Chapter 25
Benny pulled in behind Dean as he stopped at the office of a motel. He got out and went inside to get them a room for the night. He waited patiently in his truck for him. Ten minutes later Dean came back out and motioned him to follow as he got back in the Impala and pulled it around behind the office. Benny followed him and parked by his car before getting out and grabbing his bag to go inside.
Dean opened the door to the room in front of where he parked. He looked the room over for a moment and dropped his bag on the bed by the door.
"I'm gonna take a shower and hit the sack." he told Benny as he sat down to take off his shoes, jacket and outer shirt. Dean dug around in his bag for some sleep clothes and briefs before stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door.
"I'll be out here." Benny said spotting the remote and turning on the television before sitting down in a chair. He listened for the water to turn on in the bathroom and for Dean to get in the shower. Once he was sure Dean wasn't coming out, Benny went to his jacket and checked the pockets for Dean's cell. He pulled up his cell contact list and looked at it. Most of the names were just initials except for a Charlie and Sam. He pulled his cell out and added both numbers to his contact list before replacing Dean's cell back in his jacket pocket. When he got a chance he was going to try and contact both the numbers and hopefully get in touch with Sam. He settled back down and flipped through channels stopping on a cooking show to watch.
Dean was out of the bathroom twenty minutes later and dropped his dirty clothes on his duffle. He dropped down on the bed and got comfortable eyeing the program as a chef was showing how to make fresh pasta.
"This bothering you?" Benny asked turning the volume down.
"Naw, I'm good." Dean said rolling over and settling down to sleep. He found he didn't need as much sleep as he used to. He could get by on three hours or less now and that was fine with him. It just gave him more time to hunt.
spn
It was after 3 am when Benny sensed the change before seeing it. He looked toward Dean and could hear his heart beating faster and his breathing getting harder. He saw Dean's head roll back and forth on his pillow and soft moans escaped from his lips. Benny studied Dean for a moment and was sure he was having some type of dream, maybe a nightmare. He missed dreaming; he missed sleeping, envious that Dean could still do that. When the cries got louder, Benny went to the bed and shook Dean's leg to wake him.
"Chief wake up." he called to him, stepping back as Dean jerked awake, panting and reaching for his weapon. "Easy there boss, it's just me."
"What is it?" he asked roughly, coughing and clearing his throat.
"Your sleep was disturbing, anything you want to talk about?" Benny asked arching an eyebrow and waiting.
"I'm good. It was nothing." Dean said wiping his face and lying back down with his back to Benny. He lay there with his eyes open thinking back over his dream. It centered on Sam and the number of times over the years he had lost him and how he had felt each time. Those were feelings and emotions he had locked away and threw away the key since he never wanted to feel them again for his brother, for anyone. Dean build up his walls as the light dimmed more, but didn't completely go out. He closed his eyes but didn't think sleep would come again for him. He could hear the quiet movements of Benny as he shifted on the couch and the distant words coming from the television. Dean shut everything else out of his mind and only thought about his last kills instead and the surge of power and excitement he had felt by them. With those thoughts, Dean dozed for another hour or so before giving it up and getting up.
"We might as well hit the road." Dean told Benny as he stuffed clothes in his duffle and went to use the bathroom and bring back his bag. "You ready?"
"Whenever you are." Benny replied in his slow Cajun drawl. He followed Dean from the room and went to his truck, tossing his bag in and getting in, waiting for Dean to pull out so he could follow. He estimated they still had a seven hour drive ahead of them and with this early start should get there around lunch or just after.
spn
"Why don't you go check out the diner and see if you hear anything while I go to the police station." Dean told him as he walked out of the bathroom in a suit. "Afraid you don't look much like FBI."
"Sure thing Chief, I'll stay there and wait on you."
"Alright, I'll see what the locals have and check the bodies in the morgue to see if there's any clues there." Dean headed out the door to do his part and Benny went to his truck to go find the local hangout and stake it out.
Dean walked into the local police station and glanced around before stepping to the desk. He waited for the officer to step up before speaking.
"I'm looking for the officer in charge of the recent murders you've had." Dean said pulling out his fake badge. "FBI Agent Nash."
"If you'll wait here I'll get the chief." he said before disappearing behind a partition.
Dean took a seat in one of the chairs set along the wall and waited. He looked around at the wanted posters hanging on a cork board and the brochures stacked on a table under it. He was lucky that his picture wasn't hanging among them. He had to wait nearly fifteen minutes before a middle aged, slightly overweight man came to the desk with the other officer.
"Agent Nash, I'm Chief Walters, how can I help you?" he asked opening a gate to let Dean through.
"I'm looking into the murders you've had in the past few weeks. What can you tell me about them?"
"I'm surprised the FBI is getting involved, I've not called you guys in." the chief questioned.
"Hey, I just go where they tell me. Someone higher up gave someone in my office a call so here I am."
"Well I don't know what I can tell you. All the victims were killed in their homes. There's no forced entry that we could find. Seems they were tortured before being killed. We didn't find any foreign evidence at any of the scenes, just the ones who lived there."
"Could I get a copy of your reports and crime scene photos and I'd like to see the bodies. Was there any security footage from any of the scenes?"
"We did get some from a couple of the neighbors but didn't see anything. Of course I have the files copied, whatever we can do to help." he said picking up the phone and calling to have that done.
"I'll need a copy of that footage too. Were the victims married? Living with anyone?"
"The first two were married and the other two lived with their boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Did you interview them? Did they have alibis when the murders took place?"
"They did, and they all checked out. The interviews are in the files."
"Where might I find the morgue?"
"In the basement of the hospital, I'll call the medical examiner and let him know you'll be stopping by."
"Thank you for your help." Dean said getting up to shake his hand.
"If you find anything will you let me know? I wanna nail this sob before someone else gets killed."
"I'll do that sir."
"If you'll check with the desk sergeant up front he should have those files for you."
"Have a good day." Dean nodded heading back to the front to wait on the officer to finish copying the files. He dropped them onto the seat beside him and headed for the morgue.
spn
The hospital was four blocks away and Dean followed the signs around to the back to a loading dock and rear entrance. He went in and checked the signs to find the morgue and stepped into the cold room. The odor hit him in the face and he smelled death hanging in the air. It was more acute since his senses were hyper sensitive now. He brushed it off and walked toward the medical examiner's desk.
"I'm Agent Nash, FBI, the chief was supposed to call you." he told him.
"Yes, he said you wanted to see the bodies of the murder victims."
"Yes and if I could get a copy of the autopsy reports." Dean said with authority.
"The bodies are in drawers three, five, six and eight. I'll get those copies for you." he said getting up.
"Thanks." Dean nodded going over to the cold storage drawers and pulled out three. He uncovered the body slowly and looked at a young male that had cuts, burns, bruises, and whip marks all over his body. He could tell he was made to suffer before he died. Dean looked at the other bodies and saw they were in the same condition and knew he wouldn't learn anything else from them.
"Here you go, hope there's something in there that'll help catch whoever is doing this." the examiner told him holding out a file folder for him.
"Thank you and I hope so too." he replied heading out to go find Benny at the diner. Dean sent a text that he was on the way and received one back where the diner was located.
He pulled into the parking lot and found a space near Benny's beat up truck and parked. He got out deciding he might as well eat while he was here. Dean strolled into the diner and looked around spotting Benny in the back corner booth.
"There you are Chief, did you find out anything?" he asked as Dean slid into the seat across from him.
"Not sure, but it is the same killer. After I eat, we'll go check out the crime scenes and see if the locals missed anything." he answered pulling out a menu and looking it over.
"Hello, my name is Zoe what can I get you to drink?" she asked looking from one to the other.
"Sweet tea." Dean said. "And I already know what I want."
"Sure what can I get for you?"
"I'll have the bacon double cheese burger, rare with steak fries and a slice of your tastiest pie."
"And for you sir?" she asked Benny.
"Coffee and a piece of pecan pie." he replied.
"I'll get this in and bring you your drinks. Would you like a basket of rolls?"
"Yes please." Dean replied.
"I'll bring them right out." she said bouncing away to place their order.
"Did you learn anything?" Dean asked once she was out of ear shot.
"Everyone is scared. No one's seen any strangers around and the cops have no idea. So what's our next move?"
"We head back to the motel and review all the information that I collected and see if there's anything there." Dean answered. He stopped talking when the waitress came back with rolls and their drinks. He snagged one and cut it open to place butter in the middle before eating it. It seemed he needed twice as many calories now or he felt weak and not a hundred percent. He didn't really think anything of it and didn't really care. He just ate when he was hungry.
spn
They met back at the motel and Dean let them into their room. He dropped the files and flash drive on the table and headed into the bathroom first to change before reviewing everything. Benny was sitting at the table waiting on him when he came out.
"Okay let's see what we've got here." Dean said sitting down at the table and opening up a file. He began to go through each one looking for anything that might link the victims or a common denominator. After looking them over, he got out his laptop to look at the security footage. He went through it quickly once and then repeated it a second time much slower. "I think I found something." he said sitting up straighter and rewinding a section to go through frame by frame.
"What did you find?" Benny asked when he saw Dean perk up.
"I know what we're looking for now."
"What?"
"A shape shifter. Look." he said turning his laptop so he could see. "Check the eyes out on these two frames."
Benny looked closely and caught the shine in the eyes from the camera. It was two different people, but was the same killer. The shifter had changed from one kill to the next.
"Alright, we know who's doing the killing, but how do we find him before he kills again?" he asked.
"I need a map." Dean said getting up from the table. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"I'll be right here." he said thumbing through the photos wondering how someone could do this to another person. Sure he had killed people in his life but never anything like this and that had been a lifetime ago. He started using blood banks to supply his needs and had started using them again since he had been back or the black market.
Dean came back with a six pack and a map of the town. He moved the files over and spread out the map on the table. "Okay, give me the locations of each crime scene." he said taking a red pen to mark each spot.
"Sure Chief." he replied picking up the file folder to get the addresses. He read each one off to Dean and watched as he marked the map. "So what do you see?"
"His killing zone and I'm thinking he's hold up somewhere in this area." Dean said drawing a circle on the map. "We've still got time, let's go check it out."
"So this is how you do this hunt thing?" Benny asked.
"Pretty much, depends on what I'm hunting." Dean said grabbing his jacket to put on. "Are you coming?"
"Of course, I said I'd help with one hunt and then I'm heading south to Louisiana. There's some people I want to look up."
"That's fine, I hunt better alone anyway." Dean told him not taking an offense by his words. "I'll drive."
A/N: Dean and Benny on a hunt, nothing could go wrong right? For any reading, thank you. I do like reviews. NC