Sam and Dean were at a random restaurant that Dean had chosen. While they ate, Sam had picked up from where he left off in Church's book. He had managed to read a good section of it during the hour he'd spent alone in her room, and now he'd finished reading it during the hour and a half they had spent at this place so far.
After he'd finished eating, Dean had gone to flirt with a waitress at the counter who'd been glancing and smiling at him from the moment they'd walked in while Sam sat engrossed in the words on the pages of the book at their table.
Learning her real name now, Sam had read and reread the section on Celestine "Church" Orday a few times. It mentioned how her family had figured out she was the one of the ones the demon wanted when he started to appear to her in dreams during her childhood. It seemed that over the years since the whole saga had began Ronove visited more and more of the victims that had been promised to him, and had even singled out on a few that he actually seemed to taunt on a constant basis. Church was one of the ones he focused on, but she had encountered him in dreams and in reality more times than any of the others had, which probably made her special in some way or different than the others. Sam wondered why. He was curious if it had to do with hers being the last soul to be collected or if there was something else about her that made this demon basically haunt and hunt her throughout most of her life.
But something just didn't add up between this book and Church's story, and Sam wasn't sure what it was, so he started scanning through the book again.
Dean came back to their table and sat down.
"That Kiki is some waitress, Sam. The only tip she wanted was my number, and to meet for a drink later." A devilish grin graced Dean's face.
"That's… uh… great, Dean," Sam sighed, continued leafing through the pages of the book.
"Find anything we can use in there yet?"
"Something doesn't make sense here," Sam said, closing the book and looking to at his brother.
"What's that?" Dean raised his brows in question.
"The bit about Ronove helping bring Hell to Earth and unleashing something else by collecting all these souls. There's no mention of it anywhere in this book, so…"
Dean cut him off. "How does Church know that's the plan? You're sure there's nothing in there about that?"
"I've read the whole thing. There's nothing about Ronove's plan in there. If it was in there, I would have seen it," Sam stated a little harshly.
"So your girl is hiding something." Dean looked at Sam a little funny.
"She's not my girl," Sam said, annoyed. He shook his head as he looked at Dean for a brief second before he continued. "But now it certainly appears like she's hiding something… but what?"
"That, Sammy, is our million dollar question, and you're going to ask her it when you're keeping watch in her room tonight." Dean smiled.
Sam coughed, glaring back at his brother. "I'm what?"
"You're spending the night in her room, Sam. She already agreed to it, and from what I saw earlier she wants you there. Least this one's not a demon… well, yet." Dean tipped his head knowingly. "And just what would your demon girlfriend have to say if she appeared now?"
"Ruby's not exactly my girlfriend." Sam narrowed his eyes, clenched his jaw and held back his annoyance with his brother.
"You might want to tell her that." Dean kind of snapped back.
"I don't need to because she knows she's not. And Ruby is… well, she's Ruby. She's been there for us, for me, and yeah… so we had, or still sort of have a bit of a thing. So what, Dean?"
"Ugh, don't remind me. That was one bedtime story I could have done without hearing about." Dean shook his head and exaggerated a shudder. "And so what? At least Church is human, not a demon. Ruby might have helped you through a tough time, or saved your ass here and there, but she's still a demon, Sammy. Even if she is on our side, which you already know, I'm still not fully convinced she is on our side."
Sam didn't know what to say as Dean sort of had him there. It was true, Ruby was and always would be a demon, but so far she'd been nothing but helpful to them or at least to him. And as much as he didn't want to admit it to Dean, he did care for her quite a bit. "I know you're not, and I know she's still a demon, but she still helped pull me out that dark place after you died, Dean," he paused, "I can't forget that. I don't want to either."
"You shouldn't forget that she's a demon either, Sam. You know they lie, and eventually she will or whatever she has lied about is gonna come out."
"Look, like it or not Ruby's been helpful to both of us in one way or another. And without her I wouldn't be able to do half of what I can do now. I know you don't like that I've gotten better at my powers, but they have been and will be something that does some good." Sam stared at his brother with hardened eyes.
Both of them would never agree when it came to Ruby. Sam liked her, Dean didn't.
Dean would never quite trust her, not after the things he knew about demons and hell. It didn't matter to him that she said she remembered what it was like to be human or that she claimed to want to help Sam in whichever way she was supposedly helping him. He stared back at Sam. "I don't like it, I never have. I don't trust her either, no matter what she says to you or whatever it is you feel for her."
"Fine." Sam nodded. He didn't to fight with Dean over Ruby yet again. As it was right now, Ruby was the least of his concerns and far from his mind actually. He wanted to concentrate on Church and helping her at the moment. He just hoped they somehow could help her.
The air was tense between the brothers, and a cold silence sat between them as they looked at each other.
"So, what do you think Church is hiding?" Sam finally asked when he'd had enough of the silence.
"Something she didn't want us to know. But like I said, you can ask her tonight." Dean grinned and winked at his brother to lighten the mood between them.
Sam groaned, and then decided to ignore what his brother was implying. "I think Ronove probably told her about whatever it is he's up to. It does say in here that he's visited her more than any of the others."
Dean just gave his brother a look of disbelief. "Then it's a lie. No demon is going to reveal their actual end game."
Sam knew Dean was right. It wasn't like a demon to give up the master plan. He knew he'd have to ask her about it, and it was one of the many questions he had for her later. "But she should know that, so why would she believe it?"
"It's possible she lied to us," Dean said.
"I don't think so, Dean. Did she seem like she was lying to you?"
"No, but she is hiding something. And you're going to figure out what that is tonight, while I'm out with Kiki." Dean looked away from Sam and smiled at the waitress behind the counter.
Sam sighed. "You ready to get out of here?"
"Sure, I'll, uh, meet in the car in a minute." Dean was still looking at the waitress.
Sam picked up the book, and walked out to the car. As he waited for Dean, who seemed to be taking longer than a minute, he started to scan through certain sections of the book again. He felt like he missed something but just wasn't sure what it was.
The driver's door swung open and Dean slid into the seat. He looked at Sam with a cheesy grin. "You're definitely getting laid tonight, Sammy… Bobby just called and you're going to want to kiss him." Dean was softly chuckling as he fired up the engine of the Impala.
Sam looked at his brother, his eyes wide. "He found the crossbow and arrows, didn't he?"
"Damn straight he did," Dean said as they pulled out of the lot and headed back to the motel.
[ - ]
Church had driven for a little over an hour to a city that was north of the town she was staying in. She hadn't been here in what felt like forever, but it had only been five years since the last time.
Her nerves were eating away at her during the drive and now they were reaching their breaking point as she stood staring at the door in front of her.
She didn't want to be here right now, but it was time to come back. It was time to deal with the things she had left behind. It was also time to find out about something which she had almost forgotten about from many years ago.
As Church opened the door to the storage unit, sadness and grief washed over her. This is where she stored her life. Not all of it could accompany her on the road, and because she couldn't bring herself to get rid of all of it, it had to remain somewhere. The mementos of her childhood, her family, her history, all of it was located within these four grey cold walls she rented.
Church took a moment to stand in the middle of the space and breathe it in. It wasn't very fair to have her life in boxes locked up for years on end but there was no other choice. Not when most of her family had already passed or were also in the hunting business and never stayed in one spot for long as well. Even though she'd grown up not far from here, Church didn't have a place she called home any more. Her family still owned the actual house, and it was still standing, empty and rotting, but still somewhat standing. But it wasn't her home any longer and hadn't been for a long time.
Her eyes found an open box and settled on a picture. She took out the frame and stared at the picture within it. A few tears rolled down her cheeks as she held onto the frame tightly and looked into her eyes and the eyes of the man beside her in the photograph.
She'd already been a hunter then, but her life had been happier, brighter. The man with her in the photo had been her lover, her best friend, and her partner – he was also from one of the other twelve families, but had not been one of the thirteen from her generation.
It had been five years since she'd lost him to the demon now. Five years since he'd been ripped not only from her life, but her heart as well. And it still hurt.
It had never made sense as to why Ronove had killed him, but he was responsible for it. He'd told her so after it happened. Another demon had done it, but it had been done on Ronove's orders.
She hadn't told Sam and Dean about this part of her past, she saw no relevance in mentioning it and opening her old wounds up herself.
Church placed the frame back in the box and wiped the tears from her eyes. She hadn't come here to cry or drag up the pain of her past. There was one thing she was after in this storage unit, and she knew exactly where she'd left it.
After moving aside a large group of boxes and then lifting up a rug that had been lying under them, Church pulled up a panel of the floor to reveal a safe. She had had the safe installed the last time she was here, and only the person who had helped her and she knew that it was here.
The safe was top of the line and was covered in an assortment of symbols and spells that protected from almost everything supernatural from getting what was inside of it. Sure, a human might stand some chance of getting it in, should all the alarms have been cut. The unit was rigged with them, as was the safe.
Church went through the series of security measures, one of which required a scan of her hand, dialled in the combination and opened the safe. Then she pulled out an old lockbox and removed the chain from around her neck.
The key was for the box, and what was in it Church had never been sure. It had been given to her by her grandmother before she had passed away many years ago. She'd sworn to never open it until the time was right. When the time was right, she wasn't sure she'd ever know, but her grandmother had told her that when it came, she would know it. And she felt now was the time as she only had a few days left if she couldn't be saved.
A twist of the key, a pop of the lock, and Church opened the lid of the lockbox. Inside she found an envelope with her name scrawled on the front of it, and underneath it something lay wrapped in a dark velvet cloth.
She picked up the envelope, opened it and began to read the note that had been left for her, and that was when her hands started to shake and Church's world was blown apart.
Notes: Edited in a few spots all these years later, it seemed to make sense this time around to give Church an actual name and mention it at least once, unlike in my 2009 posting. She will continue to be known as Church to the boys, even though eventually I may get around to explaining how she came to have the nickname. Sounds like something Sam would ask about, so... we'll see.
Having Dean pick on Sam a little here seemed right, same with Sam getting defensive over Ruby and her role in things. Have I been keeping these two in line character wise?
Hope if you've been following along this far, you're still liling this story. Your feedback is always welcomed and would be greatly appreciated.