First off, I want to say thank you to MacRieve Girl for her review. I tried sending you a PM but it was turned off. I'm glad you like the flashbacks, those were my biggest worry for this story.
Secondly, I want to thank everyone else who's been reading, following, and reviewing my story. THANK YOU!
Anyways, back to the story!
Gracilynn lies on her bed, tired from their previous hunt. They had been back hunting with Uncle Sam for a month now and, not used to the constant go of a Hunter's life again, she had found herself dozing off more often. She hears her phone go off and reaches over and answers it.
"Hello," she mutters into the phone.
"Hey," a male voice says on the other line. Gracilynn feels a smile tug at her lips, realizing its Duke. They had kept in touch after they moved because of the Djinn incident. Of course, now that she's on the road, they hadn't talked as much.
"Hey. What's going on?" she asks.
"Not much. You?" he asks.
"Just waiting for my dad and uncle to get back," Gracilynn replies.
"You should come visit," Duke asks.
"Yeah," Gracilynn answers, knowing she probably wouldn't.
"Listen, Gracilynn. I still think we can make this work," Duke says.
"Duke…it's just…with my dad's job…he's on the road a lot. I'd be that absent girlfriend you come to hate because you can't do anything because of me but I'm never around. I just…" Gracilynn tries to explain.
"Yeah, but you're going to live with Lisa during the school year right?" Duke asks.
"I…" Gracilynn begins, but her dad and uncle walking in the door stops her. "They're back. I have to go."
Gracilynn hangs up the phone and climbs off the bed. Dean looks over at her, studying her for a moment. He sees her put her phone back in her pocket and by the look on her face, he thinks he knows who it was.
"Duke?" he asks. Gracilynn looks over at him, wondering how he knew.
"Yeah," she says.
"Everything all right?" Dean asks. Gracilynn shrugs. "Maybe we should stop by Cicero. You could visit."
"I don't know," Gracilynn says noncommittally, then changes the subject slightly. "Since when did you like Duke?"
"Never said I liked him," Dean says with a smirk before picking up his back and throwing it over his shoulder. Gracilynn sighs. She remembered when her dad first met Duke.
"Ya know, you could've been a little nicer," Gracilynn says as she shuts the door behind her having walked Duke out. Dean shrugs.
"I thought I was nice," Dean says.
"Sitting across from him, staring at him all night is not nice. And that was when you weren't grilling him on his whole life story," Gracilynn counters.
"I didn't trust him," Dean says.
"Why not?" Gracilynn asks.
"It was the name," Dean answers.
"Seriously?" Gracilynn asks, rolling her eyes.
"Duke? Really? You're boyfriends name is Duke? It sounds like a dog. I felt like I was talking to a damn dog," Dean says.
"Dad," Gracilynn warns.
"What?" Dean asks innocently. "Hey, if you wanna date a guy with a dog name, that's on you. But don't be mad if people start whistling and calling, 'Here boy!'"
"You're unbelievable," Gracilynn says, rolling her eyes. She shakes her head and makes her way up to her room.
Gracilynn sighs and picks up her bag, running out the door to catch up with her dad. Her uncle had found them another hunt up in Dalton, Massachusetts. Supposedly, their homicide and suicide toll was way higher that any in the whole state. Gracilynn throws her bag in the trunk and climbs into the back seat.
"So, what information have you found out?" Gracilynn asks her dad and uncle.
"Well, there are numerous murders where the victims had wounds made from an arrow. And they all died in the forest. Other than that, nothing. We'll have to talk to the families and the coroner," Sam says, looking at his laptop.
"Okay, let's go," Gracilynn says, heading towards the door.
"Whoa, hold on. What's the big hurry?" Dean says, turning around in the chair.
"It beats sitting around here doing nothing," Gracilynn says.
"You're the only one that was doing nothing," Dean points out. Gracilynn huffs. "Alright, we're coming."
The three Winchesters walk up to the house in front of them. They had just come from the coroner's office, finding out that each victim had indeed been struck by an arrow; however, what they didn't know was that each victim died from poison in their bloodstream. When asked, the coroner said he had no clue what kind of poison it was; he had never seen it before. Dean knocks on the door and a woman in her mid-thirties opens the door.
"Mrs. Duron?" Dean asks. The woman, who looks as if she'd been crying, nods her head. Dean and Sam hold up their badges. "I'm Agent Fortus. This is Agent Ferrer. We have some questions about your husband."
"Um…I already talked to the police," Mrs. Duron says.
"We took over the case," Sam says bluntly. Gracilynn raises an eyebrow at her uncle. Dean gives him a look.
"Um…okay," Mrs. Duron replies, stepping to the side and letting them in. She leads them into the living room and offers them her furniture. She gives Gracilynn a look which Gracilynn catches.
"Gracilynn Rose," Gracilynn provides, "I'm an intern shadowing Agents Fortus and Ferrer."
"Oh," Mrs. Duron says, nodding her head.
"Mrs. Duron, can you tell us what happened?" Dean asks.
"Well, my husband was going on a camping trip with a few of his buddies. They were only supposed to be gone a few days. He…uh…never came home. They found him and the other guys at their campsite," Mrs. Duron says, stopping to get control of herself once again. "The police said they were shot and poisoned."
"Do you remember anything else?" Sam asks. Mrs. Duron's head jolts in his direction.
"No. No," she says shaking her head. Gracilynn narrows her eyes. Mrs. Duron was definitely hiding something.
"Mrs. Duron," Gracilynn says, getting the woman's attention. "Anything you can remember would be a great help."
Mrs. Duron nods her head, tears running down her face.
"It's my fault," she says.
"What's your fault?" Gracilynn says, laying a hand on her arm. Dean and Sam share a look and Dean shrugs his shoulders, letting his daughter continue.
"It's my fault Jeremy's dead," Mrs. Duron says.
"Why would you say that?" Gracilynn says.
"He called me. Said they were seeing things," Mrs. Duron says.
"What do you mean 'seeing things'?" Gracilynn asks.
"They said they were seeing a creature that was only about two and a half feet high, big ears and fingers, and grey skin. Said it would be there and then the next moment it wasn't, showing up some place else. I thought he was drunk; playing a joke on me. I told him to call me back when he was sober," Mrs. Duron says, new tears falling.
"Mrs. Duron. This wasn't your fault. Whoever killed your husband? It's his fault," Gracilynn says.
"What if he was telling the truth?" Mrs. Duron asks. "I just left him there to die."
"Mrs. Duron. The poison that killed your husband makes the person hallucinate. There was no creature. Just poison affecting his mind," Gracilynn assures. Dean's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.
"Really?" Mrs. Duron asks hopefully.
"Yes, really," Gracilynn says.
"Thank you," Mrs. Duron says.
"We'll do everything we can to catch this guy," Dean says, nodding to the woman and shooing his daughter after his exiting brother.
"She was blaming herself dad. She shouldn't have to go through life blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault. It could destroy a person," Gracilynn says, shooting a look at her father.
"Ya know, you lied pretty fast and easy back there," Dean says changing the subject.
"I learned from the best," Gracilynn says, climbing in the car after her dad and uncle.
"You ever lie to me like that?" Dean asks with a warning in his tone.
"Are you kidding? I couldn't lie to you like that even if I tried. You always seem to find it out. Or at least know something's going on," Gracilynn says, then to herself. "It's kinda pathetic really."
"Yeah, well let's keep it that way," Dean says, starting up the car and driving off to their hotel room.
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