CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX: Plans In The Making
Dean waited patiently outside the local library by his car, leaning against the side of it while he watched for Sam and Jo.
The demon kept rubbing his eyes with his hands and shaking his head as thoughts of his brother getting possessed overwhelmed him. He had an endless imagination of what Lucifer had planned, and all of it wasn't good in Dean's book.
When they finally approached, he asked with an aggravated tone, "Did you find anything? Because on my end I found squat."
The younger demon shook his head. "We couldn't find a Mordechai but we did find a Martin Murdock who lived in that house in the '30s. He only had two children, both boys, and there's no evidence he ever murdered anyone." He explained, shoving his hands in his pockets. "What about you?"
"I had about as much luck as you guys did." Dean said regretfully. "Those kids didn't really give us a clear description of that dead girl but I did hit up the police station." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "No matching missing persons. It's like she never existed."
"Maybe we're just missing something." Jo added helpfully when she saw Sam's face fall with disappointment. He obviously was in need of a distraction and without this case, there wasn't going to be one today.
"Come on guys. We did our digging, this one's a bust. For all we know those hellhound boys made up the whole thing." The middle Winchester pointed out, glancing between the pair in front of him.
"Yeah, all right." Sam eventually caved. "Maybe we can find another hunt."
"First, I say we find ourselves a bar and leave the legend to the locals." Jo stated with an enthusiastic tone as she smiled broadly at the boys.
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Dean asked skeptically, earning a glare from the blonde.
"I'm twenty-two, dude." Jo stated with an attitude, crossing her arms.
The older demon held up his hands in a placating gesture before moving towards the car. "Come on, let's go. Jo, I hope you have an ID on you."
Before the young hunter could hit him back with a sarcastic reply, he was in the Impala and starting it.
…
"John, why are you reading Revelations?" Mary asked with a sigh as she drove one of the Bunker's multiple extra classic cars on their way to meet Bobby and Ellen. Her husband had been completely quiet since they had pulled away five hours ago with his nose shoved in the book he was holding.
"I just want to be educated. I mean, what if all this Apocalypse crap starts happening? I want to know what to expect." The eldest Winchester said rationally before turning his attention to his reading material.
"You're trusting something God wrote? Who hasn't been listening for who knows how long? That he wrote who knows how long ago?" The blonde asked skeptically, glancing briefly at John.
The older hunter just grunted in response, causing Mary to roll her eyes.
"You folks seem to be in quite the pickle."
Mary jerked the steering wheel from shock, narrowly avoiding a tree before her eyes made contact with the newcomer in the back seat.
…
The group had just been hanging out in their motel room, packing up their duffels and getting ready to head out when there was a gruff yell from the bathroom Dean had just gone in.
Sam and Jo shared a confused expression, both going towards the bathroom when a very flustered Dean walked out followed by a trench-coated angel.
"Man, there's a thing called personal space." The older demon chastised as they made their way out, shaking his head.
Castiel squinted his eyes and tilted his head, obviously unaware of this concept. "I will research all I can on the subject, but for now I need your help, Dean."
"You two care to share what's going on?" The blonde hunter asked, eyeing the two with amusement as the older Winchester began pulling a red button-up on top of his black t-shirt.
Cas took a deep breath as if he was readying himself. "I need Dean's help with tracking down a problem of mine."
"We're kinda in the middle of a case, Cas." Sam reminded him before he scrunched his nose. "Wait, why just Dean's help?"
"I am in the middle of a civil war, Sam." He stressed before he remembered Sam's question. The angel floundered for a moment before he regained his composure. "I figured he would be the most willing out of the three of you, as well as the most skilled in the department I will be needing assistance with." He stated, implying something with the way he spoke.
"What the hell does that mean?" The younger demon questioned, seeming offended.
"Torture. He seems to be the most accustomed to those practices and I need to get some information out of a certain angel." Castiel admitted regretfully, watching the way Dean's shoulders tensed before he crossed his arms to hide his clenched fists. "Will you help? I am sure Sam and Jo could handle this case perfectly fine on their own."
The short-haired demon glanced briefly between his brother and the blonde who nodded in agreement with the angel. After wiping a hand down his face and an exaggerated groan, Dean conceded. "Fine. Let's go."
Before he could protest, Castiel placed a hand on his shoulder.
…
"Glad you two could join us." John stated with a slight smirk as Bobby and Ellen approached the booth the two Winchester's had picked out.
Sliding into the booth, the brunette leveled her gaze with the eldest Winchester before speaking. "Well? Out with it. What was so important we had to meet you two here after we wrapped up our case?" She asked, seeming intrigued when she remembered how anxious John had seemed on the phone.
John cleared his throat before leaning forward and resting his elbows on the wooden table. "We found a way to jam the devil back in the box. Before he can do any harm to Sam." He said, his voice deep and gruff as he talked.
"Well that just sounds too good to be true. What kinda black magic voodoo crap do you have in mind?" Bobby asked, deciding to humor the pair.
Mary let out a nervous laugh before casting her husband a furtive glance. "When Lucifer was raised, other things were raised with him." She stated slowly before continuing. "The four horsemen included."
Ellen nearly choked on her own spit. After composing herself, she looked at them with wide eyes in disbelief. "You mean, like Famine?"
"And Pestilence, and war." John added before speaking with a more serious tone. "And Death."
"I'm gonna guess the punch line is we need something from these horsemen?" Bobby guessed with a bitter smile.
The older hunter nodded at his old friend who snorted in response. "We need each of their rings. Once we have all of them, we recite a small spell, and bye bye Satan." He said as if it were that easy.
"And where did you get this information from?" Ellen question skeptically as she leaned back against the booth with narrowed eyes.
"Doesn't matter." John replied with shortly, earning matching bitch faces from the two across from him. "It's reliable, trust us. You two in?" He asked as he rose a questioning brow.
"Of course. Anything to help Sam." The baseball-capped hunter agreed, the older Harvelle beside him nodding.
"Great! There's just one more thing." John began with a look of guilt in his eyes. "This stays between us four. Don't be gettin' the kids involved."
"You want me to lie to Jo?" Ellen asked with eyes wide with confusion, her lips starting to curl with anger.
"You're not lying, just leaving some stuff out." Mary tried to soothe calmly and quickly with hope to defuse the brunette's most likely tirade. Although she didn't necessarily like the idea of lying to her boys and doing this without them, she knew they'd be safer left in the dark.
With a sigh and a head nod from Ellen, the group left the diner to begin the hunt.
…
"You think it was a smart idea to let Dean go off with Cas?" Jo asked as Sam parked the Impala a little ways from the newest crime scene at the Hell House they were about to approach.
Sam scoffed before shaking his head. "Honestly, they can't be any better off. You've got an angel and a demon, what could go wrong?" He questioned, making a good point.
The blonde hunter just nodded before following the giant out of the car, adjusting her pant suit jacket as they walked over to a man a little taller than Jo with greying hair and a beard.
"What happened?" Sam asked, crossing his arms which caused his suit jacket to almost bust at the seams.
The man glanced at the pair curiously before answering. "A coupla cops say a girl hung herself in that house." He stated, nodding towards the falling apart home.
"Do they think it was a suicide?" Jo piped in, raising her brows a bit.
"Yeah, she was a straight A student, full ride to UT too." He said, a hint of disbelief in his tone. "If you ask me, it just don't make sense."
After a shrug, the man nodded at them in the form of saying goodbye before he walked off.
"Whaddaya think?" Sam asked, looking towards the young hunter next to him.
Jo pursed her lips, moving her hair out of her face. "I think maybe we missed something."
…
"Dude, where the hell are we?" Dean said with disgust as he looked around the rotting, ramshackle home they had just appeared in.
"We needed a secure location away from the public." The angel stated obviously, giving Dean a look.
"So, what member of the God Squad do we need to find?" The demon asked as he walked around, going over to the fireplace and running his fingers along the mantle. He lifted up his finger and stared at it with repulsion before wiping it on his jacket.
"One you might be familiar with. I'm sure you've heard of the Archangel Raphael." Castiel said slowly, already predicting Dean's reaction.
The demon choked on his own spit before rounding on Cas, his eyes widening. "I'm sorry, you want me to help you track down Raphael? In case you haven't heard, we aren't on the best terms!" Dean reminded, his voice rising in volume as he realized how screwed they were. "No, no way."
The demon moved towards the door and Castiel quickly put a firm hand on his chest. "Dean, I need your help-"
"I'm just making you a target by being near you! He's gonna use this against you man." The middle Winchester pointed out, shoving the angel's hand away from him. "You don't want my help with this."
Dean pushed past Cas, his hand on the doorknob, when the angel's voice stopped him and forced green eyes to meet blue. "You were able to outsmart him before. Who's to say you and I can't do it again?"
The short-haired demon looked away from Castiel's intense gaze. "Because last time it was a miracle I got out of there..." He trailed off, his voice becoming quiet as he remembered what had happened.
Six years ago…
"Dean Winchester, what an honor. Can I get your autograph?"
The demon sneered at the Archangel that had just walked in to the dingy abandoned prison cell he had woken up to find himself in. He silently cursed the painted lines below him that kept him trapped in a four foot radius.
With a cruel twist to his lips, Dean leveled his obsidian gaze with Raphael. "How about I carve it into you?"
The African American vessel stepped back with a hand to his chest, acting as if the comment had cut him deep. "I'm offended, here I thought we could be friends."
"You seemed to have thrown that out the window when you had your piss poor henchmen come ambush me." Dean spat, venom lacing his words.
"Obviously they weren't piss poor or else you wouldn't be here." The angel quipped, earning nothing but a steely glare and defiant silence from the middle Winchester. "Let's cut to the chase shall we?" He asked before stepping into the spider-web infested cell. "You're needed. Not right at this moment, but in the future, you will be. I'm just making sure you'll be within fetching distance when the time comes."
"What the hell could I possibly do for you?" The demon demanded, narrowing his brows as he began to think of how he was getting out of there.
"I don't want to ruin the surprise!" Raphael said, his tone dripping with sarcasm before he made the mistake of leaning forward, his neck up inside the devil's trap. "Trust me, you will obey-"
The Archangel's words were cut off as Dean's calloused hand wrapped around his throat and pulled him forward, bringing him inside the circle.
The demon used his free hand to reach inside a struggling Raphael's jacket. With a self-satisfied smirk, Dean's hand found cool metal before yanking a thin silver blade from his waistband.
"Just a parting gift." With an effortless motion, Dean sank the blade hilt deep into Raphael's lower abdomen, knowing full well the blow wasn't enough to do any real damage. He let the angel's body fall to the floor, the demon casually sliding the seething Raphael over with his foot.
With a mischievous grin, Dean walked through the now broken devil's trap, the paint having been scraped away by the Archangels body, and strolled out of the prison without a second look back.
Dean had to admit, Raphael's words still haunted him. He was worried of when the Archangel planned on collecting for whatever the hell he was needed for and the idea of coming face to face with him made the middle Winchester question whether or not he could help his friend.
"Dean, I need your help. No one else can." Castiel almost pleaded, his gaze sincere as they locked eyes.
With a shuddering sigh and a reluctant look, the demon ran a shaking hand down his face. "I'm in."
…
Sam and Jo each shared a look as they crouched behind some bushes to avoid any of the present policemen from seeing them.
"I guess the cops don't want anyone else screwing around in there." The demon stated bitterly as he counted the mutplie sets of squad cars, his lips forming a slight pout. "Can't say I blame them though."
"We still have to get in there. We need to resolve this before anyone else gets killed." Jo said logically, her gaze drifting towards the house before she noticed two familiar, hunched-over figures approaching the house. "Are you kidding me?"
Sam glanced over the bush to see what she was looking at, a groan slipping past his lips as he watched Ed and Harry making their way covered with gadgets and shushing each other.
The pair shared another look before Jo wiggled her eyebrows. "I got an idea." She stood up and faced the general direction the cops were, cupping a hand to her mouth before yelling, "Who ya gonna call?"
Ed and Harry instantly stiffened and looked around frantically right before the cops spotted them.
Sam busted out laughing as the cops chased the two down a path, giving the demon and hunter their opening.
The pair quickly made their way inside, arming themselves with flashlights and rifles loaded with rock salt.
As they walked in, Jo's eyes drifted to the same symbol she had been stumped on before. "I swear I've seen that before." She muttered, getting aggravated at herself.
"Come on, we don't have much time." Sam urged before turning to go down to the basement.
"What in the hell could this be?" The younger demon asked incredulously as he picked up a glass jar from off of a set of shelving that was full of them. He swirled the pale red liquid inside of it before turning to Jo. "Any guesses?"
"I really, really don't want to know." The hunter confessed before looking away.
The pair both paused in what they were doing when there was a noise coming from a cabinet on the other end of the room.
After pointing her gun towards the cabinet and a nod from Jo, Sam quickly opened the door.
"Aw, come on!" Jo yelled irritably as multiple rats squeaked and ran from the beam of the demon's flashlight. "I'd almost rather have a ghost."
"Jo!" Sam suddenly yelled out, causing the blonde to turn around quickly to see she had spoken to soon as Mordechai stood there with an axe raised above his head.
The youngest Harvelle quickly ducked right before Sam fired off two shots, the spirit still standing there and ready to strike. After a shot from Jo, Mordechai seemed to mist away.
"What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?" Sam questioned incredulously, still a little frazzled from the sudden encounter.
"Not sure, but we got to go!" Jo insisted as she grabbed a hold of the youngest Winchester's arm and yanked him towards the steps right as Mordechai smashed his axe down on the shelves, causing jars and shards of glass to fly everywhere.
Without a moment of hesitation, the demon and hunter bolted for the door.
…
TBC
Woah, what is this? An update that is less than a month a part from the last? Wow, I'm good. I'd like to thank you guys again for your continued support, and I hope you are liking the way the story is continuing to develop. Please leave your thoughts, they make my day and I hope you all have a great rest of the week.