Chapter 5
Previous in Secrets of the Night:
The BAU was called to Dumfries, Virginia following a string of gruesome murders. The Winchester brothers were on the case as well when it appeared that the killers were demons, including one that Sam and Dean knew quite well. Things, however, seemed to take a turn for the worst when the fugitive brothers were arrested and the demons appeared to be using the town police chief and captain as meat suits. One of the BAU had a connection with the Winchester brothers, but before she could do anything to help them, JJ and Sam Winchester were taken by the demons.
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Now:
Location Unknown. October 31, 2007
There seemed to be a steady pounding of drums that, for the life of her, she just couldn't locate. It was safe to say that JJ woke up with a massive headache, and she swore there was a bump forming on the back of her head. With a groan, she moved to pick herself up from the stone cold concrete floor. Casting a glance around at her surroundings, JJ noticed that she was not alone in the dimly lit room. There was another figure lying not far from where she was sitting. In the dim light, she could only make out strands of the dark brown hair that were not hidden by the shadows.
"Hello?" she called out, unsure if this was a smart move or not. She didn't know if the slumped form was an unfortunate victim like herself, who could either be injured or dead, or if person was really the Unsub in disguise trying to mess with her. However, the FBI agent in her couldn't just turn her back on someone who might need her help. JJ struggled to her feet, her legs wobbling beneath her and her head spinning even faster. At last, to her disappointment, she gave up on trying to stand, but instead sluggishly crawled over to where the slumped body was. As JJ got closer to the figure, she could make out the bruised visage of Sam Winchester.
"Damn it," muttered JJ as she checked for a pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when she found one. "Hey, Sam. Wake up," urged JJ as she tried to shake him awake, hoping to have a conscious Winchester with her when she'd have to deal with the demons who kidnapped them. After what seemed like ages, the younger Winchester let out a groan as he started to stir.
Sam startled awake in the darkness, sensing a presence hovering over him. As his eyes began to focus, he could make out the relieved face of the familiar figure in front of him. "You're the agent from the police station," he groaned as he slowly rose to his feet before offering a hand to the agent still sitting on the dirty floor. "Why were you helping me? Who are you?" Sam asked, looking warily at the potential ally across from him.
"My name is JJ. I'm the Communications Liaison for the BAU," answered the blonde. "...And an old friend of Bobby and Dean." There was a little catch in her voice when she mentioned the elder Winchester brother, causing Sam to give her a questioning glance. Ignoring the look, she also drew Sam's attention to the silver necklace she was wearing. "It's silver-plated iron and a gift from Bobby after the Devil's Gate was opened," she stated.
As he took in the anti-possession pendant, Sam realized JJ had offered him an unspoken reassurance that she really was his ally in this mess they were in. "So you're the reason Dean knows so much about the BAU, huh," Sam stated as he did quick sweep of their dungy prison, missing JJ's look of surprise.
"I supposed so" was all JJ offered. "What happened? How long were we unconscious for, and how did we end up here? Wherever here is," she asked as she waved a hand about their surroundings.
At her questions, Sam gave his watch a quick glance before answering, "We were out for at most twenty minutes so wherever we are, we can't be that far from the station." Running a hand through his hair, he continued with an exhausted sigh. "At least one of the police officers is possessed so we could still be in police station for all we know."
"My team!" JJ exclaimed. Worry and frustration lined her voice. "They don't know about the supernatural!"
"Hey," said Sam. His voice softened as he placed his hands on JJ's shoulders briefly, hoping to reassure her. "Dean is still with them and Bobby is nearby. Besides, with our disappearance, Dean will most likely fill in your team on the supernatural. Or at least the demon part of it. Whether or not they believe him is another question though." Sam's voice turned thoughtful and troubled as he continued. "We can't rule out that they might be possessed either."
Sam's words calmed JJ for the moment so she decided to return the favor. "They're not," she stated. "Possessed," JJ clarified when she saw Sam's raised eyebrows at the statement. "Everyone on my team is wearing the gifts I got them in one form or another, and all of them have the anti-possession charm etched on them."
Letting out a relieved chuckled, Sam commented, "That's really...thoughtful. You're certainly full of surprises."
"That's usually Dean's line," JJ said with a brief smile.
Her casual comment raised questions in Sam's mind not for the first time that day about the relationship between his brother and the F.B.I agent trapped with him. He would have asked her about them if JJ hadn't chosen that moment to brush a strand of stray hair from her face, drawing Sam's attention to it.
"I don't want to worry you," Sam began, "but are you an active hunter or have dealt with demons before?"
JJ furrowed her brows in confusion as she shook her head in denial to his question before Sam saw a look of understanding crossed her face.
"No, but I fit the female victimology," JJ said. The statement echoed ominously across the dark room.
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Dumfries Police Station. October 31, 2007.
"Okay, explain again how you know JJ?" Reid asked for the tenth time.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Dean answered through clenched teeth. "Dude, no matter how many times you ask the question, the answer's still gonna be the same. We dated years ago. Now can we get back to the problem at hand?"
"Yeah, sure. But did she dump your ass before or after she found out you're a psychopathic killer who thinks he's hunting demons and monsters?" Morgan butted in, still miffed that someone he'd trusted and worked with for years could keep something as important as the fact that she knew some of the most wanted FBI fugitives personally a secret.
"Morgan," cautioned Hotch as Dean gave Morgan a stink eye. While Hotchner could understand some of Morgan's anger at JJ and the secrets she had kept, they had more pressing matters to deal with. They had two psychopathic killers on their hands (and no, he wasn't talking about the Winchesters) who appeared to be the town's own Chief of Police and Captain. Oh, and let's not forget that according to Winchester, the officers were not the real killers. It was really the fault of the demons inside of the two that had given them the supernatural powers he'd seen earlier. And most importantly, one of the BAU's own had been taken by these killers who clearly had a grudge against the Winchesters minutes after she had tried to help Sam Winchester escape police custody. Not to mention, JJ physically resembled the other female victims aside from Elizabeth Jackson to the T.
In hope of keeping the peace within the group and learning more about these "demons," Rossi turned toward Winchester. "What can you tell us about these so-called demons? How exactly do you know them because that message that was left behind seems pretty personal to me."
"Sam and I might have ganked the demons she'd called her father and brother," Dean answered with a grimace. "We might have also tried to send her ass back to hell a few times in the past. Although in all fairness, she and her demon pals were also trying to kill us."
"Wait, she?" questioned Prentiss as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I thought the "demon" who took JJ and Sam Winchester was male." While her question held genuine confusion, it was also full of skepticism that those in the room could heard the quotes around the word "demon".
"It's a team, with the demon possessing Captain Wards the leader of the two," Dean answered as professionally as he could. He understood the agents' skepticism but given that one of their own was taken, he'd hoped that they would be a bit more cooperative and not questioned every little thing he told them. "Look, we could sit here, and you could keep asking me the same questions over and over again; or we could get to work looking for my brother and your agent."
"Ok," offered Rossi as he raised his hands in surrender, letting Dean know that he was willing to suspend his disbelief in the supernatural for the moment to work with the hunter. "Tell us how to stop these demons."
"Well, long story short," Dean began, "your guns are useless. I mean, they'll hurt the human bodies but they won't slow down the demons." Noting the troubled glances between the agents, he continued, hoping to lessen their worries. "Holy water, salt, and iron will do that. Rock salt guns will slow demons down and they can't cross salt lines."
Pausing for a moment, Dean grabbed a pen and paper from the table and drew a pentagram containing various symbols. Tapping at the drawing, he told the agents, "This is a Devil's Trap. It does what its name implies. You trick demon inside it and it's stuck, giving you time to exorcise its ass back to hell. Other than that, there are only two ways to kill a demon. One way is with a special demon-killing knife, which unfortunately, we don't have. Then, there's the Colt, which we do have," Dean finished with a predatory smile. "But we need the supplies that you guys took from my room and the Impala, though," he reminded the agents.
"All right," said Hotch as he stood up from the table, "Rossi and Agent Reidy, if you could remain here with Winchester." An unspoken message passed between the two profilers, Hotchner trusting his friend and teammate to keep an eye on both Dean Winchester and the unknown variable of Special Agent Calvin Reidy.
"Garcia," Hotch continued, "look up what you can on Chief Forker and Captain Wards. Any properties or places they could be holding JJ and Sam Winchester in. Look for some place isolated, where they don't have to worry about neighbors disturbing them since that is where the other victims might have been killed."
Garcia gave Hotch a quick nod as her fingers flew across her keyboard, "On it, Sir."
Turning to Morgan and Prentiss, Hotch ordered, "You two go and retrieve the supplies and weapons we picked up with the Winchesters from evidence." Addressing the rest of his team, he added, "Reid and I will give a revised profile to the Dumfries PD. Agent Henriksen, if you could come with us -"
"Actually," interrupted Henriksen, "I'll be staying with Winchester. You might be in charge of this case, but I'm not losing Winchester again. He's not leaving my sight."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Hotchner replied, "Fine." Trading another quick glance with Rossi, he and Reid left to deliver the Unsubs' profiles.
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Prentiss could feel the anger, hurt, and disbelief radiating off her partner as they made their way to the Winchesters' Impala. Morgan had gone from vocally expressing his displeasure at the thought of working with Winchester and learning JJ's secret to silently brooding as soon as Hotch asked them to retrieve Winchester's arsenal. While Prentiss understood what Morgan was feeling since the entire team was still reeling from JJ's secret past, she also understood that JJ had a life outside of their team. Like Winchester said, they had a right to their hurt feelings, but at the moment they need to focus on the bigger picture and get their teammate back. Now, Prentiss just had to get Morgan to see that.
"Are you done nursing your hurt feelings or are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" she asked, turning to her partner.
At her bluntness, Morgan turned to Prentiss with a raised eyebrow. "You are telling me that you are okay with what's going on?" he demanded. "That the woman I've trusted, that we've trusted, to have our backs was lying to us the entire time?"
Coming to a stop at the trunk of the black Impala, Prentiss faced her teammate. "I'm far from okay, Morgan." Letting out a humorless chuckle, she continued, "I just learned that the monsters are real, and one of the worst of them took JJ. Yet, we are arguing among ourselves instead of finding a way to get her back."
Morgan looked away guiltily, opening the Impala's trunk to mask his actions.
"Look," Prentiss's tone softened as she placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder. "We all have something from our past that we would rather not talk about, whether it was good or bad." Memories of a year of lies, a golden gimmal ring, and little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, who she would do anything for, came to her mind before she roughly pushed them aside.
Taking a moment to collect her thoughts as she packed Winchester's weapons into one of the duffle bags left in the trunk, Prentiss let out a tired sigh before continuing, "Besides, you yourself was less than eager to share with the team something from your past that landed you on the suspect list for a serial killer last year."
Morgan's face turned sour at the mention of what had transpired the last time he was in his hometown. Grabbing the duffle bags full of "hunting" gears, he slammed the trunk closed with a hard thud that Prentiss absently thought Winchester wouldn't be too happy with. They stood facing each other for seemed to her like ages. Morgan with his clenched fists and stormy eyes before they finally fluttered closed. He slowly let out a reluctant breath before his dark eyes found hers again. "Okay," Morgan began slowly. "We focus on getting JJ back and taking down these sons of bitches first. And I'll stop baiting Winchester," he added, not too happily.
Satisfied with Morgan's answer for now, Prentiss led as the two started to head back inside the station towards the evidence locker only to see an officer approaching them a short distance away. "I wondered what's wrong," said Prentiss as she gave a quick glance at her watch. "We haven't been gone that long."
Morgan stiffened beside her as he observed the officer. "Something's not right."
Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, the approaching figure drew his sidearm. Before the man could fire off a shot though, another figure that neither Prentiss nor Morgan had noticed before roughly whacked the man in uniform on the back of his head. However, instead of dropping to the ground from the force of the hit like Prentiss had expected, the man who she recognized as Officer Merritt merely dropped his weapon. His eyes turned solid black as he rounded on his attacker.
Realizing that Officer Merritt was most likely "possessed" by so-called demons like Winchester mentioned earlier, she and Morgan quickly drew their own weapons and rushed forward to aid the mystery man. Unperturbed by the events unfolding before him, the elder man threw what appeared to be water on to the possessed officer. Prentiss couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Officer Merritt's reaction to that. Blistering holes appeared on his clothes as steams came off of him. In response to the attack, Merritt threw back his head with a scream while black smokes shot out of his mouth into the sky before it veered toward the station.
"Son of a bitch," cursed the yet to be identified man as he tracked the progress of the black smoke. Turning to Prentiss and Morgan who stood in shock in front of him, he urged, "Come on we need to get inside and regroup before that thing finds another meat suit to wear."
"Wait! Who are you?" questioned Prentiss as Morgan at last broke out of his stupor to check the fallen officer for a pulse.
"Name's Bobby Singer, a friend of JJ and the Winchesters, and I don't really think we have time for a meet and greet," answered the hunter with a frown, obviously in a hurry to track down the demon who had escaped.
Before Prentiss could answer, Morgan interrupted, "He's gone."
Bending down to double check, Singer grimly remarked, "Balls! Who knows how long your guy here have been dead? That demon could have been riding him for weeks." The old hunter straightened up as he directed Morgan to help him lift up Officer Merritt's body. "Best move his body out of the way, and either cover it with salt or surround it with a salt circle to prevent other demons from using it," he advised.
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Looking at the nine members of the Dumfries' Police Department assembled in front of them, Reid was glad for this one time that he and his team were dealing with a small police department. Two officers had already asked about the disappearances of the Chief of Police and Captain. There was an awkward pause when the questions were asked before Hotch had carried on with the profile, hoping to distract the officers.
As Hotch concluded their revised profile, Reid noticed an officer from the back slowly edging forward. Everything in Reid screamed that the man was dangerous. As he continued to follow the officer's movements, Reid noticed officer's eyes flickered solid black. Moving up behind his boss, Reid warned, "Hotch, possible demon." He watched as Hotch's eyes turned to the officer in question.
Before either of them could make a move, the demon must have caught on that they were aware of his presence as a smirk made way across his face and he quickly moved to the front. Reid's instincts told him to be cautious when he noticed that the other officers parted to make way for the demon as if they were in on his plans.
"Well boys, look like the jig is up," drawled the possessed officer. "Winchester has probably filled you in on what we are," he guessed, confirming Reid's and Hotch's suspicions that the rest of the officers probably wasn't in control of their bodies either.
At their silent admission, the demon continued, "Look, we got no beef with you and your team. We just want the Winchester boys. Leave now and don't look back and you can still make it out of this alive."
"Somehow, I doubt that," answered Hotch as he eyed the demon with caution. "We can't exact turn our backs on the fact that you've murdered all those people."
"Sure you can," stated the ringleader with a smirk. "Besides, necessary evil. Had to draw those Winchester boys here somehow." He shrugged nonchalantly, as if taking 7+ lives meant nothing to him. "There's not exactly anything you can do, and you can't fight us," he continued.
Bang! The sudden sound of gunshot shocked all those in the room as a bullet embedded itself right into the speaking demon's forehead. Red electric-like lights flickered throughout his body and emitted from his eyes and mouth as his body seized about before it dropped with a mundane thud.
"No, but I can, asshole."
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AN: Here is the answer to the question I'd asked about a Criminal Minds quote for last chapter. The line, which Hotch delivered in Chapter 4, was from Criminal Minds episode "Poison" (1.13) from Gideon to Unsub who had asked, "Are you a shrink or a cop?" Gideon answered with "Well, I'm an FBI profiler, so I guess I'm a little of each."
