Chapter 9: Plants, and Mirrors, and Incantations, Oh My!

A/N: I glad everyone foound the end of the last chapter amusing. I'm glad to say that I've finally figured out the direction of this story, which is a relief I might add. Hopefully updates will be coming more frequently now that I'm over the writer's block.

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"Boys, I want you both to go back in the house right now," John ordered.

"No way," Sam replied.

"I mean it." John placed his hands on his hips and stood to his full height. "Neither of you are ready to face this thing again. I'm not letting you come."

"Well, we're not letting you go," Dean replied.

"Excuse me? You're not letting me? Since when do I need permission from you two? I've been doing this job for twenty-two damn years and I know what I'm doing! Now go in the house and let me kill this damn demon."

"No," Sam said simply. "Dad, all you have is one bullet. What if you miss? I know you think you are protecting me and Dean, but what if it kills you tonight? Who's going to protect us then?"

"You boys should be able to protect each other by now," John stated.

"And we can, but that doesn't mean we don't still need you once in a while," Dean exclaimed.

"Dad, you said you wanted to spend some time with us, be a family again. I trusted you. I wanted to believe you," Sam said, his brows furrowed together in obvious disappointment.

"I do want that Sam, but I also know that I have an opportunity to take this thing out. Trust me; I'm not looking to get killed. However, I'll gladly die if it means you and Dean are safe and this thing can't come after you two any more."

"What if killing this thing starts a chain reaction that makes more demons come after us?" Sam asked.

"What?" John asked.

"Sam, did you have some kind of vision?" Dean asked.

"No, but I'm just saying, we got the colt to kill the demon, and what happened? Demons literally declared war on us. Caleb and Pastor Jim are dead because of it. We might kill this demon only to find out that we pissed off a lot of other things out there and we could end up in more danger than ever," Sam tried to explain.

"Sam, that's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Sam asked. "I thought we had agreed that we were going to wait before going after this thing! We were going to find a plan B. We were supposed to be doing this thing together. I don't remember you sneaking out in the middle of the night being part of the plan. Shit, you were just going to leave us once again!"

"No, it wasn't like last time. I left a note," John defended. "I wasn't abandoning you again."

Sam and Dean stood there looking at him with disappointment clear on both their faces. Damn it, why couldn't they see he was just doing his job as a father of keeping them safe.

Dean looked across the street and saw that the neighbors were looking out their windows at them.

"We should move this little powwow into the house. We're drawing an audience," Dean announced.

John huffed and marched into the house, stomping loudly up the stairs as he went. Back inside he removed his coat and tossed it on to the sofa. It was pretty clear he wasn't going out tonight.

Dean had a seat on the sofa while he watched his father pace the room like a caged animal. Sam had a different idea. He found himself wandering into the kitchen and grabbing the note Dad had left for them. He quickly grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket before either Dean or Dad could see what he was doing. Then he returned to the living room and waited for their father to explode. He didn't have to wait long.

"We need to make something clear. I AM THE HEAD OF THIS FAMILY! I know I agreed to these conditions that Sam put forth but at the end of the day I am in charge here and I am going to do what I decide is in the best interests of this family!"

"I never said you weren't the head of the family," Sam said calmly. He was fighting to keep his temper in check. He knew how upset Dean got when they fought and he wasn't going to let this blow up into another fiasco like when he went to school.

"Dad, all I asked was that you let Dean and I have an opinion, AND that you listen to it. You never even bothered to ask me what my research turned up today. You were just going to leave and hope for the best. That's not like you, Dad. You're usually more thorough than that."

"Fine, did you find out anything, Sam?" John asked sarcastically, expecting Sam to say no.

"Actually, I did."

John looked momentarily shocked. "You did?"

"Yeah, but I never had the chance to tell you because you sent me and Dean to bed like we were little kids."

Dean actually smiled. "That was a big giveaway as to what you were planning by the way."

John sat down and wiped at his face. "Part of me had a feeling you were on to me when you didn't even protest. So, anyway, Sammy, would you please share what you found out?"

"Well, I have a few leads on this demons name." Sam opened up his laptop and opened the file he had made. "Let's see, there is Alastor, a demon who inflicts vengeance upon the children for the sins of their father. Do you know if grandpa ever ran into this thing or maybe great-grandpa?"

"Not as far as I know," John replied.

"Okay, well then there is Dagan. He is a demon of the underworld and fertility."

"What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"I'm not sure. It caught me attention because a) it's a demon, and b) it has an interest in children. Then there is Tiamat who reigns over primeval chaos."

"That sounds too generic," John said.

Sam didn't care if John was pointing out negatives. At least the man was listening to him.

"Okay, so no Tiamat. The last one here that has promise is Cacodaemones. He's a harmful spirit that plagues mankind. He was released from the box when Pandora opened it."

"Pandora?" Dean gasped. "You mean the bitch who let misery, pain, and pestilence spread all over the planet?"

"Yep, that'd be her," Sam replied.

"Well, you did a good job researching," John said, "but none of this is really going to help us fight this thing. We can't even be sure if knowing its name will really give us power over it."

"Still, it's something," Dean was quick to interject. "And for the record Sammy only had one day to research this."

"I may not have the name, but I did find some other things that can help protect us when we go after it. We need to make some mojo pouches to wear around our neck. We need southernwood and valerian. Those are plants with strong powers of protection and can repell evil. Valerian is even supposed to have healing qualities."

"Sammy, mojo?" John asked snidely.

"What? You're going to doubt this?" Sam asked. "Weren't you the one who burned sage and some other herbs when the vampires were after us? Missouri made pouches very similar to these when we went after the poltergeist."

"I guess," John replied. "So where do we get this stuff?"

"I found a retailer on line. I used Dean's credit card and had the guy send the ingredients UPS. They should be here in a couple of days. Also, I found out that demons are repulsed by their own reflections. I figure if we each wear a mirror of some kind as a necklace when we exorcise the demon from the biker guy the mirrors will prevent it from trying to possess one of us."

"That will be a useful little trick," Dean said. "This way we won't have to use the colt on one of us." He made a point of looking at his father as he spoke.

"There is one last thing," Sam said. "I found an ancient incantation to recite. It came from The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden. Anyway, it basically translates to 'O darkness be gone from before me. O light come and enter' etc, etc. I'm supposed to recite the incantation seven times to banish the evil away."

"Banish?" John asked. "No, I don't want to just banish it back to hell. I want to kill it!"

"I know, Dad, but we only have one bullet. The demon is going to go straight after whoever has the gun. I figure even if I'm glued to a wall I can say the incantation and maybe draw its attention away from the person with the colt and get it to focus on me. Then you or Dean can shoot it."

John was quiet for several moments and Sam and Dean sat nervously while John seemed to be considering everything that Sam had shared. Finally John stood up and walked over to Sam. He placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and gave a little squeeze.

"You did good, Sammy. You did real good."

Sam smiled at his father. The old man would never know how much the few words of praise would mean to Sam. "Thanks."

"Well, we can't go after the demon for at least the next two weeks. That's when your casts will be off and Sam's plants will arrive. I guess we might as well go to bed, and I mean for real this time. Since I know I'm going to be alive to see tomorrow I need to get some sleep for work. Good night boys."

"Good night, Dad," they replied.

John went into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

"Do you think he will sneak out again?" Sam asked.

"No, I think you managed to convince him you're right," Dean answered.

"I'm sorry for upsetting him and possibly upsetting you."

"Don't be. Sam, I don't like to see you and Dad fight, but you were right tonight. Even Dad had to admit it. I want to learn this incantation of yours, though."

"Why? Usually I just take care of the things in foreign languages. My Latin is better than yours, and I can probably pull off ancient Egyptian better too."

"Yeah, but if this demon throws you against a wall and knocks you out it will come in handy if I can say it too."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Let me type it up for you and then I'll write it out for you phonetically so you can pronounce the words."

"Great," Dean said. "It can wait till tomorrow, though. I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed too."

"Sounds good," Sam agreed. He followed his brother back to his room and closed the door behind them. Sam turned on the lamp that sat on the small table between their beds. He fished the note out of his pocket and opened it up to read it.

As he read the words on the piece of paper he felt his eyes get watery but he didn't cry. It wasn't sadness that he felt from the note but love. This piece of paper was written proof of his father's love for him and his brother and he was glad that he had snatched it before their Dad could have gotten it and crumpled it up.

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"Dad's note to us," Sam told him. He watched as Dean's eyes opened wide. Sam passed the letter over to Dean so he could read it too. Sam watched as the emotions played across Dean's face the same way they had certainly gone across his own. When Dean finished the letter he folded it in half and then set it on the table by the lamp.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dean said. "You?"

"I'm good."

"Good."

"Dean, we're going to be okay…when we fight this thing I mean. Between the magical plants, mirrors, spells, guns, holy water…I think we're going to be okay."

"I know we will," Dean agreed confidently. "Nothing is going to happen to any of us. That thing may have caught us with our pants down once, but never again. Nothing gets the drop on us twice! Nothing."

Sam smiled at Dean's bravado, yet when Dean was as adamant as he was right now you had to believe him.

Dean flicked out the light and lay back in his bed. He knew his family was going to be all right. He just wanted to make sure he learned how to say the incantation Sam had found. If anyone was going to deliberately draw the demon's attention to them it would be him. He didn't care what his father said about Sam having a destiny. Sammy was not going to dangle himself like a worm on hook just so Dad or he could shoot the thing.