CROSSROAD BLUES
Evie's POV
We were sitting in a diner having stopped to refuel and figure out our next move especially with what happened in Baltimore, also because I was starving and practically threatened Dean to stop so that I could eat and while I was chowing down my food to satisfy the little nugget inside me Sam was typing away on his laptop.
"Slow down Evie your gonna choke" Dean told me and I glared up at him.
"Your kid's hungry" I spat at with around a mouth full of food and he shook his head but I saw the smirk on his lips.
"So much for our low profile" Sam suddenly said making both Dean and I stop and look up at him. "You got a warrant in St. Louis and now you're officially in the FED's database" he added looking over his laptop at Dean.
"Dude, I'm like Dillinger or something" Dean smirked and I rolled my eyes.
"Dean it's not funny" I snapped at him. "This makes the job harder, we gotta be more careful now"
"What do they got on you?" Dean asked looking up at Sam who didn't answer looking down at the computer clicking away.
"I'm sure they just haven't posted it yet" he replied and I rolled my eyes since this wasn't some pissing competition.
"Do they have anything on Evie?" Dean asked and I looked up mildly curious.
"Nothing" Sam replied and I breathed out in relief since there was no way I could deal with both Dean and I on the FEDs list, I was already going to be worrying over him.
"No accessory, nothing?" Dean pressed.
"Shut up" Sam shot at him grumpily and Dean laughed.
"You're jealous"
"No I'm not" Sam protested.
"Can you guys cut it out, what do you have on the case Sam?" I cut in looking at Sam.
"Yeah you innocent, harmless young man you?" Dean added and I rolled my eyes again knocking my leg into his as Sam glare as he shut his laptop and grabbed the papers he'd printed out last night when he'd found this case we were currently heading to.
"'Architect Sean Boyden plummeted to his death from the roof of his home a condominium he designed'" Sam read and I raised an eyebrow in question to that.
"Build a high rise and jump off the top, classy" Dean replied. "When did he call animal control?" I sighed since I seriously debated this was an actual black dog since it's what Sam said we were hunting.
"Two days earlier"
"Did he actually say Black Dog?" I asked with clear skepticism in my voice.
"Yeah 'vicious , wild black dog' the authorities couldn't find it, no one else saw it, in fact the authorities are a little confused as to how a wild dog could get past the doorman, take the elevator up and start roaming the halls of the cushiest joint in town, after that no more calls he doesn't show up for work, two days later he takes a swan dive"
"You think we're dealing with an actual Black dog?" Dean asked him as I went back to finishing my lunch.
"Well maybe"
"What's the lore on it?" I asked them with another mouthful of scrambled eggs.
"It's all pretty vague, there are spectral black dogs all over the world, some say their animal spirits, others say death omens but anyways whatever they are they're big, nasty-"
"Yeah I bet they could hump the crap out of your leg, look at that one" Dean cut him off holding up on of the photo's with a picture of someone's supposed drawing of a mythical Black dog, he continued to laugh as Sam and I just stared at him with silent looks. "What, they could" I shook my head at him.
"Let's go" I said getting up and started to walk out with Sam following me and Dean after he dropped a couple of bills and a small tip on our table to cover the cost of our food.
When we arrived at our hunting grounds we found the first closet motel with vacancy and checked in, the boys then straight away started to scrub up in their suits while I sat idly on one of the bed's going through Sam's research with the ever present frown on my face when they went out to dig up information and I was stuck here.
"Don't look so sour Evie" Dean spoke walking into the room from the bathroom with his tie hanging loosely around his neck needing to be tied and no doubt I would have to do it since he was hopeless with ties…good ones at least and once he was out Sam went in to shower and change.
"Says the one that doesn't have to be bored out of their mind stuck here doing absolutely nothing to help or contribute to the job"
"You are offering moral support" Dean argued and I scoffed.
"Moral support my ass, I hate this" he came over and sat on the bed beside me.
"I know you do but-"
"Yeah, yeah I know I just wish that I didn't have to sit out especially since it makes me question how were even going to make this work, we know nothing about raising a baby or if it's even possible with the life were living"
"My dad did it, Sam was only 6 months old when he started hunting"
"Yeah well I'm not your dad, what do I know about mothers I never had one"
"Eve we'll figure it all out" he replied just as Sam emerged dressed in his suit ready to go. "We'll talk more when I get back" he stood and I rolled my eyes standing to and grabbed him turning him around and quickly did his tie making him smile. "Thanks Shortstack" he kissed my lips chastely before grabbing his gun and keys before leaving with Sam once again leaving me behind.
Dean's POV
We hopped into the Impala and I put the key in the ignition but hesitated looking up at the door in front of us before sighing deeply realizing how much I hated this too, I missed having Eve with us on these things but I needed her safe because I couldn't lose her or the baby, it'd kill me.
"Dean come on" I nodded turning the key bringing Baby to life and backed out of the parking lot out onto the road. "She'll be fine if that's what your worried about" he added.
"I'm not worried" I argued defensively.
"Your scared" he pressed and I looked over at him.
"Why would I be scared?" I asked him playing it off.
"Of being a father, bringing a child up in this life…Evie regretting it and leaving" I kept my eyes straight clenching my jaw. "That's it isn't it?"
"Enough Sam"
"Look man, you both need to talk to each other, you might be surprised that she's feeling the same way because you guys have always known everything about each other but you have no idea how she feels about this and that kills you"
"Whatever Sam" I said pulling up at the guys building where he took his dive and got out of the car before he could ask anymore questions, we headed up finding the co-worker that Sam had tracked down and he let us in easily believing the story we fed him.
"So you and Sean Boyden were business partners for almost 10 years right?" Sam asked walking out looking around his apartment.
"That's right" he nodded. "One more time this is for-?"
"A tribute for Mr Boyden, Architectural Digest" I replied and he scoffed. "Funny to you?"
"No, it's just a…tribute yeah see Sean always got the tributes, he kills himself leaves me and his family behind but he get's another tribute" man this guy was jealous.
"Right" Sam agreed. "Any idea why he'd do such a thing?" Sam asked as I looked down at my phone with a frown I'd expected Eve to text me by now with some complaint but I'd gotten nothing.
"I have no clue, I mean he lived the charmed life" the guy replied making me look back up and saw Sam giving me a look out of the corner of his eye so I stuffed my phone into my pocket.
"How so?" Sam pressed him.
"He was a flat-out genius, I mean I'm capable but next to him uh…it wasn't always that way either"
"No?" I asked him thinking this could be the information we needed.
"Wanna know the truth?" he asked and I just nodded. "There was a time when he couldn't design a pup tent, hell 10 years ago he worked as a bartender at this place called Lloyd's, complete dive"
"Right so what changed?" Sam asked him.
"You got me but overnight he gets this huge commission and he starts designing, he starts designing the most ingenious buildings anyone has ever seen, it was like the level of Van Gogh and Mozart" he trailed off with a look.
"What?" I pressed him.
"True geniuses, they seem to die young don't they?" he asked not looking at either me or Sam. "To have that kind of talent why…why just throw it away?"
We thanked him and left heading to the next place on our list which happened to be an animal clinic and while Sam waited in the car I headed inside seeing a girl at the front desk meaning this was gonna be easy, I talked with her throwing in some charm for good measure which just made me frown on the inside knowing Evie would be glaring at me if she was here.
"Thank you" I said to the girl as she handed over every dog disturbance call for the past week along with some a post-it note stuck on them with some kind of address or something which I just took and went back outside towards the Impala checking my phone again for the thousands time.
"So?" Sam asked as soon as I climbed into the driver's seat and I smirked needing to have my usual fun to forget about my fears and worry.
"The secretary's name is Carly, she's 23, she kayaks and they're real"
"You didn't happen to ask her if she's seen any Black dogs lately?" Sam asked annoyed as usual.
"Every complaint called in this week about anything big, black or dog-like" I held up the papers handing them over to him. "There's nineteen calls in all and uh…I don't know what this thing is" I pulled the post-it off and showed it to him and he chuckled.
"You mean Carly's MySpace address?" he asked.
"Yeah MySpace, what the hell is that?" I asked back confused but he just laughed again. "Seriously is that like some sort of porn site?" he didn't answer me so I let it go grabbing it off him and scrunched it up throwing it out the window before driving off to follow up on these callers but it was proving to be a waste of time.
"Dean enough" I looked up confused as we were walking to another house that had called animal control and Sam was looking down at my phone in my hand which I'd checked again. "You need to focus man"
"Yeah" I muttered stashing my phone in my pocket once again as we walked up to the door and he knocked a few times. "I swear if this is just another Pomeranian barking in the neighbor's yard…" I trailed off when the door opened. "Afternoon ma'am uh…animal control" I flashed a fake badge quickly.
"Um someone already came yesterday"
"Oh we're just following up" Sam replied. "We're looking for a Dr Sylvia Pearlman" he asked and she let us in.
"The doctor well she…I don't know exactly when she'll be back she left two days ago"
"Okay and you are?" Sam asked as I scoped around.
"I'm Ms Pearlman's maid" she replied.
"So where did the doctor go?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure, she just packed and went she didn't say where" the maid replied. "That stray dog, did you find it finally?" she asked.
"Uh not yet" Sam replied. "You know you didn't ever happen to see the dog yourself did you?"
"Well no, I never even heard it" she replied right as I saw a photograph on the fridge and grabbed it seeing it was three girls in what looked like a bar. "I was almost starting to think the doctor was imagining things but she's not like that, so-"
"You know I read that she was chief surgeon at the hospital?" I asked her looking up from the photo. "She's gotta be what 42, 43 that's pretty young for that job?"
"Youngest in the history of the place" she agreed. "She got the position... ten years ago?" Sam and I shared a small laugh as the patterns were starting to line up.
"An overnight success, 10 years ago" Sam said looking over at me.
"Yeah we know a guy like that" I agreed smiling. "Oh look at this" I added showing him the photo then turned it to the back so he could read the writing 'Lloyd's bar, November 1996' "Lloyd's bar" I said then we thanked the maid for her time and left finally figuring we had enough to go on. "Alright I say we check out this bar but first I'm gonna swing by the motel get out of these monkey suits" he scoffed and I looked over at him.
"Sure Dean, you wanna check on Evie" I didn't answer him since it was true and I didn't care.
Evie's POV
I'd spent most of the day doing you guessed it absolutely nothing except sitting around watching godawful day time television and it practically put me to sleep but when the door opened I was instantly awake seeing Dean and Sam walk in and never thought I'd be so happy to see them and started shooting questions off at rapid pace to hopefully be useful.
"Would you slowdown" Dean said cutting off my next question.
"You've been gone all day" I complained.
"We've only been gone a few hours" I looked up at the clock and frowned seeing he was right but it felt longer. "Now as for your questions we found a pattern, Lloyd's Bar where Sean and a new victim we think spent some time ten years ago"
"Ten years ago?" I asked thinking on that…black dog killings…ten years…sounds like demon deals.
"We're heading there as soon as we get out of these suits" Sam added heading towards the bathroom with some every day clothes.
"Great" I muttered sitting back down on the bed before flopping backwards staring up at the ceiling.
"You wanna come?" Dean suddenly asked and I looked up seeing his shirtless torso.
"Seriously?" I asked a tad excited and partly drooling at his abs.
"Yeah, we'll just be asking questions and the danger risk seems low with this case but I tell you to run-"
"I run" I said cutting him off with a huge smile on my face holding up my hands in defense not going to argue if it meant I could get out of this damn motel room.
"Good" he replied pulling on a tight fitting black shirt that clung to his arms. "What are you staring at?"
"Huh what?" I asked looking back up at his face and saw him smirking which meant he'd seen me checking him out. "Nothing" I defended looking away.
"Mmhmm sure, you know Shortstack you need only ask if you want me"
"Get over yourself Dean" I shot back at him as I stood and went over to my bag to change shirts before I rummaged to the bottom of it for my favorite red leather jacket.
"Whatever you say babe" he laughed and I looked over my shoulder at him seeing him pull on a grey overshirt and his brown leather jacket right as Sam walked out and I managed to find my jacket pulling it out and slid it on but didn't dare try to zip it up.
"Alright lets go" Dean said and I smiled practically rushing towards the door.
"She's coming?" Sam asked and I spun around to face him.
"Yep" I replied staring at him as he looked at Dean as if waiting for him to argue. "Problem Sammy?" I asked making him look back at me and he just shook his head and walked out with Dean smiling a little as he followed him.
"Come on Shortstack" I smiled and followed him out letting him lock up as I climbed into the back seat of the Impala.
Dean parked on the far road pulling over and we got out seeing the run down bar that looked more like a shack in the middle of nowhere that a decent establishment, I walked beside Dean but noticed his eyes looking around with furrowed brows.
"Hey" he called out stopping.
"Yeah?" Sam asked stopping slightly ahead but turned back.
"That's weird" Dean said gesturing to the yellow flowers that I recognized as yarrow flowers, they were along the road and I looked around seeing they were on every corner which made me frown.
"What?" Sam asked him.
"You think someone planted these?" he pointed at the yarrow flowers again before he walked over to a patch of them.
"In the middle of all these weeds?" Sam asked back doubtful.
"These are, what do you call them?" Dean asked.
"Yarrow flowers" I replied looking up at him.
"Yeah used for certain rituals, aren't they?" Dean asked us.
"Yeah actually, summoning rituals" Sam replied and Dean scoffed turning to look around.
"So two people become sudden successes about 10 years ago right around the time they were hanging out here at Lloyd's"
"Where there just happens to be a crossroads" Sam added with a smile as we all came to the same conclusion…crossroads demon deals…fantastic. "You think?"
"Let's find out" Dean replied and headed to the center of the road looking down each length of road to make sure he was in the middle. "This seem like the dead center to you?"
"I'll get a shovel" Sam said walking back towards the Impala.
"I'm getting side-lined again arent I?" I asked Dean as soon Sam was walking away and he looked down at me.
"If this is what we think it is yeah" I sighed out in frustration avoiding his eyes. "I don't like it anymore than you do Shortstack" I scoffed doubting that.
"Yeah you do" I replied and before he had a chance to say something back Sam was back with one of our shovels and gave it to Dean who started digging straight away but didn't have to dig deep as it wasn't long before he hit something.
"Yahtzee" he said looking up throwing the shovel down then bent down and uncovered the rest with his hands pulling out a small metal tin opening it to reveal a lot of stuff used for summoning.
"I'd be willing to bet that's graveyard dirt" Sam said pulling out a bottle of dirt. "And a black cat bone" he added seeing the bone in Dean's hand.
"That's serious spell work" I said looking up at Sam. "I mean that's deep south hoodoo stuff"
"Used to summon a demon" he nodded as Dean closed the tin and stood upright.
"Not just summon one, crossroads are where pacts are made these people are actually making deals with the damn thing" Dean replied and I frowned having a gut feeling this wasn't going to be a pleasant hunt anymore…not that it was before. "You know cause that always ends good"
"They're seeing dogs alright" Sam added as we all turned towards Lloyd's. "But not Black dogs, they're seeing Hellhounds demonic pit bulls"
"And whoever this demon is its back and it's collecting" I nodded.
"That doctor lady wherever she's running she ain't running fast enough" I frowned because this just went from bad to worse.
"So it's just like the Robert Johnson legend, right?" Sam asked as we walked back over to the Impala standing near the hood. "I mean selling you soul at the crossroads kind of deal?"
"Yeah except that wasn't a legend, you know his music" Dean argued and Sam just shrugged his head. "You don't know Robert Johnson's songs?" Sam just looked at him. "Sam there's occult references all over his lyrics, I mean 'Crossroad Blues'…"
" 'Me and My Devil Blues' " I added with a smile knowing his songs, my dad used to play them all the time when I was a kid.
" 'Hellhound on My Trail'?" Dean continued but Sam still remained stone-faced. "The story goes that he died choking on his own blood, he was hallucinating and muttering about big, evil dogs"
"Now it's happening all over again" Sam replied and I nodded. "We gotta find out if anyone else struck any bargains around here" he added and Dean looked up.
"Great, so we gotta clean up these people's mess for them?" I looked up at Dean furrowing my eyebrows together. "I mean they're not exactly squeaky clean, nobody put a gun to their head and forced them to play 'Lets Make A Deal' "
"So what we should just leave them to die?" Sam asked him disagreeing.
"Somebody goes over Niagara in a barrel, you gonna jump in after them?"
"Dean" I spoke putting my hand on his arm since this wasn't like him.
"Alright fine" he agreed looking down at me. "Rituals like this you put your own photo into the mix right?" I nodded and pulled out some guys photo from the tin and he grabbed it off me. "So this guy probably summoned the thing, I'll go see if anyone inside knows him" he added looking down at it before looked back up at us. "If he's still alive" he said before walking towards the bar.
"This isn't good Sam, it isn't like Dean to turn away from people who need help" I spoke as soon as Dean was far enough away.
"Yeah I know" he agreed watching Dean until he disappeared inside. "You should text him more you know"
"What?" I asked looking up at him.
"The whole time we were out earlier he wouldn't stop checking his phone as if waiting for you to call or text"
"What am I supposed to say 'I'm bored' every five seconds, I hate being side-lined sitting in damn motel rooms feeling so useless it almost makes me-" I cut myself off.
"Makes you what?" he pressed.
"Nothing" I muttered and he looked down knowing I was deflecting, stuck together all the time meant we knew each other's cue's on when something was bothering us but I didn't want to admit anything I know I'd regret, I loved this baby already but sometimes I wish it hadn't happened.
We lapsed into silence just leaning back against the Impala until Dean came back saying he'd gotten a hit on the guy in the photo and where we might find him so we left and went to this guys apartment building which was pretty shitty for someone who'd made a deal and it made me wonder what he'd asked for.
"What's this guys name again?" Sam asked as went up the stairs.
"George Darrow, apparently quite the regular at Lloyd's" Dean replied as I glanced around more.
"His house probably ain't up next on MTV cribs, is it?" I spoke and Dean chuckled at me.
"Yeah so whatever kind of deal he made-" Sam began.
"It wasn't for cash" Dean finished. "Oh who knows, maybe his place is full of babes in Princess Leia bikinis?" I looked up seeing he was looking down at me and I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the small smile. "I'm just saying this guys got one epic bill coming due, hope at least he asked for something fun" I scoffed at him since nothing was worth making a deal for.
We stopped at the apartment 4C which was Darrow's and my eyes immediately dropped to the threshold seeing some kind of black powder lined across it much like we would do with salt, I nudged Dean's arm and nodded down at it.
"Look at that" I knelt down and ran my fingers through it. "What is it, pepper?" I asked right as the door opened startling me and I stood jumping back nearly stumbling if it wasn't for Dean catching me.
"Who the hell are you?" the guy demanded and I looked him over, didn't look like a guy that made a deal with a demon.
"George Darrow?" Dean asked him to make sure he had to right apartment.
"I'm not buying anything" the guy replied and went to slam the door in our faces.
"Whoa, whoa looks like you went for the wrong shaker there" Dean spoke stopping him and pointed down at the black line. "Usually when we want to keep something evil out, you go for the salt" George looked down at the line before back up at us.
"I don't know what your talking about" he protested.
"Talking about this" Dean replied reaching into his pocket then held up the photo and his eyes widened a little. "Tell me, you seen that Hellhound yet?"
"Look, we wanna help" Sam added. "Please, just five minutes" Darrow looked around between us all eyes moving down to my stomach for a second making me nervous for some reason before he nodded and let us in.
His place wasn't fancy or anything like you'd expect and in fact seemed cluttered, unhealthy and run down but what caught my attention was all the paintings scattered across the room because they were actually pretty good but he also had some other ritual stuff that caught my eye.
"So what is that stuff out front?" Sam asked him while he poured himself something alcoholic.
"Goofer Dust" he replied and I raised an eye in question as the boys and I shared a look having never heard of that one. "What you kids think you know something about something but not Goofer Dust?" he asked us shaking his head picking something up and tossed it towards Dean who caught it with ease.
"Well we know a little about a lot of things, just enough to make us dangerous" Dean replied and I looked up at him.
"What is it?" Sam asked him.
"Hoodoo, my grandma taught me" Darrow replied and I looked up since hadn't seen Hoodoo in a while, not since New Orleans before we dragged Sam back which felt like such a lifetime ago. "Keeps out demons"
"Demons we know" Dean admitted.
"Well then, keep it maybe it'll do you some good" Darrow said taking his glass and the bottle past us towards a lounge chair. "Four minutes left" he said turning back towards us and we shared another look.
"Mr Darrow, we know you're in trouble" Sam started.
"Yeah that you got yourself into" Dean muttered but loud enough and I grabbed his hand squeezing it as I sign to cut it out.
"But its not hopeless, alright?" Sam said glaring at Dean a little before looking back at Darrow who was looking at Dean. "There's got to be something we can do"
"Listen" Darrow interrupted and took a seat on the chair. "I get that you kids want to help but sometimes a person makes their bed and they just got to lie down in it, I'm the one that called that demon in the first place"
"What did you do it for?" Dean asked a little smug.
"I was weak, I mean who don't want to be great?" he replied looking up at us. "Who don't want their life to mean something, I just…I just never thought about the price"
"Was it worth it?" Dean asked him again and I frowned up at him, alright this guy did wrong but nobody deserved this.
"Hell no" Darrow replied. "Of course I asked for talent" he added nodding at his paintings. "Should have gone for fame, I'm still broke and lonely just now I got this pile of paintings nobody want but that wasn't the worst" he trailed off at the end.
"Go on" I urged him.
"Demon didn't leave, I never counted on that after our deal was done the damn thing stayed at Lloyd's for a week just chatting, making more deals I tried to warn folks but who's gonna listen to an old drunk?"
"How many others are there?" Sam asked him.
"This architect, a doctor lady I kept up with them, they been in the papers at least they got famous" he replied drinking out of his glass.
"Who else George, come on think?" Dean told him since we already knew about those two.
"One more" he told us. "Uh nice guy too, Hudson…Evan I think, I don't know what he asked for don't matter now we done for"
"No" Sam argued refusing to believe that. "No there's got to be way"
"You don't get it" Darrow said shaking his head. "I don't want a way" he said putting down his glass.
"Look you don't have-"
"Look I called that thing" Darrow said cutting Sam off. "I brought it on myself, I brought it on them…I'm going to hell, one way or the other all I want to do is finish my last painting…a day or two I'm done, I'm just trying to hold 'em off till then, buy a little time" I frowned but knew we went going to change his mind. "Okay time you went, go help someone who wants to be saved"
"We can't just-"
"Get out!" Darrow yelled looking at him. "I got work to do"
"You don't really want to die" Sam insisted on arguing while Dean and I shared a look.
"I don't?" Darrow replied turning around to face him. "I'm…I'm tired" I looked up at Dean again seeing a look in his eyes that left me puzzled before he turned looking at Sam before we left leaving Darrow alone.
We went to a bar so Sam could get Wi-Fi in order to track down this Evan Hudson and as soon as we arrived and saw Sam get settled I grabbed Dean's hand and pulled him to one of the far corner booths.
"Jeez Evie if you wanted me alone-" I looked back at him with a hard glare that shut him up. "What's up?" he asked more sincerely seeing this wasn't a joking time.
"I was going to ask you the same thing?" I replied sitting down and he slid in next to me. "I know something's bothering you Dean"
"Evie" he sighed looking down.
"Talk to me please" I begged reaching out grabbing his hand which he looked down at especially as I squeezed it. "It's about your dad isn't it?" I asked and he looked up.
"I don't…I don't know what your talking about" he argued avoiding my eyes.
"Yes you do" I replied making him turn back to me. "You and I both know you blame yourself, Sam told me about your talk after the hunt when you guys visited your moms grave" he turned glaring over at Sam. "Don't blame him, he told me so that I could talk to you but I wasn't going to bring it up unless you talked to me first but this hunt has you even further on edge I can feel it"
"What do you want me to say Eve, that this hunt makes me think about Dad, that I know what he did for me"
"Yes" I nodded. "We used to talk to each other about everything Dean and somewhere during looking for your dad that stopped, we stopped confiding in each other" he sighed looking down at the table where our clasped hands sat.
"This whole thing just makes me think…think about Dad, I know something happened at the hospital and I hate that I don't remember what but I just…he made a deal to save me Eve, I'm not supposed to be here" I frowned looking up at him. "How does someone do that to you?"
"I can't answer that Dean but I know your dad wouldn't want you to feel this way, he wouldn't want you to wallow in regret and self-pity, he gave us another chance…I don't know what I would have done if you'd died…especially with this" my other hand fell to my stomach and he looked down at it.
"I know your right" he sighed with a small smile on his face as he let go of my hand moving it over mine on my stomach. "I wouldn't give up this for anything, I think Dad knew and as much as I hate the man for doing what he did I can't thank him enough for this second chance" I laid my head on his shoulder and his moved down resting on top of mine having a quiet moment.
"I got it" we heard Sam say and looked up seeing him standing in front of us with his laptop.
"Alright let's go" Dean stood up then reached down for my hand which I placed in his and he helped me stand making me smile since I didn't need the help but I just let it go knowing that he just needed me to need him as much I did.
We drove over to the address Sam had found for Evan and I was a little surprised Dean hadn't dropped me off at the motel but I didn't say anything obviously and knew to just shut up and stay by his side so he didn't have to worry, it was dark by the time we arrived and walked up onto the porch and Sam knocked.
"Yes?" a man asked as he answered the door.
"Evan Hudson?" Sam asked him.
"Yeah" he nodded.
"You ever been to a bar called Lloyd's?" Dean asked him and Evan's head snapped over to look at him. "Would have been about 10 years ago?" Evan's eyes widened and he slammed the door shut as I looked at Dean with a 'really' look. "Come on we're not demons!" Dean exclaimed then looked at me and Sam as we gave him looks.
"Any other bright ideas?" Sam asked him sarcastically and Dean's response was to kick in the door, we walked in down a hallway stopping at a pair of doors and Dean raised his foot to kick it in again but Sam grabbed his foot lowering it. "Wait" he tried the handle and it opened so we all just shrugged then walked in not seeing him. "Evan?" Sam called out.
"Please" Evan exclaimed jumping out from behind a wall holding up his hands in defense. "Don't hurt me"
"We're not going to hurt you" Sam replied holding up his hands showing we were unarmed. "Alright we're here to help you"
"We know all about the genius deal you made" Dean added.
"What, how?" Evan asked dropping his hands to his sides.
"It doesn't matter" I replied seeing him turn to me. "All that matters is we're trying to stop it"
"How do I know you're not lying?" he asked us.
"Well you don't but you're kind of running low on options there buddy boy" Dean replied and he looked away struggling to find an even steady breath.
"Can…can you stop it?" he asked us.
"Don't know, we'll try" Sam said telling him the truth and Evan took another deep breath moving his hand to his head.
"I don't want to die" he admitted and I frowned because he shouldn't have made the deal.
"Of course you don't, not know" Dean replied and I turned back to him.
"Dean stop" I told him because that wasn't going to help us, he couldn't let his emotions get in the way of finding a way to stop Evan from being puppy chow.
"What did you ask for anyway Ev?" Dean asked him and Evan looked up. "Never need Viagra, bowl a perfect game, what?"
"My wife" he replied and I frowned turning back to him until Dean laughed.
"Right getting the girl well that's worth a trip to hell"
"Dean stop" Sam said this time.
"No" Evan said making us all turn to him again. "He's right I made the deal, nobody twisted my arm, that woman or whatever she was at the bar she said I could have anything I wanted, I thought she was nuts at first but-" he trailed off looking away as if thinking of the words. "I don't know I was…I was desperate"
"Desperate?" Sam asked with a confused look that I'm sure matched my own, he turned away from us walking to his desk and leaned his hands on the top.
"Julie was dying" Evan finally said and I felt my whole body tense up.
"You did it to save her?" Dean asked and I knew exactly where his head was at especially after our talk.
"She had cancer, they stopped treatment they were moving her into hospice they kept saying 'A matter of days' so yeah I made the deal and I'd do it again, I'd have died for her on the spot"
"Did you ever think about her in all this?" Dean asked and I saw him unclenching and clenching his jaw which I knew was never a good sign, he was about to blow.
"I did this for her" Evan argued.
"You sure about that" Dean asked taking a step towards him. "I think you did it for yourself, so you wouldn't have to live without her but guess what, she's gonna have to live without you now and what if she knew how much it cost, what if she knew it cost you your soul, how do you think she'd feel?" I wanted to reach out and comfort him but I was frozen.
"Okay that's enough" Sam said doing what I couldn't stepping forward and grabbed Dean's arm pulling him back a little. "Evan sit tight alright, we're gonna figure this out" he added as Dean turned and walked out of the room with Sam and I following him. "You alright?" Sam asked when we were out of the room looking at Dean.
"Yeah why wouldn't I be?" Dean replied turning to face us. "Hey I got an idea, you throw George's hoodoo at that Hellhound keep it away from Evan as long as you can" he handed Sam the bag of Goofer Dust. "I'm gonna go to the crossroads and summon the demon" my eyes widened.
"Summon the…are you nuts?" I spat at him.
"Maybe a little" he replied looking at me. "But I can trap it, I can exorcise it and I can buy us some time to figure something more permanent"
"Yeah but how much time?" Sam asked him backing me up since this was a terrible idea and I didn't trust where Dean's head was at right now.
"I don't know a while" Dean shrugged. "It's not easy for those suckers to claw their way back from hell and into the sunshine" I shook my head at him.
"No, no way" I told him.
"Not allowed to say no Evie unless you got a better idea" he argued.
"Dean you can forget it alright I'm not letting you summon that demon" I argued right back glaring at him, he was a frigging father for gods sake, he keeps telling me I can't be reckless than that means he can't.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because I don't like where your head is at, that's why!" I exclaimed not caring how I sounded right now.
"What are you talking about?" Dean protested.
"You know you've been on edge ever since we found that crossroads Dean and I think I know why" Sam interrupted before I could start completely yelling at him.
"You know we don't have time for this" Dean argued pushing past us.
"Dad" Sam called out and Dean stopped in his tracks. "You think maybe dad made one of these deals huh?" Sam went on and Dean turned around facing him. "Hell I've been thinking it, I'm sure you've been thinking it too" I frowned looking back and forth between the brothers but stopped seeing a small smile on Dean's face that unsettled me.
"It fits, doesn't it?" he finally said looking at Sam. "I'm alive, he's dead, Yellow-eyed demon was involved, what if he did, what if he struck a deal?" I looked down feeling the tears come to my eyes mentally cursing these damn hormones. "My life for his soul?"
"I think I hear it, it's outside" Evan yelled making us all look up.
"Just keep him alive, okay?" Dean said turning and walked towards the door.
"Dean…"
"Go!" he exclaimed cutting me off pointing towards the office before disappearing and I turned to Sam before shaking my head and ran after him.
"Evie!" I heard Sam yell but I ignored him.
"Dean stop!" I called after him seeing him near the Impala about to get it but he stopped turning to me.
"Evie go back inside"
"No"
"Damn it Evelyn I'm not taking you with me on this"
"I don't care" he walked up to me and grabbed my arms.
"I do!" he exclaimed in my face.
"Dean please, just don't do this I know you and I know what your planning without you even saying it"
"I need you safe" he whispered right as I heard something click and looked down seeing he'd handcuffed me to the fence.
"Dean!" I exclaimed when he turned and ran to the Impala getting in and drove off. "Dean!" I tugged on the cuffs but they were secure. "That son of a bitch!"
Dean's POV
I knew Eve was going to kill me but I couldn't bring her and having her safe was worth whatever torture she'd put me in later, I set up drawing a devil's trap underneath the passenger seat of baby in the dirt making sure to park in the right spot afterwards then grabbed George's box and replaced his photo with one of my fake ID's before burying it and stood waiting for this thing to show itself.
"So what brings a guy like you to a place like this?" I turned seeing a woman behind me, she wore a tight black dress that matched her dark hair. "You called me?"
"I'm just glad it worked" I replied putting on a smile for show.
"First time?" she asked trying to be sexy.
"You could say that" I replied.
"Oh come on now don't sell yourself short, I know all about you Dean Winchester" she said and her eyes turned red.
"So you know who I am?"
"I get the newsletter" she shrugged.
"Well don't keep me in suspense, what have you heard?" I asked stepping towards her.
"Well I heard you were handsome but you're just edible" good thing Eve isn't here she'd have shot this bitch just for that, my girl was protective about what was hers. "Now what can I do for you Dean?" I looked up at my car.
"Maybe we should do this in my car, nice and private" I told her looking around the empty roads.
"Sounds good to me" she replied so we started walking towards it.
"So I was hoping we could strike a deal"
"That's what I do" she agreed.
"I want Evan Hudson released from his contract" I told her
"So sorry darling, that's not negotiable" she argued.
"I'll make it worth your while" I countered.
"Oh really, what are you offering?" she asked.
"Me"
"Well, well, well you'd sacrifice your life for someone else's?" she asked looking me over. "Like father, like son" I stared at her blankly not willing to show a reaction to that but it hurt to hear it from this bitch. "You did know about your dad's deal right, his life for yours?" I refused to reply. "Now I didn't make the deal myself but boy I wish I had" I recovered and smiled as I opened the passenger door.
"After you"
"Such a gentleman" she replied and went to get in but stopped looking down. "A devil's trap, you've got to be kidding me" she turned to look at me. "You stupid, stupid I should rip you limb from limb" she slammed the door shut and stalked towards me as I backed up towards the water tower.
"Take your best shot" I told her but she stopped.
"No I don't think so, I'm not gonna put you out of your misery"
"Yeah why not?" I spat.
"Because your misery's the whole point, it's too much fun to watch knowing how your daddy died for you, how he sold his soul, I mean that's gotta hurt" my back hit a leg of the water tower as she continued to stalk towards me. "He's all you ever think about, you wake up and your first thought is 'I can't do this anymore' you're all lit up with pain I mean you loved him so much and it's all your fault" I avoided her eyes for a second. "You blew it Dean, I could've given you want you need"
"What do I need?" I asked her.
"Your father, I could've brought him back" I stared at her for a second thinking it was true, could she honestly bring him back but then my thoughts went to Evie and the baby. "Your loss, see you Dean I wish you a nice, long life" she started to walk away and I shook my thoughts off knowing I had to focus on the plan.
"Hold on" I spoke walking under the tower seeing her stop but she continued to walk so I took a page out of Sammy's book and put on my best puppy dog look staring down at the floor appearing haunted which to be honest wasn't that hard since I did feel what she felt but all I had to do was look at Evie and her growing stomach and be reminded of everything I had to lose.
"You're lucky I've got a soft spot for lost puppies and long faces" she finally said and I looked up seeing her walking back towards me so close to coming under the water tower exactly where I needed her. "I just can't leave you like this besides you didn't call me here to bargain for Evan, not really"
"Can you bring him back?" I asked her actually wanting to know if it was possible. "My dad?"
"Of course I can" she smiled. "Just as he was, your dad would live a long natural life like he was meant to, that's a promise"
"What about me?" I asked it.
"I could give you ten years, ten long good years with him and not to mention your precious Evelyn and baby Winchester" I looked up at the mention of Eve and the baby. "That's a lifetime, the family can be together again, John, Dean, Sammy…the Winchester boys reunited along with the extended family" I looked around pretending to be affected and hopeful of that and she walked forward stepping under the tower. "Look your dad's supposed to be alive, you're supposed to be dead this will just set things straight put things back in their natural order and you get ten extra years on top, that's a bonus" she whispered leaning in close.
"Do you think you could…" I walked out from underneath the tower. "…throw in a set of steak knives?" she scoffed and started walking towards me.
"You know this smart ass, self defense mechanism of yours-" she cut herself off and looked up where another devil's trap was exactly like I planned it, always have a backup. "Dean"
"Now you're really trapped, that's gotta hurt"
"Let me out now"
"Sure, we just gotta make a little deal here first" I told her walking around the edge of the tower. "You call off your Hellhound and let Evan go then I'll let you out"
"I can't break a binding contract" she argued which I knew was a lie, every deal can be broken.
"And by 'can't' you mean 'don't want to'?" I shot back raising an eyebrow. "Last chance, Evan and his wife get to live to a ripe old age, going…going-"
"Let's talk about this"
"Okay gone" I told her then pulled out Dad's journal flipping to an exorcise page.
"What are you doing?" she asked fearfully.
"Oh you're just gonna go on a little trip, way down south" I pulled out a rosary.
"Look forget Evan, think of your dad" I paused for a spilt second before smirking and started to read despite exorcisms being Sam and Evie's domain but I knew Latin just not off by heart like they did.
"Regna terrae, cantate deo..." I continue reading as I walked around the edge seeing her reacting to it from the corner of my eye.
"Wait!" she finally calls out. "I'll do it" she said then pulled me towards her locking her lips around mine before stepping back.
"What the hell was that for?" I asked wiping my mouth.
"Sealing the deal" she replied.
"I usually like to be warned before I'm violated with demon tongue" Evie was gonna have a fit…or maybe I just leave this little part out given I was already going to be under her wrath when I let her go.
"Evan Hudson is free, he and his wife will live long lives"
"How do I know your not lying?" I asked her since demons can't be trusted.
"My word is my bond"
"Oh really?"
"It is when I make a deal it's the rules, you got what you wanted now let me go" I looked up at the devil's trap before backing away looking down at the rosary. "You're going to double cross me?" I looked up. "Funny how I'm the trustworthy one" I shrugged. "You know you renege, send me to hell sooner or later I'm gonna climb out and skinning Evan Hudson will be the first thing that I do" I smiled and nodded before climbing up the leg of the door and broke the devil's trap freeing her and she walked out but turned back. "I gotta tell you, you would have never pulled that stunt if you knew"
"Knew what?" I asked her with a smirk.
"Where your dad is" my smirk fell. "You should have made that deal, see people talk about hell but it's just a word it doesn't even come close to describing the real thing"
"Shut your mouth bitch"
"If you could see your poor daddy, hear the sounds he makes because he can't even scream"
"How 'bout I send you back?" I threatened stepping towards her but she smoked out making me step back seeing the black cloud of smoke form before disappearing and the girl fell to the ground.
"What…how did I get here?"
Evie's POV
I pulled on the handcuffs hoping they were a weak pair but they went budging and I'd left my damn phone in the Impala and no doubt Sam thinks I went with Dean and I wasn't dumb enough to scream out.
"He's dead…oh he's so dead when I get my hands on him" I said to myself in a whisper as I looked up at the house curious to what was going on in there but then I heard a familiar roar of an engine and turned seeing the Impala pull up and Dean climbed out. "You are so dead!" I yelled at him as he walked towards me. "Do you have any idea-"
"It's over" he said cutting me off and I frowned confused until Sam came outside with Evan and with a single nod from Dean Evan breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you" he said to us.
"No more deals, okay Evan" Sam said and Evan nodded before going inside and shutting the door, Sam walked down the steps and stopped in front of us seeing my hand still cuffed to the fence and started laughing.
"It's not funny Sam, now one of you's get me the hell out of these things" I pulled on the cuff for good measure and Dean came forward pulling out his keys and unlocked them, as soon as my arm was free I walked past him slamming my shoulder against his as I went towards the Impala.
"You actually cuffed her to the fence?" I heard Sam asked as they followed me.
"Only thing I could do to stop her following me" I glared at Dean as I threw open the back door and got in slamming it shut as they climbed into the front and Dean started driving and filling us in on everything that happened with him including some bitch demon kissing him which they both looked back at me for a reaction but I remained staring out the side window to pissed at Dean.
"Demons lie all the time, right maybe she was lying?" Sam said after a couple minutes of silence and I knew he was talking about what the demon had said to Dean about where there dad was and about hell itself.
"Come on, is that really what you think?" Dean said back. "How could he do it?" Dean asked and I wasn't sure if he was actually asking or more asking himself.
"He did it for you" Sam replied and I looked up at them.
"Exactly, how am I supposed to live with that?" Dean said and I frowned looking back out my side window since I know that he hated his dad for doing it but I couldn't help be thankful even if that made me a horrible person because it meant Dean was alive and I wasn't going to take that for granted because him and this baby were all that mattered to me and I didn't want my baby to not have a father. "You know the thought of him…wherever he is right now, I mean he spent his whole life chasing that yellow-eyed son of a bitch he should've gone out fighting, that was supposed to be his legacy, you know" my frown deepened since what did it matter, no one would even know the legacy aside from us. "Not bargaining with the damn thing, not this"
"How many people did Dad save, total?" Sam suddenly asked.
"That's not the point Sam" Dean argued.
"Evan Hudson is safe because of what dad taught us that's his legacy Dean, now were still here man so we gotta keep going, for him" Sam told him and I sighed closing my eyes leaning on the trim just wanting to fall asleep. "Hey Dean?" I heard Sam say after a few minutes.
"Yeah"
"When you were trapping that demon, you weren't…I mean it was just a trick right?" I opened my eyes and looked up at the rearview mirror seeing Dean's face as he stared straight ahead. "You never considered actually taking that deal, right?" Dean didn't answer which made my heart drop especially as he turned up the music meaning he wasn't going to answer and I saw Sam look back at me with tears close to start pooling over and feeling the wetness of my cheek I knew I was crying to but I just shut my eyes again and stayed silent.
A/N: Sorry about the long time between chapters, I'm struggling to find time to write given my classes have all moved online and study schedule getting hectic so I'll try hard to keep updating just please be patient and i promise that this story is not done yet.