Jake Tully – strength, Army, Greensboro, NC
Max Miller – telekinesis, Saginaw, MI, father – Jim
Ava Wilson – visions, Peoria, IL, uncle – Bruce Wilson
Andy Gallagher – mind control
Anselm Weems – mind control, social system, CA?
Lily Noonan – heart attacks, Barrie, Ontario
Scott Carey – electrokinesis
The school bus drops the boys off right on time, and John is still at the kitchen table with Seth. The table's much fuller now, with both their journals open — Seth's has some high class devil's traps in there — and John has been making notes about demon eye colors while Seth gets distracted with paging through the phone book, looking for any more Wilson relatives. John has a feeling Seth is still worried about the demon's comment about families. It's certainly enough to make John's hair stand on end, but he isn't going to show that to either of his boys.
The door closes in the living room, and a thud signals a dropped backpack right onto the carpet.
"Pick up your bag, Sammy," John calls. "It doesn't belong on the floor."
More shuffling from the other room, and Sam comes into the kitchen, dragging his backpack along the floor behind him.
"Hi, Dad," he says. "Hi, Seth."
"Hey, Sam." Seth smiles again at the kid, then looks up when Dean enters the kitchen right behind Sammy.
"Hey." Dean tilts his chin up with a head bob that is supposed to be a cool and mature greeting. John thinks his son looks more like a teenager trying to be cool and mature.
"You boys got homework?" John asks before either of them can comment on the state of the table.
"I did it all at school!" Sammy crows triumphantly.
John turns his eyes to Dean, who just shrugs. John takes the silent yes, knowing he's not going to get anything more.
"Get your homework done before supper," he orders Dean. "Sammy, I want you to work on those protection symbols while Seth's still here."
"Really?" Sam practically bounces in place as his eyes dart from John to Seth and back. A grin that wide is usually reserved for big brother Dean, and John feels something tighten around his chest when Sam's eyes and grin stay on him instead of Seth.
"Really?" Dean's eyebrows are halfway up to his hair in a way that wants to ask a different question but won't.
John doesn't doubt that Dean heard most of his argument with Seth last night, considering the loudest part was about what Seth was trying to teach Sam. He doesn't know yet if he wants to explain to Dean just how much of a threat the Demon is. Maybe once he knows more.
"Really," John answers both boys, but he keeps his eyes on Sammy's huge grin. "You should keep busy, and Seth can check your work once you're done."
And now Seth's looking at him with eyebrows raised. Seth doesn't say anything though, just turns and smiles back at Sam like checking on the kid's Enochian protective symbols is the only good thing he's going to do today.
"Cool!" Sam says.
John looks up at Dean, just to make sure he's on board with this plan. But Dean's eyes are scanning over the table just like John doesn't want them to be. John follows his gaze to the outline of the anti-possession tattoo that Seth drew for him on a spare piece of paper.
"Homework, Dean," John says.
Dean shoves himself backwards to hover in the kitchen doorway and shrugs with one shoulder.
"We going out again tonight?" For all Dean knows, they're still on the hunt.
"Seth and I are. You and Sammy are staying here."
"Dad," Dean starts, straightening like a soldier at attention.
"I don't want you on this one, Dean." John adds just enough edge in his voice to make it clear that's the end of the conversation.
"You wanted me on it yesterday," Dean mutters in the general direction of the floor.
"No."
Dean clenches his jaw but stays silent.
"Seth and I will handle this," John says. He turns to Seth and takes in Sammy's wide-eyed look as he does. For as much as Sammy likes to push boundaries, John knows he's never really seen John and Dean fight.
"Lemme see if I got any paint in my trunk," John says to Seth. Best thing to do is act like the tension in the room doesn't bother him so that Sam won't think anything of it.
"I—" Seth closes his teeth suddenly around words that his mouth was already forming. "Alright."
John takes the break he's given and marches outside. As he walks to the Impala, sliding the key in to pop the trunk, the front door opens and closes quickly as Dean hurries outside.
"Dad, I can help," he says as soon as he's at John's side.
Damn if his kid — God, both his kids — aren't as stubborn as the day is long.
"I don't want you near a demon without some insurance," John says, using one hand to rifle past the weapons in the trunk. "We weren't prepared for this." Which still bothers him, but the hunt is more important.
He just has to get through this hunt.
"Dad, you—"
John looks up when Dean has nothing more to say, but Dean's staring at the house instead.
"Are you sure you trust him?" he asks quietly.
John straightens from his cache of hunting tools and studies Dean, the way he shifts his weight despite his planted stance.
"We were yelling pretty loud last night," John says, just to see what Dean makes of that.
"I don't think Sammy heard."
Of course, he's more concerned with his brother. John doesn't really have anything to compare his boys to; it was just him and his mom when he was a kid. But a larger part of him is glad they're so close. No matter what, he can rely on Dean to look after Sam.
"He's got some security that we don't," John says. Hesitantly, he pulls out his trump card. "And he might know something about the Demon."
Dean's head snaps up, and his body freezes.
"The Yellow-Eyed Demon?"
Dean knows the full story about what happened the night Mary died, even if John's never spoken about it with Sammy. But that's more than John actually wants to talk about now. It's more than he can handle now.
"I'm not saying I trust him, but I want Sammy to study those symbols, and I want you with Sammy." He closes the trunk again and shoves the keys back in his pocket.
"Yes, sir."
John leads the way back into the house with Dean following him.
"No paint," John calls as Dean shuts the front door.
Seth pokes his head out of the open kitchen doorway.
"We can always pick some up," he says. "Or I've got—"
John's phone rings abruptly, and John digs into his pocket to flip the phone open and hold it to his ear.
"Yeah."
"Agent Madison?" says the voice on the other end, professional and curt.
"Madison?" John mutters and pats his pockets self-consciously even though he's sure there's no fake badges on him in this town. He's avoided law enforcement for a reason.
Suddenly, Seth steps forward with a crazy gesture of his hand that looks more like a spasm than a wave. When John frowns, Seth jabs his finger into his chest, mouthing That's me.
"This is his partner, John Page." John half-turns from Seth and keeps the phone pressed to his jaw. "Can I help you?"
"Agent Page, this is Officer Moser with City Dispatch," says the man on the phone. "Agent Madison asked us to keep him updated on the APB on Bruce Wilson."
When the hell had Seth done that? And couldn't he have told John before the phone call came in?
"Yes," John still says, because it's a good strategy even if Seth did it on his own. "Did you locate him?"
"We have a witness that tied him to an abduction," Officer Moser says shortly. John ignores the slip because it's not that much of a stretch to think he and his non-existant FBI partner are actually working together. "We've still got the witness at the gas station on Fifteenth and France."
"We'll be there in ten minutes." John cuts him off. Slapping his phone shut again, John turns back to Seth.
"Madison?" He raises an eyebrow at Seth. It's the same look he gives his sons when he wants them to confess, but Seth just shrugs at it.
"I figured it couldn't hurt to have some local help," he says.
"So you gave them my number?" John holds up the phone in question.
"I only have a landline, and that's in Kansas. Not very helpful."
Smug bastard doesn't even look sorry about it.
John leaves it alone. As much as he probably should chew Seth out for not telling him about whatever he's been doing on his own since last night, he can't deny that it's effective. At least they have somewhere to go now.
"Looks like we're doing this on the fly." John rolls his shoulders back. Trapping a demon while it's standing still is going to be harder than luring it into a trap already set up, but they need to get rid of this thing before someone recognizes John or the police can get too involved in something they can't handle.
"Right," Seth says. He strides back into the kitchen and comes out again with his journal and the jar of salt from last night.
"Lock up behind us," John orders Dean as Seth packs up his small bag.
"Yessir."
"Dean."
Both John and Dean turn to look at Seth where he stands with Sam just to his left.
"I promise I'll protect your dad." Seth's eyes never leave Dean's.
John doesn't know if he should say anything — he can protect his own damn self, thank you very much — when Seth looks so serious and Dean even more so.
"You'd better," Dean says finally, his voice low and almost threatening.
"Jerk," Sammy sighs and rolls his head back because he hasn't quite gotten the hang of rolling his eyes at his brother yet. "That's what partners are for, dummy."
Seth blinks at the kid then looks at John like he's not quite sure what to do with that. To be honest, neither is John.
o0O0o
They pull up along the main street across from the gas station, and there are already two police cars — one squad car and one plain black car — with their blue and red lights flashing. John gets out of Seth's car but hangs back. He doesn't usually deal with cops in a town he's planning on staying in. The boys still have a few weeks left of school. Luckily, Seth already offered to drive to the crime scene and take the lead once there since he was the one to put out the APB on Wilson. John isn't above taking advantage of that.
Seth slams the door shut on his car and strides up to the nearest cop car, complete with a suit jacket he pulled out of his duffle.
"Who's in charge here?" Seth flashes his badge at a uniformed officer, who points out a man standing by the black car as yellow police tape cuts off most of the space behind the gas station. Seth sets off right away, leaving John to follow him.
"Sergeant Hechl?" Seth holds out his badge again to the gray-haired man while John does the same thing behind Seth's back, holding the fake wallet up just long enough for the sergeant to know he's with Seth.
"I'm Agent Madison. This is my partner Agent Page." Seth nods to one side toward John and slips his badge back in his inside pocket. "We heard you have a person of interest in a case of ours."
Seth's voice lifts toward the end of the sentence, making it more leading than questioning. The older man shifts so that he can duck until the police tape, holding it up for Seth and John to follow.
"Suspect fled on foot after the attack—" Hechl waves a small black notebook down the street as he leads the way along the concrete block wall that makes up the back of the gas station. "—one girl escaped into the building. The other one is still missing."
John follows the sergeant's gaze to where a teenage girl stands next to a uniformed officer. She keeps glancing at the dumpster as if she expects something to jump out from behind it. Leaving Seth to talk to the sergeant, John approaches the dumpster carefully, looking for strange signs he's not even sure of.
"How'd you get the report?" Seth asks.
"Kid at the station register called it in." Hechl glances down at the notebook in his hand. "Girl's name is Kelly Hughes. She said a man came up to her and her friend, a Susie Micheals, and attacked them. We're still trying to figure out how."
John sees scuff marks and drag marks coming from the dumpster, but nothing to suggest anything supernatural. He really hopes this isn't just a human abduction they've stumbled on.
"She shaken up?"
"More like high," Sergeant Hechl says as shares a long-suffering look with Seth. "She keeps saying the man's eyes were glowing."
Seth glances at John just long enough for them to know they both heard Hechl's words. Seth looks back at the sergeant as John walks around the dumpster so he's close enough to keep up with the conversation.
"Mind if we talk to her." Seth's voice doesn't have any give. "We just need her to ID the guy we're interested in."
"Go ahead." Hechl steps aside and waves them ahead.
John watches the way Hechl agrees easily to letting a stranger, and an FBI agent at that, step into an ongoing investigation that should be pressed for time, considering it presents like an abduction. John doesn't think Seth has ever been military — he's pretty sure he'd be able to ID a fellow grunt at least — but John knows he doesn't have enough information or experience to ID a former police officer or detective.
Then, Seth is walking up to the teenager, Kelly. Part of John hopes the kid is actually high. If this girl starts crying, he's going to climb into the dumpster himself.
"Kelly?" Seth starts. He bends his head down to meet the girl's eyes. "We're from the FBI. Can you tell us about the man you saw?"
Kelly swipes a hand across her face and quickly folds her arms again.
"He was medium tall, brown hair, kind of skinny."
It matches Wilson's description, but it also matches Dean's back home.
"Anything else?" Seth presses. When the girl only shrugs, Seth bends down so far he almost folds himself in half. "I promise we'll listen to anything you have to say, Kelly."
Kelly shrugs again and shifts her weight from foot to foot.
"His eyes didn't have any color," she finally whispers. "Like, none at all. Solid black."
She passes her fingertips in front of one eye to demonstrate, like she's wiping a paintbrush across her face. John forgets to act like he's still searching the dumpster and starts examining this Kelly girl. She lifts her chin and stares right at John when she sees him staring at her.
"I'm not crazy," she says.
"We know you're not," Seth says before John can. Maybe that's a good thing, no one to remember him talking.
"Really?"
There's the look John was afraid of: defiant teenager who expects the world to be against her.
"Where do you think the X-files got their inspiration?"
John hasn't seen a frown like that since Dean wanted to get his driver's license early.
"You mean you're Scully and Mulder?" she asks.
Seth actually smiles a little.
"He's Scully." He jerks a thumb over his shoulder at John. "I'm Mulder."
Kelly's face transforms from dubious teenager into awestruck kid, just enough to soften her eyes and make her look young. For all the redirecting Seth is doing, John does feel sorry for her. Seth turns on his heel and marches back towards the dumpster.
"Find anything?" he asks.
John shakes his head and point down to the only thing the police haven't picked up on yet, a spatter of blood under one of the dumpster's wheels close to the building. Seth frowns down at it and then turns in a circle, keeping his eyes to the ground. John follows his gaze until he sees another drop of blood four feet away from the building, heading down the street that Hechl had pointed out as the means of escape. John starts forward, but suddenly a hand on his arm brings him up short. He spins his head to glare at Seth, but Seth is staring at Sergeant Hechl instead. Hechl is staring right back.
John forces his muscles to relax and shoves his hands into his pockets.
"Thanks for your help, sergeant," Seth calls to the police officer. "Keep us appraised of any developments."
Seth holds out a cream-colored business card, with different text and font than the one John still has in his journal.
"Do you think this is your guy?" Hechl asks as he takes Seth's fake card.
"No," says Seth. "But we'd still like to see that girl get her friend back."
Seth shoots Kelly a sympathetic look, and John can't even tell how much of the expression is fake.
"We'll do all we can," Hechl says by rote.
Seth leads the way back to his too-small car.
"What the hell are we doing?" John hisses at him.
"We can't follow the blood trail from here." Seth opens the door and slides into the driver's seat. "We'll park a few blocks down and pick it up from there."
"Do you think it's the demon's blood?"
"No," Seth says shortly.