SUPERNATURAL
THE PARCAEX RITUAL
Note: There is a note halfway through the story.
Chapter Eight
Breaking into the Talbot family grave was no easy task.
It only took a few short glances to see that the entrance was guarded by two armed men, and beyond the gates paced a patrol team through the ancient gravesite.
It seemed that somebody didn't want their bodies disturbed as they rest in their tombs six feet under.
Dean and Bobby sat in the Impala some distance from the cemetery – far enough away to avoid attracting suspicion, and yet close enough to keep an eye on the guards.
'Patrols in a graveyard?' Dean questioned, dumbfounded. 'Is that normal?'
Bobby shook his head. 'Bela's family were rich,' he answered. 'I wouldn't be surprised if each and every one of her ancestors were buried with items of enormous value.'
Dean frowned. 'Why?'
'Old traditions, mostly. These kinds of families are full of them. It's an ancient Egyptian ritual – they believe that whatever you're buried with you take with you into the afterlife.'
'Bela didn't strike me as the super religious type.'
'No, she wasn't, but she wasn't like the rest of her family.'
Dean smirked. 'I should hope not.' He turned as Sam threw down the Impalas trunk and walked around to their window. 'Got everything?'
He carried a small duffel bag and a shovel. 'I think so. Ready?'
Bobby nodded.
****
Sam and Dean entered would enter alone, but Bobby still played an important role in the outcome.
The brothers squatted across the road from the entrance behind some conveniently placed shrubs, while Bobby pulled up in the impala on the eastern side of the cemetery.
Making more noise than necessary, Bobby hoisted himself onto the Impalas roof and climbed onto the wall that wound the entire length of the Talbot graveyard.
The alarms sounded instantaneously, and the two guards at the front entrance seemed to have been pulled out of a stupor, rushing towards the sound of commotion at once.
Sam and Dean marveled at how easy it was to convince the guards at the front gates to desert their post. It seemed that they didn't get intruders very often.
'Okay, Sammy' Dean whispered. 'Come on.'
They pulled themselves out from their cover and stealthily crept across the road and up to the gate, using immense care – the guards could be back at any moment. If they were caught here, it would be near impossible to get anywhere near Bela's grave.
'Well here's something you don't see very often,' Sam said, smirking as they approached the gate.
'Oh yeah?'
'You using the front entrance.'
Dean turned to him. 'Since when don't I use the front entrance!?'
Sam had an amused expression on his face, and simply stood and stared at Dean.
'Okay okay,' Dean growled. 'Quit it, I get your point.'
Sam laughed.
Glaring, Dean pulled the guard's keys from the front cabin and inserted them in beside the gate. With the slightest creak, they rolled open to allow Sam and Dean entry.
Once they were safely inside, they heard the gates come to a close behind them. Cautiously they moved to the left, sliding along the outer wall, crouched in the hope that they wouldn't be seen by any guard still on patrol. They had the slight inkling it would look suspicious if they were found inside a rich families loothole with a torch and shovel at the dead of night.
Unlike most other graveyards they had visited, the presence of guard life here made the area seem much less eerie than it should have.
'Man, it's time's like these that I'm glad I'm not normal,' Dean whispered as he pulled a flashlight from his pocket and began scanning the engraved names and dates upon the tombstones.
'You're enjoying this?'
Dean look up. 'No – I mean to have a job like those guys,' he gestured around, implying the patrol guards. 'Most boring job alive.'
'Well, Dean, I guess they're paid well.'
Dean snorted, 'Paid for what!? I bet we're the first people they've ever had break in here and they've failed miserably, didn't they?'
Sam sighed. 'The point is, Dean, that if they weren't here, some people surely would have tried. They're not trying to catch people who come in – they're trying to intimidate them to stay out.'
Dean didn't reply to this. 'Now, where would that grave be…'
'Maybe we should try looking down the far end, where they seem to be filling from. I bet that's where the most recent are.'
'Okay. Lets get going, though. We don't know how long Bobby can keep those patrol guards busy. We'll have to be extra super careful.'
Sam snorted, continuing forward, 'Extra super careful?'
'What? We're being followed by night patrol as we grave-rob a couple o' rich people, so I'd say the precaution is necessary.'
Sam shook his head and laughed.
'Bitch.'
'Jerk.'
Here's where the re-write kinda ends... I'm posting the rest of the story that was written a while ago - my first ever finished story. There was no actual plotline when I first started... It just kind of flowed and fit together perfectly. But you'll notice a lower quality of writing in there, so forgive me =P
"Here!" Sam called and Dean ran over, looking up at the tombstone. "Abby Talbot, 2008, Twenty-four years of age. Yep, that'd be her."
They set to work, Dean keeping an eye out for the guards while Sam began digging the hole.
"Dean, why do I have to be the one that digs the hole?"
"Don't worry, Sammy, I'll help out in a second. Now hurry up! Bella would already be unconscious but the speed you're moving at she'll be dead too by the time we get to her!"
Over an hour of digging and Sam was five feet down. Whatever Bobby had done to distract the guards seemed to have worked. "Dean! What happened to helping me out? There's only a foot to go and you haven't done a single thing!"
"That's some good work you're doing there, Sammy. I sure appreciate it." Dean walked off to check on the guards.
"Dean? Dean!"
Sam cursed him as he continued to shovel the soil.
Dean appeared at the top of the hole holding a chicken roll in one hand, taking a large bite as he watched Sam.
"Where did you get that?" Sam asked.
Dean looked proud of himself, "At the guards desk. Hows the hole going?"
Sam pulled himself out of the pit and stood next to Dean. He snatched the rest of the roll off him and took a bite.
"Hey! What the hell?"
Sam pushed him slightly and as he lost balance Dean leapt into the grave.
"What was that for?"
'Go on, take another bite.'
'Is that a dare?'
'Do it.'
'Fine.' Taking another bite, Sam replied, "Well Dean, seeing as it's your girlfriend I assumed you would want to open the coffin".
"Dude," he called back, "Ain't gonna happen. Going out with that chick would be worse than being gay."
"Well, hurry up we're kind of in a hurry here!"
Picking up the shovel, Dean took a large swing at the coffin, breaking the wooden frame but not piercing the box.
"Not too hard or you'll be killing her yourself, Dean!"
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," he replied, taking another swing.
The coffin broke and Dean bent down, ripping apart the wooden frame.
"Oh you're joking!"
"Dean, what is it?"
Climbing up out of the grave and out of Sam's line of vision, Sam saw what was wrong.
There was nothing there.
The coffin was empty.
"Are you sure it was the right grave, Sam?"
"Of course! But even if it weren't then there'd still be the case of a missing body. Which is something in itself. But Abby was Bella's real name, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well I think we can safely assume that there wasn't another Abby Talbot from the same family who died in the same year and was the same age as Bella."
"Then where the hell did her body go?"
"I don't know, Dean. But we'd better find out. These last two days have been the strangest I've ever had. And that's saying a lot."
"Okay, Come on, we'll go and find Bobby, see what he thinks of this."
"That's if he hasn't been caught already."
"What, Bobby? Caught? You're crazy, Sam."
Getting out of the graveyard was easy, and they didn't encounter anybody unwanted along the way. They hadn't even bothered to close in the grave, which they knew would come back to haunt them but they couldn't waste any more time; Bella could be in serious trouble.
They saw Bobby leaning on the hood of the Impala, looking proud of himself.
"How did you get rid of the guards? And where are they?"
Bobby laughed, "Don't you worry, Sam. I have my tricks, just as you have yours."
Neither of them bothered questioning him further, it wasn't really important anyway.
"I knew something like this would happen, I just had a strange feeling about it," Bobby muttered, "I'm guessing it was empty?"
"You're really not one who's slow on the uptake, are you Bobby."
"Hell no! Now, do you boys know where to start looking? If she's not dead then she's either up and around somehow or taken somewhere."
"But we should find out how she got out of there first, before we go blindly searching across Fifty states America," Dean suggested.
"Well, if we know she's alive then why are we still bothering with her?" Sam questioned, "Why don't we find somewhere to stay the night and toss over the idea of starting this hunt of yours, Dean."
"Sammy I agree, except for the not bothering with her part. We'll find a local motel or something and stay there the night. Its New Hampshire, there's got to be somewhere fancy!"
"Horner's hilltop motel?" Dean looked like he'd been slapped in the face, "What kind of a name is that! Not only does it sound stupid but these beds are highly uncomfortable."
They'd checked in to the best motel they could find, and as they were in the middle of nowhere there weren't many options, which Dean was very annoyed at.
"So, Dean, where are we off to next? Where do you think we'll find Bella?"
"Why the heck are you asking me? I wouldn't know any better than you guys!"
"Dean, you're the only person in this entire world who has seen her in the past month, so if you don't have an idea than nobody will."
"Okay," Dean started, "I reckon that for now we should just sit back, relax and see what happens. I mean, it's pretty obvious that the Demons are behind this, isn't it? Who else would have beaten us to the chase and dug up her body? In fact, nobody else even knows that she's alive!"
"What's your point?"
"My point is, that we were completely unprepared for this. If we go after her we might be running into a trap. We need a plan. And to have a plan we need to know where she is."
"Well, that's a start, I guess."
Sam sat on his bed, his face in his hands, thinking.
"So, where would somewhere around here that a demon would stay?"
"I have no idea, Sammy. Truthfully I don't know much about this place at all."
"Okay," Sam said, standing up, "After we find Bella, the first thing we're doing is going into town to buy another computer, I just can't stand trying to do a job without it."
"Okay, geek, we'll get you your computer. But come on, we really should rest."
They lay down in their bed as Bobby walked through the door holding a few drinks and pies, placing them into the refrigerator, turning off the light and getting into his own bed.
The three of them were so tired that they'd fallen asleep within the minute.
"You got the girl?" A voice demanded as the doors creaked open and a man entered.
They were in a large warehouse of some sort, the windows barred and the space empty, a feint glow creeping through the glass slightly illuminating the room.
"Yes I do, but it wasn't long after I'd left that I saw the Winchester boys heading for the same graveyard."
"Well, it seems that we beat them to the punch, didn't we?"
"Yes, sir. She's still unconscious, probably because she's been trapped underneath the ground for so long with little air to breathe. An hour longer and she would have died."
"Now then, we can't have that, can we? If we want that blade we're going to need her alive. I'd say it's a fair trade, a little thing like that for their girlfriends' life."
"Why the knife? What's so special about it?"
"Oh, my dear boy," he whispered, "This is no ordinary knife. You wouldn't understand the power this weapon has. Lucifer demands that the knives are brought straight to him, and if we fail this... well I don't want to imagine the consequences. I'll put it clearly for you; this knife represents your life-force. If we don't succeed, we'll be sent right back to that dreaded hole that we came from all those years ago."
"What's the news on Walker?"
"We haven't found his location yet, but Lucifer has set a few on his tail. It won't be long before they find him."
"How did you know that the brothers brought back their little girlfriend?"
"Lucifer has his ways."
"But how-"
"Stop with the questions, now. The boys will find us here, I assure you. But until then we must keep our eyes peeled, they could show up at any time, from any direction at all."
"What do I do until then?"
"I want you to find the brothers. Don't let them see you, but make sure they get here quickly. Lead them on, but don't make it too obvious. Make them believe that they are tracking you down. You should know that Lucifer doesn't like to wait. Place the girl on that bed over there, tie her down and make sure that it's done properly. This woman is our only leverage. We can't fail."
"Okay, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Lucifer said that one of the Winchester boys has special abilities. We can't control him or things around him like we usually can. He's immune to our power. How do you expect to overcome him if you're powerless against him?"
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not expecting a fight. But if it comes to that, remember that it's only him that our powers are useless against. The other one is extremely vulnerable."
"But in the end, he'll be able to overcome us, won't he?"
"Don't you worry about that either. Lucifer has his plans for young Sam Winchester; he won't be a threat for much longer. In fact, he may become useful to us."
"Hows that?"
"You really do ask a lot of questions. Now get going and hurry up, Lucifer isn't the most patient being."
"Yes, sir."
Sam woke with a start.
The pitch-black darkness of the night infected his eyes, sitting up in his bed.
He couldn't go back to sleep, not after what he'd just seen. What did they mean when they said he would become useful to them? And they knew of his abilities too? Maybe they had the answers to his questions. He had to find them.
But one thing that he didn't know was when the scene took place. It had been all too real for him to pass off as a dream, but if he didn't know when it had happened, he wouldn't know when to expect the signs.
"Dean, Bobby, wake up."
Dean rolled over in his sleep, but Bobby opened his eyes and stood up almost instantly, as if he hadn't been sleeping at all. Dean turned to face him, "What is it, Sammy?"
"Another nightmare. And Dean, it's important."
"Was it Bella?"
Sam nodded, "But that wasn't all. Get up, I'll tell you about it over breakfast."
This got Dean up, "You got food? Good, 'cause I'm starving".
"Dean you're always hungry!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Right. Okay then, Dean, how about this: I bet you couldn't go a whole twenty-four hours without eating."
"Pfft, come on, that's easy Sam. Already done it too."
"Oh? And when was that?"
"When I died, Sammy. I didn't come across any McDonalds or Luigi's down in hell, you know."
Sam laughed, "Dean, you don't need to eat in hell. You didn't even have a physical body to keep healthy anymore."
"My body was as physical as it is now."
"Whatever, Dean. You reckon you can do it?"
"I probably could, I just don't want to."
"I knew it. I knew you wouldn't be able to last until midnight without eating."
"Midnight! You're crazy, Sam." He ducked down and stuck his head into the fridge.
"Don't think you can handle it?"
Dean pulled his head out, smiling. "Oh you bet I can! You're on, Sammy!"
Sam shook his head, "What do you think, Bobby?"
"I think you're in over your head, Dean."
Sam laughed and sat on his bed again.
"You don't think I can do it either, Bobby?"
"Dean, do you remember that day your father took you to an All-you-can-eat buffet while he was working a job with me in Michigan?"
"Oh yes, we have some great memories, so what's your point?"
"They kicked you out, Dean."
"So what! It tasted good! Come on, Bobby, I'll survive this day," He said, "You'll see."
"Yes we will".
"Brilliant. Well there goes breakfast. So, Sammy, what was it that you saw?"
Sam sighed, "It was the demons, they've got Bella, and they want to trade."
"Trade for what?"
Sam pulled from his back pocket the Crusader Knife and spun it between his fingers.
"They want the knife? If they want this one, then they'll be wanting the last one too won't they?"
"I don't think they've found it yet, though. But they mentioned a guy named Walker."
"Wait, what?" Bobby became suspicious, "Dean, weren't you asking about a guy named Walker yesterday?"
"Yeah," he replied, "I just heard his name somewhere and was curious".
"Dean quit lying, I can always tell when you're not telling the truth." Bobby demanded, "There's something you're not telling us."
Sam leaned forward, and Dean sighed. "Well, if you have to know. When I was in hell, I saw something. I saw Sam talking to Lucifer at the Devils Gates. He wasn't manipulated or anything, it was as if you had just turned against us or something, Sammy. Lucifer asked you to go to Colorado and search a man named Mathew Walker and bring him back alive."
"Do you think he has the last knife?"
"I think we should check it out," Dean started, "But who the hell is he? That's what I want to know. And how did he come into possession of one of the most powerful weapons that ever existed?"
"We will worry about that after we've found Bella. Where was she?"
"I have no idea," Sam began, "But he sent someone to come and find us. He said he'd leave a trail for us to follow. They will try and lead us into a trap."
"And we'll be ready for them, won't we?"
"Yeah, I guess you're ri-" Sam stopped mid-sentence as the lamp they were using to see in the darkness began to flicker, its light disappearing and reappearing, casting a darkness around them, from which anything could sneak up on them.
"Well, I'm guessing that's the first of the signs," Bobby started, "So how are we going to do this?"
"Do what?"
"Get Bella back without losing the knife of course!"
"Well, we could always do what we did with the colt," Sam said slowly, "You know, replace it with a close replica and hope they don't notice".
"Nah it won't work, Sammy." Dean said, looking through the window at the outside, "They'll be expecting that. We're gonna need something else," he demanded.
The lights began to flicker much faster until they suddenly faded into pitch blackness, "And we're gonna need it fast."
Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Probably not, but review anyway, thanks =D
