What Makes a Killer

Chapter One: Jedi Mind Powers

Note: Part of my AU 'verse. Please read "Purpose", "Demon Blood", "Supernatural vs. Evil", "Your Latest Trick" and "Obi Wan'd" in that order first. Enjoy!

Dean was usually pretty willing to do things he thought were kinda crazy, but when you got right down to it, he just didn't like this idea one bit. "Are you sure, Sam?" he asked.

"For the last time, Dean, yes, I'm sure." Sam looked distinctly annoyed as they pulled up at Harvelle's Roadhouse. "We know that a whole bunch of them didn't have nursery fires, but there has to have been others besides myself and Max that did."

"Yeah, but tracking them down?" Dean killed the engine and looked over at Sam. "We don't know what they're capable of, Sam."

"And that matters?" Sam asked. "I'm the only one with a list of abilities, Dean. I can handle anything they can do."

Dean sighed and glared out his window. "Fine," he said, "but we need to speak very carefully in there. Makin' Gordon Walker suspicious last month was one thing, but if one Hunter in there hears the wrong thing —"

"I know what could happen," Sam cut in, opening the passenger-side door. "Now, are you coming in or not?"

Dean opened his mouth, wanting to issue more warnings and precautions, but Sam was already walking toward the front door, so he quickly got out of the Impala and followed Sam inside.

"Hey, boys," Ellen called from the bar as she poured a shot for some man. "Good to see you both. Sam, you put on anymore weight since I saw you last?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sam responded. "Hey, Jo."

Jo smiled brightly as she entered the bar with a box of beer. "Hey, Sam," she said. "Hi, Dean."

"Hey," Dean said. "How's business?"

"Good," Jo answered.

"So, what brings you two here today?" Ellen asked, having placed the bottle she'd been holding back in its proper place on a shelf.

"Is Ash here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, hon, in his room." She jerked her head in the direction of the right door, which proudly proclaimed "Dr. Badass is In".

"Great, thanks." Dean followed Sam back to the door, completely missing the slightly dejected look that crossed Jo's face.

"Ash!" Sam called, knocking on the door. There was no answer. "Hey, Ash!"

"Here," Dean said, pushing past Sam and knocking. "Hey, Dr. Badass!" he called out, and after a moment, a very naked Ash opened the door.

"Sam!" he said brightly, barely poking his head through. "Dean! Sam n' Dean."

Dean looked away immediately and noted the nauseated look on his brother's face.

"Hey, Ash," Sam said, staring determinedly up at the door frame. "Uh, we need your help finding some people."

"Oh yeah?" Ash nodded. "Guess that means I need pants then."

Sam retreated the moment the door shut, Dean right on his heels.

"Okay, so there's only four kids of Sam's generation who had the nursery fires," Ash said, taking the seat next to Sam and snagging a drink from his beer.

"Great," Dean said from Sam's other side. "We already know about Sam and Max Miller, so who're the other two?"

"We got Andrew Gallagher and Scott Carey," Ash replied, handing over printouts on the two men. Sam looked at the pictures provided.

"I've never had visions about either of them," he said after a moment of staring. "I wonder what they can do?"

"Lemme see," Dean said, and Sam handed over the printouts before heading for the restroom. He was incredibly bothered by how few people his age had suffered the same fires. How many mothers out there hadn't woken up and walked into their child's nurseries?

The headache, as always, came out of nowhere. Sam gasped, startling the Hunter at the sink next to his as he clutched at his forehead. "Hey man, you all right?" the Hunter asked, but then Sam couldn't see, feel, or hear him anymore —

A portly black man is walking down the street, waving at some people and smiling like it is a damn good day. His cell phone rings and he pulls it out. "Hello?"

A moment later his expression changes and there was a glimpse of a gun in a shop. "I can do that," the man says, and then he shuts his phone and heads across the street to a gun store, where he gets his hands on a turkey hunter, loads it with two rounds, kills the gun dealer and then blows his own brains out.

He can see the man — he's Dr. Jennings — can see a bus sign… Blue Ridge?

"Gah!" Sam was surprised to find he was still standing, one hand tightly clutching the sink before him as his legs shook and his knees threatened to buckle.

"Are you with me?" He suddenly realized a Hunter he didn't know was at his shoulder, concern radiating off him and almost covering the suspicion. "C'mon, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Dean," Sam gasped out, shoving away from the sink and the Hunter and stumbling toward the door. "I need m'brother."

"Whoa, hey, slow down," the Hunter said, grabbing his arm and helping him stay upright. "Take it easy, man."

"Let go," Sam commanded, and the Hunter obeyed without question.

"You need help, kid," he said, opening the restroom door instead, and watching as Sam stumbled back into the bar. "What the hell happened back there?"

Sam ignored him, searching the bar with his eyes until he caught Dean's eyes. "Dean," he said again, and his brother was up in a flash, easily maneuvering through the tables until he was at Sam's side.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Was it —?" He broke off, clearly not wanting to mention any of Sam's abilities out loud in a bar filled with Hunters. Not that Sam could blame him.

"He completely checked out back there for a solid minute," the Hunter from the restroom said. "What happened in there, anyway?"

Sam didn't want this, any of this. "Nothing happened," he insisted, pushing with his powers. "I just tripped and hit my head, you saw it."

"Oh," the Hunter said, his frown vanishing at once. "Right."

Sam looked away, refusing to meet Dean's eyes as he was guided across the bar and into the spare room in the back, Ash and Ellen following him while Jo stayed out to managed the bar.

"Dude, I thought you weren't gonna do shit like that," Dean snapped the moment the door was shut.

"Too bad," Sam replied, sitting down hard and rubbing at his forehead. "He was asking questions, and he saw me having a vision! I couldn't risk that!"

"Oh," Dean said, the anger leaving him completely. "Right. Works for me."

"Wait," Ellen said, "What're you talkin' about?"

"Nothing," Sam said at the same time as Dean. "I need a pen and paper," Sam added, "gotta draw something for Ash to look up."

"Same city that Gallagher kid lives in," Ash finally said some minutes later, showing Sam the website of the Blue Ridge bus system. "Guthrie, Oklahoma."

"Okay," Sam said, rubbing at his forehead and silently begging the headache to just go away. "I guess he's the one we're going to see first, then."

Minutes later, they had the last known address of Andy and were climbing into the Impala. "We need to spend as little time as possible there," Dean said as he started up the engine.

"Huh?" Sam said, snapping out of his thoughts.

"The Roadhouse," Dean said with annoyance. "I don't wanna risk you havin' any more visions around a bunch of trigger-happy Hunters."

"Oh," Sam said stupidly. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."

"Don't apologize, it's not like you can decide when they'll happen," Dean said. "We just need to be more careful."

"Yeah," Sam said again. "I know."

Tracking down Andy was relatively easy, especially given the epic, sweet-awesome van he drove. A mural of a Barbarian Queen riding a Polar Bear covered the driver's side, and honestly, Dean was pretty convinced right then at this kid couldn't possibly be the one who was gonna kill the man Sam had seen in his vision.

Sam, unsurprisingly, did not agree. "You know that's probably what he wants of us," he said seriously. "Soldiers kill, Dean, and we're the Goddamn soldiers!"

"Sam, you're not a killer," Dean insisted, "not like Max was. We take out the supernatural, not unfortunate kids with demon blood in their veins who don't have a clue as to what's happening to them, let alone why it's happening. I mean, look at Andy," and he gestured across the street as Andy left some hot chick's apartment and asked for a stranger's coffee before strolling away in his bathrobe and pajamas. "If he's got the Jedi thing goin' for him, then why hasn't he used it to get fortune, fame, a house with no mortgage or whatever?"

"I don't know," Sam said, "why haven't I done any of that?"

"Cause we don't need it, Sammy," Dean answered at once, grinning. "I mean, sure, you still need some practice with your own skills there, but we don't need some white picket fence or loads of money." He reached out and patted the Impala's dashboard. "This is home," he said, the grin becoming a genuine smile when Sam's dimpled smile finally showed itself.

Sam looked away, and then he was sitting up straighter. "That's him," he said, pointing to the older, black man that was currently talking to Andy across the street. "The older guy, he's the shooter."

"Okay," Dean said, "well, you keep up with him, and I'll follow Andy."

Sam nodded and was out of the car seconds later, easily staying out of sight as Andy climbed into his van, started the engine and drove away, Dean soon following him at a distance.

When Andy stopped his van at a stop sign and climbed out, Dean was instantly alert.

"Hey," Andy said with an easy smile as he reached the Impala. Up close, Dean could see the kid didn't shave too often and had the distinct smell of pot-tinted smoke around him. His clothes were rumpled, he had multiple piercings in his ears, and really, he looked kinda like a street bum. Unlike street bums, however, Andy's expression and eyes held none of the inner turmoil and sadness Dean had seen in the homeless.

"Hey," Dean replied hesitantly, all too aware of the gun tucked in his jacket. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to kill the kid.

Then Andy was telling Dean how awesome the Impala was, and before Dean could figure things out, he had handed over the car and was left standing next to the van, watching Andy drive away in his precious Baby. "Shit," he whispered, "he's got the same ability." And that raised a question: how was he going to get anywhere with Andy without having Sam standing next to him at all times? Then he remembered that Sam was following the older man and pulled out his cell phone. This entire situation was just not good.

TBC...