Supernatural... But Better (Vol. I)

Chapter Twenty

My gaze flicked from Sam, who was standing across the café at a payphone, to Dean, who was working away at his laptop, presumably looking up cases for us to hunt. I was nursing a decaf latte that tasted pretty much like pure sugar, as compared to Dean's almost completely black coffee, but hey, that was the only way I could stomach it.

Sam finished up the call, heading back to the table, which caught the attention of his brother. "Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is getting cold over here, Francis."

"Bite me," he responded succinctly.

I raised an eyebrow at Dean. "Mine's worse than his."

He glanced at me over the top of his screen. "Yeah, but, you're a girl, so it's fine. Sam here," he continued, reaching over to slap his brother on the shoulder, "he's a man, a real man's man— except when he drinks his coffee."

Rolling my eyes, I kept drinking my latte.

"So, anything?"

Sam shook his head. "I had them check the FBI's Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Doe's fitting Dad's description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations."

They'd explained their side project to me earlier that morning; find their dad, who was a hunter, too, and had gone missing a little while back. Apparently, they were following the absolutely unintelligible notes in a journal he'd written to try to track him down, which sounded more and more like the plot of a cheesy TV show the longer they talked, but what the hell.

Dean shook his head. "Sam, I'm telling you, I don't think Dad wants to be found." After a few moments of silence, he spun around his laptop for us. "Check this out. It's a news item out of Planes Courier. Ankeny, Iowa. It's only about a hundred miles from here."

I leaned in, reading it aloud. "The mutilated body was found near the victim's car, parked on 9 Mile Road."

"Keep reading," Dean urged.

"Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was... invisible," I finished, glancing at Sam.

Dean pulled his laptop back. "Could be something interesting."

"Or it could be nothing at all," Sam countered. "One freaked out witness who didn't see anything? Doesn't mean it's the Invisible Man."

I shot him a look. "Or, maybe the witness saw exactly what they think they did, and you're just one in a long line of people who don't believe them because it's... unlikely."

That comment landed exactly where I wanted it to, making him doubt his decision.

Dean backed me up, looking at his brother. "Dad would check it out."

He glanced back and forth between the two of us, sighing. "You guys play dirty."

Smirking victoriously, Dean gave me a fist bump. "Hey, you got to pick the last one. It's my turn."

Drinking the last bit of my latte, I stood with the rest of them. "Awesome. That means the next one is my choice."

They both shot me an odd look.

Raising my hands in surrender, I laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking. Go wherever the hell you guys want. I'm just along for the ride."