For my ever faithful reviewers: Razorbackgal0225, Plutobaby494, Alyssa43, Nelle07, St0pSmackinMe07.
The country road was still. Not even a light breeze disturbed the trees. Night had fallen and the only sound was the steady hum of crickets. The moon, almost full, shone overhead casting shadows on the pavement. It was completely peaceful until…
Vroooom. A jet-black 1967 Chevrolet Impala came flying up the road. Pebbles flew in its wake as it hurtled around the bend. It sped past, disturbing the trees though they were not nearly as shaken up as the occupants of the car.
Adiana gingerly rubbed her wrists. They had puffed up slightly and the bruises had turned from blue to purple. Adiana wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She hated the Demon and his cryptic messages. Sure it made for an interesting, suspenseful television show, but to Adiana this wasn't just a show any longer. Or was it? Maybe she was still lying on the couch back home. She quickly dismissed the thought. She looked from her wrists to the front seat. Sam was slumped over, asleep. Dean was driving, his whole being seemingly concentrating on the road. Slipping back into her thoughts, Adiana wondered if she would ever get home. Dean looked up into the mirror and saw Adiana staring at him. A thought suddenly occurred to Adiana that caught her off guard. She didn't want to go home. Not now because...
"Earth to Adiana," said Dean, from what sounded like a very long way away. Adiana jolted back to reality.
"What?"
"You were zoning. It was starting to freak me out."
"Oh, sorry." Adiana turned to the window. The Impala was once again quiet with the exception of the occasional snore from Sam. At one point he muttered something that sounded a lot like 'I need more hairspray' which for some reason struck Adiana as extraordinarily funny. She burst out laughing nearly causing Dean to swerve off the road and waking up Sam.
"What did I miss?" asked Sam, looking around dazedly. Adiana only managed to choke out 'hairspray' before erupting into another fit of laughter. Sam looked at Dean, who was shaking his head.
"What?"
"Dude, do us a favor, never talk in your sleep again." This only confused Sam more, but he shut his mouth in defeat.
A few minutes later, the last of the laughter had subsided. Adiana's sides felt as if they were splitting open. And all that laughing… It was because she was tired. She always got weird when she was tired. She put a hand to her side, massaging it gently.
"You all right?" asked Sam.
"Yeah, I just feel a little sick."
"Woah, don't puke on the upholstery. I'll pull over." The look on Dean's face was so frantic it was almost comical. Adiana repressed the urge to laugh again.
"Don't worry, Dean. I'm fine. Just keep driving."
"You're sure?" Dean eyed her disbelieveingly.
"Positive."
Dean finally pulled the Impala over in Denver, Colorado. It was late morning, and people were already hurrying along the streets. The brothers got out and Adiana followed suit, feeling slightly woozy from lack of sleep. She pulled the black leather jacket Dean had bought her down over her bruised wrists. She didn't want to raise any suspicion. Dean pulled an abandoned newspaper off a bench, before turning into a small café.
"I'll get the drinks," offered Sam. "Coffee?"
"Coffee sounds great," replied Adiana. Dean nodded, burying himself behind the newspaper. Sam left, and Adiana and Dean sat at a small metal table. Adiana glanced over the front of Dean's newspaper. The cover story was about a fire in a local apartment building. There was one casualty, a fireman. The source of the fire was not yet known, but arson was suspected. She was still reading the article, when Sam walked back to the table.
"Here you go." Sam set the coffees on the table and sat down.
"Thanks." Adiana picked up her coffee and took a sip.
"Anthony Giles," said Dean, handing the newspaper to Sam.
"Who's Anthony Giles?"
"He's a Baltimore lawyer working late in his office. Check it out." Adiana leaned over to get a better look at the article titled 'Man's Throat Slit Without A Trace.' Sam scanned the paper in his hands.
"His throat was slit, but the room was clean. Huh. No DNA, no prints," commented Sam.
"Keep reading. It gets better."
"Security cameras failed to capture footage of the assailant."
"So I'm thinking that someone tampered with the tapes…"
"Or it's an invisible killer." Dean smiled.
"My favorite kind. What d'ya think Scully? Should we check it out?"
"I'm not Scully. You're Scully." Sam threw the newspaper at Dean.
"No I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman." Adiana rolled her eyes.
"It's like working with children. Are we going or what?" She got up and headed for the Impala. The brothers followed behind, still throwing insults and not very clever ones. Once inside the Impala, Dean twisted around in his seat, eyes searching.
"Looking for something?" asked Adiana.
"My cell."
"Good job Dean," snorted Sam.
"Shut up and look for it."
"Hold on." Adiana pulled out her new cell phone. "I'll call it."
"No," said Dean, too quickly. "Uh… wouldn't want you to waste your minutes." Adiana raised an eyebrow.
"I'll cut back my nightly sessions of texting my millions of friends then." Adiana quickly punched in the numbers and hit call.
'Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you
Shook me all night long
Yeah you,
Shook me all –
Dean pulled the cell out from under his seat and quickly shut it off. He shoved it in his pocket, glancing with annoyance at Sam who was shaking with suppressed laugher. Adiana put her own phone back in her jacket.
"Are you okay Sam?" He just nodded at Adiana, unable to open his mouth. "Okay. Well, I'm gonna go grab that newspaper, in case we need it." Adiana jumped out of the Impala, and Sam burst into laughter.
"Dude, what is so funny?" asked Dean. He didn't like the giant grin on Sam's face.
"Your ringtones are personalized, right?"
"Yeah so?"
"So you like her, don't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on man, I'm not stupid."
"No, you're paranoid. If you haven't noticed, I like to listen to AC/DC. Besides, it was the only ringtone I had left."
"Sure. You know, she still might have a thing for you."
"Whatever Sam."
"Then again she did say, what was it… I don't remember exactly. Something about wishing either one of us would ask her out. Better hurry up or I might get there first," Sam teased.
"Yeah, right." There was a pause, and then he continued. "You know what, go for it. I don't care."
"You don't care."
"Nope."
"Okay. Maybe I will. I think it's kind of cute the way her nose scrunches up when she's thinking."
"Her nose doesn't scrunch up when she's thinking."
"No?"
"No. She bites her lower lip and plays with her hair. Unless she's in the car, then she just presses her cheek against the window." He caught Sam's bemused expression. "What?"
"Yeah, you don't like her."
"Bite me, Sam." Adiana hopped back into the car with the newspaper.
"Okay, we can go now." Dean cast Sam a dirty look before starting up the Impala.
After seven consecutive hours of driving, they finally made it to Baltimore. The drive had been a tough one, as any long drive always was. Sam and Dean had argued for two hours about absolutely nothing giving Adiana a major headache. She had eventually exploded, yelling for them to stop acting like ten year olds. Once she had calmed down, Adiana felt horrible and apologized. Sam had assured her that it was fine and they shouldn't have been arguing anyway, to which Dean agreed though was apparently unable to resist adding that Sam was still wrong. At least they hadn't started fighting again. The Impala pulled to a halt next to a McDonald's.
"Wait here," Dean instructed. Adiana settled back in her seat, used to having to wait by now. Dean got a suitcase out of the trunk, and Sam followed Dean into the fast food joint. Adiana watched the door of the restaurant until she caught a flicker of movement past her window. She glanced up as a young couple passed by. The girl pulled ahead, running playfully. Her boyfriend ran up behind her, catching her around the waist. They both laughed as he swung her around only stopping when she leaned in to kiss him.
Adiana glanced away, feeling a stab of jealousy. It was stupid she knew to feel that way. But suppose she was with the Winchesters forever. Well, as long as any hunter lasted on the job. Maybe Dean didn't want a relationship. Maybe Sam didn't either, or maybe he would finally leave the life and find someone. But what about her? She couldn't leave them, and as long as she was with them she wasn't going to be able to think about anyone else much less find somebody else. And she supposed that she should come to terms with this now, so that it wouldn't hang over her. She sighed and pressed her face against the cool glass. But it wasn't going to be easy.
The front doors to the Impala clicked open, and the boys climbed in wearing suits. Yes, it definitely wasn't going to be easy. Adiana lifted her head off the glass and turned her thoughts instead on what they'd be doing for this case.
"What's it this time? Cops, FBI…"
"Insurance," said Dean.
"You're selling insurance?"
"No, we're doing a follow up on Anthony's death."
"And who are you going to talk to?"
"His wife, Karen," said Sam.
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"Wait in the car," said Dean. Adiana sighed. Of course that's what she would be doing.
"Fine. Sam, can I use your laptop while I'm waiting?"
"Sure."
Two hours later, they were speeding down the road on the way to Anthony's office.
"So wait, Anthony had a nightmare, and you think that the girl in his nightmare is the thing that killed him?" asked Adiana, setting Sam's laptop aside.
"Pretty much," said Dean.
"And now we're going to his office to…"
"Karen said he had computer trouble and had to stay late. We're trying to find out what kind of trouble exactly." Dean parked the Impala next to a large office building. The trio got out, flashlights in hand, and headed for the door. Sam pulled out a pin and quickly picked the lock. Once upstairs, they broke into Anthony's office just as easily. As soon as she stepped through the door, Adiana's flashlight lit up the carpet where Anthony's body was found. It was soaked in drying blood. She made a note to avoid that area.
"So what do you think? Vengeful spirit, underline vengeful?" questioned Dean.
"Yeah, maybe," responded Sam. "I mean he did see that woman at the edge of his bed." Adiana pulled herself away from the blood-soaked carpet and joined the brothers around the desk. Dean pulled a piece of paper to his flashlight.
"Look at this." He handed it to Sam.
"Danashulps. What's that? A name?"
"I don't know, but it's everywhere." Dean held up another paper with 'danashulps' written continuously. "Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Sam frowned down at the glass desk. Adiana and Dean watched him as he bent low and breathed heavily on it. 'Danashulps' appeared in the fog on the desk.
"Wow," said Sam. "I'd say we've officially crossed over into weird. Maybe it's the name of our pale red-eyed mystery girl."
"Well," said Dean, pulling out a binder, "Let's see what we can see." Sam turned on the computer and attempted to hack into the files. Adiana walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a folder and then another folder… and then another…
"There's not a single mention of a Dana Shulps anywhere," groaned Dean, after a few hours. "There's no D. Shulps or any other kind of freakin' Shulps."
"Yeah, I got nothing either," said Adiana, slamming the fifth and final cabinet shut.
"Great," sighed Sam, his face illuminated by the computer screen.
"What d'ya got?" asked Dean.
"Nothin'. No Shulps has lived or died in Baltimore in the last fifty years at least."
"Great. So what do we do now?" Adiana leaned against the file cabinet, her eyes drooping. The boys' conversation was starting to run together. Unless they figured out something soon, Adiana knew she was going to fall asleep.
"Well, I'm pretty close to cracking Giles' password. Maybe there's something in his personal files, you know?"
"When you say close, you mean…" Sam shrugged.
"Thirty minutes maybe." Dean looked at his watch.
"Awesome." Dean flopped in the chair across the desk from Sam. "So I guess I just get to hang out. That's… awesome." He glanced, bored, around the room. Finding nothing of interest, he began making clicking sounds with teeth. Sam looked up for a moment then went back to his computer. As the noises intensified, Sam threw up his hands in frustration.
"Dude seriously!"
"Alright." Dean got out of the chair. "I'm going to talk to Karen again. See if she knows anything about this Dana Shulps."
"Great."
"Keep going Sparky. Adiana." Adiana was leaning over the cabinet with her face resting in her crossed arms.
"Hmmm?"
"You coming?"
"Mmmmmm…" Adiana opened one eye. "I suppose." She straightened up, her body protesting its sharp awakening. She followed Dean back to the car partially limping on her right foot, which had done what the rest of her body wanted and fallen asleep. She almost got into the back of the car but decided it was a chance to get out of that seat, and so she got in the front instead. As the Impala drove around the corner, Adiana watched the apartment disappear.
"What makes you so sure 'danashulps' is a person's name?" asked Adiana.
"What?"
"Why assume it's a person's name?"
"What else would it be?"
"I don't know. A code word or something." To that, Dean said nothing and they drove on in silence. The buildings began thinning out until they were out of the city. Only about another fifteen minutes, and they were parked outside of the house. They made their way up the front steps to the door and Dean knocked.
"Karen, you in there?" There was no answer. Dean looked over his shoulder before pulling out a knife and carefully picking the lock. "Stay behind me." Adiana nodded, and they quietly entered. Dean flicked the light switch, but the light didn't turn on. A trickle of unease crept down Adiana's spine. She followed close behind Dean as he ascended the stairs. He carefully pushed one of the doors open and slipped inside the room. As she glanced around him, Adiana's hand flew to her mouth and her stomach lurched. Karen lay on the floor in a pool of her own blood, her throat slit.
"Oh god," murmured Dean, his lip curling in disgust. He pulled a sheet of paper off of the printer. Adiana turned her focus on it, her head still spinning, to see 'danashulps' printed over and over. "Seriously. What the hell?" Dean knelt down next to Karen. He picked up one of her hands, noting the bruises that covered her wrists. Adiana watched quietly from the corner, trying not to be sick.
"Freeze." Adiana almost screamed. Three cops had suddenly appeared in the doorway. Two were pointing their guns at Dean and one was pointed at her. "Hands where I can see 'em. Now!" Dean and Adiana put up their hands. "Cuff 'em." Adiana gritted her teeth as the handcuffs bit into her bruises. The police dragged Adiana and Dean out of the house, one cop reading them their rights. As Adiana was shoved into the back of the cop car, she knew that they were going to be in a lot of trouble.