144A/N: Putting this out there, been on my mind for quite some time. If you like it, leave some fluff, if you don't, all criticism is welcome too. Stay safe!
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise doesn't belong to me. Only Isabeau – she's mine!
Chapter 1
The room was dark and the silence was, well, deafening.
Isabeau stretched her hands in front of her in the hopes of touching something. Perhaps a light switch or maybe even furniture.
She was confused. She was pretty sure she just went to bed and that she should be in her bed but it didn't seem to be the case. She felt wide awake and very much not asleep and since her feet were on the ground and she was walking around, she was most definitely not lying in bed.
The darkness was thick; you could almost cut it with a knife. She thought to herself, I wish there was a light and instantly her surroundings were flooding with brilliant light in all colours. She marvelled at the colours, reached out to touch it. She giggled as she imagined unicorns and ponies dancing on the rays of light and to her amazement, unicorns and ponies appeared all around her, dancing in mid-air, basking in rainbow light. She stood mesmerised, enjoying the show. Her feet started feeling cold in the parts of the room without light and she thought about her bunny slippers and right there, to her amazement once again, her fluffy bunny slippers appeared. She noticed she was dressed in her summer pyjamas, the ones she went to bed in. Twirling around the room, dancing to the music that suddenly filled the room – her favourite songs, she enjoyed the wonderful dream and let her thoughts wander in all direction which once again materialised with her in the room. Her bedroom with the lilac & sea green bedding, her teddy bear collection, her dirty laundry in the corner of her bathroom, yesterday's pile of work that was waiting on her desk at work. She thought about the candy in her drawer she still had to eat while the thought of bills she had to pay and calls she still had to make only materialised as blank objects scattered around the room. It appeared that everything she thought of would appear and soon the room was so cluttered, she could barely move.
She started walking around in the room, picking things up, touching them; like it's the first time she's ever seen it. A faint white light on the far side of the room caught her eye. It appeared to be outlining a door. Curiously she approached the new special effect and cautiously reached out to turn the doorknob. The door opened without a sound and she peeked outside but to her amazement, she stared into what looked like a motel room. There was a single bed with a table and chair as well as a bathroom in the far left corner.
She opened the door a little wider and took a step inside. Suddenly a man appeared from behind the door; gun in hand, ready for attack. She screamed and backed away but her foot got caught on the rug and she fell backwards on the floor, hitting her head against the hard and bulky side of the bed. She was seeing stars.
Instinctively she held her hands up to protect herself while shouting, "Don't hurt me!"
"I'm not going to hurt you, but who are you and what are you doing in my room?" A voice asked somewhere above her, the sound floated through her pounding headache.
She lowered her arms and slowly opened one eye. It was a man, a huge man with long hair that fell next to his face. She couldn't make out his eyes.
The stranger still had the gun in his hands. He slammed the door shut and glared at her.
"I'm ... uhm... Isabeau," she said cautiously, shrinking into the side of the bed to get away from the giant.
Satisfied that she didn't appear to be a threat, he tucked the gun back into his pants, run his fingers through his hair and held his hands up in front of him, to show, as a sign of good faith that he's now unarmed and not in attack mode anymore.
"I'm Sam," he said, eyeing her while pulling up a chair, sitting opposite her at the table.
She stared at him for what felt like the longest time. She noticed the broad shoulders, the large hands, the muscles bulging under his flannel shirt.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to just walk in here. I didn't know there was anyone here. Where ever here is." She added quickly, glancing around the room.
"So you also woke up in your room?" He asked, looking more relaxed now, curiously studying her every move.
"Yeah, but I woke up in total darkness until I started thinking about things and they appeared around me. Random thoughts materialised, all jumbled up in one space. That's when I found the door and uhm... I stepped into your room." She slowly rubbed the back of her head, feeling a faint lump where she hit it, then leaned back and rested her head against the side of the bed.
He frowned. "That's very strange indeed, I just woke up here when you turned the doorknob, but this is definitely the room I was in when I went to sleep last night." He looked towards the door.
"So you always attack people that come into your room?" she said, her eyes glancing at the gun sticking out of his pants.
"Well...uhm...it's a long story," he said.
For a moment an awkward silence hung between them but then she suddenly jumped up.
"Let's go explore then. It's clear that I'm dreaming and that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye." She spontaneously took his hand and went for the door, but he held back, surprised.
"What?" she frowned up at him. He was a full head's length taller than her.
"I don't know. Are you sure this is your dream? It feels too real to be just a dream."
"Have you tried pinching yourself?" She asked.
He smiled and nodded. "Yip, didn't work. Something strange is definitely going on here."
She opened the motel door and stepped out. There were tables and chairs and rows and rows of bookshelves. "It's the library!" Sam suddenly said. "I was just here this afternoon." He frowned again.
"You thought about that when I opened the door?" Now she was the one frowning. This is weird – it's messing with her head.
"Well yes," Sam replied. "I spent the whole afternoon researching in it, so I guess it's still fresh in my mind."
Confused and tired of thinking, Isabeau sunk into the first table and chair in front of them. Sam took his place opposite her and they both looked confused. These were the most random circumstances ever.
"Do you suppose that we are sharing a dream here?" Sam asked. "I mean, I was in the motel, waiting for my brother and then he let me know he'll be a day late, so I got into bed and fell asleep pretty quickly. And then suddenly I was here. Maybe this is a spell some witch has thought up or we are prisoners of some demon spawn's imagination."
"Whoa dude," Isabeau looked at him with big eyes. Witches, demons, what the hell? "What are you talking about?"
"Look," he said. "Here is the story. I'm a hunter. I..."
"Like a deer hunter?" she interrupted him.
"No, like a monster hunter." He waited for her response and when a deep frown appeared on her face, he continued. "Yeah, monsters are real." He said, his hand awkwardly playing through his hair again.
Isabeau's legs felt like jelly. His eyes were intensely looking at her. She felt captured in the slow motion of his hair magically moving and for a moment, just a split second, she wished it was her hands playing in his hair but then she forced her thoughts back to the moment at hand. Feeling her face flush red, she quickly got up from her chair and started pacing.
"Monsters? You mean like things with fugly faces, sharp teeth and more than 2 eyes?"
He laughed but then his face was serious again. "No, I mean monsters. Things. The thing in your closet or under the bed. The eyes you feel following you when you walk down a dark alley. Vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, angels, the boogieman, and other douchebags. They are all real."
Her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly. Suddenly her throat felt dry and she could feel the goose bumps travelling up her spine, making the tiny hairs on her arm stand up. She glanced over her shoulder, and then quickly sat down again, too afraid to move in any direction.
Sam took her hands and held them for a while. The warmth of his big hands brought feeling back into her body and she relaxed. "Don't worry, I'm here. I've been a hunter most of my life and there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm just saying. Let's retrace our steps of the day that has passed, maybe something happened that has thrown us into this dream world."
She awkwardly removed her hands from his. "I...uhm...I was at work all day. It was a quiet day and nothing much happened. I went home and climbed into bed early. I was so tired."
"Did you meet strange people at work? What sort of work do you do?"
"Well, I work in a bookshop. I receive the books, unpack the boxes and handle all that. I don't really work with people, I mean, I do see them sometimes, but that's only if I need to see them. We are quite a few people in the shop. Each has his own thing to do. Receiving stock is mine."
"So did you maybe see someone today? Strange looking person... with uhm black eyes maybe?" His face was quite serious.
"Black eyes? Wait? Black eyes? No. Nope. Can't say that I have. Black eyes, really? Is that code for something?" she whispered while scanning the room, her bright blue eyes big with concern.
"Demon," he said, without even an ounce of emotion on his handsome face.
"Oh." Isabeau bit her lower lip as another shiver went down her spine. "Did you meet strange people today?"
He cocked his head to the side and smiled, "You mean except for the ghost I had to salt and burn? No, no other strange looking people."
He laughed, she laughed. It was a funny strange situation.
"Okay then," she said, tapping her finger on the table. "So you salt and burn uhm...ghosts on a regular basis?" she whispered.
Sam laughed again. His beautiful eyes glistened in the soft light of the library. "Well," he chuckled, "it was actually not the ghost I salted but rather the body of the person he used to be. But we don't do it with everyone, only the ones that uhm...causes trouble, you know."
He gave her a shy Winchester smile. She smiled back at him and silence fell again.
"So if not a person, maybe a thing? Or an object... maybe?"
"That's it!" Sam exclaimed. "Cursed objects. Why didn't I think of it in the first place?"
"And what would constitute as a cursed object?"
"Well anything really," Sam said. "It can be a necklace, a watch, a piece of cloth. Sometimes it can even be ballet shoes."
Isabeau raised an eyebrow, "Wait, did you say ballet shoes? Really?"
"Yip." He laughed. "We once had a case involving ballet shoes. It...uhm...was a bloody affair." He lightly shuddered.
"And by we, you mean...?"
"Oh, my brother and I."
"Oh," she said, deep in thought. Sam noticed the frown and the concentration with which she tried to remember. She had a cute little frown creasing her forehead while her nose wiggled and she licked her bottom lip now and again. He felt strangely at home with this strange girl. The situation was weird, but he was not freaked out. He decided to treat it like a case and get to the bottom of it.
"Could toys be cursed objects?" Isabeau looked dead serious.
"You sell toys in your shop?" Sam frowned. "I thought it's a BOOKshop?"
She giggled. Sam was confused.
"We have a gaming section. We sell some magic cards, other trading cards and also Dungeons and Dragons books and figurines. It's a huge thing for the shop. There are boardgames and other game related merchandise." While she was talking, strange looking objects started to appear on the table. Sam jumped up and moved away from the table while Isabeau's eyes widened. "That's it!" She exclaimed. "That's exactly it! Oh. My. Word!"
Sam picked up a pack of cards. "You mean they play with these? Like a card game?"
"Yip. It's very popular." She said while at the same time rolling her eyes since she found the idea that grown men played hours and hours of endless card games rather silly. It wasn't like poker or gambling, playing for money. It was simply playing off my monster against your monster and getting a kick out of it.
Some DND figurines also materialised on the table along with some other material. Both Sam and Isabeau stood in awe. They were still in the library, but as Isabeau turned around and looked out into the library sections, the bookshop slowly took form. Every corner and shelf, just like she remembered it. She had a great memory and an awesome knack for detail. Sam just watched in awe.
"Aaaargh, my head!" Isabeau pushed two fingers against her temple to try and stop the flooding of memories and objects abruptly stopped appearing.
"You okay?" Sam reached for her, concerned. She just nodded and smiled at him and then her eyes grew wide as she stared past him into the bookshop which seemed to have taken over the library, as some sort of projection. Everything she imagined was like real objects that could be touched. Some seemed to float or just hang around while others were fixed in bookshelves or on tables and they almost seemed transparent and could be moved out of the way, to touch the library, which was more solid looking, behind it.
"WOW!" Sam exclaimed. "This is too weird. I've never experienced something like this before! It's like we are stuck in a bubble of floating objects or more like an alternate universe or something."
"That's a thing where you come from?" she asked, quietly taking a seat at the end of the table.
"Yes, unfortunately." Sam answered.
Isabeau looked at him with big eyes before picking up some random books lying on the table, but she couldn't concentrate on anything. Everything was too weird. She had no idea what was really going on. Meeting this strange, good looking, smoking hot gentle giant was the highlight of her dream...if this even was a dream...it was too real to feel like a dream but she couldn't allow herself to think of it otherwise. Everything was so magical and magic is just a game, right? It's just a fantasy, a story. And monsters? Monsters are not real things. They are characters in books but in real life, they are people sometimes...the kind that can be caught and put in jail. Those are the only kind she knows.
"You don't suppose that...we are stuck in a book or something?" she asked, looking up with big eyes.
"I don't know. We'll have to research this. Do you guys have any books on lore or history of lore?" he asked as he walked over to one of Isabeau's bookshop shelves.
"No, most books are fictional works, some cook books, some local history, a lot of discounted books on sale but I don't think we've got lore books. There are some books on dreams and faeries and maybe some on Greek or Roman mythology but that's about it. Why do you ask?"
Sam frowned as he walked through the imagined bookshelves, moving them out of the way as he searched for the corner of the library he was doing his research in earlier the day. In no time he found what he was looking for and walked back from the corner, following a different isle where there was no bookshop, only library shelves. He placed a thick, old leather bound book, with gold edges down on the table.
"What is that?" she asked, coming closer.
"Well, I looked at this earlier today. It contained some spells and information I needed for Dean."
"Who is Dean?" she asked.
"Uhm...he's my brother."
"Oh yes, you mentioned the ...uhm...your brother earlier. Wish I had a brother." A sad smile tucked in the corner of her mouth. She became very quiet. A photo frame appeared on the table in front of her, facing away from him. Sam looked up from his book to the frame and then to Isabeau.
"You okay?" He asked, reaching for the frame but refrained from picking it up.
"Yeah, sorry, just had a thought of something." She said, moving the frame out of the way. "What information?"
"Well, Dean was helping a friend of ours with a witchy problem, and well, I had time to help out with research after my ghost hunt, so I spent some time in the library to get the info he needed."
"So you read the book?" she gaped at him while eyeing the thick volume.
Sam laughed. "Not all of it. I mean, I really do like reading, but this is a bit thick for a quick read. It's not a bedtime story, you know." He chuckled but then grew serious. "It's actually not something that should even be here in the library. In the wrong hands this book can be very, very bad." He frowned as he just realised what he was actually holding.
Isabeau smiled at him and then suddenly she yawned. "Oh I'm so sorry," she said as her hand covered her mouth. "I'm suddenly so tired. How long have we been here?" She glanced around the room. There were no clocks and she didn't have her cell phone. There was no way to tell the time.
Sam looked at the computer in the imagined bookshop and quickly strolled over to it, but then he found it to be strangely inactive. The screen was just blank and no matter how hard he tried, he could not force it to life – there also seemed to be no electricity and any light inside the library seemed to be from an unknown source.
"I don't think this universe likes electronics," he said over his shoulder.
"What do you mean?" She asked while walking towards him.
"Well, look at this. All the electronics in this place are basically props. It's useless. There's no way to tell time. It's like we are stuck in time itself or something." His face grew concerned as he walked over to the far side of the library, searching for something.
Isabeau watch him walk around the room for a bit, but suddenly she grew very tired and sat down at the table, letting her head rest on her arms.
"Hey, you okay?" he rushed over to her, resting his big hand on her back.
"Mmm, just so tired." She said through half closed eyes. "What were you looking for?"
"Well, it seems there is no way out. The door we used to get here from the motel room has vanished. There are no windows or other doors in this place. This room is completely closed up."
"You mean we are trapped?" she tried to sit up, but her head was so heavy. She shook her head, letting her high ponytail sweep across her face in an attempt to stay awake.
"I guess." He said as he leaned back in his chair and placed his hand on her back while looking at her.
"Are you tired?" she said, yawning again. "You think it's okay if we sleep a bit?"
"I...I don't know. I mean, it's pretty late at night or early morning, I guess." His hand was still on her back, rubbing circles. But she didn't hear him anymore as she fell into darkness and drifted off, feeling his warmth on her back.