Still of the Night

Part 4

The diner was as fancy as it could be for its age. Multiple reds and blues were in the chairs and on the walls, stainless steel everywhere. The four people in different colored flannels and black shirts sat at the bar were the only ones there besides Sam and Dean, who sat in a booth at the far corner. To no one's surprise, Dean had a double cheeseburger with a side of fries and a soda while Sam ate a salad with water. Contrary to what some people would believe Sam was not a vegetarian or even a vegan. As long as the meat wasn't from some greasy fast food place or full of fat, he could eat and enjoy it.

The pictures from the most recent ripper kill along with a few select others were laid out on the table around them. There were the usual connections between each kill to link them to the same serial killer but they needed to find something to link them to the same monster. Maybe a stray black feather or more stag prints.

"You know he could just like the way it looked right?" Dean said after a sip from his soda.

"I know, but everything just points to him. Not only did he know the recent victim but he knew a handful of the others too, he was a doctor, the stag statue and overall he just seemed off." Sam was rifling through the multiple pictures on the table, pulling out ones that Dr. Lecter had known. It wasn't hard to find out that information, a quick stop at the local police department letting him distract the officers as Dean looked through a few files.

Sam knew that not entirely everything pointed to the doctor, but it wasn't pointing to anyone else either. The victim's family hadn't even liked him, apparently, he wasn't that good of a father and would often be gone for days at a time. Hannibal was the best lead they had, they just couldn't let it get away. Not knowing this monster's weakness was also a huge disadvantage, they would somehow have to either get him to change forms or find out what exactly his weakness was which could easily take weeks. It's not as if they didn't have the time to waste, but it would soon get tedious.

"I know what you mean, I felt it too, but we can't just go off of that alone. If he ended up to just be an innocent man I don't know if I could take it, we have to know for sure for sure before we do anything." So they both agreed Dr. Lecter was their prime suspect, the only problem was proving it. They would have to catch him in the act somehow which would definitely prove to be a challenge.

They were both deep into their own thoughts, Sam hoped Dean was thinking about how to get the ravenstag instead of something relating to his horrible food choices or even worse porn choices, that neither noticed a young girl come up to their table until she spoke. "The Chesapeake ripper huh?"

Sam suddenly turned his head to look at who had spoken, out of the corner of his eye he could see Dean working to swallow a bite of burger he had just taken before he would say anything. The girl had long brown hair reaching just past her shoulders, a scarf with a rainbow of colors wrapped neatly around her neck. A brown leather jacket hung unbuttoned, allowing the grey knit sweater underneath to show, light blue jeans and brown hiking boots completed the outfit.

"Yeah, you know anything about him?" Dean finally asked.

The girl let out a small laugh, "Other than what's in the news? No, I don't. If you don't mind me asking, why are you two looking into him?"

Sam wasn't sure if her choice of pronouns was merely because of Dean's use of them as well or if she really thought that. Deciding to continue with the agent facade from earlier Sam spoke up, "Oh well, we work for the FBI and were just revisiting the cases to see if we overlooked anything." The girl raised an eyebrow at him in question as Dean shot him a look as if worried Sam would scare off the girl.

"I can see why you would want to do that with the new evidence coming in from the most recent murder." The girl leaned over to get a better look at some of the pictures, "I hear lycanthropy is a rare mental disorder that must narrow down your searches tenfold." Something about how the girl talked and held herself reminded Sam of Dr. Lecter, but he wouldn't let himself make the connection. That would be too much of a coincidence.

Sam had momentarily read about that disorder before. Of course, that wasn't what this case was, but it would be easy for regular people to think so. He could tell Dean was confused as to what that was, if he had never learned about it in the first place or just forgot was anybody's guess.

Instead of stupidly asking about what it was Dean said, "Yeah it really does help a lot. I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, how rude of me, I'm Abigail Hobbs. A pleasure to meet you Mr..."

"I'm Dean Winchester and that over there is my brother Sam," Dean said quickly. Sam just stared at his brother in disbelief. He was fully intending to commit entirely to the names they had given themselves as agents, you could never be sure who was listening in, but Dean had just given their full names as if it was nothing.

"Well, it was great talking to you both. My father is hosting a dinner party in two days if you'd want to stop by, he has a few books on the ripper if you would be inclined to check them out. There might be more information in the books that you could be missing from the photos alone." Abigail said with an air of elegance and tone that sounded like she knew they would readily agree.

Sam was just about to turn her offer down, they really didn't need to go into some stranger's house just for the slight possibility of more evidence. Even if they lived out their lives hunting monsters, that could be potentially very dangerous. Before he could do so though Dean answered for them, "That'd be amazing, will you be needing my number?"

"That would certainly make things easier," Abigail pulled out her phone and handed it to Dean for him to punch in his number, "I'll be sure to text you the address. Be sure to wear something nice." and with that, she strutted out the door.

Sam could not believe his eyes and ears. Had his brother really just done that? He knew Dean would do a lot of things to get information on a lead and he had made a lot of bad decisions, okay they both had their moments, but this was almost a new level of bad decisions, "You can't possibly be serious."

"Of course I am, we've gone into strangers' homes all the time. What makes this one so different? It's not like we've killed every monster we had a run-in with so far, if they try something we can easily take them down." Dean said before taking a bite of his burger.

"How can you possibly know that? You've never met these people in your life, you have no idea what they are capable of." Sam argued.

"I just do. We're going over there, I already told Abigail we would and she has my number. It would be rude not to show. Now, are you gonna come with me or not?"

"You are a fool if you think I would let you go in there alone," Sam shook his head, "For the record, I think this has got to be in the top three most stupid decisions you've ever made. If anything, anything at all goes wrong don't say I didn't warn you."

Dean flashed a toothy smile, "You won't regret this."

"I really hope I don't," Sam said seriously. He really was worried for his brother. This was not a good idea, Sam could feel it. Dean was probably just being stupid because some college student girl had asked. If it wasn't for their mortality rates maybe Sam would be more willing. Of course, they had always found a way back in the end, but you can never be sure when death would tighten the line and if worse came to worse he just hoped they would both be relaxing in heaven.