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Hunting Humanity VII	By : greenwizard11 Category: Supernatural > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1275 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Supernatural universe. No money is being made from this story.

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Sam carried Nathan down the hallway of an apartment building, Dean and Liam behind him. “Time to go back to Mommy,” he spoke softly to the little boy before knocking on Becky’s door.

Becky answered looking a little bit upset. “So, you finally bring him back. Sam, it’s been over two weeks! You were only supposed to have him for the week.”

Sam walked in and the other two followed, Liam setting down the diaper bag full of Nathan’s stuff. Sam turned to Becky. “You didn’t call, so we didn’t even think you noticed or cared.”

“How could you think that? Of course I noticed my own child wasn’t brought back to me. I didn’t call because you were working and I didn’t want to deal with that… that wife of yours.”

Sam shrugged and put Nathan down in his playpen. “She didn’t bring him back because she didn’t want to deal with you either. Can’t blame her, I don’t want to deal with you either.”

Becky crossed her arms. “Then don’t. Abandon your son.”

Sam sighed. “You know I can’t do that. Family has always been very important to me, but you knew that from the books. That’s why you… Then you tried to use the child for emotional extortion. He’s a little human being, not some kind of tool.”

“You don’t think I know that? I’m the one that takes care of him three weeks out of the month. You just take him for a week and have your wife pay child support.”

“Yeah, and she pays it every month without fail.”

“And her stupid lawyer made it so I have to account for how I spend it.”

“Forgive her for wanting to make sure the generous amount of money she shells out actually goes toward the welfare of the child. I mean, she’s had to wash his clothes when we take him, this makes the third time he’s had a bad case of diaper rash. He’s a little behind in language development. We’ve had him to the pediatrician who is of the opinion he’s just not being stimulated enough. What is he to you other than a monthly check and compliments from people?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Sam Winchester, you are...”

“I’m what? A bad person for wanting the best for my kids? I’m frustrated beyond belief because your plan didn’t work out the way you wanted so you’re stuck with a kid you don’t really want anymore. Except maybe I can fix that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Natalie and I have been discussing me filing for sole custody. He’d certainly be better taken care of.”

“But you’re working again, which means he would be taken care of by that woman.”

“Yeah, it does, and she cares for him like she would her own. It’s your guts she hates, but she knows better than to take that out on an innocent little boy. And can you blame her for her feelings toward you? I was hers of my own free will and you tried to steal me like a toy. She’s pissed on my behalf.”

“Go ahead and try to take him then, but don’t think you’ll completely get rid of me. I am still his real mother, and entitled to visitation if I want.”

Sam sighed. “I know, and I wouldn’t stop you. I’m not the kind of person who would just rip a young child away from his mother completely. I may not like you, but it’s up to him to form his own opinion of you when he’s older. Bye for now. I’ll be back for him when I have the time.”

“Wow...” Dean shook his head when they were back in the car.

Sam leaned back in the seat. “That is what I’ve been dealing with the past several months. She started off trying to use Nathan and her knowledge of me from the books for emotional extortion, but it didn’t work so she’s pissed at me.” He took out his phone and called Natalie. “Honey, I realize I’m putting you through a lot, but I’ve decided something. If you think you can handle it, get the custody papers in the works. He deserves a better life than what she’s giving him.”

They went to a motel for the night and Dean got on the laptop. “Check this out. A jogger in Minneapolis, Minnesota gets his heart ripped out.”

Sam turned to his brother. “I'm guessing literally?”

“Only way that interests me. And then, there's another article from six months ago. Same thing happens, also in Minneapolis. What does that tell us?”

“Stay out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.”

“Two hearts ganked, same city, six months apart. I mean, that's got to be a ritual, man. Or at least some sort of a heart sucking, possessed, satanic, crack whore bat.”

“A what?” Liam gave him a funny look.

“It's a case. Look, I say we hang out the shingle again and ride.”

Sam shook his head. “We're on a case, Dean. The demon tablet needs to be found, so heart guy takes a number.”

“Uh, we just spent a week chasing our asses trying to lock the tablet down, okay? Alright, man, look, I get it. You took a year off to do yoga and play the lute, whatever, but I'm back. Okay, we're back, which means that we walk and kill monsters at the same time. We'll find the tablet. But in the meantime, do we ignore stuff like this, or are innocent people supposed to die?”

Sam let out a deep sigh. “Fine. Let’s work the case.”

“Liam?” Dean turned to his mate. “You with us?”

“I usually am. I’d like to have a little alone time with you though.”

“What for?”

“Nothing I guess,” Liam got up and went into the bathroom.

Sam gave his brother a strange look. “I know you were gone a while, but he obviously wanted sex.”

“Oh,” Dean caught on. “I was gone a while. Didn’t have time to think about or want sex in Purgatory.”

“Well, you’re not in Purgatory now, and you’ve got a man in there who was willing a minute ago. You want my advice, I’ll leave and you can woo him into bed. It’s probably a lot like riding a bike.”

Dean nodded, and when Sam was gone he knocked on the bathroom door. “Liam, come out here please.” Liam opened the door and Dean stroked his cheek. “I’m sorry. I guess I haven’t really left Purgatory mode completely yet. But Sam is gone now, so...” He leaned in to kiss Liam passionately.

Two days later they were dressed as FBI in the Minneapolis police station talking to a detective. “Here's what's odd about this thing, the guy wasn't chopped or cut into, no incision. But his heart was ripped out of him like a peach pit.”

“Was he robbed?” Sam asked.

“Phone, watch, money all still on him.”

“What about enemies?” Dean asked.

“He was in town for a conference. No local connections.”

Dean nodded. “You guys had another one of these about, uh, six months ago?”

“Yeah, and we hit a brick wall. We had nothing to go on, really. Thought maybe we got lucky here. A park surveillance camera picked up something.”

They watched the footage of a heavy set guy overtaking the jogger on the path. “Huh. That chubby guy the last person to see the victim alive?” Dean asked.

“Other than the killer. Name's Paul Hayes. We, uh, pulled him in for questioning.”

“So what makes you think he's clean?” Sam asked.

“Well, so far, no reason not to. I mean, he said he briefly saw the victim, he ran out ahead, that was it.”

Dean looked at him. “What, you mean he didn't fall to his knees and confess to gutting the guy?”

“No. I mean we did a thorough check on the guy, not so much as a parking ticket came up. I mean, look at him. I mean, sure, he can run a little bit, but Thor he ain't. You think he's gonna grab Freddy fitness here and throw him down and rip out his heart? I don't think so. Forgive me if I didn't take him out back and shoot him.”

Sam blinked. “Okay, uh, so, any idea where we can find this guy?”

They went to the guy’s apartment to talk to him. He was making a smoothie. “Sorry. I kind of try to stick to a nutrition and workout schedule. Do you want a hit?”

“I'm good. Thanks,” Sam declined. “So, Paul, you passed a runner who was later killed. Did you speak with him at all?”

“Yeah, I went over this with the cops. I didn't know him. I had never spoken to him. I ran past him. I never saw him again. The end.”

Dean came out of the bathroom. “Thanks, uh, too much fiber.”

“No such thing,” Paul said.

“See?” Sam shot his brother a look. “Now, Paul, we couldn't help but notice that the jogger you outraced was a good deal younger than you.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, and less, uh...”

Paul patted his stomach. “Uh, full figured? You should've seen me before. Yeah, hugging a desk all day and watching TV all night, eating fried everything was killing me. I had a health scare about a year ago.”

Sam frowned. “I'm sorry to hear that.”

“No, it changed my life. I mean, I started taking care of myself.”

“Now your body's a temple, huh?” Dean commented.

“Where I worship every day.”

They left Paul’s to go to a cafe for a bite. “Alright, so, what's the word? What did you find poking around at Paul's?” Sam asked his brother.

Dean shrugged. “Ah, just the usual, condoms, hair gel. No hex bags, nothing satanic, nothing spooky.”

“So, he didn't seem like a guy who would be voted most likely to disembowel?” Liam poked a little at his sandwich.

“No, they never do. Wait a minute. Here's another one.”

“What, murder?” Sam looked to his brother.

“And a do it yourself heart bypass. Two days after this one.”

“What part of Minneapolis?”

“The Iowa part. Ames.”

Sam sighed. “Well, Paul was here being questioned. There's no way that could have been him.”

“This guy was a cop. This is exactly what happened six months ago. Minneapolis, then Ames. Guess you two missed that one. I'm just saying.”

They drove to Ames, Iowa to talk to another detective. “Arthur Swenson. Real top shelf officer. Twenty years on the force. He'd ordered a pizza, which the victim delivered.”

“And then?” Sam asked.

“The victim didn't make his next drop off. His body was found on the walk in front of Swenson's.”

“And he wasn't wearing a heart?” Dean asked.

“No. Heartless.”

“And, uh, what about Swenson?” Sam asked.

“Crumpled on the front stoop. Covered in blood, crying like a baby. Ironically, he had been in court all week, testifying.”

The officer’s phone rang and he picked it up. Sam turned to his companions. “So that couldn't have been him in Minneapolis.”

Dean sighed. “I hate when this happens.” The officer hung up the phone and Dean looked to him. “So, this Arthur guy, what does he have to say?”

“Uh, it's not real helpful.”

They asked to see him anyway. He just sat there rocking back and forth repeating the same nonsense over and over again. Dean sat on the corner on the table and crossed his arms. “It's too bad I dropped out of Lunatic 101.”

Sam shrugged. “Whatever it is, it sounds like he's repeating it.”

“Look at his eyes,” Dean noticed they were two different colors. “Hey, Arthur, did you do this alone?”

“Arthur, did some invisible voice tell you you had to kill?” Sam asked.

The guy slammed his hands on the table and kept repeating the same thing. Dean took out a flask of holy water. “I'm gonna sprinkle your arm with holy water, and it's gonna steam and burn if you're possessed by a demon. He's a mushroom.” He poured a little water on the man’s arm and nothing happened. Dean turned to Liam. “Any bright ideas from you, genius?”

“He’s speaking Ancient Mayan.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“I don’t know how I know that!” Liam huffed. “Maybe in another life I was Mayan.”

“Any idea what he’s saying?” Sam asked.

“The divine god Cacao is born.”

Dean blinked. “What does that mean?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know that? Maybe this god Cacao is running around turning people into killers? The heart was very important in Mayan society. They did some pretty fucked up shit.”

“That’s all you know?” Dean looked at him.

Liam sighed. “Do I look like a universal encyclopedia? I know what he’s saying, and that’s all I got.”

They went back to the motel for some research, and got a call later that the man had tried to gouge his own eye out. Dean and Liam got in the car and drove to the hospital. Dean pulled the doctor aside. “So, Dr Kashi, what are we looking at here, some kind of psychotic break?”

“Oh, definitely. He was very thorough. Severed the optic nerve. He was determined to remove the eye.”

“And he used, uh, what to cut with?”

“He doesn't look strong enough, but he broke off part of the bed frame and used it as a knife.”

“Wow. They should put warning labels on those beds.”

“Like I said, determined.”

“I noticed that he had two different colored eyes.”

“Yes. Apparently, he was in an accident where much of one eye was shattered. His vision was saved with a transplant.”

“When was this?”

The doctor looked at his file. “A year ago, almost to the date. And, interestingly, it's the transplanted eye he chose to cut out.”

“Really? Hey, let me ask you something, doc. Is it possible to trace the donor of a transplanted organ?”

“Difficult.”

“But possible?”

Dean called Sam to tell him what they had learned, then he went to pick up some dinner. When they came back carrying a bag of food and sodas Sam was doing research. Sam looked up. “Hey. Arthur Swenson had an eye transplant a year ago, right?”

“Yeah,” Dean nodded.

“Well, I remembered that Paul Hayes was talking about a health scare he had a year ago that changed his life, so I pulled up his medical records from Minneapolis. You want to guess who else, other than Arthur Swenson, had a transplant in the last year?”

“Paul Hayes?” Dean guessed. “Okay, so we've got two suspects in two identical murders in two different cities that both had organ transplants a year ago. Okay. Well, let's get our asses on the road.”

“Headed to...?” Sam looked at his brother.

“Well, if we are in a repeat of a cycle from six months ago, then, after the murders in Minneapolis and in Ames, the next heart attack was in Boulder, Colorado.”

“Okay then,” Liam sighed and started gathering his things.

Dean started driving, looking rather content with everything. “Alright, case is coming together. Things are coming together, man. The Three Musketeers together again. It is all good. I don't know about either of you, but this last year has given me a new perspective.”

“I hear you. Believe me,” Sam nodded.

“I know where I'm at my best, and that is right here, driving down crazy street next to you two.”

Sam sighed. “Or maybe you don't need me. I mean, maybe you're at your best hacking and slicing your way through all the world's crap alone, not having to explain yourself to anybody.”

Dean tensed a little. “Yeah, that makes sense, seeing as I have so many other brothers I can talk to about this stuff.”

“Look, I'm not saying I'm bailing on you. I'm just saying make room for the possibility that we want different things. I mean, I want my time to count for something.”

“So, what we do doesn't count?” Dean’s phone rang and he answered it. “Yeah? Hey, Dr. Kashi. Okay. Thank you. Uh, could you run one more name for me? Yeah, Hayes, Paul. Uh huh. And the donor? Seriously? How many others? Did anybody from Boulder, Colorado, receive any of those organs? Okay, thank you.” He hung up. “Well, this is gonna singe your axons. She says that both Paul Hayes' kidney and Arthur Swenson's new eye came from, you ready for this? Brick Holmes.”

“The all pro quarterback?” Sam looked intrigued.

“The who?” Liam looked confused.

Dean shook his head. “You speak Ancient Mayan but you have no idea who Brick Holmes is?”

Liam crossed his arms looking a little upset at the comment. “Not a big sports person.”

“He bought it in a car crash last year,” Sam said. “Nose dived off a bridge or something. He must've signed a donor card. Did the doc say how many organs he donated?”

“Including our two suspects? Eight.”

“Okay, um, and one of them's in Boulder, am I right?”

“You would be wrong. That's the bad news. Good news is, Brick lived just outside of Boulder.”

“Well, Brick's dead.”

“Yeah, but he's all we got, so we are going to Boulder.”

They went to Brick’s mother’s house and sat down with her to see what they could learn. “I just want to say how sorry we are for your loss, Mrs. Holmes,” Dean said.

“Thank you.”

Sam gave her a small smile. “You know, Brick Holmes was my idol back in high school. Amazing career. Uh, eighteen pro seasons, seven division championships, four Super Bowls, never slowed down a day.”

“Brick lived for competition and athletic perfection. I don't think it occurred to his fans that he was human, like the rest of us.”

“Do you know your son was an organ donor?” Sam asked.

“Does that make this a matter for the FBI?”

Dean smiled at her. “Like we explained earlier, we're mostly here, uh, to dot some I's on a different matter.”

“There was a public awareness thing a few years ago. A lot of star athletes signed on. I'm sure Brick didn't think twice about it, since he never thought he was going to die.”

Dean nodded. “A lot of jocks are like that, I guess. You know, I can't help wonder what happened that night on that bridge. There was light traffic, no alcohol involved, no skid marks. Big time athlete, reflexes like a cat, how is it that he just drives off the side of a bridge?”

“When things happen that aren't supposed to happen, they're called accidents, I believe.”

“So, everybody knows about Brick's football career, obviously, but no one knows much about his personal life. Was he ever married?” Sam asked.

“Just to the game. He gave it everything he had. It's a difficult life.”

“Did you notice any changes in Brick before he died, you know, anyone, anything new in his life?” Dean asked.

“No. I don't think so.”

“So, no new interests? Fly fishing, stamp collecting?”

“No. Everything was just as it had been. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid my time is up. The university is naming a new athletic building after Brick. I can't be late.” She stood up to leave.”

Sam nodded. “Of course. Just one more question.”

“There is always one more question in life, isn't there? That's what I find,” Mrs. Holmes headed for the door.

“Oh, she didn't want to say much, did she?” Sam commented as they headed for the car.

Dean checked his phone. “Son of a bitch. There it is. It happened.”

Sam looked surprised. “Come on, don't tell me someone had their heart ripped out here in Boulder.”

“Alright, then I won't tell you,” Dean got in the car.

They went to a motel and started doing more research. Sam pulled up a site. “Okay, if Liam’s translation was correct. Cacao, the Mayan God of maize, or as we call it, corn, the big crop. See, Cacao was the most powerful god because maize was the most important thing to the Mayans. Well, that and torturing and killing everyone in sight.”

Dean looked up. “So, this is what we're looking for, is a thousand year old culture's god of corn?”

Sam shrugged. “Uh, I guess.”

“Well, whatever it is, we better cap it quick, or somebody in Phoenix is next up to get their heart yanked.”

“Someone in Phoenix got a piece of Brick?”

“Yeah, I got a name. Just emailed the cops. Just heard back from them. They haven't seen the guy in days. Uh, oh, got another email here too. This one is for you. From a Memphis community college answering questions about admissions.”

Sam shrugged. “Just something I'm looking into. An option.”

Dean stared at him. “You're seriously talking about hanging it up?”

“I'm not talking about anything, Dean. I'm just looking at options. So, what, should we just go to Phoenix and chase our tails until this guy shows his face?”

“No. Uh, Brick Holmes is the way into this. Eleanor Holmes was doing her damndest not to tell us a thing. Nice job on changing the subject, though.”

They drove back to the house and broke in. “Alright, naming ceremony's over at ten. We got to get in and out,” Dean ushered them up to the master bedroom.

They found two walk in closets. Dean and Liam went into one while Sam checked out the other. Dean looked around. “Brick's closet. Looks like the stuff hasn't been touched in a year. Man, what this stuff would go for on eBay.”

“Dean, this is really weird,” Sam called out.

“What do you got?”

“I don't know. Is this Eleanor's closet?”

“Why would his mother's closet be in here? Are you sure?”

Sam pulled out a jacket and a scarf. “Check this out. This is what she was wearing today when we talked to her.”

Dean shrugged. “Maybe she moved into Brick's room after he died. Or...” his eyes turned toward the bed.

Sam sighed. “Oh. Thanks, Dean. Now that image is permanently etched into my retinas.”

“Got something here,” Liam called out. The back of Brick’s closet opened up to reveal a hidden room full of sports memorabilia and trophies.

Sam pushed his way in. “Wow. I knew he'd have something like this in his house.”

Dean looked around. “This is a lot of hardware. Okay, the football trophies I get, but there's a lot of other stuff here. I mean, baseball, boxing, race car driving.”

Sam started poking around. “He was a fan. Any kind of athlete. He respected them. I mean, look at all the old stuff he's got, a cricket mallet, golf clubs, a Kendo sword, archery equipment.”

“And this,” Liam picked up a box. He opened it and found a bunch of old letters.

They sat down to read them. Sam held up one. “They're all the same. Dearest Betsy. Blah blah blah. Who's Betsy?”

Dean shrugged. “I don't know. Girlfriend? Eleanor didn't mention a Betsy.”

Sam grabbed another. “This one looks old. Uh, Dearest Betsy, third day of training camp. Roadwork improving. Working on my left jab. They say this kid Sugar Ray is gonna be tough.”

Dean looked up. “Sugar Ray? As in Robinson? Didn't he box in, like, the '40s? Is it signed the same?”

“Yeah. Love, me.”

There were dozens of letters, all written to Betsy and signed the same. The only difference was they mentioned different sports. They decided to go back to the motel and dig some more. Sam sat on the bed with his laptop. “Hey. I pulled up the names on those trophies. Check it out.” Dean and Liam came over to look. “Alright, Brick Holmes, football player. Charlie Karnes, race car driver. Davey Samuelson, baseball player. Kelly Duran, boxer. Four different guys, right?” He brought up their pictures on the screen.

“Okay,” Dean looked at the screen.

Sam arranged it so the pictures were all side by side. “Check this out. Same dark eyes, same cheekbones, nose, mouth.”

Dean blinked. “Wait, are you saying that these four guys who all look to be in their mid twenties and go back seventy years could be the same guy? Wow. For a ninety five year old, Brick Holmes could take a hit.”

Sam shook his head. “So, if all those athletes were the same guy, how'd he pull it off? Appear, then go away and come back with a new look?”

Liam sat beside Sam. “If we factor in the Mayan thing… The Maya were all about war and torture and conquest... and sports. Their athletes were treated like kings. The Mayan jocks made sacrifices to Cacao by killing a victim, pulling out his heart, and eating it. They believed the rituals gave them super charged power over their opponents.”

Sam sighed. “Yeah, but they didn't stay young forever. So, what? Maybe Brick just made some kind of deal with this Cacao?”

Dean shrugged. “Well, we've seen it before people making deals with demons, gods. I mean, maybe he stayed young and strong so long as the sacrifices kept coming. Remember all that antique sports equipment he had? This guy could go back to the Mayan days.”

Sam leaned back. “Wow. So, one of the greatest QBs to ever play the game was over nine hundred years old.”

“Well, that explains Brick, but what about the mooks carrying his spare parts?”

“Maybe the spell went along for the ride and infected the people who got his organs. Remember how Paul Hayes said he had a health scare that changed his life? I mean, maybe the spell could compel him to keep carrying out the ritual,” Sam suggested.

Dean nodded. “Sort of like getting bit by a werewolf. I mean, once you're infected, you do what you got to do, especially if you like the results.”

“Right, except old Arthur, the dedicated cop, couldn't handle it and went nuts. Brick Holmes, a heart eater. Who knew?” Sam clicked on another link. “Well, at least he wasn't sleeping with his mother.”

“Yeah, good, Sam. Find the silver lining.”

“No, seriously. Look.” Sam showed them a picture of the boxer with a woman. “Fighter Kelly Duran is congratulated on a second round knockout by wife Betsy. Dearest Betsy.”

They went back to the Holmes house the next day and knocked on the door. “Hello, Eleanor,” Dean greeted her. “Or would you rather us call you Betsy?”

She sighed and motioned for them to come in. Sam sat on one of the chairs. “Look, Eleanor, innocent people are dying. And they're gonna continue to die until we stop it.”

“Did you know about the murders over the past year?” Dean asked.

She shook her head. “No. I didn't. I swear. I thought when Brick died, it would be over.”

Dean nodded. “Help us. Betsy, this is not what you want Brick's legacy to be.”

“His Mayan name was Inyo. He was a proud young athlete nearly a thousand years ago. He lived for sport and never wanted his days in the sun to end. So, he arranged a bargain with the god Cacao through a high priest.”

“Stay young forever,” Dean followed.

“As long as the sacrifices continued, twice a year, once for the planting, once for harvest.”

“When did you find out about this?” Sam asked.

“Not until I began to age and Brick, Kelly, as he was when I met him, did not. But by that time, Brick himself had changed inside. He wasn't just the warrior whose only reason for living was combat. He, we were deeply, deeply in love. So in love, I'm ashamed to say, that when I found out that… how my husband stayed young and strong, I chose to ignore it.”

Liam looked at her. “You and Brick had to go underground from time to time to hide your secret, right?”

“Every ten years or so, he would, uh, re-emerge with a new look, a new name. And me, I was the wife, and I was the woman in hiding, and then, when I got into my forties, I became Brick's mother. Eleanor. I am so tired. You can't imagine the burden of it all. I think even Brick was through. He could see the end of my days were at hand, and... He had lived centuries all alone, but I don't think he could bear the thought of life without me. That's why he drove off that bridge. You must think I'm a monster.”

Dean shook his head. “No, just that you married one. Well, see, here's the deal. Now there are eight killers out there that we have to deal with, not just one.”

“I don't think so. Brick used to say the heart was key. That was the focus of the sacrifice.”

Dean’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that if we stop Brick's beating heart, then we could stop the whole thing? Do you know where the person is who has the heart?”

She sent them to a strip club. Dean parked across the street. “Really? Our king daddy monster is a stripper?”

“It would figure,” Liam sighed.

Sam got out. “We're pretty sure this is gonna work, right?”

Dean shrugged. “Well, as long as Eleanor knows what she's talking about.” He pulled out a big knife.

Dean picked the lock at the rear entrance and they made their way to the main room. Randa walked out onto the stage. “Eleanor sent you, right? I figured she'd probably break and give me up. This won't end well for her, of course. Not that it's gonna end well for you.” Dean grasped the knife. “Oh, now, you don't think we're gonna let you do that, do you?”

“We?”

Paul Hayes and another man attacked from the sides out of seemingly nowhere. Sam and Liam were thrown into tables, and Dean was thrown onto the stage while the men held down his arms. “Oh, you guys are stronger than you look.”

Paul grinned. “Comes with the package. Plus, I work out a lot.”

Randa stood over him. “You can't imagine who I was before. This shy, awkward little thing from Georgia with a heart condition. Then I had the surgery. I became freaking Xena, Warrior Princess. I couldn't dissect a frog in high school. But sacrificing to Cacao? Better than sex. So, if I go real slow and take my time and enjoy this, I can actually show you your own beating heart before you die.”

She knelt down and stared sliding her fingers into Dean’s chest. Liam hit Paul in the back with a chair and Sam jumped on the other guy. As soon as his arms were free Dean grabbed the knife and stuck it in her heart. She cried out and started burning up in red flames. Red light came from the chests of the other two men and all three fell dead.

They let Betsy know it was over and then they headed out. Dean smiled behind the wheel. “Wow. Back in business. Got the win. Admit it, feels good, huh? You know, I was thinking about what Randa said about, uh, you know, what it feels like to be a warrior. I get it, man, I do.”

Sam sighed. “Dean, listen, when this is over, when we close up shop on Kevin and the tablet, I'm done. I mean that.”

Dean frowned. “No, you don't.”

“Dean, the year that I took off, I had something I've never had. A normal life. I mean, I got to see what that felt like. I want that. I had that.”

“I think that's just how you feel right now. You can’t go leaving me and Liam.”

“Actually...” Liam spoke up from the backseat.

Dean let out a deep sigh. “Not you too.”

Liam shifted forward. “Dean, I enjoyed having a normal life too. Owen and I, we went on dinner dates, he took me to my first concert… I watched rugrats to give mommy and daddy a break and I ran errands.”

“So you want to go back to Owen? That what you’re saying?”

“No,” Liam sighed. “I love you more than anything you big idiot. I’m just saying it was nice. The day before you came back I was actually talking to Natalie about her helping me get my own car so I could get a regular job like a normal person and actually not have to leave everything behind in ten years this time. Although… The differences between us… I don’t like beer, and I don’t give a crap about sports or cars. I think this job is all that we really have in common. You’re constantly calling my tastes weird...”

Dean shook his head, on the verge of tears. “Weird doesn’t mean bad. I mean, we don’t have to like all the same things. We expose each other to different things, and that’s good. Remember that coconut fudge ice cream you had a long time ago? I never would have tried that if it hadn’t been the only ice cream in the freezer when I was really craving ice cream. I liked it. You uh, introduced me to different kinds of music. Some of it I kinda liked. I taught you a little bit about cars.”

Liam shrugged. “Like I said, we’re very different people. Maybe we’re a mistake.”

A tear slid down Dean’s cheek. “Please don’t say that. I’m your type, remember?”

“If I’m so weird and the job is all we really have in common, then why try so hard to keep me?”

“I love you. I love your mind. Your melon is thirty one flavors of crazy, but you’re brilliant. I love your resilience. I don’t know anyone else who could’ve had the childhood you had and not be a drooling mess in an institution. You keep life very interesting with your whimsical and mischievous spirit. Oh, and the way your eyes light up when you’re really happy or have some genius idea… I could go on all night. You can’t list anything you like about me?”

Liam put a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “Obviously there are reasons I was attracted to you in the first place. Your sense of humor comes to mind. It’s corny, but at the same time endearing. Other than that I can’t really put it into words. I do love you though.”

“Good. Focus on that. Maybe we should even go on another dinner date. May not be my cup of tea, but if that’s what will keep you happy...”
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Hunting Humanity VII