The dense forest flew past, frozen air stinging her lungs as Grace ran for her life. A little town, the one she had been staying in, wasn't far away. But the odds were against her. Thunderous footsteps shook the ground behind her. All she could do was try to bolt for safety, but there was no way she was going to be able to outrun this thing.
She ducked behind a tree, hoping it would run past her. Sure enough, the creature - if she could call it a creature - kept going. There wasn't long for Grace to catch her breath. The footsteps stopped, the forest growing eerily silent. A rustle in the snow nearby hit her ears just as the woman reached out for her, her claw-like hand wrapping around Grace's left wrist. Without hesitation, Grace lunged, bringing the iron knife down, straight through the woman's arm and into her own.
The witch shrieked, recoiling in pain. He only had a few seconds to act. Ignoring the shooting pain in her own arm, Grace drove the knife into the witch's chest, straight through her heart. As the light faded from her eyes, Grace pulled the knife out, taking a look at her own arm. It wasn't a deep wound, easy enough to patch up when she got back into town. But first she had a body to salt and burn.
"Drive safe," Grace smiled, giving Dean a kiss. "Tell - what's her name? Tell her I'm sorry. It's never easy losing family."
"You sure you don't want to come with?" he asked, holding onto her arm as he waited. He hated leaving, especially now that they could be facing down with Chuck any day. "It would get you out of here. Keep your mind off of things."
She shook her head, reminding him that, "No one knows when Cas is getting back, and someone needs to stay here with Jack. He's still a kid, after all. Besides, I never knew Travis. I talked to him a couple of times when he called in with a question, but I never really knew him."
"Alright. We'll be back soon. It's not far."
"Like I said, be careful."
Grace settled in to work, but it hadn't been more than a few hours before Dean called to say they'd stumbled on a case. Travis' sister was convinced he had been killed by something that haunted them long ago, something Dean was sure he'd already killed. She could tell that he was rattled, his voice shaking slightly as he paced around what sounded like a parking lot. "It almost got me, Gracie. Sam interrupted it, but it would've gotten me."
"What is it?" she dropped into her chair, thinking that she would need to put another pot of coffee on before long.
"I don't know. That's why I need your help."
Opening her laptop, she pulled up the database she had been building for so long now. "Okay. Deep breath. What do you know about this thing already?"
"It plays with people before it kills them. I think it just goes after kids and it - I think it can shapeshift. It's not a shapeshifter, not the kind that sheds its skin like we're used to. Maybe it's magic, maybe it's a mirage, I don't know. But it can change its appearance pretty fast. Just now… it looked like me when I was a kid." Dean paused, swallowing the lump in his throat Grace could tell this one had shaken him. "I think it has a nest where it keeps its kills. I saw it when - when I thought I killed it last time. Don't tell Sammy, but I still dream about it sometimes."
"Dean?"
"Yeah?"
Grace stopped typing, softening her voice to tell him that, "You're going to get it this time. It's not your fault that Travis went after it. It's not your fault that it isn't dead. You honestly thought you killed it. The Dean Winchester I know wouldn't have left unless he knew it was dead and couldn't hurt anyone else. This time we'll figure out what it is and you'll take care of it."
"Thank you, Gracie." He sighed, leaning against his car. Sam was waiting inside, occasionally looking out of the window to be sure his brother was still there. He had to go back inside and face this thing sometime. "I've got to get going, but I'll keep you updated. Let me know if you find anything."
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too, Gracie."
While Grace waited on her computer, she went into the library, thinking there would probably be some sort of hint in the shapeshifter lore. If this was a weird cousin of the normal shapeshifters, the boys would have no trouble taking it down. Her arms filled with books, Grace came to a dead stop as she approached the war room.
At one point they had been friends. But as time wore on, as the reaper took on a new job, Grace had grown to distrust Billie. Whenever she appeared, Grace knew there would be trouble. "Chuck has destroyed the last of the other worlds," Billie announced, turning to see Grace set her books down. "I need to talk to Jack. It's time. He's ready for the last step."
"When is he coming back?"
"No one knows, but he wants this over. I would estimate some time in the next week, if not sooner." Billie paused, stopping just as she reached the hallway. "I'll tell you what. Make sure Jack goes through with this. If you all can pull this off, I'll give them back. They're happy with Grandma Mary and Uncle Bobby and all of the others, but I know you and Dean want those kids back. Kill Chuck and I'll bring them back. I am Death, after all."
Grace stood in stunned silence, watching her disappear into the hall. The echo of Billie knocking on Jack's door was faint in her ears as she stared at the pile of books in front of her. It was going to be enough to manage to kill Chuck, but if they did, they could get everything back. They had been so close to getting out of Chuck's hamster wheel. This was their chance.
It took a little while for her to snap back to reality. She couldn't let Billie give her too much hope - they still had to kill Chuck, and even with all of the help they could get, it was going to be difficult. As she impatiently read about shapeshifters, Grace couldn't help but think over what they were facing. More likely than not, they would end up losing a lot. Chuck didn't have the angels on his side, but he never had needed an army. He was more than enough on his own.
Her computer beeped, the sudden noise making Grace jump in her seat. Two words had appeared on the screen, giving her an answer that she thought was impossible: Baba Yaga.
"She has long terrorized the little villages around here. Every ten years she comes back, making her rounds from Siberia all of the way out to here, looking for the next generation of children," Sergei said, pouring her a drink as Grace bandaged her arm. "No one has managed to survive her."
"You could've been a little more helpful." Grace grimaced as she swallowed the strong liquor that had probably been brewed in someone's bathtub in the little town. "Or given me any warning about her at all."
"You managed," Sergei shrugged.
Sliding her glass back across the table, Grace shook her head. "You could have told me that the only other person who managed to outsmart her was a witch."
"You survived, did you not?" He poured another drink, passing it back immediately.
"No thanks to you."
Sam and Dean weren't answering their phones. Of course not. They never did, not when she had everything figured out. By then they were usually fist fighting a monster, totally unaware that she'd figured out how to kill it too. It had been like that since they were kids - Dean and his dad would rush into action, leaving her and Sam to do research. Half of the time they tried to call with an update, the monster was already dead. So Grace wasn't terribly worried. She texted both of them before going to check on Jack.
Evenings in the bunker when everyone else was gone were usually quiet, unless Grace got a bunch of phone calls from fellow hunters. So she and Jack sat up doing research, eating takeout, and wondering when they would hear from the boys or Cas. "How are you feeling?" Grace asked, looking up over her book.
"I'm ready," Jack said, setting his book down. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Good." Grace had watched a lot of hunters die in her time. She'd narrowly escaped Death a lot herself. But she had no idea what to say to the poor boy who knew he was going to die, who knew he would be willingly walking to his own death in just a few days' time.
But she didn't need to figure it out. The door swung open, Sam and Dean coming back looking tired but still in one piece. "Hey. Chuck's gonna be back any day now," Dean announced.
"We know." Grace stood, going to hug both of them. "Billie was here. It's almost time."
A.N.: Y'all should go listen to "Georgia Law Man" by Poor Man's Poison. It reminds me of Dean & Grace so much and I've had it on loop lately. I'm starting to think I should rewatch from the pilot bc the finale has me like :/
