fic: Birthright
Part 1
John cleaned his shotgun and packed a bag with shells and extra guns and holy water and salt and exorcism books just in case. He felt he could never be too prepared. This seemed like a Goatman, but if there was a spirit or a demon, or hell, elves or some shit, he needed to be prepared.
Alec was still watching him from across the room. He’d moved from the bed to the window, and was sitting on the radiator. Sam was packing his own bag and reading John’s literature on Goatmen. When had he gotten his hands on that? John opened his mouth to demand his papers back, but Sam beat him to it.
Sam said, “It says here that Goatmen were the product of some government experiment gone wrong.”
Alec said, “Oh really. Government experiments gone wrong. Tell me where I’ve heard that one before.” His tone was dry and brittle. John didn’t like it.
John said, “Dean,” putting all the paternal air of admonishment into his tone that he could.
Alec said, “X5-494, government experiment, at your service.”
John struggled with his frustration. “Don’t do this, son.”
“Do what?” Sam asked. “He’s got a point. Besides, we don’t even know if it did it. Maybe those kids did just run off, and the Goatman happens to be here.”
“This isn’t a coincidence, Sam,” John reached over and grabbed the papers away. “And we’re not doing this. Get out to the truck.”
***
Alec volunteered to put his altered genetics to use and stake out the area on foot while Sam and John waited in the truck and kept an eye on the street.
Sam said, “You’re trying to make him something he’s not. You won’t even acknowledge what he is.”
John said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sam turned away and spoke to the window. “I’m glad I’m going to college.”
John shook his head ruefully. He didn’t want to poke that bee’s nest with a ten foot pole. “Get your focus back on the job.”
***
Alec went back to the woods where he had thought he’d seen movement before and climbed a tree to give himself a good vantage point. He figured anything with hooves probably wasn’t camping out in the trees anyway. He felt a little bit like bait on the ground, what with all the cats dead. And even if this was just a Nomalie like he thought, he’d had encounters with those that weren’t too favorable either. He thought briefly about another cat, a woman black as night and missing a white barcode, left dead in a sewer, and pried his thoughts back to the present.
It was hours before anything moved besides a squirrel or a bird. And when it did he roused himself from his perch to peer into the darkness. It moved awkwardly through the brush, like the bone structure for its bottom half didn’t quite match the top. It had a squirrel clutched in one hand and Alec thought again about the woman in the sewer, about eating rats to survive. It moved away from his position and he slipped to the ground silently and crouched down so he could follow it without being seen.
He followed far enough that he caught the scent of decaying flesh and knew that he could find his way back again easily. He turned to head back to the truck. John would be expecting a report.
***
“I want you to go to college,” John said, after hours of no life outside their truck and no conversation in it.
Sam said, “I thought I was focusing on the job.”
John sighed, and they were both glad when the tap on the window came. Sam rolled it down so Alec could reach inside and grab some coffee.
“I found him,” he said. “He’s got a collection.”
“Did you find the teenagers?”
“I didn’t check. I came here first.”
“They could still be alive.”
“Everything back there is dead. I’m sure of it.”
John opened his door and stepped out, shotgun in hand.
He said, “Let’s go take care of it, then.”
***
This time, Alec wove a more careful path through the woods, one he was sure John and Sam would be able to follow easily and silently without his superior night vision. They reached the point where Alec had smelled the Goatman’s lair and stopped. Alec waved a hand forward and John crept in the direction he pointed. Sam and Alec sat back under some heavier brush for cover and watched as he jumped into a gully. They listened for him once he’d gone out of sight.
It was only a few minutes before John reappeared.
“They’re in there,” he whispered after he’d joined them. “Dead for several days now. No sign of the Goatman.”
“He’ll be back,” Alec said.
“But if he’s gone hunting, shouldn’t we go stop him?” Sam asked.
“It’s almost morning,” John said. “There’s no one out right now. He’s going to have to come home and wait out the day. Take the shot when you get one.”
***
The sun was only a couple hours from breaching the horizon by the time it stumbled back into view. And this time Alec got a good look at it.
He broke cover and was standing in the open without even thinking.
“What series are you?” Alec said and moved towards it.
“Um, Alec, maybe you should back away.” Sam was standing behind John, both of them having followed him out in a scrambled once they’d seen him move. He held his rifle cocked but pointed at the ground.
“I think I’ve seen one of these before,” Alec said. “When Max staged her big break out. Some sort of Nomalie or something. Maybe a lower X-series.”
“Dean,” John barked and leveled his shot gun at the figure in the trees. “You’re unarmed. Get back.”
“No,” he said. “It’s just a Nomalie. Just like that time when you thought we were hunting a Wendigo.”
“It killed those kids. It’s not a Nomalie. It’s a Goatman.”
“Aren’t those pretty much the same thing?” Alec snapped.
“Dean, fall back! Now!”
“No,” he said, and turned just in time to see it lunge for him.
***
Later, Sam’s head was reeling from Alec’s blur and his father’s quick finger on the trigger. The Goatman, or Nomalie, or whatever it was, lay dead in front of them. Alec stood a ways off in the woods and refused to look back at them.
John said, “Go get the salt, Sam,” and knelt down beside it to turn it over.
Alec said, “I’ll do it,” and walked off.
Sam looked down at the twisted features, at the furry legs and hoofed feet, at the fingers curled into claws and stained with blood.
He said, “So? What is it?”
“It doesn’t matter, Sam. It was killing. It had to be stopped.”
Alec’s hand came between them, holding the salt canister. “I’ve killed. Should I be stopped?”
John took the salt and started shaking it out over the body. “You’re not a monster.”
“Yeah? I’m not human either. I was made in a lab, just like him.”
“You weren’t made in a lab,” John said.
“They messed around enough with my DNA that it doesn’t make any difference.” Alec’s voice was quiet, but Sam could hear how angry he was.
“You’re not like him,” John said.
Alec struck a match and dropped it. They all stood back to watch it burn.
***
They went back to the hotel room to pack up and catch a little sleep before the sun made its appearance. Alec sat perched on the back gate of the truck and stared at the place where the sun would eventually rise. He heard the hotel door open and close and didn’t have to turn to see John approaching him slowly.
“I’ve been a little hard on you lately,” he said.
Alec kept silent.
“I saw you twice before,” he said. “One time, you were a blip on an ultrasound, and the doctor had to tell me what I was looking at. The second time, they bundled you away before I could even get a good look at you, and they never let us hold your body. Now I know why.”
“You don’t even ask me what happened.”
“Would you tell me? You told Sam some story that’s got him scared to ask more. You’ve got your mother looking over her shoulder. I thought you would want normal.”
“Normal’s a little different for me.”
“For all of us,” John said.
They let the silence grow again, and eventually John walked away. Alec didn’t know what to say to bring him back. He wasn’t sure he should.
The sun was just peaking over the horizon when Alec’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen but no number was listed. When he picked it up all he heard were the soft sounds of a piano. He disconnected the call and slid it back into his pocket.
Lydecker had been right. Someone had found him after all.