Stone Cold #TeamFreeWill

Monsters

Sam Winchester was sitting at the table in the main room of the bunker. It was the place where you would most often find him, sitting, drinking, reading, or researching with lore books spread out in front of him on the expanse of the table.

But this time was different. This time, he was doing none of the aforementioned things. He was just.... staring at nothing in particular, an untouched glass of Jack Daniels in front of him. Despite this calm exterior, Sam's mind was in chaos. He couldn't stop thinking about it, about her.

He couldn't stop thinking about the bubbly girl with fiery red hair, the girl with sparks in her eyes, the girl who was like a sister to both him and Dean. The girl who was now dead because of him.

Dean's words echoed in his mind, "It should be you up there and not her."

Sam knew Dean didn't mean it, that he was under the influence of the Mark of Cain, but that didn't mean it stung any less. Especially because Sam agreed with him.

Just then, Dean emerged from one of the inner rooms. He sighed when his eyes fell on Sam. Dean knew what he was thinking about, and he knew what it felt like. His brother had been doing this a lot lately, wallowing in guilt and self-hatred, and Dean didn't know how to help him.

"Hey," Dean nodded towards Sam as he made his way to him, "Find us a case yet?"

Sam sighed, knowing what Dean was trying to do. And he appreciated it, but this was something he had to deal with himself. Yet, he decided to play along. "No, things have been eerily quiet lately, with Crowley being MIA with Amara."

"Well, lucky for you, I haven't been idle." said Dean as he tossed Sam the newspaper, "Check this out."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows. The article Dean was referring to was headlined "Local woman found dead in Everett Mansion"

"That's it?" Sam asked incredulously, "What makes you think this is our kind of thing?"

Dean rolled his eyes, "If you actually read the article, you'll find that this is exactly our kind of thing. The woman was a local news reporter named Hayden Martin, and was after a story of some disappearance that happened a decade ago. She was found dead with no apparent cause of death. And get this, her hair had turned white."

Sam blinked once, his eyes scanning the article. Then he shrugged, "It's pretty far-fetched if you ask me, but what the hell. Let's check it out."

And so, a few hours later, Dean was revving up the Impala and they were speeding off towards Galveston, Texas, where Everett Mansion was located.

"Hello ma'am, I'm agent Tennant and this is my partner, agent Smith. FBI." Dean said confidently to the lady at the desk, the both of them flashing their fake badges. "We're here to see one Hayden Martin?"

Sam and Dean were currently at the Galveston city morgue to see the unfortunate woman's dead body.

"Follow me." said the lady, who on second glance looked more like a receptionist than a mortician. She led them inside, where all the bodies from still open cases were put. She pulled out one particular one and pulled back the sheet.

To say that the face under the sheet was frightening would be a huge understatement. Even the brothers, who had been doing this all their lives, were at least taken aback by it. As mentioned in the newspaper, Hayden Martin's hair had turned a stark white. What the newspaper had failed to mention, however, was the fact that her face was twisted in an unearthly grimace and her eyes were wide open.