Title: Dangerous Tonight
Full Summary: When a New York town is plauged by a series of brutal animal-like murders, the Brothers Winchester must try to find their right culprit before the beast puts them in it's sight
A/N: This is the last in a trilogy involving Psycho Circus and Love Kills, directly following the events of the last fic, so enjoy! and also, to get caught up I'd suggest reading the two previous fics just to be safe :D
Trivia Time: The first chapter of this one was written around the same time I was writing the second and third chapters of Love Kills
"Let me get this straight." Dean said, not getting up from the park bench.
"I said, I needed your help, I know about your deal because I did and by the way, the same demon that has your's has mine." Bela asked sarcastically.
"What was it for?" Dean said, looking at her.
"What was what for?"
"The deal, why did you make a deal, genius." Dean said, very...confused by this recent development.
"I-it's not important, it's just can you help? and do you want to know?"
"Why do you want my help?"
"Because, you just said if I ever needed your help to come to you and Sam with my problem..and I figured that, dealing with Crossroads deals is one of those things." Bela shrugged.
"I can, I have my own deal myself."
"I know, Dean, that's something he can't keep to himself for some reason."
"He?" Dean asked, unaware of the demon's identity.
"His name is Crowley, he's the King of The Crossroads, and holds all the major deals and all the deals he's made personally." Bela explained.
"Which category do I fall under?" Dean asked out of curiosity.
"You, I have no idea, me on the other hand, I made the mistake of making a deal with the bastard personally."
"Listen to me Bela, I'm gonna do all I can to get both deals null and void, you hear me?" Dean said, not even sure where to begin with finding this Crowley guy.
"I wanna belive you and at the same time I can't." She smiled.
"Why's that?"
"Because, you're going up against one of the most high ranking of all the legions of Hell, think he gets a title like 'King of The Crossroads' by being a regular Homer Simpson?"
"Fine, I get it, he's their boss but we do have a kinda gun that we can put through his skull."
"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into Dean." She said getting up from the park bench.
"Without a doubt I do." Dean said, getting up from the bench too.
"Listen, while we're here, I found something that might interest you, it's Hunting related and maybe I thought you'd like to hear it while we were here." She turned around to face him.
"Lay it on me if it's a case."
"Town less than an hour away from where I live in New York, a series of brutal attacks have been occuring on a regular basis for the last few weeks, I dunno if it's your kind of thing but, it wouldn't hurt to check, now would it?" She shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess me and Sam can take a look at it, after that's done then you and I are gonna go and play a game called Let's kill Crowley." He smirked.
"I'm counting on that." She smiled, planting a kiss on his lips.
"What was that for?" Dean asked, not sure what his reaction should have been.
"Well, we already did that before on that bench, I figured if we're making it official, we're not making it official, are we?"
"Oh god no, the whole...relationship thing doesn't work for me."
"I figured it doesn't." She said under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's um, business related, anyway, I should be on my way."
"Yeah and me and Sam will check out this um, Huntington job." Dean said, walking away and out of the park, noticing the Impala wasn't far off, Sam had come to pick him up.
The Impala parked towards the sidewalk where Dean had been standing when he noticed it, settling himself into the passenger's seat.
"Well, someone's in one piece." Sam commented.
"Oh shut up, anyway, I got a call from Bobby." Dean lied.
"About?"
"A job in New York, series of animal attack-styled murders, it might be our thing and it might be nothing."
"Alright, if you wanna get into another case right after this." Sam shrugged.
"Well is anything Demon-related happening? No. So we just keep hunting what we can until then."
"Fine." Sam sighed, the car was off on a 2 hour drive to the state of New York.
Huntington, New York
The Impala pulled into the local coroner's office, changed into suits and ready to take a look at if this was a hunt or a bust.
"So, no idea who the main suspect is?" Sam asked, exiting the car.
"Not that I know of, something mean and powerful I assume." Dean shrugged, leaving the car.
"That narrows it down to...just about anything."
"Well, when we find out what it is, we'll kill it, okay?"
"Fine." Sam sighed as the two entered the coroner's office.
"May I help you gentlemen?" Asked a male's voice from behind them.
"Um, yes, we're looking for the county coroner, a James Acel?" Dean asked, turning around, Sam following suit.
They turned around to see the sight of an older African-American gentleman, around his mid-40's with a suit and long white coat "That'd be me, who are you two?" He asked.
"FBI, Agent Stiles and Murdock." Sam said, flashing his badge, Dean doing the same.
"FBI? I presume this is about the incidents in town."
"Yes it is sir, mind if we take a look at the bodies?" Dean asked.
"Not at all, I must inform you however that there is only one as upon the request of the loved ones of some of the victims, they were cremated." He informed them.
"That's okay, all we need to do is check out one body." Sam assured him.
"The room down the hall and on your right." He said pointing them in their direction "In the meantime I have an autopsy to perform."
"Another vic?" Dean asked.
"No, it's entirely unrelated."
"Alright then, we'll check out that dead body then." Sam said, going down the hall, Dean following shortly after.
"Hey Sam, you know what this just screams to me?" Dean asked, catching up with his brother.
"What?"
"Wendigo."
"Do they even come up this far north? I mean we've seen one in Colorado but that-that's about it."
"Maybe they do, maybe they don't, maybe we should just keep it on our list of suspects until we learn anything new."
"Yeah, sure, Dean, you seem like you're just taking this job out of...boredom." Sam said, stopping him.
"Sam, name one case we didn't take out of boredom, I mean we've got no leads on anything else so, why not?" Dean asked, shrugging, he was right that there wasn't anything related to their current problem happening so why not just take whatever crap jobs there were between now and then.
"Fine, if you say so, but the minute something comes in, we leave this place."
"Um, excuse me but what about whatever's killing people here?"
"We could call another hunter in the area to wrap it up." Sam suggested.
"Right because leaving a job is a good idea." he said, entering the room where the latest victim of the creature in town was being kept.
"All right so what do we know about him?" Sam asked, pulling the body, or what was left of it out.
"Well, dental records I.D. the poor bastard as Carter Morgan, 32, lived here all his life and was a mechanic in town, he went missing four days ago and only last night was his body found in a river just on the edge of town." Dean said, reading police records that he'd taken from Bela.
"So, basically a stand up citizen?" Sam asked.
"Basically, he wasn't the first death either, these started around a month ago, first with a woman named Maya Glenz and then another guy named Damon Rolle and then a woman named Dana Wilsow." Dean said, listing off the names of the other victims.
"And this was the fates of all of them?" Sam asked, observing the mangled state of the corpse and a missing arm.
"Pretty much."
"Poor folks, had no idea what was coming." Sam said sympathetically, nobody not even one's worst enemy deserved to die the way these people did.
"Well, that's what happens, one night you're working a 9-5 and suddenly some monster or ghost just comes up from behind you and decides to leave you all over the place." Dean replied, observing the corpse.
"I guess so, but whatever did this looks like it can do a whole hell of a lot to someone."
"Again, this just screams a Wendigo hunt."
"And if it isn't?"
"Then we just do what we always do, find out just what it is and then kill it."
"Well, not just Wendigoes who violently rip their victims apart, there was Jacksonville and the Yeti a few months back."
"Please don't remind me of that Sam."
"Why not?"
"Because that job sucked, plain and simple."
"Alot of jobs have been worse."
"Yeah and that one was just plain insanity."
"And this isn't?"
"Okay, maybe I just wanna get that experience outta my head."
"Did you sleep with one of the strippers you went to see down there?" Sam asked, still buying into Dean's lie about the strip club.
"What? no no, I don't think strippers do that..do they?"
"I dunno, find a strip club, ask someone there if they do."
"When this is over, that's the first thing I'm gonna do."
Sam sighed "Of course, because we have all the time in the world for that."
Dean looked away from the dead body at his brother "Sam, don't bring this up right now, okay?"
"What? Dean I'm just saying that we're out here chasing god knows what and you're time is running out."
"And? Sam, remember one little fact, you or me try to weasel my ass outta that deal and you're gonna drop dead."
"What if we find a way to stop both from happening?"
"Sam, forget it, there's no way out of my deal, no matter what anyone says..let's just toss that aside right now and focus on this."
"Dean." Sam sighed "We'll find something, I've said it before but I'm not gonna let you go to Hell."
"Neither do I but right now this is what I wanna go after." Dean held up the folder as evidence of what he was going after.
"Fine, but if this job is a bust and it's just some animal or crazy person."
"Sam, what kind of person does this kind of thing to another person."
"Okay, if it's just some animal then, we're leaving and not looking back."
"And if it's up our alley?"
"Then it's up our alley."
"Well alright then." Dean said walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Get answers, see if there was anyone in town that knew our vic here."
"And the others?"
"Them too."
"Alright, I'll do some digging and see if any other attacks happened like this in the last few months or years." Sam agreed, following his brother as they made their way out of the local morgue.
The brothers made their way to the car, this wasn't the first creature they were after that committed brutal attacks on ordinary folks who lived their day to day lives, it was actually the very basis for the things they hunted.
"So Dean, tell me, how come you didn't listen to me?" Sam asked, annoyance in his voice more clear than the ringing of a newly made bell.
"About?"
"About just staying put back at the room in Preston."
"Oh come on Sam!" Dean barked "It's not like I was in any sort of danger, I had a gun on me and knew how to defend myself."
"Dean, I asked, hell bordered on begged you to stay behind and you'd be safe, instead you decide to go out and get close to drunk." Sam argued.
"Well that room wasn't doing me any favors, being in crowded area like the bar would've been much safer because there's no way Maria was going to do what she did."
"Dean, sometimes I think you have a death wish of some kind."
"What!?" Dean exclaimed "I do not, it's just what we do is a profession that involves risking our lives sometimes."
"Yeah and you keep cutting it so frigging close sometimes, also don't forget you mentioned being scared of going to Hell, which is what's gonna happen if you get killed on any of our jobs."
"Oh screw you Sam."
"No, I recall mentioning you agreeing that after the Preston case was done, we'd work further into the Hell problem."
"Well, sorry but I wanna put it off real quick just this once."
"Just this once?"
"Y'know, solve this little mystery then we can go chasing after omens." Dean argued "Sam, this isn't the first time we took a case because chasing demons leads us on wild goose chases for god knows how long and it was my dying wish that I hunt what I can before I die."
Sam frowned, letting out a sigh afterwords "Okay, you wanna do this then we'll do this."
"Thank you."
"But after this, we're chasing as many leads as we can get."
"Fine with me."
"Same here."
With that the brothers split up to put together this case, just what was running around Huntington? what is the creature that is creating chaos amongst the town folk and what is there that can stop it in it's tracks?"
Sam was dropped off at the home of Mr. Morgan's wife, a woman named Kelsey who was the last person to see him alive, Sam strolled up to her doorstep, knocking on it several times before getting a response.
"Hello? Mrs. Morgan?" Sam asked, nobody answering.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the front door opened, a female just a foot shorter than Sam appeared, dark brown hair bordering on black and blue eyes with a yellow robe on, this was Kelsey Morgan "May I help you?" she asked.
"Um yes, I'm Agent Stiles, I'm with the FBI." Sam replied, showing her his badge.
"FBI?"
"Yes, me and my partner, Agent Murdock, he's not here right now obviously are investigating the deaths that have been happening around town, including your husband's, may I come in?"
"Yeah, sure." she gestured for him to enter the house "Take a seat anywhere."
"Thank you mam." Sam smiled at her.
"So, the FBI huh?" She asked, sitting herself down on a couch.
"Yeah, your husband was the fourth person to be found the way he was."
"Fourth?"
"Yes, um, three other locals were found dead the exact same way, as if an animal had committed the attacks or at least that's how they were described to us."
"Oh my god."
"Yes, if it means anything I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you."
"Your husband, his name was Carter, right?"
"Yes that'd be right, why'd you wanna know?"
"Verification reasonings and such."
"Oh." she sighed "Look Agent Stiles, do you have any idea who murdered my husband?"
"We don't have an exact I.D. on the killer yet but we're searching and we're gonna bring him to justice, trust me Mrs. Morgan." Sam assured her.
"I hope you do."
"Alright, Mrs. Morgan, your husband, did he have any enemies? y'know anyone who'd want to hurt him or even take his life?"
"No, not one, go around town and ask anyone and they'll tell you he was a great big teddy bear."
"Okay, and did you notice anything strange in the neighborhood, recently? like people, sounds, sights and even smells?"
"No, nothing strange in town, aside from hearing about locals being found dead just today."
"Mrs. Morgan, where were you when your husband's body was found?"
"I was here at home, I got the phone call from the local sheriff's office, it'd been a few days after Carter didn't come home, I was scared that he'd be found..dead, I did hold out hope though that maybe he was in a hospital or something."
Meanwhile
Dean rode in the Impala along the streets of the town watching people live their day by day lives. It made him reflect on the last few months and the choices he had made, in a few more months time this whole thing will be gone forever and that concept was wrapping itself around his mind that Hell was coming for him and that Hell is a place he was going to be seeing very soon and the horrid things that could happen to a person down there, Dean eventually decided to get his mind off of it and pull up to a local coffee shop that another victim had worked at before she died.
Walking into the coffee shop Dean walked towards a female employee, a blonde with brown eyes, handing out what customers had ordered "Can I help you sir?" the woman asked in a chipper and happy to be alive tone.
"Um, yes actually, I'm Special Agent Murdock, FBI." Dean replied, flashing his fake badge.
"Feds? in this town?"
"Yes sadly, did you know a Maya Glenz?"
"I did, what about her, she went missing about a week ago."
"Well, they found her, she was found..dead."
The woman looked at him in a state of shock as if he was lying "Maya's dead?"
"Yes, I'm sorry to say we believe she was the victim of a brutal killer in town who seems to pattern his kills after that of a wild animal."
"Is-is that even possible?"
"You'd be surprised what people are capable of doing in my line of work."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Um, did you know the victim personally?"
"Yes, I did."
"Mind answering me a few questions regarding her?"
"Sure."
"By the way, I'm gonna need a name, interview procedure and such." Dean said.
"Oh yes, my name is Melanie." She extended her hand.
"Nice to meet you Melanie." Dean smiled, shaking the woman's hand "Now, did you know Maya personally?"
"Well, yeah I mean we went to school together and all."
"Okay, did Maya y'know have any enemies? someone who'd wanna hurt her or get revenge?"
"You think someone wanted to kill her?"
"We're just trying to get a positive I.D. of our suspect."
"Well, there was a man named William Black who she used to work for...at a local supply store, him and Maya sorta ended her employment there on some bad terms." Melanie admitted.
"Do you think Mr. Black would would break into her house and kill her though?"
"Anything can happen so...maybe." Dean answered, his phone going off "This might be my partner Agent Stiles, mind if I take a phone call?"
"Not at all, I have customers waiting in line anyway." Melanie smiled, pointing to a long line of impatient customers.
"It's alright folks, I'm with the FBI we're investigating some murders that happened in town recently." Dean told them as he sat down at the nearest table "Talk to me." he said answering the phone.
"Dean, I think I have a good idea about what we're after here." Sam said.
"And what would that be?"
"Waheela, I'm reading over what dad's journal has to say about them, seems pretty damn consistent with what's going on here."
"Waheela? yeah, I remember it was 1993 I forgot where we were though."
"According to the journal it was in Braddock Heights, Maryland that he tracked one down and killed it, they attack at night and are absolute vicious beasts who devour anyone or anything they can find." Sam said, reading what their father had wrote down about these creatures.
"Huh, well, now that we got an idea of what we're looking for I think we also have an idea of who it's posing as, does the journal mention them y'know being able to change shape?"
"Yeah, they can take human form in order to blend in but go full creature at night, unlike Werewolves they're fully in control of their actions."
"So if a Waheela really hated someone it could find them and well...eat them?"
"Rip them to shreds and eat what they could till they fill themselves and then some."
"I think I know where we can find our Waheela."
"We can wrap this up real quick then and leave."
"Yeah, listen Sam, where are you?"
"At the town library."
"Alright, I'm on my way there." Dean said, hanging up "Melanie I'm sorry to cut our interview short but I gotta go, there's a possible lead that came up." he added, exiting the coffee shop and back to his car.
At the Library
Sam read through everything he needed to know about the Waheela as a whole. They were mean, hungry and vicious killers. The sheer brutality that they could inflict on a human being was an astonishing thing. The Braddock Heights hunt their father mentioned being the only time he'd ever encountered one, but there was a side note that many hunters come across them frequently. Sam read every note, even the news article mentioning the deaths back in '93, it was a picture perfect match of the murders they were probing into in this town. It was a mere seconds later that he felt a chill going up his spine, turning around from his chair to see a figure he'd recently seen in a dream.
"You called and said we needed to talk." said the blonde demon known as Ruby.
"Yeah, I um, wanted to, take a seat if you want." Sam replied, gesturing a chair that was right across from him.
"So sweet aren't we?" she asked, a smile on her face as she sat down in the empty chair.
"Yeah, just the best." Sam smiled back "Listen, Ruby, can I ask you something kinda...personal?"
"Shoot."
"Why are you helping us, I mean, really helping us and not any of that you're hunted or we're pains in the ass of the powers that be crap."
Ruby raised an eyebrow "Why are you asking this now?"
"It-it's just, I don't know anymore just what's going on here, I mean here you are being well, a demon and you're willing to fight on humanity's side."
She sighed, she was hoping she'd never have to tell this story. Her life story, every detail of it she could remember as if it were mere years ago when in all actuality it was centuries, hundreds and hundreds of years "Sam, you wanna know, just what a demon is?"
"Enlighten me." He said, remembering back to the fact she had said this in Jacksonville, Florida during a previous case.
"Demons, by and large the majority of them were once...human."
"Human?"
"Yup, including me."
"Why do they act like they aren't then?"
"Because, most of them have forgotten that they were even once people once, I'm...different, I remember."
"Being human?"
"Yup, like the back of my hand."
"Is your real name, y'know, Ruby?"
"Kinda, kinda not."
"Expand."
"Because most demons have forgotten they were human, they include forgetting that they also had real names."
"Is that the case with you?"
"No, I remember my name perfectly, but the girl I was then and the demon I am now, I'll always consider them two separate people no matter what."
"Ruby, if you remember your name, can you tell it to me?"
"You have to swear you'll never call me by it."
"Why?"
"Because that person I was, is not the thing I am currently."
"Fair enough." Sam nodded "So...your name as a human was?"
To Be Continued...
A/N: Yes I know, boo me all you want for ending the first chapter there, and as for what took me so long was I had to do some minor re-writes, stick around for the next chaper!
