Dean huffed and looked up from Kevin's notebook, and he rubbed a hand over his face. "Okay, man, I have read this more times than the Playboy I found in Dad's duffle."
"Anna Nicole?" Sam said absentmindedly, not even taking his eyes off his laptop.
"Anna Nicole," Dean agreed with a smirk. "Oh, the good—they die young, huh?" Sam made a face as I laughed. "Look, we can read this till our eyes bleed," the older Winchester said. "It ain't gettin' any clearer."
Sam finally looked up from his laptop. "Okay, then what does it mean?"
"Uh…cut off the head and the body will flounder."
"Yeah."
"Okay, well, I think we all agree that, uh, the head is Dick, right?"
"Right."
"So, bottom line is, we go grab the stuff, and we mix ourselves a weapon. End of story." Dean nodded satisfactorily and took a swig of his beer.
"Look, I'm all for killing Dick," Sam said slowly. "I'm just saying, what then? I mean, what about the rest of the Leviathan? What, are they gonna just…drop dead?"
Dean shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe."
"'Maybe?'" Sam raised his eyebrows. "'Maybe' is good enough for you right now?"
"Well, yeah," I said. "Dick's the main problem—the other Levis come second. And you heard the God rock—cut off the head and the body will flounder. Whether it kills them all off or not, it at least sounds like they're not gonna know what to do with themselves. And that's a good thing, right?"
"Okay, yeah, I get what you're saying," Sam said, "but it's not a crazy idea to try and figure out what the catch is before we go crashing the gate."
"Maybe this is the catch," Dean said. "God's not telling us every detail, y'know? The Word is from God. I dunno how much better it's gonna get."
I waited until Dean walked off to the bathroom before turning to Sam—I didn't want Dean to get a big head from me agreeing with him too much. "He's got a point, y'know. Maybe we're over-thinking it. Maybe it's really as simple as it sounds."
"Simple?" Sam echoed. "Have you read those ingredients?"
I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah, okay, but can we really risk it?"
"Do we have another choice?"
Sam fell silent, unable to think of a reply, and I found myself staring worriedly down at my phone. "He's fine," he said. "The angels are taking care of him."
"Yeah, the angels who tried to kill us and ship him off to the desert two days ago," I muttered. "He never called me back. I left him a voicemail yesterday, and I still haven't heard anything from him."
"He's a kid, Gari. You think he actually checks his voicemail?"
"We are talking about Kevin Tran, here, right?" I said. "Y'know, 'I'm in advanced placement' Kevin Tran; 'wanted to be the first Asian American president' Kevin Tran—that's who we're talking about, right?"
Sam sighed. "Okay, okay, I see your point. But I still think you're stressing out over nothing."
"Funny, that's usually your job."
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I grinned. "Just give him a few more days," he said. "Maybe he wants some time to think about all the crap he just went through."
"Yeah, alright."
"Have you called Ella yet?"
I shrugged awkwardly. "I feel like it's kind of an in-person conversation…"
"And when are you gonna have this in-person conversation?"
"The next time we go see her."
"Which will be…?"
"I'm guessing after the boss fight. Isn't that when we usually visit her? So she knows we're alive?"
"We've gotta tell her," Sam said, pinning me in place with his stare.
"I know, I know." I sighed. "Just not yet. We've got enough on our plate without worrying about her planning our wedding."
Sam chuckled at that. "Okay, not yet. But soon."
"Yeah, definitely." I leaned over in my chair to look at his laptop screen. "So…what's Sucrocorp?"
"We're about to find out."
He clicked on a short video, and a voice-over started while some shots of the outside of a building flashed by. "Here at Sucrocorp, your well-being is our number one priority. Sucrocorp—eat well, live well."
Dean walked over as the video finished and poured himself a glass of whiskey. "Little FYI: Bobby's officing out of the john these days."
Sam made a face. "Uh…awkward."
"Yeah, you're tellin' me," the older Winchester said as he took a seat across from us at the table. "Uh, he does have some ideas about the weapon, though."
"Really? Well, he may be just in time." Sam spun the laptop towards Dean, and I shot him an annoyed look—I hadn't finished reading the article.
Dean frowned as he stared at the screen. "'Roman Acquires…' What's Sucrocorp?"
"They make food additives, namely high-fructose corn syrup."
"Oh, man," I groaned, and Dean gave me a bewildered look.
"Why? Is that bad?" he asked.
"That crap is in—well, it's in just about everything," Sam explained. "Um, soda, sauces, bread…"
"Don't say pie."
"Definitely pie."
"Bastards," Dean said mournfully. "So now what? Roman's moved past restaurants?"
"And into grocery stores, Gas 'n' Sips, and vending machines."
"What can we do about it?"
"Blow them up," I suggested glumly, and Dean frowned.
"Gari's right," Sam said. "Short of going Al Qaeda on their trucks and plants, there's nothing we can do about it."
Suddenly, Sam's laptop slammed shut, and the three of us jumped back in alarm. "Like I said," Dean said nervously, "Bobby's got some ideas."
I propped my head up on my hand and casually scanned the room for the older hunter to no avail. "Do tell."
"Well, uh, he thinks the father of fallen beasts must be an alpha."
"Aren't they all dead?" Sam asked.
"Did we ever confirm that Daddy Vamp died or are we just assuming?" I questioned, and Dean shrugged.
"And, uh, father of fallen humanity…" He glanced at me uncomfortably, and suddenly I knew.
"Crowley," I growled. "Of fucking course."
"Look, I know it's not the best situation, but—"
"It's for the greater good; I get it. Just—let's just go ahead and do this thing." I slid back from the table and walked over to our bags, digging out the supplies we needed for a summoning. "But if he comes anywhere near me, I'm killing him. You'll definitely have enough blood then."
"We won't let him near you," Dean promised. "If he gives even the slightest hint that he's goin' for you, you won't have to worry about killin' him."
I nodded gratefully and started drawing out the appropriate symbols on the table with slightly shaking hands. "So who's slicing their hand open? Because it's not gonna be me. I'll suffer enough mental trauma from this encounter—I don't need physical to go with it."
"I'll do it," Dean said.
"I'll read the spell," Sam volunteered. "Gari, stay back, okay?"
I nodded earnestly. "You don't have to tell me twice."
Dean cut his palm with his pocketknife and let his blood drip into the bowl. "Et ad congregandum eos coram me," Sam recited from memory; then he lit a match and threw it into the bowl, taking a step back as flames shot up.
Crowley appeared instantly, the trademark smirk on his face. "Hello, boys. And daughter." I sneered at him, but I didn't say a word. The less interaction I had with him, the better.
Instead, Dean spoke. "How much d'you know about the Word of God?"
"Just enough to know that I'm a key ingredient in knocking off Dick. Why d'you ask?" The brothers shared a look, and realization dawned in the demon's eyes. "Ah, so that's what all the 'rumble, rumble' was about."
"Who translated it for you?" Dean asked, but the demon just raised his eyebrows. Dean shook his head. "Never mind. You gonna give us the blood or not?"
"Happily. But not quite yet. I'm all for chopping Dick, but I can't have you running around with a vial of my blood, now, can I?" At the confused look on Dean's face, Crowley clarified. "D'you know the sheer number of nefarious spells my enemies can use that blood for?"
"Well, then, when?" Dean demanded.
"Last. After you've got all the other components. Most difficult: the angel part, I'm assuming," Crowley said smugly. "Given your role in their little apocalypse, I can't imagine the choirboys upstairs are wetting their vestments to do you—what's the word?—a solid. Unless, of course, you have an angel up your sleeve." He looked at us expectantly, and that look faded to disappointment as he saw the carefully blank looks on our faces.
"Well, that'd be convenient," Dean said, "but, uh, no."
"Don't worry about it," Sam said. "We'll get the angel blood one way or another. We just need you to be ready next time we call."
"Fine," Crowley nodded. "Oh, here's a tip: I have it on good authority there's one Alpha still among us."
Dean scoffed. "Who's authority?"
"Mine," Crowley said with a smirk. "Wily character, that Alpha vampire. Somehow made good his prison break before Cas went nuclear on the place."
I resisted the urge to say "I told you so" as Dean said, "And you know this how?"
"Keep your friends close, your enemies, blah, blah." Crowley shrugged. "Needless to say, I keep tabs. He moves around quite a bit. But I have an inkling I know where to start the Easter-egg hunt. Happy trails." With that, he disappeared.
"Okay, where, jackass?!" Dean yelled agitatedly.
Suddenly, flames rose up on the table, and, when they died down, I saw that words had been burnt into the wood. "Hoople, North Dakota," Sam read.
"Piece of paper would've worked," Dean muttered.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
"He still hasn't called," I said worriedly as we leaned against the car while Dean got gas. "Should I be freaking out like this? Because I'm totally freaking out."
"I'm sure he's fine," Sam said.
"Yeah, kid can take care of himself," Dean assured me. "Plus, the angels—"
"—are watching him, I know," I interrupted. "Maybe I should call him again."
I started to dial Kevin's number, and Sam took my hands in his. "Just calm down, alright?" he said. "Look, I know I said give him a few days, but if he hasn't called by tonight, go ahead."
I nodded. "Okay, I can do that. I can wait till tonight."
"Good." Sam turned to his brother then. "Hey." He made a motion like he was drinking out of a flask, and Dean understood immediately, removing the flask from his jacket and placing it inside the car. He hung up the gas pump, and the three of us walked toward the store. "He seem angry?" Sam asked Dean.
"Angry? Of course he's angry," Dean scoffed. "If you were Bobby, wouldn't you be?"
"But was he showing signs of fatigue? Like—like fritzing?"
Dean shook his head. "No, actually, it was just the opposite. He said he'd never felt stronger."
Sam sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."
"What d'you mean?"
"The stronger he gets, the closer he comes to going full vengeful spirit," Sam explained. "That's reality. We need to talk about what we're gonna do with him."
"'Do with him?'" Dean repeated unsurely.
"Yeah."
"Three weeks ago, you were—you were talkin' how this could work. And now—now you wanna go Kevorkian on his ass?"
"I'm just saying that the lore doesn't have a single real-life example of Casper the Friendly Ghost," Sam said with a shrug. "It's all basically poltergeists until a hunter comes along."
"Yeah, well, the lore sucks," Dean said sourly.
"I'm talking pure hatred, Dean," Sam persisted. "No humanity. I mean, he could kill, possess people. I mean, Bobby could burn this frigging building down. Look, if he goes off the rails—"
"Hey," Dean interrupted, and at first I thought maybe he was just tired of hearing Sam spouting the truth so freely.
"What?" Sam said tiredly, apparently thinking the same thing.
"Check out that guy over there." Dean indicated to a man standing at the hot dog counter. "He seem a little out of it to you?" I didn't know what he meant at first, but, upon closer inspection, I realized the man had been steadily pumping mustard onto his hot dog for who knew how long, and now the mustard was threatening to overflow and spill onto the floor.
"I-I dunno," Sam said uncertainly. "Maybe?"
"And what about Paula Deen over here?" He jerked his head toward a woman standing in the beer aisle. She was just staring at the beer and rocking back and forth on her feet.
I caught sight of another man who was attempting to slurp a giant slushie through a straw, but, from the sound of it, he had run out of slushie a long time ago. "Guys, this is weird…"
Sam nodded vehemently. "Yeah, they—they look like, uh, like those Turducken people. It's starting," he said ominously, and he reached for a can of soup and scanned the ingredients. "It's the corn syrup. Everything in the store is laced with it."
"Everything?" Dean said anxiously, and Sam nodded again. "Hey, man, I'm gonna go into toxic shock, okay?!" Dean said frantically. "I-I need my road food!"
"That's what Roman is banking on."
Dean hurriedly grabbed a container full of pie and read the ingredients. "Hey, hey! This one says 'natural!' Th-that means it's safe, right?"
Sam gently took the pie away from his brother and placed it back on the shelf. "I hate to break it to you, but corn syrup is natural, technically."
"Well, then, what the hell are we supposed to eat?!"
Sam held up his shopping basket, which contained a bunch of bananas and some bottled water, and Dean let out a loud, long groan, looking like the world as he knew it was falling apart.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
Bobby appeared beside me in the backseat as we pulled up at the Alpha vampire's mansion, and he gave me a tired grin. "Hey, kid."
"Hey yourself, old man," I replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Like a million bucks. Where's the bad guys? Just point me at 'em." I laughed, encouraged by his ability to make jokes.
Dean put his binoculars down and sat back in his seat. "It's totally dark," he said. "I can't see inside."
"Well, should we wait for daylight?" Sam asked.
"Hell no, we're not waiting," Bobby said. "I'll scout it, see if we needa bring in the big guns."
"I dunno…" Sam said slowly. "Look, Bobby—"
"Uh, guys?" I piped up. "He's already gone."
The brothers looked back at me then at each other, and Dean huffed and picked up the binoculars again. Bobby reappeared a few minutes later and said, "Okay, place is clear. But there's somethin' you're gonna wanna see." With that cryptic message, he disappeared again, and the boys and I got out of the car and walked up to the mansion.
"What I wouldn't give to live in a place like this," I said wistfully as we entered the foyer.
"Yeah, that'll happen," Dean said sarcastically.
"Hey, a girl can dream, right?"
Bobby appeared then, scaring me so badly that I jumped backwards into Sam. The younger Winchester let out a snort of laughter, and I elbowed him in the stomach as Bobby said, "Okay, c'mon, this way."
We followed him into a large dining room, our machetes at the ready in case of a sneak attack. Three bodies were laid out on a table. "Careful," Dean warned as I crept closer to the corpses.
"I don't think they're human," I said, taking note of their pale skin and some weird burns on their faces and necks. Upon closer examination, I saw mouths full of sharply pointed teeth. "They're vamps," I said, surprised. "What the hell could do that to a vamp?" I looked at the boys and Bobby for answers, and they all shrugged.
"Yeah, you know a way to kill vamps with battery acid?" Dean asked the older hunter.
"Only way I know is beheadin'," Bobby replied.
"Well, something didn't agree with them," Sam said as he walked around the room, looking for anything else out of the ordinary. "Hey, check out that wall." We looked to where he was pointing. "Something seem weird to you?" I am not ashamed to say that I didn't notice anything weird about it—it was just common knowledge that Sam had freakishly good eyesight, so I sort of went along with whatever he said.
Apparently, so did Dean, for he looked just as confused as I did but still said, "Yeah, see if you can find a switch or a lever or somethin'."
"Don't need one," said Bobby, and he walked through the wall as Sam went over and started pulling books off a nearby bookshelf.
"Hey," Sam said suddenly, and he held up a book that had been cut vertically in half. He pressed a button on the back wall of the shelf, and the secret door in front of us opened to reveal a girly pink bedroom, a girl of about twenty, and Bobby standing there looking completely out of place.
The girl let out a gasp and scrambled to her feet, pressing her back against the mantle and hugging a teddy bear to her chest. "Guys, get rid of the machetes," I said to the boys, already sheathing my own blade.
"Hey, look, we're not gonna hurt you, okay?" Dean said, and he bared his teeth at the girl. "No fangs—see?"
"We just wanna talk," Sam said as the girl relaxed the slightest bit.
"What's your name?" I asked her, and I took a tentative step forward.
"E-Emily," she stuttered, rubbing her arms and shivering slightly.
Only then did I realize how cold it was in the room. "Dean, give her your jacket," I ordered, and the older Winchester surprisingly did as I said without a fight. "I'm Gari," I said to Emily. "That's Sam and Dean. We're hunters. D'you know what that means?"
Emily nodded her head slowly as she sat down in an armchair. "Yes. Th-they brag about killing them," she said shakily.
Sam and I shared a look, and I asked, "How'd you get here, Emily?"
"I was eight," she mumbled. "My mom left me at the playground while she ran to the store. A man approached me and said I was the prettiest girl there. And I've been living with these…things…ever since. At least until now."
"D'you have any idea why?" Sam asked.
Emily shook her head. "I'm one of his special girls," she said, her eyes cast down at her lap. "All the others, it was their job to make sure I was ready for the Alpha whenever he came. Wash me…give me my IV bags every day… It's my only food," she said at the looks of confusion on our faces. "So my blood's pure."
"They've been doing this for, what, twelve years?" Dean said disbelievingly, looking disgusted.
"Virgins are a delicacy. He always has at least one of us on hand."
"Well, don't worry, okay?" Sam said comfortingly. "We're gonna get you back to your mother."
"Think she remembers me?"
"Of course she does. Don't you remember her?" Emily shook her head sadly, and a pang went through my heart.
"Hey, these, uh, these guys," Dean started, gesturing toward the three dead vamps on the table, "they, uh, friends of yours?"
"They take care of the Alpha when he's here," Emily said. "Or did…"
"What happened to them?" Sam asked.
"A week ago, they came back from what they said was an easy hunt. Three humans just came, didn't put up any fight. B-but when they started on them, the vampires screamed in pain. The ones who ate died immediately." Her eyes were wide and frightened at the memory, and I moved forward and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She smiled up at me shyly.
"And the ones who didn't?"
"There was only one. When he saw what happened, he moved to animals. He's out hunting as we speak."
Dean frowned. "Never heard of vamps bein' allergic to humans before."
"You think maybe it's the corn syrup?" Sam said curiously. "I mean, think about it. The Gas 'n' Sip was lousy with stoners, all ripe for the picking."
"She did say it was an easy hunt."
"And it makes sense," I added, and the brothers raised their eyebrows at me. "I mean, if the Leviathans are really planning on starting up human farms, they probably don't wanna share their livestock with anyone else."
"I'm not real comfortable bein' called livestock," Dean said, and Sam nodded in agreement then turned back to Emily.
"D'you know where the Alpha is now?" he asked her.
Emily shrugged. "I dunno, maybe? He has a place he goes when something's wrong. He calls it his retreat."
"Alright." Sam pulled out his phone, presumably to look at his GPS.
Emily stared at the phone with eyes full of wonder. "What is that?"
"That's, uh, that's Sam's douche tracker," Dean said jokingly. "Helps us find the Alpha. All we need's an address."
Emily shook her head. "I dunno… But I remember things that maybe can help."
I squeezed Emily's shoulder and said, "That's fine. Just tell us everything you can remember. We'll figure it out."
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
Once we'd been driving for a few hours, we stopped to get food. Dean, of course, complained endlessly about having to eat what he called "rabbit food" and told me that he didn't understand how I survived. Just like at the Gas 'n' Sip, everyone was completely out of it, enough so that the boys were able to take a man's blood to use as vamp poison without the man even really noticing. At first, I wasn't really okay with it, but when I realized that the man actually didn't care at all, I got used to the idea. We'd also discussed the fact that we needed to leave Bobby behind when we went after the Alpha—we didn't want him going all vengeful and hurting himself and possibly us.
Finally, we were back in the car and following Emily's directions again.
"When they hauled you off to vamp camp," Dean said, "d'you remember how long the drive was?"
Emily shrugged. "We left at night, got in before dawn."
"So, six, seven hours?" Sam asked.
"I think so, yes."
"D'you remember any highways?"
"No, we only took back roads."
Sam turned to his brother. "Okay, so, figure they averaged 45 miles per—"
"Couldn't have been more than 300 miles," Dean nodded.
"Right."
Dean looked back at Emily. "What direction were you goin'?"
Emily frowned. "I dunno. I'm sorry."
"Hey, that's okay," I assured her. "You're doing fine—you're really helping. Can you remember anything else?"
She thought for a minute; then her eyes lit up. "Bells," she said. "As we pulled up, I heard these loud bells."
"It was still dark out?" Sam asked.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "You thinkin' church?"
"No, that's too early. It could've been a monastery. Monks get up at 4:00 a.m. to pray."
"Ugh," Dean grimaced. "Can't get laid, can't sleep in—a friggin' tragedy." Sam chuckled and started searching monasteries on his phone. "Okay, so, uh, Alpha's camping next to a monkey house," Dean said, looking at his brother. "How many we got in range?"
"Looks like one. Just outside, uh, Missoula, Montana."
"Lucky for us," I said, hitting Sam on the arm and pointing at the "Welcome to Missoula, MT" sign, "we're already there."
We drove for about twenty more minutes, keeping an eye out for a monastery, and, just when I was starting to drift off against the window, we found it.
"This is where he took me," Emily said, jolting me out of my half-conscious state. I looked out the window and saw large gates surrounding an even larger building. Someone was walking around, patrolling the grounds, and another person stood on the roof to keep watch.
"Are you sure?" Sam asked.
Emily nodded. "What now?"
"We'll get you someplace safe," said Dean. "Then circle back around and Ginsu these leeches."
So we drove all the way back across town and set Emily up in a motel room. She was staring in awe at some celebrity news program, taking in everything with wide eyes and a fascinated expression.
"Alright, here we go," Dean said, walking over to us and holding out two syringes. "Ten CCs of vamptonite." Sam rolled his eyes, and Dean said, "It's a thing!"
"What's a Kardashian?" Emily asked suddenly.
"Oh, that's, uh…" Dean smirked, "just another bloodsucker." He instantly regretted his joke at the look of shock on Emily's face. "No, it—it's…a joke," he reassured her awkwardly, and she gave a sigh of relief.
Dean walked over and opened up the safe in the closet as Sam handed Emily a piece of paper and said, "Here. If we're not back by dawn, call this number—Jody Mills. She's a friend. She'll take care of you." He handed her an old flip phone. "Here, use this phone."
I tried not to show my alarm as Bobby appeared beside Dean. Since Dean didn't react, I guessed that the older Winchester couldn't see him. "You gotta hang here," Dean said to the flask as he locked it in the safe. "For your own good. Capiche?" The look on Bobby's face was downright furious, and I almost warned Dean until Sam walked over.
"You ready?" he asked me.
I nodded, reluctantly tearing my eyes away from Bobby and fixing Emily with a kind look. "We'll be back soon," I promised her. "Don't worry."
She smiled at me. "Thank you. Be careful."
We picked up our bags and headed for the door. As we made to walk out, Bobby flashed over and slammed the door, causing all of us to flinch. The older hunter's eyes met mine, and the look of anger was replaced with shame. I gave him a sympathetic look as Dean said, "Chill out, Bobby. We'll be back soon." This time, Bobby let us leave, but he didn't look too happy about it.
"Well, he didn't take that very well," Sam noted as we walked down the hall.
"How'd you think he was gonna take it?" Dean said.
We rounded a corner and Sam ran right into a maid's cart, almost knocking over both the cart and the maid. "Excuse me!" the maid said apologetically, looking extremely embarrassed.
Sam gave her a polite smile. "Sorry," he said, and she nodded and continued her path up the hallway. He turned to me once the maid was out of earshot. "Did you see him at all?" he asked.
"Yeah," I nodded. "He looked pissed—like, scary pissed. But I could tell he realized what he'd done and wasn't too proud of it."
"At least he stopped himself," Dean said, trying to be optimistic.
"Yeah, but for how long?" Sam muttered, and I had to agree with him.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
The whole thing was a trap. I thought it was too easy, what with no guards being posted anymore and the door unlocked—and I was right. We were ambushed as soon as we stepped foot inside, and we'd been completely disarmed of all our weapons—including the vamptonite—and brought in front of Mr. Alpha himself.
How the hell did he know we were coming? I wondered as the Alpha said, "The Winchesters and their pet." That got my attention. 'Their pet?!' What the fuck?! "I'm intrigued."
Just then, Emily pranced into the room, looking extremely proud of herself. My eyes just about bugged out of my head as Sam gasped, "Emily?!"
She smiled sweetly and leaned on the Alpha's chair. "Hi, Sam!" she said happily.
"Wow," Dean said with a kind of grudging respect. "For a girl raised in a basement, you're a hell of an actress."
She shrugged. "You were gonna hurt my daddy."
"Wow, you get a trophy in Stockholm Syndrome. And sorry to burst your bubble, but, uh, we weren't." Dean jerked his head toward his brother. "Sam here had a better idea."
"We're here to talk," said Sam. "That's it."
The Alpha laughed menacingly. "Now that my guys have taken your blades and your syringes of tainted blood—is that what you mean?"
Dean shifted uncomfortably. "We, uh, we…figured you might hold a grudge."
"And why would I? Because you captured me, tortured me, sold me to the King of Hell?"
"That was more our grandpa," Dean smirked. The vampire standing behind him obviously didn't like his attitude, for, before Sam or I could react, Dean's head was slammed against the table, and he fell to his knees with a grunt. "Thank you," Dean said sarcastically, wiping blood off his mouth as he stood back up. "That was awesome."
The Alpha sneered at us. "I'm going to peel off your faces and drink you slowly."
I made a face and said, "Wow, lovely imagery."
"Just listen!" Sam said urgently, and he used his shoulder to block the same vampire that had attacked Dean from attacking me, too. "You need us!"
"Oh, yes," the Alpha agreed. "I am thirsty!"
"The plague!" Sam said desperately. "We know what it is!" The Alpha held up a hand, signaling for his cronies to wait. Sam let out a short breath. "What d'you know about Leviathan?"
"A bit."
"You know they're poisoning the food supply?"
"Roman didn't mention that when we met for dinner last fall. We made lots of plans." The Alpha smiled at the looks on our faces. "We are on excellent terms, he and I."
"You sure about that?" Dean said. "Did he mention that he was gonna maui wowie the human population?"
The Alpha nodded eagerly. "Oh, of course. He said that grabbing a snack would be easier than ever."
"He said you'd all live together, didn't he?" Sam guessed. "You really believe him? You think all your children are dying by accident? There is pesticide in the formula!"
"It suits you to think so," the Alpha said. "You need me on your side."
I couldn't take it anymore—this guy was driving me crazy, and I was still bitter about him calling me the Winchesters' pet. "Are you purposely this blind?!" I asked incredulously. "Or are you really as stupid as you look?! They're playing you! They want you out of the way!" One of the vampires grabbed me from behind and pulled my head back to expose my neck, bringing his mouth close. Sam and Dean lunged for me, but they were restrained, and the Alpha smirked as his goon opened his mouth and extended his teeth. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please." I sent out a burst of energy that threw back all of the vamps surrounding us, and I narrowed my eyes at the Alpha. "For the record, I'm nobody's pet."
He let out a delighted laugh and clapped slowly. "Still as powerful and rash as ever, I see," he said appreciatively. His cronies got back to their feet and snarled, about to advance on me, but the Alpha shook his head.
"Look," Sam said slowly, taking advantage of the situation, "we're not the ones burning from the inside out. Think about it. Whatever deal he made with you was crap. Trust us!"
"Or, y'know, don't, and then we get the pleasure of watching you all die," I said casually, and the Alpha raised his eyebrows.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.
"Because we can stop Dick," Sam said, "stop all of it. We just—we need your blood. For the weapon."
The Alpha gave an obviously forced chuckle. "So now you want to prevent the extermination of the vampire race."
"No," Dean said flatly. "But it beats goin' down with you."
Just then, a door opened, and a little boy of about seven or eight entered. Sam saw the look of disgust on my face and reacted before I did, tightly grabbing my arm to hold me back. I glared up at him, and he shook his head almost imperceptibly, but I could read the message in his eyes: "Not yet."
"Allan, darling," the Alpha said, giving the boy a simpering smile. "Come." Allan stood on the other side of the Alpha's chair and watched us interestedly.
"Well, the creep gets creepier," Dean said darkly.
"What's wrong?" the Alpha asked Allan.
"Edgar's here," the little boy replied.
The boys and I shared a startled look as the Alpha gently touched Allan's shoulder, dismissing him, and Allan walked out of the room. "Wow, what a funny coincidence," Dean said scathingly, and then he jumped into hunter mode. "Alright, we need soap, uh, cleanser, anything with borax in it. We need knives—"
"Put them in the study," the Alpha said to one of his goons, completely ignoring Dean.
Sam's eyes widened in shock. "What? No, no, wait!"
"Word of advice, children," the Alpha said. "You do not live through centuries of fire and ice and continental divide…by jumping to conclusions."
The vampires shepherded us towards the door, and the one who'd tried to attack me growled at me as he shoved me in the back. I stumbled forward into Sam and spun around to fight back, but the younger Winchester pushed me in front of him as he said to the Alpha, "You're making a mistake! Listen! Wait!" The doors closed behind us, shutting us out, and we were directed up the stairs, into the study, and then locked in.
"Why the hell'd you stop me?!" I asked Sam angrily.
"D'you know how to kill vampires without a weapon?!" he shot back, and I looked away ashamedly. "You could've kept them back for a while, but we're unarmed. They would've killed us first."
"Alright, alright. I see your point," I conceded. "I'm not happy about it, but I see it." My eyes swept around the study, taking in the refrigerated cabinet full of blood bags and the empty bags hanging from medical stands.
"You think Edgar's here for the same reason we are?" Sam wondered aloud. "I mean, look, if they figured out that we're here to get Alpha blood for a weapon…"
"I think any way you slice it, you got Pac Man and True Blood in the same room, and that's bad news," Dean said. "I mean, he's not stupid, contrary to what Gari said." I rolled my eyes. "Why the hell d'you think he locked us in here?"
"Dean, we're his enemy," Sam said rationally. "I mean, they're like monster cousins or something. Who would you give the benefit of the doubt to?" Dean frowned as he saw Sam's point. "Man, y'know what? Maybe the Sucro is poisoning the vamps on accident. Maybe they'll fix it."
The older Winchester shook his head. "I think you got the oldest monster on Earth thinkin' he can hold his own because he always has."
"Edgar's gonna eat him alive," Sam said quietly.
"Yeah… Hey." Dean held up a needle attached to one of the empty blood bags. "You think you can pick a lock with this?"
"You don't need that," I said, and Dean raised his eyebrows in confusion. "You've got me."
"But, guys," Sam said, "we gave up all our vamptonite."
Dean smirked and pulled a syringe out of his boot. "Did we?"
"Alrighty then," I said, stretching my hand out towards the door and grinning as it swung open. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."
The three of us hurried down the stairs, on the lookout for any vamps we might run into. At the foot of the stairs, one came out of nowhere and grabbed Sam. Dean plunged the syringe into the vamp's neck, and the vamp screamed and released Sam as the flesh around the syringe started to burn.
"Wow," Dean said, impressed, as the vamp fell to the ground, dead.
"Vamptonite," Sam said appreciatively.
"Friggin' vamptonite." Dean looked around. "Alright, we need knives. There's gotta be a prep room or a kitchen somewhere. C'mon."
We searched through every room on the ground floor and were about to give up until Sam came up with the brilliant idea to check the coat closet right by the front door. All of our weapons were there, including the three other syringes filled with vamptonite.
Dean clapped his brother on the back. "Nice goin', Sammy."
We busted into the room just in time to see Edgar attacking the Alpha. Dean ran up behind him, but Edgar heard him and turned to face him. He caught Dean's arm as it swung around, and he knocked Dean's machete to the ground. Sam and I scrambled for the older Winchester as Edgar grabbed Dean by his jacket and started to extend his jaw. Sam got there first, and the Leviathan's head toppled off his body and onto the ground.
"Grab a glass," Dean told Sam, not even missing a beat, and he advanced on the Alpha. "We're juicin' this freak."
"No!" Emily shrieked, running at Dean, but I grabbed her and held her back.
The Alpha sent Dean flying over the table then spun to me, growling, "Leave her alone! She's been through quite enough!"
Sam scoffed. "Now that's rich, coming from the guy who took her off the swing-set."
"Do you want to do this fight? Or do you want my blood?" Sam and Dean looked at each other bewilderedly as the Alpha sat down at the head of the table. He sliced his wrist open with one of his creepily long fingernails and let his blood pour into a glass. Once the glass was full, he stood up and held the glass out to Sam. "For taking care of Edgar," he said tiredly. "Now go."
"What about the little boy?" Sam asked, eying the Alpha warily.
The Alpha rolled his eyes. "Are you joking?"
"Do we look like we're joking?" Dean snapped. "How many other kids you got in here, you freak?"
"At the moment, just him." The Alpha sighed and looked at Emily. "Emily, help Allan with his coat. He's leaving with Sam, Dean, and Garideth." He turned back to Sam as Emily walked out and he pushed the glass into Sam's hands. "Now, take it!" Sam did as he said and we walked backwards toward the door. "What, no 'thank you?'" the Alpha sneered, but he sounded more sad than angry. "Oh, right, right. Your flesh is crawling. All you really want to do is kill me now. You hate having to wait and come back and try again."
"Pretty much," Dean agreed. He nodded down at Edgar. "I wouldn't leave that head too close to that body for too long."
The Alpha watched us with cold eyes as we left the room. "See you next season."
Dean smirked. "Looking forward to it."
Emily and Allan were waiting for us in the foyer. "You can come with us, y'know," I said to Emily, figuring it was worth a try.
She smiled at me, and I was surprised that she didn't seem to hold any animosity toward us. "Thanks for the offer, but I wanna stay here." She bent down to hug Allan and said to him, "They'll take care of you, okay? They're good people." She took his hand and placed it in mine as she stood back up. "Make sure he finds his parents," she said.
I nodded. "We will." Allan looked up at me curiously, and I squeezed his hand. "C'mon, kid," I said, leading him after the boys. "Let's get you home." Allan turned back and waved at Emily as we left the monastery, and Emily returned the wave with a tearful smile. She closed the door behind us, and we piled into the car and drove to the nearest police station to help Allan get home.
~Supernatural~Supernatural~Supernatural~
We got back to the hotel only to find our room completely trashed. Papers and clothes were strung all over every surface, and the mirror was cracked. "Bobby?" Dean called as we walked through the room. "Bobby!" He glanced at me. "D'you see him anywhere?"
I scanned the room then shook my head. "No. If he's here, he's hiding from me."
"Guys," Sam said, and I looked over to see him standing by the now-open safe. "He's gone."
"Alright, well, let's track him down," I said. "Check for EMF."
Sam did as I said, grabbing the EMF reader out of his back and turning it on. It beeped feebly, apparently not picking up on much. "I'm getting trace bits of EMF," Sam said, staring down at the device, "but it's fading fast. And Bobby's probably been gone three or four hours." He looked up at his brother. "He's got the flask, Dean. How are we supposed to track him? Look, I hate to say this—"
"Well, then, don't!" Dean interrupted. "He's gone." He let out a short bark of mirthless laughter then heaved a sigh. "How could he do this now? I mean, we've got half the freakin' weapon; we're almost there!"
"It's not him," Sam defended loyally. "I mean, he's not thinking."
"So what do we do?" I asked worriedly.
"Yeah, what, do we just keep goin' while he's out there like this?" Dean added.
Sam shrugged helplessly. "Do we have any other option? I mean, it's what he'd want us to do, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, him and Frank and Cas, if his marbles were in the bag." Dean ran his hand over his face and let out a small groan. "It's a good thing we got Crowley in our corner, right?" he said sardonically. "Seein' as how it all comes down to him. What could possibly go wrong?"
The question didn't need answering—I'm sure all of us were thinking of just how screwed we were if Crowley decided to double cross us. I made a silent promise to myself then that if Crowley screwed us over again, nothing anyone could say or do would stop me from killing him this time. And I meant it.
