Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural (I think this is Supernatural, not Teen Wolf)
Scarred Vision
Marion had decided that he really hated it when Dean was right. As he had predicted, they had found another body similarly mutilated the next day, forcing a grumpy Marion to abandon his bacon roll and head to the crime scene, telling the boys he would call them when he needed them. This left Dean and Sam sitting in the kitchen, contemplating their own bacon rolls with a lot on their mind.
"Alright Sammy, time to put your thinking cap on. Are you sure there isn't anything in any of the books in the bunker that will help us, because whoever these guys are, they're getting bigger and bolder in what they're doing." Dean said darkly, making Sam frowned.
"No, I haven't found anything that might help us Dean. Whoever and whatever these guys are, they mean serious business, mutilations aren't exactly a good way of keeping hidden. What worries me is that they're now moving around in the open, before when they were just trying to kill us it was bad enough but now it's getting harder and harder to cover up what they're doing." He said, and Dean looked at him sceptically.
"Alright, if we get implicated that might be a problem but what's got you so worried about it now?" he asked curiously, and Sam looked at him patiently.
"Because they're making their moves in the open Dean. Which means that before now they've been careful to keep hidden, that's why we can't find out anything about them, but if they're moving around in the open it's like they don't care anymore. This is getting dangerous." He said worriedly, and Dean deflated.
"Great. Another round of the Apocalypse maybe?" he asked, but Sam wasn't convinced.
"I don't think so, they wouldn't be trying so hard to kill us I reckon. Look what happened last year when we stopped Raphael, he risked torching the world because he was cutting too many corners on it, I reckon they would have learned their lesson and not tried to kill the main vessels. No, I reckon this is something else, problem is I can't think what." He said in irritation and Dean pulled out their dad's journal and started thumbing through the pages.
"If you've messed up my filing system so help me..." Sam warned under his breath, making Dean grin, vowing to mix all the books up when they got home just to wind him up.
"No I just took this one, I thought there was something about threefold deaths here, maybe it isn't the bald dudes who are doing it." He theorised, but Sam shook his head.
"I already checked it, it was some pagan god some nut job was sacrificing too, which doesn't help us. Unless of course we find a pagan god with scratched out eyes like the bald dudes, I doubt it will help us." He said, and Dean looked at his brother ponderingly.
"Worship's a thought...some sort of weird ass cult? That would explain it." He suggested, and Sam had to admit, it was the best idea they had right now.
"Good point, but that doesn't help us much right now. Like where the hell did the cult come from, why do they want us dead, all that stuff." Sam said, frowning as he tried to puzzle it out, and Dean grinned.
"Well isn't it obvious? They want us dead because we're so awesome. Well I am anyway." He said, earning him a coy grin from Sam.
"Yeah, you're awesome...except you're afraid to sleep in a room on your own." He said teasingly, and Dean glared at him.
"I am not! I'm perfectly capable of sleeping in a room on my own, it's you who needs someone in the room with you." He said brattily, and Sam laughed.
"Sure it is. Were you alright having me in the same room as you again? You have a severe case of separation anxiety." He said mockingly, and Dean glowered.
"Unless you want me to separate something you need from the rest of you, not that you use it very often, you'll quit it. Right, we better get ready to go and help Marion. And since you think I have separation anxiety, which I don't, you can stay down here while I get changed." He said, not noticing the large grin on his brother's face as he left the room.
XX
"The Winchesters are definitely in town my lady, and our soldier's action has whetted their appetite. They will undoubtedly play into your hands." Veltas reported to Ember as she sang to herself in the shower of her hotel room.
"Excellent. The two of them will play right into my hands. Have you decided which trooper we should use for our little game of cat and mouse?" she asked as she left the shower, a towel wrapped around her slim, tanned body, her red hair hanging down her back, and she smirked slightly as she noticed Veltas took a little extra attention of her than he usually did.
"Um...yes, we figured the commander would be a good choice. After all, the Winchesters have yet to encounter one such as he, and besides, he has enough...anomalies, that he will provide an interesting conundrum for the young hunters." He said with a deadly grin and she smirked.
"Quite right, very clever. My reserve squads are ready?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Yes my lady, though we anticipate little resistance. We have studied the archives for information, and we have made use of the case studies of Roanoake and Rivergrove. It will be fairly simple to bring the entire town under our complete control when the time is right. However, I have learned something from my little mole." He said, and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I trust your little mole will not interfere with my plans my dear Veltas, or I will have to skin him." She snarled, and he bowed his head respectfully.
"Of course not Ember. But my mole is on the way here, which could cause potential problems if they are on the outside looking in when the time comes, it could undo your plans." He pointed out, and she frowned thoughtfully, her long, red nailed fingers tapping her chin in contemplation.
"Perhaps, but perhaps it can be used to our advantage. After all, should the Winchesters cursed luck come through at the wrong time and they should escape me, it is always better to have a backup. And remember, while we are taking inspiration from the towns of Roanoake and Rivergrove, they aren't the objective, the Winchesters are. Keep me appraised of their progress. Anything else?" she asked, looking for her clothes.
"Just one more thing my lady, Seraphim has doubts." He said nervously, and her eyes flashed yellow as she whipped to face him.
"Doubts? What doubts does the arrogant overbearing fool have?" she hissed angrily, and Veltas patted the air to try and calm his superior.
"Remember my lady, I'm just the messenger, I share your sentiments on the angels among us, irritating the lot of them. He is worried that such an overt show of force by the Perpurigo could lure Naomi and Crowley out from under their rocks and encourage them to interfere with our affairs." He informed her, and she rolled her eyes before collapsing mostly naked into a seat, using her long fingers to massage her temple.
"That overbearing angel truly is the limit, I don't know why Ophanim puts up with him. Doesn't his tiny angelic mind grasp the fact that that's why we are dealing with rivals of Crowley and Naomi, to leave them indebted to us as well as out of the way? Or is that too sophisticated a concept for him to grasp?" she growled menacingly, making Veltas chuckle.
While on the whole the Perpurigo did get on with one another fairly well, as Ember was the leader of the demon faction and Seraphim the leader of the angel faction, they as a species tended not to get on, Ember, like the rest of the group that weren't the other angels, considered Seraphim arrogant, overbearing, interfering and irksome, while he found her disrespectful, ignorant, rebellious and callous, which didn't make for a good combination, and it usually required the work of their two deputies, or of Lexii, to keep the two from killing each other, which the rest of the council was convinced would be an incredibly close match indeed.
"Apparently so. He also accuses you of going through with this plan for less than honourable intentions." He said with a small smile and she looked at him in disbelief.
"Hello, demon." She said, as though it were obvious, and to Veltas, a demon himself and one of her two deputies, it certainly was.
"I know that Ember, but he doesn't. He accuses you of using this opportunity to be, what was it he said, promiscuous." He said with a slight chuckle and she shook her head in disdain.
"What, just because he's been shagging Ophanim for millennia I can't have any fun because she doesn't get any? Poor girl, I wonder what she sees in him. Lexii reckons he must have a huge cock." She said dismissively, making Veltas snort in amusement.
"Go back to the castle and inform our enlightened leader that this is my mission and hence my business. And remind him that if he and Ophanim like his nose the way it is, he should keep it out of my business." She snarled, and he bowed and vanished back home, leaving her to groan in amazement as the lead angel's stupidity. Did she tell him how to do her job? No. The fact that she could do it better was irrelevant.
But Seraphim aside, she did have a job to do, and it was time she got down to it. Time for the cat to go out to play.
XX
Niandra and Veronica weren't making any progress. They still could not perceive anything of the threat that the Perpurigo was facing, and their inability to divine the future was seriously getting on their nerves. A dark threat was out there, and threatened the entire group, but aside from a few half seen visions, they couldn't break the fog that surrounded all of the Perpurigo, these mysterious threats in the dark.
"I think we're going to have to summon the other seers, we aren't getting anywhere." Veronica said despondently, despite Niandra gently running her hand down her back.
"I agree. This threat is becoming all too real, and it isn't helping us at all. Whatever this threat is, it's only getting closer, and we are no closer to finding out what it is. We need the support of the seers." She agreed, and Veronica frowned sadly.
"What's happening my love? Something strange is going on here, I've got a feeling of approaching calamity, and I can't shake it, something bad is going to happen, I know it." She said sadly, and Niandra kissed her shoulder.
"No my dear, I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise. We're safe here in the castle lover, nothing can harm us within these walls. Summon the other seers, we must make preparations, the newest of them will need to be prepared to enter the meld." She said, and Veronica bowed, kissed her lover's cheek, and left the room to make the preparations.
Niandra frowned. Veronica had never been like that before, so scared that she might be harmed within the castle. An enemy had never been able to enter the castle before, and they certainly wouldn't start now. But...she had to admit, her sense of fear and unease was growing. This threat they were failing to perceive was going nowhere, and there were unseen games being played within the walls, she was sure of that much. But, by their very nature, they were unseen, and the truth behind these threats couldn't be perceived.
But, she perceived, something was coming for them all. That much was clear, a storm was rising, and soon it would engulf them all.
XX
This was intolerable. The seers would now all pool their resources, which meant there was a chance, however slight, that one of them might divine what it was that was planned. Action would have to be taken. No one could be allowed to discover what was going on behind closed doors.
But that meant extreme courses of action would now be the norm. There was no choice in any of this now.
No choice at all.
XX
Casting aspersions didn't seem to be working, either that or Seraphim was just dim. Granted he hadn't been doing it for very long, but that wasn't the point, the arrogant leader of the Perpurigo had just dismissed his concerns. He had tried to cast doubt on Niandra's abilities, to make sure she wasn't believed even if she did foresee something. However, with the added power of the rest of the seers, there would be no escaping what she might tell them. She would tell them everything.
He had to make a move. He didn't want to use a violent solution to all this, but the rest of the Perpurigo couldn't be allowed to realise what he was up to and she could easily undo all his plans.
So it was with a heavy heart that for the good of all, he had to hurt just the one.
XX
So, the seers were getting desperate, as expected. They were being whipped into a blind panic by their inability to predict what was coming, and their actions were now making them targets for the factions within the group, factions that were steadily growing in power and would soon decide the fate of the entire group, if not the entire world.
But regardless, all would suit their ends, because they would be the last one standing.
XX
"You ok?" Sam asked, hiding a grin as Dean fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably.
"No! Someone must have used some crappy detergent before we did our washing, it's like having the clap all over again." Dean complained, his pants driving him mad, and Sam looked at him in surprise.
"You actually had the clap?" he asked, and Dean growled in annoyance, both at his situation and the fact that he had allowed his blackmailing little brother to know that.
"Yeah, a bad night in Colorado when you were at uni, don't ask." He said, trying hard to ignore Sam's grin, who was taking an indecent amount of pleasure out of his brother's situation.
And then, about an hour after the itching had started, the penny finally dropped.
"You!" he cried in realisation and Sam burst out into laughter.
"Yeah, me. I always used to dismiss itching powder as juvenile but it's kind of fun!" he said brightly, as Dean squirmed and fidgeted.
"You're a dead man I hope you realise that. Jake, lightning, Anna, Lucifer, Lilith, Raphael, everyone who's ever killed you, nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you after we get back to Marion's, you hear me?" Dean vowed as his brother continued to laugh as they approached the house where Marion had been called to.
Maintaining control of his laughter, and Dean trying to control his fidgeting, they entered the crime scene, flashing their badges and headed straight over to Marion, who gave a nod to dismiss the other officers at the scene. Noticing Dean's sour expression, he looked at him curiously.
"What's up with you?" he asked, and Sam grinned.
"He's feeling a little itchy today that's all." He said in a sing song voice which just wound Dean up anymore.
"You don't think you could do a two for one deal on murder investigations? Only he needs to be taught a lesson, he put itching powder in my pants." He complained, making Marion chuckle.
"We're trying to work boys." He chided slightly though he was still laughing at Deans misfortune.
Ignoring Dean's discomfort, Sam looked at the body, which had been covered over with a blanket.
"What's the story?" he asked as Dean fidgeted.
Marion frowned grimly.
"Thirty two year old woman by the name of Elaine Rigsby. Died the exact same way as the others, the threefold death, and then the eye mutilation, though it looks like they weren't interrupted this time, there was nothing left behind." He said, his tone a little odd and Sam looked up at him as he pulled back the cover to examine the body.
"You ok?" he asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah, it's just I knew this one as well, at least in passing, I've known them all in passing." He said, and Dean, clawing at himself with no decorum, looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean you knew them all in passing?" he asked and Marion sighed.
"I haven't seen much of them in the last year, but before Valente killed everyone in the station, they were frequent visitors to the station. Elaine here was the fiancée of one of the officers that he killed." He said, and Sam frowned.
"What about the others?" he asked, and Marion's eyes widened in realisation.
"Wait, you think they're all linked in some way?" he asked, his heart beginning to pound with excitement, and Dean nodded.
"Could be, if they were all linked in some way to the people Valente killed, that could explain it, it could be the bald dudes are trying to kill everyone who was in any way connected with Valente massacring the station." He said, going back to clawing at himself.
Shaking his head at his brother's lack of decorum, Sam looked up at Marion.
"The other three victims, were they related in any way to the massacre victims?" he asked, and Marion nodded.
"Now that I think about it, yes. The first was the one who found them, the second was the sister of one of the victims and the third was the nephew of one of the older cops." He explained, and Sam nodded.
"That might be it then, it still doesn't explain what this lot are doing it for, but it does get us closer to finding out what they're doing. Marion, are there any other relations to the victims, or people marginally linked to the massacre, left in the town?" he asked, and Marion frowned.
"I can't think of any off the top of my head it'll be in the file back at the station. Come on. You too fleabag." Marion ordered, making Dean curse both him and Sam as they headed out of the door.
XX
Ember smiled as she looked through her scrying glass. A handy trick that Wendy had taught her. Time for her to make her big entrance into the lives of the Winchesters. Softly softly catchey monkey was the way forward though, there would be a time to reveal herself, but not until much later.
She had a job to do here in town, and quite frankly the small town of Brandon, associated as it was with the massacre that that blasted Leviathan had performed the year before, was a painful reminded for the entire Perpurigo of how badly they had failed. They had been trying to clean up the mess of the Apocalypse and the civil war in heaven when the Leviathans had been set loose and they had suffered severe losses in their first few confrontations with the beasts. The massacre had been as much their failure as it had been anyone else's. But now, the entire painful episode was soon to be cleared up, she would manipulate things in such a way that in one swift stroke they could wipe out the last remnants of the survivors of the entire debacle, and take out the Winchesters in the process.
Crossing to her dresser, she supposed she better do herself up. It would take a while to make herself look good enough for her big entrance.
And then Dean would be putty in her hands.
XX
"Right, there are three people left in town with any connection to the massacre aside from the three of us. One of them is Charlie's sister." Marion said significantly, making Sam groan, just their luck.
"What about the other two, and how were they all connected with the massacre?" Dean asked, scratching at himself again.
"One was the attending officer, he should have been in the station except he was dealing with a domestic, he came back not long after it was discovered and called it in. Hang on that means the ones involved in the domestic might be involved too, I'll get their names in a second. Charlie's sister, Lauren, is linked because she was Charlie's sister and the other is the coroner who basically had to hush the thing up as much as possible for public consumption. How are we meant to tell which one is a potential target this time round when they all freaking are?" Marion complained as he hurriedly studied the notes.
Sam, who had been looking at a map of where the bodies were discovered, shrugged uselessly.
"This doesn't help, there's no rhyme or reason for any of them to have been killed the way they were. Can we cover all the places we need to, or are we too far out to help each other if we run into one of the bald guys?" he asked, and Marion gnawed his lip nervously.
"Not to help each other no. We'd be too spread out and Jody told me how badly you got flattened by even one of these guys, what if there's more?" he pointed out, but Dean shook his head.
"That wasn't really our fault. We were caught completely by surprise, and we'd already been smacked around a bit by the alchemist and Jacob when we were attacked, last time we'd just gotten back into our own bodies and we put up a fairly decent fight, and we managed to win, and they were backed up by zombies. Don't get me wrong, they're tough sons of bitches but they aren't invincible like we first thought. And besides, lopping their heads off does work." Dean explained, finishing brightly before he went back to scratching himself.
"So all we need to do now is figure out which one is being targeted and then try and save them." Sam said worriedly, and Marion frowned.
"I could send officers to each house, but I reckon that these guys who're trying to kill you both could easily flatten anybody I send, which means it's most likely up to you two. But if I were a betting person, I would say that they're most likely to go after Charlie's sister. If we're right and this is all because of Valente's massacre, it makes sense that the family of one of the people in it up to their neck is their next victim. Shall we go?" he asked, and the three of them headed for the parking lot, and Dean grinned as he looked at the police car Marion was leading them to.
"Can I turn on the siren?" he asked excitedly, making Sam snigger.
"You're such a child." He said in amusement, checking he had his gun and an angel blade stowed safely.
"I suppose so." Marion said, clambering in and as soon as the boys were in, he gunned the car out of the parking lot, Dean taking great joy in starting the siren.
"Why would these guys be so determined to kill anyone even distantly connected with the Valente Massacre, it doesn't make sense." Sam, sitting in the back, mused to himself, and Dean frowned.
"Hmm, the other times we met these guys they were trying to kill us. What if that's their reason, because we were so involved with Valente?" he theorised.
"What, a Leviathan clean up crew?" Marion posed as he sent the car screeching down the road, and Dean shrugged.
"Don't know, maybe. Sure, it doesn't explain where the hell they were last year when we needed them but that might be it." He reasoned, and Sam thought about it seriously, it was a decent suggestion, but even if they were a Leviathan clean up crew, it still left many questions unanswered, such as why they were only finding out about them now.
Marion screeched the car to a stop right outside the house, and without wasting any time, Sam and Dean sprang from the car, running for the front door, weapons already in hand, with Dean banging the door open with his shoulder./
"I hate it when we're right." Dean grumbled, bringing his gun up, ready to fire.
The woman, who was apparently Charlie's sister, was already dead, her throat slit and her body bound to a long thin vase which held a small tree of some sort. However, the murderer was still there, various items scattered around the place so he could finish his ritual. Seeing that he was discovered, the murderer got to his feet and turned to face Sam and Dean.
This guy was clearly an entirely different box of frogs than the others they had faced. He was taller, bulkier and more muscular. Bald like all his allies, his eyes were also sealed shut, with tridents scratched into his eyeballs. He was clad in a light armour plate which covered his chest and his black robes. There were also various tattoos on his bald head, and on each of his knuckles, which were also covered with knuckle dusters. And in his hands were two deadly looking maces.
He gave a guttural growl, and moved towards Sam and Dean, maces swinging as he came in for the attack. The boys didn't waste much time, opening fire on their attacker, but the armour and his own natural defences ensured the bullets did little if any damage. He then closed, crashing what was apparently an armoured knee right into Sam's stomach. As Sam wheezed, the attacker slammed a mace down on the back of his head, dropping him like a stone with a feeble grunt.
"Sam!" Dean yelled in alarm at his faintly stirring brother, but before he could attend to him, the attacker turned, crashing a mace into Dean's chest. Dean felt his breath catch as his chest was assaulted, sending him flying across the room and sending him crashing through a glass table. As Dean struggled to get back to his feet, the assassin bore down on him, twirling both maces as he advanced. Sam feebly managed to stir, opening fire into the assassin's less protected back. As the bullets impacted, the assassin turned, directing his sightless eyes onto Sam, who hastily scrabbled to his feet, looking anxious, and Dean, hauling himself out the remains of the table, saw a trickle of blood coming from the back of his brother's head.
Sam staggered, the room was spinning around him, his breath was a little laboured and he really didn't feel well. He could also feel a small trickle of blood coming from the back of his head as he stood to face the oncoming assassin. The assassin swung his maces, Sam barely dodging and lunging up with the angel blade that he had brought with him. The attacker however merely caught Sam's wrist, pointed the blade away from him then threw Sam crashing into the wall, the blade spiralling across the room. Sam groaned and tried to get out of the crater that had just been made, but the attacker didn't allow him to get up, and marched towards him with the intention of crushing him when Dean appeared from nowhere and tackled him in the waist to knock him off his feet. All that happened was that Dean gave himself a sore shoulder as he bounced back off the assassin, thudding to the ground with a thump as the assassin instead decided to focus on him.
Dean quickly crawled backwards to avoid the deadly killer and his swinging maces. Dean yelped as he brought one down, rolling to the side to avoid the killing blow, and quickly rolling back to avoid the next one. Dean then lunged, grabbing hold of one of the maces and wrenching it from the assassin's hand. The assassin made a noise in his throat, before pummelling Dean's face with his fist. Dean yowled in pain, his head springing back and blood promptly pouring from his nose as his head slammed into the ground. The assassin then kicked Dean in the side, rolling him over himself, forcing Dean to curl into himself to try and protect himself from the next attack.
It never came as a staggering and uneasy Sam arrived from nowhere, hauling the assassin away from his brother. The assassin span, punching Sam in the side of the head and sending him crashing into the wall, where he stood dazed, his eyes sliding in and out of focus. The assassin swung the mace, this time catching Sam in the temple and sending him crashing through a sideboard, before the man heaved Sam into the air as if he were nothing, which was no mean feat, and bodily threw him through the window, shattering it and sending glass flying everywhere.
"Sam..." Dean said with a groan, abandoning all pretence and emptying his gun at the attacker.
The assassin turned, snarling, and heaved Dean up by the neck. Dean choked violently, legs kicking as the door flew open once again, revealing Marion.
"Drop him!" he ordered, and surprisingly the man obliged, throwing Dean hurtling across the room, crashing through the door to the cupboard under the stairs. Marion opened fire on the assassin, using all of his rounds, but that too was useless, the man just standing stock still before he darted towards the sheriff, mace swinging to take Marion down.
Marion hobbled backwards, cursing as he did so, the action straining his stump of a leg. The assassin then attacked, swinging the mace, but Marion, deciding discretion was the better part of valour, fell backwards, slamming his spent gun into the assassin's jaw. Grunting in irritation, the assassin reached down, hauled Marion up by the shirt and raised his knee, laying Marion on it, about to break him in half.
And it was then that the angel blade that Sam had dropped erupted through his forehead.
Marion was dropped to the floor in an undignified heap as blood and brains spurted from the assassin's wound, before the immense body keeled over and crashed to the floor, revealing a pained, panting and gasping Dean behind their attacker, supporting himself by gripping the staircase, his face white and his eyes bleary. Moving past Marion, he headed out to attend to his baby brother while Marion reached for his radio.
"This is the sheriff, wounded officers, send an ambulance and coroner vans to Crestweir Drive, asap." He gasped, as he pulled himself out on his elbows to peer outside, to where Dean was cradling his unconscious brother's head, his own eyes drooping as he too drifted into unconsciousness.
XX
"Will they be ok doc?" Marion asked the paramedics who were attending to Sam and Dean, Dean, who was slightly more awake and alert, and Sam, who was doped up to the eyeballs and looking like he just wanted to fall asleep right there and then.
"Yes they should be, they took a hell of a beating though, you were lucky you got off as easily as you did." The paramedic warned, and Marion scowled.
"Would have been there sooner if this damn leg of mine hadn't slowed me down. Pity we didn't get there in time though." He mused, and the paramedic sent a disturbed look at the coroner's van containing the assassin.
"You were lucky to survive, that guy was one serious man monster. You reckon he's the one who's been killing everyone?" he asked and Marion shrugged.
"I wish I knew son, certainly looks that way but there's no way of telling till we know a bit more. And his autopsy will have to wait till we do Charlie's sister. See you later son." He said, clomping over to where Dean and Sam were.
"I'll be fine, just give me the drugs." Dean ordered weakly, and the female paramedic smiled.
"We did that to your brother, and look at the mess we're in, he just gave us a rendition of the Top Cat theme tune." She said in amusement and Dean laughed slightly.
"Typical, can't take his drugs or his drink." He said wryly.
The paramedic passed Dean the drugs then went outside the ambulance, allowing Marion to talk to Dean.
"You ok? You took a hell of a beating, that guy was seriously bad news." He said darkly, and Dean nodded.
"I'm better off than I was last time, these guys are seriously strong, I would love to know what the hell they are." He complained, and Marion surveyed the coroner's van suspiciously.
"We might find out a little more tomorrow, we're doing an autopsy to see if we can't find anything out about him. Nasty piece of work. Sorry I took so long son, my leg wouldn't fix itself and it took me a while to get it to cooperate." He apologised, but Dean waved him off.
"It's fine, no offence to you but with your leg in the way you might have gotten killed, the son of a bitch nearly got me and Sam. Speaking of, we better go and get him." He said, hobbling to the next ambulance over.
"So I take it you boys still have no idea who you're dealing with?" Marion asked, and Dean shook his head.
"Nope, not got any idea. All we know is they're nasty and strong and capable of kicking our asses from here to next week. It's like they're not even human they can take so much punishment, but they have to be, the entire thing doesn't make sense." Dean said with a scowl as they found Sam lying down in his ambulance.
"He's got a slight concussion and he's doused up on painkillers. Enjoy." The paramedic said with a wide grin, and Dean sighed, the only thing worse than a drunk Sammy was a high Sammy, he got all mushy and childlike in this state.
"Ok thanks. Hey Sammy, how you feeling?" Dean asked, his eyes scanning his brother to make sure he was as alright as he could be given the circumstances.
"Dean!" Sam cried happily, making Dean roll his eyes, slightly amused.
"Yeah good to see you too little brother."
"They say I've got a concussion. Lucky my head wasn't scrambled they said. Scrambled, like eggs you know? I like eggs...can we have some eggs later?" he asked hopefully, and Marion smiled in amusement.
"First thing tomorrow, nice plate of scrambled eggs for you." He promised, and Sam looked pleadingly with Dean.
"Did we get him? The nasty bad man? Did you kill him Dean?" he asked hopefully, and Dean nodded.
"Sure did Sammy, it was a close thing but I got him. I was more worried about you considering you're in a state."
"State? South Dakota silly." Sam supplied, apparently helpfully and Dean shook his head, his brother drove him mad when he was doused up to the eyeballs on drugs.
"How about we get you home to bed?" Dean asked patiently, and Marion nodded.
"That sounds good, you've had a hard day Sam, a little sleep and you'll be right as rain." He said, but this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Sam screwed up his nose.
"No, I don't like the rain, it makes me wet and my hair gets all tangled. I like the sun and the snow. Dean likes the rain, and thunder, he says they're cool but I reckon it's just because he's a mean old misery guts." Sam elaborated making Marion laugh at the perturbed look on Dean's face.
"Hey faceache, I'm not a misery guts." He said irritably, and Sam looked up at him with big soulful eyes which were on the verge of filling with tears.
"Don't yell at me Dean, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry." He begged and Dean couldn't help it, he smiled, a pain in the ass when he was high he might be, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't good value for money.
"I'm not mad. Come on gigantor, let's get you home, it's past your bedtime." He said in amusement, and Marion chuckled.
"I'll help you get him sorted then I'll head back to the station, deal with the paperwork and stuff. Come on Sam, you want to ride in the front?" Marion asked as if he were talking to a child, and Sam grinned.
"Yay in the front! Your police cars are too small for my silly big legs." He complained with a pout, and Marion chuckled.
"Tell you what, you can even turn on the siren too, how's that sound?" he asked in his young person voice and Sam beamed with excitement and started trying to hobble to the car.
"Hey, hold your horses sasquatch, wait for me." Dean ordered, supporting his brother.
"Horsey! You were scared of that horse Bobby made you ride." He reminded his brother and Dean scowled.
"Yeah, but you were scared of the pig." He reminded tartly, and Sam stuck his tongue out.
"It was a mean pig, and it smelled bad too." He reminded as Dean got Sam into the passenger seat.
"I see what you mean, he really can't hold his drugs." Marion said in amusement as Dean climbed in behind his brother.
"Or his booze, mind you he's not as bad as he used to be, now he can keep up with me most of the night. Sammy, you're not a dog!" Dean scolded, as his brother was sticking his head out of the window.
Laughing, Marion headed to his own seat, sitting down and nodding to Sam, who with a brilliant grin, turned on the siren. Clapping his hands excitedly as Marion drove the car away from the crime scene, Sam put his hands up in the air.
"Wheeee!" he cried happily, and Dean, sniggering in the back, couldn't help but feel good that his brother was having such a good time.
XX
"Another murder in Brandon, South Dakota. You really think the Winchesters are there?" Grayson asked as they refuelled the van, and Tyers nodded.
"It's a pretty fair bet if you ask me, and besides, we have nothing else to go on. I just wish we knew why the director wanted them so bad, it's driving me nuts not knowing what he wants with them." She said with a scowl, just as Tomas stuck his head out of the van.
"Hey, I pulled up some speed camera footage of Brandon, someone was flashed entering the town, and just in front of them is a car that looks suspiciously like a 67 Impala." He informed them and Tyers grinned.
"Brilliant. Let's get this horse filled up and see if we can't catch ourselves a couple of Winchesters. And when we get to Brandon, there'll be no screwing about. We go in, get them and get gone. No fall ups." She said dangerously as they finished filling up the van.
XX
"But Dean, I don't want to go to bed! I want to stay up and watch cartoons!" Sam complained as his brother tried to get him up the stairs, and Dean, who was panting with the exertion, gave a grumpy sigh.
"You can watch cartoons in the morning like you always do, you don't watch them at night." He told him, and Sam nodded his head defiantly.
"I do too! I watch them after you fall asleep about nine oclock because you're getting old." He said with a grin and Dean glowered.
"You're lucky you're high, or I'd hit you for that. Come on Sammy, bed time, you said yourself all the good cartoons are on in the morning." He said, trying to push his stubborn brother up the stairs, but it seemed like all he was doing was making himself more tired.
"That's true." Sam admitted and moved on his own volition, making Dean, who had been trying to push him at the time, fall facefirst onto the stairs.
"Ow." He grumbled as Sam, albeit unsteadily, reached the top of the stairs.
"Come on slowpoke! Dean is a slowpoke, a great big dope, he plays sex games with lots of rope..." Sam sang to himself, and Dean looked in alarm at Marion, who shrugged.
"Don't look at me, he's your brother." He pointed out, and Dean nodded.
"Yeah but how does he know about the sex games?" he asked, and Marion closed his eyes in disdain.
"Could have gone my entire life without that image thank you Dean." He said sounding slightly depressed and Dean grinned.
"Just your friendly hunter service." He said cheerfully, heading up after his brother.
Entering the room, they found Sam considering the bed.
"It's still too early to go to bed." He complained, but Marion shook his head.
"No it isn't son, you've had a busy day and you've been bashed around, turn in early." Marion advised, and Sam looked as though he were still considering.
"And if you won't, you won't get eggs for breakfast." Dean told him, and he pouted.
"Alright, you win. But I'm not doing this because I want eggs." He said with dignity as he stripped off without assistance and got under the covers.
"Why are you doing it then?" Dean asked with a grin.
"I'm doing it because you're my big brother and I love you and you asked nicely. And I like Marion too." Sam said certainly, and Marion smiled.
"And I'm very fond of you too son. You get a nice long rest." He advised, and Sam nodded before lying down, and Dean pointed to the door.
"Night Sammy." He said as he followed Marion from the room, groaning as he got outside, while Marion laughed.
"Oh it was worth bringing you boys here just to see that." He said as he finished laughing and Dean groaned.
"Ugh, it wouldn't be so bad but he doesn't remember anything the next day so I can't even wind him up. Right, he should sleep till morning now." He said in relief as Marion headed down the stairs.
"Do you think it's over?" Marion asked, because he would certainly like his town to be safe again.
Dean frowned.
"I don't know. We've met them three times, and the first time they just seemed determined to kill me and Flight Officer Kite up there so there was only one of them. When we met them in Massachusetts, they had a goal in mind, slaughter everyone before they slaughtered us so there was more of them, so there could be more of them out there, there's just no way of telling." Dean said, wincing as he lowered himself into a seat in the sitting room.
"Brilliant. So there could still be some majorly crazy nutjobs hanging around out there, that's all we need. Right, help yourself to a beer or something, tomorrow we can deal with the autopsy, and hopefully he'll be off the ceiling. I'll see you when I get back." Marion said before heading out, leaving Dean to think.
These guys, whoever the hell they were, were becoming a hell of a lot more dangerous, and he and Sam still knew virtually nothing about them. Twice now they had been almost killed by one solitary assassin, never mind an entire group of them like there had been in Stockbridge. These people, whoever they were, meant serious business, and they needed to find out who the hell was behind their attacks and stop them before things got even worse. Their attacks and ferocity were attacking, and as Sam had so kindly pointed out, they were getting on and couldn't keep getting thrown around like this, especially when Cas wasn't back to full strength and had vanished off the face of the earth again. They needed information. Perhaps it was time to go right to the source...and ask these lunatics who they were in person themselves.
XX
"Has it derailed your plans any?" Veltas asked as he and Ember sat in the bar across from the hotel she was staying in, sipping their drinks as if they were just simple companions. Of course, they were far more than that.
"It delays me a little, but an extra night won't make that much difference, I can cope. Besides, Aliens is on tv tonight and you know how I enjoy that movie." She said cheerfully, and Veltas chuckled.
"And once you have done your part, I get to do mine?" he asked, his tone tinged with excitement and she grinned wickedly.
"Indeed you do my dear Veltas. I'm slightly tempted to put myself in the way just so I can see their reaction, but I'm no good at playing the pathetic damsel in distress, that's more Niandra's job, I prefer to get my hands dirty as you know." She said, downing her whisky.
"I'm aware my lady. I have thirty troopers on standby, and the nine we already have, that makes a good round forty, more than enough to do what we need to do. I will begin at the hour of the beast tomorrow." He said, and she nodded.
"Yes, that should be fine, if I need more time I'll let you know." She informed him before he vanished.
She should have known the commander wouldn't make it easy for the Winchesters, after all, they were the best troops they had, he wasn't just going to roll over and die for her prey even if she had ordered him to allow himself to die.
However she was nothing if not adaptable, and she could overcome this slight bump in the road. And once she and Veltas made their move, the Winchesters, along with all of their other targets in Brandon, would cease to be a problem.
XX
"Heh, sorry Dean." Sam said sheepishly, having just been filled in on his antics the night before, as they entered the morgue the next morning, both of them slightly better off than they had been the night before.
"So you should be, you called me old!" Dean complained, making both Marion and Sam, filled with scrambled eggs as promised, grin.
"Yeah, sorry. Can't blame me though you are older than me." He reminded and Dean glared.
"Doesn't mean you should rub it in. How's your head anyway, you took a couple of nasty knocks." He said worriedly, and Sam shrugged.
"I'm fine mostly, my balance is still a bit off but other than that I'm fine. Do I really need to go to the hospital later?" he whined, and Dean nodded.
"Yep. Sue me for not wanting you to get another blood clot that could kill you." He said with maddening superiority and Sam relented, knowing full well he had lost this fight long before it had even started.
Marion entered the lab room, and the boys quickly spotted the small man who was performing the autopsy, actually so small that he was standing on a stool to carry out his job.
"Morning Bernard." Marion said in greeting, and the small wispily haired and bearded man turned to him and nodded in greeting.
"Good morning sheriff. And you two lads as well, welcome." He said, beckoning them closer as he worked on the mysterious attacker.
"Well, first things first doc, can we tie him in any way to the other murders?" Marion asked and the small man shook his head.
"Not conclusively I'm afraid Marion, you can tie him to the last but it could easily be someone else who performed the last murders. You see, there's no way of identifying him." He said, and Sam looked at him curiously.
"None at all?" he asked, and the mortician shook his head.
"Afraid not. However, if nothing else, he is a most interesting cadaver, I'll start at the bottom and work up. So, male, around mid thirties by my reckoning. As you can see he's very well built. However, that aside he has a hell of a lot of interesting scars. Some that look like knife blades, arrow wounds of all things, and bullet holes, all over his body you see? When I cut his chest open, that's when things got really interesting." He said, and Dean looked at him sceptically.
"Interesting how?" he asked, and the doctor pointed to the open chest.
"His ribs. They have small markings all over them, runes I'd say for want of a better word. Curiously, they match some of the tattoos on his head and on his knuckles. Very bizarre." He concluded, and Sam and Dean exchanged significant glances with each other, they had confused a few doctors like that themselves, the symbols were Enochian and protected them from angels.
"Along with that, the bullet wounds you inflicted on him ought to have killed him, but for some reason it seems like they didn't even affect him. Whatever happened to his eyes was very painful, they weren't sewn shut, they were sealed shut, hot poker job, must have hurt like hell. But just to make things even more painful, I reckon the eye was mostly intact when his eyes were sealed shut. Then, when the mutilation upon his eyes was performed, he would have felt it on his eye and on his lid, the pain would theoretically be enough to kill a man. He has no fingerprints, they appear to have been burned off, no hair, not even on the arms, legs or groin. And he also has no teeth and no tongue. Someone didn't want him enjoying his life, that's for damn sure. Oh and speaking of enjoying oneself, he also has no junk. He's been totally castrated, nothing of interest lies therein it would seem. So sheriff, it would seem our man is completely faceless, completely untraceable, but utterly dead, that's the best I've got I'm afraid." He said, and Sam looked at him hesitantly.
"Did you notice anything odd doc?"
The doctor shot him an unamused glance.
"Odder than everything I just described and the massive hole in his head? Not really. Though his blood test was rather odd, even that doesn't help us much, it's been corrupted." He stated, beckoning them over to his workstation.
"Corrupted, how?" Marion asked, limping over, and the doctor stood on another stool so he could peer into his telescope.
"There's abnormalities in the blood. Stuff that shouldn't be there, I have no idea what one of them might be though, I sent one off to the lab to see if they have anything on what it could be. The one I could identify was just as interesting, somehow the guy had sulphur in his blood. Here take a glance." He said, allowing Sam to look, and he frowned as he came back up, giving Dean a significant look.
"Good job doc. Anything else I should know about?" he asked, and the doctor shook his head.
"Not as far as I can see, but it looks like you might have to content yourself with what I gave you. Sorry sheriff." He said, but Marion shook his head.
"Don't worry doc, you were a great help. Let's go lads." He commanded, with Sam and Dean following him from the room.
"What was wrong with the blood? Other than the sulphur in it." Dean asked as soon as they were out of the doctor's earshot.
" Sulphur in the blood, doesn't that mean he was a demon then?" Marion mused as they headed back to the car, and Sam shrugged.
"Maybe, but I don't think so somehow. Mind you, he might have been, the way he usually tell if someone is a demon is kind of denied to us when we're dealing with these guys." Sam reasoned, and Dean had to admit, it was a good point.
"So what was the other thing?" he asked, and Sam looked disgruntled to say the least.
"The doc wouldn't recognise it, I don't even know what it's called but I did recognise it. Whatever it is, it points to angels, just like the marks on the ribs do." He said, and Dean looked at him curiously.
"Wait a minute, how do we know something points to angels by some weird thing in the blood, it could be some exotic disease or some such crap." He reasoned, and Sam looked at him guiltily.
"Because you once had it in your blood too, when you were resurrected by Cas." He explained, and Dean looked at him in confusion.
"How do you know what I had in my blood?" he asked, and Sam grinned.
"Well Bobby was a paranoid bastard, and I thought you coming back was too good to be true...at least until you started at bitching at me for something I hadn't even done." He reminded his brother tartly, making Dean go slightly red.
"But what is it, I want to know now too." Marion complained and Sam grinned.
"Well when you were asleep the first night you came back, we took some of your blood from the cut you made to prove to Bobby you weren't a shapeshifter. Just a little vial full, but Bobby was owed a favour by a local doctor and he examined the blood and found the weird thing that was in it. We were a bit skittish but then we found out Cas brought you back, it shows that angels have interfered with our bad guys too. True it still doesn't get us any closer to finding out who the hell they are, but it at least means that we now know angels and demons might be involved with them." He said, and Dean looked at him, aghast.
"Wait, you took my blood without my permission? Didn't you trust me?" he asked indignantly, and both Marion and Sam glared at him.
"Sam, I can see why he gets on your nerves at times." Marion admitted, and Sam grinned pointedly.
"Hurts doesn't it?" he asked cockily, making Dean fume.
"Alright, smart ass I get the point. So, angels and demons are involved with our mystery attackers, still doesn't help us figure anything out about them. What's our next move do you reckon?" he asked, and Marion frowned.
"It might be a good idea if we could find out where the hell our killer was acting out of, but when you're searching the town like that, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. So this is what we'll do. I'll rally the troops, get them on a house to house, see if anyone noticed anything strange. You pair can split hotspots between you, libraries, schools," he rattled off, and Dean interrupted.
"Bars?" he asked keenly, and Marion rolled his eyes.
"Yes bars, but remember, we're here to work as well. Alright, let's get to it, see what we can't find out, because if there's more of these nutters in town I want them out before they kill anyone else." He said, and Sam frowned.
"Well if that's the case, maybe you should round up the others who might be in danger, put them in protective custody, just in case. And maybe keep an eye on the doc and anyone at the lab too might be a good idea." He suggested, and Marion tapped his chin musingly.
"A good idea my boy, right, I'll tend to that as well. You pair, see what you can scrounge up. And Dean..." he said warningly, and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Yeah I know work before pleasure and all that, I got it." He said impatiently as the three of them headed their separate ways.
XX
Dean hadn't gotten anywhere. For someone so distinctive, their mysterious attacker certainly hadn't attracted any attention, which he was beginning to think meant there was only the one of them. But the threat of any more being out there was one he couldn't let go. That guy, along with the first, had nearly killed both him and Sam and they needed to know more before these guys got the advantage again, the last calls had been too close as they were. So, thoroughly fed up and feeling anxious, Dean entered the last bar on his list, heading straight to the bar, and keeping an eye out for any people who looked likely.
After half an hour though, after talking to the two people who looked haunted (one was a former soldier and the other had survived a bad fire), Dean figured he wasn't getting anywhere. The people who might know more wouldn't be in till tonight, once the sun had gone down now, these crowds were families, alcoholics and the ones who wanted to be alone. No one out at this time had seen any sign of the bald attackers with the slashed out eyes. He only hoped Sam or Marion were having better luck.
"You look worn out." A voice said from beside him, and Dean turned, and was momentarily taken aback by the beautiful woman who had appeared beside him.
Much the same height as he was, dressed in long black boots with leather trousers, and a black vest with a loose see through neck, she was bearing her white arms to the air. Her fingers were painted immaculately, a deep blood red. She had a beautiful face, sumptuous red lips, shining green eyes and red hair that was styled into a star like bun.
Dean grinned flirtatiously.
"Don't worry about me, I'm sure I can find something else to keep myself occupied." He said confidently, and she smirked.
"Really? Well, why not buy me a drink and see if I can't find some way to occupy you?" she purred, and Dean grinned in excitement, feeling an entirely different and much more pleasant itch in his pants than the one Sam had caused him to have.
"I might just do that. You got a name?" he asked, and she smirked, her green eyes glinting.
"Ember."
XX
Veronica flopped tiredly down onto her bed. Preparing the other seers for their joint seeing session had sapped both she and her mistress of their energy, and now that they were ready, they figured a night of rest, of proper rest, which basically meant no cuddling under Niandra's covers, would conduce to better seeing skills when they resumed in the morning.
Veronica didn't know what was going on. Something dark was affecting the Perpurigo, something was approaching and the entire sect was hovering on the edge of the abyss. Niandra was scared, in fact she was terrified, Veronica had never known her to be like this in all their years together. Not during the Apocalypse, not when she had thought she would be attracted to Zain rather than her, never had she been this scared.
And to be honest, she herself was scared. Niandra's fear was affecting her, she didn't like seeing her mistress in such a state, she was scared as well. And she knew enough to know that whatever was coming for them was bad, very bad for all of them. There were dark eddies and currents surrounding the entire group, and she was beginning to think they were within their own walls too.
Something bad was happening here, they knew nothing about it and whatever it was was getting worse, and threatening them all.
Veronica shivered. She shouldn't dwell on this, she was getting as scared and worried as Niandra was, and if both of their most powerful seers went down, the entire Perpurigo could be undermined.
Besides, she was being silly. Whatever was going on was still ages away, and she was safe here in the castle. She would feel safer in Niandra's arms, but she was safe regardless. Nothing could hurt her here.
A loud knock disturbed her from her musings, making her jump.
Cursing whoever was at the door, while trying to get her heart back under control, she crossed her room and opened the door to reveal the shadowy corridor outside.
And with a whoosh, black formless clawed shapes piled upon her, ripping her apart, spraying the walls with her blood as they attacked, her screams echoing up the dark and empty corridor, her body being ripped to shreds long after she had stopped screaming.
A click of the finger sent the daevas away, allowing the person who had been standing in the shadows all along to observe the daevas handiwork. Veronica had been ripped to shreds, blood was splattered over the walls and was now pooling around the remains of her body.
It was done. It had begun. The end of the Perpurigo had begun with the death of Veronica, and now, nothing would stop it.
They would remain unseen and unknown now. After all, Niandra wouldn't be able to see effectively with her lover dead. The threat of the seers was nullified, and what was more, people would be looking in all the wrong places and coming to all the wrong conclusions as they tried to figure this out. They were safe now.
Smirking, they turned, and abandoned the ruined body of Veronica to the night that would seen enshroud the entire Perpurigo.
Well I hope its Supernatural or otherwise things are very confused. sorry this chapter took so long to write, I dont really know what happened, I blame aunt Gladys, she fed us with enough food to field an army as usual and it all went pear shaped from there.
Anyway, the plot thickens. The boys are getting closer to finding out more info about the Perpurigo but we still have a while before they do. Dean has played right into Ember's hands, just what does she have planned for the boys? And why should they be worried about Veltas? (by the way it was fun writing high sam, he just seemed really kid like in that episode in season five)
And speaking of the Perpurigo, who whacked poor Veronica? Now, as many of you are undoubtedly aware I'm no homophobe, I didnt whack Veronica for any reason other than I cant have the big bads being discovered in the third story, and it will cause a little chaos in the ranks of the enemy which is always handy. Well it would be if they were all in it together but obviously they're not, so just who and why was responsible for Veronica's death, and what does this mean for poor Niandra?
Next time we have a new enemy, an inquisition and a little harken back to season three as things go from bad to worse. And Ember is waiting in the wings for her chance to deal with the boys herself.
Speaking of such things, she isnt the only one waiting in the wings. We have a very special cameo that I suspect readers might like (the author could do without it but it needs to happen) in chapter five.
Right you lovely people, I'm starting at seven tomorrow instead of eight so I need to be up even earlier, so would all you lovely people please leave ltos of reviews for me to read in the morning, I would be very happy if you would! Until next time!
