Sam ordered himself a salad and water and got a double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate shake for his brother.
"Already order?" Dean asked, taking a seat across from his brother at a small table.
Sam nodded. "Yup. I got your favorites."
Dean raised a questioning eyebrow until he saw a waitress headed toward their table with a giant chocolate milkshake. Sam chuckled at his older brother and watched with amusement as he slurped down half the drink in one go.
"Ah, I haven't had one of those in a while," Dean commented, taking another gulp of the milkshake.
"Uh-huh. So anyways, any luck in finding us a case around Disneyland?" Sam prompted.
Dean shook his head, "Nothing so far. According to some other hunters I checked in with, there may be a vamp nest somewhere in southern Nevada. It's a bit out of the way for us, though."
"Hmm," Sam pondered for a moment. "Maybe we could catch it on the way back?"
"I guess we could," Dean said noncommittally. "There haven't been any unusual deaths or missing person cases in the area recently, so it's probably okay if we put the vamp nest off for a few extra days."
Sam nodded. "I was thinking we could spend three days at Disneyland. Y'know, like a long-weekend sort of thing?"
"Only three days?"
"Um... yeah?" Sam answered, a little confused. "Is there a problem with that?"
Dean shrugged noncommittally. "It's just, well, the parks are pretty big, right? So it'll probably take a while to go through all the different attractions."
"You wanna go to all of them?" Sam asked, not hiding his surprise. "I thought you said Disneyland was a place for kids."
"It... might be fun," Dean replied shyly.
"Okay, um, I guess we could take a couple extra days, then."
Dean allowed a small smile before going back to sipping his shake and eating his cheeseburger when it arrived. Sam wanted to ask about the note again but figured it probably wasn't the time. Surely if it contained something important Dean would've told him.
"Dean... Dean... Dean..."
The urgent whisper of his name woke Dean up out of a sound sleep. He and Sam had finally arrived at their destination—a motel about an hour away from Disneyland—and crashed early to make up for lost sleep. The whisper hadn't seemed to wake his younger brother up, but Dean was now on guard.
Did he imagine the voice? Why did it sound vaguely familiar?
After staring at the motel's speckled ceiling for ten minutes, Dean started to doze off once more. The only sounds were those of the loud air conditioner on the other side of the room and of the traffic outside.
Eventually dawn broke through the night sky and Dean awoke for a second time in the span of about three hours to the sound of birds chirping outside. Sam was still asleep on the bed next to Dean's and he didn't react when Dean tried to wake him up for breakfast.
Figuring Sam could use the extra sleep, Dean took a shower and got dressed for the day and decided to pick up breakfast for the both of them. He found a little bakery tucked away just off of a main road. A sign outside the window proclaimed an assortment of delicious pastries and specialty coffee-related beverages. Dean's mouth was already watering as he stepped inside.
Dean ordered and received his food and drinks and was walking back down the street toward the motel when a voice called out from behind him.
"Dean Winchester," the stranger said. "Your presence has been requested."
Dean swiftly turned around and was suddenly thankful he had thought to bring a knife with him, just in case. The stranger standing before him was a nondescript middle-aged man. He didn't look threatening, but Dean knew all too well that looks could be very deceiving.
"Requested by who?" he demanded.
The stranger smirked, "The Queen of Hell. Rowena, as you know her."
This threw Dean off-guard. "What? Why?"
"Don't know," the man shrugged. "I only send the messages. But she said it was important. I wouldn't keep her waiting."
Dean sighed, "Couldn't she have just called?"
The man shrugged again. "Sorry. Like I said, I don't get told much."
Dean wasn't too eager to tell Sam about his chat with one of Rowena's loyal subjects. Perhaps they owed the witch for all the times she'd helped them out in the past, but goddammit why couldn't they just have one week without some supernatural disaster befalling them?
Upon returning to their motel room, Dean found Sam dressed and ready for the day. His younger brother was typing away on his laptop, seemingly oblivious to Dean's presence.
"Nice day out. I'm surprised you didn't go for a morning run," Dean commented, setting a cup of coffee on the tabletop next to Sam.
"I think I found us a case," Sam replied, turning the computer screen so Dean could see it. "A few miles from here two bodies were found last night. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined but both victims had black goo oozing out of their eyes and mouths."
"Gross. Think it might've been a vengeful spirit?"
"I'm not sure. From the pictures it doesn't look like ectoplasm, but we won't know until we see them for ourselves."
Dean nodded. "Okay. I guess we should check it out, then."
He debated whether to tell Sam about the note and message from Rowena. Seeing as how they were about to work a case anyways, it looked like their plans for a vacation would be put on hold for the time being. Maybe it would be better if they got everything sorted out all at once and enjoyed their break once all obligations were taken care of.
"You were asking about the note last night," Dean continued, pulling the slip of paper out of his jacket pocket. "It's a code for some box."
Sam shut his laptop and gave his older brother a quizzical look. "What? Where'd you get it from?"
"A reaper. She said Death wants us to find this box and open it."
"Death?" Sam repeated. "I thought she was dead."
Dean shrugged, "I guess someone else stepped in to take her place."
"So... what's in the box?"
"The reaper didn't know. But she said Death wants whatever's in it."
"Do you think we should trust her? The last Death kind of hated both of us," Sam said pointedly.
"I'm not sure," Dean answered honestly. "She seemed sincere enough, I guess. 'New God, new rules', she said."
"Hmm," Sam pondered this for a moment. "So does this mean we won't be going to Disneyland?"
"Well, I was thinking we could take care of the box issue first and have the vacation afterward."
"But we have no idea where the box is, right?"
Dean shook his head. "Sadly, no."
"So why don't we enjoy Disneyland first and then deal with the box? It could take us weeks, if not months, to find it."
"I guess that's true," Dean admitted. "There's something else, though. On my way back from getting breakfast I had a run-in with one of Rowena's minions. He said she wants to see us immediately."
Sam frowned, "Why? Couldn't she have called us herself about this? What does she want?"
"Not sure. The guy—the demon—didn't know anything."
Sam sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, which was inching its way toward his broad shoulders. "And here I thought we might actually get a real break for once."
"I'm sorry," Dean said apologetically. "I'm just as annoyed as you are."
Sam scowled and then stood up from the table. "Okay, let's go. We'll deal with Rowena and go from there."
"What about the case?" Dean reminded him.
"We'll check it out on our way."
"To Hell?"
"Yeah."
