.-.-.-.Death Markers.-.-.-.
Hi! I know, it's taken me longer to get this chapter up. My muse abandoned me during my period of extreme excitement caused by the return of the show. Well, it's called 'Answers' but we only learn a little bit more, I don't like revealing too much. Anyway – I'd like to say thanks for my reviews and thanks for reading. I got a couple of things wrote for Chapter 11 so hopefully this means my muse has returned.
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10. Answers
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"What?" Dean found himself saying. He hadn't even noticed Sam step from around the corner at the back until he spoke.
"Excuse me, he's –" Sam began but she cut him off.
"He's not welcome! Get out of my store!" She started moving towards him now.
Dean took a step back and held up his hands in surrender, "Whoa, hold up. What on earth are you going on about?"
"Don't think I can't see it. It burns clear for me. You can hide it from everyone else but from me, ha!"
Riddles! The woman was speaking in riddles! And then Dean noticed, she kept glancing at his chest. His guts tightened.
"You gotta be kidding me." He said.
"Ma'am, please calm down." Sam said, following up behind her, trying to squeeze past so he could become a wall between her threatening stare and his brother.
Sam didn't succeed in his wall attempt; she was right up close to Dean now. Dean felt himself go back once more, colliding with the door.
"Look, I'm not here for trouble." Dean said.
"That's all your kind ever brings; trouble. There isn't a single time that I've seen that symbol and there ain't been trouble."
Dean's hand flew up to his chest, over the symbol. He felt it twinge slightly. "I swear, who ever it is you think I am, I'm not."
Sam placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, turning her around to face him, "You know about the symbol?"
Her eyes widened. Dean stared at Sam, silently telling him to back off. He was obviously scaring her.
"I know enough."
"What can you tell us about it?" Sam said.
"You're with him?"
Sam looked at Dean and nodded.
"Then you know what he is." She said simply.
"He's my brother and he's a hunter, a damn good one at that."
Dean smiled, "I'm a good guy, honestly."
And whether it was because she had been backed into a corner or because she actually believed Deans words, she sighed and silently locked the door behind him. "If I have no choice, it'll be better to talk in the living room."
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The brothers followed the woman through the side door that Sam had first seen her arrive through. She didn't offer them a seat when they came into a reasonably homely seating area, or a drink. All she did was move a safe distance away from them and stare.
"What is it you want from me?" She finally said.
"Nothing." Sam said, "But you do seem to have some idea about this thing on my brother's chest and that means you might be able to help us. Give us some information."
"That's not a thing." She said, silently a voice inside Sam was screaming for him to turn off and not listen to her because the next thing she was going to say would be nothing but lies, "That's a very powerful symbol that belongs to an ancient society. You don't just come across it by accident and anyone who bares it is evil."
She spat these words at Dean, he looked away.
"My brother isn't evil and he has nothing to do with what ever society it is you're on about."
"Then why does the death mark burn so fiercely on his chest?"
"Death mark?" Dean questioned, "What sort of lame ass name is that? What, no Latin?"
"You really have no idea do you?" She sighed, "It has many names, even one or two in Latin but it's mostly known as the 'Death Mark', short and sweet – unlike what it represents."
"And what does it represent?" Sam spoke softly, guiding her to give them what knowledge she may possess.
"Like I said, it belongs to an ancient society, an evil society. If you boys have been messing around with that kind of stuff, you're in a whole world of trouble."
"Trust me when I say, we haven't done anything – that we know of. We've never even seen the symbol before, never heard of it, or who ever these people are."
"I don't want to get caught up in this, if you really don't know what you've done, it's probably best if you just leave. I don't want to be involved."
"Lady, we don't want to get you involved, but you could be our only source of information." Dean spoke this time, "We could really do with the help."
"I can't help. I don't know much myself. All I really know is that they kill. They're like assassins. Hunters that hunt hunters, their true passion is death, why else would they get a name like the Death Markers?"
"So are you telling me that my brother is marked for death?" Sam knew the answer before she even had time to think it. The question he asked for out of dumb hope. After all, if Dean had been marked for death, they could beat these people, keep his brother alive. Their previous conversation about evil and guilt would become totally irrelevant and Dean could go back to being the good guy that was there to keep Sam protected.
"No, you're dead before you can even get marked for death." She laughed as if Sam's question was that of a young child who just didn't understand, "You're brother has been branded for, I guess the best word would be - recruitment."
Sam looked at his brother. Dean had known ever since they'd left that school. This is what had been eating away at him. One of those 'minor' details he'd left out. Again. Sam only had his suspicions but Dean had known.
Dean shrugged, "Dude, our families cursed."
And it was so true. No matter how many evil things they destroyed, no matter how many people they saved, it wouldn't matter if they themselves became part of it. What was it he'd heard people say – when you hate something so much, it defines you and later consumes you until you become just like that thing you hate? Was that how Sam and Dean would end up? After all their efforts to stop the evil in the world?
"How do we get rid of it?" Sam asked in a tone that suggested urgency.
"I don't think you can get rid of it. Now look, I've told you as much as I know. So please, go." Her eyes were pleading with Sam; it was as if she refused to look at Dean - as if she stilled refused to believe that Dean could truly be a good guy.
Sam wasn't about to just walk out of the door, sure they might have found something sooner or later or one of their contacts might have known something, but this was information. It was information that they needed.
"Sammy, I don't think she really knows much more." Dean sighed.
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Dean had to stare at his brother intently for several long seconds before Sam finally gave up and decided Dean was right. So without assistance, they left the shop. Though Dean noticed that by the time they were seated in the Impala, the old hippy was once again locking up, only this time she appeared to be turning in for the night – probably scared they might change their mind and come back.
"I think you scared her." Dean smiled at Sam.
"I think that mark scared her a lot more than me." Trust Sam, refusing to lighten mood, determined to stay serious, "How the hell did she even know?"
"You're kidding right? Psychic wonder? That place had this serious Missouri vibe going on, I swear, it was creepy. I'm surprised she couldn't read our minds." Dean laughed.
"Do you think we should call Missouri? She might know something." Determined.
"Sam, I don't think it's going anywhere. My mind on the other hand is going to need a serious trip to dreamland soon and we got an exorcism to plan."
"So you just want to go back to the B&B?"
"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that Sam."
And for all those arguments that Sam could possibly think up, there wasn't anything wrong with it. This was turning out to be a complicated and busy few days that would last awhile. And though he wanted to know what this mark meant for him, he wanted to save Nora more and that meant they had to come up with something to get her on her own. Well, at least he knew what his plan for tomorrow was.
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