Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, Sam, Dean, or the Metallicar. I only own Jack and the other characters in this story. And the monster, that bastard came from my twisted head too. Although the name I found from Wikipedia when I researched the Snow White myth.
AN: This chappie was written to the song Time Is Running Out by Muse played on repeat over and over again. I highly recommend it. On with show…
Sam found the address of the Moore residence while Dean loaded the shotguns with rock salt. Jack was looking through her spiral notebook for some general safety symbols they could use to protect Riley when they got to her, if they got to her.
"I spent more time looking for spells to protect from stuff a little more corporeal." She mumbled flipping through her notebook.
"This thing is, sort of. It was when it pulled Aly through the mirror, anyway." Sam reminded her shutting down the computer, address in hand.
"We'll worry about that later." Dean said snapping the last shotgun closed, handing it to Sam. He kept one for himself, giving t he third to Jack. He hesitated letting it go.
"Rock salt's a last resort. Those are still innocent girl's inside those things, they didn't choose to be that way." Dean said looking at each of them in turn letting go of the gun when Jack nodded solemnly in understanding.
"What about the original spirit? Do we spare that fucker too?" Jack asked opening the room door.
"No way of knowing if it is or not, so we wait, kick the shit out of the summoner then we take out the original Schneewittchen." Dean told them heading to the car.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Jack said smirking at Sam. She jumped into the backseat, humming along to the music playing, getting her adrenaline pumping at the thought of the fight they might walk into.
"Except we don't know who summoned the damn thing." Sam said.
"Kill joy." Jack said winking at him.
The house was completely dark, with not a single car in the driveway. They decided to check if anyone was home anyway. No one responded to the polite knocking nor the not so polite pounding on the door. Jack pulled out her lock picks only to have Sam turn the knob revealing it to unlocked.
"Too damn trusting." Dean said shaking his head in disapproval. They stepped over the threshold cautiously, guns at the ready.
"I don't think anyone's home." Dean said feigning surprise.
"Where the hell are they all then?" Jack asked kicking the leg of a table in annoyance.
"Kick the table again and maybe it'll tell you." Sam snarked. They finished looking through the house that was empty and wandered back outside in disappointment.
"Families do go out and spend time with each other occasionally." Sam said reasonably opening the passenger side door.
"The Moore's didn't strike me as the family game night types." Jack responded.
"Sibling rivalry." Dean shrugged.
"Nah this was worse, he was being cruel on purpose." Jack said.
"Siblings do that too, sometimes." Dean said causing Sam to flinch unperceived.
"Lets just check around the town for her, maybe she had to work late." Jack replied.
They drove by t he diner to find it closed for the night.
"What kind of diner closes at seven p.m. on a Friday night?" Sam asked looking into the window.
"Think I know why the early night." Dean said showing him a flyer he pulled down from the shop window next to the diner. It was one of dozens urging the locals to show up and support the Bobcats that Friday night at a basketball game.
"Whole town shows up, maybe our girl does too." Sam said nodding.
"And our bad guy," Dean said. "Think about it, how do you get away with having that many girl's taken for your after dinner snack. By making damn sure the whole town sees you while its going on."
"Lets go show some school spirit then." Jack told them.
The school parking lot was packed with what must have been every automobile in town. The sounds of the game could be heard as soon as they stepped out of the car.
"My car better not be scratched by any of these hicks, or I'll kill someone, human or not." Dean threatened as they stepped out of the car.
The three approached the darkened, presumably empty portion of the school so they wouldn't have to answer any uncomfortable to questions about carrying shotguns to a high school basketball game. Once inside Jack handed her gun to Sam and gestured towards the gym. Dean nodded and she walked in the general direction feeling the boys at her back, sticking to the sidelines so she could peak in and scan the crowd for Riley.
The sound in the gymnasium was deafening, with the spectators cheering for their teams. Jack felt uneasy, her usually keen hearing wasn't going to be much use to her in this din. She edged around the side of the bleachers unnoticed by anyone, searching for one face. Wrong hair color, not green eyed, not female, but might be one day. She couldn't find her target.
"Damn." She muttered under her breath. Jack felt a presence behind her and froze.
"Great game tonight." A familiar voice said. She turned to see Alex leaning against the bleachers watching her.
"Mmhm." She replied noncommittally and continued to scan the crowd.
"Looking for someone?" Alex asked walking into her line of vision.
"Yes." She hissed in annoyance. Of all the times for this guy to make an appearance.
"Anyone I know?" Alex asked not getting her notsubtle disdain for him.
"As a matter of fact it is." She said switching tactics. She gave him a slow smile and took a few steps closer till she was an inch from him.
"Or yeah?" He asked grinning.
"Uhhuh and I really need to find them." She said in a low voice, barely audible over the game.
Jack put a light hand on his shoulder and leaned in till her lips barely brushed his.
"Alex?" She asked. She felt him swallow deeply and make a sound that might have been 'What?'
"Where's your sister?" She asked touching the tip of nose to his before pulling back, leaving him grasping at empty air.
"Wait. What?" He asked as her words sunk in.
"I need to talk to your sister." She said putting a few feet of space between them.
"Why?" Alex demanded.
"Is she here or not?" Jack asked in a bored voice. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up, never a good sign.
"Alex." A sharp womanly voice called suddenly from above them. Jack looked up to see an older woman glaring down at them over the railing in the bleachers. She watched as the woman picked her way down the steps to where they were. She was tall, even taller than Jack, with light cornsilk hair and icy blue eyes. She looked nothing like Alex, so Jack wasn't surprised by what Alex said next.
"Sylvia this is my new friend Jack. Jack this is my stepmother Sylvia." Alex said looking very uncomfortable.
"Friend?" Sylvia asked arching a perfectly plucked brow and looking Jack over in a way that would make anyone who insecure in the least cringe.
"Yeah. Whatever. I gotta go, I'll find Riley myself." Jack said dismissively. She turned and walked out of the gym, still feeling t he woman's eyes boring into her back.
"Not inside the gym." She reported back to Sam and Dean who were leaning against a row of lockers further down the hallway.
"What was that shit in there?" Dean demanded frowning at her.
"What? With Alex? You saw that huh?" She asked.
"Yes." Sam said handing her shotgun back to her frowning.
"What? I was asking where his sister was. Trying to loosen his tongue a little bit." Jack said shrugging. The guys glared at her in annoyance
"Don't get all over-protective big brother on me now. We don't have the time." Jack said reasonably.
"Fine, but don't pull that shit, there are other ways to get answers." Dean lectured firmly.
"Hypocrite." Jack accused.
"Do as I say not as I do." Dean smirked. A crash tore them away from t heir bickering.
Dean fell into hunter mode, leaving the lecture behind. They followed the crash that echoed up and down the hallway till they heard the sound of someone struggling somewhere between a scream of terror and a sob of pain. As Dean rounded a corner he froze and put himself instinctively between Sam and Jack and the Schneewittchen.
Riley was on the ground shrieking holding her bloodied arm. She was staring terrified into the monster that had her cornered against the wall. A small compact lay shattered next to it.
The Schneewittchen was all grey rotting skin hanging off nothingness, a grotesque smell clung to the air, making Dean almost gag. Its long skeletal fingers red at the tips, reaching out for her. Dean aimed his gun and fired next to it. He swore as it disappeared just in time. Jack ran forward and leaned down to inspect Riley, Sam standing protectively in front of the girls. She reached for her bloodied arm.
"Sam." Jack called. He turned around and she held out Riley's arm to show him the long slice down her forearm and what looked like tooth marks.
"Shit. Dean it tasted her. We have to g et her out of here before it comes back." Sam said grabbing Dean's arm. His brother nodded silently and together she and Sam helped Riley up, to much in shock to move on her own. They carried her one arm around each of their shoulders as they followed Dean through the corridors.
"Where the fuck did it go?" Dean asked no one in particular. He got his answer as they turned a corner and came face to face with one of them. Riley screamed and bucked in terror and he couldn't blame her. Its face was worse than the rest of it had been. Empty eye sockets drooped like the creature was melting. Its lips were torn revealing rotting razor sharp teeth, its acidic breath hot as it exhaled onto Dean's face. He didn't hesitate to shoot it square in the chest covering his face as it screamed in agony and disappeared.
"That's one down." He said turning to see Sam aiming at a second Schneewittchen.
"Jack get Riley out of here!" Sam was shouting as he shot missing it.
Jack hesitated shooting a questioning look at Dean. He nodded sharply reloading his gun with another round.
"Get her outa here." He orders. Riley is screaming holding onto Jack for dear life.
Jack pulls the smaller girl into the crook of her arm and drags her along aiming her gun straight ahead, expanding all her senses. Her fire is a flick of the mind away and might by them more time without destroying the Schneewittchen. The sounds of a struggle and another shot ring out with the incongruous sounds of the game as background fodder. Jack thinks about going back but Riley is sobbing into her t-shirt terrified.
"Its gonna be okay." She's murmuring picking t heir way through the dark.
Dean pulled his trigger for the second time as the Schneewittchen wrapped a rotting hand around the back of Sam's throat when neither of them are looking. Blood explodes from the side Sam's head as the rock salt grazes him.
"Sorry man." Dean says pulling Sam to his feet. Sam. As they run in the direction Jack and Riley went Sam reloads his gun.
"Nasty son of a bitch." Jack snarls at the creature pushing Riley behind her as a third spirit lunges for her. A flash of fire had it reeling away. Jack allowed a satisfied smirk as she turned around to reach for Riley.
"Its coming back!" Riley screamed pointing behind Jack just in time for her to whirl around out of its way. Its teeth catch her shoulder blade anyway and the bite burns hot.
"You better not have rabies." Jack mumbles bringing up her gun, but she can't get a clear shot with it standing so close to its prey. The thing hisses placing its self possessively in front of its meal. She let off another flare of fire but it won't budge this time.
"Wait!" She calls as Dean and Sam run up to them ready to shoot.
"You'll shoot her too." She told them hastily. A stalemate between the monster and the hunters lasted long precious seconds. Someone had to have heard those shots and would come around sooner or later and they all knew it.
"It won't hurt her that much." Dean said to Jack through clenched teeth.
"Shoot it." A tiny voice pleaded. Riley was staring straight at Dean, her eyes begging him to help her. His lips thinned into a grim smile and he shot, Sam and Jack following suit for good measure. Riley had curled up into tight ball on the floor, flinching as excess ammunition hit her.
Dean walked through the foul remains of the creature and swung Riley up from the ground.
"You all right?" Jack asked when she noticed the blood running down his forehead.
"I'm fine. What about you?" Sam asked her, glancing at her wound.
"I've had worse." Jack replied with a cocky grin. Sam grinned fleetingly. Minutes later they were tearing away from the school with Riley curled up in the backseat crying.
"I think we got 'em good and pissed that time." Dean joked eyes flashing with that dangerous glint of humor he had.
"We took their dinner, damn right its pissed." Sam replied. "Now they've got a taste of her blood."
"And mine. I don't know if that means anything but…" Jack trailed off, leaning forward in her seat to keep the sting from her gash to a minimum.
"Fuck." Dean swore hitting the steering wheel with his palm.
"I second that emotion." Jack joked.
They had their guns aimed on all sides as they ushered Riley into their motel room, not relaxing until they were safely across the salt lines. Jack sat Riley down none to gently on the bed as the boys shut the door and checked the protective measures, making sure they were all still secure.
"I've got some bad news for you." Jack said facing Riley.
TBC……………………………….
