Archive of Our Own

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Storybrooke, Maine

22 Years Ago
“Say goodnight to your brother, Killian,” Alice instructed, as she set the young boy down on his feet.Killian ran over to the small crib in the middle of the room, pulling himself up to see his baby brother lying inside of it. Little Liam was waving his hands in the air, occasionally sucking on one of his fists before he went back to waving them around again.“Good night, Liam,” Killian called down to him, leaning over to press a kiss to his brother’s cheek. Alice made her way over to her eldest son’s side, leaning in to press her own kiss to Liam’s forehead as she wished her baby boy sweet dreams.“Come on, Killian. Let’s get you to bed. Daddy’s waiting for you.”Brennan was already perched on the floor by his son’s bed, with Killian’s favorite book in hand, as his son bounced into the space and climbed up under the sheets. Alice watched from the doorway as her husband finished reading the last chapter in the book they had been engrossed in all week, while Killian slowly lost his battle with exhaustion and fell soundly asleep. When Brennan finally finished the book, he sat it back down onto the small shelf by Killian’s bed, and she moved forward to tuck the covers around their sleeping son.Pressing a kiss to his forehead she whispered, “Sleep well, Baby. The angels will watch over you tonight.”Alice rolled over in bed as she heard the static noise coming through the baby monitor, followed by Liam’s soft whimpers. She gave the small device a slap with the side of her hand, hoping to clear the audio. But the static simply continued. Her husband wasn’t in bed beside her, which meant that he’d probably fallen asleep on the couch again, so she couldn’t ask him to go and check on their son.She sighed as she slipped out of the bed, passing Killian’s room to make her way into Liam’s nursery. The dark figure of her husband’s form standing over their son’s crib never failed to make her heart soar.Brennan was such a good father.“Is he hungry?” she called out softly.Her husband sent a small shush back to her, and Alice took that as her cue that whatever had caused Liam to fuss was no longer an issue, now that his daddy was in the room.As she made her way back to bed, her attention was pulled to the flickering light at the very end of the hallway. She reached out to tap at the glass shade a couple of times, hoping that would fix the problem.The light flickered once… twice more, before it finally stopped.Which just happened to be the moment that Alice heard a noise from somewhere downstairs.A frown creased her brow as she headed for the staircase, hoping that it was just another stray cat that had somehow found its way into the old building.But as she made it to the bottom of the steps, the first thing her eyes landed on was the television. It was still showing some old baseball documentary, and perfectly illuminating her husband’s sleeping form.“Liam?” she called out, spinning on her heels. She took the stairs two at a time, rushing up them and towards the room her baby boy was resting in.The other figure was still standing over her son’s crib when she arrived at the doorway.Brennan bolted awake at the sound of his wife’s blood-curdling screams.“Alice?” he yelled out, springing up from his chair. “Alice?”He took the stairs as fast as he could, bypassing every closed door on the first floor until he flung open the one for Liam’s nursery.“Alice?” he called out once more, panting a little from the physical exertion.Liam was wide awake in his bed, cooing softly as he kicked out his arms and feet.Brennan made his way over to the little boy’s side, asking softly, “Hey Liam. Are you okay?” A small smile pulled at his lips as the baby turned bright blue eyes his way, smiling up at his daddy.The first drop landed just to the left of Liam’s face.Brennan reached out to run his fingers through it, pulling them away to find them stained red.The second landed on the back of his hand.His eyes widened in horror as he realized what he was looking at before he turned them up to the ceiling above him.“Oh god, no. Alice,” he cried, falling backward with his shock.His wife’s body was somehow stuck to the ceiling of the nursery, her abdomen bleeding profusely from the wound that had been inflicted there, as her dead eyes stared down at him, wide with her own horror.The moment Brennan realized what he was looking at was the moment the inferno began, engulfing his wife’s body quickly.Liam began to scream from his place in the crib, his little face screwed up with his tears as the room began to heat up. Brennan snatched the boy from his bed quickly, before running from the room. Killian was making his way out of his own, looking thoroughly confused by all of the noise.“I need you to take your brother outside as fast as you can. Don’t look back,” Brennan told the scared young boy, as he eased Liam down into his arms. “Now, Killian! Go!”Even though Killian was clearly terrified, Brennan watched on with pride as his son did exactly as he had been instructed to do, before he turned back to the nursery that was rapidly filling with flames. He wanted to save his wife. He needed to save his wife. But it was becoming apparent that it was never gonna happen.With one more longing look at the spot that he’d last seen her in, Brennan turned on his heels and ran.Killian was stood on their lawn, far too close to the house to be safe, when he made it to the front door. Brennan didn’t hesitate to sweep his boys up and into his arms, to carry them away from their home just before the fire triggered an explosion in the nursery.“Mom?” Killian called out, as his own eyes began to fill with tears.“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Brennan assured him, as he held his boys close.

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Boston, Massachusetts 22 Years laterLiam sighed in his sleep as his arm tightened around Elsa, pulling her into his chest a little closer. Something had disturbed his dreams, but he wasn’t sure what it was, and he didn’t really care enough to wake up and investigate the source of it.Until he heard it once more.Liam released his grip on Elsa’s waist as he pushed himself up behind her, flicking on the light beside their bed.“What’s wrong?” she mumbled sleepily.“Nothing,” he whispered back, bending to press a kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep, Sweetheart.” He suspected that Elsa was already dreaming peacefully before he’d finished speaking.Liam eased his feet over the side of the bed and reached for the baseball bat in the corner of the room before he quietly padded his way out of it. The noise he’d heard before was louder in the hallway, and clearly coming from downstairs, so he carefully made his way over to the darkened staircase. Relying on muscle memory, he tiptoed his way down each step as silently as he could, swinging his head back and forth as he attempted to locate the source of the disturbance he’d heard.When he finally hit the floor in the lounge it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Unfortunately, it was a moment too long, as a fist slammed solidly into his chest, doubling him over. While he was winded his attacker gently eased the bat from his grasp, and tossed it across the room to land on the sofa.Liam brought his own hand up ready to launch a counterattack but was stopped in his tracks at the familiar laugh that was coming from within the darkness.“Jesus, college might have made you smart, but it’s also made you slow.”“Killian?” he asked, as he reached out to flick the light switch on the wall, while he tried desperately to catch his breath. “What the hell are you doing here? And why are you breaking into my home in the middle of the night?”“A guy can’t come and visit his little brother without questions being asked?”“You broke into my home and assaulted me,” Liam pointed out.“I was testing your security and your reflexes. Both of which suck, by the way. You should be thankful I’m here, it looks like you’ve forgotten everything Dad ever taught you.”“Of course I have,” Liam hissed. “Why do you think I left, Killian? I don’t wanna be a part of that life anymore. I’m out.”“Well, I need you back in,” his brother told him, his expression shifting from the playful banter it had carried before, to something much more serious and darker.“No,” Liam replied forcefully, as he held his hands up and took a small step back. “I just told you, Killian… I’m out.”“Dad’s missing,” his brother explained.“Missing, or on a hunt and isn’t answering his phone?”“Missing,” Killian emphasized, but before he could say anything else the brothers were interrupted by a feminine voice calling out, “Liam? Who are you talking to?”“Yeah, Liam… who’re you talking to?” his brother teased, as he turned his full attention to the beautiful blonde that was making her way down the stairs, and into the room. “You didn’t tell me that you were seeing someone.”“There are a lot of things I don’t tell you, Killian.”“Killian?” she asked, as Elsa made her way over to her boyfriend’s side, to wrap her arm through his. “This is your brother?”“I’m the much more handsome brother,” he explained. “That’s why Liam likes to keep my existence quiet. I can’t think of why he wouldn’t have mentioned you, though.”“Elsa,” she introduced, looking up to her boyfriend with a frown creasing her brow. “I’m Elsa. And I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?”“It’s lovely to meet you, Elsa. And I’m here for my brother, actually. I need his help with something.”“I’ve already told you, Killian. I want no part of this,” Liam protested vehemently.“And I’ve already told you,” his brother parroted back, “Dad’s on a hunting trip… and he hasn’t been home in a few weeks.” The use of the word weeks caught Liam’s attention, but just in case his bother hadn’t fully gotten the message yet, Killian added, “He left his car and his journal behind.”“He did?”Liam’s eyes snapped up to meet his brother’s, almost as if to check that Killian was actually telling the truth. What he found there seemed to reassure him that the guy was, and Liam scrubbed a harsh hand over his face as his mind began to race.“Your dad’s missing?” Elsa worried.“He’s probably on a bender somewhere,” Killian lied. “I was hoping lover boy here would help me track him down, just to stop me from worrying. I know he’s a grown man and all that, but he’s still family.”“Of course,” she agreed, turning back to face her boyfriend. “You should go with your brother. Find your dad and make sure he’s okay.”All of Liam’s resistance seemed to melt under Elsa’s instructions, and Killian watched as the fight drained from his brother’s body.“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. “But I have to be back here before Monday. I have an important test to sit that I can’t miss.”“I’ll have you back before then,” Killian promised. “Scouts honor.”“You were never in the scouts,” Liam called over his shoulder, as he made his way back to the staircase, so he could pack a small bag for the journey.“The sentiment still stands,” his brother protested, as he dropped down onto the couch in the lounge, to make himself comfortable while he waited. “And don’t take all night. We both know you pack like a girl. All you really need is clean pants and you’re good to go.”Elsa snorted out a laugh from where she was still stood in the middle of the room before she decided to turn and follow her boyfriend up the stairs to say their goodbyes in private.Which left Killian to fish the remote control out from between the sofa cushion, and flick on the television while he waited alone.

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“Just a coffee, please.”Liam smiled gratefully at the woman stood beside their table, before she took the menus off the brothers and hurried back to the kitchen to place their orders.“Aren’t you hungry?” Killian asked.“No. I don’t tend to get hungry in the early hours of the morning. You know, that time of the day when I’m supposed to be sleeping.”Killian just seemed to shrug off his brother’s comments, as he fished out a familiar looking leather-bound journal from inside his jacket pocket, and slapped it down onto the table between them.“Dad really left this behind?” Liam picked it up carefully to turn over in his hands. The boys had seen the journal plenty of times before, but neither one of them had ever been allowed to look inside of it.“Yeah. It’s how I knew he was in trouble.”Liam could understand that. The book contained everything their father had learned about the thing responsible for the death of their mother. Brennan Jones would never go anywhere without it unless he was forcefully separated from it.“Have you looked through it yet?” he asked.“Nope. I figured we could do that together,” his brother explained.Liam nodded his understanding as he slipped his finger into the edge of the journal to release the catch, before allowing it to fall open. He wasn’t surprised to see a number of articles at the very front of the book, all covering the fire that had broken out in their childhood home, and the subsequent death of their mother. A quick scan of each one told him they all said the same thing.
Cause unknown.
“Hey, take a look at these.”Killian slid some more articles over the table for his brother to read. Some had been printed from the internet, and others had been clipped from newspapers. But they all detailed the same thing.An unexplained house fire that had killed a young mother.“We weren’t the only ones.”“It seems like it.” Liam flicked through each of the articles before he laid them out across the table, in some kind of order that made sense to him. “They stretch right across the country,” he pointed out, as he placed one about their mother’s death towards the end of the line. “Dad found twelve identical cases, all exactly one month apart. That can’t be a coincidence, right?”“One or two, maybe. But twelve…. Twelve’s a goddamned pattern,” Killian agreed, as he helped his brother to gather everything up the moment he spotted their server. The last thing they needed was for a nosy old woman to start asking questions.“Thanks, Sweetheart,” he told her, as he offered their server a sly smile and a cheeky wink. She set a large plate of bacon and eggs down in front him, before making her way back to the counter with slightly red cheeks.“Do you ever stop?” Liam scoffed.“You should try it yourself.” When his brother sighed a little over-dramatically, Killian added, “They remember the smiles and winks more than they remember what I’m wearing, or what I’m talking about, or what color my hair is,” he argued. “It’s a good distraction technique. And completely harmless.”“If you say so,” Liam mumbled. He watched as his brother pulled the plate of food towards himself and began digging in before he reached for his father’s journal once more.Brennan had used the small book to keep track of every supernatural creature he had ever encountered, in his quest for information about his wife’s death. A number of the hunts he had detailed Liam had vague memories of, from his childhood. There were also a few monsters that he’d never heard of before, and random sequences of numbers that he couldn’t make sense of.But there was nothing more about the series of fires Brennan had found.“There’s nothing in here about his last hunt,” he noted.“Yep. Why d’ya think I came for you?” Killian asked, around a mouthful of food.“I thought the two of you were working together.”“Yeah, well… you know Dad,” his brother said, like that would explain everything.And in a way, it did.Liam knew that their father had developed a few issues in the years since their mother had passed, and he knew that Brennan tended to direct his anger at Killian whenever he was feeling particularly low. It wouldn’t have been the first time that his brother had taken off alone, but Liam couldn’t shake the feeling that it might be the last.“Where d’ya think Dad would have started?” he asked, instead of voicing his opinions on their father’s parenting skills.“Knowing Dad, I’d say he’d start with the first.”That made sense.Even for all of his issues, when it came to leads about who was responsible for Alice’s death, Brennan was nothing but thorough.“Except… he left behind the car and that,” Killian pointed out, as he tapped the journal with his fork. “Which means that he left fast. The last hunt we were on together is where I found those. And that was in Kentucky. So…”“It would have been tough for him to get from Kentucky to Washington without a car,” Liam finished for him.Washington was also on the other side of the country. There was no way the brothers would be able to get to the state and back again, in time for him to sit his exam on Monday morning.“So, I guess we head to Kentucky?”“Nah. There’s nothing there,” Killian argued. “I’ve already checked it all out. Whatever Dad was doing, the only things he left behind were the car and his journal. I figured whatever clues he wanted us to follow would be in that.”“There’s nothing in here, Killian. Just a bunch of random numbers.”“Lemme see?”Liam flipped to the last page that had anything written on it and passed the book back over to his brother. Killian seemed to take a moment to contemplate the series of numbers that were written there while he finished the last of his bacon before his eyes lit up with a theory.“What?”He didn’t bother answering his brother. Instead, Killian pulled out his phone and tapped away on the screen for a moment, before finally turning it around to show Liam the result.“They’re not random numbers. They’re coordinates.”

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Jefferson, New York
“Are you sure that this is the right place?” Liam asked, as he stepped out of the car and pushed the door shut behind himself.“According to the GPS, these are the exact coordinates that Dad left us,” Killian explained, casting a look around their surroundings. It took him a moment to spot the building hidden behind the diner, but when he did, his eyes lit up with his excitement. “Hey, Liam. Over there.”His little brother craned his head around to see what Killian was looking at and groaned a little when he saw the partially illuminated sign in the distance.“It couldn’t have been a hotel?”“Hotels ask too many questions,” his brother reminded him, while he checked to make sure that the road was clear, before crossing it at a jog.Liam took a moment just to consider his very limited options before he sighed and took off after Killian. “Do you even have a plan?” he asked.“Yep. I’m gonna tell them the truth.”“The truth? That our dad might have been captured by some kind of supernatural being, and we’re here looking for clues on how to save him?”Killian waited until they were both on the same side of the road before he turned to level his brother with a withering glare. “No, Dumbass. I’m gonna tell them we’re looking for our dad. They don’t need to know anything more than that. Jesus, you really have forgotten everything that we taught you.”“I’ve already told you, Killian, I don’t want anything more to do with this. The moment we find Dad, I’m done. I’m going back to Boston, back to my girlfriend, and back to my life.”“Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’re only here because you have to be. You know, you could at least act like you’re enjoying spending time with your big brother, Liam. Would that really kill ya?”Before Liam could utter a word in protest, his brother squared his shoulders and strode off confidently in the direction of the office for the cheap motel they’d found.When he pushed through the front door, Killian’s expression settled easily back into that of the charming young rogue women seemed to love, as he aimed a flirtatious smirk at the middle-aged woman behind the desk.“Hello… Janice,” he greeted, sidling up to lean against the counter as he turned the full force of his smile down on her.Janice flicked a bored glance up at the two men who had entered the building, and then back down to her computer before her eyes flew up to settle on Killian’s face.“H… Hi,” she stuttered out.“I’m wondering if you can help me at all?” he continued, as he leaned in a little closer. “My brother and I are looking for our father. He gets a little lost and confused at times, poor guy. The last time we heard from him he said he was staying here, but he’s not answering the door or his phone. You haven’t seen him, have you?”Killian pulled out his own phone and loaded up a picture that he’d taken with Brennan for this very purpose, before turning it around to show the clearly flustered woman behind the desk.“Oh… oh, yes,” she declared, when she eventually managed to pull her eyes away from Killian’s face. “He was here a few weeks back. But he left in a hurry, and I haven’t seen him since.”“That sounds like Dad,” Killian commiserated. “Did he leave anything behind at all?”“A few things. He paid for the month up-front, so we haven’t really touched his room yet. We figured he’d be back before his time was up.”“You don’t happen to have a spare key I could use, do you?” he asked, batting his lashes a little harder to try and sway her over to their side. “The chances are he left clues there as to where he went, and my brother and I can clean it out for you before we leave.”For a moment, Liam thought that his brother’s charms might not have worked as well as he’d have liked, as the woman seemed to hesitate, before finally reaching back for a key to room seven.“Don’t tell anyone about this,” she implored, as she handed it over. “I could lose my job.”“Your secret is completely safe with us, Janice.”The moment Killian had the key safely in his palm he spun on his heels and strode straight out of the office. Liam offered the flustered older woman a small smile of thanks, before hurrying after his big brother.“Do you honestly think that you’re going to find anything here?” he asked. They both knew Brennan Jones well enough to understand that he would never leave obvious signs of what he was doing, where they could fall into the hands of an innocent bystander.“Dad left these coordinates for a reason, Liam. There must be something here, even if it’s not obvious.”Killian stopped outside of the door to room seven and pressed his ear to the wood for a moment, to check for noise inside. Even though he was certain that the room was vacant, he still pulled a small handgun from the waistband of his jeans, before he slid the key into the lock.“Seriously?” Liam scoffed. “Now you’re carrying guns too?”“We always carry guns,” his brother reminded him. “Don’t worry, I’ve had plenty of practice over the years. I haven’t yet killed anyone who wasn’t already dead to begin with.”Somehow, Killian’s words didn’t fill Liam with comfort. But he didn’t protest any further either. They both knew just how dangerous their father’s line of work could be. Being prepared was the best tool they had in their arsenal.As Killian pushed open the door he raised his weapon, before reaching out to flick on the lights. But the room looked as empty as it sounded. He took a moment to check inside of the small bathroom, before he ushered his little brother inside, and closed the door behind them both.“See? There’s nothing here.” Liam gestured around himself at the empty space, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that the room was all wrong. He watched as his brother’s face creased with his own concern, while he tucked his gun away once more. “What?”“I know you’ve tried hard to block out your childhood, but does anything about this-” Killian gestured at the neatly made bed and the clean sides “-feel strange to you?”It took a moment for Liam to make the connection, but when he did, that feeling of wrong that had settled into the back of his mind flared again. “It’s too clean,” he stated.“Yeah. Way too clean for both a sleazy motel and for Dad. Almost like someone tried to hide something so that someone else wouldn’t be able to find a trace of it.”Liam cast his gaze around the room, searching for anything that looked out of place. His father might have been an expert at keeping secrets, but if he’d left the co-ordinates for the motel in his journal, then that meant that he’d have left something for the boys to find there.They just had to know where to look for it.While Killian made his way through to the bathroom to check for anything that could have been hidden there, Liam searched for any grates set in the walls, or safes under the counters, as he made his way around to the small closet in the room.When he opened the doors, nothing immediately jumped out at him as being out of place, but all of his instincts were telling him that he was looking in the right spot. So Liam pulled out his phone and switched on the light, to shine it around the small space.“Killian. In here,” he called out, as his eyes landed on the handful of stray fibers, sticking up oddly from the carpet on the floor. “I think I’ve found it.”

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Killian rolled again on the lumpy mattress, the springs screaming in protest as he did before he settled back into the dream he was having.It was the same one he’d had before. The same dream he had experienced at least once a month, for as long as he could remember. But Killian had no idea what it meant.He was always in complete darkness when it began. The occasional flashes of red light would illuminate grotesque scenes that changed every time. But the end result was always the same. Something would come for him out of the darkness, something he couldn’t see, snapping at his heels as it chased him around and around until his exhaustion finally won, and that something took him down.The next moment he’d find himself chained to something - a wall, or a rack, or a bed - as something else with twisted features and dark eyes tried to extract as much pain from him as they possibly could. Just when he’d think he could take no more, Killian’s world would be flooded with light.Something soft and ethereal would envelop him in its embrace, pulling him from the darkness until he realized that he was safe once more.That was usually the point where Killian would wake from his dream, drenched in sweat and panting like he’d run a marathon.But that night, when the light came for him, something changed. When he was once again shrouded in that familiar embrace of love and acceptance, the light whispered something to him.No… that wasn’t quite right…. the light wasn’t whispering something to him. It was whispering something about him.
“Killian Jones is saved!”
“Morning, Love. Can I get a cup of strong coffee and one of your breakfasts with extra bacon, please?”The waitress fluttered her lashes in Killian’s direction while his brother rolled his eyes to the sky before she finally turned her attention to Liam.“I’ll have a coffee and a croissant, please?”She scribbled the order down onto the dirty notepad in her hands and flashed Killian another seductive smile, before hurrying back towards the kitchen.“A croissant? Seriously? You can’t have breakfast without bacon.”“You know it might do you some good to have breakfast without bacon every once in a while,” Liam told his brother. “All that grease can’t be doing your arteries any good.”“I’m as healthy as a horse. I think I proved that when I kicked your ass back in Boston.”Liam didn’t say anything else, but the look on his face told his older brother that he felt like he’d come away from that encounter with the upper hand.“So… do you really think Dad’s in Lebanon?” he asked, as he flicked through the file Brennan had left hidden for his boys to find. While there hadn’t been any details in the notes he’d left, both boys were convinced that their dad had finally gotten a solid lead on the thing that had killed their mother.He just hadn’t detailed what exactly that thing was.“I do.” Killian nodded his head firmly to show Liam just how sure he was of that. “If he’s not, then he’s definitely been there. Which means that we need to be there too.”“If he’s not, then I need to go back home, Killian.” When his brother’s eyes snapped up to meet his, Liam held out a hand to halt any tirade that was building in his mind. “I know you’re worried, but I can’t just throw away my life to follow clues Dad’s left all over the country, Killian. I have a life back in Boston. One that I love. I can’t just leave it behind. I can’t do that to Elsa.”“So you’d rather go back to your girlfriend than look for your father? You know, the man who raised you?”“Dad didn’t raise me, Killian. You did. You know that. That’s the only reason I’m here right now. Dad made it clear I was no longer a part of this family when I left for college. I’m here because of you, Killy. But surely you can understand why I have to get back? You always said that you wished we’d had a normal life when we were kids. I have that now. You could have that too. You could come back to Boston with me. Elsa and I have a spare room that you can use until you find your feet.”While Liam and Killian had drifted apart in recent years, the youngest member of the family had to admit that it was nice to be back in his brother’s company once more. He’d missed Killian, more than he ever thought he would.But as much as he’d missed his brother, Liam hadn’t missed life on the road, bouncing from shitty motel to shitty motel, as they ate in cheap diners. So if he could tempt his brother back to Boston, and back to a normal life where he wasn’t constantly in danger, then he was certainly going to try.“People are dying, Liam.”“People die every day,” his brother snapped.“Yeah. But not from vampires feeding on them, or vengeful spirit attacks. They don’t need to die from that. So thanks, but no thanks. Because I am not gonna sit in your overpriced apartment; drinking shitty, overpriced, imported beer while your girlfriend watches cookery shows on TV when there are people in this country who need my help.”Both boys fell silent as their server approached the table with plates of food in each hand, and a promise to be right back with their coffee. But even she could feel the tension bubbling away between them as they faced off across the table.Liam was the one to break it as he reached for his breakfast pastry and his knife. But Killian was stubborn, just like their father, and he refused to acknowledge his brother’s presence throughout the rest of their meal. Liam only hoped that by the time they were back on the road, Killian would have lightened up a little. If not, the four-hour drive through Pennsylvania was going to be fun.

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Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Killian pulled into the parking lot of the first motel he came to in the city and killed the car’s engine. “Wake up, Liam,” he called out cheerfully, reaching over to shake his brother’s shoulders.Liam grumbled something that sounded like a mild threat before finally prying his eyes open. “Where are we?”“The Star Motel. I’m sure it will be wonderfully cozy.”“And why are we here again?”“Because the best way to find out if something supernatural is going on in the city is to be in the city,” Killian replied slowly. It was something their father had taught them both years ago, and clearly, just another thing to add to the list of life-lessons his brother had conveniently forgotten.“Let’s go then,” Liam sighed, reaching behind him for the small bag of clothes he had stashed there before they’d left. Killian was already out of the car and headed towards the small office before he had the door closed.After checking in under fake names with a fake credit card, the brothers retired to their room. But instead of getting some sleep as Liam had hoped, they settled down at the small table by the window to begin researching recent events in the city. They were looking for anything that could possibly fall into the category of unexplained that would have drawn their father’s attention.It didn’t take long for Liam’s searches to turn up some results.“Hey, Killian… I think I’ve found something,” he said, as he turned his laptop around to show his brother the news articles that he’d discovered. There were a number of different local outlets reporting on the sudden murder spree that had recently taken place in a nearby town. A local priest had snapped and killed six before he’d finally been caught.“It says here that he claims he was possessed?” Killian flicked a look up to his brother that clearly communicated his disbelief on that subject.“Did Dad ever mention anything to you about possession before?” Liam asked.“Nope. He talked about spirits, vampires, and a few different beasts, but never possession. Do any of the articles say what they think he was possessed by?”Liam pulled the laptop back over to his side of the table and quickly skimmed through each of the articles that he’d managed to find. Most wrote the priest’s claims off as a symptom of psychosis, but one small town paper detailed some of the exact ramblings the man was quoted as giving to the authorities.“He says he was possessed by a demon,” Liam said, his own tone reflecting his skepticism on the matter. “It can’t be true though, can it?”“Either way, I think we need to do some digging,” Killian pointed out. It could just be that the man was seriously ill and truly believed that the voice inside of his head was that of a demon. But Killian had seen many unbelievable sights throughout the years, and he wasn’t willing to write this off without giving it further investigation.“And how do you plan on doing that?”“The same way we always do,” Killian told his brother. “We find out who the victims were and see if we can get close to anyone they knew. Someone in that town has to know something about what happened, even if it is just to tell us that he displayed signs of mental illness long before he snapped.”Liam sighed as he jotted down the names of the victims and then pulled up a new browser window to start his research on them. He’d always been better at the nerdy side of their investigations, while his brother was more adept at the more practical issues that arose on a hunt. But it had been years since he’d last dug into the lives of other people, and Liam was finding his skills in that department a little rusty.“Do you really think this is what brought Dad to the city?” he asked after a moment of strained silence.“I dunno, but it’s worth looking into, even if it wasn’t. If there really is something in this town that can possess humans, then a lot of people are gonna end up dying if we don’t find it and take it out.”Killian pulled his father’s journal from his bag and began thumbing through the different cases that Brennan had detailed inside of it. He couldn’t ever remember his dad mentioning possession before, but that didn’t mean that Brennan had never encountered it himself.When the journal proved to be of no use to their case, Killian opened up his own browser window and typed Demons into the blank field before hitting search. There were thousands of links to articles involving the word ‘demon,’ but the more that Killian read, the more his stomach twisted itself in knots.While Brennan had always maintained that the internet was full of lies and misdirection when it came to the supernatural world, Killian didn’t quite support his father’s beliefs. Sure, there was a lot of bullshit on there that he fully blamed movies like Twilight and Hocus Pocus for, but buried amongst that shit was some truly helpful information. You just had to know where to look for it.And Killian had become an expert at knowing where to look for it.The first few pages were full of hits that linked back to popular songs or movies, but as he made his way further through the results, Killian found more and more sites discussing the origin of demons and detailing their attributes. While those were definitely in the minority, the information they carried seemed to be similar from site to site. In Killian’s past experience he knew that was either because the same person had written each piece, or it was because every individual had experienced the same situations with that particular creature.“What did you find?” Liam asked, flicking a glance over his own screen at his brother’s pale face.“A whole lot of… something.” Killian took a moment to finish skimming his way down the page he’d been reading before he lifted his own eyes to meet his brother’s concerned gaze. “I think this might worth investigating, Liam. There are a lot of the usual sites reporting demonic possession in recent years. And all of it sounds similar to the case with our priest here in town. They all seem to share a common theory too.”“Which is?”“There’s a much higher purpose involved in all of this.” Killian turned his own screen around to show his brother the map that one of their fellow hunters had uploaded to his website, and the accompanying theory about what those demonic possessions could mean.“You don’t actually think someone’s trying to open a door to hell, do you?” Liam scoffed.“Well… stranger things have happened.”

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Killian had just closed his car door when he felt it. That prickling along the back of his neck that told him he was being watched.He turned slowly, hoping to catch whoever it was but found the street behind him empty. Even the windows in the houses were dark and bare. But Killian had been hunting long enough to know the signs. Just because there wasn’t anyone around to watch him, didn’t mean there wasn’t something lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.“Are you coming?”“Uh… yeah. Just gimme a minute,” he called back, as he made his way around the car. While none of the research they’d done the night before had given them a reason to be suspicious that morning, Killian couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had settled in his gut. So he made a quick stop at the trunk of his car to grab his favorite gun, before jogging over the road to catch up to where his brother was already stood.“Is everything okay?” Liam asked, as the two men fell into step beside each other.“Yeah, I just uh… keep your eyes open, okay? Something feels off here.”“Do you think this is all connected to Dad?”“It’d be a hell of a coincidence if it weren’t,” Killian mused. But stranger things had certainly happened. “Just stay on guard. We have no idea what we might be walking into today.”Liam nodded his agreement before reaching out to flick the latch on the gate of the house in front of them. The two men fell silent as they made their way up the neatly kept garden path to knock on the front door.“Hi there, Ma’am. My name is Detective Young and this is my partner, Detective Slade,” Killian explained, as he fished one of his fake badges from his pocket. “We were wondering if you had a moment to talk about your brother?”The woman stood on the other side of the door looked a little confused to see the detectives outside of her home, but she quickly nodded her head and stepped to one side, pulling the door open wide in invitation. “Sure, come on it,” she told them.The guys made their way into the house carefully and waited to be shown through to the living room before taking a seat at opposite ends of the sofa. Their host made sure to offer them snacks and drinks before she reluctantly dropped down into the only free seat in the room and asked, “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”“Your brother was one of the victims of Reverend Martin’s attack, is that correct?” Liam asked carefully. Knowing their luck, the person they were looking for had already left the state and they were sitting in the home of some random stranger.“That’s right,” she agreed, as tears sprang to her eyes.“The police report said that you were with your brother at the time of the attack, but you somehow managed to escape.”“Yes,” she confirmed, as her tears began spilling over.Killian reached for the box of tissues on the coffee table and handed them to her as his brother continued with his line of questioning.“Would you be able to tell us a little more about that day?” Liam asked gently.“I’ve already given my statement to the police,” she told him, before loudly blowing her nose.“I know, but we’d like to hear it from you again, if that’s okay? It’s possible that you might be able to recall more details now that you’ve had some time to process everything,” Liam explained patiently.The woman blew her nose again as she took a few moments to compose herself. Liam and Killian gave her all the time that she needed. They’d both been exposed to the supernatural world at a young age, and there were still sights that shocked them to their core. They couldn’t even begin to imagine how tough it would be for someone on the outside, especially when that someone had just lost a person close to them.“We uh… we met for choir practice on Wednesday evening, like we always do,” she began calmly. “Jason picks me up on his way past the house. Everything seemed so normal.” She paused for a moment again to gather her thoughts. “It was uh… it was at the end of the night when it happened. We’d stayed behind to help the Reverend clean up. One minute Jason was stacking chairs… the next… he was on the floor with blood pouring from his head.”Her tears were flowing freely now, and in her efforts to grab for another tissue she managed to knock the box off the table.“It’s okay, I’ve got it,” Killian assured her, as he reached down to pick them up and then passed a few more over to the clearly distraught woman.“I ran to help him and then felt something hit the back of my head. I didn’t really see much after that. It was all so fuzzy. All I remember is the guy that saved me. He charged into the room and threw something at Reverend Martin. Then there was this black smoke… I guess something must have caught fire? I think the guy dragged me outside but I don’t really remember it. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital, and they told me that my brother was dead.”She dissolved into floods of tears once again and Liam reached out an awkward hand to try and offer the poor woman some form of comfort as he turned a questioning look upon his brother. Killian nodded his head once before he spoke up again.“I hate to do this while you’re upset, Ma’am, but do you remember anything else about the other man at all? A name, maybe? Or what color hair he had?”“Dark. He had dark hair. But I don’t remember anything else. I’m sorry. He uh… he saved my life, though. So if you find him, will you thank him for me please?”“Of course,” Killian assured her, as he and Liam rose gracefully from their seats. “Thank you for your time this morning. We’ll see ourselves out.”The brothers waited until they were both safely back inside of the car and had driven away from the street they’d been visiting before they spoke again.“Do you think it was Dad?” Liam asked, turning to face his older brother.“Who else could it have been?”

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“Uh… where are you going?” Liam asked, as he watched his brother drop down onto the bed to pull on a pair of black boots.“To a bar. Figured I could hustle some pool and ask some questions while I was at it.”“Maybe get laid too,” Liam suggested, because that was his brother’s usualMO.“If it happens it happens,” Killian agreed, shrugging his shoulders. “But don’t worry, little brother. I won’t bring her back here if I do.”Liam sighed as he resigned himself to another night alone in a seedy motel. When they were younger, and his brother had been old enough to pass for at least twenty-one, Killian had snuck his way into bars to pick up women who didn’t much care about his age. Liam would spend most of his nights in a crappy motel room alone, attempting to do homework that he knew he’d never get a chance to hand in, while their father hunted. It was exactly why he’d escaped the lifestyle as soon as he could, and if he were being completely honest with himself, Liam knew it was probably why Killian still enjoyed it as much as he did. His brother had always loved the freedom that came with a life on the road.“Don’t wait up,” Killian called out, grabbing his jacket from the back of one of the chairs as he leaned over to clap his brother firmly on the shoulder. He was gone before Liam even had a chance to utter a reply.The moment Killian pulled into the parking lot of the nearest bar he could feel it. That prickling sensation across the back of his neck that told him he was being watched had returned.A quick scan of the lot showed a few people in the area, but none of them seemed to be paying much attention to him, so Killian tried to shake off his unease as he carefully climbed out of his car. That feeling followed him with every step he took towards the entrance, but once he was inside, it completely disappeared as he lost himself amongst the crowd.Killian made himself comfortable at the bar with a bottle of beer as he took some time to watch the people milling around inside of the space. As he’d expected, the crowd didn’t exactly look to be the most respectable in town. Which meant if he gave them long enough to get a few more drinks in their systems, he might be able to pry some sort of useful information out of one of them.When he was finished with his first drink, Killian ordered another and then headed for the pool table at the back of the room. It had been surrounded by a small group of men ever since he’d arrived, and they looked to be the easiest marks thanks to the numerous empty pitchers around their table.“Do any of you guys fancy a little wager?” he asked, pulling a wad of cash from his pocket to hold up for them to see.The men gathered around the pool table shared a long look before they nodded their agreement.“Twenty bucks on the first round? Winner takes all?” Killian pulled the bill free from the wad and slapped it down on the edge of the table as one of the men stepped forward to do the same thing.“You’re on,” the other guy agreed, already reaching out to rack the balls.“So, d’you hear about that priest who went psycho and killed a load of people in town?” Killian asked, as he bent forward to line up his shot.“Don’t think there’s anyone around here who didn’t,” Marcus scoffed. “Sick fucker.”“Everyone seemed so shocked by it too.”Marcus and his friends shared a look that said they’d also been shocked by the news but didn’t offer up any reasons why.“I wonder what has to happen to make a guy snap like that?” Killian mused.“The paper’s said it was some kind of mental break. But… I dunno.”“You don’t believe them?”“Guy was fifty-four and lived in town all his life. Surely if he’d had mental health issues we’d have seen signs of this before?” Marcus explained. “Something about all of this stinks.”“I feel ya there,” Killian agreed, as he sunk the black ball in the top corner pocket. “You kinda stink at this game too, Marcus. Pay up!”The other man didn’t look terribly happy about the extra twenty dollars he’d just lost, but he did smirk a little at Killian’s bad joke as he handed over his cash.By the time Killian left the bar that evening, he was three hundred dollars up and still had a clear enough mind to drive himself back to his motel. So he was taking that as a win.Unfortunately, none of the people he’d spoken with seemed to have any kind of information that would be useful for their case. And none of them could recall seeing his father around town either. Which left him in exactly the same place as he’d been when he’d first entered the building.He’d only taken two steps out of the door when that familiar prickle across the back of his neck returned, telling him that he was being watched. Killian briefly considered calling out to confront whoever it was. The alcohol in his system wasn’t enough to impair his senses, but it was giving him a taste of that buzz that usually came right before a big fight. Thankfully, he stopped himself from doing anything reckless before he could even open his mouth. There were far too many innocent civilians inside the bar that could get caught up in the crossfire, and that was the last thing Killian wanted.So he lowered his head and continued making his way over to where he had parked his car.“You’re asking the wrong questions in the wrong places.”Killian froze at the sound of a voice from somewhere to his left and narrowed his eyes as he tried to find the source of it amongst the shadows there.“Oh, yeah? What questions should I be asking, and where?”“I can’t tell you that,” she replied, stepping out of the darkness to finally put herself in his line of sight.Killian blinked a few times just to be sure that his eyes weren’t betraying him. To anyone else, the woman stood on the outskirts of the parking lot would probably come across as nothing more than average. But Killian knew better. He knew that behind the long, dark hair that fell around her shoulders in soft waves, and the dark-wash jeans and black, leather jacket that she was wearing, there was something decidedly extraordinary about her.“Then can you at least tell me who you are? Or what you are?” he asked instead, taking a step in her direction. “There’s only one person in this town who can tell you what really happened that day,” she replied, before disappearing back into the shadows.That feeling of being watched was gone almost instantly, leaving Killian stood in the middle of the parking lot with more questions than he’d had before the woman had shown herself.

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“Are you sure you weren’t drunk?” Liam asked, his brow furrowing with confusion.“I’ve already told you that I wasn’t. Seriously, what is so hard to believe about this? We’ve seen stranger things before,” Killian argued, fiddling with his tie while he checked his reflection over in the mirror.“Yeah… but a ‘hot girl’ giving you cryptic advice on how to proceed? Dude, even for us that’s weird.”“Maybe it is. But she was right. There’s only one person who can really tell us what happened that night and we haven’t even tried talking to him.”“That’s because bullshitting our way into a maximum-security hospital is low, even for us,” Liam pointed out. It was exactly why he wasn’t planning to go with his brother that morning. Killian might not care about his criminal record but Liam sure as hell did! He had plans for his future. Plans that did not involve spending time in jail for impersonating a federal agent.“If it’s the only way to find out where dad is, then we need to do it, Liam! I can’t believe that out of everything we’ve seen and done, jail is what scares you the most.”“It’s not jail that scares me, Killian! It’s what happens after that. It’s the effect it will have on the rest of our lives. Nobody’s gonna want to hire an ex-con. Especially not one convicted on charges of fraud. And I doubt Elsa’s gonna want to date one either. You don’t get it, do you? You live in this little bubble where all you do is hunt and follow dad around. But there’s a whole world out there where actions have consequences, Killian. And I’m not sacrificing myself just to bail dad out of whatever hole he’s gotten himself into this time.”“Fine. Suit yourself,” Killian snapped back, before grabbing his jacket from where it had been resting over the end of his bed and storming out of the motel room.Liam hated fighting with his brother, but he also hated how stubborn the rest of his family could be at times. While he knew that knowing all about the things that went bump in the night had changed his own outlook on life, he had chosen to try and enjoy the hand that fate had dealt to him. Life couldn’t just grind to a halt because vampires and vengeful spirits actually existed. People needed to carry on. And that was exactly what Liam was trying to do. Killian and their father had never really understood that before, and he was starting to think that they never would. For them, hunting was their entire life. And while a part of Liam could understand why his father had become so consumed by hunting down the thing responsible for their mother’s death, he often wondered why Killian had allowed himself to be drawn into Brennan’s quest for revenge.Liam sighed as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He tried hard to push aside his resentment towards his family so that he could focus on what needed to be done at that moment. It wasn’t helping, though. What he really needed then was a touch of normalcy in his world. So while Killian was out trying to blag his way into a secure holding facility for the criminally insane, Liam pulled out his cell phone and flicked through to Elsa’s contact details before he hit send on the call. His girlfriend had always been good at breaking him out of his funk, and he hoped to God that she’d be able to do the same thing for him that morning.“Hey, Baby,” she greeted, when she finally answered his call. “How are you doing?” Killian reached down to button his jacket as he closed the car door behind himself. He hated wearing monkey suits, which was why the one he was wearing that morning was the only one he owned. But on occasion, being dressed smartly had given him and his father more information than all of the rest of their digging combined. So he pushed aside his discomfort and tried to focus on what he needed to do. After taking a few seconds just to check his pockets for the false ID Granny had made for him a few months back, Killian strode confidently towards the entrance of the big brick building in front of him.It hadn’t taken long for him to find out where Reverend Martin was being held while he awaited trial. The fact that he’d been committed to a psychiatric ward for close observation helped Killian. The doctors on staff would be less likely to spot an imposter than other law enforcement officials. But Killian also knew that once he was inside, he’d need to move fast. The longer he hung around the more chance there was of being caught. And for all of his bravado that morning, he really didn’t want to be caught impersonating a federal agent.With his most confident swagger in place, Killian made his way through the entrance and over to the main reception, where he propped his hip against the counter to wait for one of the secretaries to turn her attention his way.“Can I help you?” a woman finally asked a few moments later, sighing a little as she did. It had clearly been a long morning and she was already eager to get home – which was something Killian knew would work in his favor. The woman would be less likely to argue with him if she was already done with the day’s workload.“Yes, I’m Special Agent Tyler with the FBI,” he announced, briefly holding up the credentials for her to look over. “I’m here to speak to Reverend Martin about a series of attacks across the country that I believe he may be connected to.”The receptionist looked down at a stack of papers on her desk and shuffled a few of them around before she turned her attention back up to Killian. “We weren’t expecting you today, Agent Tyler.”“They’re recent developments that have become increasingly more urgent to pursue,” he lied. “Is there someone who can take me to the Reverend?”“Uh… yes. Yes of course. I’ll um… I’ll call down for someone now,” she promised, as she reached for the handset on her desk. “Please, take a seat.”“Thank you.” Killian offered her one of his killer smiles before he turned to head for the small seating area just behind the main entrance. The people already sitting there gave him a curious look but they didn’t say anything as he dropped down into a hard plastic chair.Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long. A rather harried young man dressed in scrubs soon appeared at the locked doorway. He cast a glance around the waiting area before his eyes landed on Killian’s suited form, and asked, “Special Agent Tyler?”Killian stood to offer the young man a nod and then his hand for shaking.“If you’d like to follow me, Agent Tyler. We’ve just restrained Reverend Martin and brought him up for questioning.”Killian didn’t like the way that sounded. While he’d seen some deadly things before, and had killed and maimed his fair share of creatures, the way they were talking about another human being turned his stomach slightly. He was almost certain that Reverend Martin was innocent in all of this, and the man definitely didn’t deserve to be treated like some kind of animal.“He’s just through here,” the young doctor explained, pointing to a locked door. He then swiped the badge on his lanyard over a sensor on the wall before pushing his way into the room.“I can take it from here,” Killian assured him, as he took in the small, padded space and the other man in the room, who was sat behind a table. The Reverend’s hands had been cuffed in front of him and there was a rather drowsy look covering his features. He’d clearly been heavily medicated, which would make questioning him tough.The young doctor looked like he wanted to argue that he should stay, but Killian shut the door on him before anything else could be said. He then quietly made his way around the room to take a seat on the other side of the table, across from where the Reverend was sat.Killian took a few moments to gather his thoughts before he opened his mouth to ask, “Reverend Martin? My name’s Special Agent Tyler and I’m with the FBI. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”Martin’s head snapped up from where he’d been busy staring at the links on his cuffs to fix Killian with a wide-eyed stare. For the longest minute, silence hung between the two of them, and it was uncomfortable enough to have Killian fidgeting in his seat.When the Reverend finally spoke up, Killian almost wished he hadn’t.“It’s you!” he accused dramatically, trying to push himself away from the table. “It’s you!”

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“It’s you!”“Reverend Martin, I’m gonna need you to calm down,” Killian instructed, trying to keep his cool. He knew that if the Reverend made too much fuss, the medical team would come in to sedate him and Killian would have risked so much for absolutely nothing.“Get away from me,” the Reverend cried, trying to put as much distance between himself and Killian as the chains on his cuffs would allow. “Stay away. Haven’t I suffered enough?”“Reverend Martin, I don’t know who you think I am,” Killian began carefully, “but I promise you that I’m here to help. I just need you to calm down and talk to me.”“That’s what you’re father said,” the Reverend snapped back, before he curled himself into a ball and began to rock back and forth as he recited The Lord’s Prayer.“You knew my father?”The Reverend didn’t even bother to acknowledge Killian’s question. Or maybe he simply hadn’t heard it over the prayer he was chanting.Killian considered the situation for a moment before he rose from his seat and made his way around the table to crouch before the shackled man. “Reverend Martin,” he began, reaching out to touch the other man’s shoulder.The Reverend howled like he’d been burned at the contact before he pushed away from Killian, his eyes wide and wild.“Reverend, please,” he implored. “I just want some answers.”“No, no, no, no,” the other man chanted as he rocked faster. “I did everything you asked. Why am I being punished for this?”Killian’s heart broke a little for the man in front of him. While he was certain that the Reverend had probably been a sane man before his murder spree, whatever he’d been in contact with had clearly twisted his mind enough to leave the man with permanent damage.“You’re not supposed to be here,” the Reverend said suddenly, his head snapping up from where he’d hung it between his legs to fix Killian with an intense stare.“I know. But I’m trying to help you.”“You shouldn’t be here,” the Reverend continued, almost as if he hadn’t heard Killian. “No, no, no. You shouldn’t be here. It’s not right! I told your father but he wouldn’t listen. You don’t mess with fate.”“What did you tell my father?” Killian prodded. “When did you see him?”“What did he do?” the Reverend finally asked, his expression clearing as he looked up to meet Killian’s eyes. The pain behind his own had Killian swallowing hard against the emotions clawing their way up his throat.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”“You shouldn’t be here,” the Reverend whispered. “You were gone.”Killian’s face screwed up with his confusion. “I know. Dad and I had to separate to deal with a nest of vampires and - ”The Reverend shook his head forcefully. “You were gone,” he repeated. “I saw your body.”This time, Killian was the one who scrambled to get away from the other man as his words hit home. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Reverend Martin shook his head sadly once again. “They came for you. We tried so hard to fight them off but there were just too many.”Killian sat sprawled across the floor of the padded room, trying desperately to make some sense of what the Reverend was telling him. Because it couldn’t be possible. It just couldn’t.“I warned your father. I told him not to mess with fate. That mortals shouldn’t get involved with this. What did he do?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Killian repeated, almost as if he could make it true by denying the implication of the Reverend’s words hard enough. But they both knew that Killian was lying to himself. He was all too aware of what the Reverend was trying to imply. He just couldn’t seem to force his brain to connect those dots and put it into words.“God help us all if he’s opened that gate.”“What gate? What’s he done? Where’s my father?” Killian thundered, as he pushed himself forward and into the Reverend’s personal space.“I told him that they were furious. That everything happens for a reason. They had plans for you, Killian Jones. But he wouldn’t listen. And now, now he’s doomed us all. Perhaps I am better off in here than out there.”“What plans? Who had plans?”There was a slight commotion outside the door and Killian pushed himself to his feet as quickly as he could. While he made his way back around the table he dusted off his suit and dropped back down into his seat just before the door to the room was pushed open.“I’m sorry, Agent Tyler, Reverend Martin needs his medication now,” the young doctor announced, making his way into the space with two orderlies behind him. They didn’t seem at all surprised to find their patient on the floor, curled into a ball. The men simply made their way over to where he was sat to pull him up to his feet.“That’s okay,” Killian offered. “I uh… I don’t think I’d have gotten much more from the Reverend anyway.” He flicked a glance over to the man to try and meet his eyes, but Reverend Martin kept his gaze focused on his feet as the orderlies unlocked the chain that had kept him cuffed to the table.“Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today, Reverend Martin,” Killian called out, hoping that the other man would give him something… anything that he could use to find his father.“The angels are taking,” the Reverend said suddenly, startling everyone in the room.“And what are they saying?”“It is done! Killian Jones is saved.”“I’m sorry,” the doctor apologized, as he signaled for the orderlies to take the Reverend back to his room. “He doesn’t talk much sense these days. Such a shame, really. He used to have a brilliant mind.”“Does he uh… does he talk about angels a lot?” Killian asked, trying to keep his tone as even as he could.“It’s usually demons,” the doctor replied. “'The demons did it.’ ‘It wasn’t me.’ That kind of thing. Angels are new. It’ll be vampires next week, I suppose”“And what about this Killian Jones? Does he talk about him often?” Killian pressed.“No. It was probably just the first name that came to mind. Don’t read too much into it, Agent Tyler. Reverend Martin is a very sick man.”Killian nodded his head in understanding and allowed the doctor to guide him from the room. “Well, thanks for everything,” he said, as he gestured back towards the main entrance. Now that the Reverend was gone, Killian needed to get out of that building as soon as he could. “I hope that he gets the help he needs.”“Thank you, Agent Tyler. Good luck with your investigation,” the doctor offered, before turning to head back the way he’d come from, leaving Killian to find his own way out of the hospital.The moment he was outside and the coolness of the air hit him in the face, Killian found himself rushing over to the nearest trash can to vomit out his breakfast.

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“Did you find the answers you were looking for?”Killian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he turned to face the woman who had spoken. She looked almost the same as the last time he’d seen her, only this time, her dark hair had been cut shorter and was now colored a bright shade of red. She’d changed into a pair of leather-effect pants and a soft white sweater, but underneath it all, Killian could still feel that ripple of power oozing from her.“Who are you?” he demanded.She said nothing as she took another step out of the shadows and into the light.“What are you?” Killian tried again.“You don’t need to fear me, Killian Jones. I wish you no harm.”“That’s not what I asked.”She didn’t bother looking around as she crossed the busy street. Killian stood and watched dumbfounded as the cars traveling up and down the road seemed to slow to just the right speed to let her pass, before speeding back up again.The closer she got, the more Killian could feel that unbridled power, barely contained by her small form. The air around him seemed to become charged by it, and for a moment, he worried that the guy exiting the building a few feet down would trigger an implosion when he sparked up one of the cigarettes he was pulling from his pocket.Before he knew it, the red-head was standing right in front of him, so close that if Killian leaned forward, he’d probably knock her over.“You already know who I am, Killian Jones. What you need to ask yourself is if you’re ready to remember why.”“What does that even mean?” he whispered.The stranger offered him a small smile The kind that he thought was supposed to be soft and reassuring, but it looked like she’d never had practice using it before. Her expression distracted him for a brief moment, and it gave her just enough time to raise her right hand and fit it over the space where his heart was beating strongly.A wave of crippling emotion filled him suddenly. Pain and fear mixed with warmth and love. It was too much for his brain to process and far too much for his body to handle. There was a blinding light pressing at his eyes and Killian felt his knees buckle under the onslaught.The rush of emotion was gone as quickly as it had come, and when Killian blinked his eyes open again, so was she.He drove aimlessly for hours after that. Reverend Martin’s words seemed to be playing on a loop as his mind searched for another way to explain them – any other way!He assumed the mystery woman was connected to them. That she knew what had happened the night Reverend Martin spoke of. But the more Killian tried to force himself to remember her, the less he seemed to recall about her. Was her hair a bright red or a darker shade? Had it always been that color? How much longer had it been the last time he’d seen her?He was starting to wonder if his brother had been right, and whether he had hallucinated the entire encounter when an idea struck him. He swung the Chevelle around suddenly, making an illegal U-turn as he headed straight for the motel, breaking every speed limit along the way.Why hadn’t he thought about it sooner? If this thing was as big as he thought it was, his father would have gone to the only other person he trusted for help. The only person he’d ever introduced both of his children to.Liam met him outside their motel room, his brow furrowed with his concern. “Killian, what the hell happened? You’ve been gone for hours. I was just about to start calling around the local police stations to try and find you.”“Pack your shit, Liam. We’re leaving.”“What? Why? What did Reverend Martin tell you? Do you know where Dad is?”“Not exactly,” Killian hedged. “But I think I might know someone who does.”Liam’s brow creased with confusion as he watched his brother push his way into their room and begin throwing everything he owned back into a duffle bag.“Are you gonna tell me what happened today?”“Not until I’ve spoken to Granny.”“Granny?” Liam hadn’t heard that name in years. “What’s Granny got to do with all of this?”“I don’t know. But if Dad was in trouble, he’d have gone to Granny’s. Now, are you coming or do you want me to leave you here?” Killian demanded.Liam huffed at the sky for a moment as he considered his options. He needed to be back at school soon to take his exams. A trip to Granny’s could end up being another unnecessary delay that would push him one step closer to failing. But whatever Reverend Martin had told his brother had clearly gotten under Killian’s skin. There was no way Liam would be able to talk him out of the drive to Delaware any time soon, and he really didn’t want to end up stranded in another state with only his dangerously-low savings to get him home.“Fine! I’ll come with you but then I’m going home, Killian. I can’t keep doing this with you. I have a life back there. I have exams to take and a girlfriend waiting for me. You’ll have to do the rest of this alone.”“Suit yourself,” Killian said, barging his way past his brother with his bag slung over his shoulder. “I’ll be in the car.”Liam watched as Killian made his over to the Chevelle before he finally headed back into the room to pack up his own meager belongings. After dropping off the keys at reception and leaving a small tip for the maid, Liam threw his bag into the back seat of the car before sliding down into the passenger’s side.“I suppose it’s a waste of time asking if you want me to drive?”“Yep,” was all Killian said, before he cranked up the music and put the car into drive.The Jones brothers left town that evening doing thirty over the speed limit, with AC/DC blasting from their speakers.

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Summersville, West Virginia
Killian rolled the Chevelle to a stop in the parking lot of a dark and dingy looking diner, and then killed the engine. He hadn’t been back to this place in years but for a while during his childhood, it had felt like the closest thing to a home he’d had since his mother had died.“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Liam asked, his eyes lingering over the gloomy doorway. “Didn’t Dad and Granny have a massive falling out a few years back? Have they made things up since then?”“Dad ends up arguing with everyone at some point in time, Liam. You know that better than anyone else.”“So that’s a no, then.”“Look, if you wanna stay in the car, stay in the car,” Killian snapped. “I want a decent place to sleep tonight and some good food – all of which Granny can provide. So if it’s okay with you, I’m gonna go and say hi.”Liam rolled his eyes to the roof as his brother pulled open the car door and slipped from his seat. The two boys might have been estranged for the last few years, but he could still read Killian like a poorly-written romance novel. There was something on his brother’s mind, something he hadn’t yet shared with Liam. And whatever that something was, it was bad enough to have him overlooking their father’s past mistakes.“Are you coming or not?” Killian barked, as he leaned in through the open car door to grab his duffel bag from behind the driver’s seat.“I’m coming,” Liam sighed, stretching out to snag the handle on his own bag with one hand as he reached for the door handle with the other.Killian waited just long enough to lock the car behind his brother before he turned on his heels and headed straight for the front door. Liam had to jog a little to catch up to him.Inside, the diner looked just the same as Liam had always remembered. Granny liked to keep things as clean and orderly as she could, but given the clientele she catered for, the diner always seemed to have a dark and foreboding feel to it. Liam had no doubts that she passed her hygiene inspections every year with flying colors, but he knew it was the kind of place that any respectable person would immediately turn away from, the second they stepped through the front door.There were a few middle-aged men at tables dotted around the space, more interested in whatever documents were spread out in front of them than the food that was cooling to their left. Liam didn’t recognize any of them, but he was certain that they all shared a common interest in hunting down the ghosts and ghouls that went bump in the middle of the night.Granny wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Both boys knew she wouldn’t be far away, however. She never was.Killian offered his brother a small cheeky wink before he strode over to the counter and slammed his palm down on the bell. The little tinkling noise it made seemed completely out of place for the gloomy diner.The sound of hurried footsteps met their ears and both boys turned their heads just in time to watch as Granny pushed aside the beaded curtain at the back of the room and stepped out of the kitchen.“I’ll be with you in –” She froze abruptly at the sight of the Jones brothers standing only feet away from her.Liam had been expecting her to look annoyed by their presence, or even angry to see such a clear reminder of their father stood insider her place of business. Granny didn’t look angry or annoyed, though. Instead, she looked downright terrified.Liam opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong but she cut him off before he could speak a word.“Wha – How? How are you here?” she asked, her eyes glued to Killian’s form.“Hey, Granny. Long time no see,” his brother quipped, rocking back on his heels.Killian was offering the older woman his most dazzling smile and to anyone else, he probably looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Liam knew differently, however. He could tell that his brother was nervous. Killian’s shoulders were held rigidly high, almost as though he was bracing himself for some kind of attack.“You can’t be here,” Granny said, a little more firmly this time as she took a few small steps towards the counter.“Whatever Dad did, we had no part of,” Liam offered. He might as well have been talking to the counter for all the good it did him. Neither his brother nor Granny was paying him the slightest bit of attention.“I need some answers, Granny,” Killian whispered, so quietly that Liam almost missed it. “I need –”Killian’s words were cut off suddenly as Granny threw the contents of her hip flask straight into his face. Liam had to stuff his fist into his mouth to smother the bark of laughter building in his throat from the look of complete and utter bewilderment on his brother’s face. His sense of humor died, however, when Granny finally seemed to find her voice.“You can’t be here,” she protested, her eyes flying up and down Killian’s form as if she was looking for something. What that something was, Liam didn’t know.“I’m sorry, Granny. I don’t know what Dad did, but… I’m sorry,” Killian offered.It was the first time Liam had seen his brother apologize for their father’s behavior, and that alone was a rather worrying thought. Whatever was going on was clearly bad enough to have his brother mending fences he normally would never have spared a second thought for.“Liam and I wouldn’t here if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”At the sound of his name, Granny’s eyes finally darted to the left and widened slightly as she took in the sight of Liam Jones standing awkwardly just behind the cash register. The older woman almost looked like she wanted to offer him a smile, but something seemed to stop her last minute and she bit it off to offer his brother another critical glare.“We need your help,” Killian implored. “Dad’s gone missing and something… something really fucking strange is happening right now, Granny. I don’t know how else to explain it.”Granny didn’t speak for the longest moment. Killian and Liam both held their breath as they waited for her to reply.“Oh, Killian,” she finally sighed, her shoulders sagging a little as her whole body lost the rigidity it had carried since she’d first clapped eyes on the eldest of the Jones brothers. “What did that idiot father of yours do this time?”

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Liam’s eyes swept carefully around the diner, performing another headcount of how many patrons were left inside the building.After getting over her initial surprise at seeing them both again, Granny had promised to explain everything that she knew - but only when the diner was empty. While no other customers had entered the building after them, the hunters that had already been inside were sure taking their sweet time leaving.“Can you knock that off?” Killian asked, around a mouthful of apple pie.“That’s disgusting,” Liam threw back at him.“And you’re annoying, so quit it,” Killian snapped, nodding his head in the direction of his brother’s bouncing leg.Liam couldn’t understand how his brother could remain so calm at a time like this. Given their strange greeting with Granny and the constant look of concern she wore whenever she glanced their way, he’d completely lost his appetite. His brother, however, hadn’t. In fact, Killian seemed to take Liam’s refusal of food as some sort of personal insult and had ordered extra to make up for it. After demolishing two helpings of lasagne, two large slices of garlic bread, and an entire portion of French fries, he had turned his attention to the last slice of apple pie that had been calling to him ever since they’d arrived.“You’re gonna make yourself sick,” Liam told him, as he watched his brother lick his spoon clean before he dug it back into what little remained of his dessert.“Nah. There’s always plenty of room for pie.”Liam shook his head in exasperation and then forgot all about his brother’s eating habits as the guy three tables away called Granny over to settle his bill. The process of paying for his meal and clearing up his files seemed to take forever, but finally, Granny followed him over to the exit, bade the hunter a goodnight, and then flicked the sign in the window to CLOSED. Three long hours after they had first arrived, Granny was locking the door behind her final customer of the day.“Tell us everything,” Liam begged, pushing himself up to his feet; anticipation and adrenaline were already curling inside his belly.“Hold your horses, boy,” Granny snapped, and Liam sank back down into his seat. “I’ve gotta clean up around here first and then bank the day’s takings. The work won’t do itself just ‘cuz you boys have shown your faces again.”“Sorry,” Liam mumbled, looking appropriately chastised. “Can I help at all?”Granny gave him an appraising once over before she nodded her head in the direction of the kitchen. “There’s clean rags and some antibacterial sprays in there if you wanna get to work.”Liam pushed himself straight back to his feet and then made his way through to the kitchen to look for the supplies.While he was gone, Killian took his time finishing the last of his pie as Granny scrutinized him from behind the counter. It was only when he set down his spoon that he seemed to realize he was being watched, and he turned in his seat to ask, “What?”“Does he know?”“Does he know what?” Killian threw back at her.“What happened that night. Does he know?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about right now,” Killian told her, his brow creasing with confusion, “So I doubt Liam does.”Granny’s eyes slowly rolled shut as she tilted her head up towards the ceiling. If Killian hadn’t known her as well as he did, he’d have thought she was praying.The moment between the two of them was shattered when Liam appeared once more, cleaning supplies in each hand and a look of determination set into his features.Killian let his brother and Granny work as he pulled out their father’s journal and began flicking through it. There was the odd mention of Granny dotted throughout the pages, but nothing that he recognized as being new. Nothing that would give him any indication of what she might have been hinting about. With each page he turned, Killian let himself get lost in the words and codes scribbled across the paper as the darkness outside the windows seemed to deepen.The pages were melting into one, the scribbles across them twisting and twirling into ropes that reached out to wrap around his wrists, binding them to the tabletop. The blackness of the windows appeared to be shifting, morphing into different shapes before it dissolved back into nothingness; taunting him… teasing him.It was only when a firm hand landed on his shoulder that he realized he’d been drifting to sleep, and he jerked awake to find his brother peering down at him.“Are you okay?” Liam asked, frowning in concern.“Yeah, fine,” Killian assured him, shrugging off his brother’s hold. “Guess I was more tired than I thought I was.”Liam stared down at him for a moment more before he nodded his head and said, “Well, Granny’s done. She’s gonna be upstairs waiting for us, if you’re ready?”“I was born ready,” Killian assured his brother. He gathered up his bag, tucked the journal back inside of it, and then slung it over his shoulder.Killian followed Liam out of the diner and through the kitchen to a door at the very back of the room, which opened into a small hallway. From there, the boys headed up a narrow flight of stairs and came to a stop at the very top of them, where Liam raised his hand to knock on the door to his left.“Come in,” Granny’s voice called out.Liam pushed open the door and made his way inside with his brother hot on his heels. Although it had been years since he’d last been inside Granny’s home, the place looked like it hadn’t changed at all. The walls were still covered in some sort of cream wallpaper decorated with bright red roses, and the red couch in the middle of the room looked just as inviting and comfortable as it always had, if somewhat smaller these days.Liam dropped his bag beside the sofa and took a seat on one side, watching as his brother did the same. The two boys then turned their full attention towards the matching red recliner sitting opposite them, and started a little at the sight of the crossbow resting over Granny’s lap.“Woah, what’s that for?” Killian demanded.“It’s just a precaution.”“Against what?”“What do you think?” she snapped, and Killian at least had the sense to look a little ashamed of his question. Granny had lost her son in the last house she’d owned. If anyone felt it was necessary to arm themselves inside their home, it would be her.“Sorry,” he mumbled quietly, staring down at his feet.For a moment, an awkward silence seemed to linger between the three of them, and nobody appeared to be inclined to break it. After a while of fidgeting in his seat, Liam finally took the plunge and said, “We’re sorry to just drop in on you like this, Granny, but we really need your help. We can’t find Dad and it feels like something big is going on. Something dangerous. Have you seen him at all? Has anyone else mentioned seeing him recently?”“I’ve seen him,” Granny eventually said, and Killian’s head snapped up just in time to see her fingers tighten around the end of the crossbow. “He was with you,” she explained, nodding her head in his direction.“What?” Killian asked, chuckling a little awkwardly. “No, he wasn’t! Dad and I haven’t been here together for… years.”Granny was already shaking her head before Killian had finished speaking.“I think I’d remember being here,” he snapped out, because he didn’t like the look that was suddenly working its way back onto her face. It was that same stunned disbelief she’d worn when he’d first walked into the diner that evening.“No, you wouldn’t,” she chuckled bitterly, and Killian’s anger began rising inside of him hard and fast. He didn’t like being laughed at. Granny knew that.“I –”“You wouldn’t have remembered it, Killian,” she said harshly, her voice rising to speak over his own. “You wouldn’t have remembered it because when your daddy brought you here, you were bleeding out in his arms. You wouldn’t have remembered being here, Killian, because you weren’t… not really. You were already gone by the time your daddy set you down on my table.”She nodded her head in the direction of the dining table that usually sat at the back of the room, but Killian couldn’t force his eyes away from her face to look at it.“You wouldn’t remember it, Killian, because that night, you died in my arms.”

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Killian pushed his way out of the diner and headed straight for the nearest trash can to expel the contents of his stomach.Granny’s words were still bouncing around his mind, echoing through his body, making him feel sick in a way he’d never experienced before.
You died in my arms… You died in my arms… You died in my arms…
He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He felt like the very air around him was trying to suffocate him.Granny had to be wrong. There was no way he could have died that night! His heart was still beating – he knew that because it felt like the organ was currently trying to punch a hole through his chest. She had to be wrong. There was no other explanation for it.Maybe… maybe it was a shapeshifter. Yeah! That had to be it. A shapeshifter who only looked like Killian had died that night. That was the more logical explanation. Granny had simply been fooled by a creature that looked like him. His father must have been one too because there was no way Brennan Jones would have been tricked like that. He would have been able to sniff out an imposter in seconds, so it must have been a pair of shapeshifters who had arrived at Granny’s that night. But then… why would they have sought out Granny’s help, and why would they bother leaving her alive?None of it made any sense!“What the hell is going on?” he yelled towards the heavens.Liam had always been a firm believer that venting his frustrations made him feel better. Killian came to the conclusion that evening that his brother was full of shit.He turned around to face the diner and scrubbed a harsh hand over his face. When he pulled it away, Killian was startled to find someone standing in front of him.“Where the hell did you come from?” he demanded, as he tried desperately to gain some control over his racing heart.“That doesn’t matter,” she replied cryptically, and Killian took a moment to scan her appearance once more.This time, her hair was slightly longer and blonde in color. She had pulled a section back on either side but left the rest to fall around her shoulders in soft waves. She was dressed differently, too. The leather jacket had been swapped for a long, tan-colored trench coat, and underneath it, she was wearing a white shirt, a black skirt that ended just above her knees, a pair of dark fishnet stockings, and black biker boots. It was an odd combination, but one she seemed to pull off well. If Killian hadn’t been so done with all of her cryptic BS, he probably would have found her attractive.“Do you know what?” he finally snapped out, “I don’t care! I don’t care who you are or what you are. I have more important things to worry about, just… just leave me alone.”“I can help you, Killian.”“Lady, I don’t need your help,” he chuckled bitterly, as he made to push past her.She reached out to wrap a firm hand around his upper arm, and Killian froze as a series of images began playing in his mind. Flashes of red light in the darkness, each illuminating a different twisted and grotesque scene. For a moment, Killian felt unbearably hot, and he could have sworn the smell of burning flesh was filling his nostrils, making his stomach churn once more.Then, just as quickly as they had started, the images stopped, and Killian found himself standing in the cold night air once again.“Who the hell are you?” he demanded, wrenching his arm out of her grasp.“My name is Emma,” she replied.“No. No, it’s not.” Killian wasn’t sure how he knew that to be true, but he was absolutely certain that the woman he was looking at was not called Emma. Hell, she wasn’t even human, let alone a woman.“It’s close enough,” the creature replied. “It’s the name this…” She paused as she dropped her eyes down the length of her body, almost as if realizing she had one for the very first time, before she raised them to meet his gaze once again. “It’s the name this vessel preferred.”“Vessel? You’re a demon?” he snarled, as his hand flew to his lower back, landing on the hilt of his favorite gun.“No, Killian Jones. I am no demon.” She took a small step forward to put herself directly under the nearest street lamp and then raised her head once more.“I am the angel Emmanuel.”As she spoke the words, Killian watched a pair of dark wings unfurl around her shadow on the ground. His eyes flicked from them up to her perfectly human form and then back down to the wings spread across the parking lot.“There’s no such thing as angels,” he stammered out because, in all his years of hunting, Killian had never even heard angels mentioned in conversation, let alone known of one existing before.“You believe in vampires, ghosts, and demons, but angels are where you draw the line?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion.Killian thought the action was supposed to make her look more human, but all it did was prove just how stiff and unnatural she was.“Nobody’s ever seen an angel before.”“We rarely come down to Earth. It is only when our presence is truly needed that we are dispatched.”“And your presence is truly needed now?” he demanded.“The fate of Mankind has never been more threatened than it is right now, Killian. That is why I am here.”Killian scoffed as he tried his hardest to process everything that had been dumped on his shoulders already that night. Between Granny and… Emma… he felt like he was having some sort of psychotic break. This could not be happening. None of this could be real.“So… is it just you or, did you bring any of your friends along?”“I do not have any friends. And I am the only one of my kind that currently walks the Earth.”“Wait!” Killian held up a hand as if to stop her advance, but Emma was still standing unnaturally motionless under the street lamp. “Let me get this straight – there’s some big disaster coming for us all, but heaven only thought to send you down to stop it?” he demanded. “Really? What makes you so special?”“I am not here to stop this threat, Killian. I am here to guide you so that you may stop what is coming.”“Me? What have I got to do with this? Fight your own damned battles. I have enough to deal with.”“This is not my battle to fight, Killian Jones,” she explained patiently. “It is yours.”“Mine? What makes it mine?” he scoffed.“And so it is written: The first seal shall break when a righteous man sheds blood in Hell.”Unbidden, that red light flashed behind Killian’s eyes once again, this time illuminating a silver scalpel in his own hands, all of which were covered in bright red blood.“No,” he protested weakly, slowly backing away from her. “No! That’s not – I wouldn’t ever – I didn’t – You’ve got the wrong person!”“Angels do not make mistakes, Killian. You are the righteous man who broke the first seal, and you are the righteous man – the only man – who can prevent him from rising.”Killian was shaking his head back and forth furiously as if somehow the force of his denial could erase every word she was saying.“You are the righteous man, Killian Jones,” she repeated, suddenly standing right in front of him.Killian would ordinarily have jumped at her sudden move, but his body seemed to be slowly shutting down.“You are the righteous man, and I am the one who raised you from perdition.”