So here it is, folks! I really hope this doesn't disappoint. Again, I really have to thank IntoTheWilds and Eskimita, without whom this story wouldn't be here. My ladies have motivated me, pushed me, prodded me, edited for me, and listened to me whine and complain. So this story goes to you two! :) Now, this has spoilers for both shows up through season 5 and then goes way AU about midseason for both shows.
I have a poll up there for any who want to fill out. Or you can reply here in the comments and let me know. But I need to know what, if any, pairings you guys would like to see! Kind of important later on, y'know. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this story. It's been fun to write :)
Never before had Spencer been so grateful for his unique physiology that allowed him to function on far less actual sleep than the average human. It was one of those perks that he'd always kind of enjoyed. One that had definitely come in handy during those college years where he spent so much time studying. It came in handy as he'd gotten older, too, during those cases at the BAU that seemed to suck up all their time and put everyone on little sleep. The team usually attributed his alertness to his coffee intake. In reality, he was perfectly capable of living off of just a few hours' worth of rest. Four was best, but two could suffice.
Ever since he left Sam to meet up with Dean a week ago, he'd been averaging about an hour and a half.
What time wasn't spent at work or on a case was spent in research. Spencer was refreshing his knowledge on the apocalypse and trying to hunt down information about dreams. Though Sam didn't openly admit it in the few phone calls they'd shared since they'd parted ways, there was no doubt in Spencer's mind that Lucifer was haunting his dreams. Nightmares, Sam tried to claim when Spencer asked him about it. Just nightmares. But what Spencer knew of the devil told him that even if it were simple nightmares right now it wouldn't stay that way. He'd already showed that he had no qualms about entering Sam's dreams and talking to him, trying to manipulate him. What was to stop him from trying again? No, no, Spencer wasn't going to just sit back and let that happen. However, the usual methods to ward Sam's dreams wouldn't stand up against the Morningstar, and Spencer couldn't spend every night at Sam's side sheltering him under his wings. So he was hunting down for something, anything, that might be able to provide his charge with protection.
Spencer wondered sometimes how on earth he was going to manage the life he'd made for himself. Angel and Agent—which one was he? Somehow, he had to manage to balance both.
The agent half of his life held so many problems of its own right now with Foyet loose, taunting and torturing Aaron. It was one of those situations that sorely tested Spencer's ability to keep those parts of himself separate. The urge to protect his friends, people who were like family to him, had always been strong. Watching how this was ripping apart Aaron's life only brought out that urge to protect even more. Aaron was a good friend, a strong man and a great leader, and he didn't deserve any of this. When Foyet had attacked Aaron, stabbing him repeatedly and then dumping him at a hospital, Spencer's grace had screamed at him to heal his boss. But it was the same as it was with Bobby. Major healings like that—curing a paralysis, pulling someone back from Death's door—they were miracles. It was one thing to heal a body, even a severely damaged one. But one that had been as close to Death as Aaron had been? That was a miracle and there was no way it wouldn't be noticed.
Spencer hated how cowardly that made him feel.
Things were only going to get more mixed up, he knew. Right now he was still keeping these two parts of his life pretty well separate. That was mostly because the Winchesters had yet to truly need him. During one of their phone calls, Sam had explained to Spencer that he wanted to make sure he and Dean were working together somewhat better before he called Spencer out there for the three of them to have a sit down talk like they'd planned. Sam and Spencer both had agreed that they wanted to sit down and talk with Dean and try to plan a few things out before they set up the big meet-and-greet between Spencer and Castiel. There wasn't exactly a lot of love between Dean and Spencer, and Sam had warned him that the first step to getting Castiel to even relax enough to listen to them would be to get Dean on their side. Until then, there wasn't much that Spencer could do except go to work each day and continue his research each night.
His first day back at work after his mad dash out of the bullpen had been just as awkward as he'd figured it would be. The story had gone round that he'd been sick and everyone seemed to readily accept that Spencer's reason for dashing away had been because he'd been ready to throw up. No one seemed to question it at all, much to Spencer's amazement and amusement. In fact, they believed it all so much, they all sort of pampered him when he came back. Penelope brought him a special soup for lunch that day and had baked him some 'get better' cookies. Emily had done some of his paperwork for him so he could 'take it easy'. Aaron firmly told him to pace himself and that if he felt ill at all, to go home. Dave stopped in to check on him on his way to his office and flustered Spencer completely by checking his forehead for a fever and telling him that he still looked a little pale. Even Derek was extra courteous, offering him a little more time off if he needed it, which Spencer quickly refused. They were all being so kind to him, so caring, and that was what made it awkward. Awkward and uncomfortable. He didn't like lying to them, no matter that it was for a good cause. He hated it, and their kindness only made it worse.
But by the end of the week, things had settled back in to normal, and they were back on a case. Somehow it seemed fitting that the case ended up being a supernatural one.
The case was a local one, in southeast DC, and it was brutal. That was the first thought that Spencer had when he viewed the photos on the way to the crime scene. The whole thing was brutal. Four dead in a home invasion. Two couples, beaten to death with, of all items, a crowbar. It left a sick feeling down low in his stomach just the way it always did.
"You know, no matter how many times I see it, it never gets any easier." Emily murmured from beside him, unconsciously echoing his thoughts.
Spencer sighed softly and shook his head. "I don't think it's supposed to. Gideon always told me that the day it started to get easy to view things like this was the day to quit my job. He said that feeling is what separates us from them."
"Among other things." Dave added in from the front seat.
Humming his agreement, Spencer turned his attention back to the file in his hand. Emily was right; this never got any easier to see. No other animal on earth was capable of such cruelty as that of man.
He didn't truly suspect anything supernatural at first. Part of that might've been because he didn't go inside the first crime scene. While Derek, Emily and Dave went in, Spencer had stayed out with Aaron and JJ and profiled outside the crime scene, checking out the point outside where the Unsubs had blitz attacked one of the victims by his car. From there he'd been carried up to the door and then inside, where the rest of the attack had taken place. The BAU team left the scene with one very clear thing in mind. This wasn't a single Unsub they were hunting—this was a pack.
Still, it wasn't until the second crime scene that Spencer found anything that suggested something supernatural. What he found made it pretty clear, too.
He probably would've noticed it if he'd gone into the first crime scene. The fact that he hadn't was something he'd scold himself for later. But he noticed it the instant he climbed out of the car at this crime scene. Human senses wouldn't have picked up on it. Spencer, however, couldn't miss it. There was a dark feel in the air around them and a scent of ash and rotten eggs that he associated with only one thing—demons. Their foul scent was easy for an angel to pick up on and it was spread all over the crime scene. Not even the fresh air was enough to chase it away. It had Spencer wrinkling his nose as he walked across the parking lot to where the victims lay covered. He saw one of the local officers looking at him, sneering a little and shaking their head. Let them think what they wanted about him. If any of them could feel or smell what he could, they'd be wrinkling their nose too.
Spencer made himself go over to the victims, though it was worse over there. Even without the demonic edge this would still be considered a bad one. Judging by the scene, a girl was being picked up by her boyfriend as she got off work when the two of them were attacked. The Unsubs had been particularly brutal, especially on their victims' faces. The feel of demons was even stronger right at the victims. It was enough to make Spencer's stomach roll. Sometimes he wished he wasn't so sensitive to this. His Father had told him that all angels were sensitive to these kinds of things but that Spencer was more sensitive than most. They weren't quite sure if it was just that he was a more sensitive angel, or if it was something to do with him being a mixed breed, so to speak, or what. But whereas most angels could sense demons around, feel their presence on things, Spencer reacted so much stronger to it, able to feel or smell the stench a demon left behind long after even other angels might not notice it. His Father suggested once that it wasn't the demons themselves he was sensing, but the touch of evil left behind. Not that it really mattered. It still meant demon in the end.
The fact that this was demons changed so much. He needed to look at this crime scene and the last one in an entirely different light. He also had to figure out how on earth he was going to solve this and take care of the demons without involving the local officers or his team. Chasing demons with police and FBI all over, all of them looking for the very same people without the others realizing what it was they were hunting? Oh, yeah, this was going to be great fun.
It was hard to work two jobs at the same time. On one hand, Spencer had to act like a profiler and work the case just the same as the rest of the team. He had to treat this case like it was normal and profile it that way. Not only did that cover him with the team, but there was always the chance that not all of this 'pack' were possessed and maybe the humans could be profiled and found that way. Anything to help him find them, he'd do. On the other hand, he had to look at this as a hunter, too, tracking down the demon that way. If he could narrow down the general area that he needed to look in, he could use his own personal abilities to track the demons the rest of the way. It'd used to be that hunting demons was easy. He sensed them once he got close enough to them. But, in the past few years demon activity had increased quite a bit, and that had only gotten worse since the start of the apocalypse. Naturally. And here in DC of all places, there was often some form of demon activity, even just for brief moments. It made it a bit tricky to track them.
Spencer was back at the BAU, sitting at the round table and looking over a map, contemplating the marked off crime scenes, when the phone in his pocket gave a buzz. He pulled it out and glanced down at the screen, expecting that one of the team might've sent him a photo or something that needed looked at. That was the only time he ever really got text messages. But instead of one of the team members, the display read SW.
A small smile curved Spencer's lips. No, not one of the team. At least, not this team. He thumbed open the message.
SW: Hey, you busy?
Though texting really wasn't one of Spencer's preferred methods of contact, he wasn't as ignorant of it as he used to be. The team still tended to get amused, however, by the fact that he absolutely refused to use any form of texting shorthand. Penelope especially seemed to get a kick out of it. Much to Spencer's gratitude, Sam had never said anything about it. In fact, he tended to type just as correctly as Spencer did. Sitting back in his chair, Spencer pulled his mind away from the map briefly to send a reply to his friend. It couldn't be an emergency, he knew, otherwise Sam would've prayed.
SR: Only slightly. Everything all right?
It only took a second for Sam's reply to come in. He typed a lot faster than Spencer did.
SW: Yeah, no worries.
SW: We're just wrapping up a case we're on and I've got Dean finally ready to sit down and have a powwow about what we should do.
Well, well, well. About time. It'd only taken an entire week before it happened. Spencer resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't like he didn't understand Dean's mistrust. It was just that it made it a pain to be able to help them out when one of them so blatantly disliked and distrusted him. Spencer pushed a bit of hair back out of his face and blew out a breath. Getting crabby about things wouldn't get them anywhere. There was no reason to get snippy with Sam, either. That would do nothing but make the man feel guilty and that was the last thing Spencer wanted to do. Sam already carried around enough guilt. Spencer refused to add on to it. But a bit of sarcasm was almost to be expected and would most likely set Sam at ease, oddly enough.
SR: You mean he's finally agreed to let me come out there?
SW: Yep. He'll keep Cas away, too. That's one of the things we're going to talk about
SR: Oh joy.
This was important. Scanning his eyes over things, Spencer tried to build an estimate in his head of how long this might take him. Meeting with Sam and Dean was important but there was no way he could walk out on a case to do it.
SR: I should be able to meet up with you two in 1-2 days. I'm wrapping up a demon hunt right now.
He wasn't all that surprised by the response he got almost immediately after.
SW: Need a hand?
SR: No, thank you. I should have them pinned down by tonight.
Footsteps outside of the meeting room warned Spencer that he was going to have company here shortly. His phone buzzed one last time right as Derek and Dave came walking into the room, talking away about something sort of message going around. Spencer took a moment to briefly look down at his phone.
SW: Happy smiting
Spencer chuckled softly. Such an interesting life he led when this was a casual, normal conversation. SR: Thanks he sent. He closed the phone and slipped it back in his pocket just as the other two profilers cut off their conversation. He looked up to find Derek looking over at him, slipping down into the chair across from him. "Anything important?"
It took a second for Spencer to realize what Derek meant. When he did, he shook his head. "Oh, no, that wasn't any of the team."
"Wait a second. You were texting someone outside the team?" Derek asked, arching a brow at him. His lips quirked up in amusement. "I don't believe it. Since when do you, our anti-technological doctor, text people?"
"I'm not anti-technology!" Spencer argued automatically. "And I text with him because he and I both work rather odd hours. Better to have the phone vibrate with a text than ring at an inopportune moment."
A familiar teasing light lit Derek's face and Spencer knew that he'd just basically set himself up to be picked on. Derek always enjoyed teasing Spencer about his social life, or lack thereof, and finding out that he had a friend he text with was only ammunition for that. Luckily, someone was smiling down on Spencer. Dave spoke up before Derek got the chance to get started. "As amusing as discussing Reid's social life might prove to be, we've got more important things to discuss. It looks like there's going to be a riot tonight."
All at once Spencer's attention turned back to the case and he pushed his conversation with Sam to the back of his mind. He'd deal with the Winchesters as soon as this case was done with. Until then, he needed to focus on finding the demon or demons before anyone else had to suffer.
As bad as it made him feel, the riot was actually the perfect cover for Spencer. The team split up and went out to join the police force in an effort to try and quell rioters and to offer what assistance they could afterwards. Spencer knew that Aaron would head down to the police station afterwards and offer his assistance in speaking with anyone that was arrested. It was highly unlikely that anyone arrested tonight would be their Unsubs. That didn't fit the profile. This wasn't the way they operated. Spencer knew that it wasn't the way a demon would operate, either. They'd instigate it, sure, and maybe even be out there in it, but they wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught by the cops. However, they might be dumb enough to be out in the group, which was a benefit for Spencer. That gave him a concentrated area to extend his senses and try to find them.
Searching through the crowd took more than just eyes. Spencer had to open himself up just a little and focus around him. His plan was to—hopefully—locate the demon somewhere in the crowd and then slip away from everyone else and use the chaos of the riot to get them out of there and somewhere secluded that he could handle it.
Of course, it didn't happen that way.
He was walking with Emily, the two of them going to check on an officer that wasn't answering his radio, when everything went to hell. One moment the two of them were rounding the corner of a building, a crowd dispersing behind them, and the next minute Emily was slamming into him and the two of them flew into the nearby wall. His head connected with the wall with a loud thump that set the world to spinning around him. Beside him, Emily was pressed against the wall, her body pinned in place. Spencer could feel the power trying to pin him as well and he knew even before he looked up that he hadn't found the demon—the demon had found him.
When he lifted his head, he got the answer to one of his questions. It wasn't just a demon. Two men stood in front of them with pitch black eyes and, underneath it where no human could see, the dark twisted faces that all demons true forms wore. The men they wore were homeless men, Spencer saw, most likely possessed simply to enjoy the riot tonight. The demons wouldn't have dared show up in the meat suits they were using for the murders. They'd probably possessed these poor bastards with the intention of letting them go and letting them take the heat once police got too close.
Beside him, Spencer heard Emily let out a low gasp and he almost turned to check on her. Then she stunned him completely when he heard her hiss "Demons" That had him jerking his head towards her in shock. She was still pinned in place, furious eyes focused on the demons still walking towards them. How on earth did she know about demons?
No, now wasn't the time to think of that. Now was the time to focus on getting them both out of here alive.
Spencer stayed against the wall, hoping that the demons would think him pinned as well. He'd only been thrown over here because Emily had impacted with him when they threw her. If he was lucky, they wouldn't realize that he was free.
He should've known better. Luck hadn't been on his side at all tonight.
The demons stopped a few feet away and they glared at Spencer. "What are you?" One of them hissed at him. He flicked a hand, obviously trying to do something to Spencer and just as obviously failing at it.
The other one was bracing and Spencer could feel it gathering like it was going to smoke out. With a small twist of his wrist, just out of eyesight, he extended enough grace to trap the demons in their meat suits. He'd already felt the bodies they were possessing and knew that nothing had been left behind of the souls that had once inhabited them. They were already dead and gone. That made this all much, much easier. "You shouldn't have come out here tonight." He told them, pushing himself away from the wall. "This town's protected."
"By who, maggot? You?" The second demon taunted.
Spencer slipped one hand behind him where he could wave his hand and no one would notice something magically appearing. Let them think he'd just been hiding something behind his back. When he brought his hand back out, it held a very special knife. One his father had gifted him back in college. He adjusted his grip on the hilt and let his lips curve. "By me." He agreed. Then, without warning, he leapt forward.
Fighting without giving himself away wasn't easy. There was no way he could use his powers here without Emily seeing them. Hence the knife he held. Anyone who had seen Spencer's abysmal attempts in hand-to-hand at the academy would've been stunned speechless by the sight of the genius now as he launched without fear right at the closest demon. He moved with a skill that he'd never showed—never needed to show—while on the job. He knew he had to strike hard and fast before either of the demons had the chance to get away. Power hit power as one tried to use its ability to fling him again, and that moment of shock when it didn't work was enough for Spencer to take out the first one with a stab straight up into its stomach.
He didn't wait around to watch as the magic of the blade did its work. There was no recovering from that, he knew. Not from this blade. His father had made it special for him, enchanting it himself. The demon wasn't just gone; it was dead. Spencer yanked the blade out and let the body drop as he spun around to meet the next. Taking a small risk, he pushed forward not just with body but with grace, pinning the demon up against the wall a safe distance away from Emily, who abruptly found herself freed. Spencer brought his knife up and pressed the sharp length of it against the demon's neck. "What are you doing in this city?" He demanded. Judging by the way they were acting, he doubted there was some great plan other than the chaos and murder that had been happening, but he had to at least check and see. Better to be cautious about this.
The demon glared at him, defiant even when it knew it was staring death in the face. Spencer pressed in a little closer and let his grace flare in his eyes in open threat. Behind him, still invisible, his wings were lifted in both a threat and to protect the woman he could feel coming up cautiously behind him. Spencer was pleased to see the demon actually shiver in fear at being so close to grace. This was just a simple, low level demon, nothing special, and it knew it was outclassed here. "I'll ask you one more time." Spencer warned him. "What are you doing in this city?"
"We were just having fun." The demon spat out reluctantly.
"You've been the ones going around murdering people. Those ones at the house, the two in the parking lot…"
"Of course." A smirk curved its lips. "It was easy. We barely had to nudge those humans at all. They were already killers. We just…encouraged it a little. And it was fun."
Spencer pressed the knife in a little more, making the demon suck in an unnecessary breath. "Are there more of you here?"
"Bite me." The demon spat.
Lifting his free hand, Spencer slapped his palm against the demon's forehead, not letting the power go but definitely letting the threat of it sit there. "Don't press your luck with me. You know what I can do to you and you know I can pull every single answer I want out of you. So I suggest you answer my questions, or I take you out of here and we start to really have some fun."
It was kind of pathetic how quickly the demon spoke, then. He hurried to assure Spencer that there were no others, just the two of them, and that there were no big plans held in place here. None of them had even known any hunters were around or they would've avoided the place entirely. Satisfied by the answers, Spencer nodded. Then, with one flick of his wrist, he sliced through its neck and watched as the body dropped and demon inside died. He forced himself not to just stand there and stare at the body of the man he'd just murdered—it was already destroyed, the demon saw to that, this wasn't murder!—and he turned around to face his friend, not quite sure what he was going to say.
He didn't end up having to think up anything. Emily took care of it for him, giving him a very easy out that neatly covered everything. "You're a Hunter."
His eyebrows winged up, showing his surprise. "You know about Hunters?" He remembered earlier, she'd recognized the black eyes for what they were. "Are you a Hunter?"
"No." She shook her head, looking just a little stunned by all of this, not quite sure what to do. Her eyes were wide, deliberately looking at him and only at him, but her voice was steady. "We moved around a lot, growing up. You're not the first Hunter I've met. I just…I never thought you…"
Spencer couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. "Yeah. I know I don't exactly fit the standard image."
He could see that she had so many questions and they were all sitting on the tip of her tongue. Right now, though, wasn't the time for them. They were damn lucky so far that no one had come over here and seen this. How long that luck would hold, he didn't know, and he still needed to clean the scene. The last thing they needed was for Spencer to get caught standing over two bodies with a knife in hand carved in Enochian symbols and two men lying on the ground with knife wounds. Before the first question could pass Emily's lips, he held up his empty hand to silence her. "I know you have a thousand different questions. But right now isn't the time for them. I need to clear this up as best as I can before someone comes. Can you go to the edge of the building and keep an eye out for me? I promise, as soon as this case is over and I have the free time to sit, I'll answer whatever I can."
One thing he'd always appreciated about Emily was her ability to keep a cool head in a crisis situation. Even when things were horrible, even when she was panicking, she had this ability to push it all back and handle what needed handling. She used that skill now, pushing everything down until her eyes were calm once more. Then she nodded at him. "But I'm holding you to that, Reid."
"I'd expect no less." He quipped.
He waited until she was at the edge of the building and then he started to move. He went to the first body, crouching down so that his back was to Emily, and he laid a hand over the wound there. What he did wasn't exactly healing. He simply knit the skin of the wound closed once more. Then, over to the other body to do the same thing. Now when they were found there'd be no signs of a knife fight on them. Whatever damage the demons had done inside, that could be for the coroner to try and figure out. But no one would suspect foul play at first. A quick little flare of his grace, using a trick his father taught him, and his fingerprints were gone from the bodies. As he rose he acted as if he slipped his knife back into the back of his jacket, though in reality he waved it away and sent it back home.
When he turned back to Emily, the scene was as clean as he could make it. He met her eyes and they exchanged one small nod. Without a word, they set off back towards the crowds, and as they walked, Spencer could feel her eyes on him. Life was just getting more and more interesting. After so long keeping his secrets how was it that he seemed to be slipping left and right? He could at least count his blessings that Emily only thought he was a Hunter. As much as he loved his friends, too many people knew his other secret now anyways. This juggling act was starting to get a bit precarious. One wrong move and all the balls were going to come tumbling down. Where he'd be then, he had no idea.