Sorry folks for taking so long to write this chapter. I had it partly done but have been busy with life changes. My goal is to continue the story. Happy Reading. - S.
THEN:
Sam nodded in agreement. "Which one you want to go to? Where the first victim died?"
"Yeah the one that died after they left their workout gym. Let's head over there after we get something to eat first." Dean stood up.
Sam crossed his arms feeling annoyed with the man sitting on the bed. Dean eyebrows raised in question. "What? I'm hungry unless you want to go out and pick up some food for us." Sam turned abruptly and walked out of the motel room.
Five minutes later, Sam returned throwing the packaged snacks Dean liked on the bed next to his brother's head. "Anything else you want, your Highness? A shrimp cocktail perhaps? Maybe a mud-packed facial and a pedicure I can set up for you at the nearest salon?" He sarcastically retorted.
Dean ignored his younger brother's last comments. "If you going have PMS, let's head out and find a diner somewhere to get real food." He grabbed his jacket and grinned as he heard his brother give a long frustrated sigh behind him.
NOW:
Dean drove to one of the bridges on over Belle River in Rural in St. Clair County. "This is where the first victim got butchered up."
"Yeah, let's see if there are any clues the cops missed.'" Sam got out of the car walking toward the bridge.
Dean followed his younger brother. "I wish the troll would come back around but I get the sense he makes this a onetime thing per bridge. This county has a lot of bridges."
Sam looked at the ground to see if there were any unusual clues. "True but we will find a pattern. There's a chance we can figure out the next bridge this monster may go." He looked at the weeds toward the side of the bridge and spotted an unusual dried fluid. It was a slightly yellow purplish color on some of the leaves and soil. It was sparse but it was enough traces to get his attention. "I found something. Sam fished out a pocket knife to cut a few strands of the weed grass that had the strange substance on the blades of grass. He placed the item in a napkin.
"What is it?" Dean looked down to see the other Winchester taking samples.
Sam looked at the leaves in his napkin. "Don't know. It could be some kind of mucus but it's definitely not human. I will check the books to see if we can identify this stuff."
The brothers found the crime scene where the first victim was found. There were traces of old dry blood spots on the concrete. They walked around the bridge toward the water. There was trash and debris scattered around.
"Well this is all the evidence we have for now at this location. Since the first victim was woman with a missing liver I wonder how he managed to remove it without making a lot of mess." Dean shook his head feeling a little disappointed.
Sam placed the bag in the trunk of the car. "Hey it's a start. Perhaps we will find more evidence at the other bridges."
The next two bridges were about the same. The men scanned for any abnormal things that might leave a trace of a Troll lingering around. When they reached the fourth bridge the brothers found some items that were unusual. Sam squatted down picking up a tool like item with both his hands. "This does not look like something you get at a hardware store." His green tinted hazel eyes inspected a very large worn leather wrapped handle with a two way rusted hammer head. Both sides have the appearance of being used for many years.
"The grip is not sized for a human. The way you are holding this thing you have to use two hands. Our monster guy has to be large to be able to use tools like this with one hand." Dean looked at it noticing the leather straps were unraveled.
Sam gritted his teeth setting the heavy large hammer aside. "I agree this belong to a non-human." He looked around spotting a piece of torn leather that was not related to the hammer. "Hey there is something under the bush over there. The younger Winchester picked up the item noticing there was something brown caked on it. "This looks like blood I wonder if this is the victim's blood or the troll's blood."
Dean looked carefully at the leather. "Hmm, It maybe either. Let's get this stuff and head back to the motel. Do you need any help with the hammer?"
Sam smiled with a sinister expression. "Sure if you can handle the weight." He watched his brother attempts to pick up the hammer with ease with the realization it was very heavy. He laughed seeing the expression of surprise and determination to carry it to the car.
"What's so funny?" Dean gasped wanting to drop this heavy thing.
The man opened the trunk out of courtesy for his brother. "Nothing really. Don't hurt your back putting it into the trunk." His comment earned a death stare from the green eyed man. "I am just joking man. I hope these items will give us a clue where this troll may be."
Dean exhaled when he shut the trunk of this car. "If not, we will have to guess which bridge this monster will go to next." He rubbed his hands not liking the old sour leather smell on his palms. "This thing is pretty grimy. I guess trolls are not very clean creatures." Dean moved his palms to try to get the sticky smell off his hands.
The younger man shrugged getting into the car. They returned to the motel room which the green eyed man made a bee line to the bathroom. Sam made a call to Cas updating him on what they found at the last bridge. The angel was unable to give some advice regarding the trolls. When Dean left the bathroom Sam quickly asked for Mara then handing the cell phone to his older brother.
"What?" He asked with curiosity. Placing the device to his ear, he heard a feminine voice he was now familiar with. "Mara?"
"Yes Dean. Did you need something?" She asked sounding concern.
The man gave Sam a death stare not liking dirty trick Sam just did. "Um I don't need anything. Everything is fine over here." He saw his younger brother write something down on a pad to instantly display the words written. The green eyed man eyes widen a bit. "Mara since you come from a lineage of your Mai, do you have any written history about trolls?" Turning away from his younger brother, "Have your people ever run into them?"
The woman on the other end making an hmm sound. "I never heard stories about them but let me call a few elders. I know two that keep an archive of the Mai's history and folk lore. I will contact them after I get off the phone with you. Give me a couple of hours for me to either call you back or send you an email of what I discover."
The man smiled feeling hope her people have some information. "You can call me back if you find something. If you don't find anything thanks for trying to help us."
"It's no problem Dean. I'm happy to help you stop this monster from killing innocent people. If you need an extra hand let me know." The woman voice sounded a bit cheerful.
Dean wanted to tell her she will not be joining any hunts in the future. Instead he answered. "Thanks for offering Mara but we got it under control for now. If things get really hairy I will have Cas zap you here okay?"
Mara sighed in frustration. "It's a deal. I will call you back." She walked into the library seeing the angel couple sitting on the couch. "Taking a break?" She asked looking at the cozy couple.
"Something like that." Curyiel smiled at Castiel with love.
Both disconnected the call. Dean looked over at this brother throwing his phone at Sam. "I was going to knock you block off but I changed my mind if Mara can help us. She is still determined to join our monster hunts."
Sam placed the phone on his night table. "Well she can be very useful. She does work for the FBI and can give us information if we need it. I would not rule her out completely from our hunts. Mara is a great fighter. She took you down remember?"
"Yeah, Yeah I remember." The older man shaking his head not forgetting how she pinned him down embarrassing him in front of everyone. "She got lucky that's all."
There was a chuckle across the room. "Lucky my ass she managed to get the weapon out of your hands and trussed you down with her legs like a Venus fly trap. It was pretty entertaining to watch."
Dean pointed at him. "Hey if you don't stop I will make you do a dead possum if you keep running your mouth."
Sam walked to the bathroom. "You are not going to knock me out bro. I will hire my new bodyguard to take care of you. Oh that's right she already did once before." He saw Dean grit his teeth about to come toward him. Grinning Sam quickly ran into the bathroom slamming the door.
The older Winchester wanted to punch the laughter out of his mouth on the other side of the bathroom door. "Jerk." He muttered. Sitting in front of the laptop, Dean surfed online on old folk tales about trolls and their tools. He thought it may provide an offhand clue about this monster.
Thirty minutes later Sam came out with a towel around his waist reaching for his carryon bag. "Did you find anything?"
Dean's eyes were fixed on the screen. "Not really. There are some stories about a troll using tools but nothing specific. I hope Mara's people will have more info about trolls. They must have run into them being supernatural creatures."
Sam held clean jeans, underwear, socks and a shirt. "Dean she may not consider herself a supernatural creature. She may think she is a different species similar to humans. She can shape shift that is part of the supernatural creatures but I think the Mai were not considered being that. She may get offended if she hears something like this from you."
"I'll keep that in mind." The man gruffly said still staring at the computer screen. "Let me know when you are finished with your beauty ritual so we can go out to check out more bridges. Did you map out any potential ones we should go to?"
The tall man ignored his snide comment. "Yeah, I picked three potential bridges that are near areas there are busy with people. Two look pretty unkempt so he may lurk around for a victim. Give me ten minutes and we can head out. The list is in my note book on my night table." Sam padded off to the bathroom to get dressed.
Walking over to the small table, Dean found the notes of the locations. He used his GPS on his cell phone to map out which way to go. Soon as Sam came of the bathroom. "Hey do you want to grab a bite to eat real quick before we start this hunt?"
"Sure, let's get some food." Both brothers grabbed their jacket leaving the motel room.
Dean drove into the parking lot of an old mom and pop restaurant. Sam ordered a salad and bottled water while his brother ordered a burger special. "We can go to the two nearest bridges from here." Pushing the note book across the table, Sam pointed out the check mark on Frith Road Bridge and the Trunk Line Bridge.
"Ok we got a plan. I hope we run into this thing at the one of these bridges tonight. I am so ready to get back home to my own bed." Dean slid the notebook back to his brother. He saw the expression on the man's face sitting across from him. "What?"
Sam smiled at the opportunity to pick on his brother once again. "You mean you can't wait to get back to Mara." Green eyes stared daggers at him. "Come on bro. Come clean you want to go home to her."
Dean snarled. "What is with you about me and Mara? You know how I don't like sleeping in old crappy motels. You can give me that look all you want." He picked up the menu to block out the man sitting across from him.
"Whatever you say Dean." His older brother glared at him. They changed the subject talking about how to capture this troll. When the meal was finished, they left a generous tip. They headed outside to the car.
The impala was parked thirty feet away from the Frith Road Bridge. Sam stepped out of the car looking around to see the area void of cars and people. This was a popular area where people ride ten speed bokes down this street. He looked over at the corner of the bridge and saw a strange light that barely see. It was streaming slightly between the tall weeds.
"Looks like we got some company ahead." Dean grumbled following the taller man in front of him. "You go around to the right and I will go this way." He glanced at Sam walking toward the other side where the bridge connects with the land. He stepped very silently avoiding twigs or items that may cause sounds. By the time the brothers were close to where this strange light was streaming, Dean saw a short being that was big boned in stature. His head was almost the size of two human men and his hands were very large. The creatures pant legs were not long that made its body dis-proportioned as he was scavenging the area around him. His scrappy head turned in surprise when he saw Sam quickly approached him. It turned to run toward what looked like an oval portal until Sam used a rope to lasso the man like being.
Sam moved fast wrapping the rope around the body. He managed to go around him three times as Dean was struggling to hold it still. The last few yards of the rope went around the huge wrists to pin his hands together. "Sam help me get this bronco monster down on its butt!" he growled.
"Let go of me at once human!" The deep voice of the creature roared in a guttural tone. "I have no gold or jewels you can steal from me." Using his stubby legs to kicking toward the two men, the troll yelled trying to get out of the ropes.
The older Winchester kicked the back of the troll's knees to make it fall backward on the ground. "Sit down we need to have a chat with you. We can do the easy way or the hard way." He watched Sam use another piece of rope to tie the yelling creature's feet together. "Ok buddy time to tell us everything. Did you kill someone already? If so where's the body?" The huge head turned its face away from the questioning man in defiance. "Ok it's clear you want the hard way." The green eyed man walked away heading to his car. Dean returned with the sword. As he approached, the hostile being made attempts to lunge at Sam until he spotted the sword in the older man's hand. Instantly, he cringed scooting away from the sharp weapon getting close to him. "Take what I have but spare me." His huge dark eyes directed toward a large sack in near the portal. "I have young ones to feed and take care of at home."
Dean gave a look of disgust imagining the monster children. "Ugh I hope they don't look anything like you."
"Human spare my life and I will give you anything. Gold, silver whatever you wish." He looked at both men raising his bound hands up to them in surrender.
The weapon was pointed toward the troll's face. "You should have thought of your life when you slaughtered those people for their organs." Now time to put you out of your misery." Raising the sword the green eyed man was about to slice open the monster.
The troll's eyes widen in shock and uttered. "It was not me that killed the humans. It was one of my kind but not me. We have been looking for him to stop the black market organ trading. He has broken the law and has to be punished."
Dean stopped the motion of killing him for a moment. 'Yeah right. Nice try troll. You are not getting out of this one." He was about to proceed to kill the monster.
"Wait!" Sam Caught Dean's arm. "He might not be the one we are looking for but we have him tied up. Let's see if he is telling the truth."
The older man looked incredulous at his younger brother. "You can't be serious. How is he going to prove he is not the killer? By showing his teleporting bridge license or a form of a Social Security number to identify trolls?" He turned toward the large being sitting on the ground. "How about it? Do you have some ID or something to prove you are not the organ trader?"
Hearing the younger man's words put hope into the troll. He looked back at the other man with fear in his dark eyes. "Look inside my things by the portal. You will see some scrolls with my orders and a picture of the troll I am searching for. There is a huge reward for his capture. I will share with you the payment if you spare my life. I swear it on my children's lives."
Dean walked over picking up the sack cloth. He turned the bag upside down to empty the contents in front of the troll. There were a variety of items displayed on the ground. Tools he was not familiar with that were not sharp, a few gold coins with strange markings on them and small odd shape pieces of silver. The items that stood out the most was a few rolled up sheets of dingy looking paper tied up with a leather string and a piece of cloth that smelled like sour cheese. Sifting through the stuff, Dean waved his hand back and forth across his face. "Whew what is that stench? Man your food smells crappy." He picked up the three scrolls. One was handed to Sam to open immediately. The older Winchester opened one to see a drawing of a troll with similar features like the one sitting on the ground before him. Dean held up the picture for Sam to view. "Is this the one killing people?" he asked the tied being.
"Yes." It gruffly said looking at the man in front of him. "You are hunting him too. Will you let me go so I can prevent any more killings?"
Sam looked at the scroll not recognizing the writing. It was in a language that probably has no translation. Digging for his cell phone he made a call to Castiel. "Hey Cas we need your help for a second." An instant later the angel appeared in front of the brothers.
Dean swore under his breath. "Dammit Cas I can't stand when you do that. Can you give some kind of warning?" he scowled in frustration.
"Sorry Dean. Sam gave me the impression that it was urgent you needed my help." The angel in the trench coat approached the younger Winchester. "What is it Sam?" His cobalt blue eyes looked down at the troll. "I have not seen creatures like this in several millennia. What are you doing here in this realm?"
The troll looked up to see man staring down at him. He felt a strange energy coming from him that felt ethereal and holy. "What are you?" he growled in surprise.
Castiel squatted in front of the man. "I am an angel. What is your kind doing here on this plane of existence? You were banned from coming here several thousand years ago." The man creature explained its mission. Cas stood up taking the scroll from Sam's hand. His eyes scanned the penmanship of what was written. "The troll is telling the truth. It's an edict to look for a troll that kills to sell organs for medicinal reasons. Dean we need to find it and make sure it will not kill anyone else."
Castiel asked the troll if there was more than one killer. The large being answered no. He asked for its name.
"My name is Brocan." The large brown eyed troll answered gruffly.
Dean also squatted next to the being. "We will make a deal Brocan. You lead us to this troll we will let you go. What do you say?"
The creature did not waste a moment answering. "I will help you find him but I need to return this troll to collect the reward.
Sam thought about the situation. "Can he be returned Dead or Alive?"
Brocan hummed for a couple of seconds. "He does not have to be alive but the reward will be reduced a little. I will share it with you if you release me."
Dean pulled the demon knife from his side. "Do you have any clues where he can be?" He cut the ropes off the troll's large wrists.
It gruffly answered. "Yes I think I know which place he will try to kill again."
The older Winchester cut the remaining ropes. He watched the large man like creature stand up on his stubby legs.
Brocan walked over to Castiel. "Thank you for helping me get free. We have crossed paths with your kind before. There is a legend of Angel folk helping all the trolls stopping a war between the Fairies and us. Your people sent the Fairies to another realm to keep the peace and balance in all worlds." He held out his large hand.
"You are welcome. Please help my friends catch this killer." Castiel shook Brocan's hand the best he could. The angel turned his face toward's Dean. "I am going back to the bunker. Call me if you need help."
Dean handed the Trolls sack of possessions back to the creature. "Um Sorry we mistaken you for the killer."
The gruff voice replied. "You are hunters doing your job. We work together, we can catch him real soon." Large eyes glanced over to see the angel teleport away from the area.
End of Chapter 20
More to come
