Chapter Two
Route 2, West Virginia
Dean spent the last 12 hours driving until he was pretty sure that he had lost all feeling down the right side of his body. Staring into the darkness of West Virginia Route 2, Dean wondered what lay in store for him and Sam in Point Pleasant. Cas had not provided much in the way of explanation beyond saying the word, "Lucifer" and calling in his first favor. Looking over at his sleeping brother, Dean was worried that this would provide Lucifer with another chance to convince Sam to say yes. Although Sam would not admit it, Dean had to wonder how much damage Ruby had inflicted and how much Sam had enjoyed the power he felt under her influence. What's even worse, Dean thought, he understood how Sam felt, even if he would never admit it to Sam. As he stared into the darkness, Dean felt himself go back to more than one year ago when he was still in hell.
Every day, he picked up a blade and was delivered a fresh batch of new victims to torture. At first, he hated himself and told himself it was just a way to survive. Then, he began to find himself loathing the victims. He remembered feeling that they were so weak and pathetic as they lay there begging for him not to inflict pain. Finally, toward the end of his time in hell, Dean remembered inflicting his worst punishments for those who begged for mercy, and he also remembered enjoying the power he felt over them. He even began branding his victims with a swastika, so that they would never forget him. Dean remembered feeling glad that they were on the table and not him. He remembered feeling empowered for the first time in his life.
It wasn't until he returned to earth that he realized how broken he had become in hell.
Glancing over at Sam again, Dean realized that he should have come clean with his brother and told him the truth about how he really felt about his time in hell. But he couldn't. Dean still felt a responsibility to Sam. A responsibility to be the older brother who set the standard. A responsibility to be the older brother that Sam could look up to. If he told Sam the truth, Dean knew that Sam would never look at him the same way again.
That's why, Dean told himself, he judged Sam so harshly. In some way, he told himself, he was also judging himself.
Suddenly, the Impala jolted as it struck something and ran over it. Dean listened carefully to the car, but didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. The jolt; however, was enough to wake up Sam who was rubbing his eyes and looking around.
"What was that?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
"Don't know," said Dean with a shrug, "Possibly a raccoon."
"Probably a possum," responded Sam who was stretching his arms up, "after all, this is West Virginia."
"Well," said Dean with a smirk, "I guess we just ran over someone's dinner."
Sam merely met Dean's remark with a roll of his eyes. Leaning over the front seat, he grabbed his laptop and cell phone. Opening it up, Sam pulled up some files on Point Pleasant while checking his phone. Dean marveled at how well Sam could seem to multi-task.
"Heard from Cas yet?" asked Sam.
"Not since the initial phone call," replied Dean, "What do we know about Point Pleasant?"
"Well," said Sam, "it is famous for the Mothman sightings back in the late 1960's." "The sightings appeared to coincide with the collapse of the Silver Bridge which killed 46 people." Sam clicked through some more files. "After that, one disaster after another struck the town: the collapse of the coal industry, a plague swept through killing most of the kids in town, and finally, the remaining townspeople disappeared last year." Sam drew in a breath and continued. "The only clue remaining was one word."
"Let me guess," said Dean, "Croatoan."
"Exactly," nodded Sam in affirmation.
"So why does Cas want us to come to a ghost town?" asked Dean.
Sam shrugged, "No idea." "I guess that we will find out when we get there." Looking out, Sam squinted into the darkness. "How much longer?"
Dean made a sound of disgust. "Not a clue." Impatiently, he tapped his finger on the GPS. "This thing stopped working once we got past Huntington."
After that, the brothers rode in silence. Ten miles later, Dean caught sight of the bridge that spanned from Route 2 into Point Pleasant. Surprisingly, the town was lit up, although there were no cars on the road, and no people outside. Dean drove the Impala over the bridge and entered the town which was eerily quiet.
"This is weird," said Dean.
"Very weird," agreed Sam. "We should call Cas."
At that moment, Sam's cell rang. He picked it up and nodded toward Dean.
"Cas," asked Sam, "We're here." "Where do we go?"
Cas gave directions to the local high school, Point Pleasant High School, which was about three miles ahead of them. Sam and Dean kept a sharp lookout for someone, anyone, but found nothing but an empty town. Within minutes, Dean pulled up in front of the school, and the brothers fell into their usual routine. The brothers got out of the car at the same time. Dean kept watch while Sam opened the trunk. Soon after, Dean came to the back and both loaded up on weapons.
"Why do I feel as though we are being led into a trap?" said Dean.
"Cas wouldn't do that to us," said Sam.
"I'm not saying that it's Cas," said Dean, "but it may be whatever is going on this town."
"You're thinking Lucifer may be here," said Sam.
Dean shrugged, "Let's face it." "This town has had more bad luck than we have." "It would be the perfect place for Lucifer to pull his next move."
"I don't know," said Sam as he pointed to the front of the school where Cas stood waiting, "but I guess we are about to find out."
Conference Room, Point Pleasant High School
Cas led Sam and Dean led into the conference room and asked them to sit down. He still felt uneasy about bringing the Winchesters here. On the one hand, he felt a loyalty to the brothers that he had thrown over heaven for, yet on the other hand, he didn't feel that neither Imani nor the townspeople of Point Pleasant were ready to see the Winchesters just yet. Either way, thought Cas, this was a bad situation.
Nevertheless, the brothers were here and Imani was waiting to meet them. Despite his misgivings, Cas learned to roll with the punches. Sitting across from Sam and Dean, Cas took a deep breath and began.
"Thank you for coming," he said, "especially after what happened in Carthage."
Dean, never one to mince words, snapped, "So why are we here Cas?"
Cas looked over at Dean with his usual stoic expression, but this time, Dean detected a hint of sadness in the angel and found himself relaxing. Dean realized that he was still hurt and angry over the death of Ellen and Jo, but he soon came to realize that they were Cas's friends too. Still, he was uneasy about their current situation and his mood reflected as much.
Cas had learned to detect Dean's moods and the angel realized that Dean was on fairly shaky ground right now. One more piece of bad news, thought Cas, and Dean might really lose it. That was the last thing that any of them needed, thought Cas, especially Imani. Before Cas could react, the door opened and Imani walked in. This time, she was dressed in form fitting clothes that attenuated her curves. Her long dark hair was framed around her face. Her lips were a deep red and never looked more kissable. Cas felt himself quickly go tense as he could detect a surge in Dean's hormones.
That pissed Cas off.
At that moment, Cas realized that was the wrong reaction. Admittedly, his time on earth allowed him a better understanding of humans, but the subtlety of human emotions still eluded him. Cas couldn't figure out why Dean's physical interest in Imani bothered him so much. All he knew is that at that moment, he wanted to rip Dean's head off.
"Cas," said Imani, bringing him back "are you alright?"
Cas came out of his anger and looked at everyone. Imani looked worried; Sam and Dean looked frightened.
"Yes," said Cas, "I'm fine."
Imani took the chair next to Cas and sat down. The Winchesters, keeping a wary eye on Cas, turned their attention to her. Imani folded her arms in front of her and managed to cast her eyes on Dean. Instantly, Cas saw Dean's eyes go from interest to concern. Cas could her Imani intake a breath as she began to speak.
"My name is Imani, and I am a counselor here in town," she began quietly, "I asked Cas to bring you here because of some events that we have had happen in town." Again, she paused and looked down.
"Miss," said Sam quietly, "can you be specific?"
Imani smiled at Sam gratefully. "As you know, Point Pleasant has a very devastating history."
"Yeah," responded Dean, "we heard this place was a ghost town."
Imani managed a bitter smile in Dean's direction. "In a way, it is a ghost town."
Dean shook his head. "I don't understand."
"You probably noticed how deserted the town was when you arrived," she said, "many people who live here are survivors and this was the only place left for them to go."
"Survivors of what?" asked Sam.
"The war between angels and demons" replied Imani, "most of the people here were possessed by demons or angels and some even escaped from hell." Imani clasped her hands together tightly in front of her. "They come to Point Pleasant because they know no one will look for them in a ghost town. . ."
"Because they are ghosts already" said Sam, finishing her sentence.
"You mean real ghosts?" asked Dean.
Imani had the good grace, thought Cas, to look amused.
"No," she said, "their shadows of themselves." "Many people find an abandoned house to live in and never leave it." "Others spend days just walking around town with nowhere else to go."
"Why are you here?" asked Sam.
"Point Pleasant is my hometown," she said, "I grew up here, went to college at Marshall, and came back to be a counselor at this high school." She stared sadly at the table. "Now I try to help as many people as I can.
"Okay," said Dean with some irritability, "that still doesn't explain why we are here."
Imani looked at him sadly. She took the sleeve of her sweater and pulled it up. It revealed a swastika. Dean immediately recoiled in horror and jumped up out of his chair. Sam looked confused and concerned at his brother's violent reaction and Cas looked ready to fight.
It was awkward.
Imani looked up at Dean and gestured toward his chair. Feeling conciliatory, Dean sat down with Sam and Cas following suit. Imani sat there staring at Dean before she spoke.
"I'm here Mr. Winchester," said she softly, "because I am too a ghost." "I was sent to hell for making a deal to save someone I loved." Softly, her voice began to tremble, "In hell, I was tortured by a man who liked to leave swastika's on his victims."
"Alastair?" asked Sam staring at the mark in horror.
"No," said Dean. "Me."