A breeze blew through the trees above Lucy, and she pulled her sweatshirt down over her head. She wasn't expecting it be this cold. She had been chasing after Caan for a few hours now, and the sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. Every time Lucy caught up to him he bolted away. What was he up to now? Was he leading her or running from her? A sigh of frustration escaped Lucy's lips, and she sat down on a tree stump.

What was she doing? Those 'agents' were probably still searching for them. Even though Lucy had made sure that they hadn't left any clues to where they were going, she didn't know how competent those guys were. Lucy had made it two towns away before Caan had started acting weirder than usual. She hoped the distance would at least buy her some time.

An odd, squishing sound came from the bushes, and Lucy's hair stood on end. With a wince she pulled the laser screwdriver from her arm. Careful to not make much sound, she walked slowly toward the bushes and aimed the screwdriver. A strange gelatinous substance was on the ground beneath the bushed. She aimed the screwdrivers light toward it and took a step back. It looked like skin. Her stomach felt queasy as she looked to see if there were any tracks of whatever had caused this. Nothing.

A stick breaking behind her caught her attention, and she swiveled around with her screwdriver ready. A lanky man stood with a gun pointed at her. His hands slightly trembled, but he stood resolute. A woman came out of the bushes from Lucy's right.

"It's her, Garth! I saw her change in the bushes behind her!" the woman shouted and pointed to Lucy.

Lucy raised her eyebrows but kept most of her attention on the man with the gun. She asked, "What does that mean? I changed? Look. Just stop pointing your gun at me, and we can go our separate ways."

"She's the shifter!" the woman yelled again desperately. "Don't let her get away! She's hurt people. Good people. Just shoot her now."

Garth looked to the woman and asked in an odd tone, "Where's your necklace, Bess?"

Bess bolted into the trees, and Garth followed, leaving Lucy dumbstruck at the turn of events.

"What's going on here?" Lucy whispered to herself before seeing Bess stumble out of the trees from the opposite path of where she had fled. Lucy hesitated for a second before creeping closer.

The side of Bess' dress was stained with blood, and Lucy noticed she now wore a necklace with a bullet for a pendant. Bess' breathing was heavy and shallow. Suspecting a trap, Lucy edged forward slowly and pulled the demon knife out with her free hand. As the screwdriver's light shone on her, Bess hissed, and her face changed. Sharp teeth and glowing eyes made Lucy take a step backwards.

"Did that Garth guy do this to you?" Lucy asked warily, and Bess' face changed back to a human one.

"No! It was the shifter! It tied me up and changed into me. Where did he go? I need to get him; it's a trap."

Lucy thought over her options for a moment. If she let the woman go, it was likely that she would be easy prey for whatever that thing was. Even now it could be a trap. Lucy scratched her head and sighed; she said with a resigned look, "No, wait here, and hide somewhere. I'll go help Garth. You'll be more of a burden than a help right now."

Bess looked irritated but slowly nodded. Clearly, the wound was hurting her, and she was in no condition to fight this thing. Lucy gave her a motel key. Bess looked at her curiously and took the key.

"It's to my room. Over the ridge over there. There are bandages in a bag there," Lucy said awkwardly with mild embarrassment. "You should at least try to stop the bleeding."

"Thank you," Bess said with a genuine smile. "Please… help my husband."

As Bess stumbled toward the motel, Lucy flipped the knife in her hand and put it back in her pocket. She didn't want Garth to register her as a threat. Again. Walking towards where Garth and the 'shifter' had vanished, D'Artagnan turned himself into mouse and crawled into Lucy's side pocket of her sweatshirt. He had grown used to disguising himself as a scarf or tie, but he seemed to prefer to be in an animate form when danger was close.

"Hey," a whisper came from the brush, and Garth stepped out warily. "Sorry about before, but you should leave. It's dangerous out here. Where's Bess? Is she safe?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Lucy said before she realized something. "Actually, she's in my motel room. It's that way. You have to go over a river to get there. It's a bit of a walk, but she needs medical attention."

"Thanks," Garth said before shooting Lucy with the gun. "I'll be sure to take care of her."

His eyes glowed an odd silver, and he walked in the direction that Lucy had pointed. Lucy's vision went black, and she felt the tugging of Time, trying to bring her back into its embrace. She fought it again and ripped herself from its grip as she awoke with a gasp.

"What are you?" Garth said and backed away from Lucy. The worry in his eyes and his tone made Lucy certain that this wasn't the creature that shot her.

"Hell if I know," Lucy replied and got up with a wince. The wound had closed, but the area was still tender. "Now excuse me while I go stab the hell out of that thing."

Garth grabbed her arm as she got up and said, "I'll go. Bess is in trouble."

"No, not really."

"What? But you told him, 'me', that she was in a motel."

"Yeah, but I lied about the location. It seemed weird that it knew that I'd seen Bess or that Bess had gotten freed."

"And how do you know that I'm not the shifter?" Garth asked angrily.

"You're too upset to be shifter and not scared enough. Also you look different."

"How so?"

"More stupid," Lucy said, and Garth gave her a hurt look. Hanging out with Lucifer had clearly made her more… brusque. "Sorry. You're also wearing the bullet thing. Now he's probably going to come back any moment now, and as I said before with the stabbing thing." Lucy took out the demon knife and gave it a wave.

Garth looked at it doubtfully and said, "Normal knives don't work on shifters. Silver does."

"Good thing that this isn't a normal knife," Lucy said with confidence. If it could hurt angels from another world, odds were that it would at least injure this thing. "But we may want to have a backup plan."

Garth nodded and took out a knife of his own. He asked sheepishly, "I'm grateful for the help, but are you sure that you wanna do this?"

"Yup. It shot and killed me, and that hurt. So, now… I'm just going to get even."

Lucy led the way into the forest, making sure to keep an eye on Garth. She was relatively sure that this one was the real one since he hadn't asked about where Bess was. No doubt that he didn't want the shifter to watch out. D'Artagnan started to shiver, and Lucy was grateful that the creature had aimed for her chest. She didn't think a gunshot would kill D'Artagnan, but she didn't want to find out.

A scream echoed from the darkness, and Garth and Lucy quickly bolted towards the sound. One of the agents from earlier stood above the shifter, who was still in Garth's form and flailing on the ground. Garth breathed a sigh of relief. Lucy backed away while Garth greeted the man cheerfully.

"Dean! So glad you're here… wait, did you hear about the shifter?"

"No. Didn't even know there was one until this one sprang up on me," Dean growled. "Why are you here? I thought that you were chilling with the were-church."

"I was, but…" Garth's voice got quieter as Lucy sneaked into the underbrush.

Luckily this Dean guy was too focused on the shifter and Garth to notice her slip away. Deciding to run for it, Lucy kept an eye out for the other 'agent.' He didn't seem to be around. Lucy made her way to her motel room to get her things. Bess hesitantly answered the door and thanked Lucy for her help.

"I didn't do much, but Garth is okay," Lucy assured her and grabbed her backpack. "He's waiting further down the trail. You can stay here if you want. The room's paid for, but I need to leave."

Bess smiled and responded, "We have our ways of finding each other. Why are you leaving so soon?"

"I've got a friend that needs my help. So… sorry. Got to run," Lucy replied and started to walk out the door when her head hit something… or rather someone.

"Oh, sorry," Garth said sincerely. "Oh, Dean, this is our new friend. She really helped us out."

"We've met," the other agent said and gave Lucy a meaningful look. "At the hotel a few towns over. Lucy, right?"

Lucy nodded and weighed her options. Both of the 'agents' were far too big for her to knock down by herself, and Garth seemed to be friends with them. Were they some kind of monster-hunters? First the golden man and now a 'shifter.'

"I've got to go. Very busy, you know. Bye," Lucy said and shoved past Garth only to have Dean block her way.

"Whoa, guys," Garth said uneasily. "She's cool."

"She's been at the scene of two weird sightings," Dean growled. "I don't think that's a coincidence. We just need to ask her a few questions."