I love you all who have stuck with this story, thank you, I look forward to wrapping it up shortly and I apologize for the unending waiting periods I've put you through. I am working for you, I promise, mom life is no joke.
Please enjoy this addition to Morgan's story.
The two men who entered the motel room couldn't have looked more different. One wore a knit sweater over a collared shirt, untucked from his tailored jeans which gave him a slightly more laid back appearance than his leather loafers would have allowed had his shirttail not been poking out. In contrast, his companion's dirt covered combat boots scrunched the frayed hems of his jeans, but Morgan felt sure his shirt was tucked in under the zippered black jacket, his dark eyes seemed too serious for someone who didn't tuck in their shirt.
"Ennis," Bryan nodded, closing the door quickly and quietly.
"Bryan, Claire, this is David," but the hunter's eyes hardly left Morgan.
"This is Morgan," Bryan offered.
"The Winchester's sister, right?" although Morgan offered no reply, Ennis curtly added, "I know your brothers."
"That's presumptuous," Morgan said, "You've met them."
"Yeah, well, first impressions count, right?" he smirked.
"They can," Morgan agreed, "but I try not to let my feelings for someone's relations determine how I feel about them."
Ennis smiled, a genuine smile Morgan could tell, and thought she felt a sort of understanding form between them. But if recent events had taught her anything, she wouldn't trust that feeling, and certainly not the hunter and his preppy shifter friend.
The group settled into the room, David opting to recline with his loafers on the bed nearest the door, apparently oblivious to Bryan's glare, while the girls sat on the other bed and Ennis leaned against the bathroom door frame. Bryan checked the door lock and tugged the chain, ensuring its position in the gold track, before half-sitting on the dresser and addressing the others with a disbelieving chuckle.
"Anybody wanna leave now?" he smirked, "Cuz we're at the point of no return."
No one said a word for several long moments before David broke the silence.
"I've been ready for this fight for years," he said then turned to Morgan, "Ennis told me about your situation with the Wolves, the bullet points, I'm sorry."
"Not your fault," she shrugged.
"No," David said, "but they've taken a lot from me, from my family, and I'm sorry you're in their sights. I've never met Phelan, but I've heard he's more ruthless than the worst of the Duvalls."
"He was pretty nasty," Morgan agreed and waited a moment for the words to settle.
David cocked his head, questions contorting his features into awed confusion.
"Was?" Ennis had pulled himself from the door frame, all attention rigidly on Morgan.
She told them the story of Phelan and his cronies sneaking into the bunker after finding Garth and Kate hunting in the woods, concluding with the young witch having truly nothing but luck on her side in finding the silver bullet gun stashed under the table. Morgan finished by scoffing how anticlimactic the scene was compared to her expectations.
"Shit," Ennis expelled a breath like he'd been holding it without realizing, "If you think that's anticlimactic I'm scared to know what you consider exciting."
"I guess once you fight the Devil, werewolves and demons don't rattle you as much," Morgan shrugged as casually as she could, reveling in the open mouthed shock of Ennis and David.
Claire broke the silence this time, and she too seemed to be enjoying how impressed the newcomers were, scooting herself closer to Morgan on the bed.
"My girl's a badass, you guys don't even know."
"Okay," Ennis said, "show us."
"Show you what?" Morgan asked.
"What it is you do that's so, badass," Ennis said, "Magic I'm guessing."
David sat up and dropped his feet to the floor, addressing his friend with a scowl, "She's not a circus animal, E."
Ennis put his hands up defensively, "Hey, I just wanna see somethin' so I know we're working with the real deal and no sleight of hand Chris Angel shit."
David's face grew darker as he stood, "Notice that they aren't asking me to start changing my face and showin' off what I can do?" turning to the younger three he added warmly, "Which I appreciate by the way," and flipped back to Ennis, "Don't demand that she show you what she can do, if one'a them told me to shape-shift to prove myself I know that would piss you off. Right?"
"Yeah," Ennis nodded, "Right, no yeah, it would. Morgan, I'm sorry, that was shitty of me."
"Thanks, we're cool," she said and smiled at David, he too was an outsider just looking to be seen as a real person.
For the next few hours they discussed every tiny detail of their plan. David walked them through the interior of the apartment building and the penthouse, having snuck in on several occasions to visit Violet Duvall. It was she who had sent him pictures of who would be in attendance this night and where the guards were typically stationed when the penthouse was being used for Wolf business. In one picture, Morgan noticed Phelan laughing at a table and smoking cigars with several well dressed men, Julian Duvall sat beside him.
"Even she said she's never seen the security this beefed up," David commented, "I'm pretty sure the Wolves are planning their own attack on, the, the Hell Prince. Dragon?"
"Dagon," Morgan, Claire and Bryan said together.
"Yeah, that's way better," David scoffed, "But the Wolves definitely have their guard up with him."
"Her," Bryan corrected.
"Then wouldn't she be a princess?" David asked.
"The semantics of gender don't seem to be a demon concern," Morgan said, "Dagon is currently possessing a woman, since she could realistically pick whoever she wants for a meatsuit, I'm guessing this particular Prince of Hell identifies as a woman."
"Jeezus," Ennis chuckled, but chose to clarify his outburst when his eyes met Claire's, "No, look, I'm all for LGBTQ and Pride and stuff, I vote progressive. Just, a demon's choice of gender identity, I don't know, like, it doesn't matter since I'm gonna kill it anyway. Y'know?"
"Well good luck killing this one," Claire said.
"I think we've got luck," Bryan interjected, "I mean, a city this size and we meet the right hunter, with the right connections and Morgan shows up, clearly ready to kick ass," he winked at her and Morgan couldn't help but smile, "I think we've got the luck. We've got a pretty solid plan. Looks like we've all got the nerve."
"Dagon ain't gonna know what hit her," Ennis playfully punched Bryan on the shoulder, a move that surprised both young men, but led to shared expressions of mutual respect.
"We should head towards Gold Coast," David said, checking the time on his phone, "They'll all have started arriving."
"Hold on," Morgan said, "David, can you shift into anyone you've seen or do you have to meet them?"
"What'd you mean?" he asked, his eyebrows creasing together.
"Like, could you work off just a picture?" she asked, a smile creeping across her face, and David's expression followed in silent understanding.
"This is fucking insane," Bryan muttered as Ennis parked his nondescript utility van in the alley they'd met earlier.
"Hey, you called point of no return hours ago," Claire reminded him jokingly.
"That was a completely different plan ago!" Bryan hissed, "This is fucking insanity!"
"Dagon doesn't know Phelan's dead," Morgan reasoned, "If he shows up with me she'll think she's won the war."
"I don't like it," Bryan said quietly, mostly to himself. He'd been expressing frustrations towards the new plan since it had hatched only minutes before leaving the motel.
"Hold on all," Ennis said, his attention on his glowing phone screen, "We're in a blind spot, but lemme get these cameras on loop," he swiped silently for a minute as the others even breathed quietly in the silent van. Ennis turned back with a bright smile, "All set, let's roll."
Morgan's stomach was doing flips, she was sure of her plan, but less sure about her brothers' whereabouts. An angry Dean could drive very fast and she'd lost track of the hours since Crowley helped her escape. She hadn't heard Bryan's rumblings as they drove through the city, checking every set of headlights for familiarity, but the empty alley gave her a little peace that they were still alone.
Bryan, Claire and Ennis would make their way to the service elevator in the basement while Morgan and David, who had already shifted into an uncomfortably convincing Phelan, would walk right through the front doors. The service elevator opened to the penthouse in the utility room, which, according to David, was next to a hallway bathroom. Overall their plan was a simple one, heavily depending on David's ability to convince the wolves and Dagon he was Phelan, at least until after they'd unlocked the service elevator doors from inside the apartment, giving the three young hunters access to the penthouse.
Yes, Morgan was confident in the plan, but that didn't stop her stomach from twisting, especially violently when she looked at David and had to remind herself it was not Phelan. Phelan was dead, buried in the woods in the middle of nowhere. But Dagon didn't know that. Did she? She couldn't, but anxiety mixed Morgan's confidence further into stomach turning nausea.
Bryan's gut was churning so hard he felt froths of acid bubbling in his chest. In truth, the idea of David pretending to be Phelan with Morgan as hostage was far better than the original plan of him shifting into a random guard hoping to go unnoticed sneaking into the utility room. But it didn't make him any less nervous as Morgan disappeared from the alley with a Phelan clone.
Ennis and David's preliminary investigation of the Wolves' sudden activities over the last few months had produced more than just extensive details of the packs that had migrated from other cities and the layout of the apartment complex. David had copied a master key, which allowed Ennis easy access through the alley door to the underbelly of the apartments and to hack into the security system. He had just finished hiding his equipment behind tangles of wires inside the heart of the building's video surveillance when Claire and Bryan unknowingly joined him. Despite the distrust they'd headbutted each other with, Bryan was glad they'd met Ennis.
"Alright, c'mon," Ennis waved Claire and Bryan quickly through the back door, opening it only enough for each to slip into the darkness before the heavy door shut, leaving the group in momentary darkness before they clicked on their flashlights, "Elevator's this way."
Claire followed Ennis down the spotlit corridor, but Bryan's first step was halted when he heard the slightest scuff behind the door they'd just come through. For a brief moment he nearly convinced himself he was hearing things, but his feet froze again as the distinct scratching of a lock pick clicked in the door. His hand found the colt as the other turned on and off his flashlight several times. A glance in the direction of Ennis and Claire showed their bouncing lights too far away to yell a warning, but the immediate return to complete darkness told Bryan they'd gotten the message. The mechanisms of the lock were being worked, and clearly by a professional as only seconds later a solid click was quickly followed by the heavy door swinging open.
Bryan's stomach hit his shoes as the unmistakable and impossibly intimidating forms of Sam and Dean Winchester were momentarily visible in the soft light of the alley before the door shut and darkness returned.
Dean's familiar, but unnerving growl materialized far closer to Bryan than he was prepared for and he stepped backwards into a cold concrete wall.
"I want my sister and my goddamn gun, right fucking now."
A conclusion to Morgan's story will be next, I hope to have it to you by year's end.
Thank you for still being here.