Dean was busy reading the file in front of him while beating the tip of his pencil on the legal pad in between writing notes and searching on the internet. He was interrupted every so often by Lucifer's steps pacing along the back of the bullpen, waiting on a call. It was distracting, especially since Dean knew what the call was for. Benny would distract him every so often by questioning something from the case file.
The shuffling of work was interrupted by a yell from the front.
"Winchester!" Chief Singer yelled out into the bullpen.
Dean looked at Benny with a questioning look. The alpha, in turn, shrugged before turning back to his copy of the file. Dean stood up and quickly made his way to his boss's office.
"Close the door, why don't you?" The chief asked as he looked Dean up and down skeptically while the alpha closed the door before sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "So, what is this I'm hearing about you going to other departments and trying to get some information?"
"Nothing too big," Dean answered with a shrug. "I'm not looking to transfer anywhere else."
"I'm not worried about that. Just some of the questions you've been asking," Bobby continued, looking Dean dead in the eye, daring him to lie.
Dean started with a deep sigh. "It has to do with my mate."
"This is Novak's brother, right? He's been jumpy as well."
"Right. His parents have come back around."
"What's so wrong with that?"
"They don't appreciate that Cas, as an omega, has decided to live a life without their interference."
"So, they're your typical traditional alphas?" Bobby asked, tipping his chair back.
"They tried to buy him from me. I think we're far past 'traditional,' and I'm pretty sure that was them being nice. I was trying to see if there was something we could do to keep them away, a restraining order or something, but we have to wait for something more direct to happen. I hate this."
"Sounds about right. Unfortunately, it is still legal for guardians to auction omegas to the highest bidder. Still strange that they are trying to sell him off. Breaking a mating bond unwillingly is a big taboo on the other hand."
"About that...," Dean started. "We've not... completed the mating bond."
Bobby looked at Dean with a look of surprise. "But you have mated, right?"
"We've done everything except cementing the bond during heat. Everything's been a bit crazy during this time, and we didn't have the time to really plan this out."
"It's a week. What do you really need to plan out for?"
"Cas doesn't have a good history with alphas. If he were to go into heat for the first time, he would want to be away from everyone. I just decided not to push it on him."
Bobby nodded with understanding and continued to think hard on it. "Makes sense. It makes things difficult but makes sense. This is so far out of my usual wheelhouse."
"I know, that's why I was asking around. Give me a dead body, and I know what to do. I have no clue how to handle this."
"Speaking of dead bodies..., what do you have on the dead omega. I know you and Lafitte are still looking into it."
"Whoever did this took care to hide their identity. I would say professional. We are getting nothing from all databases we have access to."
"Look out of state. Start with missing persons and look at John or Jane Does to see if anything similar pops up. If this guy is a professional like you think, he's probably done this before."
"No one's going to like us stepping on toes if this does spread out."
"Send them to me if anyone gives you trouble. I have no problem getting the feds involved if that does happen. Get back out there, and find something."
"Sure thing, boss," Dean said as he stood up and left the office and made his way back over to his desk.
"What the chief want?" Benny asked as he walked back over.
"Wants us to look out of state. See if we get anything?"
"And if people get mad?"
"If they don't play nice, he'll call in the feds."
"Works for me," Benny said as he turned back to his computer.
The two were deep into the work when there was yet another disturbance.
"I'm telling you, Novak, I didn't find anything."
"But it's weird, right?"
"It is, believe me. But it's something that hasn't happened recently. Or if it has... no one took a sample of it or took pictures. It's not in any police database. I've expanded the search further. I'm just waiting on my babies to tell me something, and if they do, I'll tell you."
Around the corner, Charlie and Lucifer came toward Benny and Dean. Lucifer holding a large file in his hand while Charlie was exuberantly talking with her arms, continuing to explain what she was doing.
"Novak still bothering you, Red?" Benny called out.
"Yeah," Charlie said as she pushed herself up to sit on his desk. "Keeps insulting my babies. Not nice, man."
"Didn't get anything useful off the sample," Lucifer explained to Dean. "Just your regular everyday ash. No accelerate, not a trace of chemicals, nothing."
"And you grass wasn't burned?" Charlie asked.
"Nope, washed away with the rain the other night," Dean responded.
"So something burned, but not really," Charlie muttered to herself.
"And they did it in a weird shape. Never seen anything like it before," Lucifer continued.
"What shape was it in?" Benny asked, almost blankly. "It wouldn't have been a paw print, would it?"
The other three stared at him in surprise. "How did you know?" Dean asked.
"The ash without really being ash. Your omega being in trouble. It just reminded me of a story my grandfather used to tell me when I was little. Honestly, I hadn't thought about it for a long time."
Lucifer grabbed a chair from the next chair over and sat down with an intense gaze toward Benny. "What do you know?"
"It's just a story, brotha."
"Someone's out to hurt my brother. I need to know what this warning means."
"It's not a warning."
"It was left after our parents came to take Cassie, and you're telling me it's not a warning?" Lucifer asked incredulously.
"Then it's not a warning for you."
Lucifer took a deep breath before he started yelling at the southern alpha. Before he could speak, Dean interrupted.
"You think this is a warning against their parents?"
"It makes the most sense. In the stories, the paw print was left to denote..." Benny trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Safety?" Charlie asked.
"No, more so vengeance."
"Okay, you lost me, mean," Dean said, struggling to make everything fit in his head. "Why don't you tell us everything you know?"
"My grandfather told me was there was this tribe that had been blessed by the gods with a protector. They were fruitful and truly thriving. Because of that, others wanted to take the land for themselves but couldn't. Armies even were stopped in their tracks."
"So there was some big powerful alpha that took down armies?" Lucifer guessed sarcastically. "So your grandfather had an itch you were going to be an alpha and wanted you to feel better and be a big tough alpha when you grew up?"
"Actually, there was some big powerful omega who took the armies down," Benny said with a smirk.
"Really?" Charlie asked. "I'm loving this story already."
"Anyway," Benny continued, "this omega, for intents and purposes, was in charge of the pack. He would make plans and set up everything. Now, this is when alphas were going around and getting big heads and deeming themselves better than other designations, especially omegas. And an omega running a pack, definitely not. But everything they tried resulted in failure until one day, black clouds covered the tribe. No one knew what had happened, but you couldn't even see inside. They still tried attacking and had better success each time until they finally got through all of the defenses.
"The captain called for the head omega and was shocked when a beta woman came forward."
"I called for the head omega to come out before me. Or now that I've won, he's too scared to face me."
"He died quite some time ago," the woman calmly said. "I'm surprised you did not know this."
"Then why do you not cry out where you are and beg for mercy? Beg us not to kill all of you where you stand?"
"We are not afraid. The old gods will protect us."
"The old gods? You really believe in them?"
"They have protected us for centuries. The time we must wait for their return will never be too long."
"The old gods are dead, and we killed them. There will be no return. Now tell me how this omega got all that power. I need to know."
"So you can take it for yourself?" the woman asked knowingly. "Unfortunately, the power went with him and will stay with him."
"You lie!" the captain yelled in her face.
"For what reason do I have to tell you lies? We are quite civil here."
The captain turned to his troops who had overtaken the town. "Burn everything to the ground. Keep going until they tell us what we want to know."
Off the troops went after tying the village people up. They went building by building, burning each and everyone until they were ash. The captain looked at the woman's face the entire time, but she kept a serene smile on her face, even as the embers started to dim. Slapping the smile off her face did nothing as she just gave a bloody grin in return.
"Tell me what I want to know!" the captain spat as he raised his hand yet again.
"Sir," a voice yelled out from a distance.
The captain turned his head away to see who had called out to him. A meek man run through the crowd of soldiers that had to gather around, seemingly waving his hand to get the captain's attention. "Sir! I have something you might want to read."
"What could you have that I could possibly want to read? This woman has all the information that I want, and I am going to get it."
"Wait, sir. I found this book while during the burning, and I started to read it."
"Oh, there he goes again," a yell came from the crowd.
"Always reading, that one," another called.
The meek man gave a weak glare at the crowd before turning away. "This book contains the tribe's history."
"And I should care, why?" the captain asked.
"There's a whole section on the omega. Seems that there wasn't just him."
"Hand it to me!" the captain yelled, holding his hand out. Once the book was placed in his hand, he flipped through it with a self-satisfied smirk before turning to the elderly woman. "I can now return to my king with the information that he wants."
But still, the woman sat there with a smile. After flipping through page after page, the smile slowly slipped from his face. A few more pages and a glare returned.
"He was born with it!" the captain spat at the woman.
"Yes, the child was granted this amazing power by the gods. There is nothing you can do to get it?"
Turning back to the man, "This book is utterly useless. Why did you give it to me?"
"Sir, if you read closely, you can see that the power doesn't stay with that person. It's actually passed on to yet another omega. There you have only read one of their stories. If you continue, you'll see the next one, a woman writes her story."
The captain flipped through many more pages. "I see. And here's another one. Another woman. A man. All omegas." He then turned to the woman who even yet had not let her smile disappear. "Tell me, why would your gods grant such a power to omegas?"
"Perhaps because they are the strongest of all of us," the woman said wisely.
"Strongest?" the captain scoffed. "Don't fool yourself."
"There's is nothing more we can do here. We should head back to the king to tell him the area is in ruins and there is no getting the power we wanted."
"Wait, sir. There's something you else you should see." The solider said, flipping some backward in the book. "There is a way to tell who the next one is. There is a symbol that is imprinted on the upper arm. Since the power stays with this tribe, possibly it has already been transferred."
"I see. Search every man, woman, and child."
After hours of searching, each and every person in the village was searched. No one showed this symbol. The captain furiously couldn't find one helpful hostage and took his anger out on one person: The person who smiled in his face the entire time was there. After wiping the blood off his sword, and turned the sheath it.
"Let's go!" he yelled. "They're useless for now."
He turned to his left and looked like he was looking at something off to the distance.
"Sir?" one soldier asked. "What's the matter?"
"Do you see that?" the captain asked. He took a step forward before falling, scratching at his chest.
The soldier was quick to unbutton the captain's shirt, sure something was slowly choking him. Instead, there was a wolf's paw print in the center of the captain's chest with tendrils stretching out from it. He went to touch it and was able to scratch some of what was found on the body. Looking at it and bringing it up to his face, he knew it was ash.
"That's it?" Dean asked, enthralled with the story.
"Someone killed one of his people and left a paw-print made of ash," Benny concluded. "I think I've said all there is to say."
"What happened to the tribe, though?" Lucifer asked.
"That's where the story ended," Benny shrugged. "What more was there to say? You mess with the pack, and you'll get killed."
"For this to be the telling of it, it has to be someone from the tribe," Charlie said. "I'm sure if it was the army's, it would have ended with how having knowledge is a 'true gift to behold.'"
"But for us not to have heard of the story, the tribe must have died out, right?" Lucifer asked.
"Not necessarily," Charlie mentioned. "The story would have needed to get passed on somehow. And sometimes, you don't need to kill someone to taken over. Sometimes, you just need to replace the ideas with your own. I mean... that's what happened in this country."
"What was the symbol, though?" Dean asked.
"I don't know," Benny responded. "I'm sure the story had been passed down too many times for it to be accurate. Also, I'm not sure that it would help."
"If someone is using the paw print the exact same way as in the story, we have to assume that they also know the story," Lucifer stated.
"What about the book?" Charlie asked. "I think we need to find the book."
"If this book was real, they probably destroyed it," Dean inserted.
"Or...," Charlie started, "they changed it into something else."
"What do you mean, Red?" Benny asked.
"Take the pentagram, for example," Charlie said excitedly.
"Is this going to be another jab at my name?" Lucifer asked sarcastically.
Ignoring him, Charlie continued. "While today it's used to denote the devil, to the original users, it was a protection symbol. If you get enough people to agree that a symbol means something evil...,"
"Everyone forgets the original meaning," Dean concluded.
"Assuming this has nothing to do with reincarnation, cause I mean, who would know, the person that used this symbol would have to know about the story. Nowadays, people are translating a bunch of old texts. Maybe someone translated this book. I already have a program that looks at different texts. I'm sure that I can whip something up to search for ancient texts. I'll have to do so off the clock, but I'm sure I can find something.
"By the way, I did get your message about looking out of state for links. I already have a program running. If it gets any possible hits, you'll be the first to know."
With that, Charlie jumped off Benny's desk and ran back to her kingdom.
"Out of state?" Lucifer looked between Benny and Dean.
"This cold case," Benny explained. "We've tried for months looking in the state as to not step on toes."
"It's something we didn't try before," Dean shrugged.
"Good luck with that," Lucifer sighed as he stood up, leaving the file he had made on Dean's desk. "I suppose I have some paperwork to actually do."
Dean rolled his eyes as he watched his "brother-in-law" walk away, knowing that he, in fact, was not going to be doing any work. Benny gave a snort, thinking the exact same thing.