Bobby swung the car into the hotel parking lot, the tires squealing in protest. Goddamn sirens! There were some monsters the boys really shouldn't fight, and a siren was definitely one of them. Both Sam and Dean had left multiple voicemail messages that made it clear what had happened. He hadn't seen his boys at odds like this since their tangle with that Trickster, a few years ago. He grabbed a bronze knife from the trunk and dashed into the hotel.
The building was old and the elevator was so slow Bobby felt like it was barely moving at all. When the doors finally did trundle open he was greeted with a tremendous crash. Shit! He broke into a run. As he rounded the corner, he could see Sam lying in a pile of wood and splinters and Dean standing over him with a fire ax.
"Tell me again how weak I am, Sam, huh?" he was snarling. "How I hold you back?" He swung the ax up over his head and Sam covered his face with his arm. Bobby jabbed Dean in the shoulder with the blade and Dean cried out in agony. The blond young man Bobby assumed was the siren began to run down the corridor. He raised the knife.
"No. NO!" he heard Sam yell. He ignored the boy and threw the knife with deadly accuracy. The blade sunk deep into his back and he screamed and then fell to the floor, dead.
Bobby handed Sam a soda and another to Dean. Sam gave a short laugh at the look of disdain on Dean's face.
"Soda?" his brother said incredulously.
"You boys are driving, aren't ya?" Bobby said piously. Dean rolled his eyes.
"Thanks, Bobby. You know, if you hadn't shown up when you did…" Sam said.
Bobby gave a shrug. "Done the same for me, more than once. Course, you coulda picked up the phone. Only took one call to figure out that Agent Nick Munroe wasn't real." Dean looked away and Sam shifted uncomfortably. "You boys gonna be OK?"
"Yeah, fine." Sam said as Dean said "Yeah, good." Bobby tipped his hat at them and headed back over to his car.
"See ya," he said. Then he turned back to face them. "You know, those sirens are nasty things. That it got to you, that's no reason to feel bad." He got in the car and drove away. Sam watched him silently for a moment.
"You gonna say goodbye to Cara?" Dean said suddenly.
"Nah," Sam said. "Not interested."
"Well, look at you. Love 'em and leave 'em." Dean said, grinning.
Sam eyed him nervously. "I uh…" Dean winced as though he knew what was going through his mind. "You and Nick…" Dean looked away. "Look, I'm not judging," Sam added. "It's just… I had no idea. That's all." Dean shifted uncomfortably but said nothing. "Dean, look, you know I didn't mean the things I said back there, right? That it was just the siren's spell talking?"
"Of course," Dean said too quickly. "Me too." It was a lie and they could both taste it.
"OK," Sam said finally. "So... so we're good?"
"Yeah, we're good." Dean said. He tugged the car door open and flopped into the driver's seat. Sam stood there for a moment before climbing into the passenger seat.
Bobby picked up the phone with a sigh and dialed Sam's number.
"What's up?" Sam asked but there was a strange note in his voice.
"Got an odd little case for you boys up in Montana," he said. "People have stopped dying."
"What do you mean, stopped dying?"
"I mean, even if they get shot or stabbed or whatever, they just keep on livin'! Some guy, Jim Jenkins, gets shot by a mugger. Gets up like nothing happened. Another guy, who was dying of terminal cancer, I mean the priest had given him the last rites and everything. Gets up, strolls out of the hospice. Really weird stuff. I don't know if it's Apocalypse-related but I thought maybe it needed checking out."
"No, no, no. You're right, it's definitely weird," Sam said, but he still sounded distracted.
"Well, that's all I got," Bobby said. "You boys keep me posted, OK?"
"OK, Bobby," Sam replied. "Thanks." He hung up and Bobby stared at the phone for a moment. Then it rang again, half startling him out of his skin. He looked at the caller ID and then answered.
"Rufus," he greeted the old hunter. "What's happening?"
"I got a really weird-ass case down here," Rufus said breathlessly.
"Oh yeah?" Bobby said, a little skeptically. After the last case he'd worked with Rufus, he was beginning to wonder if the older man was losing his grip. A 'werewolf' that had turned out to be just an actual wolf.
"Yeah," Rufus huffed. "I got a killer dress on my hands."
"A killer dress?" Bobby replied incredulously.
"Yes, a killer dress. Now stop stalling and get down here!"
"Fine," Bobby snapped. "Where are you?"
"Gary, Indiana." The phone went dead.
"You're welcome," Bobby told the air, before grabbing his journal and heading out the door.
Dean stared listlessly at the laptop, the words on the screen dancing in front of his eyes.. The motel door opened and Sam entered with a bag of fast food. He dumped the bag on the table and Dean dived in eagerly.
"Anything?" he asked between bites.
"That cancer survivor? He was clinically dead, his wife pulled the plug and now he's taking her out for their twentieth anniversary." Sam chewed on a few french fries, his face baffled.
"Any sign of a deal?" Dean prompted.
Sam shook his head. "No. What about you? Found anyone dying around here?"
"Not since Cole Griffith," Dean told him. He swivelled the laptop around so Sam could see the screen. "He dropped ten days ago. It was the last death I could find."
"Any memories of this case from before?" Sam asked tautly. Dean eyed him for a moment.
"Yeah," he admitted.
"OK, so what's the deal?"
"Well, there's no deals," Dean said. "No uh skeevy faith healers."
"Right," Sam said slowly.
"It's Alastair."
"Alastair," Sam said, surprised. "What's he doing?"
"I forget the details, but something about killing a reaper under a solstice moon and one broken seal, coming right up."
"OK, so how did we deal with it last time?" Sam asked him. Dean still had the feeling Sam wasn't fully on board with the whole time travel story but where else would he get this crap?
"Uh, astral projection. I asked Pamela to… oh shit."
"What?'
"That's how she got killed." Dean said softly.
"Fuck," Sam said, with feeling.
"Exactly. So this time we gotta come up with a different plan," Dean decided.
"OK, well why don't we just find Alastair and gank his ass?" Sam suggested with a grin.
"Music to my ears," Dean declared. "All right. Let's hit the road."
"You can't see them," Dean said, waving one hand vaguely at the outside of the funeral home. "But there's all kinds of symbols drawn on the outside of this building. Last time, we were ghosts, so we could see them."
"What kind of symbols?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. "Enochian. Angel-proofing."
"So Cas can't come and help us if this all goes south?" Sam asked, his mouth tightening.
"Since when do we need the cavalry to ride in anyway?" Dean snapped and Sam peered at him. Dean was sweating, and his skin was pale.
"Are you OK?"
"Yes, dammit. Let's go."
"Boys," Alastair drawled. "Find the place OK?"
Sam glared at the demon and stretched out one hand. Alastair shivered and his face grew concerned. "I'm still way more demon than you can handle," he insisted but it was clearly an effort.
"I've been practicing," Sam snarled. Dean grabbed his arm.
"No," he said urgently. "Please, Sam."
"Ah, Dean. Still clinging to that tattered morality of yours?" Alastair said. He flung out an arm and Sam shot backwards, slamming into the wall and slumping to the ground.
"Sam!"
"He'll live," Alastair told him. "I just wanted some time to… reminisce."
"Yeah? I think I'll pass." Dean retorted.
"Dean," Alastair said sadly. "It really is a shame." Dean ignored him, eying the other demons at Alastair's back. "How about I make you a deal?"
"I'm done doing deals with demons," Dean said sharply.
"Oh no, no, no!" Alastair said, wagging a finger at him like he was a naughty schoolboy. "Not that kind of a deal. The old-fashioned kind. You let me do my job here, break this seal, and I won't turn Sam inside-out."
"You won't," Dean said, projecting more confidence than he felt. "Lucifer wouldn't like it."
"My master can fix any damage I do," Alastair assured him. "Surely you don't think destiny can be so easily thwarted."
"I guess not," Dean said ruefully, earning him a frown. "My offer is this: nothing."
"I suppose you think that's funny?" Alastair sighed.
"I'm a funny guy," Dean told him, and then his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out. Alastair looked down at him in alarm.
"Sir?" a demon behind him said hesitantly.
"I don't know," Alastair snapped. "Tie them up before they wake."
Sam awoke to find himself tied to a chair. Nothing new about that, he thought. He turned his head to see Dean similarly bound and completely unconscious. Well, shit. What the fuck had happened? Alastair was chanting and had his back to them both. Sam thought furiously.
"Sammy?" Dean groaned.
"Dean!" Sam hissed. "What the Hell happened?"
Dean looked around groggily. "Uh, this wasn't supposed to happen."
"Yeah, no shit. Now what?"
Dean's head came up and he stared at Sam, his mouth tugged down unhappily. "There are two reapers in that circle. Alastair's gonna kill them both, unless you can disrupt the circle."
Sam's eyebrows dived over his forehead. "Disrupt? You mean, use my super-evil psychic powers?"
"Yes, Sam," Dean said, sounding almost defeated. "Drop the chandelier on the circle. Tessa will do the rest."
Sam's mouth twisted but he took a deep breath and concentrated on the light fitting. It shook from side to side for a moment and then came crashing down. There was a sudden blinding flash of light and they both cried out. Sam felt his bonds fall away and he looked up to see Cas looking down at Dean with an oddly tender expression.
"Where's Alastair?" he demanded.
"Don't worry, boy. I've got him." Uriel said icily.
"Dean?" Cas said, kneeling down beside the hunter. Dean gave him a wan smile. "What did you do?"
"Barbiturates," Dean said, slurring a little. Sam's head whipped around.
"What?"
"It was insurance, OK?"
"I don't understand." Sam said, panic clawing at his throat.
"Dean's my charge," Cas explained. "If he was dying, I'd be called to his side. The Enochian symbols wouldn't be able to stop me."
"So heal him already!" Sam cried.
"He has to give his consent," Cas said. Dean gave a weak laugh. "And so far he is refusing."
Sam's head began to hurt. "Why? Do you want to die? I don't understand."
"It's simple," Dean wheezed. "I should never have come back from Hell. None of this would have happened if I'd just stayed there."
"That wasn't your decision," Cas said crisply.
"Maybe not. But this is. I'm done, Cas. I'm tired. If I'm gone, bang, no more Apocalypse."
"No!" Sam yelled. "How does your death stop anything?"
Dean looked directly into his eyes. "Because my dying wish is for you to stop what you're doing with Ruby and leave Lilith alone. Leave her alive and Lucifer cannot rise. End of."
"You son of a bitch," Sam breathed. Cas turned to look at him. "You coward."
"Nah," Dean said, his breathing seriously labored now. "Promise me, Sam."
"Dean," the angel said suddenly, grabbing the older Winchester by the lapels. "Don't do this, Dean. Please. I can't…"
"Sorry, Cas," Dean said. "I am, really. But this is for the best."
"Ugh," Uriel said. "Can't he just die already?"
Cas stood up, his eyes blazing. "Uriel, you go too far. Dean is my charge and he is dying!"
Uriel gave a heavily put upon sigh. "You ask too much, Castiel." Sam looked at him in confusion, and then Uriel placed one hand on Dean's head and the other on Cas. Dean slithered to the floor in a heap.
"I will not forget, brother," Cas said. He knelt down and cradled Dean's head in his hands, and Sam could tell that his brother's breathing was evening out.
"Did he just heal him?"
"No," Cas said. "I did. Uriel just removed the restriction that was stopping me."
"Yeah, explain that again would you?"
Cas looked over his shoulder. "Dean was my charge, which places certain restrictions on what I can and cannot do without his permission."
"OK…"
"Now… I am his guardian. It is my responsibility to keep him alive, no matter what the cost."
"I'm not sure I understand the difference," Sam confessed.
"It is the difference between a bodyguard and a parent," Uriel said. Sam didn't find that very helpful. "As Castiel's charge, Dean was no more than a… contract. Now they are linked. Bonded." His face was crumpled with distaste.
"You don't approve," Sam observed. "And yet you did it anyway."
"Castiel is my brother," Uriel said, a strange sorrow in his voice. "His pain is mine."
Lilith was pissed. And, as Ruby had observed before, it made her creative. She looked at the remains of the human on the ground.
"So, what now?" she asked. Lilith rolled her eyes.
"We keep working on the plan. The real Colt has to be out there somewhere."
Ruby nodded. "The last person we know for sure had the Colt was Bela Talbot. She was supposed to give it to you. But she gave you this fake. So, that's where we start looking."
"Bela's in Saul's division?" Lilith said idly. "You could go back and talk to her." Ruby looked down at her hands.
"Sam's dependency on me grows. I'm not sure taking a leave of absence right now is smart." Lilith looked displeased but didn't insist. "What's wrong, Lilith? It's not just being double crossed over the Colt."
The little girl Lilith was possessing jerked to its feet unsteadily, it's head lolling at an unnatural angle.
"Oh," Ruby said. "You broke your meatsuit. Is Jorge getting you another one?" Lilith gave a dismissive gesture Ruby took to be a yes. "So, what happened?"
"Alastair's been captured by the angels," Lilith said angrily.
"You hate Alastair," Ruby pointed out. "Who cares what the angels do?"
"That's not the point," Lilith snapped. "The point is that it wasn't supposed to happen. Like him or not, Alastair has his role to play in all this. Our master's time to rise is upon us and we all need to be ready."
"So what do the angels want with Alastair anyway?" Ruby asked. Lilith's perfect pink bow of a mouth turned downwards.
"Someone's been murdering angels. And we have no idea who it is. They'll torture Alastair to try and find out, no doubt."
"Alastair can handle anything the angels can throw at him. I might not like him, but he's not weak," Ruby opined.
"Alastair doesn't know anything," Lilith told her. "This isn't us. It's internal strife. Heaven's on the brink of civil war."
Ruby gaped at her. "Civil war? Why?"
Lilith shook her head in frustration. "I don't know. And you know how I feel about not knowing things."
"I'm on it," Ruby promised.
Back in the motel, Sam watched as Cas fussed over Dean to the point where Sam was sure his brother would snap at the angel. But curiously, he didn't. He bore the angel's ministrations with remarkable good humor and Sam began to get suspicious. So when Cas finally left to go meet up with Uriel, Sam seized the opportunity.
"All right, out with it," he demanded. "What's going on here?"
Dean gaped at him. "I don't know what you mean."
"I've never seen you act like this, putting up with someone fussing all over you like that. Normally you last about five minutes before complaining about chick-flick moments."
"I was feeling guilty, OK?" Dean said irritably, looking down at the floor. "I figured letting Cas mother me a bit was only fair."
"Guilty?" Sam almost shrieked. "You pull a stunt like that on me again and I'll kill you myself!"
"No, you won't," Dean said, giving his brother a haunted stare and Sam shrank back.
"Dean," Sam started and then coughed as his voice broke alarmingly. "Dean, were you really serious about dying back there?"
"Sure," Dean said easily, although the look in his eyes said otherwise. "It seemed like a perfect solution, actually."
"You're unbelievable," Sam told him, his temper building. "You know what I went through while you were in Hell. Why would you do that to me again?"
"Because I am trying to stop you making the same mistakes as last time. You wanna know where this path leads? Once Lucifer is sprung from his Cage? Death, and lots of it. And all of it on you. So in the end, you threw yourself into the Pit in order to trap Lucifer again."
"Why would I do that? I don't understand how me going to Hell traps Satan!"
"I told you," Dean said tiredly. "You're his true vessel. I'm Michael's. Angels need permission before they can possess a host."
"I remember Cas explaining that," Sam interrupted.
"Right. Well, you said yes to Lucifer in order for us to trap him back in the Cage."
"Wow," Sam said.
"Yeah. So I'm thinking maybe, if we can head this whole shindig off before Lucifer escapes, you don't have to sacrifice yourself." Dean rolled his shoulders and stood up. "I've no interest in being a martyr."
"Sure looks like it from here," Sam retorted.
"No, Sam. It's my job to keep you safe, that's all. Anyway I can."
"How's our guest?" Uriel asked when Cas emerged from the room where they were keeping Alastair.
"Uncommunicative," Cas said shortly.
"We need answers, Castiel," Uriel said.
"Yes, well demon interrogation was never my forte," Cas snapped.
"What's the matter?" Uriel said. "You don't seem very happy. Capturing Alastair was a turning-point, don't you see?"
Cas shook his head. "It's not Alastair that's making me feel this way." He looked at Uriel for a moment. "You surprised me, in that funeral home. Helping me save Dean's life."
"So that's what this is about," Uriel said. "I should have known. You know who he is. Letting him die would have been awkward to explain."
"Perhaps," Cas agreed. "But it's hardly beyond the wit of our leadership to resurrect him, should that be necessary."
Uriel eyed him for a moment. "Why do you think we were sent to raise Dean Winchester up from perdition in the first place?"
"You said it yourself," Cas replied, eyebrows diving over his nose. "He's Michael's True Vessel."
"Indeed," Uriel agreed. "And yet, a vessel doesn't need a soul in order for an angel to inhabit it. But an army of angels were sent to harrow Hell, just to save one flawed human soul. So I'll ask you again, why?"
Cas swallowed. He had no idea what Uriel was getting at. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. "I…"
"Dean must have another purpose," Uriel declared. "Not just to serve as Michael's vessel. That's the only explanation I can come up with."
"OK," Cas agreed. "That's possible. Does it matter?"
"Yes," Uriel intoned and Cas felt cold suddenly. "I had no intention of getting involved. Let the stupid mud monkey kill himself if that's what he wants. But I was informed that this was not to be allowed."
"Michael ordered you to upgrade me to Dean's Guardian?"
"No," Uriel said. "Joshua did."
Cas stared at Uriel with open astonishment. "Joshua. You don't think…"
"I don't know what to think," Uriel said, sounding troubled.
"You promised not to kill me," Ruby said without preamble. Uriel glared at her but nodded stiffly.
"I might even keep it," he told her.
"There are rumors," Ruby said. "About a civil war in Heaven."
Uriel narrowed his eyes at her. "Where did the likes of you hear that?"
"All of Hell is talking about it," Ruby told him. "Is it true?"
"Why would I tell you that?" Uriel said dismissively. "That's not why we're here."
"Well, there's the thing," Ruby said. "Why did you want to meet? You're not exactly on my Christmas card list."
"I know what you're up to," Uriel told her. "I know about Lilith being the last seal."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby denied. Shit! Nobody was supposed to know about this.
"Spare me," Uriel said. "I'm not planning to interfere. You want Lucifer to rise. So do I."
Ruby gaped at him. "I don't understand," she admitted. "Aren't you supposed to want to stop the Apocalypse?"
"Bah!" Uriel snarled. "Chasing around, doing the bidding of the mud monkeys? Having to deal with slime like you? Better that we cleanse the earth in holy fire and end this charade."
Ruby gave him a considering glance. "Are you thinking about… switching sides?" she asked slyly.
"No!" Uriel snapped. "I'm a loyal servant of Heaven. I just want a meeting with Crowley, at the barn."
"You want to meet Crowley, in a barn in the middle of nowhere," Ruby said incredulously. "Where coincidentally, Anna the ex-angel got her Grace back and Dean Winchester was injured by a magical weapon."
"Indeed," Uriel said. "Now, can you arrange the meeting or not?"
"Fine," She growled. "I'm not making any promises. Crowley will decide if he chooses to meet with you or not. Give me a way to contact you and I'll be in touch."
Uriel's mouth twitch and then he handed her a business card. "Call my cell," he told her. And with a burst of wingbeats he was gone.
"The mud monkeys aren't so bad when their technology suits your purposes," Ruby muttered.
The knocking at her door was becoming insistent.
"Spare a thought for the blind woman, would ya?" Pamela yelled as she made her way to the door. Her fingers automatically sought the peephole cover and then she sighed. "Who is it?"
"We've never met," a deep voice said. "My name is Uriel."
"Uriel, huh? You're an angel?"
"You've heard of me," Uriel said, sounding displeased.
"Yeah, I have. What do you want?"
"I'd really prefer not to have this conversation through this door," Uriel said mildly.
"I'd really prefer not to have a conversation with an angel at all," Pamela retorted. She yelped as the door unlocked itself with a loud click and Uriel pushed the door open. "Goddamn it!"
"Hmm," Uriel said. He grabbed Pamela by the arm and frogmarched her into her living room. Shoving her down on the couch, he perched on the edge of a chair and even though she couldn't see him, she could feel him glaring at her. Her fingers touched the cool glass of her cellphone screen. She'd gotten pretty good at manipulating the thing without eyes, maybe she could get a message to someone.
"So," she said brightly. "What can I do for you?"
"I know you have no love for us," Uriel said. "Quite understandable, of course. Nonetheless, I need your assistance."
Pamela frowned at him. "I can't imagine what for."
"I'm looking for the Winchesters. They're off the radar," Uriel explained.
"What makes you think I know where they are?" Pamela said, puzzled. "They show up from time to time, but I don't keep tabs on them."
"No," Uriel agreed. "But that text message you just sent will bring them running, won't it?"