SKIN PART 2

Alice's crimson bike and the black Impala drove up through the back roads of the neighborhood before their engines shut off. Sam jumped out first and Alice shook her hair once she pulled her helmet off. Dean was still a bit grumpy and was dragging his feet. It was early in the morning, way too early for him since he was so used to sleeping in half the time. It baffles him to this day how Alice and Sam could jump out of bed with as much energy as they have.

"Alright, so what are we doing here at 5:30 in the morning?" Dean whined. He leaned against the hood of his baby with a cup of coffee in his hand that Alice bought for him.

"Because," Alice shut her bike off and got off. "The videotape showed the killer going in but not out."

"So, he came out the back door?" Dean cocked a brow and watched his brother and Alice look around the alleyway near the house.

"Right. So, there should be a trail to follow. A trail the police would never pursue." Sam said.

"'Cause they think the killer never left. And they caught your friend Zack inside." Dean deducted but mumbled under his breath loud enough for Alice to hear (She has sharp ears). "I still don't know what we're doing here at 5:30 in the morning."

Alice stopped mid-search and rolled her eyes all the way to the back of her skull. "You're welcome to sleep in the car."

Dean may be tired as hell but no way was he going to pass up an opportunity to get out a flirty comment towards her. "Only if you join me, Alice. Only if you join me." He clicked his tongue and winked an eye.

Now it was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. He ignored Dean's flirt towards the hard Cromwell woman and continued to search. He stopped when something red caught his eye. "Alice." He called out and gestured to the telephone pole that had a smear of blood on it. "Blood. Somebody came this way."

Alice crouched down in front of the pole and held her hand up, noticing that it was in the shape of a handprint. She groaned deeply with herself and dropped her hands to her knees. "Yeah, but..." she looked around. "Trail ends here."

They looked up at the same time when the sound of an alarm echoed in the air. A couple of moments later an ambulance drove by the alleyway and caught their attention. Sam, Dean, and Alice wasted no time in checking it out and saw a crowd forming outside a house that was locked down tight with police cars and their sirens going off.

Dean walked up to a nearby lady. "What happened?" He asked.

"He tried to kill his wife. Tied her up and beat her." She explained.

"Really?" Sam questioned the statement with a baffled expression.

"I used to see him going to work in the morning. He'd wave, say hello. He seemed like such a nice guy."

They watched as the helpless husband, with deep depression on his face, get put in the back of a police car.

At the time they didn't notice that Alice walked off and came back a few moments later. She lifted her finger and gestured the boys over for a private conversation. By the look in her eyes, Sam and Dean figured out that Alice was on to something.

"What is it?" Dean asked after taking a step aside away from the crowd.

"Talked to the patrolman who was first on the scene," Alice gave a shifty look to the police car taking the husband away. "Apparently, the husband was driving back from a business trip when his wife was attacked." She crossed her arms over her chest and they began to walk back to their vehicles. "I was right about the shapeshifter. The dude was in two places at once."

Dean took in a deep breath. "Bet you it's the same thing doing it too."

Alice cracked a grin. "You're right about that one. It is the same damn thing," she said. "A while back, I had Aiden write everything down about shapeshifters in the Cromwell journal...but his dumbass wrote nothing useful in it. He took up all the extra pages with his rants about how much he hated these things." She heard Dean snicker beside her.

"I really wish I could've met your brother," he said.

"You two would have gotten along like two peas in a pod," Alice said, sure of herself.

Alice could remember looking through the journal and seeing Aiden's awful handwriting scribble things down like, 'I hate these damn things!' 'Why do these things even exist?' and 'Screw this job, screw shapeshifters, I'm going to bed!'

"Did he really not write down anything that could help?" Sam was kind of desperate for Alice's help since she was the most experienced.

"Yeah. A couple of things," she answered.

Sam's eyes lit up. "What were they?"

Alice stopped walking and grinned like a mad man. "Their favorite hiding spot." She gestured down to her heels that were standing on a manhole cover.

There was this warm and musty breeze below the manhole cover once they climbed down into the sewer system.

Sam looked around and saw many paths branching off. "I bed this runs right by Zack's house, too. So the shapeshifter could be using the sewer system to get around?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah, it always seems to be the same pattern with these things."

"She's right," Dean called out, crouching down in front of something. They walked over to it and saw a...pile of slop, hair, and blood. Dean pulled out his knife and wicked it open, holding up a piece of oily slop and hair. "Alice? Any idea what this crap is?"

"It's skin," Alice said bluntly in a monotone voice.

Dean immediately dropped the skin peel and jumped away like the floor was made of lava. His face twisted with disgust, but Alice looked like she was enjoying herself.

She cracked a grin. "You boys didn't know? When shapeshifters change shape...they shed their skin." Her smile was morbid and leered with dark humor that the boys picked up on really quick.

Sam's face turned pale, and he began to feel his stomach twist. "That's sick."

It was time to work now. They knew where it could most likely be, and they knew how to kill them. Dean popped open the trunk of his car and fished around for his and Sam's pistol, now loaded with silver rounds. Alice pulled out what looked to be a compact CZ pistol with an extended mag for extra rounds.

"Well, one thing I don't have to ask Alice about is how to kill them. No matter what kind of shifter it is, there's one way to dust them," Dean said while packing his pistol full of silver rounds.

Sam cocked a grin. "Silver bullet to the heart."

"That's right."

Alice cocked her gun, safely off, and tucked it away in her thigh holster. She also decided to bring an extra mag, just in case, and two silver knives that she tucked in her belt. She didn't want to be caught with her pants down when up against a shifter and pull an 'Aiden'. The man made it a nasty habit of losing his weapon and going one on one with the creature until Alice showed up to save him.

Her blue eyes caught a glance at Dean's gun. "Hey," Alice called out and gestured for him to hand it over. "Let me have a look at that."

Dean furrowed a brow but handed his pistol over. "Why? Don't tell me you're going to start critiquing me."

Alice rolled her eyes and took a look at his gun out of sheer curiosity. It was a Colt .45 M 1911A1 with nickel plating and ivory handles. "Nah. I was just thinking..it's a good looking gun." She let a smile slip to her lips while handing it back to Dean.

Dean immediately took pride in her comment and started to boast about it. "Well, you know...I like to ride with style." He tried to act like he wasn't all giddy, but he didn't hide it well.

Alice snickered a bit while leaning against her bike. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Does that mean I know what to give you for your birthday?" Dean frowned when this thought came to mind. "Which reminds me. I don't even know how old you are."

Alice opened her mouth then shut it rather quickly when he made a point. She doesn't recall at all even mentioning anything about her age or birthday, such important things too. "You got a point." Alice frowned when this spark of some sort suddenly warmed her heart. "I'm 24. I was born on October 31, 1980."

The moment she said that the instant Dean suddenly burst out into a full-body laugh, realizing that Alice was born on Halloween. The scariest and spookiest day of the year, and she's a dang Cromwell hunter? You can either call that fate or just bad luck. Either way, Dean was laughing until his stomach started to hurt.

Alice's face burned red, and she began to smack him in the back, but it didn't work, he only defended himself and laughed harder. "I know I was born on Halloween, so you can shut up about it now!"

Sam smiled while watching Alice chase Dean around the Impala. The phone began to ring, so he dragged his attention away from them.

"This is Sam." He answered and heard Rebecca on the other end.

"Where are you?" She asked, or demanded.

"We're near Zack's, we're just checking some things out."

"Well, look, Sam, just stop, 'cause I don't really need your help anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"I told the lawyers that we went to the crime scene."

Sam scoffed. "Why would you do that?"

"Well, I told them that we were with a police officer. And They checked it out, and they told me that there is no Detective Alice Cromwell."

"Bec-"

"No, I don't understand why you would lie to me about something like that."

"We're trying to help."

"Oh, trying to help? Do you realize that that was a sealed crime scene? This could have just ruined Zack's case."

"I'm sorry, but-"

"No, goodbye, Sam." She didn't let him finish and hung up right after she was done tearing into him, leaving Sam feeling a bit hollow.

After Alice was done chasing Dean (Leaving a sore in his back.) he walked over to his silent brother. "I hate to say it, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they'd be freaked. It's just—It be easier if-"

"If I was like you or Alice." Sam finished.

Dean cocked a smirk. "Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I'll tell you one thing. This whole gig—it ain't with perks."

Sam looked over and saw Alice handing him a fully loaded pistol, ready to go. He grabbed it and tucked it behind his jeans.

After night fell, they sank right back into the sewers that smelled worse than usual. The air was hot, humid, and all around a mucky place to be in. Alice, Sam, and Dean were armed to the teeth and had their flashlights shining down the tunnels in search of their shifty-eyed friend.

"I think we're close to its lair," Dean brought up while trailing behind Sam and Alice.

"Why do you say that?" Sam asked.

"Because there's another puke-inducing pile next to your face."

Sam turned around and saw yet another pile of skin and blood hanging on the pipes. His face turned green, and he quickly jumped away.

Alice snickered and shined her light at more piles of flesh and blood. "Looks like it's been down here for a while."

Sam's face twisted. "Who knows how many murders he's gotten away with?" He turned around and jumped when he saw the shifter standing right behind his brother, his eyes shifting pale against the light. "Dean!" Sam screeched.

The shifter punched Dean hard against the shoulder but had to flee a moment later when Alice turned around and started to open fire on him in a split second. The shifter managed to escape through the narrow tunnels but not before being chased down by Alice.

Sam moved over to his brother to make sure he was alright.

"Get the son of a bitch!" Dean hissed before getting up and following after Alice and the shifter.

The shifter managed to climb out of the manhole, sweating with crazy fear that he just experienced from having Alice on his ass the whole chase. He didn't stick around for long because the sound of clicking heels was right behind him. He bolted up and fled away through the park. Alice climbed out only 10 seconds later and thrashed her head around to spot the shifter but could not find him at all in the dead of night with very little light.

"Dammit." She cursed and put her gun right back in her holster to not draw attention to herself or the boys who were just now getting out. "Lost him." Alice frowned and helped Dean out of the manhole since he was hurt.

"All right, let's split up," Sam said.

They gave each other a short nod and ran in opposite directions to continue the hunt.

After a fruitless search, Sam was waiting back at the Impala with Dean right beside him.

"She's late," Sam mumbled, a bit nervous now since Alice was taking a long time to get back. "Think something happened?"

Dean furrowed his brows, looking a bit offended. "Alice...getting into trouble and needing help? Come on man." He pushed the thought away since he had that much trust and confidence in the woman to save herself. Dean felt his phone begin to buzz and reached for it.

A few seconds later, they saw Alice off in the distance jogging up to them with a mildly-annoyed look in her eyes.

"Hey, boys," Alice grumbled. "No luck?"

Dean furrowed his brow and looked at his phone like something was bothering him. "No. He's gone." He said anyways and shut the phone off. "Think he found another way underground?"

Alice shrugged but sighed with disappointment. "Probably. Damn things slippery, I'll give it that."

"Yeah..." Dean slowly nodded his head and reached his hand behind his back. "Sure is." He suddenly whipped his pistol out and pointed it right at Alice.

Alice's blue eyes immediately widen with confusion. She raised her hands in the air. "Dean? The hell are you doing?"

Sam actually jumped back from his brother's stunt, looking just as surprised by Dean's actions. "Dude put the gun down. You're pointing a gun at Alice right now," he said slowly, but the stony look in Dean's eyes said differently.

Dean said nothing but pulled out his phone and tossed it to Sam. "I'm not." he cocked a weary smirk. "You see, I just got a text from Alice 10 seconds ago saying, 'Decided to head back to the motel. We'll regroup there'. Next time, don't pick my girl as a skin to walk around in.

The shifter's eyes widen for only a second in shock before narrowing. "Well, that's unfortunate." She grabbed Dean's gun and knocked it back against his face before swinging her leg around and striking Sam in the head, knocking him out and leaving Dean alone to face down the shifter in Alice's form.

Dean crumbled to the ground and held his bleeding nose. "Ow! Son of a..." He looked up and was met with the barrel of his own gun held by the shifter. "You...I swear I'm gonna-"

"Shoot me?" The shifter, in Alice's voice, scoffed. "You had the chance, you knew it was me the moment I walked up to you boys...but you didn't have the balls to do it." She cocked her head to the side, her eyes shifting under the pale light. "You wanna know why?" Her voice dripped with a threatening undertone. "Because you didn't wanna shoot the girl you like."

Dean's eyes widened, but he couldn't get a word in before being knocked out.

Author's Note:

Oh boy. The boys were caught but not Alice? Looks like we got another rescue mission on our hands. Still, I wonder what secrets the shifter will spill out with Dean since we now know (If it wasn't already obvious) that he loves Alice. Be on the lookout for the next chapter, the final chapter because we'll finally see the real Alice and how badass I intend to make her!

I was wondering what Alice's birthday would be but decided it would be funny if it was on Halloween (Which is also my birthday). Dean's definitely gonna like that one for future Halloween episodes. And if you don't remember, I already mentioned Alice's age in Windigo but changed it because I was wrong, whoops (She was originally 25 but changed it to 24. Sorry about that). I wanted her to be a bit younger than Dean but not so young to be close to Sam's age. She's kinda in the middle. Aiden was like...28 years old at the time of his death.