Chapter Ten
He wasn't sure it would work… nothing was certain when it came to the damn demon… but it was the best idea they'd come up with in a long time.
The exorcism they'd performed on the plane… the first part released the demon from the body… and the second part sent it right back to hell where it came from. Permanently. Now, personally Dean would've liked to kill the thing off once and for all… but this, this was the next best thing. With their fathers life on the line he would take it.
They'd need to use something stronger than what they'd been equipped with on the plane to pull it off. This was no run-of-the-mill demon (if there even was such a thing) This was the Demon. The strongest one they'd ever encountered. A little holy water and salt just wouldn't cut it.
Missouri had plenty of useful information for them… most of it disturbing. So far it had stuck to the pattern. Attacking so-called 'gifted' children on their six-month birthdays, killing one or both parents, burning their nurseries and then years later turning them evil… Except that recently it had wavered. Not all the children were turning evil. Sam was a perfect example of that.
Also it had begun to take control of other supernatural entities. The Daevas for one… the reaper from the hospital, and God only knew what else that they didn't know about. Dean, of course, had said nothing to Sam about the pretty Reaper with the bright yellow eyes…but he was positive Missouri knew and that she'd fill him in on it later. Oh well, no help for it. He'd deal with it when the time came.
The Reaper was the worrisome one. The demon had traded Dean's life for someone else's. Probably their father's. That their Dad was still alive… well it screwed up the order of things. The delicate balance of life had been messed with. Reapers had the power to do that, but rarely used it because of the consequences that it entailed.
Now the thing was attacking emergency rooms and killing people randomly without reason. Well, one reason that they could figure. It was trying to draw them out and get them to follow it. Usually they had Sam's visions to guide them through, but he hadn't even had the one since this whole thing had started.
They needed to get a step ahead of it, to figure out its new pattern so they could beat it to the punch line… It would take time to set things up for his little plan to work.
They were going to trick it… into following them into a trap. A devil's trap to be specific. There would be no messing around with mere salt circles this time. Though Dean was planning to use one of those too. Careful just wasn't enough. He needed to be positive that thing wouldn't be able to strike back.
The only way to get damned thing out of their Dad was to use the Colt. It sucked, but it worked so he was going with it. Far better to get a strip torn out of him by his Dad as he was getting patched up at the hospital then to watch him die…or worse.
He and Sam would recite the latin words needed to complete the ritual together and get it out in the open then send it right back where it came from. Everything else they would deal with after…after it was all over.
At Missouri's urging he'd crawled into one of the beds in her guest room to get some sleep. "You'll be no good to anyone if you're dead on your feet Dean. Get your scrawny behind upstairs and get some rest before I haul you up there myself." Well, at least she hadn't threatened to whack him with a spoon…or knock him out with a frying pan.
Maybe it was knowing that his father might be alive, or maybe it was finally having a fighting chance against this thing. Hell, maybe Missouri had done something to the room to dispel negative energy. At this point anything was possible. All Dean knew was relief. For the first time in a long time he saw nothing but the backs of his eyelids when he closed his eyes. He didn't even have the time to be thankful. A couple of deep breaths and he was out like a light.
Weak sunlight drifted across the kitchen, slowly dispelling the cold that had come with the storm as Missouri's voice filled the space between them. Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing…
"So, you're telling me that Dean does remember what happened in the hospital while he was dying? Even though he swore to me he doesn't remember a thing." Sam had never doubted Missouri before… but Dean lying to him? It just didn't sound right.
"Oh, I don't think he remembers everything… just bits and pieces so far. The one thing that stood out clearly was that the demon possessed the reaper that had come for him." She could afford to be gentle with Sam, and patient.
"Hold on, it possessed a reaper? You're kidding right?" She had to be kidding. If it possessed a reaper then that meant that their Dad had traded his own life for Deans… but from what they'd seen their Dad was still alive so that couldn't be it. Missouri wasn't serious.
"You'd better believe I'm serious Sam. Do I look like the type of person to joke about something like this?" No. no, it couldn't be… and then he looked at her and saw the calm, knowing look. The one that was purely hers. It told him everything he needed to know. Oh God…it was true…
"But if Dean's alive… and Dad's still alive… then who did the reaper take in their place?" That's how it worked. He'd seen it with his own eyes… had it only been months ago?
"I don't know Sam…from the look of things maybe no one at all." In which case they may be faced with far more than an exorcism and saving their father's life… They might have to choose which one of them will die to restore the balance. If they even get the choice. Unless… unless killing the demon is enough to put things right again…
He needed to talk to Dean… needed to dig into some books, call in some favors…They needed to know exactly what their options were with this, and if there were none then they would need to find a way to kill the demon off rather than just exorcise it.
Chair legs scraped loudly on the wood floor as he hastily got up, ready to run upstairs and shake Dean awake… They had work to do and he'd be pissed if Sam let him sleep through it.
"Don't you dare go up there and wake the poor boy up. You know as well as I do that he hasn't slept much in weeks."
"I know, but he'll be mad as hell if he finds out that I started without him…"
"Sam Winchester you let him sleep. That boy is meant to succeed where others have failed… he'll need his strength when the time comes." Wow, she took out that 'don't mess with me boy' tone that she only ever used with Dean. It really wasn't as funny when you were the one it was directed at… wait, what had she just said?
"What do you mean 'succeed where others have failed'" What the heck was that supposed to mean? She was holding something back. "Is there something you haven't told us?"
"I couldn't say it in front of Dean. There's already so much doubt in him, I didn't want to add more. He would never have believed me even if I had. You'll need to know though, if you're to do what you were meant to." Steady, unwavering eyes met uncertain scared ones across the table top. "Dean was meant to kill the demon. To finish what your father started and end it once and for all." Uncertainty became wide-eyed shock.
"Kill it… you mean actually destroy it, not exorcise it? Actually kill the damned thing?"
"That's exactly what I mean. Oh, he'll have to exorcise it to weaken it… but in the end when all is said and done Dean will kill this demon."
Now it was Sam's turn to run to the car, to pull out the laptop and a much larger arsenal of books. He'd have to work fast, something told him they didn't have a lot of time left before the action started.
But Missouri wasn't done yet. She still had something to tell him… and she hit him with it as he sat back down to set up the computer. "There's one more thing you need to know Sam and I think it's something you'd already begun to suspect."
Oh great, what now? As if telling him that Dean was going to be putting his freaking life on the line again wasn't enough… now there was more?
"It's about your visions, and your role in all this. You're meant to protect him Sam… and guide him so he doesn't steer off the path he was meant to follow."
What? But Dean had always been the one saving his ass, not the other way around.
"That's certainly what it seemed like, wasn't it? Truthfully though you've saved him more times than you could ever imagine, just by being there with him through it all."
A shaggy head finally popped up from behind the computer screen. What had Dean said when he'd come to get him at Stanford? His answer to being told that he could probably find their Dad on his own had been 'Yeah well… I don't want to.'
Good, she had his attention…
"That's right Sam. He needs you. Always has. He's just too darned stubborn to admit it."
She knew she'd achieved her goal when she saw the wheels begin to turn in that magnificent mind of his.
"I'm giving you one hour Sam Winchester, and then you're heading upstairs for some rest too. Research or no, you'll be no good to anyone exhausted. Understood?" Man, he was really starting to hate that 'no nonsense' tone. Was this how Dean felt when she used it on him?
Still, she did put a plate of cookies next to him just within arms reach… and she was actually looking out for both of them. So he answered her with a heartfelt 'yes ma'am' and set to work determined to make the most of the hour he'd been given.
The nursery was quiet but for the sound of three little bodies breathing softly in sleep. It wasn't his home, he knew that and it made him very sad. The colorful lights above his crib that used to comfort him only reminded him of what was missing. Micheal wanted his mommy back. He missed her soft voice and the way she always made everything alright, and he missed his daddy's smile which had been gone ever since she went away.
The big people had become quiet and so he was left alone… awake and wanting to cry. He would have too, except that he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall. Maybe that was his daddy, coming to hold him close and give him his bottle. Just thinking about it made him feel better. He started kicking his arms and legs excitedly wanting his daddy to see just how much he wanted to be picked up.
The face that peeked over the side of the crib wasn't the familiar one he'd been expecting. Still, the man looked friendly. Solid and strong… Just looking at him made Micheal feel safe. Thumb in mouth he tried to burrow his face into the man's shoulder. Even the scruffy black and gray beard was softer than it looked. Of course, little Micheal wouldn't have felt as safe had he seen the flash of yellow in the man's eyes. Instead he fell fast asleep, cuddled in his blanket as they went down the stairs and out the front door.
Time to bring this full circle John…
So guys, I've finished writing this story already and I've got another few chapters left to share... I'd love another review or two just so that I know I'm not posting this for nothing ; ) lol
Seriously though, all joking aside: Thanks for reading my fic! I hope you're enjoying the read as much as I enjoyed writing it.