Dean was putting cheese on his scrambled eggs and adjusted the phone on his shoulder. "Yeah Dad I'm fine." Dean said.
"You haven't seen anything…" John started and Dean knew what he was trying to ask. He wanted to know if Dean was attempting to try and face something supernatural behind their back. That was exactly what happened but John didn't need to know that. Also Bobby wasn't going to let Dean go back out there until he was confident that Dean was ready for whatever it was.
"No Dad, I haven't gone off to face some crazy hermit witch living in the woods." Dean said, trying for some humor. Plus that was true. John sighed, clearly trying to decide if he should be amused or serious. "Don't worry Dad. I'm being careful. I'm checking in…" Dean started.
"You haven't been staying in any hotels." John said Dean nodded. This was also true, and to be honest he wasn't surprised his Dad was checking in on him. Dean didn't need to ask how his father knew that, the man had his own ways of finding things out.
"Haven't needed to. Been staying in my Baby." Dean said. John snorted.
"That car isn't a hotel son." John said. Dean knew how most Men of Letter's were. If they weren't' staying at Chapter Houses then they were in nice hotels. Never really was Dean's style though.
"The whole point of this is to try and get some space and take care of myself. Kinda defeats the purpose if I hide out in hotels the whole time." Dean said. John let out a low growl and Dean knew he wanted to argue. "I'm not staying in some truck stop parking lot Dad. I'm being careful." Dean said.
"Stay out of trouble Dean." John said. Dean laughed.
"When do I do otherwise?" he asked. John laughed this time. They both knew the answer to that one. Dean heard a knock at the door and realized this conversation had to end. "I gotta go, someone else wants the phone. I'll check in again soon." Dean said, then he hung up without giving his Dad a chance to respond. Dean knew he'd have to figure out something else soon. He couldn't keep making calls to the Bunker from Sioux Falls.
"Bobby, you here?" a woman called out just as Dean pulled his hand back from the phone. Dean recognized the voice of the woman on the phone last night. He figured it was probably Tara. Dean had mixed feelings about meeting her but figured if it would be too much of a problem Bobby would have said something. Dean briefly wondered where Bobby was at the moment, as he hadn't seen the older hunter yet today, but he figured Bobby would climb out of whatever nook he was hiding in soon enough now that he had company. "Bobby?" the woman called again, this time she started walking and came into the kitchen. She paused, as if surprised to see Dean.
"He's not here right now." Dean said. Tara frowned.
"Where is he?" she asked. Dean shrugged. She suddenly looked concerned and Dean gave her a confused look. "You weren't the one on the phone last night were you?" she asked. Dean nodded to show he was. If possible she looked even more alarmed. "I see…did Bobby say anything about what I told you last night?" she asked. Dean was even more confused.
"Not really He said something about teaching me about to kill a wraith but that was about it." Dean said. He had no intention of telling her they talked about Abaddon. Dean was starting to feel a little bad about hiding things and lying. It seemed Bobby was the only person he has ever been completely honest with. To his surprise she actually looked relieved.
"Oh. I didn't realize there was a kid here. I thought…" she started and Dean realized what the concern was. She thought she had just destroyed his world last night by talking about a wraith and was trying to figure out what she could and could not say around Dean. Then her expression became more confused. "Who are you anyway?" she asked. Dean thought for a moment. That was a good question. He couldn't just tell her 'Hi, I'm Dean Winchester, you know from the family your apparently obsessed with' and he couldn't say 'I'm Dean Campbell from that famous family that was supposed to have died out twenty or so years ago'. He and Bobby hadn't actually came up with any kind of cover story yet.
"About time you got here. I was beginning to wonder where you were callin' from." Bobby said, coming into the kitchen and saving Dean from having to answer. Tara turned to him.
"I didn't know you were taking in kids now Bobby." she said, sounding a little accusingly. Bobby snorted.
"Hardly. He's my nephew. Kid's mother was a hunter, don't really know what else to do with him." Bobby said. Dean was fairly impressed. Bobby had made it sound like Dean's mother died and that he took Dean in while keeping the lies to an absolute minimum. Tara gave Dean a sympathetic wince before driving on.
"I see. So your teaching him hunting in her place. That's unfortunate." she glanced at Dean before turning to Bobby.
"So what's this urgent business you have?" Bobby asked. Her whole demeanor changed, looking almost excited.
"Yeah, I got a lead on one of Abaddon's allies from the wraith and I need back up on a hunt to go after it." she said. Bobby frowned.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Tara sighed.
"Before I killed the wraith, it mentioned a demon that was claiming to be clearing the way for Abaddon's return. It's been recruiting a few demons and monsters to help it out. The base is too big though, I can't just walk in there." she said. Bobby nodded. Dean frowned however.
"What's so important about finding Abaddon?" he asked. She turned to him, giving him a hard look.
"It's not Abaddon that I want but the First Blade." She said. Dean shrugged to show he wasn't following. "The Knights of Hell were an elite fighting force for Hell. One of the weapons they had was called the First Blade. It was used by Cain to kill Able. The story says that this Blade can kill anything. If the hunters can get the Blade then we could finally start making some headway in this war." she said. Dean recoiled a little at her word choice.
"War?" he asked. She sighed, as if he was a naive child. Dean might have almost agreed with her but the hard look Bobby was giving her told him that not all hunters, or at the very least Bobby, didn't agree with that word choice either.
"What do you think this is kid? Hunters vs all the evil things in the world. It's a war." she said. Dean figured there was no point in arguing and just nodded. "The First Blade was lost to the Knights of Hell, and Abaddon is the last one." she said. Dean thought for a moment.
"There has to be a better way to find it besides looking for a missing demon. Can't you use a tracking spell or something?" he asked. He realized that was a mistake when Tara gave him a surprised look and turned to Bobby.
"What have you been teaching this kid Bobby?" she asked. She didn't wait for an answer before turning back to Dean. "I found a tracking spell, but it's not possible to complete. I don't have any other options." she said. Dean opened his mouth to speak. "I've tried to find Abaddon a few ways, but the man who banished her to who knows where also just vanished. No one knows who Henry Winchester is or where to find him. I either find him, or I find her allies." she hissed. Dean knew it wouldn't be a good idea to say he knew exactly where to find Henry Winchester, but at the same time the alternative to not talking to Henry was going on a life or death hunt after a demon.
"Demons are pretty rare Tara. I never hear of more than two or three a year." he said. She nodded.
"Exactly. Besides, it'd be a good experience for the kid." she argued. Bobby looked over at Dean, assessing. After a moment he nodded.
"I guess we can't just let a demon roam free." he said. Dean knew he was talking to Dean there, telling him not to feel bad about not preventing the whole hunt by telling them where his grandfather was because demons were dangerous. They brought pain, suffering, and destruction just for fun. They weren't like some creatures that were doing what they did to survive, they did it because they wanted to. "Dean, why don't you go get some things gathered up an' in the trunk." Bobby said. Dean nodded and turned to go do as ordered when he paused and turned back to Bobby.
"What all should I get?" he asked. Bobby gave an amused snort.
"Figure it out." he said with a smirk. Growing up with Henry and John, Dean was used to being told what to do. It wasn't so much that they didn't trust Dean to figure things out but that they wanted Dean and Sam to always have the correct answer. The problem with that was someone doesn't learn when all the answers are given to them. Bobby on the other hand was making Dean work for his answers. It was fine as far as Dean was concerned because Bobby wouldn't let anything happen to him if he did fail. "An' don't forget yer journal!" Bobby ordered. Dean was actually fascinated by the hunter's journals. They were similar to the Men of Letter's, but also pretty different.
Men of Letter's were raised to be Men of Letter's. The American branch wasn't like the European Branch's, they didn't have a special school that you went to as a child. In fact Sam and Dean had been offered by the British Men of Letter's to attend Kendricks Academy as special representatives from the American Branch but Henry had been adamant that it would not happen. Instead they were more like some of the Asian and African branches were their education was more like a boot camp or summer camp. Men of Letter's members each kept a journal but those were similar to class notebooks. They were used to take research notes on whatever project the member was dedicated to studying. Dean knew one in particular who spent his entire career in the Men of Letter's studying angel grace and the uses of it. Dean wasn't sure he even believed in angels but his grandfather said they existed, they just didn't come to Earth very often. When a member had thought they had enough to publish their work, they would have their journals peer reviewed and then the finale paper would be distributed to the Men of Letter's Chapter houses and other Branches as the member's work. Any member of the Men of Letter's could read any articles, journals, or books in the library so they never had to start any project over from the start.
On the other hand, Hunter's were different. They never had any formal school or class on the supernatural world. They didn't have access to proven works about it either. Most hunters with the rare exceptions like the Campbell Family, suddenly found themselves in the world of darkness and had to find a way to face the monsters within. For that reason their journals were their very lives. Hunters had no structure, no leadership. Because of that if a new hunter came into being they had to rely on either a good hunter to come along and teach them or figure things out for themselves and quickly. Even more troublesome and rather dangerous was that when they came across any new supernatural threat they had to go to the library to find what people wrote about those creatures. There was a lot of things out there was wasn't true and getting the wrong information could be fatal. Henry liked to say that Hunter's only used Journals because the Men of Letter's taught them that. Dean figured it was more out of survival. Information was the currency of the realm in the world of hunting. Not only could documenting what you learn save your life, but it could save others. Bobby had also told him information was a good trade item. The journals did more than just document how to kill monsters. It was a record of that hunter's exploits, their contacts, pretty much their whole lives between the pages.
When Dean started learning from Bobby, Bobby had given him his own journal. Dean had been relieved that he wouldn't be risking his Men of Letter's journal and he could leave it at Bobby's when he went home. Dean was rather excited to be going on another hunt, his first real one since he wasn't going to count that last failure as an actual hunt. Dean made his way through Bobby's place, putting everything he figured he would need in a bag. If they were dealing with a demon, salt was a given. He grabbed a few books that he knew had different exorcisms in them as well as one Bobby said had demon traps. Dean grabbed a few rosary beads, figuring they should have them to make Holy Water. As an after-thought Dean also added lighter fluid and the iron pokers from next to the fire place. He figured just in case it wasn't a demon it wouldn't hurt to have things for ghosts too. His Colt 1911 that his father gave him for his birthday was always loaded with silver and iron bullets anyway; something John said was to be kept that way 'just in case'. Dean went back into the kitchen to see Bobby and Tara looking over a book.
"I got it." he said, showing Bobby the duffel bag. Bobby nodded.
"Go put it in the trunk." he said. Dean nodded and turned to leave. "Dean…" Bobby called. Dean turned back to him and the older hunter looked him over. "You good for this?" he asked. Dean nodded and grinned.
"Been ready." he said. Bobby grinned. Tara meanwhile crossed her arms and sighed.
"We ready yet?" she asked. Bobby nodded.
"Yeah. Dean'll ride with me." he said. With that they headed outside, ready to go on Dean's first real case.
Yeah, I was really busy this weekend and hadn't had a chance to write. The next chapter will be the actual hunt. I also had to include John. I plan to include the whole Winchester family eventually. I actually really love the concept of the Hunter's Journals and I really just wanted to talk about them for a bit. Hope you all liked it.