DISCLAIMER: I don't own Supernatural, but if I did then Missouri would show up more often than she does. She'll definitely be a big player later on in my series (though perhaps not in this particular story).
A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. I had a major writer's block that was broken only by working on a Quizilla regular that will never be posted until I can un-cliche it. But, it got the juices flowing enough to work past the block, so hopefully the tale can now continue past this boring part to the fun stuff. Yay!
Bernard Thibideaux loved all things French. It seemed sacrilege to be in a city that barely knew what a good beignet should be. The entire world, in his opinion, should be as enamored of the French-Creole world he had always known as any native of his fair city. This world of enchiladas, tacos and the lisping Spanish words that sounded vaguely like chickens cackling was a cold and foreign land to him.
Subtlety meant nothing, and all colors were bold and garish.
Bernard could hardly wait for his adored French Quarter to be once again available to him. However, the Riverwalk would have to do. Downtown San Antonio must be acceptable for a few months more.
A friend still inside the Den's Council had warned him that Lawrence was here in town. They also passed along the name Anna MacKeary. She was here, in San Antonio. He wondered if Anna still smelled of summer rain and wildflowers, the sweet smell of innocence that had first attracted both Thibideaux men to her, though she had only ever been made aware of Lawrence's feelings. Now she would hunt him, for Lawrence, for the council. She would again be called in to subdue his animal nature.
The name Winchester had as well been mentioned. John Winchester had become a name among the occult circles of society, and his sons for the past half-year had followed closely, if somewhat bunglingly, in his footsteps. Bernard was unimpressed. They nearly died more often than they legitimately hunted, and had they been working alone he would have been unconcerned. It was Anna's presence that worried him. She had caught him for her father the first time and she could only have improved in the past four years.
Bernard sipped his wine, some generic red the waiter had suggested, and watched a troop of pubescent cheerleaders pass. Bernard sniffed in derision at the uniform beige-ness of the girls. Every one had stick straight hair with honeyed highlights, thickly lined eyes, rose blushed cheeks and glossy lips. Not one stood out as an individual and even the brunettes were highlighted to shades of darker blonde. His sneer deepened at the bleach-blonde chaperone that shot him a sidelong invitation as she corralled some of the girls flirting with a mariachi band. This city sickened him, and the people who came here he found reprehensible.
Let the Den say what they wish, Bernard, for all his faults and deviations, was better than any one of these people.
Anna and Lawrence discussed strategy, Sam and Anna discussed plans. Dean watched it all with a quiet anger he was afraid to examine. Thibideaux was good, and he knew what he was talking about. They were running out of time. The full moon would be in three days, and before a plan of capture could be discussed, Bernard had to be found. Lawrence was tempted to go to the open fields and woodlands, Sam wanted to go either north south to the lakes, but Anna pushed Downtown. She was convinced he would want as similar a hunting ground as he could find to the Quarter.
Dean had to admit he sided with Lawrence, but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone.
Anna was close to losing her mind. Nobody had come close to agreeing with anyone else, and she wasn't about to let the Winchesters go wandering off on their own. Lawrence could handle himself, but she was reluctant to let him go off alone as well. Bernard was dangerous on his own, but let the moon rise and he was downright deadly.
"Alright, I'll tell you what," Sam finally said after the fourth hour of staring at a map of San Antonio. "Let's take the lakes out of the picture, since you two know the target and I don't. That leaves the hill country to the northwest and the downtown area."
"Not all of downtown, just the main hub. Probably along the Riverwalk. It's drained right now in preparation of the Mud Festival, so I think we should concentrate on the major tourist events."
"Why?" Lawrence was unconvinced that his brother would expose himself so blatantly. "I just can't see him going there. There'll be too many people and not enough cover."
Anna sighed and threw her empty beer bottle cross the kitchen to sink squarely into the recycling bin.
"Where would you go, Tibbs?"
"Where I could run free," he answered, ignoring the quickening of his pulse. She hadn't called him that in over four years.
"Where do you always go?" she pressed.
"Where I can run free. I like the room."
"But he doesn't." Anna moved her chair closer to Lawrence. "He always liked the challenge of hunting in a crowd. He seduces his prey, lures them to a safe-haven and then changes to chow down. Why would he change now?"
Lawrence shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "He doesn't know the city," he said, exasperated.
"But he's had plenty of time to explore the Riverwalk area. He's been missing for how long?"
"Almost four months," Lawrence sighed.
"Right, then." Anna's eyes shone. She could tell that Lawrence was coming around. "Four months for Bernard to explore, smile, watch patterns- to plan. Four months to figure it out. He's ready." Anna watched Lawrence think it through. Sam looked back and forth before catching his brother's eye. The Winchesters felt almost useless, but Dean smiled at Sam. He knew Anna trusted them, and he was positive she would trust their opinions on the hunt, but for right now, she had to convince Lawrence to see things her way.
Dean was unsure what to make of her nickname for Lawrence, but there was a whole history here he knew nothing about. Still, Dean had seen 'Tibbs's' face when she had let the name slip, and Dean had been forced to fight down the jealousy that rose in his stomach. He was also secretly intrigued by the revelation that Lawrence had his own preferences for hunting. Could he be like his brother?
"Okay," Lawrence threw his hands up in resignation. "Bernard hunts downtown. Where is he and how do we find him?"
Anna sighed and leaned back in her seat, staring past Sam out the window. Her eyes slowly moved to the city map on the table.
"The first night of the full moon is in two days. We wait and let him hunt that night. Then we'll know where he's moving."
The men all gasped in shock.
"That means he'll have already killed," Sam exclaimed.
Anna leveled a calm gaze on him, throwing a glance at Lawrence and Dean who both appeared equally unhappy.
"We won't find him otherwise." She stood and stretched. "Besides," Anna continued. "I was hired by the Den to i catch /i Bernard, not save the world." Anna turned and left the kitchen without acknowledging the protests behind her.
Lawrence sat still, quietly mulling over this news. The Den had hired Anna in spite of his presence, and after forcing him to team up with the Winchesters. Either they knew something he didn't, or Anna had contacted them herself. It mattered little, though. Anna would hunt his brother and her treatment of Bernard would be dictated by the Den's wishes. If the Council ordered it, Bernard would die at Anna's hand.
Sam and Dean entered the 'Blue Room' as they had begun calling Dean's room. Dean lay back on the bed and Sam sank into the armchair by the large windows. Neither brother spoke for a long while, letting the past few hours sink in. Finally, Sam spoke up.
"What did she mean 'the Den' hired her?"
Dean grunted and sat up. "I don't know. But 'Tibbs' didn't seem too happy about it."
Sam watched his brother, brow furrowed. Dean had been unusually quiet all day. Sam knew Dean was fighting a recurring dream, and he knew his brother was – unusually attracted to Anna. There had been girls Dean was attracted to, had flirted with or dated for a time, but Sam couldn't remember a single girl ever distracting his brother to such a degree.
"Are we really going to just wait around for this guy to kill someone? Shouldn't we be out there trying to find him?" The bedroom door swung open to reveal Lawrence.
"Yes, we should be trying to find him." Dean and Lawrence stared at each other. "Are you two coming with me?"
"What about Anna?" Sam called out.
"I'm ready." Lawrence turned to see Anna. She had changed from her skirt to t-shirt and jeans. The light jacket in her arms would cover the gun she always wore at the small of her back. She moved away toward the stairs. "Come on guys!"
Lawrence let out a relieved breath. Anna wanted to capture Bernard. She wouldn't kill him, regardless of the Den's wishes.
Dean smiled to Sam. Both were as relieved to discover that Anna was unwilling to wait for someone to die as they were to be doing something. Dean had never been one to wait around, and Sam was beginning to discover that he was more like his big brother than he had ever been willing to admit.
Anna opened the kitchen door and made her way across the yard to the garage. Behind her, the men spoke amongst themselves. Plotting her day's work in her mind, Anna opened the trunk of her car and pulled out a small metal case. She climbed in behind the wheel of her Mustang and waited for the men to fold themselves in around her.
"Everybody buckled in?" Anna laughed at the looks the men gave her and started the ignition.