Title: Screams in the night

Author: Arianna Castellis

Spoilers: Up to Dead in the Water

Rating: T (or PG-13)

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to WB. I'm making no money off this, which is sad because I have none.

Beta: moonfairyhime was kind enough to beta this for me. She was not only helpful but amazingly fast! Thanks so much for the help!

Chapter Three

Dean and Sam managed to corner Nate that evening as he was headed into Ken's Pizza. He reluctantly led them to a back booth, indicating they should sit down. It was a small restaurant and dimly lit allowing the booth in the back to yield some small privacy.

"Look, we know you have some idea of what's going on," Dean started.

Nate shook his head, shifting in the booth nervously. "No, I don't really know anything. Certainly not anything that would help you with your story. I'm just as confused as everyone else."

Dean leaned in across the table, feeling some of his frustration rise to the surface. "Look, we've been talking to some of the other people here and they have pointed us to you. Word is, you aren't surprised when a body turns up. That tells me you know something."

"I don't know anything," Nate insisted again. "I've just figured out that whenever I…notice… someone missing, it's because someone else is…has been attacked."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. It was a look that seemed to be exchanged on many of their jobs. Dean's look was often filled with Do you believe this guy? He obviously knows something. While Sam's look was usually filled with Why won't people trust what they see and hear? Sam wondered if people would ever understand that the X-Files was not the strangest thing that existed in the world around them.

"Nate," Sam said gently, "I know that this whole situation is very upsetting, but I think you may know something, even if you don't realize it. Have you seen anything strange recently? Or seen anyone acting strange?"

"Or heard anything out of the ordinary?" added Dean. "Anything that didn't seem quite right to you?"

Nate leaned back in the booth. "I don't know. No one's acting any stranger than usual, other than being scared. But, there is one thing…"

"Yes?" prompted Sam. "We won't think it's all that strange, trust me."

"Well, that first night. The night that Chris disappeared… I couldn't sleep. I'd been drinking with the crew and wasn't having any luck sleeping in the heat. I heard…well, I thought I heard, someone scream down the hall from me. But when I went to go look down the hall, I didn't see anything or hear anything else. I just figured I was imagining things. Especially when I saw something fly by my window. It must have been an owl or something but it really freaked me out."

"What about the other nights?" inquired Dean. "Did you hear or see anything then?"

"I'm not sure. I woke up those nights swearing that I heard the same scream in my sleep, but I didn't hear or see anything else."

"What was the scream like? Was it a soulful wailing or like someone who was being hurt?" asked Sam.

"Neither," replied Nate. "All I can tell you was that the scream itself just terrified me."

& & & & &

"So what do you think?" asked Dean as he and Sam entered their hotel room. "Is Nate hearing a Banshee?"

Sam sat at the desk and booted up his computer. "I don't think so. It doesn't seem right. A banshee uses its scream to kill. It wouldn't explain why Nate had heard the scream three times and was still alive"

"Or the fact that the bodies look like they've been attacked by some animal."

"Or the fact that they are all from out of town."

"All right," acknowledged Dean. "So what other kind of creature would scream before killing?"

Sam began typing on his computer. "I don't know yet. Why don't you start checking dad's journal and I'll see what I can find."

An hour later, Sam and Dean had both come up empty. "I don't see anything in here about screaming except for Banshees."

Sam rubbed his computer worn eyes wearily. "I know. I haven't found anything searching either. And there's no indication that anything like this has happened before in this town. Or any of the neighboring towns, either."

"So, that means this…thing, whatever it is, came with the staff for summer stock."

Sam nodded in agreement. "But what are we looking for? I mean, should we be concentrating on the screams or the bodies?"

"Nate said he heard the screams from his room each time someone died, right? Why don't we go stay outside his dorm room and see if we can see something? It's been several days since the last person was attacked. There's a good chance it will strike again in the next couple of days."

"All right," agreed Sam. "But let's try to be prepared for anything."

& & & & &

The night was hot. The oppressive heat had not lifted when the sun went down and Dean wished it wasn't necessary to wear his leather jacket, but he was afraid of letting people see his guns. In such a small town, he'd be picked up for sure as soon as someone saw him carrying a weapon in the middle of the night.

Sam and Dean had situated themselves in the shadow of a row of bushes against the side of the dorm where Nate slept. The ground was lit by a half moon, bright enough to see by, but still dark enough that the shadows could conceal the brothers completely.

They had chosen the side of the dorm building that faced away from the parking lot in hopes that they wouldn't be seen and that they would manage to see something. Waiting was the worst, though. Dean was all about action. Find the bad guy, track the bad guy, and kill the bad guy. Having to wait around because they weren't sure what they had to do next made Dean anxious.

Sam glanced at his watch again. 2:27 am and no sign of anything strange. It was not going to be a good week if they had to wait outside this building every night just to see if they could see or hear anything strange.

He leaned his head against the bricks, staring at the sky, and tried not to think about anything, or rather anyone, but the current job. He was just starting to try and make out some of the constellations when he heard a scream.

Sam and Dean both sat up a little straighter and began to look around the small courtyard between dorm buildings. The scream had come from somewhere above and behind them, indicating it was originating in Nate's dorm.

After a few moments of silence, Sam felt Dean hit his arm and point towards the corner of the building. Coming around the corner was something pale that looked about the size of a basketball. Only there was something sticking out of the bottom…a stick like something…

"Oh shit!" Sam exclaimed softly. "That's…that's…"

"Shhh!" Dean whispered. "It's coming this way."

The boys crouched down as it flew overhead and through the woods towards the east side of town. Dean and Sam got up as it flew off.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that," Dean said.

"Dean, was that a floating head?"

"Yep. Looks like it," Dean answered sounding matter of fact even though his brain was trying to wrap his mind around it. Poltergeists, angry spirits, even wendigos were becoming second nature. But a screaming floating head that apparently devoured people was a new one even for him.

"Do you have any idea what that was?" Sam asked hopefully. "And how to kill it?"

Dean shrugged. "Not yet, but now I know what to look for in dad's journal."

Before Sam could answer, there was a loud bang from behind them. They whirled around to see the exit door of the dorm building open. Someone was standing in the doorway, shining a light at them so they couldn't see more than a vague outline.

"Whose there?" demanded a harsh, lisping voice. "What are you doing out here causing such a ruckus at this time of night?"

Dean began, "Um, we're students from the University of Oklah—"

"I don't care none where you're from," the voice snapped. "I don't want no strangers around here. Now get off school property or I'm calling the cops, ya hear?"

"Yes sir," Sam said, tugging on Dean's jacket sleeve. "Sorry to have disturbed you."

They began to walk back towards the parking lot to head towards the motel. The guy with the flashlight followed them to the edge of the lot, forcing the boys to stay quiet.

Once in the relative safety of the deserted street, Dean said, "What was that? You didn't even let me talk to that guy, whoever he was."

"Dean, there was a floating head screaming into the night a few minutes ago. Do you really want to be able to be recognized when another dead body turns up tomorrow?"

"Good point," acknowledged Dean. "I guess it's better to stay low right now."

"Yeah. Let's go back to the motel and see what we can find out."

TBC