Killing Me Slowly

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I was in the basement of Bobby’s place with Dean, helping him make some shotgun shells with the Phoenix ashes and as Brit, Sam and Bobby walked in I gave them a small warning look so they would approach with caution since Dean was obviously frustrated. Sam looked at me first, then nodded slightly.

“So, how you doing?” he asked.

“Between the two of us? Six shells. That's how we’re doing”

“Well, you know, it is a hell of a lot more than what we had last week” Brit said.

“Maybe”

“Meaning?” Bobby asked.

“Meaning I just had myself a little mishap a few minutes ago, and well, here, look” Dean said and I held out my arm so he rubbed some of the ashes down my forearm.

Sam jumped a little, getting ready to call him crazy but then he saw nothing was happening. “Whoa”

“The stuff is supposed to burn the heck out of Eve, doesn't even give me a sunburn” I said, wiping the stuff off me.

“Lore says it works” Bobby said. “That's always reliable” Dean said. “Well, you know what? Maybe it's like iron or silver” Brit suggested. “Yea, maybe it hurts them, not us” Sam added.

“Maybe, but a fat lot of good it does us til we find the bitch” I said. “I'm looking, but I'm thinking maybe it's time one of you made a call” Bobby said to me and Dean as they all looked at us.

“Why has it always got to be us that makes the call?” I asked.

“Yea, it's not like Cas lives in our asses. The dude's busy” Dean added. But, I felt him coming and then we both jumped when we appeared behind directly behind Dean. “Cas, get out of my ass!” he grunted.

“I was never in your…” Cas started but Dean gave him a look and I shook my head slightly at him and smiled a little so he caught on to the saying. “Have you made any progress in locating Eve?” he said instead.

“Well we were gonna ask you about that” Bobby said.

“No, I've looked, but she's hidden from me. She's hidden from all angels”

“Awesome” Dean and I both commented.

“You know, what we really need is an inside man” Sam said.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“Something with claws and sympathy”

“Like a friendly monster? Those are in short supply these days, don't you think?”

“Sure, but we've met one or two, right?” Brit tried.

“Maybe…I guess it could work…” I voiced.

~~~

A little bit of time went by and a paced a little, but, then Cas appeared in front of us and he had Lenore with him. The vampire that Gordon tried to kill even though she wasn’t killing people…she looked like a wreck though.

“Lenore” Brit breathed out, shocked.

She tried to take off, but she stumbled a little. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hey, hey. Lenore, stop. Look, we're happy you're here” Sam said and she saw she was unable to escape seeing as she was obviously too week to get out the front, passed us and there was no other way out.

“It’s been a long time, Lenore. You remember us?” I asked.

She nodded. “I remember. Your hunter friend almost killed me” she spoke calmly and yet her voice was almost a little shaky.

“Well if it makes you feel any better...he turned into a vampire and I chopped his head off” Sam said. “Yeah. With razor wire. Wicked” Dean grinned.

I looked at him and gave him a look and then looked back at Lenore. “Well, that's something. What's going on? Why am I here?” she asked us.

“Well, um, that's Cas. He's our friend. And we need to talk to you. About Eve” Brit said. “Eve? I have nothing to say about Eve” she spoke venomously.

“You sure about that?” Dean asked.

“I'm trying to stay away from her, believe me”

"Where's your nest?” Sam asked.

“Gone. They couldn't fight it anymore. It's her voice, in our heads. What it does to us. So they left. Started killing again”

“But not you”

“Don't look so impressed. I was hiding in a basement. Not exactly Club Med. You don't know how hard it is…not to give in. Everyone gives in”

“Alright, so this psychic two-way you've got going, does that mean you know where Mom's camped out?” I asked.

“You've got to be kidding me. You want me to tell you where she is? You do know she could be listening to us right now. I might as well be a video camera. What are you thinking?”

“So we don't have the element of surprise, we're still going in” Bobby said.

“You're crazy. I can't help you”

“Can't or won't?” Brit questioned.

“Look, it's clear as day. You still give a crap. You don't wanna kill. And don't want this whole planet dead” Sam said.

“You actually believe you can stop her?”

“Just tell us where she is”

“Grants Pass, Oregon. And now she knows you're coming”

“Well let's go see” Bobby said and we went to leave.

“Hold on. I didn't tell you this out of the goodness of my heart. I need something”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Kill me” she pleaded.

“Lenore…” Sam started.

“Look, we'll keep you on lock down 'til this whole thing's over, okay? Witness protection, you'll be safe” Dean told her.

“You don't get it, it's not about that. I'm dangerous. I hear her voice all the time”

“You're not like the rest of them” Brit said.

“I'm exactly like them. I fed. I couldn't help it. The girl couldn't have been more than 16, Brittney. I'll do it again. I can't stop, not anymore. You have to. Please”

“Lenore…we can’t…” I started, but then all of a sudden, Cas put a hand on her head from behind and light started to shine out of her eyes and her mouth.

Her face started to crack as flames started to engulf her face and then she fell to the floor, dead. We all looked at Cas, incredulous. “We needed to move this along” was all he said.

We all got together some weapons in two bags and then Cas popped us all to Grants Pass, Oregon. We looked around for a moment and just stared at the children riding by on their bikes and people were strolling down the sidewalks while the sun was shining and the skies were clear.

“Well, I was expecting more…” Dean started.

“Zombie land?” I questioned.

“Yea…and less…”

“Pleasantville?” Brit asked.

“Yea…”

“Just because it looks quiet, don't mean it is, especially if she's got a clue were coming” Bobby said.

“Yeah, well if she is here I'm glad we've got Smitey McSmiterton on our squad. Alright, where do we start?” Dean asked. “I'm gonna need a computer” Bobby said.

We headed into Ervin’s diner and Sam handed Bobby his iPad as we all sat at a table with a booth. I was in the middle of Dean and Bobby on one side while Brit was in the middle of Cas and Sam on the other side.

“Alright. I finally got the police database, no thanks to this…” Bobby said, gesturing to the iPad. “I asked for a computer”

"It is a computer” Sam said, swallowing his food.

“No, a computer has buttons” Bobby retorted.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little and my eyes met Brit’s as I saw she snickered. The waitress came to ask if we wanted anything else but Dean politely said no and sent her away. I took a bite of my burger and Dean went to take one my fries, and I smacked his hand away but he still managed to get a few.

“You have your own” I told him, moving my plate away from him.

“Yes, but you always seem to taste better” he grinned.

“You mean my fries” I said, even though I knew what he meant.

“No, I mean you” he said, certain.

I nudged him as I rolled my eyes and Brit snickered some more and Sam shook his head. “You kids make me feel dirty just sittin next to you” Bobby commented, keeping his eyes down at his research.

“Sorry, Bobby” Dean chuckled, finding himself oh so humorous.

“I still don’t understand human dirty jokes…” he used air quotes. “Why would you taste her?” he asked.

My face burned hot. Brit bust out laughing and Sam chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, Cas” I said to him and then pinched Dean in the arm.

“Ow” he laughed, rubbing where I pinched him as he looked at me with a grin, finding all of this amusing. I rolled my eyes.

“So, you got anything, Bobby?” Sam asked, moving on.

“Oh, nickel and dime stuff, nothing weird. Basically dead end. You think Vampira was lying?”

“I'll search the town. Give me a moment“ Cas said and we just stared at him as he just stared into space and nothing was happening.

“Umm Cas…we can still see you” I said.

“Yeah, I'm still here”

“Okay, well you don't have to wait on us, you…” Dean started. But, then Cas cleared his throat and tried again, straining a little more. “Well, now it just looks like you're pooping”

“Something's wrong”

“What, are you stuck?” I asked.

“I'm blocked. I'm powerless”

“You're joking” Dean hoped.

Then, I looked at a couple in the way back corner on the opposite side of the diner and they were whispering to each other. I went to listen in on their conversation…but I couldn’t. The noise of everything else and everyone else’s talking made their conversation unclear to me. Then, I focused on the smells…the only smells I was getting were the French fries in front of me and Dean’s usual smell that always got me going…but, I couldn’t even differentiate what perfume the waitress was wearing. It was like I was suddenly very normal….

“Guys…I cant do my…thing…either” I said and pointed to my nose and then my ears and gave Dean, Brit and Sam, mostly, a look. They understood.

“Something in this town, it's affecting us. I assume it's Eve” Cas said. “So wait, Mom's making her normal and you limp?” Dean asked.

“Figuratively, yes”

“How?”

“I don't know, but she is”

“Well, that's great, because without your power, you're basically just a baby in a trench coat”

Then, Cas just threw his hands to his lap and slumped in his seat a little as he stared out the window. I hit Dean in the stomach and gave him a scolding look.

“I think you hurt his feelings” Sam said and Dean looked at Cas with a pin straight face in disbelief.

“I got something here, maybe. Had to go federal go to get it. Call went out from the local office to the CDC last night” Bobby said, showing us the iPad.

“About what?” Brit said.

“A Dr. Silver called in an illness he couldn't identify. Patient's a 25 year old, African-American, name: Ed Bright” We saw a picture of him.

“Well that's not much to go on” Dean said.

“Well its only lead, so…”

“So beggars can't be choosers” I said and gave Dean a pointed look. “Alright, let's finish up” I added.

~~~

So, we split up. Brit, Sam and Bobby went together while Dean, Cas and I went together. Our first stop was the doctor’s office. Since Cas out was commission at the moment, we jacked a car and got to the place. A woman came walking out of a house-office.

“Excuse me…hello. Is Dr. Silver in today? My friend is very sick” I said, sweetly and Dean and I looked at Cas expectantly.

“I have a uhh painful burning sensation” he said. Dean and I made a face at him, but then just looked back at the woman

“Oh, well, he's out. Sorry”

“Do you happen to know here he is?” Dean asked.

“He hasn't called in. You might want to find yourself some ointment” she said to Cas and then walked off.

“What kind of doctor calls the CDC and then goes AWOL the very nest day?” Dean asked. “Let's have a look, shall we?” I questioned and got down on my knees to pick the lock.

It was weirdly taking longer than normal though…and I realized I used to rely on my ears to listen for the kinks on the inside of the lock. “Is this gonna take a long time?” Cas asked.

I sighed. “You might as well do it. I’m useless” I said, getting to my feet. I guess I never realized how much I depended on my senses.

“Awe, you’re not that useless, babe” Dean chuckled, getting down to do it himself.

But, then something caught my eye on the floor beside us. “What is it, Melissa?” Cas asked and Dean looked up at me.

I just bent down and I touched a dot of something dark and wet. I looked at it on my finger and it was blood. I showed the guys and then noticed more drops of it leading to a shed a few feet in front of us. We walked over to it and there was a lock on it. I put a hand on both of their chests to move them back and then I spun quickly, kicking the lock off.

“See? Not useless” Dean smiled.

I just smiled lightly and then I opened the shed doors cautiously. Inside, there was something large wrapped in plastic. Dean started to slowly unwrap the top and we saw it was Ed. He was covered in blood and his eyes was wide open.

“It's the patient Ed Bright” Cas said. “Well what kind of doctor calls the CDC and then stashes the gooey corpse in the shed?” I asked.

“I don't understand what's happening here”

“Well, I know one thing about the body. We need some kerosene” Dean said. I nodded.

~~~

We met up with the others outside Ed’s house. “Oh. So we've got a missing doctor and an oozy patient, huh?” Dean asked. “Yeah. Plot thickens” Sam commented.

“Well let's go see what Ed's roommates have to say” Brit said. “Does Ed Bright have a brother?" Cas asked. “No, why?” Bobby wondered.

“Then that's not his twin”

We all looked and saw there was another Ed through the window. “So shifter?” Sam asked. “I don't know what we're looking at” Bobby said.

“Alright, Dean, me and the girls are gonna go in. You two stay here and watch the door. If something comes out, shoot it” Sam instructed. “Yeah. Best guess-silver bullets” I said, handing Cas a gun.

“I'm fairly unpracticed with firearms” he said to me.

“You know who whines? Babies” Dean quipped.

I chuckled under my breath and nudged him as we headed up the pathway with Sam and Brit behind us. When we got to the door, Dean broke it down and we bust in with our guns drawn…but we froze when we saw several dead Ed’s all over the place.

“Alright…don’t touch anything” I said as we stood in our spots, scanning the room.

But, then one started to move in the corner. “Hey, hey, look” Brit said and we followed her over to him. He coughed.

“Hey…talk to us…what it is?” Sam asked, gently. He coughed some more. “Hey, Ed. Ed, what's going on?” Dean demanded.

“What? I'm not Ed” the kid groaned. So, then Sam saw his wallet on the side table and took out his license. I looked over his shoulder to see his name was really Marshall. “What's wrong with me?” he grunted.

“Uh, nothing. You're okay. You're okay, alright? We're gonna get you help” Brit said, lightly.

“Let me ask you something. Do I…do all of us…do we look like Ed?”

“What? No, no. Umm you have a really bad fever. You’re hallucinating, right now” I lied to him.

“Marshall, what happened here?” Sam asked.

“Am I gonna die?”

“No, you're not gonna die, okay? Now you need to talk to us. It's important”

“Ed was feeling bad so I took him to the doctor. I think…now we're all sick”

“You think?” Dean asked. “And before you got sick, before Ed got sick, did you do anything? Did you go anywhere?” Brit asked as he started to doze off.

“Hey, I need you to focus for me” He startled awake.

“I don't know. Some bar”

“A bar? What bar?” I asked.

“8th Street, I guess”

“8th Street, um, did anything happen at the bar? Did you see anything? Did you meet anyone?” Sam asked.

But, Marshall coughed brutally. “Look, an ambulance is on the way, okay?” Brit said, gently. “A girl" Marshall continued. “A girl? Okay, and?” Dean continued.

“A girl in white"

“Good, okay. What did the girl in white do? Marshall? What did she do to Ed? Marshall?” But, it was no use. His body went limp and he stopped breathing. He was dead.

So, we left. None of this was making sense. Why would the mom be making these monsters just so they could die so violently like that. None of us understood. So, we figured we should hit the bar next. But, when we got there…the doors were locked from the inside, so we busted in…and there were bloody, dead bodies everywhere…and I thank God for me not being able to smell death and blood at the moment because this would’ve been too much for me. There were bodies on the pool table, the bar, the tables where you sat to just hang out and the rest were just sprawled on the floor.

“Well, the Sheriff's a moot, but still. You'd think he'd notice this many missing folks” Bobby commented.

We all walked around to look at all the victims. “We got a vamp over here” Dean said, lifting up the lip of one of them.

But, then he lifted up the arm as well and we could all see a spike coming out of the woman’s wrist. “Nope. Scratch that. We got a wraith. What the hell?”

“What has teeth and a spike?” I asked. “Never seen that in my life” Bobby said. “Oh, great. So Eve's making hybrids now?” Dean questioned.

“Looks like”

“Yeah, the question is why. I mean what does she want with the…what do you call these?”

“Well, congrats. You discovered it. You get to name it” he said and continued to look around.

Dean grinned. “Jefferson Starships” he said and we all just gave him weird looks. “Because they're horrible and hard to kill”

“Why are you such a dork?” I asked him. He glared playfully at me.

“Looks like the whole bar has been turned into these…” Sam started. “Jefferson Starships” Dean filled in quickly for him.

“Fine. But why are all the Starships dead?” Brit asked. “I can't say, but looks like they all burned up” Bobby said.

“Burned up, like?”

“Like a high fever, like the flu”

“What the hell's going on here? Does every monster in this town have the motaba virus?” I asked.

But, then, all of a sudden, the sheriff and three cops came rushing in with their guns on us. “Hands where I can see 'em!” the sheriff barked and we all spun to face them.

“Now this is not what it looks like” Cas tried. “Look, we're the Feds” Bobby said. “Yeah? Well Feds are not allowed to do this. Cuff 'em. Turn around” the sheriff ordered.

We did as we were told and I saw Dean was managed to get behind the bar unnoticed as one cop cuffed me and Brit, holding onto us tightly. My eyes met Dean’s and I nodded slightly as Bobby, Sam and Cas were cuffed as well and we were all led out of the bar.

We were taken to the sheriff station, being pushed and man handled. “Listen, if we can make a phone call, we can straighten this all out” Sam said. “Straighten out a massacre? I'd like to see you try” the sheriff said.

I sighed, but then I looked over at the security footage behind the desk and I could see the sheriff and the cops’ eyes were glowing. I grunted as I swung my leg back to hit the cop in the nuts and backed up into Brit to get her away from him and then I swung my leg into the cops head and he flew into the wall and fell to the ground.

“Jefferson Starships!” I yelled.

Sam kicked one back and Cas was pushed up against the wall by another but then the one I first attacked before, slammed me into the desk and I clenched my teeth, ready for its attack. But, then a knife sliced its head off from behind and some blood squirt on my face as the body fell to the ground and I saw Dean standing there with the knife in his hand. He quickly got the cuffs off me as I saw Brit jump over her cuffed hands so now her hands were in front of her, I tossed her a knife and she swung at one that was about to attack Bobby and its body fell to the floor as some of its blood squirt across Cas’ trench coat. I got him out of his cuffs as he picked up a knife and then he grabbed my arm to pull me behind him quickly and he swung at another Jefferson Starship and that one fell to the ground as well. Then, when the one impersonating the sheriff was about to take a bite out of Sam, Dean flew him off him and was about to cut his head off.

“Dean, wait!” Sam yelled to stop him.