Chapter 21
I wasn't sure if it was me being totally paranoid or if it really happened, but I swear every set of eyes in IHop turned towards us as the four of us walked through the door. I'm pretty sure it was me being paranoid, but when you woke up to an angel staring at you and a Winchester confessing some pretty needy things, paranoid kind of came with the territory.
The only open spot in the place seemed to be at the counter and we sat down, Sam was to my right, Danni to my left and Dean took up the other side of her. The waitress, a pretty young blond… and totally Dean's type, went about unnoticed by the older Winchester, which really got me to smile as we were all served coffee and given a moment to look at the menu.
It was then that my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. Sam watched me with curiosity as I read what I could on the caller ID and glanced at Danni. There, on the screen was Carol's name, actually it was a picture of Castiel, but it was just how it went in our circle. Mine was Sam's picture on Danni's phone and her's was Dean on mine so it only made sense that Carol was our Cas.
I slid off the seat, raised a finger and pushed the accept button as I moved to a booth at the end and edged my way in towards the window..
"Carol, is everything alright?" I questioned, looking at the three concerned faces at the counter.
"Hey! Yeah, I just haven't heard from you yet." She announced as I held the phone to my ear and looked out the window.
"My phone's pretty busted up so I haven't texted, and no Twitter and all that." I answered and looked up as Danni swooped in, coffees in hand, and made herself comfortable as Sam and Dean closed the gap between them so they could talk. I looked questioningly at the woman in front of me and watched as Danni smiled and shrugged, handing me the mug. "Dan's been handling all the posts and stuff until I can get a new phone. You okay?"
"I wish I was there with you guys," she hummed and I shook my head, eyeing Danni who was pulling out the earbuds that she kept in her coat pocket. I plugged them in, gave her one and I took the other as we listened to Carol sigh.
"I put Dan on with me, we're sharing a headset," I smiled, trying to be upbeat. "But honestly, Cas, I don't think you want to be here right now, things aren't going the best of ways."
"Is everything okay?"
"Just a string of random dumb luck," I answered and looked up at the boys. I could hear her sigh over the phone.
"I thought I would get more opportunities to talk to you guys since you were together this week." I heard the smile in her voice as she became hopeful. "What time is it there anyway?"
"Nearly eight, I think." Danni answered, "so, that's what? about six where you are in BC?"
"Yeah, I thought I would check in."
"Thanks for doing that and I'm sorry we haven't talked more." I answered, my eyes drifting to the way Sam and Dean were sitting, heads together, with their backs to us, but I knew they were seeing everything. "Maybe tonight we'll have a little more time, right now we're sitting down to breakfast."
"Oh, okay, go on then and eat, can't be starving when you have so much stuff to do." Carol laughed. "What's on the agenda for today?"
"Driving," I spoke up and watched the confusion cross Danni's face. "Yeah, we're going to be headed to Lebanon I think, it's a three hour drive from here in Lawrence."
"Wow, cool, just remember the bunker is actually located up here in Vancouver." I wanted to correct her but I didn't, because what we knew right then was probably not going to go over well at all.
"We're just going to look through the town." Danni announced. "Waitress is coming, got to go."
"Love ya!" Carol chimed.
"Love ya," I answered and Danni mimic as we disconnected the call, looking up in time to see the actual waitress arrive.
"You really want to go to Lebanon?" She questioned after our order was taken and I shook my head as I sat back in the booth and put my phone away.
"What I'd like to do is hunt down the damn vampire that's gunning for my head and take his off." I sighed and found myself watching the boys.
"So, Sam said you mentioned something about the rings they used last night." I lifted my eyes and turn them towards her.
"Yeah, I, ah, I recognized the symbol." Oh who the hell was I kidding, I might not have wanted to own up to it with Sam but this was Danni we were talking about. "He pegged me for a witch."
"Are you?"
"My grandmother was, I mean I can sense some stuff, know enough, and yeah, I know all about Sam's magic warding spells and the hex bags but that doesn't make me a wizard, Harry!" I sat back and took a deep breath. "I just don't know what Dean would do if he found out. I mean, think about it, they have bullets that kill witches."
"Their hands are lethal weapons, and you're worried about bullets?" Danni smiled which made me think for a moment before I nodded. She had a point. I rolled my eyes and turned my eyes towards the window. "So, Dean came in to talk to you?"
"Yeah, about that, do you think you and Sam could not send him in while I'm naked?" I questioned and watched her smile, while I gave her a grin. "He was telling me how he needed me but wanted you, so I told him just to go with it." Danni smiled and turned in the seat to look at the two men, who were now debating something with each other, and whatever it was seemed pretty heated. "Do you think we should go over?"
"You're kidding, right?" She said in a smart ass tone, "they have witch killing bullets."
I shook my head and watched as the young blonde put their plates down in front of both Sam and Dean and offered to refill their coffee, which instantly stopped the debate as they dug in, and it wasn't long after that we got our own meals.
Dean turned in his seat, as I looked up from mine and he raised his cup of coffee and winked, but all I could do was roll my eyes and slouch down in the seat as if I had fainted. This little action only got me a frown as he shook his head, rolled his own eyes and went back to his breakfast, but Sam smiled, grinning like a fool in my direction.
"Have you heard from Wayne?" I questioned, as I cut into the scrambled eggs that graced the plate before me. Danni looked up, cleared her throat as she finished what was in her mouth and shook her head. I happened to glance up to see it and lowered my fork. "Not at all?"
"Not since he said he was leaving Sunday morning."
"Don't you think that's a little odd?" I whispered and watched as she shook her head, but shrugged at the same time. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means I don't know if it was odd, or if it is odd, we've never had this kind of problem before. I mean he was fine one day and the next he was being a complete douche!" Danni said sternly as she leaned forward so that we could keep it between us. "How many times over the however many months that we've been talking has Wayne ever been a douche?"
"Um, none?" I shrugged and stuffed a forkful of the egg in my mouth, trying to just let her vent.
"My point exactly, so when he started acting like this, wanting to know everything right down to the most minor detail, it started to bother me and we started fighting." I picked up the mug, finished what was in my mouth and took a swallow of the coffee before I made eye contact with her.
"Total random question, but when did this start?" Danni took a moment and suddenly sat back, her fork clanking on the table.
"Thursday night, right before you called to tell me what time you were leaving Friday morning, but like I said, the real stuff didn't start happening until Friday morning."
"I know I asked about the whole "have you noticed" list but really, now we're going back to Thursday, anything odd that night?"
"Ah," she thought for a moment and shrugged yet again before picking up the fork and stabbing it into the slice of meat that sat on her plate. "There was this one few minute span of time that the clouds rolled in, but I thought it was just another storm. They come in and out so fast sometimes, but now that I think back, I'm pretty sure this wasn't natural."
"Why?"
She looked up at me, confusion and worry on her face. "It was only over the house, it came in from the southeast, the completely wrong direction, passed overhead and started breaking up just before it got to the barn."
"Describe it to me," Dean's voice interrupted as we both turned and looked at the man standing at the end of our table. Sam was right behind him and Danni and I found ourselves moving further into the booth as both men joined us. Dean put his arm up on the back of her seat as he turned his body in her direction. "Danni, be honest, tell me exactly what it looked like."
"It was late, Dean," she said sarcastically and I could see the frustration on the man's face but she did have a point, what exactly was she going to tell him? "It was dark, obviously, so the clouds were dark. I mean block out the moon and stars dark. A typical storm that popped up on a typical Thursday night in April… in Oklahoma!"
"Was there lightning?" Sam questioned, his tone just a little lower and definitely more serious than I had heard in a few days.
"Wait, what are you guys thinking?" I inquired, "we already went through all the demonic signs, and the "have you noticed anything" list, so what are you getting at?"
"The lightning," Sam asked again, "was there any?"
"Yeah, it was a storm," I could feel Danni's frustration and reached out a hand to her, with a sigh, she took it and I felt her fingers close around mind. She was shaking, literally shaking at remembering this storm. "Okay, yeah there was lightning and thunder and it was all really dramatic but nothing…"
That pause, that dramatic effect, yeah that right there was an "oh shit" moment. I sat back, watching as if I were outside myself, outside everything because in that moment, I watched her become terrified. I had been there, the moment the vampire first opened its mouth, the moment I stood and swung, I knew that feeling but to see it on her face, in her eyes, that shook me to the core.
"What?" Dean whispered, leaning in closer, his body touching as much of her arm as he could, as his hand came up and caressed her cheek. Danni was dumbstruck, unable to do anything but stare right at me before she took a breath and composed herself. "Danni, talk to me."
"The lightning was red," she whispered and her blue eyes connected with Dean's green ones. I watched her brow furrow and her lips grow tight as she shook her head. "It was red, Dean, red freaking lightning! What the hell does that mean?"
"It means we need to know more about what's been going on with your husband," Sam sighed and took my hand under the table, giving me a reassuring squeeze as Danni shook her head.
"Where? How? We gave up our hotel room already." Danni questioned. Logical question for an illogical time but hey, you never know how the mind is going to work until you come up against this kind of situation.
"The library," Sam suggested, and it was a good suggestion, I mean it didn't suck, but I didn't want to be stuck inside all day.
"No, I've got a better idea," I whispered and watched as the three of them looked at me with curiosity.
The Airport Motel, the same spot that we had filmed at the day before, stood abandoned and open. When I watched the minivan drive away, the owner of the building safely in the driver's seat, I turned and stepped towards the Escape and the three waiting passengers. Of course, by then they were all standing outside the silver SUV with crossed arms and looks of complete and utter "end of the world, apocalypse crap" expressions written on their faces, but I knew it was because of my secrecy.
"Here?" Dean questioned, stepping forward first as I watched the smile of "here we go" creep up on Sam's face. "Of all the places in Kansas, you pick here?"
"Well, I was going to pick a place like, I don't know, a completely warded, secretly located, stuffed to the ceiling, filled with useless information bunker, but you lied to me about it's where...abouts." I stated, rolling my eyes and Dean huffed. "IF it was in Lawrence, like you said, we could have gone there, but NO!"
"Okay!" He snapped but that was when I let the smile out, of course I knew he hadn't honestly expect me to believe the Men of Letters bunker was there and not in Lebanon, at least I don't think he did. "Okay, I get it, but, why here?"
"Easy enough," I winked and flipped the small set of keys around my finger. "The owner thinks we're on a book tour, like for research and I told her we'd like a few hours to take some inside shots of the place for reference, if she didn't mind."
"And she just handed you the keys? Just like that?" Again with the doubting Dean? Did this man just not see the way I worked or what?
"Actually, she said there's nothing of value in there anyway, so honestly giving me the keys and the fact that she has our plate number is pretty much a safe bet that we're not going to do anything stupid." I shrugged and watched Sam push away from the car, his hands in the pocket of his jeans. He went to step past me, to head towards the open door of the very first room, but he stopped and kissed me on the top of the head, lips full with a smile as I stood still looking up at Dean. "Now, are you gonna keep being a baby, or are you going to come in and play like a nice boy."
Dean shook his head, went to walk by, just like Sam did, but instead of kissing me, he leaned in low to my ear.
"Screw you, Porter!" He whispered, playfully, which only got a wider smile from me as Danni's lips turned up in a quiet one of her own.
"You first, Winchester!" I replied and turned my gaze up to him. Dean's green eyes locked onto mine, I watched his jaw clench and his lips draw tight before he "hmmphed" and moved on, letting me stand there waiting for Danni, who finally came to stand before me. "You ready for this?"
"I've never been less ready for anything my entire life," she growled and I could see the anxiety and anger rushing up to her eyes as they met mine. "Nothing good ever comes from this, we know it, we've seen it for thirteen years. It's always the same, always the sit down and explanation before BANG! We're on a monster hunt!"
"Hey, Dan, it doesn't have to mean that there's a monster involved." I whispered and touched her shoulder as she stared up at the doorway, the one occupied by a man she had just spent the night with and I could see the growing affection in her eyes. "Come on, this is Sam and Dean we're talking about, nothing's going to happen to you, me or Wayne."
"Don't say "I promise", because if you do, I swear…"
"Yeah, yeah, you'll strangle me in my sleep...got it, Sis." I smiled and slipped my hand around her arm as the two of us headed for the motel room.
The inside of the room was dark and musty smelling, renovations on the walls had begun, stopped and started several times from the look of the wood that was exposed. The wallpaper itself seemed to be some God-awful burnt sienna color, or had been at one point but you could almost catch the old scent of cigarettes in the very fibers of the fiberglass insulation. There was a small table, one that Sam had cleared off of the debris from the workers, and three chairs, all different designs, were placed around it, which meant one of us (probably Dean because the man hadn't stopped moving) was going to have to stand.
Danni got comfortable in the seat closest to the wall, a safety zone kind of maneuver, nothing could get to her back and nothing could get around her line of vision without her being able to react. Sam guarded the door, his back to the wall, but with his right side situated in such a way that should it open unannounced, his gun and his blade were in reach and the one entering wouldn't stand a chance. I moved my chair, put my back to the small half-wall where the crazy 1950 divider with the weird looking starbursts sat, and looked at the three other people in the room.
"Okay, so here we are. It's private, protected and I'm not entirely sure this is the greatest location, but it was the best idea I could come up with," I gave each one of them a glance before I landed squarely on Dean, the one who didn't care for my suggestion, but all he did was glare back at me. "So, what were we talking about?" No one replied and I couldn't help but pull my knife from where it hung on the inside of my boot. "All right, I'll recap. Thursday, storm, southeast, red lightning, creepy change in hubby, who...despite all evidence to the contrary, is not a douche, and hasn't been heard from since breakfast two days ago?"
"I didn't say he was a douche, I said he was being one!" Danni snapped and this made me smile, because at least it meant I was getting a reaction. "But yeah, recap covered!"
"Red lightning?" Sam whispered, well more asked himself than anyone else in the room, and this had me turning my attention to him. "There's no demonic signs that even point to red lightning."
"So, what are you looking for, creepy omens like change in weather patterns, cattle mutilations, possibly the appearance of animals that should or shouldn't be in Oklahoma, or wait, the absence of said animals because of possible electrical storms which falls under creepy omens like change in weather patterns?" I asked sarcastically, and it wasn't that I was trying to be an ass, but everything that I noticed just seemed to flow from my mouth.
Sam looked at me with worry, and I realized the way I had just answered his question. So the whole thing unnerved me, not a big deal, at least I didn't think, and watched as Sam let out a breath, not sure of what to do with me either.
"Ali," Danni whispered and I shut my mouth, locked my lips down and leaned back against the wall. "Chill out."
"Yeah, okay." I whispered and started to look around the room. I could hear Sam's voice, but I tried not to concentrate on anything as I let my memories take me back to Thursday night.
"Okay," I said as I moved about the bedroom, making sure that everything was packed and that everything that wasn't was somewhere close so I could grab it. My laptop was in my bag, my tablet where I could reach it and I picked up the cell phone as I headed into my eldest son's bedroom to grab the spectrum that he kept locked up in the closet. I raised the phone to my mouth and sighed. "Looks like I have everything. What about you? You ready for me?"
"Ready?" Danni's voice sang over the speaker, "right like the world is ever going to be ready Ali Porter on the road in a car for 22 hours. I'm pretty sure that they already put up the "stay off the highway" signs along I-70."
"Imagine that," I laughed, "I'm pretty sure that you're a JERK!"
"Bitch!" Danni replied with laughter in her voice. "So, talking rules and regulations."
"And we're suddenly at a con?" I questioned, grabbing the black bag as I headed out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen where the rest of the stuff sat waiting to go out to the car. "Rules, call every hour if not sooner. Call at every rest stop, if not already on the phone and no Periscoping or Facebook Live unless the car is at a complete stop. Yeah, MOM, I got the rules."
"Okay, the other rules." Danni whispered as I sat down at the kitchen table, one that was void of my usual laptop.
"Travel route has already been emailed to you and I gave you the address of the place I'm staying Friday night, Dan, not many other rules except to make sure that I eat." I glanced around the room one more time and smiled. The kids had their bags already packed and waiting. "I'm grabbing the rental by nine, headed towards Kathy's and back on the road by ten-thirty at the latest. I'll shoot you a text before I leave the gas station in Westfield."
I heard it then, a strange sort of static on the line, one that I had heard before but thought was my connection, however, this time it was just a bit different. This time, it was like a growl, a low vibrating growl that seemed to grow in strength.
"You'll never guess what's going on," Danni whispered.
"Electrical storm?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"Phone sucks, remember?" I smiled and heard the "growl" die down before I sighed. "Okay, I'm off to bed, gotta get this stuff pack in the car pretty early and make sure I have everything set and ready to go."
"Sounds like a plan," Danni sighed. "Talk to you later."
"Yeah, see you soon, Dean."
"See ya soon, Sammy." I smiled at the nickname as the line went dead, took a deep breath and headed back to the bedroom, turning off the kitchen light as I left the room.
It was later that night, after being asleep for a few hours, that I woke up with a start, sitting right up in bed. It wasn't that there were any odd noises, or that there was some kind of disturbance in the house, but right there, on the edge of sleep, was the feeling that I was being watched.
I glanced around the room, nothing seemed out of place. All three of my cats were sleeping, lounging about the bed undisturbed by my sudden movement, which was a good sign and I picked up the cell phone from the side of the bed. 3:42, less than two hours before the alarm went off, which was the same time every morning, but this morning, the world outside was just a bit darker, just a bit more on the scarier side, especially as I looked up, while I lay back on the bed, toward the top of the window, covered only by a bottom half-panel curtain.
Something out there wasn't right, something just this side of supernatural. It had been a feeling I had been getting for days, but right then, it was the strongest. Taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the ever-growing pit in my stomach, I closed my eyes and relaxed, but my body stayed aware, vibrating on the edge of ready to fight and the deep sleep it really wanted.