Dean and Sam sat at Bobbys table eating breakfast, Sam with his laptop open beside him and Dean devouring the bacon in front of him. Bobby came in from the other room and sat down at the table with them, dropping a big book down in front of him.
"I still don't know what the hell we are dealing with, but if we keep waiting, more kids are going to die." the older hunter flipped through the book and rubbed his face. He'd been up all night researching but so far he'd come up empty. "You know it's bad when we get called by another hunter about it."
"Three kids killed so far and two in critical condition. The only wounds are their eyes having been ripped out of their heads. There were no visitors at the hospital during the attacks and no signs of trouble before they happened." Sam read through the article online hoping for more facts, but nothing they did not already know.
"I guess the only thing to do is to go out there and try to figure out what we're dealing with and how to gank it." Dean said around a mouthful of eggs. "Maybe by the time we get there, that Hank guy will have more information for us."
Dean refused to fly and so the brothers drove across the country to Boston, Massachusetts. By the time they got there, they were both irritable and exhausted. They found the cheapest motel they could and crashed for the rest of the night. In the morning, they got a call from the hunter they were meeting and agreed to meet at a local restaurant at lunch time.
"Winchesters, back here!" the man waved from across the room. "I can't believe you two drove all the way here." he said to them as they sat in the booth across the table from him.
"Dean doesn't like flying." Sam said with a smirk.
Dean gave his brother a look, "Anyway, have you found out anything since we last talked?"
"No, but there was another attack." Hank said with a shake of his head and scratched his beard.
Before he could continue, the waitress came over to take their orders. Sam just got coffee and Dean got his usual cheeseburger with extra bacon. When the waitress left, Hank pulled out a file from the bag that sat beside him and placed it on the table.
"These are the children that have been attacked so far. They are different ages, genders, and are in for different reasons. The attacks seem to be random, which is going to make it hard to catch whatever it is that is attacking them."
Sam took the folder and started flipping through it, a pained expression on his face. "So young. Who would want to hurt children?"
"Do you really think demons care about the age of their victims, Sammy?" Dean said with a raised brow. "Let's not forget that Lilith would wear little girls while on 'shore leave' and murder their families."
Hank nodded, "That's right. Some demons especially like the taste of children. What is throwing me off is that whatever is attacking them is only taking their eyes. It doesn't even care if they live or die afterwards."
The waitress was back with their order and Deans eyes lit up at the sight of his food. The womans hand had not even left the plate before he was picking up the burger and biting into it. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and a moan more suited for the bedroom than a restaurant came out of his mouth. The waitress hurried away, blushing, and his brother laughed.
Hank looked at the younger hunter with a raised brow. "Man, it's just a burger."
"Not just a burger," Dean said and took another bite and gave another little moan. "A friggin awesome burger!"
Sam looked over towards the counter area and saw their waitress watching them. He could see her blushing from where he sat and it only intensified when she noticed him watching her. He rolled his eyes.
"You mentioned that the first victim is conscious now? Do you think we can go and talk to him? Maybe he saw something before he...couldn't."
"Yeah, he's awake, but he's got an attitude problem. Apparently he was causing a fuss right before the attack." Hanks eyes left Dean and focused on Sam. "I already talked to the woman he was arguing with, one of the aides, and she's clean. You'll want to speak with the head nurse. Her name is Betty Sanders and she saw him a few minutes before the attack."
Sam signaled their waitress over and asked for the check as his brother shoved the rest of his burger into his mouth. After paying for their food, the trio left the restaurant and split up, Sam and Dean going to the hospital and Hank going to coroners to examine the bodies.
When they got to the hospital and flashed their badges, they were allowed to go in. There were three couples in the main area talking with the nurse and police, either on the verge of tears or already crying. They were the parents of the children that had died. Dean gave his brother a sad look and they hurried to the desk to ask about Johnny.
"Excuse me, I'm Special Agent Jones and this is my partner Agent Smith." Dean said as he held up his fake badge. "Are you Betty Sanders?"
The woman nodded, her eyes red from crying but she had pulled herself together well. "Yes, that's me. What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"We were hoping that we could speak with Johnny if he is awake? I understand he is still recovering from the shock of this situation, but we would like to get started as soon as possible." Sam gave her a soft smile and his normal sympathetic look he got when speaking to people in this type of situation.
"Yes, that should be okay. Follow me." Betty lead the brother to the elevator and up to the third floor where the long term patients were. "I'm going to need you boys to put on masks and gloves. Johnny is in a clean room." Once that was done, she lead them down the hall and into the boys room. "Johnny, you have visitors."
The boy turned towards them, and while he no longer had eyes, Dean could have sworn he was glaring at them. "What do you want?" his arms folded across his chest after he sat up in the bed.
"If you need me, I'll be just down the hall. Don't mind his attitude too much, please. He's had a rough time even before this. Cancer." Betty said softly before leaving the room.
"Johnny, my name is Sam and this is my brother Dean." Sam felt a bit awkward saying it when the boy could not even see who was talking to him. "Do you remember anything that happened before you were attacked? Maybe see who did it to you?"
His jaw clenched shut and he turned his head away. "I didn't see anything."
Johnny reached up and rubbed at the bandages over his eyes and then started picking at his fingers as if he had something stuck under his fingernails. His posture was a bit stiff and a sound in the hallway had him jumping and turning back towards the door. Not being able to see after something like this probably had him terrified.
"Look, it's okay if you are afraid-"
"I am not afraid!" Johnny snapped, cutting Dean off. "Just leave me alone."
Dean did the opposite and moved towards the bed. The boy reminded him of himself when he was younger. Scared, confused, lost and trying to hold it all in so his dad and Sam wouldn't see.
"I would be afraid if I were in your situation." Dean said softly and ignored the surprised look his brother gave him. "Someone, or something, sneaks into your room and rips out your eyes, that's terrifying."
Johnny turned towards Deans voice and huffed. "Then that just makes you a baby. I wasn't scared at all."
"You are very brave, then. Since you were not afraid, you probably got a good look at him?" Sam gently urged for the boy to give them more details.
Johnny grinned then. "I told him that he didn't scare me. That if he didn't leave me alone that I'd throw water on him like I did the aid." his smiled faded after that and he pulled his legs up to his chest. "He just smiled at me before throwing dirt in my face."
"Dirt?" Sam looked around the floor but the mess had already been cleaned up. If there had been dirt of some kind on the floor, it was gone now. So much for that lead.
"Maybe it was more like...sand? It got in my eyes and they started to burn. No matter how much I rubbed them, they hurt. I even tried washing my face to get the dirt out but it didn't work. My eyes just got really itchy. Then I was scratching them." his hands were visibly trembling a bit as he recalled the encounter. "It hurt, but I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't stop." his head dropped as he buried his face in his arms.
Dean and Sam looked at each other and frowned, both thinking the same thing. This was not sounding like any demon they had heard of. Instead of getting answers, they were just ended up with more questions.
"What did he look like?"
Johnny frowned as he thought back to the man that had attacked him. "It was an old man, but there was something wrong with him. His face was all...weird. He didn't really look like a person. I only saw him for a few seconds. He disappeared after he threw the dirt in my face."
"Did he happen to say anything to you before he threw the dirt?" Dean asked but the boy shook his head.
"No. When I came out of the bathroom, he was standing right outside the door like he was waiting for me." he frowned. "Sorry that I am not able to help you more."
"Don't worry about it. You've already been a big help." Sam said with a smile that went unseen.
"I'll let you know when we catch whatever it was that did this to you, alright Johnny?" Dean said and put a hand gently on the boys back. He jumped a bit but relaxed quickly. "Until then, get some sleep."
Dean and Sam went back out into the hallway, gently shutting Johnnys door behind them, before moving down to an empty part of the hallway. Sam pulled out the small notebook he carried around and scribbled down the things the boy had told them, then compared them to the notes he'd got from Hank.
"The more I learn about this case, the less it sounds like the work of a demon." Sam huffed as he slid the notebook into his jacket pocket.
"Tell me about it. If more than eyes were being taken, then I'd think it could be a ghoul. Maybe some kind of ghost with a grudge against kids?" Deans voice dropped as an aid came their way. He could not help checking the brunette out as she passed. "I should go talk to someone to see if there has been anything else going on." before Sam could object, Dean was going off down the hall after the aid.
The younger Winchester rolled his eyes. Hank had already gone over all of that before he'd contacted Bobby for help. Knowing that he would not be able to drag his brother away from flirting with the aids and nurses, he went down to the nurses station to call Hank. After talking with the older hunter and only finding out that the kids did infact claw their own eyes out, Sam then called Bobby.
Meanwhile, Dean had finished talking with the first aid, Jenna, and was now talking to a short blond man named Richard who openly flirted with the hunter. If this was not important, Dean would have gone running by now, but the man knew all the gossip and going ons and was very talkative about it.
"It is really sad that this is happening, especially to children." Richard sad with a sad look and gave a soft sigh. "In all my years of working in the healthcare field, I've never seen anything like this before. It's tragic." he took a step closer to Dean putting him much too close for the hunters comfort. He gave a small smile then and looked the other male over for not the first time since he'd been approached. "My shift ends in fifteen minutes. Maybe you could take a break and we could go grab a beer?"
Dean took a step back and found his back pressed against the wall, more wall to his left and a machine to his right. He could shove the man out of the way, but he knew that would only cause more trouble. He was trapped. His eyes went wide as he watch Richard bring a hand up and put it on his chest, a suggestive smile on his face.
"Or, we could go back to my place and I could help you relieve all that built up tension. I give a great massage."
"Uh, I, er…" Dean swallowed thickly as Richard started to slide a hand into his jacket, his fingers sliding between the top two buttons to touch skin.
"Richard, how many times did I tell you to stop harassing our guests? and he's a Federal Agent!" Betty said sternly, her hands on her hips.
Richard quickly jumped away from Dean and looked sheepish. "Sorry." he mumbled before looking up at Dean and giving him a wink before heading off.
Dean let out a curse under his breath and leaned against the wall, this time in support, as the man left.
"I'm sorry about him, Dean. Normally he behaves himself but he has a known weakness for men in suits." Betty then chuckled, "I can't blame him though. You are a very handsome man."
Dean felt his cheeks heat, "Uh, thank you." he cleared his throat to get his voice working properly again, then gave her a smile. "I'll try not to distract your staff any longer than necessary."
Betty laughed and patted his arm as she went past him. When Dean moved away from the wall, he could see Sam a short distance away, trying not to laugh. He sent his brother a glare which did cause him to start laughing.
"Dude, I think he wanted to eat you." Sam said when his brother was closer.
"Shut up, Sammy." Dean moved past his brother, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. "We've got work to do."