Chapter 3
The tension in the car was palpable, even to the undead. Sam fidgeted, unable to take the silence any longer, reached for the radio, "Alright, who wants music?"
A grim-faced Dean replied, "I'm good." Silence reigned again before Dean added, "Besides...," Rick and Dean quoted together, "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole."
Sam nodded, "Ok." Rick stared incredulously at Dean. That was his line! He didn't like to think he and Dean had anything in common.
Rick listened to Cass as he explained to Dean and Sam about the angel Benjamin who reached out to him. Rick reclined his head onto the back of the seat and wished he could sleep. He didn't want to hear any more of their babble about angels. He did his best to ignore them for the rest of the drive.
Rick was pulled from the car into an arcade. He listened to Dean and Sam interrogate the owner about a possible murder. He couldn't help but admire their line of questioning. They were really handling this with ease, as if they had been long time professionals in this line of work.
Rick roamed as far as he could from Dean, taking in the dingy game room with what appeared to be a set of burned wings on the wall. Well, it looked like wings of a giant injured bird, or if you were really delusional, a sick angel.
Ok, Rick thought, this was strange. It became even more weird when Dean found a burnished knife from under one of the game cases. The blade was unbelievably bright and shined as if lit from within. Cass declared it wasn't the blade of the angel Benjamin, but belonged to another. And before Rick knew it, they were on the move again.
They drove to a place to confer with an angel named Ishaim. Cass said he would talk to him and recommended the Winchester brothers sit this one out because this Ishaim character claimed not to like humans. Rick thought Cass was making a joke, but the Winchester brothers weren't laughing. Cass hadn't been in the diner for five minutes before Sam said, "And you are going to storm in riiighhhttt now."
Rick looked over the group assembled at the table. He had to admire Dean's bravado in the face of obvious disgust from Ishaim, who was clearly one tough customer. Dean was looking at the guy like he was his next meal. He barked with laughter when Ishaim left and Dean referred to him as 'super dick'.
Castiel had left to join Ishaim, and the brothers were close at his heels. They truly believed Castiel was an angel and it was obvious their friendship and bond with one another was deep, as deep as the one shared between the brothers themselves.
Rick ran behind the brothers to street, where a red-haired lady in a black suit and eye patch was fighting Castiel. They immediately pulled their weapons and trained them on the woman. She held up her hand in a gesture of submission, "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt any human. Just let me finish what I started."
Dean replied, "Not going to happen Patches."
Rick watched in amazement as her hand began to shine a blinding white light. Rick saw the light; but it didn't affect him as it had the others. He could easily follow her movements as she ran to a waiting car and drove off. Rick, with his mouth open in shock, looked back to Dean, who was actively rubbing his eyes. The woman had some sort of power!
They found an abandoned church where Ishaim could rest and take pressure off of his nasty knife wound. He and Cass then spun the tale of Lily Sunder for the brothers.
Huh, Rick thought, there's angel law? And this Ishaim character, he was bad news. Dean could see it. Sam could see it. This Cass guy seemed okay, but something didn't ring true with Ishaim. It was just a hunch, but he was sure he was lying.
The brothers decided to go and confront Lily Sunder. Rick was glad for once to be attached to Dean, because he wanted to be part of this investigation.
Dean and Sam entered a nondescript apartment building, and when turning the corner of a dingy green hallway, nearly ran into Lily Sunder as she was leaving her apartment. She pulled two burnished swords on the brothers, who threw their hands up in a gesture of submission.
Lily was attractive, her flawless skin marred only by an eye patch. She had an air of fragility and sorrow and spoke like someone from another time. She told the brothers about her daughter and a tear ran down her cheek from under her eye patch. She had been a victim of Ishaim. Rick was right. Ishaim had been lying.
Rick did not want to leave the woman, but had to follow Dean back to the church. When Dean told Cass about Lily, Ishaim claimed Lily was a liar. Rick could tell the situation was escalating but he was powerless to help and could only watch as Dean was thrown against the wall. When Dean cut his hand, Rick was immediately drawn to his side. Ishaim approached Dean, and Rick was sure Ishaim was going to kill him, but Lily and Sam came to the church just in time to help Cass and Dean.
Lily fought with the strength of ten men and stood up to Ishaim. While Ishaim was focused on Lily, Cass was able to strike him down with a burnished blade. Light burst from his mouth and eyes, and he fell to the floor, an outline of his wings burned onto the floor.
Rick was incredulous. It was true. It was all true. There were angels and forces that Rick knew nothing about. He had been wrong. So wrong about the Winchester brothers. He looked at them with newfound respect.
Rick followed them back to the bunker. He wondered how long he was going to be spirit tied to Dean. He was exhausted. He listened to the brothers discuss Billy and cosmic consequences, but he was too tired to care. He shook his head when someone mentioned a child of Lucifer. He just couldn't take much more, and marveled at the heavy mantel the Winchester brothers willingly carried.
"Rick! I finally found you."
Rick turned to the woman standing behind him, "Who are you? How can you see me?"
"My name is Helen. I'm a reaper. I went back to the bunker to get you, but you were gone. Billy finally suggested I check with the Winchester brothers, and here you are."
"Who's Billy?"
"You don't need to worry about it. You have to come with me."
"But what about Sam and Dean?"
"They have a destiny to fulfill. As did you. Now it is time to rest."
Rick nodded. Ready to follow. He really was quite tired. The woman took his hand, and in a flash of light, he was gone.