A/N: Hey guys! I'm going to change my updating day to Sunday instead of Monday because it works out a lot better for me because my Monday nights are usually really busy. Hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters other than Allie.
Episode: Skin
Dean pulled into a gas station early one morning for a pit stop. I stretched out in the back seat and yawned loudly. The smell of old greasy food wafted through the windows from the vents of the mini-mart and my stomach growled.
"I'll make the food run," I said, opening the door. Dean handed me a twenty. "What does everyone want?"
"Uh, just a water for me," Sam said dully. He was distracted by his blackberry.
"Sam, you should eat something," I said. He didn't reply. I looked at Dean who only shrugged his shoulders. "What about you big brother?"
"Get me a breakfast burrito and coffee," Dean said. I nodded and started walking to the mini-mart. Dean rolled down his window behind me and called out my name. "See if they have any pie!"
"Ew, dude, its seven in the morning," My face scrunched in disgust.
I walked up and down the aisles and grabbed everything I could buy with a twenty dollar bill. I grabbed a bag of chips, a couple of water bottles, Dean's breakfast burritos, a stale muffin, and three coffees.
I walked back to the car and tossed Dean the bag of food and handed him his coffee. "So where are we off to next?" I asked, sipping at my dark roast coffee.
Dean swallowed, "Alright, I figure we'd hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight." I nodded, agreeing with the idea. We both glanced at Sam, figuring he would have an opinion on the matter. Instead, he continued staring at his phone. "Sam wears women's underwear."
"Are you five?" I glared at him.
"I've been listening, I'm just busy," Sam mumbled. I peeked over his shoulder and saw him scrolling through emails.
"Busy doin' what?" Dean asked.
"Reading e-mails," Sam answered.
Dean got out of the car to start filling his tank with gas. He continued talking through Sam's open window. "E-mails from who?"
"From my friends at Stanford."
"You're kidding," Dean glanced over his shoulder at him. "You still keep in touch with your college buddies?"
"Why not?" Sam ripped his eyes off the screen.
"Well, what exactly do you tell 'em? You know, about where you've been, what you've been doin'?"
"I tell 'em I'm on a road trip with my brother and sister. I tell 'em I needed some time off after Jess."
"Oh, so you lie to 'em," I shrugged.
"No. I just don't tell 'em…everything," Sam said with guilt laced in his voice.
"Yeah, that's called lying," Dean said. "I mean, hey, man, I get it, tellin' the truth is far worse."
"So, what am I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of my life?" Dean shrugged. Sam scoffed and looked back at me, hoping I wouldn't agree with Dean, but I did. Fitting friends into this hectic life just didn't work out in our favor. "You're serious?"
"Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can't get close to people, period."
"You guys are kind of anti-social, you know that?" Sam asked. I shrugged and he returned to focusing on his blackberry. "God…"
"What?" I asked.
"In this e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine—"
Dean rounded the car and hopped back into the driver's side seat. "Is she hot?"
"I went to school with her, and her brother, Zack. She says Zack's been charged with murder. He's been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn't do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case."
"Yeah, but is she hot?" I asked sarcastically as if that was the most important question. Sam ignored me and Dean extended his arm for me to fist bump him.
"Dude, what kind of people are you hanging out with?" Dean said.
"No, man, I know Zack," Sam shook his head. "He's no killer."
"Well, maybe you know Zack as well as he knows you," Dean said. It was a punch in the gut to Sam but it was true.
"They're in St. Louis," Sam turned off his phone. "We're going."
Dean chuckled, "Look, sorry 'bout your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem."
"It is our problem," Sam said. "They're my friends."
"St. Louis is four hundred miles behind us, Sam," Dean said like it was a crazy idea to turn around and drive away. Sam's lips pressed into a thin line, leaving us no choice but to do what he wanted and go to St. Louis.
Sam directed us to Rebecca's home in a quaint neighborhood that looked like it hasn't seen crime in years. Housing a murderous college kid just didn't fit in to the big picture of this neighborhood.
Sam knocked on the door. A woman our age opened the door. She was about my height with shoulder length blonde hair. When she saw Sam's face, she lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Oh my God, Sam!"
"Well, if it isn't little Becky," Sam smiled.
I turned around to look at Dean and mouthed, "Little Becky?" Dean shrugged and put his hands on my shoulders.
"You know what you can do with that little Becky crap," She smiled and brought Sam in for a hug.
"I got your e-mail," Sam said.
"I didn't think that you would come here," She bit her lip nervously.
Dean stepped forward and shook her hand, "Dean. Older brother."
I rolled my eyes at him trying to show off his masculinity. She smiled at me next, "Hi, I'm Allie."
"Oh yeah! The twin sister," She grinned. I glanced over my shoulder and sent a smirk Dean's way. She was already showing more interest in me than him. "You're shorter than I thought you would be."
"Yeah, I get that a lot with Sam being a Sasquatch and all."
"We're here to help," Sam cut us off. "Whatever we can do."
"Come in," She led us inside. Her house was big, beige, and open. Everything was either marble or expensive tile. I swore nothing was carpeted.
"Nice place," Dean said, shutting the door behind us.
"It's my parents'. I was just crashing here for the long weekend when everything happened. I decided to take the semester off. I'm gonna stay until Zack's free."
"Where are your folks?" Sam asked.
"They live in Paris for half the year, so they're on their way home now for the trial." Rebecca brought us into the kitchen. We stood around the breakfast bar. "Do you guys want a beer or something?"
"No, thanks," Sam said as Dean opened his mouth to accept the offer. I smirked at Dean. "So, tell us what happened."
Rebecca took a deep breath, "Well, um, Zack came home, and he found Emily tied to a chair. And she was beaten up and bloody, and she wasn't breathing." She started crying so Sam moved closer to her for comfort. "So, he called 911, and the police—they showed up, and they arrested him. But, the thing is, the only way that Zack could've killed Emily is if he was in two places at the same time. The police—they have a video. It's from the security tape from across the street. And it shows Zack coming home at 10:30. Now, Emily was killed just after that, but I swear, he was here with me, having a few beers until at least after midnight."
"You know, maybe we could see the crime scene," Sam suggested. I tried masking my confused look so that Rebecca didn't see but we would never suggest to a normal person to break into a crime scene. Usually we just did that in the dark. "Zack's house."
"Uh…" I eyed Dean who looks equally confused as to what Sam was doing.
"Why? I mean, what could you do?" Rebecca asked.
"Well me, not much," Sam said. "But Dean's a cop."
My eyebrows shot up and my head whipped towards my oldest brother. Dean laughed nervously, "Detective actually." Dean—always having to give himself a higher title.
"Really?" Rebecca smiled. Dean nodded. "Where?"
"Bisbee, Arizona," It was impressive how fast he could pull that out of his ass. "But I'm off-duty now."
"You guys, it's so nice to offer, but I just—I don't know."
"Bec, look, I know Zack didn't do this. Now, we have to find a way to prove that he's innocent." Sam said.
"Okay I'm gonna go get the keys," She nodded and walked down the hall.
"Oh, yeah, man, you're a real straight shooter with your friends." Dean said sarcastically.
"A cop, Sam?" I added.
"Look, Zack and Becky need our help," Sam sighed.
"I just don't think this is our kind of problem," Dean said.
"Two places at once?" Sam held up two fingers. "We've looked into less."
Dean looked to me to back him up, but I had to give Sam a chance on this one. I shrugged shyly, "We have looked into less."
Dean glanced between the both of us and said nothing, feeling defeated. Dean 0-Twins 1.
Caution tape lined the outside of Zack's house. We ducked underneath it and paused at the door. Becky looked back at Dean before letting us in, "You sure this is okay?"
Dean smiled, "Yeah. I am an officer of the law." She nodded and unlocked the door.
Inside, the furniture and the walls are smeared with blood. Broken glass and other random objects litter the ground from the presumed fight between Zack and his girlfriend. I grimaced and looked back at Rebecca to see how she was handling this. She was frozen on the porch.
"Sam," I whispered, pinching him on the wrist to turn around a pay attention to his friend.
"Bec, you wanna wait outside?" Sam asked her.
Stubbornly, she said no. "I wanna help." She ducked under the police tape and walked inside.
"Tell us what the police said."
"Well, there's no sign of a break-in. They say that Emily let her attacker in. The Lawyers—they're already talking about plea bargain. Oh, god…"
"Look, Bec, if Zack didn't do this, it means someone else did. Any idea who?"
Rebecca shook her head, "Um, there was something, about a week before. Somebody broke in here and stole some clothes—Zack's clothes. The police—they don't think it's anything. I mean, we're not that far from downtown. Sometimes people get robbed."
I walked towards the door where a dog was barking nonstop. I stood in the doorway and stared at the small black puppy, looking around to see what could have been driving him crazy.
"You know, that used to be the sweetest dog," Becca said behind me.
Dean walked over to stand next to me. "What happened?"
"He just changed."
"Do you remember when he changed?" I asked.
She shrugged, "I guess around the time of the murder." Dean and I shared a knowing look.
We went back to Becky's house shortly after we didn't find any source of EMF readings or traces of sulfur.
"So, the neighbor's dog went psycho around the time Zack's girlfriend was killed," Dean and I approached Sam after Rebecca excused herself.
"Animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal," Sam shrugged.
"Yeah, maybe Fido saw something," Dean scoffed.
"So, you think maybe this is our kind of problem?"
"No. Probably not. But we should look at the security tape, you know, just to make sure."
"Yeah," I agreed.
Rebecca walked back, and I elbowed Dean to start talking about the tapes.
He coughed awkwardly, "So, the tape. The security footage—you think maybe your Lawyers could get their hands on it, 'cause I just don't have that kind of jurisdiction."
Rebecca smiled sheepishly, "I've already got it. I didn't wanna say something in front of the cop." Dean softly laughed. "I stole if off the Lawyer's desk. I just had to see it for myself."
She moved to slide the tape into her TV and used the remote to fast forward it until we got Zack's part.
"Here he comes," She pointed.
The tape was black and white, pointed to the front entrance of Zack's girlfriend's house. It showed Zack walking towards the house. When he glanced at the camera, there was a small silver spark.
Dean pointed at something else, "22:04, that's just after ten. You said time of death was about 10:30."
"Our Lawyers hired some kind of video expert. He says the tape's authentic. It wasn't tampered with."
"Hey Bec, can we take those beers now?" Sam asked.
"Oh, sure," She stood up to go to the kitchen.
"Hey," Sam said again. She turned around. "Maybe some sandwiches, too?"
"What do you think this is, Hooters?" She laughed and walked away.
"I wish," Dean said quietly and walked over to where Sam and I were standing. "What is it?"
"Check this out," Sam rewound the tapes and paused it when Zack was looking directly into the camera. That spark of silver I saw? It was his eyes.
"Well, maybe it's just a camera flare," Dean said.
"That's not like any camera flare I've ever seen. You know, a lot of cultures believe that a photograph can catch a glimpse of the soul."
"Right."
"That would explain the dog," I said. "If it saw this thing, it would explain why it turned psychotic all of a sudden. Maybe this is some kind of dark double of Zack's, something that looks like him but isn't him."
"Like a doppelganger," Dean said.
"Yeah," Sam also agreed. "It'd sure explain how he was two places at once."
Looks like this was our kind of problem, Dean.
Sam woke up Dean and I around five in the freaking morning off a hunch he had after thinking about Zack's security footage because he didn't know how else to spend his time when he was not sleeping. Of course he didn't say that, but that's what happened.
He drove us behind Zack's girlfriend's place. Dean and I were like zombies having only gotten about three hours of sleep. At least Sam nice enough to make us coffee to go.
"Alright, so what are we doin' here at 5:30 in the morning?" Dean asked.
"I realized something. The videotape shows the killer goin' in, but not comin' out." Sam explained.
"So, he came out the back door?" Dean suggested, leaning on the hood of his car. I sat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes. I was freaking tired.
"Right. So, there should be a trail to follow. A trail the police would never pursue."
"'Cause they think the killer never left. And they caught your friend Zack inside. I still don't know what we're doin' here at 5:30 in the morning."
"Me neither," I groaned. I didn't even know the sun could be out at 5:30 in the morning.
Sam looked around the side of the building and found blood on a telephone pole. "Blood." I peeked an eye open. "Somebody came this way."
"Yeah, but the trail ends. I don't see anything over here." Dean said.
I sat up straight when an ambulance blaring its alarms drove right past us and down the street. There was no way that was a coincidence so we followed it.
People crowded around a stucco house that had caution tape wrapped around it. The ambulance was there, holding someone on a stretcher, it's lights still blinking red and blue. Next to the ambulance are multiple squad cars. The police walked an Asian man out of his house in handcuffs. He looked to be about Dean's age and sophisticated. I wondered what the heck he could have done.
Dean walked over to a woman nearby wearing athletic wear and earbuds. "What happened?"
"He tried to kill his wife," She explained. "Tied her up and beat her."
"Really?" Sam said.
She nodded, "I used to see him going to work in the morning. He'd wave, say hello. He seemed like such a nice guy."
"Nice guy committing a crime above his reputation?" I said quietly to Dean so the lady didn't hear. "Sounds familiar."
Sam and I walked around the back of the house while Dean tried to get more information out of the police about the Asian guy. Sam looked around the house again and even inside the two trash cans but he didn't find anything.
"Remember when I said this wasn't our kind of problem?" Dean walked up behind us.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"Definitely our kind of problem."
"What'd you find out?" I asked.
"Well, I just talked to the patrolman who was first on the scene, heard this guy, Alex's story. Apparently the dude was driving home from a business trip when his wife was attacked."
"So he was at two places at once," Sam said.
"Exactly," Dean nodded. "Then he sees himself in the house, police think he's a nutjob."
"Two dark doubles attacking loved ones in exactly the same way," I said.
"Could be the same thing doin' it, too," Dean said.
"Shapeshifter?" Sam suggested. Dean shrugged. "Something that can make itself look like anyone?"
"Every culture in the world has a shapeshifter lore. You know, legends of creatures who can transform themselves into animals or other men."
"Right," Sam nodded, "Skinwalkers, werewolves."
"We've got two attacks within blocks of each other. I'm guessin' we've got a shapeshifter prowlin' the neighborhood."
"Let me ask you this—in all this shapeshifter lore, can any of them fly?"
Dean shook his head, "Not that I know of."
"I picked up a trail here. Someone ran out the back of this building and headed off this way."
"Just like your friend's house," I said.
Sam sighed, "Yeah. And, just like at Zack's house, the trail suddenly ends. I mean, whatever it is just disappeared."
"Well, there's another way to go," Dean said, pointing to the sewer in the middle of the street. I scrunched my nose and grimaced. "Down."
Dean opened up the sewer. I leaned over to look down at the deep dark hole my brothers were expecting me to climb into. Dean grabbed my shoulders, pretending to push me in. I gasped and spun around to hit him on the shoulder as he laughed at me.
"Dean!"
"Cut it out," Sam said, lowering himself down. "Let's go."
"You should have seen your face," Dean snickered, moving past me to go next.
"You're the worst," I groaned and went down last.
Down under was more like a tunnel with pipes running down the curved walls of the place. It smelled horrific and it was musty and dark, but it was bearable.
"I bet this runs right by Zack's house, too. The shapeshifter could be using the sewer system to get around." Sam said.
"I think you're right," Dean bent down. "Look at this." Sam and I bent down behind him. In front of us was a pile of what looked like blood and skin. It was absolutely disgusting and I wanted to vomit.
"Is this from his victims?" Sam asked.
Dean took out his pocketknife and held some of it up. It was sticky and slimy. I gagged.
"You know, I just had a sick thought. When the shapeshifter changes shape—maybe it sheds."
"That is sick," I nodded, agreeing with him.
We walked back to the impala to grab some weapons so that we didn't look for this thing empty handed.
"Well, one thing I learned from Dad, is that no matter what kind of shapeshifter it is, there's one sure way to kill it." Dean said, opening the trunk.
"Silver bullet to the heart," I smiled.
"That's right," Dean grinned proudly.
Sam's phone rang and he turned around to answer it. "This is Sam." … "What are you talking about?" … "Why would do you that?" … "Bec—" … "We're trying to help." Sam sighed and hung up.
Dean and I glanced at each other. The life was already catching up to Sam and his college friends. Dean took the liberty to walk over to Sam and try and comfort him.
"I hate to say it, but that's exactly what I'm talkin' about. You lie to your friends because if they knew the real you, they'd be freaked. It's just—it'd be easier if—"
"If I was like you," Sam said with no emotion in his voice.
"Hey, man, like it or not, we are not like other people. But I'll tell you one thing. This whole gig—it ain't without perks." Dean held up a gun with a smile. Sam sighed, took it, and shoved it in the back of his jeans. I reached into the trunk and grabbed mine and we walked back to the sewer.
We walked through the sewer with our guns and flashlights out and pointed.
"I think we're close to its lair," Dean said.
"Why do you say that?" I asked without looking behind me to look at Dean.
"Because there's another puke-inducing pile next to your face."
I turned my head and saw another pile of blood and flesh on a nearby pipe. I jumped, bumping into Sam and covering my mouth with the back of my hand. Puke-inducing pile sounded just about right.
"Oh, god," I squeezed my eyes shut to try and forget what I just saw.
"Looks like it's lived here for a while," Dean said, noticing a pile of clothes in the corner.
"Who knows how many murders he's gotten away with?" Sam said, turning around to look at Dean and I. His eyes went wide and he screamed. "Dean!"
Dean and I snapped around and saw the Asian man that got arrested today behind us with silver eyes. He punched Dean in the shoulder and ran away. Dean fell to the ground, clutching his arm and groaning loudly. Sam and I shot in its direction but we both missed it, which is rather embarrassing. I blame the distraction on Dean getting hurt.
"Get the son of a bitch!" Dean stood up.
Sam and I nodded and ran ahead of Dean, figuring he would catch up when he caught his breath. Sam and I stomped through the tunnel but it seemed that the shapeshifter had gotten away. Sam and I climbed up the ladder out of the sewer and Dean was right behind us.
"All right, let's split up," Sam said.
"All right," Dean nodded. "I'll meet you around the other side. Allie, go with Sam."
"Are you sure? Dean, your shoulder," I pointed. He was trying to stretch it out but his facial expression was the definition of pain.
"I'll be fine. Just go."
"Okay," I said defeated.
Sam and I stuffed our gun in our jacket so we didn't scare the town as we ran up and down their alleyways. We went left while Dean went right. I felt like we covered every inch of this town and yet Sam and I didn't find him.
Sam and I waited by the street corner for Dean. A couple of minutes later he walked over to us.
"Hey," He said. Sam and I turned around. "Anything?"
"No. He's gone," Sam said.
Dean nodded, "All right, let's get back to the car."
"You think he found another way underground?" Sam asked as we approached the impala.
"Yeah, probably," Dean said. "You got the keys?"
Sam stopped, unnoticeably passed me a glanced and turned around, "Hey, didn't Dad once face a shapeshifter in San Antonio?" I was confused where he was going with this.
"Oh, that was Austin. It turned out not to be a shapeshifter, it was a thought form. A psychic projection, remember?" Dean answered.
Sam forced a smile, "Oh, right. Here ya go."
He tossed Dean the keys and turned around, grabbing my wrists, while Dean opened up the trunk.
"Seem weird to you?" Sam asked me quietly.
"He caught the keys in his left hand. His shoulder was hurt," I whispered. "You don't think…"
"Yeah, I do," Sam said.
"Shit," I turned around. Dean was looking into the trunk with a smirk on his face as if he was impressed with all of our weapons. "Me too."
Sam and I whipped out our guns and approached Dean on either side.
"Don't move!" Sam screamed. "What have you done with him?!"
"Dude, chill. It's me, all right?" The shapeshifter looked at us like we were crazy.
"No, I don't think so," Sam glared. "Where's my brother?"
"You're about to shoot him. Sam, calm down."
"You caught those keys with your left. Your shoulder was hurt," I said the same thing I said to Sam.
"Yeah, it's better," It said. "What do you want me to do, cry?"
I've got to say, it did get Dean's attitude down to a tee.
"You're not my brother," Sam said.
"Why don't you pull the trigger then? Hm?" There was a pause. This thing was messing with Sam's mind…and honestly mine too. I didn't feel right shooting this thing when it was wearing Dean's face. "'Cause you're not sure. Dude, you know me."
"Don't," Sam warned.
The shapeshifter paused and I caught a quick glimpse at the crowbar in its hand. By the time I noticed, though, it was too late.
"Sam!"
The shapeshifter swung the crowbar at Sam and hit him right on the head and he fell on the ground unconscious. I had a little bit of a head start and dodged the swing that came my way. I shot the gun but it missed him again. He swung the bar again, hitting my wrist causing the gun to fly out of my hand. The monster punched me in the face and grabbed me by the neck and slammed my head against the hood of the car. Then I fell down next to Sam.
I woke up with a rough headache and a bruised cheek. My back was pressed up against a metal pole. My hands were tied behind my back, my ankles were tied together, and even my neck was tied to the pole. This thing really didn't want me getting loose.
I coughed up the lump in my throat and looked around for Sam. He was just waking up next to me, tied up in the same manner as me. I heard the sharpening of a knife and slowly looked up to see the shapeshifter dressed up as Dean standing in front of us.
He grinned at me when he felt my glare on the back of his head.
"I can't wait to kill you," I growled. It laughed at me. "Where's Dean? Where's my brother?"
Sam grunted awake. He looked at me, did a double take to make sure I was okay and then turned to the shapeshifter. "Where is he?"
"You don't really wanna know," the shapeshifter chuckled. I glared again. "I swear, the more I learn about you and your family—I thought I came from a bad background."
"What do you mean learn?" Sam asked.
I narrowed my eyes at the shapeshifter. It stopped and grabbed his head in pain, grimacing. Sam and I looked at him confused.
"He's sure got issues with you guys," The shapeshifter relaxed and smiled creepily down at me. "We could start with Allie. Daddy's little girl—the youngest of the trio. You make everyone around you vulnerable to danger—always needing protection because you can't handle it."
"Shut up," I snapped. I tried to sound strong but I knew I sounded weak. I couldn't help but think about the words coming out of its mouth. Were these actually Dean's thoughts?
"Seriously. What have you brought to this family other than near death experiences? You call yourself a hunter?"
"Shut up," Sam shouted it. The shapeshifter moved its attention to Sam.
"Ah, don't worry Sam. I didn't forget about you. You got to go to college. He had to stay home. I mean, I had to stay home. With Dad. You don't think I had dreams of my own? But Dad needed me. Where the hell were you?"
"Where is my brother?" Sam asked again, not letting the creature see it getting under Sam's skin.
The shapeshifter leaned in close to Sam, "I am your brother. See, deep down, I'm just jealous. You got friends. You could have a life. Me? I know I'm a freak. And sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave me." It backed away.
"What are you talkin' about?"
"You left. Hell, I did everything Dad asked me to, and he ditched me, too. No explanation, nothin', just poof. Left me with your sorry ass. But, still, this life? It's not without its perks." It laughed, "I meet the nicest people. Like little Becky. You know, Dean would bang her if he had the chance. Let's see what happens."
The shapeshifter smiled and left us alone.
Sam and I didn't speak for the first couple of minutes we were alone. The silence trapped me with my thoughts. What good have I brought to this family? I played by all of Dad's rules, followed in his footsteps, and trained extra hard so that I wouldn't fall behind my brothers. I guess out of all four of us, I'm the biggest damsel in distress…and I'm the one that gets the most injured…
"Allie, you can't believe anything the shapeshifter said. It's not true, okay?" Sam said. I didn't respond because I didn't believe him. "Allie."
"What if it is," I snapped. "What have I contributed to this family other than causing you guys to get hurt or close to killed. Or how many times have I wasted your time on hunts by getting taken by the thing?"
"Allie, stop. That happens to all of us. It doesn't make you a bad a hunter." Sam fumbled around trying to get his knots undone. "Damn it."
Someone behind us coughed, "That better be you, Sam, and not that freak of nature."
Sam laughed, "Yeah, its me. Allie's next to me." I tried turning my head to look at Dean, but the ropes restrained me from doing so. I was relieved to see that Dean was okay. "He went to Rebecca's, lookin' like you."
"Well, he's not stupid. He picked the handsome one," Dean said, which was funny enough to make me crack a smile. Sam's face contorted to confusion.
"He didn't just look like you, he was you. Or he was becoming you."
I pulled at my ropes, but this bitch tied them so tight I felt my circulation beginning to get cut off.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, it was like he was downloading your thoughts and memories," Sam explaining, looking at me warily.
"You mean, like the Vulcan mind meld?"
"Yeah, something' like that. I mean, maybe that's why he doesn't just kill us."
Dean managed to get out of his ties and walked over to Sam and I. He started on Sam first.
"Maybe he needs to keep us alive. Psychic connection," Dean agreed. He finished Sam's ties and moved over to me. "How are you doing, Shortstack? You're awfully quiet."
"I'm fine," I forced a grin. "I'm glad you're okay."
Dean gave me a weird look like he didn't quite believe me, but he didn't press on it. He got me out of my ties and he helped me stand up.
"Come on, we gotta go," Sam said. "He's probably at Rebecca's already."
Dean pulled me out of the sewer and we started jogging to Rebecca's.
"Come on. We gotta find a phone, call the police." Sam said.
The shapeshifter jacked us of everything that was on our person. He took my cell phone, daggers, and my gun. I felt naked under all my clothes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean slapped Sam on the chest, "You're gonna put an APB out on me."
Sam shrugged, "Sorry."
Dean sighed, "This way." We ran down the street.
Rebecca's house was far from the sewer we were dragged to, which sucked because I felt like I was running for years when in reality it's only been a couple of miles. Running wasn't my favorite form of exercise.
During our family sprint, we came across a store that had multiple TVs in their window. Talking in the TV was a reporter standing outside of someone's home.
"An anonymous tip led police to a home in the Central West End, where a S.W.A.T team discovered a local woman bound and gagged. Her attacker, a white male, approximately twenty-four to thirty years of age, was discovered hiding in her home."
Then a sketch of Dean was portrayed on the screen. It was a pretty spot on too.
"Man!" Dean sighed. "That's not even a good picture."
Sam looked around as if any moment Dean was going to be recognized, "It's good enough."
"Man!" Dean slapped himself on the knee again. I couldn't help but let a smirk tug on my lips. Dean would be concerned with his looks right now.
We ran down another alleyway that led us into an open road near a fenced in neighborhood. To make Dean's day worse, he stepped in a puddle.
"Dammit," he cursed.
"Come on," Sam said. "They said attempted murder. At least we know—"
"I didn't kill her," Dean said.
"We'll check with Rebecca in the morning, see if she's all right."
"All right, but first I wanna find that handsome devil and kick the holy crap out of him."
Sam stopped walking and turned around to face Dean, "We have no weapons. No silver bullets."
"Sam, the guy's walkin' around with my face, okay, it's a little personal. I wanna find him."
I sighed, glancing between my brothers, "Okay." They both look at me. "Where do we look?"
"Well, we could start with the sewers," Dean said.
"We have no weapons," Sam said again. "He stole our guns, we need more." A moment of silence passed between us as we thought of another plan. "The car?" Sam suggested.
"I'm bettin' he drove over to Rebecca's," Dean snapped his fingers.
"The News said he fled on foot," I nodded. "I bet it's still parked there."
Dean shook his head upset, "The thought of him drivin' my car."
I shook my head and pulled at his arm, "Come on."
"It's killing me," He continued.
"Let it go."
When we saw Baby, Dean facial expression lit up like a Christmas tree. We were right, the car was in front of Rebecca's.
"Oh, there she is," Dean smiled when he saw his car. "Finally something went right tonight." As we were almost nearing the car, two police cars blast their lights, as if waiting for Dean to come back for his vehicle. "Oh crap."
"Way to go, Dean. You jinxed it," I said.
We turned around to run in the opposite direction but they were there too. We went for the fence.
"You go!" Sam yelled at Dean and I. "I'll hold 'em off."
"What are you talking about?" Dean yelled at him. "They'll catch you."
"Look, they can't hold me. Just go, keep out of sight. Meet me a Rebecca's." Dean helped me over the fence first by letting me step into his open hands. "Dean." Sam said. Dean paused and turned around, "Stay out of the sewers alone. I mean it!"
"Yeah, yeah," Dean said to himself as he hopped the fence next.
Dean and I found a hiding spot where we stayed for an hour. After that, we walked back to Dean's car because neither of us had the patience to wait for Sam to go after this thing. Plus, Dean was taking this case personally and wanted it dead as quickly as possible.
"How come you're so quiet? The shapeshifter didn't hurt you too bad did it?" Dean asked, glancing over at me one more time.
"No," I said glumly. I shoved my fists in my jacket as a nervous habit.
"Then what's wrong? I know something's wrong."
I decided to come clean, "When the shapeshifter became you…it knew your every thought…all your memories. Hell, it even knew you were attracted to Rebecca." Dean's eyebrows popped up in surprise. "Anyway, it said some things…stuff about me and Sam and how you felt about us. It said you thought of me as a burden—that I don't contribute anything to our family other than pain and wasted time."
"Allie, that's not true," Dean said. I knew he was going to say that so him telling me this didn't exactly make me feel better. He stopped and grabbed my elbow when he saw my lack of response. "Seriously. I think you're a great hunter. Yeah, I think you make reckless decisions sometimes, but we all do. The thing just takes your thoughts and twists them to make them worse than they actually are."
I didn't think of that. The shapeshifter wasn't wrong about Dean thinking I can get myself into quite a bit of trouble, but maybe the way he said it was just to get under my skin. Maybe Dean's opinion wasn't so harsh.
"Okay," I said reluctantly. I wanted to believe what Dean said, so I tried repeating that theory in my head multiple times.
"Okay?" Dean asked one more time. I nodded. "Great, now I want to kill this thing even more."
When we got back to the impala, we rummaged through the trunk and each grabbed a handgun and loaded it with silver bullets.
"Sorry, Sam," Dean said as he shut the trunk. "I just can't wait."
We walked to the sewer and lowered ourselves down. The smell was still the same, but it felt even darker than last time. I kept my gun pointed at all times. If I saw this thing, I was not going to hesitate.
We walked into a small chamber of the tunnel that had a section lit with candles and surrounded by chains. Disgusting piles of flesh were on the ground everywhere. We stopped when we heard a noise coming from up ahead. We walked toward it and saw a figure sitting against the wall with a bag over its head. Dean walked over and removed the bag, revealing Rebecca. Her feet and hands were bound together like ours were hours ago.
"Rebecca?" Dean said, starting to undo her ties.
"Shit," I cursed, moving backwards. All I could think of was Sam. He had to be at Rebecca's right now. We said we would meet there.
"Allie, where are you going!" Dean called after me as I took off in a sprint in the other direction. All I could think of was Sam being tricked again by this son of a bitch and maybe not getting so lucky as we did the first time we were caught.
"Sam!" I yelled back never stopping.
I got to Rebecca's and kicked the door down. I sprinted into the kitchen to find Sam lying on the floor bound by his hands and feet again. The shapeshifter transformed back into Dean. When he looked at me, his eyes were silver and he ran after me fast.
I shot, but missed him. I was too busy looking at Sam to make sure he was okay.
The shapeshifter knocked the gun out of my hand and it slid away from me and even further away from Sam. He punched me in the face twice, grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me into the wall. When he walked towards me I kicked him in the gut and sent him stumbling backwards. I dodged his right hooks and punched it in the nose. I kicked him again, sending him into the bookshelf behind him. Books rained down on him.
"Not bad little sister," He wiped away the blood tricking from his nose.
"You're not him," I glared.
Sam managed to get out of his ties and ran towards us, tackling the shapeshifter to the ground. The shapeshifter wrestled with him on the floor until he got the upperhand.
"Even when we were kids, I always kicked your ass." He said.
He grabbed a billiard stick and swung at Sam but missed, hitting the light fixture above the table. It grabbed the gun on the floor and shot at me as I ran towards them. I ducked behind the couch and peeked around the side. He now had Sam in a choke hold.
"Hey!" The real Dean barged in. The shapeshifter got off of Sam to stare at him. It was creepy seeing the two Deans look at each other. Could you imagine if there were two Deans in the world? I think I would go nuts. Dean aimed his gun at the shapeshifter and shot it twice in the heart. The thing fell to the ground dead.
"Sam!" Rebecca ran towards Sam and helped him to his feet.
Dean walked over to me and helped me up. He wiped the blood away from my bleeding lip. "See what I mean when I say reckless?" He said. I rolled my eyes. "You should have waited for me."
"Yeah well…" I shrugged. I watched as Sam and Rebecca hugged each other gratefully.
The next morning, we went back to Rebecca's to say one final goodbye. After Dean and I said our short goodbye, we waited by the car for Sam and looked at a map for a future destination.
I couldn't help but watch Sam and Rebecca interact with each other and think of Sam living a normal life. Sam was friends with this girl. They talked about homework, relationships, and celebrity gossip—nothing pertaining to the hunting life at all. That's crazy to me that he could just turn it off like that. Watching him smile with his old friend made me yearn for him to be able to have that old life back. He looked a lot happier talking to her than talking to either Dean or I.
Sam walked back to the car and we each got in our designated spots.
"Sorry, man," Dean said, turning the car on and taking off for the road.
"About what?" Sam asked.
"I really wish things could be different, you know? I wish you could just be….Joe College."
Dean must have noticed the smile too.
Sam shook his head, "No, that's okay. You know, the truth is, even at Stanford, deep down, I never really fit in."
"Well that's 'cause you're a freak," I perked up from the back seat. I smiled to myself as Sam smirked.
"Yeah, thanks."
"Hey, I'm a freak too," Dean said, pointing to the back. "And Allie is the biggest freak out of all of us—"
"Hey!" I yelled.
"—We're right there with ya, all the way," Dean continued.
Sam laughed, "Yeah, I know you are."
"You know, I gotta say—I'm sorry I'm gonna miss it."
"Miss what?"
"How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?"
That was true. It would be kind of cool to see your own funeral, but I never wanted to see that thing again in my life.