Devour

Chapter 1 - A Familiar Face

Sam burrowed his head further into the pillow beneath him. It was too bright, everything was too bright. Scrunshing his eyes shut in an attempt to block it out Sam dropped a hand down to the floor in search of the half empty bottle he had left there the night before. Eventually finding it he twisted the cap off and raised the neck to his lips. The light seemed almost tolerable as he felt the burn of whisky on his throat, almost. After the last of the liquid passed his lips Sam dropped the empty bottle onto the floor and sat up with a sigh.

He didn't know what to do now. There had to be another way, there had to be something else that he could do to get Dean back. And failing that there was always revenge. Lilith was still out there somewhere. The problem was that he didn't know how to do either of those things. That meant that he actually had to do some research, and for that he had to get his head in the game. Groaning Sam stood and stumbled over to the door. First thing first, he needed something to eat. Then he could hit the books and start looking for something else. It was like the mystery spot all over again. Except this time the trickster wasn't there. This wasn't his doing and he couldn't fix it. That gave Sam a moments pause. Maybe he could. The trickster could manipulate time, maybe he could help. There was only one problem with that theory and that was that there was no way he would help.

Sam barely registered anything around him as he sat down in the diner. That was until he saw it. Someone had left a newspaper sitting on the table. Usually the hunter wouldn't have spared it a glance. But there was a picture on the front page. And it was a picture of a face he knew as well as he knew his own. It was a picture of Dean. Suddenly frantic after waking up completely numb, Sam grabbed the paper and rushed back to his motel room without ordering anything.

Once safely back in his room he spread the paper out on the table and looked at it again. He had been half expecting to see a different picturing staring back at him. It wouldn't have been the first time, but the picture was the same. He was a little younger, but it was definitely Dean. There was no way that he would mistake his own brother.

Eventually Sam managed to drag his eyes away from the picture to read the actual article that accompanied it.

Local college student Jake Gray was incarcerated this morning for the ritualistic murders of his parents Paul and Kathy Gray. The Grays are the latest in a string of unusual deaths including Jake's maternal uncle, Sargent Ross North and his two closest friends.

Unconsciously Sam's eyes drift back to the picture of 'Jake'. It couldn't be a coincidence. There was no way that two people could look so much alike for no reason. And even if that were the case, what were the chances of someone looking so much like Dean being involved in deaths described as ritualistic. There was something going on here, something big, and it reaked of demons.

Pulling the laptop out of his bag Sam brought up everything he could on Cheever Lake and Jake Gray. Finally he had something, finally he had a lead, something to concentrate on. He was going to get to the bottom of this, and then hopefully he could get his brother back.