5

I stared up towards the gray stone ceiling, stretched out across the bed I hadn't needed for several years now. My fingers grasped across the cold fabric, trying to find anything other than the space that was there.

I sighed deeply. What was wrong with me? Was I going to ruin a relationship and enjoy it? It wasn't like me at all. I had stopped caring about Lucifer after he'd tried to trick me into causing the literal apocalypse with him. Why did I suddenly care about him and his relationships? When had I ever decided doing something so stupid when I knew it would hurt another person was worth it?

Was I no better than a lowly demon now? Was I just another one of them? I had been growing increasingly angry. And it had become harder and harder to give a fuck about anything anymore. And I was beginning to feel just…empty.

I sat up, the shine of the red ring that sat on the bedside table just catching my eye. Like it was trying to remind me of the human I once was and how stupid I was being.

"Shit," I mumbled.

I pushed myself from the bed and got ready for the day. I couldn't afford to mess around today. I had a soul meeting before I needed to be back in the bunker. Even if I wasn't sure I could face the bunker right now, I needed to go and keep up appearances. At least for now.

I left the room and wandered through the maze of Hell until I was in the meeting room. I pushed the large wooden doors open with ease and strolled in, meeting the dozens of eyes waiting as if I was on time rather than late. I ran my hand playfully through Orion's hair as I passed his seat. I took mine at the end of the long table and looked out at the other demons.

"Give it to me." I sighed, already rubbing my eyes, bored.

"Soul numbers are up this week," Orion said, bolder than the rest. I looked up at him, though his eyes didn't meet mine this time. "But a hound was hurt in retrieving one."

"What do you mean it was 'hurt'?" I asked, interested.

"Just a hunter. But we took care of it." Orion cleared his throat. "We'll just be down a hound until she heals."

"Do you know the hunter?" I asked, sitting a little straighter now. "You got the soul right?"

Orion smiled an easy smile. "Not his soul, no. He wasn't the one that had made the deal. Just a dumb hunter trying to protect the one who had." He tapped the table lightly. "That soul we got."

"The hunter got away then?"

"Unfortunately." Orion nodded.

I looked around the table, trying to find another who dared to look at me the way he did, unbothered and unafraid. Of course, none of them did. They all looked in different directions. Why had Orion been so brave? Had he been this way around Crowley as well?

"Did you get a name for the hunter at least? Anything at all?" The room was silent as I continued to look around it. "We can not have another one taking out the hounds."

"None of us knew the hunter, ma'am." Finally, another voice spoke up, though it was clear he was nervous. Was I so intimidating that no one dared talk to me directly? It was going to start getting on my nerves.

"Anything else? Hair color? Tattoos? Anything at all?" Again the room lay silent. I slammed my fist onto the table, frustrated now, and the group of demons jumped.

"He uh…he was calling himself Alexander, I believe." Another voice spoke. She stumbled over her words. "But we…we don't have a hunter by that name."

"Alexander." I mulled over the name, wracking my brain for a hunter I had known by that name. There were a few of course, but they had either been John's friends or a one-time hunter, all dead now. Not that it mattered too much if I did know them. New hunters popped up every so often. He was probably just that, a new hunter who had gotten lucky. "Nothing else?"

"I'm afraid not."

I nodded, leaning back into my chair. "Try to track him down and keep an eye on him." Mutters of agreement sounded from the lessers. "And we have another hound ready to pick up the slack right?"

"Yes. It was taken care of." Orion answered, the leader once again. He leaned back into his chair as well, sharing a long look with me.

I cleared my throat and turned away from him. "Let's move on then."

I transferred into the bunker, making sure my entrance was quiet. I walked quietly through the kitchen towards the map room, before pausing as the sounds of crying reached my ears. I peeked around the corner, finding Elly at the table, her head down and in her hands, crying softly. Was it possible that she'd found out?

I took a deep breath, trying to cool the anxiety in my lungs. Though it didn't seem to do much. "Elly, I'm sorry," I stated, trying to keep my voice still and confident. She jumped like I had frightened her. "It was wrong of me to take Ally out without saying anything." I could see just how pale her face was now as she looked at me, deep purple bags under each eye. "Did you sleep at all?" She shook her head. "Where's the angel?" She shrugged. I tried to look confused. I knew we had taken an hour or two, but he hadn't stayed in Hell after.

"He came back eventually, but he looked so worked up. So disheveled and frustrated. I thought you two had just had another fight. He's always like that when he gets upset. But then he just left." She sniffled, looking down towards the hallway. "I haven't heard from him all morning. Figured he wanted to be alone."

"And the kid?" I asked carefully. I moved closer to her, looking for any sign that I should stop. But none came.

"She was up all night sick." Elly laughed, a pathetic, tired sound. "I never should have come back with you. We should have stayed home."

I reached out for her, wanting to touch her shoulder, but instead shoving my hands in my pockets. It felt better not to push my luck in this citation. "You can't keep sheltering her." Elly pushed her hair out of her face, nodding. "She is old enough to handle this. She even flew us home last night, drunk I might add. Jack didn't even have a full grasp of that until recently. He was extremely emotional every other time."

"She's always been naturally gifted." Elly snorted, "Maybe I shouldn't have been so secretive with her…I just…"

"She didn't need to know," I said, taking the seat next to her. "I get it. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I…I know you would never have done anything to hurt her." She turned to me now, the emotion clear in her eyes as she spoke. "But you scared me so much last night. She is the light of my world, Alex."

"And you'd do anything to get her back." I smiled softly. "It's almost like I've heard that a hundred times."

She grumbled something in response as she rubbed her face, something I couldn't make out and didn't bother trying to. She placed her head in her palm again and looked at me, her cheek squishing against her hand.

"I hope he wasn't too difficult last night." Elly sighed, "He can be pretty brutal sometimes."

There was no stopping the memories of last night as they flooded back into my mind. Everything after the first round had been so…delicious. Teeth. Claws. Moans. The room I seldom used had faired far better on nights with Orion than it had last night. I felt like I could still taste his lips against mine and feel his nails as they raked down my spine, even with only the thoughts of it left, they were enough to make my head spin.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," I responded, clearing my throat. It was a battle to keep the soft sigh the memories brought from my lips. I dug my nails into my palms, in an attempt to keep me sane. Keep my attention here and not on the sins of the night before.

Elly sighed a deeply sad sound. "I don't think he'll be back today. I'm not even sure where he went." She laughed softly. "And Ally will be in bed all day…"

"I'm sorry…" Some part of me meant it.

"Do you want to go on a hunt?"

Her question surprised me, stopping me dead in the explanation I had been thinking of. I looked her over, taking in her swollen, red eyes and the small sniffles that still came from her pink nose. It seemed like last night was behind us for now, a breath of fresh air I could live with for now. 

"Of course. I'd love to." I smiled softly. "Charlie's angels back together."

Elly laughed, a happier sound than her tears. "Charlie's angels have nothing on us." She got to her feet, stretching. "Let me get cleaned up. Can you find us something?"

"My specialty." I smiled wider, giving her a fake bow as she left the room. 

I breathed a sigh of relief after she'd gone far enough. I knew the actions I had taken the last twenty-four hours would have to come to light eventually. But at least for now, it could be my guilty pleasure. 

I took my phone from my pocket and started to scroll through the usual sources for hunts. All though there had been fewer and fewer true hunts, I had been conditioned enough in searching that the real ones still jumped out to me easily. It didn't take long to find a story that was only an hour from the bunker. 

It seemed like a simple case. Something had been eating people out of their graves. Several accounts of families going to pay respects to their loved ones only to find their graves dug up and empty or the caskets torn open and chunks missing from the corpse. Then, days later, the dead person would appear safe and alive on the family's doorsteps. There were at least ten accounts of this, all in the same city. Another group of monsters. Hopefully something simple enough for a returning hunter.

Regardless, it was something we needed to check out and it seemed like the perfect thing to distract me for a few days. Hunting with Elly had been something I had so desperately missed. I perked up more as she came back into the room, eyes free of tears and no longer as red as they had been, a new smile on her face. She already had a backpack strapped to her back as well, ready to go.

"Pretty sure I found us a good one." I boasted. "Probably a pack of shifters or something like them an hour away. We could check it out and stake it out for a few days." My smile widened. "We could even take our time if you wanted to."

Elly looked from me, then back down the hallway, her eyes seeming to hope for a sudden flap of wings or a snide remark. When he didn't appear, she bit her lip.

"They'll be fine," I said gently. "They're both old enough to take care of themselves."

She sighed and turned back to me. "A few days away sounds wonderful."

I found myself grinning again. This was going to be so much fun. I could get out of Hell for a few days and away from the heavy air that suddenly surrounded the bunker. A trip to kill things and be reckless with it. And better yet, I'd have her at my side again.

"You sure you can handle this?" I teased, "I've got much more skill than you now."

"I've been aching for something this exciting for the last nineteen years." She said, the emotion clear in those crystal blue eyes. 

I chuckled. "Then let's hit the road." I smacked her shoulder gently. "We'll take my car."

Her eyes lit up more and she took off towards the garage. "I've missed your car."

I laughed more as I followed her. "Me too."

It all felt so normal. So familiar. So right to be back in some old, grease-stained, sex-smelling motel room with her. I launched myself into the tiny room, bouncing off the bed that was too hard for any sensible person. I laughed as the smell of old cigarettes came from it. Damn, it brought back so many good memories. I flipped onto my back, remembering the first official hunt I'd gone on with the boys. 

Dean had dragged me into the room, sat me firmly on the bed, looked me in the eyes, said 'Stay with Sammy' in that all too firm voice, and left with John to kill something I had been deemed too young to know about. I remember the door slamming shut and then turning to Sam, the young, shy kid I had just barely begun to know. I smiled at him and watched as he walked over to me cautiously before I asked if he'd like to watch anything with me. He'd smiled softly, sat down on the bed next to me, and requested we try to find an episode of Pokemon or Scooby Doo. We'd watched until we'd fallen asleep. I had always been closer to Sam, we had just seemed to understand each other better since the beginning. The bed jumped underneath me as Elly's bag hit it, bringing me back from those old days.

"We can dive in later," I said, sitting up. "Are you hungry at all?"

She shook her head. "I just want to get started." She rummaged through her bag until she pulled her laptop from it. "Send me the news reports you found earlier. If you want to grab a burger or something I can always research there."

"I don't eat, Elly." I reminded gently.

"Oh…right." She cleared her throat. "I forgot."

I smiled softly. "It's fine." I turned onto my side just long enough to pull my pc from the bag. "What do you want me to send them to?"

"Email is fine. It hasn't changed." 

"Gotcha," I said, running through the files until I'd found the most recent case. I sent them to her and then switched over to the police radar, not yet ready to sit in silence with her. It didn't take long before a new hit came over the static. "We got a fresh one, Elly. They just found a body about a mile out of town. Torn to shreds, heart and frontal lobe missing. Sounds like our kind of thing."

"You already got IDs ready?" She asked, her eyebrow going up.

"I have on for myself." I thought for a second. "I don't think I have…"

"I have one." Elly smiled, gesturing to her bag. "You wanna play suits of feds?"

"I was thinking staties," I said, a teasing lilt to my voice.

"Fuck yes." She was all too excited.

I laughed. "I've got fed threads in the trunk."

I rolled up the sleeves of the dark blue Kansas State Trooper uniform shirt I wore as we walked up to a group of officers. I had gotten these things from Jody the last time I'd seen her, something about her and Donna not needing them as much as she thought they would. And they fit all too well, though I had always hated wearing the sleeves correctly. Though Jody would've just been proud that I'd had the rest of it done up to code.

Elly looked fine in the lighter blue uniform, her shirt properly tucked into the black dress pants and even a few fake pins to mark unknown ranks. The genius woman had even thought of getting fake body cams to put on our chests. Yet another reason I'd missed working with her so much. I never got to get this detailed with hunts anymore. It was all souls this and new monsters this. It felt nice to get out of that for once and just breathe again.

"You remember the plan?" I asked softly, shifting the sunglasses that sat on my nose so I could see her better.

"Of course." Elly nodded, a playful smile on her face. "We murder them all, loot their bodies, and sell everything useful to the nearest pawn shop."

"Absolutely perfect," I chuckled. It was going to be good having her back.

"Can I help you ladies?" A county sheriff asked once we'd gotten close enough.

This man was old-old country. His dark blue uniform was crisp down to the black tie and the four golden stars that adorned his collar. The patch on his left shoulder shone as if it had been newly pressed this morning, the yellow thread spelling out his title bright in the mid-day sun. His old, tired blue eyes showed with history and a very 'I don't play around' attitude. He even wore an old white Stenson, the pieces of hair that poked from under it more salt than they were pepper, matching the impressive mustache that framed his mouth.

"We were looking to help you, sir," I said, neatly sliding my hands into my pockets. "We were in the area and happened to hear the call about this body. Figured we'd come take a look."

Even though it didn't feel fully necessary, Elly took her badge from her pocket and flipped it open to show the unwavering cop. "Heard you've been having a bit of a death streak in town. Some higher-ups were concerned." She smiled sweetly. "We understand why you wouldn't have called for outside help. Small town, smaller staff. We're just here to help pick up any slack."

The old man's blue eyes narrowed at us. He studied us for a few seconds before sticking his hand out to shake mine. I took it and gave it a firm shake before dropping my hand back to my side. Satisfied, he stood to the side and brought us closer to the body.

"Can't make sense of it myself." The old man sighed. "All the live bodies look like this. 'Cept they all have different parts missing from 'em."

"Different parts?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Ya." He removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow before returning it. "Sometimes they'll show up with no hearts and missing a lung. Other's they'll be missing kidneys and the eyes."

"So the hearts aren't always missing?" Elly asked, taking another step towards the body and bending down towards it.

"Nah." He shook his head. "We've only gotten a few missing hearts."

I nodded. That was good. It ruled out a pack of wolves. But it was also beginning to rule out a group of shifters. It was unlike them to leave their victims like this. They were discreet killers. Preferred to take the whole body if anything and keep it hidden to fully take over the person's life. This was beginning to feel much more like a ghoul.

"Would you mind?" Elly asked as she slipped a pair of gloves onto her hands. The sheriff shook his head and she gingerly peeled back the blue tarp they'd thrown over the body. Her head tipped to the side as she looked it over, blue eyes narrowed in the sun. "Has anything else weird been happening? We'd heard stories about the cemeteries getting hit too."

"Like what?" The sheriff asked, turning to her now. "The only thing wrong with the cemeteries is a little grave robbing. Nothing like this."

Elly hummed in quiet thought. "Random dead patches of grass, unexplained sudden cold spots?"

"Does turning up alive count?"

"Alive?" I asked, trying to sound surprised. 

"Yup. We process the crime scene, get the body to the morgue, and the next thing we know, it's up and walking again." He shook his head, almost as if he still didn't believe it all. "We have documentation of them all arriving at the morgue but then they just…poof into thin air."

"Poof?" I asked, eyebrows furrowing. I threw a look at Elly over his shoulder. She shrugged and stood, removing the gloves.

"That's not even the weirdest part." He continued, "They turn up at church, or work, or home like nothing ever happened. Every one of them in one piece and healthy."

"You're sure it's them?" Elly asked.

He nodded. "We've run all their fingerprints against those of the dead bodies. They've all been identical matches."

"Is there a camera in the morgue?" Elly slid the gloves into her pocket.

"There is. I've seen the footage myself. Nothing gets tampered with, and there's not a second of footage missing." He chuckled. "They're put into the coolers and locked up for the night. But by the time the first shift rolls around the next morning they're just gone."

"Would you mind showing us to the morgue?" I stepped back from the uncovered body now. Its tattered remains were still slick with glistening blood. This attack had to have been fairly recent with blood this wet. But the attacker hadn't left any tracks.

"'Course." He nodded extending his hand and gesturing away from the body as a forensics team appeared.

"We'll follow you," I said, nodding back towards my car.

I turned to Elly as we climbed back into the car and began to follow the sheriff further into town.

"Ghouls?" She asked before I could utter my thoughts.

"Exactly." I nodded.

We stepped into the morgue and looked around as my eyes adjusted to the unnatural blue lights. Elly shivered next to me as we continued. Was it that cold in here? The morgue itself was small. A front desk and beyond it the cooler room. It was a single wall of drawers, and only one cold slab table on wheels sat in the center. 

I looked around, studying the doors to the coolers without touching them yet. Nothing about them seemed off. And the mortician, a middle-aged woman with red hair and glasses, seemed perfectly human as she clutched a file to her chest, and still stood in the doorway. I looked at Elly, trading glances with her.

"Willing to play pretend?" I asked.

She shrugged and walked over to the silver wall. "Is it unlocked?" She asked, looking back towards the mortician.

She nodded, her short bobbed hair moving gently with her. I stepped over to Elly and tugged one of the doors open. The even colder air hit us as I slid the tray out. Elly hoisted herself onto the edge of the tray before laying down on it, momentarily shivering. She pulled her phone from her pocket and flicked the flashlight on before nodding. I slowly pushed her into the cooler, the light from her phone shining off the metal inside.

"Anything?" I asked, leaning against the door.

"Where do these ducts lead?" She asked, her voice echoing.

"Where do the ducts lead?" I repeated, turning towards the doctor, the sheriff standing beside her now.

"They lead to a duct on the roof." She almost looked confused. "You shouldn't be able to see the ducts.."

"You hear that?" I turned back to Elly.

"Ya. I'm going up." She called out.

"She's going up the duct," I said to the rest of the room. "How do you usually get to the roof?"

"There's a ladder outside that leads up to it, but you need a key to open the fence around the duct." The sheriff commented.

"Show me." I started towards them.

The doctor almost looked taken aback, but still nodded and led me back through the small building and outside to the back. A single, rusted ladder sat bolted against the brick wall. The sheriff handed me a small silver key. I took the rungs gently in my hands and climbed up. Once on top I hopped over the small roof ledge and looked out over it.

"Elly?" I called out across the flat concrete.

"Here." She huffed as she pulled herself out of the duct unit. She walked over to the fence that was indeed around the unit and studied it. "This wouldn't be hard to climb over. But you'd need help getting a body over it."

"So there's multiple of them. That's not abnormal for Ghouls." I thought for a few seconds. "The last time I saw one it was by itself, but it's not impossible that one made a family for itself." I opened the fence with the key and walked over to the unit, squatting down to examine it closer. "You'd have to be pretty skinny and flexible to fit through this like you did. Shorter than me too."

"I'll take the skinny and flexible part as a compliment. Not horrible for thirty-five." She smiled at herself.

I laughed. "You are not thirty-five. The math doesn't add up."

"Shut up," Elly grumbled. "It's rude to ask…" She trailed off, her attention being caught by something. She walked over to another part of the fence and crouched, pulling up a corner that her been cut free from the base.

"Well, there we go then." I walked back to the side I had climbed up. "Sheriff!" I called down to him. "You've got a body snatcher on your hands."

"That doesn't explain why they're taking them," Elly said, coming to stand beside me.

"Ghouls need to keep parts of the body they're disguised as, just in case they want to come back to an older one." I thought about that more. "That could mean we're dealing with a lot more than just two or three."

"Would they share the bodies?" Elly asked. "If they only need the parts to switch forms, why keep the entire body and try to take their lives?"

The whole taking over a human life thing is what still stumped me. "Maybe they're not using them for that. They could be hiding the bodies somewhere to keep up appearances."

"Can we continue this on the ground?" She laughed nervously. "I'm not the best with heights."

"Right." I stepped away from the ladder, letting her descend first before I did.

As we hit the pavement again, Elly's phone began to ring. She flashed an apologetic look as she pulled it from her pocket. She stepped away to answer it. "Hi hun," I heard her say before she stepped out of earshot.

My heart jumped into my throat as I thought about him again. Would Lucifer tell her? Is that what he had called about? Sure he had been the king of Hell at one point. The very definition of sin. But had she made him human enough to feel guilty about such a delicious sin? 

"A body snatcher?" The sheriff's voice brought me back.

"Ya." I cleared my throat. "We found a hole on the other side of the fence. Probably cut by wire cutters. Perfect size for someone small to squeeze through and then down through the vents to drag a body back up. Then they could easily push the body through the gap to whoever was waiting below."

"So. Two body snatchers?" The mortician asked.

"Honestly probably a small group," I commented.

"Sorry about that. It was my husband." Elly sighed as she regrouped with us. She clapped her hands together and exhaled sharply before smiling again. Anger tinged her blue eyes.

"I just filled them in on our findings," I told her, giving her a once over with worried eyes.

"Good." She shook her head. "Are we done here then?"

"I…" The sheriff started.

"Great!" Elly turned on her heels and started back towards the front of the building. "Let's go then."

I turned back to the sheriff and doctor, apologizing to them and handing the sheriff a card with my number on it before following after Elly. She had just slammed the passenger side door as I jogged up to the car. I pulled the driver's side door open and studied her before getting behind the wheel. I closed the door softly and turned the car on.

"You really shouldn't slam…"

"He makes me so damn angry sometimes!" She suddenly blurted out. 

"What did he…"

"He got all huffy and mad because I left without saying anything!" Elly huffed. "I am a grown-ass adult and I do not need to tell anyone where the fuck I'm going or why." It was clear she was fuming. "He must think I'm still that fragile little girl he has to protect!"

"I'm sorry Elly," I said, patting her leg gently. "He's just being a dick."

"A major fucking dick. God! Let's just go." She sighed again. "I need something to eat. And maybe something to punch."

I laughed nervously. "There's a diner just down…"

"I don't care. Just go."

I shut my mouth. It took about ten minutes to get to the diner I had been thinking of. I barely had time to park before she got out of the car and stomped towards the building. I had to jog to keep up with her before we got inside. It wasn't hard to get a booth in the back away from everyone else, especially with fed threads still on.

"So, since it's looking like multiple ghouls. I was thinking we could try the houses in the neighborhood of the victims first." I took a sip of the water the waitress had placed in front of us when we'd first sat down.

"Sounds fine," Elly said with disinterest, her fingernails tapping on the table.

"What did he say, Elly?" I asked, taking another lazy sip of water.

"Excuse me." She said, ignoring me and flagging down another waitress. "I'm ready to order. Get me the greatest back burger you can make. Extra back and a beer. And I don't give a fuck if you can't serve beer or don't have it in stock. Find me one."

I gave a nervous laugh as the waitress gave me a scared look. "I'm sure a sode would be fine. Right, Elly?"

"I want a fucking beer." She grumbled.

There was no way she didn't know. Fuck. "What's wrong, Elly?" I tried to keep my cool.

I still wasn't sure if she did know or not. It felt like this anger and aggression could be aimed at me, but it could've equally been aimed only at Lucifer. I had no idea what he had said to her. But there was nothing that matched the adrenaline of her knowing what happened. It was like the guilt I felt in my heart was being outweighed by the power the thought of the affair coming to light brought me. The thought of her knowing how I had played with her little black bird made me feel alive again. There was almost pride in it now. I could still feel the hurt I had felt at hurting her but at the same time, it just felt too damn amazing to have done it in the first place. But I should play it safe. I should wait to hear what she had to say. I wanted her to say that she knew.

"Sorry, Alex." Elly sighed after the waitress had rushed away with her order. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you. It's not you I'm angry with. It's just him." She pulled her glass of water to her and stared into it. "I feel like ever since we've come here I have started to know him less and less. He's…so proud to have his grace back now. Like he's ready to take over Hell again and start another apocalypse. He's not the sarcastic asshole I fell for anymore." She sighed again. "He's just…the devil."

I shrugged. "That's what happens when you suddenly remember the power you used to have." I leaned back into the booth's leather seat.

"Maybe I'm just being stupid about it all. I did leave without saying anything." She sighed again. "He's probably just worried about me."

"Why would he be worried?" I smiled at her. "You're with me. How bad could it get?" I winked at her.

"Don't say that." She chuckled softly. "You know that's a jinx in your family. And you know exactly why he's worried I'm with you."

"Cause I'm so irresistible?" I smiled at her.

"You know I would have slept with you before him." She Elly leaned back into her booth seat, relaxing now. 

"Really?" I popped an eyebrow up. "I always thought you preferred my man in a suit."

"While that nickname he gave me always seemed a little sexual, he wasn't ever my type. But Lucifer…" There was a deep sadness in her eyes as she remembered. "I don't need to ruin that with a moment of weakness."

The words caught in my throat as she said that. It felt like a personal jab towards me. Almost as if she had found a roundabout way to tell me she knew everything. But before I could ask or she could say anymore, her plate of food was set in front of her, along with a large mug of beer. A smile spread across her face as she thanked the waitress and picked the mug up, downing the drink faster than I'd ever seen.

"Whoa!" I commented. "Slow down, Elly. I thought you hated drinking."

She flicked her middle finger in my direction as she finished the glass, setting it back on the table with a clunk. "I am not the same person I was the last time I was here, Alex. It has been a long nineteen years for me. I've drank my fair share of liquor stores."

"Isn't the kid only…" She glared at me and I knew the answer. "Ah. So this case…"

"What about it?" Elly said, eying the burger in front of her.

"The houses the victims lived in are probably our best bet at finding the nest." I pulled my phone from my pocket and showed her the map of the area I'd found. "This is where the first body showed up." I pointed at a section of road just south of town. "That was Jeffery Smith. He's got a family that lives over here in this suburb." I pointed to another part of the map, this one full of small, gray houses. "He disappeared a few weeks back on his way home from work. They found his body the next morning down a back alley. And the day after that he was up walking around again as if nothing happened." I put my phone down on the table. "I think we start there. The first appearance is usually the pack leader."

Elly took a bite of her burger before speaking, using a napkin to sipe the grease from her hands and lips. "Should we scout out the house first?" She asked through the partial mouthful. "Does he have a wife or kids? We could try to talk to them first."

"He's got a wife and I think a son." I nodded, watching her eat happily. "I agree that talking to them might be useful."

"Sounds like a plan then." She took a long drink of water. "First thing in the morning then?"

"Sure." I leaned forward onto my elbows. "I'll scout out the place tonight while you rest in the room. Or whatever it is you do for fun now." I chuckled a little.

"I drink more, Alex. Not like I took up hard drugs and water polo." Elly snorted before taking another large bite.

"You can come with me then if you want to." I shrugged. "You seemed pretty annoyed earlier though. Figured you'd want some time alone."

"Oh…" She shrunk back a little. "I am sorry for yelling at you."

"You're fine, Elly. I've been yelled at worse by Crowley." I smiled at her.

"Maybe I should just go back to the motel room." She sighed. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, I'm starting to lose my temper as is. I'm just a walking midlife crisis." She laughed.

I smiled half-heartedly. "Come with me tonight. I'm not about to let you sit alone all night."

"You worried I'll hurt myself or something?" She tried to joke, her hand going to cover her mouth in mock offense. She continued before I could try to defend my words. "I'm teasing. I'll come with you."

"Right." I was only a little less worried about her now. "We can head over in a few hours."

"It looks like her yoga class is a little over an hour long. And I don't remember there being any school events tonight." Elly listed off the timestamps we'd managed to find. "But from the texts you intercepted earlier, sounds like the kid is at a slumber party anyway." I could hear her phone buzz in my ear as she received yet another text message. "I'm going to turn this damn thing off."

"Don't. I may need to call you." I said, watching her from my position a half mile away on the branches of a tree. We had been using earcoms to talk, some old pieces of tech I had managed to scrap from…his bunker before I went back to mine. They weren't the most reliable at long distances, but it would work for this. I could just make out Elly standing on the sidewalk. "Plus you're supposed to be acting like you need help."

"We could have just stayed in the car. Why did you have to go all super secret agent on me?" She huffed. "I feel like I'm in mission impossible."

I softly hummed the theme song before responding. "Because then we can be in two places at once. You can watch for her, and I can pay attention to your surroundings."

"Shut up, she's here," Elly said abruptly. I watched her shove her phone into her pocket and begin to approach a car that pulled into a driveway a few feet down. "Hi! Excuse me." I could hear her say in a bright, bubbly voice.

"Yes?" the woman in the vehicle asked.

"Hi. I'm Elly. I just moved in down the street. I was just trying to introduce myself to all the new neighbors." And we were already off script.

"Oh. Nice to meet you. I'm Hailey. Did you move into the Calvarie's house?" Hailey sounded a bit nervous.

"Yup. Such a beautiful place." Elly answered kindly.

"Would you like to come inside?" Hailey asked, "I can make us some drinks and you can tell me more about yourself."

"That would be nice. Thank you." Elly disappeared from my view, and I rolled my eyes. She was supposed to stay outside. "You have a lovely home."

"I don't like not being able to see you, Elly," I said softly into her ear. "Try to…" My eyes caught movement in an upstairs window. "Stall."

"That's very kind of you," Hailey replied, her tone getting lighter. "Do you have any kids?"

"I have a daughter," Elly responded. "And a son. But they're both a bit older now. One's a high schooler and the other will be starting going back to college soon."

"Oh my." Hailey sounded surprised, her voice further away now. "I didn't think you were that much older than me."

"My son is from a different marriage." I could hear the shrug in her voice.

"He's in the house, Elly," I said, watching the figure that now moved around upstairs.

"What do you mean he's in the house?!" She whispered and yelled at me.

"Calm down," I said, voice steady. I still had eyes on him. "You can't let her know anything is up. Just keep her talking. I have eyes on him so if he moves, I'll let you know."

"Here you are," Hailey said. I heard the small sound of a glass clinking on a counter. Elly thanked her softly. "How do you like the neighborhood so far?"

"Oh, it's absolutely darling." I didn't need to see her to know the fake smile plastered on her lips. It made me chuckle.

The figure in the window stopped moving now as if he could hear the conversation going on downstairs. 

"You said 'second marriage' didn't you?" Hailey asked.

"Yes. My husband was married once before we met." She took a sip of the drink. "It ended rather roughly."

"He knows you're there. But he can't know you're a hunter." I continued to watch his every movement. What a trained predator I had become. I leaned further into the shadow of the branches.

"Does your husband work?" Boring housewife questions.

"He's the owner of a law firm." The thought of Lucifer as a lawyer made me smile.

"The king of Hell is far from a lawyer." I joked. "And even if he was one, he'd be the scummiest of them all."

My attention focused on the figure again. He seemed ot be darting around whatever room he was in. I watched him until he disappeared.

"I lost him, Elly." I groaned. "He could be making his way downstairs. Get the vamptonite ready."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Elly gasped, following the sound of a glass falling. "I'm so clumsy."

"Don't worry about it." Hailey laughed softly. "I'll go grab a towel."

"I can't just stab him in the kitchen." Elly hissed over the com.

"You don't have to stab him, he just has to touch the blood." I could see him again, standing in a window on the first floor. "Rub a little on your hand or something."

"Great." She hissed again. "Get your ass out of the tree, he'll probably try to run." Her voice changed once again as I assumed Hailey had come back into the room. "Would you mind grabbing me a bandaid? I seem to have cut myself on the glass."

I climbed from the tree slowly, focused on the house and the very danger Ely could be in. "Be careful, Elly."

"When did you get home, honey?" Hailey asked as the figure disappeared from the window again. "Elly, this is my husband, Jeffery."

"Very nice to meet you," Elly answered, a sweet lilt to her voice still. "I should let you two get back to your evening. Thank you for the drink. Sorry again about the glass."

"Did you get it?" I questioned, straightening out my clothes.

I didn't have to wait long for my answer. A man bolted from the back door of the house. I slid easily out of his view and behind a tree trunk as he raced towards me. I waited until I could hear his panting before sticking my arm out, neatly closelining him. He hit the ground and a woosh of air left his lungs. I walked to his other side and stuck my boot into his chest, effortlessly pinning him to the ground.

"Stay," I ordered.

"Bite me." The monster beneath my foot hissed, struggling under the shoe.

"I said…" My eyes flickered black. "Stay." I pushed down harder on his chest, making him gasp. "I got him, Elly."

I looked him over as I waited for her to join us. The form it had chosen was maybe in its thirties. Gray flecks ran through the red hair and there were bright gold bands in his green eyes. A splatter of freckles ran across his cheeks and nose. He was medium build, but more on the dad bod side of things. I ground my shoe deeper into its chest as the monster wriggled beneath me.

"Will you stop fighting already? We already know what you are." I rolled my eyes.

"Then why haven't you just killed me?" It hissed.

"Because we have some questions." Elly huffed as she finally joined us, out of breath. "The wife is fine for now. Didn't see anything, but we should probably move before she happens to look out back."

I nodded, removing my foot from his chest, but not giving it long enough to flee before grabbing the collar of its polo and yanking it to its feet. I dragged it along with me until we got to my car, which I'd parked a little further down. Elly must have succeeded in getting a large helping of blood on him, as he started to stumble over his own feet as we got closer to the car. It made it all that much easier to shove him into the backseat, Elly climbing in beside him, her pistol in her hand as a precaution. I climbed behind the wheel and started to drive. But not back to our motel room. Elly had suggested getting a separate one at another location so he wouldn't trace us back to it later. I would have to thank her for that idea.

The car ride was quiet and uneventful until we reached the motel. As soon as the car had stopped, I saw a blur out of the rearview mirror as the ghoul feld. The next thing I saw was Elly leaping out after him. It was surprising to see just how fast she still was, despite her older age. It wasn't like she was some sort of soccer mom. 

I got out of the car and chased after them. It didn't take long to catch up, and by the time I had, she had already caught him and was dragging him back towards the motel. He lost his balance as she did, falling to the ground, but she was quick to have her gun trained on him. 

I strolled over and pulled him from the ground, hoisting him over onto my shoulder before walking back to the motel. Elly followed, opening and closing the door for me once we'd gotten there. I threw the ghoul down into a chair and moved to the side, leaving Elly to keep the gun trained on him as I walked to my pack. I pulled some rope from it and went to work tying him securely to the chair. 

"Let me go." it hissed, looking between us. "Now."

"Or what?" I asked, leaning against the edge of the table, folding my arms over my chest. "You don't scare either of us."

"The rest will know I'm missing." He said. "They'll come for you."

"Please." I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I pushed off the table, taking a step closer to him, looking over the stolen body again. "I'm the queen of Hell, and her boyfriend is Lucifer. Even if they do 'come for us', I think we can handle it."

"Queen of Hell my ass." The ghoul spat. "Her boyfriend is more believable than that. But everyone knows he's gone." He chuckled to himself. His smile dropped after and he huffed in disgust. "You're that Winchester bitch Crowley took in."

"Oh ya. I'm that bitch." I snatched up a handful of his hair and pulled his head back. "And you should believe me when I say that he taught me everything he knew about torturing a soul."

"You wouldn't have the balls." It spat again.

I looked up at Elly, who was standing silently to the side, her gun still trained and ready. But she met my gaze before looking back to the faker. I couldn't quite read her eyes. I dropped his head, letting it fall forward again as I went back to my pack. I shuffled through it for a few seconds, more for dramatics than anything else, I already knew what I wanted to use. I pulled the thing from it and held it to my side, waltzing back to the monster and behind it.

"How many of you are there?" I asked. He tried to follow me with his eyes, trying to decide if I was really going to hurt him or not. "I'm going to lose my patience if you don't answer soon. How many are there?" His eyes searched mine, but he remained silent. "Elly. Lock the door and turn the TV on. Loud."

Elly hesitated, but then slowly lowered her gun and took a step back. She locked the door, being careful to get the deadbolt and the top latch. Then she found the remote and turned the TV on, finding some old station that was currently playing a medical ad. She looked at me, unsure. I nodded, and she turned the TV volume up higher, to the point where the sound filled the room and would hopefully block out most of the torture. She returned to her spot and lifted the gun again. Her hands trembled slightly now as she aimed again.

I twisted the thick piece of metal I had chosen around in my hand, finding the angel I preferred. In one swift movement, the thick meat hook easily passed through his shoulder, the point coming out bloody on the other side. There was a moment before the feeling hit him, but when it did, he exhaled sharply. A choking noise stuck in his throat as I pushed harder against the hook.

I saw Elly flinch, her eyes closing for a moment before they opened again. They were wet with tears. She licked her lips before steadying her shaking hands. Did she still get nightmares?

The thing attempted ot lean forward, but I held him upright with a firm grip on the hook still in his shoulder. He huffed a sharp breath through his teeth. "Seven."

"That wasn't so hard now was it?" I asked my grip still tight on the hook. I could still see the bright red blood glistening on the end of it. A beautiful sight. "Why are you killing people?"

"We…ran out of food." He struggled against me, a cry of pain coming from him as I yanked on the hook. It was only going to get worse if he continued to fight. Why did they never understand that? It wasn't like he could free himself anyway. He was still weak from the vamptonite. As good as human.

"There's thousands of graveyards, how did you just run out of food?" I continued to question.

"There's no bodies. They're all gone." He sucked in a sharp breath. "We've been traveling for months now. There's nothing."

"What do you mean? That can't just be gone."

"They're just gone!" He yelled.

"Why do you take them from the morgue?" I asked.

He was silent. "I don't know!" He screamed as I yanked hard on the hook, a new splatter of blood coming from the wound. "I don't know!"

I let up on the hook, watching Elly wince again as I did. There was dislike plastered across her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked for what felt like the hundredth time. 

"Our leader makes us do it. They make us leave the bodies until they get found." He gasped through the pain. "I don't know why."

"Why do you take over their lives?" Elly questioned, her gun lowering as her arms grew tired. She looked pale now. Sickly even.

"Have you seen what we look like?" I twisted the hook in his shoulder, getting bored. Even as he screamed again, I wanted to do more. But he was cooperating. "And we can't all be strangers who randomly show up in town." His voice was tight.

"Why not?" I asked, tugging on the hook, almost pulling it out before stabbing it through again in a different spot. "She pretended to." I nodded to Elly. "Why would new people showing up in town be strange?"

"Fuck!" He threw his head back, his face scrunched in pain. "Seven random people? They'd catch on fast, like you did. Humans aren't as stupid as everyone thinks they are."

"No, but you really should give them some credit." I tugged up on the hook again, really pulling on it now. "And it was much stranger to have seven people die and come back to life than it would've been to have a few new people in town."

He was crying now, his head bowed, breath ragged.

"Alex…" Elly warned, her voice thin. Fragile.

"I just…follow orders." He whimpered. "I don't know anything else."

"Who's your leader?" It was more a demand than a question. I was pulling so hard now that I might as well push my foot against the back of the chair for more leverage. He let out a feral scream.

"Alex!" Elly said again, her voice wavering and on the edge of tears. "Stop!"

I relaxed my grip, letting the hook relax under his skin. I looked back at her, the memories of the night we'd done her exorcism coming back. 'It felt so real. I wake up gasping for breath and screaming in pain.' I let the meat hook drop from my hand, still dangling in his shoulder. 'So much pain.' Why was I being so insensitive? Elly had gone through exactly what I was putting this monster through. 'And he fixes it.' Fuck.

I slid the meat hook from the monster's shoulder in one quick pull, making it yelp once more. "I'm done." I sighed. "You can finish up with him." I threw the bloody thing into my bag and left the room.

I took a deep drag of the cool evening air. What was happening to me? One second I didn't seem to care if she knew I had betrayed her trust, and the next everything I did in front of her made me sick. 'And he fixes it.' Those words continued to bang around in my head. What the fuck was wrong with me? I'd never do that to someone I cared about. Certainly not to someone like Elly. I loved her and knew how much she cared about him. It was a lot more than I ever had, his true vessel or not. Did I miss all the attention so much that I was desperate for it?

I took a seat on the curb and put my head in my hands. I let out a deep sigh and let the warm tears flow from my eyes. I didn't even know I was capable of this feeling anymore. It had been so long since I had anything to care over. And every other emotion eventually turned into wrath or lust. I wasn't human anymore, so there hadn't been room for any other human emotions. 

I sat there silently and listened to the passing world. There was nothing to listen to here besides the sounds of cars driving on the street nearby and some dogs barking in the distance. I couldn't even hear my heartbeat. Did I even have one anymore? The thought made me sick. What was I?

It made me wonder what other demons had been like. Had they kept a human part of themselves for a while just like I had tried to? It was something I had questioned for a while now. Even as I knew this feeling would slowly become another just as quickly as I had felt this, I still wondered if it was normal. Or as normal as a demon could be. I knew it wouldn't be long before I was an unfeeling monster like Alastair or Abraxas. The thought made my stomach churn. I knew I wouldn't vomit, no matter how much I wanted to. I hadn't eaten anything in years, so there was nothing but dust. Everything felt so wrong at this moment.

I had to tell her.