The Hunt Begins

I was sitting on the bed and Sam was sitting at the table. Like he had been. All damn week. Even though he sort of stood up for me when Alisha went hay-wire, he hadn’t spoken to me all week. But even worse, Dean had never come in to apologize. Today that didn’t seem to matter anymore though. I didn’t know what my sudden change in thought was due to, but I hadn’t been pulled into any of Alisha’s dreams since we got to the mainland. Maybe distance had something to do with it?

We weren’t next door to each other, the room that the lady had given us was almost entirely on the other side of this motel. I was so sick of the walls surrounding me. I wanted to get out. I was jealous of Artemis. She was able to come and go whenever she wanted through the window Sam left open for her. Right now she was snuggled up next to my feet.

Sam’s phone rang and as soon as he hung it back up, he walked out. Not a single word or look in my direction. How long till he decides I’m really not worth carting around anymore? I sighed, and Artemis, feeling my apprehension rise, lifted her head and licked my hand. I looked down into her dark eyes. She stared back and me. At least I had a friend still. “Now Artemis, if they do decide to kill me, I don’t want you to stick around. Hear me? You need to leave. Get away from that dog, and stay away from Sam.” I had to throw Sam’s name in there because there were times that I’d catch her snuggling with Sam when I’d been sleeping. I didn’t want her to make the mistake of trusting him after I was dead.

Sam walked back in and threw my duffel bag to me. “Get dressed. We need to leave soon.” He undid my handcuffs and walked out the door. I immediately ran to the bathroom. I always felt uncomfortable asking him if I could use the restroom. After I was done showering and brushing my teeth, I got fresh clothes out of my bag.

I rolled my eyes. “Where the hell is my bra?” I walked out to my bag with the towel wrapped around me. I pulled my bra out and turned towards the bathroom just as the room door opened. I shrieked and grabbed my towel to me.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” Sam said, really loud. Just then Bobby ran in.

“What happened? Who screamed!?” He shouted as he barreled in. I screamed again.

I ran towards the bathroom and Artemis ran in front of my legs. I stumbled, trying to keep her from being crushed, and fell. I hit the floor, hard and felt my towel around my waist. My chest was on the floor, bare. I grabbed my towel and jumped up after I rewrapped my towel around my chest and lunged into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror. I had a nice new cut on my cheek. And my face was all red and hot. “That was embarrassing.” I mumbled. I looked around. “Ugh!”

I stomped out of the bathroom and walked out in front of Sam, Bobby was gone, thank God. I grabbed my bra and shook it at Sam. “Next time, knock! You ass.” I said turning back into the bathroom. Sam stood there, wide-eyed.

I walked out of the bathroom, fully clothed this time and no one was in the room. “Go figure.” I packed my dirty clothes in a grocery bag from last night’s groceries. I walked over to the door to see what was going on and as soon as I opened it, Bobby had a gun pointed in my face. “I thought we were done with the threats that utilized weapons. I thought we were more civilized now and just throwing around verbal threats?” I asked sarcastically.

“Sam, come get the little spitfire here. I ain’t dealin’ with it.” Bobby shouted, a toothpick in his mouth.

Sam came jogging down the hall and I rolled my eyes when I saw what was in his hands. I put my hands out, not even resisting. This was getting old. I had marks on my wrists from the damn handcuffs. Sam looked at my wrists and his brows furrowed. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Those look like they hurt.” He said.

“Oh yea, and having my arm and leg almost ripped off was totally normal. God, would you make up your mind whether you’re a bad guy or good guy?” I rolled my eyes and shoved my hands closer.

He totally ignored my rant, “Why don’t you heal them?” He asked me.

“I told you. Thousands of times now. I. Do. Not. Know. How. To. Work. It.” I was so sick of them asking me to show them this or that.

He put the handcuffs on his belt loop. “You promise not to cause trouble?”

“Is this some kind of joke?” I asked. Was he playing with me? When had I ever intentionally done anything to hurt them? God, sometimes I wish I had though.

“No…” He said, looking like I was crazy.

“I’ve never hurt you guys.” I said, “On purpose.” I added really quickly on the end, remembering when Sam had been burned.

“What about in the lighthouse?” He asked me.

“I didn’t know he was going to hurt you guys. He told me he wouldn’t.” I said defensively. He just looked at me. Out came the handcuffs. Shit. I forgot they hadn’t known that I knew that guy was there. I backed up. “Sam! Please, don’t! He told me he’d help me get away! I made him promise me that he wouldn’t hurt you guys! He lied to me! Please!” I begged, backing away, trying to get it all out.

He snapped the cuffs on. I felt tears. I hated crying and I’d been doing nothing but since I joined up with them then they had to go and kidnap me. “You led us into an ambush on purpose?!” Luckily Bobby wasn’t there, he’d walked out the door. I’m pretty sure he would have shot me on the spot.

“No! I didn’t know he was going to try and hurt you guys! He told me he would help me get away! I listened to him because I was, I AM, afraid that you guys are going to kill me! I just wanted to get away! I promise…” I trailed off. Sinking to the floor, leaning against the wall. I sat on the ground, tears leaking from my eyes.

“He almost killed you.” Sam said to me. I looked up at him.

“Because I tried to keep him from killing you guys.” I whispered. “Not that you’ll believe me.”

There was silence for a long while. “We won’t tell Dean and Alisha about this. I won’t hesitate to tell them if you start doing funny shit. For some dumb reason, I still have this feeling that we’re going to need you around for something. But my will can override my conscious anytime. Just know that.” He said as he pulled me up by my arm. Leaving the handcuffs on, he led me to the impala. Bobby was sitting in the front seat and Dean and Alisha were in Alisha’s car. Sam let me in the backseat of the impala and sat in the driver’s side. Artemis jumped in with him and climbed into the back with me. I stared out the window as the country side began to change.

After a few hours of driving, I turned my head to the front of the vehicle. A sign the read “Welcome to Georgia” was going past us on our right. “Georgia?” I asked.

“Yea.” Sam said. Just then Bobby let out a snore that sounded like a boat engine.

“Is he going to do that the whole rest of the way?” I asked.

“No, watch.” Sam grabbed a water bottle and twisted the top off of it. As soon as Bobby started snoring again, he splashed Bobby in the face with it and Bobby bolted up, pulling a gun out of his coat. He blinked a few times, trying to see where he was, Sam had already put the water bottle top back on and put it down by the time Bobby looked at him.

“What the hell happened?” Bobby asked him.

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked, looking at him like he was crazy. It was getting dark out.

“I don’t know, something just… I’m soaked!” Bobby exclaimed, looking down at his clothes.

I started laughing, I couldn’t help it. The fact that he was just figuring out that he was soaking wet was too good. Sam joined me and I laughed even harder.

“Son, you’re a downright bastard. You know that?” Bobby said, trying to wipe as much of the water off as possible.

Sam just kept laughing. And Bobby turned away from him as much as he could and quickly fell back asleep.

“So, I heard you and Bobby talking about a case?” I asked Sam, once I knew Bobby was completely asleep.

“Yea. Two kids in the past three months have gone missing and were found weeks later, dead.” Sam said, shaking his head.

I gasped. “Those poor kids! Whose doing it to them?” I asked him.

“Not who. What. What’s doing it to them?” He corrected me. “And we’re still not sure. But that’s why we’re headed there to find out.”

“Are you like, part of a fake FBI or something?” I asked him. why did he care about kids going missing in a place that wasn’t anywhere near him?

“No, I’m not.” He said.

“Then what are you?” I pushed.

“A human being.” He said. I rolled my eyes.

“What do you do.” I said, exasperated.

“I inherited a family business. I hunt things like demons, witches, ghosts, ghouls, basically all the monsters that you think are meant for bedtime stories.” He said. We started to go down an exit ramp.

“Are those things even real?” I asked. Knowing the answer.

“Do you remember the lighthouse?”

“Oh you mean the place where the homicidal bitch in the car behind us tried to kill me, yea.” I said.

“That wasn’t her doing it.” He said

“Bullshit. I saw her with my own e…” I started, but he interrupted me.

“It was a demon. She was being possessed.” He said.

I couldn’t talk. Was he really saying this? And even more pressing of a matter, was I seriously believing this? “What happens when you’re possessed?” I asked him.

“Basically, from what I’ve heard, it’s like you’re doing everything, but you can’t control it. If you want to look to the right, tough luck. You’ve got no control over your body. You have nothing to do but sit there and watch your life happen while someone else controls you.”

“But… you can still comprehend everything that’s going on?” I asked him, leaning forward.

“Yea.”

“Huh. Nice to know.” I said, leaning back again and looking to my right, out the window.

“Why?” He sounded guarded.

“Because, I bet that bitch loved every minute when the demon shot me using her body.”