Part Three: Morning Star

Chapter Three: Unholy Alliance

June 18th, 2011

Dean sipped at his coffee while reading a newspaper. Already he had found half a dozen things that looked like they could be monster attacks, and he was only a quarter of the way through.

Soon Bobby came into the kitchen, looking more dour than usual.

"Hey," Dean said, but Bobby didn't respond. "Something wrong?"

Bobby slumped into the chair across from Dean. There were circles under his eyes and his face was taut with exhaustion. "I just got off the phone with Rufus. He was talking about a hunter friend of mine, Tara Gray that died last week."

Dean winced. "Damn Bobby, that sucks."

"I know." He sighed, drawing his hand over his face. "That's the fourth person I know who died in the past two weeks. It can't be a coincidence."

Dean didn't really want to ask since Bobby already looked so upset, but he couldn't let it lie. "Do you think Adrienne has anything to do with it?"

Bobby shook his head. "No. These were monster attacks. Weird thing is that they were all hunting the same things, vampires and shifters. Rufus said that Tara was pretty sure it was both."

Dean frowned. "You think monsters are working together?"

Bobby sighed in exhaustion. "God, I hope not. We have enough trouble handling one at a time. We won't survive if they decide to start tag-teaming us."

Before Dean could respond, Sam came in. "Hey." He noticed the dark looks on their faces and frowned. "What happened?"

As Dean relayed what Bobby had said to him, Sam's face grew more and more confused. Finally he asked, "Are you sure Adrienne didn't have anything to do with it?"

"I'm sure. This isn't how she kills, and even if she didn't do it herself, these aren't demon deaths."

Dean glanced at his newspaper. He'd circled eight different sections that looked like they might be a case. Usually he'd find maybe two or three, and at least one would turn out to be a bust. He passed the paper to Bobby. "Think it has anything to do with this?"

Bobby and Sam looked over the paper, their faces growing more and more disheartened as they did so. Sam sighed. "I was in such a good mood when I woke up." He looked to Bobby. "What do we do? This can't be a coincidence."

Bobby gave him a irritated look. "Oh don't worry Sam. I'll just wave my magic wand, go bippity-boppity-boo, and everything will be just peachy!" Bobby huffed and returned to the paper.

For some reason, this seemed to reassure Sam. Dean was not as easily mollified. "Well we can't just sit around and wait for something to happen!"

"Well we also don't know what's causing this, or even what's happening."

Dean shot Sam an irritated look. "What's happening? People are dying, that's what's happening!"

"Okay then, let's focus on that. Maybe if we can catch a vampire or something we can get them to tell us what's going on."

Dean scowled at the table, still upset.

"Come on Dean, it's not the end of the world."

Dean made an annoyed noise. "Great job Sam. Now the world is definitely gonna end!"

Dean and Sam crept silently through the warehouse. Abandoned crates littered the ground alongside old machinery. They scanned the room for threats, soon moving onto the next. As soon as they did, they heard someone whimpering.

The boys quickly crossed the room to a small girl chained to the wall. Her loose clothes were torn, her skin coated in a layer of dirt and dust. There was a gag in her mouth. She yelled through it, tears streaming down her face. Bite marks decorated her neck.

Sam removed the gag while Dean worked on the chains.

"Please," the girl said through her sobs, "Please help me…"

Sam made a placating gesture to the girl. "Okay, can you tell us where they are?"

"They're...they're upstairs with the others." The girl grabbed Sam's hand desperately, a crazed look in her eyes. "Please, don't leave me, don't leave me with them!"

"Don't worry, we won't, okay? You're gonna be okay, I promise." Sam looked to Dean. "Go check it out, I'll stay here with her."

Dean left, taking his machete and a gun with him. Sam took the girls hands, carefully examining her wrists. They didn't look so bad, and were barely chaffed. And the bite marks were fresh, no older than a few hours. She had not been reported missing like the others, so Sam thought she'd been captured earlier in the day.

They sat in relative silence for a few moments, the only noise being the sound of her whimpers. There was a thud from outside, like something heavy had fallen. The girl whined. "What was that?"

Looking between the girl and the door, Sam said, "Stay here, I'll go see what that was."

Sam went over to the door, leaning his head out with his machete clutched safely in hand. Behind him, the girl stopped whimpering. Her body grew, her arms acquiring bulging muscle as her face changed to that of a sharp-faced man.

Sam frowned. "I don't see anythi—" The shifter wrapped its arm around Sam's throat, easily lifting him of the ground. Sam struggled uselessly against the shifter, soon reduced to scratching pathetically at its arm.

The shifter wrapped its arm tighter still. Sam gasped for breath, his vision blurring as he pulled at the arm. He couldn't think, his mind blurring as his attempts to fight back grew weaker.

Suddenly he could breathe.

Sam hungrily took in several large gulps of air, reaching up to touch his neck in relief. He allowed himself to keep his eyes closed for a few moments before realizing that he had fallen on the floor. He looked up at his saviour.

"Cas?" He winced as soon as he spoke, his throat still hurting. Cas reached down, pressing two fingers to Sam's neck. Sam sighed in relief when his throat was healed, rubbing it gently. "Thanks Cas."

Dean emerged from behind the angel to help Sam to his feet. "You alright Sammy?"

Sam nodded, still feeling his neck. He looked at Castiel in confusion. "How did you get here?"

"When Dean realized that he could not hope to defeat the two dozen monsters he found upstairs, he prayed to me for help. And I always come when Dean calls."

Sam snickered. "Yeah. I heard. Then I went to sleep in the car."

Blushing, Dean spluttered, "That's not the point! The point is there were over thirty monsters in this building, and not even half were vampires!" Before he could continue, he glanced at the ground, seeing the large man. "Wait, where'd the girl go?"

"That is the girl. It was a shifter." Sam rubbed his neck reflexively, still feeling the arm that had been there. "Are there any more monsters?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, come on."

Cas had left a four of the monsters alive for interrogation. Dean tied one of the vampires' unconscious body to a chair while they waited for her to wake up.

The first thing she did when she was awake was wince in pain at the sunlight streaming in from the window. The second thing was to hiss at Dean, who sat a few feet in front of her.

Dean smiled cheerily. "Morning sunshine. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Go back to hell," she snapped, leaning to the side so that she was no longer in the light's path.

Dean started a retort, but Cas cut him off. "How do you know about that?"

The vampire paused, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

Dean gave Cas a confused frown, but Sam leaned forward, thinking about what little the vampire had said and soon realized what Cas meant. "How do you know Dean was in hell? Monsters don't know that. Demons, angels, other hunters, they all know. But you shouldn't."

The vampire froze, turning her head so that she didn't have to look at them.

Dean huffed irritably. He considered taking his new knife out for a test drive, but then he looked at Cas and smirked. "Hey Sam, why don't you and I leave Cas alone with our friend."

Sam looked between his brother and the angel, smiling when he realized what he meant. "That sounds like a great idea Dean!" The two of them stood up dramatically with plenty of exaggerated movements.

The monster watched as they casually strolled to the door, feeling as though her skin was heating up even though she knew it was impossible. Right as Dean opened it, she shouted, "Okay! Alright, fine, I'll tell you what I know!"

Dean smiled and dragged his chair across the room so that he was sitting a few inches away from her face. After a few moments where no one spoke, he said, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

The vampire scowled at him. When she spoke, it was through gritted teeth. "We got the message a few weeks ago."

"I'm sorry, 'we'?"

"All of us," she said irritably, "Vampires, shifters, djinns, everyone. She told us all the same things; that some of us had to start tracking down and killing hunters."

Sam frowned. It wasn't unheard of for monsters to seek out hunters to kill, but he'd never heard of them doing it en masse, or as some sort of coordinated plot. "Why?"

The vampire shrugged miserably. "Mostly it's just a distraction. Part of it's revenge. She really hates hunters. I don't know why."

"You said that some of you are killing hunters? What are the others doing?"

"They're looking for something. Some sort of tablet. I don't know-"

Cas moved forward, eyes wide. He grabbed the vampire by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Which tablet?"

The vampire stared at him in confusion and fear. "I don't know, they didn't tell me."

"Where are they looking for it?"

"Lots of places. Deserts mostly, but everywhere they've looked was abandoned. Uninhabited. I don't understand it."

Cas drew back, but still looked worried. Dean tugged at his arm, pulling him close so that he could rub his arm comfortingly. Cas gave him a thankful look, but it didn't seem to help much.

Sam frowned, confused. "Who's she?" The vampire refused to look at him, shifting nervously. Sam rolled his eyes. "Don't play dumb. You said that she wanted you to kill hunters." The vampire avoided his eyes, refusing to speak. Sam sighed. "Okay Dean, I think it's time we-"

"You can threaten me all you want, but it's not gonna work." The vampire spoke with an eerie calm. "She's scarier than you'll ever be. Stronger too. She's going to crush you into dust while the whole world screams." She smiled smugly at Sam and Dean's stunned faces.

Cas was not as stunned, nor was he impressed. Anger twisting his face, Cas marched over to the vampire and forced his hand into her, touching her soul. The vampire screamed horrifically as Dean and Sam jumped in alarm. "Adrienne, it's Adrienne!"

Castiel stopped, allowing the monster to whimper in pain for a moment before pressing his hand to her forehead and smiting her. Dean and Sam turned away as the white light filled the room. When it was done, Dean made a disgusted face at the smell of burnt flesh. Cas turned back to Dean. "Are you alright?

Dean looked at his angel boyfriend with a dumbfounded expression. "Me? Cas, you just killed one of our only leads!"

"She wouldn't have told us anything else."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Clearly."

Before either of them could escalate the situation, Sam but in. "What are the tablets?"

Cas looked away from them, frowning worriedly. "Nothing probably. Certainly not something that Adrienne could find or use."

"Cas," Dean said, "Don't play games with me. What are they?"

Cas looked at him uncertainly, sighing when he realized he would give in. "They're clay tablets that were written by the Scribe of God, Metatron. No one knows where they are anymore, but there was one for angels and another for demons. I know there are more, but I don't know what for. They ones for angels and demons hold instructions for opening and closing the Gates of Heaven and Hell, respectively. If Adrienne gets them, she could let all the demons out of Hell and shut all the angels out of Heaven."

"You've got to be kidding me," Dean said, "This is fucking ridiculous." Cas made a 'don't blame me face', to which Dean sighed in response. "Okay, so how do we stop her?"

"Well no one knows where the tablets are hidden, so our best hope would be to either stop her from getting them or getting them from her once she already has them, although neither seem likely."

"So you're saying Adrienne's gonna win?"

"I'm saying that she is more likely to win than us."