Chapter Nine
"I don't trust him, Dean. I mean I'm sure you have your reasons, but he's still a shape shifter! How do we know he won't just turn around and kill us when we're least expecting it?"
Shuffling the papers on the desk, Dean rolls his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh.
"You know he can probably hear you. He has very good ears."
"Let him hear me! Shape shifters revel in torturing and killing-"
"Now how would you know that?" Dean asks, cutting Sam off abruptly. "You've only come across one, and yes, it was a screwed up, sadistic son of a bitch but it got what it deserved didn't it? We took care of it, right? If Ayden ever tried anything like that, I assure you his ass would be stuffed full of silver bullets with in the hour. He's got more than just Sakari keeping his ass in line."
"Like what? A conscience? Dean, Ayden is a monster whether you like it or not-"
"I never said he wasn't Sam. He knows what he is and the things that he's capable of. Believe me, at first I didn't like it either. He's got his creepy moments and the fact that they let him walk around like a human never ceases to scare the shit out of me. But he's never laid a finger on any human before and as far as I can tell he never plans to. And no, it's not a conscience, it's…it's more than that" Dean answers hesitantly, looking at the wall adorned in blood again.
Sam follows his eyes and stares at it as well. He bites his lip, and jumps when he hears a loud thud behind him. Both Dean and he whip around to see a large book and several envelopes and papers scattered on the ground in front of them. Footsteps echo in the hallway adjacent to the room the living room and a partially recovered Ayden walks in, long scrapes on his bare chest, cuts and bruises adorning his face. He sees the mess of papers on the floor and takes long strides to them, snatching up the book and putting it back on the table in the middle of the room. He leans down again and sifts through the papers, pulling out two envelopes. He reads what is written on the front of each of them and chews at the inside of his cheek.
Sam shuffles his feet, feeling slightly unnerved again in the presence of Ayden. Noticing this movement, Ayden looks up at Sam and a tiny smirk reappears on his face. He takes a step closer to Sam and stretches out his hand, handing him one of the stark white envelopes. Sam looks from the item to Ayden, confused.
"Take it Sam" Ayden says.
"What-why?" Sam asks, shivers running down his spine.
"Because it has your name on it" Ayden answers, his expression now lifeless. Sam reaches for the small folded paper and takes it from Ayden, surprised to see his name scrawled on the front. Dean moves closer to Sam, peering around him to get a good look at it.
"There's one for you too Dean" Ayden quietly pronounces, handing another sheet to Dean. Now its Dean turn to be surprised to see his name written on the other envelope.
Sam motions to Dean and they both pull open their own envelopes, revealing only a single tarot card in each of theirs.
Dean immediately recognizes his and shows Sam, his face serious.
With a white and gray border and the Roman numeral XV placed at the top in the center, a truly bizarre picture meets Sam's eyes. A white goat with three eyes, the third in the center of its forehead, and two spiraling horns is standing at the center of the drawing. An Egyptian staff of some sort, with blue wings and two serpents, is placed in front of it with two amber spheres on either side of it beneath the creature's hoofs. Inside the spheres, humans with ghostly pale skin writhe in agony from whatever punishment they are receiving for their sins.
"The devil?" Sam asks, pulling out his own card. Gripping it with his thumb and pointer finger, he takes a long look at it before showing Dean.
An equally disturbing depiction greets Dean's eyes; a blackened skeleton with a crown atop its skull. In its awkwardly twisted hands is a black scythe with swirling water-like figures around the blade's edge. A serpent, fish, scorpion, flower, and some small plant sit beneath the skeleton's dancing feet.
"Death."
Dean swallows and quietly says, "yeah, but who's?"
Both brothers are pulled from their stupors as Ayden clears his throat. They both look to him as he says matter-of-factly, "you know, the Death card doesn't necessarily always mean 'death.' It can also mean sudden change, among other things." He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his own card along with a small, crinkled paper.
"What's that?" Dean asks, motioning towards the sheet in Ayden's hand.
"Sakari left it for me next to her deck" he answers, unfolding the paper. Small, hurried black scribbling can be seen from the back. "She wrote the name of our cards and the specific meaning she has implied for each of them." Ayden clears his throat again and reads "death; apparent death or destruction that is illusory when viewed from a higher perspective."
Sam's eyebrows furrow, and looks to Dean, who returns the look.
"What about Dean's; the devil?" Sam asks.
"Secret plan about to be executed; fate."
Dean straightens up to his full height and a determined look flashes across his weary face, but says nothing. Silence is the only thing to be heard for a few brief seconds when Sam opens his mouth to speak; "you said that she had one laid out for you. What was it?"
Ayden doesn't respond at first and only looks at Sam as he thumbs at his own card. He folds the wrinkled paper back up and stuffs into his pocket once more, now glancing at Dean. He twirls the card with his fingers and flips it into his pointer and middle finger, holding it up for both of them to see.
Perhaps the strangest of the three cards rests in Ayden's grip. A stark white naked male hangs upside down, his left foot tied to the Egyptian cross, the Ankh. Tying his foot to it is a yellow and black snake, with another serpent curling beneath the man's faceless head. His right foot is stretched across his left at a ninety degree angle and his foot is nailed to a green orb. His outstretched arms are also nailed down to pale green circles. Rippling blue water sits underneath his head and the snake. Hundreds of white cubes outlined by blue lie under the man's body, a pure blue section under his hips and legs. Shooting from the top of the Ankh is wispy white rays on top of a light green background on top of the cubes.
"The hanged man or dying god" Ayden softly whispers. "It represents…" his voice trails off, as though trying to pick the proper words. "…Loss, failure, and death" he finishes, not looking at either of the Winchesters.
Dean lets out a small sigh and takes a few steps, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Alright...so obviously she wants us to know something. Question is what? I mean, if she's being so discreet about it then she clearly didn't want whoever did all this," motioning to the mess in the room, "to know that she knew…whatever it is that she supposedly knows."
Sam sniggers a moments at his brother's self-devised tongue twister, but stifles it when a mildly amused Ayden looks over at him, a sad smile on his face.
"Yes your brother certainly has a way with words, doesn't he?" he murmurs, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Dean rolls his eyes and retorts, 'hey, I don't see either of you contributing any bright ideas. Proof that higher education does NOT necessarily make you any smarter."
"Keep telling your self that bro" Sam says, feeling more relaxed now that Ayden displays the same love of poking fun at his older brother that he indulges in every now and then.
Sadness plastered on his face, Ayden reveals one more clue that he had yet to decipher for them. "Regrettably, I have yet to disclose what the 'writing on the wall,' if you will, signifies."
Ayden pulls out the pack of tarot cards that their individual ones originated from and shows them the top one.
"This morning I'm pretty sure Sakari had this card turn up in the near future slot in a simple fifteen card layout. Now compare that to the symbol on the wall that our enemy so kindly left for us. Look fairly similar, wouldn't you say?"
Dean and Sam move towards Ayden and the deck, their eyes growing wide. On the card, four red staffs lying on a bold yellow circle intersect. Each rod bears a ram's head on one end and a dove on the other, orange flames coming from the center where the wands meet.
"It's the four of wands. Completion. And every other card that influenced this one indicated ruin, destruction, failure, or death."
All three look at the wall once again and what they thought looked like a wheel suddenly showed its true meaning. Whoever had sketched this had placed roughly drawn spirals on the ram's end and small half circle where the doves should be. A blood splatter rested at the very center and the circle encompassing it all had droplets running down the wall to the floor.
"So…whatever this enemy is planning…" Sam starts.
"Is soon to be completed" Ayden finishes for him, nodding, the sound of the silver clock echoing throughout the room.