III
The trip from Sioux Falls to Pontiac, Illinois was about an 11 hour drive, so Lee settled in. Dean had played a Led Zeppelin album about three times all the way through before both Sam and Lee groaned in protest when it began its fourth loop. "What?" he asked incredulously. "Dude, you've been playing the same 12 songs over and over. At least change the album." Sam said. "Yeah, don't get me wrong, I love 'Zepp, but I will through myself out of this moving vehicle if I hear Stairway to Heaven again." Lee piped up. Sam laughed. "Fine, fine. I thought you missed my music, Sammy," Dean gave in, switching to an old mix tape. "Yeah. Four months and your taste in music still sucks," Sam retorted. "It doesn't suck, Sammy, he just listens to the same ones too many times," Lee defended. "Don't call me Sammy," Sam glanced back at her. "Yeah. Only I'm allowed to call him that. Right, Sammy?" Dean stated. Sam sighed, shaking his head as AC/DC played through the speakers. Dean drummed lightly on the steering wheel.
It was about 5 pm when they got to the Motel, and Lee jumped out of the Impala, eager to stretch her legs. She walked over to where Bobby's truck was. Neither he nor Rachel got out. She stepped to the passenger side door, greeting her friend. "Hey." "Hey, Lee. How was the drive," Rachel answered through the rolled down window. Lee grimaced. "Let's just say that if I hear Ramblin' On or Back in Black ever again anytime soon, I might rip my ears off." Rachel laughed, making Lee smile. "Did you get any sleep?" Lee shook her head. "I'm pretty beat though, so after Dean and Sam are done checking us in I'll probably pass out." Rachel nodded. "Okay, well I slept on the way here, so I'm gonna hitch a ride with Bobby to the hospital—see how Pamela's doing. We should be back soon." "Okay." Lee agreed, and Bobby dipped his head, reversing out of the parking lot and taking off. Lee watched the pickup until it was out of sight.
"There you are." Lee jumped about fifty feet into the air, spinning around with her eyes wide. Sam's steady emerald gaze peered down at her in amusement. "Dean's done checking us in, but we were gonna go get a bite to eat first. Come on. Let's go," he turned and walked back to the Impala. Lee sighed, reluctantly climbing back into the cramped back seat. A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of a small diner, and all three of them got out and walked to the front doors. Sam's phone rang and he stopped to answer the call, motioning for them to go in without them. Dean and Lee sat down at one of the tables in the middle of the restaurant, and Dean ordered three waters. He cleared his throat. "So, Rylee." "Lee. Please. I... actually hate my name." she interrupted. Dean blinked. "Okay, uh, Lee. You got any idea how you got here?" Lee shook her head. "No." she pulled a glass towards her, taking a sip of water. "I-"but they were both distracted as Sam walked up hurriedly. "What'd Bobby say?" Dean asked worriedly as Sam sat. "Uh, Pam's stable and out of ICU." Dean nodded. "And blind, 'cause of us?" Sam nodded then. "And we still have no clue what we're dealing with." Sam glanced at Lee quickly.
"Well, that's not entirely true" Dean said. "No?"
"We got a name—Castiel or whatever." Dean also spared a momentary look towards Lee. "We've also got Tweedle-dee and Tweddle-Dum, though I'm not sure what help they're gonna be." Lee rolled her eyes.
"But, I mean, with the right mumbo jumbo we could summon him. Bring him right to us."
"You're crazy. Absolutely not."
"We'll work him over. After what he did?"
Lee looked between the two of them, watching the conversation warily.
"Pam took a peek at him and her eyes burned out of her skull, and you want to have a face-to-face?" Sam retorted, eyebrows furrowing.
Lee grimaced, tilting her head in agreement.
"You got a better idea?"
"As a matter of fact I do." "What?"
"I followed some demons to town, right?" "Okay?" "So, we go find em. Someone's got to know something about something."
Lee almost dropped her glass of water, remembering something. "Demons!" she exclaimed, and both Winchesters turned to her. "Sam, you're right. There are demons here. We need to leave. Now," she whispered hastily as the waitress approached, setting down their food. Lee pushed back from the table violently, her chair getting knocked over as she stood. The waitress sat down with the Winchesters. Dean narrowed her eyes in confusion at Lee's fearful expression. "You angling for a tip?" he asked the waitress, twisting to look at her. "I'm sorry. I thought you were looking for us." Her eyes flicked to black, and Lee gasped as someone grabbed her from behind, lifting her by her hair so that her toes barely touched the ground. She yelped, and Sam went to help her when another demon stood, making eye contact with him as he walked to the door, locking it and blocking the exit. Sam reluctantly sat back down, and Dean watched the demon's actions from the corner of his eye. He raised his gaze to glare at the waitress, and Lee grunted in pain as she was shoved back into her chair.
"Dean," the waitress sneered. "To Hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck?"
"That's me," he answered, smiling sarcastically. "So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me, what makes you so special?" she questioned.
"I like to think it's because of my perky nipples," he answered. "Dean." Lee warned. His eyes flickered to her for a moment. "I don't know," he finally answered. "It wasn't my doing I don't know who pulled me out." "Right. You don't" the waitress scoffed.
"No, I don't." "Lyin's a sin, you know." Dean tilted his head, realization in his eyes. "I'm not lying." The waitress looked to Sam, as if for confirmation. He glared back, disgust clear on his face. "But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo," Dean brought her attention back to him. "Mind your tone with me, boy. I'll drag you back to hell myself." Sam's chair scraped as he pushed away from the table, but Dean stopped him, putting a hand up. Lee grabbed Sam's arm, afraid he would do something stupid.
"No, you won't" Dean said.
"No?"
"No. 'Cause if you were, you'd have done it already. The 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." Dean explained matter-of-factly.
"Well, maybe it was some turbocharged spirit, hmm? Or, uh, Godzilla. Or some big, bad, boss demon. But I'm guessing that at your pay grade that they don't tell you squat. 'Cause 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."
"I'm gonna reach down your throat and rip out your lungs." The waitress threatened.
Dean then proceeded to lean forward and slap her twice.
She blinked. "Yeah that's what I thought. Let's go Sam. Lee." He stood quickly, glowering down at the waitress as he threw some money at her. "For the pie." He said. Lee got to her feet as well, fighting the urge to punch the demon who had previously grabbed her. They left the diner swiftly.
"Holy crap. That was close."Dean exclaimed. "Are you hurt?" he turned to Lee, looking closely at her. "I'm fine. Just really pissed off, and a little bit terrified," she responded as they quickly marched to the car. "We're not just gonna leave them in there, are we Dean?" Sam rose. "Well yeah, there are three of them in there, probably more, and we only got one knife between us."
"I've been killing a lot more demons than that lately, "Sam stated.
"I'm sure you have," Lee muttered under her breath, unheard.
"Not anymore. The smarter brother's back in town." Dean announced. Lee rolled her eyes.
"Dean, we got to take them. They're dangerous."
"They're scared, okay? Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad mofo her. One job at a time." Dean said, ending the conversation. Lee nodded. "He's right, Sam. Trust me." Sam looked at her for a moment before they got back in the car.
Lee had been asleep for about three hours before she woke abruptly to the sound of the motel door closing. Confused, she hopped out of bed, skipping to the window before seeing the impala peel out of the parking lot, with Sam inside. "Damn." She muttered. She looked back to see Dean fast asleep on the bed, books scattered around him. Lee smiled at the sight. He looks really cute when he's asleep, she thought. She glanced at the clock before she heard a small ringing in her ears. Shaking her head, she took a step away from the window before the television flickered on, along with the radio. She stopped eyes wide. "Dean?" she called and he opened his eyes, rubbing them sleepily before noticing the radio and TV. He grunted, rolling off of the bed and grabbing a sawed off shotgun from the side of the bed. "Lee? What's happening?" he asked, looking around. He walked towards her, noticing Sam's empty bed. The ringing got louder, and he flinched, covering his ears. Lee did the same. "CASTIEL?" Lee yelled. "Cas, stop!" she covered her ears, and Dean groaned. The ceiling mirror cracked as the ringing rose to a higher pitch. Lee noticed eyes wide. "Dean, you have to move—"she cried out as the sound got louder, hunching over. Dean fell to his knees, launching himself to the side as both the windows and mirror blew, and Lee jumped away from the window, glass shards spraying her. They both yelled in agony when suddenly the door flew open, and Bobby and Rachel rushed in. "Dean!" Bobby yelled. Rachel and Bobby rushed in, dragging them out to the Impala.
"How you doing, kid?" Bobby asked. Bobby drove with Dean in the front seat, while Rachel and Lee rode in the back. Rachel handed Lee a towel, pulling a shard of glass out of Lee's arm. "Ow," Lee commented. Rachel sighed. "Well, aside from the church bells ringing in my head…"
"Peachy," Lee finished. Dean grunted in agreement. He pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, when Sam picked up. "In my car?" he asked in response to something he said. "Well, uh, Bobby's back. We're going to grab a beer. "Bobby looked confusedly at Dean, who put a finger up. "Done. Yeah, I'll catch you later." Then he hung up.
"Why the hell didn't you tell him?" Bobby asked. "'Cause he'd just try and stop us."
"From what?" "Summoning this thing. It's time we face this head on." "You can't be serious." Bobby admonished. "As a heart attack. It's high noon, baby." "We don't know what it is…" Bobby continued as. "Rache, can I please just tell them? I'm so done with this day." Rachel frowned. "I don't think so." Lee rolled her eyes, leaning forward so that her face was between Bobby and Dean "Bobby, there's no point to arguing. Yes, it's a bad idea, no, you don't know what this is, and we can't tell you. We don't know if we should or shouldn't change things. But you guys need to meet this… thing. So, go for it." Lee summed up. Dean made a small sound of agreement. Lee leaned back. "Bobby, you got any alcohol back here?"
Rachel shook her spray can, sound rattling through the barn. "…We're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of," She heard Dean saying. She looked over to where Lee sat, leaning against the wall, eyes partially closed as she rested. Rachel sighed, walking over to the table filled with salt, iron, knives, holy water, and a wide array of supernatural hunting weapons. "…heard you the first ten times. What do you say we ring the dinner bell?" Dean pronounced. Bobby took the empty spray can from Rachel, tossing it in a large garbage bag filled with them. "Okay, you go sit with princess over there." Rachel nodded, turning to go to Lee. "And, Rache? Stay there." He told her.
"You sure you did the ritual right?" Dean questioned when nothing happened after thirty minutes. Rachel watched from afar, Lee asleep on her shoulder. Bobby glared. "Sorry. Touchy, touchy huh?" he smirked. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling, and Lee jerked awake. Dean and Bobby stood as the roof shingles banged noisily.
"Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind."Dean commented. Lee and Rachel leaped to their feet as the lights overhead blew out, sparks flying. The doors to the barn opened, and a man stepped through calmly. Dean and Bobby aimed and fired as Cas approached, dark hair and tie askew. Rachel stepped forward to tell them to stop, but Lee held her back as Bobby and Dean kept firing. "Who are you?" Dean demanded, grabbing a knife behind his back. "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," Castiel proclaimed. A wide smile broke out on Lee's face. "I'm totally fangirling right now," she whispered excitedly to Rachel, who just laughed breathlessly. "Yeah. Thanks for that. "And Dean plunged the knife into Castiel's chest. "Oh.."Lee grimaced, flinching, while Rachel just frowned. Cas pulled the knife out of his chest, dropping it to the floor as Dean took a step back, shocked. Bobby came up behind the angel and swung at him, but Cas caught the weapon and turned, placing a finger on Bobby's forehead. Bobby slumped to the ground. "Bobby? Crap!" Lee ran to the older hunter, and Cas watched her curiously before turning back to Dean. "We need to talk, Dean. Alone." He announced. Rachel rushed to Lee and Bobby, checking for a pulse. She found one, steady and normal. "Your friend is alive." Cas stated. "Who are you?""Castiel." "Yeah I figured that much. I mean, what are you?" Cas looked up from the book he was reading. "I'm an Angel of the Lord." "Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing." Dean said. "This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith." Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning and on Castiel's shadow, two large angel wings unfurled. "Whoa." Rachel breathed. Dean nodded slightly. "Some angel you are. you burned out that poor woman's eyes." He growled. Cas looked down, ashamed. I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be… overwhelming to humans, and so can my real voice… but you already knew that." "You mean the gas station and the motel?" Castiel nodded. "That was you talking? Buddy, next time lower the volume." "uh, yeah." Lee agreed. "That was my mistake. Certain people—special people—can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong." Cas looked down at Lee and Rachel, still crouched by Bobby's unconscious body. "I wasn't aware that you would be there." "And what visage are you in, now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?" Dean questioned. "this? This is—a vessel." Cas answered. "you're possessing some poor bastard?" "He's a devout man. He actually prayed for this." "Look, pal, I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you, really?" Cas tilted his head. "I told you." "Right. And why would an angel rescue me from Hell?" Dean probed. "Good things do happen, Dean." "Not in my experience." Dean answered through clenched teeth. Lee closed her eyes. "What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved."
"Why'd you do it?" Dean demanded.
"Because God commanded it.
Because we have work for you." Cas answered ominously, and then he disappeared in a flutter of wings.