Chapter 12
It was after one am, two days later when Dean pulled into the familiar driveway of Singer Salvage Yard. He pulled up to the front of the house and killed the engine letting his body stop driving before waking his little brother.
"Hey we're here." he voiced to his brother giving his shoulder a good shake.
"W-what?" Sam grunted jerking awake and looking around at the surroundings.
"Come on, Bobby's still up, there's a light on." he said getting out and stretching his arms above his head.
They had driven straight through from North Carolina, only catching a couple of hours of sleep at a rest area partway there. Dean had driven the last leg letting Sam sleep since he was too wired to sleep. He had time to contemplate why Castiel was lying to them and why he would be working with a demon. It didn't make any sense, if he needed help he didn't understand why he didn't come to them.
"Open the trunk." Sam yawned still more asleep than awake.
"Hold your horses, I'm coming."
Bobby was waiting at the door for them as they plodded up the steps and onto the porch.
"Boys, good to see ya, now get yer sorry asses in here."
"Hey Bobby." Dean smiled following him into the house.
"Bobby." Sam mumbled following his brother.
"Go on to bed Sammy, you're more asleep than awake." Dean said steering him toward the stairs.
Sam didn't object knowing he wouldn't be of any use right now until he got a few more hours of sleep. Dean sat his bag by the stairs and headed for the kitchen to grab a beer.
"You look like hell son, didn't ya stop and sleep any?"
"Couple of hours yesterday, I guess." he said opening the beer and taking a large swig. "So what did you find out?"
"Wanna wait until tomorrow so Sam can hear too?"
"I'll fill him in, it's goin' take me a bit to stop drivin' so might as well tell me."
"After we caught Castiel in that lie and what that alpha told you, I'm still searching for any reference to opening Purgatory. My feelers out there gave me something on Crowley."
"Guess it's better than nothing."
"I think I know where he might be, and if they're workin' together, Castiel might be there too."
"Good, we'll check it out in the morning, so we still don't know why they want to crack Purgatory?"
"Nope, but I found something referring to another tome. I'll have to dig it out, that's for tomorrow. I'm headin' for bed, get the lights on your way up."
"Will do." he said sipping on his beer.
It was quiet in the kitchen, except for the shifting and settling of the old house. He rubbed a finger over his initials that he had carved into the corner of Bobby's table when he was nine years old. Bobby threatened to tan his hide, but instead made him wash the dishes for a week. That had been one of the many times their father had went on a hunt and left them with Bobby. He became more of a father to them than their own father. Both brothers considered him family and a mentor.
Dean took another sip of his beer when he heard the swish of wings and a disturbance in the air before Castiel appeared beside him. He jerked slightly with the closeness of the angel at his shoulder.
"Personal space Cas." he grumbled.
"Sorry." he said taking a step back to allow Dean space. "Dean you need to stop what you are doing, please."
"Why? What are you not telling me Cas? We're family here and you've been lying to us."
"You have to trust me, I have to do this, please Dean. Things are not going well for me in the war in Heaven. I must stop Raphael from taking over or this world is doomed."
"Are you working with Crowley?" he asked him bluntly. "Are you his b*tch?"
"I am not anyone's b*tch, it's complicated, I can't explain it at present. I must do this Dean, it's the only way." Castiel paused and tilted his head slightly like he was listening to something. "I need to go." Castiel answered disappearing with a swish of wings and a gentle breeze touched Dean's cheek like a mother's caress.
"Damnit Cas." Dean growled looking around to see he was gone.
He sighed madly not understanding Castiel's motives for working with Crowley and why he lied to them. He stood and tossed the bottle in the trash before heading up to their bedroom to grab a few hours of sleep. He slowly drug his tired body up the stairs and down the hall. He looked over at the sleeping form of his brother in the far bed and shook his head, Sam hadn't even bothered to shed his clothes before laying down on top of the covers.
Dean stopped at his brother's bed and reached down to untie his boots and pull them off, dropping them to the floor. He draped a blanket over Sam's body, pausing to run his hand absently over his brother's too long hair. Sam turned toward the hand in his sleep knowing the comfort it provided to him. Dean smiled down at his little brother seeing a five-year old Sam laying there and remembering all the times he had put him to bed over the years. Seemed like some things never changed.
Dean sat down heavily on his own bed and untied his laces kicking his boots off before laying down on top of the covers. He closed his eyes as the weight of exhaustion pulled him under letting him drift in a tired slumber wanting nothing more than to forget about the hurt of betrayal he felt from Castiel.
Bobby was scrambling eggs when Sam and Dean made their way downstairs the next morning. He looked up at their tired faces nodding toward the waiting coffee pot and cups.
"Thanks." Sam half smiled pouring two cups. He handed one to Dean and doctored the other for himself.
"Had a visitor last night." Dean told them blowing over his coffee to cool it.
"Who?" Sam asked looking at his brother.
"Castiel, he wanted us to stop looking for Crowley."
"Did he say why?" Bobby asked dishing the eggs onto three plates before passing them out.
"Not really, he said it was complicated and left."
"Eat up, I've got to find that tome, see if it'll tell us anything about Purgatory, it might give us some leads."
"Sounds good." Dean said forking eggs into his mouth.
"I just don't see what's so important about Purgatory, it's where monsters go when they die, Cas wouldn't use them as an army would he? They would never follow or listen to him, would they?" Sam said thinking hard on it. "Could there be some type of weapon there?"
"You boys get the dishes while I go find the book." Bobby said sliding his chair back and heading toward the door to the basement.
"I'm washin'." Dean informed Sam eating his last bite of egg and picking up the plates.
"Why do you always have to wash?" Sam complained.
"'Cause I'm the oldest and I get to choose first."
"Jerk."
"B*tch."
"Balls!" Bobby shouted as he made his way back up the stairs.
Sam and Dean turned to look at the mad hunter as he stopped in front of them.
"Your angel friend didn't just come here to visit, he took the tome."
"Can we get another one?"
"Only one still 'round that I know of."
"So we've hit a dead-end?" Sam said glumly.
"Or we could check out the copy I made." Bobby told them. "Hello, Bobby Singer, paranoid bastard."
Sam and Dean looked at each other with perplexed looks on their faces. Bobby was always full of surprises and they seemed to learn something new about him every time they visited.
"So what is this tome thing suppose to tell us?" Dean asked.
"It's a journal from one of your relatives on your Mom's side. Supposedly, back in 1937 there was a group of people who were stupid enough to perform a spell that opened a door." Bobby started.
"Are you saying they were able to tap into Purgatory?"
"Yep, and supposedly something fell through that door."
"And do we know what this something was?"
"No, but there is still one person alive from then, a son of a servant that worked at the house."
"Do we know where he is?"
"Yes, I'm going to talk to him today. He's 'bout two and half hours from here. Hopefully he will have some answers for us." Bobby said. 'I'll be back as soon as I can, you boys keep looking."
"Need to check over my baby, change the oil, maybe give her a bath, maybe wax her." Dean said more to himself than Sam.
"In other words, you want me to research while you make out with your car." Sam explained leaning back against the sink.
"Whatever." Dean said tweaking a small smile as he headed out the door.
Sam shook his head as he finished putting the remaining dishes away before heading to Bobby's study to read the books he had out. He thought he might be close to figuring out why Castiel wanted to break into Purgatory. If he could keep the headache pushed back and those flashes contained, he might get by Dean without him finding out they were back. He had enough on his mind and didn't need to worry about him. If they got worse, he would call Oree for help.
Dean had changed the oil and air filter for the Impala and was washing her down when Sam came out to see if he wanted some lunch. Dean finished rinsing the suds off and Sam helped him dry it before they went inside for some soup and sandwiches.
After lunch the brothers went outside to wax the Impala while they waited for Bobby to return. It was late afternoon when Bobby's truck pulled back into the salvage yard.
"So did you find the guy?" Dean asked wiping his hands on a rag.
"Yes and found out some interesting things."
"Want to fill us in?"
"He was there when they cast the spell, his mother was a maid there. The reason he survived was because his mother hid him in the kitchen, but he watched anyway. When the creature came through, it possessed his mother and still is." Bobby informed them as he headed in the house.
Sam and Dean followed him inside and to his desk. Bobby took his chair and began to type on the laptop.
"Her name is Dr. Helen Visyak out of San Francisco. I consulted with her years ago on a case I was working in the area."
"And you didn't know she was possessed?"
"No you idgit I didn't, she had information I needed, helped me close the case. She's a historian on ancient history and is doing a lecture in Minneapolis this week. We need to go see her, if she came through, she might know how to open the door and what is there that is so valuable."
"I think I might have found the answer to that." Sam said pulling out one of the thin books.
"What did you find?"
"It's the souls."
"Souls?' Bobby questioned.
"Wait a minute." Dean interrupted. "When I went to Death to get help retrieving Sam's soul, he told me to keep digging, it's about the souls. Didn't know what he meant then. Maybe he was trying to point me in the right direction, give me a hint."
"So if ya open a door, and can absorb them, ya gain their strength and with strength comes endless power." Bobby said looking over the passage that Sam had found.
"If an angel takes in souls they become like a super charged unstoppable being?"
"Powerful enough to fight an archangel and his followers by himself."
"So we grab an overnight bag and head out for Minneapolis?" Dean asked.
"That would be our best option. She might know something that will help us stop him from doing this."
