Author's Note : Well, actually this is more of a disclaimer, because I keep forgetting to put one. (Though I'm usually better on this.) I do not own Supernatural. I just love the show, and love to right stories about it.
While Sam and Dean had decided to start at the first crime scene, Mercy had decided to start at the most recent crime scene as it was the freshest. After some searching, she was able to fine the trail of the werewolf. Grabbing a few essentials, a gun loaded with silver bullets , a knife made of the same metal as the bullets, and a flask of holy water just in case there was anything unexpected, and putting them in a leather satchel, she followed the trail past the store, out of town and into the forest. In addition to being a hunter she was also a trained survivalist, so she was able to make her was very skillfully through the unbeaten part of the dense woods. As she continued on things started to get strange, well, stranger than usual. If what the evidence was telling her was true, the werewolf had been met by four, maybe five werewolves. This was odd due the fact that despite misinformation printed in some cheap teen romance novels werewolves did not travel in packs. Oh, sure every now and again you'd find a couple in the same place, but not on this scale. After the peculiarity of it worn off it struck her that this was extremely dangerous. They could rip the entire town to shreds. Add that with the fact that werewolves had started changing ahead of schedule lately, this whole situation was a powder keg waiting to explode. "What did I just step into?" She thought. It was then that she heard the sound of someone-an unusually large someone by the sound of it-stumbling through the woods, a few feet away from her. She sheathed towards the sound and peaked through the trees to see who or what was making it, one hand on the gun in her bag. It appeared to be an abnormally tall and broad-shouldered young man in blue coat, murmuring to himself about this being the end. "He looks sort of familiar," She thought and then it her. He was the guy at the gas station who was with the hunter. Which meant he was most likely a hunter, too. Yes, he was, definitely.
And with that revelation, the situation became even more complicated. She couldn't come to his aid without reveling her presence to him and his companion, which is the one thing she did not want to. She knew too well the can of worms it could open up. How could she forget? "You'll just gonna have to leave him," She told herself.
But as she turned around to walk away a small voice inside her said, "No, you can't."
"You don't have a choice," Another voice said. Both of them were her voice in her head, but they were still different.
"He's so deep in the forest, if you leave him here he'll never find his way out," The first voice said.
"What concern is that of yours?" The second voice snapped back.
"If you leave him here he'll die," The first voice reasoned, "For exposure, or dehydration or starvation or being attacked by a werewolf. Do you want that on your conscience?" Now frozen her place, that small voice for somewhere deep inside her, that part that wasn't case-harden, made one last plea. "When's the last time you gave your name a try?"
That did it. Mercy twirled around and headed back in the direction of the young man. She was just about to call out to him when he spread his arms out and shouted , "Come on, forest! Come on and just eat me!"
She couldn't help but laugh, as she reach out to get his attention, saying, "I wouldn't do that just yet."
And now, here they were, staring at each other, his hazel brown eyes wide with surprise at the sound of her name. Then he smiled slightly and said, "Nice to meet you agent Smith."
Mercy thought maybe she could still play dumb. "I have no clue who that is."
"Actually, I think you do," Sam replied, "I gotta admit, that alias is probably better than ours. I mean, God help us if the cops ever know their rock bands. Not, that He's helped out in the past."
Mercy realized it was probably best to just surrender. "You, too, hunh?"
"Yeah," Sam replied, "Me too. My brother, too."
"Let me guess you think it's werewolves, too?" Mercy asked.
"Yeah," Sam said," So, how's the case been going for you?"
"Ah, can we get going while we compare notes?" Mercy asked, "It's gonna be dark out, soon." As she started walking and she added, "And by the way, my last name isn't Smith. It's Briggs."
"Well, Mercy Briggs," Sam began, "Lead the way."
"I was at grocery store where the last attack happened," Mercy said as they walked, "I was able to follow the trail back to here. That's where I found you. It looked like you needed the help."
"Yeah," Sam said, "Thanks for that."
"Don't mention it," Mercy said, "But then things get weird. When I was following the trail it looked like we might be dealing with multiple werewolves, like four of five."
"How'd you figure that out?" Sam asked.
"The trail they left," Mercy explained, "You know, broken twigs, footprints, the sheer number of footprints."
"If you're right that there's a whole pack of werewolves..." Sam trailed off.
"Yeah," Mercy said, We could be looking at a blood bath. Well, sixteen deaths at least plus those three missing people, it's already a blood bath."
"It might be more than sixteen," Sam commented.
"Pardon me?" Mercy replied.
"You're not the only one who found something weird and unnerving," Sam said, "Me and Dean, my brother, we did some research at the library and found like, ten different attacks that could be werewolves attacks in the last hundred or so years." Just then something else hit Sam. "Oh, God..."
"What?" Mercy said, "You just thought of something, what is it?"
"We were looking at the first crime scene, William's Trail," Sam began, "When we were on it we found this girl, she couldn't have been thirteen years old. We approached her and she...it looked like she was sniffing the air, maybe, then she growled at us and ran in the other direction. We chased her, but somehow she was faster than us, and she got away."
"You're thinking she might be a werewolf now?" Mercy asked.
"That's exactly what I think," Same replied.
Mercy stopped let out a deep breath.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's just..." Mercy voice trailed off a moment, then she said, "There's something bigger going on, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Sam said, "Maybe," Though there was a picture forming in Sam's mind and he did not like it at all. "But at least we have some numbers now."
"What's that suppose to-"Mercy began, then realized what he meant. She turned a around as she said, "Hold on, did you think we were working this case together?"
"Well, " Sam began, ""As long as we're all here-"
"No!" Mercy interrupted bluntly, "No offense, I don't really work well with other hunters. In fact you're the first one I've had contact with in five years." And with that she started walking again.
"But," Sam began, caching up with her, "You said yourself there's something bigger here. And there's strength in numbers-"
"All right!" Mercy snapped, "I'll work the case with you two!"
They walked the rest of the way in near-complete silence, out of the woods and back to the grocery store where Mercy's truck still sat. "You wouldn't happen to have a phone, do you?" Sam asked, "I left mine back in our car, maybe Dean's in cell phone range."
Mercy stepped in the cab, opened the glove box and rummaged through it. At least she pulled out a burner and toss to it Sam, who was a few inches away from her. "Knock yourself out." Then, pulling out, a first aid kit, said, "And take a seat. Like I said, I wanna look at that bump."
Sam got into the passenger seat and dialed Dean's number. Then when he got the voice mail, left a quick message then tried his other number. Then his other, other number. Then at last he tried Dean's last cell phone number and got something. "Sam?!" Dean's voice came from the other end of the line.
"Yeah, it's me," Sam confirmed.
"Where are you?!" Dean demanded, "I've been looking all over the place for you. I was actually on my way to actually go to the police for help! The police Sam!"
"I got lost in the woods," Sam began.
"Well, I already knew that," Dean retorted, "I almost got myself lost trying to find you."
"You know that other hunter that was on the case?" Sam asked.
"Yeah?" Dean relied, half-question, half-statement.
"Well, she found me, got me back to town," Sam explained, "We're out in front of the grocery store, the one were Scott Brander was killed."
"Alright, just stay there, I'll meet you," Dean said, then hung up.
"So?" Mercy asked.
"He said to wait here, he'll come to us," Sam said.
"Good," Mercy said, "Now one more thing." She held out one finger in from of Sam. "Try to follow my finger with your eyes."
"Okay," Sam said, following the finger, "Why?"
"Just checking for concussion," Mercy said. After doing the finger thing a couple of time she said, "Yeah, pretty sure your good." Dean say how long he was gonna be?"
"No," Sam said.
"Well, we could use the help," Mercy noted. Then she pulled a tube of ointment and some bandages and started nursing what Sam now noticed was burned on her right hand.
"What happened to your hand?" Sam asked.
"Had a bit of car trouble on the way into town," Mercy replied, "I burnt it on the engine."
After a couple of moments of silence Mercy said out of the blue, "Hey, you hungry?"
"Yeah," Sam said, realizing that in fact he was, "A little bit, actually."
"I think I got something in the glove box," Mercy said leaning over and pulling out a purple bag. She handed it to Sam who unzipped it and looked in. There was some crackers, a zip-lock bag of dried fruit, and several wrapped things that were possibly meat. "Are those pig ears?" Sam asked eyeing some wax paper wrapped triangle.
"Yeah," Mercy admitted, a hint of nervousness in her voice, "I know, it's probably not a good idea to keep raw meat in a glove box but-" She shrugged, "Got nowhere else to put it, 'cause I go weapons everywhere else, and hey, the bag's got freezer packs in it."
"Well," Sam said, not really knowing what to say on the odd discovery, " That works, I guess." He then took out the bag of dried fruit and offered the both bags to Mercy.
Mercy took out two dried pineapple slices, then started rubbing though the purple bag, then after a moment's thinking pulled out the thing of crackers. "You mind putting it up?" Mercy asked.
"Of course not," Sam said, then trying to be helpful and grabbing the first aid kit as well. He put both back in their place and was about to close the glove box when a photograph fell on his lap. He picked it up and looked at it. It was picture of Mercy in the arms of a man in his early thirties, with sharp, clean features, black hair with brown mixed in, and hazel eyes. Sam noticed that in the picture there a certain sparkle in Mercy's eyes that wasn't there now. "Who's this?" Sam asked, handing the picture over to her, "You know, if you don't mind me asking."
Mercy paused a minute, twisting the onyx ring on her right hand. What right did he have to be asking about this? Really, they were complete strangers, the gall. And it hurt so much to even think about it. And she thought about it at least once a day. "Well, don't tell him the whole story," She thought, "Just give him the broad strokes." Mercy took a deep breath. "His name was Thomas," She began, "He was...my hunting partner. "
"I thought you didn't work well with other hunters," Sam said. He wasn't digging for information or anything, he knew he had probably asked too much already. Here he was, a complete stranger asking her personal questions. Besides, he knew hunters weren't exactly the sharing type. The comment was just making an observation.
"He's the reason for that," Mercy murmured, in a low voice where Sam couldn't make out what she was saying.
"Excuse me?" Sam, leaning in.
"That wasn't something you were suppose to hear," Mercy said in a clam, but strained voice.
"Sorry," Sam said leaning back.
They were quiet for a minute, Mercy staring at the picture. Then Sam spoke. "I'm sorry I asked about the photo, I should've known better."
"No, it's alright," Mercy said sincerely, "I mean, you're curious I get that." After a moment, she added, bothered by the way Sam had put something, "What did you mean you should've known better?"
"Well," Sam began, somewhat awkwardly, "You don't really know me, and that picture was probably in the glove box for a reason and here I am, this total stranger, pointing my ridiculously pointy nose in it. "
Mercy laughed at loud.
Just as they finished their meal of dried fruit and crackers, a black Impala drived onto to the parking lot and parked one spot away from them. By that point the sun had almost set and they were the only two cars on the lot. Of course that might have to with the fact that it was still a crime scene. "Well," Sam started, "That's Dean."
They got out of the tuck at the same time Dean got out of the car. They all looked at each other then Sam said, "Dean, this is Mercy Briggs, Mercy, this is my brother, Dean."
Mercy extended her hand. Dean took shook it, saying, "Well, you're just about the prettiest hunter I've ever met." She was noticeably good-looking. Her body seemed to work in perfectly harmony, her very pale skin bringing out her dark brown hair, and her dark brown hair in turn not only bringing out her radiant light blue eyes, but also framing her face, as circular as the full moon itself.
"Thanks," Mercy said, then got right down to business, "So Sam tells me you're here about the werewolf attacks?"
"Yeah," Dean replied, "You, too?"
"Yeah," Mercy and confirmed, "And me and Sam were comparing notes and..." Mercy's voice trailed off for a moment or so, then she said, "We got trouble, right here in River City."
"Like more so than usual?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Sam said, "More so than usual."
When Sam and Mercy had finished telling Dean what they had discovered, he leaned back on the Impala, processing it. "This," He said at last, "This doesn't make any sense."
"I don't discount anything anymore," Mercy said, "I don't know about you guys but for the last year or so I've been encountering monsters that aren't working under their usual MO. Hell, I've come up against a couple of things I've never even heard of before."
Dean and Sam exchanged glances.
"Yeah," Sam said, "We've been having problems with that, too."
Something told Mercy they were holding something back. "What aren't you telling me?" She asked, bluntly.
"Excuse me?" Dean responded, his eyebrows slightly raised.
"I know you're holding something back," Mercy said, "It's written all over your mugs."
Sam and Dean looked at each other silently and they knew what each other was wanting to discuss; whether or not they should talk to mercy about the mother of all monsters, Eve. They weren't even sure what she was themselves. Still, if she had anything to know with what was happening here, they should at least warm Mercy. She could handle it.
"We think all the odd stuff that's been going on has to do with this creature called the Mother Of All." Sam explained.
"Mother of all what?" Mercy asked.
"Monsters, maybe," Sam said, sounding rather unsure.
"There's actually a mother of all monsters?" Mercy asked.
"We're not exactly sure what she is," Dean said, "What we do know is, she's important enough to all thing hairy and slimy out there in the world that they would even risk pissing off an archangel to bust her out of Purgatory."
"Purgatory?" Mercy inquired.
"Basically it's monster Heaven," Dean explained.
The boys could swear they saw Mercy shiver. "And this Mother Of All," Mercy said, "You think could have something to do with what's going on here?"
"Yeah, maybe," Dean said.
"And there's another possibility," Sam said towards his brother.
Dean looked at Sam for a second and realized what he was hinting towards. Dean then leaned back his head, let out a big sigh and said to Sam "So now you're telling me that we are dealing with another Norman Bates who misses his mommy. "
Mercy held up her hand to interrupt the conversation between the two and asked with obvious curiosity " Can you two hold on and tell me what the Hell were dealing with here?"
Sam looked at the huntress and said "It means we are dealing with an Alpha."
