Chapter 4:
Their internal conversation was brought to a close when the Impala suddenly jerked to a stop. Dean woke up blearily and turned a sleepy gaze towards his father.
"We are here. Be ready." John said. That woke Dean up quickly and he climbed out of the car. By the time Sam had managed to get out of the cramped back seat, Dean and John had already gone through the trunk and was ready to deal with an errant homicidal ghost. Mary had picked up a few weapons herself, mostly iron blades dosed with brine solution made with … was that holy water? An interesting combination, Sam noted. He thanked her when she handed him a pair of similarly prepared blades and a sawn-off. With a nod at the others, John walked towards the door cautiously. Dean followed suit. Mary was about to do the same when he noticed that Sam had replaced the sawn-off with a wickedly sharp curved blade. She could feel the power coming of it, making goose bumps break out over her arms. Sam banished the blade with a twist of his wrist and the nerve wracking sensation stopped. She let out a breath that she hadn't realised she had been holding. Sam noticed her watching and smiled at her.
"It's called the Hell Blade. It works on everything short of an Archangel."
"Sounds useful."
"Yeah, it's pretty handy. Plus I'm the only one that can use it, so I don't have to bother about someone stealing it. Unless it's done by my explicit permission, anyone who touches it will burn to death and their souls wind up in Hell. That's why I don't leave it lying around."
"Where did you get it from?"
"Hell. It doubles up as a status symbol as well. After all, the angels and the demons went to such lengths to ensure that I take my throne in Hell. I figured I might as well as make use of the perks."
"Wait a moment! What throne?"
"Well, I am the Boy King of Hell. Everyone, including the demons, tend to forget that. I wasn't even aware that it was way more than just a fancy title." Sam said chuckling self depreciatingly.
"Guys! We've got trouble here!"
Dean's voice cut the conversation short. Swearing internally, Mary turned to rush towards the door, but Sam caught her by her elbow.
"Don't worry. The only living things in that house are Dean and John. Besides, there isn't a supernatural entity in a five mile radius around us. Do you really think that I'll stop to chat if they were in actual danger?"
"Ah, but I didn't know that they were safe, now did I? And I still stopped to chat. I'm annoyed at myself really, what if they had actually been in danger?" Mary asked, seeing the genuinely hurt expression on her son's face.
"Understandable. But don't beat yourself up over it. I was the one who distracted you in the first place." Sam said with a smile, the momentary hurt forgotten. They went inside the house and found Dean and John in one of the rooms at the back of the house- Dining Room by the looks of it. Except the huge table had been broken into bits and pieces, the shards used to pin a man who looked roughly in his sixties on the wall. He was practically crucified upside-down, his limbs shattered and pinned to the wall. Even more horrifying was the fact that the man's blood had been used as ink to write runes on the remaining walls and the floor. It was a scene straight out of some third rate horror film but was terrifyingly real. Mary couldn't help but be morbidly fascinated by the bloody writings on the wall. It was beautiful, with graceful strokes and swirling curls. It was also, she noted slightly disappointed, definitely not English. The script felt positively ancient and that increased her dismay as she really wanted to know what the ghost girl, no, Stella had written down.
Enochian, the original version, as used in the beginning.
What?
The language of Angels-Enochian. Like how human languages changed with time, Enochian changed as well. This will be like us reading old English as far as the younger angels are concerned.
Are you sure it's Enochian?
Positive. The cage was covered in similar runes. Michael said it was written in the old script, which confused the hell out of Lucifer 'cause as far as he was aware, there is only one script. Michael ended up giving classes and we humans joined in. He stuck with Modern Enochian though. Lucifer knew the old script and the cage had been completely covered in it which made discussing it depressing. Suggest asking Castiel to Dean, Mom. Angels are pretty good with languages and Cas, while being the youngest angel, is a die-hard scholar. He'll know what it says. If I suggest it, they are going to refuse on principle.
Oh, Okay.
A/N:
1. Special thanks to Cricket Dancing, dulcinea54, rozzy07, writersunited4ever and scootergirl1975.
2. The Star of Bethlehem is an actual flower [see cover image for the story]. The story has nothing to do with Bethlehem or Christmas.