(1) The Devil's Hybrid (D. Winchester)

Chapter Thirty Two

A man in tech support yellow comes through, looking around. He finds door number 1444 and goes inside. It's a storeroom.

"Hello? Hello?" The door slams shut behind the man. He rattles the doorknob; it's locked. He looks around, seeing no indication of anyone else. All the monitors abruptly come on, showing only static. His breath is briefly visible. Everything rattles.

....................

Erika, Dean, and Sam are coming down the corridor when they hear the man yelling and hurry to room 1444. It's still locked. Sam kicks the door open.

"Whoa," A shelf has fallen on the man. Dean and Sam hurry over to lift it off him. The old man from the bathroom appears behind Dean and flings him into the wall, then shoves Sam over. His hands spark lightning. Erika looks around and grabs something from the floor, a wrench. She swings at the old man with it. The old man dissipates before he can touch the man. The monitors shut off and everything stops shaking. Dean and Sam lift the shelves so the man can scoot out from underneath. Dean looks to Erika who holds the wrench to her chest, she looks to him.

"How'd you know how to do that?" Sam asks her.

"I have no bloody idea" she answers. Dean takes the wrench from her.

...................

Dean drinks his Master Cleanse, Erika taps her nails on the top of the kitchen counter, Sam stands with them.

"Holy crap, dude" Dean states.

"Yeah. I could use a beer"

"Oh, sorry, man. I'm on the Cleanse. I got rid of all the carbs in the house" Dean tells Sam, Erika turns and opens one of the cabinets, reaching into the back she pulls out a bottle of whiskey and turns back to the boys, Dean shoots her a look.

"For Nik when he visits, not me," she tells him turning to grab a glass.

"Hey. How the hell did you know that ghosts are scared of wrenches?" Sam asks Erika. She shrugs and pours out the whiskey before handing the glass to Sam.

"Nice job kicking that door," Dean tells Sam. "That was very Jet Li. What are you, like a black belt or something?"

"No. I have no clue how I did that. It's like...we've done this before"

"What do you mean, before? Like Shirley MacLaine before?" Dean asks.

"No. I—I just can't shake this feeling like I—like I don't belong here. You know? Like I should do something more than sit in a cubicle"

"I think most people who work in a cubicle feel that same way, love" Erika tells him.

"No. Well, look, it's more than that. Like, I don't like my job. I don't like this town. I don't like my clothes. I don't like my own last name. I don't know how else to explain it, except that...it feels like I should be doing something else. There's just something in my blood. Like I was destined for something different. What about you? You ever feel that way?"

"I don't believe in destiny. I do believe in dealing with what's right in front of us, though"

"All right, so, what do we do now?" Sam asks.

"We do what Eri does best, Sammy. Research"

"Okay. Did you just call me Sammy?"

"Did I?"

"I think you did. Yeah. Don't"

"Sorry" Dean offers.

...................

Erika sits at one laptop at a corner desk, Dean looks to the glass of whiskey and then his Cleanse juice, Erika smirks and pushes the glass towards him, Dean smiles and kisses her head before taking it. Sam at another laptop at a table. Erika clicks on another webpage and then smiles.