Chapter 3
"Nothing. I want to say vampire, but this isn't typical feeding behavior," Sam says throwing up his hands. "Shape shifter, but all the obvious signs aren't there, and again the feeding patterns are all wrong."
"Damn the feeding patterns Sam," Dean replies. "Maybe this guy, or gal I should say, has her own feeding methods. Taking off its damn head should kill about anything."
"If she is just a demon we could exorcise it and save the host maybe," Sam says. "I don't like the idea of decapitating a innocent girl when we could have exorcised her."
"I know. You're right, but what if we don't have a chance." Dean chews on the tip of a pencil as he peers over Sam's shoulder at the computer screen. "I mean she tossed you like a rag doll, and I doubt she is gonna wanna sit down for coffee or beers."
"Okay, what about a trap of some kind?" Sam asks. "I mean, we've used traps in the past."
"Okay, Sam, that's a great idea. Let's put a great big net around Simone and wait for her to walk into it." Dean shakes his head. "For a trap we have to know where this thing is gonna strike next." A sudden scream comes from the hallway. Sam and Dean both jump from their chairs. Sam reaches under one of the beds and pulls out a sawed off double barrel 12 gauge shotgun. Dean grabs a duffle and retrieves two .45 caliber pistols, one loaded with silver bullets and the other with hollow point.
Another scream and a thud come from the hallway as the brothers open their door. Sam motions to Dean who shrugs until he is sure Sam has his back. With a deep breath, Dean lunges into the hallway to the left while Sam jumps behind him aiming down the right side of the hallway. Seeing the coast is clear, Dean rushes to the still writhing middle aged man in a pool of blood on the floor. The man gasps and is clutching a gaping wound in his neck.
"S***," Dean swears putting a hand to the man's neck in a vain attempt to staunch the flow of blood. The man gasps and chokes as he tries to say something, the blood continuing to gush and spurt from the wound. After a few convulses, the man gags and chokes and goes still. Sam still covers the other hallway and Dean quickly stands up pistols at the ready. His eyes spot the sprinkled blood on the walls and carpet.
"This way, Sam!" Dean shouts. Sam nods and follows closely, keeping his eye on their six. Around the next corner, Dean gasps and Sam quickly turns to see the carnage. A young man is limp, and kneeling before him is the girl who has killed him, dressed in her black bodysuit and now wearing a bandana over the bottom half of her mouth. She is feeding on the mans ripped open abdomen. Seeing the brothers she stares right at them, her eyes oversized and completely black.
"Leave me alone!" she shouts in a strange and otherworldly voice as her long-finger-nailed hands push her up to a standing position.
"Go to hell, demon!" Dean shouts and pulls the trigger on both guns. The bullets strike the girl in her chest and she jerks, staggering back. Sam leans past Dean and fires a shotgun blast into her abdomen. The girl gasps and cries out almost like a little girl and darts around the corner. Dean and Sam rush after her guns ready and find the next hallway empty.
"Dammit, she isn't getting away this time!" Dean shouts and rushes down the hallway to the next intersection in the hotel. "Take the left!" Dean rushes right and Sam left. Dean sees dark blood droplets on the floor as he cautiously but quickly moved forward. "Sam this way!" Sam quickly reaches Dean and together they follow the trail of blood.
As they turn the next corner they see a young girl lying on the floor moaning. Sam kneels beside her to see she has a bad cut on her arm but nothing serious. She is wide eyed and looks terrified. Sam recognizes her as the young girl they saw walking with her mother.
"You're okay. It's not that bad," Sam says as he motions Dean to continue the chase. The girl is staring at her bleeding arm and Sam quickly removes his suit coat and covers it. "Listen, the thing that attacked you, where did she go?"
"My arm…." The girl gasps tears in her eyes. "With her fingernails…." Sam quickly pulls out his cell phone and calls the number Valentine gave him. "Do you know where she went?" The girl's eyes are still bugged.
"Up…" she says softly. "She went up." Sam looks up to see one of the ceiling tiles pushed back.
"Dean! Come back!" Sam shouts as Valentine finally picks up his phone. "Valentine! Get to the hotel, right away!" Sam aims his Shotgun at the ceiling and the young girl begins to cry. Dean rounds the corner and sees Sam's aim and again curses as he moves to where Sam is.
"She is quick," Dean says. "I'm going up." Dean removes his coat and looks around for a stool or something to hoist himself upward, but Sam grabs his shoulder.
"Dean, no, it's too late. She is too quick." Sam looks at the little girl. "She got away, okay? Let's wait for the police to get here and…"
Dean cuts him off. "She has to still be in this building. What, are we just gonna give up and wait for her to make another two kills!" He bites his lip.
"Dean, we can't keep up with her. We are going to have to find another way. We put three shots into her and she is still running and jumping around."
"I can't let her get away, Sam. Help me find something to…"
Sam now interrupts Dean. "Dean, we don't know how to hurt her!" He shouts. "Drop it!" He shakes his head and leans down beside the girl just as her frightened mother comes out from a closed door. The woman sees Sam and Dean and screams.
"Get away from my daughter!" the woman shouts hysterically, throwing her arms around the girl. The girl shoves her mother away.
"You closed me out here with that…that thing!" the girl shouts to her mother. "This man saved me!" The girl grabs Sam by the arm.
"Get away from him!" her mother shouts again, fear in her eyes.
"Calm down and sit down ma'am!" Dean shouts back. "Were the FBI!" The woman gasps and slowly sits on the floor staring wide eyed. The young girl looks at her mother and slowly sits down herself still trembling. "Now listen, the local police are on their way. Let's all just be calm."
"I'm going to look around for other wounded," Sam says with a sigh. "Let me know when the police arrive." Sam walks around the corner and back the way they came. Once he reaches the first body, the man with the torn open abdomen, he kneels and looks at the wound. It is deep and the man's intestines have burst out of his midsection. The wound looks to be inflicted by the girl's fingernails.
After taking in the scene and finding nothing else of interest he goes to the other victim, the middle aged man. Sam instantly notices the neck wound was inflicted by a knife, not the girl's teeth, pretty much ruling out that she is a vampire. Hearing the sirens, Sam quickly goes back down the hall to Dean and the woman and her daughter.
The first cop around the corner is a older man with a mustache and wavy red hair. His pistol is drawn and he looks bewildered. Seeing Sam and Dean his eyes widen and he aims his pistol. Valentine quickly appears beside him and pushes his hand down.
"These are the FBI agents," Valentine snaps to the older man. "Hudson and Hicks." The man takes a few deep breaths and moves forward.
"I'm Captain Wilkes. What happened here?" Wilkes demands.
"Another brutal attack and killing," Sam replies. "That's the only way to describe it."
"Caught a good glimpse of the killer though," Dean adds. "Tall, slender raven haired girl, real skinny." Dean looks at the girl leaning against the wall with Sam's coat over her arm. "Her profile, only a bandana over her face, huge black eyes."
The Captain moves his gun pointing it at the young girl.
"No!" Sam shouts. "She is only this girl's size. She escaped up through the ceiling." He motions upward with his shotgun.
"Huge black eyes?" Valentine asks raising an eyebrow. "Contact lenses perhaps? To strike fear?"
"I'm not sure, Val. I know what we saw though," Dean replies. "Look, you need to get an ambulance over here for this girl, and well, the bodies down the hallway, two men."
"And the girl downstairs looked pretty beat up," Valentine adds. "That receptionist."
Dean doesn't say a word as he rushes past the two police officers. Sam moves to follow Dean, but thinks better of it.
"He's probably going to go interrogate her. That's what Hicks does all the time," Sam says. "C'mon. I'll take you to the bodies." Officer Valentine stays with the girl and her mother, but Wilkes follows Sam.
Dean quickly rushes down the stairs and hears Simone before he sees her. She is gasping and he quickly rushes to her side. She is clutching her chest and taking short, sharp breaths. She sees Dean and slowly reaches out a hand and grips his.
"Simone!" Dean shouts. "Are you okay?"
Simone shakes her head quickly as she slowly starts to breathe more normally. With a gasp, she touches her hand to her stomach and grimaces. "What happened?"
"I heard screaming upstairs," Simone says slowly. "And then I heard more screaming and gunfire, then I felt like somebody struck me with a baseball bat."
Dean's mind races and he swears under his breath.
"Where are you hurting?" Dean asks.
"My chest and my belly…" Simone replies.
"Oh no," Dean whispers.