Methuen, Massachusetts. It wasn't a humble town, but it certainly wasn't modest, either. Somewhere in between the two. There were bars and hotels and everything in between, but it wasn't as well known as Boston or anywhere else. It was a nice place to relax after a long night of hunting a spirit that we couldn't seem to find. We'd been told it was in the Desrosiers house, apparently an old descendent who didn't like one of the Desrosiers daughters, Elaine, and tried to kill her on a day to day basis. She'd escaped so far, but every second we wasted trying to find the place was a second that this girl was at risk of being spirit food. Well, not really food, but…it was just as ugly.

I looked down the bar at the dive Dean had chosen to go to that night. He was a seat away from me, hitting on a very unresponsive female bartender. The look on her face amused me. She looked like she could either slap him or give him a swift kick in the balls, either of which would have been amusing to watch. Unfortunately for me, though, she took the high road simply walked away, her nose in the air a little. I tried not to laugh as Dean looked at me, seemingly offended. "What do you expect, dude. You used the 'do you know karate' line!" I rolled my eyes. "Even for you, that's pathetic."

He scoffed and crossed his arms at his chest, looking out around the bar. "Well, it's worked before, believe it or not. Now I have to scope this place for someone else, though, before she goes off and tells all the women to watch out for me. So, if you don't mind…" he stood up and started to walk around. I swear, he was strutting like a tomcat. And it made me sick.

I looked at him and sighed. "All right, Dean. But I'm going to walk home, dude. I don't think I can handle too much of watching you get shut down. It starts to get depressing after awhile…" I half smiled, then watched the annoyed glance Dean was giving me. Yes, that, right there, made the whole evening worth it. I handed the bartender that Dean was harassing a twenty and smiled. "Keep the change. You deserve it, having to deal with guys like my idiot brother…" I offered up.

She smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you…hard to believe you two came from the same gene pool."

I laughed and nodded my head in agreement. "I constantly find myself saying the same thing. Just, give him a good punch if he messes with you too much, okay?" I suggested as I made my way to the door, and with a smile to the bartender, I opened the door and headed toward the hotel Dean and I were staying at. Call me a freak (and there were many reasons that you could, so I would completely understand), but I liked to walk around at night. It had a calming effect on my nerves. I even took an extra loop around the block that night so I could go through the park.

Methuen had a nice park, especially at night. It was bathed in the light of the full moon, Full moon. Take note, Sam. Watch for werewolves. and it looked absolutely beautiful. The fountain had small twinkles of the moon in it, and the fog from the light rain earlier that evening was lifting, causing the fountain to be sort of steaming. I smiled and kept walking, but I kept a sharp eye and ear for anything abnormal. And I was glad I did. Because no sooner had I rounded the corner into the atrium, than I heard a scream from the about a hundred yards away. I reached beneath my jacket and pulled my gun, then rushed forward, to see a woman, cowering in the shadows beneath a tree, with a somewhat large animal stalking at her. "Yep. Full moon. Werewolf…" I reached into my inside jacked pocket and pulled out an emergency stock of silver bullets, unloading and reloading my gun, aiming and firing at the were wolf, then watching carefully for any of it's family members.

The woman squeaked and jumped from her spot, when the gun went off, and she ran around to hide behind the tree. I took a couple steps toward the tree, putting the safety back on my gun and putting it back in my pocket, then looking around to the side the woman had gone to. "Are you okay, Miss?"

She looked at me like I was going to eat her face, and took a couple of steps back, tripping over her own foot and falling to the grass. "Don't come any closer. I swear it!" she threatened me, though there was nothing she could use to hurt me, and she'd just demonstrated that with the werewolf.

I put my hands in the air. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. I'm Sam…" I offered my hand out, realizing fully that I'd given my real name, rather than the aliases Dean and I usually offered. But, I figured that this girl was panicking, so she deserved the comfort of knowing who she was talking to. "Did that thing bite you?"

She took a step forward, but didn't accept my handshake. She was beautiful. Mid-back-length blonde hair, deep brown eyes and a pair of automatically pursed pink lips, and flawless porcelain skin. She looked…too perfect to be real. She even had designer clothes on. She looked like a model out of some fashion magazine. "No. It didn't…" she told me, and brushed off her jean jacket. "And I'm Zara."

Zara. She even had an exotic name. Go figure. I looked around. "Do you live around here? Or, can I walk you home? Just to make sure you get there all right?" I asked as I looked around. Werewolves always traveled in packs, and I didn't find it safe for her to walk home alone in conditions like these.

She looked at me like I was some kind of saint. "Really?" she asked, running a hand through her hair and smiling a little. She was even prettier when she smiled. "It's kind of a trek, and I'm not supposed to be out, so my daddy might accuse you of kidnapping…" she rolled her eyes. "But I'll set him straight, I promise. Thanks, Sam."

Great. Daddy? What in the hell had I gotten myself into here? She was some rich bitch, and I was going to be shot on site as soon as I crossed into her property. I ran a hand through my hair. So, I'd told her I'd do it. I couldn't very well go back on it now. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled a little. "It's no problem," I started in the direction that she was leading me. "So, how long had that…" I was going to say werewolf, but I realized that to her, it probably wouldn't be as…normal as it was to me. "…thing…been following you?"

She looked at me, a little surprise on her face. "Um, since I walked into the park, I think…" she shrugged her shoulders. "What was that, anyway? It didn't look like a normal wolf or a dog or anything. It almost looked like a cross between a human and a dog…"

I half-laughed. Was I supposed to tell her that she'd been stalked by a werewolf? Most people wouldn't believe, or want to believe that. I cleared my throat. "Truth?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder, making sure there were no more late night park-goers. And when I looked back, the intrigued look and nod on Zara's face brought a smile to mine. "And you'll believe me?" I asked.

She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "What you're going to say can't be any worse than what I was thinking, so yeah, I'd more than likely believe anything at this point…" she hugged her jacket even closer to her as a sudden chill came over the formerly warm Methuen night.

I bit my lip and blushed. I don't know why I was going to tell her this, but something about Zara was…easy to trust. I felt she might…actually believe me. "That was a werewolf…" I said softly as I watched a shocked expression befall Zara's face, but she didn't say anything to indicate that she didn't believe me, which was a pleasant surprise. She didn't holler that I was insane, either.

She simply raised an eyebrow. "Really? Wow, I…thought I was just imagining things…" she looked back over her shoulder as we retreated from the dead werewolf carcass on the ground. "And I also thought I was the only one alive who believed that they exist! My sister told me that she was going to have me committed but, I knew all along!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought you were going to laugh me off the face of the Earth!" I looked up and down the road as we came to the side entrance to the park. "So, where to from here?" I asked her, feeling a little less wary of the trek before me. At least the company wouldn't suck.

She shook her head. "No, no, I wouldn't laugh. I've always believed in all that type of stuff. It's like, people are naïve enough not to realize that there are creatures and beings other than your standard humans and animals. But I'm not…I've always wanted to prepare myself for an attack, but my daddy thinks I'm being ridiculous, and my sister, although she knows better than to discard the 'theories,' as daddy calls them she's just as bad as daddy…" she rolled her eyes. "If she had seen what I just went through, she'd sing a different tune…" she turned left outside of the gate and led me down a crowded street.

I ran a hand through my hair and raised an eyebrow. So, she was a 'supernatural buff,' huh? I wondered if she had any clue whatsoever how to adequately prepare herself for something like an angry spirit's attack. Probably not. "Most people aren't very open minded, no…" I shrugged my shoulders and looked around at the people. "Which is why we should probably not talk about this until we're in someplace a little…less bustling."

She nodded her head and looked up at me. "So, daddy is the mayor, so I know just about everyone in town. But I don't think I've met you…" she shrugged her shoulders and looked me over.

Christ, I must have looked like the garbage the cat dragged in. We'd just gotten into Methuen that night, after a really long, grueling battle with an angry wendigo, who had tried (and almost succeeded) to eat me alive. Had Dean not come in at the very moment he did, Sam Winchester would have been history. Well, not history, because it wouldn't have been written, but the general consensus would have been…me toasted. So, yes, I looked like something the cat dragged in, chewed up and spat out again. My face was scratched, my hair was tousled and I was walking with a slight limp from when the Wendigo had bitten my leg, then dug at it, while inhabiting a young child. Basically, I looked a tragedy. "No, no, I'm not from around here. I'm kind of…a traveler…" I wasn't going to tell her I was a hunter. Like Dean always said, some things were best kept close to the heart. I ran a hand through my hair and looked down at her.

She really didn't seem like a…normal rich girl. No, she wasn't afraid of me the way I looked. Although she, in her designer pink top and jeans with the ripped knees, walking around town in high-heels in the middle of the night, looked like she had just left a casual party or something. The looks we were getting were…interesting. To the bystanders, I must have looked like a kidnapper. But she wasn't objecting to me walking her home, so they could kiss my ass. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled. "Really? Where were you before?"

I shrugged my shoulders and half-smiled. "Harrisburg, Pennsylvania…" I chuckled. One of our shorter travels, actually. I remembered going from Montana to Florida once. I swear, Dean had only slept one or two hours in that long amount of time, and his driving, nearer to the end of the trip, scared me to death. But we, and the Impala, were still in one piece. So it was all right. "It's a huge town, compared to this."

She nodded, her eyes widening in an amused expression which I really found adorable. "Yeah, I know! I hate big cities like that! I remember once, daddy and I went to Harrisburg, and I got lost. I had to call daddy's chauffer and ask him where I was…I felt so stupid…" she looked at me and blushed a little. "I'm not stupid, I swear. I just…"

I shook my head and waived off her defense. "No, we all have our moments. I understand…" I looked at the three-way intersection we were at now, and that on the other side of the road was a ledge, that overlooked a rather large patch of forest. In the distance, I saw a house that, from the distance I was at, looked tiny. But, it…must have been huge, in actuality.

She pointed at that very house and smiled. "That's where we're headed. I know, it's a long journey. I know a shortcut…but…it's through the woods, and there could be more…you know, out tonight…" she looked down at the woods below us and shrugged her shoulders.

I showed her my gun and emergency stock of silver bullets, beneath my jacket. "I think we'll be all right, so long as we notice them, and neither of us gets sliced. Not that I'm in a rush, I just figure, walking in those shoes must be killer…" I looked down at her feet, and then back to her face, and smiled.

She returned my smile and nodded her head. "Yeah, you don't even know the half. Thanks, Sam. Let's go…" she walked around the guard rail, to where there was a trail on the other side, and beckoned me to follow her.

I knew it was going to be a long night. What I didn't know was that it was going to be a long week…