They returned to the car but once they got in, Mae paused Dean's hand as he moved to start the car. They needed more of a plan, she thought, more information at the very least. "Call Sam."
Dean looked back over at her. "He's fine."
"You know through your psychic connection" she said, words dripping with sarcasm, "but that's not my point, he has all my gear that isn't my knife or back at the motel. I want my own stuff."
"Separation anxiety?"
Her lips pursed in thought. "If that's what you want to call it."
"I've got you covered, Red."
"Oh good, I was hoping to use your fake IDs. As long as everyone is really drunk and squints, they'll think I look like you or your brother."
Dean shrugged. "I bet you could fake it. C'mon, you're not as touchy as Sammy about... the sketchy parts of the job. Dressed like that with that top bitch attitude, you can get in anywhere, even with using someone else's fake."
"Well, that's just a dumb risk with zero reward. Listen, I want to figure this thing out, not get hung up because of taking a stupid chance we didn't have to take. That's not my version of fun. I'm already working a way I don't like to work, so just cut me a break."
If she wasn't right, Dean might have teased her over that. instead, he just sighed. "Yeah, okay. I have an idea of what your version of fun is."
His tone turned slow and languid at that. While Mae smirked, she cleared her throat and looked back out the window on her side of the car. "About that..."
"Gotta call Sammy, right?"
Dean didn't need her to go further, knew she was about to balk because they were pack to ta place of doubt around her feelings, around his, around everything. He had no interest in any sort of relationship talk. He hoped they could just keep doing what they were doing; hunting, having unexpectedly mind-bending sex, and spending time with someone else to talk to who wasn't Sam. It was a good system. But those two words told him all he needed to know about her thoughts. He knew he couldn't be lucky enough to keep the talk at bay forever. But for now, he'd do his best to try right now.
Mae tried to keep her face neutral when Dean deflected and when he didn't put the call on speakerphone. She tried to keep from looking over at him every time he only gave a one-word answer. She watched his fingers drum lightly on the steering wheel. It wasn't a nervous gesture. It was either a sign that he was thinking about what his brother was telling him or just a mindless action but there wasn't anything she thought she should read into it.
This felt like going through the fact-finding part of this job all over again and she found it eminently more boring the second time around, especially since she was always tethered to one of the boys. Of course, she didn't have a better idea. However, she now believed she wasn't the primary target of this creature. What she was, she hadn't figured out yet.
There had been plenty of opportunities for this creature to kill her. Even with Sam and Dean present, it easily could have drained her energy. Hell, she though, she had been cuffed to the bed, with little chance to easily escape; it could have slashed her throat and let her bleed out before either Sam or Dean could have done anything to save her. She could have been dead before either man woke up. That would have been good revenge, if that's what it was after. But that's not what happened. It left her knocked out but relatively unharmed. Then it went after Sam instead. Was it interrupted or had it only planned to take enough to bring him down for a few minutes? Even with her memories, she wasn't certain she would have been able to make total sense out of what was going on. This didn't follow the same patterns of the last kitsune she'd encountered. Why was this one different?
Dean would tell her they were looking for something different, but what? If he knew, he would have named it. Deflection was one way he tried to protect her. She knew that's why he kept trying to float it since she didn't appear to be possessed and the other methods to take care of a kitsune weren't good ones. So, he tried to protect her. From what wasn't always clear, but she could admit, there was comfort in his commitment to the idea that she wasn't responsible for what was happening.
It was hardly the first time she thought she was out of her depth on this one. If she hadn't broken down and called Dean, what would have happened, she wondered? If she had figured this out once before and had reasoned that alcohol and skimpy clothes might prevent the kitsune from possessing her or make it impossible for it to go unnoticed was correct, then perhaps nothing would have happened. Maybe it would have lost interest and moved on to another target. If she was wrong, maybe she was only delaying the inevitable and was only giving it the chance to strike and kill her. Mae sighed and shook her head. She felt like she had dozens of answers but none of the right questions.
Dean cleared his throat, drawing her attention. She wondered how long she had been lost in thought after he hung up. It wasn't as if he had been particularly talkative. "What?"
"Sam wants to meet up." Dean said, turning the key in the ignition, rewarded with the toothy growl of the engine.
"That's all he said?"
He frowned. "Maybe he should tell you."
"If he told you, just tell me. It's not going to be better delivered by your brother while I worry myself."
"Both guys are doing better. The doctors think they'll recover."
"Good. But?"
She watched as his lips pressed tightly for a moment before he pursed them. "Maybe Sammy is just...whatever happened to him this morning spooked him so maybe he was leading them into telling him what he wanted."
"Which means," she concluded from Dean's hesitation and over rationalization, "he thinks it's me or something that looked like me. The other victims confirmation that for him."
Dean didn't deny it, not totally. "It's not you. It couldn't have been you. Not totally. You were in bed when Sam was attacked."
"But it's connected to me and, I guess what your brother told you is, both guys described something similar enough to what happened to him that he's sure they're all connected. I doubt he would have given them the details he knew that would make this seem like an attack rather than... something else."
He didn't think Mae overheard the conversation, but she was smart enough to figure it out, even without his evasion. Dean found it difficult to treat this like a regular case, with her as a regular victim but just has hard to see her as a capable hunter. Not because of the mistakes they had made so far but because he so desperately wanted to save her. She was right, she was connected somehow and that meant she was the best link to the kitsune. Finding it and stopping it meant putting her at risk.
"Well...this doesn't make sense to Sam either. It doesn't seem to be draining any one enough to kill them, this time but... there isn't anything really connecting these dudes either, except for the fact that they'll follow a strange redhead into a back alley."
Mae's eyebrow quirked, a cocky grin turning the corners of her mouth. "I guess you'd better watch out, Deany."
"Hey, I only follow one specific redhead these days."
She wasn't sure that was remotely true but didn't let that thought creep into her laugh. "Seems like this one might look like me, which means you're not remotely safe."
"Yeah well, it was dark; Sam didn't get a good look. He got an impression. And then he got a description from two dudes who weren't exactly sober at the time they were attacked. Besides, I'm certain I can tell the difference between you and some iMaetation."
Mae shook her head. "That was bad. I can't believe I keep sleeping with you. What you just said might have been the worst thing that happened here so far."
Sam cleared his throat, bracing and arm against the roof of the Impala as he leaned down to speak through the open passenger side window. "I don't think you should go in."
Sam's statement earned a huff from the redhead in reply. The trio had met near the local police station, down the street rather than the parking lot, per Sam's request. Dean studied her, knowing exactly how badly she wanted an answer, any answer and how close it seemed, if they just made the right choice or asked the right questions. He watched her graceful hands slide over the cheap fabric of the newly purchased slacks. There was tension there, he thought. Instinctively, he reached over to still her hand, comfort her. The gesture stopped just as his hand started to move. Being told no had set her on edge, not undeservedly, he thought but it was an ultimately unproductive feeling. With Mae, there was always a risk of making it worse by treating her more like a girlfriend than a hunter.
Sam cleared his throat. "You match the description the victims gave. I mean, I'd think it was you, based on what they said."
"C'mon, that's crazy. There's more than one redhead in the world. I'm hardly that memorable-"
"Just trust me on this, okay?"
Mae huffed at Sam's interruption and leaned back against the seat, crossing her arms. Dean had to shift his eyes away from her and suppress the amused curve that threatened to take over his lips as saw her start to pout and fight the urge. A laugh from him would only fuel the fire.
"Maybe you're not the most objective one of us to handle this." Mae said.
"And you are?" Sam countered, "Listen, I can handle this, okay?" He then tossed a folder in Mae's lap. "Why don't you and Dean go back to the motel and see if there's any more you can find on the other victims, maybe try to predict who this thing might go after next."
Mae opened the file and flipped through the pages inside. She doubted there was much of a trail in that information, just more details. But maybe there was something. It was a task she could focus on that would save her from an argument with one or both of the brothers. "Yeah fine."
Mae sat at the motel kitchenette table with her laptop. Maybe she could find something, a strand of connection between the victims, or her, or something. She was certain it wasn't her, just something that looked like her. Maybe. Her huff brought Dean's attention back to her face. He set a mug down beside her, taking the seat across from her.
"I don't get it Dean. These guys are just normal guys. Nothing like the ones the last kitsune was taking out. Those guys were abusive assholes. These ones are just..." she sighed, "boring, horny guys."
"And the last kitsune you dealt with didn't just drain a little and leave. This could be a different pattern?"
"It obviously is and... don't take this the wrong way but, do we even need to do something? If these guys aren't dying, you could say this is just an extreme lesson in not letting your dick lead you around."
"I might agree with you if you weren't blacking out during all of this. Besides, people aren't safe. Shouldn't we do something to keep people safe? What if this turns from just a little sip to something more dangerous and we could have stopped it? Or what if it just follows you to the next place?"
She waved the idea away with a flick of her wrist, taking the cup of coffee with her other hand. She sipped as she leaned back in the chair. "I know, I know. But...that means we have to catch this thing in action."
"Maybe Sam will find something better after talking to the cops."
Sam had not found anything more useful after an hour at the local police station. There wasn't anything like a pattern in their files. The reports of the men falling ill hadn't merited anything in the way of a report, which was unsurprising. The three hunters were looking for connections and coming up short. It was impossible for anyone not looking to find what threads they had.
"So, we're pretty much where we started." Dean sighed."
"The way I see it," Sam said, pulling out a chair to join the other two hunters at the small, circular table, "Either we gotta catch it while it's doing whatever it does with her." He gestured at Mae, "Or, if we fail there, then wherever it's going to feed. On that count, we might have found a little luck since both guys were attacked in the same bar."
"No. We're not going to let this thing take her or use her." Dean said sternly.
"I don't think we have a choice, not if we want to stop it. Even if we left, maybe it just follows here and this start all over again. We might as well make our stand here. We've done this sort of thing before."
"But not with her."
It was not the most dangerous thing they'd ever done but Dean was being too protective this time. She knew it. Sam knew it. And Dean probably knew it too. Mae quieted any other protest from him with a hand over his.
"Okay, her is right here," Mae said, "and as much as I have a say in anything that's happened on this job, I have a say in this." She turned from Dean to Sam. "The best plan you boys have come up with is to use me as bait and wait for this thing?"
"Basically." Sam said reluctantly.
Mae frowned. "Yeah well, I wish I could say I came up with something better. Or worse. Or anything else."
Sam offered a small shrug. "Well, the good news is the worst thing that seems to happen is you seem pretty hungover."
"Which is a joy. So, what do you have in mind?" Mae asked.
