Chronicles of Absolution: Ghost Battle

Chapter 1

Now

The air was filled with the roar of engines and the empty lot was not so empty being lined with cars that looked like sexy ladies at a strip joint showing off their moves. To anyone watching it looked like everyone was getting together to show off their rides to impress people. Few people paid attention to the few individuals who were setting up markers and others were listening to hand held radios and scanners.

Julie Sands couldn't believe she was out here at the Torge. It was only the coolest place to hang out at. All the cute guys brought their cars out and sometimes they even raced them to show off who was the best. There was music and dancing and beer. It was the bomb. It was risky since the cops loved to bust the hot shots when they could but that didn't matter since they kept coming back.

The real entertainment was the appearance of the mysterious Silver Streak. The name was for the color of the car but no one knew the rider or even saw his face. There were other races that happened but the few brave ones to race the Silver Streak were crazy and some were lucky to be alive. Rumor had it that once a month by the light of the full moon, anyone who had the guts to race him had the tendency to end up dead. The rest of the time it was a normal race an no one could beat him.

Julie was excited as she walked around with her best friend holding the cup of beer she had grabbed. She had always loved cars and it was like one of her dirty little secrets. The guys in her class, the nerdy ones, thought she was crazy when she mentioned anything to do with cars and the like. The guys actually interested in cars thought her to be a freak.

Out here though, there were guys from all over town and a couple of towns over. She looked at her friend and asked, "Isn't this great Terry?"

Terry looked around feeling a little bored with everything. She just pretended to like cars just enough to get in good with the cute and handsome guys at school. She couldn't believe that Julie was crazy about cars. The girl could talk about them for hours if given the chance in between getting the highest marks in school. She took her under her wing to get her in with the rest of the ladies she rolled with and taught her how to roll. She couldn't get her to stop with the damn cars so she learned a little and it got her in with the cutest boy in school Jimmy Halifax. She replied, "Looks all right."

Terry looked at a few girls who were pretty much sluts that were dancing to the music. She knew Julie didn't see them. She said, "So Jules what about these races you were telling me about?"

Julie looked around and found where some guys were showing off. The drag races were held off to the side. She said, "Looks like the main event is going to start where the highway is. Look." She pointed to where the cars were lining up.

Terry followed and saw the cars lining up. She recognized one as being Jimmy's car and ran up to it. She waved and called out his name and was pleased that he looked at her. At least he knew that she was alive. Maybe having Julie around was a good thing after all.

Julie knew Terry was only here for Jimmy Halifax and that she really wasn't interested in cars. Still she was bright enough to take advantage of the fact that Terry was helping her fit in. It had been hard moving to a new town and a new school. Now she was in with some girls who liked her and some were superficial and stuck more with Terry.

Following at a slower pace, Julie paused to look at a few of the cars that weren't racing. One was a '65 Shelby Mustang GT 3500. It was a sweet ride and fed on her passion for the American muscle cars. She couldn't help but pause to touch the work.

"She's nice isn't she?"

Julie took her hand off and turned to face the owner of the voice. He was one of those guys that was considered one of the bad boys; the kind that were said to cause trouble. Thing was she knew he was pretty smart and she was willing to bet that he got pretty good grades. She replied, "Pretty good even though people mistake this girl for a Cobra."

The guy was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel. Nothing special but it looked good. He grinned, "I see you know cars. A.J." He held out his hand.

"Julie," Julie replied returning the gesture.

"I know. So you came to the Torge. I didn't think that you liked the illegal kind of stuff."

Julie shrugged her shoulders. "I like cars and I heard about the Torge. I know that it has nothing to do with the actual style of racing it is but it is a kind of cool name." Julie was aware that she was being a know it all again.

A.J. didn't seem to mind. He said, "I come here for the cars too. Occasionally I race but drag racing and occasionally a street race. My baby is pretty good."

"You any good?"

"Won over twenty races so far but I'm not stupid enough like these assphats to race the Silver Streak." A.J. looked over at the guys lining up and glanced at his watch. This race was on Death's highway as it was called in 'honor' of the Streak's one night in which usually someone dies. He was going to leave soon since he didn't want to be a part of it. He saw that dumb jock Jimmy chatting with Terry, the dumbest blonde he ever met. "They are stupid. The Streak can't be beaten on a night like this."

"So it is true then. The Streak is a real racer that no one can beat."

"Yeah. If I were you, I'd leave. It isn't worth it."

Julie looked around. People were starting to mill to watch the start. She asked, "Then why are you still here?"

"Well the smartest girl I know stopped by my ride and it's impressive when she knows a thing or two about cars," A.J. replied with a slight smirk. "I was going to leave anyway. You need a ride?"

Julie looked over at Terry who was sitting beside Jimmy. If A.J. said what was true, then Terry was in danger. "Let me grab Terry." She went over to Jimmy's car and said, "Terry come on. We came to watch. Let's go."

"Hey if I need a freak telling Terry what to do, I'll ask," Jimmy said as he revved his engine up. He smiled at Terry and said to her, "She can ride if she wants. It's good luck since I'm going to beat the Streak tonight."

Terry giggled as Jimmy kissed her neck. Julie was such a worrywart and believed any old story. Jimmy was one of the best racers. He hadn't lost one yet. "Don't worry Jules. Go drool over some Toyota or something."

"Just the thing you need freak."

"Hey at least she's not an assphat like you Halifax," A.J. said. He had followed Julie up to the car. He heard the conversation. Julie was a good person and people took advantage of her good nature.

"If you want to defend her, why don't you race your ride?"

"I'm not stupid. Not on a night like this."

"Scared man? I thought you were one of those tough guys." Jimmy took off to where the designated starting line was taking Terry with him.

A.J. watched them go and said to Julie, "Come on."

"I can't leave without Terry."

A.J. didn't want to leave Julie there. He had liked her the minute he saw her when she was first knew at school. He knew it had to suck for her since this was her senior year. He took her by the arm and said, "Alright. I'll drive you both home afterwards."

They gathered with the others and when the clock struck the hour, the announcer gave the signal. The ones racing started their engines and were revving up. Suddenly there was a loud rumble and through the mist a pair of headlights appeared. The announcer gave the signal and the cars took off. It was tradition to get a rolling start since the Streak was capable of catching up to the others.

Julie bit her lower lip as the cars took off. Many of the spectators had cameras to videotape everything. She turned away from the cars to watch as the Streak came running up. She watched as it went by and was startled by what she saw. The car's tires were not touching the pavement!

Julie knew something was up. She looked at A.J. and could tell that he had seen it too but he was more subdued in his expression. She followed it until it seemed to disappear. It was followed by a crash and the crowd whooped and screamed. Everyone started running towards their cars. Julie stood where she was until A.J. grabbed her. They ran towards his car until she tripped.

Julie was lucky not to have been trampled by anyone as A.J. hauled her to her feet. He tugged her to run but she saw something that made her stop. She saw the Streak idling on the highway and then it disappeared. She had never seen anything like it and allowed A.J. to pull her to his car and stuff her in. She didn't even notice the beautiful purr of the engine as he gunned it out of there. All the stories were true.

The garage was spacious and certainly could fit two cars. Right now though it housed a rather old and beat up Chevelle that looked like it had seen better days. The counter tops were full of tools and parts and also the remnants of what looked like a sandwich. It was also quiet… too quiet as Dean walked through it looking for one of the air filters that Bobby kept to replace the old one in the Impala. He selected one and paused as he headed out.

Spotting the sandwich remnants, he grinned and called out, "Come on out Angie. I know you're in here."

There was no response and Dean took a look around not noticing the pair of legs sticking out from underneath the Chevelle. He tripped and nearly lost his balance. At least the filter wasn't damaged in his tumble. "Sonofabitch."

"Watch your cussing around the baby," a muffled voice came from under the car.

"I would if you would say something instead of playing your ambush game," Dean replied as he checked the filter out.

"And I would," Angela slid out from under the car and took the small flashlight that she had been holding in her mouth out and spoke clearly, "If I didn't have a flashlight in my mouth." She sat up and held her ratchet and light and looked up at Dean. "Filter okay?"

Dean couldn't be that angry with her. She actually looked like a grease monkey in her denim overalls, grey t-shirt and a dark blue bandanna covering her hair. She had grease marks all over her arms and smudged on her face. "Yeah it's fine. Still pissed about Bela?"

"Hey when a two timing bitch has two thugs break into an old friend's storage unit to steal something that ultimately kills you and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process and on top of that shoots your brother… yeah I'm still pissed." Angela nodded in confirmation. "It's a good thing that Bobby needed work done on the Chevelle. It just needed a few minor things and I put in a new engine. Just needs a paint job and Bobby can sell her if he wants."

"Damn Angie. I think you missed your true calling."

Angela couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think you missed yours with Lisa."

"You had to bring that up didn't you?"

Angela ignored the slight scowl. Dean had been through enough teasing about Lisa and Angela wasn't blind when she saw that Lisa was different from the other girl in every town Dean pursued. She didn't miss the look of gratitude when Dean delivered Ben back safely from the changelings. She replied, "Just hear me out. I think she's a good match for you. Maybe one day…" She shrugged her shoulders.

Dean gave a slight shake of his head. Lately Angela had started acting like everything was fine. She ignored the possibility that he was going to hell within the year and acted as if he had all the time in the world. He found it suspicious but then he overheard a conversation she had on the phone with someone and was asking about gates and gatekeepers. He figured she was on to something and let her be with that. It wouldn't do any good to mention his deal since she would either ignore it in a clueless fashion or get pissed.

Then when they met Bela Talbot over the stupid rabbit's foot, she looked like she wanted to start a cat fight. Dean didn't blame her though since there were a couple of delusional hunters who were out to kill Sam because of the Devil's Gate opening and they were going to kill her in the process. Apparently Gordy Walker had friends and hadn't forgotten her little part in the whole thing and decided that she was better off dead. It worked out in the end that they got rid of the thing after tricking Bela into touching it.

Of course the minx pickpocketed his scratchers. Dean was pissed until Angela pulled out scratchers from her pocket. They were the ones that he had gotten lucky on and they were up by fifty grand or something. Sam didn't ask how she managed to pickpocket Bela and Dean was just happy that the bitch had a surprise coming to her. So all in all the past couple of months had things going somewhat well with a few easy jobs along the way since Sam had a bullet in the arm which Angela took care of with ease.

So he replied, "Maybe." He ran his thumb and finger along the rim of the filter in a thoughtful fashion.

Angela knew he wanted to retort about his deal. She knew the stakes. She was just trying a different approach while she looked up different angles. Apparently finding the king of the crossroads was going to take some time and the princess was looking up some other things and she knew what Sam was up to in his spare time. She thought that diverting attention would relieve a little of the tension about that. It raised some suspicions and had Sam asking her if she was okay for nearly a week but it was fine. She smiled a little and asked, "Need a hand with the filter?"

Dean grinned. He liked it when she worked on engines and she knew her way around them. It was one of the reasons why he let her drive the Impala more often. A plus was that she always managed to give his baby a spit and shine every chance she got even after spending the night stargazing. He teased, "Still trying to pay back for sleeping on my baby?"

"I don't see you punishing Sam for sharing hood space with me," Angela retorted as she stood up and dusted her overalls off.

"Just biding my time with that," Dean replied indicating that he had a prank in mind.

"Oh I get it," Angela replied as she picked up the remains of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and took a bite after wiping her hands off. She finished it off before setting down her tool and pocketing her light. "Well I need a break before changing out the oil on the Chevelle and then the paint job."

"Fine," Dean replied in mock annoyance even though he was grinning. He led the way to the Impala. Next to it was the ice chest with the beer. "Want a beer?"

"Yeah sure," Angela replied as she stood to admire the engine work. Dean had rebuilt the girl after a semi t-boned it and it was a great job. She glanced over at Dean who tossed her a can of beer and she held it while giving a cursory glance. There were going to need some hose replacements eventually and there was the fan belt.

"I thought I was bad about drooling over cars," Dean said as he placed the filter down and popped his beer.

"I don't drool. I admire," Angela retorted as she popped hers. She looked at the engine and a sly smile got on her face. She said, "You know I could get her moving with the times and upgrade her like some ten second cars I've seen. She'll be a helluva lot faster than she is now."

As soon as she saw the look of shock cross Dean's face, she started laughing. She laughed harder when Dean spluttered, "There's no way in hell that I'm gonna let you tamper with my baby like that. That… that's sacrilege and stop laughing at me. You know it's true."

Angela couldn't stop though. Just being able to push Dean's buttons in a way that made him speechless was a talent that she fully exploited along with her ability to bribe him with the pie. She managed to calm down though and say in a mock serious voice, "You're right. While the first generation engines for the Impala are impressive, you would need a different kind of engine designed for sportier models like a 302 cu in (4.9L) V8 and the Impala's body may make a difference…"

Dean growled, "Alright stop. Quit trying to tease me about my baby. You and I both know that you know cars."

Angela just gave that smile that was designed to give annoyance but you couldn't stay made at her for long. "Come on Dean. You know I wouldn't hurt Impa here."

Dean couldn't help but smile with her. Sam had the puppy dog look and she just had that pout smile though he was sure that she had other means of being manipulative like Sam. He just had yet to see it… well he did. All she ever did was ask Sam for help and he caved like a pansy. "You know that look is going to get you into trouble one of these days."

Angela playfully narrowed her eyes as she leaned against the car. "Trouble has been following me since I hooked up with you."

"Aw you know you like me," Dean gave his flirty grin as he motioned with his beer.

"As much as I like chasing the white rabbit to see the queen about the jabberwocky."

"Hey that is cheating."

Angela gave a slight laugh, "No it isn't." When she saw Dean's slight scowl, she walked over and gave a slight cheek pinch, "You know you get me back with your collection of pictures." The pinch left a smudge of grease.

Dean gave a mock scowl, "Fine. It's not cheating though don't be surprised if you start having dreams and I mention them later."

Angela gave a humoring smile, "Then I guess I will be paid back in my own coin then now won't I?" She took another sip of her beer and picked up the filter to inspect it. She ran her fingers along it and peered closely at it to make sure that nothing happened to it. "So do you want the honors?" She held it out to Dean.

Dean smirked and set his beer down. He took the filter and gave a look of suspicion at her before heading over to do what he had intended to before he stumbled over her feet. She didn't do anything as he started working on the car.

Angela picked up her beer and sat on the ice chest and watched Dean work. She rested her elbows on her knees looking and feeling very comfortable. She glanced down at her wrists and looked at the bracelet Haley had given her. She hadn't taken it off, not even when she went to work on the Chevelle and it managed to look pristine every time. She figured that it had to do with the power of the spell that was put on it. She looked back up at Dean who was humming some song from his album collection. In a fit of humor she began humming along with him until she started voicing the lyrics.

Dean couldn't help but join in. It wasn't like when she sang that Gaelic song or at that night club but it was still pleasant. He bobbed his head in time to the music as he worked on the Impala. By the time he was finished, they had come to the end of the song and there was clapping going on.

"Nice job Dean. You stayed in tune that time."

Dean looked from under the hood, "Bite me bitch. Aren't you supposed to be resting that arm Samantha?"

Sam gave a slight scowl at his brother even while Angela was making a face trying not to laugh. "I am jerk. I was bored."

"The college geek is bored? I thought it would be pure heaven just sitting with your laptop all day," Dean teased as he put the finishing touches on the car before shutting the hood.

Sam shrugged his shoulders in a whatever gesture. The whole thing with Bela and the rabbit's foot was bad enough but the last hunt with a ghost jarred the same shoulder a bit. He figured it was a bad luck shoulder since he had it dislocated, shot and whatever that was done to it. It worked out though since Angela took care of it even though she had been pissed with Bela. "Didn't feel like it too much."

Angela handed him a beer and went back to sitting and asked, "Certainly you didn't want to watch two grease monkeys talk shop and fix cars? We wouldn't want you to catch our unhealthy obsession." She gave a teasing grin as she took a sip.

"Yours may be unhealthy but Dean's? It's an unholy obsession that ranks up there with pie," Sam countered. He actually didn't think her knowing about cars was that bad. She liked classic muscle cars but he caught her once looking at a website checking out the kind of cars kids used for racing both the legal and illegal kind and figured she had a wild streak in there that she just liked to keep under wraps.

"Hey don't diss the pie Sam," Dean warned.

Sam rolled his eyes slightly and looked at Angela who was wearing a bemused expression. "Whatever Dean. So you done with the car?"

"Yeah I'm done so we can hit the road unless Angie wants to finish the rattletrap in the garage."

"It's not a rattletrap. Besides it can wait. You find a case Sam?" Angela brushed it off. She knew Dean was trying to goad her into a reaction like she did with him earlier. She had replied in a calm voice and then gave a devil may care attitude to go with it.

Sam watched his brother get frustrated and figured that he was trying to get back at Angela for something she said about the Impala. She probably mentioned something along the lines of turning it into an abomination. Dean walked into that one every time which was why he said that his obsession was near unholy. He gave a slight chuckle and replied, "Sort of. Bobby actually found it and didn't want to say anything."

"Why? We're the best at hunting just about anything," Dean asked.

Sam replied, "Well he said that it was something along the lines of chasing fairy tales and legends."

Angela gave a slight chortle as she took another drink, "I can name quite a few of those. So hit me Sam. Which one is it? The Sliver Streak, now that's a good one."

Sam gave a slight frown and Dean looked at him and said, "Come on Sam. Out with it."

"Well… it actually does involve the Silver Streak."

A/N: Ep. 2.02 begins and it looks to be a fast and furious ride for our trio. Who knew Angie was a little grease monkey? Stay tuned for the next chapter in Ghost Battle...