Author's Note: As always, please leave a comment below! Comments really help the muses keep working!
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Supernatural, and I promise to send the boys back when I'm done with them. However, I do own Allie as she is a creation of my own over-active imagination.
Enjoy!
Chapter 4:
Dean stood to the side of the base of the falls and let out a slow whistle. It was honestly a breathtaking sight. Granted it was monster-less, but he figured he couldn't hold that against the falls.
"It's amazing isn't it?" Allie asked. "I don't understand why more people don't come here."
"I guess they're afraid of the ghost." Sam replied.
She snorted. "Ghosts aren't real."
"Yeah, because that would just be crazy." Dean joked. Allie stared at him strangely while Sam just gave him bitch-face #21 really dude.
"Well, I guess I'll be over there while you two do your agent thing." Allie said motioning to the wooded area on the other side of the falls.
She carefully made her way to the large rocks at the edge of the water and began climbing across them.
Sam watched in awe of the girl jumping from rock to rock without any fear or hesitation. She had guts. He'd give her that. Dean was also watching, but with the thought that she would actually make a half-assed hunter. Thank God, she wasn't. "Sam, check for anything near the base. I'll look around the banks."
Allie paused from climbing the tree and listened carefully. She could have sworn she heard a voice. She shrugged and chalked the noise up to the boys. Allie resumed climbing the tree and situated herself between two strong branches. She pulled her phone out from beneath her and checked for any texts from her mom. She sighed when her phone showed no alerts and stowed it back away in her pocket. She took a deep breath and leaned back in the tree.
It was peaceful. Birds chirped, the squirrels gossiped with each other, there was a human shedding their skin below her, she could fall asleep right here and now.
Wait, what?!
Allie jerked forward and stared as the human below continued to shed her skin like an amphibian. Allie slapped a hand over her mouth on a desperate attempt to stay quiet. Petrified, she watched the figure take the form a beautiful woman with striking blue eyes.
"Emily," Allie breathed, "it's not possible."
She scooted farther back on the branch and inhaled sharply when the branch holding her creaked.
The figure paused and lifted its head slowly. She, or it, stared at Allie and slowly began to grin.
Sam's head snapped up at the sound of the young girl screaming. He and Dean locked eyes. "Allie." They said in unison before taking off in the direction she said she would be.
"Allie! Allie!" Dean shouted, his gun drawn and cocked.
Sam spotted the girl's phone lying on the ground. Squatting down he picked up the phone and winced when the screen came to life.
Hey Sweetie, I'm getting off early tonight. What do you say we go shopping for a dress for the dance? I'll be home around 5. :)
Looking up from the phone, Sam noticed the glob of bloody skin caught on a bush near the ground. He grabbed a stick and lifted the glob into the air. "Dean, think I got something." He called over to his brother.
Dean walked over to his brother and stared at what he was holding. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Shedded skin? Yeah. Looks like this isn't just a salt and burn."
"And we brought a kid into it." Dean added.
"At least we know what we're fighting with now." Sam replied standing.
"Right, let's find the kid and gank this son of a bitch."
Allie slowly opened her eyes and let out a soft moan. Her head was pounding and her tongue felt like it was wearing a wool sweater. Where am I? She wondered as her fuzzy vision began to focus. Slowly the day's events came back to her; that thing had climbed up the tree with her, picked her up with inhuman strength, and carried the struggling Allie down before hitting her in the head. She snorted at the thought of being man-handled like a toddler. All her screaming and fighting had done nothing to deter the monster from taking her. The monster. It was still out there! She had to warn the agents! They had to get somebody or something to take that thing out!
Allie gathered up her courage and took in her surroundings. The dark, damp cave was barely lit by the light filtering through the cracks in the walls. It was still daylight, thankfully, and she wasn't very stiff, so Allie doubted she had been there for more than twenty-four hours. She shifted against the wood support beam the thing had tied her arms around and winced as the rope rubbed against her wrists.
"Come on girl, you can do this. Mom would want you to do this. Daddy would want you could do this." She whispered to herself. She gritted her teeth and began to rotate her wrists slowly, trying desperately to stretch the ropes enough for her to get free.
Sam and Dean had run to the car just long enough to grab the silver bullets and were now combing the woods looking for Allie and their prey. They both hoped she was still alive, but to be honest, neither could see the benefit of keeping the teenage girl alive.
"Dean, maybe we should split up. Cover more ground." Sam suggested.
"No way Sammy, we can't afford for the Shifter to take after one of us." Dean replied.
Sam sighed and followed his brother through the brush before stopping. "Didn't Allie say something about the police not ever finding the kids?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, what if the police didn't find their bodies because the creature hid them." Sam supplied.
Dean stopped and turned to his brother. "That would make sense. Ugly would need a place to hide in between kills and there's gotta be some holes in these rocks. Maybe even an old cave system." Sam nodded. "That nurse at the hospital, she said that one of the vics saw something out here. What if the shifter is playing dress-up as the resident ghost. Keeping people away and allowing them to hide in plain sight at the same time." Dean suggested, replaying the information they had gathered in his head.
"Of course, lots of caves have been found near the bases of waterfalls. They form through years of erosion."
Dean stared at Sam. "You are such a nerd."
Sam glared back. "Let's go."
With each rotation she made, her wrists screamed at her to stop. The rope had long ago formed the inevitable painful burns, but Allie didn't dare stop. Not after hearing that thing outside the cave keeping watch. All she wanted was to go home and snuggle with her mom on the couch like there wasn't a problem in the world her mother couldn't fix. Allie sighed. All she wanted was to see her mom period. She was so focused on trying to free herself she didn't notice when the thing came near her.
"Don't kid yourself kid. You're not getting out of those ropes, and those friends of yours aren't ever going to find you."
Allie lifted her head and stared defiantly. "Those two guys are going to find me, and their going to kick your ass."
The monster lifted its lips into a malicious grin. The woman it had transformed into was absolutely stunning, but the look in her eyes was anything but human. "Oh don't worry honey, they'll be taken care of soon enough." It crooned grasping Allie's chin and pulling her forward.
The woman pulled a knife out from behind her back and slid the tip up one side of her face and then down the other. "You are going to look so beautiful carved up, and I bet you'll taste even better." She pushed the tip deeper until Allie felt the blood begin to run down her face. Before the knife could go any deeper though a loud crash outside the cave caused the woman to jerk up and frown. "Damn it. Don't you go anywhere now honey." She crooned before leaving Allie alone once more.
"Like heck I'm gonna stay here." She mumbled, pulling against the ropes with renewed energy.
Allie worked at the ropes as fast and as hard as she could, the last thing she wanted was for that thing to come back and find her trussed up like a turkey ready to eat. After what seemed like forever, she managed to free one wrist from it's binds. Grinning triumphantly, Allie made quick work of the second binding and cautiously made her way to the mouth of the cave.
The sight that greeted her was one she never thought she would be so happy to see. The boys stood to either side of the creature, which was on the ground dead, and looked up when they heard her approaching. Allie stared at the two if them before the adrenaline rush she had been riding throughout the ordeal suddenly evaporated and her knees could no longer support her weight. Agent Nash lunged forward and caught her before she could meet the ground up close and personal.
"Whoa kid, you okay there?" He asked, his brow furrowing in concern.
She nodded weakly. "Peachy. What the hell was that thing?"
Agent Stills poked it with the toe of his boot. "Just some crazy. No need to worry about her anymore."
Allie shook her head violently. "No, she peeled her skin off, and she said she was gonna eat me."
The two agents shared a look before Agent Nash lifted her up in his arms. "Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll explain everything to you."
She nodded weakly once more. Strangely feeling completely safe with these two men, Allie relaxed in Agent Nash's arms and let her head rest against his shoulder. Before long, her breathing had evened out and the two men realized the young girl was fast asleep.
For the second time that day, Sam and Dean missed the pair of eyes following their every movements before staggering out of the bushes. "No." It whispered dejectedly, throwing itself to the ground in front of the dead shifter. "No."
