Convergence

Chapter 2

"So how's the wide blue open?"

Jodi's lips twitched into a quirky smile as she made a slow lap around the hotel room. "Good enough." She paused at the window to poke the sad lampshade on the nightstand. The poor thing was probably old in the seventies. "The accomidations could be better though. This place makes a Motel 6 look like a five star resort."

Riley chuckled on the other line. "If it's that bad you don't have to stay there."

"There is literally no where else in this tiny spec of a town."

"Welcome to the sticks."

"No shit." She snatched up a pen that had been abandoned, twirling it absently between her fingers as she continued her circuit. "Alright, be honest with me. How many people are freaking out that 'Cade and I are at large?"

"No one."

She glared at the wall since the man wasn't there to recieve it. "Riley."

"Maybe a few people," he conceded. "Not as many as you would think. Ironhide. Red. the usual paranoid crew."

"Prowl?"

"Using this time to exercise his trust in your ability to look after eachother."

Something warm spread behind her ribs, lightening her mood even further. The brothers had been making huge strides in recent months, and this was a particularly big one for Prowl. Jodi held high hopes for the future, but she also knew Prowl. Without his resident parolees to keep close tabs on, he would be directing his focus ellsewhere. "So. Who has the misfortune of having Prowl's undevided attention?"

Riley's laughter rang sharply through the speaker. "Well, currently Sunny and Sides. However we also just got a new transfer from Phoenix, fresh from the academy. Poor kid isn't gonna know what hit 'em."

Jodi gave a sympathetic wince. "Well, we'll be back in less than a week. Hopefully he hasn't chased him off by then."

"Her, but yeah, hopefully not. If she works out I'm hoping she'll be transferred permanantly to Missing Persons. We could use some young blood." He cleared his throat. "Meant to ask, is your new implant giving you any problems?"

Jodi spun on her heel and flopped on the bed, grunting at the stiffness in the springs. "Is that you or Ratchet talking?"

"Er, both?"

"Uh huh."

"Just answer the question kid."

Jodi took stock. She chewed her lip, lifting her free hand infront of her face right in front of her nose before extending it as far as she could reach. The adjustment in focus was smooth, the right eye focusing a second faster than it's unaltered twin. "It's fine. No headaches or eyestrain, and I haven't noticed any glitches or anything, but I also haven't tried out any of the nifty new features Ratch put in either. Not outside my initial tutorial anyway."

"Well, thats good at least. I'll pass the update on to the Hatchet tomorrow." There was a long and reluctant sigh. "I should let you go. I have a few reports I still need to go through before I crash for the night."

"Alright. Later Riley."

"Goodnight kiddo."

Jodi smiled as the call disconnected. She rolled over to toss her phone on the nightstand. With their check-in taken care of she debated how to spend her time until Barricade came back from his little surveillance field trip. Jodi had packed light, so unfortunately that meant she left anything she could use to entertain herself back at home.

With a groan she rolled off the bed to rummage in her backpack for some spare change.

If she was going to play the waiting game then she was going to raid the vending machines and see what sort of cable the motel had to offer. With some luck maybe there would be some kind of movie marathon going on.

oOoOo

"You sure you don't want to hit the bar with me? Maybe hustle a little pool?"

Sam huffed, flipping through a stapled set of papers and highlighting bits that he thought could lead to something. He grimaced as they hit a pothole, making his newest line go a bit astray. "I'd rather double check the lore and try to see if we missed something. Maybe Dad's journal will have something."

"Dude, I'm telling you there's no hunt here."

"We don't know that. Something's obviously killing people."

"Yeah. Some whack-job who thinks he'll scare the cops by carving up his vics."

Sam glared at Dean, dripping dissaproval. "Really? What about the drained blood? The marks found on the body? There is a case here, I know it."

Dean taps out a rythym in tune with the radio, ignoring Sam's expression. "If you want to spend your night being a nerd thats great, but if we still have no leads by tomorrow we're skipping town. We're wasting time."

The small lead weight that had been sitting in Sam's stomach since his brother came waltzing back into his life sank a little lower, reminding him that it was there. He grit his teeth and sighed harshly through his nose. Usually he was the one who got impatient and questioned what they were doing.

If there was no case then they could be focusing on more urgent matters.

Like finding Dad.

Like finding Jessica's killer.

Sam ran a hand through his slightly floppy hair and took a slower, more steadying breath, dispeling images of fire and blood. Now was not the time. "Fine. If I don't find anything, we leave."

Sam's gut insisted there was something in this town, or in the woods surrounding it.

Whoever, whatever, was killing people didn't follow any specific MO that he recognized. The bodies were whole, with all organs intact, the blood was drained as thoroughly as any vamp or chupacabara.

The victims were found in two different sections of the river, and according to a local map there was nearly half a dozen tributing creeks between them. It was difficult to say wether the bodies were dumped directly or had been washed downstream. There were nearly a dozen old roads winding themselves through the woods, too many to check out before Dean's deadline.

He hoped they could narrow down the search. He would hate to leave only to find there was a monster here after all. With any luck Sam would be able to make some headway while Dean had his night on the town.

Soon they pulled up to their motel, the impala coming to a halt at the curb instead of the parking lot. Sam gave Dean a dirty look but gathered up his things none the less.

"Last call, sure you don't want to knock a few back?"

"Nah," Sam raised his papers with one hand while he opened the door with the other. "I'll see if I can get us a lead."

"Your loss."

Sam slammed the door behind himself and patted the roof of the car. His brother flashed a grin and a mock salute before he peeled out. He shook his head as the taillights dissapeared around the corner.

He sent up an absent prayer that Dean wouldn't bring one of his one-night flings back to their room. While the Impala might actually be more comfortable than the excuse for a bed waiting for him, it would be extremely annoying to have to move his laptop and books just for Dean's libido.

With that on his mind, Sam stepped away from the sidewalk and towards the long row of motel rooms. It wasn't surpriseing to find the parking lot just as empty as they left it this morning. The accomidations were bad even by Winchester low-standards.

Key in hand, Sam paused at their room and made to unlock the door. He halted when several thumps and a metallic clank caught his attention followed by low cursing.

Now onn high alert, he pocketed his keys and his papers and cautiously approached the corner, right hand drifting back to the gun stashed in the waistband of his slacks. He rounded the turn, forcing himself to relax and straighten up at the scene laid out before him.

There, crouched infront of the vending macines, was a girl. She was small, with a messy ponytail obscuring her face, and clothes that looked warm enough, but were clearly not up to Colorado's normal frigid temperatures. She had twisted her arm up through the bottom of the snack machine, trying to reach a bag of chips that got caught halfway down.

And she was arguing with the machine.

"Come on you stupid son of a bitch," she huffed, straining her fingers a tad higher. "I've dealt with bigger, badder machines than you. I swear to god I'm gonna come back with screwdriver and a pair of pliers and I'm gonna-"

"Are you alright?"

The girl froze, her head snapping to stare at Sam as he made his presence known. Her eyes found his legs first and then tracked upwards, eyes widening as she took him in.

Sam couldn't help the vauge sense of deja vu that rang through him. She was young, her round face and wide eye making her look younger. Mid-teens, Sam would bet money on it, but he was certain he didn't see her back when they were interviewing the locals.

He brushed the feeling off, filing it away, but determining it to be nothing.

"Are you alright?" he repeated.

"Um, yes?" She visibly swallowed as she widthdrew her hand, pointing at her stuck snack. "It won't give me my Doritos though." I swear I wasn't stealing her tone said, and it was then that Sam remembered that he was still in his Fed suit.

Oh.

He offered a disarming smile, taking a small step forward "May I?"

"Uh, okay." She stood and stepped aside as he took her place. He assessed the ancient machine for all of two seconds before grabbing the top of the unit and gave the whole thing three stategic shakes. With a muted thunk the girl's snack dropped to the dispenser below. Sam grabbed it and offered it with a smile.

She stared at him for a long moment, her brows slightly pinched together as she examined his outsteached hand, suspition seeping into her posture. A slight tilt of her head revealed a slightly milky right eye, a fine silvery line running over the eyelids and up to disappear the eyebrow.

There was that sense of deja vu again, a fleeting impression of familiarity, but he couldn't place it for the life of him.

Scars were common, a dime a dozen, but he couldn't remember a single case where a victim or a witness had a scar to match hers. Well a few, but they were all men well over thirty, and one of those had been strangled by the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

After a full minute of careful scrutiny, the girl finally took the offered chips. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He gave another small smile. "Not the first time I've dealt with cranky vending machines."

"I'm sure." Her tone was a bit wary. She bit her lip, expression shifting towards thoughful. "Are you one of the guys investigating the bodies that were found?"

"I am." Habit had him flashing his badge or good measure. "I'm Special Agent Townsend. If you know about that, then I'm surprised you're out here by yourself. It's not safe."

"You mean, like taking assistance from some strange guy I don't know?"

Sam suppressed a grin at her snark. "Touche." He took another small step back, giving her space and made an effort to keep his body language relaxed. "But, seriously. Have you noticed anything unusual, by chance?"

She shrugged. "Hard to say, just got in town this afternoon. Don't think we'll be staying long if bodies keep turning up. The waitress at the diner made it sound like they were popping up like daisies. Anything specific I should be on the lookout for?"

"Anything that seemes out of the ordinary." Sam pulled a pen and a scrap of paper from his pocket and began joting down his cell number. "Strange noises or smells. Anyone you notice that seems off or showing wierd behaviour. Anything out of the ordinary," He offered her the slip of scratch paper, "call that number."

She accepted the paper, tucking it in a back pocket. "I warn you, I have a broad definition of 'strange'."

"Feel free to call anyway."

"Right." She seemed to gather herself up, straightening to her full and rather un-impressive height. "Well, on that note, see you around Agent. Thanks again."

Without another word she scurried around him to disappear around the same corner he came from.

Sam stood there for a few beats before turning to make his own retreat.

He rounded the corner, intending to finally get back to his own room, noting an open door several spaces down.

It took a long moment to realize that the girl he had just got done talking to was framed in the open doorway, grappling with a spindly limbed shape behind her, one hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams.

Sam bolted forward, gun in hand, looking for a clear shot on the target. As soon as the girl spotted Sam her eyes grew impossibly wide and she fought harder. She twisted in her attacker's grip, a well placed elbow loosening its hold enough for her to deliver a full uppercut to the thing's jaw. It dropped her, the girl using the momentum to do a controlled tumble out of the way. As soon as she was clear Sam took his shot, firing three rounds in quick succession.

He was barely aware of the girl sprinting for him, but her voice was sharp and piercing.

"Behind you!"

Blinding pain exploded in the back of his skull.

And his world was black.

Author's Note: Aaaand moving right along. Fun Stuff begins now.