Dean stepped out of the room while Luce and Sam dressed. He came back in after Luce assured him any evidence of what had occurred only a few hours ago was gone. Dean entered, warily, and they began discussing what they were dealing with.

"Maybe it was a shape-shifter!" Sam offered.

"No, that's not possible." Luce responded.

"How is that impossible?" Dean questioned.

"Because I know how shape-shifters think." Luce answered.

"And you know this how?" Dean asked, a perplexed look on his face.

"I dated one," Luce said with a guilty look.

"You dated a shape-shifter?" Sam exclaimed.

~Luce POV~ ~FLASHBACK~

I sat snuggled against my boyfriend, Jordan, on the couch in his apartment. The television was on, but neither of us were watching it.

"How did I get so lucky to have a girlfriend like Luce? I don't deserve her." he whispered, unaware that I heard him.

He had been saying this a lot lately; he was just talking more, in general. I had been noticing that everywhere I went, people were talking more. I never used to hear so many voices, I guess people were just more open to talking to themselves now.

"She would never love me if she knew what I really look like, but she'd never believe me if I told her." he whispered.

"Jordan, what's going on with you? Why do you keep saying you don't deserve me? And what did you just say about your real appearance?" I asked, looking up into his light gray eyes.

"What?" he asked, suddenly worried.

"You were just whispering something about looking different." I said, leaning away from him.

He sprang from the couch, "I didn't say that. I thought it."

"Excuse me?" I stared at him in shock.

"Impossible," he whispered.

"What's impossible?" I asked in fear.

"Oh my God, you can read minds. How long have you been able to do this?" he asked, his eyes clearly displaying his fear.

"Jordan, you are crazy. Reading minds.. that's- that's impossible!" I shouted.

"My thoughts exactly." he said.

"I- I can't read minds! That's just- That's ridiculous!" I said.

"Then how did you know what I was thinking?" he asked, fear still prominent in his tone.

"I- I don't know. But there must be some sort of logical explanation." I pondered.

"Luce, you read minds. It's as simple as that. And, while we are confessing, I guess this is a good time to tell you that I am a shape-shifter." he said quickly.

"Wait, did you just say you were a shape-shifter?" I repeated.

"Yeah, see, there are creatures in the world.. uh, and I'm one of them. I'm called a shape-shifter." he explained.

"I see," I said, putting on an oblivious act as my hunting side came out. "And are these creatures dangerous? Are shape-shifters dangerous?"

"No no no.. All creatures are harmless, especially shape-shifters." he lied, very obvious.

"Oh, that's good." I said, innocently. "Well, after all these surprises, I think I'm going to head home a try to wrap my head around them."

"Okay, love. I'll see you later." he smiled.

I smiled back and drove home as fast as possible.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

"You just left him?" Dean asked, bewildered by my actions.

"Of course not!" I spat, offended by his assumption.

"Then you killed him." Sam said quietly.

"Yes," I admitted. "I went home that night and decided to disguise myself and kidnap him for questioning. If he had ever killed someone, he was a dead man. If not, then I would look past it and continue our relationship."

"And?" Dean asked after a brief silence.

"He had killed the real Jordan and others." I stared off into space as I recounted killing my first love. "He was a monster. I didn't know if he would kill again, so I killed him after he confessed to killing others. He begged me not to, especially after I took off my disguise. I told him I was a hunter and then I killed him."

A single tear ran down my face. I scolded myself for getting so worked up over nothing. Sam and Dean remained quiet, waiting for me to continue.

"Anyway," I said, wiping the tear off my cheek. "There are a lot of shape-shifters in Vegas, and I have no idea why. They all think they same thing, 'If only they knew who I really am..' and other sappy shit like that. I've hunted so many shape-shifters in my life, it's like Vegas is a haven for them."

"So, if it isn't a shape-shifter, then what is it?" Dean asked, clearly bothered by the idea of another him running around.

"I've got an idea!" I gasped. "I'll go back home and if 'Dean' is there, then I will listen to his thoughts and figure out his thought pattern and then graze his hand to get a glimpse at his life."

"How's that going to help?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Then we will know where he's been, what he's seen, and who he is." I smiled.


~End of Luce POV~~Leila POV~

"Hey Luce! Where were you?" I called to Luce as she entered the house.

She turned around to see Dean and I sitting at the table eating, "Want some cake?" Dean asked. "Leila and I just made it."

"Cake?" she asked confused. "Not pie?"

"Oh, God no!" Dean said, a disgusted look on his face. "I hate pie."

A shocked look fell over Luce's face. I had never seen her so taken by surprise, especially since she started reading minds.

"Come on over and join us! It's chocolate!" I encouraged. "It's really good; you know you want some.."

She walked over and grabbed a fork, her hand just barely grazing over Dean's as she reached for a bite of the cake. An unpleasant look appeared before sampling the cake.

"What's the verdict, chef?" I joked.

"It's good.." she trailed off. "I'll see you two later, I gotta go again."

"See ya!" Dean and I called out at the same time.

I became engulfed in a fit of laughter; something about the way Dean and I were so connected excited me. He joined in on the laughter before silencing me with a beautiful kiss.


~End of Leila POV~

Luce knocked rapidly and eagerly on the door of the Winchester brothers' motel room. Dean, clearly annoyed by her knocking, answered the door.

"What is he? And why did he choose to be me?" he demanded.

"He didn't choose to be you. He is you." she smiled, pleased with herself.

"What?" Sam and Dean said in unison.

"His name is Dean Winchester. He was born January 24, 1979 in Lawrence, Kansas. His parents are John and Mary Winchester and he has a younger brother named Sam. He is a tax collector, a very self-assured and somewhat conceited man. He is completely full of himself and extremely cocky." Luce explained.

"There's a second me?" Dean asked, skeptical of Luce's words.

"In a way, yes. He's your double; he's your doppelganger." she said, her smiled slowly fading away.

"Doppelganger?" the brothers said in unison, again.

"Okay, it was cute the first time, but now this is just odd!" Luce laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"Doppelgangers are real?" Sam asked, completely oblivious to Luce's attempt.

"Just about everything imaginary is real. You've seen it. Dean's seen it. Hell, I've seen it. We are hunters. New things come along all the time." Luce said.

"Okay, I'll go with it." Dean said, "So, how do we kill it."

"All the lore I've ever seen says that a doppelganger can only be killed by the, uh, actual person.. who it is, uh.. doppeling? No, uh, doubling. Yeah, let's go with doubling." Luce tried to explain.

"So, I'm the only one who can kill it?" Dean asked.

"Precisely!" Luce said. "A doppelganger is essentially an evil twin. I guess what makes him evil is that he is a tax collector. No one likes them, not that you two non-tax payers would know!" Luce laughed; Sam smiled and Dean chuckled at Luce's accusations.

"So, what now?" Sam asked.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that Dean isn't aloud out of the motel anymore. At least until the other Dean is dead." Luce said.

"Why can't I leave?" Dean demanded. "I can take care of myself!"

"Dean, it's your double. He knows all your moves and secrets. He can kill just as easily as you can kill him." Luce responded calmly.

Dean sighed, "Fine."


" Hey, Leila! Is Dean still here?" Luce called out as she walked through her front door.

"No, he left about an hour ago." Leila sighed longingly from her seat on the couch.

"So, tell me about Dean." Luce smiled as she sat down next to her sister.