Fire, Lightning, and Stars
Chapter One
Bobby's house in Sioux Falls was one of the few places Sam could have pictured in enough detail to teleport an entire group of people. Needless to say, that particular angel power worked. The place seemed downright weird without Bobby being there, Sam thought. Since his death, it just felt lonely. But it would be a little less lonely with five people in it for the time being.
Sam had changed out of his hospital clothes in the short time they had been there. He was now wearing jeans, sneakers, and a black T-shirt.
A fine layer of dust had gathered in the kitchen. An empty bottle of Jack Daniels sat on the table. A spider had chosen to spin a web inside of it. Dean picked it up and threw it in the trash.
"Okay, what's the plan?" he asked, sitting down. The old chair creaked.
"We have what we need for the spell," Castiel said. The angel glanced around. "This place needs a little cleaning." He vanished and reappeared a moment later with a bottle of cleaning solution.
"Good thinking. We might need that against the Leviathans," Sam said.
"I think it's better these two stay here," Dean replied, gesturing to the FBI agents. "They're less likely to get hurt."
Agent Smith cleared his throat. "You know, we do have some experience in the field."
"How about with magic?" Dean asked.
"Not unless you count David Copperfield."
Dean chuckled. "Nope, but I'll let you in on a secret. Some of those guys do use real magic, but you'd never know it unless you knew what to look for."
"Right," said Agent Smith. "So we're just stuck here?"
"Unless you can figure out a way to do more damage than with squirt guns and cleaning solution."
There was a knock on the door. Dean stood up and looked through the peephole. It was a delivery man from the postal service. "Package," said the mail carrier.
Dean opened the door. "Hello?"
"This is for Dean Winchester. Are you him?"
Dean looked a little astonished that he hadn't been recognized, for once. Apparently the mail carrier did not pay attention to the news. "Uh, yeah," he replied.
"Great. Sign here, please."
As he leaned over to sign the electronic pad, Dean noticed that Chuck Shurley's name was on the box. He took it from the mail carrier, said "Thanks," and closed the door.
"Who's it from?" Sam asked.
"Chuck," Dean said in amazement. He set the box on the table, took out a pocketknife, and cut it open.
Inside the package was a dagger shaped very much like a lightning bolt, and a note. Dean read it aloud. "Zeus lost a poker game to me the other night. Thought you could use this. Good luck. P.S. The cat could use a new home, if you're willing. I'm going to be away on business for a while."
Dean took out the dagger and immediately it lengthened into a sword. Tiny blue sparks danced along the blade and vanished. The blade was made out of that strange blue metal that Sam and Dean had seen inside Atlantis. The grip of the hilt was made out of ebony. A sapphire was near the top of the hilt.
"Wow," said Agent Smith. "Is that really…?"
"Yeah," Dean replied, grinning. "This is awesome."
Sam nodded. "We should really get going. We have a spell to cast, and we should cast it in New York since that's where Roman's Leviathan was last seen."
"Great," Dean said. "How are we going to get there?"
"Angel Airways, boarding now, no peanuts served on flight," Sam said.
"We'll see you when you get back," Agent Daniels replied. "Go kick some ass."
Sam nodded. He, Dean, and Cas linked hands.
"Ready when you are," Sam said, looking at Castiel.
"I can take you both," Cas said. "Just hang on."
With the flapping of angel wings, they vanished.
In New York, it was a sunny day. People were going out on their lunch breaks. Cars honked; drivers swore and flipped each other off. Yep, that was normal New York traffic. Cas, Sam, and Dean appeared in the middle of an alleyway.
"Do we want to be anywhere in particular for the spell?" Sam asked.
"This will do," Cas said. "And we will attract less attention here." He set the backpack of ingredients out. There were two vials of blood and a handful of red feathers.
"Okay, now what?" said Dean.
"Repeat after me," Cas said, and began to chant in Enochian.
Neither brother spoke Enochian fluently, so they simply repeated Castiel to the best of their ability. Halfway through the spell, the vials of blood exploded into purple flames, and the blood was vaporized. The feathers from Sam's wings likewise burst into purple flames and then vanished. There was a moment of dead silence when Cas stopped chanting. Then, the wind began to gust and dark clouds appeared on the horizon.
"What exactly did we just do?" Sam asked.
"This will summon the Leviathan leader to us. After that, we will slay him and send his soul back to Purgatory," Castiel replied. "You see, I have something from my Father, too." He held out his hand, and in it was the Orb of Seven Stars. "He sent it to me when Sam was in the hospital. I believe that I am supposed to use it on the Leviathan."
The orb appeared at first glance to be made of pure light, but it was really solid gold. It did, however, glow yellow. There were seven points of light all around it which glowed with a bright white light, as opposed to the yellow. They were the stars.
"Okay," Dean said. "I think you win." He held up Zeus' sword.
Castiel nodded. "Of course I win. Good always wins."
"Right," Dean replied.
"Where exactly is the Leviathan supposed to appear?" Sam asked, looking around.
The sky was growing darker. People on the street had noticed and were starting to head indoors, perhaps thinking that it was a sudden thunderstorm.
"Yo. this is weird," said one guy walking by the alley. He had a food cart full of hot dogs.
"Hey can I have a couple of those?" Dean asked. "I haven't eaten since breakfast."
"What? Sure, two dollars…" the hot dog vendor's voice trailed off as he saw Sam standing there, too. "The Winchester brothers? Oh crap." He glanced up at the sky. "Some real bad shit's going down, ain't it? Is it the aliens?"
"Look, we're about to go and fight a serious bad guy. Can we please have a couple of hot dogs before we die?" Dean asked.
"I would like one too," Castiel said.
"Okay fine, three hot dogs," Dean said, reaching into his pocket for another dollar.
The hot dog vendor sighed. "All right, three hot dogs. Should I be going inside?"
"That's probably a good idea," Sam replied.
The hot dog vendor handed them the food, and then took off running with the cart.
"This is really good," Dean said, biting into his hot dog.
"Yeah, but where's the Leviathan?" Sam wondered aloud, and quickly wolfed down the hot dog.
The answer was a booming roar that shattered a few windows. Sam, Dean, and Cas looked up. A serpentine shape with wings hovered in the brooding sky, its eyes red with fury.
"Winchesssstersssss," it hissed.
"Well well," said Dean. "Look what the cat dragged in."
"I remember you," said Cas.
"Cassssstiel...thanksssss for breaking ussss out of Puragtory. Unfortunately, you will die, along with your pet monkeysssssss."
"I am not a monkey," Sam shouted.
"No. You are only part monkey now," the Leviathan replied, hissing angrily. "Come on, Sssssam. Take me if you can."
Sam glared at the Leviathan, and then flew up. He launched a blast of hellfire at the Leviathan, which caught its tail as it swerved to get away.
The Leviathan turned around, opened its mouth, and out blasted a cone of green fire. Sam teleported before the Leviathan could hit him. The green fire hit the building across the street. Sam used cold fire on it so it would not spread.
"That's all you got?" he shouted.
Castiel grabbed Dean and teleported behind the Leviathan. Dean took a swipe at it with the lightning sword. Blue sparks flew everywhere. The Leviathan managed to dodge some of it, but caught some sparks on its already burning tail.
As the Leviathan turned around, Dean brought up the sword again to block it. The monster unleashed a cone of green fire, but the lightning surged as the fire hit the sword. A field of energy surrounded Dean and Castiel, and the green fire was absorbed by it.
The angel let loose with a ray of pure light, but the Leviathan soared higher. As it flew, it bellowed. On the street below, a dozen onlookers in the crowd opened their mouths and serpents flew out of them. The bodies crumpled to the sidewalk as people next to them screamed and ran away.
"Oh crap," Dean said.
One of the serpents snatched up a fleeing pedestrian and swallowed him in one gulp. The pedestrian's girlfriend or wife turned around and flipped off the serpent.
"Screw you, alien scum!" she screamed.
"Get out of here," Sam shouted, hurling a fireball at the creature.
She turned and ran.
Cas fired rays of light at the lesser Leviathans. Dean swung at any that got close. He managed to lop the head off one. It dropped to the ground with blue sparks dancing all over it.
Sam hurled one fireball after another, but most of the Leviathans were too fast. Finally, in frustration, he went into fire form. This included his wings. He could not both concentrate on making the wings invisible and being in fire form at the same time.
"Eat this," Sam shouted, and punched one of the nearby Leviathans with a flaming fist. The Leviathan went hurtling head-over-tail as it burned, but recovered just in time to avoid crashing into a building.
"Not spicy enough," Dean remarked as he and Cas teleported to avoid two Leviathans.
"I can turn up the heat," Sam said. "I'm just trying to avoid collateral damage."
"Screw the buildings. Turn up the heat," Dean said.
Sam began to glow brighter. In Cas's arms, Dean could feel the heat even from 20 or so feet away. Sweat poured down his face as he swung at Leviathans. Blue sparks and golden flames danced everywhere as shadows darted in and out. The fire stank of brimstone. Somehow, Dean realized that he was not being harmed by the flames.
"It's all right," Cas muttered. "I am protecting us both."
"Oh good," he said.
And then, someone in the crowd below shouted, "Look!"
Dean could barely see through the haze as he tried to look. He saw several brightly glowing forms approaching, but that was all he could make out.
"Please tell me that's the cavalry, Cas."
"Yeah," the angel replied. "It's the cavalry."
"Oh, thank Chuck," Dean replied.
As the Winchester brothers fought on, there was a blinding flash of light from where the glowing forms were. The crowd gasped, as all but the main Leviathan squealed in pain. Dean swung the lightning sword at the main Leviathan, aiming right for the eye. He drove it down. The Leviathan screamed.
Castiel held up the orb. The stars on it shone bright gold, making it appear that they were floating in the palm of the angel's hand, and that the orb itself was simply the light from the stars. It was quite the optical illusion.
There was an all-too-long moment of silence. After that moment, the main Leviathan grinned. "You think you have won, but you cannot destroy me, only imprison me. I will escape again."
Then there was a blinding shockwave that came out from the orb itself, spreading and enveloping all of the Leviathans. Sam felt himself get pushed backward. Castiel took the force of the explosion, protecting Dean, but both felt to the ground.