Two Brothers 15/?
Chapter 15
My shift started at noon so I slept in the next day. Still yawning I padded down the hallway and noticed the ajar guest room door and when I poked my head in, I found the bed empty. Dean was probably already at the hospital. I considered it a miracle that I could coax him from Sam's side for the night. Shaking my head I headed over to the bathroom and twenty minutes later I followed the smell of coffee downstairs. At least Dean had thought of saving me some coffee.
I turned around the corner and stopped dead. There was a stranger in my kitchen.
Back to the door there stood a man in a suit in my kitchen pouring himself a coffee. Frozen by the surreality of the picture in front of me I only distantly wondered where my phone was and if I could call the police without him noticing. Suddenly I wished Dean and his gun were there.
"Coffee?" The man turned around and hold a steaming mug in my direction. Dean raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I … ehm … I thought you were already on your way to the hospital." I staggered into the kitchen and grabbed the mug just to give my hands something to do. "What's with the …" I made an up and down gesture in his direction. He looked completely different in a suit.
With a grimace he fingered at his collar but his eyes were on the table were he had his laptop open and a newspaper and notes spread all over the place.
"I've already called Sammy that I'll come in later." Dean made room on the table and sat down next to me. "I've something to check out first."
"Wait. What?" Still struggling with the fact that the well dressed stranger in my kitchen was in fact Dean Winchester, it took me a moment to figure out what this was all about.
He had his research papers out, he was wearing the suit I'd found a fake FBI badge in, he wanted to check something out.
"Sam is still severely injured and you already jump back into … whatever." I couldn't believe it. "Sam needs you here."
The look Dean gave me shut me up instantly. This look promised a painful death if I kept talking.
"Listen, buddy." Dean said in a low, dangerous voice. "I appreciate what you do for us, for Sam, I really do but this is none of your business."
For a second it seemed like he wanted to say more but then he stood up, straightened his jacket and was out the door a second later. When I heard the rumble of his car fading in the distance, I dared to breathe again.
When I arrived at the hospital I was still early for my shift but that way I could visit Sam and maybe get some answers out of him.
He was awake and reading one of the magazines Dean had bought the day before. The plush giraffe had a place on his nightstand and I was a little bit surprised that it hadn't found its way to the pediatric station by then.
"Luis." He greeted me with a warm smile but something like alert in his eyes. Didn't he trust me?
"Dean took off this morning." I said, searching for signs that Dean had lied and Sam didn't know about his brother's whereabouts. It was unfair toward Dean, I know, but I couldn't help it. "So I thought I could keep you company for a while."
To my relief Sam nodded knowingly.
"There has been another animal attack." He stressed the last words. "The victim survived and Dean wants to talk to her."
At least Sam was way more talkative than his brother.
"You think it's the same thing that attacked you?" So far Dean hadn't even told me what they had been looking for in the woods. All I knew was that it had killed several people and had clawed up Sam pretty good. And that it could be still out there.
"That's what we need to find out." Sam sat the magazine aside and looked at me hard, considering.
"You remember Anne?" He ask in a soft voice and I nodded. Not much to say about that. "Well, she was a vengeful spirit but that's not the only thing out there hurting people."
He tried to ease me into his world of monsters, I realized.
"After that weekend I was curious." I admitted. "Brenda and I found Becky in St. Luis. She told us what happened there."
"Oh." That seemed to surprise him. "How far did you dig into that?"
"I stopped as soon as I found out about shapeshifters." Maybe it was a coward move, but I didn't want to know what else was out there. "I could never do what you and Dean do. But consider me open minded."
Sam let out a relieved breath. "You are a good doctor, Luis. Keep it that way. Hunters need good doctors."
"I have no intention changing my career." I was exactly where I wanted to be. But I should start looking for a new job at another hospital soon, I was covering up an insurance fraud after all.
"Hunters? That's the official term?" I'd never thought about what they would call themselves.
"It fits." Sam shrugged, eyelids already dropping.
"Okay, hunter. You telling me now what you were hunting or not?"
"Manticore." He sighed, one hand unconsciously landing on his midsection. "Jumped me but I think I got a good shot or two, however, Dean didn't make sure it was dead before he brought me here."
"You would be dead if he'd wasted one minute." I reminded him. It had been a close call and it could still backfire.
"I know." He sighed again and sunk deeper into his pillow. The few minutes talking had exhausted him. "But this woman maybe got attacked because we didn't kill it when we had the chance."
I doubted something like "She is alive." would do him any good and that he somehow expected a pathetic phrase from me so I dropped that topic.
"Okay, I bite." I said instead. "What the hell is a Manticore?"
continue to chapter 16
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