Various & Sundry Villains Part 2

Stillwater, Oklahoma

"Welcome to Stillwater, Oklahoma." Sam said from the passenger seat.

"How depressingly midwestern." Rowena cringed.

Dean shut off the Impala's engine. "All right, Red. Where to?"

"The tracking spell isn't like GPS," Rowena replied. "The book is not moving and it's in this general area. We'll need to speak to the yokels."

"Okay, well, small-town folks usually like to look out for themselves." Dean commented.

"I can make them talk." Rowena smirked.

"Uh, your spells tend to boil people's brains," Angela reminded. "So maybe let us handle it."

"Fine, fine," Rowena sighed resignedly. "We can do your very time-consuming investi…" she mimicked snoring.

"Okay, see, 'we' aren't doing anything." Dean corrected.

"I'll keep an eye on her." Sam offered. "You and Angie go in."

"Great." Dean nodded.

"Leave me with the babysitter if you must, but do start with the women."

Dean turned and gave Rowena a questioning look.

"Something tells me those girls aren't popular with other ladies." Rowena noted.

~/~\~

"Well, this is boring." Rowena complained. "Is there… I don't know, music?"

"Yeah, yeah. Dean has a tape of Led Zeppelin's 'Moby Dick' with an 8-minute drum solo." Sam reached into the glove box. "Let me see. It's around here somewhere."

"Are you sure I can't just enslave some townsfolk and make them take us to the girls?" Rowena asked.

"I'm very sure that you can, but I'm also very sure that you shouldn't."

"Bless your precious heart, you just described my entire life." Rowena deadpanned.

Sam turned to face the witch and glanced at Grace's sleeping form. "Rowena, even if you pull off whatever plan you're trying to pull off, and even if you manage to get the book back—

"I've been on my best behavior," she interrupted.

Sam nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, sure. Let's say you get the book. It's not going to change anything. You're still going to feel helpless. What Lucifer did to you—

"Told you, I don't… Before he crushed my skull, Lucifer showed me his face. His true face." Rowena revealed, tears in her eyes. "I'm scared, Sam. All the time."

"I've seen it too." Sam replied gently. "What he really looks like behind—behind whatever vessel. It… yeah, still keeps me up at night."

"How do you deal with it?"

"I guess I don't deal with it," Sam admitted. "Not really. I mean, I pushed it down and, um, the world kept almost ending, so I keep pushing it down, and I don't know. I really don't talk about it, not even with Angie and Dean. I mean, I could. You know, they'd listen, but… That's not something I really know how to share."

~/~\~

Dean and Angela walked into the hardware store and approached the cashier, Brenda.

"Hi there," Angela greeted. "Been to a few other places, haven't had much luck. Was hoping you could help us out."

"Oh, happy to try." Brenda replied cheerfully. "What do you need?"

"We're looking for these two girls," Dean started. "Uh, in town, Jennie and Jamie."

Brenda's face contorted in disgust. "Oh. The Plum sisters."

"Right. Yeah, we're looking to track them down." Dean nodded.

"Hmm. You and every other man west of the Ozarks."

"Popular, huh?" Dean asked.

"That's one word for it. And a whole mess of trouble." Brenda replied.

"Well, they took something from me," Dean informed. "And I need to get it back."

Brenda rolled her eyes. "Heard it before, they stole your heart, you can't live without them."

"They stole a book."

"A book?" Brenda echoed before she started laughing. "Honey, now I know you're lying. I doubt they can even read."

"Well, that has been up for debate. If it helps, we don't plan on being nice about it when we do find them." Dean smiled.

Brenda perked up excitedly and ran a length of register paper off. She quickly scrawled down the girls' location.

"You gonna be really mean?" she questioned.

"Yeah."

"'Cause it's about damn time someone was," she handed Dean the address.

"Thank you." Dean smiled charmingly.

"You're welcome." Brenda nodded.

~/~\~

"Even if you do get the book," Sam started. "And even if you get your power back, it won't matter. You won't ever be able to change what happened. You won't be able to change how helpless you felt, or how helpless you feel. You're still gonna get scared. And that feeling… that feeling never goes away."

"Never?" Rowena frowned.

"Never." Sam repeated and Rowena opened the car door to exit. "Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey. What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"I just need a minute," Rowena answered. "I'm not fleeing. Don't release the hounds!"

"Hey," Dean greeted as he and Angela approached.

"Hey." Sam replied.

"What's going on?" Angela asked.

"Uh, she just needs a minute. She's all right." Sam waved it off.

"All right, well, we got the address. Rowena was right. These girls are not fan favorites."

"Right," Rowena joined the hunters. "Time to get that book."

"Oh, no, no." Dean shook his head. "You've done your bit, okay? We'll take it from here."

"I was afraid you might say that." Rowena walked away and dropped a hex bag in front of the hunters. "Manete!" she chanted, freezing them in place.

"Rowena! Rowena, stop!" Angela yelled.

"Rowena, dammit!"

"Oh, come on. All right." Sam groaned as he reached for the hex bag, barely touching it.

~/~\~

"Needed a minute?" Dean asked, his voice dripping with irritation.

"You don't have to say it, Dean." Sam reached for the hex bag.

"Oh, I'm gonna say it. She played you."

"She played us." Sam corrected defensively. "And she's scared."

"Yeah, well, she better be." Dean muttered. "Come on. You're, like, 8-feet tall. You can't reach that?"

"I almost got it." Sam strained to reach. "Okay, got it, got it. All right." He stood up and passed the hex bag to Dean.

Dean pulled a lighter from his pocket and ignited the hex bag, freeing them from the spell. "All right, let's go kill some witches." He tossed the burning hex bag to Sam, who avoided it. "You want that?"

~/~\~

Sam, Dean, and Angela entered the Plum sisters' home with their guns drawn.

"Rowena!" Angela yelled.

"Wonderful!" Rowena yelled back. "I've been stalling them until you arrived."

"Hey, lovebug." Jamie smirked at Dean. "Can't introduce you to Mom right now. She's busy. How 'bout that kiss I owe you?"

Dean cocked his gun. "Sure."

"Guns. Okay, super scary." Jennie replied condescendingly.

"Witch-killing bullets." Dean corrected.

The girls looked at each other and in unison swung their arms to cast a spell. "Moveantur!"

Sam, Dean, and Angela were flung in opposite directions of the room, crashing into furniture with grunts of pain. Jamie picked up a knife from the table and started attacking Dean while Jennie attacked Sam and Angela with a hammer.

"Sammy! Angie!" Dean called out. "They're really weirdly strong."

"I think it's probably the spell." Angela grunted.

Jennie laughed. "You think?"

Jennie flung Sam and Angela across the room and they crashed into a coffee table. Jennie moved to attack but Dean got the upper hand on Jamie and pinned her against a wall.

"Jennie!" Jamie called out.

Jennie turned her attention to helping her sister and hit Dean in the back of the knee with a hammer.

"Uhh! Aah!" Dean groaned. "Son of a…"

"Magic won't work on this abomination!" Rowena called from the kitchen. "Got any suggestions?! Quickly!"

"Try shooting her in the head!" Dean yelled.

"No!" Jamie cried.

Sam and Angel continued to fight with Jennie and Rowena fell into the entryway with the zombie on top of her. Rowena spotted Dean's gun and struggled to reach it. Rowena managed to reach the gun and fired it into the zombie's head.

"Mom!" Jennie exclaimed as the zombie fell to the floor with a thud.

"Impetus Bestiarum!" Rowena chanted.

The girls immediately stopped their attacks on the Winchesters and their eyes turned red.

"Rowena," Dean warned.

"End it." Rowena sneered spitefully.

The girls turned towards each other, blood running from their eyes. Jamie stabbed Jennie with her knife and Jennie hit Jamie with her hammer. They continued to exchange blows until they fell to the floor, dead. The Winchesters looked on with bewildered looks as Rowena looked on with satisfaction.

~/~\~

Rowena was paging through the Black Grimoire. "You really thought after all that, I was going to try to kill you?"

"Yeah, you double-crossed us." Sam reminded.

"Triple-cross, actually," Rowena corrected. "So I ended up on your side, and we defeated the villains, just as I planned."

"Yeah, not buying that." Sam scoffed.

"And that book?" Angela added. "You're wither going to give it to us or we can take it, either way."

Rowena looked up at Sam with pleading eyes and whispered, "You know what I've seen, what it's like. Lucifer may be locked away, but he'll be back. He always comes back. And when he does… I can't be helpless again. I need the spell."

Sam, with a look of understanding, still took the book from Rowena and she walked out.

~/~\~

Lebanon, Kansas

Sam was opening two beers while Dean and Angela sat at the kitchen table. Angela had a diet soda and was icing Dean's injured knee. The Black Grimoire was lying on the table.

"Can't believe I feel for a love spell," Dean complained. "And I got clocked by a witch with a hammer."

"And zombie mom," Sam added as he handed Dean a beer. "Those are the details that sell the story."

"No, yeah, yeah. Getting beat up by a girl, that's a story I wanna tell someone."

"Girls beat us up all the time." Sam shrugged.

"Dean, I could beat you up." Angela teased.

Dean nodded in agreement and sipped his beer. "Mm. True. Hey, Sam, you know that Rowena is not our friend, right?"

Sam leaned against the counter and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Hmm." Dean opened the Black Grimoire to where a page was missing. "So what's this? You gave we the page. She got in your head, man."

"She didn't get in my head." Sam whispered.

"Look, what happened to Rowena was messed up, okay? But you just let the deadliest witch in the world walk away with a page from this book." Dean lectured.

"Yeah, and if Rowena breaks bad, I will hunt her down myself and put a bullet in her. I will." Sam promised. "But if she's right, and if she does see Lucifer again, then… I hope she makes him suffer."

"You gotta get out of this dark place. You know, whatever's going on in your head…"

"Dean."

"What?"

Sam inhaled deeply. "You know what? Honestly?"

"Yeah, how 'bout honestly." Dean nodded.

"I know what Rowena is dealing with," Sam admitted. "And she's not the only one who… feels helpless."

Angela stood up and walked over to Sam, taking his hand in hers. "What do you mean, baby?"

"I mean, I had a plan, you know. I, uh… Help Jack, bring Mom and Robert back. It wasn't much, but it was something. It—it kept me from spinning off the rails. And now… Jack is gone, Mom and Robert are still in hell, basically, and I-I-I just…"

"We'll figure it out, Sammy." Angela whispered.

"Angie, we don't have a plan." Sam replied defeatedly. "We don't know what to do. So—so how?"

"I don't know." Angela admitted. "But we will. You, me, and Dean, together."

"Yeah." Sam whispered, unconvinced.

"How about we go to bed?" Angela suggested and Sam nodded. "Okay. Goodnight, Dean. Keep icing that knee."

"Night." Sam mumbled before he and Angela left.

Dean sighed deeply and flipped the Grimoire closed.