Lucifer – The Morning Star, fallen angel cast out of heaven by God Himself. Whereabouts currently unknown. In the Cage.
"What the samhell were you thinking?!"
John winces at Bobby's volume. He'd forgotten how loud Bobby can get when he's actually angry. Usually it's just regular old exasperation and the rolling of eyes. It doesn't help that John's been up all night without doing much of anything. He cleaned up the panic room, scrubbed down every inch of the floor so the sign of Solomon was gone, and he's been paging through Seth's journal, but it's mostly lists with no headers and information without context. John still can't recognize any of the names on Seth's hit list besides Abbadon, and that's towards the bottom, somewhere underneath Raphael.
John can't find anything else on Azazel or any other mention of either Sammy or Dean.
"He was after my boy," John says to Bobby.
It's his only reason, and it's really the only reason that matters.
Bobby tears off his cap as he rubs the top of his head with the heel of his hand before he slaps the cap against his leg. At least he's not yelling anymore, especially with Dean and Sammy both on the couch in the living room, within calling distance of the office where John's trying to tell Bobby what happened since he left.
"You sure?" Bobby finally asks.
John opens the leather journal in his hand to the list of kids' names – he's checked; they're all children – and hands the journal over to Bobby, grateful when the other man takes it without comment. John watches his eyes roam across the page, and he can tell exactly when Bobby reaches the end of the list.
"Balls."
John scoffs. Understatement.
Bobby rests the journal on his knees and leans back in his chair.
"So, the Demon took Seth," he says, getting back to the end of John's story. "What now?"
He looks at John like he expects John to have a plan.
"What do you want me to say?" John glares right back at him. "It wanted my son."
"So, Sammy's off limits, but Seth can go ahead and burn for all you care." Bobby is not impressed.
And it's not that John doesn't care, but Seth ranks below Sammy in his book. Besides, now John isn't sure if Seth is even trustworthy.
"He knew something, Bobby." John's eyes flick down to the journal in Bobby's lap just to make his point.
"'Course he knew something, idjit." Bobby rolls his head on his neck. "He's been trying to take out the top tier of Hell as long as I've known him."
John blinks. That fits in with what Seth knows: Knights of Hell and hit lists and summons for specific demons.
"What?" he starts to ask but can't decide really what he wants to ask. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Bobby jams the cap back on his head.
"Boy gets focused," he mutters with a wrinkle in the middle of his forehead, like that's not a good quality to have. "Besides, it's not your fight. Guess he figured once we caught this Demon and shot it, you'd be gone."
Well, maybe that had been John's plan. He isn't really thinking past getting the Demon. And part of him isn't sure why that should make a difference, but a part of him understands the ease of telling detectives only as much as they need to be helpful to an investigation where they don't fully understand the supernatural. It still bugs him to be on the other end of that, though.
Especially because what the Demon said about Seth is still ringing in the back of his mind.
Another Winchester floating around . . .
Azazel's soft, friendly voice creeps out of the box John has forced it into in his brain, whispering about how good of a father he could be, and John shivers violently.
"The Demon wanted Sammy," he says, as if Bobby doesn't already know that part. "It was talking . . ."
"So now it has Seth," says Bobby when John doesn't finish. "You gonna do something about that?"
John shakes his head immediately. If Bobby wants Seth back so badly, then Bobby can go after him. John doesn't need another person to worry about. He's got two too many already. And he's not sure if he should be locking Sammy up in a tower or something like the panic room so no demons can come creeping up and purring that they want to be his daddy.
Bobby raises his eyebrows at John, clearly expecting him to say something. John's chest twists right near his heart, but it's easy to ignore.
"Like what?" he snaps. "Seth walked into that room. He knew what he was doing."
Bobby plants his hands down and half-rises out of his chair. John has just enough time to bring his fists up in case he needs to fight before he hears a completely different voice.
"Dad?"
John freezes, and Bobby immediately sinks back down in his chair. Turning over his shoulder, John sees Sammy standing in the open door to the office. When did the door get open, anyway? Dean's right behind his brother with one hand on his shoulder like they're both in this together.
That doesn't mean anything good for John.
"Hey," he says slowly. "You boys eat?"
Not that the question really mattered. Dean's been able to take care of meals since he figured out how to use a gas stove when he was ten.
"We're gonna find Seth, right?" Sammy's eyes go wide. He's holding that same stupid baseball glove in both his hands.
John hates that glove. Why does that glove has his name on it? John's a common enough name, and he knows that there are Winchesters all across America that he's not related to at all. But why does Seth have a glove that has John's name on it?
"Sammy—"
"Sure we are," Dean says, clamping both his hands on Sammy's shoulders while his eyes stay on John. "The Demon took him, and we can't let Seth stay with that creep."
John looks right into Dean's eyes and wishes he could bawl the kid out for saying something like that with Sammy listening.
"We don't even know where the Demon is," he says, "and we can't just summon it again. He busted the panic room."
"Seth told me where his bunker is," Bobby says. He folds his arms over his chest when John turns to look at him. "He's got enough information there to get through the Apocalypse, and it's safe."
John grinds his teeth together. Dean is one thing. He's a teenager, but Bobby should know better. Seth had practically dared a demon to break him. It had been Seth's choice to sacrifice himself for John's family, and why in the hell would Seth do that if he wasn't family?
"Dad," Sammy calls. "He's …" His knuckles whiten against the leather. "It's Seth," he says in the same tone that Dean usually says, "It's Sammy."
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
"Okay, we'll go," John says.
Dean sucks in a deep breath while Sammy nods solemnly. John wants to tell his boys that there are no guarantees, but the words freeze in his throat. They look so sure of themselves and their mission. John doesn't know if he is any longer.