Author's Note: I don't own Supernatural. Please review!
***Sam POV***
December 15th, Early Morning
Scratch scratch scratch. Scccccrrrratttttccchhh.
Sam had been having a fretful sleep anyway, so it wasn't a surprise that he was easily awakened. Neither he nor Dean had heard from Mick since he had almost shot Eileen. They hadn't heard from their mother for even longer. They were setting off on a new case tomorrow, to try to figure out why six hunters had died over the following three weeks, all apparently killed by "wild animals." That, on top of everyone's worry about the nephilim child, meant that Sam hadn't been sleeping very well.
Scratch scratch scratch. Sccccrrrratttttchhhhh.
Sam envied Eileen sometimes, he thought, smiling at her still sleeping form in the bed next to him. He was happy that she would be going with them the following day. But still, the scratching continued.
With a grunt, Sam shifted, throwing on a shirt and a pair of sneakers.
Scratch scratch scratch. Scccccrrrrratttttccchhh.. Bang! Bang!
"What's going on?" asked Eileen sleepily.
"Something's scratching at the door."
He padded out slowly to the kitchen and looked at the tiny camera that Charlie had installed at Ember's insistence outside the bunker the previous year, after the Stynes had attempted to rob them. There was nothing there, but as he continued to watch, he saw long, jagged claw marks dig into the door. The door gave an almighty shake.
His blood froze. "Dean!" he screamed, running back to his room for his demon knife.
Dean met him in the hallway, as did Eileen. Dean was carrying an angel blade, as was Eileen. "Hellhound!" Sam said, and together, they all headed for the door.
"Stay back," Sam told Eileen. "You've never fought one of these things before." She opened her mouth to protest, but at a pleading look from Sam hung back a good ten feet from where the brothers were readying themselves to open the door.
"Ready?" said Dean. "On three. One… two… three."
The brothers opened the door, and both of them took wild stabs as they could feel the hellhound muscle itself into the door. Sam could feel his knife hit home, between two bones, and the dog let out a loud yelping noise. Still, it attempted to muscle past the brothers, straight for Eileen. Dean's angel blade was lodged in the hellhound even further than Sam's knife. Dean was still hanging onto it, and Sam caught Dean's look of surprise as the hellhound drug him a good 10 feet. Sam scrambled up after him just as the dog jumped on top of Eileen, tearing five identical gashes into her side. Eileen attempted to stab it in the head with her angel blade, but missed, and her blade clattered to the side.
Finally, Sam was able to scramble after the hellhound. He jumped onto it from the side, and felt a sharp pain in both of his shoulders as the hound tried to find purchase. Still, the momentum from his jump drove the hound off of Eileen, and the demon blade was buried deep in its chest. With a howl and a yelp, Sam heard a loud "thump" on the floor, and blackish-red blood poured onto the garage floor from nowhere.
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
"It still doesn't make any sense," Dean said the following day. "Why would a demon sic a hellhound on Eileen, or either of these guys?" Eileen had needed twenty stitches, and was back at the bunker resting. (Sam had told her to rest, though he had a hunch she was researching.) Sam and Dean had given her hex bags to hide her from the hellhounds so that she would be safe. Then the two of them had gone to gather information about the two most recent of the six hunter deaths. As the brothers had suspected, both hunters had almost certainly been killed by hellhounds.
"I don't know, Dean," he grumbled. "Everything has got to be connected. Six hunters are gone, almost seven. Of those, we know for a fact at least three of them were hellhound-related. Then there's the fact that we can't grab a signal from Mom's phone. Mick has slipped off the grid. Ketch is lying to us. I'm afraid to let Eileen leave the bunker. I-I... I wanna punch something in the face."
Dean sighed, turning on the exit back to Lebanon, Kansas. It was getting dark. "And Crowley says he doesn't know anything about a hellhound being gone… but, of course, he's full of shit."
"And every single hunter that did die had years of experience. I was looking into it while you were setting up the summoning stuff for Crowley," Sam added. He sighed. "Do you think we should be paranoid, like Eileen was? I mean, I've felt like someone was watching me for awhile. But I just thought it was because of Ember, you know…"
Suddenly Sam had a horrible thought. Dean was looking at him, too, and he could tell that they'd both had exactly the same thought.
What if they were being watched?
"You don't think-…" said Dean.
"Yeah, maybe," Sam said.
"Even though we changed the locks last year?" Dean asked.
"I mean, Mitch has been around two or three times since then," said Sam.
"Yeah, and Ketch came by during that vampire attack on headquarters," said Dean.
When they arrived back at the bunker, however, Eileen had already found their answer. When they entered, she put her fingers to her lips and motioned for them to follow her. She knelt down under the table and pointed to a small electronic device.
Dean and Sam gave each other a horrified and angry look.
Dean pointed to the bug, then said, "Those hunters you were talking to… is one of them Terry Marsh?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "Terry Marsh in Missouri. I talked to him. He, uh, he's also thinking it's not monsters doing the real killing."
"Okay, well, I got a text from him," said Dean. "He's been nosing around, says he's got a fair idea of what's going on."
"And?"
"He doesn't feel safe talking about it on the phone. He wants to meet," said Dean. "The old iron works off the interstate. Tomorrow night at 9:00. He says park off the road by the warehouse."
"All right," said Sam.
The board was set.
***Castiel POV***
December 16, Noon
If Castiel was allowed his own slice of Heaven, this would've been it. Ember was in his arms, and they had been kissing, on and off, for over an hour now. "You know," said Ember into his ear, "If I wasn't nine months pregnant with your half angel, half demon son, I'd totally be on top of you having sex right now."
Castiel ignored what her statement did to his vessel's anatomy and kissed her on the neck. "If you weren't nine months pregnant with my half angel, half demon son, I'd totally let you."
Suddenly Ember's phone began to ring from across the room. To Castiel's extreme disappointment, she began to extricate herself from his arms, then, at his resistance, used her force powers to move the phone closer. "Hey, Sam," she said. "Yeah, I was trying to reach you this morning, I've been worried… yeah, I know I have no right to say that after what I put you both through... and I'm really sor-… Yeah, he's right here. We're okay, but I can't tell you where-… Wait, what do you mean a hellhound!"
Castiel had only been half listening, but at this he immediately tuned into the conversation. "No, no, I'm not going to stay here, if-… No, stop, stop. Cas and I will be right there."
***Dean POV***
December 16, Evening
At 9:00 on the appointed night, Eileen, Dean, and Sam drove up to the appointed warehouse and got out of the Impala. They feigned as though they were going into the warehouse, but instead waited on two men in black to walk into the warehouse with guns before shutting the door behind them and locking them inside.
So far, so good. Dean could hear the men yelling and clattering in the building, but it had been set full of sleeping gas. He no longer had to worry about them.
Dean looked at the other two, and pointed to a black car that he could barely see beyond where the Impala was parked. Sam and Eileen both nodded at him, and the three of them made their way quietly over to the car and behind it.
Dean broke out the front window of the car, only to be greeted by Lady Toni Bevell, holding a gun. Good. He had been wanting to have words with her for awhile. She attempted to shoot him, but he was too quick, and grabbed the gun. She kneed him in the groin, and reached for her gun, which he had dropped. Sam was stepping on the gun, however, and pointing his own gun at her.
"You keep that up, we're gonna have to start dating," said Dean, attempting to recover from his knee to the groin.
Sam began the process of tying up Lady Toni. Meanwhile, Eileen stood right in front of her. "Did you try to kill me? Did you and the Men of Letters send hellhounds after me?"
"Who are you?" said Toni snidely.
"Eileen Leahy," she said, stone-faced and strong. Dean smiled – he could see why Sam liked her so much – she had stones.
"Probably," Toni said, struggling against her ropes without much hope. "Rule of thumb – if you think we tried to kill someone, we probably did. Although usually, we succeed, so maybe not. Speaking of, you do realize that by attacking me, you invite the retribution of the entire British Men of Letters? Investigation, no trial. Just punishment and ruin. Possibly at the hands of Mary Winchester."
All three hunters stopped. Toni struggled, but it did no good – Sam had already tied her up too well.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Dean said, his blood boiling.
"Your mother – she's our permanent guest," said Toni.
"She's your prisoner? Why?" asked Sam. She was struggling, however, and refusing to be bent over and seated.
"Prisoner? Who said anything about prisoner?" Toni asked. "No, Mary's joined the team. Even has her own super secret decoder ring."
"You're lying," Sam said, scoffing.
"You're right," Toni said. "There is no ring. Oh, boys and their mums. See, you see her as Mummy. We see her as one of our best killers."
"You know, just 'cause she works with Ketch doesn't mean she likes him. Or you," said Dean. He attempted to force her into the car, but she sidestepped him. It was oddly graceful except for the fact that her entire torso and arms were covered in ropes.
"Oh, that Oedipal myopia again," she snapped. "And did you really think she was just "working" with Ketch? All of those days and nights?"
"That's enough," said Sam, and he picked Toni up, bending her at the waist, and set her into the Impala.
"He said it was some of the best sex he'd ever had," she said.
Dean had holstered his gun, but he drew it again quickly and fired, shooting just over the Impala and not two inches from the back of Toni's head. "You wanna rethink that?"
"Actually," said a voice from behind Dean and Sam, "It was the best sex I've ever had."
Dean swung around again, anger flaring inside him, and shot at Ketch. Ketch had expected it and dodged, shooting back at Dean, who had also dodged. Meanwhile, Sam had shot and killed both Men of Letters guards that had arrived with Ketch.
Dean shot again, but Ketch dodged again. He seemed to have forgotten about Eileen, however, who darted out of the bushes and plowed into him from behind. Just as he began to turn to shoot her, Sam leapt at him, catching him from the front and knocking him to the ground. Eileen yanked the gun out of his hand and handed it to Dean.
"Our Mom – where is she?" asked Dean, now towering over Ketch.
But then, to Dean's surprise, a voice he recognized said, "Don't move."
"Ah, speaking of your mother," said Ketch.
Slowly, Dean turned around.
"Perfect timing, Mom," said Sam from his place on the ground.
"Just stay where you are," said Mary. And she shot, missing Dean by only inches.
But then Mary seemed to awaken from a daze. She shook her head to clear it. Her eyes looked at Dean, towering over Ketch, to Sam, still on top of Ketch and pinning him down, to Eileen, staring at Ketch with a look of revulsion. Then her eyes fell on Ketch himself. "You, she said to him venomously. "You tried to control my mind. You made me kill other hunters. You kept me prisoner." Dean looked at Sam, his eyes widening. He had never seen his mother like this. He wanted to reach out to her and tell her to stop, that she didn't need to take a human life, that that was his job… but he knew that she, too, was an experienced hunter, and had been so long before she had been his mother. Besides, judging by the way she was looking at Ketch, Dean didn't think he could've stopped her if he'd wanted to. "And worst of all, you made me shoot at my boys."
"Mary, please-…" Ketch said, looking, for the first time, scared.
"Go to Hell," said Mary. And she shot Arthur Ketch in the head.
Mary looked at her boys then. "Sam… Dean… I'm so sorry."
Dean rushed to hug her. "I'm just glad you're okay, Mom."
Mary nodded, looking thoughtful, and shaking her head again. "I… I will be." She hugged Sam as well. When she extricated herself from Sam, she said, "Can we go home now?"
"Yeah, Mom," said Dean, opening the passenger side and looking inside of the Impala. "Uh, Lady Toni's tied up in the back. I'd like to question her a little bit more, but Ketch had to go."
Mary silently crawled into the passenger seat of the Impala, and Eileen crawled into the back seat. Only Sam and Dean were left. Dean looked around, but saw nothing. "Thanks, Cas," he said softly into the air.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and a smaller, more feminine hand linked with his as well. Castiel's voice said softly. "Dean, that was a very thorough job of mind control, and difficult to undo, especially on a moments' notice."
"Thank you," Dean said again, and this time Sam echoed the statement as well..
"Mary won't be the only hunter being mind controlled, but we have to leave now. I'm sorry we can't do more."
Dean nodded.
"Be careful," said Ember's voice, even softer. "Ketch was the worst, by far, but he's trained all of the other operatives. Their vision won't stop with his death. And Sam… good to know you took my advice about Eileen."
-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-
***Ember POV***
December 18, Night
Ember's phone was ringing. God, she was so tired. And there was something large draped across her, and good-smelling…
Oh. That was Castiel, who was now offering her ringing phone. She kissed the angel, smiling up at him. He made her so happy. She only wished he could've been here with her months ago, years ago even…
"Dean. What's up?"
"I just wanted to let you know," Dean said. "We defeated the Men of Letters."
"Good," said Ember. "Well, I guess that's one less organization to worry about, although there are still a ton of them back in England."
"Yeah," said Dean. "But it's more than that."
"Okay, back up," Ember said. "Tell me everything." She held the phone out so that the angel could hear it as well.
"Well, Mick's dead, for starters," Ember heard Sam say. "I don't know if you heard that the other day."
"That's too bad," Ember said. "I liked him."
"Yeah, he wasn't half bad," said Sam.
"So anyway, we headed to Jody's and met up with a bunch of other hunters," said Dean.
"Anybody I'd know?" asked Ember.
"The usual crew," said Dean. "Jody, Alex, Claire, Walt, Roy -…"
"Wait, didn't they kill you back in the Apocalypse?" Ember asked.
"Uh, yeah," said Sam.
"Yep!" said Dean.
There was silence for a second before Sam finally said, "Times change. Jo was there too."
"Jo?" asked Ember. "Jo Harvelle? I haven't seen her in…"
"Ages," Dean said. "I know."
Ember knew Dean well enough to know two things from the tone of voice with which he spoke of Jo. First, she could tell that Dean liked her – a lot – and second, she could tell that whatever romance or relationship they had was in the very beginning stages. For this reason, Ember chose not to comment on it.
Sam, also sensing this, steered the conversation in another direction. "Anyway, we headed over to headquarters and did our thing. In the end, we blew up the whole building with that grenade launcher."
"Awesome!" said Ember. "I know Dean's been dying to use that for ages." She could only imagine the look on his face now, a sort of self-satisfied smirk.
"But Ember, we found out something," Sam continued. "Something you should know. Lucifer's back at large."
"What?!" Ember and Castiel both said at once.
"Yeah," Sam said. "Dr. Hess told me… the tip top of their organization."
"Before Jody shot her in the head," Dean added with a chuckle.
"Look, she says Crowley let him out of the cage… and that Crowley's dead. She says he's looking for you, Ember. And you too, Cas."