PART 4
Sam's heart was pounding. He had his gun drawn and ready. They were in a dark ally, hunting for a little dog, if you could believe that. And there were literally dozens of dogs out in the streets, how were they supposed to find the right one? If it even possessed a dog at the moment. Claudia said it did, but could he really trust her? He glanced at her. Claudia didn't even seemed to be nervous. She sort of reminded him of Dean that way. Something caught Sam's attention.
"Look out!" he cried, stepping in front of Claudia, pointing his gun a large dog.
"It's just a dog, Sam. It's not it." Claudia said calmly. He glanced back at her.
"How can you tell?" he asked her. She didn't look at him.
"I just can. Come on." She said, pulling Sam after her.
"You know, they can move really fast." Sam mentioned, "And they can switch bodies fast, we have to make sure it's trapped before we kill it."
"You just find a way to make it less of a spirit and more of a demon, and I'll take care of the rest." Claudia said confidently, again reminding him of Dean.
"That's if we ever find it." He muttered. She stopped dead, looking up at him.
"Okay, now ask for a million bucks." She said. Sam looked questioningly at her. She gestured at a small, harmless looking puppy.
"You're kidding." Claudia slowly took out her knife, making no sudden moves.
"Just do your thing." She said.
"Are you sure?" Sam pressed. She didn't take her eyes off the puppy. It looked back at her, all small and innocent. It sure didn't look possessed, but hi, if it wasn't, then nothing would happen when he tries to expel the demon, right? Sam leafed quickly through his dad's journal and started chanting. The puppy starts barking. Its eyes glowed for a second, and then something seemed to be pulled out of it. Damn, she was right! Sam thought. The demon took the form of a small, twisted beast.
"Er… Now what?" Sam asked hesitantly. They were facing a demon now. That wasn't something he was looking forward to doing without Dean by his side to back him up. As far as he knew, that Claudia chick might have led him straight to a trap. Damn, I should have thought about that before… Claudia looked at Sam, a confident smile on her face.
"Party time." She said, "Stay back. Don't worry, this won't take long." She said, gently pushing him back. The beast thing growled, slowly moving towards them. Claudia moved in front of Sam, again, reminding him of Dean. "That's right, come and get it." She muttered, her hand reaching slowly at her side, where she kept her knife.
"Shouldn't we… I don't know, shoot it or something?" Sam asked nervously.
"If it makes you feel better." Claudia said. It sure would, Sam thought, and emptied his clip on the thing, but the bullets didn't seem to be doing any damage. Sam's heart raced.
"Feel better?" Claudia asked with a slight smile.
"Not really." Sam admitted. Her smile widened. It wasn't a condescending smile. It was genuine, warm. And for some reason, it made his heart beat even faster.
"Don't sweat it." Claudia said, slowly taking her carved knife out. She made her way slowly at the beast as it snarled at her, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. And then it lunged at her. Sam jumped, but Claudia quickly pulls something out of her pocket, throwing it at the beast. It hauls in pain and anger, retreating for a moment, only to lunge again. But Claudia was ready. She slashed it with her knife, and, moving with amazing speed, she cut its head off before it had the time to recover from her last attack. Blood splashed all over. "Damn it!" Claudia cried. Sam flinched. Sometimes, demonic blood was poisonous unto itself.
"What?" he asked, quickly nearing her. She turned to face him, wiping blood spatters from her face and looked quite irritated.
"I liked this shirt!" she exclaimed, holding the shirt out. There was blood all over it. "I'm going to have to burn it now. I haven't met one dry-cleaner that can take these stains out. Human blood, fine, but that stuff really sticks!" she muttered. Sam smiled, shaking his head.
"That's it?" he asked, but she didn't seem amused. "I didn't know you can kill a demon simply by using a knife." He added. Claudia's irritated look quickly changed as she looked into his eyes.
"That's 'cause you can't." she said, showing him her knife. "Those runes, that's what does the trick. Gives it a little more punch. And the fact that its blessed probably helps, too." She shrugged. Sam took the knife from her, studying it as Claudia lights up a match and burnt the beast's body. "Just in case you get any ideas," she said, watching the flames engulf the creature, "that knife wouldn't be much of a help if it weren't for what I did before."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked. She turned to him, flashing him another smile.
"Trade secret." She said, "Maybe I'll teach you sometime." Sam smiled back at her. Well, it seemed Nolan wasn't lying after all. That woman knew her stuff. And that smile… it really got under his skin. The two of them made their way back to the Impala, Claudia still cursing about her shirt.
"You know, what you did back there, it was a little crazy." Sam said. Claudia shrugged.
"My therapist says I'm suicidal. But hi, I'm the best in the business." She smiled. Sam smiled back at her, getting in the Impala. He wandered what Dean would have to say about that.
Claudia and Sam got out of the Impala. Claudia looked at the police house in front of them, and then turned to Sam. She like him. He was cute. And it seemed he knew what he was doing. At least more than that Nolan. And she was never going to see him again. They started towards the police house. It was kind of nice, hunting with him. But she always hunts alone. Always. She can't put other people at risk, she can't see them getting hurt because of her. But, maybe… He did know what the Travishu was.
"Hi, Sam," she stopped, "That thing that killed your mom? I'll keep an eye out." She said. Sam stared at her.
"Thanks." He said, and then started kept going towards the police house.
"You know, you were pretty good back there." Claudia said quickly and Sam stopped again, looking back at her. "Seemed like you actually know what you're doing. I mean, with the spirit stuff." Sam smiled, nodding his head self-consciously.
"Thanks." He said, "You did pretty well yourself. With the demon part." Claudia smiled.
"I can teach you." She offered, making Sam smile again. She liked his smile. "And, you know, I wouldn't mind learning more about that spirit stuff. I mean other than salting and burning, I don't know much about that stuff." She said. Sam stared at her. Is she coming on to me?
"You know a lot more than most." He said.
"You know, that guy, Nolan, he got me in trouble." Claudia said, "Jin, my boss, he got furious when he found out I made up another partner. Now he wants to pear me up with… I don't know, another Nolan, I guess. Those guys never keep up." She bit her lower lip. "So, I was thinking… I know we've had a bad start, but, you and I, we can really cause some damage out there." Oh, my God, she is!
"I don't know… Look, me and my brother, we're sort of…" Claudia shook her head, raising her hand to stop him.
"Oh, okay. Never mind." She said quickly. Doesn't matter. Stupid thought anyway. I hunt better alone, she thought. So he's cute. Big deal.
"No, it's just…" Sam said quickly, but Claudia stopped him.
"It's okay, Sam. I'm a big girl." She said. She did think it was cute that he tried to make her feel better. "I've been hunting on my own since I was seventeen. I am going to tell Jin you're my partner though, get him off my back." The look in her eyes, Sam didn't know why, but he hated that look. It was the complete opposite from her smile.
"Look, it's not that I don't like you…"
"It's okay, really. Look, I don't have a job lined up anyway. I'll just travel for a while, look for trouble. It's not usually difficult to find." She gave him a small smile. Time to get this over with. "Now come on, let's get that brother of yours out of jail. Unless you owe him for something…"
Dean signed the dotted line, giving the papers and the pen back to the officer, who then gave him his things back. He dodged that bullet, and man, it was a close one. That was one horse he wasn't going to look in the mouth. Sam was waiting for him at the door and he joined him, heading for the Impala. Dean made sure they were out of any police earshot before he turned to Sam.
"About time. What took you so long?" he demanded.
"I was a little busy. We went hunting for the Travishu." Sam said, and Dean stopped.
"Hold on, you went hunting this thing without me? Sam! That's a demon, what were you thinking?" he demanded. Sam looked at his brother. I can do the job just as good as you can if I wanted to! That big brother card, it's getting old, he thought.
"I wasn't alone." He said, "And we got it. We killed it."
"Really? And who's we?" Dean demanded. Sam didn't answer. He started walking towards the Impala again. Dean called out for him, but he ignored it. He smiled at Claudia, standing and waiting for him by the car. Dean, however, was less enthusiastic to see her.
"What the hell is she doing here?" he asked, catching Sam by the arm.
"She's coming with us." Sam said in a matter-of-fact tone. Dean's jaw dropped.
"Over your dead body! No way!" he cried.
"Dean…"
"That chick's insane, she's not going anywhere with us." He said, "I don't even want her anywhere near my car!" Sam gave Dean a long look.
"I told her she could come." He said calmly. "Look, she killed the Travishu, she's really good at this stuff. And she knew right away that thing that killed mom's a demon."
"Hold on, how does she know about mom?" Dean demanded.
"She has dad's journal." Sam said reluctantly. Dean seemed to get even angrier.
"She what!" he cried.
"Look, she can help us." Dean shook his head.
"No way, Sammy."
"She made your file disappear." Sam said, glaring at Dean. Why did they always had to do what Dean wants? Dean blinked.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You're supposed to be dead, remember? The shape-shifter from St. Louise, the one you killed, the one that looks just like you?" Sam pressed on. "She made the file disappear. She has connections Dean, she could really help us." Sam said. Dean stared at him for a moment, and then glanced at Claudia. He shook his head, walking past Claudia, and opened the driver door. Sam looked at Claudia in an apologetic look. He was getting really tired of always having to do things Dean's way. "Dean!" he called out, making Dean stop, "She could help us find dad." He said.
"Dad doesn't want to be found, Sam." Dean said. He was tired of having this argument. He was about to say something, but Claudia started talking just as he was about to open his mouth.
"Sam, don't. It's okay." She said, touching Sam's arm. Sam looked at her.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Dean, come on. You're being a jerk."
"I'm being a jerk? Sam, she's cute, but she's not that cute." Dean spat back. It wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to start a fight. The last thing she wanted was to get between them. They were brothers. They were a family. She couldn't come between that. Besides, being on her own wasn't so bad. And it wasn't like she was always on her own, there was the occasional cute guy every now and then… Her cell phone started ringing. She answered it, listening for a second, and then hung up.
"Look, you two can stop arguing, okay?" she said, "I got a job. There's something going on in Indiana they need me to check on." She said, and then stood on the tips of her toes, pecking Sam on the cheek. "Thanks for trying, though." She told him, picking up her stuff and turning to leave. "I hope you find your dad." She said and turned away. Sam gave Dean an angry glare. Claudia stopped a couple of steps later, turning back to Sam. "And Sam, that thing that killed your mom?" she said, catching the looks of both guys, "Whatever it is, you're not ready for it. I'd leave it alone for now." She said. Sam looked intently at Dean.
"Fine! But she's not driving my car!" Dean cried, getting in the car and slamming the door shut.
N/A: I hope you liked the story. I'd really appreciate your thoughts about it, so please review! Next story will be coming up in a couple of weeks!