I came back into the room and saw several boxes of pizza on the large table, unopened and waiting. Jack and Alex were at the other table, talking softly and Elly was sitting on Lucifer's lap, laughing.

There was a spark of jealousy.

My fingers reached up and snatched the ring around my neck. I pulled on the chain, snapping it and shoving the ring into my pocket where it didn't quite feel so heavy.

"Hey Alex," Elly said with a kind smile. "They should all be here soon."

"Great." I plopped down in a chair and folded my arms.

"Your hair looks nice."

"Great," I repeated again. Elly's smile dropped and I think she finally grasped that I didn't want to talk to her.

There was a sound of a door opening and footsteps. I rose to my feet and sighed, waiting for the worst. But that's not what happened.

Sam stepped in and took a long look at me, the room eerily quiet. He looked good. Must have just come from work because he wore a suit and tie.

He rushed over to me and dragged me up against his large form, hugging me tightly in a hug of someone who had missed me. I could feel him kiss the top of my head and he exhaled deeply.

"I'm so happy you're safe," he whispered to me before pulling back, his hands taking my shoulders so he could look over me. His smile was bright. "You look good. How have you been?"

I couldn't help but smile at the acceptance that was finally coming my way. It felt so good to have someone back in my life that loved me.

"I'm much better now," I answered. "And looks like you finally finished school. How'd you manage that?"

"Had to smudge some birth dates and social security numbers," he answered with a shrug. He reached up and loosened his tie. "But yeah, finished school."

"I'm so proud of you."

My eyes left my younger brother and went to my older who was now clean shaven and dressed in his normal clothing. He had his hands in his pocket and was looking around the bunker with a blank face.

He caught my eyes and slowly moved passed Cas and over to me. He rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed. "Look, Alex. I..." He trailed off and snatched up my arm, pulling me into a hug as well. "I thought I lost you," he whispered. "Demon or not, you are still my sister. I'm sorry about the holy water."

"Don't get sappy," I warned, hugging him back tightly. I released him and inhaled deeply. "I believe the pizza is for everyone?"

Elly just nodded, removing herself from Lucifer's lap and leaving the room swiftly. We all looked after her, but didn't say anything. Lucifer winced as a door slammed, but he didn't chase after her.

"Well, I'll eat if no one else will," Dean said, breaking up the tense air as he snatched up a box to keep for himself. He took a seat and flung his feet over the arm of the chair, shoving half a piece into his mouth.

Everyone took their share and a light conversation filled up the bunker, making everything feel like it used to. It was so familiar and yet there was something that was very different about it.

"I-I did it!" Alex's excited voice carried over to us.

"You did it!" Jack hugged her and she was only smiles.

"I moved the pencil, Dad!"

"That's great, Alex," Lucifer replied halfheartedly, almost as if he hadn't been listening at all.

"Yeah," she whispered, looking at her lap. She had wanted a much bigger reaction than he had given her. It made me think that usually they were much closer than they were at the moment.

I moved over to where she was sitting with Jack and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing well." I said, "Jack didn't even learn that fast." I gave the other nephilim a wink, hoping he'd just go with it to make Ali feel better. "You're very strong and it shows."

"Thanks Alex." Her voice was small and she flicked the pencill away boredly.

"Wanna try teleporting?" I asked her softly, not wanting anyone else to hear me. "You can go anywhere you want."

"Alex that's not…" Jack started to say, but I held a finger to my mouth and he went silent.

"It'll be fine. I'll go with her." I said, "How's about it, kid?"

"Anywhere?" she asked, curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

"Anywhere." I nodded.

"Like, the Tower of London?"

"We could go to the top of Mount Everest if you really wanted, but I wouldn't advise it."

"Why not?"

"Because the yeti is real and he'll rip your arms off faster than we can get out of there."

"There's no yeti," Jack mumbled, confusion on his face as he tried to remember if yetis were real.

"Wanna go to Las Vegas?" I asked with a wink.

"I'm not 21. Is there anything there I could do?" she questioned, her head tipping to the side.

"Hun, I can convince people to let you do whatever you wanted to do." I smiled, remembering my own first time in Vegas, I certainly hadn't been 21, "What do you say? And if you wanna leave I'll tell you how." I stuck my hand out to her.

"Alex-"

"Come on Ali," I interrupted Jack again with a smile. I saw her look hesitantly towards her father who was lost in a conversation with Castiel. She bit her bottom lip and slowly slid her hand into mine.

"Perfect." With a flick of my fingers we were in the middle of Caesars Palace. I smiled at her as she quickly spun around to take in her surroundings, her blue eyes catching the millions of lights.

"This is amazing," she said breathlessly with a laugh. "I wish I could do this at home. It would have come in handy. Beats running away to my room or the park." She focused back on me. "How did you do that?"

"I will let you take us back," I replied smiling at how happy she was again. It was like she was seeing snow for the first time. "For now, let's go have some fun. What are cool aunts for if we don't go have fun?"

I smiled at her more, it was like a kid in a candy store and I for one, wasn't going to let her stop feeling that way. I took her by the shoulder and led her deeper into the casino. We came to the slots and I pulled the chair out for her.

"Ever wanted to win at one of these?" I said, leaning up against the machine.

"You kidding?" She quickly took to the seat, eyes alight. "I think everyone has."

I didn't need to, but just to impress, I waved my hand through the air and passed her some change that I had moved from my pocket to my hand. She grinned and took the money from my hand, putting it into the slot machine. She shook out her hands and reached out for the lever, trading glances with me. I simply nodded and she pulled down on the lever. Video game like sounds brought the quiet machine to life, lights flashing through the smoke filled room. I pressed my hand to the side of the machine and closed my eyes, mentally working my way through the mechanics and forced the dials to stop spinning. Jackpot.

The dials stopped on three images of the casinos logo, they all looked exactly the same. With that came a blaring sound and confetti shooting out of the sides of the machine. Lights flashed and thousands of coins began to run out of the bottom of a shoot. Ali and I scrambled to find something to put them all in. I snatched up an empty beer stein from a nearby game and Ali's eyebrows rose.

"What?" I'm gonna use it to put the coins in, not magically refill it." I said, laughing.

"Could you magically refill it?" she asked curiously, helping me scoop the money into the glass.

"I'm not that talented." I said, "But I can do this." I tapped a waiter on the shoulder as he passed by, "Would you please bring my friend and I a free drink for winning?" Without a word of disagreement or question, the waiter nodded and moved away towards a pair of revolving doors. "Let's see if you're better at drinking than your mother."

The waiter came back with two glasses of beer and handed one to each of us. I looked at Ali as she stared at the glass with wide eyes. I smiled and put the cool glass to my lips, chugging down the drink quickly and hoping she'd follow my example. When I lowered my glass, I found that she had downed at least half of hers.

I laughed a little, "Here," I pushed a hand under her chin and pushed it up, "Don't think about how much is going into your mouth, just let it slide down."

"It's bitter."

"It gets less bitter the more you drink."

She didn't look like she believed me, but when I released her chin, she put the cup to her lips and finished off the rest of it. "You lied," she said with a cough. "The bottom was worse."

I laughed. "Would you have finished it if I'd told you the truth?"

"No." She set the stein aside. "Aren't there supposed to be good drinks? Like Sex on the Beach or something?"

"You'd want to try that? It's got vodka in it." I was surprised she even knew what that was.

"My parents aren't here, and for some reason I've never raided their bar. I'm up for whatever. Teach me?" Her smile was almost flirty as she brushed her long blonde hair up into a ponytails, showing off her angelicly crafted face.

"Deal." I grabbed her hand and towed her towards the actual bar, which was a few yards away, out winnings jingling around in pockets and the empty stein glass.

I pulled the kid up to the bar and flagged over the bartender. He gave us a questioning look as he walked over, cleaning out an empty glass with a wet towel.

"How can I help you?" He asked.

"We're gonna try whatever the kid wants. It's her birthday and I want to spoil her." I put a hand on his arm gingerly, "Pretty please?"

"Can I have some ID?" he questioned, placing the glass aside,

"I don't think you need any ID, do you dear?" I gave him a gentle smile.

"I suppose not. What can I get for you?"

I looked back to Ali who looked a little lost as to what she was supposed to be doing. I giggled. "Let's have a Sex on the Beach for the kid and I'll have a Shirley Temple." The bartender nodded and set to work.

"How did you do that?" she whispered over to me.

"Practice," I said. "I was just like you, I had to grow into my abilities."

Her eyes widened yet again as a sunset colored drink was set in front of her with a slice of pineapple on rim. My red drink decorated with cherries was placed in front of me. I rested against the bar and passed my drink over to her as well.

"Drink up sweetheart, it won't affect me anyway."

She reached out and took her drink and sipped on the staw, swiftly emptying the glass. She winced, a hand going to head. "Brain freeze," she whispered, exhaling sharply.

I reached over and pulled the glass from her cold hands, before replacing it with the second. I ran my fingers over her cheek and then across her icey lips. I swiftly pulled back my hand and looked away. "Finish up. We have some more things to go see before I show you how to get back."

We stumbled back into the bunker, a very drunk Ali being supported by my arm around her waist and her arm laid across the back of my neck. I was laughing too hard to notice all the angry looks at first. Ali was giggling uncontrollably, even as she looked up into the eyes of her parents.

"I was so worried about you," Elly said, the worry coming through the anger.

"Why? She was with me." I said, still laughing.

"You left without telling anyone," Lucifer shot back, arms folded.

"We told Jack." I said, putting Ali down in a chair, making sure she'd stay up right before letting her go. "Besides, you were all too busy ignoring her to pay attention even if I had told you."

"Is she drunk?" Elly raced over and took Ali's face in her hands, looking over the giggling girl. "Alex, she's sixteen!"

"I was fifteen when I had my first drink." I shrugged, "Big deal. I let her have a little fun. It was better than being bored here all day. Especially in a world that only confuses her and makes her angry."

"Alex-"

"You told me you were fourteen when you first had drugs. How is this different?" I interrupted again.

"You were fourteen?" Ali asked with a snicker. "I am so tired of secrets."

I pointed at the poor girl, who had unknowingly just made my point stronger. I eyed both of them. "And it's not like you have much to say here either, nightwing, you spent most of your life in a cage after pissing off daddy dearest."

"Elizabeth, take her to bed. We'll discuss her punishment in the morning," Lucifer instructed. "She needs to sleep this off."

"I agree. And you might wanna stay with her. Who knows what the alcohol will make her do." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Elly shot me a dirty look before pulling her daughter from the chair I had placed her in.

I watched as Elly carefully helped her very drunk daughter out of the room and towards the hallway. Once out of ear shot I started to snicker, and before long I was laughing again. This was too funny to me. How could people full of so many sins be so hard on their kid? They were just going to make her worse if they kept sheltering her. I took a seat at the table and propped my feet on top of it, still laughing to myself.

"This isn't funny Alex."

"It's hilarious, morning star." I said, smiling at the devil.

"You could have seriously hurt her!"

"You'd think I'd hurt a kid?" I said, suddenly serious. "You really think I'd hurt her?"

"You've hurt plenty before you were a mass of blackness, doll."

There was that name again, the one that made me want to make him regret ever calling me that to begin with. "Don't call me that, Apollyon."

I could see the gears come to a halt as he tried to speak again. "Thi-This is about my daughter. Not about some nickname."

"And you know I'd never hurt her, end of story." I stood and walked closer to him, putting a finger against his chest. "And it's not just some nickname. You continue to call me that." I pushed harder with my finger, pushing him back into a chair. "Over and over again." I leaned down, sliding my finger up his chest to his chin, hooking it so that he had to look at me. "I'm beginning to think you want to continue where Jamaica left off, Apollyon." I wouldn't even call it a fight as he tried to pull his face from my grip unsuccessfully. There was no anger, but the fire was still very prominent in his eyes. I leaned closer until my lips where a whisper from his. "Do you?"

"I-I.." He licked his lips and I could feel his warm breath against mine.

"Don't lie to me." A small nod was my answer. I smiled. Who knew the devil was such a fun thing to play with?

I leaned forward and kissed him, eyes closing as it got deeper. I could sense his hands wanting to move from where he held them tightly at his sides. I dropped my hand from his chin and took one of his, putting it on my waist.

It was as if I had given him permission. His other hand swiftly jumped to my face, caressing it as he pulled me closer. I stumbled slightly, placing my knee between his legs on the chair to keep my balance. I had never felt him this hungry before. It was like he'd been starved of something like this for a long time. It made my head spin.

I pushed more, wanting more, needing more to fill this gap. Elly would be mad if she ever knew, she'd never forgive me. I fed off that danger, moving my knee and placing it to the side of the chair so that I could straddle Lucifer's lap. I put my hands against the back of the chair to steady myself as his hands took charge at my hips, moving them in a precise way to we both could enjoy. His touch was addicting as his hands traveled up my sides, making my skin ice cold. They were rough with me and, if I were human, they certainly would've left bruises. I broke the kiss and nipped at his neck, leaving a bruise for only a second.

"We…shouldn't be doing this." he panted.

"No." I agreed, "But I don't see you wanting to stop either."

I leaned up and looked into his eyes, they glowed the faintest bit of red, still mostly blue. We panted, our breath warm and skin hot. I smiled at the way he looked at me. It was like he wanted to go on but still knew how bad the consequences would be if we got caught.

"We could always go to hell if that would make it better." I almost purred, "After all, I've always wanted to do more than sign deals and listen to boring meetings in that room."

"To hell with us then." Lucifer said, bringing a hand up to bring my lips to his again.

I was going to really enjoy having him wrapped around my fingers.

I stared up towards the ceiling, stretched out across the bed that I didn't really need, fingers grasping across the cold fabric and to all of the empty spaces that were there.

I sighed. What was wrong with me? What was I doing? This wasn't like me at all. When had I ever done something this idiotically stupid that would hurt another person?

Was I really no better than a demon? Was I really just one of them now? Angry all the time. Not giving a single flying fuck. Just completely empty.

I sat up, catching the shine of the red ring on my bedside table. I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

"Shit."

I pushed myself from my bed and got ready for the day. I couldn't mess around today. I had a meeting I needed to go to before I went back to the bunker. And I wasn't sure how to make myself go back to the bunker. Not now.

I left my room and wandered down the twisting maze like hallways and to the meeting room. I pushed open the door to find all of the demons already around the conference table. I strode in and glanced around at all of the faces, my hand playing with Charlton's hair as I passed him. I took my seat and sighed.

"Give it to me," I said, rubbing at my eyes, already bored with the meeting.

"This week's numbers are up," Charlton said, speaking for the group. I glanced up at him and could see him playing with his tie, not meeting my gaze. "But one of the hounds was hurt."

"What do you mean it was hurt?"

"A hunter. But we took care of it. We'll just be down a hound for a bit."

"Do you know the hunter?" I questioned, sitting up a little straighter. "You got their soul, right?"

Charlton cleared his throat and smiled, the grin brightening his eyes. "No. We did not get his soul. He wasn't the one the deal was made with. He was protecting the one who made the deal. But we did retrieve their soul."

"And the hunter got away then?"

"Yes." Charlton nodded.

I looked around the table at all of the others who were staring off in different directions. Why was Charlton the one that was braver than the rest? Maybe he had been this way around Crowley as well.

"And the hunter? Do we have a name? Anything? We can't keep having them take out the hounds." The room was silent and I again glanced around. "Thanks to those god damn Winchesters, everyone can see them now."

"I can't say any of us knew the hunter, ma'am," another spoke up, a nervousness in his voice. Was I really that terrifying that no one could talk directly to me? It was starting to get on my nerves.

"Anything at all? What did he look like? Any tattoos? Anything?" Again the room was silent and I was becoming frustrated. I slammed my fist down on the table causing most of the group to jump.

"Uh-uh- he called himself Alexander. But we have all the hunters on records. We do not know of one named Alexander," a woman replied swiftly.

"Alexander," I whispered, racking my brain for a time I had come across an Alexander. But I couldn't come up with a time that I had. It wasn't like it mattered. There were new hunters popping up all of the time. He could have just been someone new. "Nothing else?"

"I'm afraid not."

I nodded, leaning back in my chair. "See if we can track him down. We need to keep an eye on him." There were mutters of agreement around the room. "And we found someone to pick up the slack on those several unfulfilled contracts?"

"Yes. They were taken care of," Charlton answered me, leaning back in his chair and sharing a long look with me.

I cleared my throat and turned my gaze away from him. "Let's move on then."

I slowly pushed my way into the bunker and closed the door behind me. I paused on the steps down to the map room at the site of Elly sitting at one of the tables. She had her head in her hands and looked distressed. Could she possibly know?

I took a deep breath, but it didn't feel like it did anything to help me. "El, I'm sorry," I said as strongly as I could. She jumped and looked up at me. "It was wrong of me to do that with your daughter. I had no right." Her face was pale and she had a ring of purple under each eye. "Did you sleep at all?" She gave me a simple shake of her head, her hair falling into her eyes. "Where's the angel?" She shrugged. I gave a confused look. We hadn't been long.

"He eventually came back and he looked so worked up. All disheveled and-and... I thought that you two had just had another fight. He's always like that when he's upset. He just left. I haven't heard from him since. Figured he needed to be alone." She looked towards the hallway as if she were hoping that he would come back.

"And the kid?" I questioned carefully. I moved closer to her, watching for some sign that I should stop. But none came.

"Was up all night sick." She gave a pathetic and tired laugh. "I shouldn't have brought her here. We should have just stayed home."

"You can't keep sheltering her." I reached out to touch her shoulder, but quickly shoved my hands back into my pockets as I figured it was better to not push my luck too much. She pushed her hair back and nodded. I liked being right. It was empowering. "She is old enough to handle this. She was even able to teleport us last night. Jack didn't even get a hold of that until just recently. Every time he did it he was extremely emotional."

"She's always been naturally gifted in a lot of aspects. Maybe I shouldn't have always been so secretive. I just-"

"She didn't need to know," I agreed taking a seat beside my friend. "I get it. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Alex, I know you'd never do anything to hurt her, but you scared me so badly last night. She is the light of my world."

"And you'd do anything to get her back. I know."

She grumbled something in response that I didn't quite catch, but I didn't bother trying to figure out what she had said. She placed her cheek in her hand and looked over at me, her cheek squishing against her hand.

"I hope he wasn't too difficult last night. He can get pretty brutal when he's upset."

I couldn't stop my mind from slipping to what had happened after Elly had left. Teeth, nails, gasps. I felt like I could still taste him on my lips and the thought alone made me dizzy with want.

"Nothing I can't handle," I responded, trying to keep the lust from my voice. My nails dug into my palms in an attempt to keep me sane, keep me here and not there.

She sighed. "Well, I don't know when he'll be back and I think Ali is going to be in bed all day-"

"-I'm sorry-"

"Do you want to hunt?"

"I-" I stopped abruptly in trying to explain myself and looked over her, relieved that last night was behind us. At least for now. I was sure it would come back around when Lucifer finally showed up. "Of course I would love to go hunting. Charlie's angels back together again."

She laughed, getting to her feet. "Charlie's angels got nothing on us." She pushed her chair back in and stretched. "Let me get cleaned up. You wanna find something?"

"Sure." I gave her a smile as she left the room and I pulled my phone from my pocket to start searching through it for a new case. It honestly didn't take me long at all. So much shit had been happening that it was simple enough to locate something close by. It was about a 40 minute drive.

Something had been eating humans. People were having large chunks missing from their bodies when they were found and then, after the bodies were found, the same people had been reappearing as if nothing had happened to them. There had been at least ten confirmed cases in the last month alone. Maybe a shapeshifter or a few in this case. Another group. And it looked like they were trying to somehow enter society through these others that they were killing off, or that was my best guess. Either way we needed to check it out and it'd be fun to hunt with Elly again, it was something that I'd missed. I perked up as she came back into the room, smiling with a backpack strapped to her back, ready to go.

"I think I found us a good one. There's a pack of shifters or something about forty minutes from here. We could hit it up and take them out in a few days." I said, smiling, "We could take our time too if you really wanted to."

She glanced back down the hallway and bit her lip.

"They can handle themselves," I pushed. "They're both old enough to take care of themselves."

She sigh and turned back with a smile. "A few days sounds wonderful."

I found myself smiling widely. This was going to be so much fun, I could get away from Hell and the recent drama of the bunker for a few days and just kill shit. And most importantly, I'd be killing shit with my best friend by my side again.

"You sure you can handle this? I've got more skill on you now." I teased, knowing she was already ready to murder something.

"I have been aching to do this for the last three years."

"I knew it hadn't been that long since your last hunt!" I said, excitedly smacking her on the shoulder, "Let's go! We'll take my car."

Her eyes lit up and she raced towards the garage. "I've missed your car!"

I laughed as I followed after her, "Me too."

It felt so normal. So familiar. So good to be back in some old, stained, sex smelling motel room. I jumped onto the first bed and laughed as it gave a lot of resistance to my attempt at bouncing. It was rock hard and smelled like old cigarettes. Damn did this bring back memories. I laid back and remembered my first hunt with my brothers. He dragged me in, sat me on the bed, looked me in the eyes, said Stay here with Sammy, and left with John to kill something I didn't know about yet. I remember the door closing and little Sam walking over to me shyly. I remember smiling at him and asking if he'd like to watch tv with me. I remember watching pokemon and scooby-doo until we both fell asleep. I really always had been closer to Sam, we just seemed to understand each other better sometimes. I heard Elly lay her stuff on the other bed and it brought me back to reality.

"We can get started in a bit." I said, sitting up, "Are you hungry at all?"

"I honestly just want to get started. Send me the news reports and I'll read over them. If you want to grab a burger or something, I can research there."

"I...don't eat, El." I reminded her.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." She teasingly hit herself in the head with a laugh. "Forgot."

"It's ok," I cleared my throat and took my laptop from my bag, opening it and retrieving the files and reports. "What do you want me to send them to?"

"Phone is fine. Same number."

"K." I said, getting to work sending her everything before scanning the police radar and local news sites for any new activity. In a few minutes I had a hit, "We got one, El. Body just found about a mile into town, torn to shreds, heart and frontal lobe missing. Sounds like an us thing."

"You got your ID ready to go?"

"I have mine. I don't think I have-"

"I have some," she smiled, pointing to her bag. "Sheriff or FBI?"

"Think we could rock state officials?" I teased.

"Fuck yes."

"Let's go state troopers then. I have fed threads in the trunk." I said.

"I'm so excited!"

I rolled up the sleeves of the dark blue state trooper shirt I wore as Elly and I walked up to the group of other officers who were already on site. It was a nice fit but I'd never liked wearing the sleeves the way you were supposed to. Jody would be proud of the way I was dressed though, shirt tucked into the black dress pants and everything. I nudged Elly with my elbow.

"You remember the plan?" I asked softly.

"Of course," she answered back, a sarcastic smile on her face. "We kill everyone, loot their bodies and sell everything at a pawn shop."

"Perfect." I laughed. It was so good to be back with her.

"Can I help you ladies?" We'd gotten close enough for the county sheriff to take his attention off the body. He was very old country. Dean would have been gushing over him. White stenson, jeans with his vest over a button up shirt. He had a mustache that had begun to go salt and peppered with his age.

"We were actually wondering if we could help you." I said, coming to a stop and putting my hands in my pockets, "We were in the area and heard about the body turning up, figured we'd come check it out."

Elly pulled out her badge, flipping it open quickly, just enough to see it but not read it, before she shoved it back into her pocket. "Heard you've been having a rather high spark in dead people turning up. The higher ups were concerned. We understand. The small town, the short staffing. We're just here to help pick up any slack."

The shariff narrowed his eyes at us but stuck his hand out to shake mine anyway. I took it, we shook hands, and he stood to the side so we could take a closer look at the body.

"Can't really make sense of it," he said, removing his hat and scratching his head. "All the bodies look like this, 'cept they all have different parts missing."

"Different parts?" I questioned.

"Ya. Sometimes they'll have no hearts and a missing lung, other times it'll be a missing kidney and the eyes will be gouged out."

"So the heart isn't always gone?" Elly asked what we were both thinking.

"Nope. We've only had a heart gone from two of the bodies."

This ruled out werewolves, which was good, but it was odd for Shapeshifters to leave their victims like this. They were usually much more discreet about their killings and hid the bodies before taking over people's lives. This more struck me as a ghoul, and I needed to tell Elly that, after I saw the body.

"Would you mind?" Elly motioned to the body and the sheriff shook his head, moving out of the way. She walked around to the other side and crouched down beside it, sliding her sunglasses onto her head and tipping her head one way and then the other. She looked up and squinted into the sun. "Has anything weird been happening at the cemeteries?"

"Like what?" the sheriff asked, flabbergasted.

Elly hummed in thought. "Cold spots, uh... possibly dead ground around certain grave stones. Anything?"

"Does turning up alive count?"

"Alive?" Elly sounded surprised and I couldn't tell if maybe she had just skimmed the articles that I had sent her or that she was just a very amazing actor.

"Yes. We process the crime scene and then send the body to the morgue and the next thing we know, it's as if the body just gets up and walks away. We have documentation of the body at the morgue, but then it just poofs into thin air."

"Poof?" I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed together. I traded glances with Elly who just gave a shrug and stood back up.

"But that's not the weirdest part," he continued on, hands on his hips. "They turn back up at work or church and they're perfectly fine. All in one piece. And we just can't figure it."

"And you're sure it's them?"

"We've been checking all of their fingerprints and so far they've all matched. We just can't figure it out."

"Is there a camera in the morgue?" Elly asked, sliding her sunglasses back on.

"There is and I've checked the footage myself. Nothing is tampered with, there's not footage missing. They're put in the coolers, locked up for the night and then when they go in the next morning the bodies are gone."

"Would you mind showing us to the morgue?" I stepped back and away from the body whose tattered remains were slick and glistening with blood in the sunlight. This attack had to have been recent. The blood was still wet. But it didn't look like there was any sign of the attacker.

"Of course," the sheriff answered, putting his hat back on his head before nodding us away from the body that the forensics team was starting to take care of.

Elly and I went back to my car and we climbed in, beginning to follow the shariff back into town.

"Ghouls?" she asked me.

"I was thinking the same exact thing."

I stepped into the morgue and looked around. Elly looked cold, but I had stopped being bothered by that a while ago. It was small. There were only a few drawers for the cooler and only one table to inspect the bodies on.

I glanced around. Nothing seemed off. The mortician stood beside us, a file clutched to her chest. I looked towards Elly who traded a look with me. "Willing to play dead body?" I asked. Elly simply shrugged and we walked over to the cooler.

"Is it unlocked?" Elly questioned, looking back towards the doctor. She nodded, her short bob moving with her head. I turned the handle and opened one of the cooler doors. I tugged on the table and pulled it out. Elly sat on the edge and lifted herself onto the table, laying down with a shiver. She pulled her phone from her pocket and nodded. I pushed her into the cooler and I saw a light come on as she turned on the flashlight on her phone.

"See anything?" I asked, leaning against the door.

"Where do the ducts lead?" she asked, her voice echoing around in the metal box.

"Where do the air ducts lead?" I asked again in the direction of where the doctor stood beside the sheriff.

"They lead up to the roof. But you shouldn't be able to see the ducts," the doctor explained.

"I'm going up," Elly called out to me.

"She's going up." I said so everyone could hear me, "How do you usually get up to the roof?"

"There's a ladder outside that leads up to the roof, but you need a key to get through the gate."

"Show me."

The doctor looked taken aback, but nodded and lead me from the room and outside. We rounded a corner and came to a single rusted ladder. I took to it and began climbing up. I took the ladder all the way to the roof and hopped over the small ledge.

"El?" I called out across the flat concrete.

"I'm here." She hoisted herself from the duct unit and walked over to the fence, taking it in her hands and looking over it. "This wouldn't be hard to climb. But you'd need help to get a body over."

"So there's multiples then. That's not unusual." I thought for a few seconds, "Although, the last time we tracked one down there was just the one but it's not impossible for a pack." I squatted and took a closer look at the duct, "You'd have to be pretty skinny to fit through there, and shorter than me at least."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Not bad for being 35."

"You are not 35. The math doesn't add up."

"Shut up," she grumbled. "My real age..." She trailed off as her attention was pulled somewhere else. She walked over to another part of the fense and stooped down, pulling up a corner that had been cut free.

"Well, there we go then." I walked over to the opposite side, where the sheriff and doctor were waiting. "Sheriff! You've got a body snatcher on your hands!"

"That doesn't explain why they're taking them," Elly said, slipping under the fence to stand beside me.

"Ghouls need to keep parts of the body they're disguised as, just in case they want to come back to an older one." I thought about that, "That could mean we're only dealing with two or three of them."

"Do they share the body then? They only need the body to switch back if they change forms. If they're trying to take over the person's life, why would they keep the body around?"

That stumped me, "Maybe they're not. Maybe they're hiding them somewhere."

"Let's get down. I don't much care for heights."

"Right." I stepped aside and watched as she carefully climbed down the ladder before following after her.

Her phone started ringing and Elly gave an apologetic look, pulling her phone from her pocket and stepped away to answer it. "Hi hun," I could hear her say before she was out of earshot. I could feel my heart speed up. If it was Lucifer, would he tell her? I hadn't thought about that. Would he feel guilty when it finally came down to it?

"A body snatcher?" the sheriff asked, hands back on his hip.

"Ya," He'd pulled me back to reality, "We found a hole in the fence on the other side of the roof. Perfect size to squeeze a body through if someone was waiting down below."

"So. Two body snatchers?" The doctor asked.

"Or more, most likely."

"Sorry. That was my husband," Elly said as she came back. She clapped her hands and exhaled sharply, anger present in the breath.

"I was just filling them in on what we found." I told her, giving her a worried look.

"Good." She shook her head, "Are we done here then?"

"I uhh.." The sheriff stammered.

"Great!" Elly began walking to the front of the morgue where my car was parked, "Let's go then."

I apologized to the sheriff and the doctor before following after her quickly. I jogged to keep up as she slammed the passenger door closed after she got into the seat. I pulled the driver's door open and got in slowly and quietly, not wanting to upset her more, especially if I was the one she was upset with. I closed the door softly and turned to her as I started the car.

"El...are you…?"

"He just makes me so angry sometimes!" She blurted out.

"What did he….?"

"He was mad that I left without saying anything! I'm a grown adult and I don't need to tell him fuck all about where I'm going!" She was fuming, "He likes to think that I'm still this little girl he has to protect!"

"I'm sorry, El." I said, putting a hand on her leg. "He's just being a dick."

"A major fucking dick. God. Let's just go. I need something to eat or I might punch something."

I laughed nervously. "There should be a diner-"

"I don't care. Just go."

I didn't say anything else, just started the engine and drove away. It took about ten minutes to get to the diner I'd been trying to tell her about. I parked and we went inside, quickly finding a booth away from everyone else where we could talk about the case more.

"So if it's multiple ghouls I was thinking we could try the houses in the neighborhood of the victims." I took a sip out of the water glass the waiter had brought us as we'd sat down.

"Sounds good," she said in disinterest, her fingernails tapping on the table.

"Did... Did he say anything else, El?" I asked, taking another nervous sip of my water.

"Excuse me," she called out to a passing waiter. "I'd like to order. I would like the most greasy bacon burger you can make with extra bacon and then a beer. And I don't give a fuck if you don't serve beer here, go get me a beer."

I laughed nervously at the waiter's scared look. "I think a soda would be fine, wouldn't it Elly?"

"God damn it, I want a beer."

She totally knew. "El, what's wrong?" I asked cautiously. I didn't know if she really did know or not but it felt like she did. It felt like this anger and aggression was aimed at me. And it made me feel alive, the guilt I felt wasn't matching the way it felt to have her know I had played her little black bird. It was almost pride. I felt hurt that I had hurt her but at the same time it felt amazing to have her know I had taken her place for one night. But I played it safe, I wanted to hear her say it. I wanted her to tell me she knew.

"Sorry Alex," she whispered as the waiter rushed away to the counter to pass her oder to the chef. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you. It wasn't you. It's just him. I feel like I know him less and less and being here has changed that so much. He's... so proud now that he has his grace back. Like he's ready to take back over hell. He's not the sarcastic asshole anymore. He's just... the devil."

"That's what happens when you forget about the power you once had and then suddenly get it back." I said, leaning back into the booth.

"Maybe I'm just being stupid. I did leave without telling him. He was probably just worried."

"Why would he be worried?" I took another drink, "You're with me, how bad could it get?" I smiled and winked at her over the rim of the cup.

"Don't say that. You know that's a jinx. It will always get worse. And you know exactly why he is worried I'm with you."

"Cause I'm so sexyily irrisitable?" I said, chuckling.

"I would have totally slept with you before him." She leaned back in the booth, more relaxed now.

"Really?" I said, cocking an eyebrow at her, "I always thought you prefered my man in a suit."

"The nickname he gave me had extremely sexual undertones, but he wasn't what caught my eyes. But I have Lucy now. I don't need to ruin that with a moment of weak judgment." I couldn't find words to say. I felt like it was a jab at me. Almost as a roundabout way of telling me she knew everything. Her plate was set in front of her and a glass of beer. She smiled with a thank you and began drinking.

"Whoa," I was surprised by how quickly she was drinking the beer, "El, slow down. I thought you hated drinking."

She held up her finger and finished off the tall glass. She set it own with a loud clunk. "I am not the same person I was the last time we met, Alex. It's been sixteen years for me. I've drank my fair share of liquor stores."

"Isn't that how old the kid is…?" Elly glared at me and I knew my answer, "Ah. So this case…"

"What about it?" Elly said as she eyed the burger in front of her.

"The houses the victims lived in are probably our best bet of finding the pack." I pulled my tablet out of my bag and showed her a map of the area, "This is where the first body showed up." I made a red dot appear on the screen by poking it, "That was Jeffrey Murgatroyd. He's got a family that lives here." I made an x on the screen a few inches from the red dot. "He disappeared one night a few weeks back, they found his body the next morning down that dirt road and then the day after that he's walking up to the front door good as new." I put the tablet down on the table. "I think that's where we start. First appearance, probably pack leader."

She took a bite of her burger and immediately reached for some napkins to wipe off her hands. "Should we scout out the house first?" she asked through her mouthful. "Does he have a wife? Maybe we should try to talk to her first without him there."

"He's got a wife and a kid. I agree that we should talk to them first. They may know something."

"Sounds like a plan. First thing tomorrow then?"

"Sure." I leaned forward onto my elbows, "I'll scout the place out and you can relax or do whatever it is you do now." I laughed a little.

"I drink more, Alex. It's not like I took up snorting drugs and water polo." She laughed at her own joke and took another large bite.

"You can come stake out the house then if you want." I suggested, "You seemed pretty annoyed earlier though, so you don't have to."

"Oh." She shrunk back. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's ok, El. I've been yelled at worse by Crowley." I smiled at her.

"Maybe I should just go back to the motel room. I didn't get any sleep, I'm losing my temper." She lowered her head into her hands. "I'm just a wreck. Midlife crisis." She laughed.

I half-heartedly smiled. "Come with me tonight, I'm not gonna let you sit alone all night."

"You worried I'll hurt myself or something?" she asked curiously, her hand going over her mouth. She continued on before I could speak and it made me a bit worried. "I'm teasing. I will come with you."

"Alright." Only slightly less worried about her now.

"So, it looks like her yoga class is an hour and a half long. And if I remember correctly, school is out about 2:30. The nearest elementary school is about a five minute walk from here," Elly listed off, answering yet another text that had blown up her phone. "I'm about to turn this thing off."

"Don't. I made need to call you." I said from my position in a tree on a hill behind the house in question. We had been using coms to talk to each other but they weren't the most reliable thing. I could just see Elly standing in her spot on the sidewalk. "Plus you're supposed to be acting like you need help."

"We could have just stayed in the car. Why did you have to go all special secret agent? I feel like the mission impossible theme should be playing."

I hummed the theme song for a few bars before responding. "Because then we can be in both places, I can watch for anything weird going on inside and you can look out for the kid."

"She's here. Be quiet," Elly ordered softly. She shoved her phone back into her pocket and approached the car that had just pulled up into the driveway of the house. "Hi, excuse me," Elly said in a bright and bubbly voice.

"Hello?" she asked curiously.

"Hi. My name is Elly. I just moved in down the street. I was just trying to introduce myself to the neighbors."

"Oh, very nice to meet you. I'm Hailey You must have moved into the Calvarie's house."

"Yeah," Elly answered kindly with a nod.

"Would you like to come in? I can make us some lemonade if you would like."

"That would be very nice. Thank you." Elly disappeared from my view and I rolled my eyes. That wasn't what we had agreed to. "You have a lovely house."

"Elly, I don't like not having you in sight. Try to…" I paused, there was movement in an upstairs window, "Hang on."

"That's very kind of you," Hailey replied. "Do you have any kids?'

"I have a daughter," Elly said back. "And a son. But they're both a bit older now. One's still in highschool and the other is starting college."

"Oh." Haily sounded surprised. "I didn't think you were that old."

"The older one is from a different marriage."

"Elly, he's in the house." I said, watching the figure move around upstairs.

"In the house? What do you mean he's in the house?!" she whisper yelled at me.

"Calm down," I said, eyes still on the figure, voice calm, "You can't let her know you know. Just keep talking to her. If he comes down stairs you know what to do."

"Here you are," Hailey said. She must have brought out some lemonade because Elly thanked her. "How are you liking the neighborhood so far?"

"It's absolutely darling."

The figure had stopped moving now. He had most likely heard the voices down below.

"So, you said a second marriage?"

"Oh, yes. My husband was married before we met."

"He knows you're there, but there's no way he could possibly know you're a hunter," I said to Elly, leaning further back into the branches so the figure wouldn't see me.

"And does your husband work?"

"He's the owner of a law firm."

"The king of hell is not a lawyer," I grumbled. "And if he was he'd be the scumiest of them all."

My attention was dragged back to the upstairs window, he was moving again. I watched him move around and then disappear.

"El, I lost him. He could be coming down stairs. Get the vamptonite ready."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Elly gasped out. "I'm so clumsy."

"Don't worry. I'll go grab a towel."

"I can't just stab him in the middle of the living room." Her voice was low and rushed.

"You don't have to stab him, he just has to touch the blood." I could see him in another window now on the first floor. "Fake a paper cut or something."

"Fine! Get your ass out of the tree. He'll probably run." Her voice changed to something perkier again, "Do you mind getting me a bandaid? I cut my finger on the glass."

I climbed out of the tree slowly, making sure I didn't bring attention to myself. I'd lost him again. "El be careful."

"Honey, when did you get home?" Hailey asked. "Elly, this is my husband, Jeffrey."

"Very nice to meet you," Elly answered. "I'll let you two get back to your day. Thank you for the lemonade."

"Did you get it?" I questioned, straightening my shirt.

In a few quick seconds I got my answer as a man bolted out the back door of the house. I slid behind the tree trunk and wanted for him to run by, closelining him as he shot past and sending him to the ground. I walked to his side and dug my shoe into his shirt, pinning him to the ground with very little effort.

"Stay down." I said.

"Bite me." the monster hissed, struggling under my shoe.

"I said," I let the black flicker into my eyes, "Stay. Down." I pushed down harder with my foot, hearing the thing gasp. "I got him, El."

I looked over the ghoul as I waited for Elly to join me. The form it was using was maybe thirty years old. Gray flecks in his red hair, and gold bands in his green eyes. Freckles were sprinkled across his cheeks and nose. He was medium build, but more on the side of dad bod than anything. As it wiggled and struggled beneath me, it caused me to grind my shoe into a rather nice sweater vest.

"Will you stop fighting? We already know what you are." I told it.

"Then why haven't you killed me yet?" It asked.

"Because we need to know some things." Elly said as she climbed the hill to join us. "The wife is fine, didn't see anything but we should probably move before she checks out back."

I nodded, removing my foot from the ghouls chest only to pick it up by the collar in one swift motion and drag it along with me towards the side road I'd parked my car on. Elly must have gotten some of the blood on him because the closer we got to my car, the more he stumbled and was unable to pull himself upright. I shoved him into the back seat of my car and Elly got in beside him, gun in hand as a precaution. Elly had been smart and we had gotten a separate motel room at a different location so that he wouldn't know exactly where we were staying.

The car ride was quiet until we made it to the motel. The second the car was put in park, I could see a blur in my rear view mirror and caught the ghoul racing from my car. The next figure was Elly, chasing him down. I was surprised at how fast she was now that she was older. It wasn't like she played soccer anymore. I got from the car and chased after them. It didn't take her long to catch him around the waist and drag him back. He lost balance and fell to the ground and Elly swiftly had her gun trained on him, blowing a strand of hair from her face.

I caught up and pulled him from the ground and to the motel room. Elly followed and closed the door behind us. I shoved the ghoul into a chair and Elly's gun was back on him. I went to my bag that was on a nearby table and pulled out some rope and went to work tying him down to the chair.

"Let me go," he hissed, looking between the two of us. "Now."

"Or what?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the table and folding my arms over my chest. "You don't scare either of us."

"The others will know I'm missing. They'll come for you."

"Please," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I removed myself from the table and stepped around him, looking the stolen body over. "I am the queen of hell and her boyfriend is Lucifer. Even if they do, I don't think you have a chance."

"Queen of hell my ass. The boyfriend is a bit more believable, but he hasn't been heard from in years." He chuckled but his smile dropped and he rolled his eyes with a huff of disgust. "You're that Winchester bitch Crowley took a liking to."

"Yes. I'm the bitch Crowley took a liking to." I snatched up a handful of his hair and pulled his head back. "And believe me when I say that he taught me how to torture extremely well."

"You don't have the balls."

I looked up to Elly who was standing silently, gun up and still ready. She met my gaze before looking back to the man, and I couldn't read what her eyes were telling me. I shoved his head forward and made my way back to my bag, shuffling through it. I pulled out what I had been looking for and kept it down by my side, moving back around him.

"How many of you are there?" I asked. He tried to glance back at me as if trying to decide if I were really going to do something. "I'm starting to lose my patience. How many of you are there?" His eyes searched over me, but he seemed settled on staying silent. "Elly, lock the door. Turn on the TV."

She hesitated but did slowly lower her gun. She locked the door and then found the remote, turning on the TV. It was some medical commercial. She glanced back at me unsure, but at a nod, she turned up the TV so that the sound filled the room and would easily block out any other sounds. She came back and lifted the gun back up. I could see her hands tremble slightly as she took aim again, not that she really needed to.

I turned the metal around in my hand to the angle that I needed it. In one swift movement I easily shoved the large meat hook into his shoulder before pulling upwards on it to make sure it wasn't going to come out. There was a moment before the recognition came to him, split seconds of silence until there was a sharp exhale from his nose and a sound caught in his throat as I dragged against it.

I saw Elly flinch, her eyes closing for a moment before they reopened. They were shining and wet as if she wanted to cry. She licked her lips and steadied her shaking hands.

The man was attempting to lean over, but I held him upright. He was huffing sharp breaths of air through his teeth. "Seven," he hissed out.

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" I asked, my grip and pull still taut on the hook. From where I stood I could see bright red covering the glowing silver of the metal. "Why are you killing people?"

"We-We ran out of food." It was only going to hurt more if he kept struggling against me, but it's not like I cared. He couldn't move from this chair. He was weak from the vamptonite. It made him as good as human in this case.

"There's thousands of graveyards, how did you run out of food?"

"There's no more bodies. They're all gone. We've been traveling from cemetery to cemetery. There's nothing."

"What do you mean gone?"

"That's why we have been taking the bodies from the morgue. We need the food."

"Why do you take them from the morgue?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment. "I don't know." I yanked on the hook and he screamed through his clenched teeth. "I don't know! I-I don't know!"

I let up a bit on my hold and could see Elly wince, the dislike very present on her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked again for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Our leader has us leave the bodies until they're found. I don't know why?" he was gasping through the pain.

"Why are you taking over the peoples' lives?" Elly questioned, her gun lowering as her arms gave out. She looked pale and sick.

"Have you seen what we really look like?" I twisted the hook in my hand, getting bored. I wanted to do more to him, but he was talking. I wanted to make him scream. "And we can't all be strangers just randomly showing up in town." His voice was tight.

"Why not?" I asked, tugging at the hook. "She pretended to," I nodded towards Elly, "Why would new people showing up be strange?"

"Fuck." He threw his head back, his face scrunched up in pain. "Seven randos? They'd catch on, like you did. Humans aren't as stupid as everyone seems to think."

"No, but you have to give them some credit." I tugged on the meat hook harder, really pulling up the flap of skin it was under now, "And it was much stranger to have people come back from the dead than it would've to have a few new people in town."

He was crying now, head bowed low, breathing hard.

"Alex," Elly warned, her voice thin and fragile.

"I just fo-follow orders." He swallowed and whimpered. "I don't know anything else."

"Who's the leader?" I demanded. I was pulling so hard now that I might as well have had my foot shoved into the back of the chair to give me more leverage. He let out a scream.

"Alex!" Elly said again, her voice wavering and on the edge of tears. "Stop!"

I relaxed my grip, letting the hook relax under the skin. I looked back at her, memories coming back to me. It feels so real. I wake up gasping and screaming in pain. I let the meat hook drop from my hand, leaving it to dangle in the monsters skin. So much pain. They're driving me insane. What was I doing? Why was I being so insensitive? Elly had gone through exactly what I was doing to this thing, I could imagine that it was like she was watching it again. And he fixes it. Fuck me.

I pulled the meat hook free in one quick pull, causing the thing to yell out once more. "I'm done." I said simply. "You can finish with him." I placed the bloody thing in my bag and walked outside.

I took a deep breath of the cool evening air. What was happening to me? One second I didn't care if she knew I had betrayed her trust, and the next it made me sick to think about. And he fixes it. There were those words again, banging around in my head. What the fuck was wrong with me?! I'd never do that to a friend. Certainly not Elly. I loved her and I knew she cared for Lucifer a lot more than I did or ever had. Did I really miss the attention that much that I had even considered this?

I sat down on the curb and put my head in my hands. I let out a deep sigh and let warm tears flow from my eyes. I didn't even know I was capable of feeling like this anymore. Everything else had just developed into anger or lust. I wasn't human anymore so why should I feel human things? I sat silently and listened, and listened, and listened. There was nothing to hear but cars on a street nearby and some dog barking somewhere. I couldn't hear my heartbeat. I felt sick. What was I becoming?

It made me wonder what the other demons had been like before this. Had they stayed human much longer than me? What was I supposed to do now? I knew this feeling would change as quickly as it had come. I never felt anything but anger and lust anymore. Soon, I wouldn't care. But right now my stomach was churning and making me want to puke. I wasn't sure what I would be able to bring up because I hadn't eaten in months, but the feeling was still there. This felt so wrong.

I had to tell her.