Dean quietly slipped into the pew. The only light in the whole church came from the candles lit on the altar. The smell of incense from the last mass was still lightly in the air around him, reminding him of the peace he normally felt on holy ground. For a moment he just stared at the flames, dancing in front of him. He shook his head as the thoughts in his brain started to scream at him. I don't know if you're there. I don't know why you would let bad things happen to the people I love. I don't know … He let the tension from his shoulders drop for a minute as he let the last thought come to his mind and really be real to him. I don't know WHY ME? It's always me and I would love to know why I have had this life thrust on me since I was only 4.

Dean took another deep breath, trying to calm his nerves when he heard the voice. "Son, are you ok?" For a moment, he was scared to open his eyes and actually see God standing before him but when they were opened, he saw a priest standing there who wasn't much older than he was. "I'm sorry to interrupt your prayer but the tears streaming down your face made me walk over to see if you needed something more than prayer. Do you need someone to listen to the issues running through your head and maybe give you advice? Or do you want me to walk away?"

Dean wiped the tears off his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Father. I didn't even realize … Anyway…No, I just got lost in thought for a moment I guess."

The priest smiled at him. "I would like to think that the Holy Spirit has touched your soul and made you truly open up to what you need inside to help you in this moment." The priest smiled at Dean as Dean looked back at the altar, trying to toughen his composure. The priest pointed to the pew in front of Dean. "Please just call me Dan. Would you mind if I sat down with you?" Dean shook his head as the young priest sat down looking at the candle altar instead of turning to face Dean. "The flicker of the flame keeps my brain centered in my mission when it wants to remind me that I am not worthy of still being on this planet."

Dean sat back as he slowly pulled the machete out from behind him. "You know I'm not a priest, Father Dan. Any confession to me isn't going to bring you any closer to salvation."

"I know, my son." He shook his head as he continued to watch the flames as they swayed. "But I need a stranger to know what I did and why I'm here. I honestly think that's why God put you here in this church all by yourself today."

"What's so special about today, Father? Why would me and my broken spirit, my fractured soul sitting here, crying to myself in a pew be a miracle for you?" Dean tried to be quiet as he got ready to kill the priest that he suspected was the lone werewolf that was attacking and killing children around this area. "Why would I be your answer tonight?"

The priest lowered his shoulders as he took a deep breath. "Because I can tell you that I killed him and no one in the parish will know that the priest they love more than anything killed the priest who was here before."

Dean wasn't expecting the man sitting in front of him to say that. "Father Dan, can I ask why you killed him? Was he a bad guy or do you just like killing people?"

The priest let out a bit of a laugh as nervously ran his hand through his hair. "He was a very bad man and no one was going to believe me if I told them what I caught him doing."

"Try me, Father. I've heard stories and seen things that would shake your faith to its core." Dean set the machete next to him on the pew silently as he started to care about the man who still hadn't looked at him since he sat down.

The priest turned in the pew so that he could see Dean's face as he started his story. "I'm not from around here. Originally I'm from Chicago where there are plenty of men who get called to serve God as priests, so I elected to be transferred to some place that truly needed a new priest, one with youth and a more open mind. You know one that might get young people back to the church rather than the same old people who think they NEED to be here to get into heaven." Dean let out a little laugh as Dan nodded in agreement with the laugh. "I lived my whole life in an orphanage so with no family to hold me there, I thought it would be a way to see the country as I spread the word of God."

Dean nodded. "Makes sense. If I was in your position, I would have done the same thing. Leave the guys who have local family there and go find your place in the world."

"Exactly what I was thinking when Monsieur asked us who was willing to relocate. I was the first one to volunteer." He glanced back at the candles and smiled. "This is the second church I have been to outside of Chicago. The first one was for me to get some hands on learning before coming here to take over. I truly enjoyed my last church parish but I knew it was temporary. Once I got here, the priest who was here was very upset to see that I was so much younger than he was. When I first got here, the youth of the parish were excited to see someone closer in age to them. They were hoping that I would bring some changes to the church, make it more current. To be honest with you, I am trying to make this church a little more hip." He giggled a little bit as Dean leaned in a little closer. "The old priest and I were eating meals together and he was just so gruff with me, saying that he had asked for his friend to be transferred here but that he got stuck with me. I did tell him I was sorry but this is what the Bishop wanted." He shrugged as he glanced down at the machete. "Umm…I understand needing to protect yourself but…"

Dean held his hands up as he shook his head. "You finish confessing to me, Father Dan, and I'll explain the weapons." The priest gave him a shocked look when he heard 'weapons'. "You're safe, Father. Let's continue and I promise I'll explain why I have this."

The priest held out his hand to shake Dean's. Dean nodded as he shook his hand, making sure that the silver rings on his hand laid flat on the inside of the palm of his hand. With no reaction from the man, Dean felt safer listening to the confession. "I have your word, my son, and you have mine. So where was I?" He paused for a minute as he thought back. "Oh yes, so I called one of my friends in Chicago who is a nun and explained what he had said. My friend said she would do some research on this priest and get back with me. She did tell me that his friend was under investigation for performing an exorcism on a child with down syndrome thinking that the defect was actually a possession by demons in the child."

"What the Hell? Oh sorry, Father, but who in this world thinks that a genetic disorder is possession?" Dean was shocked at what this man was telling him.

"I know! We're supposed to be an educated country and this man is telling parents that he could save their children from how they were born. Anyway, I was scared that he could be doing the same thing here. I started trying to be 'invited' to every meeting he had with parents and troubled children under the guise that I needed to know my congregation and be able to continue his work with the people but in these meetings, he never said anything about exorcisms. He actually suggested therapy not only for the child but for the parents. I honestly thought everything I was thinking about this man was in my head until one night I was not invited to a game night he decided to have with a few of the altar boys." He started ringing his hands as he continued his confession. "I decided it was just game night so I could go out and have dinner in town. You know, meet some of the rest of the community and just get a feel for the town. When I got back, I walked through the side door into here and I saw him raping one of the boys right there on the altar. The boy had tears running down his face as Father was telling him to shut the fuck up and take it like a man. I hid in the back so he wouldn't see that I saw what was going on." He glanced at Dean with a dead stare in his eyes. "The next morning I made his coffee and sweetened it with rat poison." Dean nodded in agreement as the priest rubbed his hands over his face. "I sat there as he choked on his coffee. I didn't even move to call 911 until I knew there was no saving him. By the time they got here, I had the whole place staged to make it look like HE had poisoned himself. I gave the cops the story that he was being pushed out by the Bishop and that he had told me that being a priest was all he knew. Several of the parishioners said the same thing so there was no investigation and it was ruled a suicide."

He let out a sigh as Dean patted him on the back. "Dan, you are a better man than I am. I would've shot him on the altar as soon as I walked through the doors of the church to see what he was doing to that child."

"Now what about you, my son? Why did you walk into a church with more than one weapon on your person?"

Dean stared into the flame. "Because I'm a good little soldier and I do what I am told to do." He looked at the priest. "Father, I am going to tell you something and you may believe me or you may think I am a total crazy person."

The priest smiled and stifled a laugh. "I'm a priest. I've heard things in confession that have made me question everything in life. Nothing you have to tell me would freak me out." He gave Dean a look as he threw his hands up. "I mean I just told you that I walked in and witnessed a grown man who was supposed to be a man of God raping a young boy right fucking there on the altar. Nothing you tell me will shock me."

"I still stand by the opinion that you would've been justified to just shoot him between the eyes during the act but you know…" The priest laughed as Dean relaxed a bit. "The reason I have these things on me is the same reason that when I shook your hand I made sure the silver rings on my fingers touched your palm. I'm looking for a werewolf who is killing kids for shits and giggles. He's not even eating the hearts. He just tearing them up and leaving their bodies in pieces all over the county."

The priest nodded. "I heard about this. One of the little boys was a member here and we just had the funeral. Police told the parents it was a wild animal. What makes you think it was a werewolf?"

"Father, you didn't even blink when I said werewolf."

"I said that I have heard it all. In Chicago I met a man who was like you I guess. He called himself a hunter in the confessional booth. He told me he had to kill his father because his father had become evil. I asked what he meant by EVIL. I mean I have seen humans possessed by demons and have watched exorcisms in real life but I didn't understand what he meant by evil. I told him as much. I truly wanted to make sure that this man had not killed his father because he had some sort of mental disease and that this man thought that he "cured" him by killing him. He told me that his father had become evil and for me to come with him so that I could actually see what he was talking about."

"Wait! Father, are you telling me that you went on a hunt with this man?" Dean was shocked at what he just heard.

"Yes, I did and I saw the evil this man was talking about." Dan shook his head. "I honestly thought that vampires were made up by Anne RIce but I was wrong. I have done a little research into the lore of these monsters and others to see how the church can help battle the Hell on Earth we keep from the general public. Seeing what this man did to protect us really changed my outlook on life." He shrugged, "But that being said, seeing a man who is supposed to be your mentor rape a poor innocent child makes you understand that not all monsters are creatures that go bump in the night. Sometimes they are just men who are evil in their soul."

"Ok then, I'll be honest with you. We had someone drop a dime on you, Father." Dan sat back and gave Dean a questioning look. "We have put out feelers in the community about anything weird and people in small towns LOVE to tell off on their neighbors. They said that you kept to yourself but that in the evenings sometimes you had been seen sneaking out of the rectory. I guess to some of the locals it doesn't look like you're up to any good."

The priest laughed as he shook his head. "We thought we were being careful but I guess we weren't." Dean gave him a questioning look as the priest shrugged. "That friend of mine who is a nun…well, we're more than friends." The shock that passed over Dean's face made the priest double over in laughter. "Just because I'm a priest doesn't mean that I agree with all of the rules we are supposed to follow."

"But I thought that was one that was 'do it or you're out'."

"I mean as long as you don't tell on us, I'm ok." He winked at Dean. "Now, you were saying that you're looking for a werewolf and some of my patrons told you that it could possibly be me because I sneak out on Thursday nights to meet my girlfriend. Is that where we are in your confession?" Dean nodded, still at a loss for words knowing that the man of God in front of him was breaking his vows so he could sneak off and have sex with a nun. "Ok, so where do we go from here?"

"I need to find the monster that is killing these kids." The priest nodded in agreement and Dean snapped out of his fog. "Wait! You said that you did the last kid's funeral. Did you see the body?" He nodded as Dean pulled out his notepad. "What did it look like? What kinds of marks were on it?"

The priest stopped and thought back. "It was horrible. That small boy suffered so much. It looked like he was ripped apart. The police didn't let his poor mother see the body. No mother should remember her child looking like that." He glanced at Dean who was listening intently. "I honestly don't remember seeing teeth marks. It just looked like he was pulled apart at his joints. You know like in those medieval movies where they would draw and quarter people using horses attached at each limb and then have them run in opposite directions. Are you 100% sure that you're dealing with a werewolf?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Some of the teen boys who come to youth night for free pizza said they were chased by a large black dog with glowing purple eyes when they were out in the woods." Dean stopped writing, wanting more of the story. "I know they go out to the woods to smoke pot. They THINK their parents don't know but their parents did the same thing when they were the boys' ages. Anyway, of course their friends laughed at them and said they were just smoking the wrong kind of grass, but I called MY FRIEND and we did a little research on black dogs with purple eyes. We ran across the legend of El Cadejo, which is a large black dog from Central American mythology. She said that this dog is supposed to eat the babies of mothers who are deemed unworthy of the honor of motherhood."

"Dan, you said that one of the boys was a patron here, right?" The priest nodded as Dean continued. "How was his mother as a "mother?"

Dan thought about it hard before answering Dean's question. "She was one who really liked to put up a good look for everyone in town but the bills were barely getting paid because she gambled all of the money her husband could make on the horses." Dean nodded as he made notes. "The boys all went to the private school and the priest there called me to see if their home parish could pay their tuition since she hadn't made any payment in several months. I talked to the deacons of the church who went and paid for the rest of the year for the boys but she attended the funeral with a brand new purse on her arm. The ladies in the choir tell me that it's very expensive and she should have used that money to feed her other boys rather than hold her empty wallet."

"Ok so definitely on the bad end of the "mother" spectrum." Dean wished that Sam was here instead of at college but he was going to have to be the one to do the research on this one and prove his old man wrong. "Now Father, what did your friend say about how I can kill this thing?"

Dan laughed as he looked at Dean. "Do you have a bow and arrow?"

"Will a crossbow work?" Father Dan nodded as Dean wrote down how to end the evil that was destroying the youth in this area.

"If the arrow is silver tipped and dipped in the blood of a good mother."

"Damn it, Dan! Why do ask for that? Not one of the women I know is a good mother! They've either left their kids to be on the road, have dragged them along with them in this lifestyle, or …anyway where am I going to find good mother blood?" For a moment, Dean felt like his whole plan was going down the tubes as he watched the priest smile slightly in his seat.

"I might know a place." He glanced up at the flames one last time. "Let's go to the hospital and visit some of the new moms I know." He stood up and stuck his hand out to help Dean up. "Trust me, Dean. I don't want any more children killed in this town, especially if these people think that I'm the one doing it and no mother is better than a brand new one."