July 17th, 2007
Sauce ran down his fingers as Dean bit into his greasy double cheeseburger complete with extra bacon and heavy on the onion. It was a heart attack on a plate and just as delicious as he remembered from all those years ago. Without a doubt, it was better than the rabbit food Sam was picking at in between typing on his computer across from him.
Over the last couple of months, they'd been constantly on the move, hunting down demons left and right. When they weren't hunting them, demons were coming after them. It was a relief to be sitting in some no-name burger joint in Texas, relaxing in the AC.
It had been Dean's suggestion after they wrapped up a case an hour away. Sam had half-heartedly tried to argue, but when Dean insisted they make a pitstop here, his brother caved quickly. It had been years since he was there last, but it was exactly the same. The husband and wife that owned the place were still bickering behind the counter while one or two groups of young adults sat huddled in their corner, gossiping over milkshakes and fries. There was an annoying dead girl reading over Sam's shoulder, while practically drooling over him as she did so. The waitress was on her phone, standing just out of sight of the owners and the busboy was the only one actually working.
It was nice. Quiet, if you ignored all the commentary happening behind Sam. How she hadn't noticed that Dean could see her was beyond him. Well, not really... It didn't take a genius to figure out she was self-absorbed, a trait she'd no doubt carried on from when she was alive. Being completely isolated in death hadn't helped any, if her talking to herself nonstop was any indicator.
"Why are the hot ones always crazy?" she asked herself out loud as her eyes trailed up Sam's torso. Reaching down, she readjusted her top, not that it did anything. No one other than Dean could see her, and it soon returned to its original state. Not for the first time, Dean wondered why people always stayed exactly how they were when they died - the way they looked, what they were wearing, what they were touching. If it was just as simple as touching something to take it into the afterlife, he was never letting go of the Impala. He just hoped they didn't have to be buried with it… it would be a damn shame to bury the Impala. Not to mention, a pain in the ass.
"I mean demons? Who would believe that?" the girl said in her irritating, high-pitched voice as she looked back at the screen. "Totally crazy. Ughh, I don't get how he can eat that. It's disgusting," she added, looking up at Dean as she chewed on thin air, probably a habit from chewing gum back when she was alive.
After sucking the sauce running down his finger off as loudly as he could, Dean took the biggest bite he could take of his burger. He made sure to look straight at her as he chewed on the bite with an open mouth, the expression flitting across her face showing her great annoyance. When he was sure he had her full attention, he winked at her.
"What the hell are you doing?" Oh right, Sam was sitting right across from him too.
"There's a dead girl behind you," said Dean before taking another bite. The table shook slightly as Sam banged his knee on it in his hurry to turn around, a hand already reaching to close his laptop. The sudden sound also had several people looking in their direction.
Noticing that he was drawing unwanted attention, Sam quickly apologized for the disturbance and leaned over the table. "A little warning next time?" he hissed at his brother before looking over his shoulder. "Is she still there? Wait," Sam's eyes darted back, locking with Dean's, "You've been seeing a lot of dead people lately."
Dean cocked his head, thinking. Huh...Sam wasn't wrong. Ever since he made that deal, he'd been seeing ghosts pretty much everywhere he went. He'd gotten so used to seeing only one or two every couple of weeks that he felt out of practice.
"Wait, you can see me? Like for reals?" the girl asked as she raised herself up so she wasn't leaning quite as heavily on Sam.
"Yeah and I don't know why," Dean answered, looking at Sam, "and yesss," he said dragging his 's' as he looked at the girl that for the first time that evening was speechless.
It didn't last long before the girl let out a high-pitch squeal that had Dean grinding his teeth. Before he knew it, the girl was right next to him, talking his freaking ear off and Sam completely forgotten.
"You'll never believe what happened to me. So my boyfriend, who is like totally hot and, like, totally not dating that bitch Heather-"
"Oh God, kill me now," Dean begged as he banged his head down on the table, just barely missing his plate.
"That can be arranged," came a deep, scratchy voice from the empty seat next to Sam.
He actually got whiplash as he looked up. Yeah, there was no mistaking it. Crowley. Dean had almost forgotten about him with all the demon hunts, one after the other. In his hurry to get up and away from him, Sam knocked into the table again, nearly upending his glass over his laptop and drawing the attention of the diners again. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as Crowley leveled a calculating look at the patrons now watching them. If they didn't want another bloodbath on their hands, they would need to keep his undivided attention on them.
Of course, much to Dean's horror, their waitress decided that was the perfect time to make her way over to ask if they needed anything.
Plastering on the biggest smile he could muster, Dean turned to her and said, "No, thank you, we're fine."
"Actually sweetheart," Crowley interrupted, giving her a slow smile, "I could kill for a coffee right now. Black." Crowley seemingly enjoyed how tense both brothers got. The tension could've been cut with a knife as the waitress smiled and left to get the steaming cup, placing it down with a tight smile before finally making her way to the next group.
Sam pushed out of the seat, squishing in next to Dean and taking his computer with him. Now having the whole seat for himself, Crowley leaned back against the seat and spread his legs, making himself comfortable. With the space now limited, Dean's ghost friend pushed up and sat on top of the bench, crossing her ankles on the seat beside him.
"Now, back to 'killing you now'," Crowley drawled, drawing the brother's attention to him once more, "first you have to sign an additional contract stating that I'm not breaking our deal. Interested?" asked Crowley and with a snap of his fingers he had a contract ready to sign in his hand.
"Go to Hell," said Dean as he ripped the contract free of Crowley's grasp and tore it up. "What do you want?"
"Been there, done that, sweetheart. Can't I check in on my... employees? You know, before my babies come and tear you to shreds." Reaching over, Crowley took one of Dean's fries and dragged it through the ketchup, leaving a dripping trail of red as he brought it back over and dropped it in his mouth. "You done?"
"Maybe I should leave you guys alone..." the ghost girl said slowly, never taking her eyes off of Crowley. Dean didn't answer as she flitted out of existence, reappearing on the other side of the diner, eyes still trained on Crowley. Dean felt slightly bad for her. Sure, she was annoying, but for the first time in who knew how long someone had actually paid attention to her. It made him wonder just how powerful Crowley was to scare a ghost away from the one thing she so desperately wanted.
"Here, Squirrel. Squirrel!" said Crowley as he snapped his fingers to get Dean's attention back towards him.
Dean's eyes flicked over, eyes narrowed and his fists tight by his sides. "What do you want?"
A sly grin spread over Crowley's lips. "I'm glad you asked! I'm cashing in that favor you owe me." Something brushed against Dean's leg and he fought the instinct to pull it away, not wanting to give Crowley the satisfaction of making him uncomfortable. From the smug look Crowley sent him, it hadn't worked quite as Dean wanted. With a side-eye towards Sam, Crowley added, "Moose here can help if you want, I don't care."
"I'm sure," said Sam under his breath. "What is it you want us to do?"
"Lately there's been a growth in attempted break-ins in one of my establishments and my guards keep ending up… a little burned out."
That wasn't cryptic at all. Dean shared a quick look with Sam and from the frown on his face, Sam thought so too.
"What I expect is for you to put a stop to it. Think you muttonheads can manage that?"
"And if we can't?" Sam replied, lips tight.
"Then you drop dead. That's if you and your brother don't get yourselves killed first," Crowley said with a smile. "Look, boys, this is your decision. I would hate to waste a perfectly good favor just because you went and got yourselves killed. Contrary to what you may believe, I'm in no hurry for one of you to join me in Hell."
"Who is stupid enough to try to steal from a demon?" Dean asked out loud, glancing at Sam. "What is it they are after?"
"Lets just say I have enemies in high places. As for what they want... wouldn't you like to know." Before Dean could ask him what the hell he meant by that Crowley was gone, leaving beside his coffee mug a note with a town name on it.
Marfa, Texas.
"Fucking dick, he could've at least given us a street name," said Dean as he looked around, making sure no one had noticed Crowley's disappearance. It looked like ghost girl was the only one, but she still seemed hesitant to come back over. After a breath, Dean elbowed his brother to get him to move; there was no reason for them to sit so close anymore.
Moving back over, Sam picked up the note before turning his computer around to look up the address. "Huh, a town known for the mysterious glowing orbs," read Sam, before looking up at Dean, "also known as the 'Marfa ghost lights' that appear in the desert outside of town. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. It's only a few hours away. Guess we don't have much of a choice."
"Looks like," said Dean as he picked up a fry, only to drop it a few seconds later, his appetite completely gone. "What do you think we're dealing with?"
"I think it's safe to assume it's not one of the regulars. You know, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, etcetera, etcetera," said Sam as he picked away on his computer. "My first bet is some kind of a demon. Crowley seems to know what we're dealing with but doesn't want to tell us. That leads me to the conclusion that it's something powerful enough that he doesn't want to risk going up against it alone, he doesn't want to piss it off." Sam paused and then shrugged, adding, "Or it might just be a hunter or someone that knows about this life. We won't know until we get there."
~Supernatural~
"Tell me you have good news," said Zachariah as he looked out the window of his office. From this vantage point, he could see thousands of people running around, living their lives, with no idea that Armageddon was drawing closer and closer with each day.
"No, sir. Sorry, sir," said Samandriel. "We tracked down an old script that we do believe is the one. Unfortunately, we've made no progress in retrieving it and therefore, have no means to confirm it."
Zachariah's eyes widened. Every angel knew about the lost script. It was rumored God himself had written it and no angel had ever laid eyes on it. That script might hold the answers to everything. "I want that script. Now. Where is it?"
"It's in Marfa,Texas," said Samandriel, hesitantly. "A demon named Crowley has it. They call him the King of the Crossroads. He's the demon that made the deal with Dean Winchester and so far has been successful in blocking all of our attempts in retrieving it."
"Interesting. How did you find it?" asked Zachariah, turning around to face the other angel for the first time since he joined him in his office. When he didn't get an immediate response, he slapped his hands on the table in front of him. "Well?"
"Castiel found it, sir," said Samandriel, staring straight ahead. "He was gathering information about crossroad demons and started looking into what Crowley was up to."
'Humph, Castiel. Why doesn't that surprise me? Why is it always him and those damn Winchesters?' thought Zachariah as he turned back towards the window. Armageddon couldn't come fast enough. In the meantime, he would have to have another talk with Castiel. "Get me that script. Spare no expense. I don't care if it takes a thousand angels, I want it now. And Samandriel? Bring Castiel to me."
