𝒮𝒾𝓁𝓋ℯ𝓇 ℰ𝓎ℯ𝓈 | 𝒮. 𝒲𝒾𝓃𝒸𝒽ℯ𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇 |

0.3

Sam gestured to the couch, and I took the opportunity to sit down.

"So what do you know about the bodies so far?" I asked.

Sam sat down on the edge of what I assumed was his bed, chuckling.

"Well, for starters, we only knew about one body, and possibly a few from past years that go through the Appalachian mountain area."

I nodded. "Well, there was another body. Found a week or so ago. It had been mauled by coyotes, so it was hard to see a connection. As far as I know, there isn't, other than the fact that few deaths ever happen around here."

"Damn. Get killed by some evil son of a bitch, then have your corpse mauled by coyotes. Doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go," said Dean.

"Let me know when you find something about this life style that is pleasant," I said, then looked over to the case files that they had gotten from the police.

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Nope," said Dean. "But if you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a set?"

"The people here already know me as the substitute professor. I can't go around flashing a badge and saying that I'm FBI or something like that," I said as I leaned forward, grabbing the files.

When I started to read them, my mind went to its own little world, completely ignoring Sam and Dean, who based on the muffled murmuring that did manage to break through, they were having some sort of conversation.

....... concussion and bruising of the brain. Scratches on both arms. Cause of death is the deep cuts along the throat.....

I racked my brain, trying to think of some sort of folklore creature that did all of that, but I couldn't think of anything.

..... massive animal footprints at the site where body was found, as what appears to be claw marks.....

Wait a minute. That made something click.

Between that I and the area, an idea began to form.

I must have made some sort of facial expression, because one of the two said something, snapping me back to reality.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You look like you have a thought on what it is," said Dean.

"Possibly. For the area and the claw marks, it reminds me of the legend of the Wampus Cat," I said, tossing the files back down on the table.

"The what?" Asked Sam.

"Wampus Cat. It's a Cherokee legend. Basically a demon threatened a village, so the chief and shamed sent of their bravest warrior to kill it. The thing about this demon though, was that his gaze drove men mad. Messed with their heads. So this warrior goes out, and doesn't kill the thing, but instead gets driven mad. He breaks, and basically stays in his own mind. When he gets back to the village, his wife is enraged and goes to the shamen and chief, saying that she wants to take matters into her own hands. They give her herbs and a special drink, as well as mask with the appearance of a mountain lion. This mask was powerful enough to turn the demons' powers back against itself. She confronts the demon, and defeats it. The story itself ends there, but it's believed that she had the ability to shift into an actual mountain lion, and that she became immortal for saving her tribe."

"Well, that's record time for figuring out what it is," said Dean. "Now just to figure out how to kill it."

I sighed. "I don't know... I feel like we're missing something."

"I don't. This is plain and simple. That whatever-cat clearly killed those people, and we need to kill her before she kills again. Besides, for all we know, that professor is still alive," said Dean.

I looked over to Sam for some back up, only to realize that he agreed with Dean.

"But there's some holes. Why is she killing these people? And what about the concussion and scratches on the main vic?" I asked.

"Harlow, it probably feels like somethings missing because it's that simple. We know it's the Wampus Cat, thanks to you. And like Dean said, we need to take care of it and see if we can save that professor," said Sam, reassuring me.

I appreciated his willingness to help reassure me of things,  it something was still eating at me, telling me we were missing something huge.

"I don't suppose you know how to kill this thing, do you?" Asked Dean.

"Nope. They didn't exactly cover that part in college," I said.

Sam chuckled. "Well, then I guess we'll just have to hit the books."