A.N. Don't own the characters, just want to cuddle them
What happened, this was going to be another little oneshot then it just kept going. i think there may even be a chapter two brewing in my head. But that's it. So Weechester stories for you.
Bobby looked over at the two boys sat on his couch. They had been lazing in front of the TV for the past few hours since John had turned up on the doorstep at the crack of dawn and left them there for Bobby to deal with while he went chasing something or other in the area. He was trying to decide what he should make them do, just to get their idle butts off of the sofa, when he heard one of the phones ring and he had to leave his train of thought to answer it.
Nate started talking immediately on the other end, garbling about thefts and kidnappings and lights which they both agreed was a new combination to them.
'Alright well, I'll get on it. You just keep the people safe and don't do something stupid in the mean time.' He hung up, cursing that something like this came up on one of the few days he got to see John's boys. He strode to the first bookshelf in the library/lounge, it held the widest range of references to creatures and their habits so he figured it was the best place to start before moving on to how to kill it.
As he stared at the old tomes and squinted at the titles on the spines he realised this could take him a long time, time that Nate didn't necessarily have, when he had two extra pairs of eyes needing to be roused in the next room.
'Sam, Dean. Turn that off and come through here.' He said to them after he had selected a few of the likelier volumes and placed them on the table in the kitchen. 'I need your help with a case.'
As he had suspected Dean immediately perked up at that and his head poked over the headrest of the sofa to look at him. He quickly jumped off the sofa and pressed the off button on the TV set before walking purposefully to the chair opposite Bobby. As ever Sam followed resignedly behind and took the seat next to Bobby, then both boys sat looking at him with expectant eyes.
'Well the short scoop is we have precious items disappearing all around town and then their women started getting lost as well. Also people in the town have been seeing lights in the shadows. We don't have much time so what you're going to do is grab a book and skim it for any of these particular patterns.' He pulled the first book off the pile and stared at the two young boys until they copied him. 'Good. Now the faster we sort their mess out the sooner we can get back to doin' nothing.'
And so they buried their heads in their books and began flicking the pages. It had only been around 10 minutes when the inevitable happened. Out of the corner of his eye Bobby saw Dean start shifting, sighing and looking around the room. Bobby sighed internally himself. The kid was only 14, he should be running around, messing in the scrap yard with the cars, not sat staring at an old book. He hated that he couldn't give them a demon free weekend but in this case they didn't know enough to just leave it alone and whatever this thing was it had already taken 4 girls this week. So instead Bobby went back to his so far fruitless search of the pages in front of him.
His eyes glanced over to Sammy to see if he had reached his breaking point yet but saw the boy intensely studying a page of text. The way his eyes were darting across the page Bobby knew he was taking it in, unlike his brother who was currently staring at a paragraph with glazed eyes and mouth hanging slightly open.
It was only a few minutes later that Dean got up and wandered over to the fridge, opening the door and looking inside blankly. Bobby sighed but didn't call him back, it wasn't like he'd been helping anyway. Instead he turned back to Sam, who didn't seem to have got past the section with a picture of some topless snake woman.
'Boy,' he growled, making Sam jump and look up. 'Anatomy lessons are for school, not my kitchen table. I thought you were being helpful here.'
The boy looked momentarily confused before he looked down at the book and quickly fumbled to turn the page, at the same time a bright blush swept across his face.
'Sorry sir, I wasn't… I mean I got… it was really interesting.' He stuttered and Bobby chuckled at his obvious remorse.
'I know son, I'm only teasing. And how many times do I have to tell you, there's no sir here.' At this point Dean had reluctantly come back to the table, a bag of chips in hand. Bobby spoke over the noise as Dean began to crunch and rustle the bag. 'This is important. There are lives at stake and we need to sort this problem first but once that's done you can browse my library till you go crosseyed. What I need you to do now is skim until you find the relevant bits.'
A look of greedy anticipation flickered across the younger boys face at the mention of the full collection of books before he quickly schooled his expression and nodded seriously at Bobby. Then he was looking back down at his book and, eyes speeding down the text, he turned the page, his face etched with concentration.
It took a good hour of searching before they found anything. In that time Dean had got up twice to visit the bathroom, three times to stare into the fridge and cupboards and once to check if he'd left his coat in the car. Bobby said nothing as he looked at the coat on the desk in the lounge. Every time Dean sat back down and huffily pulled his book back towards him Sam would tut and roll his eyes but leave it at that.
After a few possible hits turned out to not be their creature feature it was Sam who finally found the right creature. With a tentative tap on the arm and a quiet 'Bobby?' he held out his book and pointed. The title read Zmey and showed an illustration of a humanoid creature with a bright jewel on its forehead. As Bobby read further he began to agree they could have found their monster. It likes the dark, steals precious possessions and young women in order to try and seduce them. It's also very powerful.
At that point Bobby knew that Nate was going to need back-up. He turned to Dean who was sitting with his head on one arm, laying across the table and blowing sideways on the book in front of him to make the pages turn. Reaching across, Bobby closed the book and Dean jumped up, looking like a deer in the headlights. Bobby pointed at the phone on the wall next to him and tossed the address book from the kitchen bench to the older brother.
'Look up the numbers I got in there for Utah, Wyoming, Idaho. Get calling and tell them to haul ass over to Soda Springs, Idaho if they can make it in 3 hours or less. Or get any contacts they have in the area to do it for them. Think you can quit using my table as a bed and manage that?' he instructed him.
'Yessir.' Dean was already flipping through the book and reaching for the phone. Bobby frowned slightly at sir, he still can't get used to that, not from boys their age, but he trusted Dean to do this task and instead turned back to Sam.
He walked through to the library and started studying the books. When he realised Sam also followed he looked down at him thoughtfully and then pointed at the first shelf in front of him. 'This here is where I keep the reference books – it's got the basic descriptions of the most ghosts and ghoulies so when we don't know what we're up against, that's where we start. Next we have a section on dealing with possessions, basic demons, stuff like that. Here are the local and cultural myths – if there's a story that's been passed down for generations in an area, well I guess you've gathered there's probably some truth behind them.'
All the time Bobby explains Sam was following, nodding and occasionally running his finger over the spines of some of the books with a careful touch. Not that Bobby would ever let Dean get his grubby mitts on his collection. No telling where they could have been he mused, reaching for a book of European legends, since the first book had placed the Zmey myths' origins in Romania. Quickly checking the index he flicked through to the appropriate chapter and sat back down at the table with it.
Half an hour later he had found all the information they needed. The creature was strong but not infallible. As long as everything went to plan. The book actually said that only a mighty, brave knight could defeat the beast – more accurately a 'man who let no fear touch his heart'. Instead Bobby had called Nate to let him know backup was on its way, to go in as a team and gank it with a silver sword. He suggested looking for it in the hills nearby and to try and find it in a dark cave or somewhere similar. He was fairly confident that going in as a team would give them the courage they needed.
When he looked back up Dean had finished setting off the South Idaho phone tree and was sat awkwardly turning pages of the address book, not sure if he was still needed or not. A movement in the library showed that Sam was still browsing the bookshelves. He bent down to look at a bottom shelf and came back up with a giant book in hand, one Bobby had barely used. Sam opened it, frowning slightly at the text he saw inside and then he looked back up at the older man.
'Is this Bible mythology, Bobby?' he asked in a confused voice. Bobby wandered over to look at it with him.
'I said a lot of the folklore people don't really believe has truth behind it, so I figured it made sense to be prepared. There's even been a couple times that came up with something I couldn't find anywhere else. Possibly 'cause it's one of the older books I've got.' Bobby half heartedly reached to take the book back and put it away but Sam had already starting walking with it towards the sofa, a thoughtful look on his face.
It's close to 8 that evening when Bobby is clearing up after the boys' dinner that the phone rings. Grabbing a cloth to dry his hands on and throwing it over his shoulder he answers to hear Nate's garbled voice on the other end. Unlike this morning though, his shoulders relax at the sound of his animated talking. Turns out everything had gone down well. The thing had started trying to shape shift on them but they stabbed it in the chest. When that hadn't worked they'd cut its head off just as it began to turn somewhat more reptilian than is generally acceptable. They'd even found all the disappeared peoplein the caves, shaken but relatively unharmed and returned them to their homes. So now they were all toasting their success with copious amounts of booze, as was customary when any number of hunters got together.
After listening for a few moments to the rowdy talking and music playing in whatever bar they had found Bobby hung up, congratulating them heartily and silently thanking whatever Hunter deity there was that no one had gotten hurt this time. He decided a celebratory drink wasn't such a bad idea after all, reaching for a bottle of whiskey and a glass from the draining board.
Dean had finished dinner and gone to turn the television on, quickly engrossed in reruns of Star Trek. Sam was sat next to him, facing the screen but hunched over, still turning page after page of the lore book which he had barely looked up from that day. Dean occasionally looked over and grimaced at him, muttering 'nerd' under his breath so that he knew Sam could hear but at a level he thought was low enough to avoid it being picked up by Bobby. Choosing not to comment Bobby walked to the spindly wooden chair left unoccupied in the room.
'Enjoying the books, boy?' Sam looked up at him, wide-eyed. 'Personally I prefer the urban legends, tend to come in more useful anyways.' This time Sam nodded, a small smile touching his face.
'There's just so much to know,' he looked around greedily at all the books n the shelves lining the walls. 'I never really…' he cut himself off, looking down at his hands around the great tome on his lap.
'Never saw the appeal?' Bobby offered, causing Sam to look up. Bobby felt a flare of frustration when he saw the guilt flash in the young boy's eyes. 'Honestly, when I first found out about all the very real monsters in the world I knew I had to do something.' He stopped talking for a moment, swallowing hard because he wasn't really going to think back to that, not too hard. 'It wasn't until I had faced a few myself, found out just how much there was to find out that I really knew what I could do.'
Sam was fiddling with the corner of the book, not looking up at Bobby. In a small voice he began 'But Dad is always…'
'Your Dad is a field man, Marine through and through. I am not. I just found my job in the hunting world and I filled it. Maybe you could try looking for your own space and not just…' Out of the corner of his eye Bobby saw Dean was also watching their conversation and he was suddenly wary of what could get filtered back to John. 'You know you can look at any of my books whenever you want to, Sam. Just so long as you don't get 'em damaged or covered in something.' He added in a gruff voice to avoid getting too close to having a touching moment.
Sam looked back up at him as Bobby stood, a grateful expression on his face and traces of something else Bobby hoped was a good thing.
'Thanks Bobby.'
Please leave a little feedback if you can. I haven't written in a while and feel i'm rusty