UNINTENTIONALLY YOURS

O N E : THE FURNACE

CELESTE, TEXAS

08:44 PM

   Elizabeth ran out of the house, the bags under her eyes visible even in the night. Something was extremely wrong. She could feel it. Around three weeks ago something had come into town and everything had gone awry. The investigations held thus had yet to come to any kind of conclusion. As a result, the tension in the city was almost palpable. The residents understood that it proved difficult to solve a problem when you have no idea what's causing the issues in the first place, that didn't do much to assuage their concerns though.
   Elizabeth and Alana, best friends and roommates, had been working tirelessly every night to try and come up with any kind of clue. Tonight proved no different than the ones in the past three weeks, however. After working the past twelve hours straight, the two of them had decided to take a break. Alana agreed to run out and get them a bite to eat. She had promised not to be long, knowing how dangerous that was. A quick run. Thirty minutes at most.
    Dismissively Eliza had agreed to it, mumbling to herself as she continued looking over their notes. Nothing was making any sense. There was no obvious connection between any of the strange occurrences that the townspeople had reported. A yawn forced its way forward and Elizabeth wiped at her eyes. She strained to keep herself awake, staring down at all the scattered papers before her, the stronger the urge to fall asleep became. Elizabeth hardly recalled the last time she'd had a proper night's rest.
   She had only just allowed herself to be completely lulled to sleep when it happened. There had been a loud, jarring, soul-chilling signal; The kind that made nails on a chalkboard sound like a sirens song. Something instinctual was warning her of danger nearby. Eliza tried to maintain her composure and figure out just what had triggered such a strong reaction.
   She shut her eyes, taking deep breaths. Her hands steadied as she set them on her altar. The life from it had been unusually faint recently, but tonight was different. She had only just set them down when the voices began shouting- screeching:

DANGER! DANGER! INSIDE HOUSE!

  Eliza's breath hitched as she listened for movement inside the house. The house sat still, eerily silent. A chill flooded the air as a creeeaak came for the empty staircase. Not wanting to take any chances, Eliza got to her feet slowly. She crept to her box of charms and grabbed what she could before making her way to the window.
   She whispered a silent prayer as she lifted the glass pane. She thanked the spirits as it slid open silently. Her green eyes stopped on the nightstand, catching the silver key ring. She threw a glance towards the stairs. Nothing there. Eliza hesitated, weighing the decision. She might never make it if she took off on foot. Hastily, she lowered herself from the windowsill and made a grab for them. Her blood ran cold as the keys jingled in her hands. By the time she had smothered the sound, it was too late. She could feel the presence of whatever was inside coming closer, faster now. Eliza held her breath and jumped.
   Her nerves were shot as she landed on the ground, not daring to look behind her.  She sprinted towards the gray Honda sitting in the driveway.  She hopped in, tossed the charms in the passenger seat, and peeled out of the driveway as quickly as possible.

   Her eyes darted between all of the mirrors and the road in front of her as quickly as she could. The incessant paranoia that had begun to affect the residents had quickly consumed her. There was a loud thump-thump-thump in her ears that somehow convinced her there was someone else in the car with her. She wanted to convince herself that she was just being illogical. That everything that had just happened was a hallucination caused by her sleep depravity. As much as she wanted to believe that rationalization, she couldn't. Her altar had never responded to her like that. Typically, she wouldn't even get a verbal response and never so immediately. Nothing she had ever known had the power to affect her altar like that. 

   The lights of Aunt May's Place could be seen just a few feet away. The tension in Eliza's shoulders began to ease away as she pulled into the diner parking lot. The brunette snatched the bags from her passenger side seat, clutching them tightly. She stalked over towards a familiar looking car, making no effort to be discreet as she constantly looked over her shoulder. Elizabeth kneeled down to tuck the bag in a compartment she'd welded on to the rim of the Mustang. 

   "Hey," Came a gruff and unfamiliar voice. Elizabeth nearly jumped out of her skin. She bolted upright and, upon seeing the gun tucked into his waistband, instinctively sent him sprawling onto the pavement. "Ah, motherfu-" He groaned, hands covering his face.  Her hand throbbed, but she was ready to hit him again. The stranger muttered a string of curses as he began to sit himself up. Seeing her chance, Elizabeth turned to run - only to crash face first into another stranger. The bushy haired giant looks down at her and the man on the ground. "Dean, what the hell happened?" 

   'Dean' scrambled back onto his feet, quickly wiping the blood trickling from his nose. His eyes narrowed as he lunged at her. Elizabeth's anxiety skyrocketed, starting to feel the urge to run again. Just before the onset of an oncoming panic attack, her best friend's voice came from behind her.  "Hey! Hands off!" The redhead yelled, pushing the hunter back. "Dean! What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, standing in between Elizabeth and Dean. "Alana, thank God you're here." Elizabeth breathed in relief. 

     "What the hell is your problem?!" Alana yelled. "I saw this little witch hexing that car! Obviously she's behind everything going on here!" Dean replied, his fists curled. Both Alana and Elizabeth made a disgusted face. "What?" he scoffed. Alana shook her head. "You've got this all wrong. We live here. The people here know about us, they asked for our help. You're the intruders here. I thought you were the reason everything's been all messed up."

"Us? Yeah, right! Can't you come up with a better excuse? I saw you put some kind of spell on that car!" Dean disputed."It was a ward, you moron! A ward against evil?! God, it's like you're totally new- Oh god, don't tell me you just started doing this?" She asked. Dean sputtered, obviously insulted. "Of course not! We've been doing this since-" A groan of frustration came from Dean's friend. "That's besides the point Dean. Look, there's obviously been some confusion. We're looking to achieve the same goal, let's just work together on this, okay?"

"What the hell are you thinking Sammy, there ain't no way I'm working with a witch. Are you freaking kidding me?!" He shouted. Sam turned and gave the girls an apologetic smile. "Sorry, just a sec." He said before turning his attention back to his brother. The sounds of harsh whispering left the girls to wonder whether or not they should just run while they had the chance.

"We could just you know," Alana made a stabbing gesture. "I already told you no." Said Elizabeth firmly. "But why not?! You know the town would cover for us." She whined. "Because murder is your solution to everything! I told you to pick and choose your moments!" Hissed Elizabeth. "What are they going to do, arrest us?" She asked sarcastically. "Literally, yes. They could literally arrest us at any given moment for any of the hundreds of crimes we have committed." Sighed Elizabeth.

Before they could continue their conversation any further, the two men returned. "We'd like to help you out on this case. Uh, if you'll have us." The taller of the two said.  "El, a word," Alana said. The two talked hurriedly, finishing each other's sentences really. Alana sighed. "We'll have you, If you promise not to try to kill either of us again," Eliza said. "Promise." Grinned Sam.

"So, you guys hungry?"