City of Angels (and Demons)

Chapter One

"The City of Angels. Otherwise known as the place demons go to fit in."

Sam Winchester glared over the roof of the Impala at his brother. "If you don't want to be here, just say so, Dean," he said. "Like you said before we left, there's plenty to do around the Bunker."

"And leave you without backup?" Dean asked then answered his own question with a shake of his head. "What I wanna know is why Cas, who gave us this case, couldn't check it out."

"Cas and Crowley have bigger things to deal with," Sam said. "Lucifer, remember?"

Dean nodded, but that didn't change how he felt about the two dumping this case on them out of the blue. He looked over at the hospital they were parked at then looked at Sam, who was walking around the car to Dean. "Remind me again why we're here?"

"Seven car accidents, seven patients of the same age, height, and build, all taken care of by doctors Cook, Bates, and Clyde," Sam said. During the drive from Kansas to California, he had taken the time to memorize the case file.

"So we're investigating three doctors who are doing their jobs," Dean said, a bit of sass creeping into his voice. "First time for everything."

Sam rolled his eyes but continued with the details: "All of them were given only days, even hours, to live. All of them had a miraculous recovery. Four of the seven are now dead. No one knows the cause, they just fell over, dead."

Dean suddenly had a bad feeling about this. "As if a demon inhabited their dying body, gave them some extra time, then hightailed it outta there?" he asked. Sam gave a grim nod and Dean cursed under his breath. "And Cas thinks these doctors are behind it?"

"He didn't say so specifically, but that was the gist of it," Sam said. "They're the only doctors who treated someone who then had the miraculous recovery."

Dead had an open mind to the possibility of treading on demon worshipping ground here. And if not worshipping, it was some major dealing. It didn't matter if these doctors gave their patients a little more time. Once the patients were possessed, they weren't them anymore. It was worse on the families once the demon was done and gone. Beforehand, they could at least come to grips with the loved one dying. But dying sometime after making a 'miraculous recovery'? These doctors needed to be stopped.

"First up is Dr. Troy Cook," Sam said as they made their way to the entrance. "And, unfortunately, Bates and Clyde won't be in town for another three days."

"Probably off somewhere makin' more deals with demons," Dean said, feeling real hatred for these doctors. It was more than just the patients' lives that they were ruining.

On their way inside, a nurse was pushing a man in a wheelchair out to where a young woman was waiting at a car. The man in the wheelchair looked to be in his late twenties, the hair at the top of his head dyed a bright red. Considering they were at a hospital, it wasn't a strange ordeal, but something gave Dean a bad feeling as they walked by.

Being at a hospital in general gave everyone a bad feeling, so Dean shrugged it off and went inside with Sam.

————————————————————

After nearly a week in the hospital, Mark was finally able to go home. And despite the fact that he felt fine enough to walk out on his own, the nurse was able to talk him into the wheelchair and push him out. If he hadn't been in a hospital, he would have felt ridiculous being pushed around in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, he had stayed in hospitals plenty of times in the past to be used to it now.

Mark could see Amy outside with the car as they headed for the exit. As they made their way out, the nurse quietly thanked two men in suits who stepped out of their way to let them pass. One of the men nodded, watching Mark as they passed then the two men went inside.