A/N: So, I meant to do another kick ass, fast paced, super long chapter, but...my Mom had to go back to ICU and have fluid removed from where it was gathering on her lung. No sign's of congestive heart failure, which is awesome, but it meant another day back in ICU, two more days on the cardiac ward, and one poor fan fiction writer her swears she is doing her absolute very best to keep updating!
So, let's see... here is the update to 'All The Pretty Monsters', I'm sorry, it should have come out yesterday, but again, I was at the hospital.
On Wednesday, I did get a short update out on 'Prisoner of War'. I had meant to update 'How To Fix A Winchester' this morning, I just didn't quite manage it. Perhaps tomorrow.
And I am really determined to get the next chapter of "Tuesday's Child" out on, you guessed it, Tuesday.
Just bear with me, guys, and I swear I will just...keep...writing...just …keep...writing.
Reviews are Love, and to be honest, I sort of need it this week.
As Always,
EverReader
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox. I think I lost my sandbox, or maybe that was my marbles...
Trigger Warnings: Bobby Singer, copious amounts of alcohol, and Gabe and Ava discussing dragons.
All The Pretty Monsters – Chapter Twenty Five
"No Place Like Home"
Dean stared at his brother, speechless, as his entire world shattered and remade itself in one single moment.
Azazel had killed killed his mother, stolen away his baby brother and turned him into a monster, and now Sam was telling him it all started when Azazel murdered their father.
"Dad died?" He choked out, grabbing Sam's arm.
Sam looked away from Ava, meeting his brother's eyes.
"Yes. Mom came from an old line of hunters. Dad never told you that, did he? He discovered it after she died." Sam said, pulling away again and snapping the chains restraining Ava with easy strength.
A disjointed part of Dean's mind wondered if Ava had been able to free herself all this time, she had simply been waiting for Sam.
Had she wanted to tell this story?
"Wait, Mom was a hunter?" Dean asked, leaning against the wall in information overload.
"Yes. The Campbell family was an old line of hunter's, even older than the Winchester line." Sam said, turning to face Dean again as Ava stretched out her limbs behind him, then walked past, easily letting herself out of the panic room.
"Sam, Dad turned to hunting after Mom died, you say 'Winchester line' like we've been involved for centuries, but Dad's a first generation hunter." Dean argued.
Sam sighed patiently, though his eyes were always moving, always evaluating his surroundings.
"The Winchester's were once part of a society called the Men of Letters. They tracked the supernatural, studying it, keeping records. They worked with a select group of hunters, giving them the more sensitive information when necessary. When Dad was just a child, his father, Henry, was caught in an ambush by a demon named Abbadon, and he was never seen again. His wife, Millie, our grandmother, knew nothing about it, and neither did dad. Both the Winchester and Campbell lines are powerful, that's why Azazel targeted our parents, and me."
Sam started to walk away then, and Dean wanted to stop him, but it was to much, it was all to much.
Sam left the panic room, and in a rage, Dean throw the chair Ava had been bound to across the room.
Had John know all this? Had he found it out and never told Dean? Why would he keep it a secret?
Turning furiously, he exited the panic room, coming to a halt just outside as he watched the tableau unfolding in front of him.
Ava was already gone, no where to be seen, and Dean was glad, because he didn't think he could stomach the sight of her again at the moment. Sam was standing motionless, casually, looking upward.
And at the top of the stairs, Bobby was standing, frozen and Dean wondered if the older man was gonna have a heart attack, he looked so stunned.
"Bobby." Sam greeted casually, as if they had just seen each other a few days ago, and not seven years (for Bobby, anyway. Apparently Sam had been in hell for eight centuries, and that was enough to give Dean the headache of all headaches, and damn it, he was STILL the older brother!)
"Sam!" Bobby said, voice choked with emotion.
Sam tilted his head to one side, a casual greeting and started up the staircase. Bobby backed up, eyes still locked on Sam, and Dean wondered if it were because he could sense the predator in Sam, or if he had simply missed the little boy who had learned Latin on his knee.
Sam brushed past Bobby, Dean trailing behind him, still feeling like he'd been driven into by a mack truck (again.)
Sam glanced over his shoulder at Dean and Bobby.
"Now you know everything. For once in your life, you actually know more than John." He said, watching Dean's face intently.
Dean swallowed. "I don't know anything, just a bunch of things from a girl who's obviously spent too many years being tortured."
Sam's eyes narrowed. "Did you really think anything she could have said would make it better? Did you think we were having ice cream and slumber parties, Dean? We were in Hell. Now, we're not. And we're not going back."
"What are you going to do?" Dean asked through numb lips as Bobby came up behind him silently.
Sam smiled, eyes flickering black for a moment, but Dean refused to let himself flinch.
"It's a brave new world, brother." He said, disappearing with a silent gust of wind.
Dean's legs started to give out, and Bobby pushed him unceremoniously into a worn arm chair.
"Start talking." He ordered gruffly, shoving a glass a whiskey into Dean's hand. Dean drained it reflexively, and Bobby refilled it without having to be asked.
Dean looked up a Bobby in despair. "Everything I though I ever knew was a lie."
Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural
Ava kicked the gravel desultorily as she walked through the rows a broke down cars, enjoying the stretch and play of her muscles after her rather unorthodox trip to up to South Dakota.
"You knew, didn't you?" Gabe asked from where he was perched on the hood of a dented Camaro.
She raised a brow as a smile curved her lips. "I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about."
She said, not bothering to stop walking. She had to meet up with Sam and the others soon, but she had needed to walk off the memories her interrogation with Dean had stirred up.
"You knew Winchester was gonna grab one of you. That's why you were there. It was a set up." Gabe said, certainty lacing his words.
She shrugged. "Dean needed to get up to speed. He never would have believed us if we had just offered to tell him. Not the part about his parents, at least."
Gabe's smile fell away. "The most dangerous demons never lie." He murmured.
She looked over at him. "The most dangerous demons don't have to. Nothing hurts as much as the truth. Why do you think Azazel told us all this in the first place?"
Gabe tilted his head, curious. "Your people, back in the day. If all of you came from strong bloodlines, what did you family do? I can see the power in your blood, but not it's true nature. It's too-"
"Scarred? Dented? Damaged? Spoiled? Tainted, tarnish, blackened..." She offered, ticking options off on her fingers.
He looked at her. "Changed."
She smiled a little.
"My family hunted Dragons, back during the crusades." She offered finally with a self deprecating smile.
Gabe tossed his head back and laughed.
Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural
Bobby sat breath, blowing out a heavy breath. "Damn you, John Winchester." He muttered.
"Do you think it's true?" Dean asked desperately.
Bobby hesitated, then nodded. "Demons lie, but...John's said things, over the years. Things that didn't make a whole lot of sense then, but make sense now."
"Like what?" Dean asked, rubbing his aching temples.
Bobby thought for a moment. "He talked about finally being able to forgive his father, now that he knew Henry didn't just walk away. And he mentioned, once, that you had cousins out there, on your mother's side, but that they weren't the sort of people he wanted you involved with."
"Jesus Christ. What about all the hell stuff, the dying and the demon blood and the bloodlines?" Dean insisted.
Bobby shook his head. "I just don't know, Dean. I've seen references, in old books about 'high demons', or 'great demons'. What Ava described to you, about Arch Demons, could fit, I suppose. I know demon deals are real. Rare, or at least I thought so, anyway."
"I just can't believe Dad would lie to me about all this." Dean said, standing up and beginning to pace.
"He might have thought he was protecting you, Dean. Or, hell, maybe it is all lies." Bobby said, eyes tracking Dean as he walked back in forth.
"Yeah. I need to double check this info." Dean muttered, mostly to himself.
Bobby frowned. "How the hell are you going to do that? Call John up?"
Dean paused. "I'm going to have to do something I swore I never would." He said, discomfort clear in his voice.
"Dean?" Bobby questioned warily.
Dean looked over. "I'm going home, Bobby. I'm going back to Lawrence."
Bobby watched him silently for a moment. Then he said "If your going to do that, there's someone you need to go see. Her name's Missouri."
Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural Supernatural
Jenny looked up from the boxes she was unpacking, as the scuttering noises she had heard earlier returned, louder than ever.
"Oh, God." she muttered, shutting her eyes. "Please don't be rats."