DISCLAIMER: I only own my character! Anything you might recognize is courtesy of the CW.
WARNING: Some of these episodes/chapters may contain graphic violence, cursing, mentions of suicide or assault and other triggering aspects. Proceed with caution please.
AUTHORS NOTE (Please Read!): Just a few things!:
I am changing her name (kind of). My MC/OC's FULL name is going to be Angela. It's getting a little complicated with them calling her Angel as well as when they are referring to Castiel and his squad. So the angels mostly will be referring to her as Anglea from this chapter forward.
Also, I've already written the next three or four (I'm currently on the 4th right now) chapters for this. I just haven't posted them yet. (Obvs if youre reading this, they are posted lol) But the reason is, I'm currently making a website to fully upload all of my stories there. It's going to be alot easier for me to update, upload and edit them all in ONE area. The move won't be made until this part, the fourth installment, is completed. After that a link will be provided where you can read the next installments as well as the updated versions of the other stories i've posted, AND MORE!
It's been a little hectic with building the website, trying to upload and my overloaded work schedule. I wish I could upload more frequently. The good thing with the website is I will have a set schedule made for uploads there that I'm going to stick to.
I appreciate everyone who reads! Thanks so much!
Episode Summary:
Sam, Dean and Angel investigate a small town where people are cheating death. They discover the Reapers have gone missing so they turn to Pamela for help. She sends them into the spiritual world to find answers and they come face to face with Alastair, who has been kidnapping all the Reapers in order to break another seal.
Chapter Thirteen: Death Takes a Holiday
Previously skipped: Sex and Violence…
Prologue: Bison Bud's Bar…
Two men, Jim Jenkins and Pete Hensley, walked out of the bar as they talked.
"Okay, okay, now, come on." Jim shook his head, "You tell me, now why kick that field goal?"
"Because it's called football."
"No, it's called fantasy football, and those three points screwed me."
"Seriously, Jim." Pete chuckled, "You need to get a life."
"Hey, guys." As the two men rounded the corner to the back of the bar they were met by a young man, "Got any change?"
Jim shook his head, "Sorry, pal."
The young man then pulled out a gun and pointed it at them, "How about your wallets?"
A bar employee at the Dumpster took notice as Pete and Jim immediately froze and put their hands up, "No problem."
"Take it easy, alright?
"Just give me the wallets!"
"Hold on, man."
The two of them scrambled to get their wallets out as the bar employee accidentally dropped the dumpster lid. The loud sound startled the young man into firing his gun and shooting Jim straight in his heart.
Pete reeled as he caught his friend from falling and brought him to the ground, "Jim!" The young man panicked and sprinted away as Peter dropped to his knees, "Jim! Jim!" He looked up at the bar employee with panic, "Call 911! Now!" After he ran off, Pete began chest compressions before breathing into Jim's mouth, "Come on!"
Pete did a few more chest compressions, then went to repeat the breaths before Jim coughed and inhaled on his own. He took a few seconds to focus his eyes before he started to get up.
"Don't move." Confusion laced Petes entire body as he helped Jim, now seemingly perfectly fine except for the bullet wound in his chest, sit up, "Be careful man."
"I-" Jims eyes widened with equal confusion, "I feel fine."
Slowly Jim sat up and opened his shirt far enough to reveal the bullet hole. There were also powder marks on his skin but no blood.
Pete gaped, "You're not even bleeding." He took Jims hand and helped him up, "How you even alive right now?"
Jims eyes were still wide with shock and awe, "I don't know."
A few weeks later, at a diner…
Dean tapped a button on a jukebox before thumping it to turn on. He then turned and took a seat across from Sam, who was researching cases on his laptop, right before Angel walked through the door.
"No, no, Bobby. You're right." She said into her cell, "It's definitely weird. We'll get on it."
Dean raised a brow at her when she sat down and took over Sam's laptop, "Case?"
"Sounds like it." She nodded as she typed away, "Bobby thinks there's something for us in a small town in Wyoming." Dean nodded as he took a bite of his burger, "There's been zero deaths in the past week and a half."
Sam frowned, "Why's that unusual?"
"It's not. The how is the unusual part. One guy with terminal cancer just strolled right out of hospice. A skydiver's parachute faltered and she got impaled by a tree. She walked away within minutes." She slid the laptop over so he could read the articles she pulled up, "Another guy got capped by a mugger and walked away without a scratch."
Dean frowned and pulled back from his burger, "Capped in the ass?"
Sam's eyebrows lifted as he read through the tabs Angel had pulled up. One headline read 'Shooting victim walks away unharmed' and the subheading 'Man miraculously survives after direct shot to heart'. The first paragraph read 'Police and medical authorities are struggling for an explanation as to why local resident James Jenkins was able to walk away from a point-blank shooting incident. After leaving Bison Bud's Bar, Mr. Jenkins and friend Pete Hensley were confronted by a mugger in a nearby alley. After a brief altercation, the mugger fired a shot from a 9mm Automatic, hitting Jenkins directly in the heart…'
Sam shook his head, "Police say Mr. Jenkins was shot in the heart at point-blank range by a nine-millimeter."
"Huh." Dean took another bite of his burger before speaking with his mouthful, "And he's not a doughnut?"
"Locals are saying both the skydiver and the shooting victim recoveries are miracles."
Dean rolled his eyes, "Okay."
"Well, we know neither are that." Angel leaned back as she looked between them, "I'm thinkin' something nasty. People are probably making deals or something in that territory at least."
Sam nodded, "Maybe."
Dean considered her words as he chewed, "You think?"
"Any other theories?"
"Not without checking it out first."
"Alright." Angel motioned to Dean's food as Sam put his laptop away, "I'm gonna need you to get that to go, little brother."
Dean's jaw tensed before he rolled his eyes and looked away. Angel stood at the same time as Sam and tossed some money on the table. They both looked down at Dean who didn't move except to chew.
"D." Angel frowned, "Lets go. What are you waiting for?"
"For Sam." Dean's eyes instantly cut to Sams, "Sure you want to go with us?"
Angel rolled her eyes as Sam frowned. She knew this was coming as soon as they ended their last case. It was normal for the three of them to have some sort of tense air around them after a difficult case, but this one was different. Dean took what was said as a direct hit. And while she knew the hurtful words that were hurled out of Sam's mouth were the direct result of the Siren, Angel couldn't blame Dean for still being pissed and hurt. It was hard even for her to squelch it and move on, but they had a lot of other more pressing things to worry about. Fighting amongst each other needed to take a back seat.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Aren't we holding you back, Sam?"
"Dude." Sam rolled his eyes, "I've told you both a hundred times, that was the siren talking, not me."
"Yes, and we both get that." Angel cut her eyes to Dean, "And we're both past it, right Dean?"
"Yeah." With another eyeroll he put his burger down and stood up, "We're past it."
At Jim Jenkins' house in Greybull, Wyoming…
"Now…" Jim looked amongst the three of them, "You three said you were bloggers?"
The Winchesters were all spread around Jims dining room table across from him. In the next room was Jim's wife and daughter, both of which were visible to the three hunters.
"Yes, sir." Sam grinned, "Floored by the Lord dot com."
Dean forced a grin as well, "All of God's glory fit to blog."
Sam frowned and glanced at him before shifting in his seat and clearing his throat.
"So." Angel earned Jims attention once an awkward silence settled on the four, "There are some people around town saying that what happened to you and the others was some sort of miracle."
"Well, it was. Plain as day."
Sam studied him, "How can you be so sure?"
"How else do you explain it? The doctors can't." He shook his head as he looked between the Wincjesters, "There's a bullet in my heart, yet it's pumping like a piston."
"Okay, well…" Angel shrugged, "You got an explanation?"
"Look, honestly…" Jim hesitated as he looked from his daughter back to the three hunters, "I was nobody's saint… Not exactly father of the year, either."
Angel cocked a brow, "But?"
"But when that guy shot me and I didn't bleed a drop? I just knew the Lord was giving me a second chance. I had this feeling… like angels were watching over me." Jim paused as the three of them digested his words and leaned back in his chair, "I wouldn't expect you three to understand."
"Well…" Dean met his siblings' eyes briefly before shrugging at Jim, "We'll just have to try."
"You wouldn't have happened to have swung by a crossroads in the past week or so?"
Jim bulked at Sam in confusion, "No…"
"Maybe you met someone? With black eyes? Or red?"
Jim leaned forward with furrowed eyes, "Who'd you guys say you were again?"
"It doesn't matter." Angel dismissed before giving her brothers her 'lets go' look, "Thank you for your time."
Sam and Dean both got up and followed her out after saying their goodbyes.
Later that night, inside their motel room…
Dean sat at the motel table reading a news article on the laptop when Sam and Angel walked in.
"Anything?"
"The cancer survivor?" Sam answered first as they walked over to join him, "He was clinically dead, his wife pulled the plug, and now he's taking her out for their twentieth anniversary."
"Any sign of a deal?"
"Nope."
"What about the skydiver?"
"Another freak accident with a weird ending. She's still in the hospital because the doctors think she's gonna drop dead any second. There's absolutely no way she should have survived that." Angel answered as she took a seat across from him, "Chick not only took a tree branch through the chest but the Doc said she shattered her spine. She's' walking fine by the way. Also no signs of a deal or a demon." She sighed with a head shake, "Did you have better luck finding anyone that died around here recently?"
"Not since Cole Griffith." Dean motioned to the Greybull Gazettes obituary picture of a pre-teen kid, "He dropped ten days ago. It was the last death I could find."
"Alright, well…" Angel ran a hand through her hair with a heavy breath, "Maybe this is what people are saying it is. Maybe we're dealing with some sort of weird, random… miracle… or something."
"Uh, come on…" Sam shook his head in dismissal, "In our experience, when do miracles just happen?"
"What else makes sense? There's no deals. There's, uh, no skeevy faith healers." Dean mused as he poured a cup of coffee, "I mean, these souls just ain't getting dragged into the light."
Sam took a minute to think before something came to him, "Maybe 'cause there's no one around to carry them."
Angel leaned forward onto her knees at that, "Meaning?"
"Well, grim reapers- that's what they do, right? Schlep souls? So, if death ain't in town-"
Angel nodded, "Then nobodys receiving their ticket to the other side."
"So?" Dean looked less than convinced, "What, you think the local reapers on strike? Playing the back nine? That doesn't make any sense."
"Either they're on strike or maybe something or someone is stopping them from doing their job." Angel stood up to rummage through her bag for their dad's journal, "I think we might need a little extra help on this one, boys."
"Alright, well…" Dean motioned with his coffee cup, "Last I checked, huggy bear ain't available."
"No, dude." Sam crossed his arms, "She's talking about the kid."
"The kid? The kid's a doornail."
"Yes, which is why we need his help." Angel explained as she tossed him the impala keys, "He was the last person to die around here, Dean. He might know why that is."
"Maybe he's seen something. We should talk to him."
"I love how matter-of-fact you two are about that." Dean took one last drink of his coffee before standing up to follow them out, "Strange lives."
At the cemetery…
The three of them stood at a gravestone engraved with 'Beloved Son Cole Griffith 1997 – 2009 Forever In Our Memories'. Five candles were arranged around a pentacle drawn on a cloth spread over the grave. Sam put a bundle of sticks in the center of the pentacle as Angel stood beside him. Dean sat on another gravestone as he flipped through John's journal.
"You sure this is gonna work?"
"No." Sam looked up at him, "But if his spirit's around, this should smoke him out." Sam poured some ingredients into a bowl as Dean loudly closed the journal, "What?"
"This job is jacked, that's what."
Angel shared a look with Sam before studying Dean, "Care to elaborate?"
"You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse, hey, let's light it up, right? But this? If we fix whatever this is, people are gonna start dropping dead. Good people."
"Good people or not, Dean, when it's their time then it's their time." Angel kept her face stony as she ignored both worried looks her brothers were giving her, "There's a natural order that's gotta be followed and if its not being followed then it's in our territory to follow up and find out why." Her eyes narrowed as the two of them shared an all too familiar look between them at her expense, "What?"
"It's just… a little ironic that you say that."
"Yeah, seeing as the three of us, we're like the poster people of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death."
"Okay, I think you need to take a look at our family tree and the history that surrounds it. We're not in the same category as the average civilian." She crossed her arms, "The normal rules sure as hell don't apply to us. Haven't you learned that all these years in the game, D?"
Dean stared at her for a long beat, "We're no different than anybody else."
"Seriously?" Sam chuckled at that, "I'm infected with demon blood. You cheated death via a fake faith healer. She's been to hell and got dragged out by angels of the lord." Angel's jaw tensed at the mention of her hell stay but she caught Dean's eyes to nod in agreement, "Look, I know you want to think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, Dean, but you aren't."
"None of us are, little brother." Angel sighed and came to stand beside him so she could bump his shoulder, "I think it's time to accept that. Might be better off if you do."
"Ah…" Dean looked up at the sky, "Joe the Plumber was a douche anyway."
Sam looked up at them with slight annoyance, "Either one of you gonna help me finish this?"
"I think you got it, Sammy." Angel winked earning an eye roll, "You're doing great."
"Hey!" The three of them were startled by a new voice coming from a man carrying a flashlight, "What are you doing here?!"
"Uh…" Sam glanced at his siblings before putting his hands out trying to quell the worker, "Just take it easy."
The man's eyes raked over the supplies they brought, "What the hell is this?"
"Okay, this-" Dean laughed incredibly strained, "This is not what it looks like."
"Really? 'Cause it looks like devil worship to me!"
"What? No! No, this is not devil worship. This- This is- his is, uh…" Dean deflated when he looked between his siblings who looked just as lost as him and shook his head, "I don't have a good answer."
"Okay, it's fine…" Angel forced a soft laugh before motioning forward, "We'll just- We're leaving, sir."
"You're not going anywhere. Ever. Again." The man stepped into her path and walked closer to them, backing her up to her brothers, "Angel."
When his eyes went white, Angel's entire body went cold, "Alastair…"
He grinned sickly at her as Dean glared, "I thought you got deep fried, extra-crispy."
"Nah. Just the pediatrician I was riding. His wife's still looking for him. It's hilarious. Anyway." Alastair grinned at Sam who was fuming, "No time to chat. Got a hot date with Death."
Alastair flicked both of his hands sending Angel and Dean careening in opposite directions. Dean flew across the graveyard and collided with the gravestone of someone surnamed Myth, 1957 – 2001. Angel did the same before hitting the trunk of a tree exceptionally hard. When Alastair all too happily turned back to Sam and flicked his hand, nothing happened. He frowned and tried again but only earned a satisfied smirk from Sam.
"You're stronger, Sam. You've been soloflexing with your little slut?"
"You have no idea."
Sam flicked his hand and this time Alastair went flying across the graveyard. When Sam raised a hand to exorcize him, Alastair immediately fled the man's body. Surprised, Sam dropped his hand and watched the smoke vanish with disappointment.