Supernatural does not belong to me neither does Les Miserables
Chapter 5: Skin
Eponine and Gavroche pulled into a gas station. Eponine turned off the car and turned to Gavroche.
"Alright, If we head south we should be in Bisbee by midnight." Gavroche didn't answer, Eponine sighed, "Gavroche wears women's underwear."
"Listening, I'm just busy."
"Doing what?"
"Reading e-mails." Eponine got out of the Impala.
"E-mails from who?" She asked through the open window.
"From my friends at Stanford." Eponine laughed as she took the gas nozzle from the pump.
"You've got to be kidding me. You still keep in touch with your college buddies?"
"Why not?"
"Well, what exactly do you tell them, about where you've been and what you've been doing." Eponine leaned against the car.
"I tell them that I'm on a road trip with my sister and that I needed time off after Jess."
"So you lie to them."
"No. I just don't tell them everything."
"Ya, that's called lying. I get it though, telling the truth is much, much worse."
"So you're saying that I should just cut everybody out of my life?" Gavroche asked leaning out the window.
"Look it sucks. But with a job like this, you really can't get close to people." Gavroche turned back to his phone.
"You're kind of anti-social, you know that?" Eponine just shrugged. Gavroche was silent, reading an e-mail from one of his friends, his eyes went wide at the content of the message.
"God." He said after.
"What?" Eponine leaned down next to the window.
"An e-mail from a friend of mine, Rebecca Warren. I went to school with her and her brother Zack. She says that Zack's been charged with murder. He's been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says that he didn't do it, but the police have a pretty good case."
"Dude, what type of people did you hang out with?" Eponine asked stunned.
"No, I know Zack and he is no killer."
"Maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you."
"They are in St. Louis. We're going." Eponine sighed.
"Listen, sorry about your buddy, but this does not sound like our kind of problem."
"It is our kind of problem, they're my friends." Eponine was getting slightly irritated now.
"St. Louis is four hundred miles behind us Gav. Gavroche looked up at his sister with a puppy dog face that he had always used on her when they were younger.
"Dammit. Fine we'll go."
Five minutes later the Impala roared out of the gas station and towards St. Louis.
Six hours later Gavroche and Eponine stood in front of Rebecca's house. He rang the door bell. When Rebecca opened the door, her eyes lit up.
"Oh my god, Gav." Gavroche smiled,
"Well if it isn't little Becky." Rebecca rolled her eyes and hugged Gavroche. "I got your e-mail."
"I didn't think that you would come here." Eponine walked forward and stuck out her hand.
"Eponine, I'm the older sister." Rebecca shook it.
"We're here to help whatever it is we can do." Rebecca smiled at Gavroche.
"Great come on in." Gavroche and Eponine followed Rebecca inside, Eponine closing the door behind them. She looked around the house, it was definitely worth more than anything she had ever stayed in, Rebecca and Zack must be from money, she thought to herself.
"Nice place you got here."
"It's my parents. I was just crashing here for the long weekend when everything happened." Rebecca replied, "I've decided to take the semester off and stay until Zack is free."
"Where are your folks?" Gavroche asked.
"They live in Paris for half the year. They're coming back for the trial. Do you guys want a beer or something?" Eponine was about to say yes when Gavroche interjected.
"No thanks, why don't you tell us what happened." Rebecca sighed.
"Well Zack came home and he found Emily tied to a chair. She was beaten bloody and not breathing, so he called 911 then the police showed up and they arrested him." Rebecca paused, she was getting a little emotional. "But the thing is the only way for Zack to have killed Emily was if he had been in two places at once. The police, they have a video, it's from a security tape from across the street and it shows Zack coming home at 10:30, Emily was killed right after that, but I swear that he was here with me until after midnight."
"Maybe we could see the crime scene." Gavroche said gently
"Why, what could you do?" Rebecca asked.
"Well me, not much. But Eponine," Eponine glanced over at her brother. "Eponine is a cop."
"Detective actually." She said smugly.
"Really where?"
"Bisbee, Arizona." She said looking at Gavroche, he just rolled his eyes. "but I'm off duty now." Rebecca was silent for a second before shaking her head.
"It's nice for you guys to offer, but I don't know."
"Listen I know Zack didn't do this. We've got to find a way to prove that he is innocent."
"Ok. I'll go get the keys." Rebecca left the kitchen to get the spare keys to her brother's house. Once she was gone Eponine turned to Gavroche,
"Well you're a real strait shooter with your friends." She said sarcastically, "This really is not our problem."
"Two places at once? We've looked into less." Eponine just sighed and shook her head.
Later they pulled up in front of Zack's home with Rebecca. The place still had police tape all around the front. Rebecca looked at it cautiously before turning to Eponine.
"You're sure that this is ok?"
"Of course it is, I am after all an officer of the law." With that Eponine took off towards the front door, Rebecca and Gavroche followed behind her. When they entered the house, they found that someone had yet to clean the scene. Blood was spattered all around the front room and everything was in disarray. Gavroche looked back at Rebecca, who had paused at the threshold.
"Beck, do you want to wait outside?" She shook her head and entered the house.
"Can you tell us what else the police said?"
"Well, they say that there was no sign of a break in, Emily must have let her attacker in. The lawyers are already talking about plea bargains." Rebecca looked around the room taking in the destruction, "Oh god." She said, she was starting to lose it.
"Look Beck, if Zack didn't do this that means that someone else did." Rebecca nodded, wiping a tear from her face. "Any idea of who?" Rebecca thought for a moment.
"There was something. About a week before it happened someone broke in here and stole some of Zack's clothes. The police don't think that it's anything. It's not that far from down town and sometimes people get robbed." Eponine walked by the front window when a dog from next door started barking, she walked to the door and looked out. The dog just kept barking and growling at her. Rebecca came up behind her and looked out too.
"That use to be the sweetest dog in the world."
"What happened." Eponine asked frowning.
"He just changed."
"When exactly did he change?" Eponine asked.
"Around the time of Emily's murder." Eponine nodded and walked back into the house. She found Gavroche in the kitchen looking at a picture on the fridge. It was of him, Rebecca, and Zack.
"So the neighbors dog went crazy psycho around the time that Zack's girlfriend was killed."
"Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal." Gavroche said looking away from the picture.
"Maybe Fido saw something."
"So you think maybe this could be our kind of problem?"
"Probably not." Eponine replied, Gavroche smirked. "But we should take a look at the security tape just to be sure." Rebecca walked over to the sibling, Eponine turned to her.
"So the tape, do you think that your lawyers could get their hands on it? I don't really have the jurisdiction here to ask about it."
"I've already got it. I didn't really want to say anything in front of a cop. I kind of stole it off the lawyer's desk. I needed to see it for my self."
"Alright then, lets go have a look at it." Eponine and Rebecca walked back to the front door. Gavroche cast one more glance at the picture on the fridge before following the two women.
Once they got back to Rebecca's parent's house she got the tape from her room and put it in the TV. Eponine and Gavroche watched as people came and went through it.
"Here he comes." Rebecca said. They watched as Zack walked into the frame and towards his house.
"Twenty-two oh four. That's right after ten. You said that time of death was about ten thirty." Rebecca nodded,
"Our lawyers hired some kind of video expert. He said that the tape was authentic. He said the tape wasn't tampered with." Gavroche turned to Rebecca,
"Hey, Beck do you think we could take get those beers now?"
"Sure." Rebecca got up and went to the kitchen.
"What is it?" Eponine asked.
"Check this out." Gavroche walked forward to the TV and rewound the tape then stopped it just as Zack was crossing in front of it. Gavroche pressed play, Eponine watched as Zack turned towards the camera, his eyes were bright white.
"Maybe it's just a camera flare." Eponine said as Gavroche paused the tape again.
"That's not like any camera flare I've ever seen. You know a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can capture a glimpse of the soul."
"Right."
"Remember the dog that was freaking out?" Eponine nodded, "maybe he saw this thing. Maybe it's some kind of dark double of Zack's it looks like him but it isn't him."
"Like a doppelganger."
"It sure does explain how he was in two places at once." Just then Rebecca came back with their beers. They finished going through the tape and called it a night.
Early the next morning Eponine and Gavroche pulled up to the back of Zack's house. Gavroche got out quickly while Eponine took her time taking a drink from her coffee.
"Want to explain to me why we are here at five thirty in the morning." She asked sourly.
"I thought of something. The video tape shows the killer going in but not coming out." Eponine took another sip of coffee.
"So he came out the back door."
"That means there will be a trail to follow, a trail the police didn't think about because they thought that the killer never left." Gavroche started looking around the back gate for any signs of the said trail.
"Cause they found your friend Zack inside." Eponine leaned on the hood of the Impala.
"Exactly." Gavroche said.
"Still don't know why we are here at five thirty in the morning." Eponine mumbled under her breath. She watched as Gavroche searched for clues. Gavroche stopped by a telephone pole and pointed to a reddish brown splotch on it.
"Blood. Someone came through here."
"Well the trail ends, cause I'm not seeing anything over here." Just then an ambulance came blaring through the alley. Eponine and Gavroche looked at each other then in the direction the ambulance was heading. Eponine and Gavroche walked out of the alley and soon found where the ambulance had been called to. Police officers were putting up tape and pushing onlookers back as the EMT's ran into the apartment building.
"What happened?" Eponine asked one of the onlookers.
"This guy tried to kill his wife." She said, "Tied her up and beat her."
"Really?" She nodded.
"I use to see him going to work in the morning, he would always wave and say hello." She shook her head. "He seemed like such a nice man." Eponine and Gavroche watched as the man was led out of the building and into a police car. Gavroche went around to the back of the apartment building, looking to see if there was anything there that could relate to Zack's house.
"Hey!" He turned and saw Eponine walking towards him. "Remember how I said this was not our kind of problem?
"Ya."
"Defiantly our kind of problem."
"What did you find out?"
"I just talked to the patrol man who was first on the scene. He hears this guy, Alex's story. Apparently he was driving home from a business trip when his wife was attacked."
"So he was in two places at once." Gavroche said.
"Exactly. Then he comes home and see's himself in the house. The police say he's a nut job."
"Two dark doubles attacking loved ones in the exact same way." Gavroche and Eponine started walking back to the impala.
"It could be the same thing doing it too." Gavroche turned back to Eponine.
"Shape-shifter?" Eponine shrugged.
"Something that could make its' self look like anyone."
"Every culture in the world has some sort of shape-shifter legend." Eponine replied, "You know legends of creatures who can turn themselves into other animals and men."
"Ya, like skin-walkers or werewolves."
"Exactly, two attacks less than two blocks away from each other. I'm guessing we've got a shape-shifter on our hands."
"Let me ask you this: In all this shape-shifter lore, do any of them fly?"
"Not that I know of."
"I picked up a trail here. Someone ran out of the back of the building into this alley way."
"Just like your friend's house."
"And just like Zack's house, the trail just ends. What ever it is, it just disappeared." Eponine thought for a moment.
"Well there is another way to go," She paused, "down." Eponine looked down at the area next to Gavroche's feet, there was a man-hole.
"Down it is then." Gavroche replied. They pried off the cover and descended. Eponine went down first followed by Gavroche, once he reached the bottom he looked around,
"You know, I bet this goes right by Zack's house. The shape-shifter could be using the sewer system to get around.
"I think you're right." Eponine walked forwards and knelt on the ground, "Look at this." On the ground there was a pile of what looked like gelatinous blood. Eponine unfolded her knife and touched the goo with it, frowning in disgust.
"Is it from his victims?" Gavroche asked. Eponine lifted the knife to examine the goo more closely.
"I just had a sick thought. When the shape-shifter changes shape, maybe it sheds." Eponine flicked the goo from her knife.
"That is sick." Gavroche said. The pair left the sewer and returned to the impala where Eponine opened the trunk and opened the weapons compartment.
"Good thing about it being a shifter is that there is one sure fire way to kill it."
"Silver bullet to the heart." Gavroche said with a smirk. Eponine pulled out a box of silver bullets and started loading a clip with them.
"That is right." Gavroche's phone started ringing,
"This is Gavroche."
"Where are you?" It was Rebecca,
"We're near Zack's we're just checking some things out."
"Well look Gavroche, just stop, because I really don't need your help anymore." Rebecca sounded mad.
"What are you talking about?"
"I told the lawyers that we went to the crime scene."
"Why would you do that?"
"I told them we were with a police officer. They checked it out and told me that there is no Detective Eponine Thenardier." Gavroche's stomach dropped. "You know I don't understand why you would lie to me about something like that."
"We were trying to help."
"Do you realize that that was a sealed crime scene? This could have just ruined Zack's case."
"Listen, Beck." Gavroche tried to speak.
"No, good-bye Gavroche." The line went dead. Eponine closed the trunk and walked over to Gavroche. By the expression on her brother's face, she could tell that the call had not gone well.
"Hate to say it, but that is exactly what I'm talking about. You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they would be freaked." Gavroche looked down, "It just would be easier if…"
"If I was just like you." Gavroche said solemnly.
"Like it or not, we are not like other people." Eponine said with a small grin. " But I'll tell you one thing, this whole gig," She pulled out Gavroche's gun and held it out to him, "It ain't without perks." Gavroche took the gun and the pair headed back to the sewer to find the shifter. They spent hours looking through the sewer for the thing, but had no luck in finding it. Eventually they turned down a smaller passage way, Eponine shown her light on a pipe next to Gavroche's head.
"I think we're close to the layer."
"What makes you say that."
"Cause there's another pile of puke inducing vile next to your face." Gavroche looked over at the pipe then jumped back disgusted.
"Uhh." In the corner of the passage there was yet another pile of vile and what looked like some wadded up clothes.
"Looks like it may have been here for awhile."
"Who knows how many murders it's gotten away with." Gavroche said. Gavroche turned to face Eponine. Standing behind her was the shifter, still in it's most resent form. When the light form Gavroche's flash-light shown in it's face, the shifter's irises turned white.
"Ep!" She turned quickly, the shifter lashed out and punched her in the face and knocking her into the side of the passage before taking off down the tunnel. Gavroche fired several shots at it, but missed. Gavroche pulled Eponine up,
"Get the son of a bitch." She moaned grasping her shoulder where it had connected with the wall. Gavroche took of running after the shifter with Eponine behind him. The shifter made it to a man hole cover and pushed it open, crawling out into the night. By the time Gavroche had crawled out of the cover, the shifter was gone. He looked around and tucked his gun into his coat. Eponine crawled out and did the same with her gun.
"Let's split up." Eponine nodded,
"Alright, I'll go this way, you go that way." The pair took off in their respective directions. Eponine ran across the street and into an alley she pulled out her gun and looked around. Gavroche kept going down the street, no sign of the shifter yet. Eponine continued down the alley, causing several people to jump at the sight of her gun. A little while later Gavroche stood at a street corner. He had not been able to find the shifter, it was long gone.
"Hey," He turned to see Eponine walking towards him, "Anything?" Gavroche shook his head,
"No, he's gone." Eponine sighed,
"Alright, lets head back to the car."
"Kay." Gavroche said starting to cross the street. Eponine followed behind him, but a car came by causing her to stop, as it's headlight shone in her face and her irises turned white. Once they got to the impala Gavroche turned to his sister.
"You think he found another way under ground?"
"Probably, you got the keys?" Gavroche stopped and turned.
"Hey, didn't dad once face a shifter in San Antonio?"
"It was in Austen and it turned out not to be a shape-shifter, it was a thought form. A psychic projection, remember?" Gavroche smirked,
"Right." He tossed the keys to the shifter, who proceeded to unlock the trunk. She lifted it up and opened the compartment with grinning as she took stock of the contents of the trunk.
"Don't move!" The shifter turned and found Gavroche with his gun trained at her chest.
"Dude, chill. It's me alright?"
"No I don't think so. Where's my sister?"
"You are about to shoot her. Gavroche calm down."
"You grabbed those keys with your left hand, your shoulder was hurt."
"And now it's better. What do you want me to do cry?"
"You are not my sister."
"Why don't you pull the trigger then? Cause, you're not sure, dude you know me." Gavroche cocked the gun.
"Don't." Faster than he had time to react, the shifter pulled the tire iron from the trunk and brought it to Gavroche's head. He fell down, out cold.
Gavroche came too, with a pounding in his head, he tried to move but couldn't. He opened is eyes, it was dark, he could hear water and god knows what else dripping. He was back in the sewer, tied to some pole. This must have been the shifter's layer. He heard it moving on the other side of the room, lighting several candle's giving the room a haunted glow. It still looked like his sister. When it saw he had woken up it stalked over to him, stopping for a minute before slapping him across the face.
"Ahh," Gavroche grit his teeth, "Where is she? Where's Eponine?"
"I wouldn't worry about her if I were you." The shifter said picking up a duffle that looked a lot alike the one from the trunk.
"Where is she?" The shifter turned to him.
"You don't really want to know." She smirked, "I swear, the more I learn about you and your family, and I thought that I came from a bad back ground." It chuckled.
"What do you mean learn?" Shifter Eponine pulled a knife out of the duffle and examined it then turned back to Gavroche and closed her eyes, she flinched and grabbed her head as Eponine's memories flooded into her head. She opened her eyes and turned to Gavroche, he could have sworn that there had been some sort of pain in it's eyes.
"She's sure got some issues with you. You got to go to college, she had to stay home. I mean, I had to stay home, with dad. You don't think I had dreams of my own? Dad needed me, where the hell were you?"
"Where is Eponine?" Gavroche asked slowly.
"I'm Eponine." The shifter said leaning forward. "You see deep down, I'm just jealous. You've got friends, you could've had a life. Me I know I'm a freak and sooner or later everyone is going to leave me."
"What are you talking about?"
"You left, hell I did everything dad asked me to and he left too. No explanation, nothing. Just whoosh, gone. He left me with your sorry ass." The shifter picked up a tarp from the floor.
"Still, this life isn't without it's perks. I mean you meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. She seems so nice and sweet. It would be a shame if something happened to her." The shifter threw the tarp over Gavroche.
Rebecca heard the door bell ring while she was doing laundry upstairs. Who would be coming by this late at night? She wondered as she went to answer it. She opened it to find Eponine Thenardier outside.
"What do you want?" She asked briskly.
"Listen I know you probably want to cuss me and my brother out, but can you at least find it in your heart to give me a chance to explain myself. I know Gavroche and I lied and that was wrong. Hell, Gavroche told me not to come, but I just feel terrible about what happened." Rebecca looked at Eponine for a moment before motioning for her to come in. Shifter Eponine smiled and entered.
Back in the sewer Gavroche had managed to get the tarp off of his head. He was trying to wriggle out of the ropes, but no such luck.
"Dammit." All of a sudden he heard a groan come from the other side of the room.
"That better be you Gav and not that freak of nature." Gavroche laughed,
"Ya, it's me." On the other side of the room Eponine shook of the tarp the shifter had covered her with.
"Now how do we get out of here?"
Back at Rebecca's house shifter Eponine had just finished telling her about shape-shifters and that is what killed Emily.
"So you're saying this thing, turned itself into my brother to kill his girlfriend in cold blood."
"Yep. It may be crazy but it's true. I mean you said it yourself, Zack was in two places at once. How is that even possible?"
"So this thing, can make itself look like anybody," Eponine nodded, "So it's like some sort of genetic freak."
"Maybe, evolution is about mutation, maybe it was born human. But was different, hideous and hated. Then it learned it could become something else." Rebecca looked at the fire, thinking about what the other woman had said. She didn't see Eponine's eyes turn white but she did see the beer bottle in her hand. Rebecca jumped off the couch just as the shifter swung the bottle at her head.
"What the hell!" She dodged as the shifter lunged at her and ran from the room. The shifter took off after her. Rebecca reached the phone and dialed 911. But it was to late, the shifter came up from behind and grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the wall. Rebecca crumbled to the ground and the phone fell to the floor.
Back in the Shifter layer real Eponine was trying to cut through the ropes around her wrist using a broken piece of metal on the column she was tied to.
"That thing didn't just look like you, she was you." Finally the rope broke, with her hands free Eponine began to undo the rest of her bindings.
"What do you mean?"
"It was like she was downloading your thoughts and memories or something."
"You mean like a Vulcan mind meld."
"Maybe that's why it didn't just kill us." Eponine finally freed herself from the rest of the restraints and went to help Gavroche.
"Maybe it needs to keep us alive so it has a psychic connection to us."
"We've got to hurry it's probably already at Rebecca's." When Eponine had freed Gavroche the pair took off running through the sewer. One they got out Gavroche looked around.
"We've got to find a phone and call the police."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're going to put out an APB on me."
"Sorry." Eponine rolled her eyes,
"This way." Once again they took off running.
Rebecca woke up to find herself tied to a chair and gagged, she felt something warm and wet run down her face. She was terrified, she struggled in her bonds but it was useless. She saw Eponine rummaging around in a duffle bag. She looked up and saw that Rebecca was awake and smiled darkly, it made Rebecca's skin crawl.
"You know, you really are a nice girl Rebecca." She remarked standing up and examining a knife in her hand. "I can see why Gavroche liked you. Trust me it makes this so much harder to do." Shifter Eponine stalked over to the chair and pressed the tip of the knife against Rebecca's throat. The girl sobbed through her gag. The other woman laughed. Suddenly she heard a pop from outside the room. Rebecca started yelling through the gag. The Shifter looked at Rebecca before slipping out of the room. It moved silently through the house careful to avoid the swat team members that had swarmed the house. It moved to one of the back room and entered it, closing the door quietly. It waited for a moment as a light passed under the door before moving across the room to a pair of French doors that led to a balcony. Just as she threw them open two members of the swat team burst into the room.
"Freeze! Drop the knife and keep your hands where I can see them." Shifter Eponine turned and glared at the officers.
"Drop the knife!" Faster than lighting the shifter threw the knife, burying it deep in the officers' shoulder. It ran out onto the balcony and leaped off. It landed with a thud then got up and took off running across the yard. The other officer ran out onto the balcony and opened fire. But the shifter had already disappeared into the night.
Eponine and Gavroche meanwhile were walking through the city when Eponine stopped in front of a television store.
"Meanwhile an anonymous tip led a swat team to a local house where they found a woman bound and gagged. Her attacker was a white woman approximately twenty-four to thirty years old was found hiding in the home was able to escape before she could be apprehended." The scene cut to a police sketch that resembled Eponine.
"That isn't even a good picture of me." Gavroche looked around.
"It's good enough." He replied, before walking on. Eponine groaned and followed him. They started walking through back streets and alleyways so no one would spot Eponine.
"At least it's attempted murder. You didn't actually kill her."
"I didn't killer. It was that shifter bitch!"
"Listen, I'll go check on Rebecca in the morning."
"Alright fine. But first we're going to find that sexy bitch and kick the crap out of her!"
"But we don't have any weapons. No silver bullets." Eponine stopped and turned to her brother.
"Gavroche, the thing is walking around with my skin and my face. It's a little personal right now. I want to find it and kill it!"
"Ok then, where do you want to start?"
"The sewers."
"We have no weapons. It stole our guns, we need more." Gavroche thought for a moment. "The car?" Eponine nodded,
"I bet it drove over to Rebecca's." Gavroche smiled,
"I bet it's still parked there." Eponine grimaced.
"The thought of that thing driving my car." She turned and stalked off down the alley. Gavroche rolled his eyes and followed.
Soon they were back at Rebecca's house, they ran down the street looking for the Impala. They found it parked a couple of blocks from Rebecca's on a side street. Eponine let out a sigh of relief,
"There she is." Eponine started walking towards her car, "Finally something went right tonight." Just then a police car pulled out of an alley behind the Impala, lights and siren on.
"Crap." The siblings quickly turned and began to go the other direction only to find another police car.
"Eponine run!"
"They'll catch you."
"Go, keep out of sight and I'll meet you at Rebecca's." Eponine ran over to a fence and climbed over it, just as she reached the top Gavroche called out to her.
"Eponine, don't go into the sewers alone." She gave her brother a quick nod before disappearing over the other side. "I mean it!" Eponine was gone. Gavroche turned and walked towards the police officers arms raised. Hopefully Eponine would listen to him and not do anything stupid, although knowing her, that was highly unlikely.
The next morning Eponine returned to the Impala. She pulled out her father's old leather jacket from the back and put it on then grabbed her spare gun from the trunk, loading it with silver bullets. Sorry Gav, but this is personal. She thought as she cocked the gun and tucked it into the waist band of her jeans. Eponine headed down back into the sewer. Back in the Shifter's layer she found a new pile of goo. Eponine pulled out her gun and shone her flashlight around the chamber. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something shift in the darkness, she turned quickly and aimed at the shape. It was a tarp, and there was someone underneath it. Eponine lowered her gun and rushed across the room, she tore back the tarp and found no one other than Rebecca tied up underneath it.
"Rebecca?!" She looked up at Eponine fearfully. "Oh shit."
Gavroche had been able to avoid being arrested the night before by coming up with an ingenious story about how he was helping a friend find her Shitz Tzu and that it had run into the alley then gone under a fence when the police had shown up and that his friend had just gone after it. The police had no choice to believe him and let him go. He was now sitting in Rebecca's living room while she grabbed some beers for them. Unknowns to him the real Rebecca was really tied up in the sewers.
"So say that these Shape shifters are real. By the way you are crazy, how do you stop it?" Gavroche sighed and took the beer from Rebecca,
"Silver bullet to the heart."
"Wow, you are crazy." The shifter brought her beer bottle down on Gavroche's head, knocking him out cold.
Back in the sewer Eponine was working on untying Rebecca.
"So what happened?" Rebecca shrugged.
"I was walking home from the police station and everything just went white. Someone hit me from behind. Then I wake up here just to see that THING turn into me!" she stuttered. "How is that even possible?" Eponine finished untying the other woman.
"Hey, it's going to be ok. Can you walk?" Rebecca nodded and Eponine helped her to her feet. "We need to hurry. Gavroche went to see you." With that the pair of them took off through the sewers.
In Rebecca's house the shifter had turned back into Eponine and proceeded to tie up Gavroche by the wrists.
"What are you going to do to me?" It laughed.
"I'm not going to do anything. Eponine will." The shifter started looking through drawers in the kitchen.
"They will never catch her." Gavroche replied.
"It doesn't matter," The shifter turned, her eyes turning white. "Murder in the first of her own brother. Chick will be hunted for the rest of her life." It turned back and removed a carving knife from a drawer. It walked over to Gavroche and pulled him to his feet and dragged him through the house.
"I must say, I will be sorry to loose this skin. Your sister has some amazing qualities." It threw Gavroche down next to a pool table. Then proceeded to walk over to the bar in the room and pore herself a glass of whiskey. "Cheers." She said before knocking the glass back. "Shall we get to work then?" It picked up the knife and stabbed it into the side of the pool table. Gavroche looked at the knife, the shifter was digging through it's bag of tricks. Thinking fast Gavroche kicked out and knocked the shifter to the ground and jumped up. He used the knife to cut through the ropes. When free he grabbed the knife and pulled it from the wood. Just in time, the shifter roared with fury and lunged at him. Gavroche swung the knife, the shifter was fast, it grabbed his arm and flipped him over. Apparently it knew all of Eponine's tricks. Gavroche sprung off the ground and turned to face the shifter.
"You son of a bitch." It hissed advancing towards him. It threw a punch that Gavroche was able to block, but anticipating that, the Shifter was able to use the block against him, Gavroche ended up with his arm twisted behind his back. He brought his head back connecting hard with the Shifter, his vision filled with stars. The shifter was disoriented enough that Gavroche was able to flip her over his back. Putting it in the positions he had been in moments ago.
"Not bad, little brother."
"You aren't her." Gavroche grunted. The shifter brought her foot down on Gavroche's he loosened his hold on it enough. It broke out of his grip and punched him strait in the jaw, sending him reeling against a couch. Gavroche was able to block the next punch and lay one on her to the stomach. The shifter doubled over, Gavroche grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back, it lashed out sending another punch to his face. Gavroche let go of the shifter. It kicked him strait in the gut, sending him flying into a book shelf. The self broke at his impact, his vision filled with more stars. Gavroche crawled forward and pulled himself up using the pool table.
"Even when we were kids I could always kick your sorry ass." Shifter Eponine picked up a pool cue and swung it at Gavroche he ducked, it swung again and missed. Gavroche kicked out, the shifter dropped the cue. Then was met with a punch to the nose. It lunged at Gavroche sending them both over the couch crashing down onto a coffee table, it breaking with their combined weight. It wrapped it's hands around Gavroche's throat. Gavroche tried to fight back, but Eponine had always been stronger than him. Just as the world was about to go black,
"Hey!" The shifter released it's hold on Gavroche, it jumped up and turned to find the real Eponine standing behind it. Before it had time to react Eponine fired to rounds strait to the Shifters heart. It stumbled back and fell to the ground dead. Gavroche looked up at his sister, Rebecca was standing a little ways behind her looking terrified. Eponine was staring at her body double this a neutral expression on her face. Rebecca rushed forward to help Gavroche. Eponine walked slowly over to the shifter and ripped her pendent from it's neck.
"Mine bitch." She said through gritted teeth.
Three days later Gavroche and Eponine were preparing to leave, Eponine laid a road map out on the hood of the Impala and began to examine it while Gavroche said his good byes to Rebecca.
"So this is what you do." Rebecca said a matter of factly. Gavroche had just finished explaining to her what he and Eponine really did. "You and your sister hunt down these types of things."
"Pretty much, ya." Rebecca shook her head,
"I can't believe it. I saw it with my own eyes and I just…" She paused, "Does anyone at school know?"
"No."
"Did Jess know?" Gavroche shook his head. "It must be lonely." Gavroche shrugged.
"It's not so bad." He looked over to where Eponine was examining the map. "Anyway, it's my family." Rebecca smiled and hugged Gavroche,
"Well, Zack, me, everyone at school. We all miss you." Gavroche hugged her back.
"I miss all you guys too." Rebecca let go of Gavroche,
"Will you call some time?"
"It may not be for a little while." Rebecca nodded waving good bye at Eponine, who briefly waved back before going back inside her house. Gavroche watched her go, he knew with a heavy heart that that would be the last time he would see or speak to Rebecca. Sighing he walked over to Eponine, who was now folding up the map.
"So what about Zack?" She asked walking over to the driver's side door. Gavroche smiled,
"The cops are blaming this Eponine Thenardier chick for Emily's murder. Found the murder weapon in her lair. Zack's cloths stained with blood. Now they think that the surveillance tape had been tampered with. Ya, Rebecca says that Zack will be released soon." Eponine nodded and got into the car. Later as they were driving down the highway Eponine glanced over at Gavroche, he had just finished deleting his email account from his phone and was looking out the window at the passing scenery.
"I'm sorry man."
"About what?"
"I wish things could be different, that you could just be Joe College." Gavroche smiled,
"It's ok, the truth is, even at Stanford deep down I didn't fit in."
"Well that's cause you're a freak."
"Ya thanks," Gavroche said with a chuckle.
"But I'm a freak too. I'm right there with you all the way."
"I know you are." Eponine was silent for a minute.
"You know I've got to say, I'm a little sad that I got to miss it."
"Miss what?"
"How many chances am I going to have to see my own funeral?" Gavroche rolled his eyes and went back to looking out the window. The Impala speeding down the road to what ever fate had in store next.
Oh dear god I don't know how but somehow the format for this chapter got all weird. But now it's all fixed!