

"You thinkin' it was a robbery?" The coroner asked, surprised.

"You think it could be something else?" Dean asked.

"Well, there's tell of this creature that's been lurking around lately. It's only been known to hunt every twenty three springs," Sam and Dean looked at each other, "but lately it's been hunting more frequently."

"What do they call this creature?" Dean asked, interested.

"They call it," the coroner looked over his shoulder, "the Creeper."

"The Creeper?" Sam repeated, racking his brain for a creature like that.

"Yep," the coroner said. "Eleven years ago a brother and sister were passing through, this was back during its 23 day hunting period, and they witnessed the Creeper in human form, dumping bodies below the old church. They were chased by the Creeper all the way to the police station here in town. It took the brother, no one's heard from him since."

"So people know about this thing?" Dean asked.

"Oh yeah," the coroner said. "Lately, no one's wanted to be caught out in the night time. That's when the thing wants to prey, though we know his regular pattern now."

"When's the next time he's hunting?" Sam asked.

"Tonight's the first night," the coroner said, his eyes flicked to the window.

"Shoot," he said, "gonna have to stay here for the night." He walked over to one of the body drawers, opened it up and pulled out the slab, which had two twin-sized mattresses lined up, with a blanket and pillow draped over them. "You boys are welcome to stay," he said.

"We'll, uh, take our chances," Sam said, smiling uncertainly.

"Alright," said the coroner, "but don't you say I didn't warn ya."

Sam and Dean walked back to the car, and when they got in Dean started the engine. They were halfway back to the motel when Sam turned the radio on. A jazz song was playing. "Jeepers Creepers'! Where'd you get those peepers? Jeepers Creepers'! Where'd you get those eyes? Gosh all git"— Dean turned off the radio.

"What the hell was that?" he said, looking sourly at the radio.

"I don't know, it was on the rock station," Sam said, looking puzzled.

"If Jazz is trying to make a comeback shoot me now," Dean said, still looking at the console. Sam looked up and grabbed Dean's shoulder.

"DEAN!" he shouted, Dean looked up and slammed on his brakes. A man with wiry white hair and a flat topped hat was standing in the headlights, he hadn't even flinched. His long trench coat waved in the wind.

Dean rolled his window down and stuck his head out, "Yo, buddy, get outta the road!" He wailed on the horn, but the man didn't move.

"What's his deal?" Dean said, pulling back into the car. Sam didn't respond, he had noticed that this guy's hands weren't hands, they were sharp talons.

"D-Dean," Sam said, fear starting to affect his speech. "I think we found the Creeper…"

Dean looked at Sam, and when he looked back at the man he noticed the talons. "Sammy," he muttered, "grab an iron shooter."

"Starting small," Sam said, reaching behind him for the gun. The Creeper's mouth stretched into a wide grin. He started forward, slowly.

"Sam," Dean said, starting to panic a little.

"I can't make a grab at it!" Sam hissed. The Creeper was so close he could probably reach out and touch the car. Sam had just grasped the gun when another set of headlights appeared to their right; Creeper turned and was rammed down by a pickup truck.

"Follow me!" the driver shouted, she was a female. She set the car in reverse and sped of down a dirt path. Dean put the car in gear and chased after her. They pulled up to a house that looked as fortified as Alcatraz.

They got out of the car, grabbing the guns, and ran into the house with the woman. They got into the house and stopped as they realized the woman was locking the door, her door had locks from top to bottom.

When she turned, Sam said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Jazelle Gay Hartman," the woman said. "And I know what you're doing here Sam," she turned to Dean, "Dean."