A/N: Well, my style of writing has evolved but the story is still the same! .. Did you all like the spice I threw in last chapter? Please review and tell me what you think! And a special thanks to MMarieB for all of her help!

Disclaimer: uhhh… nope…. only Rachel

Let Loose From the Noose

Chapter 5: People Are Strange

'Well, that was helpful Dean!' Sam said getting out of the 1967 Chevy Impala parked in front of the lake house.

'What are you talking about? We got some crucial information!' Dean smirked as he entered the house

'What information? You mean how Elizabeth Winston prefers Dasani brand water? Dean, you're just avoiding your conversation with Rachel.'

'I am not, when the time comes we'll talk'

'SAM! DON'T MOVE!' called Rachel from the neighboring room

'What's wrong!?' Sam asked

'Nothing, you were about to step on my map of the town with your big feet.' Rachel replied walking in to greet the boys

'My feet are the average size thank you very much.' Sam said smiling at Rachel

'Who are you trying to kid Sasquatch?' Dean sneered

'Whatever you say Sam, now Dean, if you're hungry the leftover chicken's in the fridge and that Tiramisu cake I made last night is almost ready.'

'I love a girl that can cook!' Dean said making his way over to the kitchen carefully making sure not to step on the array of papers, books, and other objects scattered around the room

'You did this in the two hours we were gone?' Asked Sam bewildered

'It wasn't that hard, most of the stuff was lying around in the basement, and the books I got from the library down the street.'

'So did you find any information? Because we're coming up short on our end.' Sam said sitting down and browsing through the various papers.

'Actually, I have a theory.' Rachel said trying to find a spot to sit down

'Oh dear lord this cake is amazing! Where did you learn to cook like this Rachel?' Dean asked walking into the room and sitting next to Sam as he swallowed a mouthful of cake.

Rachel smiled and shook her head 'I taught myself when my dad would go on business trips… I got bored of take-out every night for a week.'

'MMMM….' Dean mumbled 'Now I heard you say something about a theory?'

'Yeah.' Rachel started 'Well, at first I tried the obvious connections between them…all the physical traits of the 3 men, you know, hair color, height, weight, age etc. But, nothing matched. Next, I tried their living styles and location. Again I came up with nothing… it seemed like I was at a dead end… But then, I remembered that one Johnny Depp movie called Sleepy Hollow.'

'Ahh, I see we have a Depp fan in our midst's.' Dean said smiling

'Yeah, I had a little bit of a Johnny fetish… anyway, in the movie he realizes that the headless horseman is killing off some of the most important members in the town. That got me thinking, so my theory was that whatever this thing is, it wants to climb the social ladder and take out the top members of the community.'

'That's a great theory... but can you back it up? We can't just go assuming things.' Sam said

'Actually, I can, that's what I was finishing up when you came in. See, our little friend started out with victim number one, the mailman, then victim number two, the banker, and finally with victim number three, the priest… this way, he is slowly putting the town into disarray. The mailman controls the mail, having access to every person's home, the banker controls all of the money and financial states of the people and finally the priest controls the spiritual lives of everyone… all in all a brilliant plan.'

'Wow, that is an excellent theory Rachel!' Sam said

'So, you're telling me that this thing is just killing off these people because he wants to reek havoc on this town so he can become the mayor?' Dean said

'Not exactly, I think it's a demon, and it somehow will find a way to control these three men and take over the town, I mean, you never actually found proof that they died, just that they disappeared and came back different….' Rachel said smiling

'Dude! That's amazing! You are officially some sort of genius.' Dean said

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean 'Nice job Rachel! Now all we have to do is find this thing and exorcize it.'

'Not so fast there Sammy, she said that the demon wants to control these guys, well, I've never heard of a zombie making demon, so that means there's more then one.. and we have to find them all… this isn't just another walk in the park.' Dean said with a grim look on his face

'It never is Dean…. it never is.' Sam replied looking at Rachel

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Rachel sat cross legged on the porch looking at the moonlit lake. She told the boys she was reading, but she just couldn't get into her book. She just sat and thought about the last few days. She sighed as her thoughts traveled to the Winchester's. She was noticing so much about them, all of their little habits. Like how even in the morning or after a swim Sam's hair always seemed to bounce back into shape. Or how Dean would wrinkle his nose when he started to get hungry…She laughed to herself as the door creaked open.

'I saw you shivering from my room and brought you a jacket.' Sam said stepping onto the porch

'I'm n-not sh-shivering' Rachel said looking at her shaking blue hands

'Well, maybe you should put it on anyway.' Sam replied smiling and giving Rachel the jacket

'Thanks!' Rachel said as she put on the warm blue plaid sweatshirt.

'Well, I'm sorry to interrupt; I'll just go back inside now.'

'No no, really its fine, I was just thinking.'

'Anything in particular?'

'No, not really, just pondering to myself.'

'You know, you were really impressive today… Even I would never have thought about the social ladder of this community.'

'Thanks… it was nothing really, just logical thinking.'

'Are you sure you're not a cop in disguise or something? That was amazing the way you saw right through the plan.'

'Well, the forensics course I took last year helped a lot, and logic was always a strong point of mine… as opposed to my lack of brute force' Rachel laughed and flexed her small arms

'You took a forensics course?'

'Yeah, it was an extra curricular and I needed something to keep me out of the house, I thought it would be pretty cool.'

Sam laughed to himself as they sat in silence for a few minutes before he excused himself to go take a shower. Suddenly Rachel noticed a shape moving in the moonlight… she immediately tensed up before realizing who it was. Laughing she looked at the man sitting on the dock, with his bright green eyes and delicately shaped chin he looked beautiful with the moon glistening off of his slightly spiked hair. She saw Dean look back at her with an odd expression on his face. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but didn't know if she would be invading his privacy. She finally decided to confront him. She stood up and slowly made her way over towards the dock.

'Hi Dean.' Rachel said as she sat next to him

'Hey Rachel' he replied not lifting his eyes off of the lake

'Is everything okay? You seem a bit…. Off.'

'Yeah, I'm fine.' He sighed 'Are you sure you want this life? Fighting evil, never being recognized, always on the move.'

'Dean, I'll be fine, this life is much better then my previous situation.'

'But you don't understand, it's not all fun and figuring out clues like on TV. It's killing demons and monsters and stuff that can give you nightmares for years to come.'

'I'm a big girl, I think I can handle it.'

'I just want you to really know what you're getting into before you make a commitment… there's no going back once you pick. Just think about it for a day or two.' Dean pleaded

'Dean, I've thought about this long and hard, I want to stay with you and Sam… I can't explain it, but I feel this connection between us, like it was destiny.'

Dean smirked 'Destiny? I try not to think about that too much.'

'Well, it doesn't have to be destiny, but being here with you and Sam has made me happier then I have been in a long time… I don't want to leave this Dean, I'm finally getting a good life….'

'But don't you see? This isn't a good life Rachel! It's hard and grueling and nobody even recognizes all the hard work we put in.'

'You don't get it!' Rachel screamed with tears welling up in her eyes. 'My life was like a giant storm. I never knew what was around the corner. I had to come home and lock myself in my room incase my dad came home drunk or early from a trip. Or if he decided to use me as a punching bag one night after watching boxing Dean! It was horrible, at least with you I have a sense of stability, even if you move around a lot, I know you will never hurt me intentionally, you would never just flip out and kick me out of the house… I-I-I need this Dean, I need to feel like a human being again, to help others that are unfortunate like I was.' Rachel sobbed with tears streaming down her puffy eyes.

'I'm sorry.' Dean replied wiping Rachel's tears from her eyes. 'I never realized how bad you had it before all of this. I just, want you to have the choice, so you don't regret it later on…'

'I won't regret my choice… helping people and being on the road… I don't think there's much of an argument there!' Rachel replied smiling

'Well, if you're going to help us out tomorrow you'll need your rest… it's kind of hard to set up a Devil's Trap when you're half a sleep.' Dean said laughing

Rachel laughed as she waved goodbye to Dean and went to bed.

Dean sighed to himself as he sat on the dock. 'Destiny'. He thought to himself… 'Was it destiny for me to meet her? To help her out in her tragic life… another person to save. She is awfully stubborn though' he said laughing. Dean sighed to himself realizing he was beat, there was no talking Rachel out of this now….

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Rachel sat in the vast research room, she had stacks of papers, books, maps, you name it scattered around the floor and on top of her lap. She was drowning in research and yet nothing. Not one clue as to what this demon wants. Rachel began getting angry, in her anger she began to hum a familiar tune which quickly evolved to singing. She sang a lot when the boys weren't home. It took away the eerie silence of the large wooden cabin.

'Good morning Baltimore, every day's like an open door. Every night is a fantasy, every sound's like a symphony.' she sang

'Hi, my name is Link Larkin and I'm one of the good kids in town.' Sam chuckled as he stepped into the room

'Sam! You're home early… wow, you've seen Hairspray?' Rachel quickly replied as she scrambled the papers in her lap.

'Early? We're almost two hours late… but we did get dinner, I felt bad making you cook for us every night.' Sam said sitting down next to Rachel

'Crap, I didn't even think about dinner! I must have lost track of time.' Rachel blushed

'Don't worry about it, everyone has their off days.'

'That's to put it lightly. I've spent the better part of the day researching, and I've come up with nothing. You might as well just ask me to write a 500 word essay on Binary Fission.' Rachel sighed

'Don't worry, you'll get it soon. Now why don't you take a short break, we got pizza.' Sam said making his way into the kitchen

'Hey where's Dean?' Rachel asked as she looked at the two large pizza pie's sitting on the kitchen table.

'Oh, I think he's still in the car. He's way too attached to it for his own good.' Sam sighed

'Oh alright, Um… anchovies?' Rachel asked wrinkling her nose and lifting up the lid to the pizza box

'That's mine.' Sam said as he took the box 'Don't worry, there's a plain for you and Dean.'

Rachel sighed a breath of relief as she took a slice from the plain box and put it on a plate. She grabbed a can of Coke for herself and two bottles of beer for Sam and Dean. Sam smiled warmly as he took a monster bite out of his anchovy pizza.

'DAMMIT!' yelled Dean as he slammed the car door.

'Is everything alright?' Rachel asked

Suddenly a soaking wet, angry Dean walked into the kitchen. He shook his hair out and glared.

'Dean? Is everything okay?' Rachel asked

'No! Everything is not okay! Damn rain! It's going to wash away two of our Devil's Traps at least!' he growled, grabbing a beer off the table.

'You made Devil's Traps for the plan that we haven't come up with?' Rachel asked puzzled

'Dean just wanted to take action, and I was getting annoyed of him pacing back and forth on the dock late at night.' Sam smirked

'You knew it was going to rain? Why you son of a b-'

'Dean calm down! You can make more when we've actually gotten somewhere, I unfortunately haven't gotten very much farther on my end of things. Did you get any information?'

Dean glared at Sam as he sat down, chugged his beer, and grabbed a slice of pizza stuffing it into his face.

'Yeah, actually we did. I talked to the mailman and the banker today. And we're only dealing with one demon. My guess is he possessed the three men one by one, for what though... I have no idea.' Sam replied grabbing his second slice.

'Well, that would make sense seeing as the guys disappeared one after another over the course of four months.'

'So what does this mean? That the demon is body hunting?' smirked Dean wolfing down his second slice

'SAM! You're a genius!' Rachel shrieked as she gave him a hug.

'Um, was it something I said?' Sam asked puzzled

'I know what it's planning!' Rachel beamed!

'It was written in the sauce wasn't it? The demon is possessing the baker now right?' Dean laughed

'No Dean, the demon possessed the mailman so he could place something in everyone's mail… This something obviously concerned money, so he next possessed the banker. In fact, I believe this something could be asking for donations to the church. Which in this kind of town is obviously a big deal. That would explain him possessing the priest. And finally, I think he's going to have a large gathering to "thank" the town for participating… or, in his case… kill them all.' Rachel said smugly

'All this from a slice of pizza?' Dean asked

'No, the idea was forming in my head about placing things in the mail and such, it just clicked when Sam said there was only one demon, that's why it took over 4 months to set this thing up, there wasn't an army of them working simultaneously it was just him.'

'Great job Rachel! I knew you would get it! Now all we need is a plan!' Sam said as he threw out the empty pizza box 'And I think I may just have one.'

'No way Sam, I'm not putting Rachel in that kind of danger.' Dean said

'Dean come on, danger? You don't even believe any of the bible stuff.'

'No Sam, it's not safe, maybe you should do it.'

'Dean it has to be Rachel! She's the only one that could even come close to passing as a kid!'

'No Sam, find another way, there must be other options!' Dean yelled

'SHUT UP!' Rachel screamed as she stood up. 'I think I'm old enough to decide for myself what I can and cannot do. Sam, what's your plan?'

'No way Rachel! I'm not having you pretend to be possessed so some demon can come and look at you!' Dean screamed

'Dean, he'll be in the Devil's Trap before he gets to lay a hand on Rachel, and we'll both be there armed and ready… it's the best way Dean, he's a priest… he'll have to come and help her.'

'I think that's a great idea.' Rachel said 'Please Dean, I want to help… how hard can pretending to be possessed be?'

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I would like to give a special thanks to MMarieB who patiently put up with all my annoying rewrites and gave amazing feedback! Please review and tell me what you think