A/N: Thank you Pony and Loreley for your reviews! As for letting them all have pizza in the end and the Darkness getting set free...I'll just say that I'm currently finishing up story #4 in this verse. ;)
Chapter 5
Ryn strode into the study room with the box containing the Book of the Damned and thunked it down loudly on one of the tables. "Anything?"
Charlie was frantically clacking away at her laptop's keyboard. "Okay, time pressure, seriously not helping."
"I'm not the one who put the time constraints on," Ryn replied, coming around to see over the girl's shoulder. She wasn't as tech savvy as she could have been in this day and age; otherwise she'd be helping Charlie do…whatever she was doing on the computer. A categorical search of the Men of Letters' archives, it seemed. Ryn hadn't realized the collection of lore had been uploaded to a digital storage drive.
Charlie let out a strained breath. "I know, I know. Sam and Cas will bring Dean back, right?" she asked hopefully, but before Ryn could think of answering, she was barreling right along, "Right. And then we'll all be safe in the bunker while I figure this out. So I just need to find my zen." Charlie interlocked her fingers and stretched, cracking a few knuckles. Then she made several attempts at steadying breaths, but kept letting them out a little forcefully.
"No mentions of what the 'Darkness' is?" Ryn prompted. "Not even theories?"
"Nothing," Charlie said desperately. "What if we destroy the Book, and something even worse than the Stynes gets unleashed?"
Ryn's lips thinned. Yeah, that wasn't something she wanted to risk. "Maybe we can make a show of destroying a decoy," she suggested.
Charlie straightened. "Do you think they'd buy that?"
In truth, Ryn didn't know. The Stynes had a way of tracking the Book, and without determining what it was, she couldn't say for sure if their method would also clue them in as to whether the Book had actually been destroyed or not. It'd be a gamble, but Ryn couldn't think of any better options at the moment. And now that the Stynes knew who the Winchesters were—and that they had the Book—they wouldn't stop coming after them. An endless wave of tin soldiers one right after the other that would far outlast three humans, a single angel, and a phoenix, even with a supernatural silo such as the bunker.
The front door grated open, and Ryn whipped her head up. No way they should have gotten back that quickly…
"Knock-knock," a heavily accented voice drawled.
Charlie's eyes flew wide in horror and she lurched from her seat just as three men came sauntering in from the map room. Ryn recognized one as the guy who'd fled their first encounter.
"Well, well, well," the leader crooned. "Looks like the little ladies were left at home to warm the hearth fires."
Ryn cast her gaze around for a weapon. Fortunately, the bunker had them in abundance. She snatched a curved blade off a display rack on the closest bookcase.
The man roved his eyes up and down her figure, seemingly unimpressed. Then he shifted his gaze to the box on the table. "Ah, let me guess, that'd be the thing concealing the Book from us."
"Get out," Ryn spat, even as she knew it was a futile demand. These monsters were tenacious, to put it mildly. She'd handled herself well enough against the two earlier, but one had fled like a coward and now she was facing three all at once. She wished she had her katana on hand, as that blade was reinforced with runes and sigils that were more effective against supernatural beings. And even then, the Stynes had proven resilient in a fight.
"Not without what belongs to us," the head Styne said in return.
The other lackey charged forward at that, and Ryn swung the sword up to slice across his chest. It sent him reeling back a step, but he recovered quickly and moved to tackle her. Ryn danced out of the way and spun, swinging her blade around to cut through sinew and bone. The Styne's head went flying across the room.
A shot cracked the air, and Ryn jerked as lead tore through her shoulder. She staggered, and whirled to find the other thug aiming a gun at her. Fire seared from inside the wound, but not her own inner flame, something different. She grimaced in confusion, and then Styne squeezed the trigger and another bullet impacted her abdomen. Charlie screamed.
Ryn gasped under the assault of pain splashing like acid into her blood. It'd been a long time since she'd been shot, and she didn't remember it feeling like this. She tried to summon her spark to regenerate the torn flesh and muscle and also channel into an offensive strike. There was a delayed instant before she felt it stir, but another sharp report preceded a third bullet ripping through her chest, and the precarious grasp she'd only begun to harness snuffed out under the shock of the impact. These weren't regular lead bullets…
She stumbled backward and tripped over a chair, crashing to the floor. The sword went clattering out of her hand. Her chest throbbed, and an astringent tickle crawled up the back of her throat as blood spurted into one lung. Ryn gritted her teeth and focused her senses inward. She could feel the acerbic pulses of something foul radiating from the center of the wounds, something that had shape and line…
Ryn's breath caught in her throat on a garbled curse; there was magic inscribed on the bullets.
She craned her neck around. "Charlie, run!"
The girl only hesitated a second before Styne aimed the gun at her next. Charlie bolted, and a bullet struck the column she'd just been standing by, sending chinks of plaster flying. She let out a yelp and ducked down the corridor.
Ryn struggled to get up as hot blood pumped out of her wounds. The head Styne casually stepped around her to get to the box. He unlatched the lid and flipped it open, and his face cracked into a minacious grin.
"There you are."
Ryn clenched her fist against her stomach, trying to staunch the heaviest bleeding, and sucked in a sharp breath as fire quickened in her veins. With Charlie out of the room, she didn't have to be afraid of unleashing the torrent.
Styne lifted the Book of the Damned and tucked it under one arm. Then he walked back to his goon and took the gun from him. Ryn urged the blaze to fight against the magic in the bullets and catch faster.
"You should have given it back when we asked nicely." Styne raised the gun toward her head and pulled the trigger.
Sam broke every single speed limit as he gunned the Impala toward the Blackbird Motel. It was on the outskirts of the next town over, and Lebanon was small enough that he could take the back roads without fear of running past a sheriff's car.
"What's the plan?" Cas asked from the passenger seat.
Sam's knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. "Kill them all?" He didn't care if more would just come to take their place. Right now, he just wanted to get his brother back and make sure these particular first class d-bags couldn't come after them again.
Cas didn't respond for a lengthy moment. "They proved somewhat difficult to kill the first time," he finally said carefully. Sam cast him a sidelong glance in time to see Cas's jaw working tensely. "Smiting was effective, but I won't be able to use that more than once."
Sam blinked. "What? Why?" That wasn't what he remembered of Cas's powers. Heck, the angel had one time smote an entire diner full of monsters.
Cas let out a frustrated sound under his breath. "My grace isn't as strong as it once was," he admitted bitterly.
Sam shot him a disbelieving look. Cas was telling him this now? "What are you talking about? Did something happen while you were off with Ryn?"
"No. It's- Metatron's spell used up a significant portion of my grace. What you recovered was enough to restore me, just, not completely."
The oxygen whooshed out of Sam's lungs sharply. "Your wings," he murmured, remembering how the shadows had looked broken when they'd first given Cas his original grace back. But then he and Ryn had their long overdue reunion and Sam and Dean were just so relieved that Cas wasn't dying anymore, that they all kind of just forgot about that little detail. Sam was kicking himself over it now.
Cas rolled his shoulder, seemingly almost subconsciously. "I'll be able to summon the energy to smite once, but a second time would drain me. Regardless, these men aren't impossible to kill. I suspect decapitation, a blade through the heart, or multiple gunshots would do the trick."
"Shoot 'em full of holes, got it."
"Any idea how many there are?"
"There were three who nabbed Dean," Sam replied. "But I don't know if there will be more." His stomach clenched with apprehension.
Cas nodded, and slipped his angel blade out to place it in his lap. "We'll have to act quickly. I'll clear a path to Dean."
Sam forced himself to inhale deeply, steadying his nerves for the fight. They could do this. They'd taken down bigger bad guys before.
Right, like with a Mark of Cain and swallowing Purgatory souls and saying yes to the Devil.
Shit.
It had started to rain by the time they finally reached the motel, and water was streaming down in sheets across the windshield, even with the wipers going. Sam veered into the lot and braked, squinting to see through the water logged window. A pit started forming in his stomach.
Without a word, Sam got out, rain instantly pounding against his face and neck and splotching his jacket. Cas came around the front of the Impala, frowning as he also looked around. He tucked his angel blade inside the front of his coat.
"Where are they?" he asked.
Sam's pulse ratcheted up as he swept a frantic gaze across the parking lot and across the street. There were no other vehicles, no lights on in any of the rundown motel rooms. The neon sign currently lit up with 'Vacancy' buzzed lowly above their heads to the left.
Sam pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. They were early, but that didn't offer any measure of relief. Sam had figured these guys would be impatient to get the Book back, and would be here waiting. If they were doing anything to Dean…
Sam shivered as rainwater trickled down the inside of his collar and started plastering his hair to his face.
Come on, come on.
Headlights finally lit up the tree line at the driveway, and a moment later the van from the pizza place pulled into the parking lot. It drew to a stop several feet away from them, and then a guy Sam didn't recognize climbed out of the passenger side. The driver was definitely one of the Stynes that had helped grab Dean, though.
Sam drew his chin up. "Where's Eldon?"
"My cousin had something to take care of," this new guy responded, also with the heavily southern accent. "I'll be handling negotiations."
Sam exchanged a wary look with Cas. It was just the two of them? Or were there more hiding out in the darkness of night? Not that Cas could read Sam's silent question; the angel didn't have the practice at nonverbal communication the Winchester brothers did.
"Where's the Book?" Styne continued.
"Where's my brother?" Sam lobbed back.
The man's lips curved upward in a sneer, but he took a few steps back and turned to slide open the side panel of the van. Sam stiffened as he spotted Dean inside, sitting slumped against the wall. His wrists were handcuffed, with the chain looped through a handle near the roof. Sam tried to blink water from his lashes to see whether Dean was beaten or not, but it didn't look like it. Mostly, his brother just looked pissed.
"Now, the Book?" Styne prompted.
Sam swallowed hard, and nodded to Cas. Clear a path. And if it was just these two, it'd be cake… "My friend will bring it over," he called.
Cas reached a hand up to his overcoat as though he were carrying something inside the fold. He was—his angel blade. He just needed to get close enough to use it to take out the Stynes, and then they'd grab Dean and go. Sam couldn't help feeling on edge, though. Why had Eldon changed things up? Wasn't the Book the most important thing to these guys?
Cas approached slowly, but once he reached the halfway point across the empty lot, Styne's stoic face abruptly cracked into a manic grin and he started laughing. Cas pulled up short, eyeing him guardedly. Sam's instincts were suddenly screaming at him.
"What's so funny?" he bit out.
Styne let out a few more throaty cackles before composing himself, though his face was still beaming. He spread his arms. "I know you don't have the Book."
Sam's spine went rigid. Shit.
Cas whipped out his blade and surged forward to attack, but he'd only taken one step when blazing red light exploded around him. Sam threw an arm up to shield his face, his heart leaping into his throat. The nova died out just as quickly, plunging the parking lot into darkness. Sam blinked furiously to clear the lingering spots from his vision, and when he did, the oxygen stole from his lungs at the sight of Cas sprawled on the pavement, out cold. Water was evaporating in wafting plumes of steam, and it took Sam a moment to realize the rain had apparently stopped.
"Cas!" Dean shouted, wrenching violently at his cuffs.
"Well now," a voice resonated from behind, and Sam whirled as Eldon Styne emerged from the trees, arms full of a large, open book. "I do believe that might be my new favorite."
Sam's stomach lurched as he took in the leather binding and red ink. Eldon slammed the book closed, and Sam saw with dawning horror the familiar wrinkles and lumps marring the dark brown cover. But how…?
Eldon turned his gaze to him and smirked smugly. "You boys make it so easy to draw you out, you know that? First with the murdered girl and now this."
"Sam!" Dean shouted again, and Sam spun back around to find the other two Stynes grabbing Cas by his lax limbs and dragging him toward the van.
Sam pulled out his gun and fired, hitting one guy in the shoulder and propelling him back a step. Headlights suddenly flashed in his face, and Sam flinched as another car came screeching into the lot and slammed on its brakes, cutting Sam off from the others. The driver leaped out and charged around the front toward him.
Sam tried to get off another shot, but the guy was fast and on him in a second. A fist slammed into his cheek, and Sam's head snapped sideways. He tried to duck the next swing and deliver an uppercut of his own, but it was like punching a block of marble. The Styne goon clocked him in the jaw again, and Sam went crashing to the ground and splashing in a puddle.
He shook the stunned haze from himself as Dean's shouts echoed in the background. Styne lumbered toward him. Sam tried to get his gun up, which he was miraculously still holding despite his grip becoming slick from water. But meaty hands fisted in the front of his shirt, and then he was being hefted off the ground and flung through the air.
His back hit the hood of the Impala with a dull thud, and somewhere in the back of his dazed mind he hoped it wasn't dented. Or maybe he did hope it was. Because then Dean was going to lose his shit and break free to kill these sons-of-bitches.
Sam could hear his attacker's heavy breathing, sounding every bit like the Frankenstein monster his supposed ancestor purportedly created. Gritting his teeth, Sam jerked his gun up and squeezed the trigger. The night air cracked with the sharp reports as he emptied his magazine into the bastard. Styne's body jerked with each bullet that tore through him, but he still didn't go down. Grinning madly, he took a stumbling step forward, only to fall face first into the asphalt.
Sam scrambled back, panting and aiming his now empty gun at the creep. The bastard didn't get up. Right, shoot 'em full of holes.
Screeching tires had Sam whipping his head up in time to see the van peeling out of the driveway. He scrambled to his feet and darted around the dead guy's car. The other Stynes were gone. Cas was gone. And Dean too…
Sam staggered under the shock, chest heaving with the rush of adrenaline and scattered thoughts of what the hell had just happened? The Stynes had managed to do something to Cas, cast a spell, it seemed. But how? Wait, Eldon had the Book. He'd used the Book of the Damned on Cas. Sam only had a second of horror at that realization before the implications hit him.
If the Stynes had the Book, then that meant… Oh god, Charlie. Ryn.
Sam stumbled to the Impala and clambered behind the wheel. By the time he pulled onto the street, there was no sign of the Stynes' van or where it had gone. Those bastards still had Dean, and now Cas, too. And Sam had no idea how he was going to rescue them. What the hell did the Stynes want with them, anyway? Nothing good, that was for sure. Had they known Cas was an angel? They had to, if they'd known to use the Book on him. And they'd known where the bunker was, probably followed Sam back there after they'd grabbed Dean.
God, he was such an idiot! Too worried about his brother to notice if someone had been tailing him. And the Stynes had gone through the motions of a hostage exchange for, what? Just to grab Cas too?
And what about Charlie and Ryn? Sam's heart rate started hammering into overdrive as he gunned the Impala back toward the bunker, terrified of what he was going to find.