Chapter 1
"Found any jobs for us yet? I'm bored," Dean Winchester asks. He and his brother, Sam, are sitting at the conference table in the Men of Letters bunker researching for a case. Suddenly, both of their phones chime with a text alert.
"Got a weird one. Come quick. 911," Sam reads aloud and looks over at Dean.
"Mine says the same. And there's coordinates."
Sam types the coordinates into his laptop. "It's not far," he says just as their phones chime again.
"Meet me at the coroner's office," Dean reads from the phone screen.
"Do you recognize the number?" Sam asks.
"Nope. It could be a trap," Dean adds, "Let's go."
Sam hesitates. "What about that part where it could be a trap?"
"Can't be that bad, whoever this is wants to meet at the morgue," Dean points out, thinking he's being logical.
"Well, great, then we could be walking in on some demon or witch that can control the dead or something," Sam argues.
"Great, then I can shoot some frickin' zombies," Dean says as he packs up his bag and heads to the garage.
The tall, handsome brothers walk up to the front desk in the small town's coroner's office and flash their fake FBI badges to the receptionist. "We're Agents…" Dean starts
"Taylor and Swift?" the young woman behind the desk finishes. "Your other agent is in the morgue with the coroner. Right this way, I'll show you." She moves from behind the desk and indicates the guys should follow her.
"Taylor and Swift? Awesome." Dean whispers to Sam.
"Yeah, weird. Maybe we're meeting Cas?" Sam speculates.
The young receptionist turns around and addresses them, "Your other agent was right. She said you guys are handsome."
Dean and Sam look at each other quizzically and mouth at the same time, "She?"
They enter the morgue and the receptionist simply states, "Your other agents are here," and she leaves the room.
Sam and Dean see a young woman, maybe in her mid to late 20s, dressed in a well-tailored suit speaking with the coroner. Recognition sparks in both of them as they take in her long red hair, attractive figure, and legs that won't quit.
"Cherry St. Cloud!" Sam and Dean exclaim at the same time. They look at each other and say in unison, "You know her?"
"Um, yeah," Dean starts. "I worked a job with her while you were at Stanford. That Vatala case I told you about."
Cherry walks up and interrupts. "Yeah, and I had to save his ass because he was under the impression that Vatalas are lone hunters." She looks over at Sam, "And I had to save your ass from a nasty nest of vampires."
Sam looks at Dean and says almost sheepishly, "You were in hell."
"Agent St. Cloud?" the coroner calls to her from across the room. "There was one more thing I wanted to show you."
"Agent St. Cloud?" Dean asks incredulously, "Why do you get to use your real name and we have to be Taylor Swift?" he asks under his breath.
"And are you sure my real name is Cherry St. Cloud?" She asks with a wink of her sparkling blue eyes and heads over to where the coroner waits.
"Wow, talk about a blast from the past," Sam states, then looks over at Dean, "Did you sleep with her?"
Rolling his eyes, Dean answers, "Look at her. She's hot. Of course I slept with her….Wait, did YOU sleep with her?"
Before Sam can answer, Cherry returns and answers for him, as if she heard their conversation from across the room. "Believe me, Sam was in no shape to sleep with anyone when I rescued him. And even if he was, I wouldn't." Looking him up and down, she adds, "I mean, you're cute and all, but not my type. Too much hair."
Dean points at Sam and silently laughs at him. Cutting him off before any insults ensue, Sam asks Cherry, "So what are we dealing with? A bloodsucker of some sort, I would imagine. That's what your family hunted, what you specialize in, right?"
"Oh, good memory, Sam. And yeah, this might be a bloodsucker, but it's a weird one. Check out this body." She leads them over to the slab.
"What the hell?" Dean asks, "It looks like an angel kill, what with the eyeballs all burned out and stuff."
"Right," Cherry answers, "But since when are angel kills totally exsanguinated? There is not a single drop of blood left in this body."
"So what is this? Something new?" Sam asks. "Maybe something that was left behind while Eve was sprung from purgatory?"
"Ugh, Eve," Cherry says under her breath with a slight shudder. Looking up at the boys, she answers, "No, not new. Meet me at the Sliver Moon Motel, room 113. I have more information there."
The boys approach the motel room, and in unison mutter, "Room 113, of course."
When Cherry answers the door, Dean can't help but ask, "Do you always get room 113?"
"Of course. 13 is my lucky number," she states as if it was obvious.
They all go into the cheap motel room and see books and papers and maps spread out all over the bed, desk, and floor.
"So what do you know about this creature?" Sam asks, getting right down to business.
"Well, this creature, this monster, surfaces every 40 years to hunt." Cherry pauses as if she's doing math in her head, "My grandmother faced her last time. My family has been hunting this thing for generations."
Cherry shows the brothers her grandmother's journal as well as all the notes she'd taken from the coroner's report. "You have basically the exact same handwriting as her," Sam observes.
"Um, yeah," Cherry replies absently. "What I've been able to discern from the kills 40 years ago and the victims now is that they are all men who've lied to women. The guy in the morgue lied to his coworker about a promotion that was supposed to be hers. The last victim 40 years ago was cheating on his wife."
Reading from the journal, Sam continues Cherry's train of thought. "Yeah, and it looks like your grandmother tried to bait the creature. She actually got a local man who was lying to his family to volunteer."
Cherry interrupts him, "Yeah, a marine. He wanted to help. And he was only lying about how combat changed him. He wasn't cheating or anything."
"Whoa, getting a little defensive over some dead dude from 40 years ago," Dean says jokingly.
"I'm not defensive," Cherry says defensively. "Anyway, we'll get it this time. I've got something she didn't have before."
"What's that?" Sam asks.
"The Winchesters," she says with a smile.
Dean, feeling the need to take charge of the situation as he always does, pipes up. "So, here's the plan: I'll bait this…whatever this is. It wants something that lies to women, well, here I am. It's kinda my M.O. And while this bloodsucking bitch is focused on me, you and Sam can swoop in and kill it. Your grandmother did have an idea about how to kill the thing, right?"
"Well, maybe," Cherry says hesitantly. "She thought the way to kill it was with a silver bullet and a beheading…but after she shot it, the thing got her bait and took off, not to be seen for another 40 years," she said the last part with a hit of sadness and determination in her voice.
"So, we'll shoot it, behead it, and burn it." Dean suggests.
"We may not have to shoot it," Cherry says, "I-my grandmother theorized that beheading it with a silver blade and burning the remains should take care of it once and for all. And I happen to have three silver bladed machetes." She pulls the weapons out of a closet and hands one to each of the guys.
"Awesome!" Dean says, waiving the blade around, getting a feel for it.
"So where do we find this thing so we can throw Dean at it?" Sam asks.
"Well, all the bodies were found in the same warehouse, which miraculously has survived for the last 40 years." Cherry informs him. "I've got the address. Let's go."
"I'm driving," Dean states.
They arrive at the deserted warehouse, and Dean goes in alone. "Well? You like to kill lying men? Here I am, full of blood for you to drink and eyeballs for you to burn. Come on out you coward!"
The creature suddenly appears. A lovely young woman with pale skin, dark hair, and darker eyes approaches him. She looks him over and sniffs the air around him. "You're not the one I seek!" She hisses, then knocks him over and floats over to the door of the warehouse. "What I want is out there!"
Sam and Cherry rush in, machetes at the ready. The creature turns towards Sam, but before she can focus on him, she sees Cherry. "You again? You don't give up, do you?" Looking Cherry up and down, again smelling the air, the creature continues to taunt the hunter. "And this time you brought a friend, someone you care about for me to destroy. How thoughtful!" The creature flings Cherry across the room, and focuses on Sam. She moves in the blink of an eye, pinning Sam against the wall. She stares into his green eyes with a burning glare, as if trying to burn the lies out of his brain. As her eyes burn holes into his skull, she bares her fangs and starts to bite into his neck. Before she can do any real damage, Cherry, who has recovered quickly from the creature's attack, runs up behind her and with the swift skill from years of hunting, she chops the creature's head off with one smooth chop.
"Sam! Are you alright?" Cherry asks with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, I don't think that thing had a chance to do much damage. Guess this is the second time you've saved my ass?"
"Well, this time I'm the one who put your ass in danger in the first place. Only fitting I should save it," she says in an attempt at apology.
"Well, ok then. But where's Dean? What happened to him? And why did the creature focus on me?"
"I have a theory about that, but let's take care of things here in case that thing regenerates before we can burn it." Cherry looks around the dark warehouse and spots a lump across the room. "I found Dean." Quickly, she makes her way over to him. "He's unconscious, but I think he's going to be ok."
"Well, then, we should wake him up and burn this thing and bury it."
"Don't worry, I know just how to wake him," Cherry says with a smile in her voice. She kisses him full on the mouth, which works like a charm.
"Whoa, what happened? My head hurts," Dean says as he comes too.
"Lady monster kicked your ass," Sam explains.
"Son of a bitch, that hurt. But, wasn't she supposed to so that you guys could kill her ass?"
"Not quite," Cherry piped in, "Monster decided Sam would taste better. She knocked you out, and tried to knock me out, but I rescued Sam. Again."
The three hunters burn the creature's remains and bury the ashes of the body and head in separate graves. Back at Cherry's motel room, they discuss the events of the evening.
"I still don't understand why the creature went after me instead of Dean. He lies to women WAY more than I do. I mean, he got an Amazon pregnant because she thought he was a rich banker!"
"Well, like I said, I have a theory about that," Cherry responds. Turning to Dean, she asks, "All those women you've lied too, were you in love with any of them?"
Pausing and thinking before answering, Dean finally speaks up, "No. They were, well, just girls. The ones I had real feelings for I didn't lie to about who I was."
Sam sinks onto the bed, dejected. "And I have. I never told Jessica about the 'family business,' and it got her killed. And then there was Amelia. She still doesn't know why I really had to leave."
Cherry sits down next to Sam. "Exactly. The creature wasn't just after any liars. Only those who lied to those they love."
"Wait," Dean interjects, "What about the guy in the morgue here. Didn't he lie about a promotion or something?"
"Yeah," Cherry says, "The coworker who got passed up, she was also his girlfriend."
"There's another thing I don't understand," Sam spoke up, clearly trying to not dwell on his failed relationships. "Why did the creature act like she knew Cherry? I mean, it was like she recognized you or something."
"Oh, that," Cherry said, almost as if she was stalling to think of an answer to his question. "Well…let's just say handwriting isn't all I share with my grandmother. I'm her spitting image. Guess she thought I was her."
Dean speaks up, trying to lighten the mood, "So, what we've learned here today, kids, is that Sam is a failure at love and Cherry looks like her grandmother. Guys, we just killed a bad ass creature no one has been able to defeat in generations. Let's call it a night and go get some pie!"
"Oh!" Cherry says excitedly. "We don't have to go get pie. Do you think I'd bring Dean Winchester here and not have something for him?" She pulls a cooler out of the closet, reaches in, and pulls out a pie. "Baked it before I left home. Cherry, one of your favorites."
"There are still some things that don't make sense," Sam says later that night as the boys drive back to the bunker in their 67 Impala.
"Yeah, what's that?" Dean asks.
"Well, that thing, it hunted by smell, right? So it shouldn't have recognized Cherry, even if she does look like her grandmother."
"What are you saying, Sam?"
"I don't know. I just think there's more to her than just being a hunter, you know?"
"So, what, you think she's hiding something? Like what?"
"I don't know. But there's something about her that never made sense to me, and I never thought about it after she saved me from those vamps, well, because I never saw her again after that. But it was weird, you know? It wasn't long after you went to hell. I had been holed up for a couple of weeks trying to find a way to save you. I started to get cabin fever and kind of wanted to go out and kill something, so I started tracking that nest of vampires. And dude, it was a huge nest, like 10 or more vamps. They had no problem capturing me. How did this girl not even half my size take down that nest?"
"Really, Sam? All of this because some girl was tougher than you while you were in mourning? Really?"
"That's not all, Dean. She says she's from Vegas, right? Born and raised? Well, have you ever listened to her, like really listen to her voice? It's like, she's not from this country sometimes…almost British."
"Well, all of that may be so. She might be hiding something. But it doesn't matter because we probably won't see her again for another ten years."