Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 14
Rowena smiled as she watched Dean and Sam playing…well they'd call it training but it looked like they were also having a lot of fun as the wrestled. Dean was the stronger, but Sam was faster and more agile, so it tended to even out. She enjoyed watching them, especially when they trained with no shirts on and outside in the sun. She could feel Dean's growing restlessness and knew he would want to hunt soon, and she had the perfect one lined up. She understood their desire to go after hunters and had no problems aiding that vendetta, after all they were helping with hers. Not that they had a problem going after demons after what they had done to their Mother and even Jess. No matter how they hated her for what she had done they also couldn't help mourning her, she had spent several years making Sam love her and that wasn't easy to just disregard.
They tumbled back inside after a while and she shooed them off to shower as she set the table. She had never imagined being so domestic, but she found she rather enjoyed it, at least with them. Sam cooked too but Dean could burn water, so he was never allowed to do anything more than set the table, pour drinks or maybe cut up vegetables. They came back down, hair still damp, and they settled in to eat. "I believe I found a target for you," she said over desert and Dean instantly perked up, so she slid the file over and he opened it, surprising her when he hesitated.
"Dean?" Sam called, and Dean looked up at him.
"It's Bobby," he whispered, and Sam reached over to take the file.
He flipped through it, seeing the information she had gathered. She'd be thorough, there was stuff in it he had never known about the man, he hadn't known Bobby had been married, that she'd been possessed, and he'd killed her in self-defence. That was worse than how their Mom had died.
"You know him?" Rowena asked, feeling the jumble of emotions from both of them.
"Yeah. He taught John a lot about hunting and he was one of the few places John would leave us when he was hunting. Bobby always did his best to look after us," Sam explained. "He's not really a hunter anymore, he's more of a research resource and identity back up."
"Identity backup?" Rowena asked in confusion.
"Well if you flash an FBI badge and someone wants to check, they call and Bobby answers to confirm you are who you say you are," Dean clarified for her and she nodded, she'd wondered about that. "Sammy's been using magic for our id's, so we haven't spoken to him."
"So, there is one hunter you won't target."
"Unless he comes after us," Sam clarified. He wouldn't hut Bobby but there were spells that could ensure he wasn't a threat.
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Rowena lay between them, gasping and panting as they both touched and caressed her body. It felt so good…she whimpered as she felt Sam enter her before Dean pressed his lips to hers, seeking a kiss which she eagerly gave him, a hand moving to hold his head in place as Sam began to thrust. Soft kisses were dropped along her stomach as Dean moved a hand to caress her breast. She'd never imagined it could feel this good to be the centre of attention of two men.
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"Do Faith Healers really work?" Dean asked, and they looked over at where he was sprawled on the carpet, reading something on the laptop.
Rowena looked up from her book. "Depends on your meaning of 'work', she offered. "Why?"
"Article on one in Nebraska, people cured from cancer and everything."
Sam and Rowena got up to join him, looking at the article. "Hmmm…" she clicked over the page.
"What did you mean by depends on the definition?" Sam asked.
"Well there are only a handful of ways to heal with magic and they all have a price, some for the caster and others for the patient or even a random stranger. The 'light' ways take from the caster, the methods considered 'dark' take from others," she explained.
"So, my healing Dean was the 'light' way," Sam was relieved to hear that.
"Are there any pictures of this man healing?" Rowena asked, and Dean clicked a few links, brining one up for them to watch closely. "He doesn't seem at all affected, so either that wasn't a real healing, or he is using darker methods."
"So, we have a hunt?" Dean asked, and Rowena looked at Sam, leaving it to him.
"Yeah, we have a hunt," he decided.
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Dean accepted the flyer with a smile as they walked towards the tent where the Faith Healer worked, just part of the crowd. They took seats about half way towards the front, not wanting to get attention.
"Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann, reads me the news. Never seems good, does it?" The crowd agreed with him. "Seems like there's always someone committing some immoral, unspeakable act." As he spoke the trio saw a table onstage, filled with religious items. Sam noticed an old wooden cross topped by a smaller cross in a circle. "But, I say to you, God is watching."
The crowd murmured in response, "Yes he is."
"God rewards the good, and He punishes the corrupt," Roy called, and the crowd nodded, cheering and murmuring. "It is the Lord who does the healing here friends. The Lord who guides me in choosing who to heal by helping me see into people's hearts."
They watched as a young woman was called up on stage, looking sick and shaky.
"Pray with me, friends," Roy called. The crowd lifted their arms up and joined hands with each other. Roy lifted his hands to the air, then placed one first on Layla's shoulder, then on the side of her head. "Alright now. Alright now," he muttered to himself. Layla's eyes glazed over. Her knees weakened, and she sank to her knees, Roy's hand still on her head "Alright, now." She wobbled, her eyes rolling back in her head and she slipped to the stage floor.
In the audience, Sam and Rowena shivered, feeling the magic. It was…twisted, dark…and Rowena muttered a quiet spell before gasping as she saw something they didn't. "A reaper…they've bound a reaper," she whispered in horror. "Someone died to save that girl."
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"A miracle is what happened. Well, miracles come so often around Roy.," Sue Ann smiled at Dean and Rowena where they sat hand in hand on the couch, they'd told the couple they had been trying to have a baby and had been unable to conceive.
"When did they start? The miracles," Dean asked curiously.
"Woke up one morning, stone blind. Doctors figured out I had cancer. Told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle. I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, 'You just keep right on praying.' I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up, but I did. And the cancer was gone." Roy took off his sunglasses, his eyes were white. "If it wasn't for these eyes, no one would believe I'd ever had it."
"And suddenly you could heal people," Rowena's eyes widened in awe.
"I discovered it afterward, yes. God's blessed me in many ways," Roy smiled.
"And his flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning," Sue Ann smiled at her husband, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Can I ask you one last question?" Dean asked.
"Of course, you can."
"How do you choose who to heal?"
"Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I look into a person's heart, and they just stand out from all the rest," Roy answered before they stood and said their goodbyes, heading back to the Impala.
They got in and Dean drove away from the farmhouse. "Find anything?"
"Mmm, there's magic in that house, black magic. Let's see if Sammy's found something."
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"I'm telling you, he seemed healthy. Swam every day, didn't smoke. No sign of illness, especially this kind of cancer, a brain tumour like this should have shown signs." Sam was considering the doctors words as he walked past the pool. "And you said he was running, right before he collapsed?" Sam asked curiously, looking at the employee.
"Yeah, yeah, he was freaking out. He said that something was, uh, was after him."
"Did he say what?"
"Well, thin air is what. I mean, it wasn't anything," the swimming club staff member told him.
"Alright, thanks," Sam shook his hand and turned to leave, seeing the clock. "Hey, buddy? Your, uh, your clock's busted."
"Oh, yeah, we, uh, can't get it workin'. Just froze at 4:17."
"Is that the same time Marshall died?"
"How'd you know?" he asked in surprise as Sam left.
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Dean and Rowena walked in to see Sam at the laptop. "What did you find?"
"Marshall Hall died at 4:17."
"The exact time the girl was healed," Dean said, and Sammy nodded.
"Yeah. So, I put together a list of everyone Roy's healed, six people over the past year, and I cross-checked them with the local obits. Every time someone was healed, someone else died. And each time, the victim died of the same symptom LeGrange was healing at the time. "LeGrange...he's trading a life for another."
"That fits with a bound Reaper," Rowena offered as she sat on the bed.
"THE Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?" Dean demanded as it sunk in just what she was talking about.
"No, not THE reaper, A reaper. There's reaper lore in basically every culture on earth, it goes by many different names, and there are more than one," Rowena explained.
"You saw a dude in a suit." Reaper's wore suits?
"What, you think he should have been wearing the whole black robe? You said it yourself that the clock stopped. Reapers stop time. And you can only see them when they're coming at you or if you know the appropriate spell," she explained.
"The question is how is Roy controlling the damn thing?" Dean demanded.
Sam frowned. "That cross."
"What?" Dean looked at Sammy.
"There was this cross, I noticed it in the church and I knew I had seen it before." Sam scrambled through some of the papers until he came up with a card and held it up. "Here."
Dean plucked it out of Sammy's hand, curious. "A Tarot?"
"It makes sense. A 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," she shook her head, she wouldn't touch that sort of magic.
"So, Roy's using black magic to bind the reaper?"
"If he is he's riding the whirlwind. It's like putting a dog leash on a great white," Sam shook his head in disbelief.
"Ok then we stop Roy," Dean looked to them and Rowena nodded so Sam did too.
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The Impala bounced down the badly gravelled and potholed road again, passing a sign that said Service Today. They parked and exit the Impala. "If Roy's using a spell, there might be a spell book."
"See if you can find it. Hurry up too, the service starts in fifteen minutes. I'll stall Roy," Rowena told them, walking towards the tent, magic gathering.
"Roy LeGrange is a fraud. He's no healer," a man called, holding out a flyer.
Dean took the flyer, "Amen Brother."
"You keep up the good work," Sam grinned at him and the man blinked.
"Thank you."
They made their way to the house and hid while the couple left before sneaking inside, once Rowena made a distraction they wouldn't have a lot of time before someone returned so they searched quickly. Sam went to look on the bookshelves and pulled out the only book that didn't have dust on the shelf in front of it. Encyclopedia of British History. He flipped through it while Dean looked for spell components, finding nothing, then realised there was another, smaller book, hidden on the bookshelf behind the larger one. Inside was a picture of a skeleton reaper, and on another page the wooden cross he saw earlier in the tent. He also found newspaper articles about the people who died. The one that died for the girl they'd seen was an openly gay teacher, the woman jogging an abortion rights advocate. He found a third clipping about Wright, the man handing out leaflets in front of the tent. He reached for Rowena, letting her know what he'd found. "Anything?"
"Nothing," Dean answered as he joined him.
"We better move," Sam replaced the book and they slipped out the same way they'd gotten in, the window. "Roy's choosing victims he sees as immoral. We need to find Wright, the guy with pamphlets, he's next." The split up to search the carpark and Sam nudged Rowena, they needed that distraction.
"HELP!" a voice called, and they began running towards it from opposite directions. "Help! Help me please!"
"Where is he!" Sam yelled as he found the man cowering between cars.
Wright grabbed his shoulder and pointed. "Right there!"
Sam grabbed him and began pulling him along. "Fine, come on." Dean rounded the corner and Sam pushed Wright at him. "Get him away!" he turned, eyes shimmering gold as he searched for the Reaper. The cold feeling vanished suddenly as people streamed from the tent and Sam saw the smoke. Then he sensed it again, close to Dean and Wright so he ran. He grabbed his ringing phone. "It didn't work!" he said as he picked up, knowing it was Rowena.
In the tent she looked around and then she saw Sue Ann beside the stage, lips moving. Rowena walked towards her, eyes shimmering purple with magic. This close she could feel the woman's magic and smirked, "A student witch, how quaint." Sue Ann gasped, hand going to a cross around her neck before she turned and fled, and Rowena sighed. This had become even more complicated although…. yes, for a student she was quite powerful. Magic was in Dean's blood even if he himself had none, she was a good candidate for donor. Rowena left the tent and re-joined her lovers. They returned to their hotel to rest and plan what to do next.
"So, Roy really believes," Sam murmured from where he was lying on his back, Dean's head on his shoulder.
"I don't think he has any idea what his wife's doing," Rowena admitted from where she was sitting, braiding her hair.
"Well, I found this," he pulled the book from his jacket and tossed it over to her. "Hidden in their library. It's ancient. Written by a priest who went dark side. There's a binding spell in here for trapping a reaper."
"Must be a hell of a spell," Dean murmured.
"Yeah. You gotta build a black alter with seriously dark stuff. Bones, human blood. To cross a line like that, a preacher's wife. Black magic. Murder. Evil…" Sam shook his head.
"Desperate. Her husband was dying, she didn't have anything to save him. She was using the binding spell to keep the reaper away from Roy," Rowena knew what that desperation was like.
"Cheating death, literally," Dean sighed, and Sam chuckled. "What?"
"We used immortality spells Dean. Pot and kettle?" Sam teased, and Dean shrugged, it wasn't the same.
Yeah, fine. But Roy's alive, so why is she still using the spell?"
From what you found, to force the reaper to kill people she thinks are immoral." She stood and joined them on the bed.
"May God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work," Dean grumbled as he shifted to give her plenty of room.
"We gotta break that binding spell."
"You know Sue Ann had a coptic cross like this. When she dropped it the reaper backed off," Rowena pointed out as she flipped through the book.
"So, you think we gotta find the cross or destroy the alter?"
"Maybe both," she admitted. "Sue Ann isn't just a preacher's wife, she is a student witch."
"Student witch?" Dean asked, smiling as her free hand began tracing patterns on his bare skin.
"A witch who gains power through study, practice and training. Either self-taught like I suspect she is, or from a teacher. She is powerful for one, and the perfect donor."
"Donor?" Dean frowned in confusion and she looked at Sam who kissed Dean and smiled.
"For you Dean, to give you magic."
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Sam and Rowena slowly moved into the basement towards the candlelit alter, littered with dead animal parts, blood, horns…and other things he didn't want to identify. He also didn't like leaving Dean outside to play distraction. They both knelt and began making chalk marks on the floor around the alter. Sam looked back at the alter and frowned, picking up the picture with the face crossed out in blood. "She's picked Dean!" he hissed in terror and Rowena nodded, they needed to work fast!
"You are wicked, and your brother will pay the price!" Sue Ann called, and they turned to see her. she moved to leave the basement and Rowena slammed the door shut with magic.
"The only wicked one here is you," Sam snarled, eyes shimmering gold and she gasped in fear.
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Dean could hear the sermon as he approached the tent but then he stopped as some of the lights went out, he looked back to see the line of lights lighting the path going out one by one. He turned back and froze as he saw the old man in a suite walking towards him, now would be a great time to have magic. He turned and ran, he just had to stay alive long enough to buy them time.
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The basement was a mess, the alter destroyed as the three traded spells until finally Rowena slammed Sue Ann into the circle they had marked out earlier and Sam quickly activated it.
"No!" She pounded on the wall of energy as the other two began chanting. The air became heavy with magic as she struggled but then she fell to her knees, screaming. A burning purple ball was pulled from her chest and she collapsed, breathing heavily. The ball hovered and then flew off.
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Dean stumbled and then turned when the Reaper appeared again. He saw a flash of purple and then screamed as it collided with him, feeling it burn into him, something changing, before he collapsed.
The Reaper paused but then moved to place a hand on Dean's head and he convulsed, eyes glazing over.
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With the spell done, Sam moved in and snatched her cross, throwing it to the ground where it shattered, a little blood seeping out.
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The reaper stopped what he was doing and looked up as Dean fell to the ground, gasping.
Roy raised his hand from the boy he was healing, confused. "I don't understand..."
"I don't... feel any different...?" the boy stammered, looking for his Mother.
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Sue Ann knelt beside the blood, she felt empty, her magic and now the Reaper, gone. "My God, what have you done!"
"He's not your God," Sam snarled.
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"Reverend?" the boy's mother called.
"Sue Ann?" he whispered, where was she?
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Sue Ann looked up and saw the reaper. He smiled at her. Terrified, she rose and turned to run for the stairs, but the reaper was there. He placed his hand on her head, her eyes glazed over, and she fell to her knees. After a moment, still smiling, he allowed her to slip to the ground where she convulsed once, twice, and died. The reaper watched, looking satisfied. He looked at the remaining witches who could see him easily with all the magic in the air and then he vanished.
"Dean," Sam whispered, and Rowena teleported them to him, finding Dean unconscious in the carpark. They took him and returned to the hotel to wait for him to wake up.
TBC….