Ok here is chapter two! I planned on waiting until Saturday to post it but since I am a little ahead of schedule with writing I am giving it to you early. Thanks for the reviews and the favorites and the follows. I hope you like it!
"Where the hell am I and who the fuck are you?"
Dean was speechless for a second, slightly taken about by the intensity of the girl's eyes as she waited for his answer. Just as he opened his mouth to speak Sam answered for him. "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean." He said in a quiet, calm voice. It was the kind of voice you would use to talk to a scared animal or a crazy person holding hostages. "You are at King's Lair motel."
The girl's eyes narrowed behind her glasses as she looked Sam up and down, evaluating him. "Ok, well I don't know what you guys want with me. It's not like you are going to get any ransom money, my dad is dead and my mother and I don't speak. Folsom doesn't have wads of cash buried in the backyard and I just graduated so I am about to get slammed with student loans." As she looked at the guys in front of her Aubri couldn't help but think that they looked oddly familiar.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second. We didn't kidnap you." Dean interjected. "We saved you. You were passed out cold in the parking lot with my dog Skip over here watching you and howling up a storm. You should be thanking us, not grilling us about how much ransom we are asking for." Dean gave her the once over before continuing. "And, hypothetically speaking, if we had kidnapped you as of right now I would just give you back because, sweetheart, you look like you are going to be more trouble than you are worth."
"Dean." Sam said exasperatedly as he watched the girl struggle for a witty comeback.
"Well why don't you just take me home then. If we are where you say we are then my house should be right down the street. I always walk past this place on my way home from the library and sketchballs try to holler at me. Why are you guys even staying in such a skeevy motel anyways? There's a Holiday in a couple miles down the road."
"We don't really do Holiday Inns. 'Skeevy' motels are kind of our thing." Dean said as he stood up. "Well let's get going if we are going to get you back home and get out of your hair."
They all walked outside and Dean led the way to the Impala. The girl hung back and looked at the car. "This is yours?" An appreciative note in her voice.
Dean beamed like a proud pageant mom as he patted the roof gently. "Oh yeah."
Sam rolled his eyes as he slid into the passenger seat and the girl nodded and as she walked to the door for the backseat he thought he heard her mumble "nice" under her breath as she passed. "Come on Folsom!" She called. The big dog trotted over and prepared to jump into the backseat when Dean popped out of his seat and looked at her over the roof of the car.
"Hold on a second. No dogs in the car. They stink and he is going to drool on the seats." Dean said in a slightly panicked tone as he thought about the interior of his baby being covered in drool.
"You did not just say my dog stinks." The girl said, putting her hands on her hips. "He smells better than you and he really doesn't drool that much. Anyways, I'm not getting in the car if Folsom doesn't come with us."
"Come on, you can come back for him once we get to your house and you can get your car." Dean said, still against the idea of the slobbering dog in his beloved car.
"No, he comes with us or we don't go at all." She had a determined look in her eyes as she looked at him over the thick frames of her glasses, which were now sitting on the end of her nose, and tapped her foot impatiently.
God she is stubborn and she looks kind of like a sexy librarian with her glasses like that. Mmmm sexy librarian, always a classic. Dean shook his head clearing out any thought of a sexy librarian. He wanted nothing to do with this girl in that sense. He had barely known her ten minutes and they were already on each other's last nerve.
"Dean just let her bring the dog. We're never gonna get anywhere if you two sit here all night and try to figure out who is the most stubborn." Sam tried to reason.
Dean rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine it can come."
"I'm glad you came to your senses and its name is Folsom thank you very much." She said with a satisfied smirk. "Load up Folsom." She said quietly to the dog and on command he hopped into the back seat, settling himself right behind Dean's seat with his big head hovering over Dean's shoulder.
"I sure hope your house is as close as you say it is." Dean could feel the dog's hot breath blowing past his ear and he cringed a little as a glob of slobber dropped onto his shoulder.
They sat in silence for a moment as Dean wiped the slobber off of his shoulder with a disgusted look on his face. Then, after clearing her throat, the girl spoke up, "I guess I should say thank you since you guys kind of saved me. So thanks and sorry I thought you were crazy kidnappers out for ransom money. I watch too much TV sometimes."
"Kind of saved you?" Dean scoffed; they had more than kind of saved her they had actually saved her.
"Dude, come on." Sam said under his breath. "You're welcome… um…" It suddenly hit Sam that they had never actually asked the girl what her name was. "I'm sorry, what's your name?" He asked, turning to look at her.
She smiled widely, dimples showing as she did so, "I was wondering when one of you would actually ask. It's Aubri, Aubri Layne." Her eyes flicked to the side for a moment before she spoke again. "You should turn left here and my house is the second one on the right." The car turned and she looked out the window for the familiar sight of her house. "It's the little green…" Aubri's voice trailed off as they pulled up to where her house was, well, where her house should have been. "No, this isn't right." She said quietly as the car came to a stop and she climbed out of the backseat slowly, never taking her eyes off of the burnt wreckage of what should have been her house.
"You sure this is the right place?" Dean yelled out of the door she had left open.
"Of course I'm sure. Check Folsom's tags if you don't believe me, this is the address." She said as she looked for something, anything, that remotely resemble the house she used to live in.
Dean grabbed the dog's collar and checked the tag. "Dude, she's right, this is the address on the tags."
"This place looks like it burned down years ago though. How could she have lived here?" Sam asked, watching a distraught looking Aubri pace back and forth in front of what used to be a house.
"Weirder things have happened man. I mean we did find her passed out in a parking lot, it wouldn't be too much of a leap to assume this is our kind of thing."
Behind him, Folsom let out a whine, hopped out of the car, and trotted over to Aubri who was now on her knees staring straight ahead. Dean got of the car and followed the dog to Aubri. "You ok?"
"I was just here. I don't understand, I was here. I was in my room with Folsom and I… I can't remember what happened after that, but the next thing I know I am waking up in your motel room." She looked up at Dean, tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. "I'm not crazy I swear I was here. I live here, well not here; it's a house most of the time."
A few tears escaped her eyes and Dean started to panic. He looked over his shoulder towards Sam, who was much better at handling these chick flick moments. Sam could hit her with one of those soulful looks and say something that would make her stop crying. Dean would probably only say something to make it worse. He heard a strangled sob escape her throat and he squatted down next to her, patting her awkwardly on the back. "Hey, I'm sure it's a house most of the time." Nice one Dean, he thought. "How about you see if you can stay with a friend and me and Sam will try to help you figure out what's going on. We kind of deal with weird stuff all the time. How does that sound."
She nodded slowly, taking off her glasses for a moment and wiping the tears from her eyes. Dean couldn't help but notice the startling blue color of her eyes now that they weren't hiding behind thick lenses. He shook his head quickly, quit noticing things Dean, this girl is a pain in the ass, help her and send her on her merry way so her and her drool machine will be out of your life.
"I can call Skylar." She said softly as she pulled out her phone, scrolling through the contacts. She hit the button for Skylar's number once she got to it and put the phone to her ear, listening to the rings. "Come on Sky, pick up." She muttered under her breath.
There was a click and Skylar answered the phone. "Um hello?" She said loudly. There was a lot of noise in the background and it was hard to hear her over all of it.
"Skylar it's Aubri. Something weird is happening and something happened to my house and I don't have anywhere to stay. Could I stay at your place for a few days?"
"Aubri who?" Skylar yelled into the phone.
"Aubri Layne, your best friend." Aubri said, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion as she picked at some dirt on her red Chucks.
"I don't even know anyone named Aubri. How could I be best friends with someone I don't know? Are you some kind of psycho stalker? Because I've taken self-defense classes and I can kick your ass. At least that's what my instructor said."
Aubri's phone fell out of her hand and she looked up at Dean. "What kind of sick joke is this? What kind of hell hole am I stuck in where my best friend doesn't even know me and my house looks like it burned down fifty years ago?" Her eyes were wide with confusion, but then something behind those thick lenses clicked and her gaze hardened. "This is your fault. This has something to do with you and your freakishly tall brother. Everything was fine until I woke up in your motel room." Aubri stood up and was now quickly approaching Dean, murder in her eyes as she continued to accuse him. Her hands bunched up into fists as she got closer and she tried to swing at him. Dean stopped her by grabbing her wrist and then the other when she tried to hit him with that fist. She struggled against him, succeeding in hitting him on the chest a couple times before she let loose a sob and went limp against him. "What is happening?" she managed to choke out between the sobs that were now wracking her body. "I just want things to be normal again."
Dean awkwardly patted her back as she buried her face in his shirt and cried. Folsom was watching him warily from behind Aubri, obviously trying to figure out if Dean was hurting or helping her. Dean heard footsteps come up from behind him and turned his head just far enough to see Sam walking up. "Dude what did you do to her?" Sam asked as he eyed the crying girl.
"I didn't do anything man. She just started crying." Dean hissed through his teeth.
Hearing the two guys talking about her snapped Aubri out of her little sob fest and she backed away from Dean quickly, almost tripping over Folsom in the process. "S-sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me." She said, taking shaky breaths.
"It's fine, it's good for Dean to be exposed to real emotions sometimes." Sam said, earning a glare from his brother. "If you want, you can stick with us and maybe we can help you figure out what is going on. We are kind of good with weird. Plus, who knows, what happened to you may be connected with the other weird stuff going on."
"Folsom can stay too right?" She asked in a small voice as she wiped the tears off of her face.
"Yeah he can stay too." Sam said with a smile.
"Really dude?" Dean asked.
Sam ignored Dean and gave Aubri a slightly strained smile, as if apologizing for his jerk of a brother.
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They stopped by a store so Aubri could get a few changes of clothes and some food for Folsom and now they were walking back into the motel room. The fact that there were only two beds in the room quickly became painfully obvious. "Umm, Folsom and I can just sleep on the floor." Aubri said, looking between the two guys.
"No, no you don't have to sleep on the floor Aubri," Sam reassured her, "Dean will sleep on the floor, don't worry."
"Dean will do what?" Dean asked incredulously, not aware of this part of the plan.
Aubri shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Really, it's fine. I don't mind the floor." She said quietly.
Dean couldn't help but see the sadness in her blue eyes when he looked at her and he sighed, "Sam's right, I'm gonna sleep on the floor."
"Thank you." She said, smiling faintly at him. She walked over to the bed on the far side of the room, Folsom following close behind, and sat on the edge, absentmindedly rubbing the big dog's head as a thoughtful look crossed her face. "When you guys said what's happening to me might have something to do with the other weird stuff happening what exactly did you mean? What kind of weird stuff is happening because I haven't heard about anything."
Dean and Sam looked at each other, trying to figure out how best to explain the situation. Sam cleared his throat, "Well, one of the professors fell…"
"Or was pushed." Dean interjected.
"Yeah or was pushed out of the window of his office a few nights ago."
"What professor?" Aubri asked, concern evident in her blue eyes.
"Uhh, Cox, Professor Cox." Sam said.
Aubri's eyebrows raised and her mouth fell open. "Professor Cox, guy who wrote the book, who was famous around here, who handed me my diploma, Professor Cox?"
"You knew him?" Dean asked, setting down the beer he had been drinking.
Aubri rolled her eyes and sighed. "No I just stalked him from afar. Yes I knew him. Me and Sky took one of his classes. He was kind of a creep and he would always hit on Sky. He always tried to get her to meet with him in his office to talk about 'what she could do to improve her grades'. They guy was a major douche bag."
Dean snorted as he took another sip of his beer. "Hey didn't that janitor say something about that professor always having girls in his office?"
"Yeah, yeah he did."
Aubri nodded, "Like I said, douche bag. I don't understand though, what's so weird about him jumping?"
Sam and Dean shared another look. Once again Sam took the lead since he was better at handling this kind of situation. "Well the thing is the janitor said he saw a girl go up into his office with him, but he never saw her leave. No one knows who she is, no one has even seen a girl matching her description. Then there were the rumors about a co-ed killing herself in that building years ago in room 669, except there is no room 669."
Aubri's brow furrowed, "What does a girl killing herself in that building have to do with anything? It's not like her ghost pushed him out of the window." Sam and Dean didn't say anything as she looked between the two of them, but she could see looks that closely resembled pity on their faces. "What? You guys seriously don't think a ghost pushed him out of a window. That is crazy. You guys are crazy!"
"Yeah about as crazy as a girl who shows up out of nowhere in a parking lot who claims to live in a house that looks like it burned down fifty years ago and whose best friend doesn't even know she exists." Dean said before nonchalantly taking a sip of beer, a smug look on his face.
Aubri glared at him while Sam spoke, "Well actually we did think that it may have been a spirit until we found out that there was absolutely nothing to support that."
"So you guys actually think that ghosts are real and that they kill people?" Aubri asked incredulously.
"If they weren't real and they didn't kill people then I would be bored out of my mind and Sam would be a lawyer." Dean said leaning forward, "And it's more than just ghosts, it's everything from your nightmares. All the stuff that goes bump in the night that mommy and daddy told you not to worry about, worry about it. Stuff you can't even imagine."
"Vampires?" Aubri's eyes grew wide as Sam nodded. "Bloody Mary? Hookman? Demons?" Aubri's breathing was speeding up and becoming shallow and her heart was picking up the pace. Amidst the panic she couldn't help but think she had heard all of this somewhere before.
Dean could hear a slight wheezing to her breathing, "Are you ok over there?"
Aubri's head whipped around, eyes wide with panic, "What do you fucking think? What the hell kind of question is that? Am I ok?" She yelled as her heart tried to break through her rib cage. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she continued, "You guys just told me that all the things the stories say will eat me or kill me are real and you ask if I am ok?" The wheezing that had now replaced her normal breathing had become louder and she looked back and forth between them.
"Dude, I don't think she is ok." Dean said getting up slowly and walking towards the panicking girl.
Sam approached cautiously as well, "Maybe she's having a panic attack."
"No! I am dying!" She said between wheezes.
"Definitely a panic attack." Sam said calmly, going to grab a glass of water for Aubri.
"This is not a panic attack! This is death. I am dying. I can't get my heart to slow down and it is going to explode like a scared baby rabbit. It is going to explode and I am going to die here with you two and it is going to be the worst way to die ever!"
"Dude what do we do?" Dean said looking over at Sam, his eyes now wide with panic. What if she does die? What if her heart does explode like a scared baby rabbit? Can that even happen? I bet it can. Dean's heart was starting to beat faster now.
"We try to calm her down." Sam said as he brought the glass of water back over.
"I can't calm down! I can't get my heart to slow down! I'm going to die with crazy people." Aubri yelled at Sam.
"See she said she can't calm down!" Dean yelled at Sam, breathing faster and faster.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Dude you need to calm down. I can't have both of you having panic attacks. Go get another beer."
Dean took a shaky breath and wiped his palms on his jeans before he stood up and went to the fridge. Sam knelt in front of Aubri and handed her the glass. "Take a sip of this and just sit back ok. I'm going to turn on the TV and all you need to focus on is cartoons and breathing. It's gonna be fine."
Aubri looked at him wide-eyed for a moment before she nodded and scooted back onto the pillows on the bed. She focused on the brightly colored screen in front of her and sipped on the glass of water until her heart rate slowed, her breathing regained some sense of normalcy, and her eyes slowly drifted shut.
Dean took the glass of water out of Aubri's limp hand and set it on the bedside table before he grabbed a blanket and settled it over her. Folsom was now on the foot of the bed, watching Dean's every move and when Dean made eye contact with him his tail thumped against the bed. "What?" He asked the dog quietly.
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A few hours later Aubri stirred and opened her eyes. All of the lights were off and she could hear the sounds of the guys snoring lightly. Once her eyes adjusted to the lack of light she crawled to the end of the bed and looked over the edge to find Dean asleep on the floor. He was lying on his stomach with his arms above his head. Folsom's head was resting on the small of his back and he wagged his tail at the sight of her. She reached down and shook Dean's shoulder lightly.
He snorted a little as he jumped and his head popped up. "What? What's wrong?" He looked around until he noticed Aubri's face hanging just above his. "Oh hey."
"Vampires, ghosts?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah, vampires and ghosts." He kind of felt bad for her.
She nodded solemnly and started to move away. Then she stopped as another thought crossed her mind. "If demons are real then are angels real too?" she asked, a contemplative look on her face.
Dean laughed, "Sweetheart, the closest thing you're gonna find to an angel around here will be me with a fake halo."
Her face fell, "Oh ok." She settled back onto the pillows, pulling the blanket back over herself. "And Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not your sweetheart." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear as she took off her glasses and closed her eyes. As she fell asleep she kept wracking her brain for where she had seen these guys before.
Hmmmm where could she have possibly seen them before. As always review at will but remember more reviews = more motivation to write!
