Tell Me Lies
Dean opened the passenger side door and Assbutt jumped out. With barely a backward glance, she ran off to remake the acquaintances of the various ranch dogs. He shouldered his leather duffle and headed to the front door. A short, black-haired woman opened the door to his knock and smiled, stepping back to allow Dean to enter.
"Dean! Mi hijo, so good to see you!" she said, giving Dean a hug. "Glad you could come out and join us!"
"Buenos días señora Vega," Dean said, giving the older woman a hug, and kissing her cheeks. "Mauricio lured me here with the promise of tamales. I promise that's the only reason I came."
"For the millionth time, call me Estrella," Estrella Vega insisted with a smile, giving Dean a smack on his arm. "I put you in your usual room, and the others are out by the lake already. Go put your stuff away, get changed, and go have some fun, si?"
"By your command," Dean said with a smile of his own. He swung the duffle around and handed Estrella 2 bottles of a German emerald Riesling. "To go with dinner."
Estrella took the bottles and nodded her thanks, heading into the large kitchen. Dean went in the opposite direction down a hallway, to a guest room. He tossed the duffle onto the bed and unpacked. Clothes were either put into the dresser or hung in the closet. His gun went into the safe in the closet. He changed into a pair of plain navy blue Bermuda trunks, a pale orange tank top, and blue flip flops. From the top of the dresser, he picked up his sunglasses and straw trilby that were there from the last time he'd visted. Slipping the sunglasses on and flipping the trilby onto his head, Dean headed out the patio doors off the ranch house's living room. Assbutt met him along the 200 or so yards to the pier on the lake and Rizzo greeted him with a crushing hug. Leilani was reclining on a lounge chair, so Dean leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
"Good to see you, Leilani," Dean said, dragging a chair closer and sitting.
Leilani turned and moved her sunglasses down a bit. "Did you get more work done on your sleeve since I saw you last?"
Dean looked down and held out his left arm, turning it from one side to the other. It was covered in an intricate series of black and gray Celtic knotwork designs from three inches above his wrist to all the way up his shoulder and partially onto his pectoral muscle. Celtic dragons were interlaced around his arm, and a knotwork wolf's head snarled on half his chest. On his right forearm, he had a pentacle in a sunburst. He'd been throwing around ideas for a sleeve for his right arm, or a back piece, but so far, nothing spoke to him. He shook his head and smiled at Leilani.
"No, nothing new yet," he answered, leaning forward, he grabbed a can of Coke out of the cooler, flicking ice water on Rizzo, who yelled in surprise. "When are you finally going to get some ink, Rizzo?"
"I'll leave that to you and my brother-in-law," Rizzo replied.
"You mean you're afraid it'll hurt too much," Leilani interjected with a laugh.
"That too," Rizzo had the good grace to admit. "But if you repeat that to anyone, I'll deny it and think of ways to torture you."
"Hey, no one picks on my sister except me," a voice said from the edge of the pier. A hand came up along the ladder, then a second, and finally a dark head peered over the edge.
"I love you too, Makoa," Leilani said with a smirk as her brother pulled himself out of the lake.
Wiping water off his arms and chest, Makao made his way to the trio. The large Hawaiian had his own series of detailed tattoos on his right upper arm, around his throat, and around both calves in a traditional Hawaiian kakau style. A familiar looking tattoo on Makoa's side gave Dean a start. He turned his right arm slightly inward, moved the can of Coke into his right hand, and extended his left hand towards the newcomer.
"Dean," he said, by way of introduction.
"Good to meet you," Makoa replied, giving Dean's hand a firm shake. He reached past Dean and fished a can of Coke out of the cooler, flicking ice water on Rizzo, who yelled in surprise again. "So, what are we talking about?" Makoa sat cross-legged on the warm wooden pier, leaning back on one arm and sipping cold soda from the can.
"That Rizzo is too much of a wuss to get a tattoo," Leilani answered. Making a kissy face at her husband, she smiled. "But I love him anyway."
"You're too kind," Rizzo said, rolling his eyes. He leaned around Dean, looking at Makoa, and frowned. "Hey, do you guys know you have the same tattoo?"
Dean closed his eyes behind his sunglasses and pulled his arm tighter against his middle. Sonovabitch. He figured it would eventually be noticed, but he'd been hoping it would take longer than the hellos. Makoa and Leilani looked between Dean and Rizzo, and Dean turned his arm to show the brother and sister the pentacle in sunburst. Leilani laughed, but Makoa went from relaxed lounging to very aware. He looked sharply at Dean, who gave a minute shake of his head. Makoa's demeanor changed again and he laughed.
"I guess we're both into the same band," he said.
"Lucifer Rising," Dean said with a shrug. "What can I say, I was a kid when I got it."
Having averted an awkward conversation for the time being, the foursome relaxed into their day of leisure. More swimming, deli sandwiches for lunch, and then Rizzo suggested they get changed and head to the shooting range. He helped his wife off her lounge chair, and they headed back to the house. Makoa hung back as Dean put on his tank top.
"Dude, you're a hunter?" Makoa finally asked.
"Not exactly," Dean answered, setting the trilby back on his head. The two men headed up to the house. "My dad and uncle were hunters back in the day. Dad told me all about it, taught me what I needed to do to protect myself against the various things that go bump in the night. Made sure I had hand-to-hand fighting training and weapons training, but tried to pass it all off as a hobby. I've read his journal until I practically have it memorized. Hell, I've even read the journals my grandfather and great-grandfather wrote."
"Hold up," Makoa said, stopping and lightly touching Dean on his arm. "Who the hell are you? Leilani said you're Rizzo's friend and business partner. That you're a bit of a fitness nut, a great outdoorsman, but you're also just as happy with a book or a computer." Makoa waved his hand and shook his head. "Yeah, I know this is supposed to be some kind of set up. I think all married people want their single friends to be as blissfully coupled as they are."
Dean laughed and resumed walking. "First of all, I agree about the ridiculousness of married people needing to set up their single friends and relatives. Second, all Rizzo told me about you was you're Leilani's brother, and you're a firefighter. So you already know a lot more about me than I know about you. And as to who the hell I am…"
Dean looked over at Makoa. "You're a hunter, right?"
At Makoa's nod, Dean continued. "Okay, then you need to promise you're not going to freak out or get all weird on me."
"Can't make that promise," Makoa said. "I can promise to try and not freak out or get all weird."
By this time, the two had reached the patio doors to the living room. Opening the door, Dean glanced at Makoa and said as he walked into the living room, "I'm Dean Winchester."
Dean continued walking towards his room, fully aware that Makoa looked poleaxed in the patio doorway.
When his brain synapses started firing again, Makoa headed to his own room. He thought he'd handled that revelation rather well. He hadn't fainted, or thrown up, and he didn't immediately start fanboying on Dean, peppering him with millions of questions about his famous family (or infamous, depending on your opinions). When he got back to his room, he changed quickly and made his way back to the living room. His mind was working a mile a minute, which he knew would affect his skill at the gun range. And he really needed to make a phone call.
Dean was feeling a certain amount of disquiet himself. He knew what his family had done for a century or more, but he hadn't grown up in the hunter crowd. While he had the skills and knowledge to be a hunter in theory, it had never been field tested. Makoa was the first real hunter he'd ever met. Well, Dad and Mom notwithstanding. He finished getting dressed by pulling on his well-worn ostrich skin cowboy boots and a tan Stetson, tucking his cellphone into a pocket. He retrieved a box of ammo and his gun from the safe, clipping the holster onto his belt, and headed down the hall into the living room. Rizzo, similarly attired, handed Dean a set of keys.
"We'll take the ATVs out to the gun range, since -" Rizzo started to say, when Dean's ringing phone interrupted him.
"Sorry, man," Dean apologized while digging his phone out of his pocket. He accepted the call. "Talk to me."
Not hearing anything, he looked at the screen and then put the phone back to his ear. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Sorry, you surprised me, is all," the voice on the other end said with a slight southern twang. "Listen, son, did your dad ever mention the name "Garth" to you?"
"Garth?" Dean repeated. He noticed Rizzo, Leilani, and Makoa staring at him. Makoa was frowning and pulling out his own phone. Dean turned his back to the group and headed for the patio. "Yeah, he did, but not in years. This isn't Special Agent Brown?"
"Dean, I don't have time to explain," Garth said, ignoring the question. "Since you got in touch with your cousin, we've started seeing omens the likes of which we ain't seen in decades. Now, I'm not sayin' something's gonna explode in the next 24 hours, but you need to get down to Boulder, fetch your cousin, and the two of you need to come to me in Kansas, and then I can explain. I'll send Makoa Ben's address and he knows where to find me."
The line went dead and Dean stood out on the patio, staring at his phone. He looked up, hearing the patio door open, and saw Makoa come out talking on his own phone.
"You should have told me!" Makoa said angrily, glancing at Dean. "Of course, sir. We'll leave right away. It should be about 5 hours to Boulder. And we'll see you sometime around midnight or so, sir."
He hung up his phone and looked over at Dean. "Dude, let me exp-"
"Not now," Dean hissed furiously, brushing past him and heading back into the living room. He took a deep breath and walked over to Rizzo and Leilani. "Guys, I'm really sorry to do this, but that was my cousin's sponsor. He's in a crisis and they asked if I'd come down to help, and I said I would."
He looked over at Makoa, wondering how to explain why he'd be going as well. Makoa stepped up and dug his keys out of his pocket. "I'm gonna go too. I was a crisis counselor in Hawai'i, and since this is a new situation for Dean, I thought I could help too. We'll take my truck."
"I'll drive my own car," Dean said, barely containing his anger.
"Do you have a full… "crisis kit" in your car, Dean?" Makoa asked. Dean could hear the quotation marks around the words, and quickly understood what Makoa was referring to. Other than a basic hunter bag in the wheel-well of the trunk and the gun on his hip, Dean had nothing.
"Rizzo, can you take care of Assbutt for me?" Dean asked, turning to his friend and ignoring Makoa's question. At Rizzo's affirmative nod, Dean headed for the front door, typing on his cell phone. "I'm really sorry to run out on you. Save some tamales for me!"
Dean forced some cheer in his voice and a smile on his face as he headed out. Makoa followed with an apology of his own to his sister and brother-in-law. Despite Makoa's suggestion, Dean got into his own car. "I need to get a few things from my place. I texted you my address and I'll meet you there."
In a spray of dust and gravel, Dean left Makoa at the front of the ranch. Makoa's phone chimed with an incoming message. With a sigh, he looked at it, climbed into his truck, and headed towards Casper. It was going to be a long drive to Boulder.