TEN

Pierre Pine Inn
Pierre, South Dakota
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
10:15 PM

Sam and Dean Winchester sat beside one another on the bed as they held the phone between them, Bobby Singer's voice resonating throughout the motel room as he filled them in on what exactly they were hunting and why the man had made their situation sound so grave. They had been sitting there for the past twenty minutes, getting brought up to speed on the details they had been unable to uncover on their own, each minute that ticked by feeling like an hour as the brothers listened to their friend's strong, Southern-accented voice.

Though the conversation had had to be put on hold from when the man had called the first time—the guy who was next up on their interview list, Dave Seeger according to a directory posted at Bernstein Warehouse's front entrance, having been mutilated right before the brothers' eyes and causing them to have to high-tail it out of there to avoid being questioned by the authorities—Dean had floored it in order to get back to their room to call Bobby in private, something about the way the man had made their case seem treacherous causing both Winchesters to want to soak up as much information as they could somewhere they weren't afraid of being interrupted or overheard.

On the drive back to their motel, it had been clear that the cab of the truck was filled with inverted thoughts, Sam wondering if what his friend was going to tell them had anything to do with The Demon, whereas Dean was undoubtedly pondering the same. Though they didn't vocalize what they were thinking aloud, Sam could see his brother's suppositions written all over his face, the speed in which Dean was driving giving Sam enough of a hint toward what Dean was speculating.

In truth, if this job did have anything to do with The Demon, Sam didn't know if he and his brother were ready to face it. The last time they had seen it in its true form—when it had been in the middle of a burning bedroom, its flashing yellow eyes taunting Sam without the creature having said a single word—Sam had been willing to risk his life just to kill the thing, but at that time, they had had something that would give them a one-up on their enemy: The Colt. However, just like The Demon had disappeared right after Dad had died, so had their demon-killing gun, leaving the brothers powerless against the thing unless they could manage to corner it underneath a Devil's Trap in order to exorcise it. Though that seemed unlikely, especially since this thing had managed to evade John Winchester and his expert tracking for over two decades, it might be their only option without The Colt, especially if it was going around killing people in small-town South Dakota.

Letting his mind wander the closer they got to the motel, Sam let himself imagine what would happen should this job really be a direct link to the creature the Winchesters had been hunting all of their lives. In his mind's eye, he could see the thing and its luminous, frightening gaze, the stare causing both brothers to halt in place in fear of getting any closer. It would be just them and it in a room, with no other creatures there to prevent the showdown that Sam wanted to happen about as badly as he wanted his father alive. In his imagination, Sam crashed into The Demon, with the thing throwing him off of it and into a wall, holding him there with its telekinetic abilities while Dean attempted to distract it. Unfortunately, even in Sam's head, the brothers couldn't get an upper hand, Dean's tries to tear The Demon's thoughts away from Sam going unsuccessful and causing Dean to become pinned as well. Ultimately, though he knew the situation wasn't real, Sam knew that both of them were done for, the brothers battling without the gun being what had done them in.

Snapping out of his thoughts as the Ranger approached the Pierre Pine Inn, Sam jumped out of the passenger's seat and immediately dialed Bobby, the phone picking up the moment Dean shut the motel's door behind them. Taking a seat on the bed, Sam placed the mobile on speakerphone, balancing the device between them on his knee while both of them leaned in in an attempt to hear better. At first, the conversation had started out slow, with Bobby recapping how he had gotten to the solution before Dean had waved that away for bigger fish, Bobby apparently trying to put off telling them what he had to tell them for as long as possible, the news seemingly that unpleasant.

"This thing you're hunting, it's a demon called The Collector," Bobby began as Sam twirled the third arrowhead between his fingers, this one found underneath the table Dave Seeger had been lying beside. Frowning, Sam and Dean exchanged confused glances, Bobby continuing as the two looked at one another. "Basically, the only time this thing is summoned is if someone needs some high-ticket items collected, which was how it got its name. The last time this guy was topside, it was still The Dark Ages."

"Okay, so what's the bad?" Dean asked, shrugging his shoulders. "We have a demon on our hands that doubles as a hoarder. We can deal with that."

"Because, son, this guy ain't just any demon. He's a demon foot soldier," Bobby said, irritation in his tone, though still buried underneath the severity he was trying to portray. "If demons had hitmen, he would be high on their hiring list. He gets in, he gets out, and he gets what he came for, usually without leaving a mess. Whoever hired him has to be up to something. This guy ain't called on for nothing."

"So, what are you thinking, Bobby? That this thing is collecting body parts? For what? Do you think it has anything to do with…" Sam trailed off, pausing to take his friend's words to heart. Though a small part of him told him that this case was floating farther and farther away from being connected to their demon, Sam still held out hope, attempting to grab onto the link that would take them straight to vengeance with an iron grip.

On the other end of the line, silence grew as Bobby thought, the man eventually speaking a couple of minutes later to turn Sam down. "I don't think this has anything to do with what killed your daddy, Sam. I think this might be something else, something new. I don't want to make it sound worse than it is, but if someone higher up the food chain is using The Collector to get things done, I'm guessing we might have something pulling the reigns that doesn't like to get their hands dirty. Based on what you've told me about your demon, it seems like he doesn't have any problems digging right in."

"So what is it doing this for?" Dean asked, pursing his lips. "Some kind of spell?"

"More than likely, yes," Bobby said. "You know those arrowheads you boys found? The writing on the side is a message."

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Dean glanced at Sam. "Saying what?"

"'Between the buried and the Heavens, there is but one enemy.'"

"What the hell does that mean?" Sam asked, furrowing his brow.

"No idea," Bobby replied with a sigh.

Letting quiet permeate the line, Sam glanced down at the arrowhead placed between his fingers, the sides of this one completely smooth and without anything that would expand on the thought imprinted on the first two. Though Sam had more questions, such as why the first two had gone missing and how they should best go about tracking down The Collector, the stillness between him and his brother, and Bobby by extension, was too thought-provoking, Sam letting his mind wander as he considered what exactly this thing and its employer were up to.

So far, now, they had two demons with two master plans, one, if not both, with an agenda that directly involved him and his family. While Sam wasn't naïve enough to believe that, of all the demons in the world, the one he and Dean were gunning after was the only one with an ulterior motive, he couldn't help but wonder if Bobby was wrong in assuming that this thing had nothing to do with the creature that had ruined the Winchester family, something in his gut telling him that his friend's presumption about The Demon and its want to get its hands dirty was a little off. It was possible that the thing had hired The Collector because it was busy or because it had wanted someone to do its work while it remained underground. However, the only way to know for sure would be to find where this thing was an attempt to gain some sort of clue from it. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

"So, how are we supposed to get this thing before it gets someone else?" Dean asked, interrupting the silence that packed the room.

"I'm guessing you boys got yourself another party favor from that last victim," Bobby said, clearing his throat. "Hold onto it. Make sure it doesn't go vanishing on you. That thing works as a calling card. If this thing doesn't get all of its stuff back, it goes hunting for it. You hold onto it and it'll come straight to you. You boys know what to do from there."

Nodding and wrapping his fingers around the arrowhead tighter, Sam looked over at Dean as his brother thanked their friend and hung up, handing Sam's phone back to him and getting up to grab the keys to the truck, a couple of the things they needed to prepare for a surprise demon visit sitting in the backseat. Keeping his hand firmly enfolding around the dulled edges of the object becoming glued to his palm with sweat, Sam stood and crossed over to the pile of books he had placed there earlier in the morning, finding the biggest one on the bottom and dragging it out. The volume had been the same one that had taught Sam about Devil's Traps, the same one Bobby had given him to keep right before the accident with the Impala. Inside contained everything Sam needed to know when it came to drawing the demonic cage in intricate detail, the only thing missing being something to sketch it with.

Finding an oversized Sharpie that was lodged at the bottom of Dean's duffle bag, Sam pulled it out and grabbed a chair, setting to work as he reached up to draw on the ceiling, Dean returning from outside to lay salt in the windowsill and under the bathroom door in case The Collector decided to use any other entrance aside from the front. After half an hour of work, with Sam constantly checking for both the arrowhead and that his depiction of the Key of Solomon was correct, the brothers stood back and got ready for an encounter with the demon, neither of them certain as to what was going to happen or how it would end.