"This dates back around the fourteenth century," Bobby told us as we all stood around the book Dean had pulled from the sewers.
I stood forward, flipping through pages.
"What language is it?" I asked.
"Da Vinci code," Bobby joked. "Real obscure Latin. It's gonna take me my golden years to translate it all."
I sighed, looking over a page before flipping another page.
"Oh and, fyi Cali, that ain't paper."
I slowly lifted my gaze from off the book and up to Bobby, my hand still holding a page in midturn.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's human skin."
Instantly I dropped the page from between my fingers and jumped back, wiping my hands off on my shirt like it would do something. I noticed the boys had a similar reaction. Mentally I vowed to never touch it again.
"Okay, I'm fairly clear on this first bit," Bobby said going on to explain what he'd translated so far. Something about some horrible, awful place.
"So what is it?"
"I'm thinking, you know, purgatory," Bobby said.
"Purgatory? Awesome," Dean announced in a sarcastic tone.
"What were some dragons doing with a book on purgatory?"
"Reading poems?" Dean suggested.
"Oh no," Bobby corrected quickly, "they're reading an instruction manual."
"What?" Dean and I spat at the same time.
"If you're nuts enough to want access to a place that gnarly this book will show you how to open a door."
I felt myself shrinking back from the book a bit, even more freaked out by being in its presence.
"So, how do you open the door?" Dean asked after making yet another sarcastic comment.
"Ask Cloverfield, I'm pretty sure he's got that page." Bobby indicated the missing pages from the book.
Sickening waves rolled through me at the thought of someone opening a door to this place. I couldn't imagine anything good coming from it.
"This is all about opening a door to let something in," he continued.
"Bringing something here," Sam said making the connection. He looked just as freaked as I felt. "What?"
"I'm working on it."
Sam shot me a nervous look and I reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, trying to seek comfort from him myself.
"Could you give us something?" Dean asked.
"I got a name."
"Well, okay?"
"Mother?" Bobby responded, looking a little unsure himself.
Dean's face scrunched up.
"Mother? Mother of what? Mother of dragons?" Sam asked, confused.
"It says it a few times here, 'Mother of all'."
My head felt like it was spinning. Mother of all.
"What the hell's this 'mother of all' mean?" Dean questioned Bobby.
He looked just as lost as us. "I don't know."
The tension in the room increased between everyone. Once again we found ourselves up against the impossible. Whatever happened to just working jobs?
"So what are we going to do now?" I asked, voice barely audible.
"Keep hunting, try to figure this thing out?" Sam offered.
Dean nodded in agreement before looking over at me. "You in?"
"Well I-I uhm," I glanced back at Sam who was looking at me hopefully and over to Bobby who was staring intently. "I guess so."
"You don't have to," Dean assured me from his place on a chair, taking a sip of the alcohol now in his hands.
"I want to it's just, I don't like not knowing what we're going to be up against in the end."
"I'm a little nervous too," Sam admitted beside me, placing a hand on top of the hand I had on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
I smiled at him a little. "I'm going to need to stop by my place then. I didn't pack much clothing or grab all of my hunting gear when I left. Plus I have a job I need to quit."
Three sets of eyes landed on me giving me strange looks.
"You had a job?" Dean asked me curiously. "Where?"
"At a bar," I answered vaguely.
"And you had a place of your own?"
"Not exactly, I lived with five other people in a two-story house."
Dean's eyes widened. "That's a lot of other people."
I shrugged, smiling at the good times I had had there the last few months. "They're all hunters. Four of them are couples and then Beth basically became a sister to me after I moved in."
"You lived with a bunch of hunters?"
"Yeah, worked for one too."
"Damn, I didn't think that many really lived near each other," Dean mumbled under his breath.
"When were you planning on doing all of this?" Sam asked me.
"Tomorrow I guess? I mean if we get on this case right away then I'm going to need to be ready for life on the road again."
"I'll come with you," Sam stated. "We can leave first thing in the morning."
"I'm coming too!" Dean shouted from behind us. "You're not leaving me out. I want to meet these hunters."
I grinned over at Dean. "Alright, you both can come with. I was kind of hoping to at least spend a little time there though before I just left. Who knows when I'll see them again…" I said, whispering the last part.
"You all better be heading to sleep if you plan on heading out so soon then," Bobby told us as he stood up, stretching behind his desk before making his way towards the stairs.
Dean got up and headed to the living room, trying to get comfortable on the couch. I chewed my lip awkwardly before piping up as Sam walked behind me.
"Dean why don't you take your normal room and Sam and I can share the one we used to? I feel bad you've got to curl up on that small thing. It doesn't look comfortable."
He raised an eyebrow at me before looking at Sam. I turned around and looked at him as well, hoping he didn't mind me assuming that sharing was an option.
"Why are you looking at me? I don't mind, it's not like we didn't share a bed the other night," Sam said.
"Oh, I know," Dean grinned wolfishly, shooting Sam a wink.
I rolled my eyes before grabbing Sam's hand and leading him up the stairs with Dean trailing behind us.
"Look at that, already in a hurry to get you back in bed!" Dean joked from behind us.
"Shut up, Dean!" I said as we reached the top of the stairs.
Sam was just grinning from ear to ear, obviously amused at the whole situation. We said our goodnights to Dean before turning into our own room where I felt too tired to care about changing my clothes. Sam must have been equally as tired because he crawled under the sheets as well, not bothering to even take off his shirt this time. Secretly I was a little disappointed, but after he pulled me close to his body and we cuddled up together, I couldn't even think about that.
"Goodnight Sam," I said, snuggling up against his warm body.
"Goodnight Calista."
