Oh lord! I know it has been much too long since I last updated, but the good news is I stayed on track of my goal I set in the announcement! This chapter was like double what I had written for chapter 2. It's my longest chapter to date. The end kinda sucks because I really wanted to get it out. Please review and let me know how it went! AliceKingsleigh
We had been driving nonstop for days now. Dean caught wind of a rawhead in some town. I had stopped paying attention to where we were. All we did was drive and hunt. As a hunter, you'd think I'd be used to this, but I don't hunt like these boys do. As soon as they're done with one case they're looking for the next.
I followed Dean into the gravel driveway of a rickety ass house that looked like its owners neglected it for years. I pulled up alongside the Impala and popped the trunk of my car. Flipping down the visor, I looked at myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes gave way to my extreme exhaustion. After rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I opened my glove compartment and found a partial five hour energy drink. I slammed it back hoping for some sort of energy boost. Opening the door, I slid my legs out and quickly walked back to my trunk. I glanced over at the boys to see them propping up their arsenal lid. I did the same and reached into my nicely organized weapons compartment to pull out my taser gun.
"What do you have that amped up to?" Sam asked as Dean handed him one.
"Ten thousand volts." He answered.
"Damn." Sam said.
"Yeah, I want that rawhead extra friggin' crispy." Dean replied. "Now remember, you only get one shot with these things, so make it count." He warned.
"Hunny, this ain't my first rodeo." I said while winking at him and walking off to the house.
Leading the way, I opened the front door of the house. There clearly was no one living in this house. Knowing the rawhead would most likely be in the basement, I quietly maneuvered through the hallways to the basement door. I opened it slowly so it wouldn't creak. I glanced back at Sam and Dean before making my way down the stairs. With the brothers close behind me I continued going down the steps. We all had our stun guns up and our flash lights on. When we were half way down the stairs, a wardrobe straight ahead began to rattle. All of us took aim at the closet. We looked from one to the other while Dean silently counted down. Preparing for the worst, I placed my finger over the trigger of my stun gun. Sam and Dean flung the doors open to reveal two small children huddled in fear.
"Is it still here?" Sam whispered to the kids.
They just nodded their reply.
"Okay, grab your sister's hand. We're going to get you outta here." Dean said quietly as he helped the boy up. "Let's go; Let's go!"
"Okay, go!" Sam told the children as we got to the stairs.
While Sam was shepherding the children up the stairs, Dean and I covered him. We still hadn't seen nor heard the beast yet. When Sam was almost to the top, the rawhead grabbed his ankle from under the stairs.
"Sam!" Dean shouted while the little girl screamed in terror.
Dean spun around and shoved me out of the way. He raced down the stairs and zapped the rawhead, giving Sam and the kids a chance to escape.
"Sam! Get 'em outta here!" Dean yelled up to his younger brother.
"Here! Take this!" He shouted back while tossing his stun gun to Dean.
With all the commotion, the rawhead had had a chance to hide and get an advantage on us.
"Let's split up." I whispered while walking around a pile of boxes before Dean had the chance to argue.
Silently advancing though the mess of personal items, I kept a keen eye out for the creature. Not wanting to give away my location, I tried to stay as quiet as possible. However, that did not seem to be Dean's plan of action.
"Come onnnn!" Dean groaned loudly.
I sighed to myself and continued looking on my end of the basement. All of a sudden I heard Dean being thrown up against a wall and the battle cries of the rawhead. I tried to get over there as quickly as I could, but there was too much junk in the basement that I could hardly move around. I heard Dean scrambling and splashing around in water before I saw him. Right as I was coming up on him I saw it. Dean, not thinking of the properties of electricity, shot the rawhead, who happened to be standing in the puddle Dean was lying in.
"Dean, no!" I shouted, but it was too late.
I watched as the electricity, ten thousand volts of it, passed from the stun gun to the rawhead and back to Dean. The rawhead dropped to the ground and Dean passed out. Just then Sam came running down the stairs.
"Dean!" He shouted as he ran to his brother's side. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" was all he could manage to say.
He checked Dean for a pulse. I was paralyzed. I had no control over my limbs. I mentally screamed at my muscles to move, but nothing happened. Everything after that went hazy. Next thing I knew, we were at the hospital.
"Sir, I'm sorry to ask. There doesn't seem to be any insurance on file." The nurse behind the desk said to Sam.
"Right. Oh, um. Uh, here." He said to her while handing her an insurance card.
"Okay, Mister… Burkavitz." She said while looking at the card.
Sam looked over at the two police men who were in the middle of questioning us and then back at me. We quickly walked over to them, not wanting them to stay here any longer than necessary.
"Look, uh, we can finish this up later…" the cop suggested.
"No, no. It's okay. We were just taking a short cut through the neighborhood and um, our windows were rolled down. We heard screaming when we drove past the house and we stopped; ran in." Sam answered.
"And you found the kids in the basement?" the cop asked.
"Yeah." Sam replied.
"Well, thank god you did." The cop said.
Sam looked over his shoulder and saw Dean's doctor walk by.
"Excuse me." He told the cop.
"Sure. Well thanks for your help." The cop acknowledged as we walked after the doctor.
"Hey doc, is he…" Sam started, seeming unsure of how to ask.
"He's resting. The electrocution triggered a heart attack, a pretty massive one. His heart; it's damaged." The doctor explained.
"How damaged?" asked Sam.
"We've done all we can. At this point we can keep him comfortable, but I only give him a couple weeks; a month at the most." Elaborated the doctor, not so gently might I add.
"No, no. There's gotta be something that you can do; some kinda treatment." Sam said, unable to accept what the doctor was saying.
"We can't work miracles. I really am sorry." He apologized.
Sam just nodded and walked to Dean's room. I followed after him. I felt so awkward. Sam was handling everything so well and maturely, while I had my foot in my mouth and chased after him like a child. I have known these boys since we were children. They were like my family. I didn't really know how to act or react in this situation.
We entered Dean's room to find him watching T.V. He was lying in his hospital bed with wires and oxygen all hooked up to him.
"Have you ever actually watched daytime T.V.?" He asked as we walked through the door. "It's terrible."
"I talked to your doctor." Sam announced.
"That fabric softener teddy bear? Woo. I'll hunt that little bitch down." Dean said, ignoring his brother.
"Dean."
"Yeah. Alright well, looks like you gotta leave town without me." Dean answered nonchalantly.
"What? What are you talking about? I'm not gonna leave you here." Sam asked, baffled by Dean's response.
"Hey, you better take care of that car, or I swear I'll haunt your ass." Dean joked.
"I don't think that's funny." Sam stated matter-o-factly.
"Aw, come on. It's a little funny." Dean pleaded.
Sam looked down and smirked slightly. Then there was an awkward drawn out silence. That's when I knew the conversation was about to get heavy.
Dean took a deep breath before saying, "Look Sammy, what can I say, man? It's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it. End of story."
"Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options." Sam said, obviously angered by his brother's comment.
"What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. I know it's not easy. I'm gonna die, and you can't stop it." Dean said with an odd expression on his face. It was a mixture of a plea for help and his strong act that he puts on.
"Watch me." Sam said before leaving.
I watched Sam leave but stayed behind. My eyes darted around the room taking in my surroundings. They landed on the T.V. for a while. I wasn't really watching; just trying to get a grasp of the situation we were in.
"You're awfully quiet." Dean said, snapping me out of my mental paralysis.
My head turned in his direction. I wasn't really quite sure what to say, so I just walked over to the chairs in the corner of the room for visitors and dragged one over to the side of his bed. He watched me as I did so. I sat down in the chair and snatched the remote from his hand.
"Hey, give that back!" He said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Mmm, no." I replied. I started flipping through the channels.
"That's for the patients. Are you a patient?" He asked.
I ignored him and just continued to flip. We sat there in silence. I probably flipped through all the channels three times before I said something. I kept my eyes glued to the T.V. though.
"This is my fault, isn't it?"
I had been mulling this over since we got to the hospital. Had we not split up, I would have been able to prevent this. I fully blamed myself for what happened to Dean. I was just curious if he did as well.
"How is this your fault?" Dean asked.
"I ditched you, didn't I?" I half asked, half stated.
"Maybe so, but I'm a big boy now. I'm capable of taking care of myself." He responded.
"That may be true, but had I been covering you like I was supposed to, we wouldn't be here, now would we?" I rebutted.
"This isn't your fault, Allie. Now go back to the motel with Sammy and get some sleep." He said as he picked up the remote again, obviously done with this conversation.
I leaned in and kissed Dean on the cheek before leaving the hospital. When I got back to the motel, Sam had books and articles strewn across each bed.
"Um, hi. Where am I supposed to sleep?" I jokingly asked as I walked through the door.
"Huh? Oh. Here," He said as he quickly cleared off a bed.
I moved all the papers he had next to him and sat down beside him. He watched me as I did so. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest. I felt his arms snake their way around my waist. We just sat like that for a while. Neither of us wanting to leave the comfort the other provided.
Buzz, buzz.
Sam's phone started going off. He broke the embrace and snatched it up.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Uh, huh."
"Okay, yeah. Can I have an address?"
"Thanks. Bye."
The one sided conversation I heard didn't make much sense to me, but Sam's mood seem to escalate from miserable to hopeful in a matter of seconds. I looked up at Sam, who had gotten up and walked across the room. I gave him a look of questioning.
"I think I found a way to save Dean." He said with a smile on his face.
"Really? Do you think he'll go for it?" I asked, knowing how Dean felt about cheating death.
"He doesn't really have a choice." Sam dismissed my concerns.
Slivers of light washed over my face as I opened my eyes. I glanced over to see Sam on the phone again. He hung up the phone and took a sharp breath. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Sam tensed up and went to go open it. I quickly threw back the covers and ran up behind Sam, wanting to be in the know of who was at the door, even though I was wearing only an oversized t-shirt that belonged to Dean.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked as I peered around him to see Dean.
"I checked myself out." Dean explained proudly.
"Are you crazy?!" Sam and I exclaimed together.
"Well I'm not gonna die in a hospital when the nurses aren't even hot. I'd much rather be here with this sweet little thing." He joked while winking at me and causing me to blush. "Nice shirt by the way." He added while trying to peer around to check out my ass.
"You know this whole," Sam said as he shut the door, "'I laugh in the face of death' thing, it's crap; I can see right through it."
"Yeah, whatever dude." Dean replied, trying to blow off what Sam said. "Have you even slept? You look worse than me."
"Yeah, well I've been scouring the internet for the last three days, calling every contact in Dad's journal." Sam answered as he and I helped Dean over to a chair.
"For what?" Asked Dean while sitting down.
"For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back, told me about a guy in Nebraska; specialist." Sam said with a smile as he sat opposite of Dean.
"You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you?" Dean asked exasperated.
"I'm not gonna let you die period. We're goin'." Sam stated.
The sky was dismal, and the rain was at a constant drizzle as we pulled up the muddy drive way to what an unsuspecting person would say was a fair of some sort. Sam parked the Impala while I pulled my Mustang up next to it. Before I even had the chance to open my door, Sam was running around to go help Dean. I noticed a sign by the tent that read "The Church of Roy Le Grange Faith Healer" and knew instantly Dean would not be happy.
"AH! I got it!" I heard him shout while brushing off Sam. "Man, you're a lying bastard! I thought you said we were going to see a doctor?"
"I believe I said specialist. Look Dean, this guy is supposed to be the real deal." Sam tried to explain.
"I can't believe you brought me here to some guy who heals people out of a tent." Dean bitched.
"Reverend Le Grange is a great man!" A woman carrying an umbrella said as she passed us.
"Yeah, that's nice." Dean said grumpily as we continued our way towards the tent.
"I have the right to protest! This man is a fraud! He's cheating all these people out of their hard earned money!" A man was yelling at a sheriff.
"Sir, this is a place of worship! Let's go, move it!" the cop responded.
"I take it he's not part of the flock." Dean said.
"Appears not." I mumbled.
"When people see something they can't explain, there's controversy." Sam tried to clarify.
"But come on Sam, a faith healer?" Dean whined.
"Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean." Sam countered.
"Dean, just give it a shot. What do we have to lose?" I asked.
"You know what I got faith in? Reality; knowin' what's really goin' on." Dean responded, ignoring my question.
"How can you be a skeptic? With all the things we see every day?" Sam said trying to get Dean to see what he sees.
"Exactly! We see them! We know they're real!" Dean exclaimed.
"But if you know evil is out there how can you not believe good is out there too?" Sam asked.
"Because I see what evil does to good people!" Dean answered.
"Maybe God works in mysterious ways." A beautiful soft spoken woman turned around to face Dean. She had her golden locks pulled back in a half up half down hairstyle. She was petite and well dressed. Instantly, Dean's interest in her peaked.
"Maybe he does." He replied while checking her out. "I think you just turned me around on the subject."
I scoffed while rolling my eyes. He could be such a dog at times!
She smiled politely before saying, "Yeah, I'm sure."
"I'm Dean, this is Sam." He said, totally forgetting me.
"I'm Layla." The woman said.
"I'm Allie by the way." I said while glaring at Dean.
"Oh, are you two…" She started.
"No." Dean and I interrupted in unison.
"Oh… So if you're not a believer, why are you here?" She asked changing the subject.
"Well apparently my brother and Allie here believe enough for all of us." Dean replied.
"Come on, Layla, it's about to start." A smiling woman said while ushering the Layla away.
"Bye." Layla said softly.
"I bet chya she could work in some mysterious ways." Dean said while checking out her ass.
I glared at him while Sam just chuckled. Dean took off to go in the tent, and we followed. There were multitudes of the ill filing in and taking a seat in hopes of being rid of their ailments.
"Yeah, peace, love and trust all over." Dean said nodding towards a security camera.
Dean was about to pick a seat in back, when Sam came up to him.
"No, you're sitting up front."
"What?! Why?!" Dean asked upset.
"Because." Sam answered as he went to help Dean up.
"Oh come on, Sam!" Dean pleaded.
"You alright?" Sam asked.
"This is ridiculous. Get off me!" Dean grumbled while swatting Sam's hand off his shoulder.
We walked towards the front and found three open seats in the second row. We took our seats as a man, obviously blind, walked up to the podium and was aided in the removal of his coat. He began preaching. He mentioned how the news was filled with people committing terrible and immoral acts. All this stuff about God, then he mentioned it was God who guided him into people's hearts to find the ones to heal.
"And their wallets." Dean mumbled to Sam and me.
"You think so young man?" the preacher asked.
"Sorry." Dean apologized embarrassed with all eyes on him.
"No, no. Don't be. Just watch what you say around blind men, we have real sharp ears." He joked.
Dean smirked slightly.
"What's your name son?" The man asked.
"Dean." He answered after clearing his throat.
"Dean? I want you to come up here with me."
Everyone began clapping. Sam got a huge smile on his face.
"No. That's okay." Dean replied.
"What are you doin'?!" Sam whispered.
"You've come here to be healed, haven't you?" the preacher asked.
"Well yeah, but ahh… maybe you should just pick someone else." Dean said.
"Oh no, I didn't pick you Dean, the Lord did!" he replied.
"Get up there!" Sam encouraged.
I could see the anxiety all over his face. He was nervous, scared even. I reached over and grabbed his hand as he started to get up. He looked down at me and stared into my eyes.
"It'll be okay." I said quietly before letting go of his hand.
He slowly made his way up to the podium. They exchanged words, but they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying.
"Pray with me friends!"
He put his hands together then raised them in the air while slowly moving them apart. Dean exchanged glances with Sam and me before returning his gaze to the preacher. He put his hand on Dean's shoulder then his head. I have never been the religious type, but in this moment, I prayed and believed harder than ever that Dean would be healed. Dean dropped to his knees causing Sam and me to jump up from our seats. Then he passed out, and we ran up to him. Sam started shaking him and said "Say something!" Dean gasped and looked around. He fixed his gaze just beyond the preacher and his eyes grew real big.
"So you really feel okay?" Sam asked while we waited in an examination room for Dean's test results to come back.
"I feel fine, Sam." Dean said as he stared off into space.
"Well, ah, according to all your tests, there is nothing wrong with your heart." The doctor said as she walked into the room. "No sign there ever was. Not that a man your age should be having heart trouble, but, ah, still it's strange. It does happen."
"What do you mean strange?" Dean asked.
"Well just yesterday a young guy like you, twenty seven, athletic, out of nowhere: heart attack." The Doctor explained.
"Thanks, doc." Dean replied.
"No problem." She answered as she left the room.
"That's odd." Dean said looking up at Sam.
"Maybe it's a coincidence. People's hearts give out all the time, man." Sam tried to justify.
"No they don't." Dean answered shortly.
"Look Dean, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Can't we be grateful they guy saved your life and move on?" Sam pleaded.
"Because I can't shake this feeling, okay?" Dean snapped as he got up from the examination table.
"What feeling?" I asked.
"When I was healed I just, I felt wrong. I felt cold, and for a second, I saw someone. This old man. And I'm tellin' you guys, it was a spirit." Dean described while putting on his leather jacket.
"But if there was something there, I think I would have seen it, too, even Allie. I mean, I've been seeing an awful lot of things lately." Sam countered.
"Well excuse me psychic wonder, you're just gonna need a little faith on this one." Dean quipped. "Sam, I've been huntin' long enough to trust a feeling like this."
"Yeah, alright, so what do you wanna do?" Sam asked, finally giving in.
"You should go check out the heart attack guy, Allie and I are gonna visit the reverend." Dean answered as he bolted for the door.
"I feel great; I'm just trying to, you know, make sense of what happened." Dean said as the reverend's wife poured us some iced tea.
"A miracle is what happened." She said simply as she sat down next to me on the couch. "Miracles come so often around Roy."
"When did they start? The miracles?" Dean asked, facing Roy.
"Woke up one morinin' stone blind. Doctors figured I had cancer told me I had maybe a month. So, ah, we prayed for a miracle. I was weak, but I told Sue Ann you just keep right on prayin'. I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up, but I did, and the cancer was gone. If it wasn't for these eyes," he said as he removed his glasses, "no one would ever believe I had had it."
"And suddenly you could heal people?" Dean asked.
"I discovered it afterwards, yes. God's blessed me in many ways." Roy answered.
"His flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning!" Sue Ann added cheerfully.
Dean just eyed her up then glanced at me then at the floor.
"Can I just ask you one more question?" Dean asked Roy.
"Of course you can." He said to Dean.
He licked his lips apprehensively before asking, "Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people why save me?"
I stared at him in shock. It was like he felt he deserved to die. I had never seen this side of Dean before, and it was scaring me.
"Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart and you just… stood out from all the rest." Roy answered.
"What did you see in my heart?" Dean asked eagerly.
"A young man with an important purpose, a job to do, and it isn't finished." Roy said.
We finished up our conversation, thanked them for their hospitality and were on our way. Just as we were leaving, Layla and her mother were walking up the stairs to the Reverend's home.
"Dean, hey. And Allie, right?" She asked.
"Hi." I said with a fake smile.
"Hey." Dean replied.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I feel good, cured I guess. What are you doin' here?" He asked her.
"You know, my mom. She wanted to talk to the Reverend." She answered.
"Layla." Sue Ann called.
Dean and I moved out of the way as Layla and her mother marched up the stairs.
"Yes, I'm here again." She said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, but Roy is resting. He won't be seeing anyone else right now." Sue Ann explained.
The facial expression on Layla's mother dropped. "Sue Ann, please. This is our sixth time. He's got to see us." She begged.
"Roy is well aware of Layla's situation, and he very much wants to help just as soon as the Lord allows." Sue Ann said with a slight attitude. "Have faith, Mrs. Rourke." She added.
She smiled before turning around and going to her house. Layla and her mother just stood there for a moment, defeated. Mrs. Rourke turned around first and glared at Dean and me.
"Why are you still even here? You got what you wanted." She said bitterly.
"Mom. Stop." Layla ordered.
She turned to face her daughter, "No, Layla. This is too much. We've been to ever single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you, strangers who don't even believe…" she glared at Dean.
"I just can't pray any harder." She finished.
"Layla, what's wrong?" Dean asked as he faced the young woman.
"I have this thing." She said as she tried to brush it off like nothing.
"It's a brain tumor. It's inoperable. In six months, the doctors say…" Her mother stopped, not wanting to finish her sentence. Layla put her hand on her mother's shoulder as she looked up at her daughter mournfully.
Dean stared at the ground for a moment, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Layla replied.
"No, it isn't." Mrs. Rourke said to Layla before turning to face Dean. "Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?" She left, not even giving Dean the chance to answer, not that he could answer a question like that.
His brow furrowed as he took in what she had said. He looked up at Layla. She took a sharp breath before rushing past him to join her mother. He watched them leave then looked at me.
"Dean-" I started.
"No." He cut me off as he bee lined for the Impala.
We walked into the motel room. Sam was sitting at his laptop. Dean angrily threw his jacket and the keys on his bed. Sam glanced up at him, not saying anything.
"What'd you find out?" Dean asked as he walked over by Sam.
"I'm sorry." Sam said, not looking his brother in the eye.
"Sorry about what?" Dean asked confused.
"Marshal Hall died at 4:17." Sam answered finally looking his brother in the eye.
"That's the exact time Dean was healed…" I responded as I took a seat next to Sam.
"Yeah." Sam replied. "So I put together a list of everyone Roy has healed, six people over the past year, and I crossed checked them with the local obits. Every time someone was healed, someone else died, and each time, the victim died of the same symptom Le Grange was healing at the time." Sam briefed us while Dean sat down on the other side of Sam.
"Someone's healed of cancer, someone else dies of cancer?" Dean asked.
"Somehow, Le Grange is trading a life for another." Sam said.
"Wait, wait, wait- So Marshal Hall died to save me?"
"Dean, Marshal probably would have died either way, and someone else would have been healed." I said trying to comfort him.
"You never should have brought me here." Dean said angrily at Sam as he got up from his chair.
"Dean, I was just trying to save your life." Sam explained.
"Sam, some guy is dead now because of me!" Dean yelled.
"I didn't know." Sam whispered obviously ashamed with himself.
There was a moment of silence while we glanced between each other, and Dean sat back down.
"The thing I don't understand is how Roy is doing it. How is he trading a life for a life?" Sam asked.
"Oh, he's not doin' it. Something else is doin' it for him." Dean explained poorly.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"The old man I saw onstage. I didn't wanna believe it, but deep down I knew it." Dean said.
"Knew what? What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"There is only one thing that can give and take life like that. We're dealing with a reaper." Dean said.
"You really think it's the Grim Reaper? Like Angel of Death, collect your soul, the whole deal?" Sam asked as he continued to research on his laptop.
"No, no, no. Not the Reaper, a reaper. There's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth. They go by a hundred different names. It's possible that there's more than one of them." Dean answered while looking through books.
"But you said you saw a dude in a suite." Sam quipped.
"What? You think he should've been workin' the whole black-robe thing?" Dean snipped causing me to giggle and earning me a glare from the brothers. Sam looked down at his computer. "Look, you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right?" Dean continued.
Sam shrugged.
Dean whipped out a picture of a skeleton draped in cloth holding an hour glass with a sickle near his feet and the word "Mortalitas" was written above, "Reapers stop time, and you can only see them when they're comin' at you, which is why I could see it and you couldn't."
"Maybe." Sam said, still unconvinced.
"There's nothing else it could be, Sam! The question is how is Roy controlling the damn thing?" Dean explained.
"That cross." I breathed while looking up at Sam.
"What?" Dean asked.
"There was this cross. We noticed it in the church. I knew I had seen it before." Sam started shuffling through tarot cards. He chuckled to himself before separating the card from the deck and showing it to Dean. "Here."
"A tarot?"
"It makes sence. I mean tarot dates back to the early Christian era, when some priests were still using magic and a few of them veered into the dark stuff: necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it." Sam explained.
"So Roy is using black magic to bind the reaper?" Dean asked to clarify.
"If he is, he's riding the whirlwind. It's like puttin' a dog leash on a great white." Sam said.
Dean slammed his book on the table and got up. He walked over to the sink and set his cup in it. He leaned up against the counter, "Okay, then we stop Roy."
"How?" I asked looking up at Dean.
"You know how." Dean answered looking between the both of us.
"Wait, what the hell are you talking about, Dean? We can't kill Roy." Sam stated.
"Sam, they guy's playing God, deciding who lives and dies, that's a monster in my book!" Dean shouted.
"No, we're not gonna kill a human being, Dean! We do that, we're no better than he is." Sam reasoned.
"Okay, so we can't kill Roy, we can't kill Death, any bright ideas, college boy?" Dean asked trying to be a dick about it.
"Okay… uh… if Roy is using some kind of black spell on the reaper, we gotta figure out what it is and how to break it." Sam answered.
We pulled into the lot of The Church of Roy Le Grange again. This time I just rode with the boys. No sense in wasting gas. Dean parked the car near the others. He turned off the engine and we all opened our doors to get out.
"If Roy is using a spell, there might be a spell book." Sam told us as he closed his door.
"You two see if you can find it. Hurry up, too. Service starts in fifteen minutes. I'll try to stall Roy." Dean ordered to the both of us.
"Okay." Sam responded.
"Roy Le Grange is a fraud. He is no healer." The man who was protesting the other day said to the three of us.
"Amen, brother." Dean said as he walked off towards the tent.
"Keep up the good work." Sam told him as we walked off towards the house.
"Thank you." We heard him reply.
The ground was sloppy with mud and rain puddles. I tried to avoid them when I could, but Sam just sloshed right through them. We made our way to the wrap around porch. Honestly, if I wasn't stuck in a life of hunting, this would be the type of house I'd want to have; big country farm home with the wrap around porch to sit on during the summer and drink lemonade with Dea-
"Allie, come on." Sam said as Roy, his wife and some other man made their way to the tent.
Sam threw open the window to their living room and climbed through it, pausing to wait for me. He stuck his hand out to assist me.
"Thank you," I said as I took his hand in mine to support my uneven weight as I climbed through the window.
Sam and I glanced around a little for anything suspicious as we made our way to an office. The door was locked. Sam was digging around in his pockets, when I pulled out my lock picking kit. I gently shoved him out of the way with a teasing wink and quickly got to work. The lock was picked in a matter of seconds due to my many years of practice.
We walked in and began looking around. There were so many old leather bound books there, mostly religious books. I started to poke around the desk area while Sam looked by the book shelves. There were papers strewn across the desk, which I had no interested in, so I moved on to the drawers, which just had your normal office supplies.
I looked up to see Sam holding a small black book in his hands.
"Did you find it?" I asked walking next to him to see what he had in his hands.
"Yeah…" He mumbled as he opened up a newspaper clipping on the man who protests against the church.
We glanced at each other before getting out of there as quickly as possible. As we were walking towards the church tent, Sam reached in his pocket for his phone.
"Roy is choosing victims he sees as immoral, and I think I know who is next on the list. You remember that protester?" Sam said into the phone.
We stopped behind a truck while Sam opened up the book again.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll find him but you can't let Roy heal anyone, alright?"
Sam hung up the phone and we began looking for the man. When we found him, he was running around in the parking lot, like he was being chased by something. "Help!" he shouted.
He backed up against a car.
"Help! Help me please!" he yelled again.
"Where is he?!" Sam asked looking back and forth.
"There!" The man screamed as he pointed directly in front of himself.
Still not being able to see it Sam grabbed the man, "Alright come on!"
We ran around in between cars, up and down isles. The man was looking around, but he seemed much calmer. Sam's phone began to ring.
"David… I think it's okay." He said to the man as he held the phone up to his ear.
He looked around and nodded at us like everything was fine, but when he turned the opposite direction, he screamed "no!" and dropped to his knees.
"Dean, it didn't work! The reaper's still coming!" Sam shouted in the phone.
David was turning paler by the second. His eyes were glazing over like he had cataracts growing on his eyes. He was falling from his kneeling position to a lying down position.
"I'm telling you! I'm telling you! It must not have worked! Roy must not be the one controlling the thing!" Sam shouted in the phone.
He quickly shoved it in his pocket and rushed over to the man's side. I was already there, trying to do anything to make it stop. He began gasping for air and his color flooded back. His eyes also returned to normal. Slowly his breathing returned to normal while Sam and I helped him to his feet.
"Hey, I got you." Sam said as we did so.
"Thank God." The man replied when he was steady on his feet.
We walked back to the Impala to wait for Dean. A few moments later he came walking up, staring at that Layla chick and her mom. They were talking to Roy and Sue Ann. I looked up at Dean as we got back into the Impala, but he avoided my gaze.
"So Roy really believes." Sam said while sitting down on his bed.
"I don't think he has any idea what his wife's doin'." Dean replied as he pushed back the drapes on the window.
"Oh? We found this hidden in their library." Sam announced reaching into his pocket to reveal the small black book we found. "It's ancient."
"It was written by a priest who went dark side. There's a binding spell in there for trapping a reaper." I added.
"Must be a hell of a spell." Dean said as Sam handed him the book.
"Yeah. You gotta build a black altar with seriously dark stuff; bones, human blood." Sam explained. He inhaled sharply before continuing, "To cross a line like that, that preacher's wife; black magic, murder… evil."
"Desperate." Dean corrected. "Her husband was dying. She'd of done anything to save him. She was using the binding spell to keep the reaper away from Roy."
"Cheating Death." Sam muttered. "Literally." He chuckled.
"But Roy's alive, so why is she still using the spell?" Dean asked.
"The articles." I said causing Dean to look at me with confusion.
"Right. To force the reaper to kill people she thinks are immoral." Sam explained.
Dean shook his head side to side, "May God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work."
"We gotta break that binding spell." Sam said.
Looking down and thumbing at the book Dean said, "You know, Sue Ann had a Coptic cross like this. When she dropped it, the reaper backed off."
"Should we destroy the altar of the cross?" I asked the brothers.
"Maybe both." Dean replied.
We exchanged looks and shrugs between the three of us.
"Whatever we do, we'd better do it soon. Roy's healing Layla tonight." Dean said before getting up from the bed he was sitting on.
The now familiar tent came into view as Dean pulled into the driveway. The tent was illuminated. Dean parked near the sheriff's car.
"That's Layla's car. She's already here." Sam said.
"Yeah." Dean replied.
"Dean," Sam started.
"You know if Roy had picked Layla instead of me, she'd be healed right now." Dean interrupted.
"Dean, don't." I said.
"And if she's not healed tonight, she's gonna die in a couple of months." Dean finished.
"What's happening to her is horrible." I replied.
"But what are you gonna do; let somebody else die to save her?" Sam reasoned. "You said it yourself Dean, you can't play God."
Dean stared out into the distance for a while. Just as I was about to put my hand on his shoulder, he abruptly opened the car door and began walking off. Sam and I took that as cue to do the same. We walked off towards the front side of the tent. Light was pouring out of the tent into the harsh black of the night. Dean pulled back the flap revealing a small congregation surrounding Roy.
"Where's Sue Ann?" Dean asked.
"House." Sam answered looking back at the home of Roy and Sue Ann.
Layla was just getting up on stage as we left for the reverend's house. We stalked off into the muddy yard between campers and busses.
"You two go find Sue Ann. I'll catch up." Dean said to us.
"What are you…?" I started saying as Dean walked out in the open near the cops as Sam and I rounded the corner to hide.
"Hey! You gonna put that fear of God in me?" Dean asked the cops before running the opposite direction.
Once Dean led the cops away, Sam and I had the opportunity to find a way in. We jogged up the steps and walked along the porch looking for signs of life. We got to the end and nothing; not a single light in the house was on. Sam glanced down over the railing and saw a light coming from the cellar door.
"Allie." He whispered nudging my arm with his elbow.
I winked at him before racing down the stairs. I quickly rounded the corner of the porch back to the cellar door with Sam close behind. Sam slowly opened the doors, holding one for me. I cautiously led the way into the basement. There were black candles lit on the wall near the stairs as I descended. There was a slight bang as Sam let the doors close behind him causing me to jump.
"Don't do that!" I whispered while turning around to whack him in the arm.
"Sorry!" He said throwing his hands up in surrender.
We continued our way into the basement. All the way in the back was the altar. It was a regular work bench you'd find in any other farm house; except for the human skull, blood, horns and other satanic stuff. Oh, and the picture of Dean with an X through his face in what appeared to be blood. Sam picked up the picture.
"I gave your brother life, and I can take it away." Sue Ann's voice came from behind us.
We turned around to face her. She had a smug look on her face. Sam's expression changed from shock to fuming anger in a matter of seconds. He glanced at me before tipping the whole altar over. The shattering of glass rang throughout the basement. When we turned around, Sue Ann had already raced up the stairs of the cellar and was closing the doors. Sam got to the doors first and tried pushing on them, but she had jammed them with something to trap us in.
"Sam, can't you see? The lord chose me to reward the just and punish the wicked. And your brother is wicked. And he deserves to die, just as Layla deserves to live." Sam gave up on pushing open the doors and ran to the other end of the basement. "It's God's will." Sam broke off a pipe on a window. "Good bye Sam and Allie." Sue Ann finished her rant.
Sam grabbed a 2x4 that was lying around. He busted the window out, giving us and escape route.
"You go first." He said as he gave me a boost out the window. "Catch up to her, quick!"
I took off in a full sprint for Sue Ann. She couldn't have more than a twenty second head start on me. I headed towards the tent. I could hear Sam's panting behind me as he chased after her as well. I was only a short way from the tent when I spotted her. She was chanting some shit in Latin while holding her stupid cross. I snatched the cross out of her hands and threw it to the ground. She looked up at me in horror.
"Oh my God! What have you done?!" She cried as Sam caught up to us.
"He's not your God." Sam said trying to be poetic.
She continued to stare at the shattered pieces. She took in a sharp breath, looking up. She stood up and turned to run, but was stopped in her tracks. She was brought to her knees, then fell over and twitched a few times. The life seemed to fade right out of her eyes.
Sam and I left for the Impala. Neither of us spoke. As we came up on the car, Dean was just walking up to it as well.
"You okay?" He asked us.
We just nodded our replies.
"Hell of a week." He said.
"Yeah." Sam responded. "Alright, come on. We should get going."
Dean sat on the bed staring off into space.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Nothing." Dean replied.
"What is it?" Sam asked again.
"We did the right thing here, didn't we?" Dean questioned.
"Of course we did." I answered.
"Didn't feel like it." De responded.
There was a knock at the door.
"I got it." Sam said walking off towards the door.
"Hey Layla, come on in." Sam greeted, revealing the slender blonde.
"Hey." She replied.
Dean's eyes widened and he shot up off the bed, "How did you know we were here?"
"Sam called." She said gesturing to Sam. "He said you wanted to say goodbye."
"I'm gonna… grab a soda. Come on, Allie." Sam said as he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out the door.
We walked in silence as we made our way to the soda machine. The bright glow radiating from it seemed to take my mind off of things; wipe it clean in a sense. This had been the most hectic week of my life; Dean almost dying, a psychotic woman playing god, reapers. I still wasn't quite sure where my place was with these boys, but I certainly did not want to leave their sides.