9. In which they have breakfast
Somewhere around ten the following morning Jo and Ruby knocks on the door, Sam's still sleeping, but he gets out of bed quickly enough and soon they are all ready for a strategic meeting, well, all except Jo anyway.
"I'm not talking about anything until I've had breakfast, let's go out, there's a place just across the street."
"You and Sam go, Ruby, can I talk to you about this Demon stuff?" Ruby nods but Dean can see she's a little surprised.
"Sure, we'll catch up to you guys later", she says and Dean notices that it's really meant as much to Jo as it is to Sam, that's unexpected, Dean has always had the feeling that Ruby's sole objective is his brother, nobody else is even worth talking to if it doesn't serve a purpose.
"So what do you want to know?" Ruby asks when Sam and Jo has left. She's sitting on one of the beds and reaches out to path Kira on the head, but the hellhound just ignores her and goes to sit by Dean's feet.
"Well, pretty much everything, some demon facts I might have missed, and I practiced some of the demon mojo while Sam slept, but I don't seem to have a very good hold of it."
Really it is pathetic, when he had grown so tired of the research that he had actually tried the telekinesis thing that other demons does, he had barely managed to lift the pillow an inch above the bed.
"You don't sleep if you don't want to, not often anyway, same goes for food, you can't cross an intact line of solid iron, in your case probably even salt will be a problem, you'll grow out of it. Concerning your powers I would be surprised if you could move or set fire to anything yet, you're new, you'll grow stronger. "She's talking rapidly and with the tune of explaining things to a five year old. "Oh, and you're allergic to holy water."
It takes all Dean's self-control not to attack her, he has to remind himself that this bitch is the only one he can learn from, and besides he's had worse teachers, he put up with Alistair for a decade. Ruby's smile suddenly turns evil.
"Now, what do you really want to know?" Dean swallows his rage and continues the intelligence gathering.
"Why didn't you tell Sam about Alistair and the torture deal?"
"I need Sam alive, and motivated. You in hell got me that. You back, human, would get him alive and happy, I can live with that. I suppose I can have him as he is, alive and confused that is. Now how would it be if he found out that his brother is not only a demon but also a torture master, I think that would stretch your relationship at this point. Sam devastated about your education in hell and feeling like he has truly lost you forever? Not on my Christmas list."
She paused for a second and when she continued it was with a softer voice.
"And besides Dean, you're an okay guy, won't hurt to have you on our team."
He nods at that, but then an awkward silence starts to fill the room.
"Well, let's catch up to Sam and Jo then, shall we."
"So… How do you know Jo?" Ruby asks as they make their way out of the motel.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just making conversation."
Dean considers not answering but figure he owes her for the demon info, and he might as well start pretending they're on the same side, even if he doesn't trust her.
"Her father was a hunter, her mother runs a roadhouse, we came across it a couple of years back."
"And…?"
"And nothing, she came with us on a hunt ones, cool chick", Dean says as he opens the door to the coffee shop, Ruby just follows him through the door without response.
"So what's the plan?" Jo asks when Dean and Ruby sits down with her and Sam.
"Well, since these guys failed to take a hostage last night we simply have to find some other demons, we need to track down Lilith before she succeeds in breaking all the seals."
"Speaking of other demons, how did it go with Meg?" Sam breaks in.
"Meg?" Dean and Jo ask at the same time. Jo in a curios tone and Dean sounding close to chocked.
"Yes, it seems she's back from hell, she sent a message saying she wanted to meet me, so I went to see her."
Ruby looks at Dean as she mentions Meg being back, and he can't shake the feeling that she guesses, or knows, more than she lets on. What if she knows about his deal with Meg? Would it change anything?
"So, what did she want?" he asks instead.
"She wants me to join her's and Lilith's team, now with the apocalypse coming up and everything I guess they want all the good players."
"What did you say?" Sam asks as his finishes whatever healthy juice he is drinking today.
"I told her there's place for one more player on our team."
"Why didn't you just take her up on that offer, get some inside information, there's no way that bitch is going to join forces with us, she's a Lucifer loyalist", Dean says and thinks about all the times she mentioned him in hell.
"She wasn't always, she was a friend of mine once."
"Friend?" Jo asks. "Demons have friends?"
"Back when we were both still human", Ruby's tone clearly marks the end of this particular subject but Dean can see that everyone around the table is as curious as he is.
"Anyway, I wouldn't be selling it if I just agreed right away, I can come back and pretend to have thought about it. Let's just wait a few days."
"Which leads us back to the question, what do we do now?" Sam says as he drops some cash on the table and starts heading for the exit.
"I've been thinking guys, and we're not gonna find anything in the demon's nest, I searched the place quite good last night and it was nothing there", Jo says as they walk out on the street again.
They all think about this as they head back to the motel and Dean feels a little frustrated, he already has a case, the weird music and light that seems to be running through him, that makes the pain inside him somewhat lesser but wakes some other feelings, things he hasn't felt for years, and feelings hurts, they always do. Point is he doesn't have time for what comes next.
"It's back to searching demonic omens until Ruby can get a hold of Meg again then", says Sam and Dean just sighs, he knew if.
Castiel has been talking to his vessel for days when he finally accepts, Jimmy Novak is the first vessel that he could find, but he's surprisingly good, fits all the requirements perfectly. It's strange to be wearing a human again, it has been millenniums since the last time. It's limiting, yet on earth it's the only way he's allowed to use his powers in contact with humans.
The presence of Jimmy's soul is somewhere in the back of his mind, he pushes it away until he's barely even aware of it. Time to find the Winchesters and deliver the word of God to the younger one, yet he prays that he will be there faster than Uriel, because he is far more interested in talking to the older one.
"Can darkness be beautiful, brother?"
There's surprise in Raphael's eyes that soon turns to sadness.
"The Morningstar was beautiful Castiel, the most beautiful of all the angels, and yet he fell to the deepest darkness… But even after he fell, covered in darkness, Lucifer was beautiful little brother, there's no denying that."
Castiel remembers it of course, he remembers when there used to be four arch angels, now he's standing here, watching the sunset with one of the remaining two. How could it come to this? He knows the answer of course, this is the work of the devil. Lucifer rebelled, that's when the destruction and fighting started.
"Yes brother, darkness can be beautiful, but it is never the less evil. The thing you have to remember about it is that it's deceiving, it tells lies and courses chaos. It cannot love, not really, it doesn't understand goodness. It must be destroyed Castiel, never doubt that."
Castiel has never doubted that before, he doesn't now, he knows there's only one way to handle Satan and his demons, there's just the fact that maybe this demon is different. He has felt the blackness of Dean's soul, and he hates the demon for that blackness, that darkness still sticking to his grace, but yet he finds the demon fascinating, yet he knows there's beauty to Dean's darkness, and he has to find out how that can be.
The angel takes a deep breath before he goes to find the demon with a heart.
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