December 6th, 2019
Highway 50, Colorado

"So what's the job?" Charley asked, in the passenger seat next to Ash, her focus mostly on cleaning her favorite gun.

"Not sure." Ash tightened his fingers around the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. "All I know is, we're supposed to be meeting up with Brando at some crap diner." His voice was sharp and he was clearly not in the mood to talk much more about it.

"Who's Brando?" Jack moved his head around, trying to dodge Keala's swinging tail as she pressed her nose to the cold glass of the window.

"Don't ask," Charley advised. "He's just some douche exterminator we've worked with a couple of times before."

Jack saw his brother tense even further at the sound of his name. "He's not just some douche, Charlotte. He's the fucker who almost got Pip killed. If he'd been doing his job right she wouldn't have-"

"It was an accident," Charley interrupted firmly. "Let it go, Ash. Piper doesn't even remember it."

Ash shook his head, his gaze trained intently on the road ahead of them. "But I do."

"Why didn't Piper come?" Jack changed the subject to the first thing he could think of. "I thought she would've been all for killing a witch and ending a curse."

"Lee needed her help with something." Charley disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the guns laying at her feet in a dark gray duffel bag, in record time.

The rest of their drive was done in a tense silence filled only by the heavy tunes of Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Styx before they pulled into an old diner with only half the sign lit up in the middle of quaint, Pine Crest. The diner was smack in the middle of a row of buildings right on Main Street, and it looked busy for approaching eleven o'clock. The air outside was cold and crisp, but the snow hadn't started falling quite yet, so maybe they'd get to a motel before it got too bad out.

"I'll be right back, girl," he whispered to Keala, feeding her one of the dog treats Ash had made in Georgia's kitchen. Jack never knew the recipe, but Keala loved them, and he paid his brother thirty dollars for every batch.

"Hurry up, Jack." Ash grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards as he slammed the door closed. "We need to get this shit over with, so we can get back to our own work."

When they got inside Rusty's, the place was slammed. People sat around almost every table, and chatter filled their ears as they walked through the old building looking for someone Jack was sure he'd never met before, although the name sounded vaguely familiar.

"There he is." Charley pointed to a man sitting in the very back booth, in the darkest corner of the diner.

"What's the job?" Ash demanded brashly, sliding into a seat across from him, while Charley and Jack scooted in after.

The guy, Brando, was a sight for sore eyes. He wore dirt-covered jeans, a mud-stained wife-beater, and a ripped blue and red checkered plaid t-shirt. He kept his stringy blond hair in an oily mullet, and everything about his face seemed crooked, like someone had taken his features and pulled the right half down while the left side stayed where it was supposed to be. His eyes were a navy blue and flecked with fear, while a reddish-colored dirt stained his skin.

"Oh, thank fuck they sent you, man." Brando's shoulders relaxed as he gripped the sides of his coffee cup tightly. "Who's the kid?" He eyed Jack distrustfully.

"My brother," Ash snapped. "Why the hell are we here?" Hostility dripped from his voice as he sat forward, a warning clear in his dark eyes.

Brando's mouth twitched downward in a frown and confusion flashed across his face. "Listen, normally, I woulda tried calling Stix or Sophia Knight, but last I heard they were out tracking a werewolf pack, and the witch responsible." Brando paused as a waitress stopped by to take their orders, waiting until she disappeared into the noisy room before continuing. "I picked up a call on my police scanner when I was driving through to the Lockwood place last night and decided to check it out. I swear, man, weirdest fuckin' thing I've ever come across."

"What happened?" Charley urged.

"I'm not really sure. I ended up at some local bar a little ways outta town, where these small-time badges were questioning this freaked out girl. She was flippin' her shit, talkin' about how the whole bar full of people was massacred just an hour earlier. Thing was, the building was empty. I helped the cops case the joint up and down and there wasn't even a speck of blood. Girl looked like she'd fallen and hit her head real hard, but we couldn't find a damn trace a that either."

"So One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest girl falls, hits her head, and dreams all this shit up. It wouldn't be the first time," Ash growled, interrupting whatever Brando had been about to say next.

"Here are those coffees and waters, guys," the waitress intervened. "Anything else I can get ya'll?"

"No, thanks." Ash shot her a bland smile, without even noticing a single one of her flirtatious looks.

"There were about two dozen cars in the parking lot. I've been trackin' down the owners, but it's like they all just dropped off the map. Most of 'em were drifters, but a few had some worried families. Something must've happened to 'em. Forty people don't just up and disappear outta nowhere," Brando finished ominously, a glimpse of fear flashing through his eyes.

"So the girl isn't crazy?" Charley clarified, while beside her Jack stiffened in his seat.

"No," he said before anyone else had the chance to answer. "Can we talk to her? I have to talk to her. I think she has information I need to put it all together. It's so close I can feel it." Excitement tingled through his veins as he glanced around the table.

"What the hell are you talking about, man?" Ash bit out, irritation quickly turning into bitter anger.

Jack's gaze shot to his older brother, as he attempted to stifle the guilt that crept up on him. "I had a dream last night about..." he trailed off, trying to find a way to word it that didn't make him sound as crazy as the girl Brando was talking about. "I really just need to talk to your witness. I think it'll all make sense then." He visibly cringed as he spoke when he met Ash's piercing stare. It wasn't an answer he liked.

"Can we speak to the girl?" Ash demanded, startling Brando, who stared at Jack like he was a dumb little kid interrupting grown-up talk.

"Um... yeah. I mean... I think so. I heard she worked at a club called, Shotgun Sally's on the edge of town." Brando swiped at the sweat on his brow before taking a long drink of his lukewarm coffee.

"Alright," Ash grumbled, with an irritated sigh. "Charley, you and him go dig around that bar some more, see what else you can find about those missing people. Like if anyone was into the Occult or Witchcraft or any of that shit. Jack and I'll go down to the club to look for this girl. You happen to get a name or anything?"

Brando glared back, slightly offended. "Hey, man. I said I was sorry about-"

"Did you get her name or not?" Ash snarled, interrupting him before he could finish his half-baked apology.

"No. But she had a couple of real noticeable scars on her face."

"Fine. You guys head to the bar, and search the area around it too. All those people couldn't have just disappeared without some kind of trace. And be careful, Charley."

"Always am, babe." Charley blew a kiss and winked at him. "Move it, Jack. We don't have all day." She shoved him out of the booth and caught him just before he fell on his ass. "You owe me one."

"Yeah, whatever," Jack grumbled, pulling away and following his pissed off brother back to his prized sky blue rust bucket. The beast wasn't much of a beauty, but it certainly got the job done.

"So what aren't you telling me, Jacky?" Ash demanded after the silence became too stifling for either of them to last much longer. "What happened in that dream of yours?"

Jack shrugged, turning his gaze out the window. "Like I said, I'd rather wait to talk about it." He quickly added, "I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, I just think it'll make more-"

"Sense after you talk to the girl, yeah, yeah," Ash grumbled through gritted teeth. "You would tell me if we were about to run into a big batch of monsters, right? Those ghosts warn you about that kind of shit, don't they?"

Jack laughed. "Yeah, I'd tell you. And the ghosts only warn me about shit because they want to be the ones to kill me."

"Those bastards." Ash grumbled to himself under his breath as he pulled into the half-full parking lot of Shotgun Sally's. It was practically at the edge of town, just like Brando had said, in some old building that probably had once been offices of some kind. "Alright, just follow my lead, and we'll find Scarface. It shouldn't be too hard in a place like this. I bet there aren't that many scarred up strippers."

"Okay." Jack started to open his door, only for Keala to shove passed him and dart around the building. "Shit," he growled. "Keala!" Without a word to his brother, he slammed his door shut and chased after the wild dog. If he let her run around those woods, who knew what kind of animal would take her. There wasn't a way in hell he'd chance it.

"Jack!" he heard his brother shout, but it didn't sound like he was chasing after, so he figured he'd just meet up with him in the club once he got his little shit dog back into the truck.

"Keala! Get back here!" Jack rounded the building and found his dog jumping up on some giggling girl. The woman wore practically nothing, except a tiny piece of shimmering fabric that somehow passed for a skirt and a silvery top made with less material than the average bra. "Keala, you little bitch." He grabbed her collar and gently pulled her off the woman, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Jack?" the girl asked, brushing strands of golden hair out of her make-up covered face and giggling. "You should probably keep better track of your dog, Slayer."

"Laney?" Jack breathed, barely able to contain his disbelief. She stood right in front of him, but it couldn't be her. His Laney had been a shy bookworm who wore dorky glasses and jeans with hiking boots. She'd run off to go to music school with a determined look in her dark brown eyes that had made Jack think she could do anything. So, what the hell was she doing there, wearing two pieces of fabric and black stripper's heels?

The girl smiled nostalgically. "I haven't heard that name in almost five years. I go by Sera now. Serafina Novak," she stated proudly, holding her head up and shivering in the cold winter night.

"Why are you out here like this, Sera?" Jack shrugged out of his heavy coat and draped it over her before she had a say in the matter. When he got close to her, she stank like cigarette smoke, alcohol, and artificial strawberry. Holding his breath, he stepped away as quickly as could without being rude.

Sera stooped down to stroke Keala's soft, black fur, while she whined lightly at their feet, shivering slightly in the dropping temperature. "I work here," she murmured, as if it hadn't been obvious. "I need to get back inside soon, anyway."

"Wait," Jack said before she could even take a step. "Were you down at the Stanton Road Pub yesterday? When all those people died?" He steadied her when she wobbled on her feet after hearing his words. The blood drained from her face and her eyes narrowed into slits.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" she demanded icily, folding his coat tighter around her body for warmth. "How did you find me?"

"Let's go somewhere warm." He ignored her question, gesturing back toward the parking lot.

Sera shook her head stubbornly. "Tell me now."

"I came here looking for you, but I didn't know it was you. I swear. I just... I need to ask you about last night. I need to know what you saw." He shoved his hands into the freezing pockets of his hoodie, hoping pressing them against his body would ward them from the cold, but it did little.

"W-why do you want to know about th-that?" Her eyes were wide with the same raw fear he remembered from his nightmare.

"Because I saw it happen in a dream. I saw that guy let you go, but it was fuzzy. I couldn't make out all the details," he responded, his voice low and serious.

"That's crazy. That doesn't even sound real. I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"Laney Case." Jack glared at her rigidly, while desperately holding onto Keala's collar. "You know I'm not lying." Grabbing her wrist as she tried to turn around and make a run for it, he pleaded, "Come with me. I can help you."

Sera ripped her arm away. "Leave me-" ZZZZAP!

The loud noise startled them both, as Sera dropped unceremoniously to the ground, hitting her head hard, while Ash stood behind her, smirking slightly. "That'll teach her to try running." He threw her carelessly over his shoulder like she was nothing but a bag of dog food.

"What the fuck?" Jack snapped glaring daggers at his older brother, who'd already started moving toward the car. "Go on to the bathroom, Keala," he murmured, letting go of her collar and watching the dog sprint joyfully into the woods, trotting right back out a minute later to join the others at the car.

"We were never gonna get her to talk to us by begging, Jacky."

"You still didn't have to stun her like that." Ash didn't respond, only managing a shrug before depositing the twiggy girl into the backseat of the truck and throwing one of the car blankets over her shivering frame. "She didn't deserve it."

"What? You got the hots for this chick? Far as I'm concerned, she's nothing but a hostage." Ash turned the music up so Jack couldn't respond. They didn't talk much after that until they pulled up to a motel less than a five-minute drive down the road, and Jack stayed next to the unconscious girl while Ash got them a room.

Luckily, the rooms were all accessed from the outside, so they didn't have to worry about carrying Sera passed the registration desk and piquing the manager's curiosity. Jack carefully laid their captive on one of the two beds, resisting the urge to brush her shiny blonde hair out of her shimmery make-up covered face. The moment he stepped back, her eyes fluttered open slightly as a groan escaped her lips.

"Wha... Stay away from me!" Sera snarled. Scrambling up, she pulled her knees to her chest and backed into the furthest corner of the bed.

"I just want to talk to you, La-Sera," Jack said, quickly correcting himself before he gave away her secret. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The icy expression on Sera's face didn't ease even the slightest as she gestured over Jack's shoulder at his older brother. "Oh, yeah? And what about your goon? He gonna knock me out again?" she sneered, clutching the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

"No. He won't," Jack answered stonily. "This is my brother, Ash."

"Nice to meet you, Sera."

Her eyes narrowed further. "I doubt you mean that, asshole. What the hell do you guys want with me anyway? I'm gonna get fired thanks to you two."

Ash shrugged dismissively. "Probably for the best. That place was full of sleazy douchebags three times your age. You really want those guys touching you?"

Sera rolled her eyes, swallowing back her tears. "They're not allowed to touch. Not that it's any of your business."

"What happened last night, Sera? I really need to know," Jack hedged gently, trying not to push her to the point where she shut down completely.

Sera made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded somewhere in between a snort and a groan. "I tried all day to convince myself it was just a nightmare, and I almost did it, when you two assholes just had to show up." She buried her face into her knees.

"You know it was real," Jack said matter-of-factly, in that bland tone he'd used all the time when they were younger.

Sera started sobbing, instantly making Ash uncomfortable enough that he backed away a few feet, while stayed exactly where he was. "I was so scared, Jack. I don't know, something felt wrong about the bar the moment they shut all the doors. It was like it happened all at once, and I got that same sour feeling in my gut that I had the night... the night..." Her words were muddled by her tears after that, and Jack slowly moved to the bedside and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Sera." But she shook her head, peering up at him with a haunted gaze.

"No. You don't understand. Those cops were walking right over the dead bodies and it was like they couldn't even see them. They had blood all over their hands and faces and they acted like nothing was wrong, Jack. You asked where all those people are," Sera choked out desperately, "they're still rotting in that room."

"Goddammit, Jack!" Ash shouted, angrily ripping the bedside lamp out of the socket and slamming it against the wall on the other side of the room, ignoring the subsequent shattering of glass that ensued. "You promised you'd tell me if we were about to walk into a fucking pit of monsters! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jack met his brother's furious gaze without blinking, while Sera cowered further into the corner of the bed, trembling with fear.

"I wanted to be sure. Remember Dad's warning? 'The beasts are starting to band together.' I think he meant that literally."

Ash shook his head, a humorless chuckle bubbling from his lips. "You must think this is all some kind of fucking joke, Jack. Will's right. When are you going to grow the fuck-"

"No, he's t-t-telling the t-t-truth," Sera intervened, her mousy voice shaking. "Th-they played s-s-something. I-I-I don't understand. Th-they were monsters, b-b-but that's impossible." Tears rolled down her cheeks in spades.

"Not only do we have some creepy ass witch casting a spell to release monsters into the world without their magic-tether, now we got a fucking monster rock band out massacring people too? What the fuck is going on around here?" He paused for just a second. "That's the craziest fucking thing I've ever said, Jacky." He dropped down onto the bed across from their scared little captive.

"We've got to get out to that bar. Mountain Charley and what's-his-face are there," Jack said suddenly, interrupting his own response to Ash's rambling. "They could mess up any clues the bodies have."

"Shit. You're right. Give your girlfriend some clothes to put on and meet me out at the truck. Where the hell did that dog of yours go? I swear if she leaves one more fucking half-eaten animal in the bottom of my bag, I'll kill her with my bare hands, goddammit."

"I can't go with you," Sera muttered quietly. "I can't go back there and see that, Jack. Please don't make me." She begged him profusely as she frantically wrung the blanket between her hands. "Damn, I wish I had a cigarette right now."

"Here." Jack pulled out his joint tin and flipped the creaky lid open, revealing his five and a half smoked joints. He held it out for the girl to take one, but she just stared at it. Her eyes watered all over again as she gazed up at him in awe.

"You kept it...?" Gingerly she took the tin from Jack and inspected it all over, staring at the joints in wonder as she gently brushed her finger over them like they were the most fragile things she'd ever handled.

"They're not the same ones. I didn't think he would've wanted them to go to waste."

Sera giggled at that, carefully taking one of the Marijuana cigarettes and lighting it with the lighter Jack held out to her. "He wouldn't've," she agreed.

"Let's leave, Jacky. You can stay here, kid, but I don't want you leaving this room, got it?" Ash glared threateningly at her, as she clung to Jack.

"Yes, sir." She glanced to the left and chewed on her lip.

"Sorry," Jack grunted, and before Sera could react, he snatched her wrist and slapped a pair of exterminator-grade iron cuffs around her wrist and the bedpost.

"You fucking dick," she spat, her eyes sparkling with rage, while Jack stepped back, tucking his tin into his pocket and shrugging apathetically.

"I know your tells, Sera. You were gonna take off as soon as we left. This way, you've got a joint to smoke, and the remote's next to you, so you can watch movies on TV or whatever until we get back." Silently, he hoped she wouldn't hate him forever for his brash behavior.

"Fucking Slayer," she grumbled, taking a hit off the joint as they quickly left the room.

"So you and the stripper, huh?" Ash pried as they headed toward the truck. Jack whistled for his dog and she came bounding around the corner like a bat outta hell, just barely skidding to a stop before she barreled into her master. "She seemed awfully fond of you."

"Shut up, Ash." Jack let Keala jump into the front seat, before he climbed in after her. When he'd inherited her from their dad, he was told she'd been the runt of the litter and wouldn't grow much, but the dog was a massive beast. The top of her head almost brushed Jack's hipbone and he was a solid six-foot even.

"I'm serious. What else aren't you telling me?" The tension in the car was practically tangible.

"Sera's real name is Laney Case. She was there the night Justin died," he answered honestly, his voice hollow, while Keala curled up in what little space there was at his feet.

"Huh," Ash grunted. "So she really is yours."

"Not really." Jack did his best to hide his melancholy. The truth to his words was like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head. There was no way that girl back in that motel room was the same girl he'd pined after for the majority of his childhood. "I helped her runaway, Ash. And not just from her dad either, but from me too."

"So just fuck her and get her out of your system, man," Ash advised with a hard pat to the shoulder.

"Don't be a dick, Ash." Jack rolled his eyes. "Look, there's a sign for the pub, next right." The road Jack pointed to was nothing but dirt and gravel and winded down into an unfinished parking lot where an old building stood with a giant sign above it sparking dangerously.

"Looks like the badges already had all the cars towed." Ash pulled the Blazer up next to Brando's pick-up and jumped out into the cold winter night, just as the first flurries of snow drifted from the blanket of thick ashen clouds. "Wait a second. Without Sera, how the hell are we supposed to see all these dead bodies?" Heading to the front doors, he stopped with his hand on the bloodied door handle. It looked like it had been there for a while, so it only flaked when Ash touched it.

Jack gulped, his gaze moving passed his brother to where two men were slumped over each other just inside the set of glass doors, surrounded in a pool of dried blood. "You don't see them?" he asked, staring at the dead men, with their blank eyes open, and looks of horror frozen across their faces.

"See who?"

Jack stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet in the process and nearly landing on his ass on the wet cement. "I dunno if it's a good idea for me to go in there. What if I can't fight off all their angry ghosts?" he babbled, knowing he was being a coward, but unable to keep the fear at bay. Something had sliced those men like it was filleting a fish and he wanted anything other than to relive that with them.

"They're just ghosts." Ash grabbed the back of his jacket and hauled him into the bar. "Come on, I'm right here with ya." Reluctantly, Jack let his brother pull him inside.

The first thing to hit him was the stench of rotting souls. An average ghost smelled like a fridge full of food that had been unplugged and left to fester bacteria for months. Stanton Road Pub stank ten times worse than that. "Don't you smell that?" Jack swallowed back the bile that churned restlessly in his stomach.

Ash sniffed the air before shooting him a strange look. "You don't like the smell of lemon air freshener? I mean, I guess it's kinda artificial..."

"Oh! There you guys are!" Charley's voice came from behind the bar, where she'd ducked down to check again for anything they may have missed. "Did you get anything off Cuckoo's Nest? We haven't turned up shit here," she called up, while Brando came in from the back storeroom, with a deflated look on his face.

"Stop! Everyone!" Jack shouted. "Don't move. You guys are about to desecrate people's dead bodies!" He knew he sounded crazy, but it was the only way to get them to freeze where they stood. "Sera was right, something's wrong with this place. We need to get out of here and burn it. We can come back tomorrow."

Brando laughed loudly. "Bodies? What the fuck are you talkin' about? You sound just like that scar girl."

"I'm serious. You can't see them. But I can. There are people all over the place. Earlier, I thought you were just dirty, but you're covered in dried blood. A man had his throat slit open and his entrails dragged across the floor right where you're about to step!"

Brando's eyes widened and his gaze snapped to Ash. "He tellin' the truth, man?"

"Jack doesn't lie when it comes to shit like this," Charley answered slowly, her eyes trailing across the floor.

"Please, guys, we have to get out of here," Jack pleaded, while Keala sat stock still at his side, whimpering almost inaudibly.

"It's alright, Jacky. The ghosts are too scared right now to fuck with anyone. Check out their bodies, figure out what you need, and then light the building up. Most of them aren't even aware they're really dead." Dick popped up next to him with a sympathetic expression on his face. "Poor folks," he murmured blandly.

"What about the things that did this?" He couldn't remove his gaze from the carnage, he wanted to find anything worth focusing on, anything that might lead them to the monsters that orchestrated it.

"I'll ask around, see if anyone's willing to talk about it." Dick disappeared into thin air, leaving Jack alone with people who were undoubtedly questioning his sanity.

"What's the word from Dick Grayson?" Charley asked, trying to carefully make her way over to where he and Ash stood without stepping on anyone's corpse.

"One step to your left, Char. He said the ghosts are scared, he's gonna see if any of them are willing to talk about what happened. For now, you guys should research if this has happened anywhere else and get ready to torch this place. I'm going to check out the bodies and see if I can figure out which monsters are responsible for all this shit." Jack took a deep steadying breath to calm himself down, and the whole room started to feel lighter somehow. Ghosts fed off energy, he couldn't bring any more negativity into the building than was already there.

"This kid is fuckin' crazy." Brando ignored Jack's warning and stomped over dead bodies without a care. "I should've just called in Sophia Knight. Lady knows her way around a straightforward job. Shoulda known calling in a Slayer would end-"

Dick Grayson flickered in front of him with a snarling expression twisting his features. Before the man had so much as a chance to scream, cold ghost fingers drilled into his temples, causing a flicker of intense pain. He was gone almost as soon as he'd appeared, giving the same treatment to both Charley and Ash.

"Now they'll see that you aren't crazy," Dick sneered, going back to the task at hand.

"Holy fuck." Charley stumbled backward a step into Ash.

"Goddammit." Ash caught his friend and Jack saw him looking at everything completely different after whatever Dick had done.

Brando didn't even make a sound before he began puking up anything he'd eaten that day, and then some. "H-h-how?" He tiptoed his way back over to everyone else and his eyes kept flickering to the front doors.

Jack shrugged. "Alright, good. Change of plans. You guys need to help me identify what wounds killed all these people. It shouldn't be that hard. Most monsters that we've seen have an obvious M.O., so try to rule out the easy ones first."

"You heard him everyone," Ash added authoritatively. "Let's get to it."