"Well, Mr Bennett, your stitches are healing nicely, you should be out in a couple days." I pinged off my latex gloves and neatly tossed them into a nearby bin. "Lay off the red meat, though, okay champ?" I smiled at the old the man in the bed in front of me, he watched me pick up his chart. "You're doing, good, Mr Bennett, I promise. I'll send Nurse Lenowski to check on you in an hour or so- get some rest."
"Thanks, Doc."
I gave him another smile before I backed out of the room and out onto the ward. Ten down, two to go. I can do this. I started absent-mindedly picking up patients' charts from the Nurses' station and fiddling with discarded pens. Did I have to stay out so late last night? Moonlighting is hard work.
All my patients were either sleeping or in surgery and since I wasn't in ER, I had the rare treat of basically having nothing to do. I noticed the rather intimidating pile of prescriptions on one of the nurse's desks, so decided to make my way down to the store room to get some them dispensed. Besides, Geoff, the Pharmacist, had worked at the Hospital for twenty-five years, so he always had some good stories to tell.
When I reached the door of the store room, I noticed it was locked. It was 9.45, he shouldn't be on a break. I slipped the prescriptions in my coat pocket and pulled out my cell. It was paranoia, but paranoia came with the job. After a couple of seconds scrolling for his name, I pressed dial. It took a while to connect, but eventually started to ring. I paced outside the door, the dial tone in m year. But stopped dean as the already dull strip lights flickered and cut out. The high-pitched trill of a cell phone ringing from inside the store-room sent my alertness into overtime. I tried the handle again, knowing it would be fruitless. Slipping my cell back into my pocket, I sent a silent thanks to whatever was up there that I was wearing sneakers, and rammed my foot into the door. The sound of the wood splitting reverberated through the empty corridor, and I made my way into the room.
"Geoff? You in here?" The lights were out in the store room, too, and there were no windows to let in the morning light. I had nothing on me except my cell, so I pulled it out for a second time and powered up its built-in flashlight, every step punctuated by the thudding of my heart in my chest.
"Geoff? It's Maya. Everything okay?" There was no response, so I edged further into the room. My eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness as I scanned the area. The flashlight landed on something; glistening, wet, red.
"Geoff?" I tried to keep my voice steady. The lights hummed and flicked on as I followed the trail to a mass slumped in the corner of the room. I didn't have to check his pulse. It was a bloody mess, and I'd seen bloody messes in my time. He was barely recognizable. His face was pulverized, and through his torn clothes I could see cuts and slashes along his torso and arms. I took a couple of breaths, left the room as it was, and slowly backed up and back into the corridor. I dialled 911, but didn't wait for them to come.
"Excuse me, Doctor? Can we ask you a few questions?"
I looked up from my chart to see a couple of huge men in scrubs peering down at me.
"Questions? What about?" I eyed them suspiciously.
"Uh. Well… We heard about that pharmacist, and uh, about how weird it was and, uh, thought… you know… you could tell us what happened? You found him, right?" The tallest one asked, with a suspiciously well-practiced nervousness.
I raised my eyebrows at them. "And you are?"
"Mike Hanson. This is my friend…"
"Tom Wilson. We're interns." The shorter one offered his hand to me, and I took it stiffly, making sure they were aware of my suspicions.
Interns? Bullshit. They looked as old as me.
"Interns? Great! Would you mind giving me a hand with Mrs Millings over there? She collapsed yesterday, thought you could look at these ECG results…" I let the sentence hang in the air and they shifted awkwardly. The one with the short hair tried to charm me with a smile.
"Ok, you got us. We run a crime blog. All the weird stuff, you know." The taller one nudged him not-so-subtly and he winced at the contact.
I humoured them: I'd done this same song and dance more times than I could remember. "Interesting... I get off at six, meet me at the diner at the end of the street: Sal's. We can talk there."
I made the conscious effort to be late to our meetings, and when I got there I could see them sitting in a booth through the large windows. I pushed the door open and headed straight for the counter to order a tea. I made small talk with the waitress before making my way to their booth. I slid in next to the taller one, his friend sat opposite. I got a good look at them, now. They'd changed out of their doctor's costumes, and boy did their outfits give them away. Henleys, plaids, boots. They were handsome, both ridiculously so. The tallest of the two had better hair than me, all chestnutty and shiny; his eyes were friendly and face warm. The other was all cheek bones and careless stubble, eyes green and glittering, even in the unflattering lights of the diner, he took me by surprise. He had this slightly weather-worn look to his face, as though he'd been through too much and was tired of it all, but his eyes still had this light behind them that made him look like a cheeky eighteen-year-old. I was here to do business, though.
"Tom, Mike, nice to see you." I was reserved.
"Uh, you too, Doctor-"
My tea was set in front of me and I took a sip, wincing at the weak, watery taste. "Crime bloggers, huh? Anything I've heard of?"
"I, um, doubt it," the voice came from next to me. "We're up and coming, pretty small, you know?"
I smiled. "Mmm. So, what're you thinking? Ghost? Demon? Some other horrific and terrifying entity?"
Both of them looked at me like I'd started speaking Klingon.
I made my most innocent face. "Well, you are hunters, right?"
"How... how do you know about hunters?" Big and tall raised a quizzical eyebrow.
I took another sip of tea. "I am one."
"You're a hunter? But you're a doctor?" 'Tom's' expression was doubtful.
"I work in the hospital part time, and take local cases as they came. I'm Maya Cole..."
The pair visibly stiffened; I didn't blame them, it's hard to trust anyone in our line of work, fellow hunters included.
"I'm Sam, this is my brother, Dean." Sam offered me his hand, but Dean gave me only a semi-corteous nod.
"So, you want my help with this?"
"We don't usually let tag-alongs on our cases." Dean said, pointedly.
"This is where I work, it happened in my hospital. Doesn't that make you the tag-alongs?"
Dean watched the Doctor as she slid through the glass door and to the counter and he felt his brother doing the same. She stood with her back towards them while she ordered, hovering for a few seconds, then turned on her heel and made her way toward them. She was pretty, Dean couldn't help but notice; auburn hair, skin fair but warm. Her expression was tight, business-like, though. The lab-coat was swamping her small frame, but her slim-fit trousers accentuated her waist and her polka-dot blouse was unbuttoned a little lower than he expected. She slid in their booth next to Sam, and a cup of tea was set in front of her.
"So, what're you thinking? Ghost? Demon? Some other horrific and terrifying entity?"
Dean felt his mouth fall open slightly, she gave them an innocent look.
"Well, you are hunters, aren't you?"
"How... do you know about hunters?" He heard Sam ask.
"I am one."
Dean looked at her incredulously. "You're a hunter? But you're a doctor?"
"I work in the hospital part time, and take local cases as they come. I'm Maya Cole."
Dean felt his body tense, trust didn't come easy in their line of work. He looked at Sam, who already had his hand extended to her.
Idiot. He gave her a half-nod.
She offered her help, but he was reluctant to accept. Outsiders slow them down, make them weak. They didn't have time for that.
"Look. Geoff was my friend. He'd worked at the hospital for a quarter of a century. I can't sit idly by and let someone else do the work. It'll be at lot easier if we work together." She gave them an imploring look.
"I... think it's a great idea." Sam said. "Three's better than two right?"
"Right." Dean found his mouth moving without the consent of his brain.
He caught Maya's eye and bowed away from her stare. It wasn't unfriendly, more contemplative, and that's worse. She sighed.
"Hey, I know it's sucks working with other hunters sometimes, but you're in my city, my place of work, dealing with my friend. I'm working this with or without you. You can say no, it's fine, but if you decide to go the sensible route, here-" she pulled her prescription book and a pen from her pocket and scribbled something down. "My address. I have a couple of spare rooms and a house too big for one. You can stay with me while we work this out. If not, there's a really great motel a few blocks from here, it's only been tented by exterminators three times this year."
Sam chuckled and she gave Dean a sly smile. "I'm gonna get groceries. Dinner's at eight. " She pushed herself out from the booth and started for the door, but turned back round after just a few steps. She took her pen and scribbled again on the piece of paper.
"In case you get lost."
Dean found his gaze following her until she was out the door and out of sight.