A/N: Hello to you who are reading this story. Thank you, I appreciate it!

Chapter 25: Why Sulphur?

Dean Winchester and Fox Mulder arrived at the old Victorian house to find it taped off by police, but only one squad car was stationed outside. The sheriffs deputy that occupied the car was dozing in the front seat. Dean tapped his badge on the window, startling the man, and the window was rolled down.

"What can you tell me about this house?" Dean asked as the deputy squinted at the two badges presented to him.

"What's there to tell, it's haunted," the man answered sarcastically. "Why would the feds care?"

"Someone's got to," Dean said with a huff as he looked away from the man and up at the house. "We'll take it from here," he added and moved toward the house.

"Wait, I can't just let you in there," the deputy shouted as he rushed out of his vehicle and after the two men.

"Yes you can, and you will. This is a federal investigation now," Mulder said as he spun around and held a hand out to stop the deputy. "Or would you like to speak directly to our Assistant Director?"

"Umm, no," the deputy said nervously as he stepped back. "But I wasn't told that you were coming."

"Your local sheriffs department knows that we're here," Dean said calmly as he placed a hand on Mulder's shoulder to calm him down. "Why don't you go back to your car, call your supervisor and get the okay from them. Meanwhile, we're just going to take a little look around," he continued. "Besides, it looks like you folks have finished up here, so we wont be hurting their investigation."

"It's our investigation now," Mulder huffed angrily and crossed his arms to look more menacing.

"True, but it's never a good thing to turn the locals against you, so dot your i's and cross your t's, if you must, and if we need to, we'll call you," Dean finished with a smile.

The deputy nodded timidly and moved back to his car.

"You're damn convincing for a fake," Mulder whispered as they carried on toward the house.

"Lot's of practice, Agent. I've had a lot of practice," Dean said with a laugh and held up the police tape to allow Mulder to pass under it. "Granted, I generally play your part and Sam does what I just did."

Upon stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Dean stopped in his tracks and coughed. "Smell that?" He asked and Mulder turned back to look at him.

"Sure, smells like rotten eggs," Mulder said. "Death is a smelly business."

"Yes, but this isn't the smell of death. Rather, it's sulphur, and it's pretty strong. Suspiciously strong. Wasn't the latest victim found with goo on her? That doesn't go with sulphur. Generally, it is a sign of demonic activity, not ghosts," Dean explained hammered a number into his phone and waited as Mulder continued to look around.

"What do you have going on in Hannibal Missouri?" Dean asked harshly into the phone.

Mulder stopped his search and moved back to over hear the conversation.

"Bullshit!" He spat. "Don't give me that line Crowley. I'm here now and I'm ready to deal with it," he threatened. "I don't care! People are dying, and I'm going to stop it." He practically yelled and hung up.

"What was that all about?" Mulder asked.

"A word of advice, don't ever get involved with the King of Hell. He's a royal pain in the ass," Dean said angrily and pulled a device from one of his pockets. "Ghosts and Demons, you're gonna get a double whammy out of this case," he added as his EMF meter went crazy.

"Do they often work together?" Mulder asked suspiciously as he followed Dean now.

"No," Dean answered as they traveled through the house and nothing looked out of the ordinary. "We have to do some research into this place, the house really isn't going to tell us much more if the spirits aren't willing to talk, or if the Demon is hindering their activity. We may have entered a war zone, but Crowley doesn't seem to worried about it," Dean explained and pocketed the device again.

"Do you feel like you're being watched?" Mulder asked before they made their way back to the door.

"All the time, and Crowley probably sent his minions to keep an eye on his investments," Dean answered. "Or maybe just us."

"Investments?" Mulder asked.

"It's a long convoluted story, but I guess I'll have to tell it," Dean answered as he lead the way out of the house once more. "I'll give you the condensed version on the ride back to the hotel."

"It's not a very long ride," Mulder commented.

"No, but the gist of it is that demons are real and they can possess people, so we may have to exorcize them," Dean said as he reached his car.

"I'm guessing that's a convoluted process as well," Mulder said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"No, that's pretty straight forward," Dean said with a wink and pealed out of the quiet street.