28

CHAPTER 5

Seconds after Erin had pulled away, leaving Dean behind without so much as a backward glance, Sam came jogging up having spotted them from across the parking lot. It was obvious Dean had failed miserably at getting her to let him have the books.

"You didn't get them," Sam said pointing out the obvious. Dean shot him an irritated glare for it.

"What's the matter? Didn't she fall for the Dean Winchester charm?"

"Shut up Sammy," Dean complained, stalking back in the direction of the Impala. He didn't know if he hated the woman for seeing right through him or if it just made her more intriguing. Sam gave Dean an intolerant look as he walked along side.

"We needed those books Dean."

"I know that!" Dean snapped. He despised when his brother got on his ass because he'd screwed up. That was his job. Didn't help the woman with the books they needed, had just shot him down without even blinking. "Damn she was hot," Dean muttered to no one. He yanked open the car door and flung himself in the driver's seat in irritation. It was not cool to have been caught by your baby brother just as you'd had the rug pulled out from you. Not cool!

"I think she's involved with this somehow," Sam said as he got in beside him.

"Why?" Dean asked his voice still rather short from his bruised ego.

"I found out some things from the librarian about her. I just don't know what to make of it yet."

Dean grimaced; he didn't want to hear this. Every single time there was a hot woman involved it seemed they turned out to be the big bad in disguise. Just once he would have liked it if the woman in question was the damsel in distress so they could appropriately thank him when he saved her or their seemed connection was just a coincidence.

"Don't tell me you think she's Ahriman?"

"No, but something's going on," Sam said, "Come on let's get something to eat and I'll tell you about it."

Dean started the car and put it in reverse, turning so he could see to back out of the parking space.

"Just once, I'd like the hot chick not to be a friggin' monster. Just once!"

###

Dean and Sam ended up back on the same highway their hotel was on at a restaurant called "Farmer Girl" that from the outside looked like a dive and from the inside looked like a mom and pop diner and, inexplicably given the name, served primarily Greek food. Luckily, they also served traditional fare.

Dean had a bite of his bacon cheeseburger shoved in the side of his mouth, talking to Sam, who was busy eating the Gyro he'd ordered while working on his laptop, trying to make what he had learned about Erin Morgan make sense so he could then explain it to Dean.

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I think the girl in the picture was Erin Morgan," Sam explained, not looking up from his laptop. He'd pulled up the university's website and was perusing it for the same photograph Maggie Sanford had shown him.

"Her name's Erin Morgan?" Dean said, completely jumping over the significance of what Sam had told him.

"Yeah now it is. Then she went by Marie Read if it's the same person. She has a younger brother named Andrew Kidd, he's the guy beside her in the picture. Runs a bookstore called Between the Lines over on Flagler Drive, according to the librarian." Sam suddenly turned the laptop around to face Dean, he'd found the picture in the pages chronicling the history of the university. "Look at the woman second from the end on the right."

Dean leaned forward and did as he was told and stopped chewing. He saw the same thing Sam had. In fact, because he'd spent a few more minutes with her in closer proximity, he saw it better. The woman in the picture didn't just look like Erin Morgan it was Erin Morgan.

"Whoa. That picture's gotta be sixty years old."

"Yep. Something's bugging me about her and her brother's last names too. Seems like I should know them," Sam said swiveling the laptop back around to figure out that part of the equation.

"Witch maybe? Maybe she summoned this Ahriman and he went HAL 9000 on her?" Dean asked. He really hated the idea that Erin might be a witch. He hated witches. Sam shook his head, typing in the term 'Morgan, Read and Kidd surname' in a search engine.

"I don't think so. If she did, why would she need the books? She'd have already known anything they could tell her," Sam said, reading through the search results. The second result hit him immediately. All three names belonged to infamous pirates. "Oh here's something. All three last names, Morgan, Read and Kidd, are all the last names of famous pirates. That's where I knew them from."

Dean laughed around a mouth full of burger. "Well at least she's got style," then added, "If she didn't bring the demon here then what do you think she has to do with it?"

Sam kept working, moving from the last names on to the woman's current identity, seeing if he could track down anything that might give them a lead. "Could be Ahriman's after her, she figured it out and now she's trying to find a way to get rid of him."

"Okay, but then how do you explain that, if it is the same woman, why she hasn't aged in sixty years?"

"I have no idea," Sam admitted. Dean sat for a long while, chewing that one over literally and figuratively as Sam worked.

He backtracked and found that everything Maggie Sanford had told him was absolutely true. Marie Read, a rare and antique books dealer, was assumed to have been caught in a rip tide off Singer Island while swimming at night. Her body had washed up on shore the following morning, cause of death, drowning. The death certificate was exactly as it should be. Her brother had claimed the body and had it cremated so there was no way they could check for a body.

Further searching proved Andrew Kidd, listed as Marie Read's half brother and thus explaining the difference in last names, had died thirty years later in California. His cause of death was listed as severe internal trauma due to a car accident. His body had been claimed and cremated, by his niece, Claire O'Malley. Again, the last name proved to belong to an infamous pirate. Claire O'Malley had died seven years ago in a mugging in Arizona. Christian Roberts (again with the pirate related last names) listed as her nephew and Erin Morgan's half brother, had been the one to claim and cremate the body. All of this, he found readily available from obituaries. Not a thing looked suspicious. He might have been able to find out more if they dug into the actual death certificates but it wasn't something they had time to do if his suggestion about Erin Morgan being the next target was right. He knew something wasn't right here, where was the immediate family, why always more distant relatives? But, just like with Ahriman he'd hit a dead end.

"I got nothin'," Sam declared throwing up his hands and shutting the laptop. "Everything looks exactly like it should on the surface." Dean had finished his meal and was busy building a tower out of toothpicks, while he waited on his brother.

"Maybe she really does just look that much like her Great Aunt," Dean said with a shrug.

"Maybe," Sam agreed with little conviction. "At any rate we have got to find a way to get our hands on those books and see if she is Ahriman's next target."

"You said you know where her shop is. What about where she lives?" Dean asked, mulling over a plan. Sam thought a minute and opened his laptop again, "Hold on I'll find out" he plugged in the name of Erin's bookstore and her name. A few clicks and he hit pay dirt.

"Two birds, one stone, the shop is on Flagler and her home address is the same as the shop. I bet she lives above it."

"Then what do you say to a little B and E?" Dean suggested.

"Why don't we just go talk to her? If I'm right she already knows half of what's going on. She'll probably listen."

"What? You want to just waltz in there and tell her we're hunters who just happen to be after the same demon that's after her? Has that ever worked out in our favor before Sam? She was real keen on keeping those books for herself, she's not going to ask us in for dinner when she finds out what we are. Besides we still don't know if she's even human," Dean said.

"You've got a point but if her apartment is above the book shop she's going to be there when we break in," Sam countered.

"Then, we tell her if we have to but let's not go all taxi cab confessions just yet."

###

Ahriman, looked down at the case in his hands gleefully. It contained a Desert Eagle that he had "bought" from a gun shop owner a few blocks away, only half an hour ago. The gun shop owner was very dead.

Tonight, the real fun would begin. Soon the Winchesters would surely be here on his trail and that trail would lead them straight to Erin. He'd certainly been putting up enough signs for them to follow, just not enough for them to figure out what it was he was up to, other than a seemingly random killing spree. Sure some of it had been for plain fun, but the immortals he'd beheaded, those had a purpose and soon enough all of them would know about it, too late to stop him.

Tonight, he'd make life a little harder for Erin Morgan. Tonight, she'd die in plain sight. Wouldn't that be a sticky wicket to explain when she didn't stay dead?

###

Erin had dropped her facade of normalcy as soon as she'd gotten home. After she'd left "Roger Daltrey" wondering where he'd stepped wrong at the university she'd swung back by the church and had the Father bless the olive oil and salt just to be sure. He'd balked at first, thinking the request more than a little odd. Holy water he got, salt and oil, not so much, but a hundred dollar bill and suddenly he didn't think it odd at all. So much for the incorruptible clergy. If she'd been bothering to think straight she'd have taken the salt and oil to him and gotten the holy water all at the same time but she wasn't.

Erin had to get her head in the game. She was better than this, rare and antique books dealer was just a past time. She was an immortal and immortals were warriors. She had Christian to save and Ahriman to kill before he could work his way through her to Duncan. Her entire family's lives were dependent on her succeeding. Then there was the added problem of "Roger Daltrey" she didn't know what he wanted with the books but she knew from centuries experience he wasn't the student he'd claimed. He'd seemed... good somehow. It was possible, especially given the fact Ahriman had been advertising his presence to all and sundry, that the man knew what Ahriman was and was after him, but he was mortal. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. He'd only get himself killed. That was assuming he wasn't on Ahriman's side somehow and Erin couldn't risk that. There was too much at stake.

She set to work. Within forty minutes she'd locked every opening, poured salt around every crevice, entrance, door frame and window the building possessed, from the store downstairs, through her apartment, to the glass enclosed roof. To that, she added holy water and the oil, running it around the edges of them and on every door and window she marked a cross. She hung crucifixes everywhere upstairs and down.

Then she armed herself, filling the super soakers with salt, holy water and oil, keeping one slung on its cord across her chest and positioning the others around the building for easy access in case she lost the one she had, and then coated the blade of her sword with the mixture. Finally, she went into her bedroom and opened the closet door. From the back wall, she removed a large portion of wood that she'd fitted there years ago as a hidden storage place and pulled out a trunk.

It had been kept there for years, but Erin had meticulously kept its contents cleaned and in good repair against need. Relics of a past life. She, unlike Duncan MacLeod, was not above using mundane weaponry if the situation called for it. Duncan stuck by his sword, never resorting to firearms with another immortal. He thought it was cheating and dishonorable. Normally she would have agreed, but there were some immortals who didn't know the definition of honor and they would resort to other methods to kill you. Some of them used it as a first line of attack. It wasn't strictly against the rules of the Game but it was severely frowned upon. Of course if you were dead, what good would frowning on it do?

She did not intend to let them get the upper hand and so she had this. A trunk full of lock picks, a multitude of other gadgets that had allowed her to profit from the illicit life she'd once led, knives, swords, daggers, hand guns, a machine gun or two, ammunition for all of them, whet stones and cleaning kits. All of it she knew how to use and all of it was battle ready. Erin had not spent the long length of her life dealing in antique books. She'd been a thief and a spy. For centuries she'd fought, been a soldier in wars no one was still living to remember. You could not be an immortal and not be a warrior. If you weren't you didn't live very long.

She'd thought she'd never have to use them again. She'd removed herself from the Game three years ago wanting out. The constant killing, the hunting, grew wearying. She was tired of the bloodshed. This wasn't the first time she'd tried to get out of it. She'd tried multiple times before and always the Game found her. It always did. No matter how hard you tried, eventually, it would find you. The best she had hoped for was a few years of relative peace, now it was over.

Now, not only had the Game found her again in the form of her own student, something every immortal dreaded, he was possessed by a demon. This was the Game, as she'd never played it. She had to face the fact that she might not be able to save him. That if it came down to the line she would have to take his head or lose her own. It was unthinkable. She refused to allow herself to believe that it would get that far. There was no way in hell she could kill Christian; she would find a way to save him. Come hell or high water.

Erin spent the next half an hour checking over her weapons, she kept a Colt 1911 on her, tucking it in the waistband of her pants at the small of her back and stuck a knife in the top of the low boots she was wearing. The building was secured as she could get it with what little knowledge she had, accurate or inaccurate. Last, she set up in her apartment living room with the books.

She spread them out over the surface of the coffee table, collected a pad of paper and a pencil, and her laptop and began to try to decipher the Gathas and the Yasna. Both were written in Avestan, a language that had been used before she was born and she was old by anyone's standards. She might look like a twenty six year old, that didn't mean she was one or to be more accurate she'd been stuck at twenty six for centuries. The Avestan language was only used for Zoroastrian religious writing, it had never been found anywhere else. It wasn't easy transcribing one word at a time, cross referencing each letter and hoping she was getting the translation right.

Erin could have tried a different plan, but it seemed pointless. She'd considered holy ground. No immortal could fight on holy ground without dire consequences, if they could fight at all. Legend held that Mount Vesuvius erupting had been the result of two immortals fighting on holy ground. It was their sanctuary and it made sense that a demon might be just as helpless on it. But, what good would it have done?

She could have holed up on holy ground, but even if Ahriman was helpless there, all he'd have to do was wait. She couldn't stay there forever. He might have decided to forgo her completely if she did run for holy ground and go after Duncan ahead of his schedule. The point was to save Christian and Duncan. Keeping her own hide in tact by cowering on holy ground wasn't an option, even if it was viable and she didn't know it was. Here, she hoped she was marginally safe, at least until she found a way to deal with Ahriman. Then she'd lay a trap for him if she could. Or go after him outright if she had to. This was just a temporary foxhole while she did figure out what to do.

###

Dean and Sam pulled up across the street from Between the Lines Rare and Antique Books seventeen minutes after midnight. They hoped that would mean that Erin Morgan, whatever she was, would be asleep and that the traffic would be light. Giving them a little more time to carry off their heist. The building was two stories of older brick, standing in contrast to the newer buildings around it and from the ground they could see the roof had been enclosed with glass, a little like a greenhouse. The entire street was that way, a conglomeration of new and old structures mixed between commercial and residential apartment buildings. The name of the shop was etched in the glass on the huge front window in true old timey fashion. When it had been new, the building had probably been state of the art.

Inside the lights were off in the shop, but they couldn't tell if any of the upstairs lights were on, all the shades had been pulled, blocking any chance they had of telling from the street. They'd have to take their chances. The preliminary scouting down, Dean turned the Impala onto the street running alongside the shop and pulled into the alley behind it. There wasn't much to see, a dumpster, no lighting, and Erin's Mustang parked near the back door under the fire escape.

Silently, they got out of the car checking pockets and waistbands for what they needed and moved for the side of the building that was braced against the next, keeping them out of sight of the street. They peered through a window to the store inside and Dean groaned.

"Guess we get to play Mission Impossible," Sam snarked seeing the same thing Dean did.

Erin was no idiot. The place was protected by a security system. No state of the art lasers laced over the room but there were two control panels. One in the front and one in the back, cameras were mounted on the walls and ceilings, held inside black globes so you couldn't tell when one was pointing at you and Dean would bet money every display case inside was wired too. That wouldn't be an issue, Erin had wanted the books for herself, she wouldn't have put them in a display case but the rest was going to be a bitch.

Dean and Sam went back around to the back of the building to formulate a plan.

"That alarm system has got to have a delay for the owner to enter a security code," Dean said.

"Probably thirty seconds give or take. If we can get inside the panels before then and disable them, it will bypass the system but what do we do about the cameras? Much less the fact Erin Morgan is probably upstairs?"

"Cameras, let them do their thing until we get what we came for then find where they're recorded and steal the recordings? Erin, hope she's a heavy sleeper. We're winging it man, we don't have a choice. Without those books we haven't got a chance," Dean said. Sam gave him a look of trepidation and Dean returned it with a helpless shrug. He didn't like this any better than Sam did but they had to have those books. They'd just have to hope that Erin really was just a dead ringer for her Great Aunt or that whatever she was, they could handle it on the fly.

Sam sighed and motioned for the door, pulling out a small flashlight and flicking it on so Dean could see to pick the lock. Dean took out his lock picks kneeling in the dark alley. He worked on the deadbolt first. This was going to be a real pain he had to pick the doorknob and the dead bolt before the alarm went off then he and Sam had to disable both control pads. They had thirty seconds from the time the first lock was sprung to do it in. Ethan Hunt had it easy.

In less than two minutes Dean heard the sound of the dead bolt retracting and moved to the doorknob, Sam stood behind him holding the flashlight steady and keeping an eye out for anyone that might see them. It took ten seconds to pick the doorknob and they were through. What they saw on the other side proved that Erin had at least some working knowledge of what was going on but was otherwise misinformed. They'd worry about that in a minute. Sam swung around the door for the control panel there and Dean dashed for the front door's panel.

Stashing his lock picks in his pocket he traded them for a screwdriver and removed the faceplate, fifteen seconds left. Using the same method he'd seen Sam use, he disconnected two of the wires and crossed them, the small LED display went from "Armed" to "Unarmed" and Dean turned to see if Sam had been as lucky as he was. He had, Sam gave his brother a thumbs up and Dean returned to the back door taking a look at his surroundings.

A now broken line of salt lay at the bottom of the door, the frame had been coated around the edges with oil and in the center of it a cross had been drawn. Dean pushed the disarrayed salt line back into place, just in case. Every window and the front door was the same and around the room, crucifixes were hung. She'd gotten part of the solution right anyway. The oil would do nothing, neither would the crosses or crucifixes but the salt would keep a demon from entering.

"She definitely thinks she has a demon problem," Dean breathed.

###

Erin rubbed her eyes and put her head in her hands, tossing the pen she'd been writing with onto the coffee table in frustration. She'd been at this for hours, the sun had long since gone down and she'd found nothing that made any sense. She knew what Ahriman was now but neither book had anything in them that said how to get rid of him. Right the opposite in fact, if the books were to be believed you couldn't get rid of him, he just was and the only thing capable of defeating him was the Zoroastrians' opposite good power. Their God.

Erin was no God, so where did that leave her? If the books were right, how had Duncan been able to send the bastard back to hell in the first place? Had he or had it all been a ruse? She wished she dared to call him and ask but she couldn't. If he knew, he'd insist on coming here to help her and that would only put him in danger. She was on her own and growing more despondent by the minute. She couldn't lose either of them. They meant too much to her. Immortals didn't have the luxury of being born into families. All immortals were foundlings and incapable of bearing children. Their families were what they made them.

She'd moved on to the bibles in the hopes that maybe they might offer something, but so far the only things she could find were the same things she already knew. Demons possessed people, they could be exorcised, and there were passages to do it but you had to capture the possessed first. Oh and then there was the whole apocalypse thing which did nothing for her situation. She had hoped older translations might have something the more modern didn't but no, nothing she could use.

She was about to get into the Books of Solomon, hoping the man who'd written them might have had some idea about Ahriman among the ancient pages, when static buzzed in her brain making the hairs on her body stand on end like she was too close to a live wire. Immortal. Instinctively, Erin's hand closed on the hilt of her sword propped against the coffee table and she was on her feet moving for the front door. Easing the door open and pushing aside the salt line there at the same time, she peered down the short hallway that led to the stairs. Nothing.

Moving on cat's paws, back to the wall she darted down the hall and started down the stairs. A beam of light flashed at the foot of the stairwell. Someone was definitely inside the building. If the immortal she was feeling was Christian and he'd been able to enter, then the myths had all been wrong and her safe guards were for nothing. Cursing silently, she crept down the stairs careful to put her feet down so they wouldn't creak and give her away. She could hear the faint sound of whispered voices coming toward her. More than one? Erin quickened her pace, it wouldn't do to be caught in the stairwell with no way out but up.

###

Dean and Sam moved like the ghosts they hunted through the straight-laced shelves and minimalist display cases containing volumes that no one but collectors and scholars even knew existed. First editions of Edgar Allan Poe, the collected works of Shakespeare in their first run, Lord Byron, Niccolo Machiavelli. All originals, some of the price tags made Dean choke. Twenty Five Thousand dollars for an original printing of Don Quixote? He didn't even know who the hell Don Quixote was. He thought it might be the crazy guy who tried to fight windmills from a book he'd partially read in one of the many schools he'd gone to as a child but twenty five thousand dollars? Who paid that much for a book that didn't do anything useful but sit there and maybe waste a few hours while you read it?

All these apparently priceless volumes and they hadn't come across either book they needed. They hadn't expected them to be in the cases or on the shelves but they had to be sure. They'd picked their way into the storage room thinking perhaps she'd keep them there for safety but all they'd found were more of the same. But they both noticed there were several gapes in the arrangement of the furniture and boxes approximately the size of display cases and the carpeting had been ripped up leaving bare concrete beneath, leaving what, to Dean and Sam's trained eyes, looked like the remnants of blood. With how neat and precise the rest of the shop was they both thought something had happened in here that had caused damage to both property and body and been cleaned up, very recently. Question was, whose body?

Warily they'd crept out of the storage room and finagled their way into a back room that proved to be the shop's office. They searched all the drawers and file cabinets and found nothing. Silently they closed the office back up and looked at each other knowingly.

"We're going to have to go up stairs, the books aren't down here," Sam whispered.

"I don't imagine Erin's going to be very happy about that," Dean answered. Both of them just stood there a moment contemplating what a mess this was. Finally, Dean gritted his teeth and drew his mother of pearl gripped gun. Sam did the same.

"Come on. Let's get it over with."

Walking on tiptoes they headed for the stairs, flashlights illuminating their way.

###

Erin crept down the stairs, below her Sam and Dean crept toward them. All three reached the stairwell at the same time. Dean and Sam stood there, guns drawn aimed at the first thing they saw, Erin. She faced them sword up, the super soaker at the ready. All of them just stared at each other for a split second in surprise. Erin because they weren't who she was expecting to find, them because they hadn't expected her to come wielding a sword and a water gun down the stairs.

Erin looked at them blankly and moved to go between them. Neither of them were immortal she had bigger problems and so did they if they only knew it. But they wouldn't let her pass closing the space, guns leveled. Erin stopped short but she didn't lower her weapons.

"What are you supposed to be? Xena Warrior Princess?" Dean snipped. It was ludicrous, who fought off burglars with a water gun and a friggin' sword? Sam was too struck for words by how outrageous it was.

"More She-ra Princess of Power, get out of the way," Erin bit back and tried to move again. They inched closer. She was pinned unless she wanted to fight her way out. She figured "Roger Daltrey" and his sidekick, the guy who'd so politely held the door for her, were here after the books. She didn't want to hurt either of them if she didn't have to.

"Uh uh sweetheart. You're the one wielding a friggin' sword and a super soaker. Here's a tip, oil doesn't work against demons, salt does. I'm guessing that water gun is full of holy water right? Been reading up on some myths and legends since you have a demon problem? That'll work too, burns the hell out of 'em. The crucifixes all over won't do crap. You are in over your head," Dean said tense. This was getting way too weird, even for him.

"So are you, we aren't the only ones here. Now move," Erin growled, she could still feel the immortal she knew they were still here somewhere. She hoped to god if it was Ahriman he was still trapped outside. Sam, more diplomatic than his brother, tried a different tactic.

"He's after you isn't he? Ahriman? Ms. Morgan we know you're in trouble. That's why we're here, to help. If you'll just let us have the Gathas and the Yasna we can get rid of the demon and it will all be over."

Erin was too shocked for words. They did know, she'd been right about that but they wanted to help her? Them? Two mortals against a demon possessed immortal? They were both nuts. She couldn't dally around anymore, now their lives were at stake as well as hers. If Ahriman was out there he'd kill them all. Dean shot his brother an exasperated look and Erin used the distraction to lunge, both were forced to jump back to avoid the blade of her sword and she got past them. They were hot on her tail.

Erin hadn't taken more than four steps out into the open when she saw Ahriman through the window with a gun pointed right at them. Sam and Dean saw him too but they saw the man from the photograph.

"Get down!" Erin shouted and ducked just as Ahriman fired the Desert Eagle, punching through the reinforced glass of the shop with ease. Sam and Dean hit the ground to avoid being hit. The glass stayed intact, spider webbing, but it couldn't stop a bullet with that much force. Erin scrambled on hands and knees behind a bookcase and Sam and Dean followed. Sam and Erin peered around the ends of the bookcases trying to see Ahriman but he was nowhere they could see.

"He's gone," Sam said.

"No he's not," Erin countered letting the super soaker hang on her hip and pulling her gun, she knew he wasn't she could still feel him.

Dean peered around his brother and agreed with Sam. "Don't see him." He was glad the woman wasn't a complete idiot and had the forethought to actually have a gun on her that didn't just shoot holy water. He didn't know what use she thought a sword was going to be.

"He's there. Trust me."

"How about you tell us what the hell is going on? Isn't that supposed to be your brother?"

"How about you tell me who the hell you are?" Erin said, looking for Ahriman. Dean and Sam were doing the same and from the way they moved, she could tell both were very experienced fighters. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse.

"My name's Sam Winchester, that's my brother Dean," Sam offered, because if he didn't Dean would just spout off some other smart ass remark and get them nowhere. To Dean's annoyance she responded to Sam when she wouldn't answer Dean.

"Erin Morgan, But I'm guessing you already knew that since you know the guy outside is my brother. Or was." "I knew you didn't look like a Roger," she chided Dean.

Just as she said it, Ahriman appeared in front of another window in line with their position, Dean saw him first.

"Move!" he ordered shoving Erin to get her to go whether he needed to or not, She bolted, placing her back flat against the end of a book case. Dean got a shot off at Ahriman, so did Sam, but where it should have hit, there was nothing, he'd disappeared again. Ahriman's shot had been too late, shattering a display case into gleaming shards. Bullets wouldn't kill him, assuming they could hit him but they would slow him down. All of them stood tense, trying to figure out where Ahriman was going to appear next and how to get out of this without ending up shot or worse.

"How's he doing that?" Erin breathed.

"Demon mojo that's how. Your brother's possessed," Dean said.

"Figured that part out already," Erin answered.

"And you thought you could take him out alone? Without any idea how to do it?" Sam asked.

"Still working on that part."

Ahriman appeared at another window and fired, "Look out!" Sam yelled and they jumped out of the way as another shot barely missed them, zipping past them close enough they could feel the breeze of its passing. It ricocheted off a steel bookshelf breaking another display case. Erin tucked and rolled coming up in a spin on her knees and fired back the way the shot had come, but Ahriman had already turned into a phantom again.

The three of them huddled behind another bookcase in a knot, automatically placing themselves in an outfacing pattern. They hadn't fought together before but battle tactics were the same no matter who you were. What surprised Dean and Sam was that Erin seemed to know what she was doing. Why would a book dealer know anything about battle tactics? They had been raised to be fighters, but as far as they knew, she hadn't been. Even if she was the same woman as in the photograph, she'd been a book dealer then too. It didn't make sense.

"We can't keep doing this. The shots are going to bring the cops and that's the last thing I need," Erin said.

"We aren't too fond of them either. He has to know that the cops are going to come, why would he keep this up knowing the cops will be here any second?" Sam reasoned.

"Doesn't make a lick of sense," Dean agreed. To Erin it made perfect sense. Shoot her in the shop knowing the cops would show up and find her dead. Only she wouldn't stay dead and that would cause her a whole mess of trouble she couldn't afford right now. Ahriman was trying to run her to ground. What he probably hadn't been counting on was these two or the fact he couldn't get through the door now.

"Yes it does," she said as all three of them saw Ahriman appear again and ducked for cover. Sam tried to hit him to no avail. Panting Erin peered around yet another bookcase.

"We can't get a shot at him with him appearing and disappearing like that," Dean said.

"Yeah and we're exposed here. He could still kill us before the cops can get here," Sam added.

"We could try to get into my office, there's no windows in there. But you probably already know that too since you've both been skulking around down here for those books," Erin said. Dean shot her a dirty look and Erin flashed him a smug grin in response.

Despite the circumstance, he was starting to like the girl. She knew how to handle herself in a fight and she hadn't freaked out like a sissy at the first sign of trouble like many people did, male or female. She had a sharp tongue to match his own and she had a killer body. Now if she was just human he'd be in heaven.

"Good idea but there's a big space between here and there. We'll be open targets," Sam said.

"You got a better idea?" Erin asked. Sam didn't and inclined his head admitting it.

"Okay then on three," Dean said taking the lead, Erin behind him and Sam behind her, it was automatic. He and Sam were protecting her from gunfire. "One...," Dean counted looking for any sign of Ahriman. "Two..." He couldn't see the demon anywhere. "Three!" he barked and then shot for the office. Ahriman appeared out of know where and had a bead on Dean. Erin saw it. There was no way Dean could avoid the shot. She did the only thing she could that would keep him from being killed.

"Shit!" she bit and tackled him. Dean stumbled and fell as she hit him, the bullet missing him, but the path down meant Erin was in the line of fire. She felt the bullet impact, passing through her back and out of her chest. She collapsed on top of Dean, who struggled to get out from under her. Sam had jumped backward out of the path of the bullet, safe.

Ahriman gave a triumphant smirk, his eyes flashing red and disappeared. His task accomplished.

Sam scrambled for where they'd fallen, rolling Erin's limp form off of Dean and Dean righted himself. Erin laid there, gasping in short bursts, blood quickly pooling on the floor. The shot had passed through her heart.

"Oh God," Sam exclaimed horrified. kneeling beside them. They had meant to save her and hadn't, she'd jumped in front of a bullet to save Dean instead. Dean's jaw was tense as he pulled off his jacket and balled it up; trying to apply pressure to the wound, even though he knew it was pointless. He still had to try, this was his fault. He should have led her through first instead of bracketing her between him and Sam, and then he'd have taken the bullet.

"Call 911," Dean ordered and looked down at Erin. She was trying to speak but she couldn't get words out, only a horribly sick, wet, clicking sound. His face softened and he tried to comfort her, keep her calm until the cops and the paramedics could get here.

"Yes, I need an ambulance at 1540 Flagler Drive," he heard Sam say into his cell phone.

"Sh, take it easy. You're gonna be okay. Just hold on Erin."

But it was useless, her eyes went blank, sliding shut even as he said it and her body relaxed in death. Dean checked her neck for a pulse just to be sure but there was none. He hung his head and balled up his fist, hitting the floor beside her body in anger.

"Damn it!"

"Someone's been shot," Sam continued his conversation with the 911 operator.

"She's dead Sammy," Dean said looking at his brother. Sam winced sadly. Both of them hated it when they failed to save someone. That's what they were supposed to do, save the world and when they didn't they took it personally. Especially Dean, every single person he hadn't been able to save was imprinted on his brain like a branding iron had put it there. Whoever or whatever Erin had been she'd died to keep Dean alive and she didn't even know him.

Suddenly, Erin gasped and her hand shot up snatching the phone from Sam's hand. Sam was so surprised he scrambled away from what was supposed to be a dead body. Dean was right behind him.

"No paramedics." Erin rasped, still getting her senses back as she started to get up. Dean reacted on pure instinct, he had his gun leveled at her head in a heartbeat. Not human after all. Not human meant evil except in the case of angels and that was debatable. Sam followed his example. Erin stayed down but pulled her gun up and they were in a standoff with the sound of police sirens in the distance coming ever closer.

"What are you?" Dean asked darkly.

###

Erin couldn't be a demon, not with the haphazard but still effective demon proofing she'd done. Dean didn't think she was an angel, if she was, the demon wouldn't have been an issue for her to defeat. She wasn't a zombie so what was she?

Erin licked her lips in apprehension. This wasn't exactly what Ahriman had, had in mind she was sure, but this was still a bad situation. She had two choices, let them shoot her again or try to salvage the situation before it got worse.

"I'm an Immortal."

"We figured that part out by you not staying dead, thanks," Sam said with biting sarcasm.

"No, no. I am an Immortal. Capital "I". Like the TV show," Erin confessed.

"What show?" Sam asked.

"Wait, wait. Like 'There can be only one' immortal? Highlander?" Dean said in petulant disbelief.

"Yes."

"Oh yeah, right. Come on, you don't really expect us to believe that?" Dean said incredulous.

"Highlander? What is she talking about?" Sam asked confused.

"You know, Immortals, Highlander, quickenings?" Dean explained.

"What?" Sam said still confused.

"Don't you watch TV dude?" Dean asked his brother in exasperation before turning his attention back to Erin. "Now, what are you really? I'm only giving you one chance before I put a hole in your head."

"She's telling the truth."

Dean and Sam stood stock still for a moment before they looked behind them at the source of the flat, emotionless voice. Erin just stared, one second it had just been them, now a man with black hair in a tan trench coat had appeared out of thin air.

"Cass?" Dean and Sam said at the same time.

"Who the hell is he?" Erin spat.

"I am Castiel, an angel of the Lord," Cass answered looking Erin directly in the eye. Everyone talked at once.

"You have got to be kidding me. An angel?" Erin said in as much disbelief as Dean had, had the first time he'd met one.

"I am not... kidding you," Cass said without a hint of humor in his voice, a huge pair of shadowy spectral feathered wings rising from behind him to illustrate his point, the overhead lights flickered madly and thunder clapped out of nowhere at the display of heavenly power.

"Yeah, that's not ominous or anything," Erin muttered.

"So, Erin's really an Immortal? Head chopping, quickenings and all?" Dean asked.

"Yes. That is what they call themselves. She is one of the," Cass paused looking for the right human phrase," good guys Dean."

Dean's mouth opened once or twice but he had nothing he could say to that. Instead, he uncocked his gun and offered Erin his hand. She looked at him warily before taking it. He helped her to her feet offering a weak, "Sorry about that. But in our line of work you can never be too careful."

"Don't worry about it. Isn't the first time someone freaked out when I didn't stay dead," Erin said.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked Cass.

"I was sent. We have work to do to stop Ahriman," Cass said blankly.

"You knew about this?" Dean snapped.

"All will be explained in time," Cass assured him again. It incensed Dean. This entire mess could have been avoided if Cass had bothered to let them in on what was going on. He was so sick and tired of angels and their schemes, dragging him and Sam and anyone else that fit what they needed into it without so much as a "Thank you ma'am."

"Screw that. I want to know what's going on right now!"

In the distance, the sirens rang closer. The cops and probably the paramedics, couldn't be but a few blocks away and they didn't exactly have a kosher explanation for why the shop was ridden with bullet holes, Erin was not dead but her shirt was covered in blood and the interior was in shambles.

"I hate to intrude, but the cops will be here in a second and we're gonna have a hell of a time explaining this," Sam said.

"He's right, We've gotta cover our tracks," Erin agreed.

"How are we going to do that?" Dean said, waving his open arms at the disaster around them.

"Follow my lead, I've done this before. Watch for the cops," Erin said picking up her fallen sword and Dean's now bloody jacket and shot off upstairs, leaving them to wait for her.

She raced through the door of her apartment to the bedroom and grabbed a clean shirt, stripping off the blood soaked one as she went, wiping off the blood it left behind. She tossed the ruined shirt on the floor and raced back down stairs, pulling the shirt on over her head just before hitting the base of the stairs and barreled back in.

"Help me shove over this bookcase so it covers the blood," she said and Dean and Sam did it without question, moving to help her, still shell shocked by all this. Who would have believed Immortals were real? Castiel beat them to it though; flitting from where he was to the bookcase and tipping it over like it were nothing. It landed with a tremendous bang, scattering the incredibly expensive tomes inside, everywhere. Erin blinked.

"Is that good?" he asked deadpan.

"Yeah, that works," Erin agreed.

"Here they come," Sam announced as blue and red lights whipped into view.

"Okay, just... play along," Erin said, trying to figure out where to stash her gun. Dean offered the solution; he took it and shoved it in his pocket along with his own. Sam had already done the same thing with his. Erin ruffed up her hair and took a deep breath, the take charge immortal disappeared and was replaced by an emotionally shaken young woman who was barely holding it together as a cop banged loudly on the door.

"Police open up!"

Erin moved forward and unlocked the door, trembling just like she should have been if she had been the victim of a violent and nearly deadly robbery.

Sam, Dean and Cass took a backseat until they knew where this was going and what part they were supposed to play.

"I'm Officer Ford, Is everyone alright? We received reports of gun fire," the cop asked looking around at the mess. Right on cue, Erin began babbling in a shaky voice.

"Burglars! These men saved me! Thank god!" she wailed distraught.

"Everyone is alright aren't they?" the officer asked.

"Yeah, yeah everybody's fine. No one was hit. They were pretty bad shots," Sam said noticing Erin's use of, burglars, plural.

"Don't thank...," Cass began to say but Dean elbowed him in the ribs to make him shut up. Cass gave Dean a confused look, he'd only been going to tell the truth, he couldn't understand what the problem was but he shut up just the same. Human customs confused him to no end. So lengthy and pointless with no rhyme or reason.

The officer squeezed Erin's shoulder consolingly. "It's alright. The burglars are gone, everyone is alright. It's going to be fine. Why don't all of you step outside and we'll get a report from you."

Erin sniffed as if she might burst into tears and her bottom lip poked out like a frightened child. "O-okay." She was doing such a good impression of a kicked puppy it was all Sam and Dean could do not to laugh. They all filtered outside, in the diffuse light of the cop cars and the just arriving ambulance and began the lengthy process of explaining a very different version of what had happened to the police.

By the time things were wrapped up, the police believed this is what had happened: Two men armed with guns and wearing ski masks had tried to commit an armed robbery of Between the Lines. Erin had screamed and Dean, Sam, and Cass (aliases Crosby, Stills and Nash) driving by with the windows down, had heard the gunfire and screams as they passed and checked it out. Luckily, the assailants had been scared off at the arrival of three men and fled the scene without any merchandise or money. The security cameras would reveal nothing since they were dummies only made to look like the real thing.

"You're very lucky these men stopped Ms. Morgan," the officer said as Erin signed the report for him. "You're all three heroes. Not many would have done what you did."

Dean smiled at the cop in faked humility, "We're just glad we got here before anything happened to the lady here," fighting the urge to add under his breath, "we do more than this every day."

"I think that's all we need. You folks have a nice night," the officer said, stepping off the sidewalk and going to his car. He waved off the ambulance and the group waited for them all to depart. When the street was clear, Erin sighed and looked over at Dean.

"I don't suppose that offer for drinks is still open?"