Chapter Forty-Three
The next morning Alyson woke up to the sound of Sam and Dean arguing about the Impala and the laptop. They weren't being loud, but she could feel the tension slowly filling the room.
Sam was telling Dean that research was going to be slow because they didn't have the computer, which was true. Sam just knew Dean was going to be impossible to get along with.
Dean said it was because Sam had screwed up his car.
"I had nothing to do with that," Sam said. "I didn't touch your car."
"And I didn't touch your computer."
Alyson knew Dean was innocent of what Sam thought he was guilty of. Alyson thought Sam was innocent too, no matter the evidence against him. Sam was mature and wouldn't have struck out at Dean by damaging the Impala.
She wondered how long the brothers were going to argue about this. A few more hours? All day? If they were going to keep it up, she wanted to be somewhere else. Maybe she'd walk to the library campus to use a computer. It was only about a mile away, so it wouldn't take too long to get there.
Alyson sat up and noticed that Sam was actually surrounded by books. She wouldn't have to go anywhere after all.
Sam looked relieved when he noticed she'd woken up.
"Hey. Think you're awake enough to help?" he asked. "I could use fresh eyes, since Dean is being less than helpful."
"I'm not the book type," Dean said. "And I'm hungry."
"Well, why don't you go get something?"
Dean shrugged. "It's cold outside and I no longer have my car."
"Dean . . ."
Sam was losing his patience, and he usually had the patience of a saint. Now, however, he slammed the book that he'd been reading from closed and threw it on the table.
"Ya know, fine, whatever. I'm gonna leave for a while then."
"Uh," Alyson said. "Books, research. Don't leave me on my own."
"Dean will help you. He's not mad at you."
Sam grabbed his jacket and left, and Alyson got up only to sit down where Sam had been. The books he'd left behind were full of folklore, myths, and legends from just about every culture in history.
She wished Sam hadn't gone. She was pretty good with the research, but she didn't have as much experience as Sam. She didn't even know what he'd been looking for or if he'd had a starting point.
"We found out that the guy who was killed last night was a research scientist," Dean said. "Animal testing. His office was in Crawford Hall."
"Hm."
She picked up one of the books and began flipping through the pages. If she recognized something, she skipped over it and went to the next entry.
"Are these books ours?"
"Bobby's. Sam borrows a few at a time and takes them back after he's done."
Eventually Alyson came across a legend called 'King of All Stories.' It was about a spider that wanted to be king of all the stories. It went to this African god and the god gave the spider a few conditions – a test – and if the spider met them, Anansi, the spider, would become the king of all stories.
The spider met the conditions by playing tricks and trapping things. Anansi was considered a trickster. Considering Anansi was a spider, Alyson didn't understand why someone didn't just step on it, but that wasn't part of the story.
There were other legends about tricksters. As their name implied, tricksters liked nothing more than to play tricks on people. They broke rules and generally caused all kinds of mischief. They liked tricking people by changing their appearance and were known for taking form of talking animals, much like the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Alyson doubted they were dealing with a talking animal. If they were, they hadn't seen one.
Two hours later, Alyson was still in her pajamas, which Dean found amusing. Usually, she just got up and got dressed, but she felt like lounging, so that was what she did. Besides, she was really into the reading and she was lost to the world.
Sam had come back a little after he'd left and he'd brought back food. Dean's hunger had been satisfied, and he and Sam hadn't resumed arguing. That was a good thing. In fact, aside from the turning of the pages, the only sound that filled the room was the quiet music coming from the radio. The music wasn't distracting at all. It was actually a soothing background noise.
Sam and Alyson had been through the relevant books and had read every story about suicide they had come across. Granted, they hadn't found much, even though Alyson had told them about the trickster information she'd come across.
Sam and Dean were skeptical for the same reason she was: The spider thing. Then again . . . Anansi was the African trickster story, just like Loki was the trickster in Norse mythology. Every culture had one thing in common, though, and that was that each mythology claimed that a trickster was a shapeshifter that could disguise itself as almost anything. Mythology also claimed that a trickster was a demigod, which meant it was part-human and part-divine.
Putting it all together, the trickster could make you see whatever it wanted you to see, which meant that if it wanted you to believe it was an animal, it could trick you into believing it.
"How's the research going?" Dean asked.
"You know how it's goin'?" Sam asked. "Slow."
Dean was decidedly not helping. He was on Sam's bed, eating chili-cheese fries. He was doing it on purpose, Alyson knew, because he knew it annoyed Sam.
"You know how it would go a heck of a lot faster?" Sam asked. "If I had my computer."
Alyson rolled her eyes. They were not going to have a go at each other again. She wasn't going to let them.
"Guys? Can you put away whatever's bothering you so we can get done with this case?"
Sam sighed but nodded. Dean agreed too, but only when Alyson sent in a challenging look.
"Thank you."
She reached for another book but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Both Sam and Dean looked at her, obviously expecting her to get it.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll get it," she said and stood up.
Bobby was at the door, so she let him in.
"Hey, it's good to see you again so soon."
"Well, I asked you to come with us," she teased. "Maybe this is a sign you should have."
"Thank God you're here," Dean said, standing up.
Bobby shrugged and then looked at Sam. "So, what didn't you want to talk about on the phone?"
Sam stood up too. "It's the job we're working. We weren't sure you'd believe us."
Bobby's eyebrows quirked up. "Well, I can believe a lot."
"Well, this is weird," Alyson told him. "Like, times infinity."
"We've never even seen anything like it," Sam added, "and we thought we could use some fresh eyes."
Bobby shrugged again. "Why don't you begin at the beginning?"
"Yeah, okay." Sam gestured for Bobby to sit down. "So, Alyson was out the other day and heard about this professor guy jumping out of a window. There's a legend about the campus he worked on being haunted."
Alyson picked up from there.
"This girl I talked to said this other girl killed herself there thirty years ago. Supposedly she jumped out of room 669, but there are only four floors."
"We checked out the campus anyway," Dean said. "Twice."
"Twice? What, did you miss somethin' the first time?"
"Well, it happens, but no," Sam said and looked at Alyson. "She went the first time, alone, and felt somethin'."
"Define something."
"Powerful," she said. "Something that definitely wasn't a ghost. Or if it was, I've never felt one that strong. I mean, it literally knocked me off my feet."
"Demon?"
"No, more powerful than a demon, too."
Bobby's eyes widened before saying, "And you don't know what it was?"
"Nope."
"You didn't notice anything strange around you? Or you didn't talk to anyone strange?"
"I talked to the dean of the school, and then when I got in the parking lot I just sorta fell over. It hit me all of a sudden, ya know? Anyway, there were only a few people around. Some students and a janitor. He made sure I was okay. I asked him a couple questions and then I left."
"We went back and checked with the EMF anyway," Sam said. "Just in case."
"Did ya find anything?" Bobby asked.
"Nope."
"Not that they would've noticed," Alyson said. "They've been fighting with each other for the past few days."
"Fighting? Why?"
"It . . ." Sam started. "We've just been on the road for too long, tight quarters and all that. Don't worry about it."
"Told you, you should've stuck around and let things settle before taking off again."
They really should have. Sam could've taken the time to get over his recent possession, and she would have had time to get over her recent torture session. She was obviously bothered by it, no matter the fact there was no physical evidence left behind.
"Things have been weird since we got here," she said. "I left a note when I went out that first day. It wasn't here when I got back. My cell phone is missing. Sam's computer got frozen on a porn site, and now it's gone. Dean's car is messed up, his tires are flat – the air was let out."
"Did you dig up anything about the building? Or on the suicidal co-ed?"
"No. History's clean."
"Then it's not a haunting," Bobby said.
They summarized Curtis' story about his alien abduction, the probing, slow dancing and all.
"Aliens? Look, even if they are real, they're sure not comin' to Earth and swipin' people."
"Hey, believe me, we know," Dean said.
"My whole life I've never found evidence of an honest-to-God abduction. It's all just cranks and pranks."
"Yeah, that's what we thought," Sam said. "But we figured we'd at least talk to the guy. We went to where Curtis said it happened and there was a big circle made by some kind of jet engine."
"Any connections between the victims?" Bobby asked.
"Sort of," Alyson responded. "Crawford Hall is where both things happened. Curtis was in the professor's class. And um . . . also, they were both, uh . . ."
"Dicks," Dean said.
"What he said," Alyson said. "Anyway, one was an author who used his fame to get girls, and the other was a pledge master who loved using his power to embarrass people."
"And this stuff that's been happening to you guys. Did it happen all at once or . . ."
"No. My note and cellphone first, then Sam's computer, and then the Impala."
Bobby looked at Dean. "Did you take his computer?"
"It'd serve him right, but no."
"Well, I didn't lose it," Sam claimed. "'Cause I don't lose things."
"Oh, that's right. 'Cause you're Mr. Perfect."
"Okay, okay," Bobby refereed. "Why don't you just tell me what happened next?"
"There was one more victim. Aly saw it."
She explained briefly what had happened. Bobby was silent for a while. He obviously didn't know what to think about any of it. Alyson couldn't blame him.
"Anyway, this guy was a research scientist. Animal testing."
"Yeah, ya know, a dick," Dean said. "Which fits the pattern."
"His office was in Crawford Hall," Sam said. "Just like the professor."
"It's also where the frat boy had his close encounter," Dean added. "Anyways, I didn't see the gator, but I saw the damage done to my car."
He glared at Sam, who rolled his eyes.
"We came back last night and decided to call you."
Bobby looked at Alyson. "They've been fighting for three days?"
"Yup," she answered. "If they didn't kill each other, I was about to lend a hand."
"Hey," Sam and Dean said.
"I'm surprised at you two," Bobby said to the brothers. "I really am. Sam, first off, Dean did not steal your computer."
"Thank you," Dean said smugly.
"And Dean, Sam did not touch your car."
Sam smirked over at Dean. "Yeah!"
"And if you had bothered to pull your heads out of your butts, it all would've been pretty clear."
"What?" Dean questioned.
"What you're dealing with."
"Uh . . ."
Sam and Dean pondered for a moment before Dean said, "I've got nothin'."
"Me neither," Sam admitted.
"You've got a trickster on your hands."
"I said that earlier," Alyson said, pride and excitement filling her. "But fine, ya know, no one listens to me."
"Oh, good. At least one of you has got a brain in ya," Bobby said, causing Alyson to grin. "I mean, you guys were the biggest clue."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"These things create chaos and mischief as easy as breathin'," Bobby explained. "And it's got you so turned around and at each other's throats, you can't even think straight."
"The laptop," Sam said.
"The tires," Dean added.
"It knows you're onto it, and it's been playin' you like fiddles."
"So what is it?" Dean asked, in full-hunter mode now. "Spirit? Demon? What?"
"Demigod," Alyson answered.
The guys looked at her with a how-do-you-know-that expression. Maybe she hadn't told them this part.
"What? While you two were arguing, I was actually researching this."
"They're immortal," Bobby added, "and they can create things out of thin air. Things as real as you and me. Make 'em vanish just as quick."
"You mean, like, an angry spirit or an alien or an alligator?" Dean asked, catching on.
Bobby nodded. "The victims fit the M.O. too. Tricksters target the high and the mighty -knock 'em down a peg usually with a sense of humor. Deadly pranks, things like that."
"Bobby, what do these things look like?"
"Lots of things, but human mostly."
"The janitor's been there for a while, and he's the one who found the professor. And he was there when I had my little episode."
"We need to check to make sure," Bobby started, "but it sounds like that's your guy."
"Okay," Dean said. "How do we kill it?"
"Stake to the heart. That'll get it done."
Alyson was conflicted. This trickster guy hadn't tried to hurt her at all when he'd had the chance. He'd even checked on her when she'd fallen. No one else had batted an eyelash. The trickster wasn't evil. Maybe he wasn't completely good, but no one was. He just needed to stop killing people.
"Hey, you should stay here," Dean said. "Last time it knocked you off your feet."
"I'm not staying here."
Normally she would do whatever it was Dean wanted, but the trickster could zap them into another dimension or something.
"If I stay, I won't know if something goes wrong."
"Well, will you stay in the car then?" he negotiated. "Please?"
Dean didn't usually say please, which meant she had to say okay. She was rewarding manners.
"If you guys aren't back in ten minutes, I'm coming in after you."
"Deal."
"If you're gonna wait in the car, you're gonna need a car to wait in," Bobby said. "I brought new tires. Sam told me last night that you needed them."
The Impala was where Dean had left it the night before. Dean was grateful. And surprised. With their luck the way it was, he wouldn't have been shocked at all if he'd found it had been towed.
It didn't take long for Dean to put new tires on. Thankfully the rims hadn't been damaged at all. Dean had known not to drive without having air in the tires.
"We need four stakes," Dean said.
"I can come?" Alyson asked.
"No, that's just in case."
Alyson stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry in his direction. He grinned, glad that she wasn't angry about being kept out of the action or about him doing it to protect her.
Thirty minutes and four sharpened stakes later, Sam and Dean were headed to Crawford Hall in DSL uniforms. They had used that disguise last time, so their cover story was that they were planning on redoing the cables in a few offices.
They were also going to stage a fight to try and trick the trickster. Sam was going to meet Bobby and Alyson back at the car, and Dean was going to stay on campus.
Bobby and Alyson were only about a half a block from campus. They would wait a few minutes after Sam got back, and then they would park in the lot in front of Crawford Hall.
Alyson loved Bobby. She could just sit with him and not talk or have to do anything, much like she was doing now as they were waiting for Sam to return. With Bobby, she could enjoy the silence.
Alyson could never do that with Jack; she wouldn't be able to trust him enough to enjoy a comfortable silence. There were too many unanswered questions when it came to Jack Daniels.
"How are you and Sam doing?" Bobby asked.
"Some minutes are more awkward than others, but things are okay. Dean's here, and Sam is Sam again."
"And you have a ring." Bobby gestured to her hand.
"Yeah. Dean gave it to me." Alyson smiled, running her fingertips over the ring.
She was lucky to have Dean. Dean was a good man, a better man than he gave himself credit for, and he made her happy without even trying. Or maybe he did try, but he made it seem effortless.
"I used to see John fiddling with that thing all the time."
"John?"
Apparently, Alyson was missing an important piece of information.
"Didn't Dean tell you that the ring belonged to his mom?"
Alyson shook her head.
"That was the first piece of jewelry John ever gave Mary. Once they were married, the wedding ring replaced that one."
"I thought their house burned down, that they didn't have anything left."
"Just the nursery, actually. Most of the rest of the house wasn't damaged at all."
Dean had never really talked about the fire with her, and she hadn't asked. It was none of her business, she didn't think, and Dean didn't want to talk about that anyway.
Although, he was willing to share part of his past with her. He had given him Mary's ring. John must've given it to Dean and, instead of keeping it to himself, he'd chosen to let Alyson have it.
She knew how much Dean loved his mom, so the ring was even more special to her now, but why hadn't he told her where he'd gotten it.
Did he not think she'd understand?
When Sam got back to the car, he told Bobby and Alyson about the trickster. He'd broken into the janitor's locker and had found Weekly World News articles that described all the weird things that had happened on campus.
"I liked him," Alyson said.
Sam sent her a sympathetic glance. The trickster had been kind to her, so she felt sorry for him. Sam understood that, but the trickster had killed people. He had to be stopped.
"Did you tell Bobby what you did for Dean?" Sam asked.
She shook her head and spoke. "I healed him."
"Healed him? How?"
"I don't know how. I just felt somethin' go through me and into him – sort of – and then his shoulder was healed. No more gunshot wound."
"That's . . . amazing," Bobby said. "I have heard of healers. I never believed in genuine ones. Guess I was wrong."
"I don't mind this ability," Alyson said. "I can't hurt anyone with it."
"How was Dean? Did it freak him out?"
"Actually, he was pretty un-freaked out." Alyson smiled. "I think he thought it was cool."
"Well, that's because it is," Sam said.
He hadn't thought to ask how Dean had been after being healed. He was glad, though, that he'd accepted it. Alyson being able to heal them was good and convenient.
It seemed like an Alyson thing to be able to do. She always seemed full of light, anyway, and she liked to help others shine as well.
She knew how to share now.
Bobby and Sam left the car almost as soon as they reached the campus parking lot. Alyson was left to wait as she'd said she would. Campus security was out and about. It made Alyson worry about cameras catching Dean on the security footage, but she was pretty sure the guys would've taken care of that. They'd never been as sloppy as to ignore security measures.
With nothing else to occupy her mind, Alyson began playing with and thinking about the ring on her finger. She angled her hand towards the streetlights so she could see the ring better. Mary's ring – Alyson's ring now – shined brightly. Though it was just a simple silver band, Alyson could tell it hadn't lost any of its original luster. John had taken care of it. Other than Sam and Dean, the ring was probably the only thing that had been left of Mary.
The ring fit perfectly. It made Alyson wonder if Dean had taken the ring to a jeweler or if they had just gotten lucky with the size.
Alyson knew she had to talk to Dean about this. She wanted to know why he hadn't told her who the ring had belonged to and where he'd gotten it. If he didn't want to talk in depth about it, he didn't have to, but she needed him to know that he could tell her these things.
Once she'd waited the appropriate amount of time, she got in the driver's seat and began driving towards Crawford Hall. It wasn't part of the plan, but she was going to park in front of the building. It just seemed logical, what with all the times they'd needed to make a quick escape.
Maybe they would be done by the time she got there.
No such luck. She would have to find them. She really had no clue where the other three hunters were. They could be anywhere in the building and she couldn't sense them out, so it would probably take a while to find them.
But . . . she could sense the trickster out. If she found him, she would most likely find Sam, Dean, and Bobby.
She made her way to the staircase. Halfway up she felt a hint of what she'd felt in the parking lot the other day. She had to be close to be able to feel him. It was on the opposite side of the second floor that she began to feel shaky. She felt as if she'd run a mile without stopping.
She suddenly heard what sounded like a chainsaw, but who used a chainsaw inside?
The trickster, she thought.
Ignoring all instincts that told her to go in the opposite direction, she moved towards the sound as quickly as she could. She ended up in front of two sets of double doors. The noise was definitely coming from behind those doors.
The trickster was behind those doors. She could feel him, the power he had. It threatened to knock her off her feet again.
She steeled herself and went through the doors. She was now in an auditorium. Sam, Dean, and Bobby were there. There was a guy with a chainsaw chasing Bobby and Sam. He was in a hockey mask.
It seemed as if she'd stepped into a Friday the 13th movie. She just hoped the guy with the chainsaw wasn't hard to kill. Hopefully he was just an illusion.
Dean was down near the stage fighting off two scantily clad girls. So it was a porn version of Friday the 13th. Maybe they were an illusion too.
Sam seemed to have the chainsaw guy in control, but Dean was being thrown through the air by the girls. He landed head first on the auditorium seats.
The trickster was in the second row, laughing it up and enjoying the show. There was a stake right in the aisle where Dean was. When he reached for it, the trickster flicked it away with a twist of his wrist.
Crap.
The trickster had telekinesis or something like it.
"Dean . . . Dean, Dean, Dean." The trickster stood up. "I did not wanna have to do this."
The stake flew into the trickster's hands. Alyson thought he was going to use it on Dean, but he didn't. Dean was thrown backwards, towards the two women, and the trickster turned towards Alyson.
She'd thought no one had noticed her arrival, but she'd been wrong.
"Well, if it isn't Little Miss Warrior of Light and sunshine and everything else good in the world."
"You know how I am."
She wasn't surprised – not really. He was powerful. He could probably sense her just as she could sense him.
"I've known since I saw you. Could sense you just like you can sense me."
She hoped he couldn't read her mind.
"Let Dean go."
Before Alyson could move, the trickster was in front of her. He had moved from the room and appeared in a split second.
"Why would I do that? He wasn't gonna let me go."
Alyson could hear the chainsaw still going. The other three hunters were otherwise occupied. She'd have to do this herself.
"I can convince Dean to let you go."
That was complete lie. Dean wouldn't allow the trickster to live, not when he was killing people. Even if the trickster did seem likable.
"You're lying."
The girls faded away, however, which Alyson had to admit was pretty awesome. He'd snapped his fingers and that had been it.
She watched as the stake he was holding turned to dust and fell to the floor. Alyson began to inch past him only to pull out her own stake. She'd put it in her jacket pocket once she'd finished sharpening it earlier.
She tried to stake him, but he caught the wood between his hands. After that, a battle of wills ensued. She felt as he tried to throw her backwards with his power, but she didn't move.
He obviously wasn't using all of his strength. He . . . didn't want to hurt her, as she'd thought earlier. He didn't want to hurt them at all. If they hadn't investigated, he would've left them alone.
He wasn't all bad.
"You're strong," he said. "For a human."
She thought he was complimenting her, until he shoved her back with his hand.
"Let's see how strong."
The noise from the chainsaw was no longer in the background. Sam had tackled the guy to the ground and the chainsaw had turned off somehow.
That didn't matter, however, because the trickster had the stake and was making it float in midair, flipping it end over end.
"What're you doing?" Alyson asked, fairly sure she was about to be stabbed.
A mischievous glint filled the trickster's whiskey-colored eyes, and he said, "Watch this."
The stake began whirling toward Dean, who was on his feet now, and in that split second Alyson saw her world shatter.
The trickster was going to kill Dean unless she stopped him.
Her heart started racing and her breath came in short gasps. What a time to have a panic attack! The only thing she could think was No!
Emphatically NO!
And then Dean was thrown backwards again, this time onto the stage and onto a bed that was there. Alyson was pretty sure she'd been the one to move him.
The trickster was laughing, enjoying the game he was playing.
He was cut off, though, when he was stabbed from behind. A shocked, pained look came over his face, as if he was wondering how exactly someone had gotten one over on him.
Alyson realized then that Sam had been the one to stake the trickster. Really, he never should've threatened Dean, not when so many people there loved him.
Speaking of Dean, someone needed to make sure he was okay. He'd been thrown around a lot in the past five minutes. Alyson couldn't do it, though, because she was drained, completely worn out. Flinging Dean backwards had been hard work.
Before she knew it, she was being led to the floor by Sam. It was the first time he'd really touched her at all since the incident from when he'd been possessed. She noticed that he was pointedly being gentle and non-threatening.
She'd done everything she could think of to let him know she wasn't scared of him and that she didn't blame him for what had happened. Now he just needed to believe it.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked as he knelt beside Alyson. She had basically toppled over and would've hit the floor had he not caught her.
"'M, 'kay," she answered. "Dean?"
"He's fine."
Sam had checked to make sure his brother was okay already; Dean was coming their way. Bobby was okay, too. He and Sam had stuck together against the psychopath with the chainsaw.
When Dean reached them, Sam noticed that Dean's lip was bleeding, and a bruise was already forming on his forehead.
"You guys okay?" he asked while wiping the blood away.
"Yeah, I guess," Sam said.
Bobby sat down by Alyson. "Chainsaw guy's gone."
"Trickster's dead," Sam said, eyeing the body on the floor. "I guess all of his illusions disappear now."
"Feels like he's still alive," Alyson said.
She began to stand and Sam noticed that Dean immediately brought his hands up to steady her, or to catch her should she fall again.
"What do we do with him?" she asked.
"We leave him here," Bobby answered and removed the stake from the body. "We can't move him because someone might see us. Now let's go before somebody comes in here and sees the body."
"Leaving sounds good," Alyson said. "Also sleep would be awesome right about now."
"You good to walk?" Dean asked. "And, by the way, what was with throwin' me backwards? You couldn't have taken control of the stake?"
Alyson glared at him but otherwise didn't respond.
Sam grinned. Dean wasn't really angry and neither was Alyson. Dean just had a way of putting his foot in his mouth.
"Right. I'll shut up now. But are you good to walk?"
"Yeah. I parked her right outside."
Alyson gave Dean the keys and they all began walking to the exit.
"So . . . can we sleep at the motel?" she asked. "I don't feel like doing anything but sleeping."
Sam looked at Dean and shrugged. "I'm fine with leaving in the morning."
"Awesome," Alyson answered. "Thanks."
Once back at the Impala the hunters piled in and Dean took off. They had to go back to the Chinese place so Bobby could pick up his car.
"Sam, can you get a ride back to the motel with Bobby?" Alyson asked from her space in the backseat.
"Sure. Why?"
Alyson didn't answer, but Dean noticed that she was blushing when he glanced at her through the rearview mirror. That meant that whatever she wanted had to do with them, something she didn't feel comfortable talking to him about in front of Sam – or something she knew he wouldn't feel comfortable talking about in front of Sam.
Sam didn't push for an answer and didn't hesitate to go with Bobby when they reached his car. He said he'd meet them back at the motel, and that was that.
Aly scrambled over the front seat and slid down to sit.
"Doors," Dean exclaimed. "Doors!"
She grinned at his dramatics before asking, "Can I try to heal you?"
"I'm fine. I've had worse."
Really, it was only a few bruises and a split lip. He'd definitely had worse.
"Please? I just want to see if I can or if it was a one-time thing."
"Is this why you sent Sam away?"
"No. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
"Okay." Dean turned in the seat so he could focus on her comfortably. "I'm listening."
Alyson took advantage of the position by cupping his face and brushing her thumb over the cut on his lip. It stung for a brief second, but then there was no pain at all.
He could tell from Aly's smile that the wound was no longer there. It didn't seem to affect her as it had the last time. She wasn't pale or shaky. The wound hadn't been as bad so it hadn't taken as much energy to heal him.
She went on to heal the bruise on his forehead before she deemed it fit to speak again.
"Am I freaking you out? I'm . . . suddenly able to heal you, and I threw you across the room earlier."
"To keep me from getting stabbed," he reminded her.
Dean knew how insecure Alyson was when it came to her abilities. She probably hadn't even meant to toss him around earlier. She'd seen a stake coming towards him and had reacted. If he could move things with his mind, he probably would've done the same thing.
"But am I freaking you out?" she repeated. "Demons can do some of what I can do."
"You're not a demon."
He didn't know exactly what Aly was, but she wasn't a demon. He'd been thrown by demons before, and he knew what it felt like. With Alyson it had been different. It felt different. He had nothing to compare it to, not really, but it had been as if he'd been wrapped in safety. Even though he'd been flying through the air, he'd known he wasn't going to be hurt. He'd been surrounded by light, warmth, and love.
It sounded stupid, he knew, but it was what it was. There was no other way to explain what he'd felt.
He stroked her cheek once, and then tried to explain his thoughts to her. She ended up grabbing his hand halfway through. He could almost feel how grateful she was that he wasn't scared of her.
Did she really think so little of herself?
He drew her close to him so he could brush his lips against hers. Her breathing stuttered for a second and then she moved closer and pressed her mouth more firmly against his. Whatever she'd been thinking about, she was properly distracted now.
Dean nipped at her bottom lip, and he was gratified when she instantly opened up to him. They continued kissing until they were both panting.
At some point Aly had tangled her fingers through his hair, and she was still gently massaging his scalp. He could've gone to sleep with her doing that. It was a surefire way to relax him if they weren't working.
"Dean?" she said, her breath hitting his lips and making him want to kiss her again. "I . . . I know about the ring."
Dean began to tense. Alyson knew it had belonged to his mom. Had Sam told her?
"Did you think I wouldn't like it if –"
"No." He cut her off there. "I just don't like talking about my mom. How did you find out?"
"Bobby. But don't tell him I told you it was him."
Dean agreed easily, glad that Alyson wasn't going to push for more answers. Not that she normally did, but he was glad, nonetheless.
"Dad gave me the ring. Right before he died. He said it was for you. He knew I liked you before I did apparently."
Dad had told him not to let Aly go. He'd had something there. Dean felt a special kind of joy when he was with Alyson, when he thought about the fact that she'd chosen him.
Aly kissed him softly. Dean followed when she began to pull away and he felt her lips form a smile against his. Dean made his way slowly from her mouth to her jaw and down to her neck. She slid her head back to give him better access, and he let his teeth graze her skin. He didn't bite or nip because he didn't want to mark her or make her think he was going to become aggressive.
Alyson still shied away if Dean did things fast or roughly when they were being intimate. He knew she wasn't scared – he made sure of that – but everything was still new to her and she liked warning before he did something new.
Now that she'd felt his teeth against her skin, she knew he meant to nip a little and she would be fine. Dean knew she even liked it a little, especially when he got near her pulse point. She even squeaked, which made him chuckle a little.
Alyson's hands found their way under his shirt and she began playing over the skin she found. She was rubbing just hard enough for it not to tickle.
It was only when Dean began rubbing her jean-covered thighs that she froze. Her hands clenched into fists against his chest and she began to tremble.
"Dean!" she hissed.
Dean pulled away immediately, wondering what was wrong, what had happened.
"Aly?"
"We're in a parking lot," she said. "People are around."
Dean laughed as relief filled him. He'd thought something he'd done had scared her or something. He was glad it hadn't, and he now knew that her trembling was due to the rising need she must have been feeling. He was feeling it too.
"Since Bobby is staying tonight, can we, um . . ." Alyson started, and blushed. "I mean, I still don't . . . um . . . I'm not . . . I . . ."
Dean knew what she meant, but he wanted her to say it.
"I'm not ready to have sex," she blurted out. "But I do need you."
Dean grinned because he needed her too.