Disclaimer: I wish I may, I wish I might? Did it work? They still aren't mine? Crap.
5. Surveillance
They found the driveway to the house on their second pass. Jessica hadn't been kidding when she said it was easy to miss. They drove a little further away from town and parked the car on a dirt driveway that had a metal gate across it. The padlock and chain were severely rusted and tall grass was growing up the middle of the track – so it didn't look as if whoever owned the property would be by anytime soon and have them towed for blocking their driveway. Dean backed the car into the drive and parked as close to the gate as possible. Neither hunter wanted the car to be seen from the road by some passing motorist, and have them calling the cops. Chief Swan would know the Impala at once and then they would be in hot water.
They pulled their gear out of the trunk. Like earlier, they were carrying an assortment of weapons apiece. Guns with regular rounds, silver rounds, the sawed-off with the salt rounds, holy water, silver blades, a machete and Dean even grabbed one of the grenades from the strong box. He gave his brother a goofy smirk. He always wanted to blow shit up.
They took off cross country through the woods. Dean had his compass and Sammy had his GPS. Jessica's map showed the house had a nearly three mile long driveway – talk about being out of the way. It was dark and there were a lot of trees and protruding roots so it took a long time to come up to the clearing surrounding the house, plus there was the added concentration of having their mental blocks in place to keep out invaders. Their dad would have kicked their asses for doing this with so little intel, but they didn't have many options. The body count was still rising in Seattle. The lights were on in the house, and they carefully made their way around the clearing. The house was huge, beautiful and had one wall that was nearly entirely made of glass. If it weren't full of a family of monsters it would be perfect. They could see different members of the "family" wandering around through the house. Both brothers had their binoculars plastered to their faces as they watched from the trees.
Carlisle could be seen speaking to a woman, and then wrapping his arms around her in a reassuring embrace. She must be the Doc's wife – Esme. Jessica was right when she'd told Sam that she was really pretty – pretty was an understatement. In fact, all of them were beautiful. There was one in there, a tall and statuesque blonde that Dean would hit on in a second if he didn't know there was something distinctly non-human about her. The only other female that the hunters saw was a tiny little wisp of a girl with spiky black hair.
"If that little one tops four foot ten, I'll eat these binoculars." Dean smirked.
"That one must be Alice, Jessica said she was the youngest."
"What do you figure? Twelve? Thirteen?"
"Not if she's dressed like that." Sam deadpanned. Dean shrugged, he'd seen lots of parents stupid enough to let their little daughters dress like they were twenty-something. These idiots ever hear of pedophiles? Stupid.
"Whoa, check them out." Dean whistled. Two men just walked into the living room from another part of the house. One was big and burly, easily as broad as Sam if not as tall. The other was a blonde, rangy in build but for some reason he reminded Dean of a tense and coiled snake.
"Emmett and Jasper." Sam surmised. "Those two look like fighters."
"Yup." Dean panned his field glasses around the living room, not seeing the missing Cullen. "Doesn't look like Eddo's home right now." Dean swept his gaze across the living room again.
"Eewww!" Both brothers exclaimed together. The big one just laid a kiss on the hot blonde chick. Not some peck on the cheek 'hey sis, good to see ya' kiss, but a 'meet me back at my hotel room in ten minutes' kind of kiss.
"I thought they were brother and sister!" Dean gagged.
"They're posing as siblings, doesn't mean they really are." Sam grimaced.
"Still gross."
They heard the sound of a car coming up the drive a minute before the headlights flashed through the tree lined driveway. It was a little silver car, piece of shit import Volvo, Dean thought derisively. The car sped along the gravel drive at a quick pace, pulling into a large garage and disappeared behind the automatic door as it closed behind the car. A minute later, a side door opened and Edward strode across the yard and leapt lightly onto the porch and vanished into the mansion.
"Eddie's back." Dean smirked, looking at his watch. Quarter past eleven. "How much you want to bet his squeeze has a curfew and her daddy threw him out of the house?"
"I don't know, but I didn't like how he was holding onto her in the hospital earlier. Possessive-like."
"Do you think the girl knows what they are?" Dean glanced at his brother.
"It's possible, hell, more than likely she does, but what I don't get is why. If she knows what they are, and they're something strange – there's no doubt about that – why is she with them?"
"Maybe they got her brainwashed or something. Maybe she can't help it."
"Like a siren song, or a love potion?" Sam's forehead creased with thought.
"Maybe." Dean chewed his bottom lip. "Everything is connected here somehow Sammy, I just know it. From the killings in Seattle, the missing people, the Cullen's and this Bella chick. They're all mixed up together."
"I'm not arguing with you there, Dean." Sam went back to his surveillance, "But we are no where close to figuring out what's going on." Sam put down his glasses and gave his brother the puppy-dog eyes. "Maybe we should call in some help."
It sounded good. Call in Bobby and Caleb, Mac. Hell – even Josh might come in useful. Jerk's been known to do that from time to time and ever since Gideon and Ian's death, Josh's allegiance was undoubtedly squarely behind the future Triad. But Dean only had a few weeks left. As much as he loved his extended-adopted family, he couldn't take the pitying looks he got from them, and they only helped to feed Sammy's fear. It had been hard enough to convince Damien to go on the hunt in Texas with Ethan and Elijah. It was crucial that Sam and Caleb develop a relationship with the twins as one of them would have to take his place as Guardian of the Triad.
"No." He answered his brother's question. "Not yet anyway. We'll dig some more, at least try and figure out the players. Then maybe we'll call Bobby. He's closest to here and he's smarter than both of us put together… But not yet." Dean could not look at the pain in the older man's eyes as the day of his death drew closer and closer.
Sam nodded, and covered his face with the binoculars again. "Dude," he whispered, nudging his brother's arm. Dean turned his focus on the house. "Look. They're leaving."
The entire family walked out of a patio door and walked out into the darkness towards the river. Once they left the glow of the mansion, they were impossible to see. Dean picked up the night-scopes, the green-lit environment showed the family leaping over a narrow part of the river and running into the forest.
"Where do you think they're going?" Dean asked as he passed the night vision goggles to his brother. Sam took a quick peek and handed them back to him – the Cullen's were already gone.
"Don't know."
"Wanna break in and snoop around?" Dean grinned.
"You read my mind."
"Let's go, bitch."
It didn't take long to enter the house – the patio door the freak-family exited out of was unlocked. They obviously weren't concerned about burglars, but since this place was nearly off the map to even the locals, burglars apparently weren't a problem. The inside of the house was clean and orderly – too much white – but nice inside.
"Dude!" Dean exclaimed. "Check out the size of that flat-screen!" Dean wandered over to the giant TV. "Oh man! They have and X-box 360 and a Playstation3.
"Focus Dean." Sam warned him from the grand piano on a dais.
Dean grumbled. He was focused.
Sam moved to the kitchen so Dean followed him in there. It looked normal. A run of the mill, upscale kitchen. Appliances on the counters, dishes in the cupboards, fruit in a bowl on the table. Dean opened the fridge – it was nearly empty. Just some sodas and a few snack-like things.
Odd.
Dean went and rummaged through the rest of the cupboards and the pantry. The pantry was completely bare. Not even a stale box of cereal or crackers.
"Not much food in the place for a family of seven." Dean let the cupboard door slam shut.
"Why? Are you hungry again?" Sam snarked from where he was kneeling on the floor and peering into the lower cabinets.
"No." Dean rolled his eyes. Like he'd eat anything from this house anyway. "What I mean, is that they are miles from ass-crack nowhere. If they don't eat food in the house…"
"What do they eat." Sam finished for him, pulling his head out of the cabinet and resting on his heels.
"Shape-shifters eat food, just like humans."
"Which probably scratches them off the list of possibles."
"What they do have here is most likely for Bella when she's here."
Sam nodded. "Demi-gods don't eat food, unless it's a sacrifice."
Dean whipped around. "Do you think they're going to sacrifice the Chief's daughter?"
Sam frowned. "I don't know, Dean. It would make sense, but then that would draw a lot of attention to them as Edward and Bella are known to be always together. If she goes missing, a lot of people are going to be asking them questions, and I don't think they'd want that."
"This case keeps getting worse and worse." Dean scrubbed a hand over his stubbled face. "Come on." He gestured to the rest of the house. "Let's check out the rest of the house before the Munster's get home."
The rest of the house was just as normal as the first floor. Bedrooms with clothes neatly hung and put away. Giant closets filled with expensive labels – someone had a serious clothes fetish. There was a giant cross on the wall over the next staircase. That likely crossed off demons. Only the higher echelons of demons could stand Christian symbols for any length of time. Muttering 'Christo' to a basement level minion hurt them enough to reveal themselves. There was a library of sorts, it looked to be the Doc's office and Dean left Sam to look through it as he went up to the third floor.
There was a small bathroom and shower, an office with a giant desk and various building plans and a drafting table – someone liked architecture. Then there was a bedroom. It had gold colored walls, a big bed with roses adorning the cast iron frame. That means that iron is off the list of weapons. There was a high end stereo system with a shelf of CD's that nearly took up an entire wall. And on the nightstand next to the bed was a picture of Edward and Bella.
Eddie's room.
Dean picked up the picture and studied it. Ed had his arms wrapped around Bella's waist and the two of them were laughing. Whoever took the shot captured the look in their eyes perfectly. They loved each other – pure and simple. It reminded Dean of the picture Sam kept hidden in his wallet. Sam didn't know he knew about the picture, but Dean had seen it once and it haunted him. It was a picture of Sam and Jessica in much the same pose as Edward and Bella, and the look of pure love was just as evident on Sam's face as it was on Edward's. Dean's throat constricted a bit at the thought of Sam's dead girlfriend. Though he'd never told anyone, he'd always felt guilty about the girl's death. If he hadn't talked Sam into leaving with him to find their father, Sam might have been able to save her – keep her safe from the demon. Now Jessica was dead and Sam was pulled back to a life of hunting and vengeance. Though the Yellow-Eyed demon was now dead, Sam now had to deal with the repercussions of Dean's deal. Dean hoped that someday Sam would be able to have the normal life he'd dreamed of with Jess. Or at least as normal as it got for the Winchesters and the Brotherhood. Lots of other hunters had families, and though they were fraught with danger, love and happiness was possible for their kind. He liked to think that if Sammy someday found someone willing to put up with the mess they called life, and he was able to have a couple of kids, then his deal would be worth it. He'd have to talk to Damien soon and tell him to push Sam into going back to school when the time was right.
"Dean?" Sam called from the bottom of the stairs.
Dean shook himself out of his self-pity-party. Replacing the photo back on the nightstand, Dean left the room and strode to the top of the stairs. "You find anything, Sammy?"
"Not even a Playboy. They're the freaking Cleavers. You?"
"Nada." Dean started thumping his way heavily down the stairs. "Let's check out the garage and get out of here."
Dean let out and appreciative whistle when they opened the door into the garage. A Mercedes, a BMW convertible, a Range Rover with roll bars and caked in mud, the Volvo, a yellow Porsche, and a Harley near the wall next to a covered car. Dean walked to the cloth tarp and lifted it back. He let out another whistle.
An Aston Martin.
Dean was a James Bond fan and considered the car beautiful, even if it was foreign. These Cullen's certainly liked their ritzy vehicles.
Dean's mind flashed back to the photo of Eddie and Bella. Was she a sacrifice? Would Edward allow her to be killed even though he loved her? What were their plans concerning the girl? And how did it all tie into the trouble in Seattle? Looking at the Volvo, Dean had an epiphany.
"Sammy, give me your cell phone." He had to protect the girl. She was human and it was his job to save the innocent.
Sam gave him a quizzical look but handed over the hunk of plastic and circuitry. "What are you going to do with it?"
Dean grabbed a roll of duct tape from a peg above a work bench, dropped on his back and wiggled his way under the Volvo. His voice floated out to his brother from underneath the car, along with the sound of Dean ripping off a length of tape. "We have to protect the girl. Since she's always with Eddo, we track his ride."
"…And we know where she is." Sam finished. "But what do I do for a phone now?" Sam asked him as Dean shimmied his way out from underneath the import piece of shit.
Dusting his hands off on his jeans, he said, "Just grab the old one of Dad's in the glove compartment."
Sam shrugged. "We should get out of here incase they come back."
"Yeah, it's going to take awhile to get back to the Impala."
They were trudging though the woods when a thought hit him. He'd been thinking how they needed more information on the Cullen's, and they couldn't interview everyone in town without raising suspicion, and they certainly couldn't go near the girl. "I've got an idea!" He exclaimed.
Sam glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I've still got that listening device I borrowed from Ethan – let's bug the Doc's office!"
"Borrowed?" Sam's forehead creased. "More like you ransacked his car when Caleb was stitching him up."
Dean shrugged – six of one, half dozen of the other. "Point being, we can bug his office and maybe learn more about what's going on."
Sam nodded, his 'deep in thought' expression back in place. "We don't have many other options here Dean…If we don't learn something useful tomorrow, I'm calling in Bobby."
Dean didn't like that Sam was playing the Bobby card, but couldn't really blame him. This case just had too many holes and too many variables. "Okay fine. But I get the whole day."
Sam huffed, peeved at his brother's stubbornness. "Whatever man. We gotta get out of these freaking woods first."
"Yeah, this is bear country too." Dean shuddered. He didn't like bears. He could face supernatural fuglies no problem. But he didn't like killing an animal just because it was an animal that posed a threat to him. It struck him as wrong.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
They made it back to the Impala without incident, and were outside the hospital by four am. Overnight security was a joke, and the Winchesters were outside the Doc's office in minutes. Dean knelt and pulled his lock-pick kit from his pocket. Twenty seconds later the two hunters were inside and shut the door behind them. Flashlights drawn, Sam scanned the office for clues while Dean taped the wire and microphone to the underside of a desk drawer.
"Sammy, you wait here while I go back to the car to make sure this sucker's working." Dean slipped out the room and snuck back to the classic Chevy. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his dad's number, pushing aside the emotions that came along with it. All the times he'd called that number the last year of their dad's life, and the bastard never answered. Sammy answered on the first ring though. Dean could hear the phone ringing in his ear, as well as on the walkie-talkie receiver contraption in his hand.
"Dean, is it working?" Sam's voice hit him double as it came from the phone and the receiver.
"Loud and clear, Sammy. Get out of there."
Dean flipped his phone shut. He was going to figure out what was going on if it was the last thing he did. He winced at the accuracy of that thought. His deadline was fast approaching.
A/N: Okay, just a little note to whoever might be reading this, that as much as I loved Stephenie Meyer's work, I didn't like the fact that she made the vampires all powerful and virtually indestructible. To me, it makes them less sympathetic if the only danger they have to worry about was from other vampires. And I don't like humans being nothing more than lunch on the go. In nature, prey normally has a way to defend itself from the hunter, whether the prey is faster, moves in herds, is camouflaged, or is just plain huge, it can still stand a chance of surviving. In SM's work, there was no chance and I just can't do that in this story, otherwise Sam and Dean are sitting ducks and those two are anything but. So I am going to go halfway between SM's vampires and the vampires of Supernatural. The Cullen's can still sparkle in the sunlight, and not have fangs, and they will still have the extra abilities SM gave them, but they have weaknesses, they can be hurt and killed. They will still be stronger and faster than humans, but not so much so that fighting against them is futile. I am an underdog rooter, and humans are definitely the underdogs in this story, but I will give them a chance. So I hope this change doesn't offend any readers, that certainly isn't my goal here – I'm writing this because I love both of these fandoms. But for this cross-over to work, Sam and Dean need to stand a fighting chance.
A/N 2: I didn't lose anyone yet did I? If you're unfamiliar with The Brotherhood, Ethan and Eli are hunters as well. Caleb (Damien) is friends with the Winchester's and studied under John (Caleb is the third part of the Triad, with Dean and Sam). Joshua is part of the Brotherhood as well and knows witchcraft. There is a tenuous relationship between the boys and Josh, but they are trying to work through it. Josh is loyal to the cause, and is trying to get out from under the shadow of his father (who is a hunter as well, but turned traitor and has essentially been shunned by the Brotherhood). It really is a great little world that Ridley came up with, and you can find her stories here on fanfiction, or at her site, www (dot) thehunterstomb (dot) com.