Chapter 10

"The order of what?" Dean looked at the cell phone sitting there as if it were possessed.

"The Order of Melchizedek," Bobby's voice came over loud and clear, "It's actually a priestly order going back to biblical times. It is a priestly order under the priest Melchizedek, priest to El Shaddai."

"Is that some sort of ancient god?" Dean asked.

"How am I supposed know?" Bobby retorted sarcastically. "There's no translation. At least none that I know about."

Angela listened to Bobby's discovery. She had never heard of the Order of Melchizedek before and even with Bobby's scarce explanation, it didn't shed any light on the subject. She asked, "Was there anything regarding rituals and human sacrifice?"

"No."

"Then what Bobby?" Dean asked in a near impatient tone.

"Don't sass me boy. I've done the best I can. Anyway the only thing that I found in terms of ritual refers to something called the House of Gold. The rest is obscure, referring to light and the Plain of Shar-On."

"Maybe there's something that we're missing then," Sam suggested, speaking for the first time since they had been left alone. He watched as Angela pulled out the medallion she had in her pocket and studied it. He asked, "Is that it?"

Angela nodded and handed it over. She said, "There's one thing that I recognizes and that is the brazen serpent. It's a predecessor the Staff of Hermes, the international symbol of those places you and Dean hate with a passion."

"It's a symbol of medicine?" Sam asked to clarify as he studied the medallion.

"That was the main clue," Bobby's voice came over the phone, "Other than that, you three have to figure it out."

"Thanks Bobby," Angela said. "We'll call you if something comes up." She clicked the phone off after hearing the grizzled hunter grumble a little. She smiled at hearing exactly what he said knowing that she would give it back to him later just to tease him. She looked over at Sam and Dean and then glanced at the kids. She had the feeling that they may have overheard everything but she wasn't going to say anything. She had learned a long time ago not to accuse unless you had proof. Just because the kids were there didn't mean that they heard everything.

At that moment, the door opened and Miriam came in. Angela slipped her cell phone in her pocket and gave a slight flick of her finger to Sam. He responded by hiding the medallion in his hand and slipping it into his pocket. Angela stepped forward, placing her hands on the boy's shoulders to signal them to stay back. She advanced and stood in front of Mariam.

Miriam watched the movements of the malachi and her companions. She waited until Angela was standing in front of her before saying, "Your transports are ready. You are free to leave."

"Thank you," Angela replied. She turned towards the Winchesters and gave a slight nod. At the same time Alex walked over, his ankle doing better, along with Kelly and Mason.

Miriam led them out to where the cars were waiting. She didn't say anything when Hardman got into the car with the malachi since the man insisted on it. He was fortunate that his injuries weren't the more serious. The children got into the car with the Winchesters, an interesting development as well as the fact that Alex stopped by Angela and said something to her in which she smiled and gave a nod before getting in the car.

Nebi came to watch with Miriam as the cars left. He asked, "Is it wise to trust the young master with them?"

"The Winchesters saved the boy twice and the Malachi saved Hardman. They have no ulterior motive. They are here because of the murders."

"They could be mercenaries."

"Nebi, you have served the order faithfully all your life," Miriam replied, "However this latest escapade has me wondering whether you are letting your duty go to your head. Our order has practiced the healing arts and yet you denied the Winchesters that, as if you didn't care."

"I was protecting the young master. They would have been treated before they were interrogated," Nebi replied, "I was charged with security while the family was in this town. Before that, the boy's instruction. How is it that my methods are questioned now?"

Miriam glanced at her old friend. He had been brought up in the order. It was all he knew just as she knew the priesthood of the order. It was all they had but somewhere along the way, Nebi's protectiveness forgot their vows. She replied, "Your methods have proven to be our protective force but I have noticed that you haven't kept in mind the vows regarding healing and helping those in need, even those of our enemies."

Nebi lowered his head. Miriam was right as always even though his old mentor had said that the priests always had their heads in the clouds. He had grown up with Miriam and they had always discussed the tenets of the order. In the end he thought her to be right and he came to that on his own too. He wondered when he started thinking like his old mentor. He sighed, "You're right Miriam. You always have seen things clearly. I am just worried."

"I wouldn't worry too much. The Winchesters are well known within the circles of the supernatural, especially the Centurion and the girl is the Malachi though she is not ready for that yet." Miriam smiled as she spoke. "If anything I think they will be able to get to the bottom of this and find out which brothers are the traitors."

"Will you still want me to continue on my end?"

"Of course. We use all sources." Miriam smiled to let Nebi know that she still trusted him and his abilities. "The boy will be fine. Perhaps we have gotten a little too stringent in potential allies."

Hardman sat next to the woman as she drove her car. He glanced at her bandaged wrists and inwardly cursed the fact that the order had weapons for every possible creature and being known in existence. At least he had been able to argue in her defense and she was set free. They had not been there when she sauntered up and interrupted what was surely his execution.

He had been prepared to die protecting the boy and then she came. She fought with a regard for life even though she had killed the first attacker. It was like the Lord himself had sent her and she fought like the bravest warriors in the early days of the order. He was intrigued by her and wondered if she would be the one to uncover the ones after the boy. Miriam and Nebi suggested that it was the brothers but he thought that maybe it was a rogue group of the brotherhood. After all Coach Taylor made some mention of the brotherhood. He said the first thing that came to mind, "Thank you for saving my life."

Angela glanced at the man next to her. Before they had left, he had asked if she didn't mind taking him back to town. She found him to be a quiet sort, taking in everything, observing for any signs of trouble and she figured that was something that his kind did. She replied that she didn't mind and got in her car not noticing that Sam was watching with a peculiar look on his face. She found Hardman to be a quiet sort and was surprised he embarked on a conversation. She replied, "You're welcome. I detest bullies."

"They really weren't bullies," Hardman replied, But the expression is rather kind.

Angela couldn't help but chuckle. "I wasn't being kind at all. It's just my way of speaking."

Hardman gave a slight grin. Her cheerful look on life was rather infectious. Maybe that was why her companions where protective of her well at least the taller of the two. He didn't fail to notice the look the tall giant gave him when he spoke to her. He had seen that look before but he was certain the giant had no idea why he was giving that look. It was something to think about. He replied to the woman, "Your way of speaking seems to either spark trouble or laughter and sometimes thoughtful conversation."

"Generous living."

"Indeed. I am assuming that you have lived many years Shadow Chaser." Hardman used titles since he had not been given a name.

"I have and the name is Angela," Angela replied as she turned on the road that led straight into town.

Hardman rubbed his chest to ease the soreness and replied, "Phillip Hardman, Knight of the Order of Melchizedek." He paused and frowned at the fact that he had revealed his association to the order. He had been trained all his life to never reveal it unless it was another brother or the person had proven an honorable ally. By Nebi's standards she was hardly that but Hardman felt that he could trust her. Maybe that was why he blurted out his affiliation.

Angela frowned at the mention of Hardman's affiliation. According to Bobby, the order was a priestly order. What was the deal with knights? It never occurred to her that she created comfortable settings and inspired people to trust her. She replied, hoping to sound casual, "Hmm I thought the order was a priestly one."

Hardman glanced at her. Now it was a game of revealing information. Still he could find no harm in revealing just a little and he still needed to give a location of where to be dropped off. He replied, "If you head to where the boy lives, I can tell a little but not all."

Angela gave a wry smile. She knew this game well having played it herself. Hell she was playing it with the Winchesters. She replied, "I take it they are your orders?"

"Something like that and I am guessing that this is something your friends should know."

"Indeed. Every since we've arrived, we saved the kid twice and had been apprehended by your people and from what Miriam mentioned, this is something that we just fell into while searching for a job." Angela put her foot on the gas and sped up. Her reflexes were that good that she could travel triple the speed limit and not hit anything. "By the way, you should know that we are on your side for the most part, unless your people plan on doing some serious mojo that brings about the end of the world."

Hardman looked at Angela as if she were crazy. He didn't mind the increased speed but her implied accusation was a little harsh. It was true that the order could have done better in the whole approaching and asking them to state their business. If he thought about it, he would be pissed as hell with the treatment. The two guys she was traveling with certainly thought so. She was rather calm and matter of fact about it and yet she could be violent if she wanted. He did catch a glimpse of what she did to Nebi and his men. Seeing that she was expecting a reply, he said, "The order's mandate is dictated by the old therapeutate. It is much like your Hippocratic oath. The knights of the order swear to it as well but we defend the priests."

"Huh. I figured as much when I saw the brazen serpent. Now perhaps when we reach the boy's house, you and his parents can explain his connection in all of this though I would suggest being careful with his friends. I doubt they would give away secrets but it is said that there are eyes everywhere if you are on the run."

"I take it that you know this from experience?"

"Take it as you will," Angela replied and said no more. She slowed down once they reached the first few neighborhoods of the town. From there, she would be able to find the boy's house.

Alex sat on the couch between Kelly and Mason with his arms crossed. In the room were not only his parents but Kelly and Mason's parents as well as Mr. Hardman. As it turned out, the parents decided to tag team with each other and now they were the general inquisitors. Apparently they were more upset that they were lied to about where they had been. He supposed he should be grateful that his parents didn't mention the car accident. That would have caused a ruckus.

Mrs. Riker was speaking, "Kelly I am very disappointed in you. You said you were at the library working on a project."

"That's where we were," Alex replied, not intimidated by Mrs. Riker's posturing.

Mrs. Riker ignored him and focused on her daughter. "Kelly where were you? I called the library and they said that you three were not there at all."

Kelly usually told the truth but this time she was going to keep Alex's secret. They had agreed on it when the Winchesters drove them to the house. Her mother gave her the perfect weapon. She immediately reacted, "You've been spying on me?"

"Don't give me that tone young lady."

"I can't believe you've been spying on me!" Kelly stood up and stomped out the door to head to her mother's car.

Alex and Mason watched while Mrs. Riker apologized and went after Kelly. Mason's mother gave a look that clearly said she was disappointed in the lying. She motioned for Mason to get going and apologized for any inconvenience leaving Alex to face his parents and Mr. Hardman. He looked at them and asked, "Okay so is this the part where you tell me that I was reckless right?"

"That thought crossed our minds," Gideon replied looking at his son. "Tell me why did you feel the need to lie to us about where you were?"

Alex rolled his eyes slightly. He replied, "You know why Dad. You and Mom would have been freaked out and demanded that I come home and to leave my nose out of other people's business." He gave a slight sigh and added, "The main reason would have been because I can't draw attention to myself. Well newsflash: I drew attention even though I did what you said."

"Alex, we just want you to understand that there are people out there that want to use you and your heritage for their own purposes," Rachel tried to explain.

"And Nebi's people don't? By the way, Nebi is a douche. I don't want to train with him anymore," Alex retorted, "And you might want to talk to Miriam about replacing Hardman here since from the looks of things his cover is blown." He didn't know why he was being a jerk except for the fact that he was still angry at Nebi for his treatment of people who had saved his life. At least that Angela woman was a bit understanding.

Even though he had been angry, she had only spoken a few words. She didn't ask how she was doing. She complimented him on his field dressing skills. She treated it like a casual conversation. That was what calmed him down a bit. She then related and didn't even get angry with him when he shot her down. She was a strange person especially when she said that she had been on both sides of betrayal. Did that mean she betrayed someone like Nebi did? That made Alex curious about her but at the moment he was just upset mainly about the way his life was.

Hardman watched Alex as he spoke. Perhaps things had been done wrong and the boy was right. His cover was blown, especially since there were members of the brotherhood that worked in the school. He then had an idea and seeing that the boy's parents were busy with Alex, he took the opportunity to sneak away. Perhaps it might just work.

Angela was studying the medallion not really listening to the conversation that Sam and Dean were having. Bobby's information was accurate since she checked up on it herself when they got back to the motel. She was waiting for the confection she had in the oven in the kitchenette to finish.

As a compromise to the whole food issue, bar food versus diner food, she offered to cook dinner. Certainly it was worth it after the day they had. She bought the ingredients and commandeered the kitchenette in the boy's room since that was the only double that had been available when they checked in. The entrée she had in mind was something that may be considered a meal for a kid but she managed to come up with things to supplement it and she had a surprise mainly for the benefit of Dean since she knew he was still pissed about the treatment of Sam.

Dean was talking to Sam about what happened and discussing the possibility that they should leave since it was obviously an internal problem. Dean was saying, "Come on Sam. There's nothing supernatural here. Just a bunch of people following a tradition and some people who don't like following orders. Besides why would you want to help them. For all we know that douche Nebi had his men attack the kids and then attack us."

"I'm fine Dean," Sam said knowing exactly where this was going. "Besides if this Order of Melchizedek has people that are rebelling, why here and why now?"

"Maybe they thought Grant was a small town that nobody would think twice about looking at," Dean shrugged his shoulders.

"Except people like us especially since whoever killed those guys made it look like a satanic ritual or something that a witch would do," Sam pointed out. "Besides Dean, I get the feeling that kid Alex is part of something bigger which is why there were a lot of holes in the explanations."

Dean thought about it a moment. Sam did have a point. Bobby's explanation about the order and then the whole secrecy issue about the details did leave room for one to speculate. Also Angela had pointed out that groups like the order did have occult origins in many respects so there was the faintest of possibilities that there was something supernatural involved. It was a thin stretch and Dean was not one to leave a job unfinished.

If Dean wanted to examine his reasons for wanting to leave, it was because he couldn't stand the douche Nebi. It had also pissed him off that they had almost let Sam bleed out. However neither were sufficient reasons for leaving especially since a kid was involved. He said, "I see your point Sam. Maybe if we knew more about what we are dealing with..." He gave a shrug of his shoulders and sat on his bed. He pulled out his gun and started taking it apart for a lack of anything better to do. He gave a slight motion to indicate to Sam that he was to relax or do something while Angela finished playing chef. He called out, "Hey Angie, are you cooking a five course meal or something?"

Angela was so absorbed in her examination, that she didn't even hear Dean ask the question. She was staring intently at the medallion while thinking about the vision she had the other day. Something didn't quite add up with everything. Normally with cults who had persons that were considered important, they were protected. That much made sense. The problem lay in the fact that esoteric groups like these did not operate on a hierarchy structure that most people are familiar with like businesses. Organization was designed upon circles like the Centurion sort of.

What really had Angela was the fact that they kept mentioning brotherhood. There were literally dozens of groups that were referred to as brotherhoods. The closest she came up with was the White Serpent Brotherhood of Karnak which was related to the therapeutate and the only thing that seemed to relate to what the order stood for. Then there was the matter of the murders. That was perplexing and yet they did seem familiar. It was like she had seen or read about them before. She frowned and tried to remember.

She was concentrating so hard that when Dean got up to give her a shoulder poke, she reacted as if someone was trying to take her by surprise. She grabbed Dean by the wrist with one hand and with the other she grabbed his body. In a single smooth motion, she had him on his back on the ground and she had straddled his body, using her legs to pin his arms and was ready to strike. She had a firm stance even though she could feel Dean struggling to get free. She managed to stop though and looked down at the stunned hunter and said, "Huh. I thought you could hand anybody their ass Dean."

Dean was annoyed that Angela hadn't been answering and had gotten up to see what was going on. As he passed Sam who was doing research on his laptop, his brother gave him a silent look that warned him not to do what he was planning to do. Dean ignored it and gave Angela a shoulder poke to get her attention. He didn't expect her to grab him like she did and flip him onto his back, nor did he expect to have her straddle him and pin him down. When she gave her flippant remark, a few choice phrases entered his mind as he stared up at the woman who was sitting on him. "How else am I going to get you to jump on me?" He gave a smirk and waggle of his eyebrows.

Angela was smirking herself since she had the advantage. She didn't move as she looked down at Dean and then glanced over at Sam who was trying hard not to laugh at the scene. She replied, "Oh I can jump on you anytime, anywhere. The question is whether or not you can keep up."

Sam was laughing a hard silent laugh as he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the scene in front of him. It was rare that his brother got his ass kicked by a girl and ended up in a compromising position. It could be good blackmail material or something he could tease Angela with. He called out, "I doubt he could Angela."

"Shut up Sam," Dean grunted, trying to see if he could throw Angela off of him but she was rooted to her spot like a tree root. He tried to bring his legs up to wrap around her torso but he couldn't. "You wouldn't be saying the same thing if she had jumped on you." He grunted again and asked, "Angie could you please move now?"

"Oh and I thought we were having fun," Angela replied giving a slight pout.

"I know I'm having fun watching Dean get his ass kicked," Sam replied.

Angela grinned at Sam. She decided to have some fun, "So I see Taurus has carnal lust and pleasurability just as Aquarius thrives on sexual pantomime."

Sam tried not to blush and instead looked away. Dean though was laughing and said, "Angie I don't know where your mind goes but the things you come up with..."

Angela looked at Dean and said, "Finish that thought and you just might have to suffer without dessert and a pity too since I know you would like it."

"I won't be able to do anything if you don't let me up. Why don't you tackle Samantha there? I'd pay to see you take on my freakishly huge brother."

"Why do you always give me the third degree about my height Dean?"

Angela paused the moment she heard the words third degree. Of course! Why didn't she think of it before? Now she knew why she recognized the layout of the nature of the murders. It all made sense now. She let out a groan and smacked her hand to her forehead. "Gah, I am such an idiot!"

Dean and Sam stopped whatever they were arguing about and looked at Angela. Dean was grateful since she finally got off of him by standing up in on fluid motion and walked out of the room to hers. She was back within a minute carrying a huge weathered leather bound book and thumped it on the nearest bed. Sam asked, "You okay Angela?"

Angela was rifling through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "I can't believe I missed it. Those murders are the consequences of spilling secrets to one of the oldest and most talked about groups ever."

A/N: All's well that ends well... well almost. Looks like Dean got a little action as well. So what is the mysterious group that Angela figured out was behind everything? Find out next time on The Order of Melchizedek...