Bury the wounds deep inside
Rupture the fault line breaking
Dream of the world left behind
Show us we're worth forsaking
And when the cold begins to rise
Darkness is overtaking
And when the fear is satisfied
I'll be forever changing
As we all arise
So I'll wait for you
As I keep your faith alive
And I'll pray for you
As we cross the great divide
JUMP THE SHARK
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
"You know, he is doing this more and more," Beth commented to me as we watched Dad get in his truck and drive off. "Where do you think he's going?" She asked and I smirked, turning to slide my hands around her waist.
"Who cares?" I asked, "do you know how long it's been since we've had any alone time sugarpie?" She felt good in my hands, a pair of tight jeans hugging her figure along with a hoodie that had once been Sam's, but had been claimed by her years ago.
"He's left us here to work, Dean," she laughed, but there was a twinkle in her eye as she reached her arms up, placing them around my neck.
"We can do both," I said with a grin, pulling her into me and reaching down to squeeze her butt. "Besides, there's not much we can do until tonight anyway… if we want to get a look at why this team is suddenly running circles around the competition, we're gonna have to go to a game."
Beth groaned, but nodded. "So do we get to dress up as Jersey Devil's?" She asked and I chuckled, stepping away and reaching into the back of the Impala through an open window.
"I'm already waaaay ahead of you, picked these up earlier while you and Dad were at the library," I said, pulling out a couple of football jerseys and caps.
I tucked one onto her head, and then leaned in to kiss her lips, tilting my head so the peak of the cap didn't hit me. "Have I mentioned how sexy you are in football threads?" I asked.
Present Day
Middle of Nowhere - Nebraska
Beth's POV
I jogged back around the edge of the lake, my feet squishing slightly on the damp ground, the early morning air had warmed considerably in the hour I'd been gone from the boys. We'd stopped in the middle of the night, unable to continue driving after our latest job. I hated the wilderness jobs, they nearly always seemed to be hours from civilisation - and that meant motels were hard to come by.
As I neared the Impala - parked beside the same lake I had just circled - I could see Sam leaning on the hood and brushing his teeth. Dean was still passed out in the front seat, his face smushed up against the window, his mouth hanging slightly open. I slowed to a walk, seeing Dean twist around then open the door, nearly tumbling out on to the ground as he did.
"Hey. How'd you sleep?" I asked, taking his arm and helping him to stand upright.
"How do you think?" Dean muttered with a frown. "I'm starving. Let's get breakfast."
"Where? We're like two hours from anything," I said, feeling my own stomach rumble in protest.
"But I'm hungry now," Dean whined, putting on a little pout.
"There's probably still a sandwich in the back seat," Sam said and Dean spun on his heel, rubbing a hand across his tired face. He reached through the open back window, pulling out a paper bag. With a dubious look he opened the bag, sniffed the contents and then pulled back with a groan.
"It's tuna," he announced. I grimaced - I certainly wasn't going to call dibs on that.
The shrill sound of a phone ringing broke the quiet of the outdoors, and Dean put his hands in his pockets, feeling for his phone. "That's not your phone," I said with a frown, already moving toward the passenger side of the car. I leaned in the front window and opened the glove compartment, rummaging through a few different phones that Dean kept in there. I found the ringing phone and pulled it out as Dean reached my side.
"Isn't that Dad's phone?" Sam asked, watching this all unfold. I stood up, hitting my head as I did so.
"Ow," I groaned, and Dean took the still ringing phone from my hand, flipping it open and putting it to his ear as he rubbed my battered head with his other hand.
"Hello?" Dean asked, listening for a reply.
"He can't come to the phone. Can I help you?" Dean said after a pause, and I bit my lip. There wasn't a lot of people who didn't know about John by now, this clearly had to be an old contact.
Dean listened as the person replied, and then sighed. "Well, sorry to be the one to break this to you, pal, but John died more than two years ago."
There was another pause and then Dean asked who he was talking to. The reply, whatever it was, shocked the man. I could see it in his eyes as he glanced at me, surprised and then looking at the phone.
"What? Who is it?" I asked, glancing over at Sam who was looking on with as much curiosity as I had.
Dean swallowed, hard. "Uh, is that right?" He said finally, listening as the person on the other end spoke further.
"So where are you now, Adam?" He asked, and there was an answer. "Windom. Well, we're only a few hours from there, how about we meet up with you, answer any questions you might have?"
Dean made some arrangements to meet at a cafe, and then pulled a map out of the car, marking Windom, Minnesota on it. "We're only a few hours out," he said.
"Wait, Dean, what the hell is going on?" Sam asked. "Why are we going to Windom?"
"Because… brother… apparently our 'brother' is there," Dean said and I swore my mouth dropped open.
"Your… brother?"
Windom, Minnesota
Beth's POV
Cousin Oliver's Hilltop Cafe looked like any other diner out there. Dean was first out of the car, rounding to the back and opening the trunk, then the armoury. He started to rummage through the box while Sam followed him, arguing as usual.
"Dean, look, best I can tell, Adam Milligan is real," he was saying, "Um, born, September twenty-ninth, 1990 to Kate Milligan. No father listed on the birth certificate. He's an Eagle Scout."
Dean was listening, but still pulling out all the items needed to test for… well, anything really. He handed me Ruby's demon killing knife, and then grabbed a flask of holy water.
"Graduated from high school with honours and currently goes to the University of Wisconsin—biology major, pre-med," Sam continued. I cringed at the Wisconsin comment, I could almost buy into Dean's theory based on that alone.
"Dean? You listening?" Sam asked and Dean slammed the trunk shut, scowling at his brother.
"This is a trap," Dean announced, pushing past Sam and moving toward the diner. Sam closed the folder he was holding, and tossed his hand in the air, gesturing in futility at Dean.
"Come on Beth, this is crazy, the kid is the real deal," he said and I shrugged, tucking the knife into the back of my jeans and pulling my jacket over the top to cover it.
"Doesn't hurt to take precautions," I said, starting to follow Dean who was waiting at the door, looking back at me. Sam sighed and followed behind.
As soon as we entered the diner Dean was scanning for the best place to do this meeting. He settled on the back of the diner, gesturing to a round table with four chairs around it. He waved me into the corner, and took a seat next to me, gesturing for Sam to take the chair by the window, next to where Adam would sit.
Sam scowled, sitting down and then pulling out John's journal, setting it on the table with a loud thump. "Dean, I'm telling you, the kid checks out."
"Great, so he's an actual person on the planet Earth. Sucks he's got a demon in him," Dean said.
A waitress walked up, placing a glass in front of each of us. "Hi. Welcome to Cousin Oliver's," she said with a smile.
"Thanks," I said, returning the smile.
"Can I…"
"We're actually waiting on somebody," Dean interrupted her sentence, and she frowned, slapping menus down on the table and leaving.
"Thank you," Sam called out after her.
"Dean that was rude," I said, smacking him on his thigh. He ignored me, picking up the glass of water opposite him and tossing the contents into a potted plant.
Sam watched him incredulously. "What are you…?"
Dean put the glass between his knees, pulling out the flask I'd seen him grab and unscrewing the top. He poured the water into the glass and put it in front of the spare seat at the table.
"Is that holy water?" Sam asked.
"Yep," I said, raising my eyebrow at Dean and smirking.
"One sip of Jesus juice, this evil bitch is gonna be in a world of hurt," Dean announced, waiting until the waitress passed us by again before pulling out a felt-wrapped package. He started to undo it as I watched on curiously.
"And what if he's not possessed?" Sam asked.
"Then he is a shapeshifter," Dean said, pulling silver cutlery out of the pouch, replacing the existing knife and fork with his.
"Hence the silver," I said, kind of impressed. Dean was going all out with the hoops for Adam to jump through.
Sam shook his head and started to flip through John's journal.
"Look, either way, this thing is gonna bleed. I mean, using Dad as bait? That's the last mistake of its short, pitiful life," Dean said bitterly. Sam frowned, glancing up at Dean.
"What?" Dean asked, only to watch Sam look away. "What?" He pressed.
"Dean...listen. There's an entry in Dad's journal," Sam said. "From January of 1990, saying he's headed to Minnesota to check out a case. That's, roughly, oh, about nine months before the kid was born."
I looked at Dean, semi-convinced on Sam's points. Dean was, as usual, being a stubborn ass about it, however. "Coincidence," he said.
"Coincidence. Next two pages of the journal—torn out," Sam said, gesturing to the journal.
"You're not actually buying this, are you?" Dean asked.
"Look, man, I don't want to believe it either, I'm just saying it's possible," Sam said. The more I heard, the more I was starting to agree.
Dean turned and looked at me. "What about you?"
"Well… Dad would be gone for weeks at a time sometimes, Dean. And he wasn't exactly a monk," I said carefully.
"A hunter rolls into town, kills a monster, saves the girl...sometimes the girl's grateful," Sam pointed out and I raised an eyebrow at him. I didn't like to admit it, but I was fairly certain that had happened a few times with all the men in this family.
"Well, now I'm thinking about Dad sex. Stop talking," Dean muttered, shaking his head.
"Maybe he slipped one past the goalie," Sam pressed on.
"Dude!" Dean and I exclaimed together.
"You should try living with you two…" Sam muttered as the door to the diner chimed. The newcomer was a young man, and he hesitated when he entered, looking around at the people at the tables. I nudged Dean under the table with my knee, nodding toward the man.
"Adam?" I called out and the man looked over at us. Sam raised his hand, and he shuffled over toward us.
"You Sam?" He asked, looking at Sam as his hand dropped.
"Yeah. Uh, this is Beth, and Dean," Sam replied, introducing us.
"Hey," Adam said, setting his backpack on the floor and taking the chair next to Sam. He looked a little uncomfortable, fidgeting as he glanced up at Dean and I. "So um...how did you know my dad?" He asked, and Dean's leg twitched where it was pressed up alongside mine.
"Uh, we worked together," Sam said and Adam looked at us, a little confused.
"How did he die?" He questioned.
"On the job," Sam replied.
"He was a mechanic, right?" Adam asked skeptically. Sam and I exchanged a look that indicated he was thinking the same thing I was. Just what had John told this guy he did?
"A car fell on him," Dean announced without batting an eye. He gave Adam the look that caused even the most certain to falter – the one that said 'Call my bluff, I dare you'. Not many did, which is why Dean was always the better liar out of all of us. The only person who had been better was John.
The waitress returned to our table, this time smiling and appearing in a much better mood. "Hey, Adam. How you doing?" She asked, putting a glass of water in front of Adam. Dean leaned forward and grabbed it.
"Oh, I'll take that. I am very thirsty," he said, taking a sip while the waitress glared in reply.
"The usual, Adam?" She asked, turning away from Dean.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Denise," Adam said, and the woman departed before bothering to take our orders. My stomach rumbled again and I sighed, we hadn't had a chance to grab anything on our way here.
Adam picked up the glass of holy water, lifting it to his lips. I could feel Dean tense a little beside me, and then the man drank, and nothing happened. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand when he was finished.
"So, uh, when's the last time you saw John?" I asked, and Adam shrugged.
"I don't even know. It's...a couple years," he said. Dean shifted beside me, and I glanced down, seeing him pull out his gun, resting it on his thigh, although it was aimed straight at the newcomer.
"Why did you decide to call him now?" I asked, determined to get more information out of him. I didn't think Dean would be so crazy as to shoot someone in the middle of a crowded diner, but he'd been under a lot of pressure lately - he wasn't fully himself.
"I didn't know who else to call. He's the only family I got," Adam said. I frowned, and he looked at me. "My mom's missing."
"Really? I'm sorry. Uh, for how long?" Sam asked.
"It's tragic, really. But if you're John's kid, how come we've never heard of you?" Dean asked, finally speaking.
"'Cause John and me didn't really know each other. Not until a few years ago, anyway," Adam said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, reaching out and putting a warning hand over Dean's. He frowned at me, but didn't remove it, so I kept it where it was.
"My mom never talked about him. I knew some stuff," he said.
"What kind of stuff?" Dean asked.
"My mom's a nurse, and Dad came into the ER, pretty torn up. Hunting accident or something. And I knew his name. John Winchester. That's about it. We're not exactly a nuclear family," he replied and Sam smirked.
"Yeah, well, who is these days?" Sam said.
"So, when did you, uh, when did you finally meet him?" Dean asked.
"When I was twelve. My mom had one of his old numbers, and…after I begged her - God, 24/7 - she finally called him. God, when John heard he had a son, he raced to town. I mean, he dropped everything. He drove all night," Adam said. I could see the boys react to that statement, especially Dean who smirked, watching the boy without even glancing up when Denise put a plate of food in front of Adam.
"There you go," she said with a smile and Adam thanked her.
"Well, that's heartwarming," Dean said with a fake smile. Adam gestured to his food, looking around the table at us.
"You mind?" He asked, and Dean shook his head.
"Please, dig in," he encouraged, cocking the gun whilst he watched Adam first take the napkin from under the silverware and place it on his lap. I frowned at Dean and he ignored me. When Adam picked up the knife and fork, clearly not reacting to it, Dean paused, glancing away.
"You know, called when he could. But still…" Adam stopped long enough to take a bit of his food, and under the table Dean uncocked the gun, slipping it back into his jeans.
"He taught me poker and pool and even bought me my first beer when I was fifteen. And, uh...he showed me how to drive. Dad, he had this beautiful 'sixty-seven Impala," I felt Dean almost jump when the car was mentioned, and it wasn't surprising when he snapped.
"Oh, this is crap. You know what, you're lying," Dean accused. '
"No, I'm not," Adam insisted.
"Uh, yeah, you are," Dean said. I reached under the table, taking his hand in my own and I could feel him trembling with anger.
"Dean..." Sam said, and received a glare in reply.
"No, no, this is crap Sam. You ever known John Winchester to buy his sons beers at fifteen?" He asked and Sam looked down at the table.
"I'm sorry, but who the hell are you to call me a liar?" Adam said, his eyes flashing with annoyance.
"We're John Winchester's sons, that's who," Dean said, gesturing to himself and then Sam. "We are his sons."
Adam stared first at Dean, and then over to Sam, returning his gaze to Dean. "I have brothers?" He asked.
"No, you don't have brothers. Look, man, I don't know if you're a hunter or what kind of game you're playing here," Dean started.
"I have never been hunting in my life," Adam said, confused.
"Whatever. I'm out of here. Come on, Sam, Beth." Dean said, standing up and walking away from the table.
"I can prove it," AdaM said, and Dean stopped, looking back at him.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
We'd barely hit the room before we were pawing at each other. The night had gone from good, to better. Our newfound team - The Riverhead Jersey Devils had won, slaughtering the opposition in what was being heralded a county record. For a little team that had been on the lower half of the ladder the year before, there were a lot of questions being asked about why it was that they had suddenly taken out everyone they'd played this season.
Beth and I had mingled for a while at the after game celebrations, having a few drinks, and before long our investigations had taken a backseat to our growing need to get our freak on. It had been, like I said, a long long time since Dad had given us some space to breathe. I intended to take full advantage of that.
I kicked the door shut, pushing Beth back further into the dark room, pulling at her jersey as she kissed me in between slipping it over her head, and then tugging at my own jersey. The jeans were next, I unbuttoned them, her hands tangling with mine as I pulled them down over her hips revealing white lace panties which, on any other day, I would have normally taken time to appreciate - but I was aching to feel her around me, my arousal already prominent and pushing against the zipper of my jeans.
Beth had the same idea I did, hands finding their way to the zipper and undoing it. I gasped as she paused for a moment, rubbing the palm of her hand along my boxers and under my erection. "Jesus…" I groaned, and then I kissed her forcefully, hands grabbing a fishful of hair in my driving need. Every little groan, every whimper drove me on as I turned her around, pushing her face down on the bed, my arms extending out to move hers above her head so that she was lying flat against the mattress, her face turned to the side, watching me.
I stood back, pushing her jeans down to her ankles and then dropping my jeans to join them. I shoved my boxers down and pressed forward, a hand moving to caress along Beth's back, holding her down when she tried to lean up. I slid my arousal between her legs, parting her and feeling her wet warmth pooling, waiting for me. I groaned and drove myself inside of her, grabbing her hips and raising her slightly off the bed.
"Okay, you… me… and sports… I like this," I said with a grin, thrusting deep as Beth moaned loudly, her body responding to take my full length. "We should go to games more often."
Present Day
Milligan House
Beth's POV
I was staring at a picture Dean was holding, it was of a much younger Adam, and John wearing a baseball cap. It was surreal seeing a photo of him after all these years, I felt my heart breaking just a little, one at how much I missed him - but more so for the disappointment Dean was clearly feeling.
"He took you to a baseball game?" Dean asked incredulously.
"Yeah, when I turned fourteen. Dad was around for a few of my birthdays," Adam said with a nod. Sam held up John's journal, flipping to a page and I joined him, this time with my own journal. He glanced at me questioningly.
"September twenty-ninth, two thousand four. One word. 'Minnesota.'" He said and I nodded, turning to my own page.
"Yeah, he left Dean and I on a …" I glanced up at Adam, then down again at my journal. "On a hunt, down in New Jersey, and was gone for over a week." I chuckled, looking at Dean. "Dean was playing with fire in a big way that weekend," I said quietly to Sam who raised his eyebrow and smirked.
I looked around the room at the other various photos, and noticed a much older photo of John hugging an attractive blonde woman who looked a lot like Mary, and Cole. I smirked, thinking about how apparently he must have a fetish for blonde nurses - and did Cole know about Adam and his mother? I resolved to call her and ask once we were done here.
"He took you to a freakin' baseball game?" Dean asked again, still clearly in shock. I smiled sadly at Dean.
"Yeah. Why? What'd Dad do with you on your birthday?" Adam asked. Dean looked up at me, and frowned.
"Oh…" he said, his voice fading before he came up with an answer. I couldn't remember John doing much of anything with the boys on their birthdays. Even mine we'd skipped mostly, the boys being the ones to make a fuss more than anything. John had sat on the outside of Dean's sunrise planning, and Sam's cake baking, allowing them to celebrate but not one for going out of his way to spoil us. He had given Dean the Impala on his 18th birthday, and sometime before that, his leather jacket became Dean's too, but it was never with a big show or declaration of affection – like baseball games - they were little side things, that to the observer looking in seemed like nothing - yet to us the significance of those actions rarely went missed.
I found it frustrating that he'd driven all that way to Minnesota to take Adam to a ballgame, to keep his life 'normal', yet when Sam wanted a normal life, he'd cut ties and ignored him for years while his son was at Stanford. I wondered how much of it had to do with Adam having his mother around to care for him.
"Adam, you said you called Dad because your mom was missing?" I said, seeking to change the topic.
"Yeah," Adam said with a nod.
"How long has she been gone?" Sam asked.
"Three days," he answered.
"Who was the last person to see her?" Dean asked, looking up for the first time - pulling his gaze away from the photo of John and Adam and happier times.
"Mr. Abbinanti, our neighbour. He saw her come home Tuesday night, but she never showed up to work on Wednesday," Adam said.
"Did you call the police?" Sam asked.
"Mom's supervisor at the hospital did. And then I drove down here as fast as I could," Adam answered, pausing and looking down at his feet. "I should have been here."
"What'd the, uh, what'd the cops say?" Dean asked.
"That they, uh, they searched the house. They didn't find anything," Adam replied. He looked at Dean, and then over at Sam and I. "She wouldn't leave without telling anybody. It's like she just dropped off the face of the earth, you know?"
I nodded, and then smiled at the young man. "Can we uh, do you mind if we take a look around? Did you check her room? See if anything is missing?"
Later
We'd checked the rest of the house, sending Sam to talk to the police, leaving us finally with the bedroom at the end of the hallway.
Dean had moved ahead of us, pushing the dresser in Kate's room away from the wall and looking behind it. Seeing nothing that concerned him, I watched him move it back and then stare at more pictures of John with Adam's mother Kate. They were a lot older, one with a young Adam, maybe when he was twelve or thirteen. And there was a photo of Adam very young, just with Kate.
"The, uh, nightstand was knocked over. Was there anything else?" Dean asked, still looking at the photo with John. I moved to rest my hand against his lower back and felt him sigh a little.
"Oh, not really. The sheriff said there's no sign of a break-in," Adam replied. I looked around, frowning. The room really didn't look like there had been an attack.
"What, you think the cops missed something?" Adam asked.
"Maybe. Yeah. They don't have my eyes," Dean said, tearing his gaze away from the dresser and starting to look at all the places I already was.
"You're a mechanic," Adam pointed out.
"Yeah. That's right," Dean nodded. Adam hesitated, glancing first at me and then at Dean.
"Dean, what else can you tell me about Dad?" He asked. Dean shrugged, looking at him.
"You knew him."
"Not as well as you," Adam said.
"Trust me, kid, you don't want to know," Dean muttered, and I couldn't help but recall that he'd said pretty much exactly the same thing to me when I'd been asking for answers around how I'd become possessed, and why my father was dead.
Sam stepped into view, holding up some papers, and Dean nodded. "Give us a minute," he said to Adam, and together we stepped out into the hallway with Sam.
"You talked to the cops?" Dean asked Sam, and he nodded.
"Yeah. Like Adam said, no leads on his mom."
"Shocker there," I commented, glancing back at the room.
"But I did find this," Sam said, flipping through papers until he found a copy of the Windom Gazette. The date on it read January 9, 1990. I glanced at the headline, it read Missing Bodies Found.
"Seventeen bodies recovered from abandoned shed," I commented, reading the subtitle.
"Yeah. In nineteen ninety, there were seventeen grave robberies in Windom," Sam said.
"You think that's why Dad came through here?" Dean asked, looking up.
"I'd say so. Check it out," I said, pointing to the photo that was next to the article. It was a little hard to see because the photo was grainy, but there could be no doubt - there was a man in the back of a crowded police scene, standing behind a tree, and it was most definitely John.
"All right, so he was hunting something. What?" Dean asked.
"No idea. Those were the pages he threw out of the journal. But last month, the corpse snatching started up again. Three bodies from the local cemetery," Sam said.
"So whatever he was after, he didn't kill it. It's back," I said.
"And, what, it's stepped up its game to fresh meat? I mean, Kate's missing, and, uh…" Sam paused, pulling out another paper from his collection. There was a photo of a man in large black glasses. "So is a local bartender—a guy named Joe Barton."
Dean took the photo from Sam and walked back into Kate's bedroom. holding it up to Adam who was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at his hands forlornly.
"Hey, does your mom know Joe Barton?" Dean asked.
"Uh, I don't think so. Why?" Adam replied, looking up at the photo.
I glanced at Dean who met my gaze, and I shrugged. It seemed unlikely that the two cases weren't related somehow. There was a long pause, and then Dean moved, looking down at the floor near Adam's feet.
"You see that?" Dean asked, looking back at me, and I nodded as I moved closer, the light revealing scratches in the floor.
"What is it?" Adam asked, standing up.
"Watch out," Dean instructed, flipping up the edge of the comforter and then leaning down to get a better look under the bed. Whatever he saw was enough to make him sigh, standing up and looking at Sam.
"Give me a hand with the mattress," he said, tossing the pillows aside, and then moving the mattress off the bedframe with Sam and Adam's help. Under the bed was a large vent with an intricately patterned cover. The vent was big enough to fit someone, or something, should it have to, and that was setting off alarm bells inside my head.
Sam and Dean looked at each other, their intentions clear, and then they raised their fists, pumping them three times in the air. Sam picked rock, Dean scissors and with a groan Dean threw his hands in the air before looking down at the grate.
"Every time," I smirked, and Sam chuckled at the comment. Dean just shook his head and looked back at me.
"You want in on this?" He asked, and I raised my hands in the air, shaking my head.
"Uh, no, no I think you go this one," I said with a grin, and shaking his head back at me Dean rolled his eyes.
"Funny how your equality doesn't seem to come into play when there's small enclosed spaces to be handled," he said, putting his hands on his hips.
I walked up and kissed him on the cheek, patting his arm before looking at Adam. "You got any flashlights?" I asked, and when he nodded I followed him out to the kitchen while the boys worked at getting the vent cover off.
Returning with a light, Dean took the flashlight in hand. He took a deep breath, psyching himself up, and then lay down to look into the duct.
"Blood," he commented. "Not much… I'm going in."
"Be careful," I cautioned and he sighed with great dramatic flair.
"Careful is my middle name, sugarpie," he quipped, and wriggled his way into the air duct. He paused long enough for me to hand him my gun when Adam wasn't looking, then started to crawl through the vent. We could hear him moving about it, listening breathlessly as he struggled down the small enclosed space. I stuck my head down near the entrance in time to hear him mutter something about why he didn't choose paper, and I chuckled.
There was a pause, and Dean didn't move for a moment, then he was pushing his way back out of the ducting, his breathing coming in much shorter and faster bursts than they had when he'd gone in. His face was pale when he got out, tucking the gun into the back of his pants. Clearly whatever he'd seen hadn't been good.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
Morning dawned, the light from outside creeping in at some ungodly hour and hitting me square in the face. I groaned, turning to the clock on the bedside table, big ugly numbers stared back at me. 11:48 AM. What?! How the hell had we managed to sleep this late? I struggled up onto my knees, bracing myself with my hands as I shook my head. Beth stirred next to me, her naked body tangled up in the sheet as she drooled on her pillow.
"Beth…" I said, groaning again and sitting back. My morning woody sprung to attention just as she rolled over, almost coming face to face with it.
"Uh… good morning," she said with a grin, stretching out like a cat, giving me all manner of other ideas. "You ready for some more?"
"Oh god yes," I replied, leaning down quickly to kiss her, holding my chest up over her body and smiling at her sleepy face. "But, later… we gotta get up, it's almost noon, we've slept the day away."
"Oh man!" Beth groaned, but she nodded and started to pull herself into a seated position. "Any idea on where we need to start today?" She asked as I slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom.
"Yeah," I said, nodding to myself and waiting for her to join me in the doorway. "I got a bit chatty with the quarterback last night, and apparently they're looking for a new masseur for their training sessions. The last one left when one of the guys got a little handsy."
Beth smirked, coming to lean against the door frame and crossing her arms across her breasts. "And what makes you think I'm qualified for that job? I'm not a sports masseuse, Dean. I don't know the first thing about it!"
I grinned, turning around to kiss her. "Babe, trust me, no one is going to be questioning your skills. Not when you're in a tight pair of shorts and tank top, and offering to oil them up…"
Beth sighed, biting down on her lip. She was still a bit skittish after everything that had gone down in Dallas, and I didn't blame her - it had been football jocks who'd tried to pull her into the guy's bathroom and have their way with her then too. But that had been years ago, and I wasn't about to let anything like that happen.
"I'll be there too," I said, reassuring her. "I've convinced them that I'm a scout, looking for new talent. I won't let you out of my sight."
Present Day
Motel
Beth's POV
Dean had been cleaning the shotgun for the last fifteen minutes, I stood by the little kitchenette to the motel making us coffee, and turned with a cup in my hand at the same time there was a knock at the door. Sam stood up from the table, closer than either of us, and opened the door. Adam entered without invitation, and Dean quickly moved to cover up the gun with a cloth.
"Who the hell are you?" He demanded, looking around at us all
"Adam, hey," Sam said, playing it cool and closing the door. "Take it easy."
"No, don't tell me to take it easy, okay? My house is a crime scene, my mom's probably dead, and you guys—well, you tell me to call the cops, but you got to bail before they show? So, who are you really?"
We all fell silent, unable to give a good reason for why we'd done that. Not one that was going to satisfy Adam anyhow.
"Cops didn't know where to look for my mom, Dean, but you did. And I heard you talking earlier—something about grave robberies," he said. He looked down at Dean, and his eyes caught the end of the shotgun poking out from under the cloth. "You're not mechanics. I just want to know what's going on."
Again, silence. Nothing to say. I felt like I was back in Wisconsin thirteen years ago, asking the same questions of John.
"Please," Adam begged, looking over from me, to Sam to Dean.
"We're hunters," Sam said after a moment.
"Sammy!" Dean growled.
"He deserves to know, Dean," Sam insisted, and I smiled sadly. It had been Sam who had broken the vow of silence and told me what I was up against after I was possessed and killed my father. It was clear not much had changed.
"What do you mean, 'hunters'?" Adam asked, and Dean shook his head, clearly not happy with where Sam was about to take this conversation.
Later
Adam was taking things pretty well, all considered. I thought back to how I'd been after the demon had been exorcised from me, how knowing that these things in the world were real seemed to help me more than upset me. It was almost like the world started to make sense. Maybe it was starting to pull together for Adam too.
"Okay, so...basically, you're saying that every movie monster, every nightmare that I've ever had, that's all real?" Adam asked, almost mirroring my question word for word.
"Godzilla's just a movie," Dean said from where he was sprawled back on our bed. He had pulled me down to the mattress with him, and we'd curled up to listen to Sam explain our lives to the boy.
"We hunt them. So did Dad," Sam said. Adam nodded, giving this statement some thought.
"Okay," he said finally. Dean sat up, untangling himself from me and frowning.
""Okay"? That's it?," Dean asked, his voice throwing out the frustration that he was clearly feeling. He was tense, and angry at something and I wasn't all that convinced it was the case, or the fact that we had no leads. He'd been struggling with his emotions since we'd confirmed that John was Adam's father.
"What am I supposed to say?" Adam asked, shrugging at us.
"That we're liars, that we're crazy. Nobody just says "okay.," Dean said.
"Beth did," Sam pointed out, and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Well, you're my brothers. You're telling me the truth, right?" Adam said, glossing over Sam's statement.
"Yeah," Dean said quietly.
"Then I believe you. Now, what took my mom?" Adam asked.
"We're not sure. Something's in town stealing bodies, living and dead, but we don't know what," Dean replied. "There's a long list of freaks that fit the bill."
"You think maybe she might still be alive?" Adam asked hopefully, and Dean looked down - what he'd explained to Sam and I there had been too much blood in that duct for her to have survived. She might have been alive when she was dragged out of the house, but it wouldn't have been for long, and it was still a big if that she'd been alive even at that stage. Adam turned to Sam instead, and the middle brother avoided his gaze. I shook my head when his eyes met mine.
"Sorry," I said softly and Adam nodded, looking down a his hands. He struggled with the realisation of what we were saying, but held it together well, drawing in a deep breath and then looking up at Dean with a nod.
"Okay. How can I help?" Adam asked.
"You can't," Dean said.
"This thing killed my mom. If you're hunting it, I want in," the boy said.
Dean's expression was steadfast when he replied. "No."
"Dean, look, maybe…" Sam's look was less convinced, he glanced at Adam, and then Dean, sucking in a deep breath.
"Maybe what?" Dean asked.
"He lost his mother. Maybe we can understand what that feels like, guys," Sam said.
Dean scowled, standing up and facing Sam. "Why do you think Dad never told us about this kid, Sam? Huh? Why do you think he ripped out the pages?"
"Because…"
"Because he was protecting him," I finished, sitting up on the bed.
"Dad's dead, guys," Sam said.
"That doesn't matter! He didn't want Adam to have our lives, okay? And we are gonna respect his wishes," Dean insisted.
"Do I get a say in this?" Adam asked.
"No!" All three of us were adamant on that one. Dean threw his hands in the air, glancing back at Sam.
"Babysit the kid," he ordered, and I quickly got to my feet.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked as Dean grabbed his jacket off the nearby chair.
"I'm going out!" Dean snapped, walking out the door and slamming it behind him.
Sam sighed as I hesitated, wondering if I was supposed to follow, or whether Dean needed some space just to fume right now.
"Is he always like that?" Adam asked, and Sam laughed.
"Welcome to the family," he commented. I frowned at him, thinking that not so long ago it had been Sam doing the walking out. Sam grabbed a gun, emptying it, and held it out to Adam while I watched, curious. "Here," he said to Adam. "I'm gonna teach you a few things."
"Sam, Dean said…"
"I know what Dean said," Sam said, cutting me short. He continued to hold the gun out to Adam, meeting his eyes. "And I know what it's like to want revenge."
I sighed, grabbing my own jacket and heading for the door. "You know what, I'm gonna go get some air as well. Too much testosterone in here for me today," I said, not waiting for a reply before I was out the door, looking up to find Dean leaning against the Impala, parked on the other side of the parking lot.
I smiled and jogged over to him, and as I reached him he pulled me into a hug, kissing the top of my head and holding me tight. "You took your time," he said, and I pulled back to look into his conflicted eyes.
"Wasn't sure you wanted company," I said softly, my arms tightening around his waist.
"Heh," Dean smirked, shaking his head. "You get some funny ideas sometimes."
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
There was no doubt about it, the Riverhead Jersey Devils were on fire. Not only had they brought it home with a record win last night, they were already on the field training the next morning. When Beth and I arrived, and talked to the coach, he said that he'd had them doing laps since 10am. They were just about to break for lunch.
"That is insane. I've never known any team to train this much without getting injury or burnout," I said to the coach. "Aren't you afraid they're just going to crash? You gotta rest them sometime."
"Oh, they'll rest, I just got to keep them on track. This here is a championship team this year, we're going all the way to the top. We have a little something extra organised for them after training. In fact, I think your girl there is part of it," he said nodding to Beth. She was talking to a couple of other women over by the training room doors, and they were nodding and pointing toward a storage room.
"Oh yeah, she's great," I said, a smile easily coming to my face as I thought about last night when we got back to the motel.
"Well, just so you know, I've warned them boys no more funny business. The massage therapists are there to work on their muscles, and that's it. Last thing I need on my plate is a lawsuit," the coach said and I nodded.
"Oh I'm in complete agreement. Don't need any distractions when they're in training," I said.
"Exactly!" He agreed. "So tell me, how many are you looking for? Because I don't mind saying that I think we have a prize side here, you're gonna be hard pressed to find just one or two guys to take to the big leagues," he said, turning to business.
"See, that's where things get interesting, Chester… you don't mind if I call you Chester do you?" I asked, and he clapped me on the back and shook his head. "Well, see, I'm not just any ordinary selector," I continued and he nodded. "I'm here looking for a team, not just a player." His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and I kept going with my cover story.
"It's not known by more than a handful of people, Chester, so this is just between you and me - but my bosses? They're looking to add a new team to the league… a bit of new blood," I said.
"I knew it!" The coach said, smacking his hands together. "And you think my boys have what it takes?"
"I know they do. But I'm gonna be honest, Chester. There's some concern about how well they are playing. You know, after the last year we've had, we're not looking to take on any drug related issues… so you gotta tell me straight. What have you been giving these boys to make them play so well?"
Chester smirked, and I could see in his eyes that he knew I wasn't fooled for a minute by his "just good training," speech. But would he tell me the secret?
"Well, that's where you're not gonna believe me, Mr Van Halen, but let me show you what I found down in South America. It's all natural, you know… tell me… what do you know about Acai Berries?"
"Acai...berries?" I asked and I allowed myself to be guided to the office, something definitely wasn't adding up here.
Present Day
Cemetery
Beth's POV
We'd changed into suits, donned our fake FBI badges, and headed out to look into the latest tomb vandalism and body snatching. "This tomb was built in 1926. Four generations of the Millsap family were interred here," the Cemetery Director said as he showed us the tomb where the recent bodies had been decimated.
"They don't build 'em like this anymore," Dean said, looking at the stonework that was dark, heavy and encroaching on my personal space. I wandered ahead to look around while the Director flanked Dean.
"Tell me, Agent Nugent, have you thought about where you might like to spend eternity?" He asked, and I glanced back to see Dean hesitate a moment.
"All the damn time," he said, then he looked at me, smiled, and started to walk past the Director.
"So, three bodies went missing. Any idea who did it?" I asked, distracting the Director from any further thoughts on selling us a family plot.
"Hooligans. Sick, deranged hooligans," was the answer. Dean stopped near one of the broken stone cavities that housed a coffin. He noticed something, stooping to run his finger along the side where a liquid had run out. He sniffed it and recoiled, standing up with a grimace.
"This isn't blood. What is this?" He asked.
"No, it's embalming fluid. Whoever committed this crime didn't just take the corpses. They opened them up," said the Director, and we both looked up. Curious.
Bar
Dean waved me into an empty seat at the bar where Joe Barton had worked, and then took the one next to me. I glanced around, the bar was mostly empty, a few regulars huddled into more comfortable spaces where they looked set for the night. Dean unfolded the piece of paper we had with Joe's picture on it, and looked around.
The bartender took a look at us, and then filled a couple of glasses with beer from the tap, smiling over at us. "First beer's on the house for cops," she said. "Feds too."
Dean looked down at his suit and then shook his head. "Are we that obvious?" He asked, smiling back at her.
"I know all the local badges," she replied, sitting the glasses down in front of us. "And you two, you've got that Law & Order vibe," she said, raising her eyebrow, picking up another cloth to start drying another glass. "So, what's the FBI doing in Windom?" She asked.
"Looking into the disappearance of Joe Barton," Dean replied, sliding the photo of Joe across the bar. She looked at it, her face falling as she stared at the face.
"Did you know him?" I asked, and she nodded shortly.
"A little. I'm his wife. Lisa," she answered. Dean and I exchanged glances, and I looked apologetically at her.
"Well, Lisa, what can you tell us about his disappearance?" Dean asked, pushing on.
"Same thing I told the sheriff. He stayed late Friday before last to do inventory. Never came home," she said shortly. Clearly she'd told this story one two many times, she was down to the summary, no doubts, no confusion.
Dean took a sip from the beer, and I took over the questioning. "And the police?"
"Nothing. Truth is, I was scared they stopped looking. But now you're here," she said, and she looked a little relieved that her husband wasn't just going to fall into the unsolved mysteries basket. I looked up at the photos behind the bar, there was one of Joe in a police uniform, a lot younger than he was in the photo we had.
"Joe was a cop?" I asked.
"Deputy. For a little while. That was a looong time ago," Lisa replied. I glanced at Dean who was nodding his head.
"He didn't happen to work the, uh, the grave robbery case, back in 'ninety?" Dean asked.
"He did," she said. "Yeah. Joe was the one who found those bodies. He got an award for that."
"That was an interesting case," I murmured, looking at an article that was framed next to the police photo of Joe. It read Missing Bodies Found. "Did he ever tell you how he did it?" I asked, looking for any sign of John in the article. It had to have been with his help, and maybe, just maybe we'd found our connection to Kate.
"Most of the time, he said good, solid police work. But after a few beers, he'd admit he had a little help," she said.
"From who?" I asked, and Lisa shook her head.
"A 'specialist'. That's all he'd say," she said. I smiled, that definitely sounded like something John would have said.
"Cops ever find the guy that stole the bodies?" Dean asked, taking another sip of his beer.
"No," Lisa said. "But when I asked Joe about it, he'd say not to worry—that "we took care of what done it."" Dean looked over at me, the look in his eyes telling me he was in agreement with me on who the specialist was. So there was a connection, and John and Joe had taken care of whatever it was that had been stealing the bodies back in 1990. But who was doing it now?
Motel
Sam's POV
Adam was a quick learner, already well on the way to disassembling and reassembling a gun. I sat on the bed opposite him, cleaning the same shotgun that Dean had been working on earlier.
"Sam...how did Dad really die?" He asked, and I swallowed hard, looking down at the gun in my hands.
"Demon." I said.
"You hunted it down? Got revenge?"
"Dean killed it," I answered.
Adam nodded, looking down at the gun in his hand. "So it's over for you."
I stared at him, hearing the words and wishing that there was some truth to that. So many things ran through my mind, in an instant: now there was Lilith, and whatever she was planning. We were fighting an uphill battle. I'd lost Dean to the pit, and stood to lose him again if I couldn't beat Lilith myself. And Jo, who'd been such a comfort for me before Dean went to Hell… she still struggled every day with what had happened to her Dad…Cole, and the demon that had killed her mother. Then there was Beth – and Ruby, who had possessed and killed her dad. I didn't even know how to address that issue. I swallowed hard, pushing it to the back of my mind.
"It's never over," I said, with that sinking feeling settling into my stomach.
Without notice the lights went out and there was a rattling sound echoing through the room. Adam was instantly on his feet.
"Shh." I said sharply, standing next to him. "Stay here."
I loaded the shotgun, walking toward the door to the motel. I opened the door and looked around outside. There was nothing. Another rattle and this time behind me, I spun and aimed the gun in the direction on the noise, listening as Adam watched me intently. The rattling sounded against and this time I zeroed in on the vent, aiming the gun.
"It's in the vents. Go!" I yelled to Adam, firing a shot at the vent. I waved Adam out of the room and we hurried down the stairs to the ground floor.
I looked around the carpark as we hit the bottom step. "Where's your car?"
"Over here," Adam said, starting to walk toward his truck.
"All right," I nodded. "Keys."
"Here," Adam said, passing me a set of keys and moving around to the passenger side of the truck. I fumbled with the keys, trying to balance the shotgun in the crook of my elbow and then I felt something grab my ankle and pull hard.
"Sam!" Adam yelled as I tried to grab on to something to stop whatever it was from pulling me under. "Dean, help!" I heard our younger brother yell, and I realised that the Impala had pulled up. Adam grabbed one of my arms, pulling on it while Dean scurried out of the car and grabbed my other. Together they pulled me back, the grip of the creature on my legs weakening. As they pulled me free, Beth grabbed the shotgun, firing under the truck.
"Did you get it?" Dean asked, and Beth crouched down.
"I dunno," she said, looking under the truck. "I don't think so."
Carpark
Beth's POV
I jumped in the truck and backed it out of the space where he had parked. Dean aimed the shotgun at the ground and inclined his head for me to join him when I killed the engine. I climbed out of the truck, noticing for the first time a sewer grate under the truck, there was blood on the edge of it.
"You winged it," he said. "Did you see anything?" I shook my head and he turned to look at Sam who was now leaning on the hood of the Impala.
"I didn't get a good look," Sam replied in answer to the silent question Dean threw him.
"What the hell is this thing?" Dean muttered.
Adam was back with us, looking confused and distressed. "Why—who—should we go after it?"
"No, no. In that maze? That thing's long gone," Dean said with a shake of his head.
I sighed, running a frustrated hand through my hair. "All right, so, we don't know what it is, but we do know who it's going after. Joe Barton, Adam's mom…"
"And Adam," Sam chimed in. "It was under his truck, just waiting for him. It set a trap, and I walked right into it!" His voice was harsh, he was furious with himself.
"Doesn't matter. You're right—there's a pattern. Joe Barton was a cop. I'm pretty sure he helped out Dad. So we've got him, Dad's girl, and his son," Dean cut in.
"All the people Dad knew in town," I said quietly.
"At least we know why it's back," Dean said.
"It wants revenge," Adam said, and we all turned to look at him.
He was right. We had to get him out of here.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
Beth was looking at me with an amused expression while we ate a belated lunch, burgers and fries at the University's Cafeteria. "Acai berries?" She asked incredulously, swallowing a bite from her burger. "They're just anti oxidants, Dean, no way are they responsible for the form this team is in."
"Yeah, I know it. There's something he's not telling me," I muttered, taking a big bite out of my own burger.
"Or something he doesn't know," she commented and I looked at her curiously.
"You might be on to something there," I said with a nod. "So… you've met the other massage therapists?" She nodded and then rolled her eyes.
"This is a mistake," she said, but I wasn't having a bar of it.
"Well, you just have to look around, get a feel for what's going on on. We need someone on the inside looking in, and those sessions after training and lunch are restricted access, and I want ot know why."
"Yeah, I know. I'm going to check it out, but I don't have to like it," she said. I reached under the table, looking around to make sure no one was watching too closely before I squeezed her hand and kissed her on the cheek.
"You'll be fine, just keep your head on straight, don't do anything stupid, and…"
"...work the job," she finished. "Yeah, yeah. I know the drill."
"I know you do," I said with a smile, munching on another fry. "That's why you'll do fine. And I'll be nearby, just a phone call away if you need me."
Present Day
Milligan House
Beth's POV
Dean led the way into the house brandishing the shotgun and sweeping through the livingroom and kitchen. "Grab your stuff. We'll hit the road," he ordered, and for a moment I was reminded of John barking out orders. Adam flipped on the lights to the house and dutifully went upstairs like the rest of us would, following those orders.
Sam sat at the table, rubbing his face with his hand and then looking at Dean while putting his ankle up on the chair in front of him - he'd injured it when he was pulled under the truck. "We shouldn't leave," he said.
"Yeah, let's stay here, where the kid's mom got ganked. Good one," Dean snapped.
"I'm serious," Sam said.
"No, Sam, we're gonna take the kid, we're gonna drop him off at Bobby's, and then you and me and Beth are gonna come back here and finish what Dad started," Dean replied, looking over at me.
Sam stopped moving, an ace bandage in his hand as he set about doctoring himself. I moved up to him, taking the bandage and glancing down at his foot. Sam removed his shoe with a sigh and then smiled at me as I started to pull off his sock and wrap his ankle.
"How?" Sam asked, looking up at Dean. "We got no leads, no witnesses. We do have what this thing wants."
"You want to use the kid as bait? That's why you want to stay here?" I asked, glancing up at him. I felt instantly alert, because this wouldn't be the first time it had been done - but this was not a seasoned hunter playing bait here - this was Adam - and Dad would kill us if anything happened to him.
"Maybe this thing will come back. We could train Adam—get him ready," Sam said, looking at me.
"He could die, Sam," Dean said, crossing his arms.
"We could all die, Dean. Even if we do kill this thing, there are tons of other freaks that want revenge, on Dad, on us. What if they find the kid instead and he's not ready?" Sam asked as I finished wrapping his ankle and secured the bandage in place.
"I'll do it. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I want to do it," Adam said.
"There, see? He's a lot older than Beth was when we took her in," Sam said and I realised I was listening to almost the exact same conversation the boys had with John when they found me - only I'd been a lot younger than Adam.
Dean sighed and threw his hands in the air. For now Sam was going to get his way.
Next Day
Location Unknown - Woods
Beth's POV
I sniggered at the sign advertising that there was to be no trespassing on this property, and how violators would prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Sam had painted two red rings on it, and was now giving Adam and impromptu shooting lesson. He shot at the sign, getting pretty much a perfect bullseye while the rest of us watched on.
"Whoa," Adam said in awe.
"It's easy. Just feel the recoil and time the trigger pulls. Three taps," Sam said, holding the gun out to Adam.
"Yeah?"
"Go ahead," Sam encouraged as I walked over to the Impala and leaned against the hood with Dean.
"This is a mistake," Dean muttered, and I sighed, leaning against him and placing a kiss on his cheek.
Adam took the gun and moved in front of Sam. He took aim, firing three times in quick succession. All the shots hit the sign, and Sam grinned, looking at Adam. From our position we could see that he'd hit twice on the bullseye, and one in the second ring. Dean shook his head, sighing again.
"Beginner's luck, right?" Adam asked, smiling.
"Nah, man. You're a natural. Good shooting," Sam said encouragingly, clapping Adam on the back. Dean snorted and looked at me.
"Well he's right about that," he said quietly to me. "You didn't even hit the target first time."
Later that night
Milligan House
Dean and I had commandeered the kitchen table at Adam's house, spreading some of our research books out. We were still trying to figure out what it could be that we were hunting. Sam was storytelling in the adjoining living room, talking about the Wendigo we'd killed a years back.
"So, then we lit it on fire," Sam finished and Adam chuckled.
"With a homemade flamethrower?" He asked.
"Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show you," Sam said. I looked up to see Dean watching me, a conflicted expression on his face.
"That is some job you got, man," Adam said.
"Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam. It's life," Sam said, and I turned my attention to him, frowning. "You're pre-med. You got a girlfriend, friends?" Adam nodded affirmatively.
"Not anymore you don't," Sam said. "If you're really gonna do this, you can't have those kinds of connections, ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger, get them killed." Dean looked away, scowling.
"That's the price we pay. You cut 'em out, and you don't look back. There's only one thing you can count on. Family," Sam finished his little speech and Adam glanced over at me.
"But… Dean and Beth hunt together," he pointed out.
"That's different," Dean said, standing up and grabbing a beer out of the fridge. "She's family." He looked at Sam, inclining his head toward the kitchen. "And if we had a choice, we wouldn't be," Dean added. "Sam, can I talk to you?"
Dean moved out of the kitchen and by the stairs, Sam followed and I joined them.
"What the hell was that?" Dean asked when we were alone.
"What?" Sam asked innocently.
Dean's voice took on a deeper, more sarcastic tone. "''Hunting is life. You can't have connections.' Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him?"
Sam looked a little taken aback, his brow furrowing as he looked from Dean to me. "Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right."
"Since when?" I asked - this wasn't Sam's voice at all, this had been Dean when we were still with John after Sam left us.
"Since always," Sam said, looking first at me and then Dean. "Dean, when I look at Adam, you know what I see?"
"A normal kid," Dean said.
"No. Meat. Because the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. I hated Dad for a long time. I did. But now I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence. So what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. Adam deserves the same," Sam said.
"Listen to yourself, man," Dean groaned.
"You think I'm wrong?" Sam asked.
"I think it's too late for us. This is our life. This is who we are, okay?" Dean muttered.
"That's a far cry from what you were saying a month ago," Sam pointed out, glaring at him.
"Yeah? And look what happened? Beth and I get a month into giving up this life and you go and pull us back in!" Dean snapped. Sam opened his mouth, only to have Dean keep talking. "And it's fine. I accept that," he said, looking at me. "We accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man. He can go to school. He could be a doctor."
"What makes Adam so special?" Sam asked.
"What, are you jealous of the kid?" I asked, and Sam frowned.
"Are you?" He asked. "I mean… you guys want to get out, fine. You want a white picket fence, and ballgames with kids that you can't protect 24/7? Then go, get out. But you both know as well as I do...all this...it's not real. The dad Adam knew—he wasn't real. The things out there in the shadows—they are real. The world is coming to an end. That's real. Everything else is just part of the crap people tell themselves to get through the day."
"Dad didn't have a choice with us, okay? But with Adam, he did. Adam doesn't have to be cursed." Dean said.
"He's a Winchester. He's already cursed," Sam said.
"No. No, whatever's hunting Adam, I'm gonna find it," Dean said, shaking his head.
"You already looked everywhere, Dean," Sam pointed out, referring to the last day where Dean and I had been canvassing the town while he taught Adam the ropes of hunting.
"Well, then I'll look again," Dean said, grabbing his jacket and heading out the door. I sighed, and Sam shook his head looking at me.
"Well go on," he said, waving a hand at the door. "You know you're both incapable of hunting alone." I smirked and rolled my eyes at him.
"Seriously Sam, anyone would think you're the one with jealousy issues," I said, pushing past him. "Watch the kid!" I snapped as I pulled the door shut behind me.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Beth's POV
I let myself into the back of the changerooms, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. There was chatter in the sauna room, and I slipped behind a set of lockers as several of the team members exited, talking amongst themselves.
"You don't think this is going to have ny lasting side effects, do you ?" One of the guy asked and his companion laughed.
"Who cares?" He queried. "I'm in the best shape of my life, and it's completely untraceable!"
I frowned, waiting as they passed, and then slipping around the corner while they went in the other direction.
"Roger! Roger!" There was a yell of surprise coming from the other end of the hall.
"Steve, get it around the neck, move! Hold it still!" Someone else shouted, and this was followed by an unearthly ear piercing shriek, unlike anything I'd ever heard before. I was half way to the end of the hallway where there were some locked doors, before I got interrupted.
"Hey you! Girl! What are you lost?" Someone called out from behind me. I turned, putting on my best startled and scared act, and ran toward the couple of guys who were standing by the saun, wearing nothing but towels around their waists.
"Oh my god!" I said, running toward them. "I was just going to the supply room for more oil, and I got… I got all turned around. I'm new here. And then there was this noise, from behind those doors?" I said, gesturing down the hall. "What's going on down there?"
"Oh never mind about that," one of the guys said, waving his hand in a disinterested fashion. I think that'd just be the mascot - some weird ass bird they're trying to dress up as a Jersey Devil," he said, but his eyes hid another depth of knowing to them that he wasn't speaking out loud.
"Yeah, yeah that's right, I think they got some ostrich or something," the guy with him confirmed. I smiled gratefully at them, breathing a visible sigh of relief.
"That explains what I heard, thank god you both came along, I was scared out of my wits," I said. "I think, I think I need to go get something to drink. Can you point me back to the cafeteria?"
Present Day
Cemetery - Tomb
Beth's POV
Dean opened the tomb, turning on a flashlight and shining it around. "We had to have missed something the first time we were here," he said, reaching out a hand for me. "There's something we're not seeing, this thing isn't gone, it can't be."
"Yeah, much as I hate to admit it, Adam is the perfect bait, I would have expected another attack by now," I said, taking his hand and squeezing it as we walked further into the tomb, looking around.
"Maybe it likes the dark," Dean said, looking around. "It's smart." He dropped my hand, looking back at a spot in the tomb we'd missed earlier. "There, give me a hand," he said, crouching down by a rock that was out of place. I leaned down, giving a shove when he counted to three, and then stood up. We were looking at a hole in the wall. Dean shone his light into it and we could see that a tunnel extended out.
"Dammit," he said, shaking his head. He took a deep breath and then crawled in, the dirt from the tunnel kicking up dust as he moved. I followed, hoping that this wasn't going to be a long tunnel to nowhere, because with the tight fit we were going to have a hard time backing out.
"God I hate tunnels," I said, memories from the small enclosed spaces in the walls of a Philadelphia apartment complex starting to flash up in my mind. Dean seemed to be struggling as much as I was.
"Try digging your way out of your own grave sometime," he quipped and I snorted.
"I feel like we are," I muttered.
Dean chuckled, and then let out a deep breath, reaching the end of the tunnel. I saw his legs disappear as he fell down the short drop to the ground below, and then his head popped up, hands coming to grasp me under the arms and help me down to my feet.
"Well that wasn't too bad," he said with a grin. "Home sweet home."
We shone our lights around what looked like another tomb, but much much older - this one hadn't been opened, it appeared, in some time. Dean stepped in a puddle of blood, revealed by his flashlight and I grimaced when the light caught a severed arm right next to it with a pair of thick black glasses, like Joe Barton had worn. Dean stooped to pick them up, shaking his head.
"Sloppy Joe," he said, sighing. There was a rustling from behind me and Dean pushed me behind him, pulling his gun out from the waistband of his jeans and firing into the tunnel we'd just exited. The shots ricocheted off the crudely hewn walls and then the tunnel collapsed, raining dirty everywhere and blocking our escape.
"Oh, son of a bitch!" Dean cursed, pulling out his phone and dialling Sam. The screen blinked at him and I pulled out my phone too.
"No reception," I said, stating the obvious. We locked gazes in the darkness, and there was a panic building in Dean's eyes.
"Son of a bitch," he cursed.
Milligan House
Sam's POV
We'd spent the last hour or so preparing the house. Tonight the creature had to be coming, and we were going to be ready. I poured salt along every window and door, while Adam nailed boards over the vents in every room of the house.
I finished up in Kate's room, the one vent we'd left alone - unsalted, un-nailed, open and available for something to get into the house. We stood over it, looking into the darkness of the duct.
"All right. We've closed off every other way into the house. If this thing's coming, it's coming through here," I said.
There was a creak downstairs, like a door opening and I looked up, alarmed.
"You were saying?" Adam asked.
"Adam! Adam!" A woman's voice called out and Adam startled, looking at me in surprise.
"Mom?"
"No," I said, shaking my head and grabbing his arm.
"Mom!" Adam called out, pulling away and running off down the stairs. I chambered a round into the shotgun and followed the distressed kid in to the kitchen.
"Mom," Adam breathed, as he came to a halt in the doorway, looking at the woman from all the photos. She was dirty, and bloody, and breathing hard.
"Adam, wait!" I yelled.
"It took me, but I got away," Kate said, looking from me to Adam.
"It's okay," Adam said, reaching out to her.
"I got away," she repeated and Adam grabbed her into a big bear hug. My heart was thumping wildly in my chest and I aimed the shotgun at the pair of them. I had to get him to see reason. But I knew how hard it was to want to believe that your mother was alive. I knew what it was to get that one last chance to see her, to feel her...
"Adam, step away from her," I said, and he responded, turning to look at me.
"Sam, what the hell?!" He exclaimed, seeing the gun.
"She's not your mother!" I yelled.
"Adam, who … what is going on?" Kate asked, looking at us both in confusion.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
"What the hell is going on around here?" I asked, stopping to take hold of the bolt cutters, lifting them up and breaking open the padlock that was keeping people out from the back of the training rooms. "Ostriches? Acai berries?"
"I'm telling you Dean, that was no ostrich, and those guys were hiding something," Beth said, crouching low beside me and keeping an eye out for anyone coming.
"Yeah well, let's get to the bottom of this, and quick, because I could use a freaking holiday - you, me, a bottle of tequila somewhere," I said and Beth smiled up at me, nodding.
"Sounds good," she said, standing up when I finally got the door open.
"Okay, let's do this," I said, and I shoved the doors open just wide enough for us to get through. The building was dark when we entered, but there was lights on in the vicinity of where Beth had heard the weird screech. I took out my gun, checking the cylinder, and then dropping it to my side as I crept along the abandoned hallway.
Beth followed, her own gun drawn, and together we found our way to the large room at the end of the building. Waving us into a set of changerooms next to it, I looked up, seeing a couple of vent covers that seemed to look directly into the other room.
"Here, give me a hand with his," I said, pulling a bench over to the wall. Beth grabbed the other end, and together we lifted so as not to make it drag and draw attention to ourselves. Once positioned under the vents, I stepped up, peering through the slats of the vent cover.
My eyes must have widened, because Beth whispered up at me, asking what I could see. "Uh, hang on," I said, looking back out the vent. I had the perfect view into the room, and I could see some guys in lab coats dealing with a weird looking creature that was tied to a metal railing. They were trying to get at it with syringes, and I watched as it finally settled down, allowing them to draw blood which they started to fill vial after vial with until at least fifty of them were done.
"Dean, what the hell is goin on?" Beth asked and I glanced down at her, frowning.
"Well you were right," I said back quietly. "That was no ostrich. I think we found our monster."
Present Day
Cemetery - Tomb
Beth's POV
Dean stormed around the tomb and kicked at the door that was our way out. It stuck, still sealed. "We're not underground?" I asked, the realisation hitting me.
"No," Dean said. "We must have gone sideways, this place is partially buried, but not totally - like the other one."
"Then why isn't there reception?" I asked, confused, and he shrugged, grinning back at me.
"The dead don't need to make phone calls?" He asked, kicking at a skeleton on the ground.
I laughed, shaking my head and him. "Good one."
My eyes were drawn to the skeleton, wondering why it wasn't in its coffin, and then I caught the sight of fresh blood on the outside.
"Look," I said, pointing, and Dean opened the coffin with a grunt. He recoiled from the stench, and I moved next to him looking at the contents.
"Kate Milligan," I said softly.
"Yeah," Dean said, nodding. "What's left of her, anyway." And he was right, there was massive parts of the woman missing.
Milligan House
Sam's POV
"Get away from him!" I yelled at the creature, and she looked at me in disbelief.
"What is going on?" She asked.
"You listen to me," I said to Adam, looking at him with an urgent look. I didn't let go of the gun, but I was going to have to sacrifice something to get him away from her.
"It's really her, okay?" Adam asked and I shook my head, it didn't add.
"There was too much blood. Your mother's dead. There was too much blood in the vents!" I said, shoving him away from the creature. Adam grabbed the shotgun and pointed it at her.
"Adam!" The creature exclaimed.
"Shoot it!" I ordered Adam, and he hesitated.
"He's crazy! Honey, it's me!" She said, shaking her head with tears in her eyes. He moved the gun to point it at me, looking confused and terrified."
"Look… Adam!"
"Honey, it's me!" Kate insisted.
"Look, that's not your mother!" I countered, my hand reaching out to him.
"Baby, please!"
"Shoot it! It's not human!" I yelled, and Adam leveled the gun at the creature. He suddenly seemed a lot more assured of himself and then he spoke.
"I know," he said, and I had a split second to think we'd all been duped, before everything went black.
Cemetery - Tomb
Beth's POV
I shoved open the other coffin in the room, and recoiled at the amount of blood everywhere. The one thing that stood out was the face. "Dean!" I called out, starting to look around the tomb again, we needed a way out. "We need to get to Sam." The dead body was Adam, and I knew for sure what we were dealing with now.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean cursed again, looking at the dead body. "Here, move!" He turned and broke a long piece of metal off the first coffin and tried to use it to pry the door to the tomb open. It wasn't working. "Holy crap," he muttered, and I looked up.
An angel was depicted in a stained glass window in the ceiling above us – any other time I would have been admiring it. For a moment I paused, calling on Castiel, but there came no response. We were on our own. "Dammit," I muttered, realising what we were going to have to do. "Dean, help me!" I said, and I shoved on the end of one of the coffins. Dean pushed with me and together we got it positioned under the window. He climbed up, looking down at me apologetically, swinging the bar but it wasn't high enough.
"The other coffin, come on!" He said, jumping down to help lift it on to the other. It balanced precariously as Dean climbed up the side. I helped to steady it, cringing as Dean took the metal bar and swung it through the window. Shards of glass rained down as he jumped down, and I backed away from the debris. Once the window was clear, he pulled me to the coffins and held them steady. "You first."
When I reached the top of the coffins, he handed me the bar to wedge either side of the window. With that to pull myself up on, I swung my legs up to the roof of the little tomb, and got myself out. I turned to see him climbing up the coffins and grab the bar just as they toppled back to the floor. With a grunt, Dean swung himself out of the hole, and on to the roof beside me.
"Phew," he said with a grin. "We need to do more upper body work!"
I laughed and then we turned serious, starting to lever ourselves over the side of the tomb so we could drop to the ground. "We need to hurry, you were right, they are smart," I said to him.
Milligan House
Sam's POV
I could hear humming. Light, cheerful, and completely weird given that when I opened my eyes I was tied to the kitchen table by my wrists and ankles, and there was duct tape across my waist holding me down. I groaned, pulling at the bonds, and this caught the attention of the creature that had been humming. 'Kate' was sitting next to me, cleaning her fingernails with the tip of a silver knife.
"Silver," I said, dropping my head back to the table. "No wonder none of the tests worked. You're not shapeshifters," I said. "You're ghouls."
"You know, I find that term racist," 'Kate' said, waving her knife around. She moved closer and sniffed along my arm from hand to neck, nibbling at my ear. I grunted, looking away and not giving her the satisfaction of seeing how disgusted I felt.
"Mmm. Fresh meat. So much better than what we're used to," she said into my ear.
"I should have known. It was the fresh kills that threw me. Ghouls don't usually go after the living," I said, turning to look at her. "See, you're just filthy scavengers, feeding off the dead—taking the form of the last corpse you choke down." I was trying to aggravate her, but she simply looked up, and then Adam walked into the room.
"And their thoughts. And their memories. Like Adam, for instance," he said with a smirk.
"Well, we are what we eat," she giggled in reply.
"You're monsters," I said. 'Kate' grew serious, and reached out, dragging the blade across my arm. I felt the sting ripple through me and bit down on my lip.
"You know, you use that word a lot, Sam," Adam said while Kate drank from the blood welling on my arm. Adam took the knife and stabbed it into the table right by my head, leaning over me.
"But I don't think you know what it means," he said. Kate looked up, frowning at Adam.
"His blood, it tastes different," she commented and I knew it had to be the demon blood she was tasting. I struggled again, but it was to no avail.
"Our father was a monster? Why? Because of what he ate? He never hurt anyone, Sam. Living, anyway," Adam said while the girl pulled the knife free of the table.
"No. He was no monster," Kate said. "But the thing that killed him was. A monster named John Winchester."
I looked at her, scowling as she dug the blade into my side. I hissed, but refused to call out in pain. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. Adam smirked and dug his finger into it, feeling around as Kate continued to talk.
"Thanks to your daddy, my brother and I grew up on our own. At least we had each other," she said looking up. Adam licked his finger, smiling at her.
"Like you and your brother. Inseparable," he said, looking down at me.
"Actually, it was very hard to get you on your own - between him and the girl sticking to your side like glue…" she said.
"Like you said, Sam, the only thing you can count on is family," Adam said. Kate drank some more blood, and I could feel the it draining from me at a frightening rate. The strength of Ruby's blood pumping through my veins wasn't enough, I was weak and they were draining me further.
"And for twenty years, we lived like rats," Kate said.
"Graveyard after graveyard, all that stinking flesh," Adam said with a disgusted look on his face.
"Then we thought, 'hey, why not move up to fresher game?'" She said, smiling and looking pleased with herself.
"And we knew just where to start," Adam said, digging the point of the knife further into the cut they'd already made in my arm. "Revenge—it's never over, is it, Sam?"
"First, it was John's cop friend, and then his slut, and then his son," Kate said, pointing her own knife at the visage of herself, and Adam as she exaggerated the words slut and son.
"Then I called John, but the son of a bitch was already dead," he said.
"So I guess you and Dean, and his little wife, will have to do instead," she said.
"They won't interrupt us this time. We're gonna feed on you nice and slow—like we did with Adam," he said. Kate leaned in with a wicked look, grinning up at Adam.
"Oh, and, by the way, he really was your brother," she said. I renewed my struggles at the bonds wondering where the hell Dean and Beth were that they weren't coming for me. "You should know that," she added.
"He was still alive when we took our first bites," Adam smirked.
"And he was a screamer," she said with a laugh. Together they took a knife each and opened up long gashes on my arms. I gasped for breath, and felt the blood starting to drip in earnest down my arm and into bowls they had placed below.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
I climbed down, looking around at our surroundings. "There's too many of them," I whispered. I'd seen at least three, and there was likely more hanging around.
"What is it?" Beth asked and I shrugged.
"The ugliest damn thing I've ever seen," I said, tucking my gun into the back of my pants. We possibly weren't going to get another chance like this, but it was too risky with only the two of us. Especially since we didn't know what we were up against with that creature, or what would kill it.
"Let's go," I whispered and she nodded, heading for the door. Voices sounded in the hallway and I grabbed her just before she pushed the doors open. I pulled us back against some lockers and listened as a group of people walked past.
"We will increase the dose tomorrow, see how it affects them before the next game," I was certain that was the coach speaking.
"Sir, don't you think we should run the test on some of the lower ranked players first?" A woman asked. "We're still not sure what continued exposure will do long term."
The voices continued down the hall and I let out the breath I had been holding.
"They're using this team like guinea pigs," Beth said and I nodded.
"Yeah, we gotta figure out what that thing is and how to kill it," I said. Beth moved back to bench and I frowned. "What are you doing?" I whispered loudly.
"Well if I'm gonna help figure that out, I probably should get a look…" She turned, and several things happened all at once. First, the lights in the building all went out, plummeting us into darkness, and then alarms started sounding all around us to the panicked sounds of people in the large building next to us, and out in the hallway.
"Free the Devil!" Someone yelled as a group of people ran into the lockerroom, almost knocking me over.
"Let it go! Say no to animal cruelty!" A girl with dreadlocked hair wearing tie-dyed clothes was standing nearby, and by the emergency lighting I could see that she was done up in camo style face paint.
I held my hands up, resisting the urge to laugh as four of them stopped in front of me with crowbars and spraypaint. "Hey, don't look at me, I'm with you guys… let's go… save that… thing!" I said with excitement and they yelled, cheering and heading out the door.
Beth jumped down, and I frowned at her. "Not good," she said, and I shook my head, following the little hippies down the corridor to the doors leading into the room holding the creature.
The screeching of the creature resumed, along with lots of shouting, and then there was a flare that got let off and thrown into the room. I pushed Beth to one side of the door, and I took the other, waving her on. "Go around, I've got this side."
She nodded and pulled her gun out of her waistband, starting to circle around and I could see the creature running loose near the back of the room, falling away from the light of the flare. It didn't like fire, interesting.
Beth was nearing it and the would-be rescuers were trying to secure the creature. It reared back on two hind legs - almost like a skinny kangaroo, and lashed out at them with claws. One girl went down to the screams of others. The handlers were running at the creature with tranq guns, and I yelled for Beth.
"Shoot it! Now!" The guys with the guns all fired, thinking it was an order for them. Whether they hit or not, I don't know, but in the shadows I saw Beth's gun go off, and the creature fell to the ground. Would it be enough?
Beth was back by my side, and I looked around again while the rescuers of the animal started to jump and fight with the handlers. "Did you get it?" I asked.
"Yeah, I shot it in the head," she said, breathing hard.
"Might be enough," I said, "But let's make sure, huh?"
I grinned, pointing out a sign on a cabinet nearby for what I assumed were cleaning products. It read highly flammable. "Jesus, are you sure?" Beth gasped and I nodded. I wanted to make sure this thing was dead.
"They'll have time to get out," I said. I grabbed a nearby iron and broke the lock off the cabinet, grabbing several of the containers inside and undoing the tops. I tossed them toward the creature and in the scuffle going on, no one paid attention to what we were doing.
"Grab that flare," I ordered Beth and she ran off while I threw the last container, watching it roll over beside the creature.
Security arrived as Beth reached my side and I nodded, taking the flare and then to a shout, I tossed it at the containers. They erupted into fire. Everyone stopped and started to panic.
"Get out!" I yelled above the roar. "Everyone out now!" And this time they obeyed, the security guards moving to help the injured girl and any stragglers. I grabbed Beth's hand and raised an eyebrow, seeing the creature start to burn.
"Time to go!"
Present Day
Milligan House
Beth's POV
Dean and I crept up to the house, we'd grabbed shotguns from the car, and could see Sam tied to a table in the kitchen, the two shapeshifters moving around the table and talking looked just like Kate and Adam.
"Sam, the more you struggle, the faster you're gonna bleed out," Adam said. "So you might as well lie back and relax," he said. Dean nodded to me, kicking the door in and then aimed.
"Hey!" He called out, shooting Adam in the shoulder. He reeled about and hit the wall.
"Dean they're ghouls!" Sam called and I took aim at the woman.
"That means headshot," I said with a grin, taking aim and firing at her, watching as blood splattered against the wall and her headless body fell to the ground.
Adam threw himself at Dean, and they wrestled into the living room, breaking a glass table as they fell. I moved, trying to aim for Adam but Dean was too close, and they were moving too much. Dean grabbed the ghoul and slammed him down, taking a metal bar from the table and trying to slam Adam's head. He dodged and I tried once more to take the shot, but Dean dove at him, a roar escaping him as he tackled the guy to the ground again. This time Adam went down and Dean stood up, beating him with the metal bar in the head until the creature fell silent.
"Beth!" Sam called out and I turned my back on the mess in the livingroom.
"Dammit!" I cursed, moving swiftly to his side, grabbing a couple of towels from the bench and applying them to his arms to stop the bleeding. They were huge gashes, and Sam was breathing erratically. He groaned when I applied pressure and I grimaced. These were going to need stitches.
Dean came over and started to cut through the ropes and duct tape, freeing our little brother.
"Come on. Come on. Come on. Hang on. All right, here we go. Here we go," he murmured as we helped him to a sitting position. "Hang on, buddy. All right."
"Thank you," Sam said when we got him up.
"That's what family's for, right?" Dean asked, and Sam nodded as I repositioned to accommodate his seated position. "Keep pressure on that," Dean said, moving back to the living room to find more bandages.
Later That Night - Woods
Beth's POV
"You sure we should do this?" Sam asked as Dean opened a bottle of lighter fluid, turning to the body of Adam, which we'd wrapped in sheets and put on a pyre - ready for his hunter's funeral.
"Ghouls didn't fake those pictures. They didn't fake Dad's journal," Dean said, sprinkling the fluid over Adam. "Adam was our brother. He died like a hunter. He deserves to go out like one," he said, and I hid a smile behind my hair at the irony of that statement. The last thing Sam or I would have ever done to Dean's body was burn it.
"Maybe we can bring him back. Get a hold of Cas, call in a favour," Sam said, turning to me. I shook my head. Cas wasn't responding to my summons, even if we wanted to. Something big was going on in Heaven right now.
"I'm sure Adam's in a better place," I said softly and Dean nodded, lighting a match and tossing it on the pyre. The fire caught, and within seconds Adam's body was going up in flames, and any chance of bringing him back went with it.
"You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two were practically the same person," Dean said after a moment of staring into the flames. Sam looked over curiously.
"I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music. But you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now," he said. He reached out, taking my hand and squeezing it. I could feel the slight trembling there as he fought with whatever emotion was troubling him. He was right. Sam had proven that he was more like John than either of us.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Sam said after a moment.
"You take it any way you want," Dean muttered, staring into the fire once again. He kept holding my hand as we all fell to silence, nursing our own thoughts while the night wore on.
5 years ago
Riverhead, New Jersey
Dean's POV
We sat on the hood of the car, pulled over to the side of the road at a lookout, on the way out of town. The whole school had gone up in flames. According to the police scanner, the idiot protestors who had been trying to save a "rare, exotic bird" from the tortures of the football team, had cut the alarm wires connecting to the fire department. So, by the time anyone thought to call them, half the school was on fire, including the poor "bird".
"Wasn't no bird," I laughed and Beth shook her head, taking the beer out of my hand and taking a sip.
She had the laptop open on car, and turned back to it, doing a search. When she'd finished she had an assortment of photos, all kind of like the weird looking creature we'd seen, and all different at the same time. "Well, that could be it?" I asked and she nodded.
"Given where we are, I'd say they managed to catch the infamous Jersey Devil," she commented, reading through it. "It's supposed to have incredible strength."
"And they were injecting it?" I asked, frowning. "That's just crazy."
"Seems it gave them strength, speed, and who knows what other abilities," she said, looking up at me.
"Blood of a creature can do that?" I asked, frowning.
"Seems so," she said.
"God I hope that's all it does with these guys," I said, wondering about whether or not it could infect someone.
Beth paused to think about that and sighed, closing the laptop. "Maybe we better swing back here in a month or two, just to make sure," she said, and I nodded, wrapping my arm around her and kissing her forehead.
"Man, Dad is going to freak when we tell him we burned down the school," I said and she laughed.
"You do have a way of doing things that's a little more… unorthodox" she said, kissing my cheek.
"Hey, I get the job done," I laughed, and pulled her up against me, starting to suck at her neck. "So… that job is done, I can think of a few other things I can tend to," I murmured.
"God… you're incorrigible," she said with a laugh, but her hands found their way into my hair just the same.
"I'll take that as a compliment," I said, sliding my hands up under her top and then around the tease her nipples through the fabric of her bra.
"Take it any way you want," she groaned. "Just make sure you take me."
"Yes, ma'am," I grinned, and I laid her back on the hood of the car. "God you're amazing."
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: The Great Divide – Breaking Benjamin
Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse back to early Dean and Beth, and their hunting antics. Next up is… oooh, a glimpse into Beth's past, with her uncle and his family.
Thanks for reading!