Hey everyone! I'm super excited to get these next few chapters rolling. We're going to be moving into Episode 6: Skin, and if you know anything about that episode, you know where this is going. I feel the need to insert a trigger warning for the next couple of chapters for S.A. I won't get graphic with anything, but if that is a trigger for anyone please be aware of that! As always, I'm glad you're here and hope you like it! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Sioux Falls, South Dakota – December 5, 2005
Bobby was deep in the throes of sleep, having passed out on the couch while watching a late-night movie, when a loud banging woke him up. His eyes shot open, and he jolted up in alarm, only to be met by the sounds of movement in his kitchen. He was moving in an instant, quickly grabbing hold of the shot gun he almost always kept within reaching distance, before moving silently towards the sound of someone rifling through his home. He carefully placed each footstep, avoiding all the creaky floorboards he had subconsciously memorized over the years, slowly creeping towards the kitchen. As he made it to the doorway, he pulled the gun up against his shoulder, holding it out as he swung around the corner. His panic instantly washed away, however, when he caught sight of the mess of red hair hanging over the shoulder of the woman standing in front of his sink.
"Jesus Christ, Ella!" he breathed out in alarm, lowering the shotgun as she spun around.
Ariella took in his disheveled appearance, quirking an eyebrow at him. "You gonna shoot me for doing your dishes?" she asked, tipping her head in the direction of his gun before she turned back around and continued rifling around the horde of dirty dishes, organizing them in an effort to fill the sink.
"No, but I about did for scaring the life out of me." He countered with a grunt, moving into the room to lay his weapon out on the kitchen table, setting it on top of the mound of unopened mail and newspapers. "What are you doing here, kid?"
"I think the question is, what are you doing here?" Ariella asked as she began filling the sink, turning around to give him a questioning look. "Bobby, this place is a wreck." She admonished, eyes bouncing around the dirty room for emphasis. "You're going to end up with pests or something."
Bobby let out another grunt in response, knowing full well that since she had left, he had let things go a tad. "You're the only pest that I can't seem to get rid of." He countered moodily.
"Ha, ha." Ariella said sarcastically, turning to shut the water off before plunging in a few dishes to soak in the steaming water.
"I thought you were off with the Winchester boys." He said then, dropping himself down on an empty chair, its old, wooden legs groaning under his weight.
"I was only a few hours away and figured I'd stop by." She responded with a shrug as she turned back around, leaning against the counter as she drew her arms up across her chest. "The car's in need of a tune-up anyways." She added. She watched as his eyes dropped down unhappily, and as she followed his line of sight, she realized he was staring at her hands. She let them drop back down to her sides in an effort to hide the scarred skin of them before moving towards the table to drop herself down onto the chair opposite him. "How are things here?" she asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from her. "Other than letting the house go to hell."
Bobby let out another grunt. "Phones are keeping me busy." He answered, waving a hand in the direction of the mass assortment of telephones on the other side of the dining room. "Yard keeps me busy when they don't."
Ariella nodded to that, finding that she had been fighting a wave of guilt since coming in and seeing how bad things had gotten. She wondered how lonely he must have felt since she had gone off on her own. Before she could voice any concerns on the topic, however, Bobby spoke again, stopping her. "How's that search for John coming along?" he asked, sounding not particularly happy to be having the conversation.
Ariella let out a long sigh before digging into her pocket and pulling out her phone. She flipped it open, pressing a few buttons before throwing it down on the table between the two of them. Just as she knew it would, the call went straight to voicemail. "This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean—785-555-0179. He can help."
Ariella reached out and scooped up the phone then, snapping it shut and repocketing it. "John doesn't want to be found." she said bitterly. She reached up and began running her fingers though her hair then, frustrated by the entire situation. "Bobby, I don't know what to do anymore." She admitted honestly. "We got that message after doing a job that involved a demon. And it knew..." she said, letting out a breath as she shook her head in thought. "It knew about Jess. And it was like it was taunting us about knowing more. And I…I don't get why John won't just fucking tell his sons what the hell is going on!" she fumed angrily, feeling as if the answers they had been seeking were being held just out of reach.
"Because John Winchester is a royal prick who cares about one thing, and one thing only." Bobby answered, having nothing else to offer on the matter. "Look…" he said then, letting out a sigh of his own. "Maybe you should put a pause on all this and just let it go for a minute. You said it yourself—John don't want to be found. Maybe you should just hang out here for a bit and let things settle into place before you drive yourself mad trying to untangle this mess."
Ariella's eyes swept over Bobby as she thought that over. After a moment, however, she shook her head again. "I can't." she told him. "Sam and Dean aren't going to stop looking. You know they won't. And I can't…" she said, having to pause as she considered everything that had happened in the past few months since Jess's death. "I can't let anything happen to them."
"You ain't their protector, Ella." Bobby told her softly. "Those boys can take care of themselves."
Ariella's eyes fell on the messy table as she chewed on her lip, thinking that over. After a moment, she let her eyes flick back up to him as she drew in a deep breath. "And what if they can't?" she countered quietly. "If something were to happen to them out there and I wasn't there…" she said, shaking her head as she considered that scenario for a moment, tears building in her eyes. "Bobby, I'd never be able to forgive myself." She whispered brokenly. "You're right. I'm not their protector." She said in agreement, reaching up to swipe away her tears before they could fall. "But you and them….you're the only family I've got." She said before standing back up and moving back towards the sink. "Now go take a shower while I get these dishes done and then you can help me get my car running right as rain."
Ariella spent the next couple of hours cleaning up what she could around the house, and then she pulled her car into the heated garage where she and Bobby gave it a once over. They spent a while working on it together, him pestering her the whole time about what she had been up to, and by the time dinner rolled around, she ordered them takeout.
Ariella had spent many days stuck in that same routine. At one time she had felt it was tedious….that it made her feel trapped. But now…now it just felt normal….like she could stop and take a breath for once. After they had eaten, Ariella had made her way to her old bedroom, knowing Bobby had left it untouched since she had left. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, her nose tickling from the dust that had been kicked up into the air.
It was a small room, really. Not much more inside than a small twin bed, an empty three-drawer dresser, and a small desk with a mirror fixed to the wall above it. She had never kept very many material belongings- a down-side of living out of a duffle bag. What she was too scared of losing on the road, she had always kept store here at Bobby's, though. She walked over to the small desk, which had collected a visible layer of dust on top, pulling the top drawer of it open. The items inside rattled around as she pulled it open, and she found herself having to fight off the swell of emotions that rose to the surface in response to the seeing the items kept inside…the memories each one stirred.
She rifled around the objects carefully, looking for one in particular. She swiped through photographs, movie tickets, and whatever else she had thought special enough to keep, before finding what she was after, buried deep in the back. She lifted out an old match box, sliding it open to reveal a slim set of photobooth pictures which had been folded up. The faces of a seventeen-year-old her and a nineteen-year-old Dean smiled back at her and she found her lip pulling into a frow. She lifted the strip of photos out, letting them fall open to reveal the entire set of shots that had been taken.
In each one, she and Dean were casting different faces into the camera. She could remember the day they had taken so vividly it almost hurt to look at them. They had snuck off to a carnival during one of the Winchester's visits, spending an entire night eating cotton candy, riding coasters, and winning prizes from the shooting games. It had been the one and only night they had let themselves be kids together…be normal together. She had smiled more that night than all others combined. When she had come across the photobooth, she had eagerly pushed Dean inside, having always wanted to use one.
Ariella let out a sigh as she dropped the photos back into the small box, instead scooping out the necklace that had been tucked underneath. It was a silver rifle caliber that had been strung along a matching silver chain. It was also a memento from that night. A local vendor had been selling items like it. Ariella had thought it was cool at the time, and made Dean buy it for her. She set the box down on the desk before lifting the long chain over her head, letting it rest against her neck. She rolled the bullet between her fingers then, letting the light illuminate the small initials that had been engraved onto it. DW & AS, it read.
Before Ariella could be pulled down the quickly growing swirl of thoughts that had suddenly erupted in her, her phone went off, pulling her from the depths of her mind. She let the necklace fall against her chest as she quickly pulled her cell from her pocket. Dean's name scrolled across the screen and she let out a huff at the comical timing of it. She scrubbed a hand down her face to clear out her previous thoughts before flipping it open.
"Yeah?" she said as she pulled it up to her ear.
"How quick can you get to St. Louis?" Dean asked, foregoing any sort of greeting.
"St. Louis?" Ariella repeated in confusion. "I thought you guys were heading down to Arizona."
"Yeah, well, we ended up kind of getting sucked into a case here." Dean explained with a sigh. "And truth be told, we could really use your help on this one."
"Dean Winchester asking for help?" Ariella mused with an arched brow. "Who are you and what have you done to Dean?"
"Ha, ha." Dean quipped dryly. "You going to keep making jokes, or are you going to get your ass down here and help?"
Ariella pulled the phone away from her ear to get a look at the time before lifting it back up again. "I can be there a bit after midnight." She told him before tipping her head in thought. "Maybe sooner if I put a hustle on it."
"Make it sooner." Dean said in response. "I'll text you the address."
The line clicked dead then and Ariella shook her head as she snapped the phone shut. She quickly threw the box back into the drawer she had pulled it from before making her way back into the main living space.
"Bobby!" she called out as she swiped her jacket off the dining chair she had left it draped across. "I'm heading back out!"
Bobby came walking into the room from the kitchen, wiping his greasy hands on a rag as he did. "What, already?" he asked in surprise, watching as she slipped her arms back into her coat.
"Dean called." She explained as she fished her keys out of her pocket. "They need me on a case down in St. Louis."
Bobby didn't look pleased, but wisely chose not to say anything on the matter. "Well, be safe." He said, sounding a bit deflated by the news. "You keep in touch, young lady." He instructed sternly. "I don't want anymore of this 'I got too busy to call' crap you've been pulling the last few months. Especially with everything going on."
Ariella quirked a brow at him before shaking her head in amusement. "Yeah, alright." She said before taking a step towards him, pulling him into a hug. "Take care of yourself, old man." She said, giving him a tight squeeze before pulling away. "And maybe do some dishes every now and again." She then added, giving him a sharp look.
"Yeah, yeah." Bobby grumbled in resposne, waving her away. "Drive safe."
"Bye, Bobby." She said, moving for the door. "I'll shoot you a message when I make it." She promised before twisting the handle and stepping out of the house, mentally preparing herself for the long night of driving ahead of her.
Ariella hadn't been very far off on the time estimate she had given Dean. Just shortly before midnight, after about an eight-hour drive, she was pulling into the driveway of a rather nice house. She would have questioned if she had the right address had it not been for the tell-tale black Impala parked out front. She pulled up behind it, throwing her car into park before cutting the engine and getting out. Her back had grown stiff from the long drive, but she did her best to stretch it out as she made her way up the small, lit-up walkway. Before she could even make it to the door, however, it pulled open, revealing Dean standing in the entryway.
"It's a step up from a motel six, I'll give you that." She called out to him as she approached, eyes sweeping around the two-story, white house.
"What can I say, we're moving up in the world." Dean said in response, holding his hands out to the side to fill the doorway as she stepped up to him.
"Seriously, who's house is this?" she asked as he stepped to the side, letting her slip past him. Inside, the house was just as nice and put-together as she expected—definitely a change from the living conditions she was used to.
"One of Sam's friends got bagged for the murder of his girlfriend." He explained, shutting the door behind her. "This is his parent's house. They're out of town."
"A friend of Sam's got bagged for murder?" she questioned then, spinning around with an arched brow.
"Supposedly he's innocent." Dean told her in explanation as he led her further into the house, coming out into a living room, illuminated by a small burning fireplace. "Sam was convinced it was a case, so here we are."
"Where is Sam?" she asked as she watched him drop down onto the couch.
"Getting some z's." he told her with a shrug.
"So, what's the case then?" Ariella asked as she slipped out of her jacket, throwing it onto the back of the couch before dropping herself down next to Dean. "Why's Sam convinced he didn't do it?"
"Because apparently his friend was with his sister when it happened." He told her. "She told us herself. Air-tight alibi, yet there was video evidence of him at the scene."
"Do you happen to have that evidence?" she asked, already mentally running through the list of creatures capable of mimicry.
Dean reached forward to swivel around the laptop that had already been sitting on the table in front of them, turning the screen around to face her. He pressed play and Ariella shifted forward to watch the footage taken from a security camera. She watched as a man walked across the screen, and as his eyes flashed across it, Ariella's eyebrows dipped together. She reached out and scrubbed back the video a few seconds before watching it play out again, pausing it just as the man within the screen faced the camera. His eyes had caught the light just right, reflecting back a silver glare.
"It's a shifter." She said with certainty, pushing the laptop back around towards Dean. "Please tell me you already figured that out." She said then, hoping he and Sam hadn't missed that obvious sign.
"Well, actually, it took me a while to figure that out." Dean answered with a small laugh. "But I knew you'd be able to figure that out quicker than me." He said, eyes flicking up and down her in an almost praising way. "You're the better hunter between the two of us…always have been….that's why I called you in on this."
Ariella felt her heart skip a beat as he said that. Between what he had said, and the way his eyes roamed over her…it left her skin crawling in a way she couldn't explain. It wasn't like him. And that realization sent her right into another terrible thought. "So…" she said in an effort to keep the conversation going, doing her best not to let her worry show. "What have you got so far?" she asked, hoping she was wrong. "Other than some grainy video footage."
"Well, we managed to find another victim of his." Dean told her with a lift of his shoulder. "This thing likes to take on the identity of men and attack their girlfriends. We managed to track him down into the sewers, but he's smart. Keeps slipping right through our fingers anytime we get close."
"How do you know it's a he?" Ariella questioned as her gut began to swirl anxiously. She hadn't brought in any weapons with her, and she suddenly felt vulnerable.
She watched as Dean's face morphed into a wide grin, and it was so unlike any face Dean would make, that it left Ariella panicking. "I suppose we don't." he acknowledged. "See? There you go again, outsmarting us." He added with a dark chuckle.
"Is there a bathroom?" Ariella asked suddenly, doing her best not to act suspicious as her heart began pounding against her ribs. "It was a long ride." She said with a wave of her hand.
Dean continued to smile at her, but lifted his chin down the hall behind them. "Second door on your left."
Ariella got up as calmly as she could, mentally calculating her options. She had hoped there was a window in the bathroom big enough to slip out of. If she could only get to her car, she could get her silver dagger. It was then that Ariella realized that she still had the silver necklace hanging around her neck. She brought up a shaky hand and grabbed hold of it, clinging to the only defense she had. Unfortunately, she would never get the chance to escape, for in the next moment, she felt movement behind her.
Her fighting instincts kicked in, and she spun around to find Dean behind her, fist aiming right for her. She ducked out of the way as he swung on her, but, unfortunately, she hadn't been quick enough and the hit still landed on the side of her head, sending her plunging to the ground. She fought though the instant wave of dizziness as she landed on her side, shoulder slamming against the floor painfully. Dean was on top of her within seconds, fist lifted in the air to strike again, but before he could attack, Ariella ripped her necklace off and shoved it into his face. He let out a shriek of pain as the silver bit into his flesh, confirming Ariella's worst fears. It wasn't Dean she was dealing with…it was the shifter.
It stumbled away from her from the unexpected injury, cradling its cheek. Ariella used the distraction to scramble back onto her feet. She sprinted for the door then, knowing she was useless without her weapons, but before she could make it more than a few feet, he slammed into her back, sending her toppling onto the floor again.
Her chin slammed into the hard tile as they fell together, the taste of blood instantly filling her mouth as she felt the shifter land on top of her, using his body weight to hold her down. "Let go!" she screamed as she tried wiggling free of him.
"I like it when they fight." Came his husky voice from next to her ear. "And you…" he said, drawing in a deep breath, nose pressed into the side of her hair. "You've got more fight in you than all the others combined."
"GET OFF OF ME!" she yelled in response, bringing up her elbow as fast as she could, driving it into his nose. The creature let out a grunt of pain, its grip on her loosening enough that she was able to roll herself over. She went to strike at him then, but he was quicker than her and brought his own fist down on her face. There was a loud CRACK as his fist connected with her skull, sending the back of her head slamming into the floor…and into the depths of unconsciousness.