Chapter Twelve

"Well," Hannibal began, but before he could continue, he was silenced.

"Wait," Dean demanded. "If this is actually a logical plan, and that's a pretty big 'if', then maybe we should wait until we get there. Then we know for sure that Crowley won't be listening. If he knows our plan then he'll find a way to avoid it."

Though Hannibal hated the fact that he was interrupted, he had to admit that the man had a point.

"How much longer until we're there?" Sam asked from the back seat.

"About an hour or two," Dean replied. "But I think we should stop for food first."

"No."

Hannibal turned around in his seat when he heard Will's protest. He wasn't aware that his patient was awake yet. Hannibal shot a curious expression, silently urging him to explain.

"What?" Dean asked angrily, glaring at him through the reflection in the mirror.

"I-I'm sorry but if I'm really in that much danger, and that demon guy can appear in here whenever he wants to, I'd kinda like to make sure I'm in a safe place before we worry about food. The more time we waste on the road increases Crowley's opportunities to attack," Will explained.

Hannibal gave a slight smile; one not noticeable unless someone was looking for it. "I believe my patient is right," he agreed. "You may go back out for a meal once you drop us off."

Dean groaned in disapproval. "Whatever."

The conversation died away and the car traveled in silence. The few hours passed by peacefully and by the time they pulled to the side of a forested road, the sun was directly above them in the sky. Hannibal followed the Winchester's out of the car and they approached a brick-paved arc plastered in the side of a dirt hill. He heard Will following behind him. He watched Dean pull out a key and open the heavy doors. When Hannibal peeked through, he saw that it was a lot bigger inside than it appeared. It seemed to expand on for a long distance. Despite its size, however, once Hannibal walked in he was hit with an overwhelming scent of musk and mothballs. He crinkled his nose but in order to remain polite, he didn't complain.

"So this is somehow impenetrable to demons such as Crowley?" Hannibal asked.

"Yep," Dean assured. "Now that you guys are here, can we get food now?"

Sam sighed. "Yeah sure, go."

"What do you all want? I saw a gas station on the way here with a little store inside. I might've seen a fast food place too." Dean suggested, glancing around at everyone.

Hannibal visibly cringed at the thought of eating slop from a road-side grocery store. "Do you have any food here that I may cook with?" He asked desperately.

"Sorry, not unless you only need peanut butter, jelly and stale bread," Sam apologized.

"Then I'll pass," Hannibal declined politely.

"Nope," Dean said. "You gotta eat something. Honestly, I don't care if you want to starve and be miserable, but I don't know how long we have to stay here and frankly, if you're dead, you're no good to me. Now state any preference you have or you're eating whatever I end up buying."

Hannibal bit his tongue and took a deep breath. As much as he despised the idea of eating that repulsive food, he had to admit that he was hungry. "Fine," he hissed. "Find something that isn't expired or rotten, which I assume will be hard to find in a gas station."

Dean rolled his eyes and nodded. "And you two?" He looked to Sam and Will.

"Any salad they have is fine with me," Sam replied.

"I guess a sandwich or something," Will mumbled.

"Okay," Dean said. He jingled the car keys in his hand and began to walk towards the door. "And Dr. Lecter, we'll all listen to your plan when we get back. Don't start without me."

Hannibal sighed and turned away as Dean exited. He turned to Will, who was wandering around and inspecting every inch of their temporary living space. Hannibal followed closely behind, hoping to find something interesting.

"So, our rooms are through that hall," Sam mentioned, motioning with his hand. "You can set up a bed or something to sleep on." He walked over to the table in the center of the room and sat down in one of the surrounding chairs.

"Sleep?" Hannibal asked. "How long are you planning on having us stay here? I thought that this was just a one day and night kind of situation."

Sam laughed. "Right. Well I'm almost positive that this will take a little while to sort out. I mean, this is the King of Hell that we're going up against and I guarantee that he's not gonna go down without a fight. Trust me, we've tried."

Hannibal walked over to the table and narrowed his eyes at the man. "Don't you think that would have been worth mentioning back when we were in Virginia? That way Will and I could have packed clothes and utilities that will most definitely be necessary?"

Sam just shrugged in reply. "I guess I didn't think about it. It was kind of a stressful time, in case you hadn't noticed. Which reminds me, I think you should share a room with either me or Dean."

"Excuse me?" Hannibal asked angrily.

"Listen, I didn't forget who you are and what you do," Sam stated. "I may have been drugged and bleeding out most of the time, but I could tell what was going on. If you think that I'm gonna leave you alone while we're all sleeping, then you've got another thing coming."

Hannibal looked behind him and to his relief, saw that Will was a quite a ways away, still roaming around. Hannibal stepped closer to Sam and lowered his voice so that Will wouldn't hear. "What reason would I have?" He asked. "Clearly I will not be able to get myself out of this problem on my own, and you two seem to be the only ones who understand what we're dealing with. I assure you, I have no intention to bring harm upon you or your brother."

Sam stood up in his chair and looked down at Hannibal. "I'd rather not take any chances."

Hannibal clenched his jaw and stared back up at Sam. "Well I don't necessarily want to room with a man who wants me dead either." He stated.

Sam smiled. "Fine. You can stay with Cas. Just a warning though, he doesn't sleep. He tends to just… watch."

Hannibal growled, but it was inaudible to anyone other than himself. Without replying, he briskly turned around and walked back over to Will.

"I want to go home," Will said without looking up from the dusty book that he'd plucked from the shelf.

Hannibal skimmed over the spines of the books, searching for a title or subject that sparked his interest. He glanced over at his patient. "I know, Will. I do too."

oOo

Dean grabbed the bag of groceries out of the back seat of the car and walked up the path to the bunker.

"Food's here," he called out as he walked in. Sam glanced up from his laptop screen and then pushed the computer away to make room on the table. Will walked over from the corner of the room and sat down at the table adjacent to Sam, while Dean sat on the other side of his brother. Dean watched in annoyance as Dr. Lecter reluctantly came and sat down next to Will.

Dean began to pass out their desired meals from the plastic bag. "A ham sandwich for Will," he listed off and handed the container to the man. "Rabbit food for Sam," he mocked, giving the salad to his brother. "And… whatever to Dr. Lecter." Dean handed the psychiatrist a bag of miscellaneous fruits and vegetables.

"Thank you," Dr. Lecter said. "By any chance do you have a stove and some cookware?"

"Um, yeah," Dean replied and pointed backwards towards the kitchen. "Good luck." The doctor nodded and left. Dean rolled his eyes and took out his own bacon burger and pie slice.

However, about halfway through the meal, Dean started to smell something amazing. How the hell could he actually make decent food with just some old plants from a gas station? He thought. He stood up and walked by the kitchen so that he could throw away some napkins and maybe see what the doctor was cooking. When he saw that the doctor's torso was obstructing his view of the stove, he lingered for a few moments before walking back to his seat. Mere minutes later, Dr. Lecter walked in with a hot skillet of seemingly perfect cooked vegetables.

"Where did you get seasonings?" Dean asked when he noticed the colored flecks of flavor on the diced vegetables.

"I found that someone shoved them in the back corner of the pantry in order to make room for boxed dinners and cereal," Dr. Lecter replied accusingly.

Dean just looked away. He didn't need this right now.

"Would anyone else like some?" The doctor asked. Dean wanted some. He really did. But there's no way in hell that he's gonna give in to that man. However, to Dean's disappointment, Will and Sam both gratefully accepted. Dean huffed and sat back in his chair.

"Okay, if you're done distributing food, maybe we can get to business?" Dean asked. Dr. Lecter nodded and sat down in his seat. "Doctor, you said you had an idea that might work. It's doubtful, but we're out of ideas so you might as well tell us," Dean stated.

Dr. Lecter easily detected the sass in Dean's tone, but he replied anyway. "Since you can trap the smoke in the vessel and you can trap the vessel in a Devil's something or other, I wondered what would happen if we simply removed most of the vessel."

Dean blinked, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Dr. Lecter continued, "What if we trapped him in both ways and you allowed me to go inside of the trap with him? I could then cut off a part of the vessel, such as a hand or foot, and throw it out of the trap. I could continue to do this until there is just a small fraction of the vessel left for him to possess."

Dean took a moment to process this. "I think he would just possess the pieces, wouldn't he?" He wondered aloud.

"I would think so," Sam said, "however we might be able to scratch a quick pentagram into the pieces as well so he can't smoke out of each individual part. Crowley might not be dead because of it, but he certainly won't be able to do anything about it. He'll basically be powerless. We can dispose of the pieces in sealed boxes, all in a different location. I think it could actually work."

Dean sighed. He hated Dr. Lecter. He didn't want the man to be right about anything. But if somehow there was a way to render Crowley helpless, he would have to take that opportunity.

"Fine," Dean agreed. "Let's get rid of the King of Hell once and for all."

oOo

Okay so I haven't memorized all the different spells and stuff for exorcising demons. This plan may or may not even be possible, so if you know of any ways that this plan wouldn't work, let me know and I'll try and fix it. Who knows, depending on how this story goes, it might not work anyway.