January 3rd, 2020
Foghills, Arkansas

By the time they made it back to Foghills, it was late that night, and when they pulled up to Kit's property, the girls' truck was gone, and it didn't look like they'd set up a tent in a day or two.

"Where do you think they're at?" Will slammed the car door and slung his duffle bag over his shoulder as they all headed toward the bomb shelter.

Ash shrugged. "Let's get down, and we'll find out. Yo! Who's down there?"

"Hey, Ash!" Charley called back at the same time as Roger.

"Hey, they're back!" He sounded surprised.

"We are the best." Ash helped Jack harness Keala to himself again and take her carefully down into the bomb shelter with the rest of them.

"Don't get too full of yourself, human." The leech rolled his eyes as they reached the bottom and let Keala loose on the place. Instead of running wild though, she found Jack's bed and laid down tiredly, while Charley stared at them questioningly.

"Too late. Where's Piper?"

Charley lifted her shoulders in a half-assed shrug. "Georgia called last night. Said Lee was having a crisis of some kind. She wanted us to both go out there and see what's up, but one of us had to keep an eye on the monster."

"That hurt, Charley." Roger placed his hands dramatically over his heart. "Really."

Charley rolled her eyes. "You'll live. So, what happened out there?"

"A coven cursed the entire town. It was a massacre." Ash left it at that. None of them wanted to upset Marley again about something that had to be done, no matter how much it sucked.

Charley shook her head sadly. "I'm glad you got out of that town. I've been getting notifications all day about Exterminators who died there. I knew you guys wouldn't be on the list... but..."

Ash shot her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. We all got out alive."

Jack narrowed his eyes at his older brother and rubbed the spot on his shoulder that hurt every time he moved. "Yeah, except you shot me."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Ash fell onto the couch beside his best friend and laid his head on her shoulder. "Did Georgia happen to mention what Lee's so pissed about?"

Charley stared at him for a moment before reaching over and punching him in the arm as hard as she dared. "You idiot, you mean you haven't talked to her yet? What kind of boyfriend just ignores their girlfriend when she's obviously in crisis?"

Ash ran his fingers through his hair messily. "One that doesn't like drama."

"That's not going to solve anything," Will warned him, working on whatever he'd missed while they were out Exterminating.

"How's it been going here, with the leech?" Ash closed his eyes against the bright lights and Jack noticed the dark bags beneath his eyes for the first time, he looked exhausted.

"I can hear you, ya know? And to answer your question, it's been lovely. Charley and I have grown closer. Now, instead of being the tall angry one, she's now known as Charley the Tall Angry One." He laughed at his own joke while Charley shot him a dirty look, but it didn't hold the same amount of vehemence as it had when they'd first brought him home.

"I don't really care that you can hear me." Ash shrugged. "Did you give us anything to go on, or am I gonna have to torture you for information?"

Roger stood up slowly from his cot and loped toward the bars of his cage. "Hey, now. Let's not jump to violence so quickly. I think we could probably talk this out a little. How about I give you... Oooh!" Something playful flashed in the leech's green eyes. "I can give you the location of a super fucked up shape shifter. He eats one of his victim's eyes." Roger shuddered, disgust clear on his face. "I mean, that's just fucked up."

"How will we know if this is true?" Will glanced up from his computer to gauge the monster's reaction.

"Look it up if you don't believe me. You seem to be good with technology, kid. It shouldn't be hard. Just look for cases involving the removal of an eye with what looked like human teeth." Roger grimaced. "It sickens me to just think about. He does it while they're still alive. That's the most fucked up part. It's so unnecessary to do something like that."

Charley scoffed, crossing her arms and glaring at him from her spot across the room. "Oh, yeah? And trapping people in bars and restaurants while you parade around as a blues band isn't?"

A look passed between them that Jack couldn't decipher, before Roger turned away from her without answering, switching his gaze back to Ash. "Do you want to take this guy out or not?"

"Tell me where he's at." Ash sighed, and Charley hit him again.

"You only want to take another job to avoid talking to Lee for longer. You can't dodge her forever." Even though she spoke softly, sound carried well in the close quarters, so everyone heard her.

"I'm not. Just tell me, Roger, please?"

"Last I heard he was headed to Seeley Lake, Montana. He likes to stay awhile in a new place, as far as I know, so he should still be there." Roger sounded kind of relieved to be able to get that information off his chest. "To be honest, I wanted to kill the guy myself, but since a friend of mine, Memphis, is a shape shifter, I didn't want to cause any tension in the band, ya know?"

"So you'll just let us do your dirty work?" Jack asked, but he didn't really care that much. He wanted to see if Death had been telling the truth about what he could do. He had to find a way to harness his own abilities, and what better way to practice than going on another job?

"Win, win." Roger returned to his cot and grinned over at Charley. "See, I told you I'm not all bad. I could've kept that one to myself."

"Yeah, whatever you say, leech." She turned to Ash and fixed the collar of his favorite leather jacket. "I've seen the way you are with the Lockwood girl. Even if you don't want to admit it, you love her, so figure this shit out, please."

"Just chill, Charley." He got up and laid down on one of the sleeping heaps on the floor to get some shut eye before they headed out again within the next few days.

"All I'm saying is, a break might be good for everyone. It can't feel great to drag yourselves all over the place like that," she defended hotly, lying back on the couch watching as the rest of them all settled in for the night.

"I'd like to stay back, if that's okay with you guys." Marley's voice was just barely a whisper.

"That's fine, Mars. You can do whatever you want. Maybe do some more studying or something?" Ash suggested, gently, and Marley grinned while Jack got up and shut out all the lights. "Alright, guys, rest up tonight, we'll stay tomorrow, but leave the morning after that."

Just like Ash said, they left early on Sunday morning, headed straight for Seeley Lake, looking for a shape shifter. Will and Jack had spent the first couple hours of the morning before they left trying to get Roger to tell them anything about how to find the shape shifter, but he was hard to bribe. All he wanted were impossible things. Like apologies from Charley and a promise that she would be nicer to him in the future. It didn't take Jack long to realize that Roger Rainey was a really strange creature.

He did finally end up telling them that shape shifters didn't have a reflection in the mirror. That's how they'd be able to tell who the shifter was. Apparently, there wasn't much effort involved in taking one out, Roger said a silver bullet would work better than it had on him. Armed with that information, and as much food and gear as Ash could cram into the Blazer around them, they headed off toward Montana.

"Roger was right." Will looked through article after article detailing murders that matched the description Roger had given them about the monster's killings. In every city or town he'd hit in the past four years, there were always four victims before he moved on.

"This is stupid," Ash grumbled. "We're supposed to go through town holding up a mirror and hoping nobody notices we're checking for their reflection? At this rate, we'll be arrested for harassment in no time."

Jack laughed. "Well... we can at least make sure to be around lots of reflective surfaces, like windows."

"Oh, yeah... 'cause that'll be easy. We can just ask everyone we meet to go window shopping with us on Main Street." Sarcasm dripped from Ash's every word.

"We're gonna have to split up when we get to town." Jack leaned forward in the backseat to look at Will's computer over his shoulder. "We'll be able to cover more ground that way."

"We'll talk about it when we get there."

Not wanting to be on the receiving end of Ash's angry wrath, Will put his head down and continued typing away on the computer, while Jack pulled his sketchbook and pencils out of his backpack, his fingers itching to draw after not doing so for quite some time. With everything that had been happening lately, it had been weeks since he last touched his sketchpad, and the thought made him a little sad.

Flipping to a blank page he closed his eyes to clear his mind before he let his hand slowly drift across the paper. Opening his eyes, he stared blankly, watching his hand move to create a clear picture as his mind wandered the way it usually did whenever he started drawing. It was like being in a trance. Hours later, when he finally put the finishing touches on it, he was surprised by what he'd drawn. It was Sophia, she had a hunting rifle hanging off her shoulder and her messy golden hair had been piled on the top of her head, a few soft strands falling into her face. There were dirt smudges across her cheeks, and even though her expression held a stoic quality, her eyes smiled in a way that made Jack's heart flutter.

"Let's switch," Ash said suddenly, startling Jack as he continued to put the last finishing touches on her tattered clothing and the forest surrounding her.

"Okay." Jack shut his sketchbook quickly, before either of his brothers could see it and make fun of him. Throwing it onto the seat, he scratched behind Keala's ear for a second, while Ash pulled the truck over and slid out, jumping into the backseat, switching spots with him. In the front, Will kept his head down, tapping away at his computer as a chat box popped open with Haru's name on it.

"Ash... Uhm... I don't mean to pry but-"

"Then don't." Ash folded his arms across his chest and glared out the window as the sun climbed ever higher in the sky. It was almost noon already, and they still had a little under ten more hours to drive until they reached the town in Montana that Roger had told them about.

"It's just... Haru said Piper isn't helping Lee. Lee's all closed up and she won't say anything. She's not even eating. I know you don't want to hear it, Ash, but she needs you and going on another job is-"

"Mind your own business, Will. I don't need every single person telling me how I fucked up. Let me deal with my shit in my own way."

Will shook his head. "Shutting down isn't going to fix your problem. And neither is running away. That's how Dad always did it, and look how that turned out."

"I'm not Dad." Ash grimaced at the comparison.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, looking deep inside himself for the grip on emotions, like Death had told him, pulling calmness to the surface, and letting it cascade over them like a thin blanket. He could practically see the visible affect it had on Ash, Will, and even Keala. "You're not like Dad. The major difference between you two, is your undying loyalty to our family. You came back every time he didn't. Oh, hey, by the way, happy birthday."

"Shit. Yeah, happy birthday, man."

Ash smiled, even though he usually despised any mention of his birthday. "Thanks. You're learning to control your emotion thing, aren't you?" They all let the previous conversation die as he reached for the sketchpad laying on the seat beside him. Flipping through, he landed on the last page, before Jack could ask him not to. "Wow... This is fucking... You see her this way, don't you?"

Jack didn't even have to glance in the mirror to know what Ash was talking about. "Isn't that the way she is?" What detail had he gotten wrong? When he was doing his last-minute touches, he tried to find any places he may have messed up. Her nose still wasn't quite right, and her eyes were a tad too close together, but he'd tried to make it less noticeable by drawing her hair falling slightly into her face.

"Well... I mean, yeah, I guess. But she's so..." Ash trailed off.

"She actually looks pretty there." Will twisted in his seat to get a good look at Jack's latest drawing. "Most of the time, she's got this scowl on her face when she looks at people. But I guess... I've never seen her look at you that way."

"Why would she?" Jack shrugged innocently. "We're friends."

Ash shook his head. "I've known that girl since she was fourteen, and the only one I've seen her look at like that even remotely is Stix. There's a reason I call her the Ice Princess. She's cold as fuck. She just wants to get the job done, and that's it. Saving people, it's just an afterthought to her. But she was different on this last case. I think you got to her a little."

"No. She's learned to be cold. It's just a front," Jack disagreed. "She's just a little intense, that's all."

Will and Ash exchanged knowing looks that made Jack a little nervous, but he didn't let it get to him as Will decided to change the subject. "How's your shoulder doing? I saw you wince a couple of times."

"It's alright." Jack shrugged, even though it hadn't stopped throbbing since the day it happened. He usually just tried to take his mind off things. From a young age, pain medicine only made his dreams and nightmares ten times worse and with less ways to escape, so he'd stayed far away from the stuff.

Will scoffed. "You're such a liar. He's gonna make us force it out of him, isn't he?"

Ash nodded, a glare set on his stony face. "Yep. Always does."

Jack groaned overdramatically, keeping his gaze firmly on the road ahead of them. "Fine. It hurts. But it's not that bad." He pretended he didn't feel it when a bolt of pain surged through his arm, making his fist curl tightly around the steering wheel.

"I knew you shoulda let me sew it up." Will glared through his long eyelashes and brushed short strands of curly light brown hair out of his hazel eyes.

"Really, guys. It's not that bad," Jack tried to say, doing the same thing he did to his mother every time she asked to look at any of his wounds. He'd once dealt with a broken arm for three days before Marcia Pleasant finally dragged him in to see Dr. Allen, who'd scolded him the entire time he was in her office.

"I'm going to tell Mom," Will threatened. "As soon as she calls me back later, I'll tell her all about your arm."

"No! I'll change the bandages and stuff when we get to Seeley Lake. I'll find the first pharmacy in town. Okay?"

"Fine." Ash went back through other drawings in Jack's sketchbook, landing on one of him and Lee hugging outside the compound. He stared at it for a long time.

The rest of the drive to Seeley Lake was done in mostly silence or idle chatter, up until the last few miles before they entered town. Jack slowed down significantly as he crossed over the town limits, keeping his eyes peeled for a pharmacy or drugstore, where he could change out his bandages, while Ash and Will looked for some place good to eat.

"Took ya long enough," Ash teased when Jack finally finished putting bandages on his arm and found them at the first diner he came across. "I ordered you a plate of blueberry pancakes, without the syrup."

"Thanks." Jack sighed, flopping into the seat next to Will and wincing when he accidentally brushed his left arm against the back of the booth.

"Maybe we really should've left you behind with Marley." Ash watched Jack's stiff movements with concern clear in his dark eyes.

"I'll be fine." He reached over, grabbing one of the local papers Ash had picked up, and flipping through looking for any type of information that might help them narrow down where to find the elusive shape shifter.

"I don't believe you for a second." Will raised his eyebrows, practically daring him to deny it, but Jack only shrugged indifferently.

"I talked to a buddy of mine who lives in the next town over. He told me a friend on the police force here responded to a call about one of the bodies they found. I'm gonna go talk to him this afternoon." Ash stuffed his mouth with a fistful of bacon as soon as he finished speaking.

"Haru sent me over some pretty convincing paperwork for a new coroner's intern. I'm gonna see if I can talk to the M.E. who examined the bodies." Will closed his computer and slid it back into his backpack.

"Jacky, you're coming with me. I don't want you passing out in the middle of the street."

Jack shook his head, a smirk pulling at his lips. "That won't happen." But Ash didn't budge and he didn't bother complaining.

They finished eating and split ways on Main Street, Will heading for the county coroner's office in the Blazer and taking Keala with him, while Jack and Ash started for the police station in search of Ash's friend.

When they found the station, Ash lingered out front stalling. "I hate these places." But he followed Jack when he got sick of waiting around.

"What's this guy's name?" Jack kept his voice low as they entered the building filled to the brim with cops, which made Ash nervous as hell.

"I got it." He walked up to the reception desk and grinned at the young woman sitting behind it doing busywork. "Hey there, Sugar. I'm looking for a cop named, Freddy Wise."

The girl behind the desk smiled back at Ash, brushing short strands of dark red hair behind her ears and blinking her eyes at him flirtatiously.

"Does he know you're coming?" She picked up her phone and held it to her ear.

"Yeah. Tell him Tom Wheat sent me to him." He shot her his best pretty boy grin as he winked.

"Will do." She dialed a number and quickly relayed his message. While Ash humored the woman's flirting, Jack watched on, a slight look of disgust on his face as they waited for Freddy to finish whatever he was doing so he could take a lunch break.

When the man finally did show up, he looked nothing like Jack had imagined. He was a big man with wiry coke bottle glasses, and a long white beard down to his belly button. He grinned as he lumbered toward them and his dark blue eyes twinkled jovially.

"Ashton Slayer!" He wrapped his arms around Ash and lifted him straight off the ground, despite his solid mass of muscle. Setting him back on his feet, he laughed from his stomach and exclaimed, "I haven't seen ya since I arrested you on that B and E when you were what...? Nineteen? Twenty years old?" With his hands still on Ash's shoulders, he pushed him back to get a real good look at him. "You're a sight for sore eyes, kiddo! Let's go get some grub. I'm takin' lunch, Kira!"

Ash smirked back at the man, ducking out from under his arm. "Nice to see ya too, Dr. Wise." He gestured for Jack to follow them as they started for the front doors, strolling down the sidewalk, beneath the dull winter moonlight, even though they'd just eaten.

The man laughed heartily. "I haven't heard that nickname in damn near ten years! I'll tell ya, though. I knew you were coming. I told my niece, Kira, just two days ago. I said, you watch, now, my boys are gonna come walkin' through those doors any moment. And here ya are. She was smitten with you, ya know that, boy?" he rambled on, a little spring in his step as he led them to a café just a few blocks down the street.

Ash laughed, a real smile gracing his lips. "Sorry, Dr. Wise, I've got a girl at home waiting for me. And actually, that's exactly what we're here to talk about."

"Marcy!" Freddy greeted a waitress with a friendly hug, and she smiled back at him.

"Your table is ready for ya, Freddy. I'll have your usual out in a bit." She smiled, brushing away one of the orange corkscrew curls that had fallen into her face.

"Awe! Marcy, you're such a doll. No rush on that, I've got a couple guests!" He gestured behind him, his bright look never fading. The woman gave them both a friendly wave before whirling away to help other customers, while Freddy led them to his booth. "I just... I'm so happy you came to see me." Tears glistened in his dark eyes before he blinked them away.

"We're here about the bodies with the eye eaten out," Ash told him professionally, keeping his voice a low whisper to keep any other patrons from overhearing.

Freddy shook his head morosely. "I don't know if it makes me happier to know that you're still chasing after things like this or sadder for ya, that I might someday have to go to your funeral too."

Ash grinned proudly. "You don't have to worry about that. I've got a good team. Speaking of which, this is my brother, Jack. Jacky, this is Freddy Wise. He was a cop who picked me up a few times for being a punk after I first started going on jobs with Dad."

Freddy reached a meaty paw across the table and shook Jack's hand vigorously. "It's nice to meet ya, kid! Your big brother worked under me for an entire summer when he was seventeen. Most hardworking kid I ever got assigned."

Ash scoffed. "Dad never thought so," he grumbled halfheartedly, a faint nostalgic smile crossing his lips as he spoke of him.

Freddy shook his head. "Don't be an idiot, boy. Your dad loved you and your siblings more than anything. Believe me. Anyway, like you said, you didn't come all this way just to hear me blabber on and on about the old days."

"Right." Ash pulled out the copy of the newspaper article that Will had printed for him from his jacket pocket. "What can you tell us about this?" He slid it across the table.

Freddy only glanced at it for a second before he handed it back to Ash. "I know what that says and it's all crap. The only thing they got right was that the eyes were eaten out of their sockets, and I have no idea how they got that information." His furry white eyebrows knit together in annoyance.

"So what's the real story?" Ash sat back as Marcy dropped off a plateful of food in front of each one of them, even though they hadn't ordered anything.

"I brought your usual, Freddy. And for the boys, Angelo insisted on making them his famous Eggs Taos. I hope you boys like Mexican food. Angelo calls this a Mexican's version of lasagna. It's layers of corn tortillas, sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese, beans, and guacamole. With a dollop of sour cream on top. Enjoy." She set three glasses of water on table and flitted away without waiting for a response.

Freddy grinned at them. "Angelo loves serving new customers whatever his favorite thing to cook is that day."

Jack and Ash both shrugged simultaneously, digging into the food, before they started discussing the gritty details of the case they were there to solve. "You know me, Dr. Wise. I love a good meal, no matter. And this is fucking awesome." He smirked when the old man scowled at him.

"You're lucky there ain't a lady here, or I woulda smacked you upside the head, boy," he grunted, though he couldn't keep the smile from his face for long. "I happen to remember you taking over the soup kitchen a couple of times a month and bossing around everyone on staff, even though you were there to wash dishes." But before he went too far off the rails, he shook his head and muttered, "There I go digressing again. You're here about the murder."

Jack pushed his plate to the side, and set his gaze firmly on the older man. "Yes, sir."

"I got a call from an elderly woman, Mrs. Holloway, who's always up at four in the morning and in bed by eight at night. She said that someone screaming in the alley woke her up and she wanted me to come check it out. She doesn't like the younger cops, she thinks they're incompetent, so the dispatchers always send the old bat to me. Usually it's just nonsense, like cats fighting. But that night, I saw somebody running from the alley, and when I tried to pursue he disappeared into the crowd celebrating the New Year's Eve lights show we put on in the town center every year." He took a sip of scalding black coffee between every sentence.

"Did you see the guy's face? Or anything to distinguish him?" Ash leaned forward in his seat.

Freddy shook his head slowly. "Nothing that I could tell the cops about. But I swear the guy ran right passed the security cameras at the bank across the street, when he came running outta that alley, but when I went to look, there was nothing there. I was chasing after nothing. I didn't say anything 'cause I didn't wanna seem crazy. But I've worked with the Slayer family for a long time, boys. I know what ya'll do for people."

Ash nodded thoughtfully, while Jack wrote down what he could in his pocket sketchbook. "Is there anything else you can tell us? Anybody who's come to town recently? Anyone you know who's acting differently?"

Freddy stroked his long beard thoughtfully, checking to make sure no food had gotten caught in it, as he said, "There was one thing, he had a limp, like maybe that poor girl I found behind the dumpster fought back hard. As far as anyone new coming around, we're always gettin' tourists through here, and sometimes they stay awhile. There is one thing, though. The middle Jasper kid left town a few weeks ago, pissed about some big fight that went down at the family house. But there are always fights out there and one of them is always leaving. When he came back, though. It was like... I don't know. I always thought it was strange how he seemed to change overnight. Ricky Jasper never woulda helped an old lady across the street before, but he also wouldn't of kicked his own dog, neither."

Ash and Jack looked between each other knowingly. "That sounds like exactly what we're looking for. Do you know where we can find this Jasper guy?"

Freddy let out a grumbling laughter. "Of course I do. Their ranch was the first one you passed on the way into town."

"Thanks, Dr. Wise." Ash started to get up until he caught the man's glare.

"Ashton Slayer, always trying to leave before I'm finished talking to ya." He shook his head, while Ash sat back down slowly. "You can't just dine and dash, kid. I wanna know how it's going. I heard about your old man." He stared softly at them with his sparkling navy blue eyes.

"You know I wanna stay and talk awhile, Dr. Wise. But we gotta get this thing before it strikes again. It's already hit twice. We have to find it before it kills two more times," Ash responded urgently and Freddy sobered up instantly.

"Alright, kid. But as soon as you wrap this job up, I want you to come see me. In the meantime, let me know if I can help with anything else. I'll do whatever I can." Finishing off the last bit of coffee in his mug, he stood up, making sure to wrap them both in an affectionate hug that Jack wasn't prepared for.

"Thanks, Dr. Wise!" Ash called over his shoulder, dragging Jack back to the center of town where they'd planned on meeting Will when he was finished at the coroner's office.

"He seems like a nice guy." As they walked against the cold wind, Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and ducking into his coat as much as possible.

"Best cop I ever met. But he always gets himself mixed up with witches and monsters. I dunno what it is about that guy, but he stumbles into things more than any other person I've ever met."

"Why isn't he an Exterminator, then? It seems like he'd be good at it."

Ash shrugged his shoulders absently. "He has a family, a job. He just sends the message out that there's something not right, and one of Dad's friends went out to help. It worked out over the years for the most part."

"Huh..." Jack let the conversation slip away and silence blanketed them. "What are we gonna do when Will gets back? Head out to the Jasper place and scope out the guy he was talking about?"

"Let's see what he found out at the coroner's office first." Ash took three large steps backward as the Blazer stopped short in front of them, jumping up on the curb for a second as Will tried to park it. "Fuck, it's a wonder my truck's still in one piece." Jack laughed, letting Keala out and watching fondly as she darted into the alley they stood near, running up and down it a couple of times, before she startled someone and ran back.

"And it doesn't look like there are any more dents than usual either." He inspected the outside, while Will hopped out, oblivious of their criticism.

Ash clapped him on the shoulder. "Well, you didn't crash my car, I'd say that's a win for the day."

Will shook off Ash's hand, shooting him a look of annoyance and straightening his coat. "Don't be a dick. I can drive. You just don't let me." He wrapped his jacket tighter around his waist when a bitter cold wind blew briskly around them.

"You hit the curb," Ash pointed out blandly. "Did you find out anything useful?"

Will smirked. "It was harder than I thought it'd be to infiltrate the coroner's office. But I know my shit when it comes to dead bodies, so I aced it. In the reports, both the victims were bound and tortured for some time before he ate out their eye. Whoever this guy is, he's sick. I got ahold of a report from another murder with a similar M.O. from the next county over. It looked like the girl was held for days before he finally killed her."

Ash scowled. "We need to find this monster as soon as fucking possible. He can't be allowed to continue these serial murders. Jacky, grab your dog. Let's find a motel room for the night, I think we're gonna be here a couple of days."

Jack shrugged, doing as he was told and climbing into the Blazer after his brothers. They found a motel just off 3rd Street that had WiFi and a small kitchenette, which made both Ash and Will happy, though they weren't planning on staying for very long. Not if they could find the shape shifter before he could kill again.

That night, while Ash and Will slept, Jack did his best to meditate, working on controlling the emotions of his brothers while they dreamt. He wanted to know if he could control the way they dreamed just by manipulating what they were feeling. He started with calm, because it was an emotion he'd worked on for a long time, concentrating on his breathing and the way he wanted the room around him to feel. Ash and Will both seemed peaceful in their slumber. Next, he tried fear, he thought of all the things that scared him, embracing the racing of his heart and the anxiety that clawed at his insides, charging the room around him with the emotions warring inside his body.

Across from where he sat perched on the couch, both his brothers began tossing and turning, kicking off the covers, and moaning with fright. When Jack heard Ash shout in pain, he stopped, immediately doing the breathing exercises he'd taught himself over the years to calm down after a particularly awful nightmare. He did one more experiment with anger before he couldn't torture his brothers anymore. Testing out his abilities on them made him feel slimy and horrible, even if they never found out.

"You're sliding down a slippery slope." Dick Grayson popped up in a seated position on the floor in front of him. "I know you're trying to tap into your gifts, kid. But you've gotta be really careful."

Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm not going down any slope," he denied, his voice just barely a whisper. "I want to find that shape shifter. I was thinking maybe I could find one of the people he killed. Maybe they could tell me who their killer was."

"If I tell you who it is will you stop this nonsense?" Dick grumbled, eyeing him warily.

"You know who it is?" Jack winced when he moved his shoulder wrong and pain shot through his entire arm.

Dick shrugged. "I may have heard some chatter about it while you were walking through town."

"Fine. I'll pause it for now if you tell me who you think it is."

The ghost grinned at him and tingles crawled up and down his spine. "Kira, the big guy's niece. She's been dead a few days. Her left eye eaten out just like the rest of them. He killed her when she was walking home Thursday night, in the alley where your dog was running."

"Wow... I didn't think ghosts were that specific."

"They aren't. I just know how to decipher the messages and give them to you."

"Great. What about that Jasper guy?" Jack didn't want to undermine his brother, if he didn't have all his bases covered.

"He's dead too. The shifter got to him before he even came into town." Dick's black eyes were filled with an unsure weariness. "Be careful, Jacky. This guy's got your scent now. He's fascinated with you and your brother, so he might just find you first."

"Thanks for the heads up, Dick. Can I ask-"

Sharp banging on the motel door cut him off midsentence.

"Hey! Room 206! I need to speak with you!" a man's voice shouted, distinctly sounding like the manager, but when Jack sidled over to the door and quickly glanced through the peephole, it was Kira who stood there for a brief second before she morphed into the man who had checked them in. "Hello! I know you're in there!"

"What the fuck?" Ash glared at him, when he saw Jack standing by the door, having not slept a wink in the three hours since they'd gone to bed.

Darting across the room to the beds, Jack slapped his hand over Will's mouth before he could speak and put his finger to his lips. "It's the shape shifter," he mouthed.

Ash rolled his eyes and Will shook him off, shoving him onto the other bed and glaring at him like Jack had just killed his cat. "No it's not. How would he have found us?" Slipping off the mattress, Ash padded to the door and looked through the peephole, seeing only the manager. A guy with a friendly smile and crooked teeth. "Something I can help you with?" He yanked the door open and greeting the man with a mild scowl.

"Pet fee's extra," the man snarled, gesturing to Keala, who was growling at him from where she stood at Jack's side.

Ash shot him a wry look. "You couldn't have just told us this in the morning?" Yawning tiredly, he dug through his pants for his wallet. He hadn't bothered changing out of his clothes before falling into bed, passing out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The manager scowled at them. "Twenty-five bucks, sir."

Ash yawned again, pulling the cash out and dropping it into the guy's hand, while Will kept giving Jack looks to shut up and go to sleep every time he tried to silently warn them that they were all in danger. "Here, man." He dropped the crumpled bills into his outstretched palm. "Oh, shit. I think I accidentally gave you a coin."

As the manager flipped through the bills, a silver coin dropped onto his palm, and he immediately winced in pain. "Here." He tossed it back to Ash, who grinned mischievously.

"Thanks." He whipped his gun out and shot him in the torso. Before any other guests had the chance to investigate what the loud shooting was about, Ash grabbed the man as he fell and smoothly pulled him into the motel, slamming the door shut behind him.

"What the fuck?" Will stared between Ash and the man dying on their floor.

"Jack was right." Ducking down, he snatched a fistful of the shifter's hair and glared into its beady eyes. "You're never gonna copy anybody else ever fucking again. I'm not like you, so I won't eat your eyeball out, but I'm gonna enjoy watching you die."

"H-h-how'd y-you kn-n-ow?" the shifter sputtered, his breathing erratic as blood soaked into the darkly colored carpet, leaving a stain practically unnoticeable amongst all the others.

With his hand still tangled in the man's hair, Ash jerked his head toward Jack for a split second. "He knew. I always trust my brother's judgement. How'd you find us?"

"I-I followed y-you from the s-station. Y-your b-brother is l-l-lucky he d-d-didn't a-a-answer." A hollow laugh echoing weakly from his lips.

Ash smirked back at him as he breathed his last dying breaths. "You remember my face, 'cause when we're in hell together, I'm gonna kill you again, motherfucker. Let's get the fuck out of here."

Jack already had his pack slung over his shoulder before his brother had even said a single word, while Will stared between them disbelieving. "We're just gonna leave him here?" He looked at Ash in disgust.

"No, I'm not stupid. We have to cover our tracks. But we have to do it quickly. Before the cops get here." He scrambled around the room for everything he'd brought and wrapped the man in a bedsheet. "Jack, pull the car around and we'll store him in the back under all the gear until we can find a place to bury him."

Jack shot him a wry look. "Really? We're gonna let him rot in the car until we can find a place?"

"We'll keep the air conditioning on. Besides it's the middle of winter, he'll keep for a few hours. Just do what you're told." Ash did a once over of their motel room, before Jack followed his instructions, backing the car up directly in front of their motel room and jumping out to pull open the back door.

They vacated their room less than half an hour later, but instead of leaving for home, Ash headed back towards town. "Hey, where are we going?" Will piped up, after he finally looked away from his computer, which he'd pulled out before they were even in the car.

"I need to say goodbye to an old friend." Ash pulled out his phone, dialing a number without looking away from the road, and pressing the device to his ear. "Hey, Dr. Wise, it's me. We're done... Nah, he found us... Yeah... Okay. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes... Yeah, bye."

After he'd slipped his phone back into his pocket, Jack said, "Uhm... I think there's something you need to know, Ash."

"I hate when you say things like that. What is it?"

"Freddy's niece, Kira... She's been dead since Thursday." He hung his head sadly, not wanting to see his oldest brother's reaction.

"It's alright," Ash assured softly. "I'll tell him."