Chapter 9: Infernal Affairs

Jeremy Cates was sitting in his home watching some news. A bottle of beer was in the table next to his armchair. He was staring at the television, with a blank look on his face, not really watching. A scruffy beard had started to set in on his chin but he didn't care to shave or even groom it. His eyes widened when the screen started to show a news report with two pictures of a couple. The news anchor told of this couple found dead on the side of a back road, signs that they must've been mauled by a wild animal. It had the classic signs of a hunt.

Jeremy quickly reached for the remote and shut the TV off. His breathing increased and some sweat started to pour down his brow. Suddenly, his ears started to vibrate as he heard the loud noise of screaming and his eyes itched as they started to show him the sight of knives cutting into human flesh and blood spewing out. He saw the face of a red haired woman taken by a demon to flay those people in front of him as he hung helpless in the air as he could only watch. Jeremy quickly shook his head to try and make it all go away as he reached over for the liquor bottle and started to quickly drain it. When he removed the bottle away from his lips, he scrunched up his nose as he let out a stressed sniffle.

He went to wipe at his eyes when a shape moved passed his window. Jeremy stood up and shut the TV off before he went over to his kitchen cabinet and took a container of salt out. He ran off and started to put a line of salt at the window and made one at the door. He then heard the sound of loud thumping and there was some shaking so he ran and removed a sawed off from underneath his coffee table. He aimed it for the door as he could hear shuffling feet behind it and cocked the shotgun. He tightened his hold as he moved to take cover behind his chair. But the windows behind him behind him exploded as men in black started to fly on in.

Jeremy quickly turned around to fire on them when the door broke down as armed men barged on in with their weapons locked on him.

"Drop your weapon!"

"Police!"

"Get down!"

"Now or we'll shoot!"

Those shouts echoed through the room and Jeremy quickly held his hands up.

"Okay!" he shouted as he raised his hands up after letting go of the shotgun.

"Cuff him," one of the men said to a man next to him.

Next, Jeremy found his arms getting yanked behind his back as they were being put in handcuffs.

"Jeremy Cates, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one then one will be provided to you at government expense."

As the cop recited his rights, some of the other officers started going around and were going into his closet and room, revealing the false walls hiding his weapon caches. From how they were moving, it was like they knew what they were looking for. Jeremy was led out to where there were squad cars waiting. He was then manhandled into the backseat of one. Jeremy looked out the window towards his house with a confused look on his face.

What the hell was going on?


Supernatural


Dean was getting out of the shower and wiped at the condensation on the bathroom mirror. He was greeted with the sight of bags under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping very well for the last few days. He kept seeing himself as a demon, hurting people, hurting his brother and enjoying it. He went and splashed some cold water at his eyes before he then looked over at his right arm to where the Mark of Cain was shown, in all its glory. He looked at it for a few moments before he forced himself to turn away. He looked back up at his eyes reflected in the mirror. Suddenly, he had mental flashes of the First Blade. Taking it in hand and jamming it into the guy that sold his soul, slashing up the Battalion members at the Pavilion, killing Agent Donovan. Dean shut his eyes and tried to push the images out of his head. He was clenching his hands into tight fists before he let out a deep breath and loosened his hands. He then moved to step out of the bathroom.

He made his way over to the library where Sam was looking through a few books. "Morning," Dean mumbled.

"Morning," Sam said back to him, not taking his eyes off of the page he was currently on.

Dean saw the focus in his brother's eyes. "What are you reading?"

"Huh?" Sam said looking up.

Dean moved on over to him and pointed at the book in Sam's hand. "Your face was practically glued to that one. Anything good?"

Sam shrugged. "Oh, just…some research. That's it." He then went back to skimming through the pages. Sam was trying to find any kind of information to try and remove the mark from Dean. He was resolved to save his brother even more given the resigned attitude that he seemed to take. Sam would now stop at nothing to save Dean and prove to Abel that this was one crisis that he would definitely fix.

Dean nodded and didn't say another word. He had a feeling what Sam was trying to do. He knew because if the roles were reversed, he would be the one doing it. But Dean also knew that unlike his brother, he didn't deserve to have help. Not with this and not after everything that had happened. "Listen, I'm going to make a milk run. You need anything?"

Sam looked away from his book, back up at him. "Uh, no. I'm alright."

"Okay," Dean grunted.

Dean moved to leave and Sam took a moment to watch him go solemnly before he moved to turn the page. There was a painted image of Cain standing above Abel. In his hand was the jawbone that would inevitably become the First Blade. Sam sighed at the sight of it.


Rowena was trying to rest as her wrists hung from the hanging shackles higher up on the wall as she was sitting on the floor of her cell. Ever since the revelation that the King of Hell was really her son Fergus, he had just left her there and hadn't made any kind of contact at all. She had lost count of the days after the first week. When the sounds of her door being unlatched echoed in her ears, Rowena jolted up straight just as the door opened and a woman was thrown inside with the demon from the whorehouse right behind her. Rowena focused her vision on the woman and felt that she was a demon herself. She was backing away until her back was against the wall.

"Sit," the other demon hissed at her. The demon woman sat down as her captor went and shackled her wrists to the wall like Rowena was. "Stay," he said once he was finished. The woman just stared up at him blankly. "Good dog," he said amusingly before he started to head out.

"Wait!" Rowena called out before he could leave. The demon stopped and looked over at her. "My son. I need to talk to him." The demon just snorted at him. "It's been weeks," Rowena whimpered. The demon just shook his head and moved to close the door. "Tell him I'm sorry," she tried as the guy closed the door shut. She then backed herself into the wall and let out a grunt of irritation. She then heard the chains beside her jingle and looked over to see the demon prisoner trying to pull on her chains. "That won't work," she slurred to her.

"I didn't ask you Braveheart," she spat at Rowena.

"Freedom," she amusingly chanted. Rowena then took a calming breath. "So…what are we in for?" The demon gave her a look and Rowena shrugged. "Small talk darling. Just passing the time."

The demon relaxed. "I'm here because I shouldn't be here."

Rowena now gave her a look. "Is that a riddle?"

"Crowley only allows certain demons to come Earthside. I wasn't on the list so I had to get myself smuggled out."

"And what did that cost?'

"A favor."

"A favor?" Rowena repeated.

"Bloody," the demon said as if that was all the explanation needed.

Rowena widened her eyes. "Oh."

The demon then turned away. "I figure the King lets me stew for a while and then he asks me how I Houdini'd my way out of Hell. And he ain't going to ask nice." She then looked over at Rowena. "What about you? What's your sin?"

Rowena looked away from the demon. "I…was a horrible mother," she said slowly.


"She was a horrible mother," Crowley spat out as he paced in his throne room. The demon, Gerald, had visited Rowena's cell relayed what his mother said and it sent him into a frenzy. Crowley stopped pacing and faced him. "Did I ever tell you about the time that she almost traded me for three pigs? Three!" He then shrugged. "I was an attractive child. I could juggle. I was worth five pigs at least." Crowley then went back to pacing.

"My mom used to burn me with cigarettes," Gerald shared.

"Nobody cares Gerald," Crowley spat at him before he went back to ranting. "Oh and don't get me started on the name. Fergus. Sounds like a venereal disease and not the fun kind."

Crowley went to sit back on his throne and grabbed a glass of scotch. Gerald moved to stand in front of him.

"Boss, if you hate this bitch so much, why not end her?"

Crowley looked at him silently for a moment. "I have my reasons," he muttered.

"Well, I killed my old lady, because of the cigarettes. I have no problem doing yours."

Crowley didn't respond to that. He just went and took a drink from his glass.


Dean parked his Impala in the supermarket's parking lot as he moved in to the store's bakery section first. He went over to the shelves where there were boxes of pies on display. There were five choices and Dean was weighing which one he wanted to take. He was just going to pick one up at random when his gaze fell on a flat screen showing a news anchor with a picture of a man displayed at the top right corner of him. The man's picture made Dean's eyes widen.

"Jeremy?" Dean mumbled.

He hadn't seen the guy since he and Sam had saved him when he was taken by Abaddon. Dean looked at the caption on the bottom and saw that it read: The Friendly Neighborhood Hitman Apprehended!? It looked like he had slipped and been caught by the police. Then the news report went to an on the scene interview where there was a man identified as FBI agent Victor Morales. The volume was muted so Dean couldn't hear what the man was saying but when the agent went to point to the scene behind him, his sleeve went down to reveal a leather cuff.

"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered.


Jeremy was handcuffed to the table but it didn't matter because he wasn't struggling to try and get out. He just sat there, silently looking at his own hands as the police detective was silently flipping through papers in a folder. Jeremy recognized the man as the one that had led the raid into his home. After a bit, he just snapped.

"You've been sitting there flipping through papers for ten minutes. Are you going to ever get to the point where you tell me why I'm here?"

The detective finally looked up at him. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a bit of amusement. "I was just trying to catch myself up. You've been quite the busy boy, haven't you Mr. Cates? So, I would think that it was clear why you're here."

Jeremy took a deep breath and looked up at the detective's hard face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh?" The detective then went over and threw a baggie with a bunch of ID's in it. He then opened it. "Do you have an idea now Mr. Cates? Or is it Mr. Wainwright? Mr. Stevens? Mr. Reynolds?" He said as he flipped through the ID's. "And I see that you're a health inspector. An official for the CDC and even a Fed. Wow, and you still find time to be a carpenter? Your home had hidden compartments built into the walls. Compartments filled with an armory that could almost rival this station. Do you have some idea now?" Jeremy just looked away from the detective. "Oh, well I'll keep going and recite the charges. See if something stirs in that melon of yours. Several accounts of credit card fraud, mail fraud, aggravated assault cases, battery, breaking and entering,...grave desecration," he said taking his time reading the last part from the list of files he had. "Identity fraud and quite a few cases of Second and First Degree Murder. Any of that give you any kind of idea yet?"

Jeremy kept his gaze down. He knew that he was screwed. Once you get caught like this, there is little to no chance of getting out. That's how it is for a hunter, even if he hadn't been hunting ever since that night he was taken. He almost didn't even hear the interrogating room's door open and he looked up to see a man in a suit stepping inside with a folder in hand.

"Jeremy Cates?" he asked.

The detective stood up. "Who are you?"

"Oh yes," the man said taking out his badge and flashing it to him. "Agent Victor Morales. I'm actually the one that authorized your arrest of this man. I appreciate you and your friends' fine work but your job's over. I'll take it from here."

The detective seemed hesitant. "Are you sure? I mean I was just starting to-"

"I'm sure that you laid out the foundations of this but your part's done Detective. I've already spoken with your supervisor and handled out the details. You can go speak with him if you want but I would like some time alone with Mr. Cates."

"Fine," he huffed out.

The detective walked out and Agent Morales shut the door behind him. He then moved to sit down in front of Jeremy like the detective had. Jeremy just looked down but after a minute of nothing happening, he looked up to see the agent was staring at him blankly.

Agent Morales caught his eye and narrowed his. "Do you know why you're here Mr. Cates?"

"Too late," Jeremy slurred as he pointed off to the door. "Law & Order already read me my laundry list."

"That's why you were arrested. But, do you know why you're here? With me?" Morales stressed.

"Should I?" he asked tirelessly.

"Maybe you just need a hint. Does the name Logan Donovan ring a bell?"

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. "Should I know who that is?"

Agent Morales' jaw tightened. "He was my mentor. A very good friend. A very good agent and even better man. And I want the thing that killed him."

Jeremy's eyes narrowed. His insides went a little cold. Suddenly, everything in the room seemed to be crushed by the tension that was now pressing on it. "Thing? What thing?"

"Something that I know you're familiar with. Something that goes by the name of Dean Winchester."

Agent Morales now was full on glaring at Jeremy while the hunter's breath caught itself in his throat.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a fed." He then slammed Jeremy's fake FBI badge down in front of him. "And unlike you and your kind, my ID is real."


Dean quickly went back to the Bunker and told Sam what he saw on the news. Sam quickly moved to hack into the fed's database to try to find out what was going on with Jeremy. Dean was wondering if the Battalion was now trying to set Jeremy up.

Sam suddenly stopped in his typing. "I don't believe this," he muttered as he stared at the screen.

"What?" Dean said trying to get a better look.

"Jeremy's been officially placed into the federal database. They have a whole list of charges attached to his name and it says that he's also suspected of being part of an underground weapon smuggling ring. All of the guns, combat knives and ammunition that they found at Jeremy's place help to sell that."

"Hmm…you know, I never really thought of it but if the hunter thing never worked out then I guess there always was the gun running business." Sam rolled his eyes and Dean narrowed his. "Anything on our Holy Macguyver?"

"Yeah." Sam then clicked on a tab and revealed a photo file of the agent that Dean saw on the television. "Agent Victor Morales. He been in the bureau for almost six years now. A decent rap sheet so far," Sam admitted as he read through the guy's work history.

"Awesome. Another fed working for the Battalion." Dean pushed himself away and started to pace off. "How did this guy even know how to find Jeremy? Sure, he was a little shaken up after that whole Abaddon thing but he's not stupid. He knows how to cover his tracks."

Sam shook his head. "I don't know but he's not the only one."

"What are talking about?"

"Um, well Jeremy is the fifth person that Morales managed to bring in in the last two weeks." Sam then turned the laptop's screen so Dean could get a better look. "Check out the other four."

Dean moved over and leaned in to it. "Stanley Knobloch. Alicia Seamon. Theodore Bennett. Larry Walker. Wait, these are all hunters. Hunters that we know."

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "And all of them are currently in federal custody, under Morales."

Dean then went over and angrily pushed some stray books on the table off to fall to the floor. "Damn them. Those are our friends and they're just getting picked up one by one. It's like they're picking us off."

Sam let out a frustrated puff. Hunters were being hunted. It looked like the Battalion was being poetic. "I'm just wondering how the hell they're even doing this. Agent Morales sent feelers to the local police in each of those areas. It's like he knew exactly who they were and where to find them."


Victor was just outside the police station, pacing as he scrolled down his list of contacts until he got to Dennis Richards. He sent the call and waited for it to get through. After a few more seconds, he heard the click.

"Dennis?" Victor said immediately.

"You got him?" his friend and fellow Battalion member asked.

"Yeah. That makes five hunters so far."

"You think they'll cooperate?" Dennis asked glumly.

Victor snorted. "It's either that or they get put away for the rest of their super-natural lives."

"Were you just trying to be funny Vick?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Oh…because you weren't."

That just made Victor roll his eyes. "Any luck getting more from that phone?"

"Not yet. Some of these people have registered themselves with aliases on top of aliases. But don't worry, I have one of the best decrypters in the department working on it. We'll get them all eventually." Dennis' tone then dropped a bit. "It's a good thing that Logan had Dean's phone confiscated before he ran wild at the Pavilion. We never would have gotten this far without him."

Victor's face hardened. "In more ways than one."

"Vick…are you sure that we're not wasting our time with all of this."

Victor's grip on his phone tightened. "You think avenging Logan is a waste of time."

"No!" Dennis quickly shouted at him. "Of course not. I didn't mean it like that. I just think that we could be using our time and resources on the Winchesters, not their contacts. I think that we should be forgetting these random hunters and go straight for the two that really matter."

"We will and we are Dennis. But, we aren't the first to try and bring those two lunatics in. I want to make sure that we're the last. Monsters, demons and even the angels have tried but haven't. They always seem to see them coming and are ready for them. That's because these hunters know how to deal with them. But, they don't know how to deal with us. With my plans, those two flannel wearing jackasses will be out of everyone's hair. And, don't forget, they're not the only ones. This way, we stop any that try to step into their footsteps and have all this trouble repeated. Think of how much trouble we could be stopping and how much we'll take off of Daniel and the angels' shoulders down the road."

Dennis sighed over the phone. "Yeah…you're right. So what do we do about the hunters we have? We're going through the system to bring them in. That might corner them but it puts some spotlight on us too. We can't just keep them contained like this much longer. People are going to start asking questions."

He glared over at the station. "We'll have to hurry and step it up a bit. I handle the leftover business here. Tell Riley to move the other hunters and meet up at the fall back spot. It's time to finally lay it down on these low-lives that they can't just do what they feel like it anymore."

"Yeah. I'll tell Riley and I'll be there too. See you soon Vick," Dennis stiffly said before he hung up.

Victor went inside the police station and went into the Sheriff's office where he slammed some forms on the man's desk making the man nearly jump from the force.

"I'm taking Cates into federal custody. Here's all the transfer documentation you need. I'd like to have him cuffed and ready to be on the move within the hour." Victor's face was stern and hard that the Sheriff didn't even think to argue.


End of Chapter 9

A/N: I'm sorry for the long delay for this update but I had been distracted with my Teen Wolf stories. I don't plan on abandoning this story at all though. I hope this chapter made up for it at least.

Next will have Victor and his friends in the Battalion crack down on the hunters and offer them a choice. One that could spell trouble for Sam and Dean down the road. Rowena also connects with Crowley.