Chapter 17

This was it. The ultimate test.

He knew when the summoner had died, that he had underestimated them.

They had proven themselves resourceful in various situations, and had been resilient far longer than expected.

These hunters were different from the rest.

He was certain that they would be finished in the last trap he had made for them, but an unexpected turn of events had occurred.

The youngest one had…abilities. Unnatural abilities at that. Unnatural, and incredibly powerful, even beyond what the youngest one knew, it would seem.

It frightened him. Of all the things he had expected, that was not one of them. And now the hunters were together, and relatively unharmed. They had what they needed to destroy him, but he was still confident of one thing. They would still have to find him first.

And then he heard the words…

"Alright, the arrow is finished." Sam called. He had just finished placing the last feather on the end of the shaft. Dean's leaf-blade had made a nice arrow head, and one of Sam's sticks had been the perfect length to make the shaft body. He laid the weapon down, carefully. It would be just his luck to break the darn thing before they even got a chance to use it.

"Okay, the bow still needs some tweaking, but I think it'll do in a pinch." Bobby said, pulling experimentally on the bow string that he had fashioned from twining the rope fibers together. The other sticks from Sam's pockets had been tied together and then wrapped in leather strips from Dean's torn jacket. It wasn't first class, but it would do.

Dean walked out of the bathroom, draping pieces of his t-shirt around his hands. "Got the blood." He stated, holding a small bowl with a shallow pool of blood in the bottom. He placed it on the bed and continued to wrap the make-shift bandage around his hand. Sam winced a little, glancing at his brother's hand. "You know Dean, that pretty much makes it impossible for you to shoot that thing." He said, motioning to the bow in Bobby's hands.

Dean looked from his hand to Dean looked from his hand to the bow. "Well, I was never as good with a bow anyway." He muttered, remembering the many frustrating hours he'd spent bow hunting with his father.

"Well, I can shoot fairly well, but I'm really better with a gun." Sam admitted, remembering the stone sailing through the air towards Angela, and he shuddered "Or a knife."

"Alright, you sissies, I'll shoot, but that's all null and void if we can't find the darn thing." Bobby groused. They had been theorizing about how to find the Hundun, but so far, the best idea had come from Bobby. He had suggested using an ancient Chinese summoning ritual, but warned that these particular creatures usually became hostile towards their summoner immediately after appearing.

"It's not like we want to have tea with the thing, so let's just summon it and kill it. Case closed." Dean said.

'Typical' Sam thought.

"I'm inclined to agree, Dean, but this isn't just your average run-of-the-mill spirit. This ain't no low class demon we're talkin' about. The Hundun is a deity, and a pretty powerful one at that. It makes tricksters seem nice." Bobby stated.

Dean noticed a cold look pass over Sam's face. His eyes suddenly became clouded at the mention of the powerful creature. They had encountered a trickster twice before, and the second time had left scars, specifically in Sam. Dean couldn't really remember much of what had happened, but he'd noticed a change in Sam after that.

It bothered Dean. A lot.

"Yeah, alright, but this fugly mother has thoroughly ticked me off at this point. We're hungry, and we're tired. I want a freakin' burger, a shower, and a bed…in that order. So let's just kill it already!" Dean urged.

Bobby shot Sam an exasperated look, to which Sam could only shrug. Dean was going to be Dean, no matter what. No changing that.

Bobby sighed. "Okay then, let's at least test this thing and make sure it's sharp enough first, huh?" He held the bow and arrow in the air. The boys nodded their agreement. The trio of hunters went out into the hall, checking that no-one was there, and making sure to stay as close together as comfortably possible. Now was not a good time to go missing.

Bobby set up another chair at one end of the hall. He took his pocket knife and carved an "x" in the back of it. He nodded to Sam, who stood at a good distance. Sam cocked the arrow into the makeshift bow, raising it and pulling it taught so that the feathers rested just below his right eye. He kept both eyes open, and aimed at the center of the "x". He released the arrow.

It shot from the bow with a whizzing noise, the bow string making a strange *twang* as it slid from Sam's fingers.

*Thunk*

Bobby examined the chair. The arrow had landed dead center, and struck deep. He gave the boys a thumbs-up sign. "That's some fine archery there Sam."

Dean patted Sam on the back, "Atta boy, Sammy!"

Sam gave a sheepish grin, "Yeah, well, the chair wasn't trying to eat me."

"It'll be good enough. Let's summon this sucker." Bobby stated flatly. He gently pulled the arrow loose, and handed it back to Sam.

They walked to a part of the hallway that had no carpeting. Bobby pulled out the charcoal pencil from his jacket pocket and crouched down. He started drawing strange symbols on the ground in a circular pattern. The boys had never seen symbols like these, since they weren't the normal Latin symbols used for most rituals.

Sam studied them carefully. He realized that the symbols were ancient Chinese characters. He couldn't read them, but he could sure memorize them. You never know when you might need to know something like that, especially with the line of work they were in.

Bobby finished his work in silence, and the two younger hunters stayed out of his way. It was usually best to stay out of Bobby's way when he was working, unless he was in a certain mood.

"Alright, here Sam, read this." Bobby handed Sam a piece of paper that he had taken from the bird room, which had words scribbled all over it. "Dean, hold this." He said, handing the charcoal pencil to Dean. Dean gave him a strange look, but said nothing. Bobby turned to Sam, "Hand me that arrow, will ya?" He asked, taking it from the youngest hunter. "Hold that pencil up straight, Dean. It's not the ideal candle, but it'll burn." He said. Dean did as he was told. Bobby took a lighter from his pocket and held the flame against the pencil, the wood and charcoal lighting up easily. Bobby took his pocket knife and struck the blade against the arrow head, causing a small spark. Three more tries, and the "candle" was lit.

Bobby continued, "Dean you stand on that side, and Sam, you stand over there." Bobby motioned for them to get into place. They complied quickly. "I'll be right back." He said. He disappeared for a moment into the room they had come from, and when he reappeared, the arrow tip shone bright red with the blood that Dean had supplied and left in a jar in the bathroom.

Bobby took the bow from Sam, and positioned himself a few paces away from the circle. He aimed the makeshift weapon towards the center of the ellipse, where the creature should appear. He nodded to Sam, who began to speak the words on the paper out loud.

As Sam's voice floated through the air, all three hunters tensed as the atmosphere began to feel thicker. The area inside of the circle began to get visibly distorted, as the form of the creature began to take shape.

Suddenly a voice, cracked with age, cut through Sam's recital, breaking the continuous summoning, "Stop!"

The startled hunters whirled around to see who had interrupted their activities, and where surprised to see an old man standing in the open doorway, stooped with age, wearing a scarlet robe.

He held a gun in his hand.

It was aimed at Sammy.