When the Sun Goes Down - RPF - Part Two
Title: When the Sun Goes Down
Author: youaredriving aka Scarletsptember
Fandom, Characters: CW RPF - Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, Katie Cassidy, Mike Rosenbaum, Christian Kane, Chad Michael Murray
Rating: PG-13 (currently)
Warnings: Language, Violence, Supernaturl elements (Ghosts, werewolves etc)
Disclaimer: These people obviously do not belong to me, just the crazy plot line. So no harm intended!
Summary: Ex-NOPD Detective turned PI/Occult Specialist Jensen Ackles knows more about the world than most people care to even dream about. He sees what lurks at the corner of your vision, he's part of an underground supernatural community in New Orleans. When a local detective calls him in to aide on what is believed to be a serial killing Jensen gets more than he's bargined for. It isn't simple, they don't trust him and he has to deal with the lead detective, Jared Padalecki to top it all off.
Back to Part One
“You know he’s going to have you followed tonight. He always does.”
“Then he’s going to be in for a rude awakening,” Jensen muttered as he stepped through his companion. “Dude, please watch where you’re going.”
“Sorry, I’m kind of new at this walking with humans thing.” He answered with a casual shrug.
“What’s your name anyways?” Jensen asked as he continued walking.
“Chad,” the ghost shrugged. “Chad something or another. At least that’s what I think it was. Doesn’t really matter anyways right? I’m D-E-D. Dead.”
Jensen could help but laugh at the sad attempt for a joke. “Okay then. So you’re hanging with me for a while?”
“You’re Jensen Ackles, why the fuck not?” Chad grinned before he noisily walked beside Jensen. Jensen had worse ghosts tag along with him. Maybe this time Chad could be useful.
~*~
“You know,” Chad yelled over the sounds of the night club. “You don’t exactly fit in around this place.”
Jensen snorted. That was an understatement. He was here in his work clothes while the rest of the people were decked out in glitter, tight clothes that made his eyes ache with how bright they were and neon necklaces and bracelets decorating their bodies.
“It wasn’t the point to fit in,” Jensen shrugged as he shouldered his way passed the bar and into one of the back rooms. He ignored the moans and the way bodies pressed and moved against each other when a head popped up and scented him.
“Jensen,” A bald headed man pulled away from a group with a serene smile on his lips. Neon dotted in between the leather bands on his arms and. “To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of seeing you here.”
“I have a few questions,” Jensen placed a hand over his mouth and ducked his head at the sounds that brushed along his skin. “I was hoping you could answer some of them for me.”
“Anything for you, just let us head into my office so I can actually breathe,” He fanned his face before leading Jensen through a maze of hallways.
“Where’s he bringing you? His lair?”
Jensen snorted, “With Mike, anything is possible.”
“Oh please tell me you haven’t brought a tag-along with you. I do hate that there’s a third man in the room and I don’t get to ogle the goodies.”
“Believe me you’re not missing out on anything, Mike.” Jensen snorted when a cool mist brushed over the back of his head. He waited for Mike to settle in one of the overstuffed leather chairs before taking a stool that had been tucked into the corner.
“So, what do you seek oh wise one?” Mike lips curled upwards.
“There were a couple of murders the past two months. Both were women and they both were killed at the peak of the full moon.” Mike’s mouth dropped open and rage crossed his face faster than Jensen thought was possible. Jensen stood up with his hands in the air. Being in a room with a snarling werewolf was not his idea of a good time. Especially since all he had for back up was a ghost who was hiding behind the desk. “I know it wasn’t one of your guys. It couldn’t have been because there were no bite marks.”
“I was about to say if you’re going to come into my house and accuse my pack of killing humans I doubt anyone would have been able to identify your body. Not even that bitch of yours that you keep.”
“I doubt Katie would enjoy that title,” Jensen mumbled and Mike shook his head amused with Jensen.
“So what exactly do you want to know?”
“I have some pictures of the bodies. The girls were posed looking towards the moon and there’s writing on their arms just above the elbow. Same exact lettering and I was hoping you might recognize anything in it.”
“Let me see it,” Mike held out a hand and Jensen dug a file from his bag and handed it over to the man. He listened to Mike make a few noises before the werewolf looked up at him.
“Who ever did this might be trying to pin this on one of my wolves because of the full moon but this looks more like a ritual. There’s something behind this.”
“I know that already,” Jensen muttered as he rubbed a hand over his eyes.
“What do you mean you know it’s a ritual?” Chad asked while Mike asked, “What kind of ritual? Are you trying to test me?”
“I know it’s a ritual because of how she was posed. The hands, palms faced upwards along with her face. It’s saying something, we both understand that. But what role did the moon play? Why did they choose that night for both murders? That’s important. What do those words mean? I need to be able to start somewhere. You understand that.”
“The words,” Mike tapped on the photo that was perched on his leg. “I understand them.”
“What do they mean?”
“Death welcomes me.” Mike shrugged. “It’s written out in a supernatural code, which I’m sure you already suspected that something supernatural did this. You know with the full moon, the ritual and so on.”
“Does everyone know the code?”
“Just the top of the food chain around here. Alphas, the heads of clans, people like that.” Mike shrugged. “I’m surprised you don’t know even a little bit of it being that you’re the only one of your kind. With the whole seeing ghosts and all.”
“I used to be a cop and I’m now a private investigator, Mike. I’m not welcome in either the supernatural community or the human world. No one is going to take the time to teach it to me.” Jensen shrugged and held out a hand for the pictures. He stuffed everything back in his bag and stared at the wolf in front of him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t see where I helped you any but you’re welcome.”
“I know what rituals to start researching, what people to start looking and who not to bother any more,” Jensen smirked. “Go back to your fan club.”
“You could stay. You need someone to ruffle those feathers of yours.”
“No,” Jensen shook his head. “I’m pretty sure that’s a bad idea just with me being here but with my tag along and the police issued tail, not worth it.”
~*~
“So,” Chris eyed the sweaty detective as he stepped out of the club moments after Jensen and settled in the passenger seat of the blacked out SUV, “See anything interesting in there?”
“Besides too much neon and Jensen effectively disappearing for about forty five minutes? Not really.”
“Who’d he talk to?”
“Bald guy,” Jared watched Jensen stop and say something before waving a hand in the air and continue walking. “I’m pretty sure it was Mike, the guy who owns the place.”
“Do I even want to know how you know who owns Emerald City?” Chris cocked a brow at his partner.
“No, you really don’t.” Jared looked up at the star dotted sky taking a deep breath of the night air.
“So we still following him or are we done for the night?” Chris asked over the idling engine.
“No point. Let’s just head back to the station so I can get my car and head home for the night.” Jared rested his face against the window and sighed. Jensen Ackles was one strange man. “He talks to himself a lot.”
“He’d tell you different,” Chris murmured as he guided the SUV through a U-Turn.
“Why did he get fired from the PD? When I looked up specialists it showed his history as nearing the lieutenant rank. That’s why I chose him. He was good at his job. He had everyone’s respect at the precinct. What made all of that change?”
“You really want to know who you brought in to help you on your case?” Chris asked after a few moments of silence.
“Yeah, I kind of do seeing as it’s going to be my ass on the line if this gets screwed up.”
“Jensen Ackles was one of the best detectives New Orleans had. Then one night it was raining like a fucking hurricane was about to blow through. He caught a homicide nine minutes before his shift ended. He checked in on route to the crime scene but he never made it there. He ended up stuck in his patrol car while it sunk to the bottom of the Mississippi. They pulled him out and then he was declared DOS. As soon as they had moved him into the body bag he was,” Chris rubbed a hand over his eyes, “Water went everywhere and he was making the most horrible sounds. He wasn’t the same after that. That’s who you have on your case, Padalecki.”
~*~
“Jensen Ackles,” Katie leaned across his desk scattering his notes to the floor, “Is it true?”
“Is what true?” Jensen grunted as he scooted his chair back to pick up the mess she made.
“That you went to see the king of Emerald City last night and you were spotted in his office for quite some time.”
“She trying for hot gossip but she ain’t getting any with you man,” Chad snorted as he circled the desk eyeing Katie. He whistled in appreciation at her knee high boots and looked back at Jensen. “I so wish I were alive. I’d tap that.”
“Just so you know, there’s a ghost who wishes he were alive so he could, let me quote ‘tap that’.”
Katie rolled her lips together and looked around the office trying to pinpoint where the invisible ghost was before shrugging, “He cute?”
“Think, flip flops and Saints.”
“It’s a no go, even if you were alive.” Katie informed the room.
“Ouch, you’ve got an ice queen on your hands. No wonder you were checking out Pada-what’s-his-name at the station.”
“I wasn’t checking him out.” Jensen muttered.
“So the new detective is something that makes your blood run hot?” Katie’s lips stretched into a wide grin.
“Does not,” Jensen shot back shuffling through his notes, “The local vampire nest locations, they still up to date?”
“You plan on going alone?” Katie quirked a brow at him.
“Nope, I’ve got back up.”
“Hopefully backup does not consist of only your newest sidekick. We both know that a ghost isn’t going to do jack shit for you if you run into trouble. A vat of holy water, maybe some hellfire if you could find some on short notice could be of some help.”
“I’ve got someone,” Jensen shrugged as the bell jingled and Katie gave him a disbelieving look before heading to the front to see who was there.
“Ackles! You’ve got a visitor and I’m sending him in.”
“I’m busy Cassidy,” Jensen growled and Chad chuckled.
“It’s your favorite detective and I don’t think he’s going to be coming back. He looks like he’s got some questions you need to answer,” Chad informed Jensen helpfully from his spot in the middle of the door way with a grin.
“Jensen,” Jared stopped just inside his office his hands holding a file that Jensen recognized all too well. His own. “Katie said I could just head in.”
“Sure she did,” Jensen muttered under his breath before gesturing for Jared to take a seat. “So what can I help you with detective?”
“Have you come up with any information or ideas yet?”
Jensen rolled his lips together and eyed the tension in the detective’s shoulders, the way he held himself straight backed. “I figured out what the words on their arms mean. It was done in code.”
“If they were done in code how do you know what they mean?”
“Death welcomes me, in case you were wondering what it meant.” Jensen bit on his lower lip. “I have access to a part of this city you don’t and you hope to never become exposed to. That’s how I know what those words mean.”
“You gotta give me more than that man,” Jared leaned back in his chair. “There’s got to be some kind of documentation that’ll back up what you’re saying so I can bring it to my partner and into the investigation.”
“I can’t,” Jensen shrugged.
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“I mean that the code isn’t documented. Anywhere. It’s a code for a reason. It’s a way for people to communicate with each other without people like you finding out about them. They learn how to write and read it but it’s virtually non-existent.”
“People like me,” Jared’s jaw ticked in annoyance at Jensen’s choice of words, “What exactly do you mean by that? The fact that I’m a cop?”
“There’s a little more to it,” Jensen rolled his eyes. “But that’s the general gist of it.”
“Why did you go to Emerald City last night?”
“Why did you feel the need to follow me,” Jensen shot back.
“You know exactly why I followed you.” Jared tossed to file he had been holding onto Jensen’s desk.
“Because you can’t trust me to do the job I said I’d do,” Jensen’s eyes went cold as he stood up, “You can’t believe everything you read in a file, Padalecki.”
“Maybe I should take you off the case. Pay you for the time that you put in and be done with it.”
“It won’t stop me from working this case.” Jensen growled out as Jared stood up and leaned over into his space.
“What do you know about these murders that I don’t?”
“The world is a lot more dangerous than mad men with guns and knives.”
“It doesn’t get much more dangerous than that.”
Jensen shook his head in disbelief, “I have work to do detective.”
Chad whistled as Jared tore out of the office and the front door slammed, “Someone isn’t happy with you, Ackles. I’ll even bet he’s going to put a tail on you until he’s positive he wants to take you off the case or not.”
“He won’t take me off the case,” Jensen muttered as he piled up his files and started stacking them in his pack.
“Why are you so sure of that?” Chad questioned.
“He thinks I’m a suspect now,” Jensen ground his teeth together. “Cassidy! I need addresses for the local nests. I’m heading out before sun down. I want to hit em’ all before sun up.”
“You’re serious about this?” Katie parked a hip on the edge of the door frame and held a piece of paper tight in her hands. Jensen pulled at the paper and had to tug it from her fingers.
“Very.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t want to head down to the morgue to identify your body.”
~*~
“You know,” Chad started as he crept along the side of a dying warehouse with Jensen. “Vampires, they have a creepy persona because of this shit. Living in squalor and eating people. That’s why other supernaturals won’t go near em’.”
“How did you know that?” Jensen narrowed his eyes at the ghost who was looking more human like by the day.
“Don’t know, I just do.” Chad shrugged and he shushed Jensen. “They’re waking.”
Jensen wasted little time working the lock and door open. He slipped inside with quiet steps. They were already feeding. Red running down pale white skin. Dark eyes rolled up towards the ceiling in pleasure. Groans came from both human and vampire.
“You are not welcome here,” The words came out in a hiss and Jensen stood firmly as he watched the vampire move closer. “You are not one of us.”
Jensen waited until the darkness pulled away to reveal the sharp features of a vampire he knew well before he knew about this side of the world, “What? No welcome to the dark side?”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“Misha, we both know once you’re in this world you’re gone from any other you were ever a part of.”
“But you know better than to come near us.” Misha circled Jensen. “You only venture to our part of the world when you want something. So what is it that you want so badly that you risked your own life in the process?”
“Death welcomes me,” Jensen spoke the words clearly and watched as Misha recoiled from them. “You know them.”
Misha pulled at Jensen’s arm and tore the sleeve upwards, “You’ve been marked.”
“No,” Jensen waited a moment for Misha’s eyes to widen before he tugged his arm away. “But two women were and they have been murdered.”
“You need to leave,” Misha glanced over his shoulder before looking back to Jensen, “You need to get away from this case.”
“Why?”
“If you don’t you will end up just like they did or it’ll be worse.” Misha cocked his head to the side as if he heard something that Jensen hadn’t. “Don’t become the next one.”
“You know who is doing this?”
“Just rumors,” Misha closed his eyes and his lips dropped open. Jensen knew that look. Misha had scented something and he needed to get out. He couldn’t yet. He needed more. “Members of a clan gone rogue.”
“Why do they do this?” Jensen pulled out a photo and watched as Misha took it all in. “Why do they pick women and why do they pose them during a full moon?”
“It’s a message.” Misha bit out.
“To who?”
Misha didn’t answer Jensen’s question. Instead he bared his fangs and shoved Jensen against the wall. An arm pressed against his wind pipe. “You brought a human here. How stupid can you get, Jensen?”
“Didn’t bring anyone,” Jensen choked out, his eyes going to where Misha was staring. It was dark and he could barely make out the form pressed against the shadows. He knew that height, the bulk of the muscle. It was burned in his mind the moment he ran into the man making a run for shelter. “Fuck me.”
“Who is he?” Misha backed off and started towards the shadows. “Why did he follow you?”
Jensen reached out his hand wrapping around Misha’s wrist. He knew he didn’t contain any means of stopping the vampire but he needed the second to explain. “He’s working with me.”
“Get your hand off of me, Jensen. We aren’t the humans we used to be. I will kill you without a second thought.”
“You touch him and I will kill you.” Jensen growled with his hand stretched out in the air in front of him. Misha’s steps stopped and the air turned cold around him.
“Oh Jenny,” Misha’s lips stretched into a wide grin. “I knew you had more than just seeing ghosts in you.”
“Everyone has their secrets.” Jensen ignored the bright white wisps of smoke that were gathering form around Misha. “And these guys are tired of being yours.”
“What will they do Jensen?” Misha pressed forward. “Freeze me to death? I’m already dead.”
“They will rip you limb from limb.”
“Leave while you can,” Misha’s fangs were out in plain view, footsteps echoing further back in the shadows.
“Go,” Chad’s voice was in his ear. “The rest are coming. You need to go now.”
Jensen took off toward the doorway. He reached out to grab Jared’s shirt and they were both running towards the car. Jensen closed his eyes at the sound of pain filled howls echoing around the building.
“What is that?” Jared yelled over his shoulder sliding into Jensen’s car without question. Jensen looked over his shoulder and saw Misha coming out of the warehouse. “What just happened?”
Jensen waited until he was blocks away and the vampire was nowhere insight. He looked over to Jared. The detective’s hands were gripping the door handle with a white knuckled grip and wide eyes. “Where are we going?”
“The only place that’ll keep us safe for the night,” Jensen answered.
“And where is that?”
“My place.”
Part Three