spncentral | When Hunters And Warehouse Agents Mix

Rather than finding this case himself, Dean had actually been sent a link to an article by another hunter as due to an injury, the hunter wasn't up to handling it himself. Dean rather agreed that men who were last seen at the location of whatever party last happened showing up dead, sometimes miles away, was worth looking into.

Cue Dean arriving in town a few days later. He's checked into a motel within half an hour, and in his suit to do the FBI thing to ask questions and gather what information he can soon after. Starting at the police station.

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Claudia had to close the distance in the woods, trying to get to where she could see the pair while not attracting any attention or stepping on dry brush or whatever. A part of her really hoped Dean was paying attention, because there was something really off about the woman, and she didn't want him getting dead like the others.

It wasn't even long before they were out of sight from the field and lights, and Claudia had to worry about losing her way or her step even more. But with her phone in one hand and her mini-Tesla in the other, she was out of options.

The only thing Dean is noticing is what she wants him to. She has him firmly ensnared, although so far as she's concerned, there's a few more miles to go before she does what she's drawn him out here for.

There's a part of Dean that's aware that he has a case to work on, but it's shouted down by the rest of him.

Claudia was calculating her options and trying to find the right angle to play when she stumbled over a protruding root and took a tumble, unable to prevent the noise it caused. She rolled back to her feet, and scanned up ahead as she got ready for trouble.

There's a sharp look thrown by the deer woman in the direction of the noise, Dean being a little slower on the uptake and looking over a moment later. Her eyes search the area Claudia is in as she motions for Dean to keep going.

Claudia stayed in a careful crouch, taking aim with her weapon as she saw the figure turning towards her. The distance was a little long to guarantee a hit, and she didn't want to tip their hand any more than they had. But low as she was, she couldn't help noticing the strangeness of the woman now, that her legs were different, somehow wrong.

She tried to keep from thinking about that too hard, because she was here to do a job, not get confused by the person causing problems.

When this is over with, Dean will say 'I told you so'. As it is, he's looking between the direction the deer woman motioned him to go in and looking back at her as she keeps looking in the direction the noise had come from.

It's a long few minutes until she turns away to keep going in the direction they had been going in the first place. She doesn't have a set schedule, per se, but she'd like to get things done with quickly.

When she turned, Claudia moved swiftly, trying to close the distance enough to get a shot off. The not-quite-woman had separated from Dean, which meant she didn't risk hitting him, but still, she'd only get one shot. The problem was that with increased speed came increased chance of making noise, and the creature's wariness had already gotten raised.

The deer woman is aware that who or whatever she heard was still out there, but staying in one place wasn't helpful. It's better to move and not make it too easy to find her. If she didn't have Dean along, she took leave much faster. As it is, she has to be slower both to avoid giving him a chance to get a glimpse of her feet or to get left behind.

Claudia came in as quickly as she dared, but her lack of familiarity with the area put her at a disadvantage. Still, once she got in range, she attempted to shoot the thing anyway, lightning pulsing from her Tesla with the characteristic sound.

No, she hadn't felt the need to warn before firing, even if it was technically against regulation. She wanted to put the predator down rather than wait.

"Dean, snap out of it!" she called, sharply.

She avoids the worst of the blast with an angry sound, shuddering in reaction to what electricity she absorbed.

Meanwhile, Dean backpedaled, not wanting to be hit either. The light from the shot results in him seeing something strange, resulting in him looking down and seeing her feet. The spell releases and his expression hardens as he ducks as if to avoid any more shots, allowing him to get the silver knife he hid on himself.

Once his knife is in hand, he charges at the deer woman, with her charging at him in turn with an enraged shriek, fingers extended to rake her nails across his eyes.

"Dammit, I don't have a shot," Claudia snarled, moving in a spiral towards the fight, trying for another opportunity. She knew enough not to try to close in for hand-to-hand with two strangers, but she had to do something. There was no way to know just how the vampire bit worked, sucking the life out of someone.

Dean keeps aware of where Claudia is in relation to him but otherwise ignoring her, ducking below the deer woman's outstretched hands to plunge his knife into her.

She lets out an inhuman shriek, throwing herself backwards to turn and run. She knows when to cut her losses.

That's when Claudia finally has enough room to shoot, thumbing the power control to full as the beam arcs from the Tesla into the woman. She wants her down for the count, but isn't sure that it's enough. That thing had killed a bunch of guys, and while she'd been totally using Dean as bait, it wasn't like he hadn't been sure he could handle it.

It could be a long night if it got away.

She screams, staggering forwards another step or two before falling.

Dean scrambles up from where he ended up on the ground to sprint over to her before sliding onto his knees to stab her, aiming for her heart. He rests his weight on the knife for a moment to make sure it got deep enough before pulling it out and wiping it off on her shirt.

Then he stands, studying her. "Looks like she was a deer woman. Come on. Help me carry it. We need to get it to where it won't be found quickly. Then head back to the car for the salt and gasoline I've got in the trunk."

"Just like that?" Claudia said, a little incredulous. "Not that I'm telling you how to do your job, but if you light a fire out here, everyone will know. Not to mention even this late in the year it could spread faster than you want."

She didn't like this at all, but clearly he wasn't about to be stopped. Apparently Native American shapeshifters didn't need artifacts or something. Claudia started to fumble in her purse for her Farnsworth instead. There had to be a better way to dispose of things.

It's a monster. Of course it doesn't need an artifact.

Seeing that Claudia isn't going to be any help, he tucks his knife away and slings the corpse over his shoulder, taking a moment to regain his balance before marching off. "Gosh, you'd think I haven't thought of any of that, what with me saying to stash it were it won't be found easily. I'm sure that if we can find a cave or something, it'll take care of your objections."

Seriously, lady, this ain't his first hunt.

"Not for hours in any direction I know," Claudia said. "This is practically my backyard. As crazy as that might sound. Let me call this in, and we'll have a solution in moments. Nobody's going to come this way."

They'd gone a lot further out than anyone looking for a place to take a piss would go, and as for folks looking to do anything more, they'd be much happier in the back seat of a car or the hayloft of the barn back at the rave.

"You want some kind of purifying flame, right?"

"Some rock salt and some gas, and she won't be popping up again to kill someone else," Dean says, eyeing Claudia. "Do you really think your secret service buddies would take 'I need to dispose of a monster' well?"

Claudia couldn't help a dry chuckle at that. "As conversation starters at the office go, that one's pretty tame."

She flipped open the leather case, not even bothering to angle it away, since it wasn't like the guy could report her to anyone. In response to Artie's immediate and brusque introduction of "Did you get it?" she simply smirked a little.

"Yes and no. I need to dispose of the body of the monster eating people."

Dean sighs and bends over to dump the corpse back on the ground before heading over to see what she was doing, snorting at her words.

"I'd have to do a little checking up since I never went after one of these things before, but I'm pretty sure she was a deer woman," he comments, looking over her shoulder at the Farnsworth. "Operative term being 'was'."

Claudia angled the device so Artie could see the body, giving him a good look, shaking her head slightly as he spluttered for a few moments. When he finally got his brain back online, he protested that the deer women are benevolent protectors.

"Well then, one decided to get her protect on in a lethal manner, and she got lethal force in return. The bait here says we need to salt and burn, but considering the area..."

"Lore also says they have a thing against men who like to sleep around," Dean points out. "Not all lore is correct. For the record. Wooden stakes do jack shit against vampires. Same goes for holy water. Sun makes 'em feel like they've got nasty sunburns if they spend too much time out in it, but they can go out during the day if they need to. Only sure way to kill them is to remove their heads."

"The wooden stake was to connect the body back to the earth, it was never meant to kill," Claudia said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Most people don't understand legends. Now, you going to keep adding pointless comments, or are you going to let us find a better way to deal with this than starting a wildfire?"

"Tell that to Buffy," Dean retorts. Of course he's watched it, Sarah Michelle Gellar was hot, okay? But, "Yeah, I'm done."

"Like I said, people don't bother to understand legends," Claudia said, shaking her head. Then she smiled a little as Artie continued to try to find his way through a little bit of the same brain-spasm she was dealing with. Monsters weren't the norm for them, no matter what.

He mumbled his way through half a dozen fire-related artifacts before coming up with a good fit. So they just needed to get the body to the Warehouse and handle things. Easy-peasy.

Snapping the case shut, she glanced over at Dean. "Trunk or back seat for moving her? I'll give you directions."