Her head spun as she sat up, long legs extended across the seat as she pressed her back against the door. This time, she recognized her surroundings. The Impala. The same street she remembered parking on before getting out. She didn't believe she had been out too long, based on the light. The sun seemed to be more or less in the same space in the sky. But Sam and Dean were gone.

So, she thought, the boys must have gone after something. She hoped it was the kitsune but it could have been food, for all she knew. The way she felt, the loss of consciousness, and the sense of being watched that preceded the mystery of how she wound up alone in the backseat of the car had her convinced she had been attacked again. But to what end, she wondered.

She closed her eyes, focusing in on her breathing as she tried to lay out her memories sequentially, poke and prod the corners of her mind to find something she had lost, something she just hadn't remember yet. But there was nothing there. Just a blank. Her breath came in a short, sharp jerk as she tried to make sense of what she knew.

This was broad daylight. They were in public. That meant this kitsune was willing to me more daring more to get to her. Prior to calling Dean, she didn't entirely recall if she was being attacked during the day. She was pretty sure it was at night. That felt accurate, although, she knew she had no proof. Since then, it had been the incident had occurred at night. So, to her knowledge this was an oddity. It seemed risky. Of course, no one else could see it. She couldn't even see it. She could only occasionally sense it but by the time she did, there was nothing she could do about it.

Despite the nausea and dizziness, she shook her head. Too many variables. Too many assumptions. She blew out a slow and low breath. Mae pressed her fingers to her temples. She needed to think clearly, for just a moment. As the feeling of being watched had increased, she had been trying to note and observe anything out of the ordinary. She would have seen a fox, she was certain. She didn't even notice any out of place beautiful women. Everything she had read and researched up to then indicated those were the two forms kitsune took. The damn thing had to be visible at some point. It wasn't seducing men invisibly. So that had to happen as some point between being an invisible fox and a visible woman.

She was able to see the last fox, but only after stalking and pursing it and catching it at just the right time. It had not been visible until it was out of sight of most people. This time, the kitsune was the one following her, not the other way around this time. She had facts and assumptions but no solution to understanding the kitsune, let alone stopping it.

Mae groaned, low in the back of her throat and pushed the heels of her hand against her eyes. She lost her train of thought. She didn't have a perhaps. All she really knew was that the boys must have seen something for them to leave her alone like this. Thinking about this made her head hurt more. They were missing something, something that would solve this for them and there was nothing that going over and over the facts made apparent.

Again, she shook her head. It would all make sense, she just knew it would, once all the pieces fell into place and she was just missing something. What she was pretty certain of was that what she had been doing prior to calling Dean had worked. At least a little. She was pretty sure.

That strange feeling of being watched, of being stalked was gone. She felt more or less normal. Of course, the feeling she had no was far from her normal. This thing was coming after her but she had been able to stop it. She was at least able to keep it at bay and there was nothing that indicated it wouldn't work again.

Panic filled Dean again when he found the car empty. Was that just a distraction to get her alone and do...what? So far there seemed to only be one kitsune they were facing off against and it didn't seem possible for Sam to be following and it doing something to Mae. If there were two, or more, that was a different case. But there wasn't enough proof for him to believe that. Dean had to remind himself that regardless of his feelings this wasn't that difficult a job. This was a spirit or creature that seemed to be able to drain energy from people and perhaps mimic the appearance of others.

It seemed to target certain types of people or specific people. Mae was one, either because of what she had done to the kitsune she had hunted before or some other reason they didn't have a good understanding on yet. Just because it didn't make sense didn't mean that there weren't rules and order surrounding what it did.

These things stalked, imitated beautiful women, hunted and killed or drained male victims. Women were not, in general, on the menu. Even if it were after Mae, it seemed unlikely that it would kidnap her as opposed to just tearing her up on the street, if had the chance. And there was no sign of a blood bath or injured Mae. Maybe she had left the car under her own power. Where would she have gone and why?

Fortunately, Dean didn't have to wait long to solve that mystery as he spotted the statuesque redhead across the street, exiting the liquor store. He was almost certain it was her, not the illusion or transformed fox Sam had described. At that point, finding either was a win. Looking both ways across the nearly empty street, he dashed to her side.

Dean reached out to her, touching her arm lightly. Had she been less distracted, he knew she would have drawn down on him with blade or gun, even in public like this. Instead, her eyes were a bit wild in the moment it took her to recognize the swift movement as him. Perhaps, he thought, he should have spoken to her first but if this wasn't the real Mae, it might have been the opportunity it needed to bolt.

In staunch defiance of any open container laws, she opened the bottle and attempted to take a healthy swig.

He took her by the shoulders. "Whoa, whoa, Red, don't get ahead of us here."

"I'm not going to let this thing get the better of me. I'm getting drunk. It can't get me when I'm drunk."

One hand slid slowly, almost discreetly down her arm towards the bottle. "While I absolutely love a woman willing to drink" He tipped the bottle in her hand to read the label, then gave a low whistle, "a surprisingly expensive bottle of whiskey. But we need you sober right now, okay? I need to fill you in on what just happened."

"I can't...I can't keep doing this. I'm not even useful on this case. And you know it."

"That's not true. Babe, we need you and we need you sober."

She closed her eyes, relenting because she knew going after this thing was unlikely when it could take her out in a heartbeat. She knew she couldn't chase it, couldn't fight it, and couldn't outrun it. Not on her own, and maybe not even with the boys on her side, not when Sam was also a target. "As bait."

"Yeah."

The smile that turned her lips surprised him a bit. Mae appreciated his honestly and bluntness in this case. There was no need to soft sell this with her, to ease her into reality, or to convince her that she should trust them. Him. That was what made this different from other cases. They would have been concerned if they had known they were thinking the same thing.

Dean let his eyes assess her face. The dark smudges rested below her soft blue eyes, which were a bit bloodshot now. She was pale but lacking any of the normal, healthy pinks and peaches her creamy skin usually showcased. Her hair wasn't quite an angry nest of red but was frizzing from her nearly compulsive gesture of raking her hands through the locks. The stress, caffeine, and lack of real sleep was getting to her. He didn't give much thought to his current appearance, suspecting his was similar to hers. Still, she was a striking woman, lean and in her boots about 6 foot tall and he hoped to get her back to her normal self as quickly as possible.

"But," he continued, "it's possible that it leaves you alone when you're drunk so that's not an option right now. Trust me, when this is all over, we can get stupid and sloppy."

She sighed, letting her shoulders fall slightly. "Fine. But this" She gestured with the bottle, "is plan b. Or c. Or whatever we're on now."

Back at the motel, Dean watched her pace, trying to keep his annoyance at bay as anxious, frenetic motions increased. He didn't want to start a fight with her over that, although he wasn't convinced that a fight wouldn't help her blow off steam. Another quickie might too but while he hadn't anticipated their earlier on, there were zero signals that one would start up now.

"What's on your mind, Red? You worried?"

She stopped, features creasing with pique briefly before she sighed, stopped her pacing and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I need this to make sense and I just...I don't get it. Do you?"

He shrugged, "Listen, I'm okay not getting it as long as we can put it down and you and Sam are safe."

"Seriously?"

"Do you have a different plan?"

Mae flopped back against the bed, frowning as she stared up at a questionable water stain on the ceiling but let her eyes go unfocused. She could hear Sam typing and clicking as he tried to dive deeper into any story, lore, or description he could find. She was pretty sure he was even trying to find a way to get an accurate translation of the of Japanese source material. Maybe he would find something there. She could also feel the weight of expectation in Dean's stare but she let her mind unwind.

What felt right? What made the most sense? was as desperate as the action implied, why did it keep her out for such a short period of time? Why did it go after her and an additional victim? That was the part that didn't make sense to her. The other kitsune didn't need to go after two people. Did it?

She cursed lightly under her breath. She hadn't even considered that whatever form the kitsune was taking was a borrowed one. Was there a woman or women out there who had been used this way who had been completely ignored by her and other hunters? "Shit."

"Weird plan and I'm not really sure how it will help us out here."

"No, I-this one has a different motivation. That's the piece we're missing. But it doesn't indicate what it wants. You know, if you get into what's written about these kitsune, some of them act differently. Some are benevolent, some are deadly, some are just jerks-"

"Jerks?"

She gave a shrugging gesture with her hands, still keeping her eyes cast to the ceiling. "Tricksters, jerks, whatever. My point is this one doesn't seem to be after straight up death or destruction. If it's pinpointing people for meals, it's conserving them so it's either looking for a specific person or type of person-maybe this one knows there's a limited supply of people or-" this time she rolled her wrist, giving herself a 'wrap it up gesture', "Or maybe, it's just playing around with us and that's the whole point."

Mae sat up, looking back at Dean. "So yeah, you're right, maybe it doesn't matter why and even if it does, we might never get that so if we have a chance to stop it or get answers, we stop it."

Sam cleared his throat. "It...it didn't seem hostile."

"When wasn't it hostile? When it attacked you or when it was getting ready to attack you?"

He shook his head, turning to look at Mae and Dean. "I don't think that was what it was trying to do."

Dean was tempted throw something. the three of them should all be on the same page, particularly because he was the only one who seemed to be left standing when the kitsune came after them. and he supposed it didn't matter what either of them thought or wanted since would be the one to end things. "Oh, I'm glad you've formed such a connection with the thing trying to kill you."

"It could have. It hasn't. It wants something else. I'm telling you, when I saw it-"

"You saw it?" Mae interrupted.

"Yeah," Sam scrubbed a hand over his face, noting the significant stubble. 'You went down and...it was a fox. Then it was a woman, and she did look a lot like you...except with a tail."

"So, it's...jumping me to steal my...appearance. Okay, I'm not sure I've ever seen that in the lore but maybe that's how they end up looking like the women they pretend to be. But if you saw it, then it means what, it possessed you at some point?"

"No. I don't know. I think it's because it did whatever it did last night to me, which wasn't exactly possession but..."

"She tried to suck you dry."

Mae and Sam both rolled their eyes But Dean just crossed his arms, taking a more casual lean against the adjoining door. "Gross dude," she said to Dean before turning back to the Sam, "did she say anything? Do anything?"

Sam shook his head. "She stared me down for a while and then took off over the chain link fence when Dean showed up. And we weren't able to follow her."

"I didn't see anything," Dean said, "fox, lady, or foxy lady, nothing."

"Once it had human form, you probably would be able to see her." Sam argued, unsure

Mae sighed, "Okay well this is worse."

"How is this worse than it was before?" Dean asked at the same time Sam said 'It didn't do anything.'

"It's worse because you don't see them as foxes unless it wants you to, you catch them transforming, or it's possessed you."

"Sam is not possessed."

Mae shot him a look that said 'are you sure?' and Dean knew he couldn't be certain.

Dean huffed. "Okay well, I guess we'll have to figure that one out when we get there. But it'd didn't do nothing Sam. It knocked Mae out. This isn't exactly harmless. And it's draining energy."

"But not enough to kill someone." Sam corrected.

"Just about." Dean pointed out, eyeing his brother a bit more. Mae was right, he had no way of really knowing yet. But there wasn't a lot to do about it yet. Not yet. Ascertaining if that was the case added another wrinkle into the next steps but it wouldn't be impossible to deal with.

Raking her hand through her hair, Mae started pacing. "Haven't we been here before? where we could go round and round with questions? Here's what we know. "She started listing them off on her fingers. "One. It's different from the last one. The last one I killed lured victims with the sexy lady guise. And those men it killed weren't innocent. They were into shady shit. The victims since I killed that kitsune have been...pretty normal guys."

"Right, well..." Sam leaned back in his chair, hands laced behind his head as the thought, "Maybe it didn't know its strength. With the first victims and it was an accident that it drained so much from them. She took less from me."

"I was out a shorter period of time and it doesn't seem as...overpowering. Although, I might have been more drunk than drained in the past. Maybe it will learn how to borrow a form and take just enough energy to keep it going without really harming people. And that's two. It seems like it's doing something that allows us to mimic my form. When it does that, I'm out of the game. Which probably means that if it can't get to me, it will just find someone else to copy. So, locking me away somewhere or trying to out run this thing doesn't really solve anything longer term. Plus, you know, it got past our standard defenses last time so..."

"Yeah, I think that's on me," Sam said. "I'm pretty sure I broke the line when I went out to your car and I didn't fix it."

Mae signed. "Well...this think seems pretty desperate to get to us so we can't let being stupid be our downfall."

"Yeah. Here's what gets me though. It would make sense that this thing would go after you because you killed its...I don't know, friend, mate, family member...whatever. It would make sense to me that it would want revenge but it's not going after you the same way."

"Yet. Maybe it wants to toy with me. It's sending us out in circles. I've been wasted off my was, sleep deprived, I mean...it's not exactly leaving me at peace."

"But it's had plenty of chances to off you. Or me. Or pretty much anyone. And it hasn't. there has to be a reason."

"Okay, you two, it sounds like you're making an argument for just letting this thing do whatever it wants because it's only kind of hurting people."

Mae shook her head. "Not at all. But may it's not here to get revenge on me. I thought maybe it was trying to kill me."

"You said it yourself. Just because it hasn't doesn't mean it won't Red. It could be trying to make the both of you comfortable so that we let our guard down."

"We're not letting our guards down Dean but maybe...we can talk to this thing and get it to-"

Dean threw his hands up. "See reason? First the vampires, now this? At least vampires used to be humans. This thing is a creature that, even if it isn't currently killing people, has the potential to and could start at the drop of a hat. We don't need to find reasons to save evil things."