Chapter 7
Sam quickly bounded back through the halls, careful to avoid any of the mansion's occupants, and burst into Dean's room. Luckily his brother was already dressed, having just gotten out of the shower and into some clean clothes.
"Dude, that water pressure is awesome," Dean said, jerking his thumb towards his bathroom.
"That's great, Dean. Listen-"
"Yeah. It might be as good as the showers back at the bunker."
"Dean! Will you shut up about the shower for one minute! I've gotta talk to you about something!" Sam whisper-shouted a bit frantically.
Sam's tone caught Dean's attention and he frowned. "What is it?"
"Dean, there's something weird about this family. I realized it back at the motel, but I didn't say anything 'cause I was hoping I could find out what it was. And if it wasn't too bad, then we could still have the contacts. But I think we need to get outta here!"
Dean was silent for a moment as he mulled over Sam's flurry of a confession. In the end, he took away one very important piece of information. "So, you've been lying to me this whole damn time?"
"Yeah. I lied," Sam admitted, a bit dejectedly.
"Dammit, Sammy! Haven't we learned better yet?" Dean demanded.
"I'm sorry Dean, but I-"
"Knock, knock," Sam was interrupted by a woman's voice accompanied by an actual knock on the door.
Dean and Sam exchanged uneasy glances before Dean moved to answer the door. On the other side there was a small woman who looked sort of like Regina, but her hair was longer and she was wearing brighter colors.
"Hi, I'm Ramona. I was just checking to see if you were okay. Do you need anything?"
"Hey, Ramona," Dean said, switching to flirtation mode. Chest still bare, he leaned against the door frame with one arm and reached out to take Ramona's hand with the other. "I am just fine, now." Dean flashed her a winning smile and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.
She gently dislodged her hand from Dean's grip, immune to his charm. She forced a smile and said, "Well, we'll be serving dinner soon, if you'd like to join us."
"Oh, that sounds good. We'll be there."
"We?" Ramona asked. She finally looked passed Dean and into the room at Sam. "Oh, there you are. We had gotten worried about you."
"Oh, uh," Sam started, caught slightly off guard. He didn't think anyone would admit to looking for him.
"Yeah. One of my cousins came to your rooms earlier to check on you guys. She heard the shower running in this room, so she didn't bother Dean while he was bathing. But when she went into your room, you were gone."
"Sorry about that," Sam started. "I was going to head back to the main area of the house to find Jerry, but I kind of got lost," he said sheepishly, managing to look a bit embarrassed at admitting he couldn't find his way around. "But then I found the library, and I was pretty impressed with the collection of lore you guys have. You have even more info on demons than we do in our own library."
"Oh yes. Our family has been collecting info on all sorts of creatures for generations." Sam nodded and Dean looked lost, probably confused as to why his charms had no effect on the woman. When no one else seemed keen on talking, Ramona said, "Well, whenever you're ready. Just head on down."
"Thanks Ramona," Dean said before closing the door. Once it was closed and they were certain that Ramona hadn't stuck around in the hall, Sam ventured an apology.
"Dean, I-"
"Save it, Sam," Dean said, cutting Sam off before he could finish his thought. The two had moved closer together and were speaking in hushed tones, just in case their voices carried down the hall to unwelcome ears. "Ya know, I had a funny feeling you were keepin' somethin' from me when we had that little talk in the car. What exactly did you find out?"
Taking a deep breath, Sam explained how he overheard Milah, Regina and Danny talking in the motel. Then he explained what he had just heard in that office with the secret passage way, and also mentioned the mark he had seen on most of the wrists of the passerby.
"What kinda name is Sone?" Dean asked. "And did they say anything else about this arrival?"
"No. That's all I know."
"Well it isn't much, Sammy!" Dean said. "How are we gonna figure this out with that crap intel? Aren't you supposed to be Mr. Research?"
"Well I-" Sam began defensively before he paused, catching on to what Dean was saying. "Wait, you mean you wanna stay and figure it out?"
"If you'd have told me about this crap back at the motel I woulda pulled the plug on this little expedition of yours on day one. But now that you've gotten us into the mess – and there's some old geezer threatening us – I think we don't really have a choice. Somethin' is goin' on here. And we're gonna find out what!"
Sam was completely taken by surprise. This is not at all how he imagined this conversation going. He was grateful that Dean was with him on this and now at least his brother wasn't in the dark about the Kings' intentions towards the two of them. So Dean could keep his eyes open, and neither of them would be caught completely off guard in case of a sneak attack, if this weirdo family did decide to take them down.
All Sam could say was, "Thanks, Dean."
"Yeah, well, save it," Dean said, heading for the door. "Let's get outta here before they get too suspicious."
Sam followed Dean out the bedroom door and into the hallway, but then ran smack into his brother's back. Dean had stopped in his tracks when he saw that Ramona was still there. She had moved down the hall a bit, but she was still there.
"Hey," she said. "I thought I would wait and help you get back. So you don't get lost again." She gave the type of smile that said the cat had caught the canary.
Dean suppressed a shutter and thanked her for her thoughtfulness. Ramona led the brothers back through the house and outside to the courtyard where dinner was to be served.
Hours later, Sam and Dean had stuffed themselves on the Kings' fine cuisine. It was the best meal that either of them had had in a long time. There was music and laughter and a huge bonfire to keep everyone warm; and a few of the children roasted marshmallows. Even if the family wanted to kill them, the brothers had to admit this family knew how to throw down.
After the meal, Sam and Dean wanted to look around a bit, to see if two sets of eyes could spot something out of the ordinary that Sam's one set may have missed in his preliminary search. However, their plans of espionage were foiled by Ramona: the woman stuck to them like glue.
"Is there anything else I can do for you boys?" Ramona asked after escorting Sam and Dean to their rooms. It was only about 10:45, but Jerry was adamant that everyone hit the hay.
"Uh... no. I'm good. Dean?" Sam answered before turning to his brother.
"I'm good too." Dean flashed Ramona his winning smile one more time, in the hopes of getting into her god graces, but to no avail. She did not look the slightest bit impressed.
"Well, let me know if you need anything. I'll just be right down the hall, and to the left." She pointed the way to her room, and they indeed saw another door just down the hall.
"Thank you," Sam said with a slight nod of his head. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Dean and Sam were momentarily confused when she did not immediately leave. She just stood their, stoically holding her hands behind her back, assuming an air of innocence, expectantly looking back and forth between the two. Finally, they realized she was waiting for them to enter their rooms before she retired for the night.
"Oh, uh. Right."
"Yeah, okay."
Sam and Dean awkwardly said their farewells before retreating to their respective rooms. Once their doors where closed, they each waited and listened as Ramona's footsteps retreated, then they heard her bedroom door opening and closing. They waited a few more minutes before they both opened their doors and Dean came out of his room, quickly closed his door and bolted across the hall and into Sam's room. Sam stepped aside to let him in before closing the door behind him.
"Finally!" Dean said as soon as he was in. "I thought she'd never leave us alone."
"Yeah. Jerry was pretty upset when he found out she wasn't watching us earlier. I guess she was trying to make up for it."
"Yeah, well. I think we're gonna have to make some sort of move tonight, while everyone else is asleep. If she's gonna be keepin' an eye on us like that during the day, then we'll never get to the bottom of this thing."
"Yeah, I agree. We need to decide on when we're gonna move out." Sam looked over at the clock on the nightside table. It read 10:54.
"How about now?"
"Well," Sam said, furrowing his brow, "how about in a few minutes. We need to give Ramona and the others a chance to fall asleep before we start sneaking around the house."
"Yeah. I guess you're right." Dean ran a hand over his face in a frustrated gesture.
"But once we do get outta here, I wanna start in that study I saw earlier. The one with the secret passage."
"Alright. Sounds like a plan." Dean flopped down on Sam's bed, rubbing his stomach. "But ya know, no matter how crazy this family seems, they make some damn good pie!"
A few minutes later, the brothers deemed it safe enough to venture out into the halls. They had to pass Ramona's room on the way, so they stopped and listened at her door before moving on. There was not a peep coming from the other side of the door, so she must have been sleeping. Quietly, they made their way through the house with Sam leading the way. Finally, they made it to the room with the secret passage. Now there was just the small matter of figuring out how to open it.
They silently got to work, Dean lifting nick-knacks and pulling the books on the shelf, while Sam ran his hands along the panels of the wall. Each of them looking for some sort of switch or lever or secret knob to open the passageway. After a minute, Sam's fingers brushed a small nodule between a couple of the panels, and a doorway opened with a small hiss. The brothers looked at each other briefly before silently and cautiously entering the passageway.
Once they cleared the threshold, the door closed behind them automatically. They each took a small flashlight out of their pockets so they could take in their surroundings. They first inspected the closed door, locating a simple lever on this side of it that would allow them to re-enter the study later on. They also located a light switch on the wall to their right, but silently agreed to leave it off. It wouldn't be a good idea to alert anyone that might be lurking at the end of the passage.
They were in a short hallway that led to a spiraling stone staircase on the left. Dean led the way and they made their way down and down. "Man, how deep does this thing go?" Dean asked quietly once they had been walking for a few minutes.
"Well, we won't know 'til we get to the bottom," Sam responded just as quietly.
It was a few more minutes before they finally reached the bottom of the stairwell. There was a long, wide tunnel at the bottom, with only one direction to go in, so that's where they went, their footsteps echoing slightly in the enclosed space. They alternated between shining their flashlights ahead of them to get a look at where they were going and pointing them back down at their feet so they wouldn't alert anyone that might be ahead of them. Eventually the tunnel began to slope upwards.
"Seems like we're finally reachin' the end of this thing," Dean said.
Sam remained quiet and just kept walking. Sure enough, they reached the end just a few minutes later. Sam checked his watch: it was 11:35. They hadn't seen or heard anyone, and he was hoping they were all in bed so he and Dean didn't get caught. The end of the tunnel led to a short ladder that was topped off by a hatch.
Dean climbed the ladder and opened the hatch a crack. Luckily it was well greased, so no creaky hinges could give away their presence. Cautiously peeking through the opening, Dean scoped out the surrounding area for a few moments. When he was satisfied that no one would witness them climbing out, he motioned for Sam to follow him and the two climbed out.
Dean carefully closed the hatch once Sam was through. Straightening up, he took in his surroundings. They were at the end of a path that led into the woods. "Alright. Let's see where this goes." They both took out their guns from the waistbands of their pants, holding them beneath their flashlights as they walked along.
Sam followed closely behind Dean, periodically swinging around to look back, making sure no one would sneak up on them from the rear. They both looked from side to side, to ensure that nothing with teeth came out of the trees to rip them apart. They walked along the path at a brisk pace, until they started hearing noises up ahead.
They slowed their pace, straining to listen. They still couldn't quite make out what they were hearing, so they kept moving. They soon came to the end of the trees, and a few feet beyond the tree line was what looked like an entrance. The path continued, and on either side there were pillars made of stacked stones, with an intricately designed metal sign connecting the pillars at the top, with a Latin inscription woven into the metal bars.
Erit autem sanguis vobis dico.
"I think it means... 'The blood will tell'?" Sam translated.
"Alright. Tell us what?" Dean asked incredulously.
"I have no idea, man. Let's just keep moving."
They passed between the pillars and beneath the sign connecting them. The brothers soon started passing large stones that were sticking out of the ground. Most of them were evenly spaced, but there were quite a few that seemed to be clustered, and a few beneath trees or next to well-manicured bushes. The path they were on began to splinter off, meandering through the space and between many of the stones.
Sam and Dean tried going as straight as they could, going further and further into the area. The moon was not yet full, but it was still bright enough to illuminate the area enough for them to see, making the use of flashlights unnecessary, so they put them away.
After seeing so many of the strange stones, Sam got curious, so he got closer to one, and upon further inspection of it, he said, "Are... are these gravestones?"
Dean came over to look at the stone that Sam was inspecting. It was shaped sort of like a pyramid that had been worn down, but there was a faded name and what looked like some dates inscribed in it. "Yeah, I think so. These are some weird-looking grave markers."
"I think this might be their family cemetery. These things are probably just a family tradition or something."
"Yeah well, let's keep moving."
Sam nodded and they kept walking. Soon the noise they had been hearing earlier started getting exponentially louder. It sounded like music and... voices... some laughter. Were these people having a party in the middle of a graveyard?
They finally spotted people about a hundred yards ahead of them. They got as close as they dared, and crouched down behind a couple of the gravestones and a smattering of bushes. Peeking over the stones and around the leafy branches, the boys were able to get a good look at what was going on, without being seen themselves.
Sam turned to Dean and said, "Didn't Jerry send everyone to bed?"
"Yeah. I'm guessin' that was just an act to get us out of the way. Everyone pretended to go to bed, but then snuck out here when they thought we were down for the night. They probably had all this planned before we even got here." Sam nodded in agreement and the two kept spying, trying to figure out why the Kings didn't want them at this particular family function.
It didn't take long for them to figure it out. Among the people, they noticed a few dogs roaming about. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that, in and of itself – they had seen quite a few dogs when they first drove onto the estate. The weird part came when they saw some of them changing into human form, and a few "humans" changing into dogs.
"Dean, skinwalkers!" Sam announced, his eyes going wide.
"Yeah, I see 'em," Dean breathed. "Check the two chicks standing by the punch bowl." He waited for Sam to locate them before saying, "I don't think that's punch!"
Sure enough the two women were talking and laughing, filling their cups and sipping through straws. But the liquid was definitely not punch. It was blood. To top it off, a young man came over to them and started a conversation with them, all the while happily munching on a raw heart in between sentences. Them women didn't even bat an eye.
"What the hell is goin' on around here?"
"I dunno, Dean"
"I mean, vamps, skinwalkers, and friggin' werewolves!" Dean watched as the young man with the heart popped the last piece in his mouth and chewed pleasurably, savoring the morsel before licking his fingers clean of the blood. "I think that last piece of pie is fightin' its way back up," Dean said, holding his stomach and gagging a bit.
"Hold it together, Dean," Sam warned.
Dean looked a little green around the edges, but he managed to keep his food down. "Yeah, m'good."
"Alright, everybody. It's almost time!"
Sam and Dean could clearly hear Jerry's voice booming across the open space. Everyone stopped talking, the music was turned off and all eyes were on Jerry. He was standing in front of a large mausoleum, its door wide open.
Once he was certain that he had everyone's undivided attention, Jerry continued. "In just a few moments we will be reunited with one of own. Just like always, once the Arrival has completed, we will need to give all of our love and support, and offer any comfort we can. Readjustment will take time."
Sam looked at his watch again: it was 11:58. Whatever this Arrival was must be happening at midnight. He looked over at Dean and pointed to his watch. Dean nodded, having come to the same conclusion. Sam remembered hearing Milah talking about an Arrival with Danny and Regina back at the motel. And again when he eavesdropped on Jerry in his study. He had been wondering what it was, and now it looked like he was finally going to figure it out.
Jerry left his spot in front of the mausoleum to join his family, all of whom had crowed together, facing the entrance. They left a wide semi-circle of space between themselves and the building. While the seconds ticked by, Sam and Dean waited with baited breath, anxious about what could be coming next.
At precisely midnight, the entrance to the mausoleum began to glow. A blinding white light poured out of the opening. Just as it was almost beginning to be too much to bear, it began to fade, and two figures could be seen emerging from the glow.
Once the glow emanating from the mausoleum dissipated, and Sam and Dean's eyes readjusted to the dimmer glow of the torches and the bonfire, they could get a clearer look at the two figures that had emerged. The smaller figure was a little girl, clutched in the arms of the larger. She was screaming and crying and lashing out at anything that came too close. That included the larger figure, who was actually someone that the boys recognized.
"Crowley?!"
A/N: For 'The blood will tell', I just used an online English to Latin translator to get 'Erit autem sanguis vobis dico.' If that translation is wrong, someone please let me know, because I don't really speak Latin. Thanks!
Also, not sure if it was clear, but the mausoleum and the graveyard are actually on the Kings' estate. It's a very large property.
