Sam, Dean and Kate walked across the parking lot together. Kate smiled to herself, knowing how happy her eldest brother was about to become. "I assume you'll want to drive?" Sam smirked, tossing him a set of keys.
Dean beamed a smile as he looked at his car. "Man I almost forgot.. Hey sweetheart, you miss me?" He said, running his hand lovingly along the side before getting into the driver's seat. Kate smirked at Sam who shook his head in amusement before they followed Dean into the car. They hadn't been in the car for more than a minute before Dean noticed something was wrong. "What the hell is that?" He asked in brother, a horrified look on his face as he pointed to the thing plugged into the front of his car.
"That's an iPod jack." Sam replied simply.
"You were supposed to take care of her, not douche her up." Kate laughed at them. She had in fact told Sam the day he'd put it in that Dean would've hated it but he hadn't listened to her. So instead of listening to the normal rock music she was used to in that car, she'd been listening to Sam's music. Not that she'd really cared. She hadn't really cared about anything lately.
As Dean started the car, Sam's music started playing. Kate smirked at the dirty look that he gave Sam, who innocently shrugged his shoulders at him. "Hey, watch it." She smirked, having to duck out of the way of him throwing the iPod into the back seat.
"Sorry sis." He grinned, winking at her through the rear view mirror. She smiled at him and settled down, trying to get comfy. She thought about trying to grab a couple of hours sleep before they got there, she knew she needed it.
None of them spoke for the first half hour of the drive. "There's still one thing that's bothering me.." Dean said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, what's that?" Sam asked him.
"You know the night that I bit it.. Or got bit." Dean smirked at his own joke. "How'd you two make it out? I thought Lilith was going to kill you."
"She tried. She pinned Kate against a wall, went for me first. But she couldn't."
"What do you mean, she couldn't?" He asked confusedly.
"She fired this like, burning light at me and.. didn't leave a scratch. Like I was immune or something."
"Immune?" Dean asked him, obviously worried.
"Yeah, I don't know who was more surprised, her or me. She left pretty quickly after that."
"Huh.. And what about Ruby? What happened to her?"
"She's dead. Or in hell." Sam answered him quickly.
Watching him, Kate noticed Dean bite his lip as he thought about his next question, not sure about whether he wanted to ask it. "So have you been using your freaky ESP stuff?" He asked eventually.
"No." Sam said flatly.
"You sure about that? Well, I mean, now that you've got immunity or whatever the hell that is.. I'm just wondering what other kind of weirdo crap you've got going on."
"Nothing. Look, you didn't want me to go down that road so I didn't go down that road. It was practically your dying wish."
Dean looked into the back seat in the mirror at Kate, who avoided eye contact with him. "Well, let's keep it that way." He muttered.
Sam skulked back down into his seat as Dean turned on the radio, attempting to cover the awkward silence that his last question had created. The rest of the journey went pretty fast, Dean singing along to the odd line of Metallica whilst Sam told him to turn it down every time he turned it up. It was just like old times.
They left the psychic's house a few hours after they had done a séance, revealing the name of Dean's rescuer as Castiel. Sam climbed into the car and sighed heavily. "So what now?" He asked, looking between them.
Dean turned in his seat to look at Kate. "You told me you were tracking some demons up around here right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I say we find them. Someone has to know something about something." They both nodded as Dean started the car, driving the rest of the way in silence.
Dean pulled up outside an old diner. He and Kate headed inside while Sam hung back outside on the phone with Bobby. They took a seat at the back of the deserted room while a waitress walked towards them. "What you having?" She smiled at Kate.
"Nothing, I'm fine thanks." Kate offered a weak smile.
"Kate, you have to eat." Dean said to her sternly.
"Dean I said I'm fine, really. I'll grab something later." He gave her an unconvinced nod before ordering for himself and Sam.
"You haven't eaten since last night." He said to her quietly.
"I'm just not hungry, it's not a big deal." She muttered, looking up as Sam sat down with them.
"Bobby found anything?" Dean asked him.
"Nope, so we still have no clue who busted your ass out." He said glumly.
"That's not entirely true.. We got a name. You know, with the right stuff we could summon him. Bring him right to us."
"You're crazy. Absolutely not."
"Why not?" He frowned.
"Dean, don't you get how dangerous that could be?"
"You got a better idea?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. We're supposed to be looking for some demons in town right? Let's just find them and see what they know before we do something stupid like that."
Dean opened his mouth to argue but stopped himself as the waitress sat down at the table with them. Dean smirked at her. "You angling for a tip?"
"I'm sorry, I thought you were looking for us." She said, her eyes flashing black. A man who was sitting at the counter stood up and locked the door, standing in front of it. "Dean, to hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck." Dean just stared at her. "So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me. What makes you so special?"
"I like to think it's because of my perky nipples." Sam shook his head, if they weren't dead before, they were dead now. "I don't know. Wasn't my doing, I don't know who pulled me out."
"Lying's a sin, you know."
"I'm not lying. But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo-"
"Mind your tone with me, boy. I'll drag you back to hell myself." She warned.
Sam shifted at the threat towards his brother, waiting to attack. Dean held up a hand telling him to chill before glaring at the demon. "No you wont. Because if you were you 'd have done it already. Fact is, you don't know who cut me loose. And you're just as spooked as we are. And you're looking for answers. Well, maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit. Or, uh, Godzilla. Or some big bad boss demon. I'm guessing at your pay grade that they don't tell you squat. Because whoever it was, they want me out. And they're a lot stronger than you. So go ahead. Send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with some Vaseline and a fire hose." Kate couldn't help but smirk at that.
"I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs."
Dean leaned forwards and slapped her around the face, Kate flinching at the sound. He did it again but she said nothing. "That's why I thought." He muttered as they stood up and made their way towards the door. They walked outside into the sun without looking back. "Holy crap, that was close." Dean shook his head.
"We're not just going to leave them in there are we Dean?" Sam asked impatiently.
"Well yeah, there were four of them, probably more, and we've only got one knife between us."
"I've been killing a lot more demons than that lately." Kate glanced at him but he looked away, Dean pretended not to notice they obvious tension between them.
"Well, not anymore." Dean commented lightly. "The smarter brother's back in town."
"Dean, we've got to take 'em. They're dangerous."
"They're scared. Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad mofo here. One job at a time." Sam sighed and carried on walking, not mentioning it again.
They made their way towards the nearest motel and walked into the small reception room to find an old woman sitting at the desk. Dean walked over to her and smiled. "One room please."
She looked him up and down before turning her attention to Sam and Kate who were standing in the doorway, having a heated debate over some movie they'd seen. "I don't have a room with three beds. It's either a king or two queens." She said flatly.
"Two queens then." He said simply.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't want anything funny from you three."
"What?" He asked with a frown.
"I've had your kind here before. You're all trouble makers. Loud music, parties and such. Don't even think about it."
Dean's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. He was also pretty sure that his brother and sister were doing everything they could to hold their laughter behind him since their argument had stopped and they were obviously listening intently, probably not making them look any better to the woman. He took the key from her and walked outside. "Sounds like you've made a friend there Dean, will she be sharing your queen?" Sam smirked at him.
"Shut it you." Dean said as Kate and Sam laughed at him.
Once they got into their room, Kate took a seat on one of the beds and fell asleep almost immediately. Dean was pretty sure that apart from the few hours she'd gotten the night before, she hadn't had a good nights sleep in at least a week or so. He sighed and dropped onto the couch, picking up a book to begin their research into what could have pulled him from hell, not even noticing when Sam left the room to have a shower.
Twenty minutes later, Sam came out of the bathroom to find Dean on the couch with a book on his knee and Kate lying on one of the beds, both fast asleep. He waited a few minutes until he was convinced that they were both properly asleep before he quietly opened the door and sneaked out of the room. It had become a regular thing for him to do lately, sneaking out almost every night for a few hours before coming back. He was pretty sure that Kate knew he was out most times, she had asked him about it a couple of times but he'd never told her anything. She wouldn't understand. And now that Dean was back, there was no way he'd be able to tell them.
Dean woke to a strange sound. He blinked open his eyes to see the tv flickering with static before the radio came on. "Couple of hours sleep, is that too much to ask?" He muttered to himself as he jumped off the couch and moved quickly towards Kate, shaking her shoulder. "Kate, wake up. Something's coming." She sat up and looked around the room, taking the shotgun that Dean held out to her.
She glanced at Sam's bed, realising he'd gone. Again. A painfully high-pitched sound echoed throughout the room. They both dropped to their knees, covering their ears in pain. Dean looked up to see that the mirror on the ceiling had begun to crack. Broken glass was falling down all around them, he moved towards Kate and grabbed hold of her to try and sheild her from it. All the glass in the room shattered over them.
They both looked up as the door banged open, Bobby running inside. "You need to get out." He shouted at them. He ran over and grabbed Kate around the arm, pulling her towards the door. She looked back and grabbed a hold of Dean's hand, pulling him with them. The three of them ran out of the room and into the parking lot.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Bobby said to them. They both nodded and followed Bobby to his truck. He handed them both a cloth to wipe the blood from their faces. "How you doing?" He asked them after a few minutes of driving.
"Aside from the church bells ringing in my head, peachy." Dean muttered, turning to Kate. "You alright?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. What the hell was that?"
"I heard it before, right after I got out of hell.. The gas station I was in."
Bobby looked at him. "Wait, you're saying that was the thing you heard right after hell?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Bit of a coincidence don't you think? Hearing it twice in two days."
"You think it had something to do with whatever yanked me out?" Dean looked down at Kate who shrugged at him.
"Could be."
"Huh. Where do you suppose Sam got to?" Dean asked, more to himself than anyone else, as he dialed Sam's number.
"Hello?"
"What are you doing Sam?"
"Couldn't sleep, went to get a burger."
"In my car?"
"Force of habit, sorry."
"Well Bobby's back so we're going to get a beer." Bobby and Kate both looked up at Dean who held up a hand to keep them quiet.
"Okay, well spill some for me then yeah?"
"Will do, see you later." He said as he hung up the phone and shoved it into his jacket.
"Why'd you lie to him?" Kate asked him.
"Because he'd just try to stop us."
Kate rose her eyebrows. "From what?"
"Summoning this thing."
"What the hell Dean?" She shook her head. "You can't be serious."
"As a heart attack."
Bobby looked over at him. "She's right Dean. We don't know what this thing is. It could be anything."
"That's why we've got to be ready for anything. We've got the big-time magic knife, you've got an arsenal in the trunk."
Bobby looked down at Kate who shrugged. "This is a bad idea." He muttered.
"Yeah, tell me about it. But what other choice do we have?"
"We could choose life?"
Dean rolled his eyes. "Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it's after me. That much we know, right? I've got no place to hide. I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can make our stand."
"Maybe we could use Sam on this." Kate said quietly.
"Nah, he's better off where he is." None of them said anything else about it. Dean would summon this thing with or without their help, they knew that. Bobby pulled up outside an abandoned warehouse and climbed out of the car.
He and Kate were finishing drawing symbols on the wall of the old warehouse they were planning to use for the summoning. Dean was standing at a table sorting out their weapons. "That's one hell of an art project you guys have going on." He smirked.
"Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe. How you doin?" Bobby asked.
"Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife. I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."
"This is still a bad idea."
"Yeah Bobby, I heard you the first ten times." He muttered. "Shall we get on with it?"
Bobby nodded and walked towards another table to begin the summoning spell. Dean glanced over at Kate and smiled slightly. He took a step towards her and squeezed her shoulder. "You alright? You look nervous."
"I'm good." She smiled lightly.
When Bobby finished the summoning ritual the three of them sat there and waited. Ten minutes passed without anything happening. "You sure you did the ritual right?" Dean asked, earning him a glare from Bobby. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy, huh?"
There was a loud rattling above them as the roof slates banged. "Wishful thinking but maybe it's just the wind?" Dean said to them. A tall man with brown hair and bright blue eyes banged through the door of the warehouse and began walking towards them. The banging continued as the lightbulbs all smashed. The man was wearing a suit and trench coat. They opened fire on the man with their shotguns but nothing happened. He got closer to them and stopped, looking straight at Dean. "Who are you?" Dean asked him.
"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition." He stated simply.
"Yeah, thanks for that." He muttered, lunging the demon killing knife into his chest and stepping backwards from him. Kate shared a worried look with Dean as he pulled the knife out of his chest and dropped it to the floor. He took a step towards Bobby and touched his head, causing him to fall down unconscious. Kate took a step towards him but the man stepped in front of her. She stared him in the face until Dean took her hand and pulled her towards him. "Don't you even think about it." He warned him.
"We need to talk Dean, alone." He vanished in front of them, reappearing beside Kate before raising a hand to her head. That was the last thing she remembered before she hit the ground in front of him.
Kate opened her green eyes to the worried face of her brother. "You good?" He asked her, the concern clear in his voice.
She blinked hard and nodded. "I'm good." She said as he pulled her to her feet, keeping a hand wrapped around her arm.
The three of them went to meet Sam before heading back to Bobby's house where Dean explained everything that Castiel had said to him.