"So, you've got video now?"

The view on the screen was a mass of blurs in static green and white, everything washed out by the brightness of the room. When Mae backed away from the camera and everything finally came into full resolution when she turned off the bedside light.

"Okay, now lean forward, push your arms together, and stick your chest out. Then tell me you're a bad girl." Dean called from the connecting room. They hadn't set up audio this time.

Mae sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose. "Aren't you sitting, like, right next to your brother?"

"He is." Sam chimed in while he looked over the video. "Is this the first time you're realizing he's gross?"

A small smile passed over her lips that could have passed for a glitch or disruption in the video feedback. "No. But his gross is occasionally... charming. Occasionally."

"You used to be more fun Red."

Mae could hear the frown in his voice from the other room., unsure how much was teasing and how much was real. "I'm sure I wasn't. So, we're all set up for this seriously weird plan?"

Dean appeared in the open doorway between the rooms. The trio had been able to rent the adjoining room to lay their trap. "Yeah. You okay."

He leaned against the door frame; arms crossed of his muscular chest. He almost pulled off the casual look, but his mouth was drawn a little too tight and worry clouded his hazel green eyes.

Mae offered a halfhearted shrug, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"What's up?"

She barked out a sharp laugh, followed by a puff of a breath. "Seriously? You have to ask?"

"Aside from that?"

He shut the door softly, crossing to her. Mae's eyes flicked to the camera and shifted before realizing there was nowhere to go to avoid it. Maybe, she thought, Sam wouldn't keep watching if Dean tried...what? What exactly did she expect? Or hope? Or fear? Mae shook her head, more to herself than anyone else, certainly not towards Dean.

"Nothing, aside from that. I thought by now..." again, she shrugged, "It's not like any of us have a better plan. Just because this is the one we have doesn't mean I'm overjoyed to have it."

Dean bent down in front of her. His hand rested firmly on her knee, squeezing once and then twice. He rested the urge to draw her closer for a kiss. He did lean in close enough that their lips might touch. Her eyes closed, as he neared but it was clearly not in anticipation. "I promise it'll be okay, Mae."

Her laugh was a warm breath against his mouth. Her eyes opened back up and he swore she resisted the urge to roll them. "Whatever."

"C'mon, I do. I promise."

"You can't keep that promise. We don't even know what's going on. And I don't need you to tell me something that..." She sighed, "Let's just get this thing taken down, okay? That's all we need to do."

He pulled away from her. "When did you get so pessimistic?"

"It's not pessimism, it's realism. I know that I have to leave this up to you."

"You know I've been doing this most of my life. You're not the first girl I've had to save."

Mae frowned, pushing at his shoulder with firm but not violent resolve. "I am not a girl you have to save."

"Why are you pissed at me on this? You don't get to be pissed at me over this."

"First of all, I get to be pissed at whoever I want. Second, it's not you. I'd love it to be you but...no, I'm pissed because-" she closed her eyes, "I'm-hunters can be real sexist dicks, you know. Half the things we fight are too. So, you have to be sharp because one slip and you're dead or some dumb shit dude has to come in and save you."

"You're mad at me because I'm a dumb shit dude?"

"I already said I wasn't mad at you. I'm not mad at anyone. I'm not even mad. I feel stupid because I was too busy working about stupid girl things like how you felt about me that I didn't clean up this job the first time. And now I do need you to help me. I guess I'm the dumb shit."

"You're not. Neither of us are. All I meant was..."

"I know what you meant and... I guess I get it. But you don't need to act like I'm...totally unable to deal with what's going on, just waiting for you to swoop in and rescue me."

"Hey, I know you are. But you're also in a position where you have to trust me. I can't tell you I'm not feeling a bit..." He pushed her hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger at the side of her face longer than necessary. "possessive. I'm taking this more seriously than I would if this were just some normal job because...well, because this thing has gotten the best of you. That means its serious business. And I don't want to lose you. So right now, Red, I just need you to relax."

As she leaned in, he thought he was going to kiss him, but she just whispered again in his ear. "By far your worst peep talk, Skippy. You try to relax."

He inhaled the clean, almost bland scent of her hair. Stripped of her usual perfumes or oils or whatever she customarily put on, she just smelled like herself and the barest hint of generic motel shampoo. He wanted to stretch out against her long frame, lay down in bed with her and pretend like nothing was wrong on any front. But he knew he had work to do that would not benefit from his feelings or desires.

Dean pulled back again. "Yeah, okay. You ready?"

"To be chum? As I'll ever be."


It wasn't much of a plan, Mae thought. It was a guess. A hope. They were gambling on the chance that the kitsune would come for her again, that it could come tonight. Mae recalled reading that they caused madness. This certainly could be madness. It didn't feel like sanity, even by her loose standards.

Even though she was well and truly tired, she couldn't sleep. The encounters with the kitsune did not leave her unscathed. In fact, if they kept up, she was sure that over time, it would drain more than the scant sleep she was able to catch. And ultimately, kill her. Maybe that was the motivation. Maybe it was trying to draw out her suffering. It was working. She forced herself not to huff and angrily toss over to her back. She was purposefully keeping her back towards the camera, pretending like it wasn't there and that she was asleep gave her a sense to privacy.

They had more than enough lore, perhaps too much. A part of her wondered if there was a secret somewhere in the original source material. Maybe if she could just translate it...no, she knew there wasn't enough time and likely, little reward in it when she was in the thick of it. They had no good answers as to why. She had no control, having to rely on Sam or Dean to stop it, and knowing that every time she was out, it was doing something while looking like her.

She squeezed her eyes tightly together, trying to will her mind to stop. She couldn't sleep, couldn't get comfortable. She tried not to move, tried to feign sleep. The kitsune didn't need her to be asleep to attack. She felt vulnerable because they hadn't laid salt lines in this room, and she'd left every protective charm, tool, and stone in the other room. There wasn't much she could do about the anti-possession tattoo on her back, but she wasn't even sure it worked against all creatures that could possess someone.

Her thoughts paused on that for a moment. Was this related? That job had similarities to this one and there were a lot of questions around that, mostly surrounding who set those actions into motion. Who shared that spell book and encouraged the boy to work the casting? It wasn't a direct tie in but after the last year, it wasn't difficult to imagine that perhaps this was test. Or a trap. Or something else. Was Dean right about this being something else?

Mae tried to relax her body, and steady her breath as she willed something to happen. While something happening mean she would likely be unconscious, it was slightly better than being conscious but not be able to do anything. It felt like hours passed where she would have tossed and turned, had she not been under the watchful eye of the brothers. Despite the feeling, she knew she had only been wrestling to find a measure of peace for a short time, maybe an hour. She wasn't asleep when the words came to her, filtering from far away, just out of reach of her conscious mind. She didn't move, not because she couldn't, fortunately but because she needed to know what it was. Was it the kitsune?

No. Mae felt relevantly sure it was something else. Something different. But familiar. She didn't want to open her eyes. Instead, she tried to wish the sensation away, ignore the words, even as they became clearer.

Make. Deal.

Clearer but it made no sense to her. It must have been...what? An illusion? A hallucination? Neither of those were better scenarios than if she was genuinely hearing another voice in her head. Compelling her to make a deal? There was no scenario where that was good. And yet, she felt no fear. She opened her eyes. She couldn't surprise the jerk of surprise that stiffened her body when she saw a face in front of her.

She wasn't frightened, not exactly. After all, she had seen the figure before. Multiple times before but she couldn't understand why. Or what it was. It definitely wasn't the kitsune. It was the old woman. The white hair, the face, and the voice connected in Mae's memory. The other times she had seen the woman, she seemed to help. What the hell kind of deal was she supposed to make. In her line of work, there wasn't any deal that would have been good.

What happened next was unclear to Mae. She had been looking into that old woman's face, somehow illuminated in a way that was impossible in the dark room with only the scant back-lighting of the boys' room. The woman wasn't physically present. And then Dean was there, in her place.

Mae gasped. His sudden appearance startled her more than the old woman had. He was most definitely real and solid. The gentle heat from his hand as he cupped her cheek called attention to the chill she hadn't realize had filled her frame.

"What's wrong?" His voice was low and soft but rippled through with panic.

"What are you doing? What happened?"

Frowning, he pulled his hand away from her skin and raked it through his hair. He paused. "I-I don't know. Something...I felt like something was wrong but... well, you woke up so that thing clearly isn't here."

"Did you see anything? Anything on the camera?"

"No. What did you see?"

"Nothing. I don't know. I never fell asleep. I don't think I did anyway." Mae moved to sit up but Dean's hand to her shoulder kept her in place.

"Guess I'm just jumpy."

The still dim light from the other room highlighted his face. Mae couldn't entirely read what was there. Worry, maybe a hint of fear. But that didn't make sense to her. Nothing had changed since she went to bed. Nothing that Dean would know about. And the rest, well, she wasn't sure that was a dangerous thing. Suspicious, yes. Weird, yes. Possibly concerning, yes. While every time she saw the old woman was alarming, she didn't feel like she was in danger. Whatever the woman was, she didn't think it was there to hurt her. There would be a better time to understand what the hell she was doing later.

"It's not going to come if you're here... lurking. Go lurk in the other room."

"Yeah," He lingered for a minute before reaching behind his back and then swiftly, he cuffed her to the headboard.

"C'mon, dude. Really? Are you still worried about it possessing me."

"I don't know. I would just be more comfortable with a little more time if it tries. Can't be too careful."

Mae did not believe it was a holy necessary precaution but didn't fight it. "You're getting off on this, aren't you?"

"We finish this thing off, then we'll go have some fun where I'll let you tie me up."