CHAPTER 4 – There's Always Another Choice, Sam
Alex flicked on the clock radio in her room and headed for the bathroom to wash her face. The splash of cold water usually helped clear her mind. God she wished her brother was here! Josh had always been her entire emotional support system and, even if she didn't talk to him about something that was bothering her, having him there was always reassuring. Seeing four dead people all bloody and reeking of violence had been disturbing. She had seen dead people before, of course, since that couldn't be entirely avoided when hunting or being hunted by the supernatural, but four at one time was just a little extra horrifying.
She heard her room door open and reached for the towel to dry her face. "Sam?" she called, coming out of the bathroom. "That you?"
It wasn't Sam. It was a young woman about Alex's age with an unfriendly look on her face. She had closed the motel door behind her and now stood in the centre of the room.
"Who are you?" Alex asked, reaching for the bag on her bed that held her weapons but the girl was fast and grabbed her arm before she could reach it, twisting it around and slamming Alex against the wall.
"I was just going to ask you the same thing," she snarled. She had a really strong grip. Really strong. Far too strong to be human, Alex realized. One of the demons from Brian's house? They could switch bodies anytime and must have followed the Impala back to the motel.
Despite being pinned against the wall, Alex managed to slam her boot into the suspected-demon's knee. Caught off guard, its grip loosened slightly and Alex took immediate advantage, twisting around, kicking furiously, and throwing a couple of quick punches. She managed to break free and ducked away from the demon, making a run for the door since the bag of weapons was behind her attacker and out of reach. But the demon was again too quick and caught up with her halfway to the door, yanking her around and laying a punch into her stomach that sent her flying into the wall with a loud thud. She felt the gyprock crumble behind her but couldn't get a cry out before a strong arm was pressed against her throat, a small shoulder made of steel digging into her collarbone, painfully but effectively pinning her to the wall once more.
"Who are you?!" the demon demanded again. "What are you?! And what do you want with Sam Winchester?"
Sam Winchester? Alex was confused. "Get off me, bitch!" she grunted, trying in vain to break free again.
Suddenly the door flew open with a crash and Sam's giant silhouette appeared in the doorway, raised gun in hand.
"Ruby?" he yelled, lowering the gun. "Ruby! Stop! What are you doing?"
The small woman's grip didn't ease up. "She's not what you think, Sam," she said without taking her eyes off the blonde, eyes that flickered black.
"Ruby! Let her go. Now!" Sam ordered sternly, moving into the room.
Finally, Ruby let go and took a step backwards. Alex gulped in a large breath of air and immediately aimed a punch at her, which landed right in her pretty face with a satisfying smack.
With a furious cry, Ruby shoved back at Alex, knocking her back a few feet into the cheap motel table. Alex leapt back up quickly but Sam was already between them, holding one arm out in each direction. "Stop! Both of you. Stop!"
Alex stopped, bewildered by the fact that the demon seemed to be obeying Sam's orders and was backing down also. Sam stayed where he was for a few seconds, waiting to be sure there was going to be no more fighting. That was when Dean appeared in the doorway holding a bag of ice.
"What the Hell's going on?" he asked, coming into the room. "Ruby, what are you doing here?" He didn't look impressed. As Sam lowered his arms, Dean took note of the tense situation. "Dude, did I just miss a catfight?" he asked his brother, sounding genuinely disappointed.
Sam rolled his eyes with an impatient huff. Alex wasn't sure who this demon was, but it seemed obvious the brothers weren't threatened by her.
"You know this bitch?" she spat, relaxing slightly but keeping a wary eye on Ruby.
"Well I'm telling you," Ruby warned them, "you don't know her!" She glared at Alex. "She's not what you think."
Dean snorted, moving surreptitiously in front of Alex in case Ruby got any ideas. "So what is she then, Ruby?" he sneered. Apparently, there was no love lost between these two.
"I don't know," Ruby admitted. "But trust me, I can sense it. She's different. I felt it when she and Sam arrived."
"Sam, get your girlfriend in line," Dean snapped at his brother impatiently. "And get her out of here."
Sam apparently agreed with that. "Ruby," he barked at the petite brunette. "Let's go."
Arms folded across her chest, the demon obeyed but didn't drop any of her cocky attitude as she walked out of the room, followed closely by Sam.
When the door closed behind them, Alex turned to Dean, a questioning look on her face. "I'm confused," she admitted, waiting for the hunter to explain why they were apparently friends with a demon.
Dean shook his head, obviously not pleased to have Ruby around. "Ruby's a demon," he admitted, taking a seat on the end of one of the beds.
"I kind of figured that when all ninety-five pounds of her managed to throw me clear across the room," Alex snapped, still worked up.
Dean frowned his disapproval. He hadn't realized Ruby had full-on attacked the blonde. "Well, she's not like most demons," he continued. "She's kinda maybe sorta on our side."
"Kinda maybe sorta?"
"She's saved my ass before, and Sam's, and she helps us out on occasion."
"Why?"
Dean had known that question was coming. "To be honest, I don't know."
"Do you trust her?"
"I don't know," he repeated the answer. "But so far she's proved herself more than once. So for now, I guess, yes. To a certain degree."
"And how about the poor girl she's possessing?"
"Dead," Dean answered. "Before Ruby came along. Not her doing."
Alex looked thoughtful. "So you figure she sensed my inner freak and thought I was some kind of demon after you two?"
Dean smiled. "For starters, you're not a freak. But I'm guessing yes. She is kind of protective of Sam. Well, in some ways. Did you sense her coming?"
"No," Alex admitted.
Dean looked up sharply. "So Ruby doesn't feel like a demon to you?" he asked, not sure what the implications of that were. Maybe Ruby was different after all. Maybe her motives weren't suspect.
Alex shrugged. "My radar's not very reliable," she said. "I only sense maybe seventy-five percent of the evil creeps I come across. As for the other twenty-five percent... nada. Like today, I had no idea there were five demons in that house. I thought there was two, maybe three."
"Oh," Dean said, disappointed. He was still not entirely sure what to make of Ruby and had hoped this had been some kind of evidence in her favour. He hated what she had taught Sam to do but couldn't ignore the fact she had helped them with the witches then again with Anna.
"Well," Alex said, sighing as she perched on the end of the bed next to the hunter, rubbing her bruised shoulder. "I suppose she'd be useful to have around if you need to break in anywhere. She could just black-smoke her ass through the keyhole."
Dean had to laugh. "You're definitely a glass half full type, aren't you?"
She grinned at his comment. "Today's your lucky day, Dean. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Some rarely shared wisdom I like to call the Joshua Brenton Philosophy of Life."
"Oooh, really?" Dean rolled his eyes in jest. "Please, I'm on the edge of my seat."
Alex ignored his sarcasm. "Well, it goes like this," she continued with a smile. "You can't change the past. You can't predict the future and you really can't do much about steering it in your favour anyway so," she finished, "if your present doesn't entirely suck, then life is good. No worries."
"Hakuna Matata, huh?"
"Oh you are so gonna let me get out of the car at our next stop or I'm telling your brother you just quoted Disney," Alex threatened with a grin.
"Tell my brother and it'll be the last thing you ever do," the smiling man threatened back, looping his elbow around her neck in a mock chokehold.
SPN-SPN-SPN
Sam was losing patience with Ruby. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing," she snapped. "I tell you over half the seals are broken and you take off again! I thought we were going to work on your abilities, go after Lillith, end this thing."
Sam sighed with exasperation. "We are. We will. Look, Ruby, it's not a one battle war. I've got other things to take care of, okay?" Sam remembered Castiel's request that this mission stay between the Winchesters. They had both assumed he had meant not to tell Ruby. Sam wasn't going to disobey any more of the angel's orders than he had to.
"Like what?" she questioned. "What are you doing here... in Arkansas?"
"You know what?" Sam went on the offensive. "I don't have to tell you. God knows, you keep enough secrets from me. So just trust me on this one and leave. Now. Go away. I'll call you when I need you."
"What about Goldilocks?" Ruby pressed. "I'm telling you Sam, she's not normal. Demons can sense other demons. I'll admit, she's different from a demon, but she's not ordinary human. She could be dangerous."
Sam drew on his deepest and last reserves of patience. "I know about her sensitivity, Ruby. I assure you, it's harmless. She's harmless."
"Yeah," Ruby sneered, "so harmless she's got you wrapped. I saw you two earlier, on your way in."
"Oh dear God," Sam groaned. "Ruby, tell me you're not jealous. You and me, we are not a couple. Tell me you didn't just attack a girl because you think I like her."
Ruby scoffed. "Get control of that ego, Sam. Just promise me you'll keep your eye on her."
"Okay, I'll watch my back. Just leave, please."
"Fine." She turned stiffly to walk away.
"And Ruby," he called after her, "FYI, I'm pretty sure she's sweet on my brother. Not me."
"Well now even I feel sorry for her," Ruby called over her shoulder without turning around.
SPN-SPN-SPN
Pizza was ordered and the three watched highlights from the Obama's Presidential Inauguration events on the TV in the Winchester's motel room, the job being discussed during the ad breaks. It was decided they would go to see Bruno Richter first thing in the morning in hopes he knew something about the medallion's whereabouts.
The Winchesters were not in the greatest mood for socializing and Alex could tell there was some unspoken argument brewing between them. She decided to turn in early and headed back to her room to give them a chance to talk. She spread a line of salt across her doorway and on her windowsill to ensure she didn't get another visit from Ruby during the night, despite Sam's assurances that it wasn't necessary. It became quickly apparent that the impending Winchester heart-to-heart was not the talking kind of argument when raised voices floated through the broken wall between the two rooms where Ruby had thrown her into the gyprock.
"I don't know what you want me to say, Dean!" Sam's voice floated through the crack. "That I'm sorry I saved our asses today? Well I'm not!"
Feeling guilty about invading their privacy, even if it was involuntary, Alex moved over to the clock radio and bent to switch it on to block out the sound of the brothers yelling, but Dean's shouted reply piqued her curiosity and she hesitated.
"You attacked a demon with your mind, Sam! Again! I'd rather not be saved if costs you your humanity!"
"You think by using my powers against demons I'm gonna turn into one? Have a little faith in me Dean!" Sam sounded more hurt than angry. "I told you I won't use these psychic powers unless I have to, and today, I had to!"
She had marveled at how the Winchesters had managed to kill three demons and chase two more off today with just one knife, albeit a demon-killing knife. It was becoming quickly apparent they had more than that knife for weaponry. They had Sam. So he didn't just have death visions. The demon blood that had been dropped into his mouth as a baby had obviously given him other powers... powers that Dean didn't approve of.
She listened guiltily as Sam continued his defense. "Look, Dean, I don't want to have this same old argument again and again. How many times do I have to explain? You were dead. I watched you die. You were ripped to shreds in front of my eyes and dragged to Hell and it was all my fault."
Her heart skipped a beat and she frowned in confusion. What did Sam mean by Dean was dead? That was impossible.
Sam was still talking. "I couldn't get you back so I decided to go after the bitch who put you in Hell to begin with and to do that I needed something more than Ruby's knife. This weapon is right here inside of me. You can't expect me not to react and use it when I have no other choice."
"There's always another choice, Sam," were the last words she heard the elder Winchester speak before she flicked the switch on the radio, her guilt of eavesdropping getting the best of her.
Was Dean a ghost? Or a demon like Ruby? No, he was a good guy, of that she was certain. He couldn't possibly be a demon. And he certainly felt real. Of all the possible ways she had heard of people coming back from the dead, none were very pleasant. Surely he wasn't a revenant or some kind of zombie?
No, no zombie could look that good, she thought with an inward grin.
Her musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. She grabbed a sawed off shotgun filled with rock salt rounds, a trick she had learned from the Winchesters last year in Indiana, and moved to the door, peeking cautiously through the eyehole. To her surprise, Sam and Dean were standing outside.
She opened the door, lowering the gun and standing aside to let them in. Sam threw her a slightly offended look as he stepped over the salt line she had laid down despite his assurances.
"What?" she shrugged. "A girl can never be too careful."
"So," Dean led, giving her a questioning look. "The walls in this place are pretty thin, huh?"
Realizing she was busted for eavesdropping she shrugged apologetically. How had they known?
"We heard your music plain as day through the wall," he explained as if reading her mind, glancing towards the destroyed gyprock on her side. "Figures sound travels two ways. We never noticed before but the gyprock's cracked through on our side too behind the dresser mirror."
"Hey, I decided to give you some privacy," she defended sheepishly. "That's why I turned on the music."
"How much did you hear?" Dean asked, really annoyed at himself for losing his temper, carelessly raising his voice, and temporarily forgetting one of John Winchester's cardinal rules. The one about secrecy.
"Uh, I know Sam can take out demons with his psychic thing," she admitted. "Which I think is totally cool, by the way," she threw Sam an impressed nod. He gave her a half-hearted smile in return.
"What else?" Dean pushed, hoping that was all.
"Well," she said more hesitantly. "I heard him say you were dead. That you were ripped to shreds and dragged…" she stopped suddenly, the impact of the next words finally hitting her. "…to Hell," she finished, unable to keep the shock from her face. He hadn't only been dead, he'd been in Hell.
Dean slumped his shoulders with a sigh and looked away. He didn't want to talk about Hell. Now that another person knew it was a matter of time before she asked him the inevitable question. What was it like? Sam had asked him. Bobby had asked him. Ellen had asked him. Even Pamela had asked him on the long car ride from her place to Bobby's when she had come to help Anna. Everybody was always so damn curious about Hell. So damn eager for him to talk about it.
"Last year," Alex said, thinking aloud. "Sam said you were on a different hunt for four months. You weren't."
Sam answered for his brother. "No, he wasn't."
"How did you get out?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity. "And is that the same body you had before you died?" She looked amused. "That would explain why you two don't really look that much alike."
Dean's mood lightened slightly. "Getting out may be a story for another time," he dismissed in a vague answer to her first question before jumping on her second. "And yes, of course this is my original body. I'm naturally this handsome. Sam musta missed out on the handsome genes because I mostly take after my mom and he's more like Dad."
Alex nodded, deciding to dial back on the inquisition. Understandably so, it was obviously an uncomfortable subject for Dean and she was the last person that was going to make someone talk about feelings they didn't want to share.
"Look, I'm really sorry guys," she apologized. "I didn't really mean to eavesdrop, it just sort of happened."
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure we can trust you to keep all of this to yourself," Sam smiled.
Alex snorted. "Who am I gonna tell?"
SPN-SPN-SPN
Sam was up before his brother the next morning and decided to go on a Java run. A strong, black coffee usually made Dean's winning morning personality slightly more bearable. The young hunter bumped into Alex on his way back to the room as she finished her morning jog. He told her he'd wake up Dean and she agreed to be ready to go in a half hour.
Dean was awake when he returned to the room but the bribe of coffee did little to ease the tension between them. They had not spoken about the incident at Brian's house since their interrupted argument last night. By the time the three hit the road in the Impala, Dean's only words to Sam had been "'That my coffee?'...'Dude, did you put sugar in this?'... and 'Uck, you been eatin' burritos again? Put a cork in it, man!'"
Alex would have to have been completely stoned to miss the tense air pulsating between the brothers. She figured it would dissipate once they got on the road, but not a word was spoken for the first fifteen minutes of the drive. She finally decided to break the silence.
"So, Sam. You can kill demons with your mind, huh?" she blurted, cursing herself immediately for her poor choice of subjects.
"Uh, to be more accurate, I can't actually kill them," he answered with a quick, almost shameful look at his brother, who remained silent. "I can pull them out of the bodies they're possessing and send them back to Hell. And Dean doesn't think it's so cool."
"Yeah, I kinda got that. What's the deal, Dean? Why isn't it a good thing?" Alex asked, not sure if it was a wise idea to bring the subject out into the open but figured the tension between the brothers wasn't going to end until they had resolved the issue. "He's getting rid of the bad guys."
"It's a demon power, remember?" Dean replied, his answer directed more at Sam than Alex. "I just don't think he should be using it. It can't be without consequences."
"It might be a demon power," Alex offered, taking Sam's side, "but it isn't a demon using it. It's Sam." She sat forward, resting her chin on folded arms across the back of the front seat of the Impala between the brothers. "Maybe it's like the Force."
"The Force?" Dean said sarcastically, trying to prevent his lips curling up in a smile at the Star Wars reference. Sam was gonna eat this one up.
"Yeah," she continued. "Luke and Vader both use the Force to be Jedi's. Luke uses it for good and Vader uses it for bad. Simple. Sam's like Luke."
"And demons are a bunch of Darth Vaders?" Dean scorned. "That's your argument?"
Alex chuckled with a slight blush. "It sounded more convincing in my head. But my point is still valid. You trust Sam, don't you? It doesn't really matter what he can do, just what he does do."
"Thank-you Alex!" Sam nodded, giving Dean a smug look. "Well said."
"Okay, Luke," Dean fired his brother a warning look, "even if you get Han Solo over here to agree, which you won't, don't forget that Yoda and all the other Master Jedi's don't think you should use 'the Force' either!"
Sam knew Dean was referring to Castiel and the other angels and, even more frighteningly, possibly God himself. He tensed and turned away to look at the dull Arkansas scenery zipping past his window. He couldn't argue that point.
Alex noticed Sam huff and stiffen up. Realizing there was more to this argument than she knew and regretting bringing the subject up, she wisely decided to butt out and change the subject. The definitive opening guitar chords of Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild suddenly soared out of the Chevy's speakers and she jumped at the fortuitous chance to loosen the tension. Leaning forward over the seat, she turned the volume knob, cranking it full up.
Dean's natural reflex was to slap at any hand touching his baby's radio controls while he was driving. Sam knew better than to even try. Alex's sideways grin at him, however, persuaded him to refrain from doing so and he decided to let her have her way. She cheered as the gritty guitar sound filled the car.
"Get your motor runnin'," she sang along loudly from the back seat. "Head out on the highway…"
She leaned forward and slapped Dean's shoulder. "Come on, both of you. I know you want to! And whatever comes our way! Yeah darlin' gonna make it happen!"
"Take the world in a love embrace!…" Dean joined in, giving Sam a grin and a shrug, agreeing to drop the argument for the time being.
"Fire all of your guns at once…"
Sam laughed at the singing pair in the car with him, shaking his head. He had sat next to Dean singing along with the radio hundreds of times in his life and usually just ignored it, lost in his own thoughts. But Alex was more persistent than his brother usually was and wasn't letting him sit this one out.
"Come on Sam! You too!" she urged, wrapping her arm around his neck from behind and squeezing lightly in mock threat.
"I like smoke and lightning…Heavy metal thunder…Racin' with the wind…And the feelin' that I'm under…" Dean and Alex sang loudly together.
Now she was mussing up Sam's hair. Making a haphazard attempt to tidy his disheveled mop, he finally gave in and joined the song, "Yeah darlin' gonna make it happen…Take the world in a love embrace…Fire all of your guns at once and…Explode into space…"
The three sang, or rather shouted, the lyrics at full volume for the rest of the song, grinning at each other in their sheepish stupidity and temporarily erasing the memories of the previous argument, effectively lifting their spirits past it. The conversation afterwards slid onto the topic of humorous instances during past hunts and they were still laughing at a wild story Alex was recounting of the time a witch cast a love spell on Josh when they pulled up at Bruno's house.
"Am I relegated to the car again, Boss, or do I get to come in this time?" Alex asked Dean, hoping he'd let her join them.
"Uh, not this time, Sunshine," he said apologetically, getting out of the car and moving to the trunk to arm up before going inside. He decided to take half the arsenal this time, determined not to get caught by surprise again and give Sam another excuse to use his disturbing powers.
Alex rolled her eyes but didn't argue, flopping herself back into the Impala's comfortable back seat with a sigh.
Sam chuckled as they walked up the path to the house. "Dude, what's with you making Alex stay in the car again? She already knows more than anybody else except maybe Bobby."
Dean ran his hand over his mouth and his expression hardened. "I just don't want her to find out about angels." Cas's comment about Alex potentially being of some use was still eating at him.
"And what, you think Cas is going to show up here?" Sam pointed out the unlikelihood. "Besides, she's already seen him. And him her."
Dean glanced back at the car as they stepped up onto the doorstep. "They're a little too quick to claim collateral damage for my liking. Let's just keep her away from them, 'kay?" He knocked loudly on the door without waiting for Sam to reply.
A portly man in his early fifties answered the door wearing paint-smeared coveralls and an Oakland A's ball cap. He looked curiously at the hunters but didn't speak, choosing instead to greet them with a 'who are you?' Grunt.
"Bruno Richter?" asked Dean.
"Yeah," the man replied gruffly. "Who's askin'?"
"Uh, we're here about Father Smit," Sam replied. "May we come in?"
A flash of sadness crossed the man's face when Smit was mentioned and he shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He stepped into the living room followed by Sam and Dean. "Wipe your feet!" he scolded, pointing to the large, straw doormat. Both brothers stopped short and quickly obeyed like chastised schoolchildren.
"Now what can I do for you gentlemen?" the older man pressed. "I'd like to get back to my work."
"You, uh, doing some painting Mr. Richter?" Sam asked politely, not yet sure how to bring up the subject of the medallion.
The man gave the tall hunter an impatient sigh. "Yeah, I'm repainting the den. What of it?"
"We won't keep you long," Dean promised. "I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam. We have some common interests with the late Father Smit. His son, Brian, pointed us in your direction. He thought maybe you could help us."
Bruno's head lifted at the mention of the priest's son. "Brian? How's he doin'? I've been meaning to go see the kid but I figured I'd give him a few days first. After all, Felix only died on Friday."
The hunters exchanged glances, not sure if they should tell Bruno about Brian's deceased status. Dean decided to be upfront. "Uh, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but Brian was killed yesterday."
The man gasped and turned quickly away. Sam and Dean stood patiently, allowing him a few moments of grief.
"How?" Bruno demanded hoarsely when he turned back around, having regained his composure.
"Well, we think some very bad, uh, people were after his father's medallion," Dean supplied, watching closely for the reaction to the mention of the relic.
Both hunters noticed the look of recognition that flashed across the older man's face, followed quickly by looks of surprise and suspicion, in that order.
"Mr. Richter, we know Father Smit was entrusted to guard the medallion," Sam said, coming clean. "Brian explained that he hadn't believed in the importance of his father's task. I find it unlikely Smit would have not made some other arrangements for the medallion to be taken care of in the event of his death. Brian thought he may have come to you."
"How do you know all this?" Bruno eyed the hunters suspiciously. "It's true Brian always thought the medallion was just some piece of crap some ancestor had lifted from some rich Earl or something, but he never would have betrayed his father's trust."
"He didn't," Dean assured him. "In fact, his father would have been proud. He died bravely and he died protecting the medallion."
Bruno studied Dean carefully. "You were there when he died?" he asked finally.
"Yes."
"These people that killed him, were they…" Bruno hesitated. "Normal?"
"Mr. Richter, are you asking us if they were human?" Sam asked shrewdly.
"Well, yeah," Bruno shrugged.
"No," Dean said. "They were demons."
Bruno's eyebrows went up and he let out a slow whistle. "So Old Smitty was right," he breathed. "About the demons, the angels, the apocalypse. Everything is true."
"Angels?" Dean asked.
"Apocalypse?" Sam asked. Just how much had Felix Smit known?
"Yeah, an angel appeared to an ancestor of Felix's about two thousand years ago and gave him the medallion. Told him to keep it safe, that all of mankind depended on it being kept hidden and out of the hands of those who serve Lucifer or it could bring about the apocalypse. It was being entrusted to him and his descendants after him. It's been in his family for more generations than he could count. They've kept this secret all this time but Brian was the last of their family." Bruno narrowed his eyes suddenly at the Winchesters. "What does a demon look like?" he demanded.
"Like you or me only their eyes can turn black," Sam answered patiently. "They possess people."
"Cristo!" Bruno said loudly, looking quickly back and forth between the brothers for a reaction.
Dean snorted. "We're not demons," he assured the older man.
"I don't know that for sure do I?"
"Okay, douse us with holy water, perform an exorcism, throw salt at us, whatever you need to do to prove we're not demons," Dean groused. "But be quick about it, we don't have all day here. The demons found Brian, it's probably a matter of time before they find you too."
"Don't think I won't," Bruno warned. "I have seen a demon before. And I exorcised him, sent him right back to Hell. Scariest damn thing I ever saw, but don't you doubt I can do it again." He moved over to a closet near the hall and rummaged around inside for a few minutes, coming out with a silver flask. Dean rolled his eyes but stood still as the man splashed the water from the flask at him, studied him closely, then did the same to Sam.
"Are you happy now?" Dean demanded, wiping a sleeve across the water on his face, trying to hide his annoyance. This guy knew enough to get himself in trouble, but definitely not enough to survive the demon posse that would eventually come for him. Had he really managed a successful exorcism before? Dean doubted it.
Seemingly satisfied, Bruno put the flask down. "So why are you here anyway?" he asked. "To warn me about the demons that killed Brian?"
"No. We're here to take over the safekeeping of the medallion," Sam replied.
"Oh no. I don't think so." Bruno folded his arms across his chest. "Felix entrusted me with it. I can keep it safe."
"Look old man," Dean was getting frustrated, "we've been hunting demons and all sorts of other evil dicks our entire lives. We're better equipped and better suited for this job. You need to hand it over. Then you need to get yourself out of town and never look back."
The man didn't seem to get offended but instead looked thoughtful. "How did you know about the medallion?" he asked.
"Let's just say it's been made the responsibility of our family now," Sam answered.
"The angels sent you?" The older man's voice couldn't hide his excitement at the prospect.
"Are you gonna give us the medallion or not?" Dean pressed, not answering.
Bruno still looked unconvinced. "Listen, Smitty told me everything. If you really were meant to take the medallion, then you must have been told something that the demons wouldn't know. Something to convince me to give it to you. If I even have it, that is."
Sam too was getting frustrated. How were they to convince this guy they were the good guys? They didn't know anything about the medallion except it could somehow be used to open another seal. "Castiel's a little stingy with background information. He just told us to find it and keep it safe."
"Castiel?" Bruno's eyes lit up and he smiled at Sam. "The angel?"
Sam frowned. "Yeah, how did you know that?"
"Castiel is the angel that appeared to Smitty's ancestor hundreds of years ago."
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, both trying to imagine Castiel walking the earth two thousand years ago. Bruno told them to wait and went into the adjacent room which appeared to be the den being painted. The hunters hoped it was to retrieve the medallion.
"Didn't dudes wear tights back then?" Dean asked Sam quietly, a smile forming on his lips.
Sam gave a little snort of amusement picturing Castiel, or at least the 'vessel' he was currently using, walking around in some sort of tunic with brightly coloured tights. "I think they wore togas."
Dean snickered before focusing back on the task at hand. "So, Mr. Richter," he called out from the foyer where they still stood. "You really exorcise a demon?"
"Sure did!" the man called back amid the sound of hammering. "Old Smitty heard about it and came to see me to ask questions. That was about fifteen years ago. We've been friends ever since." Now Sam and Dean could hear the sound of splintering wood. "He came to me when he found out he had cancer and realized Brian wasn't willing to look after the medallion." A few seconds later, Bruno reappeared carrying a metal box about the size of a jewellery box in his hands.
"I had it in this fireproof box and was plastering it into the wall of the den to hide it," the older man explained sheepishly.
"Hence the new paint job," Sam surmised.
Bruno nodded and handed him the box in a rather ceremonious manner. Sam took it carefully, reaching somewhat nervously to open it.
Now that it was in Winchester hands, Dean turned to Bruno, a reproachful look on his face. "So, you're just handing it over? No offense, and I assure you you're doing the right thing, but if this really is some kind of sacred relic, don't you think you made that just a little too easy?"
Sam gave the elder Winchester a disapproving look. 'What does it matter?' his raised eyebrows silently asked his brother. 'Don't be a dick,' he said with no words. He had the box opened and was unwrapping the cloth from the small object within.
Bruno didn't seem offended by Dean's remark and he dismissively waved his hand in the air. "To be honest, I was kind of expecting you. After all, the angel told Felix's ancestor that when the time came his family could no longer keep the medallion safe, another family would be sent to take over the responsibility. You two are brothers so it makes sense. Besides, the medallion has a cloaking spell and the box has a protection spell on it," he added with a wink. "Had your brother here been a demon, it would have turned him to dust when he opened it."
Dean's heart lurched at Bruno's last confession. Of course Sam wasn't a demon, but he did have demon blood in him. Some spells may not distinguish between the two. In Indiana, when the Winchesters had taken on a Celtic God with the help of the Brentons, Sam had nearly been killed by a spell gone wrong for that very reason. Dean shuddered at the memory of his brother, unconscious and bleeding in his arms only a few months before. They had been lucky this time.
Sam gave a low whistle as he pulled back the last layer of cloth to reveal a small, roundish gold medallion with a bright green emerald in the center about the size of a large grape or a small golf ball. There were markings all around the perimeter of both sides, symbols and words Sam had never seen before. Dean came over to have a peek at it before Sam began wrapping it up again.
"Are you a hunter, Mr. Richter?" Sam asked curiously.
"A hunter?" Bruno raised his eyebrows. "A hunter of what?"
"Ah, never mind," Sam smiled, realizing Bruno's one exorcism was probably his only battle against the supernatural. He had never become obsessed and fallen into the trap that was the life of a hunter like so many others had, John Winchester included.
"Like we said before, you should really disappear," Dean warned. "The demons will eventually find you if you stay here."
Bruno looked doubtful. "I can't just up and leave," he argued. "I have family, friends."
"If you want to keep them safe, you have to. At least until this is all over." Dean felt sorry to be the bearer of this difficult news, but this time his conscience was clean. It had been Felix who had involved Bruno, not the Winchesters. "Please," he added.
The hunters spent the next few minutes convincing Bruno to take off and disappear for a while, finally succeeding by describing what had happened to Brian. As they made their way to the door to leave, a thought occurred to Dean and he turned back to the older man.
"Brian said something right before he died," he said. "He said 'don't let them kill the angels'. Any idea what he meant by that?" Sam jerked his head up at his brother's question. Dean hadn't mentioned this before. Then again, they hadn't really been on good speaking terms since the incident. Must have been what the dying young man had whispered into Dean's ear.
Bruno nodded somberly. "The medallion of course," he answered. In response to the confused looks on both the hunters' faces, he continued. "The medallion's purpose is to kill angels. It's a weapon." He looked back and forth from brother to brother, who both remained silent. "You fellows knew that, didn't you?" he asked. "What did you think it was for?"
Dean cleared his throat, still processing the information. "Ah, like we said, Cas isn't really forthcoming with the background information."
They said their goodbyes and Dean turned to Sam on the way down the front path. "Dude, we are so screwed. The demons are never gonna let this one go. That angel dickhead just gave us two giant bulls-eyes on our backs."
"I think we already had those, Dean," Sam reminded him.
Their discussion of the recent discoveries was cut short when they reached the Impala where Alex still sat in the back seat, leaning back with her eyes closed and headphones on. She was oblivious to their return until Sam sank his massive frame into the passenger seat, lowering the car by at last a couple of inches. He told her they had been successful and she immediately asked to see the medallion. Figuring it couldn't do any harm at this point, Sam handed it over as Dean started the car up and headed back towards their motel at Loela.
Alex rotated the impressive artifact around in her hands as she studied it. "Hey, you guys remember Raiders of the Lost Ark?" she asked with a grin.
Dean laughed. He had actually been thinking the same thing when he had first set eyes on the relic. "Yeah, it does look a lot like that one, doesn't it?"
SPN-SPN-SPN
So they have the medallion... do you really think it's going to be that easy? Of course not :-)