Dream Mistress
Summary: On a break from hunting Eve, the boys encounter a strange creature the haunts men in their sleep, but when the case proves too much to handle and the boys call Cas. Will their favorite angel be able to help or will he hinder their progress. Rated M for sexy bits. Slight Destiel.
Sam lounged back in the seat of the torn fake leather chair inside their dirty motel room. It had been over a month since he and Dean had worked a job. The beat wasn't necessarily quiet but they had bigger fish to fry. They were working on leads in their search for Eve and it was getting them nowhere fast.
Sam glanced back at his sleeping brother in bed, it was a quarter past noon and Dean still hadn't moved an inch. Sam sighed tapping his heels nervously on the cigarette stained carpet. He needed some air. He left the motel room for a quick walk. He wasn't sure if Dean wanted to stay another night, they had already been there for two. He thought about going up to the office and paying for another night, but decided against it. It was quiet and peaceful outside if someone had told him this was the same Earth that was full of demons and monsters he wouldn't have believed them for a second. It was days like these where he envied the lives of the people around him.
He walked up to the motel office, where a line of vending machines where located to pick up a soda, when he saw a family pull in. It was a nice couple and their three kids. Sam deposited his money and hit the button for cola. The father greeted Sam with a smile as he walked past him into the office. Sam returned the smile with a smile and waved. He cracked open the soda and watched the kids run around the car as the mother unloaded the car.
"Scott, Adin, Robert give mommy a hand." The mother called as she unloaded another large piece of luggage from the car. The woman was tall and beautiful with ash blonde hair. She had a beautiful smile that only seemed to add to the beautiful day.
"Ah, I can help you with that ma'am" Sam volunteered.
"Oh no I couldn't," She turned him down politely, she didn't want to disturb some kind stranger with unloaded her car.
"Oh, I don't mind." Sam reached an arm out to take a piece of luggage. He didn't mind he enjoyed every bit of normal outside of his work as a hunter.
"Thank you," She thanked him.
The boys continued to run around the car as Sam and the mother brought the luggage to the curb. Honestly it was refreshing to help someone for a chance that didn't evolve ganking some demon or expelling some ghost. Sam watched the boys run and play tag, just like Dean and him use to do when they were young. The father came out with the room key, surprised to see all the luggage had been uploading.
"Thank you young man." The father smiled tenderly.
"Don't mention it." Sam nodded and turned heel back to his room.
When he opened the door he was surprised to find Dean up. His brother was setting at the wooden table picking at his left over Chinese food.
"Where have you been?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged "I took walk."
Satisfied with his brother's answer, Dean moved his attention back to his half cold Chinese food.
Sam took at seat next to him giving him disapproving looks.
"I found a job," Dean took another bite of his left over beef lo mein.
"Where?" Sam was more curious about the how, but he was itching to get out of the motel and back on the beat.
"Auston, VA." Dean put down the carton "6 comatose johns, and get this, they all dropped in the same month."
Sam raised an eyebrow "You think Eve might be behind this?"
"Don't know, but it sounds like our kind of think" Dean picked the food in between his teeth with his tongue.
"Alright, let's get going."
Dean and Sam walked into the doors of St. Hope Hospital, stopping at the nurse's station to get some info on the comatose victims. They flashed their FBI badges to the nurse behind the desk. She smiled, winking at Dean and picked up the phone to page doctor. The boys waited in the lobby completely unfazed by the busy nurses and doctors walking by.
It was a small hospital but was fully equipped just like the larger ones in the city. The halls were bustling with nurses and patients rushing back and forth. It looked like a nice town, there had been no reports of unexplained deaths, hauntings, nothing out of the ordinary. Until now.
Dr. Heffer, the doctor in charge of the comatose patients met the boys in the hallway, greeted them, and shook hands. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" he inquired.
Dean cleared his throat "We're here about the 6 unconscious men."
"Ah yes," the doctor seemed immediately troubled.
Sam studied his face.
"I've been meaning to call the CDC in on this case." The doctor walked them back to the room they were monitoring the unconscious men. "You see this is very strange."
Sam followed close behind "How so?"
The doctor paused "These men had all been in perfect health and the next thing we knew is their wife's are phoning in about their unconscious husbands."
Sam and Dean looked at each other in silent agreement. They followed the doctor back into the room where the six men were lined up in the back.
"We had to put them all in here because we weren't sure if there was something going around, but all our test came back negative. It's a real mystery to me." The doctor stood aside and let the boys in.
"Thanks doc," Dean nodded "Mind if we take a look at their medical records?"
"Sure, not sure if you'll be about to make heads or tails of it."
The doctor left to retrieve the files, Sam walked over to get a better look at the men. He took out his EMF scanner to get some readings.
"I got nothing," Sam walked back over to Dean.
Dean looked around the room, there was a woman setting next to one of the men at his bedside. They had barely noticed her, she didn't say a word when they walked in. Dean tapped Sam on the shoulder and looked over at the woman. Sam nodded and waited next to the door for the doctor to get back.
"Good evening ma'am," Dean stood over the bed.
She looked up and forced out a smile.
Dean flashed his badge "Is this your husband?"
She nodded "Yeah, Tim."
"Ma'am how long has he been in a coma?"
"For over a week, they said he was the third one." Her face was hollow and worn, she looked tired.
"Did you notice anything strange when you found him? Any strange marks, a sulfur smell?"
"No-no, do you think someone did this to him"
"Just a few routine questions." Dean looked back at Sam, who had just received the copies of the records. Dean pulled out his card, "If you do notice anything strange, don't hesitate to give us a call."
The woman thanked him and took the card. Dean walked over to Sam.
"Thanks doctor." Sam turned to Dean.
Dean smiled as the doctor walked away "Ready?"
"Yeah," Sam looked past Dean "Anything?"
"Nope, no signs of demons."
"Alright, let's head back to the room and take a better look at these files."
Dean and Sam were staying at a local motel just a few miles from the hospital. It was a bit nicer than the dumps they had been staying at in the past. Dean kicked back on the bed, munching on a candy bar he had picked up on the way to the motel. Dean looked over the files, while Sam did background checks.
"Looks like they're all falling within a couple of days from each other?" Dean flipped through the pages.
Sam nodded, not finding anything that connected the men. They were all different ages and perfectly healthy. They only thing that they really had in common were that they all were men.
"Dean, you think this might have something to do with Eve?" Sam turned around.
"Don't know, but something's definitely up."
Sam nodded again.
"Any luck on the background checks?" Dean looked over his stack of files.
Sam shook his head "Nada, they all work at different places and none of them seem to be traveling in the same social circles."
Dean squinted his eyes "There's got to be something that connects all these guys together. I'll call Bobby and see if he's got any info on a monster that strikes without a trace."
Sam nodded and continued his search.
The boys decided to hit all six of the guy's places in search for clues. Starting with the first victim, Aaron Curt. He was thirty-four years old and lived with his wife Amanda in a nice house in the suburbs across town.
"Good evening Mrs. Curt," Dean smiled at the woman and flashed his FBI badge "If we could ask you a few questions about your husband condition."
She stared at the two suspiciously but eventually let them in "Yes of course."
They walked into her lovely three story house, detected out in paintings and other modern art.
"You a collector?" Dean asked.
"Y-yes, my husband and I buy regularly from the local auction house. How can I help you gentlemen?"
Sam tucked his hands into his pockets "Yes we're here to ask you if you noticed anything strange leading up to your husband's coma?"
"Strange like how?" She eyed the two.
Sam give her a compassionate look "Like any sounds, smells, or any suspicious people lurking around the neighbor or your home?"
"You think somebody did this to my husband? He's in a coma, he wasn't shot. Besides everybody loved Aaron he was a very generous man."
Sam nodded "We understand, we're not accusing anyone of anything, we just want to cover all of our bases. Did your husband know any of the other men?"
"Most certainly not." Mrs. Curt curled her nose at the thought that her husband would have friends she does not know.
Dean looked around the house "They weren't in any porker groups or AA?"
"Excuse me?"
They boys could tell her patients were running thin.
Sam gave Dean a look, Dean backed off "We're sorry ma'am, we just have to ask." Sam reassured her.
She nodded. "My husband was not involved in any illegal activities and was certainly not attending alcohol anonymous meetings."
Sam gathered more information, taking down her contact information and her husband's place of business while Dean checked out the house. It was pretty clean, no sign of sulfur or hex bags. He looked around the kitchen for any strange plants or other signs of demons or witch craft.
"Mrs. Curt, is your husband having trouble sleeping?" Dean asked.
"Excuse me?" She and Sam walked into the kitchen curiously.
Dean pointed to a small white reminder board that had a few notes about picking up sleep aids that had been written over and over again.
"Yes and no, it started about a month ago."
Sam looked at her "Just a few weeks before your husband went into the coma."
She nodded "Yes, but its tax season, things can get a bit stressful at his work. Do you think it might have something to do with his coma?"
Dean looked at Sam, they exchanged a silent agreement, "We're not sure ma'am but we'll look into it."
The woman nodded, pleased with his answer. She was happy to see someone making some progress in her husband's case. She thanked them before showing them out and told them she would call them if anything strange happened.
In the car Sam did a little research on his phone about all the sleep aids. Nothing was coming up, they were just run of the mill sleep aids. They boys hit the second house, which was on the opposite side of town. The man, Howard Jacobson, age forty-four lived with his wife and teenage son in a small house in a suburb. They parked on the street and gave the house a once over. Before they went in they got a call from Bobby, a monster that fed on men was a little too broad even for Bobby. They needed more information. Dean told Bobby about the sleeping issues and that helped narrow the search down a little bit. Bobby said he'd called back the minute he knew anything.
The boys knocked on the door and the second victim's wife La'nore answered the door and gladly let the boys in. Her house was just as beautiful as the other but also had a fair amount of paintings and art in it.
"Can I offer you boys anything?" She bounced around the house.
They politely declined and took a seat in the den.
"Excuse the mess, I haven't had much time to clean up around here between taking my son to soccer practice and running to the hospital."
Dean smiled one of his token grins "Not a problem you should try living with this guy."
Sam rolled his eyes, La'nore laughed a little "What can I do for you boys?" she asked, leaning against the couch.
Dean pulled out a small note pad "Mrs. Jacobson-"
"Please, call me La'nore" She fluttered her big brown eyes at Dean.
Dean cleared his throat, Sam couldn't help but laugh at Dean's poor attempt to hide how flustered he was. "La'nore ah, have you noticed any strange sounds or smells, anything out of the ordinary leading up to husbands coma?"
La'nore shook her head.
Sam looked at her, focusing closely on her eyes "Was your husband having any trouble sleeping?"
"Sleeping? No, but he was having a lot of wet dreams. At his age I couldn't help but laugh."
They boys froze, they were a little taken back at how causally she dropped that bit of information.
As if she could read the boys minds the woman laughed "Oh at my age there's no need to get defensive if your husband is dreaming about another woman, actually I thought it was kind of funny."
Dean cleared his throat "How so?"
"Well I thought he was dreaming about the woman he saw at the art auction."
Dean raised an eyebrow "He had the hots for another woman?"
"Dean," Sam nudged him.
"Oh no, it wasn't anything serious like that. I'm talking about the woman he saw in the painting. I thought she had the strangest facial expression, but my husband didn't want to let on that it was making him a little excited."
They boys honed in on the word painting, they had dealt with their fair share of haunted paintings.
Dean closed his notepad "Could you tell us the name of that auction house?"
"Certainly," La'nore gladly handed the boys all the information and sent the boys off.
Dean was happy to get out of that house, La'nore had been sending him the googly eyes ever since they walked in. It was freaking Dean out but it was none stop entertainment for Sam. Once back in the car Sam made a quick call the auction house to see if any of the other men had made recent purchases or returns to the auction house.
They arrived at the auction house that evening. The gallery was open to visitors and the next auction would be in a few days. The gallery was small, but had a wide range of art from past to modern. Dean and Sam took a look around. On the walls in the main hallway were pictures of a few groups of people who bought certain pieces of art.
"Dean,"
Dean turned around.
"Look." Sam pointed to a frame of different pictures of men and woman, the last six pictures were of the six comatose men.
They both had a feeling that there was definitely something strange going on at the auction house.
"Can I interest you in our weekly charity auction?" A beautiful blonde with thin rimmed glasses greeted them.
"Yeah," Dean was quick on the uptake, flashing his token smile.
The woman seemed unfazed by his poor attempts to pick her up. She smiled and turned her attention to Sam.
"Ah, yeah, we're actually buyers." Sam said causally.
"Oh?" The woman smiled, as if Sam had said the magic word.
Dean gave Sam a look, Sam ignored him.
"Well, here's a pamphlet. Our next charity auction is in two days oh and my name is Akca Smith. I'm in charge of Art for a Cause. All the money we raise go to families in need. Our motto is to put art in a home, you need to build up the home."
Dean smiled uncomfortably "That's nice, what can you tell about these six guys." Dean pointed to the pictures.
"Oh, how unfortunate. They were some of our regulars, they bought the last six items in the charity auction."
Sam looked at her "Six different items?"
"Yes."
"Different, as in not from a collection or from the same place?" Sam asked
Akca laughed "If you're trying to imply that the ancient work of Egyptian artist is the same as modernist Marcel Duchamp, then yes they are all different artist."
Dean looked around "What about a painting? Was there any particular painting the men fancied?"
She nodded as if the boys hit a sweet spot. "You must be talking about the new one we just got in." She walked the boys into the main gallery. "Here it is, it's from the 1800s,"
The piece was of a woman with long curly black hair and fair skin. She was setting on the edge of a bed in a beautiful long red gown.
"This is our newest piece entitled Dream Mistress, we call her Snow for short because she reminds us of Snow White. This piece isn't up for the charity auction, but it has a quick sale of $50,000."
Sam and Dean looked at each other, almost sticker shocked.
Sam looked past the woman at a necklace in a glass box near the painting. "What about the necklace?"
Akca looked behind her "Oh this piece, it's not for sell, but it did come with the painting. We had it appraised, it isn't worth anything. Just a bit of costume jewelry, we keep it because it's so beautiful."
Sam nodded, focusing back on the painting "Did all the men look at the painting?"
Akca "Yes, I mean everyone has, it's a new piece."
Sam thanked the woman and pulled Dean aside.
Sam looked past Dean at the painting "I think that painting definitely has something to do with the comatose men."
Dean nodded "Alright, let's talk to the staff, see when the painting got here." Dean looked around.
Sam nodded and walked back over to Akca. "Miss Smith when did the painting get here?"
"About two months ago." She smiled
"Thank you." Sam turned and looked around for his brother.
Dean was flirting with two female employees. Sam rolled his eyes, walked over and pulled his brother away.
"Hey?" Dean looked back at the women.
"Dean." Sam rolled his eyes again.
They left the auction house heading back to the motel. It was after five and the two stopped at a local diner for dinner.
"So what did the blonde say?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed, Dean could be so rude sometimes "Akca, her name is Akca, Dean."
Dean shrugged "Yeah, what'd she say?"
"Nothing much, the painting came in about a month before the johns started dropping."
"You think the painting is sending out some kind of physic vibes?" Dean asked.
"Don't know, but did you notice the staff there?"
Dean looked at him.
"They were all female."
"And you think it has something to do with the johns?"
Sam nodded. "I think she's only after men and that would explain why the women working there aren't affected."
Dean nodded "Well this seems more like a vengeful spirit thing." He took another bit of his bacon cheeseburger
Sam nodded.