VI
Metamorphosis
"Hey! Remember us? We're the ones sent to save your bacon. Oh, wait, no, we're the ones you left stranded in the parking lot of an old, creepy building in the middle of the night," Lee growled, angrily trudging to the nearest car, a rusty red Honda Civic. Rachel rolled her eyes. "Lee, you're muttering angrily to yourself again," she pointed out as Lee looked around casually before wrapping her elbow with her jacket and smashing the window in. Rachel climbed into the driver's side of the abandoned car, quickly hotwiring it until the engine sputtered to life. Lee grunted as she swung herself into the passenger side. "We're scarily good at carjacking. We should make it a career," Lee commented before they drove back to the motel.
They got to the motel only to find it empty. Lee flung herself onto one of the beds, falling asleep in minutes, as Rachel took a seat at the table, unable to sleep. She sat there in silence for a while, consumed by her thoughts, before the door opened, and a sullen-looking Sam trudged in, grabbing a beer and going to sit on the other bed. Soon, Rachel fell asleep, laying her head on the table.
Lee sat up abruptly as the door to the motel opened. She panted shallowly, trying to conceal her rapid heartbeat as Dean entered. She took in the scene: Rachel was asleep at the table, and Sam had stood, trying to gain Dean's attention as the older Winchester started packing his clothes, shoving them into his duffle bag.
"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asked, and Lee ran a hand through her hair, trying to tame the gnarled strands. "Are you- are you leaving?" Sam pressed, exasperated.
"You don't need me. You and Ruby go fight demons," Dean snapped, avoiding his brother's gaze.
"Hold on," Sam sighed as Dean made his way to the door.
"Dean, come on, man," He said, grabbing Dean's arm. Suddenly Dean swung, and his fist connected with Sam's jaw. Lee jumped up, and Rachel merely stirred slightly in her sleep.
Sam grunted. "You satisfied?" And Dean punched him again.
"Dean!" Lee exclaimed, rushing to put herself between them.
"Guess not," Sam answered.
"Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone?" Dean asked, as Lee pushed them further away from each other.
"How far from normal? From human?" he continued.
"Dean, enough," Lee growled.
"I'm just exorcising demons," Sam defended quietly.
"With your mind!" Dean yelled, and Rachel swung her head up, snorting as she woke.
Dean shook his head. "What else can you do?"
Lee stepped backwards, deciding to let them argue.
"I can send them back to Hell," Sam explained, looking like a scorned puppy. "It only works with demons, and that's it."
Dean grabbed him by the shirt. "What else can you do?" he demanded, shoving Sam backwards.
Rachel exchanged a worried glance with Lee, who shrugged helplessly.
"I told you!" Sam exclaimed.
"And I have every reason in the world to believe that." Dean turned his back to Sam.
"Look, I should have said something. I'm sorry, Dean. I am! But try to see the other side here," Sam pleaded.
"The other side?!" Dean yelled.
"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."
"Use the knife!" Dean shouted.
"The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year."
"Is that what Ruby'd want you to think?" Dean asked, shaking his head sadly.
"Huh? Kinda like the way she tricked you into using your powers?" He continued. "Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. 'Cause it's gonna get darker, and darker, and God knows where it ends."
"I'm not gonna let it go too far," Sam promised.
Dean shook his head, turning and throwing a lamp off of the desk. Rachel jumped in surprise. "It's already gone too far, Sam. If I didn't know you, I would wanna hunt you… and so would other hunters" he hissed.
"Dean, stop!" Lee shouted suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her.
"Stop. Just stop! This is so stupid! Dean, you've got every right to be angry, but you've got no right to say such hurtful things, you thoughtless Son of a Bitch!" She cried. "And Sam, Dean's being a Dick, but he's right. You can't trust Ruby. She's gonna take you down paths so dark, you didn't even know they existed. If you don't stop now, it'll be too late!" She shook her head, exasperated.
Dean stared at her coldly, green eyes hard. Sam looked down, brows furrowed.
"Don't you see? It's the end of times, here, and you two are too busy being idiots to see what's right in front of your eyes!" Rachel stood, going up to her usually impassive friend. "Lee," she said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. Lee shoved her hand off angrily. "Don't, Rachel." She glared at her. "Just—Don't." Lee snapped coldly, grabbing a jacket and striding to the door. "Let me know when you all are done being freaking morons," she barked, before leaving the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Rachel cursed quietly, running a hand through her hair. She shook her head.
After a while, Sam quietly spoke. "Dean, you were gone. I was here. I had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing… it works."
Are you trying to convince us… or yourself? Rachel thought tiredly, plopping down into the chair by the window.
"Well, tell me—if it's so terrific, then why'd you lie about it to me? Why did an angel tell me to stop you?"
"What?" Sam asked.
"Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't want you doing this. And not only that, but the chick that knows all about what goes down as a result of this? Just told us that I'm right, And that this is bad news. So are you just gonna stand there and tell me that everything is all good?" Dean explained, voice breaking.
Rachel looked down, unsure of what to say.
Suddenly, Sam's phone rang, shattering the tension.
"Hello?" Sam sighed into the phone, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching his nose.
"Hey! Travis, yeah hey— uh, it's good to hear your voice, too, yeah. Um, look, it's not a really good time right now—"he paused. "Yeah, okay, uh, well, just give me the details.
"Yeah, um, Carthage, Missouri. For Jack Montgomery," He repeated, writing it down.
Dean looked around the room, eyes catching Rachel's for a brief moment before he turned, looking at Sam.
Carthage, Missouri
"Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Bobby," Rachel hung up. "Okay, so, apparently Lee hightailed it out of Dodge, and is with Bobby now." She sighed, throwing the phone onto the floor of the impala, where she sat in the backseat. Dean nodded. "Well, I can't really say I blame her," he replied dryly, eyes on the road.
"I can't believe it," Sam said after a minute. "Mom? A hunter?"
Dean nodded. "Wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it myself," he answered quietly.
He chuckled softly. "Man, that woman could kick some ass. I mean, she almost took me down."
"How'd she look? I mean, was she happy?" Sam asked. Rachel listened quietly from the back seat.
"Man, she was awesome. You know, funny and smart, so hopeful," he nodded, looking at Sam sadly.
"Dad, too. 'Till of course—"he trailed off, and Sam sighed.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Nothing… It's just, our parents, and now we find out our grandparents, too? Our whole family, murdered, and for what? So yellow eyes could get in my nursery and bleed in my mouth?"
Dean looked confused.
"Sam, I never said anything about demon blood…. You knew about that?"
"Yeah… for about a year."
"A whole year!" Dean repeated.
Rachel winced, scrunching up her face as she listened to the conversation.
"I should have told you. I'm sorry," Sam responded.
"You've been saying that a lot lately, Sam."
Sam looked down guiltily.
"But whatever," Dean smiled sarcastically. "You don't wanna tell me, you don't have to. It's fine."
"Dean—
Whatever." Sam shook his head.
Rachel exhaled. This is gonna be a long drive, she thought, leaning back.
"You sure that's him?" Dean asked, lowering the binoculars.
"Only Jack Montgomery in town," Sam confirmed.
Rachel took the binoculars from Dean, who grunted in annoyance, peering through them.
"Oh, that's him, alright… God, I hate this episode," She spoke, handing the binoculars to Dean again.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, like Travis said, it's gonna be weird. And by weird, I mean he's gonna start craving long pig," Rachel explained.
"The hell is long pig?" he asked incredulously, as Sam exhaled.
"She means human flesh," Sam answered, and Dean paused.
"And that is my word of the day," he announced, and Rachel laughed.
"He's what's called a Rougarou," Rachel continued.
"A Rougarou? Is that made up?" Dean turned to Sam. "That sounds made up."
Rachel shook her head. "Unfortunately, it's not. They start out as humans, craving pretty much everything. But they've got a hunger for human, rotting teeth and this really clammy, veiny skin by the end of it," she shuddered.
"So, what, they go through some kind of metamorphosis?" Sam asked, and Rachel nodded.
"I'm not an expert on it, so we'll have to talk to Travis to find out how to kill it, but I'm pretty sure you've got to burn 'em," she finished, pleased that she remembered most of the details.
"Well, that's all well and good, but how do we know this Montgomery guy is even one of these things?" Dean questioned, and Rachel grimaced, looking back at the house. "See for yourself."
Dean and Sam raised their binoculars, looking disgusted as they watched the man tear open a package of raw ground beef and eat it savagely.
"I'd say that qualifies as weird," Sam remarked.
They entered the motel room and stopped. Rachel, not paying attention, ran into Sam, who reached back to steady her as Dean exclaimed, "Travis! See, Sam. Told you we should have hid the beer," he remarked as the short, balding man stood, smiling.
"Smartass. Get over here!" He laughed, hugging Dean. Rachel smiled as he then pulled Sam in for a quick embrace.
"Good to see you!" he said.
"You too, Travis," The boys responded, beaming.
"Man, you got tall, kid," he chuckled, looking up at Sam, who laughed.
"How long has it been?" He questioned.
"Oh, it's got to be 10 years." He answered. Rachel stepped forward, close to Sam.
Travis nodded. "And who is this lovely young lady?" He asked, turning to Rachel, who blushed.
"I'm Rachel," she grinned, shaking his hand.
"Ah, well, she's quite the looker," he commented, looking to Sam. Rachel blushed harder.
"Oh, we're not… it's not like that—"He began.
"She's just another hunter. She was working a case with us in South Dakota," Dean cut in.
Travis nodded. "Oh, I see. Gosh, it's been too long. I mean, look at you—grown men. John would have been damn proud of you—sticking together like this."
"Yeah. Yeah, we're as thick as thieves. Nothing more important than family." Dean commented.
Travis went to sit at the table. "Sorry I'm late to the dance. Thanks for helping out an old man. I'm a little, uh short-handed," he joked, raising his cast.
"Of course," Rachel smiled.
"So! Did you track down Montgomery?"
"Yeah, we found him at his home," Sam piped.
"And?"
"Well, he had a hell of a case of the munchies, topped off with a burger he forgot to cook," Dean added dryly.
Rachel nodded, shuddering again.
"That's him, alright." Travis nodded, and Sam leaned back.
"Yeah, Rachel told us he was something called a Rougarou?"
Travis looked surprised. "I'm surprised anyone's ever heard of one before," he commented, narrowing his eyes at Rachel.
"Where'd you say you were from, again?"
Rachel straightened, not backing down. She was smart enough to know not to tell anyone else about the fact that she knew the future, especially not Travis, who she remembered didn't make it through this hunt. Her heart twinged at the thought of letting someone die for the sake of "the plot," she supposed. Then she shook it off. I can't risk messing anything up in this world.
Sorry, Travis, she thought, steeling herself.
"I didn't. I'm kind of a drifter, like most hunters? I stay with Bobby a lot, though," she lied. In the corner of her eye she saw Sam and Dean exchange a confused glance, but they said nothing.
Travis held her gaze in almost threatening way before saying, "Well, they're mean, nasty little suckers. Rotted teeth, wormy skin. The works."
Dean and Sam nodded. "Well, this guy still has a cell phone on his belt," Dean said.
"He'll turn ugly soon enough," Travis responded. "Like a Maggot turning into a bull fly. About age 30, they start changing—bones shift around, animal instinct kicks in. But most of all, they're hungry." He explained.
Dean nodded. "Right. Long pig," he smirked before rising.
"One bite's all it takes… eyes, teeth, skin all turns. No going back either. They feed once, they're a monster forever." Dean grabbed a beer from the fridge and returned, listening.
Rachel leaned forward eagerly. "Right. I've heard all this before. But what if they never take that last chomp? Could they survive, as human?" she asked.
Travis looked at her. "If the guy hulks out, we won't be finding bodies, just remains." Was all he said.
"So, wait a minute. How'd you find this guy, if he's just a walking, talking human?" Dean asked.
"Let's just say it runs in the family."
"Wait, so..." Sam began.
"Yep. Killed his daddy back in '78. Apparently, he and his wife had consummated. By the time I found out, he was long gone, lost in the system."
"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" Sam asked, scoffing.
"Not sure I wanted to. I mean the thought of hunting down some poor kid? No. I wanted to wait. Make damn sure I had the right man."
Dean nodded understandingly.
Rachel was sitting at the table, making mini gas flame torch things with Dean and Travis. "So, fire, huh?" Dean asked.
"The only way I found to kill these bastards— deep fry 'em."
"Well, that's gonna be… horrible," Dean said, and Rachel nodded.
"Yep. Pretty much," she agreed. "I'll be right back," she said, excusing herself to the bathroom. She stepped into the bathroom, flicking on the lights and locking the door.
She sighed, looking at her reflection.
"What are you doing?" She whispered to herself, shaking her head. She turned at the sound of fluttering behind her, only to see Cas.
"Castiel? What are you doing here?" She asked, confused.
"I could ask you the same question," He responded in his gravelly voice as he placed his hand on her forehead, and then there was darkness.