Chapter Eight

Paul had just finished up a scene where Fantastic Dan and Mindy had just found a clue as to where Dr. Doom's latest heist was supposed to be. It had taken three different takes, but finally both Paul and Simon were satisfied. Paul always felt when he was playing a character wrong and it rubbed him the wrong way like a cat being petted backwards. He was always the first to admit he was a bit of a perfectionist, but he didn't always have to get things right the first time. He'd learned that lesson early on in his life.

He was taking a water break when he noticed Sam and Dean approaching fast like they'd seen something they never wanted to again. He looked around fast before coming closer to them and motioning for them to follow him to his trailer. He knew Miranda was looking at him strangely, but he wasn't quite ready to let anyone in on his other life. Namely his oldest co-worker and one of his oldest friends, he could feel Simon's eyes boring into the back of his head too, but Simon was the accused as of right now.

Once they reached the inside of his trailer and he locked the door he spoke.

"What did you find out?" Paul asked, watching the windows for anyone coming.

"Not much before that creep Rodney showed up," Dean shuddered. "Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way. No offense to anybody you work with or anything."

"None taken," Paul replied. "I've never really talked to the guy much besides thanking him when he brings me water. He seems like a quiet kid, but not quite in a shoot up the school type way. What happened with him?"

"We went into Simon's trailer and we found nothing major," Dean explained. "We did find a picture though of Rodney and it looked as though Simon was picking it up a lot and looking at it. I don't know why, but still. Needless to say Marylyn Manson out there came up behind us and asked us what we were doing so we left."

"I don't know why Simon would have a picture of our water boy," Paul observed. "But it does pose the question as to how Rodney knew you were in there in the first place. He was over at set with me, Simon and Miranda before I knew you two headed that way."

"He could've seen us go that way." Sam offered his own thought.

"Or maybe he didn't need to see you," Paul thought about it before he answered. "Alright I've got a good few hours til nightfall then I go home for the night. You two go back to my place Howard will let you in. I have books of lore in my library behind the shelf. Press the pass code which Howard will also give to you and the bookcase will move and the books will be there. What was weird about him?"

"His eyes flashed yellow at me when we were leaving," Dean said. "I swear to God I'm not crazy they did. "

"Look for anything in those books that resembles that among other things," Paul instructed them." We're dealing with something that flies too and captures people."

He called up Howard and told him to let the brothers use his secret library and to pick them up from the movie set before hanging up and readjusting his shirt.

"Time to go act natural." Paul commented before putting on his best poker face.

"Please," Sam smirked a little. "You could do that in your sleep."

Paul and Sam shared an exchange of glances that almost felt borderline good. It felt like things were back to normal in college for a few moments before Dean cleared his throat. He'd caught them staring for too long. Sam looked away and motioned for Dean to follow him out of the trailer. Paul followed behind the other two and back off towards the set, waving them goodbye. What Paul didn't catch was Rodney's brooding eyes following his every step like a predator back towards his marker. Simon didn't catch it either. Rodney simply smirked and shot a glance towards the back of Sam and Dean's heads as they disappeared in the distance to their awaiting car.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

The two Winchester brothers had been sitting at Paul's dining room table for an hour with fifteen different lore books and Sam's laptop in front of them. So far they had come up with nothing. There was tons of lore on flying monsters and yellow eyed monsters, but none on the two combined. Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the yellowing pages of the book in front of him. Paul's words came to his mind.

"Never give up Sammy. That's my motto."

He'd always thought it was so easy for Paul to say those words. They would just roll off his tongue so gracefully and like he meant them every time. Sam had admired, loved as well, a lot of things about the man but the greatest one was his drive. He never let much rattle his cage. If things got too bad for either him or Sam in the past he'd buy a bottle of Absolut Vodka and a jug of lemonade and blast Toad the Wet Sprocket for ambience as he called it. Sam recalled one of those times so vividly. The night that Paul hadn't gotten his second audition.

"Hit me again Sammy boy." Paul said with drunken gusto as he thrust his red solo cup in Sam's direction and Sam Winchester poured another alcoholic beverage into it. By this time Sam was happily buzzed and Paul was borderline wasted.

"This is your fifth drink," Sam observed as "All I Want" blasted in the background. "You're going to be hung over tomorrow and we have science at 8am."

"Fuck science," Paul exclaimed rather loudly and Sam couldn't help but laugh a little. It was a nervous laugh, mostly because he still wasn't sure what he and Paul were. Sure they'd kissed, but they still hadn't declared anything yet. "I'm drinking to forget that my dreams are trying to run away from me. That's a good line write that one down."

Paul pointed to a piece of paper and a pen nearby and Sam handed them to him. Paul scribbled down what he'd just said in drunken gibberish that Sam doubted he'd be able to decipher tomorrow. Paul pushed it aside and took another swig.

"It was just an audition," Sam tried his best to reassure his friend. "This isn't the end of it all. You can always try again."

"I'm waiting," Paul announced. "I am waiting because mark my words there will be Fantastic Dan movies. Mark my damn words. Right now I feel small, but I'll be big one day. Did you know how I got here?"

"Hopped on a bus like me," Sam chuckled, it was another nervous one. He hadn't told Paul about his life or his family's business. "Took a chance?"

"There was no chancing this," Paul explained. "My parents didn't want me here. No they wanted me to be a f-fucking doctor like my dad. But I said hell no! I wanted to be an actor! So you know what my dad did? Kicked me the fuck out. I haven't heard from them since I got a Pell grant to go here. I used to have these elaborate dreams that all would be forgiven and they'd show up at one of my movie showings or even just fucking hug me for once since they heard about my life goals."

"You use the word fuck a lot when you're drunk." Sam replied as the calm melody of "Pray Your Gods" played on. Sam had the album down flat because of Paul's codependence with it. He'd practically memorized every song like he had Paul's mannerisms and looks.

"Bottom line Sammy," Paul slurred a little, but he still had his wits about him even when drunk. "I learned that there was a space drawn between my parents and me. You can either follow the pack or come back leading your own. I wasn't meant to be my father. I had to be my own person. I had to forge my own path and take it all the way to wherever it led me."

He slapped his hands together for emphasis and Sam got a quiet a moment. Paul had just summarized everything Sam had dealt with until he'd left for Stanford. His life was destined to be bullets and fangs for life if he hadn't gotten out.

"Weren't you ever scared?" Sam looked up and out the window in their dorm.

"Terrified," Paul smiled and looked over at Sam. "But that was the fun of it."

Sam looked over at Paul and studied his forehead to his lips before he leaned over and kissed him again. This time it wasn't needy or fast or rushed. It was sweet and simple. Sam grabbed his chin and let his fingers rest there as he kissed Paul. Paul made little grunts as Sam's lips danced across his and he could almost feel the love Sam was projecting.

"I must be really drunk," Paul laughed. "Either that or I really like you Sam Winchester."

"I think we both are having the same issue." Sam chuckled and held Paul's hand as he kissed him again.

"Sammy," Dean said and Sam shook his head before looking at his brother. "Man how many times are you gonna zone out?"

"Enough to annoy you obviously." Sam was a bit on edge from the memory.

"Sassy much," Dean grumbled. "You're supposed to be focused on the case not on whatever porn star you're fantasizing about."

"Big talk from you Dean." Sam was trying not to blow up on his brother.

"What's crawled up your ass huh?" Dean slammed the book shut, trying to understand why Sam was acting the way he was.

"I don't know Dean," Sam just exploded due to the pent up rage he'd had since they'd arrived. "Maybe because you've dragged me back to the last state I want to be in right now? Maybe that's why? Maybe I didn't ever want to come here! As if seeing my ex-boyfriend wasn't enough now I'm reminded of everything that's happened here and I don't know why you took this damn case in the first place!"

Dean was silent for a moment as he stared at Sam. It took Sam all but five minutes to realize the secret he'd just spilled and he shied away immediately.

"Ex-boyfriend?" Dean asked, shocked, but a bit less confused now. "Sammy we gotta talk."

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

It was night by the time Paul started to drive home. He had reached the intersection of the street he was on and the alleyway near where he'd talked to the old homeless woman and was currently sitting at the red light. It was a less crowded side street and was currently empty, but Paul was happy about that. It meant less traffic keeping him from coming home faster. He was busy humming along to the radio and tapping his thumb on the steering wheel when something caught his eye, or rather someone.

It was Rodney. He was walking along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets and he was strolling along fast. Paul debated offering to give him a ride when he remembered what Dean had said to him. Paul pulled his car over and pulled a knife from his glove compartment before silently closing his car door and following inconspicuously behind Rodney. The street light above Paul was flickering when he stopped. He'd lost Rodney and he cursed under his breath. Normally his hunting skills were always on point and fine tuned. Paul wasn't normally scared of the dark, but something about where he was right not was making chills go up his spine.

When Paul spun around to leave he spotted Rodney emerging from the steamy fog clouds that were coming from the sewer drain. His eyes seemed to glow yellow. Paul tried to play it off as a trick of the light, but when Rodney fully showed himself Paul realized his eyes remained the same. Paul held his knife up and prepared to defend himself.

"You think that puny stick can defeat me?" Rodney asked and erupted into laughter. "Well I hate to say you're mistaken. You're also smarter than I'd anticipated."

"What can I say," Paul used humor to deflect his nerves. It wasn't as effective as he'd hoped as he shook a little. "I have good genes."

"I do hope good tasting blood goes along with those." Rodney licked his lips and suddenly opened his mouth to let out a piercing shriek. Paul covered his ears and yelled in pain. When he opened his eyes Rodney was gone, but a rather large black and white winged creature was dive bombing the movie star. Paul tried to move, but by the time he could crawl out of the way the creature had him in his talons and was flying him to an unknown location. Paul didn't have the faintest idea what was going on nor could he tell Sam or Dean since his cell phone had dropped out of his pocket in the take off and shattered into pieces. All he could do was hold on for dear life and hope he wasn't going to be killed before the Winchesters could find him.

Reviews are appreciated!

Any guesses as to what kind of monster Rodney is? You'll find out soon.

More to come soon!