Full Circle (Book 8 in Arrow/Spn Crossover)

What Lies Beneath

Over the next hour or so all of them but Sarah trickled in; Teresa, Susan, Mark, Ruth, Star and Sean all passed the test with flying colors. We held off launching into explanations stating that we didn't want to have to go through the same story eight more times. They mumbled, grumbled and griped about it until Gerald spoke up and told them that what we had to show them no one would want to see more than once. That shut them up. Rick rolled in, I didn't know him all that well. He'd been hunting for a few years according to Sam but I'd never met him. Sam vouched for him though, said he was solid even if he spent a little too many hours at in casinos around the country. Sam had heard rumors that Rick had a wife and a couple of kids. He seemed to win a lot, which was good for him. Who the hell were we to judge how a hunter got his money. If running the casino circuit helped him feed his family, then that's all that matters to me. Maybe his kids weren't growing up in motel rooms and stealing food if Dad came back late from a hunt.

He was driving a beat up old Toyota Celica, not exactly a car I would choose but it's nondescript enough. He parked, got out and started walking towards us. He was gangly, his arms seemed almost too long for his height, which I was guessing was around 5'6", his hair was black and cut in a military high and tight cut and he was one of those people who you don't remember seeing five seconds after they walk by you. Nothing about him was interesting, nothing stood out. Perfect for a hunter. He had on beat up jeans, sneakers of all things and an Iron Maiden shirt. I had to give him props on music choices. Iron Maiden may not be the best rock band, but they did have some kick ass songs.

As he drew closer, his eyes took all of us in. We'd propped the door open so we were in plain sight but inside the building itself. "Howdy all. Quite a gatherin' we got here. Gerald, Sherm, Susan. Nice to see ya." They nodded a brief greeting. "Sam," he said as he reached out to shake Sam's hand. They shook hands and he turned towards me, "You must be Dean."

Coyote was standing across from me, I looked at her, not expecting anything, but she stiffened, shook her head and reached for a blade. Shit.

I took hold of his hand, gripped it hard and put my silver tipped blade against his skin. His eyes went wide with pain as his flesh bubbled, he jerked out of my grip and bolted. Seven guns were drawn just as he got hit with something and a net deployed, seemingly out of thin air, tangling him up and making him fall face first into the dirt.

"Wait!" Sam ordered, just as the air erupted with bullets. Fortunately he'd fallen so fast that most of the bullets missed.

"What the fuck!" Gerald shouted, the rest of them started moving to surround Rick and finish the job.

I had to head this off fast, so I ran, pulled my gun and pointed it at him. Sam got between the other hunters and I and held his hands up. "Wait! We need information first."

"He's not human," Mark spat, "What the hell else do we need to know?"

Sam faced them down, they stopped moving and waited for him to talk, "We brought you all here because the monsters are organizing against hunters. Gerald, Sherm, Dean and I saw evidence of vamps and werewolves working together. Something is up. We got the video Coyote is going to show you this morning, watch it, then we'll talk. Rick's not going anywhere."

Rick had what I assumed were silver bullets in his leg and shoulder, he was already starting to sweat as his system reacted. "Please, please...don't kill me," he begged, "I haven't eaten people. Please. I have to take care of my kids."

"Talk fast, I can't keep them at bay forever," I said. "What are you?"

He nodded, "Werewolf. I was bit two years ago."

"Two goddamn years!" Ruth hissed. "No one knew? How?" Ruth is blonde and blunt. She's pretty black and white about things.

"Really?" Gerald asked. I wasn't looking at him but there was a healthy amount of surprise in his voice. "We hang out all the damn time."