DISCLAIMER: I only own my character! Anything you might recognize is courtesy of the CW. Any Gifs and/or pics present are not mine. They were pulled from google searches and/or Tumblr.
Previously skipped: Provenance…
In a cafe…
Dean flipped through a newspaper as Sam sat on his laptop and Angel fiddled with her phone. She was debating whether or not to call Asa. He wasn't exactly happy she kicked him off the case a few weeks ago, so they haven't talked, but it's not like she really had a choice. She had already lost so many people she cared about because of this thing, she was scared Asa was going to be next.
Dean looked up at her, "Just call him."
"I didn't realize I needed permission."
"Well I'm tired of seeing you stare at the thing." He said, folding the paper and sighing, "We dont got a decent lead in all of Nebraska."
Angel turned, "Anything Sammy?"
"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here." He shrugged, "A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived."
Dean shook his head, "Sounds more like 'That's Incredible' than, uh, 'Twilight Zone'."
Angel shrugged, "Maybe if she… floated in mid air before landing gracefully on her feet or something like that."
"Yeah."
Dean smirked, "Hey you know we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again, huh?" Sam's eyes lifted at the mention of the girl from their previous case, making Angel grin, Dean whistled, "Cool chick man, smokin'."
Angel smirked as she took a sip of her coffee, "She was pretty hot, Sammy." At their curious eye she shrugged, "What? I can appreciate the female body."
Dean shrugged, continuing, "You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?"
"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime we got a lot of work to do. You guys know that."
"Yeah, alright." Dean frowned, "What else you got?"
"Ah, man in Colorado… Local man named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."
"Elkins?" Dean repeated as Angel frowned at that information, "I know that name."
Sam shook his head, "Doesn't ring a bell."
"He was an old hunting buddy of Dads." Angel filled in taking out their Dads journal, "They had a falling out when you two were still too small to hunt. Nice guy. Here." She hands the journal off to them, "'D Elkins 970-555-0158', Daniel Elkins. If it's the same guy."
Dean looked at her, "It's a Colorado area code." He turned to Sam, "What happened to him?"
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now, they've found some signs of robbery."
"Mm-hmm." Dean nodded as he stood, "Sounds like our gig."
Daniel Elkins cabin…
Sam slowly and quietly picked the lock of the door allowing the three to walk in cautiously. They all had their guns raised and their flashlights out.
Dean looked around at the trashed cabin as they spread out, "Looks like the maid didn't come today."
"Hey, there's salt over here." Sam called, "Right beside the door."
"Definitely dad's friend." Angel commented from the other end, "There's more over here. Think he was expecting someone?"
"Maybe."
Dean flipped through a journal on a table as Sam and Angel came up behind him, "Hunters journal?"
"Yep, dates back to the 60's."
The three moved into the other room and shined their flashlights around the destruction, including up at a giant hole in the roof.
Angel shook her head, "Whatever attacked the poor bastard wasn't alone…"
"Yeah…" Dean agreed as he crouched to get a closer look at something on the floor, "Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too."
Sam came over, "You got something?"
"I dunno… Some scratches."
"Death throes maybe?"
"Yeah, maybe."
Angel grabbed a page from a notebook as well as a pencil and handed it over, "Here."
Dean placed it over the marks and rubbed a pencil lead over it to get an outline, "Or maybe a message." Once he peeled up the paper, which was spotted with blood and the rubbings of characters, he handed it back to Angel, "Look familiar?"
"Three letters, six digits." She read it and scoffed, "The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."
Sam swallowed, "Just the way Dad does it."
"This is eery, boys."
Later on…
After going to the post office box and removing the letter that was inside the three of them headed to the safety of the impala.
After getting in, Angel leaned into the front as Sam looked at them both, "'J.W.' You think? John Winchester?"
"Definitely…" Angel nodded, "It's gotta be for dad."
"I don't know…" Dean shook his head, "Should we open it?"
A knock at Dean's window startled them all. He gasped, reared back, automatically raising his arm, fist clenched but instead of fighting shock resonated on his face. Their Dad stood there, smiling at the three shocked expressions that looked up at him.
Dean scoffed, "Dad?"
John immediately got in the backseat with Angel and grinned madly at his daughter, "Hey sweetie." His grin moved to his sons, "Boys."
Angel gave him a hug, pulling back in shock, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Yeah…" Sam looked him over, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place."
Sam's voice stayed soft, "Why didn't you come in, Dad?"
"You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed... by anyone or anything." He smiled proud, "Nice job of covering your tracks by the way."
Dean looked proud as well, "Yeah, well, we learned from the best."
"Wait…" Sam stopped, "You came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?"
"Yeah." John nodded, "He was… he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."
Angel smirked to her brothers, "Told you they were good friends."
Sam motioned between him and Dean, "Well you never mentioned him to us."
"Angel met him by chance. He helped out on a few cases we were on together. We had a… we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." He gestured to the envelope, "I should look at that." Once they handed it over for him to read, he frowned, "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'...that son of a bitch."
Dean studied him, "What is it?"
"He had it the whole time."
"Dad, what?"
"When you searched the place, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?"
"No, no." Angel quickly answered when his intense gaze came onto her, "Uh there was- there was an old case but it was empty."
He paled, "They have it."
"You mean, whatever killed Elkins?"
John hurriedly got out of the car, "We gotta pick up the trail."
"Wait." Sam gaped, "You want us to come with you?"
"If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun."
"Dad…" Angel looked to their father curiously, "What's so important about this Colt?"
"Because it's important." He dismissed and she stiffened, immediately shutting up, "Thats why."
"Dad." Sam pressed him when Angel silenced, "We don't even know what these things are yet."
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires."
"Vampires?" Dean repeated, "I thought there was no such thing."
"You never even mentioned them, Dad."
"Like ever."
John shook his head, "I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and- and others had wiped them out. I was wrong." He hurriedly explained, "Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late."
