The trail seemed to run out into the sand. There were no kind of tracks to follow and no witnesses, and it all was starting to feel rather hopeless. After hours of scouting, the two brothers began driving back towards the local inn, in which they were staying. It was a comfortable place, better looked after than the average motel that they usually stayed in. Southern comfort would probably be the best way to describe it. Dean was tired and frustrated, annoyed with this entire charade. Nothing made any sense. He climbed out of the car, grunting and muttering something under his breath as he headed up to the inn's door. As he was about to open it, a young girl in a plaid shirt stepped out, gasping and only just managing to swirl around and past Dean, who wasn't exactly paying attention to the people around him. He simply went on inside, leaving the door open.
Amana blinked and stroked some hair in behind her ear before shrugging with a smile, but as she tore her gaze from the stranger and turned around, another one was looking down at her with a smile.
"Sorry about my partner, it's been a long day. Quite the evasive manoeuvre there, nice work." He seemed friendly with that smile, amusement obvious in his voice. Nodding, she smiled in return.
"Nothing fancy. I hope you get to have a better day tomorrow." Sam let out a chuckle and nodded with a slight roll of his shoulders.
"Me too, it's like we've been chasing our tails all day." Raising an eyebrow, Amana looked up at the tall stranger with a bit of a suspicious look in her eyes.
"I happen to know for a fact that humans don't have tails." Then she grinned and headed down off the porch, waving a hand. "Anyway, better luck tomorrow!"
Sam just stood there with a frown, watching the girl leave. Normally, he'd have taken it for an awkwardly executed joke if it hadn't been for one particular word the girl had used.
Humans.
"Hey, Dean, I think I got something!" He looked into the reception room of the motel as he called out, only to clear his throat as he got a strange look from the receptionist. It seemed like his brother had already booked a room and headed on inside, leaving Sam to awkwardly hurry down to the corridor of rooms.
"What the hell man? At least tell me if you're going to go." Dean had already collapsed on the bed, frowning at his brothers' sudden accusations. He didn't seem inclined to move however. These beds were soft, much softer than the usual motel beds, and they even smelled clean.
"Whaat..?" Sam huffed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I got something, a lead." Dean forced himself to sit up, raising his eyebrows as he glanced over at Sam.
"Really. In five minutes, you've managed to dig up a lead? Yeah right."
"Yeah that girl you almost crashed into by the entrance, I think that's Amy." Dean scratched a hand over his head through his hair, sucking in a yawn.
"Why didn't you chase her down then?"
"And get arrested for harassing a random girl? No thanks." Sam leaned back in his seat, looking over at his brother, who had sunk right back down into the bed, his head buried in the plush pillow. Shaking his head with a smile, he got up to go lay on his own bed. The girl didn't seem alarmed, quite the contrary, actually. She'd at least stay for a couple of hours, which was about the amount of sleep they were planning on getting.
It was a clear night without a moon, which made the stars stand out quite beautifully. Normally she would spend this time just enjoying the calm, but there was something amiss in paradise. Her paradise. Her own little Garden of Eden, or well, one of them. If she didn't find the creature that had attacked Nancy, it might attack someone again, and that time, she might be too late. She had used her scarf to tie back her hair in a low ponytail, just to get it out of the way. Now, she wasn't particularly good at tracking. Her kind weren't meant to track anything, they were meant to aid. However, her humans needed her aid. This was not something she could leave up to the federal police.
It felt strange, holding such a long blade, such a deadly weapon. It was an old machete, one of many weapons that she had found in her cottage. Thanks to all the books, she knew how to kill creatures, and how to identify them. Whatever had attacked Nancy, it just had to be a vampire. It just had to be, or she could find herself in quite a mess.
Her bare feet were barely touching the ground as she walked, machete in hand, ready to be used. She was hunched over; trying to be stealthy, but she looked more like an amateur hunter. Which was a pretty good description of what she currently was.
"Come out come out, wherever you are.." Her voice was but a nervous whisper, trembling with suppressed fear. She wasn't a fighter, but she had to do something about a monster hurting the humans that she cared about.
"You know that's a really bad thing to WHOA!" Dean only just managed to dodge the machete that was swung at him before swiftly disarming the girl, pressing her up against the wall with his lower arm against her throat.
"Easy there tiger." He grinned, cocking his head slightly. Sam picked up the machete, raising his eyebrows as he examined it.
"This is really old." Gently touching the supposedly sharp edge of the blade, he let out a light chuckle and dropped it on the ground again.
"It's not even sharp." Dean looked back at Sam. "What?" Returning his attention to the, surprisingly still girl, he frowned. "Why the hell are you out hunting with a blade that wouldn't even be able to cut?" Throwing out her arms in a confused gesture, she tried to shrug.
"I didn't know it wasn't sharp! I don't use weapons." Dean chuckled.
"Yeah, because you use your teeth, don't you?" With those words, he quickly lifted the girls' lip to check for fangs, something that he, to his surprise, couldn't find anywhere.
"She's not a vamp." Licking her teeth and making general grimaces from having her mouth poked in, Amana scrunched up her nose. It was rather unpleasant having such dirty fingers touch the inside of her mouth. She was partial to sweet tastes, not... Grime.
"I'm out looking for the vampire. Why would a vampire hunt another vampire?" Dean shrugged. "I've seen weirder." Glancing off at Sam, he nodded in agreement, ensuring to Amana that they had indeed seen weirder things happen. Finally, Dean released the girl, allowing her to slide back down onto the ground.
"Sorry, but you're going to have to come with us."Frowning, she took a step to the side. "Why..?" Sam held up his hands before putting away his gun. "Easy, we're not going to hurt you! We just want to find out what you are and why you're here."
"Well you could just ask..! I'm a"
"She's a unicorn." Castiel's voice cut through the night and was enough to make her jump. Dean glanced off at the angel, raising his eyebrows before letting out an amused laugh.
"Yeah, right. She's a unicorn. And I'm a goblin." Castiel blinked slowly as he watched Dean while walking up to him. "Yes, she is a unicorn. However, I am most certain that you are not, a goblin." Dean was about to say something but then gave up the idea of explaining what he had just said to Castiel.
"There's no such thing as unicorns, Cas! They're, fairy tale stuff!" Castiel moved up to the girl, grabbing her chin to examine her, tilting her head up and to the side. "Humans also think demons and angels are fairy tale stuff. I can assure you, unicorns do exist." He let go of the girl to place a hand on top of her head instead, something that seemed to tickle incredibly, as she could not stop squirming.
"Pureblood unicorn." He stated casually, and she moved to scratch at her scalp to rid herself of the last tickling sensations. Sam shook his head, finally moving up to them to speak.
"So hang on, she's a real unicorn? I thought they were.."
"Horses with horns? We used to be. A bit too easy to spot." She smiled, bowing her head politely. "My name is Amana, and I am a unicorn."
"I assure you Dean, the ropes are superfluous. She has no intention to harm us." Amana sat in the middle of the room, tied to a chair. The unicorn didn't seem bothered by it; in fact, she seemed quite pleased to be in the company of hunters. After all, she lived in a hunters' cabin, and there was something thrilling about being in their presence.
"You don't know that, Cas!" Dean gestured angrily at the angel, who looked over at Sam with a confused frown, unsure of how to calm Dean down in this matter.
"She is not, a fucking unicorn!" Holding out his hands, Castiel's voice was like a sigh. "I do not know how to convince you that she is. She is a creature of God, almost as ancient as the angels." Dean shook his head, waving his gun in the air as he aggressively pointed at the girl, staring at Castiel. "So what exactly is a unicorn, huh? What do we do with it?!"
"I am of the female gender."
"Shut up!" Amana flinched and blinked, glancing away as she sucked in her lips with raised eyebrows. Why this human was so angry with the fact she was a unicorn, she had no idea.
"You don't do anything with a unicorn." The angel tried to explain, albeit his patience seemed to be running thin. "They're not like angels, they do not take sides, they were simply created to heal the sick and injured when God first established the Garden. They are healers, not warriors."
"But I thought angels were the healers of heaven?" Castiel's lips twitched with what seemed like the hint of a smile, but it was incredibly brief. "Angels are the warriors of heaven. Yes, we can heal, but unicorns were meant to live among humans, and aid them from the shadows. Of course, things didn't go according to plan.." His raspy voice began to drag slightly as he spoke, recalling the dark memories. Sam frowned and sank down onto the foot of his bed, his elbows resting on his legs, his fingers locked together.
"What happened, Cas?" The angel sucked in a deep breath before sighing, clearly not enjoying having to not only recall those times, but explain them.
"Gadreel let the serpent, Lucifer, enter the Garden. The unicorns became hunted for their magic, and eventually, God was forced to task the Archangel Gabriel with herding them back to heaven. He succeeded... For the most part." The angels' eyes wandered over to Sam, who straightened up slightly. "Some got left behind, didn't they?"
That was the last straw for Dean and he slammed his gun into the table with exaggerated motions. "This is crazy! Unicorns?! Really? Freaking rainbow pooping horses?!" Amana frowned and primmed her lips with displeasure.
"I do not poop rainbows! Where did you hear such a ridiculous thing?" She let out a snort, and Dean seemed far more confused than he should have. "In fact, I have no need to poop at all. That is a human need, not a unicorn one." Dean's confusion quickly shifted to a blank 'I did not need to know that' look as he turned his head to look at Sam, who seemed thrilled with his discomfort, trying to stifle a chuckle.
Eventually, Dean had no choice but to submit to the fact that the girl in front of him was in fact a unicorn. A freaking unicorn. He wasn't happy about it, but at least it had begun to sink in.
"Alright, Amy.. It's Amy, right?" She shook her head, leaning back in her seat. The ropes had come off, though them being on hadn't seemed to dampen her spirits anyway.
"Actually, it's Amana. However, humans have double names, so, I go by Amy Gladestraw." Dean nearly choked on his beer, huffing before chuckling, looking at the girl. "Really, Gladestraw? What kind of name is that, what had you been smoking?"
"I do not smoke anything. It was a spur of the moment decision..! I was born in a glade, and I do enjoy the scent of straw, so.." Dean shook his head, chuckling lowly before slugging down some more of his beer. Sam shot a glance at his brother, lightly shaking his head before smiling at Amana. "Well I think it's a good name. You're creative, unlike some people, who have zero talent with coming up with names.." There was a distinct pointer at Dean in his voice, which caused the older brother to frown, putting down his beer with a loud clonk.
"Are you seriously going to bash on my Jefferson Starships again? Really Sammie?" He was about as defensive in the tone of his voice as though he had been accused of never being able to pick up a girl. Clearly, Sam was trampling all over a quite sore spot. Sam just snickered, not rewarding his brother with a response as he took a sip of his beer. Amana frowned, looking from one to the other before eventually looking up at Castiel.
"What in heaven's name is a Jefferson Starship?"
"A new, but now extinct breed of monster that Dean was incapable of naming correctly." Dean threw up his hands with a scowl, glaring up at the angel. "What the hell, man?"
"Jefferson Starship is not a descriptive name for a monster of that nature, Dean. No matter how many times you say it is." Rolling his eyes, Dean huffed before taking a sip of his beer, glancing away like an unhappy child. "It's a fucking perfect description, you dickbag."
Sam swallowed down some beer before slapping his palm lightly against his thigh to break them all off from the current course of the conversation. "Alright! The case."
"Yes, the case." Dean echoed, downing the rest of his beer before opening up the laptop. "We have no idea who the vamp is, so I guess we'll have to fish up some records of all the inhabitants. Try to sort out who's the most suspicious."
"It's not one of the locals, that much I know." Dean slowly turned his head to look at the girl with an unconvinced expression. Sam stepped in to prevent his brother from saying anything offensive.
"How do you know, Amy? Is it, okay if I just call you Amy?" She nodded with a smile, looking over at Sam. "Sure! I mean, I suppose it's useless to remain attached to my old name. From now on, it's Amy. Alright." Sam waited for a few moments before gesturing gently. "So, how do you know..?"
"Oh! Well, if one of the locals was a vampire, they would have to lie substantially to everyone around them. They would stand out like a beacon to me." Both the brothers fell silent, uncertain of what Amy meant by this. After glancing discretely at each other to check if the other had any idea, it fell upon Sam to get Amy to clarify what she had just said. "A beacon..?"
"Unicorns are able to sense lies." Castiel had been quiet for some time, and only now decided to join in the conversation, temporarily. "They have a keen sense of detecting poison, and lies are much like poison of the human mind." There was an actual smile playing on Castiel's lips. He seemed oddly proud speaking about the unicorns, something that made Dean shake his head slowly with an almost concerned frown as he looked up at the angel from his seat. Castiel simply kept smiling, completely happy with his contribution to the conversation.
"Alright, so, because no one in town is a beacon.." Sam began, trying to make sense of it all. "It has to be an outsider..?" Amy nodded vigorously, her hands firmly in her lap. "Yes! A complete stranger." Dean heaved a sigh and leaned against the table with an elbow, his head resting in his palm. It was a clear signal for Sam to take over, that he couldn't be bothered with untangling this mess right now.
"But it makes no sense." Sam leaned over the table, propped up by his arms. "Vamps usually have nests, a kind of.. Twisted family that they are loyal to. What would a vamp do all the way out here, and why would they attack during the day?" He raised his eyebrows, looking at Amy in hope of getting some kind of solution. Just one piece that could solve the puzzle.
"Desperation? Or perhaps there's something even worse out there during the night, that it wishes to avoid?" Sam frowned, running a hand through his hair in thought. "A monster that vamps are so scared of they would hunt during the day to avoid it?" Sam looked over at Dean, but his brother simply shrugged, not interested in having any real part in the discussion.
"Perhaps you are focusing too much on the why, and not enough on finding the vampire and.. Ganking it, as you would put it." Castiel added, looking down at the two brothers. Dean finally straightened up and smacked his hand against the table as he got up.
"Strong point, Cas! No matter why it's out in daylight. Nothing else is killing, or, trying to kill people in these parts. We gank the vamp, problem solved." Amy smiled, patting her own legs with her palms happily.
"I do like it when problems are solved!"