Always Keep Fighting - ABANDONED

Port Republic

Dean knocks his palm against the steering wheel in disbelief as he whipped his head right to look towards his brother in the passenger seat, "You gotta be kidding me Sam? A dry town? Maybe these people are just destined to die out."

"Dude, calm down." Sam spoke with a small smirk of amusement despite trying to hide it. "I mean, sure, it sucks. But you don't have to throw a fit. It's not that big of a deal to not drink for once."

Deans eyes scrunched up at his brother. "Do I even know you anymore Sammy? Do you have a screwy wire or something? We're Winchesters, alcohol runs through our veins! What am I supposed to drink with my burgers?" He asked quizzically as he turned his gaze back to the road.

The young Winchester scoffed and rolled his head back against the car seat, "Well, I don't know. Water, maybe?" He retorted in sarcasm, "You know, H2O?"

"Stuffs toxic Sam come on!" he took the final turn towards the town. "Port bullshit here we come..." Dean grumbled one last time before quieting. They pulled into an inn and he threw his baby into park. "So you thinking what I'm thinking?" He looked back over to the younger.

Sam chuckled as his older brother complained before he went quiet. Once at the inn, the man shrugged at Dean's question, a look of slight confusion on his face. "I don't know, dude. What are you thinking? Are we splitting up?"

"Hold your horses Sam, Jesus. So, we know we're probably facing the Jersey Devil, do we know how to kill it?" Dean looked at the still blank faced Sam and scoffed, "You are really off your game today Sam. See I'm telling ya, us Winchesters need our drinks." He raised his hands up in false surrender, "Alright I'll take charge of this one, don't you worry. You go do what you do at the library and I'll mingle with the locals," he pulled the keys from the Impala and slid out of the car.

With a nod, Sam got out of the car as well, a small snort leaving him as he turned to Dean. "Don't pick up any chicks to replace your booze." He teased with a laugh.

~*~

Once the brothers had a chance to settle, Sam thought now would be a good chance to head off to the local library and gather information on the Jersey Devil. Luckily, the building was only a block away, so all he had to do was walk. Stepping foot into the quiet room, the younger Winchester immediately went to the nearest bookshelf and his fingertips brushed against the book bindings, taking his time into finding what he was desperately looking for.

Feeling that he had found the right book, he removed it from the shelf carefully and took a seat by a table, skimming through the pages.

After a few minutes of flipping through the pages, footsteps came up and the chair in front of him skidded back across the carpet. A short brunette sat down in it, and she smirked a bit, "You're not going to find what you're looking for in that."

Sam looked up at the dark haired female with a look of confusion, seeing her smirk and he gently closed the book in his hands. "And how do you know that?"

"Because I got here about ten minutes earlier than you and found the book you were looking for," she set the book she'd been holding down onto the table on the page she'd left off on, tapping it, "Who else would be looking for info about the JD?"

The taller male blinked a few times as the woman set the book down, seeing the title on it before looking back up at her. Wait a minute... "Are you... Are you a hunter?" He whispered, loud enough for only the woman to hear.

Sam held his hands up slightly in defense at her question. "It's not that at all! I just... I never expected to find a fellow Hunter all the way out here." He chuckled, then his eyes grew wide at she spoke his name. "How do you..." He stopped himself mid-sentence, then smirked to himself and shook his head, looking up at her again. "I guess we're that famous, huh?"

"Well, from what I hear you did have a hand in the Apocalypse, so, ya know," Kerica giggled a bit and shrugged, then turned the book around, "Here," she smiled, "I bet this is like you're millionth time across the country. It's weird that the JD is taking humans. What do you think is going on?"

His eyes grew wide at her statement, parting his lips to speak only to find that no words could form in his mind, so he closed his mouth slowly. As Kerica offered him her book, he blinked a few times in hesitation, before smiling at her and took the book in his hands. "Thanks." He said, before he proceeded to answer her question. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. From what I heard, the Jersey Devil only hunted livestock. Maybe it got a taste of human blood, and gone crazy."

"That seems most likely," Kerica agreed, "I have only run into another hunter once on a case, and have taken care to avoid the same situation, but this seemed too good to pass up." she grinned, "I hope we find what we're looking for. It'd be interesting to work with you. Unless you're the lone wolf type, in which case I'd be disappointed."

Sam blinked in surprise at the suggestion of working together, looking at the younger woman with a small smirk. "Strength in numbers, I suppose." He chuckled with a grin.

~

Dean moseyed on into a shop with the title of "Celestial Guidance" and even though he had a gut feeling it was going to be like who-do town USA all over again he'd taken note of the hunter's symbol in the window and decided to give it a shot. Maybe there'd be someone in this town with a little insight into this whole "Jersey Devil" scenario going around. That is as long as these people weren't as crazy as their guidelines. As soon as he stepped through the door his eyes widened from all the "pretty" crystals and necklaces hung up everywhere. "Store's got more rocks in it than a quarry," he mumbled under his breath as he strolled down the first row of rocks. He squinted his eyes at a particular pentagram shaped stone that hung from a high shelf, he reached up and gently poked it so it spun.

"Please don't touch that." A voice called out from behind him, belonging to a young red headed female with bright green eyes. "That one is rather fragile, and was very hard to find. " She smiled, walking over to the window closest to him with a watering can in hand and carefully poured water on the plants that sat on the windowsill. Once finished, the woman turned to Dean with curiosity, setting the watering can down, "So, how can I help you?"

Dean turned around and a sly smile crept across his lips as he gazed upon quite the attractive ginger before him. He liked redheads, redheads were naughty, he liked naught...wait, why was he here again? Oh! He nodded and right as he was about to pipe out the perfect pickup line his elbow caught a small figurine and knocked it onto the ground where it of course shattered.. He paused for a minute just looking at it then looked back at the clerk. "I am so sorry." He stated as he quickly knelt down to clean up the mess. "I-I will pay for this, how much was it?" He looked up at her with the broken figure in his hands.

Her eyes grew wide as he knocked over and broke the figurine, covering her mouth slightly with her hands before she saw the apologetic look on the man's face. "No, no, it's okay. It was an accident." She said with an understanding smile. Deep down, she knew that her mother was going to kick her ass. "Umm..." She hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip as she looked at him. "Three hundred and fifty dollars."

Dean damn near dropped the damn idol all over again but caught it before it hit the ground. "Wh..Holy, alright. Umm yeah here." He set it in the clerks hands and accompanied her to the till. He was going to use cash but with that price a fake credit card is what ended up coming into play. "So what can you tell me about the recent uh...tragedies going on in the area?" He plucked the card from its leather holding and his eyes flicked upwards to the girl behind the counter.

Amalia took the card from his hands and swiped it into the register, smirking to herself as she read the name that was etched on the credit card, handing it back to him. "Well..." She paused briefly, her smirk fading before she parted her lips to speak. "The most recent death was my boyfriend, Oliver." She said, throwing the broken pieces of the small figurine into the trash. "Being the idiot that he was, Oliver wandered off to far into the forest outside of town and he got killed." She explained, a bitter smile creasing her lips.

Deans face grew solemn and his tone softened. "I'm very sorry to hear that, ma'am. Any idea of what might have done this to him and the other locals?" He straightened up, a small anger boiling in his stomach at the displaced look of mourning on her face.

"Please, call me Amalia," The red head spoke with a tender smile. "And it's ok, really. To be brutally honest, the relationship between Oliver and I was just starting, so we never really had the chance to get to know each other better." She sighed, then a serious look crossed her face. "But as to what caused his death... I know what killed him. But..." She paused, looking down at her feet, "If I told you... You probably would think I'm crazy."

"Oh I have seen crazy, and you Amalia are not." He chuckled a bit, but swallowed it and silenced himself, "Do you mind if we sit down and speak on the bench outside?" He pointed back over his shoulder with his thumb.

Amalia smiled, then nodded at his question, "Sure, of course." She agreed before walking with Dean outside of the store.

Dean waited for her to be seated before he too sat down. "So why don't you explain to me what's so crazy about how your boyfriend died?"

Amalia laced her fingers together and turned her head to face him, "When I say I know what killed him, I mean that I have a very strong feeling on what happened. I wasn't there, but..." She paused, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. "I'm very certain it was the Jersey Devil." She admitted, waiting for his reaction.

"And why would you say that," he leaned forward placing his elbows on his knee's to support his upper body.

"According to what I heard on the news, his body was mutilated, much like the others that were found in the forest." She started, looking down at the ground. "I know that the Jersey Devil is said to kill animals, but my guess is that animals weren't enough... There were bite marks on his body, and most of his insides were missing. Or so I heard."

Dean looked down also and nodded softly. He needed to return to the hotel and tell Sammy what he'd found, "Don't you worry Amalia, I'm here to help. I'm gonna find this thing and end it's rampage." He stood up, "Thank you for your time Amalia. I'll be back when I have good news for you."

Amalia looked up at the older man with a soft smile, nodding once. "Thank you..." She said, feeling grateful that he listened to what she had to say, however brief it was.

~*~

After thoroughly reading through the book that was offered by Kerica, Sam let out a soft breath and closed it firmly, turning to the brunette with an idea forming in his head. "Why don't we head back to the hotel? I think it may be better for us to work together than to fight this thing alone. I'm not sure how my brother would feel about it, but he can kiss my ass." He chuckled, waiting for a response.

Kerica laughed and nodded, "Right, and we found the thing to kill it too, you're brother would like to know that, I'm sure," she stood up, "Let's check out the book, I don't mind making a library card. I'll probably burn it later," she shrugged and grabbed her jacket.