hello there, everyone. thank you all so much for the great reviews, they really make my day. :) this chapter turned out to be pretty long, so i hope you all enjoy it.
NOT ALL AS IT SEEMS
Chapter 5
Sam and Dean sat silently in the car, the impala parked just out of site of the Robinson's home. They were all out in the front yard; mother, father, dog, and baby Jake. There was no doubt in either brother's mind when they saw the little kid; they were definitely dealing with a changeling. The two kids looked exactly the same, right down to their bright blue eyes. The only difference was that the Changeling wore a devilish grin, while the real Jake had had nothing but a happy smile on his face the entire time they were with him. It wasn't much, but it was enough to set off alarm bells in Sam's head.
The Changeling wasn't a baby, it was a creature, and it knew full well what it was doing. It was playing with the family, toying with them, and in a few short days, it was going to kill them. Kerri was right, their first priority had to be to get the Changeling away from the parents. They would just have to worry about the Korrigan, and bringing Jake back later, because he refused to let another child become an orphan. They had all been through too much, had all lost too much, watched as their families vanished into the darkness that was all around them, and Sam wasn't about to let that happen again, to anyone.
"She's not answering, Sam." Dean spoke, pulling Sam back from his thoughts. Dean had been trying to call Kerri for the past several hours, the phone switching to voicemail each time.
"I'm sure she's fine, Dean."
"I just can't shake this feeling, Sammy."
"Look, lets just focus on the family, we'll try her again in a little bit."
"Yeah, fine."
"What do you think we should do?" He asked, turning to face his brother, Dean still staring out the window.
"Grab him at night."
"Whoa, dude, did you actually read anything about the changelings?"
"Yeah, of course."
Sam just raised his eyebrows, knowing full well that his brother hadn't even looked at the papers.
"Well, I had two geeks with me, I figured I'd be filled in. So really, you and Kerri have only yourselves to blame."
"Whatever, Dean."
"So, what am I missing?"
"Changelings have the strength of like, ten men."
"I thought that was a Korrigan."
"That one has the strength of two."
"Man, this is so confusing. Why can't the mythical creatures play with their own kind?"
"Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?"
"Huh?"
"You can't just pick it up like a regular kid, it's gonna throw you around the room."
"Yeah, that wouldn't work. Is there anything in the research that says how to get rid of them?"
Sam didn't say anything. The whole in his jeans suddenly seemed like the most interesting thing he had seen in quite some time, his eyes never leaving the spot. He could feel his older brother's gaze burning through him, Dean remaining silent, but still undoubtedly studying the man beside him.
"What?" Dean asked; but Sam only mumbled in return. "Dude, spit it out."
"Changelings are smart." Sam began, choosing his words carefully. He really didn't want his brother to go flying off the handle when he heard what all his 'geek-boy research' had found. "Smarter than babies should be."
"So I've gathered."
"Well, legend says that once you trick it into revealing itself, they leave."
"They just say, 'oops, I'm busted' and head out the door?" Dean asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Something like that."
"Then how do you trick them?"
Sam looked up at the question, his eyes imploring, his mind telling his mouth to just shut the hell up now and save himself. But Sam knew his brother wouldn't take 'never mind' for an answer. "You have to brew beer in an acorn."
Dean looked like he was trying to laugh and scowl at the same time, the corners of his mouth twitching as he searched for his voice. Sam would have thought it was funny, if it wasn't directed at him.
"We have to what?" Dean asked, his voice amazingly level given the fit of laughter Sam knew was trying to hold in.
"The stories say that if you brew beer in an acorn the Changeling says 'in all my years I have never seen such a sight'. Then, realizing its true identify was revealed, it left."
"Wait, wait, wait. What's it say again?" Dean smiled, his laughter winning out.
In all honesty, it was good to see his big brother smile, good to see him laugh. Their lives had become so hard over the past several years, life spiraling away from them so fast, that Sam was afraid he would lose his grip on it entirely. So, when he and his brother could find these rare moments of humor, he usually embraced them; that was, when they weren't directed at him.
"Would you stop being an ass."
"Oh come on, Sammy. You just told me that the way to smoke out baddie was to cook booze in an acorn. How the hell can I not laugh?"
"It's true."
"That makes it even better." Dean laughed, his eyes bright. "So, Sam." Dean began. Still smirking despite his serious tone. "Does it have to be a stout or a lager?"
"You're a freaking jerk."
"I'm just asking. Because, you know, I'd hate to go to all that trouble and find out it wasn't to my man's taste."
"Could we focus here?"
"No."
"Dean."
"Please tell me you have a whole bag of acorns and hops in here somewhere." Dean smiled, rummaging around in the back seat of the impala.
"Of course I don't, Dean." Sam frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. But that only seemed to increase his brother's hysterics.
"Oh man, you're totally gonna hunt that stuff down, aren't you?"
"I wanted to at least make sure it was a changeling first. Before, you know." Sam gestured towards the creature in one final attempt to save himself. But Dean just laughed harder, sliding down into the seat.
"Oh my god, Sam. I totally wanna do this."
"Dude, I'm sure we can do something else. Besides, it's not even possible to brew beer in an acorn."
"Please, please tell me that you've tried."
"I'm not having this conversation anymore."
"Aw, Sammy." Dean began a few moments later, trying to compose himself, the stupid grin never leaving his face. "So." He began, his voice tight, the older man still trying to hold in his laughter. "What you're telling me is that we gotta trick the thing into revealing itself."
"Yes."
"Is there a way to do it that's, you know….. Physically possible."
"Bite me."
"Come on, Sam, lighten up. Alright, so, you gotta any idea's?"
"Honestly, no. I mean, we'd just have to trick it."
"Well, if it does throw me around the room, that would technically be revealing itself."
"Dean, that's stupid."
"Yes, but that doesn't make it wrong."
"Yeah, but….. It's still stupid."
"Nice comeback. So now we know, you're not gonna be out smarting it."
"Dean, you're not gonna be outsmarting it either, you're gonna be getting your ass kicked."
"Yeah, in front of the parents."
"What!"
"If they see their little bundle of joy tossing around a full grown guy, they're gonna know it's not their kid."
"Yeah, but then they're also gonna know that there's stuff out there in the dark, too."
"Oh well."
"Oh well! That's all you can say about it."
"Look, Sam, if it's a different between knowing the truth and dying, I think they'd rather know the truth."
"And what are you gonna tell them when they ask where the real kid is?"
"That he's safe with a friend. It's not like we have many options here."
"Let's just watch the thing for now, we've still got a little over two days."
"And what about the Korrigan?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I haven't seen any signs of it here, maybe it just gave up."
Dean just shot him a do-you-really-believe-that look and turned his attentions back to the small family, his face an unreadable mask. Dean could still remember times like these, days spent playing with his parents, a small child without a care in the world. It was something Sam never got to experience, a reality that was never his, but Dean knew it all to well, and the younger Winchester knew that it was all effecting his brother.
Dean had been more closed off and gun-ho since learning that they were dealing with a changeling. And Sam knew why. Another innocent life was in jeopardy, another child's future hanging in the balance of their hunt. What they did would effect a child for the rest of his life; would let him enjoy a future with his parents, or force him to remember them in scattered bits and pieces. Their decisions would make the difference between a child's normal life, or a young soul's devastation. And both brothers could feel the weight.
"She's still not answering, Sammy." Dean stated a few minute later, his eyes drifting from the family to the phone. "Something's wrong."
"Dean.--"
"One more night, Sammy. We just go back to Valley and give that thing one more night. If Kerri's ok and we can't figure out anything useful by tomorrow night, we go with my plan."
"Alright." Sam agreed, he too unable shake the bad feeling that was growing in the pit of his stomach. Dean was right, something about this whole hunt was off. "One more night."
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Kerri was laying on the sofa in the back room, her mind wandering, sleep inching its way into her thoughts. She was beyond exhausted, her shoulder throbbing, body weaker then she could ever remember. She had been that way since the cursed painting of Tir-na-nog nearly sucked the soul from her body. It was like she had aged in those few short hours, her body wearing out quicker than it had before, mind running just a little slower than she had remembered. If she was being honest, she felt like she was caught in the grips of a long running illness.
It was like a feeling she just couldn't shake, a constant fatigue that had wrapped itself around her body, refusing to relinquish its hold. Her muscled burned even after the simplest of tasks, and she found herself climbing to the upper floors of her home less and less often. She was wearing out, her body falling victim to an unknown assailant. She could feel it, like a constant ache gnawing at her, stealing bits of her away everyday. She was fading, drifting off into an ever encroaching nothingness, and it was something that the brothers didn't need to know.
She had been on her own long enough, learned to fend for herself. Yes, she had wished, prayed, that they would stumble back into her life, that she would get to see them, hear them again. But it wasn't until they had actually returned that she realized just how far apart they had drifted. The brothers still had each other, still had a purpose, a half decent future, and they didn't need here dragging them down.
All she had left were faded memories and distant dreams. She didn't know where she was heading, her mind only able to see what she had left behind, only able to understand what was gone, lost in distant years. Her life had always been lived in the past, ever since she was a small child, and it was foolish of her to think that it would be any different now. She wanted what she knew she couldn't have, and at the moment, she wanted nothing more than the Winchester brothers.
They had meant so much to her, had been at the forefront of her memory ever since she was six years old. They had been her constant, the one thing in her life that made her feel a little normal, a little less alone. But somewhere along the line they all grew up, and in so doing, they grew apart. They weren't the children that ran rampant around the town of Valley, weren't the kids that tormented Sadie Miller at her shop. They were hunters now, and the children they had been were now nothing more than dust along the open road.
Kerri was pulled from her thoughts by a soft taping, almost as though something were running fingers along the outside of her house, drumming as they went along. She gingerly pushed herself up from the sofa, walking slowly around the lower floor of her house, listening to the sounds. She made her way to the basement door, descending the dark steps, the moonless night blanketing the fields and the forest beyond.
She stood by the basement door, checking the protection charms. She was sure she had heard something out there, running long fingers over the walls. Her mind drifted back in time, back to the watcher, to the disastrous two weeks she, Dean, Sam, and Evelyn had to spend together when she was just eleven years old. But the watcher was gone, Dean had somehow managed to kill it, dipping a silver bracelet into the lake. She knew it was gone, she was sure of it.
A shadow moved by the edge of the house, making Kerri's blood run cold. She was right, something was there. She knew she didn't have time to check the rest of the symbols around the house. Whatever it was seemed to be moving fast, and she didn't want to be stuck outside with it. She quickly pulled the heavy basement door closed, running up the stairs and bolting the second door behind her.
She let out a long breath, leaning back against the door. She was safe, her house was safe, but that still didn't slow the beating of her pounding heart. She didn't like the idea of something being out there, stalking her home. She could hear the fingers tapping on the glass now, a slow, methodical knocking echoing from the front door.
It was erie to say the least. The front door hadn't been used since her sister and father died, the entire front of the house having been sealed off that night. She had lined the front rooms of every floor with salt before closing each and every door that separated the newer part of the house from the original structure. So, to hear someone knocking on the front door was more than a little terrifying.
Reality hit her like a ton of bricks, the being moving now from the front door to the living room bay window. It was the Korrigan. It must have followed the boys to her house. She ran back into the back room for her cell phone before bounding up the back stairs. She knew that the Korrigan couldn't get inside her house, well, at least he hoped it couldn't break the protection, but she still wanted to get to Jake. He was at the center of all of this, and she wasn't going to let him become a victim. No, too many people had been lost in her life, victims of the world she lived in, and this little boy wasn't going to one of them.
She made it to her room in record time, flipping on the light as she entered the large space. Jake was sitting up in the crib Dean had found in the attic, the little boy smiling up at her, not a care in the world. She let out a long breath as she made her way across the room, the bounding that had been coming from the front parlor having stopped as she climbed the stairs.
She gingerly slid her right arm from the sling, scooping Jake up and holding him on her left hip before flipping open her phone. Her right arm was killing her, her already low energy draining away as she stood, but she didn't want to let go of Jake. But her heart sank when she saw the no signal message flash across the phone. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She always had a signal at her house, always, that was something her father had petitioned the city for.
She back up slowly, inching her way towards the bathroom that joined her room to what had once been Evelyn's. Something was off, the house was quiet, too quiet. There was a secret staircase in the back of Evelyn's room that led down to the backyard, right near the sheds. She just had to get to it as quietly as she could. She scanned the room once more before turning towards the bathroom.
But instead of being met with an empty doorway, she was greeted by a set of blood red eyes, a creature standing as tall as the ceiling, its large body blocking the entrance to Evelyn's room. Its mouth was set in a twisted, gaping grin, foot long fangs bared, saliva dripping from them as it licked its lips, staring at Kerri like she was it's next meal. It advanced on her with lightening speed, Kerri's ear piercing scream drowned out, but the Korrigan's blood thirsty roar.