Hollowing Souls

Had Enough

A week passed, then two. For all of their hard work, they still had little to show. Bobby was still working on the old skin-bound book, and Alex and Sam did their best to help. A snowstorm had kept the Winchesters locked up with Bobby and Alex for several days, and the roads had only just been cleared enough to drive.

"Hey." Dean's voice stirred Alex out of her thoughts, and she looked up from where she was curled up in the comfiest chair in the third-floor library. "Sam and I think we found a case, if you're up for it."

Alex closed her book, but refused to throw off her blanket quite yet. "Depends. What'd you find? More importantly, where?"

"Ironton, Ohio. Four missing persons, all age seventeen. Bobby just got a call in from one of the local officers."

"Huh." Reluctantly, the young angel discarded her blanket and stood up. "So I take it the officer knows Bobby personally."

"Old friend, he said." Dean led the way back down the stairs, and Alex followed. "We're heading out in twenty minutes, if you're interested."

"Yeah." Alex stopped by her room. "I'll get packed. Meet you down there in ten?"

"Sure."

...

December 12th, 2011

Ironton, Ohio

Ten hours later Alex found herself sitting a briefing room in the Ironton City Police Department beside Dean. Case files were laying in various states of array around them, and Alex mindlessly flipping through one belonging to a certain Jonathan Browning. Seventeen years old, missing for five days.

"So this just started up a week or two back?" Dean was leaning back in his chair, attention focused on a pretty brunette officer.

She nodded curtly, arms crossed and shoulder leaning against the doorframe. "Started with Joseph Miller. I only gave Singer a call after the fourth one vanished without a fucking trace." She ran a hand through her long hair. "Fuck. I better not lose my job over this."

"Yeah, well, that's why we're here to help, uh, Debra, right?"

"Deb's fine." The thin woman walked into the room and plopped down in a chair beside Dean.

"This is the last one, right?" Alex vaguely motioned to the folder in front of her. It was by far the least expansive, and the date read only this morning, so her question was really more rhetorical than anything.

"Yeah. His mom said he didn't come home this morning. She only called only a few hours back. Usually we don't count them as missing persons until 48 hours after, but considering the circumstances . . ."

"Huh." Alex slid the folder over to Dean, who accepted it without a word. "You, uh, don't mind if we take copies of them, right?"

"I guess. Yeah. I'll go make copies." The officer swept up all of the folders and hurried out of the room.

Alex waited until the door closed before turning back to Dean. "So is this really our thing?" she finally asked. "I mean, monsters are one thing. But missing teens is kinda a whole other ballpark, you know?"

"And we've got nothing to go on." Alex's phone rang, and she dug it out of her pocket. "Maybe Sam's found something. Hey." She answered it, leaning forward on her elbows. "Find anything?"

"If four freaked out moms is anything, yeah, I've found a lot."

Alex brushed off Sam's frustrated tone. "Well, I got a fifth one for you. A Jonathan Browning. Uh . . ." She reached over and pulled a white piece of paper close, one with all of the names and contact info of the missing. "2409 south 8th Street." Sam grunted, and Alex let out a chuckle. "Sorry, man. One more house, and then we'll meet you that one place. City Grill, right? It's just down the street from here."