Disclaimer- I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

Chapter 22 is up! Anyway, I'm skipping Skin and doing Hookman, 'cuz I'm really really excited to do Home! Which is right after Hookman!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! (With one notable exception.)

By the way, I love caramel macchiatos! I love caramel anything, really. :D

On with it, shall we?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO- BLOODIED SILVER

It had been one and a half months hunting with the Winchesters and Castiel.

Looking back to my time in Maine, I was surprised, and a little unsettled, that my life with the Winchesters and the angel was happier.

It scared me.

Dean's voice brought me back to the small outdoor café.

"Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin' cold over here, Francis."

"Bite me." Sam replied, unruffled.

I smiled, sipping my own caramel macchiato.

Dean was eying my cup.

I pushed it towards him. "Want it?"

His hand was reaching towards the paper cup when it got slapped away by Sam.

"You already had your latte, Dean! Let her drink!"

I was about to laugh, but thought better of it as I saw Dean's glower.

"Anything?" He asked, still sulky.

Sam shook his head. "I had 'em check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

I glanced at them. Dean and Sam were looking for their father, John.

I could relate. I understood the feeling of being terrified when your family dwindled, one by one.

"Sam, I'm tellin' ya, I don't think Dad wants to be found."

Sam looked crushed.

I wanted to comfort him, but couldn't pluck up the courage.

Not in front of Dean.

"Check this out," he showed Sam an article on Sam's computer. "It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. Only about a hundred miles from here."

Sam read the newspaper. "The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road."

"Keep reading." Dean was waiting expectantly.

"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible."

"Could be something interesting," Dean said.

"Or it could be nothing at all." Sam countered. "One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man."

"But what if it is? Dad would check it out."

~Supernatural~

"One more time, why are we here?" Sam let out a resigned sigh.

"Victim lived here."

We walked up to a few boys fixing a Porsche Boxter.

This was the fraternity where Rich, the murdered boy, lived.

"Nice wheels," Dean looked admiringly at the Porsche.

The frat boys looked at us strangely.

"We're your fraternity brothers," he added. "From Ohio. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay."

Dean grinned and walked into the fraternity dorm room.

We were confronted with a shirtless guy in yellow shorts painting his face and body purple.

My mouth fell open.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"We're your new roommates." He smiled and walked over to the boy.

"Who's she?" He pointed at me.

"Our cousin," Sam interjected. "She's helping us choose a place."

The frat boy looked at me oddly.

He held out a brush and a tin of paint to Dean. "Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today."

Dean indicated Sam. "He's the artist. The things he can do with a brush."

My lips twitched as I saw the mischievous glint in Dean's eye.

The boy's gaze traveled down my body. "What about your cousin here?"

Dean's grin faltered.

Sam, mortified, grabbed the brush and can as I sidled behind Dean, uncomfortable with the attention.

Normally, Dean would've pushed me away.

This time, he let me stay.

Dean sat down on a chair, picking up a magazine.

"So," he glanced at the name on it. "Murph, is it true?"

"What?"

"We heard one of the guys around here got killed last week."

"Yeah," his expression turned downcast.

"What happened?" Sam asked from his position behind Murph.

"They're saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through. Rich was a good guy."

"Was he with somebody?"

Murph's eyebrows waggled. "Not just somebody. Lori Sorensen."

"Who's Lori Sorensen?"

"You missed a spot," Dean told Sam, as he appeared to move away from Murph. "Just down there on the back."

Sam let out an annoyed huff.

I repressed a chuckle as Dean's grin returned.

"Lori's a freshman. A local. She's super-hot. And get this- she's the rev's daughter."

"You wouldn't happen to know which church, would ya?"

~Supernatural~

We could hear the Reverend's sonorous voice as we entered the church.

"Our hearts go out to the family of a young man who perished. And my personal prayers go out as well because I believe he died trying to protect my daughter. And now, as time heals all our wounds, we should reflect on what this tragedy means. To us, as a church,"

At this point, we walked in, and I cringed as the door slammed shut behind us.

I flushed as the congregation turned to look at us. We hurriedly sat down, as I noticed a pretty blonde girl staring at Sam, who smiled weakly at her.

"As a community," The Reverend continued, "And as a family. The loss of a young person is particularly tragic as life unlived is the saddest of passings."

"So please, pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children. "

Everyone bowed his or her heads in prayer.

Except Dean.

"Lower your head," I hissed at him.

Finally noticing everyone else, Dean ducked his head down.

Mass was soon finished, and as we exited, I saw the same blonde girl outside.

"Are you Lori?" Sam asked her.

"Yeah."

"My name's Sam. This is my brother, Dean, and my cousin, Odette."

I smiled politely at Lori.

Dean waved. "Hi."

"We just transferred here to the university."

"I saw you inside," Lori answered Sam.

"We don't wanna bother you. We just heard about what happened and…"

"We wanted to say how sorry we were," Dean interrupted.

Lori nodded slightly. Her father came up behind her.

"Dad, um, this is Sam and Dean and their cousin Odette. Dean and Sam are new students."

Dean shook the reverend's hand as he looked questioningly at me.

"I'm helping them settle in with their stuff and everything," I said, purposely being vague.

Sam and Dean nodded along as if this was nothing new to them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Dean smiled.

"I must say, that was an inspiring sermon."

"Thank you very much," Rev. Sorensen replied, seeming pleased. "It's so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord's message."

Dean laughed under his breath, and then nudged me. "Meet us at the library in a couple," he muttered, as Sam headed off with Lori.

"Listen, uh, we're new in town, actually." He led the reverend away.

~Supernatural~

"So you believe her?" Dean was looking skeptically at Sam.

"I do." Sam said.

Dean snorted. "Yeah, I think she's hot too."

Sam sighed. "No, man, there's something in her eyes. And listen to this: she heard scratching on the roof. Found the bloody body suspended upside down over the car."

"Wait, the body suspended? That sounds like the-"

"Hook Man legend, I know."

Dean scoffed. "That's one of the most famous urban legends ever. You don't think we're dealing with Hook Man?"

"Every urban legend has a source. A place where it all began." Sam chewed his lip pensively.

"Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the invisible killer?"

"Well, maybe the Hook Man isn't a man at all. What if it's some kind of spirit?"

~Supernatural~

The mousy librarian handed us the arrest records we'd asked for.

"Thanks," I told her.

She walked away.

Several hours later, we finally found something.

"Hey, check this out." I told them. "In 1862, a preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry over the red light district in town that one night he killed 13 prostitutes. Uh, right here, 'some of the deceased were found in their beds, sheets soaked with blood, others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh."

Dean looked at another page. "Get this, the murder weapon? Looks like the preacher lost his hand in an accident. Had it replaced with a silver hook."

I pointed at the next page.

"Look where all this happened."

"9 Mile Road," Dean read.

"Same place where the frat boy was killed," I said.

"Huh." Dean was insultingly surprised. "Not bad, Beauty Queen."

I blushed. Grudgingly or not, this was the first time Dean hadn't minded my help on a case.

"Let's check it out," Sam gathered all the research and we left.

~Supernatural~

We got out on 9 Mile Road.

"Here you go." Dean threw Sam a gun.

I wondered if I would ever be this familiar with handling weapons.

"You better have your gun with you, Odette," Dean warned me.

"Yeah, yeah I do." I whispered. I was just about to draw it out to show him when we heard the noise among the trees.

"Over there, over there." Dean hissed.

Sam aimed the gun and cocked it.

A figure came out from behind the tree.

It was a cop.

"Put the gun down now! Now! Put your hands behind your head!"

"Wait, okay, okay!" Dean was alarmed.

"Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it! On your knees!"

We got down.

"On your bellies! Now!"

"He had the gun!" Dean yelled plaintively.

~Supernatural~

We walked out of the Sheriff's Department.

"Saved your ass!" Dean was saying. "Talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dude, I am Matlock!"

I smiled at that.

"But how?" Sam looked at him.

"I told him you were a dumbass pledge and that we were hazing you."

"What about the shotgun?"

"I said that you were hunting ghosts and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank."

"And he believed you?" Sam's tone was disbelieving.

Dean shrugged. "Well, you look like a dumbass pledge."

I couldn't stop my laugh at that.

My smile faded as several sheriffs ran out of the building and sped away in their cars.

Dean and Sam exchanged a look.

~Supernatural~

We snuck into Lori's sorority building, climbing into her room.

I was pushed in, and I heard Dean fall on Sam.

"Oh, sorry."

"Be quiet!"

"You be quiet!"

"You be quiet!"

I was about to laugh, when I finally noticed what was in the room.

I narrowly stopped myself from screaming.

Dean and Sam heard my muffled exclamation and jumped in through the window.

"What?" Dean shook my arm when I could not answer him.

I pointed a shaking finger.

We were staring at the bloodied, clawed body of Taylor Mackenzie, Lori's roommate.