YES PEOPLE, I AM ALIVE! AND I COME BEARING A MASS UPDATE TO MAKE UP FOR THE WAIT!

I have had a really, REALLY bad case of luck for a full month. Starting with the car finally giving up the ghost and ending with my mother being in and out of the hospital. On the plus side, my muse has gotten the swift kick in the ass it needed to update some of the older fics. Here's to hoping the rest of the month is better after the mess the last was.


In the end, the primary blame for their meeting could be laid entirely on boredom. For both the hunters and the 'hunted'.

For ten years, the hills had been haunted by the ghostly spirit of a woman in black. The only catch was that there had never been a single death in the area, or any explanation given for the spectre that appeared every time the fog appeared around the mountainous area.

Hunters came and went, trying to find a way to stop the accidents, drawn by the mysterious figure that appeared there. No one found a way to stop it.

At least, not until the Winchester brothers tried their luck because the hunting had gone down and there weren't any other cases they could go on. Bobby had threatened to shoot them both if they didn't go out and do something before they drove him up the wall.

So Sam decided to bring up a hunt even their father had failed spectacularly on.

"Come on Sam, the St. Gabriel's Ghost? Every hunter and their grandmother has tried to exorcise that girl, and no one has succeeded yet!" said Dean.

"And the fact we haven't had a case in over a month...?" said Sam, raising an eyebrow.

Dean looked at his brother with a glare. Yes, he was bored, but he wasn't so bored that he would take on what many considered an impossible hunt. Even their father gave up on trying to get rid of the ghost when he couldn't find any reason for her appearances.

"Well it's either we try our luck to kill time until a better one comes along, or we test Bobby's patience and likely get shot at," said Sam.

"Got that right. No one will think less of you for trying your luck," said Bobby. Even he had gone to those mountains during a dry spell, but he had never even seen a wisp of the mystery ghost girl.

He did, however, run into a psychic with an odd sense of humor.

"Here. This is the name of a psychic in the area. She might be able to point you in the right direction. Just be warned, she has weird humor," said Bobby, handing a name and address to Sam.

"Come on Bobby, really?" said Dean.

"Either you go on a hunt or I'm hiding the alcohol and the remote after leaving it on the church channel," threatened Bobby. Dean winced.

"Fine. We'll go hunt the St. Gabriel ghost. Not like we'll actually be able to stop her from causing accidents," said Dean.

"Uh huh. So the Winchester brothers are going to try their luck hunting the infamous St. Gabriel ghost? Sure, I can put them up for a week or two until the season picks up again, so long as they don't mind driving me on errands," said the psychic.

The young woman was grinning. She was going to have fun teasing this new batch of hunters.

She heard they were cute too. It was always fun to watch the eye candy lose their cool trying to hunt the 'ghost girl'.

At twenty-six, the most she had accomplished in her life was leaving her home country and moving to California. Well that and graduating college. Now she spent her days bored out of her mind except when it got foggy and she got to scare the tourists heading to the beach.

She giggled evilly. The hunters had no idea the whole 'ghost girl' thing was actually an ongoing prank for whenever she was hemmed in by fog using a little astral projection. That had been one of the most fun things about her new powers, next to finding a way to keep spirits from borrowing her body without permission. Her home was a fortress against ghosts and other entities.

Dean and Sam drove up the hill where the psychic lived. The fog was just barely starting to set in, and Dean really didn't want to risk his precious car on the treacherous hill.

"Where did Bobby say this psychic lived again?"

"HOLY!" yelped Dean.

There on the side of the road was a woman with a black raven. The thing that bugged him most was that he could see through her and the lantern she carried.

Sam yelped mostly because if he hadn't been wearing a seat belt he would have crashed into the dashboard.

"Dean, what the hell?"

"Did you see that? There was some chick on the road with a lantern and a bird!"

Sam blinked, then looked down the road. He saw nothing.

However both brothers jumped when they heard a tap-tap-tapping on Sam's side of the car. Sam rolled down the window to reveal...a red haired woman.

"You two alright? I heard tires screeching from the house."

Dean's heart rate went down.

"You wouldn't happen to be Raven Black would you?"

"You two the Winchesters?" she countered.

"I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam."

"Are you two after that bloody ghost girl that appears on this road too? Why is everyone so interested in her anyway?"

"I have no idea. We only came this way because there wasn't any action elsewhere," said Dean, "So where's this house of yours?"

Raven brought out a lantern.

"Just follow this light. For some reason the fog doesn't get as bad when I bring this," said Raven shrugging.

Dean drove slowly, following her to a wrought iron gate that had an unusual crest engraved in the metal. He stared at the massive mansion hidden in the fog. If she hadn't come to see what caused the sound they would have driven right past it without knowing.

It was definitely one of the nicer places they had stayed in.

"If you want to avoid getting your car window wet, the garage is over there," said Raven.

Dean made a point to drive into it.

"So...how do you know Bobby?" he asked when they finally got settled in.

Raven had an odd smile on her face.

"Most people who investigate the ghost girl tend to stick to the hotel. Bobby heard someone actually lived on the hill and dared to approach me asking if he could stay here while he investigated the ghost, seeing as how he also heard I have a large library here. He stayed three weeks, was a perfect gentleman, but in the end he left without seeing her, which was rather odd considering she appeared four times while he was here. We kept in touch once I made it clear to him I not only believe in the supernatural, but I've experienced it enough not to freak out when I run into it. Should have seen his face when the werewolf tried to break in while he was here and I shot it in the ass with silver buckshot."

Dean grinned.

"Do you have a picture?"

Raven reached into a drawer for a large photo album. She brought up the picture and Dean about died laughing. Even Sam had a few chuckles when he saw it.

"Now, I serve breakfast at ten considering I hate waking up early. However the coffee pot is set to start around nine thirty, so if you want anything to eat before then you'll have to make it yourself. There are two bathrooms on the floor you picked, but don't be surprised if I prank you for trying to sneak into your room with only a towel on. It's not often I get any decent eye candy up here," said Raven mischievously.

Dean smirked at her.

"Prank us how?"

"Well the one time Bobby forgot to take clothes in with him and tried to sneak across the hall, he found the shampoo replaced with syrup the next morning and all the sugar in the house switched with salt."

Dean let out a careless cackle. Sam grinned, but then again Bobby had warned them she had a strange sense of humor. She didn't even look twice as they put weapons within easy reach that night and wished them a good sleep.

They woke up the next morning to the scent of food that literally had both brothers drooling. Inside the large kitchen was Raven, cooking a massive breakfast while humming something they didn't recognize.

"Morning! So which one of you had that wet dream last night or are you two just natural moaners?" she asked with a straight face.

Sam choked but Dean snorted. Definitely a strange woman.

"I don't know about Sammy, but I didn't have any...interesting...dreams last night," said Dean. Raven smiled beatifically at Sam, who looked highly embarrassed.

"I did not have any dreams last night!" he said loudly.

"Sure you didn't. So the sound of the mattress springs I heard last night were my imagination right?" she asked innocently. Dean cackled in amusement.

He really, really liked this woman. She was funny as hell!

"So where's the library?" asked Sam, desperate to change the subject.

"I'll show you after breakfast," said Raven, "Coincidentally did you know the woman sometimes appears in this mansion? I've seen the girl everyone's described walking around the house a few times, but she's never said anything."

Dean and Sam sat up.

"Why didn't Bobby mention that earlier?"

"Probably because it only started after he left. I guess something he did brought the ghost back through here, though I always thought it odd considering I made this house a fortress against spirits."

"Okay, I really need to get a look at that library," said Sam.

"After breakfast," said Raven firmly.

Sam fell absolutely in love with the library. It was bigger than any he had ever seen, and most of it was in a language he understood. Dean, however, fell in love with Raven's home theater system. Every classic movie he could ever want on a massive screen, as well as awesome popcorn and surround sound.

Sam was actually getting a snack from the kitchens when he saw her.

A raven haired beauty with sad jade green eyes wandering the mansion with nothing but a lantern to guide her way around, with a large black bird on her shoulder. Around her neck was an odd pendant, and she had a tattoo in the center of her chest directly under her neck. She wore nothing but black and see seemed to be searching for something. Sam idly noted she wasn't wearing any shoes.

Before he could follow her, she vanished...seconds before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Find what you were looking for?" asked Raven.

"Did you just see..."

"See what? You were kinda blocking the hallway."

"That woman. She looked...sad for some reason," said Sam, staring at where she had been.

"I was asleep until I heard a moose walking in the hallway," she said dryly.

Sam shook his head. That woman had looked so real. More solid than most ghosts they hunted at any rate. But the thing that struck him the most about her was her expression. He had never seen anyone so lonely looking.

Dean came up grinning from ear to ear.

"Dude, the home theater in this place rocks! Though I have to ask, what's with the old style projectors?"

"I like the classics. Besides, I couldn't get the hang of the newer models at all," said Raven. She wasn't about to spoil the same surprise Bobby had gotten when people found out he had stayed at the mansion. It was the real reason why he had left so fast. He wasn't sure that she wasn't a ghost herself!

He was quickly proven wrong when she not only called him, but didn't have any EVP on the phone.

"So why was that ghost girl able to get in here? I mean, I saw iron gates all around the property line," asked Sam.

"You saw her?" said Dean sharply. Sam nodded.

"Jade is harmless. She wanders onto the grounds all the time and she never bothers me. Besides, she only started showing up after Bobby left," said Raven.

"She had some sort of marking on her chest," said Sam.

"Were you checking out a ghost girl?" asked Dean grinning. Sam rolled his eyes.

"There's some paper in the library, as well as writing utensils. Have fun," said Raven.

Sam had seen the ghost girl twice more, once on a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and the other time during Raven's scrying for any active hunts on a request from Dean. Dean amused himself with the old school projector and raiding the kitchen regularly...both brothers quickly grew addicted to Raven's homecooking.

After the second time, Sam was sure he had the odd tattoo on the ghost girl's chest down right. He also made a note of her pendant and the few markings he could make out on the lantern, which he could have sworn he saw before.

Dean only saw her once, and that was when he attempted to sneak across the hall after taking a shower and realizing he didn't have any clean underwear in the bathroom with him. Like Sam, he saw she had the most lonely expression on her face he had ever seen. Like she had never known the company of others.

After three weeks, Raven told them there was going to be an active hunt for a ghoul in Arizona.

"Hear that Sammy? We finally have a case again!" said Dean.

Sam noted the slight disappointment in Raven's eyes, not that she would admit it.

He wondered how much interaction Raven actually got with the people in the town just at the bottom of the hill. About the only time Sam ever saw her leave the mansion was when she went grocery shopping with them.

Dean wanted to leave right away, but Sam managed to convince him to stay one more night. It was during that time he finally found the lantern that he knew he had seen before.

It was the one Raven used to lead them to the mansion. On the base was an inscription in Latin, and another in a language he didn't recognize at all on the top.

"In the name of St. Christopher and the arch angel Gabriel, may this light guide your spirit through the treacherous pathways of the Dead. May all who follow it's light be protected from all things that seek harm to the living," Sam mentally translated. He went through the library until he found the one book he had originally dismissed because it dealt with something other than ghosts. It was mostly a guide to psychic objects to amplify powers or protect.

"The lantern of Saint Christopher. Made by the angels centuries ago and given to the man who would later become the patron saint of Travelers, this object provides protection to anyone who can keep the fire inside lit while they traverse spiritual paths or in the presence of dark spirits. It is especially favored by those with the gift to astral project outside the body to surf the ether. While the fire is burning, no dark spirit may come near the one holding it, or being guided by the one holding it. Is also effective in revealing demon possession without harming the host and the presence of hell hounds by casting shadows of their true forms," read Sam. He had to then look up astral projecting.

"Astral, astral...here it is. Astral projecting. The ability to send one's spirit outside the body and traverse the world as a spirit without actually dying. Is consider extremely dangerous without proper protection as malevolent spirits may inhabit the body before the true owner can reclaim it. Is considered an rare gift only given to extremely powerful psychics and can be used to bring limited awareness to trapped souls and help them pass on. Proper protections include the mark of Anubis and the pendant of Osiris..."

Sam had to look those up and wasn't surprised to find they matched the odd marking and pendant he saw on the ghost girl...who evidently wasn't a ghost at all. It also explained why she was able to move from the spot on the hill...she was still alive and able to cross those boundaries!

And with how rarely Raven left the mansion, he had a good idea who was behind that haunting too.

Dean was about to drink his third cup of coffee when Sam walked in with a few books from the library.

"I've figured out why no one's ever exorcised the ghost girl. Though I can't imagine why Bobby missed this when he visited here," said Sam.

"Well? Lay it on the rest of the class!" said Dean.

"She's not actually dead."

Raven kept cooking, though you could tell she was a little tense when he said that.

"Say what now?" said Dean.

"The ghost isn't actually a ghost at all. Is she, Raven?"

Raven winced.

"How did you figure it out?"

"Hold on a damn minute! You mean to tell me she's behind the whole haunting?!" said Dean looking at Raven in disbelief.

"It's not haunting. She's astral projecting her soul out of her body, though I would love to know why your hair changes to black whenever you do that," said Sam.

"It's my original hair color. Imagine my surprise when I found out bleaching my hair turned it bright red. How did you figure it out?"

"The lantern. You kept holding it in astral form, and I recognized it as the same one that you used to lead us into the mansion," said Sam.

"Okay, will someone explain to me what's going on?"

"I send my spirit out of my body to give people a minor scare when they drive by, mostly out of boredom. You have no idea how hilarious it was to watch hunters come by to try and 'exorcise' the ghost girl only to learn that the only thing that could cause a haunting was a mansion fire thirty years ago. The thing is that I only let those who weren't complete assholes into the grounds so the truth never came up. No one ever got a close look at the lantern, so they never figured out what was really going on. Even Bobby never caught on," said Raven proud she had pranked so many without getting caught until now.

"What mansion fire?!"

Raven brought out a familiar photo album, and this time Dean saw the page that she started when she moved there. It was full of newspaper clippings, and the earliest was several decades old.

"Fire in kitchen burns down mansion. No deaths attributed to flame or collapse. Current owners decide not to rebuild..." Dean read. He paled. "We're in a haunted mansion?"

"To be fair, you're in the ghost of a mansion. Why do you think I keep that lantern so close?" she said grinning.

"And the food?"

"That was real. So are the showers and the books by the way. So, what do you plan to do now that you've found the truth about the mysterious St. Gabriel's ghost?" she asked Sam.

"How long have you been living in a ghost mansion?"

"I ran away from home at sixteen...so about ten years give or take. You'd be surprised how much easier it is to hide from people trying to find you simply by living in a ghost mansion," said Raven shrugging.

"And you've been here all alone? I mean the earliest sighting of the ghost girl go back at least ten years," said Sam.

"Better to live alone and not have to deal with people always wanting in, then to find out they were liars the entire time. Besides, you get used to it," said Raven.

"No one gets used to complete isolation," said Dean, swallowing the rest of his coffee. He couldn't believe she had been living in a ghost house for ten years, all alone. He shared a look with Sam. He could see a similar thought in his brother's eyes.

"It takes some getting used to. Besides, I have my books and I do socialize every once in a while. I just hate crowds," said Raven.

"And what will you do once we leave?"

"Back to the usual. People are actually wondering if the ghost girl is gone, because I've been limiting her appearance to the mansion since you two showed up. This is the most interaction I've had with people in months."

"Is there anything actually keeping you here?"

"Not really."

Dean next question actually threw her for a loop.

"Well, have you ever been to Arizona?"