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I don't know if kjdw who was an anonymous reviewer to my story Brothers and Bartenders is reading this story, but
I just want to say thanks anyway for the review. :)
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I also want to thank those who have put my stories on alert or favoured.
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Sorry for any grammatical hash-ups that may have slipped through.
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Sam started to recite the exorcism and when he reached the last two words, Dean slammed his hand
against the symbol. §
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Chapter Ten
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During that last second both pairs of eyes had blinked, obeying the involuntary reflex action
that has been ingrained in the human race from its earliest days, hoping that the prison walls that held them
would have magically disappeared leaving them free men once again.
It only took an additional second for them to understand that what they had hoped would happen, simply hadn't.
The walls, red or green that they might be, were still standing, still keeping the brothers secure in their individual cells.
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§ Sorry, Dean. I said it was a long-shot, but at least we tried. §
§ It's no big, Sam, we'll just have to think up something else. I'm only sorry that I had to cut
my palm open again. These wounds are pretty annoying and take ages to heal. §
§ Yeah § Sam concurred sympathetically. § Cuts on your palm really suck. §
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The brothers slumped to the floor, falling into an unnatural silence, still disappointed by the failure
of their attempt to escape and deflated after the high they had been on during the execution of the rituals. .
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Into the stillness of the green room came a sound so common-place to us now, potential harbinger of good or bad news,
but in this case, of surprise, to the startled young hunter who had the device in the right-hand pocket of his jeans.
The trill of the cell-phone broke the silence with its cheerful normality
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Dean pulled it out and looked at it with an expression of disgust on his face.
"What the hell, Dean!" he thought to himself.
He had completely forgotten about it, his attention taken up firstly by his concern for Sam
and then by Castiel's ramblings and their attempted escape.
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His heart jumped when he read the name of the caller.
"Bobby, is that you?"
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"Yeah, Idjit, Who'd you think it was? The Queen of England!
"Sam said he would call back after Visyak's seminar and bring me up to date and your brother's pretty precise
when it comes to calling back. When he didn't, I tried to contact him but his phone's dead.
So, you boys okay? "
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"No...!...I mean,.. Yeah! We're all in one piece but we've been hi-jacked by Cas and I'm in the beautiful room
while Sam's in Hell's antechamber." the words tumbled out so uncharacteristically fast that they were nearly unintelligible.
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Bobby must have been struck speechless for a moment because there was no answer forthcoming, but
the older hunter soon found his voice.
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"What sort of trouble have you two dumb-asses got yourselves into now? I swear you two are gonna be the death of me.
A couple of days on your own and you're up to your necks in crap again."
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Dean moved the phone a little further away from his ear as Bobby's yelling threatened to deafen him.
He waited until Bobby had vented his worry, recognising his yelling for what it was.
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"You finished now, Man? You can kick our asses later but now we need your help to get out of here, wherever "here" is."
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"Right," was the resigned reply. "Bring me up to date on everything, but slowly this time."
Dean took his time and explained their situation to their surrogate father, thanking the fates that his battery was fully charged.
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"So, let me get this straight. Castiel and Crowley are working together to get their hands on a bundle of energy- giving souls
from Purgatory, but they don't know where the entrance is yet, and they hijacked and separated you two
to keep your asses out of the way in case you found out and put a spoke in their wheel. That right?"
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"That just about sums it up Bobby," answered Dean tiredly.
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"Well son, last time you told me that the angel room was in Van Nuys, so it's probably still on Earth somewhere, maybe
even in the same Van Nuys warehouse for all we know. Angels aren't really great on taking the initiative.
Sometimes things are simpler than we reckon.
Let me make a call to a hunter friend of mine down there and I'll get back to you."
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"Bobby..! "
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Bobby caught the undercurrent of preoccupation in Dean's voice.
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"Don't worry, boy, even if something should stop us talking on the phone again, now that I know what's about, I'll manage
to track you idjits down just the same."
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"Thanks, Bobby. Be careful. I don't know what Sam and I would do if anything ever happened to you."
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"Are you growing lady parts, Dean? We gotta get you out of there before
irreparable damage is done to your psyche, boy," were Bobby's gruff parting words.
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Dean closed the communication feeling uncharacteristically abandoned.
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He felt Sam's enquiring tendrils rippling through his mind and he turned his attention to his little brother
who had been patiently waiting for Dean to finish.
Sam had heard Dean's side of the conversation but could only guess at Bobby's replies.
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He brought Sam up to date on everything that had been discussed.
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§ It's strange that your phone works and mine's dead, § mused Sam.
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§ Not so strange, Sammy. Crowley's a lot shrewder than Cas, so he probably killed your cell dead when he brought you there.
Angels are so self-righteous about what they do, that they sometimes overlook the piddling details. §
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§ So, § Sam continued § let's hope Bobby comes through. §
§ He will, Sam, he will, otherwise we are truly fried. Talking of fries, Sammy, how long has it been since we've eaten!
Maybe they're gonna starve us to death! §
§ Dean! I can't believe how you can even think of eating! §
§ Anytime's a good time for a burger, Sammy. You should know that by now. §
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Although their bickering was light-hearted, Sam sensed that his brother was worried and although
he hadn't quizzed him about what Crowley had said to him earlier, he knew that Dean was terrified of Crowley losing his calm
and ripping his little brother to shreds.
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The phone trilled again.
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"Bobby?"
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I got in touch with my contact in LA and he tells me that there's been a lot of demon omens and activity right smack
around the Van Nuys area... Now, you're gonna have to give me more detailed directions
to the warehouse the room was in. That area is full of them!"
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Dean cast his mind back to the day he had almost said yes to Michael and tried to remember the exact location.
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"When we came out I think we stumbled on to a Valerio Street, and it was an abandoned muffler factory."
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Huh, pretty good description!" was Bobby's impressed reply.
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"Yeah, I looked up info on the area after we got out. I was just curious, I guess."
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"Well, let's hope we get lucky here, Dean, otherwise I'm afraid it's gonna take a while longer to get you out of
wherever you are. I'm not even gonna think about where Sam might be. I'll keep that one for later!" Bobby's voice was apprehensive.
"I'm gonna hang up now boy. Try and keep Sam from fretting too much."
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"You got it, Bobby."
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§ Hey, Sasquatch, Bobby's worrying about you brooding. You're not, are you? §
§ Why on earth would you think that, Dean! Sitting in Hell's waiting room is a friggin' walk in the park, §
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§ Sorry, Dude, just trying to lighten the atmosphere. §
§ Yeah, well, remind me never to go to an exhibition of Bosch's paintings.
The way Crowley's got them hanging all around this room really creeps me out. § was Sam's crestfallen reply.
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§ Hang in there, Sammy; Bobby'll get us out of this mess. § Dean tried to infuse as much optimism as he could into his mind-voice
and he accompanied it with a wave of comforting assurance.
The brothers settled down to wait, soothed by their link.
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Dean consulted his watch.
According to it, they had been here for twenty-three hours although he knew
that time was a variable when dealing with angels and demons.
He jumped to attention on hearing noises coming from beyond the confines of the room and he quickly pressed his ear
to the wall, hoping to interpret just what was going on.
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§ Sammy, § he reached out to his brother.§ Something seems to be happening outside the room. §
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§ Be careful, Dean, § was Sam's concerned reply.
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§ Don't worry, Mom! §
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§ Jerk! §
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Dean pushed his ear even closer to the wall and found himself sprawled ungainly on the floor of the same dirty warehouse
he had been in once before, with the bearded smiling face of Bobby's hunter friend staring down at him.
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"Winchester, I presume!"
XXXXXX TBC XXXXXXXXXX