Chapter 7

Dean's Story

Sam held the remote out at arms length. He sat on the edge of the comfy hotel mattress flipping through the channels of the large television. Finally, he came to something that interested him. The morning news caught his attention. There was a building ablaze with fire and tire tracks in the center of the road that had torn up the asphalt. It looked like a razor had split through the streets and continued right down out of the city, turning where needed until it met its destination. Next to it was a pair of typical tire tracks. Most likely from a car that was riding along side the vehicle that created the damage.

Sam wondered what could possibly make those indents in the road forcing the tar to billow out like that. He watched and listened attentively to the story being told by the news anchor that he hoped would explain everything.

"Last night, after the arrest of the famous fugitive and beloved motorcycle stunt man, Johnny Blaze, an explosion occurred in the heart of the Chicago police station. Officers on duty say that it was the work of Blaze that escaped with the help of an unknown accomplice claiming to be a private investigator.

"But the real question is how exactly they managed to escape without police following them. They say there was a strange occurance. Here is Thomas Determan to explain."

The anchorwoman labeled 'Charlotte Johansen' with short red hair and chunky, stylish glasses nodded to the camera. The feed then cut to a hefty man in a trench coat with a microphone on the scene. Police officers in the background rushed around trying to hold off the crowd from the crime scene as investigators did their work.

"Thank you, Charlotte. An interesting turn of events for the world-renowned record holder, Johnny Blaze: stunt spectacular. After interviewing various witnesses of his escape, we have come across a description of Johnny that both officers and felons in the present cells have tried to deny since press arrived at the scene.

"According to witnesses, Johnny took the form of a skeleton, with head and fingers made of bone. As strange as this sounds, they also claim that Blaze was – no pun – on fire!

"They say that it was Johnny that caused the fire and the unexplained damage to the building and the roads. Officials suggest hallucinatory gas to be the real weapon, though no evidence of this has been found. But now the question is: where is he now? The trail has been followed out of the city, but tracks vanished a few miles south. Further details are still being investigated. But one thing is for certain: Last night's breakout was surely the great escape."

On the screen they showed a picture of Johnny Blaze. Sam perked up, recognizing the unmistakable face of the man he had seen in his flashback the night before. His face was lean and stern, his eyes piercing blue like ice. After Sam's visions about Johnny Blaze the night before, he knew Blaze was a victim in all of this. Although the damage during the escape was irreparable, no one was hurt, proving his visions to be true. Johnny was good, deal with the Devil be damned.

Sam reached for his phone to relay the information to Dean, hoping he would answer this time, unlike the several missed calls through the night as Sam tried to share his flashback with his brother.

The call barely connected before the door burst open revealing Dean on the other side. Sam tossed his phone aside and rose from the bed to greet his brother.

"Dean, where the hell were you?"

Dean's gaze drifted from Sam to the T.V and back again. His eyes wandered around the room looking for something, and then finally met back to Sam's.

"I was… uh… out."

"Out? All night?"

"Yeah."

"Couldn't you have answered your phone? Once?" Sam asked in an exasperated tone.

"I, uh… was busy", he stated vaguely.

Sam ignored his awkward behavior and got right down to business.

"Whatever. Listen, have you seen the news? This guy…" Again they showed the picture of Johnny Blaze on the screen. Sam pointed to it with a look of discovery. Dean glanced over his shoulder to see it and swiftly turned back once he saw the pale face of the man he had rescued moments ago from jail. "…He escaped jail last night leaving the place on fire. Look at him, Dean! It's Johnny Blaze! It's the Ghost Rider! I'm completely sure! I had a vision last night, well, more of a flashback, really. It was like nothing I've ever had before. I saw everything that happened up until the point that he became the Ghost Rider. And this is him, Dean!"

He pointed again at the screen, but the picture was now gone.

"A flashback? You've never had one of those before. What exactly did you see?"

"I pretty much saw his whole life. He was just a kid. He made the deal to save his father, but he died of something else anyway. Then he became the Rider and rejected the Devil. He kept his powers to kill what needed to be killed, not whatever the Devil wanted him to. His lifestyle, his hunts… he's a lot like us, Dean. I think he's alright."

"Well, I'm glad you said that, 'cause I may have done something…" Dean trailed off and turned toward the door to see a tall, slender man with shaggy brunette hair like a ratty mop. He had piercing blue eyes and solid features. A black leather jacket was wrapped around his shoulders and muscular arms. He wore ripped jeans and scuffed biker boots like Dean. Sam gaped at the figure before them. Then he shook his head in argument.

"Dean, you didn't." He looked at Dean with anger in his eyes. "You helped him escape? Dean, you complete idiot! If you give away our position, the FBI will be on our trail in no time!"

Johnny strolled over to a broad armchair in the corner of the room and sat himself in it comfortably with his feet up on the small coffee table in front of it like a footrest.

"Hey, you must be Sam, Dean's younger brother." Sam shot Johnny an aggravated glare to give him the message that he wasn't wanted there. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to pick up on the hint. "Heard lots about you. It's good to finally meet you."

Sam smiled out of politeness, but agitation was very evidently close to the surface.

"Nice to meet you, too. Dean, can I have a word? Privately?"

"Sure, don't mind me," Johnny said, leaning forward to pick up the TV remote. "I'll just be watching-", he flicked the channel and stopped on a cartoon about monkeys. "Oh, I love this one!"

Sam pulled Dean out of ear-shot and began in a hushed voice.

"I'm glad you helped him, I am. But do you know what you just got us into?"

"I get it. And, trust me, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't need to," Dean countered.

"What do you mean?"

Dean glanced over his shoulder to ensure Johnny wasn't eavesdropping.

"We have a problem. Demon related."

"What?" Sam asked, a little too loudly, taken off guard.

"Johnny said there's a demon he saw a while back that knew me. I think I know which one. I think it's coming for me."

"Okay. So we set Devil's Traps, stock up on Holy Water, rock salt, the whole nine yards. We do it as we always do."

"No, this one's different. This isn't any ordinary demon. I'd even dare to say it's in the same rank as Yellow Eyes."

Sam went still and held his breath.

"Maybe higher."

"How do you know?"

Dean locked stares with Sam. "Because I've faced it before."

Sam shook his head, trying to understand. "When?"

"A few years ago. When dad and I still hunted together."

Johnny was suddenly standing behind them, leaving entertainment behind to hear the tale. That was Dean's queue to tell them the entirety of it. He took a seat on the coffee table Johnny had previously rested his feet on. The other two sat themselves in armchairs seated around the table. Dean took a deep sigh and began the tale.

"Dad and I were alone, seeing as you-" he directed his comment at Sam "-were off at college. He caught wind of a hunt in California; a demon. We decided it would be best to take it together, 'cause you can never be too sure with demons. We didn't have much, just an exorcism ritual, some holy water, and a 45' each.

"Anyway, we had finally caught up to it, chased it for months, following each death one at a time. The damn thing had no pattern, or none that we could see. The deaths were strange, though. Neither dad nor I had ever seen anything like it. We even called Bobby and he hadn't either. So when we finally caught it, it was pure luck. But the damn thing had minions. Twenty or so demons, from what we could tell. Had to set the biggest Devil's Trap I'd ever seen; and little ones all over town just in case. We didn't get all of them though, but we did get the one that mattered. Took more than the trap to hold him. We had to call some other local hunters at one point for more man power. Luckily we got him just long enough to send him back to Hell. But the last thing he said was he'd be back, and he'd be back for me. See, I was the one that read the exorcism. Dad threatened him and wished him an eternity in the pit, but we knew it'd be back at some point. It had a plan, and it wasn't gonna give up on it anytime soon; that much was for sure. Looks like it's finally back."

Sam and Johnny took a moment to let the story sink in. Johnny was the first to speak.

"Any idea what its name was?"

"They have names?" Dean questioned.

"Sure they do. Everything has a name. Even this yellow-eyed thing you mentioned. And if we know its name, I bet we can find out its weaknesses and how to kill it. For good."