Chapter 1 – The Phone Call

It had to be said Dean was finding himself to be more and more of a morning person since they'd taken up residence in the bunker, seeing as at six in the morning he was cooking eggs while whistling Back in Black. True back before they became more or less stationary it'd be normal to find him awake at three in the morning polishing guns, and blessing holy water or compacting salt into bullets. Essentially whatever needed to get done, however he hated it with a passion. True he would always keep his mind focused so he didn't screw up the job at hand but just beneath the surface he was pleading with himself to just go back to sleep.

Except nowadays Dean slept in and got six hours of sleep instead of four, but rather than scrambling, spending more time blessing water he instead had begun to expand his culinary chops from the burgers they'd had a few months past to the ribs yesterday and today, glorious eggs. Yes it seemed like it was destined to be a good day, there was no hunt going on no pressing research and yesterday he and Sam had agreed to take it slow all day perhaps even watching a movie or two. Granted they'd probably be men of letters news reels but they'd take what they could get.

And then following the motto that what can go wrong will Dean's phone began ringing, he knew it'd be bad news it couldn't not be bad news he simply didn't know how bad, bad news could get. But when he drew it from his pocket his heart stopped in an instant, the call was from Jacob Hughes a hunter who owed Dean his life. The reason his heart had come to a standstill was because he'd called that favor in years ago when he told him to keep an eye on Lisa Braeden and her son Ben.

"Talk to me Jacob." he answered, voice tense.

"Dean… he tricked me." the voice said slow and laborious. "He's a firecracker and a half your boy, and uh I'm in a bit of a bad way here."

"Where are you? What happened?"

"I'm at their place in Battle Creek cept there was a demon here waiting."

"A demon?! Look Jacob stay on the phone I'm on the way."

"Naw don't worry about coming here. I'm done for and your boys long gone, took the demon with him don't fret over the broad she's still at work, But if you wanna catch the kid you'd better get looking." Jacob gave a weak laugh before a fit of coughing took him over and the phone must've slid from his grasp as there was a thud and the source of the coughing seemed far off.

Dean left the eggs still cooking as he ran to the library and began typing furiously on his laptop. Sometime later the smell of charred breakfast woke Sam who ran by Dean swearing when he saw the fire blazing above the pan. Dean took this opportunity to grab the laptop and begin moving for the Bunker door.

"D-" Sam looked over his shoulder to see him leaving and quickly put the pan in the sink, steam and smoke billowed everywhere while the smell got twice as bad. Sam, somewhat satisfied turned and ran after his brother. "Dean what the hell? Where are you going?" Sam asked catching him outside the bunker as he opened the door to the Impala.

His older brother ignored him however slamming the door and starting the engine. Sam looked down he wore his usual attire of jeans and a plaid over shirt but his wallet and phone were still in his room. After one second, and a single moment of poor decision making he ignored all the alarm bells going off in his head and got in just as his brother started pulling away from the bunker, Dean looked his brother over but said nothing. Waiting until his brother was preoccupied backing out Sam reached forward and snatched the laptop out of the dash eagerly opening it.

"Hey give that back." Dean snapped but Sam ignored him looking over the little research his brother had gotten done, mostly police reports at or around the Battle Creek area. Morgue searches, signs of cattle mutilation, if there were any solstices in the sky the past couple of nights, all of which had pulled up nothing.

"Sooo demons… in Battle Creek Michigan?" Sam began arching his brows. "What the hell Dean? You don't run off in order to chase a goose even if demons are involved. Not to mention without breakfast." he added, Dean gave him a sideways glare.

"Very funny. Keep looking every five minutes at least with the morgues. And see if you can find anything unusual from around the area."

Sam threw up his hands but said nothing he figured Dean wasn't gonna start making sense until he'd had time to sort out whatever happened in his head. So he did as he was asked going through the brother's checklist of the freaky things that happen no one pays attention to. First if there were any haunted locations where a ghost may have sprung up or if any odd death had occurred heart missing head missing etcetera but it pulled up nothing. Then when he went back to the morgue search he found something that had just been published.

He scanned the page before reading aloud. "Paul Smits male age forty three was found dead, killed in self defense in the home of one Lisa Braeden. It is believed to be a robbery gone wrong, while the owner was not home at the time her sixteen year old son Ben Braeden likely was however he has reportedly gone missing. It is clear the man was stabbed to death though no blade was found at the scene of the crime. We ask for any information anyone may have regarding this incident."

Dean said nothing for about a minute when he did speak he sounded tired despite having only been awake for about an hour and a half.

"The dead guy is Jacob Hughes a hunter who-"

"I know who Jacob is. I've worked a job with him before." Sam threw in with thinly veiled annoyance. Dean didn't seem to notice the interruption continuing.

"-I had him watching out for Ben and Lisa. He called me this morning said Ben was gone and that a demon had gone after him. Jacob was dying on the phone and apparently he didn't make it so here we are..." Dean quipped in a bland tone.

Sam shook his head and pushed down all the anger and annoyance he was feeling towards his idiot brother and said calmly.

"Alright I get it, I'm on board." before continuing to search on the laptop. A silence followed before Dean said quietly.

"Thanks."

"Shut up." was the response.

Some time later Sam mumbled. "What the- Okay Dean this may not be related but there was another disappearance yesterday, here it says. Madeline Sia female age twenty five entrepreneur and store owner went missing after her shop was robbed there is no account of what was stolen due to poor record-keeping in regards to inventory. Miss. Sia was reported missing only hours after the robbery yesterday any information would be appreciated if you know her whereabouts."

"That is weird, what kinda business was she running?" Dean asked while Sam continued typing.

Once he found it the younger brother sat dumbfounded wondering how this had gone unnoticed he was sure Dean kept an eye on the two so it seemed impossible that this store could have slid under the radar especially if there was a hunter in town. "Well I found it and get this it's a library of the occult as well as a store with hundreds of so called magical items. I mean who knows if the store is legitimate but it seems likely it could be connected."

"Yea alright we'll hit there first. What's the name of the place?"

"Inkantation… Look Dean I get it I do but don't you think you should check on-"

"Don't Sam do not I'm warning you… We're going to the shop we'll find what we need there." Dean said desperate for Sam to just shut up.

Luckily Sam didn't reciprocate he didn't do anything, he just continued looking through any info he could find. It was gonna be a long drive even with Dean keeping a lead foot on the pedal given his apparent refusal to even turn the radio on. When they finally stopped for gas Sam went in and bought food if you could call it that, course it hadn't killed them yet so that was something. The only thing was he'd had to take Dean's wallet to pay for it all which he was sure he wouldn't live down anytime soon.

The drive from Lebanon Kansas to Battle Creek Michigan was a whooping fifteen hours which they did almost nonstop. Fortunately Inkantation was still open at eight o'clock when they arrived, another stroke of luck came with the fact that they had recently made badges in the glove box, and the fed suits were in the trunk. Sam had thought seriously about getting them cleaned the previous day, then they would be up a creek.

Unfortunately after a drive like they'd just been through the brothers now smelled like sweat and burritos, but there was no time to get showers as the store was closing in about fifteen minutes. The only thing in their way now was Sam's worries that Dean might lose his cool, something that draws a lot of attention to you especially when you're posing as federal agents.

Upon entering they both reeled back as a wall of incense slammed into their faces and more importantly their noses, Dean winced while Sam shook his head furiously trying to fend off the assault on his senses, suddenly the thought that anyone would notice their scent went out the window. The bigger question now was where was everybody there didn't seem to be a single customer only a younger guy behind the counter who spotted them entering and bound up to them.

"Hello and welcome to Inkantation! My names Yuri Smith." the abrupt glee caused Dean to take a step back. Sam coughed awkwardly but pulled out his id.

"Hi I'm agent Simmons and this is my partner agent Frehley. We're here in regards to the theft as well as your missing store owner Madeline Sia."

"Oh yea you would be wouldn't you?" he asked without missing a beat sounding just as giddy.

The guy looked to be a young adult either a college student or recently graduated high school. Yuri had short cut black hair that had a neon green stripe through it which had been spiked up front. He seemed pretty gangly for his age nearly even with Dean though he clearly had a few years to go.

"Listen guy-" Dean started before Sam cut him off.

"We just want to know what happened. What exactly was stolen? It wasn't mentioned in the report." The man looked surprised and said.

"Look guys." the chipperness fading for the first time. "I really don't care about the painting but Madeline I'd like back, all I can tell you is she took off after the thief yesterday morning. I told her not to but she said cops weren't fitted to take him on, whatever that means."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other there may as well have been a neon sign saying the two were connected.

"So you have no idea where Madeline is yet your running her store?" Dean asked confused.

"Well yea she didn't go missing per se, and besides it was her brother who went ballistic after she left. He called the cops and everything I was only able to clear them out and reopen this morning."

"And the painting why was that stolen? Was it valuable?" Sam asked.

"No… not really." he answered though he seemed to reserve something so he pressed.

"Are you sure? Anything at all could help."

"Well I guess you could say it's a portal to the other side, the land of the dead and whatever." he added but didn't sound like his heart was in it.

"Does the piece have a name?" Dean shot back looking serious as a heart attack, so much so Yuri actually shrunk back a bit at his intensity.

"No, no, look Madeline painted it... Besides everyone knows that mystical mumbo jumbo is baloney." he said looking from one to the other.

"You work in a shop full of magical objects." Sam replied skeptical.

"Well yea but none of its real I mean it's just junk, the only thing that makes it any more special is that it's all made here."

"In America?" Dean questioned.

"By Madeline." he answered looking annoyed for the first time. "Look guys I gotta close up the shop. I've been working every shift myself and I'd like to get some sleep before we- I reopen in the morning." he ended with a sigh.

"Alright, alright." Dean said shaking his head. "One last question, have you ever seen this kid in the shop? This picture was taken about five years ago, he'd be sixteen now."

Dean handed the photo to him, while Sam simply noticed he'd had to get the picture from somewhere, more likely he'd just never parted with it. Yuri seemed to look at it confused but only for a second until his face lit up.

"Hey! This is a baby picture of Benny Brae-Brae! Oh my goodness he has such chubby cheeks I just wanna pinch them!"

"Wait so you know Ben Braeden?" Dean asked heart skipping a beat.

"Well yea he works here occasionally when he's not playing hooky, or acting like a crazy person."

Yuri's smile had returned but Dean was now glaring which led to Sam stepping in once again. "When was the last time you saw Ben?"

"It was yesterday a few hours after Madeline ran out. I thought he was coming to relive me so I could call Mitchell, Madeline's brother but instead he just grabbed the fish and left."

"I'm sorry did you say fish?" Dean asked trying to keep his cool.

"Yea the fish tank hauled it off fish and all. Crazy huh?"

"Why would he take the fish tank?" Sam asked long past the point of confusion.

"Your guess is as good as mine I've barely been able to get out of the store, and he hasn't returned any of my calls. At least I'm getting paid overtime for working both our shifts so that's nice... I guess."

"So you had no idea about the murder?" Dean asked evenly.

"Whoa hold up did you say murder? Is Ben alright?!" Yuri asked worriedly looking from one agent to the other.

"There was a robber found dead in the Braeden residence believed to have been killed in self defense by Ben. Now he's missing." Sam said in an apologetic tone as Yuri shook his head in disbelief.

"W- But Ben wouldn't hurt a fly I mean I guess it's good he did what he had to, b- but no when did this happen?"

"This morning."

"Do you think it has to do with Madeline going missing? And the painting being stolen?" he asked breathing faster and faster.

"That's what we're hoping to find out." Sam said calmly hoping it would transfer to the rapidly cracking Yuri.

"What about Madeline's brother do you have his address or phone number? He might have some more information." Dean asked

"Um yea." Yuri said taking another deep breath. "Honestly I don't know where he lives but he comes in here occasionally, and I found his number in the back office a while back."

"Could you get us that number please? It could really help." Sam asked.

"Sure just uh wait here." he said and turned around heading behind the counter.

As soon as he was gone Dean whispered. "This is a waste of time this guy clearly doesn't know anything."

"Well he knows Ben at least, what I don't get is why he would steal a fish tank. Do you think he was going after Madeline?"

"Could be but why wait till this morning? Not to mention who stole the painting? And where does the demon fit into it?"

"Should we call Crowley and tell him to call the demon off?" Sam pondered.

"Are you kidding me?!" Dean said but stopped suddenly realizing how loud he'd said that and continued in a harsh whisper. "We're not exactly on great terms with Crowley right now and if he finds out that Lisa and Ben are involved he'll probably just try to turn that against us. Besides who's to say this demon isn't working for Crowley? Did you forget it was him who…" Dean stopped short unable to finish the sentence.

"Alright here it is." Yuri said coming back through a few seconds later and handing a sticky note to Dean.

"Thanks, and we'll get out of here so you close up shop." Sam said turning to the door.

"Yeah okay I think I'll swing by and check on Ms. Lisa before I go home." he said following them out of the store, as he locked the door the brothers just looked to each other. Yuri clearly wasn't taking the news all that well but there wasn't much they could do about it.

Once they were safely inside the walls of the Impala Dean pulled out his cell phone before studying the sticky note and tapping rapidly.

"Dean it's getting late maybe we should call it a day, get a hotel room or something, start fresh in the morning…" and of course Dean was ignoring him. After a few rings however the call went to voice mail and Dean sat staring at the screen before throwing it into the dash with more ferocity then some people throw baseballs.

Putting the car in reverse Dean sped away from Inkantation.

"So are we going to a motel or-" Sam let it trail off Dean was impossible when he was like this, which meant like usual Sam was along for the ride stuck with a highly agitated brother.

"Great." he mumbled.

So this is my first publication this story is NOT finished fyi but I promise I will put 110% into finishing it please tell me what you think I would be very thankful.