It's been many years since I stopped writing the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester.
The adventures didn't stop.
They slowed for a bit, while the brothers were apart, and Dean tried to live a normal life. He gave it his best shot, but he was always meant to find his way back to hunting.
It's not just in their blood. Hunting is programmed in their minds, seared on their souls, and branded on their hearts just as Castiel's Enochian sigils are carved into their ribs.
He just wouldn't be happy with any other life.
The same was true later, when Dean went to purgatory, and Sam tried to live without his brother.
For the record, Sam did love Amelia, and he really loved Riot, but he really wasn't suited for the domestic lifestyle any more than Dean was.
The Brothers Winchester who stopped the Apocalypse were together again, and went on to defeat the unslayable monsters – the Leviathan.
They met their grandfathers, both of whom gave the boys more insight into the people they were and the heritage they were descended from.
Neither of the grandfathers was meant to stay in their lives, so once the boys learned what they needed from these great men, the ancestors continued on their journey, and the boys on their own path.
They lost other loved ones along the way; Bobby, Rufus, Ellen, Jo.
Each death bonded Sam and Dean more closely to each other, and to the Mission.
For you see, they were destined for much bigger, greater things than beheading vampires or burning wendigos.
They closed the Gates of Hell forever, which they thought was their destiny.
Demons were now trapped on the other side, and could no longer come to earth. That left only the ones already here for hunters to deal with.
Actually I had a much larger purpose for them in mind, and letting them think they had accomplished their mission and could now semi-retire in what they called The Batcave didn't interfere with my plans.
All along, I was steering them towards their Men of Letters legacy.
Sam became the head of the organization, training others in the knowledge, spells, and talismans to defeat every possible evil creature or spirit that could walk among man.
Dean taught tactical skills – how to physically defeat their foes, or at least the best ways to survive a confrontation.
They ran a little school, so to speak, making joking X-Men references from time to time.
They also directed their own team of hunters, a hand picked elite group for whom the boys found cases and provided ground support.
Dean occasionally 'got the itch,' as he liked to say, and took a case of his own, usually with Castiel as a partner.
Once in a while he was able to coax Sam to come with him, because they were a team, a family, and they were stronger together.
Today, the alarm sounded, alerting the brothers of someone trespassing on Men of Letters headquarters.
The security cameras revealed a tall, dark haired young man, late teens or early twenties. There was something hauntingly familiar about his bowlegged stride and the confident way he carried himself, while the determined look on his face was practically a duplication of John Winchester.
Dean ran over and yanked open the door, despite Sam's shouts of warning, that it could be a trap.
The boy was a bit surprised that they seemed to know his name was Ben.
However, the Winchesters were even more surprised when he told them he had come to learn to be a hunter.
He told them his story, how he had always known something was out there. That sometimes objects in his house had seemed to move on their own. That sometimes the dog barked and growled at something Ben and his mother couldn't see. That there was a shotgun in his mother's closet that she had never bought, and that it was loaded with salt instead of pellets.
That when he was 14, a man with solid black eyes had broken into their home, saying he was going to use them as bait to lure Ben's father. A man in a trenchcoat had appeared out of thin air, placed his hand on the other man's forehead, and the first intruder had collapsed, with bright light shining from his mouth and eyes. The trenchcoated man had then picked up the other, thrown him over his shoulder, and they both disappeared on the spot.
He told them how his best friend, a young man he thought of as a brother, had made a deal with a demon for the success of his band. Ben tried to confront the demon, who laughed and said he wasn't surprised to see Ben, as demon deals tended to run in his family. The old demon laughed at Ben's threats, telling Ben that his father was the greatest hunter ever, but had never been able to kill this demon. When Ben asked who his father was and what being a hunter had to do with demons, the man told him to find Garth Fitzgerald IV and tell him Crowley sent you.
Garth told Ben about the shadow world, of demons and angels and monsters and even deities that walk among men. He told Ben of the world of hunters.
When Ben decided he wanted to be a hunter, Garth sent him to the Winchesters.
Sam and Dean went into another room and argued furiously about the matter.
Dean was determined to put Ben on the first bus straight back to his mother.
Sam pointed out that Ben was determined to do this, and if the Winchesters helped him, he stood a better chance of survival. On his own, he would probably get killed on his first case.
He also advised Dean to tell Ben sooner rather than later who his father was and why Dean had stayed away. When Dean protested that he wasn't Ben's real father, Sam reminded him that Crowley said he was, twice. Sam had always believed that Lisa lied when she told Dean that he wasn't Ben's father, and if Dean were honest with himself, he did too.
They agreed to train him, although Dean reiterated that if he ever caught Ben not taking this matter seriously, becoming overconfident, taking stupid chances, or just plain goofing around, he would personally deliver the boy back to his mother's doorstep.
Dean and Sam have nothing to worry about. Ben will take to hunting as easily as the Winchester brothers did.
Because, you see, it's in Ben's blood too. In this world, it always comes back to blood.
He will become Dean's partner in the field. They will butt heads and argue and Sam will laugh at them both and tell Dean how his son is just like him.
The story of Sam and Dean Winchester isn't over. It will go on for many years.
But this is where a new story begins.
Chuck