Title:They've Got One Hell Of a Band
Authors:Co-written by Michelle and Sarah
Rating:PG-13 (maybe R later)
Summary: Dean goes against Sam's wishes and gets in way over his head in their latest case.
Disclaimer: We own nothing about Supernatural, though we'd both like to own Dean!
A/N: Sorry, about the wait, we've been a abit busy. Here's chapter four. Don't forget to review, they really encourage us to write more!
They've Got One Hell Of a Band
Chapter 4
"Well, I'll be damned. Looks like we won't have to put out that ad after all." Steve said, in his usaul bored, monotone voice, when Dean, accompanied by Caleb, entered his basement the next morning after he opened the door. Not really seeming the least bit surprised to see him despite his words.
"Guess not." Dean said with a sneer, rearing back and punching him in the face.
"No, stop it Dean!" Caleb exclaimed loudly in surprise, struggling to pull him off of Steve.
They'd had a plan, and this wasn't part of it at all. What the hell was he thinking?
Finally he was able to subdue Dean, and was shocked when Steve smiled, wiping the blood coming out of his nose on his black shirt sleeve and said, "
Nah, it's alright, Caleb. I deserved that. It's not a problem. You done?" he asked Dean, who glared at him for a minute longer and then said in reply,
"Yeah, I'm done. Consider yourself lucky though 'cause your ass deserved much worse."
"Sure, whatever, man." Steve said with a shrug and sat back down on the couch where he'd been before they'd entered. Looking at Dean again, he tilted his head to the side and asked casually "So, Dean, tell me. How ya feeling today, man?"
"I'm alive, and that's a lot more than I expected after that shit you pulled last night."
"Yeah, yeah. You're alive. That, we've already determined, but how do you feel?" he asked again.
"Well, I feel..good."Dean finally answered after a moment's thought.
"Good? That's all? You just feel good?" Steve asked incredulously, looking at Dean as if he were crazy.
"Ok, so maybe I feel a little better than good. I feel well..."
"Great. You feel great, right?" Steve interrupted enthusiastically, showing the first emotions that Dean had witnessed from him. "Like you're a different person?"
"I'll admit, I do feel pretty juiced."
"This is just the beginning man. That shit you drank, it's changed you. Just like it did us."he said, motioning with his head at Caleb as he spoke.
"Don't you think that maybe you should ask people before you go changing them Steve-o?" Dean asked with an angry sneer. "Just a thought, but it's what one might consider a common courtesy."
"Say, I had asked you. Just walked up and said, 'Hey Dean, we can make you the best damn drummer in the fucking world, promise you fame, fortune, no more sickness and all you have to do is drink some demon blood.' what would you have said? You'd have told me I was a nut job right? Thought I was crazy?"
"Crazy? Hmm...Let's see .Well, yeah, and just to let you know, that one's still out there in the realm of possibilities." Dean replied, raising his eyebrows and snorting through his nose at the man. "And why do I get the feeling there's a little more to it than just surviving the blood drinking? That doesn't sound like much of a trade-off to me. What's the demon getting out of it? The joy of coming to hear us play at the club every night?"
"I know it's all a bit much to take in right away, but I think that given time, you'll come to understand that this is the best thing that's ever happened to you Dean-o." Steve said with a sneer. "And you'll learn all you need to soon enough."
"I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"
"I guess so, but let me make something perfectly clear to you. You're either with us or you're against us, simple as that. So, before we waste any more time on you, which is it?" Steve asked, the smile disappearing from his face, and to Dean, his question came out sounding more like a threat than a choice.
"What the hell?" Dean said with a shrug. "What have I got to lose?" He didn't take to kindly to being threatened, but he was going to play it cool till he learned all he could.
"So, you're in?"
"I'm in." Dean answered nodding his head, feeling a bit uneasy about not knowing exactly what he'd agreed to being "in" about.
"Good." was Steve's only reply, and, at that moment, a female voice asked,
"Baby, which do you think I should go with: the red or the black?" Kara asked, walking into the room holding two very slinky dresses.
"I'd say black is definitely your color." Dean replied before the other man could. Grinning in satisfaction when the woman dropped one of the dresses in surprise.
"You're alive." she said in disbelief.
"Yeah. Really sorry to disappoint you there, darling, but hey, you gave it your best efforts." he replied with a smirk and a wink.
"No. I didn't." she said, recovering quickly. Narrowing her eyes and giving him a malicious grin of her own, she added. "Not by a long shot."
"Well, whenever you're ready for another go at it. Just let me know. It will be one time when I'll have no problem whatsoever hitting a woman. Though I do consider you that in the loosest meaning of the term possible."
He could have sworn she actually hissed and looked as though she was about to pounce on him when Steve spoke up.
"Kara, down girl." he said, trying to make it seem as if he were joking, but Dean didn't fail to notice how the woman immediately backed away from him. He then looked at Dean as he spoke to her, "He has agreed to put the whole mess from last night behind us and be part of the band. I do apologize wholeheartedly for Kara's behavior though, Dean. She's acts a bit erratically at times. My little loose cannon." he said, smiling fondly at the woman.
It seemed as if Dean could actually feel his blood boiling with anger just looking at the woman who'd enjoyed his pain so much the night before, and decided that even though he may have to be nice and agreeable with Steve if he wanted to find out what they had done to him, there was no way that bitch was going to get the same treatment.
"We're playing tonight boys. We'll all meet at the club around nine since we're not playing until 10." Steve said.
"What, we're not going to practice beforehand?" Dean asked in surprise.
"Do we need to?" was the man's reply, and he turned his attention back to the guitar magazine he'd been reading when the two other men had entered.
"Lets go, man." Caleb said, familiar with Steve's mannerism's, knowing that he was dismissing them.
"That's it? That's all you're going to say? Isn't there anything else I need to know about this new arrangement of ours?" Dean pressed, trying to get Steve to talk more.
"Oh yeah, and you'll find out the rest of it tonight after we play, so don't make any plans to be anywhere else." Steve answered, not looking up from his reading
This didn't satisfy Dean in the least, but he could tell that trying to get more out of the man might jeapordize the master plan, so he reluctantly followed Caleb to the door. Passing by Kara who gave him an insincere smile and said, "Catch ya later, Deanie, and be sure to bring that cute cousin of yours to the show. He seems like someone I could really sink my teeth into."
"Not in this lifetime, bitch. He doesn't date dogs." he growled at her in reply.
"We'll just see about that now, won't we?" she asked innocently, adding a little bark at the end of her words.
"Kara." Steve said calmly, and she automatically walked over to where he was and sat down on the couch beside him, but not before winking at Dean first.
It had killed him to be in the same room as Steve and Kara after what had happened . He was in no meaning of the word a submissive person.
He also didn't believe in "forgiving and forgetting".
No matter how good he'd felt upon waking up that morning after only getting two hours sleep, it didn't erase the lingering memory of all the pain he'd been put through by his so-called fellow band members.
No, they were going to pay, but he was just going to have to be patient in making them do so.
He, Sam, Caleb, and Cass had had a long talk that morning before they'd went their separate ways. His brother had not been happy with his plans to infiltrate the band, even with Caleb's assistance, but Dean had finally convinced him of its necessity.
Sam had headed to the library to start researching on any local tales of demons who made Faustian deals in the town's history, Cass headed home to get rested up before work that night, and he and Caleb had went to Steve's. During that talk, they'd worked out a sort of plan of action, and Caleb had informed him of Steve's strange ways and other little things. Dean knew there was still a lot that Caleb had yet to tell him, that, given time, would eventually come out.
Hopefully after tonight, their course of action would be made much more clear.
No, Dean Winchester wasn't a patient man. It just wasn't his nature, but something told him that this time, he had no choice unless he wanted this to all end badly.
That bitch wasn't going to touch his little brother though.
I'll kill her first, he thought angrily, remembering her words as he'd left, unconsciously smiling at the thought of doing so as he got into the passenger seat of Caleb's Mustang.
Screw it, he was gonna kill her either way, and at the time, it didn't seem important him that he felt no remorse at making this decision in the least.
"What was that, man?" Caleb asked heatedly after they'd pulled out of the driveway. "The plan was to play it cool, not try and bait Steve. You're lucky he didn't get pissed. Damn lucky."
"And he really wouldn't have thought we were up to something if I came in all smiles after last night?" Dean countered. "Maybe I should have just went right up, shook his hand, and thanked him for almost killing me? Is that what I should have done, Caleb?"
"No, I guess you're right." Caleb finally agreed after a moment. "You just need to be careful what you say though."
"Why, will he sic his demon on me if I don't?"
Caleb didn't reply to this, and the rest of the ride back to the hotel was spent in silence.
(that night)
"Well, kids, we had us a talent scout from Geffen out in the crowd tonight." Steve said, walking up to the bar where the rest of the band sat. Having finished playing their set for the night, they were having a few drinks before heading back to Steve's.
"Looks like maybe all our hard work might finally pay off." Kara said. "And it's about damn time."
"So you guys haven't had any offers from music labels before?" Dean asked out of curiosity. "I mean after all you play flawlessly, even Kara."
"It's all about getting the right people in the band, Dean." Steve answered with a shrug. "That's part of the deal, and so far we've had a few problems keeping some of our previous members properly focused on the goal. I'm hoping now that you've joined us, we might get it right this time."
"Humph." Kara scoffed, then said, "I doubt it." low under her breath.
"Optimism, love." Steve said, clucking his tongue and shaking his head. "We need optimism."
"Great. We've got trouble coming towards us, Steve." she hissed, looking at someone over his shoulder.
Turning to see what she was talking about, Steve found himself face to face with a petite dark-haired girl who was glaring at him, hands on her hips.
"Lauren. So nice to see you." he said sarcastically.
Dean was watching with interest when the girl suddenly smacked the singer in his face then started yelling at him.
"I know about all of you fucking bastard!" she yelled "I also know what really happened to your brother Kara, and you're going to pay. All of you!" she said, turning, and pointing at each of the other band members as well.
Her eyes temporarily rested on Dean and she said, "I see how quick you were to replace him, Steve."
"We're a band, Lauren, and the show must go on. You know Tom would have been the first to agree with me on that." Steve said in reply.
"Tom never agreed with you on anything you prick! That's why you killed him. He was tired of your shit and wanted out. You couldn't just let him leave the band peacefully though, could you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Tom was family to us, literally in one case." Steve said trying to sound sincere. "We all loved him, and his death hurt us just as much as you."
"Liar! Love is a word that should never come out of your mouth! Not one of you, not his sister, or even his so called best friend ever cared a shit about him." She said, jabbing her finger at each of them emphatically as she spoke. "But you know what? He told me everything, Steve. I mean everything. I'm going to the cops and tell them the truth! All of it, and then every single one of you backstabbing assholes will go to prison!" she finished, just as Cass and one of the other bartenders walked up to them.
"Lauren, you know I'm sorry about Tom, but I've told you once already that you can't come in here and do this." Cass said, putting a hand on the now sobbing girl's shoulder. "You're more than welcome to stay sweetie, but you're gonna have to calm down okay?"
"Calm down, Cass? Do you have any idea what its like to have someone you love someone more than life itself taken away from you?" the girl asked angrily, sniffing as she wiped at her eyes, not giving her to chance to reply though as she continued speaking, "No, you don't, do you? Well, you will when I go to the cops about what Caleb and his buddies did to Tom! Then you'll know, because precious baby brother will have to rot in jail!" and with these words said, she glared one last time at Steve and the others before pushing past Cass and leaving the club.
Caleb lowered his eyes to the ground when Cass looked at him with confusion in her eyes, feeling shamed by the distraught woman's words.
"What did she mean by that, Caleb?" she asked, pulling him a bit away from the others. "I know the whole deal about the demon and such, but surely you guys didn't have anything to do with Tom's death did you? Please tell me that you didn't."
"She was just talking crazy because she's upset, Cass. You know I would never have hurt Tom." he answered finally, but the fact he wouldn't look her in the eyes made her wonder if he was lying.
"Hey, Cass! We need you cause Jess is about to take a 20." one of her co-workers yelled before she could probe her brother further, but, meeting his gaze at last, she said, "We'll finish this conversation later, Caleb." and walked off to man the bar.
He walked back over to join his band members just as Dean was leaving to tell his cousin he wouldn't be home until later.
"Well, folks, I think it's time we broke our new member in, don't you?" Steve asked him and Kara when Dean was out of hearing distance.
"What?" Caleb asked, his head jerking up in surprise.
"Well, we know he's not truly one of us until he's broken in, and I have my doubts as to whether we can trust him, so let's put him to the test." Steve replied with a shrug, taking a drink from his beer.
"Sounds like a plan, baby." Kara said with a feral grin.
"Wait! Don't you think it's a bit soon for this?" Caleb asked anxiously.
"Nah, and anyway, you know whats going to start happening to him if he doesn't do it soon, so what better time than the present?"
"We don't even have a target though? What are we just gonna go pick some random homeless person off the street?" Caleb argued.
"Oh no, we have a target Caleb. A very annoying target who's been nothing but a thorn in our sides for the past month."
"Who?" Caleb asked, then his face paled when realization hit him. "No way, man. Not her."
"Oh, quit being such a little bitch, Caleb." Kara said with a sneer. "It's her own fault for coming in here threatening us."
"He won't do it." Caleb said, looking over to where Dean stood talking to Sam.
"Oh, he will when he learns the whole truth about his new gift. He has no choice." Steve replied, a confident look on his face.
"What's up, people? We ready to head to your place?" Dean asked Steve, after rejoining them.
"There's been a little change of plans, Dean. We've decided that we need to pay a visit to a dear old friend tonight."
"Oh, well, I guess I'll catch you guys later then." Dean said. He and Sam really needed to regroup anyway.
"No, no. You're coming too." Steve said with a shake of his head.
"Why?"
"Lets just say it's in all those concerned best interests if you do. Is there a problem?
"Guess not." Dean replied hesitantly. Something about this didn't seem right, but what the hell. It might be someone that he and Sam could go back and talk to afterwards. Maybe they could learn a little more about the others from them.
"Let's go then. Caleb, you and Kara ride together, and I'll go with Dean to show him the way."
Caleb started to argue this decision. He'd hoped to have some time alone with Dean to try and prepare him for what was going to happen, but apparently Steve had honed in on this, so he had no choice but to nod his head and walk out with them towards the cars.
He had a feeling Dean wasn't going to be anywhere near as cooperative as Steve thought, but any way you look at it he really had no choice.
TBC
Next chapter will have some Sam, so all you younger brother lovers, just hold on! R&R!