Chapter 11 - Criss Angel is a Douchebag

Addison, Dean, and Sam walk down the sidewalk and pause seeing a group mainly made up of women surrounding a man. There was a man holding a camera and another man holding a microphone. "This isn't a trick, okay? I don't do tricks. This is a demonstration about demons and angels," the man explains to the crowd. "Love and lust."

"What a douchebag," Dean comments and Addison snorts in amusement.

"All that stuff mixed up in my head."

"That's Jeb Dexter," Sam states.

Dean and Addison stare at him. "I don't even wanna know how you know that," Dean replies.

Sam shrugs. "He's famous...kinda."

"For what? Douchebaggery?"

They turn back to watch as Jeb pretends to be possessed and tosses a deck of cards at a store window. Addison raises an eyebrow at the card stuck to the window on the other side. Dean scoffs as the crowd cheers. "You've gotta be kidding me. A fake demon possession," he says, before turning to walk down the street. Sam follows him and Addison quickly catches up. "I can't believe people actually fall for that crap."

"It's not all crap," Sam argues.

"What part of that was not a steaming pile of bullshit?"

"Okay, that was crap. But that's not all magicians. It takes skill."

Dean smirks. "Oh, right, right. I forgot. You were actually into this stuff, weren't you? You had like a deck of cards and a wand?"

"Dude, I was thirteen. It was a phase."

"Just bugs me. Actually, it offends me. You know, playing into demons and magic, when the real thing'll kill you bloody?"

"Like a guy who drops dead of ten stab wounds without a tear in his shirt?"

Dean nods. "That's what I'm talking about."

"Am I the only one wondering how he got the card to stick to the window from the inside," Addison asks, looking between the guys. They send her disbelieving looks. "What?"

"Does you boss have any, ah, enemies that you know of," Dean questions the assistant of the magician, Vance, that had recently died of multiple stab wounds. They were in Vance's motel room while his assistant went through the magician's belongings.

"Vance had plenty of enemies," the assistant answers, pulling a handkerchief out of a bag. Addison stares as it continues on in a variation of bright colors.

"How so," Sam asks.

"He would steal from other magicians. All the time."

"What would he steal?"

"Stage effects, close up techniques, anything he could get his hands on."

"Would someone actually kill him over that," Addison asks.

"These guys take this stuff pretty seriously." The assistant picks up a top hat off the bed to reveal a fluffy white bunny. Addison smiles. "There you are."

"Did you find anything weird in Vance's stuff," Dean questions. "Well, weirder."

"Matter of fact I did," the assistant replies, setting the bunny in a large bag. She grabs a tarot card off of the bed and hands it to them.

"This didn't belong to Vance," Addison asks.

"He hated card tricks. He never wanted them around. Let alone in his precious cape."

Addison examines the card. A picture of a man laying on the ground with knives sticking out his back was on it. But other than that nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the card.

Addison walks with Dean into the theater. They had taken to searching around town while Sam was up in the motel room, researching. A sign above the stage said 'The Incredible Jay.' Addison raises an eyebrow as Jeb Dexter sits down at a table across from an older man. Dean grabs her arm and leads over to a table where two older men were sitting. "Are you Vernon Askel," he asks.

Vernon looks at them. "Whose asking?"

Dean and Addison flash their fakes badges. "Federal Agent Ulrich. This is my partner Agent Summers. We're looking into the death of Patrick Vance."

They silent watch as Jeb talks with Jay, the man sitting across from him. "What a douchebag," Vernon comments.

"Couldn't agree more."

Addison pulls out a small, clear plastic bag with the tarot card in it. "Mr. Askel, does this look familiar to you?"

"Should it be," Vernon counters.

"Well, we heard that you use tarot cards in your act," Dean states.

Vernon laughs. "Act? That was a long time ago. I haven't touched the deck in years." Vernon holds his hands and they notice the slight tremor.

"Do you know who uses them now," Addison questions.

"Well, there was this guy down on Bleaker Street."

"Oh, yeah," Charlie says. "He peddles that kinda specialty stuff."

"Did he have a problem with Vance," Dean asks.

"In fact, Vance crossed him about a year ago. Probably cost him fifty grand in royalties."

"Do you know exactly where we can find him," Addison asks, looking between the two men.

"426 Bleaker."

"Ask for Chief," Charlie says.

Addison stares at him. "Chief?" Charlie nods. "Thank you."

426 Bleaker Street was on the opposite of town from the theater. Dean parks the Impala in the alley and they climb out before walking up to the door with metal bars on it. He bangs on the door and after a minute, the wooden door opens. A man stares at them with a frown on his face. "We're, uh, here to see Chief," Dean tells him.

The man stands still for a moment, then opens the metal door and lets them. They follow him through the building into a dimly lit basement. They could hear the muffled pulsing music. "Stay here. Don't touch anything," the man orders.

Addison watches as the man walks back up the stairs. She shares a confused look with Dean. A door in front of them opens and they watch as a large man walks towards them. He wore leather pants and a vest. He slaps a whip in his open hand. "You are really gonna get it tonight, big boy," the man greets.

Realization crosses Dean's face and he shakes his head. "There's been a misunderstanding. We - I think we've been had."

"Oh, you two ain't been had 'til you've been had by the Chief. Oh, and before we get started, what's your safe word?"

Addison pushes Dean forward. "His safe word is Dumbo."

"Please tell us you found something," Addison says, walking up to where Sam was standing towards the edge of the crowded theater.

Sam glances at her, then turns his attention back to the stage. "What? No. You?"

"Nothing I wanna talk about," Dean replies. He grimaces. "Or think about ever again." Dean spots Vernon and Charlie man across the theater and makes his way over with Sam and Addison behind him. "The Chief, huh?"

Charlie smirks at them. "What's the matter? Chief not your type?"

"You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice."

"How? You're no Fed," Vernon argues

"We con people for a living. Takes more than a fake badge to get past us," Charlie finishes.

The guys nervously laugh as Addison sighs. "You got us. Yeah, we are actually...aspiring magicians," Dean says.

"Yeah, we came to the convention cause we thought could learn something," Sam continues.

"Yeah, get some ideas for our new show."

"What kinda show," Vernon disbelievingly asks.

"It's...it's, uh—"

"It's a brother act," Addison says.

Dean snaps his fingers. "Yeah! Yeah, you know with rings and doves and...rings."

The crowd starts clapping. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Incredible Jay," a announcer says.

"Wanna learn something? Stick around," Charlie tells them before walking up to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to witness is a feat so daring, so dangerous even the great Houdini dared not attempt it. I give you the executioner," Jay says. A noose falls down from the rafters of the stage. With help, Jay puts on a straight jacket and the noose. A member of the audience is pulled up onto the stage and inspects the jacket. "Now, sir, as you can see this jacket is the real article. Thank you, sir, you may take your seat. Now, I will have one minute. Sixty seconds. To escape certain death. Let's see if I can do it."

Addison watches as Jay climbs onto a platform and Charlie closes curtains around it. A clock above the platform lights up and starts counting down. Jay struggles from behind the curtain. They could hear him fighting to get free. "I don't think he's gonna make it," Dean says from beside Addison.

The buzzer on the clock goes off. Addison grabs Dean's arm when the trap door opens and Jay stops moving. Charlie pulls back the curtain to reveal Jay standing on the platform with the straight jacket in his hands. "Holy shit," Addison disbelievingly says.

"That was amazing," Dean exclaims. "That was fucking amazing!"

"That was...not humanly possible," Sam states.

Addison watches as the local coroner pushes a gurney out with a body bag on it. She had been on a food run when she saw the crowd standing outside a motel. "Hey," Sam says, walking up to where she was standing with Dean.

"So, the maid found Jeb hanging from his ceiling fan. The police think it was suicide. I beg to differ," Dean replies and pulls out another tarot card.

Sam takes the card out of his hand. It had the picture of a man hanging upside down from a tree. "On Dexter's body?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm thinking," Dean tells him. "If this spell is a death transference, then these cards work like black magic targets."

"Any connection between the victims?"

"Jeb was a total douchebag to Jay yesterday."

"What about the first vic? Vance?"

"He was seen heckling Jay at a bar the day he died," Addison replies.

"Okay, so Jay sneaks a card into Vance's pocket, does the table of death..."

"And Vance ends up with ten swords in his chest.

"Then Jay slips a noose and Jeb doesn't. Hell of a trick."

"Yeah, it's time we had a little chat with Jay," Dean says. "Any luck tailing him?"

An embarrassed look crosses Sam's face. "He slipped me."

"He's a sixty year old man."

"He's a magician."

It was fairly easy for them to find Jay in the small city and follow him back to his motel. They hide down the hallway from his room and wait for him to show. After Jay walks into his room, they pull out their guns and move in front of the door. Dean easily kicks down the door and they trio enters his room. "Oh my God," Jay exclaims, staring at them.

"Up against the wall," Dean orders.

Jay holds up his hand, but doesn't move. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Now!"

"We know what you've been up to," Sam tells him.

"Been working some real bad mojo to jump start your act."

A confused look crosses Jay's face. "What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"We know that you put a spell on the tarot cards," Addison says. "You're messing with real magic."

Jay laughs. "Real magic? Come on, there's no such thing as real magic."

"Oh, is that so," Dean questions.

"Yeah, believe me. I've been around this stuff my whole life. It's all just - it's illusions. It's tricks, it's all fake."

"Jeb Dexter strung up. Was that just an illusion?"

A stunned look appears on the older man's face. "What? Something happened to Jeb?"

"He was found hanged in his room," Sam answers.

"Right after you slipped the noose last night," Dean continues.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please, just let me go," Jay pleads.

Addison grabs the guys' sleeves and pulls them towards the door. "There's something weird about this."

"Usually they're sending some bad ass hoodoo at us by now," Sam says.

Dean looks between them. "What do you wanna do?"

Addison stands back as the guys tie Jay to a chair in the center of the room. Figuring that he was secured and wouldn't go anywhere, they move over to a corner. "So, if it isn't him, then who is it," she quietly asks.

"Even if Jay's not working the magic, he's still getting the reward," Dean points out. "His shows are selling out."

"All right, so, then whoever it is, they're obviously in Jay's corner," Sam reasons.

"All right, so we got Vernon and Charlie on the list. Anyone else?"

"Why don't we just ask him," Addison suggests.

Dean nods and they turn to see the chair empty. "Guess we should've seen that one coming."

Addison shrugs. "Well, he couldn't have gotten that far."

They run out of the motel room and search the every floor of the motel before making their way down to the lobby. "No way he could out run us," Sam says.

"Maybe he vanished? I mean, he really is good," Dean says.

Addison smacks his arm. "Or he just found another way out of the motel."

Suddenly, police cars pull in front outside. Officers run inside, guns drawn. "That's them!" They turn to see Jay running down the stairs. "Those are the three nut jobs who just broke into my room!"

"Freeze! Hands where I can see them," an officer shouts. Addison reluctantly puts her hands in the air, while shooting the brothers a glare.

Addison follows the guys into the motel. They had spent the afternoon in the police station being interrogated. She was still annoyed and mad, but she was also happy. "Jay," Sam greets as they walk over to the older man. "Thanks for dropping the charges."

"A big thank you," Addison comments.

"You mind telling us why you did it," Dean questions.

Jay sighs. "We have to talk." He leads them into the motel's bar. After getting a table and a couple of drinks, Jay takes a deep breath. "I was just a kid when we first met. All I knew was how to cheat at cards. Charlie got me out of more scrapes then I can count. Hell, I would've been dead by the age of twenty if it hadn't been for him. He was more than my friend. He was my brother."

"I'm sorry, Jay," Sam replies.

"Look, I should've listened to you guys when you told me that my show was killing people."

"You weren't the one doing the killing," Addison counters.

"Yeah, but someone did and I wanna find out who did this to Charlie...so I'll do whatever you guys says. Just tell me what to do."

"Jay, whoever's doing this, they like you. They're probably close to you," Sam says. Jay shoots him a confused look. "Did Charlie and Vernon get along?"

Jay shakes his head. "No, no. It's not Vernon."

"He's the only one that makes sense," Dean argues.

"Charlier and Vernon were your family, Jay," Sam points out.

"And now Charlie's gone."

"Yeah, but...they butted heads sometimes but Vernon could never do something like this," Jay tells them.

"Jay, real magic is like a drug. Once people get ahold of it, they enjoy the feeling of it...and they'll do anything to keep it," Addison softly tells him.

Jay looks between the three of them. "You better be damn sure about this. Vernon is all I got left."

From down the hallway, the trio watch as Vernon walks out of his motel room. They come out and Sam picks the lock, then they quietly enter the room. A couple of trunks and suitcase were in the corner with various magic stuff spread around the room. "Wow, it's like a magic museum," Sam comments.

Dean smirks. "You must be in heaven. This guy didn't travel light."

"I bet everything he owns is in this room," Addison says.

Dean shrugs. "Let's get started."

The three of them start searching through Vernon's possessions. Addison picks up a stack of posters as Dean closes a trunk. "It's just a bunch of old timey magic stuff," he says. "None of it magic."

"No herbs, no candles, and no tarot cards," Sam says.

"Guys," Addison says, holding up a poster. "Recognize him?" It was an old poster of Charlie. He looked no older than thirty in the picture. And in the bottom corner was the year 1880.

"Not so fast," Dean shouts as they enter the theater. They had heard Charlie tell Jay and Vernon about getting a book from PT Barnum. And that he had done a spell for immorality. Guns drawn, the trio make their way towards the stage. "I ain't Guttenberg and this ain't Cocoon. Immortality? That's a neat trick."

"That's not a trick," Charlie says. A noose comes from the rafters and wraps around Dean's neck. "It's magic." Addison's gaze widens as the rope pulls Dean off the floor. Sam fires at Charlie. His head moves to the side, then turns back to them and spits out a bullet. "Hey, bullet catch, been working on that."

Charlie disappears and the bullet falls to the ground. "Get him," Dean shouts, struggling to keep the noose from enclosing around his neck.

Sam and Addison turn around to see Charlie standing behind them. "Let him go," Sam orders. "Now!"

"Just leave me and my friends alone."

"I said now!"

"All right, I will give it up. The spells, the hexes, this is the last time. I promise."

Sam stares at Charlie for a moment, then lunges at him. Charlie quickly disappears and reappears behind Sam. He shoves him onto the table on the stage and shackles him to the table. "Sam," Addison shouts, running over to the table. Another rope comes from the rafters and wraps around her neck. She pulls at the rope as it yanks her off the ground. She glances at Dean, then at Sam.

"Jay..." Charlie weakly says. Addison looks below her to see Charlie kneeling on the ground, blood staining his shirt. Charlie pulls a tarot card out of his pocket and looks to see the pack in Jay's hand. "You pick these strangers over me?"

Addison falls to the stage as Charlie falls forward. She pushes herself up to see Dean ripping the noose off his neck. She pulls off her own noose and stands up. She moves over to Dean and helps him up. A crash causes her to turn to see Sam standing next to the table he had been on, but now the spikes were down. "You okay," Sam asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right," Dean replies.

They find Jay sitting in the hotel bar, nursing a glass of whiskey. "Hey, Jay," Dean greets as they walk up to his table. "We wanted to, ah, thank you for what you did yesterday."

Jay looks at up him. A broken look on his face. "I killed my best friend yesterday and you wanna thank me?"

The trio exchanges a sad look. "Where's Vernon," Addison asks.

"Oh, he's gone. Said he didn't wanna speak to me again after what I did to Charlie."

Dean sighs. "Listen, Jay, you know Charlie was never gonna give up what he was doing. Ever. You did the right thing."

"You sure about that? You know, Charlie was like my brother. And now he's dead. Because I did the right thing," Jay tells them, standing up. "He offered me a gift and I just threw it back in his face. So, now I have to spend the rest of my life old and alone. What's so right about that?"

Jay walks out of the bar, leaving the three of them standing there. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I could go for a beer."

"I'm gonna take a walk," Sam replies, walking away.

Addison turns to Dean. "You're buying."

It's after his third beer that Dean turns to Addison. The conversation he had a couple of days before with Sam had been replaying in his mind. "Where do you think you'll be when you're sixty," he suddenly asks.

"Seattle," Addison answers. "A nice house. Not too big, but not small. Iron fence instead of a white picket one. Pictures of my kids hanging on the walls and a dog."

"You really believe that?"

"Absolutely." She shifts on the stool. "I never slept with Sam. In the fact the most we ever did was make out once or twice and that was while you were doing your farewell tour." She slides off the stool and pulls out some money from her back pocket before putting on the bar. "In fact that last time I had sex was with you right before you died."

Addison turns to leave, but Dean grabs her wrist. "Why did you tell me that?"

She shrugs. "Because you're my best friend."