SUPERNATURAL

THE PARCAEX RITUAL

Note - Thanks for reading. Not far to go!

Chapter 19

When morning came the earth was still darkened by the blood red sky, which gave no intention of becoming lighter in the hours to come.

"Why would Iahamu leave us the weapon, it's a bit suspicious isn't it?"

Dean sat biting his teeth into a large burger, and trying to speak amongst all his chicken and salads, "Suspicious?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but it seemed as if when he held the weapon it was causing him a lot of pain, judging by the expressions on his face, anyway. And then there's the fact that he said he needed us alive for some reason too. I'm starting to get a little uneasy."

"You think he left it to us on purpose? Why the heck would he do that?"

"I don't know, but I think we're walking into a trap here, Dean."

"Well, we'll jump that hurdle when we arrive at it, won't we. Until then we have to figure out our next move."

Sam looked at him, "Which is?"

"Well, it seems that the manuscripts are still flying loose around somewhere, and I think we should find them before going after Iahamu or Lucifer."

"But you heard what Iahamu said, Dean, we can't use them! Only the original castor of the Parcaex Ritual can use the manuscripts to control Lucifer."

"You're right," Dean agreed, "We can't use them against him. I think we should destroy them."

"Destroy them? Did you listen to nothing that was said? The destruction of the manuscripts means that the border between Hell and Earth cannot be crossed, and therefore Lucifer will remain here to destroy the entire earth once more, unable to be killed."

"Well, in any case we should keep them in our possession, make sure that nobody else gets that chance. When the time comes and Lucifer is dead, then we can destroy them."

"But what about all the other demons that we haven't killed? Won't they just remain here forever, defying death?"

"Sammy, there are other places a demon goes when it is killed, depending on the method you use."

"And what about Lucifer?"

"I don't think so. Lucifer resides within Hell, one could go so far as to call it his 'home', and as far as I've heard in legends, Hell is the one place that Lucifer can be sent back to. It's almost an invincibility kind of thing, as if he will always come back eventually."

Sam smiled, "Not if we close the gates on him."

"Damn right."

"But we're going to have to be careful, we don't know what Iahamu has in store for us, but whatever it is, it sure as hell can't be good."

"I agree, but we'll deal with that later, first we have to find those manuscripts before he does."

"We should carefully watch our steps up 'till then too, for all we know he's just using us to get to the manuscripts. We don't want to be tracked."

"We also need to find that third crusaders knife, I don't recall seeing either Lilith or Iahamu with it, so it must be somewhere else."

"I'd bet that it's hidden wherever the manuscripts are, and my best guess is with another demon. Lilith isn't stupid enough to trust a hidden location."

"So where do you think we should start?"

"First let us find Lenore, maybe they have some idea."

Dean grinned, "Lets hit the road then, Sammy!"

****

The trip back was very quiet, and neither of them spoke a word. Sam was staring out the window at the landscape around them, which had been cast into a deep shadow after the release of Lucifer. Sam almost expected him to jump out at any second, and it was near impossible for him to mentally picture the destruction he would cause.

Dean was also in deep thought, thinking about possible hiding places or people with whom Lilith would trust the most powerful weapon known to man, but in the end just a stack of new questions arose.

As they came into the small town of Waterloo once more, they instantly knew that something was wrong. Turrets of smoke billowed from a raging fire set in the heart of the town, and the streets were empty, as residents had run into their homes for cover.

They drove through the streets and came to the scene of the fire. Half the street was aflame, many of the houses with little wood left to burn on them. Among these houses was number 13 where Bobby, Lenore and her followers were staying.

Deans mouth sat agape, staring at the wreckage, "What the…?"

"Maybe they weren't in there," Sam suggested hopefully, his eyes watering from the heat of the flames, "Maybe they got out."

"Bobby took Ellen and Jo to the hospital, he could have stayed with them…"

"No, he would have gone back to help."

"Can vampires be killed from flames?"

"A vampire can only be killed from decapitation, but if they were in there when it happened, I don't think they'd have a head for much longer, the fire would turn their entire bodies to ashes."

"Great," Dean muttered, "Now what the hell are we going to do? We've lost our backup, Bobby and any chance of finding those manuscripts. We're boned."

Sam was looking around hopefully, for some sign that they'd escaped, possible emerging out of some nearby yard where they'd been keeping safe for the moment. But in his heart he knew it was hopeless.

After waiting around for another 10 minutes observing the wreckage, they drove to the opposite side of town and bought out a hotel room for the rest of the week, right beside the hospital.

"Think we should check up on Ellen and Jo?" Dean asked, laying down on his bed, "If not, I'd like some rest, it's been a long morning."

"I guess we can sleep for a few hours, and later we'll go check on them."

"What if they're not ever there?"

"I called the hospital just five minutes ago, they said that they're both unconscious but they're still checked in, and alive."

"Good," Dean replied, turning over onto his stomach and pushing his head into the pillow, "I haven't had a good sleep in a long time."

Sam laughed, "Dean you were dead for over three weeks, how much more sleep do you want?"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly 'at rest' now, was I?"

Sam slept uneasily; falling slowly into another place, another time, and watching strange events unfold around him in clear detail.

It was in an old house of some sort, and two figures stood in the small-unfurnished room, one tall and brunette, the second small and blonde. It took Sam no time at all to recall their names.

"Lenore," Lilith spoke, "I have a task for you."

"Anything," Lenore replied.

"I fear a disturbance in our plan for Lucifer, and I'm not exactly sure who is behind it, but I can feel their energy force, and it is astounding."

"The brothers?"

"No, it is… something else."

"Surely this thing is no match for you, Lilith."

Lilith looked out the window, staring off into the sun, "I don't know," she whispered.

They stood in silence, Lenore watching Lilith carefully. "What is it that you would like me to do?"

Lilith turned back to her, "I need you to take these," she said, holding out a small box, "Inside contain one of the rarest and most powerful weapons in the world, the other is the Manuscripts of Vanatuhi."

Lenore looked shocked, "Why are you giving these to me! I have even less power than you when it comes to protecting them."

Lilith ignored this. "Whatever you do, you must not let Lucifer obtain them. More importantly, you must keep them hidden from Sam and Dean Winchester."

"But where shall I go! Sam and Dean Winchester will find me, wherever on this Earth I hide. It is not possible."

"No, that is true. That is why I have a much better idea."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"Go and find the Winchester boys, befriend them. Gain their trust. They will never suspect something that is right under their noses. You could even help them. Remember, there are more than two sides to this war, and I want the third eliminated, and this may be the perfect way to crash in on the Winchesters."

Lenore nodded, and took the box, "Is that all?"

"That is all." Lilith replied.

Dean and Sam scoffed down a quick breakfast, and Sam hadn't said a word the whole time.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked.

"Nothing."

Dean sighed, "Sammy, I've known you since the day you were born, and for the last five years we've been together constantly, so I know when something's up."

"I had another dream."

To any normal person, these words would have meant nothing, but nothing good ever came from these, and Dean knew it.

"Who?"

"Lenore and Lilith."

"Together?"

"Yeah."

"Like, together together? On the same side together?"

"How many other 'togethers are there?"

"Well, of course there's the-"

"Okay, stop. I saw Lilith and Lenore talking, planning things, and Lilith specifically told Lenore to befriend us."

"Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. Their bodies have rotted beneath the flaming wreckage of the house, we don't need to worry about them anymore."

"We should still be careful, for all we know they weren't anywhere near the house when it burned down."

"In any case, we decided to go and see Jo and Ellen this morning, yes?"

"Yeah, but let us finish breakfast first, I haven't eaten in an age."

Sam laughed, standing up and walking towards the exit, "Yeah, right."

Dean followed, picking up his two bacon and egg rolls as he went and walking at Sam's heels. They crossed the road and walked along the side-path down to the end of the street where they came to the Waterloo Base Hospital.

The reception was cold, and the air smelled of overdone cleanliness.

"I always hated hospitals," Dean muttered, "Its so quiet that it kills me."

"What'd you expect?"

"Nothing, I just don't like them."

They followed along the hallways and turned a corner, finally coming into Ward 6B, and led in by a short, blonde nurse.

"You'll be happy to know that one woke up this morning," she told them, leading them around a set of curtains.

Jo and Ellen lay in their beds, both of their faces pale but the life was slowly creeping back into Ellen's', who smiled widely as they walked in.

"Hey, boys."

"Ellen," Sam nodded, "Glad to see you awake."

She laughed, "You almost sound like you've been here before, but you're not that kind of guy, I know it."

"Guilty."

Dean was stuck in his thoughts of the fire and the wreckage, and Ellen must have seen it in his face, because she asked, "What happened?"

Sam sighed, and told her a shortened version of the story, telling of Iahamu and his speech, then the death of Lilith and how they let him escape, as well as what their next moves were going to be.

"...But when we got back, it was up in flames. Nobody could have survived something like that."

"But maybe they weren't in there at the time," Ellen suggested, "They could have gotten out."

"For Bobby's sake, I hope they did," Dean replied.

Ellen looked over to him, "What do you mean?"

Sam hadn't planned on telling her about the dream, but he had no other choice now. She was an extremely curious person. He'd finished telling her and there was a short silence.

"But, maybe it was just a-"

"Just a dream?" Dean asked, "Yeah, I've attempted to convince myself the same thing so many times, and every single time I've been wrong. Sammy here just doesn't have regular dreams, ands that's all there is to it. They're never wrong. There is something fishy about Lenore, and if she did make it out of there alive the first thing I'll do when I see her is put a bullet in her head."

"Yes, Dean," Sam added sarcastically, "Because that's going to do a hell of a lot of damage, isn't it?"

Dean stopped and thought for a second, "But why would she do it? Why, after all we've done for them, would they just turn against us like that?"

"Well, for one I think our saving their lives was probably the reason they didn't kill us on the spot, and Lilith didn't ask her to kill us anyway, only to stop us from getting to the manuscripts."

"They must have thought that Lilith would finish the job when we left, because they didn't try to stop us now, did they."

"What I want to know is what all this fuss about keeping us alive is about. What would they possibly need us for? The idea of it kinda scares me."

"Well," Ellen said, "When they let me out of this place, I'll be sure to help you with that. Until then, you'd better leave, you both have some work to do."

****

"So," Sam began, "Have any ideas as to what our next move is?"

They sat in the Impala, driving aimlessly along towards the next town to where they would book themselves into the closest hotel they could find and rest until their plan was complete.

Dean laughed at the notion, "Not a clue, Sammy."

"Nothing?"

"Well, so far we've gotten through all of this with a lot of luck and extremely suspicious timing, in fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if some sign just sprung out of nowhere to hint us in the right direction."

Barely two seconds later Deans' phone began to ring, and Sam reached into the back seat to retrieve it. "Hello?"

"Sam," A voice called through the speaker, "It's Lenore, where are you?"

Sam looked at Dean, who turned down the speaker volume in the car so that he could hear further, "Where've you been?" Sam answered, "We got back to the house and it was completely aflame!"

"Yeah, well I-"

Sam didn't hear any more, for Dean pulled it from Sam's grasp and shoved it towards his own ear.

"Dean, don't," Sam whispered.

Dean ignored him, "Listen, hun, we know what you're up to. Yeah that's right, we know the whole deal. Lilith asked you to stay with us, protecting the Manuscripts right under our noses. I swear, once we get a hold of you, you will be sorry."

He hung up. Sam glared at him, his mouth agape, "Are you out of your mind?" he yelled, "What the hell was that!?"

"What?"

"We don't know the whole story, Dean! You didn't have to go yelling like that."

"I think it has become pretty clear, Sam, that they're not who we thought they were. You should have listened to me when we first encountered them."

"No, Dean. Its just that none of this fits! It was a little suspicious, Yes! But-"

"But what?" Dean emphasised, looking over at him.

"I don't know," Sam suddenly lowered his voice, "It just doesn't feel right."

Dean just ignored him.

"Well," Sam started, "Even if they were what you think they are, you've just completely lost our best chance of defeating them. They didn't know that we know all of that, so we lost a crucial advantage. Nice going, genius."

****

For the next twenty minutes, the two of them sat in silence, neither looking at the other as Dean drove.

The silence was only broken when Deans cell phone began to ring again, and this time Dean answered.

"Hello?"

"Dean?"

"Lenore," he growled, "What do you want now?"

"Dean, listen to me, this isn't what you think it is."

"Okay? Then what is it, huh?"

"You saw this in a dream of Sam's, did you not?"

Dean paused, and said nothing. Lenore assumed that she was correct and Dean replied, "How do you know about Sam's visions?"

At this, Sam leaned over and snatched the phone from his grasp, "Lenore?"

"Sam."

"What do you know about my visions?"

She laughed, "Well, for one I know why you get them, but also I happen to know how too."

Sam was shocked, but was almost certain that she was lying. "Then tell me, how then, huh?"

"Sam, I really don't have time to explain it properly, I will tell you another time, but not now. What you need to know is that they're put into your mind to make you insecure and think things that aren't exactly true. I have in fact been in contact with Lilith for a long time now, but definitely not in the same league with her. You must help me to help you, Sam."

"How do we know to trust you?"

"Because I have something that you need, and you know what I mean."

"The manuscripts?"

"Meet me at the Church on the eastern edge of the Wyoming railway at 2am if you think you can trust me. I'll be alone."

She hung up. Sam passed the phone back to Dean, who looked at him, "You're not seriously falling for this are you?"

"Well…"

"But what if it's a trap? I mean, you dreamed that she was conversing with Lilith did you not? She's leading us into something and I don't think we should follow."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

Dean thought about coming up with some kind of retaliation, but thought better of it, before groaning and swinging the steering wheel around, doing a full U-Turn and heading back in the opposite direction towards Wyoming.

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