Chapter One.
Dean glanced over at Sam who was gazing out of the window absently. Glancing in the review mirror, Dean watched as Cas watched the rolling coutryside pass by. The quiet in the car was too much for Dean so he leant over and pushed the play button on the cassette console. Immediately the loud wail of Van Halin blasted through the interior of the vehicle.
Sam turned to face Dean and frowned. "Was up?" He asked. Dean could feel Cas' attention move from the green hills to the car. Dean pursed his lips and nodded.
"Everything is just fine. You know me, I hate driving two days straight in silence."
"We could always fly." Sam offered. Dean's face hardened and he glanced over at Sam with an angry look.
"You know perfectly well why we don't fly." Dean retorted.
"It's ok to be afraid." Cas murmured from the backseat. Inwardly Dean grimaced. He knew that Cas was only trying to offer comfort, in that anal heavenly way of his, but it felt to Dean that he was being patronised.
"Thankyou." Dean snorted.
"You're welcome." Cas obviously missed the sarcasm that underlaid that statement. Opening his mouth Dean wanted to retort back, but thought better of it and shut his mouth again. Somehow, Dean knew whatever he said to Cas, it would be lost on him. Angels had no sense of jesting.
Dean thought it high time to change the subject before things turned ultra feminine and they decided to have a D & M. Having a sharing and caring bonding session was the last thing Dean wanted right about now.
"So tell me the story about this town?" Dean asked. Sam leant forward and removed the yellow folder from the dashboard and opened it.
"There have been six deaths in the same amount of weeks." Sam began. "The killings happen every twenty years and last for months before they finally stop."
"Any idea what we're dealing with?" Dean asked. Sam shook his head.
"It could be any number of things." Sam replied. "Whatever we're dealing with its over 600 years old."
"So we're dealing with a very old broad?" Dean snickered. Cas cocked his head and studied Dean.
"I do not believe an inanimate piece of wood is killing people."
Sam smiled and tried to hide it with his hand. Dean shook his head. "That's a board Cas, not a broad."
"What's the difference?" Cas asked.
"A broad is a woman." Dean explained. He glanced back at Cas, who was porcessing the statement. Finally he nodded.
"I see."
The car fell silent after that. Sam was reading the folder and Cas returned to watching the countryside. Dean turned the volume up more and began to tap his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the beat. Dean thought about drums. If life was any different for himself and Sam, Dean thought he may have followed the path of a drummer.
He could see himself on stage, under the searing heat of the spot light, beating away at the hide of the drums and symbols, in a leather coat and jeans as the crowd of adoring fans screamed his name and sexy women scatily clad in mini skirts threw themselves at him, begging to spend one night basked in his glory.
Twenty minutes later Dean passed a sign on the right hand side of the road informing him that they had entered the small town of Toledo, Ohio. Sam sat up and adjusted his sitting position. "This is it." He murmured. Dean looked over at Sam.
"Thankyou, Doctor Obvious." Dean said. Sam gave Dean his, 'You're and idiot' stare.
"Why would someone call themselves Obvious?" Cas asked. Dean couldn't bring himself to justify that comment with an answer so he decided to let that one go.
As they followed the road past the large trees that were heavy with yellow leaves that were ready to fall, houses started to emerge. Sam looked nostalgic. "Do you wonder what it would be like to live in a small town like this? To have a normal life? What it would be like if we never knew about Heaven or Hell, angels or demons?" Sam asked.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Lets not go through this again."
"What?" Sam asked.
"We live the life that we do. We know things that would send normal people howling to the nuthouse, wailing like a crazy loon. We live this life because Heaven says its our destiny."
"Are you ok?" Sam asked. Dean growled.
"Yes, Sammy, I'm fine. I just don't think we need to sit pondering on a life that we'll never have. We've been down this road and it does nothing for us except distract us from our jobs. Besides if we lived a life like that we'd go nuts. We need the job to keep us busy."
Sam looked back down at the file and nodded. "I guess you're right."
"Of coarse I'm right." Dean said.
"I think the first thing we should do is pay a visit to the local coroner and have a look at the body of the most recent body." Sam said, back into work mode. Dean pulled the Impala over onto the dirt shoulder of the road. Dean turned the car off and got out, Sam followed his lead. Confused Cas followed.
Dean opened to boot and lifted the carpet, revealing the hidden weapons, holy water and duffle bags. Cas came around the back of the car and frowned at them. "What are you doing?" He asked as Dean lifted a duffle and handed it to Sam.
"Getting changed." Dean informed them. "We can't stroll into the coroners office looking like this." He motioned at his leather jacket. "We don't exactly look the part."
Cas cocked his head and nodded. "I will wait for you here." Cas said. Dean nodded his agreement.
"It'd be great if you could get us a hotel." Dean chucked Cas a credit card. Cas looked at it for a time then looked back at Dean.
"What do I do with this?" He asked. Dean stared at Cas for a time trying to decide if he was joking or not.
"You use it to pay the guy for the room." Dean explained. "Its money." Cas sighed.
"I don't understand the power that money has for humans. It makes no sense. It seems worthless to me."
"Thats because angels don't need money. You don't need to eat or sleep. We need these things and need to make sure that we are not getting ripped off. Its kind of like a sharing thing. We like to make sure that we are getting something in return for the goods and services we give to others."
"That seems very selfish." Cas mused. Dean shrugged.
"Thats humans for you, we're a selfish bunch. Every man for himself."
"Angels are different. We are all family, we work together and look out for each other." Cas looked back down at the silver card. "I guess we are different to you in that way."
In the blink of an eye Cas was gone. Dean shook his head and grabbed his own duffle and slammed the boot shut. Dean wondered into the woods and quickly changed into his FBI suit. He came back to the car and Sam was already back in the passenger seat waiting.
Dean slid into the drivers seat and started the engine. He pulled off the shoulder and back onto the main highway headed into town. Once on the main road Dean pulled over outside the towns small hospital. He shut off the Impala's engine and slid out of the car, Sam followed suit. They both slammed their doors in unison and walked up the small path into the foyer of the hospital.
Dean and Sam walked up to the desk and Dean smiled at the receptionist. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" She asked politely. Dean pasted on the sweetest smile he could muster and spoke in the silky voice he had spent decades perfecting. That tone of voice was a winner with any woman.
"I'm detective Manzarek and this is my partner detective Krieger." Dean said and both he and Sam flipped on open their fake FBI badges in sync as they had perfected over the many years on the job. "We're here to investigate the series of murders." He finished. The young blonde stared at the badges for a moment, seemingly trying to decide if the badges were real or not.
Eventually she nodded and said. "I'll page Doctor Schultz." She informed them before she swung the swivel chair around and punched a number into the phone. Dean sighed and turned to Sam.
"Gotta love Bobby's work." He whispered so only Sam could hear. "I really thought we were going down that time."
"One day our luck will run out." Sam whispered back. Dean felt his stomach flip flop and hoped against hope that Sam was wrong. A moment later the girl swung back to face them.
"Go on down to the basement." She told them. "The doctor is expecting you."
Sam thanked her and he and Dean walked over to the elevator. Dean pressed the down button and waited for the elevator. The doors opened a moment later with a ping and Dean followed Sam inside. Once the doors closed Dean looked at Sam and said, "why do all the morgue's have to be underground?"
"Because its cooler underground." Sam answered. The kid always seemed to have the answer to everything. It bugged Dean to know end, but he'd be damned if he ever let Sam know that. The elevator doors opened and Dean walked with Sam along the white, sterile corridor looking for the doctors office. A second later Sam found it and knocked.
The door opened and a small asian women with horn- rimmed glasses peered out at them. "Yes?" She asked in a tiny voice that Dean could only barely hear.
"We're here to see a doctor schultz?" Sam said almost immediately, as if the small woman didn't faze him at all. To Dean it was just downright wrong. She smiled and stepped aside to open the door.
"Yes, yes please come in." She said. Dean and Sam walked in.
"What do you make of the body?" Sam asked as the woman led them into the cold morgue.
"It's unlike anything I have ever seen before." She admitted. If only Dean had a nickled for everythime he heard that line. "I mean the man had no physical symptoms." She said. That was a new for the boys.
Sam cocked his head. "What do you mean 'no physical syptoms'?"
"Well aside from him being dead there's no sign why he should be dead. There was no organ or tissue damage, no boken bones, no wounds or even a bruise. If it wasn't for the fact that there's no brain activity and he's not breathing I would say he's only asleep."
Dean and Sam exchanged looks and turned back to the body lying limp on the steel table. Dean bent forward and looked at the body. The girl was right there was nothing physically wrong with him.
"May we stay and examine the body?" Sam asked. The girl smiled brightly at him and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Sure you can! Just make sure you let me know when you leave, I'll be in my office." Then she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the boys alone with the body. Dean was smiling like the mad hatter at his tea party. Sam shook his head and turned back to Dean.
"What?" He asked.
"Dude, she totally wanted you."
"Yeah, right Dean." Sam said. Dean simply gave Sam a knowing look.
"Go on Sammy, we deserve some fun time too."
"Not interested Dean."
"Yeah, right." Dean muttered as he circled the body. "So Einstein, what you make of this?"
Sam scratched his head. "To be honest? I don't know."
It was at that moment that the morgue door burst open and a tall blonde haired man stood in the doorway. He was huge and almost filled the entire frame. Immediately Dean and Sam raised their guns just as the man did. It was a surreal sight for any passerby's and Dean couldn't remember a time in his life that ever came close to being this weird and he had seem some weird crap in his time.
"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded. The blonde looked at Dean and replied silkily, "I should ask you the same question."
"Listen, DiCaprio, We're working here so if you don't mind telling me who you are."
The man stayed silent for a few moments, regarding Dean before finally he spoke a solitary word. "Dante."