10x00 - Dreaming from the Waist - Part Four: Cardiac Arrest
Episode number: 10x01 of Season 10 Fan Fiction (S10FF)
Title: Dreaming from the Waist
Subtitle: Cardiac Arrest
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 2,779
Rating: R
Warnings: language, violence, sexual scenarios
Castiel had known anger in his time. It was never a pleasant emotion, but usually it gave him a burst of power. For some reason, his anger was draining him dry.
"I asked for a lead, not some family angel crap," Dean said loudly.
"I wasn't aware of the nephilim," Cas replied. "I was just looking for someone who might be able to tell us what happened to Jesse."
"Well you did!"
"Yes, I did."
Several minutes of silence passed. Dean wasn't backing down.
"So how is it we just ran into a nephilim, out of all the leads out there?" Dean asked.
"How many have you found?" Cas replied. "How many people could tell you anything about Jesse?"
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"It means that there were few, if any, who could tell us what happened after that battle," Cas said. "Why does the nephilim bother you so much?"
"Me? The nephilim doesn't bother me," Dean said. "The nephilim bothers you. What was that crap, Cas?"
"Nephilim are like the cambion, human hybrids. They're unpredictable and dangerous."
"Jesse was better than all the angels I've ever met!"
"Jesse was an exception!" Cas said. "Nephilim were banned because they had the power of angels without the conviction."
"You mean they're not douchebags."
"You've been insufferable for days," Cas said. "And even now, after I helped you find the information you want - "
Dean's cell phone rang.
"To be continued," Dean said to Cas. He flipped open his phone, "Sammy? You okay?"
"Dean, yeah, sort of," Sam replied. "Look, I need you and Cas to help me out here."
"With what?"
"This case... I'm trying to find a connection between the victims, but they all disappeared months before they died. And I sort of got into trouble with the FBI."
"Sort of got into trouble?" Dean repeated. "Does that mean you're back on the most wanted list?"
"No, and that's not the point. There are five victims. Two of them still have their apartments. The others had their stuff packed away."
"So why don't you go check them out?"
"Because," Sam said. "I've gotta keep my head down. And it's five places. You and Cas can teleport."
Dean sighed. "Fine, text me the info." Then he hung up.
"Is Sam all right?" Castiel asked.
"Yeah, he needs us to check the victims for a connection. There's five places we need to hit."
"We?" Cas prompted.
"Yeah, us. Working part of a case. Is there a problem with that?"
The angel tilted his head. "No. But you could've asked me."
"Asked you?"
"Yes."
"To work a case?"
"I made my statement clearly," Cas said.
Dean bit his lip. He took a moment to remind himself that as his boyfriend, Castiel was bound to drive him crazy in new and more frustrating ways. It didn't help much, but it gave him enough calm to push him through.
"Cas, will you help me and Sam on this case?" Dean asked.
The angel nodded. "Where do we begin?"
Dodge knocked on the door to Acevedo's hotel room.
"It's open," Acevedo said form inside.
Dodge knew before she came that this conversation wouldn't be pleasant, but the expression on Acevedo's face showed her just how badly it might go.
"You called," Dodge said by way of greeting.
Acevedo nodded and rounded the room. She turned on a nature's sound player (crickets), two white noise machines, and a local music station on the radio. All the sound was low enough that they didn't need to raise their voices but high enough to make it difficult to eaves drop or record their conversation.
"This doesn't bode well," Dodge commented.
"Don't tell me you didn't expect it," Acevedo replied. "Someone mentions you're new significant other, who you forgot to mention to me for how long exactly?"
"For a while."
"'Course I'm going to look into him."
Dodge didn't reply. She couldn't think of the right words.
"What's his name?" Acevedo asked. "Because Mathis Quinn certainly isn't it." When Dodge didn't say anything, she continued, "Look, you wouldn't be the first Agent to fall for an informant."
"That's what you think?" Dodge asked.
"That's what I came up with."
"He's not a snitch," Dodge replied.
"Okay, then what is he? Because his identity was pretty damn good. Good enough to get a lab tech card even though he didn't exist. And clearly the guy isn't shy, since he spoke with Dr. Rawlings like it was his job."
"He shouldn't've, but he had a lead," Dodge replied. "And no boundaries."
"So that's it? You're gonna let him run around, fake identity? Because he's gonna drag you down with him. If I can put it together, so can anyone else."
Dodge nodded. "Look, he's given me help on weird cases. He's not an informant. At least, not the traditional kind. He's been using aliases ever since he was attacked for his work a while back. His name is Sampson."
"Is that like Cher, or does he have a last name?"
"If you knew his last name, you'd know too much, and you'd be in the same boat as me."
Acevedo didn't respond right away. "Why?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Why are you with this guy?"
"Because, he's right for me. And he's... I love him," Dodge said. The words shocked her as they left her mouth, and clearly Acevedo hadn't expected such an explanation either.
"This is the same guy that was helping you when you were on medical leave, isn't it?" Acevedo asked. "I mean, you must've known him for a while."
"He first helped me on a case over a year ago," Dodge said. "We weren't... together then."
Acevedo crossed her arms and dropped to the bed. "Look, whatever the hell is going on between you two, you need to keep him away from our cases. Away from the FBI. Unless he wants to sign up."
"You're right, and I've already told him that. He's out of the way, I promise," Dodge said. "And I had been meaning to tell you. About him. It's just..."
"Never been a good time," Acevedo finished. "Or maybe it's because the guy you've been dating is paranoid and shady."
"He's not... it's not like that."
"Do me a favor, spare me," Acevedo continued. "You don't owe me details about your life. But you do owe me details about anyone helping you on our cases. Or other cases. Or work of any kind."
"Right, 'course I do," Dodge said. "I should start at the beginning, that first case."
"That'd be right," Acevedo replied.
Dean and Castiel sifted through yet another victim's belongings. The first three had proven to be nothing but the average belongings of the Ordinary Joe.
"I don't know what Sam expects us to find," Cas said. "Beyond mismatched socks and pornography, these victims have nothing in common."
"I think I found something," Dean said. "Didn't you mention something about a medical kit at the last dude's apartment?"
"There were syringes but nothing to inject," Cas said.
"Just like this," Dean said as he opened a small case with syringes. "Looks like this guy hit empty, but here's a bottle of something. Can you tell what was in it?"
Dean handed off the vial to Castiel, who nearly dropped it.
"Hold on there, butter fingers," Dean said.
"I don't know what was in there," Cas said. "But it was no medicine."
"Seriously?"
The angel nodded. "When I touched it, I felt the molecules. Not quite demonic, but definitely spirit. Maybe some werewolf, it's difficult to tell."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked. "Is this some kind of potion or something?" He focuses on the vial. "It's got something on it."
The label read TALIM ORM SERUM.
"Talim orm serum?" Dean repeated out loud. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"No, but we should take that back to the Bunker for analysis. It's the first sign this case has anything supernatural indicated."
Dean boxed up the syringes and vial for later. He was ready to move on to the next place, but Castiel lingered over a cardboard box of knickknacks.
"Cas? We going or what?"
"These were at the other houses," the angel said simply. He held up what looked to be poker chips.
"Those're sobriety chips," Dean said. "Alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, that kind of thing. You get chips for keeping sober."
"These are marked EDA, what does that mean?" Cas asked.
"Hell if I know," he replied.
"The others had chips marked with EDA as well."
"You didn't mention that."
"I thought they were the ones you play poker with," Castiel admitted.
"Well, let's take those too, maybe they all went to the same anonymous support group meeting or something."
The phone rang.
Sam's thumb hesitated over the screen, uncertain. After Cas and Dean put him onto the EDA lead, he should've called Dodge immediately and told her.
But he hadn't.
Now she was calling him.
Did she find out he was looking into the case still? How? He didn't have too many more rings to think about it.
"Hey," he said as he answered the phone.
"Where are you staying tonight?" Dodge asked.
"The Breeze and Sun Motel, room 21."
"You there now?"
"Uh, no."
"I want to see you," she said.
"That sounds a little ominous Dodge."
"It's not."
"It's not?"
"I just said it's not."
Sam ventured a question. "Is everything okay? I mean, with your partner."
"Not really."
"Are you okay?"
"Not really."
Sam took a deep breath. "I'm not sure when I'll be done. You wanna join me?"
"Look, Sampson - "
"Sampson?" Sam repeated.
"I'll explain later," Dodge continued. "We can't work a case together. Not an FBI case."
"Actually, I'm going to a meeting," Sam replied.
"A meeting?"
"Like AA, but not for alcoholics," Sam said.
"You've never told me about an addiction."
Sam felt a strong pang of guilt as he remembered his days drinking demon blood. He made a mental note to tell her later.
"Sam? What kind of meeting is it?"
"Actually, I'm not sure."
"You're not sure what kind of support meeting you need?"
"It's not my support meeting. All the victims had sobriety chips."
"That's not true. Only two of them had tokens," Dodge replied. "And that was considered a bust because no one could track down their support groups."
"You mean the EDA."
"Yeah, that's what it was. The team looked into tons of possible groups, but nothing matched the acronym. You're telling me the other victims had tokens, too?"
"Yeah, buried in the boxes considered garbage by whoever packed up their places."
"Please tell me you didn't - "
"I didn't. Promise. Look, I found one of these EDA meetings. Since it's meant to be anonymous, there's no reason we can't go together."
Sam could feel Dodge's hesitation.
"Will you wear gloves?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah I guess."
"And a hat?"
"Seriously?" Sam asked. "Okay, gloves and a hat."
"Just tell me where to meet you," Dodge replied. Something in her voice made Sam smile.
Dean hunched over another book. He felt like he'd been in the Bunker for years, tearing through books with incomprehensible words, all to discover anything about something called TALIM ORM or any kind of serum.
In reality, it had only been a few hours. But the dust still hadn't settled between him and Cas, which meant the minutes stretched into hours on principle.
"I think I've got something," Castiel said.
"Huh?"
"Talim Orm isn't the name of the serum," Cas replied. "It's the name of its maker."
"You mean like a corporation?"
"No, it is the name of the apothecary."
"The what?"
"Apothecary. The person who made the serum."
It took Dean a moment to realize that Castiel had no books in front of him.
"Uh, Cas, what the hell?"
"I told you I was going to ask Matthon and Nathaniel if they had any information about this."
"When?"
"About three hours ago."
"Really?"
"You told me to get bacon. I assumed you meant cheeseburgers," Cas said, producing a to-go meal from Conner's Diner. Dean loved that place, but he couldn't set foot back in that place since their Leviathan doppelgangers went on a cross-country killing spree.
"Dude, thanks," Dean said, taking the burger and fries. "What else did you find out?"
Castiel waited until Dean started eating. "You seem better," the angel remarked.
"Cas, com'on, don't do that now," Dean protested. "You said something about an... ape-the-ary guy who made this serum."
"Apothecary," Cas repeated. "You know this term."
"You got me."
"Talim Orm is an alias for someone who combines magic and medical science to produce charms, potions, treatments," Castiel said.
"For who?" Dean asked, his mouth full of fries.
"Nathaniel told me Talim Orm caters to werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires - "
"Monsters?" Dean asked. "This dude caters to monsters?"
"Matthon had other information. He said that Talim Orm treats all manner of creatures, but there are rumors that this practitioner is tampering with them, too."
"Tampering? You mean like experiments?"
"Depending on which rumors you listen to, Talim Orm selects patients to trap for extensive testing. That's how treatments are discovered. Those selected are essentially kept prisoner and tortured endlessly."
"And shifters, vamps, they just stroll up to this dude's door?" Dean asked.
"Apparently Talim Orm has a tonic to treat werewolves."
"You mean a werewolf cure?"
Castiel shook his head. "From what I have heard, it allows the individual to be aware while transformed."
"So during the full moon, they're wolfed out, but in control?" Dean asked. "Gotta say, that would be kinda cool."
"No, Dean," Castiel said. "According to Nathaniel, this tonic allows the werewolf to be aware of, and have control over, his actions while transformed. It also allows the werewolf to transform outside the full moon."
"This tonic, it actually exists?"
"I've not found any, if that's what you mean," Cas said. "But there have been several werewolf attacks outside the full moon. Either they were from higher in the blood line, which is unlikely, or - "
"People have been wolfing out off-cycle."
Dean finished the last of his burger. "So, this dude isn't interested in curing monsters, right? He wants to give them free reign?"
"I have no idea. I do not know Talim Orm's intensions, if any exist."
Dean rolled his eyes. "How's about we track this sucker down and ask him then?"
"You mean find him and kill him, don't you?"
"Yep."
The older Winchester pulled out his phone and texted Sam: "TALIM ORM = apothecary for monsters or something."
Sam Winchester received this text message while he and Dodge arrived an EDA meeting in the old rec room of what seemed to be a YMCA.
Sam and Dodge hovered at the back of the line, waiting for the right moment to slip in. As they got closer to the door, they saw someone welcomed each person to "The EDA." She was a younger woman, maybe in her late teens, and she never said anything more than, "You're here for the EDA? Welcome."
"We shouldn't have waited so long," Dodge said quietly. "Now we're at the back of the line."
It happened to be true; apparently, the trio behind them discovered they were at the wrong meeting and left.
When they reached the front of the line, the same woman greeted them. "You here together?"
Sam and Dodge nodded yes.
"For the EDA?" she asked. She had dark green eyes that flickered over them both.
"I don't think you're in the right place," she said. She turned and shut the doors, keeping her body firmly between herself and the two non-EDA members.
Sam spotted it as she spun around to face them: scars on her shoulder, just where the security footage spotted it.
"You should leave," she said.
"Or," Sam prompted. "Maybe you could tell us why five EDA members have been beaten to death."
She didn't respond, but her face changed, almost imperceptibly.
Dodge caught on quickly. "Certainly, you should want to know."
"She already does," Sam said. "She's involved in the deaths."
As soon as the young woman moved, Dodge went for her side arm. The woman's face shifted, and Sam saw something he'd seen more than once before: the features of a werewolf. She landed a blow to his stomach before he could react, and as soon as Dodge pointed her gun, the girl slashed it away, leaving a wound down Dodge's arm.
'But, it's the new moon,' Sam Winchester thought. It was the last thought he had before he before he blacked out.
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Part Five: Thicken then Sicken
Primary Post: 10x00 Dreaming from the Waist
Primary Post: Season 10 Fan Fiction
Title: Dreaming from the Waist
Subtitle: Cardiac Arrest
Author: dracox-serdriel
Word count: 2,779
Rating: R
Warnings: language, violence, sexual scenarios
Castiel had known anger in his time. It was never a pleasant emotion, but usually it gave him a burst of power. For some reason, his anger was draining him dry.
"I asked for a lead, not some family angel crap," Dean said loudly.
"I wasn't aware of the nephilim," Cas replied. "I was just looking for someone who might be able to tell us what happened to Jesse."
"Well you did!"
"Yes, I did."
Several minutes of silence passed. Dean wasn't backing down.
"So how is it we just ran into a nephilim, out of all the leads out there?" Dean asked.
"How many have you found?" Cas replied. "How many people could tell you anything about Jesse?"
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"It means that there were few, if any, who could tell us what happened after that battle," Cas said. "Why does the nephilim bother you so much?"
"Me? The nephilim doesn't bother me," Dean said. "The nephilim bothers you. What was that crap, Cas?"
"Nephilim are like the cambion, human hybrids. They're unpredictable and dangerous."
"Jesse was better than all the angels I've ever met!"
"Jesse was an exception!" Cas said. "Nephilim were banned because they had the power of angels without the conviction."
"You mean they're not douchebags."
"You've been insufferable for days," Cas said. "And even now, after I helped you find the information you want - "
Dean's cell phone rang.
"To be continued," Dean said to Cas. He flipped open his phone, "Sammy? You okay?"
"Dean, yeah, sort of," Sam replied. "Look, I need you and Cas to help me out here."
"With what?"
"This case... I'm trying to find a connection between the victims, but they all disappeared months before they died. And I sort of got into trouble with the FBI."
"Sort of got into trouble?" Dean repeated. "Does that mean you're back on the most wanted list?"
"No, and that's not the point. There are five victims. Two of them still have their apartments. The others had their stuff packed away."
"So why don't you go check them out?"
"Because," Sam said. "I've gotta keep my head down. And it's five places. You and Cas can teleport."
Dean sighed. "Fine, text me the info." Then he hung up.
"Is Sam all right?" Castiel asked.
"Yeah, he needs us to check the victims for a connection. There's five places we need to hit."
"We?" Cas prompted.
"Yeah, us. Working part of a case. Is there a problem with that?"
The angel tilted his head. "No. But you could've asked me."
"Asked you?"
"Yes."
"To work a case?"
"I made my statement clearly," Cas said.
Dean bit his lip. He took a moment to remind himself that as his boyfriend, Castiel was bound to drive him crazy in new and more frustrating ways. It didn't help much, but it gave him enough calm to push him through.
"Cas, will you help me and Sam on this case?" Dean asked.
The angel nodded. "Where do we begin?"
Dodge knocked on the door to Acevedo's hotel room.
"It's open," Acevedo said form inside.
Dodge knew before she came that this conversation wouldn't be pleasant, but the expression on Acevedo's face showed her just how badly it might go.
"You called," Dodge said by way of greeting.
Acevedo nodded and rounded the room. She turned on a nature's sound player (crickets), two white noise machines, and a local music station on the radio. All the sound was low enough that they didn't need to raise their voices but high enough to make it difficult to eaves drop or record their conversation.
"This doesn't bode well," Dodge commented.
"Don't tell me you didn't expect it," Acevedo replied. "Someone mentions you're new significant other, who you forgot to mention to me for how long exactly?"
"For a while."
"'Course I'm going to look into him."
Dodge didn't reply. She couldn't think of the right words.
"What's his name?" Acevedo asked. "Because Mathis Quinn certainly isn't it." When Dodge didn't say anything, she continued, "Look, you wouldn't be the first Agent to fall for an informant."
"That's what you think?" Dodge asked.
"That's what I came up with."
"He's not a snitch," Dodge replied.
"Okay, then what is he? Because his identity was pretty damn good. Good enough to get a lab tech card even though he didn't exist. And clearly the guy isn't shy, since he spoke with Dr. Rawlings like it was his job."
"He shouldn't've, but he had a lead," Dodge replied. "And no boundaries."
"So that's it? You're gonna let him run around, fake identity? Because he's gonna drag you down with him. If I can put it together, so can anyone else."
Dodge nodded. "Look, he's given me help on weird cases. He's not an informant. At least, not the traditional kind. He's been using aliases ever since he was attacked for his work a while back. His name is Sampson."
"Is that like Cher, or does he have a last name?"
"If you knew his last name, you'd know too much, and you'd be in the same boat as me."
Acevedo didn't respond right away. "Why?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Why are you with this guy?"
"Because, he's right for me. And he's... I love him," Dodge said. The words shocked her as they left her mouth, and clearly Acevedo hadn't expected such an explanation either.
"This is the same guy that was helping you when you were on medical leave, isn't it?" Acevedo asked. "I mean, you must've known him for a while."
"He first helped me on a case over a year ago," Dodge said. "We weren't... together then."
Acevedo crossed her arms and dropped to the bed. "Look, whatever the hell is going on between you two, you need to keep him away from our cases. Away from the FBI. Unless he wants to sign up."
"You're right, and I've already told him that. He's out of the way, I promise," Dodge said. "And I had been meaning to tell you. About him. It's just..."
"Never been a good time," Acevedo finished. "Or maybe it's because the guy you've been dating is paranoid and shady."
"He's not... it's not like that."
"Do me a favor, spare me," Acevedo continued. "You don't owe me details about your life. But you do owe me details about anyone helping you on our cases. Or other cases. Or work of any kind."
"Right, 'course I do," Dodge said. "I should start at the beginning, that first case."
"That'd be right," Acevedo replied.
Dean and Castiel sifted through yet another victim's belongings. The first three had proven to be nothing but the average belongings of the Ordinary Joe.
"I don't know what Sam expects us to find," Cas said. "Beyond mismatched socks and pornography, these victims have nothing in common."
"I think I found something," Dean said. "Didn't you mention something about a medical kit at the last dude's apartment?"
"There were syringes but nothing to inject," Cas said.
"Just like this," Dean said as he opened a small case with syringes. "Looks like this guy hit empty, but here's a bottle of something. Can you tell what was in it?"
Dean handed off the vial to Castiel, who nearly dropped it.
"Hold on there, butter fingers," Dean said.
"I don't know what was in there," Cas said. "But it was no medicine."
"Seriously?"
The angel nodded. "When I touched it, I felt the molecules. Not quite demonic, but definitely spirit. Maybe some werewolf, it's difficult to tell."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked. "Is this some kind of potion or something?" He focuses on the vial. "It's got something on it."
The label read TALIM ORM SERUM.
"Talim orm serum?" Dean repeated out loud. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"No, but we should take that back to the Bunker for analysis. It's the first sign this case has anything supernatural indicated."
Dean boxed up the syringes and vial for later. He was ready to move on to the next place, but Castiel lingered over a cardboard box of knickknacks.
"Cas? We going or what?"
"These were at the other houses," the angel said simply. He held up what looked to be poker chips.
"Those're sobriety chips," Dean said. "Alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous, that kind of thing. You get chips for keeping sober."
"These are marked EDA, what does that mean?" Cas asked.
"Hell if I know," he replied.
"The others had chips marked with EDA as well."
"You didn't mention that."
"I thought they were the ones you play poker with," Castiel admitted.
"Well, let's take those too, maybe they all went to the same anonymous support group meeting or something."
The phone rang.
Sam's thumb hesitated over the screen, uncertain. After Cas and Dean put him onto the EDA lead, he should've called Dodge immediately and told her.
But he hadn't.
Now she was calling him.
Did she find out he was looking into the case still? How? He didn't have too many more rings to think about it.
"Hey," he said as he answered the phone.
"Where are you staying tonight?" Dodge asked.
"The Breeze and Sun Motel, room 21."
"You there now?"
"Uh, no."
"I want to see you," she said.
"That sounds a little ominous Dodge."
"It's not."
"It's not?"
"I just said it's not."
Sam ventured a question. "Is everything okay? I mean, with your partner."
"Not really."
"Are you okay?"
"Not really."
Sam took a deep breath. "I'm not sure when I'll be done. You wanna join me?"
"Look, Sampson - "
"Sampson?" Sam repeated.
"I'll explain later," Dodge continued. "We can't work a case together. Not an FBI case."
"Actually, I'm going to a meeting," Sam replied.
"A meeting?"
"Like AA, but not for alcoholics," Sam said.
"You've never told me about an addiction."
Sam felt a strong pang of guilt as he remembered his days drinking demon blood. He made a mental note to tell her later.
"Sam? What kind of meeting is it?"
"Actually, I'm not sure."
"You're not sure what kind of support meeting you need?"
"It's not my support meeting. All the victims had sobriety chips."
"That's not true. Only two of them had tokens," Dodge replied. "And that was considered a bust because no one could track down their support groups."
"You mean the EDA."
"Yeah, that's what it was. The team looked into tons of possible groups, but nothing matched the acronym. You're telling me the other victims had tokens, too?"
"Yeah, buried in the boxes considered garbage by whoever packed up their places."
"Please tell me you didn't - "
"I didn't. Promise. Look, I found one of these EDA meetings. Since it's meant to be anonymous, there's no reason we can't go together."
Sam could feel Dodge's hesitation.
"Will you wear gloves?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah I guess."
"And a hat?"
"Seriously?" Sam asked. "Okay, gloves and a hat."
"Just tell me where to meet you," Dodge replied. Something in her voice made Sam smile.
Dean hunched over another book. He felt like he'd been in the Bunker for years, tearing through books with incomprehensible words, all to discover anything about something called TALIM ORM or any kind of serum.
In reality, it had only been a few hours. But the dust still hadn't settled between him and Cas, which meant the minutes stretched into hours on principle.
"I think I've got something," Castiel said.
"Huh?"
"Talim Orm isn't the name of the serum," Cas replied. "It's the name of its maker."
"You mean like a corporation?"
"No, it is the name of the apothecary."
"The what?"
"Apothecary. The person who made the serum."
It took Dean a moment to realize that Castiel had no books in front of him.
"Uh, Cas, what the hell?"
"I told you I was going to ask Matthon and Nathaniel if they had any information about this."
"When?"
"About three hours ago."
"Really?"
"You told me to get bacon. I assumed you meant cheeseburgers," Cas said, producing a to-go meal from Conner's Diner. Dean loved that place, but he couldn't set foot back in that place since their Leviathan doppelgangers went on a cross-country killing spree.
"Dude, thanks," Dean said, taking the burger and fries. "What else did you find out?"
Castiel waited until Dean started eating. "You seem better," the angel remarked.
"Cas, com'on, don't do that now," Dean protested. "You said something about an... ape-the-ary guy who made this serum."
"Apothecary," Cas repeated. "You know this term."
"You got me."
"Talim Orm is an alias for someone who combines magic and medical science to produce charms, potions, treatments," Castiel said.
"For who?" Dean asked, his mouth full of fries.
"Nathaniel told me Talim Orm caters to werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires - "
"Monsters?" Dean asked. "This dude caters to monsters?"
"Matthon had other information. He said that Talim Orm treats all manner of creatures, but there are rumors that this practitioner is tampering with them, too."
"Tampering? You mean like experiments?"
"Depending on which rumors you listen to, Talim Orm selects patients to trap for extensive testing. That's how treatments are discovered. Those selected are essentially kept prisoner and tortured endlessly."
"And shifters, vamps, they just stroll up to this dude's door?" Dean asked.
"Apparently Talim Orm has a tonic to treat werewolves."
"You mean a werewolf cure?"
Castiel shook his head. "From what I have heard, it allows the individual to be aware while transformed."
"So during the full moon, they're wolfed out, but in control?" Dean asked. "Gotta say, that would be kinda cool."
"No, Dean," Castiel said. "According to Nathaniel, this tonic allows the werewolf to be aware of, and have control over, his actions while transformed. It also allows the werewolf to transform outside the full moon."
"This tonic, it actually exists?"
"I've not found any, if that's what you mean," Cas said. "But there have been several werewolf attacks outside the full moon. Either they were from higher in the blood line, which is unlikely, or - "
"People have been wolfing out off-cycle."
Dean finished the last of his burger. "So, this dude isn't interested in curing monsters, right? He wants to give them free reign?"
"I have no idea. I do not know Talim Orm's intensions, if any exist."
Dean rolled his eyes. "How's about we track this sucker down and ask him then?"
"You mean find him and kill him, don't you?"
"Yep."
The older Winchester pulled out his phone and texted Sam: "TALIM ORM = apothecary for monsters or something."
Sam Winchester received this text message while he and Dodge arrived an EDA meeting in the old rec room of what seemed to be a YMCA.
Sam and Dodge hovered at the back of the line, waiting for the right moment to slip in. As they got closer to the door, they saw someone welcomed each person to "The EDA." She was a younger woman, maybe in her late teens, and she never said anything more than, "You're here for the EDA? Welcome."
"We shouldn't have waited so long," Dodge said quietly. "Now we're at the back of the line."
It happened to be true; apparently, the trio behind them discovered they were at the wrong meeting and left.
When they reached the front of the line, the same woman greeted them. "You here together?"
Sam and Dodge nodded yes.
"For the EDA?" she asked. She had dark green eyes that flickered over them both.
"I don't think you're in the right place," she said. She turned and shut the doors, keeping her body firmly between herself and the two non-EDA members.
Sam spotted it as she spun around to face them: scars on her shoulder, just where the security footage spotted it.
"You should leave," she said.
"Or," Sam prompted. "Maybe you could tell us why five EDA members have been beaten to death."
She didn't respond, but her face changed, almost imperceptibly.
Dodge caught on quickly. "Certainly, you should want to know."
"She already does," Sam said. "She's involved in the deaths."
As soon as the young woman moved, Dodge went for her side arm. The woman's face shifted, and Sam saw something he'd seen more than once before: the features of a werewolf. She landed a blow to his stomach before he could react, and as soon as Dodge pointed her gun, the girl slashed it away, leaving a wound down Dodge's arm.
'But, it's the new moon,' Sam Winchester thought. It was the last thought he had before he before he blacked out.
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