Demon Seals

Chapter Six: It Begins

We have our first chapter that finds its origins in canon. Much of this chapter comes from the episode 4.02 "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester", but with Ellen and Jo in place of Sam since he's still, you know, missing. We gotta start hitting on the main plot about the Seals sometime, right?

"Mm-mmm do I love the sight of entrails," Alistair says over Dean's shoulder as he slowly and carefully guts the soul in front of him. "Very good, Dean. Now, try angling up ever so slightly on the next cut, it gives some delicious results."

Dean grins and does as instructed, and as ribs and heart are slowly exposed, the soul before him groans, cries out, screams its pain for all to hear (those who care to listen, anyway) and Alistair hums with pleasure and approval as Dean reduces the human into its most basic pieces —

The sun was only just beginning to rise, but Dean figured he'd slept enough and climbed out of bed, heading to the bathroom to relieve himself before going downstairs to the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast.

Bobby came in nearly an hour later, still looking exhausted but clearly unable to resist the smell of coffee. "You should be sleeping, son," he yawned as he sat down at the table.

Dean shrugged and poured Bobby a cup, setting it down in front of his friend before taking a seat at the table with his own cup cradled in his hands. "Had a really weird dream," he said, unwilling to voice aloud the nightmares that plagued his sleep. "We need to do a search of stolen cars in Odgen," he changed the subject, "Sam would go for inconspicuous, but Ruby might pick something a little more flashy."

"You can do that," Bobby said after taking a sip of the coffee Dean had handed him, "I think we need to do a little research on angels, try to learn a little more about what we're dealing with now."

He didn't like it, but it made sense. "Okay, then," Dean said, standing up to rinse out his coffee cup. "Lemme know what you find out."

Two hours later, Dean had barely accomplished anything, his thoughts still preoccupied by the nightmares he'd had.

"So there's tons of lore about angels," Bobby said, striding into the room and startling Dean. "I don't think I've ever seen so much information on a single subject."

"Oh?" Dean asked, rubbing at his eyes and grimacing at how gritty they still felt. Why had he decided it was a good idea to get up so early?

"Fact is that they're the only things that can pull souls out of Hell without making a Deal or sacrificing another life in the process," Bobby told him, dropping a book on the desk that depicted an angel pulling a screaming soul from a flaming pit and taking the empty chair next to the desk. "I don't even think you can kill 'em."

"I guess that confirms it, then," Dean sighed, running his hands through his disheveled hair, which was a feat given how short it was. "Castiel's an angel. They really do exist."

"It's a lot to take in, isn't it?" Bobby said shrewdly.

"Yeah," Dean sighed as he looked up at Bobby. "Why don't the angels want me to find Sam?" he asked.

"I dunno, son," Bobby said, looking sympathetic. "We will find him, though, and we'll help him detox and whatever else he needs."

"Yeah," Dean said, frowning. "I hope you're right."

The next day was spent researching angels, missing cars, even tracking demonic omens in hopes of figuring out a discernable pattern that Sam and Ruby might be following in their quest to have Sam exorcise demons with his mind. So far, there wasn't any luck, but Dean had to believe that they'd find something sooner or later. It wasn't long before Dean was feeling frustrated with his inability to figure out where Sam had gone after vanishing from Ogden.

Ellen and Jo returned home about three days after he had arrived at Bobby's, covered in dirt and missing all his scars. A long, tearful reunion only came after Bobby managed to convince the two women that yes, Dean was alive and yes, it was really him, but Dean figured that was likely to be a common reaction until word finally got out to their friends that angels existed and that they had pulled Dean from Hell.

If only other Hunters could find Sam for Dean, but then he wasn't sure he wanted to trust any other Hunters with the knowledge of what his brother could do. Gordon Walker and his crew had been bad enough with their obsession to kill anything they deemed evil or just wrong.

Jo stared at him. "You're actually alive," she said, wonder still coloring her voice.

"Yep," Dean said. "Not my choice, mind you, but here I am, totally whole."

Jo frowned. "Not your choice?"

"Oh, right." Dean clamped his lips together for a moment. "It was an angel."

Jo blinked.

"Angel?" Ellen said from the kitchen table.

Dean nodded. "I didn't believe him at first when he said that's what he was, but I guess they do exist, after all."

Ellen stared at him for a very long moment. "All right," she finally said. "Have you been able to make any headway into finding Sam?"

Dean loved that she knew him well enough to know that would've already been his top priority.

"Sam's… basically gone into hiding," Dean finally answered, frustration bubbling up inside him. "According to the angel that brought me back, Ruby and Sam have been working together and uh…" He took a deep breath. "She got him addicted again."

There was a long moment of silence. "You mean to the demon blood," Ellen said softly.

"Yeah," Dean said, nodding his head. "Turns out Ruby's been making these hex bags that cloak their location from both demons and angels, and what's more, the damn angels don't want me anywhere near him." He swallowed and scrubbed at his face. "We've been trying to track him down, but no luck so far."

"The angels don't want you to find Sam?" Jo said, and she looked both confused and saddened by the news.

Dean shook his head. "They think he's dangerous. And I… I don't think Sam even knows I'm alive again. I mean, if he did, I know he'd drop Ruby in a heartbeat and detox rather than try to get strong enough to go after Lilith." Dean swallowed hard, hating how his throat began to tighten. "I don't want him turning into a junkie for some needless revenge, and I don't need him thinking that he's the only one who can kill the bitch because I don't believe that Ruby's way is the only way to take Lilith out." He shook his head and turned away, spying the bottle of Jack he'd left on the counter that morning and snagging it.

"Anyway, I'll pray to Castiel the angel again, see if he can lift Sam's do-not-follow order on the both of you."

"Wait, what?" Ellen said.

"Right," Bobby spoke up, "turns out that angels can override Sam's command. He already did it for me, that's how I was able to help Dean with tryin' to find Sam."

The lights flickered without warning and Bobby's phone rang. He snagged it. "Singer Salv — Jed, slow down, what's —"

It was hard to miss the sound of screaming over the phone. Ellen's phone started to ring, and she answered it quickly. "Olivia, what's goin' on?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, ghosts —?"

More screaming.

Jo's phone began to ring. "Carl," she said, "please tell me you and RC are okay."

Within moments, more screaming joined the other lines.

Dean stood frozen, taking in the scared expressions and shaking hands of the others. Bobby hung up and snagged the cell phones, ending the calls and tossing them to the nearest flat surface. "Pack up," he said, "we've gotta find out what's goin' on."

"This is not good," Dean declared with a sigh into his phone, stepping back from Olivia's body. "Salt line's intact, she clearly was makin' use of her EMF meter…"

"How bad is it?" Jo asked him over the line.

"It's bad," Dean said grimly. "I've never seen a ghost do this to a person. You get to Carl and RC yet?"

"We're pulling up right now," Jo answered. "Mom says Bobby got to Jed's, and he's basically a smear of blood and guts."

Dean scrubbed his face. "What's going on? Why did a buncha ghosts suddenly wanna gank off-duty Hunters?"

"I wish I knew," Jo sighed. Then she gasped, and Dean could hear Ellen swearing over the phone.

"Dead?" Dean asked quietly.

"Very," Jo replied, and Dean could hear the horrified grimace in her voice. There was a weird rustling sound, and then Ellen's voice came over the line.

"Head back to Bobby's, quick as you can," she said, voice tense. "I've never seen anything like this. We need to get somewhere with protection."

"I hear ya," Dean sighed, taking one last look at Olivia. "Stay safe."

"You, too," Ellen responded before ending the call.

Ghosts had been the only clue.

Dean's phone went off with the next one.

"Jo was just attacked," Ellen told Dean in a rush. "She says the ghost was Teresa Ellis, a girl taken out by the ghost I had to save her from back in Philadelphia."

"The serial killer ghost, right? I don't think I ever really asked what happened."

"That's the one," Ellen confirmed. "I got to Philly in time to save Jo, but not in time to keep the damn ghost from killing the other girl." She sighed. "Anyway, Jo says Teresa had something on her hand, a symbol of some kind, but nothing mainstream and nothing that Teresa had when she was alive. Arm yourself and drive faster, cause these ghosts are strong and angry as hell."

"Copy that," Dean said, pulling over at a gas station and striding to the trunk to arm himself to the teeth. "What's Bobby gotta say about all of this?"

"Haven't called him yet," Ellen said. "Will you do that?"

"On it," Dean answered. "See you soon." He ended the call and pressed the speed-dial for Bobby's personal cell.

Bobby didn't pick up.

Dean finished filling his gas tank and tried again.

Still no answer.

"Damn," he cursed to himself, shivering in the chilly, evening air and sending Ellen a quick text:

Bobby didn't answer. Hurry!

He snapped his phone shut as his breath fogged in his face.

Aw, crap.

"Come out, come out, whoever you are," Dean spoke quietly, raising his sawed-off and feeling thankful there were no civilians nearby at the moment.

"Dean Winchester," drawled a tired, female voice. "Still so bossy."

Dean whipped around to take in the sight of a girl with shoulder-length, dishwater blonde hair and drab clothing.

"You don't recognize me?" she asked him after a moment.

Dean clenched his teeth and took in her face. It did look familiar —

"Meg?"

"It's okay," said the girl, said Meg. "I'm not a demon."

It was the ghost of the girl the demon had possessed.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Dean said quickly, "but I don't have time for this." He caught a brief glimpse of a weird symbol on Meg's hand before he fired his shotgun and launched himself into his car.

He had to get back to Sioux Falls. Now.