Disclaimers and warnings: See chapter 1.
Many thanks to rascalflattsgurl43 for the speedy and accurate beta on this story
Chapter 9 The truth is out there
While Dean picked up the two huge pizzas and switched the laundry, Sam made some coffee and poured it into two large mugs. Sam came busling up to him when he came in and brushed the snow off his jacket. Dean stripped down to a T shirt then went in for a quick shower. It took less than five minutes for him to be back out dressed in warm sweats and one of Sam's hoodies. Sam had wrapped the pizzas up in an old blanket and he pulled one out as they both sat at the small table.
They ate from the box while they drank coffee. Dean pulled his notes towards him after two slices and several looks from Sam.
"So the Japanese half of our monster is a Demagrogen."
"A what?"
"It's a Japanese water demon."
"This person you spoke to knew this? Who was it?"
"Zoe translated the Japanese and Swedish. The Demagrogen said in Japanese that it is a water demon that was living in Arakawa River, Japan. There was a storm and he ended up half-dead in the Port of Tokyo. There was a container ship there that had come from Venice with shipments from Zurich. From what I can gather the Barbegazi was on the ship. The Demagrogen must have used the last of its strength to possess the Barbegazi. It's all a guess from what the two creatures were yelling at each other."
Sam swallowed his mouthful and washed it down looking carefully at Dean.
"So who's this Zoe?"
"That's your question?"
Sam shrugged. "Yeah. I bet she's an ex." Sam grinned.
"Actually you're wrong."
"No way!"
"We went to high school together. Her dad is a pastor and she had this really strict upbringing. During study hall some girls put a packet of smokes on her bag without her knowing. The teacher came along and saw them. She denied they were hers but you know what teachers can be like so I took the fall so she wouldn't get detention. I was sitting close enough for it to be believable. "
"Why did you do that?"
"She was so scared looking when she was about to get detention it was a natural thing to do. Plus I liked her and wanted to go out with her."
Sam grinned. "Knew it!"
"We never went out Sam."
"You had a girl that was a friend and you didn't have sex?"
"I was fifteen bro."
"You were having sex way before that."
"How the hell would you know?"
"Brothers know everything about each other."
"Apparently not. Anyway, Zoe was a huge language geek back then. She knew four languages at fifteen. " Dean steered the conversation back on topic. "She is multilingual witha PhD in linguistics so really handy when we need stuff translated."
"How the hell do you tell her what you need converted when you don't know the language?"
"She taught me to write the words down phonetically."
"Phonetically? Careful that's a big word Dean."
Dean gave Sam the finger as he shoved more pizza into his mouth.
"So what's the story with Zoe? How did you become friends? I know you saved her from detention but how did that lead to friendship?"
Dean swallowed his food. "Jeez Sam, one at a time. She waited till I came out of detention to thank me for taking the bullet for her. I happened to be going to the library to translate some chicken scratches to do with some spell dad found. She followed me and went to her favourite section of the library which was right next to where I was. She saw me looking at the language books and flipped out that there was someone else doing extra work. She used to do all sorts of extra assignments for the credits. She helped me decipher the scratches otherwise I would still be there."
"So what happened after that?"
Dean blew a raspberry and scratched the back of his neck. "She wasn't allowed to date so we hung out together at school and sometimes in the library. She taught me some language stuff and I helped her with math and Latin. She was thrilled when she found out I was good at Latin. I left school three weeks later. We promised each other we would keep in touch and we have. She has a place up in Washington and I drop in whenever she is home and I'm around."
"How did you explain the Latin?"
"I told her that dad was an archaeologist. It explained the moving around so much as well."
"She never married or…"
"No. She is overseas so much she will probably marry an Arab or African or something."
"So my brother knows a doctor. How did you stay in touch all these years?"
"Bobby's mail address at first then I set my own box up. I had to change mine a few times but I always let her know. She has lived in the same place for five years so that helps."
"Did you ever tell her what you do?"
"Just told her I work for an X files type department of the government. It's as close as I could get to the truth without her being too involved."
Sam went to the small kitchen to make more coffee.
"Well thanks to Zoe we know what we are looking at. Want to get started on the research?" Dean asked.
"Yeah sounds good." Sam stirred the coffee thinking about what he had just learned about his brother.
"Zoe says that the Barbegazi wants the Deamagrogen out but I'm guessing it will be hard to take one without the other when the Demagrogen dies when it is killed with a blade of fire." Dean spoke up rousing Sam from his thoughts.
"Hmm. So we know we need tempered steel and volcanic rock for the Barbegazi and a blade of fire for the Demagogen."
"We could set a tempered steel blade on fire," Dean suggested.
"You think it will be that easy?"
"One way to find out."
Dean pulled Sam's laptop to him and they settled down for a night's research. Dean took a break only a half hour in to grab the laundry. Sam was so surprised Dean had done it, he didn't grumble about folding and putting away the clothes since Dean had done most of the work.
TBC
