SUPERNATURAL

THE PARCAEX RITUAL

Chapter 13

Dean lay on the side of the street in Idaho Springs; his feint breathing was the only sign that he still lived. The bullet had not pierced his heart, but another inch and he would have been waving goodbye to this world once more.

He was barely conscious, unable to move an inch, tears spilling from his eyes as he remembered those last awful moments. He struggled to keep himself awake, but his head felt heavy, and soon he couldn't resist it anymore. His last thought before he slipped into a heavenly unconsciousness was a silent prayer that whatever had come over his brother could be stopped before it was too late.

Dean lay on the ground for more than four hours before he was found. His body was picked up, carefully placed into the back seat of an old truck and taken away.

He didn't expect to wake up again. But he felt the life flow back into his limbs, and before long Dean sat up, staring into the smiling face of Bobby, who held up a small bullet with a pair of tweezers as a mark of his latest success.

Dean clutched at his chest, where Bobby had carefully laid a small bandage over his wound. It hurt like hell, but he was thankful for what Bobby had done.

"You saved my life, Bobby. I would hug you, but I'm not really the hugging kind of guy."

Bobby laughed, and then his tone became very serious, "Dean, this job isn't done yet, and we have some work to do."

"Oh crap!" Dean sat up quickly, wincing at the pain, "How long have I been out for?"

Bobby thought for a second, "Well, it was about three hours now since I picked you up, but I have no idea how long it had been since you were shot. I'm assuming it was Sam?"

"Yes, Bobby. But it wasn't him, exactly. It just couldn't be, but I'm at a loss to know what it really is."

"Well, first things first, we have to find your brother and fix this."

Dean stared at him, "Bobby, we're not going to kill Sam."

He sighed, "I know that, but we have to find him anyway, so that we can figure out a way to reverse the damage. But-"

"But what?" Dean asked quickly, "Oh how I hate the word 'but'!"

"But it may already be too late."

Dean looked tearful, "Don't say that, Bobby. There has to be a way, there just has to be."

Bobby looked away, and Dean glimpsed the room around him for the first time. "Where are we?" he asked.

It was a small barn of some kind, but the inside looked as if it had been refurnished to resemble something like a home.

"My brother," Bobby replied, "He was also a hunter, and he used to live here. But after his death it has been empty, though I use it every now and again. It's in the middle of nowhere, so nobody will bother us here."

"How did he die?"

"Never mind stories now! We've got work to do!"

"Okay, I'm getting up. Let's go."

"Dean, we don't know where he is! And I asked around, but nobody saw him leave town."

Dean thought for a minute, and then in a hush voice he whispered, "I know where he is."

Bobby looked questioning, and Dean continued, "The vision that I had in hell, this is what it means. The job that Sam was told to do was kill me, and he's going to be sent on to capture Walker now too."

"Well, the question is, do we wait for Sam to come back or go after him to Kansas?"

Dean stood up and attempted to walk. The pain was terrible, but it slowly eased as he limped over to the door. By the position of the sun, it was barely the afternoon, but they still had little time to drive all the way to Wyoming and find Sam."

"We go after him. When I had the vision, it was dark when he arrived at the graveyard. So I say we start driving, and hopefully we can stop him before he gets there."

"Good idea, are you sure you don't want to rest first?"

"Bobby, I've been doing this kind of thing for years, I know how to withstand a little bit of pain!"

"Dean," He looked sincere, "You were just shot, and that isn't just a 'little bit of pain'."

"Well, a little bit of pain is nothing when you compare it to the thought of Sam joining forces with Satan."

"Okay, Dean. Lets go."

They exited the doors, and Bobby didn't even bother locking up. He obviously either didn't have anything worth protecting in there, or thought that nobody would ever find them. Dean looked around, and there were just green fields everywhere. They really were hidden from anybody's view.

"Dean, were there any distinct signs? You know, anything that you could visibly tell that was different about Sam?"

Dean thought for a second, "Well, his expression was different, it was almost as if it caused him pain to be evil."

They opened the truck doors and Bobby drove. They set off; along the extremely long driveway that ran all the way back to the outskirts of Idaho Springs.

They turned onto the main road and Dean thought of something worth mentioning to him, "Bobby, I saw Ellen in that bar in town."

Bobby didn't look surprised, "Yeah, She told me that day a year ago that she would have to start a new life, and she used to have family in Idaho Springs, so I assumed that's where she would set off to."

"Well, there's another thing. I swore to her that I would help her rebuild the roadhouse when we're done with Lucifer, and she was almost in tears. But I'm going to need help with that, Bobby. Do you reckon we could get a few guys to join in?"

"Sure, Dean. Actually I know a few people with some experience in building, and I'm sure that it will be no problem."

"Bobby, you seem to know everyone," Dean laughed.

"Well, I've been all across America hunting these strange creatures for twenty-five years. Doing that for so long you meet hundreds of different people, saving lives along the way. Sometimes the day you saved their life may come in useful when you're in need of what they have to offer."

"Yeah, that's true."

They drove across the wide country land of Colorado, staring out the windows at the wide fields and property's that sped past, and Dean caught a small glimpse of farmers driving large tractors and other vehicles, tending to their fields.

At this sight he began to wonder what it was like to be completely blinded, utterly oblivious to the creatures that emerged from the darkness, the horrors of the night.

Bobby broke the silence, "So Dean, you called me shortly about Bela's disappearance and said that she took the knife, but I'm curious at what the full story is."

"Well, Bobby, there isn't that much to tell. We went to see your man Cotalus and when we got back she was gone, the knife too. But we know that she sold it to a demon named Xelas for some items he possessed. But then this Mathew Walker guy came along and beheaded the demon."

"But that wouldn't have killed it, how...?"

"I know, I don't get it either."

"Actually, I think I know," Bobby said slowly, "Yes, It must be, he did have one, didn't he."

"What?"

"These knives, they don't all look exactly the same, Dean. I don't know a lot about their lore, but I'm sure that when I did read it, there was something about the third knife being of abnormal length. Well, usually the only way of telling them apart from regular knives is their shape and the markings engraves on the sides, but this one was altogether different from the knives itself."

"But it was as large as a machete!" Dean exclaimed, "You're telling me that the sword he beheaded Xelas with was one of the Crusaders weapons we're looking for? I thought you said that they were all knives!"

"Actually, I said that there were three crusaders weapons, and since Sams' and Liliths' were both knives, that's just what you assumed."

"Okay, well why is the last one a sword if the other two are knives?" Dean asked.

"Well, the Crusaders lore said that the leader of the three, Ollathair, who the other two looked up to as their leader forged the most superior weapon of the three, but Amaethon and Palladium both held knives. They took on Lucifer with two knives and a sword to take him down."

Dean looked slightly surprised, "You know their names too?"

"Sure, it's all in the legend."

"Damn it I wish that Sam still had his laptop, it could have come in very useful in a time like this."

"Oh well, you'll have to do without for now, plus it wouldn't come in much use at the moment, as Sam isn't even here at the moment."

"Bobby," Dean started, "I'm curious, how did you find me down there?"

Bobby laughed, "Don't you remember when your father got you that mobile? He set a GPS tracker on the phone so that he could find you at anytime. Wherever he went, whatever you did, he knew exactly where you were. It was his way of watching you while he wasn't with you. Plus it's how he stayed out of your way and found you when he needed you."

"But why do you have it?"

"I found it with the rest of his belongings in his truck, and thought that it might come in useful. Which, eventually, it did."

"Wow, I can't thank you enough Bobby. Another hour down there and I'd be gone as quickly as I'd come back."

Bobby laughed, "Well we can't have that now, can we. Your brother needs you."

Dean laughed, "Yeah, he sure knows how to show it," he answered, holding his palm on the wound in his chest.

"It's my responsibility, Bobby. I must save him from this evil, and I won't rest until I have." Dean was fired up, he knew what he had to do and he intended to do it.

"That's the spirit," Bobby muttered.

It was growing dark as they arrived in Wyoming, less than a twenty minutes drive to the train-tracks that bordered Lucifers lair.

"So," Bobby turned to Dean, "Its your decision. Do we wait? Or do we go in after Sam?"

"I don't think it will be safe going after Sam. If you don't remember, Lucifer is hiding out in that graveyard, guarding the Devils Gates. I don't think it would be safe for us, or Sam, if we followed him."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

When they arrived at the railway tracks, Bobby stopped the car and Dean searched ahead of them, spotting the Impala stopped on the side of the road, "Sam has already been here."

"So what do we do now?"

Dean sat back in his seat, getting comfortable and putting his feet up, "We wait."

It was near midnight when Sam appeared from out of the woods. Dean and Bobby had hidden their car, and were now slowly approaching the Impala on their stomachs, keeping themselves concealed within the bushland.

Sam searched nervously about him before unlocking the Impala, and that's when Dean and Bobby sprung out of the bush, holding two pistols towards Sam.

Sam smiled, "I should have known that you would come back. You never stay dead for long, do you?"

"Sammy, you're the one who brought me back in the first place, if you don't remember. But why do it if you were just going to shoot me?"

"Because back then I didn't realise how much more I could be. I've always been the younger brother, and maybe that's true, but you Dean always overshadowed me. But now," he laughed, "Now I'm at last rid of you, and I'm working by myself."

"By yourself?" Dean asked, "Last I heard you were doing the bidding for the Devil down there."

"True, but I work alone. Something I haven't been able to do for a long time."

"Sammy," Dean was trying to stay strong, "That's not you speaking, I know it isn't."

"Oh yeah? Quit crying you moron, you look pathetic."

Dean wiped his eyes clean and stared into his brothers, "Why did you do it, Sam?" he whispered, "Why turn against your own family?"

"Because I'm nothing like you, Dean. You or Dad, I was always the odd one out. I chose to live my life. I went to college, I had a wonderful girlfriend, and you and Dad despised me for it. I had the life that I wanted, and you didn't.

"Dad was so proud of you that you wouldn't dare do him wrong. You went along with it all. You became the hunter you are today. But now, Dean, I don't have to live with it anymore. Lucifer has promised me much more than you could possibly give me, and all I have to do are these few small tasks."

Bobby started, "Sam, that's crazy. You should know that Lucifer is only using you to get what he wants."

"So what? I don't care if he gets those knives. I don't care if the world falls to its knees because of me. I will get the life back that I once had, I will be free again. And this is all it takes."

"All it takes?" Dean questioned, "You're talking as if the end of the world is a small price to pay, just to get what you want."

"The end of the world, Dean? Or the beginning?"

"Come on, Man. You've been hunting these creatures for years, and now you go and join them?"

"If you don't like it, Dean, then shoot me. Go ahead! You're the one with the gun, I'm completely defenceless, here," he said, moving away from the Impala, "I'll even step away from the car, we wouldn't want blood-stains on it now, would we?"

"Sam, I'm not going to shoot you, but you've got to stop this nonsense. I know that this isn't you speaking. You wouldn't do this, no matter how far we pushed you."

"That's where you're wrong, Dean. I've kept these emotions pushed in for years, but finally I have the chance to let them out, as I have once before."

"What?"

"Do you remember the Roosevelt Asylum?" Sam asked, "That doctor and his tests? He thought that if he could get his patients to vent their anger, they'd be cured. Instead, they became so angry that they began to riot.

"Exactly what you said, Dean. No matter how far you pushed me, I bottled it all up inside. But one day it was bound to come out. Just like that night, when you gave me that unloaded pistol and told me to shoot you. All the bottled up anger I'd been holding in for twenty years came out of me in that moment, and I pulled the trigger."

"But it didn't kill me."

"No, that's the thing, Dean. It would have. There was no trick to what the doctor was doing, it was only venting the anger that I'd bottled up inside. It was enough to make me kill you, Dean. Haven't you ever thought of that before?"

"Of course I have, Sammy. But I knew that it meant nothing, and I know that something is wrong with you now, so I'm going to stop it."

"But you're not going to shoot me."

"No, I couldn't do that to my own brother."

"Well, I'm telling you that it's the only way, Dean. The only way to save me is to kill me, here and now. If not, then I have somebody to find."

Sam began walking towards the Impala, the two weapons still placed on him. Dean heard Bobby cock his gun. "Bobby, wait."

"Dean," he answered, "We can't just let him go, he's dangerous!"

Dean cocked his gun too, "We don't have to."

Dean pulled the trigger and Sam felt the bullet wedge itself into his flesh, piercing the bone of his left shin. The pain was excruciating, and he cursed out loud as Dean and Bobby ran over to him.

Sams' face was pale, and Bobby helped Dean push him into the back seat of the car. Bobby ran back to his truck and retrieved his first aid kit, quickly opening it in the back of the Impala and applying bandages to Sams wound, as Dean fetched himself some rope and tied Sam down to the back seat, so as he couldn't escape as they drove.

"Bobby, where did you learn all this medical stuff?"

"Boy, not all hunters were brought up as hunters."

"What do you mean," Dean asked, getting into the drivers seat.

"I went to a medical school when I was nineteen, but it wasn't long after that when I turned to hunting."

"Why did you become a hunter? What made you choose it?"

"Another time, Dean. We have other things on our hands right now."

"Are you taking your car?" Dean asked.

"No, I won't need it at the moment. It can stay here and I'll come back for it another time."

"Okay, so where to now? Back to Colorado?"

"Well, I guess so. If that Mathew Walker guy wasn't there before, he will be now."