The Supernatural World of Vladimir and Viktor, Chapter 36
It was crowded in the Fates' lair. Not only had the Fates appeared there with Eddie, Andros, Sam and Jill, but so did the Black Widow bikers both living and dead, with Sandra.
Clothos counted the ends of the cluster of threads she held in her hand, then counted the bikers.
"I have a matching number of threads, plus one for Arachne," she said. "How shall we determine where they will go, Leaches?"
Leaches already had the solution. "The four who died will decide. Sandra, which would you prefer: life back on Earth as you experienced it, or your life in Hades?"
"Earth, definitely," declared Sandra and the other three nodded their approval.
"It's Hell down here," added one of the others. Eddie and the Fates let that comment slide.
"Then it has been decided," declared Leaches. "When Atropos cuts the threads, Arachne's influence on Earth ends, and each of you will be returned to the last place you were. Four of you will need to work on an excuse for your absence since your deaths, because in one hour all of you will forget your association with Arachne and anything she taught you."
"Remember to make me look good when you make up you excuse, Sandra," Jill called out to her sister. "You'll forget, but I'll still remember. Don't make me kill you again!"
"You wouldn't," retorted Sandra.
Then Atropos cut the threads and the ex-witch bikers were gone, back to their places on the surface.
"I guess it's our turn," Eddie said. "Come on guys, it's time to leave.
Eddie, Sam, Andros and Jill walked the corridor out of Hades. At one corner Eddie pointed out the copper streaks.
"Remember these?" he asked Sam. "I added a few streaks of platinum to them when I found Hades. Here is where the Hades and Hell passages meet."
Sam looked around. "I don't see the room where you and Dean saved that guy..."
"The rooms aren't geographically stable," explained Eddie. "They aren't physical, though you wouldn't be able to convince the tortured victims in each room.
After a pause, Eddie made a decision. After all, they were already here and why not take advantage of the occasion.
"Hey! You guys wanna save a condemned soul?"
"You sound like that's fun," commented Jill, aghast at the idea.
"Actually it is, in some really morbid sense," explained Sam. "Okay Eddie, maybe just one."
So the foursome walked quietly into the passage to Hell. Eddie and Sam led. Jill and Andros followed them cautiously.
As they walked the screams and wails grew stronger. Shortly, Eddie paused and pressed against the passage wall, saying, "Here we go."
They were looking into a deep well from the top. On a ledge at their level was a terrified man being held still by a demon. His shoulders dropped at the sound of shattering glass below.
The demon pushed its victim off the ledge and into the path of large shards of glass projecting upward. The first ones sliced through his body, spraying blood and flesh. The cuts healed in time for the next set of shards to arrive. This continued until the body reached the bottom, when the action stopped and the man was back on the ledge as before.
The glass-shattering sound happened again and the demon once again pushed the man off the ledge to start it all over again.
"That's enough," said Eddie.
He drew the demon's essence out its body and dissolved it in his hand. The body fell into the well.
As soon as the victim's body reappeared on the ledge, Eddie was there asking, "Would you like to be reborn?"
The cursed one's confirmation could be heard through the sound of the next explosion below.
Eddie drew an orb from the body and let the now-lifeless form fall. This time the shards shredded it into strips of flesh and slivers of bone, leaving just a gory mass once it reached the bottom.
At the entrance Eddie touched the floor and turned the ledge and walls and the mechanism below into water, which then disappeared into a vapor.
Jill was still gazing transfixed into the nothingness and Andros had to pull her back.
"I know I'm a vampire, but I can't even watch movies about Hell let alone the real thing," Andros admitted guiltily to Jill. "So, I didn't look. By the look on you face you probably shouldn't have either."
Jill looked at Sam who was unfazed. He guided her along toward the exit from Hell as he examined the ball of white Eddie had handed him. It sort of had a glow to it and the form gave a little when Sam squeezed it.
"I wonder what he did to deserve that," Eddie asked no one in particular. "Like, did he fail to inspect a batch of faulty air bags? Was he the inventor of plate glass?"
"Ugh! That was gruesome," Jill said as she tried to shake off the icky feeling. "How can you make fun of it?"
Sam handed the orb over to Eddie and put an arm around Jill. "It's over, Jill. Eddie has the guy's soul and everything else is gone forever. You can't fight demons if you can still carry bad experiences with you when it's over. You have to make jokes about it or it will eat at you later."
The passage ended and Eddie pushed open a door to the outside. The others followed him out.
Sam knocked on the door as he exited. "Hey! I remember this! It's the one used at the mine in Nevada!"
"You remembered," said Eddie. "Yeah, I got tired of entering the old way and the door was there in the barn."
Our heroes checked the cupboard in the guestroom part of the barn for something to eat. Not much was there. At least not much that was fresh.
So Eddie decided to fix a hot meal at his home in Indiana. He and Sam showed the others how the doors in the floor of the barn worked. Down through one door in Utah, up through a door in Indiana. They would save until later how to get themselves and their cars moved to where they wanted them.
Sam turned on his phone in the kitchen while Eddie and Jill planned breakfast. Eddie came across a bottle marked 'Wogglebug's Memory Pills.' It reminded him that he needed to add Andros and Jill to the list of people to take these pills so they won't forget his miracles like the one he performed in Hell.
Andros was in the library awhile until he poked his head into the kitchen to say, "It still works! Come see!"
The others followed him into the library to see two hedge apples on the library table. Andros leaned over them and seemed to be willing them to move. One rolled on top of the other and sat there.
"Where'd those come from?" asked Jill.
"My hall closet."
"I think we need to know more than that," urged Eddie.
"Oh, yeah." Andros let the top fruit drop to the table. Jill went back to the kitchen to find something to clean the goo off of the table.
Andros continued. "Athena said I would remember the spells, but I didn't know if that meant the spells would actually work. Well, the witches had an hour before they lost their skills, so I gave it an hour before calling up the hedge apples again, and it worked."
"And they came from you hall closet?" asked Jill as she sprayed and wiped the table.
"Okay, remember the spider that attacked you? The spell book called for symbols woven from the spider's webbing. I did that. I put one pattern on the closet floor and a mirror image on the ceiling and piled hedge apples in it because the written spell could call them. Anything I have in the closet, I can call up where ever I am at. I just called up the last two hedge apples that were in the closet."
"So, can you call up anything else?" Jill asked.
"I suppose. If it fits in the closet, I can call it up. I just have to figure out how to change the wording of the spell for whatever it is. I need to practice. Maybe I can leave a weapon there and call it up. And if I could call it up, do I need to hold it or can I make it move on it's own?"
Jill leaned closer. "So what other spells can you do?"
"Αντιστρέψτε αυτό το ξόρκι," said Andros, and the hedge apples disappeared.
Andros grinned. "I can still reverse spells. Beyond that I don't know yet. But you will be the first to know when I find out."
The dragon tail problem that Castiel was concerned about in the trailer in Idaho was easily solved: Viktor realized it was out when he woke and he just reabsorbed it into his human body before he got up. Zeke apparently forgot about it when his father banged on the trailer door calling for volunteers to eat pancakes in the kitchen at the house.
Dean led the crew out the trailer door and to the house. Viktor lagged behind.
"Hurry, Viktor," said Vladimir, "or Dean will eat them before we get there."
Viktor was standing in front of the rose on the table, eyeing it intently. "The flower was watching us. It had eyes."
Vladimir stepped back into the trailer. He was not going to doubt his friend. He poked his finger around in the flower.
"Careful! It might have a mouth, too, and bite you!"
"I can't find anything, Viktor," Vladimir said. "Come on, let's eat. We can watch it together later."
He followed Viktor out and pulled the door shut, looking back into the room. The pink rose was now facing the door. It had not been a second before. Vladimir decided to dwell on that later; right now he was hungry.