Chapter Text
They were all sitting around one of the tables in the main area of the bar. Abigail had asked the other two hunters, Maru and Haley, to join them. Haley turned out to be the girl who'd walked in on him fucking her sister last night. Small towns. Awkward.
Sam was nerding out over his notes, as always. He'd even found a map of the area.
"As far as I can gather from the information that Demetrius has given me and the fluctuations in monster activity patterns we saw in the mines, my guess is that the epicenter is somewhere up here." Sam tapped the map with his beer bottle.
Maru looked at the map and said, "That's past the old railroad. Local legend said there's a witch living high up in the mountains there, but we've never seen any proof of that."
Dean made a gagging sound. "Man, I hate witches. Always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere. Downright unsanitary, if you ask me."
Abigail chimed in. "I don't know about this. I mean, that location would explain the mines, those are right underneath, but not the sudden increase in attacks here in town. What's your theory on that, Sam?"
"Huh, what?"
"Not you, Sam."
Man, this Sam thing was getting tired. Dean turned towards blond Sam. "Hey, can't we just call you something else? Blondie? Hot stuff? Goku?" Abigail and Sebastian doubled over in laughter, while Haley rolled her eyes and blond Sam looked sheepish.
"Uhhh, this is so embarrassing... but my full name is Samson. Please don't make fun of me."
Dean snorted. "Nice. Very biblical. Sam here is a Samuel, but the way he's constantly obsessing over his hair, maybe he should have been a Samson too. Always wondered what would happen if I took some clippers and trimmed it all off while he was sleeping."
Sam gave him his best bitch face and turned back to the map. "I don't really have enough information about the attacks in town. What can you tell me about that?"
Haley said, "Well, we've always had the occasional creature wander in from the forest, but things started getting worse after the old farmer died, about a year ago. The attacks usually happen on that side of town, too. I've never seen any monsters on the east side of the river or past the bridge to the beach. How about you, Samson?" She snickered.
Blond Sam blushed. "I really shouldn't have said anything. But yeah, it's only been on the west side of town, the old bus stop, around the town square, sometimes near my or Haley's house, and once by the old community center. I always assumed that it was just monsters getting out of the mines, but that doesn't make sense, now that I'm thinking about it. If that was the case, we'd also see them near Seb's house and the lake."
Dean thought for a bit. "That woman Marnie also mentioned something to me yesterday, about the Allen farm. Same farmer who died?" When the kids all nodded, he went on. "We should check out the property. Could be vengeful spirit, or a curse of some sort."
Abigail said, "Or maybe he was doing something to keep the monsters back. I liked the old man, he always let me wander around the parts of the farm that he couldn't maintain anymore. Good place for foraging and the occasional summoning ritual."
Sebastian smirked at her. "You mean good place for outdoor sex without getting an earful from your parents."
Maru and Abigail both turned on him and started pelting him with coasters, yelling at him to shut his mouth. Huh, interesting. He could picture those two girls getting it on in an overgrown field somewhere, their legs tangled together, their boobs...
Sam smacked his arm. "Dean. I know that look, you're confusing reality with porn again. Stop it, we've got work to do."
He gave Sam his sunniest grin. "Healthy, heterosexual, hot-blooded males get turned on by the thought of naked women making out, Sam. Not by research." He turned towards the rest of the group. "Sammy here loves research, he really does. He keeps all his research under his mattress, right next to his KY jelly."
He got up from the table as Sam pulled bitch face #14.
"How about I get us one more round of beers, and then we go and do some breaking and entering, huh?"
The town was quiet, but they were all tense and on high alert. Moving from lamppost to lamppost, getting out the flashlights when the streetlights ended at the edge of town, they settled into some kind of informal formation, him and Sam on the flanks because they had guns, Abigail and Haley on point, and Sebastian and Samson bringing up the rear. Maru had opted to go back home, saying she wasn't much good in a combat situation, but they could call her if they needed anything researched fast.
He'd grinned at that. Maru would be a perfect match for his baby brother. Well, if she wasn't a lesbian and all that. But then again, Sam always had a habit of going for the wrong women.
They got to the farm itself without any problems, but as soon as Dean started working on opening the locked gate, they could all hear sounds out among the fields. He worked faster. It wasn't a complicated lock, but picking it with his flashlight wedged between his head and his shoulder wasn't exactly easy, either. The gate swung open and they all filed in, weapons at the ready.
He'd seen Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian in action. The only one he wasn't sure about was Haley, she didn't look anything like the hunter stereotype. So he stuck close by her, ready to cover her if things got hairy.
The first attack came from the left. Two shadows suddenly morphed into teeth and claws, flickering in the light of the barely visible moon. To his amazement, Haley charged the first shadow with murderous intent, her sword a blur as she sliced it open from shadowy shoulder to shadowy waist. The monster dissolved with a sound like air escaping out of a slashed tire, soon followed by the second as the rest of the group caught up.
Okay, that was hot. Maybe he had a thing for attractive, blood-thirsty blondes kicking ass in close combat.
"If there's more of these shadow brutes, I don't think your guns will be of any use against them. Keep an eye out for bats and slimes, though," Sebastian whispered.
They carefully advanced on the farmhouse. As soon as they got inside, Sam took out the EMF meter and started scanning. No readings whatsoever, so they quickly gave up and started looking for hex bags, sigils or symbols. The others tried to help, but they all admitted they had little experience with this type of thing. In a way, he kind of envied them. Killing monsters always gave him a rush. It felt pure, simple. It was all the other stuff that gave him a headache.
The search yielded no results. The farmhouse was empty.
"So what do we do next? If we go back out there, there's only six of us, and god knows how many creatures. I don't like those odds."
Abigail looked thoughtful. "We could still try the old farmer's tomb. It's on the edge of the farm, near the forest. Might be dangerous to get there, but I can't think of anything else."
Sam hesitated. "I don't know how much good that would do us. If it is the farmer's ghost causing all of this, we would have picked up at least some readings by now. And if you're thinking of doing a summoning, all my supplies are still in the car."
She grinned. "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, Sammy boy. I've got everything we need in my backpack. Herbs, candles, vial of chicken blood. Because I'm just that awesome."
"Hey, nobody makes fun of my brother, you hear? That's my job." Secretly, he found he really liked this chick. Bratty, but balls of steel.
They were attacked two more times on the way, but made quick work of the creatures each time. It was pretty amazing to be part of a group that worked so effortlessly and so well together. Nobody was barking orders, everyone was doing what they were best at. It made him think of the difference between hunting with his dad, and hunting with Sam. He was always taught that during a hunt, there was no margin for error, that you did what you were told to do, without questions. But he knew Sam hated it. Maybe it shouldn't always be like that. Maybe working as a team had its advantages too. Trusting each other to get the job done.
Getting to the tomb and summoning the old farmer's ghost was almost anti-climactic. The old guy told them he'd been the one keeping the monsters away from the town, and apologized for not telling anyone. He didn't know where the monsters came from, but gave some tips about how to set up wards and how to maintain them so the creatures would be confined to the property. Abigail was scribbling down notes and occasionally asking Sam for details on specific wardings. The man also said that if any of his descendants ever decided to move back to the valley, they'd be a great help in controlling the monster population because of their innate abilities.
When they released the farmer's spirit, Dean quietly pulled Sam aside. "Do you still want to do more research here, or do you think we should be moving on? I think these kids have the situation under control, to be honest."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I agree. They don't need us. Other people do. I have to say though, it's been fun. I'm really tempted to spend a few more days here, help them set up the wards. It's been so nice, not having to lie about what we do, almost like... like it's just normal. I've wanted to live a normal life for so long, but here, it kind of feels like I could have both, you know? Saving people, hunting things, but still getting to go home afterwards."
Dean put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Yeah, I know. You know what? Maybe we should stay for one or two days more. Relax a bit, eat a couple of good meals, get more than four hours of sleep. I've been wanting to ask Marnie if she knows how to make apple pie. You can watch some porn instead of doing research, it'll be good for you."
No bitch face this time. Instead, Sam smirked at him and said, "You just want a chance to get back into Sam's pants."
"Ew, that sounds so incredibly wrong coming out of your mouth. For your information, I'm not the slut you think I am, and I have no intention of fucking Sam."
But honestly, he was a terrible liar. He got to test out his idea about the Impala's back seat that night, after all. Twice. And then another round at Haley's place when she'd caught the two of them. That girl really had a habit of walking in on people. Not that he was complaining or anything. Both blondes could do things with their hands and mouths that put his wildest fantasies to shame.
Maybe small towns weren't so bad, after all.
Still, he was glad to be behind the steering wheel again, waiting for Sam to close the trunk and get in the car, hearing the familiar rumble of the Impala's engine.
"Right. Let's get this show back on the road." Sam nodded and turned on the radio.
The road stretched out before him. He briefly closed his eyes, then focused on getting back to the main highway out of town. No point in thinking about what they could have had. No sense in thinking about the future.
The world was still out there, and they had a job to do.