A/N: As always, I do not share any views expressed by any characters in this story. And I own nothing in this story, other than Celest and her family.
Okay, please read, review, and enjoy!
No warnings for part one.
Celest Turner was one of the best hunters there was. Though she wasn't as world famous as the Winchester brothers, she'd been around the block a few times and definitely knew how to carry herself. She'd dealt with more than her fair share of monsters – vamps, werewolves, demons, you name it. In some ways, Celest had worked with the Winchesters a few times, without them really knowing.
Just like the Winchester brothers, Celest didn't have the freedom of living a normal life, or getting to choose where she went next. The only stable thing in her life was her Roxy – her orange 1970 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda. Many nights, Celest found herself sleeping in the backseat of her car, but it never bothered her. Some people weren't as crafty with things like credit card fraud as the Winchester brothers were. Some people actually had to find odd jobs at diners and mini-marts in-between hunts.
Usually, Celest would stop in a small town, move into a motel if she could, and look for a job at the local grocery store. Over the course of a few weeks, she'd get the information she needed to conduct her hunt, and once the job was done, she'd be moving on to the next town. Celest never got to use fake FBI badges either. When she needed information from the local police department about the newest body to turn up, she would have to sneak in at night after everything was closed. Of course, if Celest wanted to get fake badges and do things like credit card fraud, she had friends who could help her out, but to Celest, it was all too immoral.
But Celest never stopped in just any, little town. She was always told where to go by her boss, the man pulling her strings. He was Castiel, and he was pretty much like her Charlie, and she was his angel (ironically), giving her missions with a little info, and she would report back when her work was done. Until she was needed again, Celest would relax, working here or there, maybe making temporary friends. Castiel always paid her with different tokens of gratitude: money, food, gas for Roxy. Where Castiel was getting this stuff, Celest didn't know, and she didn't care, because she'd earned it either way.
"I don't care, Josie," Celest shouted over her radio. Her right hand pressed her cellphone to her ear, while her left hand clutched the steering wheel tight. "However important that is to you and the rest of the family, you have to realize that what I do is a thousand times more important – and not just to me, but to the entire world. He doesn't even like me, he's not going to care if I don't show up." She paused briefly to allow Josie some time to reply. Celest cringed, inching the phone away from her face. "I'm not even close to you, anyway. I'm three states over going the other way-"
There was a beep, and Celest looked at her phone to see that she'd been hung up on. She sighed, tossing her phone into the passenger seat. She was going to be an aunt in a few hours, and apparently her family wasn't too enthused that she was skipping out on playing witness to the miracle of birth. Her mother, Josie, always spat acid at her when they talked over the phone.
After becoming a hunter, Celest missed out on everything her family did. She hated it, that she had to stay away in order to keep them safe. Every time she came around, they would have to move, or else something more sinister might follow Celest's scent to them. Surprisingly, no monsters had come around to harm her family yet, and it was a relief to know she didn't have to worry about them as much.
She was a few hours outside of Umbrella, Nebraska, where young men were disappearing in the middle of the night. When the first couple of boys went missing, many assumed they just ran away, but then the numbers grew. Plus, it was much stranger than a lot of boys just going missing. None of them left in their trucks or took any of their possessions with them. Why leave without even taking a vehicle or a jacket, or even their cellphone? It was just suspicious enough to be Celest's type of case.
Castiel hadn't been too thorough with the details of this mission. Mostly, he just wanted to know who was taking the boys, and why. He didn't actually mention that Celest should try to return the boys safely home. She just had to assume that was part of the gig. She was starting to think maybe it was a vampire thing – a lone vamp trying to start a nest. After the failed apocalypse, stuff like that seemed to be happening more often. But if that was the case, none of the boys would ever be going back home.
Even though she didn't know them any better than the few stories Castiel used to tell her, Celest was kind of sad to hear that the Winchester brothers weren't working together anymore. To her, it felt like they were a band that had broken up, and she was just disappointed she wouldn't get to hear their music anymore. Cas had said that Sam was back from The Cage, hunting again with some long, lost family, and Dean had given up being a hunter, was starting a small family. It sounded nice and cozy. From the ways Castiel had described the brothers in the past, Celest had never assumed Dean would be the first one to try and get a normal life. He sounded like the better hunter, the more dedicated of the brothers. Sam just seemed like he was troubled, and who could blame him? Celest had never even met him and even she pitied the guy.
Of course, all of that made the job a bit harder for her. It seemed like Sam and his new partners weren't doing the small and simple anymore, leaving Celest to pick up their crumbs. Some of them were complicated crumbs, like supposed vampire nests. Only a stupid person would go walking into a nest alone. Celest wasn't stupid, but she'd rather not disobey her boss' orders.
Celest pulled up to a motel in Umbrella and parked, patting Roxy on the hood as she walked by. After checking into a room – and being ogled by the clerk, of course – she headed to her room and unloaded her bags. She cursed, realizing that she was fresh out of dead man's blood. That would be a major inconvenience.
It wasn't late enough yet for her to go skulking around the morgue, so Celest decided to put on some fresh clothes and meet the townspeople. She traded in her hoodie and sweats for her black, leather crop vest and smoky gray jeans, her flat stomach peeking out. She'd noticed over time that if she dressed like an outsider, more people were willing to talk to her. And showing off a bit of cleavage never hurt.
As she walked down the street, her long, curly hair bobbed up and down, and she smiled at anyone she passed. Most of them just stared, as if they were wondering what a girl like her was doing in their small town. She entered a cute, rustic diner and sat down at the counter, feeling eyes on her. Celest didn't care; she leaned forward on the counter, just exposing herself more. "Hey, sweetheart," she said to the young man at the coffee machine. He turned to look at her, and his eyes widened, which just made her grin. "Is that a fresh pot? I could sure go for a cup of coffee."
The boy just nodded quickly and reached under the counter to get her a mug. "Are you from out of town?" he asked nervously. He seemed nice enough, but he must've been in his early twenties. His hair was black and curly, and he was clean shaven. Celest admired a well-groomed man; it just seemed gentlemanly. His eyes were hazel, but they were bright, like brand new pennies.
"I just got here, actually," Celest replied, sitting up, looking around at the other patrons. She added with a laugh, "Where exactly am I, anyway?" It was always good to play dumb. If she acted like she didn't have any business there, and she was just passing through, no one ever suspected her of anything.
He set her cup on a little saucer and poured her some fresh coffee, leaving just enough room for some creamer. "This is Umbrella, Nebraska, ma'am."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Why don't you have an accent like a cowboy?"
The boy turned to her as he was putting the coffee pot back in the machine, half smiling. It was slightly charming. "Well, I just moved here a few years ago. 'Guess I haven't picked up an accent yet."
Celest nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. It was still a bit too hot to drink, so she set down her mug and held out a hand. "I'm Naomi Mayweather, nice to meet ya."
He took her hand and shook it lightly. "Likewise. I'm Terry."
"No last name, Terry?"
He laughed, letting go of her hand. "Terry Thomas. It sounds stupid, I know."
Celest shook her head. "Nah. I don't pay too much attention to names anyway."
Terry furrowed his brows at her. "Then why did you-"
"I was just curious."
He just stared at her for a moment, then someone called to him from the kitchen, so he glanced behind his shoulder, gave her one last look, then walked through a swinging door. Celest just smiled, touching the glass of her mug to judge its temperature. Looking around the diner, she noticed how empty it was getting. This had to be the right town, because a few minutes ago there had been quite a few people. All of the boys went missing during the night, so it was safe to assume everyone ran home scared once it got dark.
Terry fit the description of most of the guys that went missing – he was young, not in terrible shape. She guessed that he must work late, so perhaps if she followed him home, she would see whatever it was that was taking all of the young men. Until then, maybe she could get a little more info about the missing guys from him.
She waited until he came back out of the kitchen, drinking her coffee as slowly as humanly possible, and reading through a newspaper. He just half smiled at her. "So, are you staying in Umbrella for a while, or just passing through?"
Celest glanced up from her paper and shrugged. "I'm not in any big hurry to leave. Well," she laughed, "maybe a little." She turned the paper to him, to show the article she was referring to. "All of these guys just went missing?"
Terry sighed. "Yeah. Some of them were close friends of mine. It started happening a few weeks ago." He half smiled again as he wiped down the counter. "But you shouldn't be scared, it's just been guys so far. Besides, they're probably all just running away, joining the military or something. That's what everyone around here believes."
"What do you believe?"
He paused, just looking at her, then chuckled a little. "You really are curious, huh?" She just smiled back at him, so he nodded. "Well, I don't really think they all just up and left. I mean, none of them took their trucks or anything, and the bus doesn't run that late. And why would they all leave, anyway? Some of them were just about to graduate. Why not wait until after?"
"So what do you think happened to them?" she asked. She noticed briefly that things were beginning to get turned off in the kitchen behind him – fryers cooling down, a few lights going out. He would be going home soon, and she needed to find out all she could in order to hunt whatever this thing was.
"Well," he said with this nervous little smile, "if I was crazy, I'd say they were abducted by aliens. It's the only real thing that makes sense besides maybe they all ran off and joined the circus."
She laughed a little. "The only real thing?"
He winced at himself slightly. "You don't think I'm crazy, do you? I mean, it's not totally unreasonable, is it? To…think there's aliens out there, and that we're not alone in this big, huge universe?"
"Well, they do always seem to make appearances by corn fields," she answered with a smile, looking outside. "Geez, it got dark quick. Does that usually happen?"
"Actually, that just started happening recently. I'd say a little more than a week ago, right after all those guys started disappearing." As he said this, he looked like he was concentrating. Celest smiled. It was kind of funny, watching all the pieces fall into place for someone else.
She propped an elbow on the counter, leaning her chin on the palm of her uplifted hand. "So, have you had anyone suspicious come through lately, in the past week or so? You know, like a memorable character."
"No one, other than you," he answered with this little smile that just made Celest laugh.
A/N: I'll check this for errors later. I really need a beta reader or two...
