"So your friend just attacked her?" Sam asked Syd as he took a sip from his drink. Dean and Sam had been working a new case and had hit a dead end. They'd decided to get something to eat and regroup. A man had been found with his throat slit, which alone wouldn't get their attention, but he had been drained completely of blood. The kicker was that his muscles contained an unusually high amount of oxytocin. Normally that would indicate a siren, but the blood thing was new. Plus whatever it was had seemed to vanish the moment Sam and Dean had appeared. So the call was a welcome distraction.
"Yeah. She's not that kind of person. She's basically a nicer version of Charlie. And less pushy. Ow! Easy now, Charles," Syd said over the phone. Sam smiled as Syd continued, "It's really weird. She told us that she met someone last night…"
"And what?"
"Well, there was a strange guy last night. Outside watching the fight. I went outside to check it out," Syd said hesitantly.
"So you went outside. By yourself. With a weird guy hanging around outside who may have done something to your friend?" Sam asked and saw Dean roll his eyes.
"Yes, Sam. A little less judgment, please. I threw salt in his face, which seemed to really throw him off balance. At first, I thought he was just outside for a smoke, but he really never even lit… it," Syd sounded like she had just had an epiphany. "I think I know what it… he is. But I'm gonna need to do more research first."
"Okay, but just research. Syd, promise me," Sam said as Dean's phone buzzed. "We'll try to get there as soon as we can. Just research. Syd?"
"Yeah. Sure. See you soon," Syd replied hastily, clearly distracted, and hung up the phone.
Sam sighed and turned to Dean. Dean was listening intently to the phone, and his eyes had lit up. He started the car and pulled out of the lot.
"Thank you. We're headed that way now."
"They find another body?" Sam asked despite knowing the answer.
"Yeah. In a dumpster two blocks away from the convention center," Dean said as he looked at Sam.
"The one Syd's at? Could it be a coincidence?"
"I doubt it," scoffed Dean. "We're not that lucky. It looks like our little Sydney is a magnet for all things dark and scary." Dean thought for a moment then asked, "Could it be because of Lucifer's grace?"
"I don't know, but I don't think so. Castiel seemed more worried about Lucifer going after her than any other effects, but still… even he doesn't know the full extent of what's going on with the grace. We should be careful though. Luckily Cas put those sigils on her ribs, so it's unlikely that any angels or even demons have found her yet."
Dean grunted in agreement. "Still weird though."
"Agreed," Sam sighed again.
"Did Cas say anything about the grace? It should be fading, right?"
"Cas has been keeping an eye on her, but unfortunately it isn't. It hasn't been that long though, so maybe it just needs more time. Besides, Cas and Mom are doing research right now in the library. Between the two of them, they should be able to find something. Cas says that we can try to extract the grace should anything happen but…"
"What?"
"I'd rather not have him do it at all. Dean, it hurt like hell when he did it to me, and it was nowhere near my soul. It'd be incredibly dangerous, and she's given enough for us."
Dean nodded in agreement as he started the car. "I'll check out the Dexter crime scene, and you can go supervise little miss badass. Though hearing that one of Syd's friends attacked someone… is it really that surprising?"
"Normally, I'd say no, but Syd really seemed shocked. You'd expect that Syd would have gotten involved in the fight, but this sounds like it went beyond normal."
"So she's doing research? Did you ask her about our siren wannabe?"
"No, I figured that it'd be easier to explain when we got there."
"Yeah, the oxycotin's kinda weird. It really sounds like a siren's work."
"Oxytocin, Dean. And I don't think that it's a siren. Sirens usually make someone else do their dirty work, and they don't have any use for human blood. And if the siren encouraged someone else to kill the guy, then we'd have a love-struck fool running around and acting strange, but there was no evidence of that."
"Maybe a witch. But that's a lot of blood for a spell. Especially since there's now a second body."
"Yep. And Syd's creature seems to affect people in a weird way too. Almost like a siren. But sirens usually make their victims attack someone they love. Syd's friend didn't even know the other girl," Sam responded as he watched out the window.
They drove in silence until they reached Syd's hotel; each of the trying to figure out what it could be. Dean pulled up to the drop-off, and Sam got out of the car and walked inside. The lobby was mostly empty with a few people in costumes walking in and out of the hotel. Most of them seemed to be getting ready for some kind of party.
"Hey, Sam!" Syd called over from one of the lobby's couches, openly looking through occult books.
"Are you sure you should be doing that here?" Sam asked as he got close, gesturing to the other people.
Syd raised an eyebrow and pointedly glanced towards a group in fairy costumes before replying, "Just doing some research on next year's costume. Besides Charlie and Ren are upstairs comforting Lucy. She's a wreck."
Sam took a seat beside her on the couch. She was reading about something called a 'Gananagh.' There was a picture of a man with a pipe hanging out of his mouth.
"So you found something?" Sam asked pointing to the page.
"Yes! I got the idea when I was talking about the pipe. The 'love-talker' in Irish folklore is usually depicted with one. But it's never lit because fairies hate smoke."
Sam felt his face fall a bit.
"I know. Really weird but I figured that if the Goatman could exist so could fairies."
"They do. We've dealt with them before."
"Is that why you're here?"
"No, not really," Sam said. He told Syd about what they were after as he texted Dean. If it was fairies again, then he needed to prepare everyone quickly.
