CHAPTER 14: NOT A DEMON VAMP-WEREWOLF HYBRID.

Sam pulled the Impala into a parking space next to the SUV. Everyone got out of the vehicles.

"You know, people, the victims weren't actually attacked until after dusk." Evie pointed at the overcast sky and the group realized after checking their watches it was only mid afternoon.

The two teams exchanged looks, "What do you suppose we do until then?" Ianto questioned no one in particular.

"We can stake out the area, get familiar with the park," Jack suggested.

"What's there to familiarize with?" Dean questioned. He pointed around, "Tree, tree, grass, sidewalk, tree,"

"We could try to find its lair." Gwen suggested.

"No, its lair won't be easy to find." Sam spoke.

"We can regress to when we were kids," Evie said.

Everyone stopped and stared at Evie.

Evie put on an innocent smile and asked, "Anyone got a basketball for a game of three on three to get rid of a little testosterone?" she pointed to the deserted basketball court.

"Actually," Ianto said, "We've got one in the back of the SUV."

*****

"My bet's on silver bullets." Dean passed the basketball to Sam who caught it and made a basket.

Jack stood under the hoop and caught the ball in its descent, "No," he spoke. He dribbled the ball, "Torch it." He passed the ball to Ianto who jogged it down the court towards the opposite hoop.

Sam got the ball away from Ianto, "No, silver will kill just about anything." Sam passed the ball towards angel girl, but Gwen intercepted it.

Gwen ran towards her hoop. Jack was standing near the hoop. Jack squatted and held his hands together out in front of him. Gwen stepped onto his hands and Jack helped her launch in the air for a slam dunk.

Gwen dropped to the ground, "Tied score." She paused, "Again."

"Impressive," Sam complimented her.

"Thanks," Gwen said.

All six gathered in a makeshift circle.

"I suggest we get something to eat. We don't know how long our night's going to be." Evie said.

"Do you think Jubilee will deliver to us here?" Jack questioned Ianto.

"It's worth a try." Ianto took the phone out of his pocket and stepped away to call.

*****

Jubilee had delivered to the park and the pizzas had been scarfed down by the six hunters.

Torchwood was getting their weapons out of their SUV now that it was dark out.

Dean and Sam were hunched over the trunk of the Impala.

Evie sat on a nearby rock, "What are you two taking with you?" she questioned Sam and Dean.

"Silver bullets," Dean said bluntly.

"That's it?"

Dean looked at her, "They've got weapons, too." He pointed over his shoulder at Torchwood.

"Scooby, can I tell you something?" she asked innocently.

"What?"

"If you two let this thing get me before you get it, I swear I'll haunt your perky asses."

"That's friendly," Sam said sarcastically.

"We'll just be sure to salt and burn your bones before leaving." Dean told her.

"I'll find a way to become fireproof."

"Good luck with that." Dean spoke.

"Won't the angels just bring you back anyway?" Sam asked.

"If I die," Evie said.

"Well then we'll just have to make sure you don't die." Sam spoke.

"Thanks." She paused, "So how do you know this monster won't go after Gwen?"

"Torchwood will protect her, that Jack guy can always sacrifice himself if he's just gonna pop back in later." Dean spoke.

"It won't go after her." Sam said, "It likes young victims and you'll hopefully be the youngest female in the park."

"Yeah, that really makes me feel better about this." Evie said.

"C'mon." Dean spoke, he stretched out his hand to help Evie up off the rock while Sam closed the trunk, "Let's go find ourselves our mystery monster."

"I can't believe your making me face this thing without a weapon." Evie told him.

"You're the bait. If you have a weapon, there's a bigger chance it won't go after you."

Evie glared at him for a bit before turning to lead the way into the park.

*****

The six of them stepped quietly down the tree-lined path in the middle of the park. They'd been wandering the park for a few hours and it was well past midnight now. The clouds hid the moon from sight.

"What do you suggest we do now?" Evie asked Dean.

"I think it knows we're expecting it. Maybe if we take a few steps away from Evie, it'll take her as bait." Sam suggested to Dean.

"You are not leaving me unprotected." Evie sternly told Sam and Dean.

"You won't be," Dean told her, "We have guns, remember?"

"Just don't let this thing get me, okay?"

They nodded.

"Don't shoot me either," Evie said.

"We're good shots," Dean said, "just chill."

Torchwood and the Winchester brothers stayed where they were while Evie got a lead on them. She'd taken a few steps forward before she stopped. She stepped over to the side of the pathway and peered into the bushes.

"Do you see it?" Gwen asked.

Evie reached her hands cautiously forward and she parted the branches of the bush she stood in front of. Her eyes went wide and she shouted, "Shoot!" before a creature jumped out of hiding grabbed Evie and stood behind her, holding her up and using her as a shield from the Winchesters and Torchwood.

Everyone held their weapons at the ready, the safety switched off and the barrels of their guns aimed toward the creature.

The creature was between four and five feet tall and stood on two legs with three toes on each foot. The creature had two arms with three claws on each hand. The creature was covered head to toe in coarse fur that blended in with the color of the path. The creature's head had an oval shape to it. Its jaw was elongated and it had a slit-like mouth with fangs protruding from it. There were two small holes in the nostril area. It hissed at them.

Dean was surprised Evie wasn't fidgeting and trying to get away from the monster holding her. He looked into her face to see it void of emotion and her eyes were unblinking.

Ianto looked into the creature's glowing red eyes, "Don't," he got out before he went limp and fell to the path his eyes wide and unblinking.

Gwen saw him go down and turned her attention back to the monster with a puzzled expression on her face, "Eyes!" Gwen spoke before she fell near Ianto on the walkway.

"Don't look at its eyes!" Jack said.

"I have an opening, I can shoot it." Dean spoke. Before anyone could reply, he pulled the trigger and sent a silver bullet towards the creature.

The creature jerked Evie up just as Dean had pulled the trigger. The silver bullet that had left Dean's pistol went through the right side of Evie's abdomen and hit the creature. The creature stumbled back, dropping angel girl to the ground. Its clawed hand flew to the bullet wound on its abdomen. Before anyone could count to two, it took its hand away and no bullet wound could be seen.

Jack took a few steps closer to the creature with his flame thrower handy. He didn't want to burn Evie. Jack let loose a giant ball of flames towards the creature. The creature yelped. The smell of torched fur added to the sulfur smell already in the air. The creature took off before anyone else could get another shot off. It leaped high into the trees and was gone before anyone could blink.

"You shot her," Sam said flatly to Dean.

"It moved,"

"We should get our people out of here before it comes back to finish the job." Sam suggested.

"We should track it." Dean said.

"It's already gone," Sam said, "We can come back tomorrow."

Dean tucked away his pistol and knelt next to angel girl. He hovered the back of his hand over her nose and mouth, "She's still breathing." He looked her in the eye, "Blink if you can hear me."

She didn't blink.

"Can you move your eyes?" Dean questioned her.

Evie just lay there staring unblinkingly towards the dark sky.

Jack stepped over to Dean and Evie and knelt near her head. He took out a penlight and flashed it quickly across her eyes, "She's just paralyzed." He told Sam and Dean, "She can probably hear every word we're saying, she just can't respond."

"Will it wear out?" Sam asked.

"The paralysis?" Jack questioned. At Sam's nod, Jack continued, "No idea, we should get them back to the hub. Maybe we have an antidote there." He stood up and stepped towards his paralyzed comrades.

"Where are you gonna put her?" Dean questioned angrily, "On some cadaver tray?"

Jack looked unsure.

"No, I think she'll be more comfortable at the flat." Dean picked up Evie so her left side was closest to him. Her bloodied up side was near his hand. He took a step towards the cars before turning to face his brother, "Sam, help him move his team to his SUV. I'll meet you over there."

Jack was in the midst of picking up Ianto. Sam stepped over to Gwen and picked her up. When they reached the SUV, Sam helped buckle Gwen in a seat before stepping over to the Impala.

Dean sat in the back seat with Evie. He pressed a gauze pad into her side to slow the flow of blood. There was an open first aid kit on the seat nearby.

Sam drove back to the flat as quickly as he could. He pulled the Impala to a stop in a parking space and opened the back seat door so Dean could step out with Evie. Dean carried her through the dimly lit building.

If they had been seen, Dean would have just said that she'd had too much to drink and hope the stranger wouldn't see the blood. Luckily he didn't need to use the excuse.

Sam opened the door to the flat. He stepped over to the couch and was motioning to pull the couch out into a bed when Dean spoke up.

"Just go in the bedroom and turn down the sheets."

Sam straightened up and stepped over to open the door to the bedroom. He flicked on the lights and led Dean to the bed. Sam threw the comforter off and moved the blankets.

Dean placed angel girl in the bed, "Sammy, see if you can find some gauze in the bathroom. If not, get the first aid kit from the Impala."

Sam turned and left the room.

Dean pressed the gauze pad into Evie's side. He looked at Evie. Her eyes peered angrily at him. As Dean watched her, she blinked.

"Blink once for yes and twice for no, okay?"

Evie blinked once.

"Do you feel any pain?"

She blinked once.

"Are you pissed?" he asked.

She blinked once.

"Great," he said sarcastically, "You know I wasn't aiming for you?"

She blinked once.

"Do you know what the creature is?" he questioned.

She blinked twice.

Sam came back into the room with more gauze. They pressed a gauze pad at the entrance wound and exit wound to stem the bleeding. Once the bleeding had slowed down, Sam looked up at Evie, "You know we have to clean this so it won't get infected?"

Evie blinked once.

"It's going to hurt." Dean put in.

Evie blinked hard once.

"We're going to do this as quickly as we can." Sam said. Sam and Dean began to clean the wound.

Evie shut her eyes tight.

Once the wound was clean, they put fresh gauze bandages on the entrance and exit wounds and wrapped a piece around her abdomen to hold the gauze pads in place.

"See? Not so bad," Dean spoke.

Evie opened her eyes and glared at Dean.

Sam looked at the bandages covering the hole in Evie's side, "Dude, you're lucky you didn't hit anything she needs to stay on the inside of her."

"Lucky me," Dean said with a hint of a sarcastic tone shining through.

"Still, at least it doesn't look like she's bleeding internally." Sam looked at Evie's blood soaked shirt that had been ripped so they could get at the wound easier, "Sorry about your shirt,"

"We'll buy you a new one." Dean promised.

She blinked once.

"Do you want some water or something?" Sam questioned.

Evie blinked twice.

"Ok, we're gonna be in the living room researching this thing. We'll pop in every couple of minutes to make sure you're still okay."

Evie blinked once.

Sam and Dean turned and left the room. They left the door open.

Sam flopped onto the couch.

Dean went to the fridge and pulled out a beer, "Want one?"

Sam nodded.

Dean pulled another beer out and crossed to the living room, handing one beer to Sam before flopping on the other couch, "What do you think our mystery monster really is?"

"I'm not sure," Sam said, "I don't really know of anything that can paralyze with its eyes."

"It's definitely not a demon vamp-werewolf hybrid."

Sam had booted up the laptop and was searching away through pages of internet.

Dean took out John Winchester's journal and flipped through the pages.

A few hours passed and both boys had finished their beers. The empty beer bottles were sitting abandoned on the coffee table. Sam had pulled out the couch into the bed and was sprawled across it on his stomach still searching the internet.

Dean closed the journal, "Whatever this thing is dad has never heard of it. I've searched through this three times and still haven't found any creature similar to this."

"I think I might have something." Sam spoke.

"What do you think it is?" a feminine voice asked from behind them.

"Dude, you just got shot, you shouldn't be walking around." Dean said to Evie.

"I'm only shot because you shot me." Her face was pale from the blood loss and there was a good chance she was in a lot of pain. She stepped over to her duffel and began rifling through it using her left hand more dominantly, "Besides, all I want is a clean shirt." She had grabbed a new shirt from her duffel and had to grip the couch tightly getting up.

"Do you want help?" Sam questioned innocently.

Dean laughed, "Haha, Sammy!"

Evie shot Dean a glare that made Dean quit laughing. She turned to Sam, "No thanks, boy scout, I don't need help crossing the road." She stepped over to the wall and braced a hand against it. She followed the wall towards the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later she came out wearing a clean t-shirt. Sam hadn't heard water running so he knew she hadn't done anything but change her shirt. Sam saw her hands were empty so she must have thrown out her torn and bloody shirt in the bathroom garbage.

Dean turned to her, "You should really head back to bed."

"I'm fine, Scooby." She glared at him, "You can have the bed. I bloodied it up for you." She flopped down on the pulled out couch next to Sam, "What do you got, Sammy?" Her hand absently touched her wound.

Sam moved the laptop so both Dean and Evie could read the screen.

Dean took out his cell phone, "We should call Harkness."

Sam turned to Dean, "But the good news is we won the bet."

Dean looked back, "Yeah, but they were right about torching it."

Evie smiled, "You both lost,"

"We both won. No one has to play dress up at this restaurant." Dean said.