p dir="ltr"He followed them on foot down the street a ways, being careful to maintain a similar pace to his quarry, without losing or catching up to them too much. He wanted to be within sprinting distance if they caught on, but also to stay off their radar as long as he could. He'd spent more than thirty years now stalking creatures with supernatural senses; surely he could follow a couple of people around./p
p dir="ltr"They were meandering like they were tourists, standing around looking at shop display windows, even though the ones in this ramshackle town were more likely to be pawn shops and flea markets than any kind of boutique he could imagine either of them would really have an interest in. Once he got close enough he could just catch snippets of their conversation, which had turned to mundane topics and, as best as he could guess, childhood memories. /p
p dir="ltr"They lingered for a while in front of an antique mall, which had a selection of old-school board games and slightly creepy porcelain dolls in a big picture-window display. (Dean was almost certain one of those dolls was potentially haunted; he made a note to have a word with any local hunters he ran into, just to make sure it got checked out.)/p
p dir="ltr"The man, Harry, pointed at one of the games, which they then fell into a debate about, to all appearances arguing over what its name really was. As the woman leaned in towards the window and cupped a hand over her eyes to better read the side of the box, she suddenly stiffened, freezing on the spot. The man froze almost the instant she did, and a hushed conversation ensued./p
p dir="ltr"Then Dean saw, in the glass pane of the window, a reflection of the woman's eyes. /p
p dir="ltr"She was looking straight at him./p
p dir="ltr"emShit. /em/p
p dir="ltr"He didn't dare look away, not when they'd made him so quickly. The woman, too, never let her gaze falter from his, not until she took the man's arm and ever so slowly turned him away from the window and towards the nearest alley. They started off at a casual stroll, but the second Dean shifted as if to follow, they broke into a run./p
p dir="ltr"Dean dashed across the street, narrowly missing being hit by an oncoming car, not even slowing down to hear what exclamation or curse the driver had hurled at him. /p
p dir="ltr"The pair darted into the alley, and just before he got to the entrance, he heard a loud crash, like they'd knocked something over in their hurry./p
p dir="ltr"Dean stepped into the mouth of the alley, fully aware that he was silhouetted against the late afternoon sky. He braced himself for an attack that never came./p
p dir="ltr"Except for an overturned trash can and some long-cold cigarette butts, the alley was completely empty./p
p dir="ltr"They were meandering like they were tourists, standing around looking at shop display windows, even though the ones in this ramshackle town were more likely to be pawn shops and flea markets than any kind of boutique he could imagine either of them would really have an interest in. Once he got close enough he could just catch snippets of their conversation, which had turned to mundane topics and, as best as he could guess, childhood memories. /p
p dir="ltr"They lingered for a while in front of an antique mall, which had a selection of old-school board games and slightly creepy porcelain dolls in a big picture-window display. (Dean was almost certain one of those dolls was potentially haunted; he made a note to have a word with any local hunters he ran into, just to make sure it got checked out.)/p
p dir="ltr"The man, Harry, pointed at one of the games, which they then fell into a debate about, to all appearances arguing over what its name really was. As the woman leaned in towards the window and cupped a hand over her eyes to better read the side of the box, she suddenly stiffened, freezing on the spot. The man froze almost the instant she did, and a hushed conversation ensued./p
p dir="ltr"Then Dean saw, in the glass pane of the window, a reflection of the woman's eyes. /p
p dir="ltr"She was looking straight at him./p
p dir="ltr"emShit. /em/p
p dir="ltr"He didn't dare look away, not when they'd made him so quickly. The woman, too, never let her gaze falter from his, not until she took the man's arm and ever so slowly turned him away from the window and towards the nearest alley. They started off at a casual stroll, but the second Dean shifted as if to follow, they broke into a run./p
p dir="ltr"Dean dashed across the street, narrowly missing being hit by an oncoming car, not even slowing down to hear what exclamation or curse the driver had hurled at him. /p
p dir="ltr"The pair darted into the alley, and just before he got to the entrance, he heard a loud crash, like they'd knocked something over in their hurry./p
p dir="ltr"Dean stepped into the mouth of the alley, fully aware that he was silhouetted against the late afternoon sky. He braced himself for an attack that never came./p
p dir="ltr"Except for an overturned trash can and some long-cold cigarette butts, the alley was completely empty./p