Eli

Eli is a shapeshifter. When Team Free Will enters his town during a suspicious murder investigation, they find Eli, who has to convince them that he is not the bad guy.

[This is from a monster's POV, so the info is purposely skewed, and set in season 8]

Every monster knows to fear the Winchesters. They will find you and kill you. No questions asked, only leaving behind questionable disappearances and a case that runs cold. They will tear apart the entire town to kill you, not even asking why they do it anymore. They hunt for revenge, anger, and sadness.

And if the Winchesters are in town and you happen to be a monster, run and die later, or die now. Never an in between. Never any monster who made it out alive.

Every monster also knows to fear angels. One look and your done. Poofed out of existence. If you're a demon, you're just gone. Or if you're a basic, garden-variety monster, you go to Purgatory.

And if an angel is in town, run and die later, or die now. Nothing else.

If, however, you unfortunately come across the Winchesters andtheirangel, well there's nothing you can do. Maybe just save yourself some time and just give yourself up to them.

Eli knew this. He heard the stories about the infamous brothers and their angel. He watched the news and saw their killing spree, supposedly gunned down by police, only to pop up a few months later. He saw the disappearances of creatures disguised as people in the papers.

He knew that Dean, Sam, Cas don't die. Ever. It just makes them angry.

He has seen the Leviathans tear up the country, watched as his own town became sluggish and stoned. Until Dick Roman industries suddenly collapsed, and his town slowly became normal again. Children running around, and parents keeping up with them.

And for a year, Dean Winchester and the angel Castiel were gone. Sam as well, but at least Sam was on Earth.

When the word reached Eli that Dean was alive, Eli was wary. He wanted them to fry the bad monsters, but he didn't want to die himself.

You see, Eli was good. He didn't kill. He didn't maim. He didn't harm. He didn't steal someone's life. Merely observed.

Eli didn't like the Winchesters, though. Probably never will.

Until he met Kate. She was a werewolf on her way West. He spoke with her about the world and somehow the conversation steered to the Winchesters.

"They let me live. I haven't been hunted. I haven't hunted either." She put her hand over Eli's. They were cold. "They are good, as long as you are."

She left after a few hours. Her words brought very little comfort to him. Though, they did help. And Eli was going to need all the help he can get.

Because the Winchesters were headed right for him. And they were coming fast. Eli needed a plan of attack, but the Winchesters were smarter.

Eli should have seen this coming. Almost every newspaper had the headline "The Heartbreaker Strikes Again!" plastered all over the front page. One of the victims went to his school. They had been in the same chess club together.

It was clearly a werewolf. Not Kate, though. She was long gone. It had been weeks since he last saw her.

Even though the Winchesters should be looking for a werewolf, he should probably clean up his own messes anyway.

The sewer was, and always will be, a nasty place. Eli hated going down here. It stunk and he always got questionable stains on his pants. He found the last place he molted and pushed it all into the water that lead to the ocean.

Following the trail, he cleaned his pipeline. Knowing that there were still marks left behind, Eli grabbed a bucket and splashed some water on the side.

Eli was proud of himself. He was still somewhat jittery, almost like meeting someone's parents for the first time. Have to make a good impression, right?

Now that it was all done, Eli could do one of his two things. Run, or die. Either way, he was going to die.

But maybe...

Kate's words pulled him back a step. He dropped the bucket and ran his fingers though his hair. He could wait patiently for them. Like Kate said, they wouldn't harm someone who wasn't doing anything.

Eli decided to make the worst decision and waited for the brothers and the angel, both what he was taught to fear.

He was scared, just strong enough to fight it. The only problem, Eli was thinking about it now, was that he had to actually wait for them to arrive.

"Awesome," Eli muttered to his anaconda he dubbed Mouse because he couldn't think of a better name. And he was pretty sure it was female. The constrictor wrapped around the back of Eli's head and settled her head on Eli's shoulder, as if to comfort him.

"I would pay hide the mouse with you, but I'm too lazy."

...

"Be right back."

It took the Winchesters a week to get here. During his wait, Eli still went to school, still played with Mouse, still ate (sort of), still slept, and still dreamed. Well, more like nightmare-d.

He saw Sam hold his dream-self by the wrists while Dean took his silver knife and plunged it deep in Eli's belly.

He saw Dean tie him to a chair and he and Sam take turns punching him with silver rings, skin hanging off his face in strips.

He watched as Sam rounded a corner, saw Eli sitting, reading a book, and drove the knife into his back, severing his spinal cord.

He saw Castiel reach out and grip his head, eyes burning out of his skull and then-

Eli woke up on his stomach. His sheets gripped him, soaked with sweat, twisted from when he twisted ad turned throughout the night.

Problem was, some of his skin pulled off in the night, and it wasn't sweat clinging the sheets to him, as the once-white sheets were now bright red and sticky. He pulled the sheets of carefully, wincing as more skin ripped off.

The skin on his entire torso was gone. His back was in splotches, from what he could see in the mirror. The skin of his palms were gone, as well as most of his thighs, and part of his legs.

Bone could be seen at his knees and elbows. The white shocked him into action.

He needed the hairs. Where were they? There, on the dresser. He sighed in relief.

He had to pull on his clothes quickly, more skin still peeling. The hairs were still in his hand as he walked down the street. Taking a right, he kept walking until he found the entrance to the sewer.

Eli dropped in. His landing echoed throughout the pipe system. He just needed to find the right water drainage.

Right, right, straight, left, second right, third left, straight again.

He smiled, then grimaced as he started to pull off the remaining skin. He muffled his screams with his torn shirt. As the last of his skin was yanked off, he heard them.

"Dean, I don't-"

"Shut up, Sam. I thought I heard something."

Eli froze. A litany of 'no no no' ran in his head in a never ending loop. 'This is actually happening.'

He couldn't hear their voices anymore, but he heard the footsteps of two distinct people. His skin was still trying to regenerate. He watched as each piece slowly crept along his arms and legs. This was it. He was going to die.

Eli looked down the tube, shadows growing with every sound. Eli panicked.

He started running. He heard them racing after him.

'Forget Kate,' he thought. 'They were going to stab me.'

His skin was fully healed by the time he hit the open air. He turned and locked the entrance behind him. Eli wanted to just leave it at that, but he had to make another bonehead decision.

Eli unbolted the door, and shot off like a rocket. The door creaked open just as he ran behind another building.

He remembered what Kate had done when she was finished.

Eli went home. Mouse slouched across the couch like a slug. Eli gathered essentials in a backpack. He realized his hairs were still in his hand, crumpled and covered in blood, but still usable.

He finally chose the right thing to do. With a neutral expression, burned the hairs in the trashcan. His face will be recognized by Dean and Sam, but they will not know what he will look like next time.

He had to write something so they would understand. If they came in now, he would have no chance.

Winchesters,

You're wondering who I am. Obviously you know my name, Eli. Whatever last name you have is wrong. I don't have a last name. I don't have anything, really. Except my snake, Mouse. Bring her to my friend Kenny's. He always loved her.

I have to add. I am not bad. I ran because I am good. And you will not see that. I do not deserve to die. I did no murders here. It was clearly a werewolf, all the signs point that way.

I guess that's it. I should probably add

Something hard and cold hit him in the back of his head, knocking him into the blackness of unconsciousness.

The world was fuzzy. Eli felt strangely heavy, and his entire body ached.

A hand slammed on his shoulder, pressing him into the mattress, knocking his fuzzy world off kilter. Voices were muffled through the haze.

"Shh. 'M tryin'a sleep," he tried to voice. It didn't work.

The voices were smaller now. The hand didn't lift from his shoulder though, and it was starting to hurt.

"Ow," Eli tried, swatting at the hand.

The hand lifted. Eli rubbed his forehead, and even if he wanted to tuck his head back in his pillows and sleep the rest of the world away, a voice called out loudly.

"Eli!"

Eli bolted up, and he heard two clicks sound in the otherwise quiet room.

"Yea," Eli said groggily.

He blinked, and immediately wished he had gone back to sleep. Dean and Sam Winchester stood there, guns pointed at his chest. He balked, drawing the covers up to his chest carefully.

"I- uh. Uh, please don't hurt me," he whimpered, his head and eyes not facing those eyes anymore. He, instead, focused on his bedsheets, which had been miraculously cleaned to their pristine white.

He didn't see the brothers look at each other curiously. He did, however, hear whispers.

"Dean, I don't think he did this."

"Obviously he did. One of the vics was his chess buddy."

"That doesn't mean he's guilty."

"But he's a Shifter."

Eli squeezed his eyes shut, and immediately covered his ears. He couldn't hear this. He didn't want to die. He didn't deserve it! He did nothing wrong! Why can Kate live and not him!

He started to hyperventilate. As hard as he closed his eyes, a few tears fell through. Somehow, during his panic attack, he began rocking back and forth. Eli also didn't realize that he had been talking the whole time.

"Kate? Did you say Kate?"

Eli didn't hear.

"Eli? Hey, kid."

He clamped his hands harder around his ears.

"I don't- I can't- Don't wanna- Please- Why can Kate- Mouse?"

Eli froze. His head shot up, ignoring the two brothers and the fact that they didn't have their weapons out anymore.

"Mouse?"

Eli scrambled from his bed, raced through the Winchesters, who were halfway in the process of getting their guns out again, and ran to the living room.

"Mouse!"

The kitchen. The bathroom. The extra bedroom. His balcony. Even his refrigerator. All void of snake.

"Mouse. Mouse is gone."

"Who's Mouse?" Sam asked.

"Mouse. She's my snake. Someone stole her." Eli was about to break down again. "I was going-" Another pause. "My note!"

Eli ran back to his room, looking on his desk, through his drawers, and in his closet. Once his entire room was throughouly searched. Eli collapsed on his back on his bed.

"Someone stole your snake?" Dean asked.

"Yup." Eli popped the 'p'.

"Why would they do that?"

Eli shrugged. His hands, clasped on his stomach felt strangely wet. He looked down to see that his palms were shredded again. Eli smiled. Then started laughing maniacally. Those then turned into sobs.

"Sam, we should just leave," Dean whispered to his brother.

"No!" Eli shouted. Dean and Sam jumped. Eli stood up and pointed at them, blood running down his arm. "If you two idiots had been hunting the werewolf like proper hunters, then I wouldn't have had to run from you in the sewers, then I wouldn't have tried to run away, and I wouldn't have gotten hit over the head, knocking me unconscious for the night. And if it weren't for you, I would have my snake!"

"You were knocked out last night?" Dean asked.

Eli sighed. "Yeah. I would've been long gone by now if I hadn't."

Dean pulled Sam away, and Eli listened by his door.

"Sam, I don't trust him."

"But you trust Benny?"

"That's different!"

"How, exactly?"

Silence.

Then footsteps.

Eli scrambled back.

"Okay kid. You sit tight while we gank a werewolf, then we'll find your snake," Dean said, shuddering as he said the last part.

"No." Eli stood up and crossed his arms. "I'm coming with you."

Dean opened his mouth, probably to object, but Sam cut in.

"Only if you really want to."

Eli nodded. "I just need one thing." He went to the wastebasket next to his desk. When he peered inside, he almost collapsed.

"Eli? Eli, what's wrong?" Sam asked, helping Eli stand with a hand on Eli's arm.

"Uh, just an idiot, that's all." Eli pointed to the trash.

When Sam looked inside, he was confused to see nothing inside.

"Eli, there's nothing in there."

Eli breathed in deeply, trying to calm his nerves. "Exactly."

"So you use hairs if you need to change?"

While Dean drove silently, Sam asked Eli question after question about what it was like to shift and what happened if he got injured in school and why he even went to school.

"Yeah. Easier to have a that than steal someone's life."

"Wow." Sam really seemed floored by the idea of a smart monster.

"Why did you run when you heard us coming last night?" Dean asked from the driver's seat.

Eli blushed. The only stories he had heard growing up were that Dean and Sam Winchester were human monsters. They killed without a thought and felt no remorse.

"Honestly?" He asked.

When Dean nodded curtly and Sam nodded enthusiastically, Eli explained.

"You grew up to fight monsters. To kill them without a second thought. You were taught not to fear anything and if something scares you, kill it. Right?"

They both nodded warily.

"Well my life growing up was to fear hunters. Namely, the Winchesters." Eli paused. "We were also taught to fear angels."

He didn't notice Dean flinch slightly and Sam give him a sideways glance. Eli kept going.

"Lucky for us, angels only come to earth under special circumstances. Haven't seen any in many, many years, though," he added as an afterthought. Eli continued.

"When you two die, you get to go to Heaven. Where will I go when I get killed?" He looked at them.

The brothers remained silent.

"I don't care that I'm a Shifter. But I just don't find it fair that I get Purgatory while you two get Heaven. The only thing I kill are mice, and that's to feed to my snake."

"You're right, Eli," Sam said after a pause. "It's not fair."

Eli stated at him. He just wanted to speak his mind, not have anyone really agree with him.

"You haven't killed anybody-"

"That we know of," Dean mumbled angrily.

"-and you don't want to harm anybody," Sam finished with a glare at Dean, who was studiously watching the road.

"Yeah," Eli said softly. "Right now, I just want Mouse."

"Mouse?" Sam said. "That's an interesting name for a snake."

"Well, I found her when I was... moving. No one lost her, and I wasn't going to give her to someone else. She's cool. She didn't have a name, she was anonymous. That's where it comes from. Mouse."

Sam nodded his head. He seemed impressed again, but Eli couldn't exactly tell. He looked out the window, and rested his cheek on his hand against the window. Sam turned back around, and guided Dean to the school.

Luckily, it was a weekend, so there was usually no one in the school. Maybe a janitor or two, but otherwise it was empty. Eli followed Dean and Sam to a side door, and kept watch as Dean broke in. His classmate was found with his throat slashed and heart scratched at, but not taken out.

In the school library.

"But the heart wasn't taken all the way out?" Dean asked, looking at the bloody carpet.

"No. The skin was scratched enough to reveal the heart, but otherwise it was left alone." Eli walked over to the shelves of books. He picked one out, and read the back cover.

"The report says his throat was also slashed. Five slashes, five fingers. Makes sense," Sam said.

Dean stood, and walked over to Sam. He whispered something to his brother, and Eli stayed away. He put the book back, and started walking away from the brothers, lest he hear something else he didn't want to.

The hallways were barren, a scrap piece of paper or two on the floor, pens kicked underneath lockers. The school was an overall dump, but he had friends here. He had a home here. And it was being messed with. The balance was tipping.

Eli managed to get himself to the cafeteria. Food was stored in the freezers, or ordered the day before. It was Saturday, so there was no one in sight. He walked around, getting a very strong feeling that he would have to leave.

He heard his name being called by the Winchesters. He didn't care. He wanted to look around for possibly the last time.

"Eli!" Sam shouted, his name reverberating around the empty school.

Eli closed his eyes, and smiled. His smiled faded when he felt something cold and hard touch the back of his neck.

"Don't move," the person behind the gun warned.

Eli complied, and kept his eyes closed. The last image he would have before he dieswould be of a rusty cafeteria, a decrepit school, and the sound of his name being called over and over again.

The gun cocked, and the bang was a lot like his life: short, to the point, and with a lot of blood in his mouth.

"You have to fix him."

"What happened?"

A pause. "We lost him. We tried calling his name, then we heard a gunshot."

"Listen, can you help him, or not?"

Another, more lengthy pause. "I can try."

Eli didn't move. He had no idea what was happening, and if he moved, he might injure himself further. So he lay on a bed, it dipped when someone sat down next to him, and couldn't even flinch as a warm hand closed over his throat. Being a shifter, the skin tried to close on it's own, but he figured it was ragged due to the bullet still being inside.

He felt fingers prod at the wound, and the palm squeezed at Eli's throat. He whined, but it was lost as all the air was sucked out of him. It all came rushing back right before Eli was about to black out.

His eyes opened. The first thing he registered was a man with black messy hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a tan trench coat, black suit and pants, and white dress shirt.

Eli eyes the man's hand, covered in blood. He reached up to touch his throat, and it came away red and wet. But when he really felt it, the skin was smooth and covered.

He opened his mouth to ask what happened, when the man covered Eli's mouth with his clean hand.

"Don't speak. Your vocal cords were obliterated, and it's going to take some time for the nerves to grow back. Putting stress on them will not be good." The man's voice was deep, gravely. Eli shied away from it.

That's when it hit him. This man wasn't a man at all. He was an angel.

Eli pointed at him, but he couldn't say anything. He made a writing motion with his hands, and Dean brought over a pad of paper and pen.

He wrote down,You're an angel.

The angel nodded. "My name's Castiel."

Eli moved a little bit farther away.Are you going to kill me?

Castiel read it, and smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it. Dean and Sam told me how you were good. I believe them."

Eli gave a tight smile in return. Can you help me find my snake? She's an anaconda, 7 ft. long, yellow and white.

"I will be assisting Sam and Dean on this case, and I will look for your snake. What's her name?"

Mouse.

"Interesting name," Castiel said.

"Cas! We're going," Dean called from the doorway. Eli cocked his head.

Where are we?

"You are safe. When you feel like it, you can look around. It's quite large, and neither Sam nor Dean has seen it all."

Eli chuckled.Guess I have my work cut out for me.

Castiel was about to say something else, when Dean called out again, followed by the sound of a door opening. Castiel sighed, and stood up. "I will be back to check on your progress." With that, Eli was by himself.

Ten minutes later, Eli tried to stand up. His legs were shaky and rubbery, but he grabbed onto the wall to keep upright. Eli had no clue how long he was out for, so he tried to find a calendar or phone.

Eli found the library first. Conveniently, there was a phone on the table in the middle of the room. He dragged himself to it, and turned the phone on.

He stared at the phone in his hands. Maybe the date was wrong, there was no way...

Eli's been out for five days. And no one was looking for him?

He set the phone back down on the table, grabbed the nearest book to him, and started reading.

Sam, Dean, and Castiel came back a few hours later, dragging their feet and overall tired. Eli sighed.

What do you want for dinner?

Dean looked at the paper, but shook his head. "I'll be cooking tonight." He left to go into the kitchen, a place Eli hasn't explored yet.

Castiel sat at the table next to Eli. "I'm going to try and heal your wound a little bit more, okay?"

Eli nodded, and leaned his head back, closing his eyes right as Castiel's warm hand enclosed over his neck. A cooling sensation rushed through his body, and Eli shivered.

It stopped, and the warmth was removed. Castiel sat back. "Try to talk, just a little bit."

Eli cleared his throat. "Hello." His voice was ragged, and his throat was dry.Water, he wrote down.

Castiel left and came back in seconds, handing the glass over to him. Eli drank the entire thing, and smiled.

"That's better."

Castiel nodded, and smiled. "Your vocal cords are doing much better. Another day or two, and they will be fully healed."

Eli stared at him. He had neverseen an angel before, but he was told they were menacing, righteous, willing to do anything for God. Castiel was the exact opposite. He was kind, smiled, and didn't mind monsters.

"Just to clarify," Eli started. "You're not going to kill me, right?" The days after the shooting were blurry, and he wondered if maybe he woke up without realizing it.

Castiel smiled. "Of course not. I was told you were a good monster."

"Did you find my snake?" Eli asked, standing up.

"I'm sorry, Eli."

Eli only nodded, and walked around the place. So far, he had seen the library, the dungeon (Sam and Dean had left the door open. Eli had shivered thinking about his nightmares from before he met them), and the main control room.

So he wandered into the kitchen. Dean was standing over the oven, spatula in hand, and humming a song under his breath. Dean turned when he heard Eli enter.

"Ah. How do you want yours?" He asked.

Eli shrugged. "Never had a hamburger before."

Dean looked appalled, and said, "Well that's definitely going to change."

"Sounds fun," he said in a dull voice. He unconsciously pulled at a strand of his hair. "Know anyone who does haircuts?"

Dean glanced over at him, and chuckled. "I have something you can use."

"Cool." Dean gave him an electric razor and pointed him towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Eli could see the world without a frame of hair blocking most of it. He smiled as he placed the razor on the edge of the sink.