Demon Seals

Chapter Sixteen: Chasing a Lead

So, Abbadon has been mentioned along with the Knights of Hell. Now we're going to get into why I wanted to include this knowledge from season 8, but we're also getting some stuff from season 9, namely, the First Blade and meeting the Hunter named Tara. Parts of Sam's meeting with her are pulled from 9.11 "First Born", but we will NOT be meeting Cain anytime soon. You'll see why before the chapter ends.

Sam hadn't meant to spend a week completely cataloging his father's lock-up. It was just that John's system of organizing was…

Crazy.

There was really no other way to describe it.

Ruby showed up about three days into his reorganization with no solid intel on Lilith and lots of frustration over how little she knew, but since she couldn't come into the lock-up and Sam refused to compromise the safety of the space, she took to bringing Sam food and flinging insults at him from the far side of the Devil's Trap.

"Why did you decide to come here?" Ruby finally asked on day six.

"I was uh, working at this bar in Mississippi and discovered it had a poltergeist," Sam answered as he matched up index cards with the lock boxes containing cursed objects. "Barman said activity started when the root cellar was opened up as additional deep storage, and that a team of televised ghost hunters found out the building had belonged to some Devil worshippers back during the Civil War. And get this," he added, poking his head around the corner so he could see Ruby, "they specifically worshiped something called the Knights of Hell. Every hear of them?"

Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "They're to demons what John Wayne was to Dean," she answered, sounding awed. "They were legends, hand-picked by Lucifer, and their leader was Cain himself."

Sam frowned and moved closer. "Do you think Lucifer is real?"

"I'm certain of it," Ruby answered, "same as I'm certain angels exist."

"You think angels are real?"

Ruby shrugged. "Everything seems to have some kind of balance in this world," she said. "Good and evil, right and wrong, the light and the darkness, creation and destruction… I exist, obviously, so why can't the exact opposite of what I am exist, too?" She frowned and tilted her head. "D'you still pray, Sam?"

Sam looked down at the index cards in his hands. "Not so much, lately," he admitted. "Just… too much bad stuff happening."

Ruby gave a sympathetic nod. "So… how did learning about the Knights of Hell lead you here?"

Sam took a deep breath. "Well," he began, "I found a name in my research that looked familiar, Abbadon. I realized it was in my dad's journal, and the entry said that he found a protégé of Abbadon's who had beef along with a series of numbers ending in the letter T. I realized there were other numbers in the journal, wrote them all on one paper, and thought it had to be a filing system. So, after I cleaned up that poltergeist and finished working at that bar, I came up here."

"And what did that filing number lead to?"

"A huge fucking mess," Sam grinned. "Well, that and a few more details of that particular Hunt." He set aside the index cards and snapped up the file to show Ruby. "My dad was working with a Hunter named Tara when he nabbed that demon. There isn't much here, but the demon did mention something called the First Blade before my dad exorcized it."

Ruby stared at the file and the picture included of a woman, presumably Tara. "This is way above my pay grade," she admitted. "I suppose we could find this Tara chick. It could be this blade could kill Lilith, especially with a name like that."

"You think so?" Sam asked, feeling hope flare in his chest.

"Maybe," Ruby said. "I think it's worth checking into."

A day later, the two left the lock-up and went in search of the Hunter named Tara. For the first time in a while, Sam prayed that this would be the lucky break he needed to do something, anything right.

"Knights of Hell?" Bobby sounded befuddled over the phone. "I can't say I ever heard of anything by that title."

"That's what the bartender told me," Dean said with a shrug. "He said Sam seemed interested in what he had to say, showed up the next shift looking like he hadn't slept a wink. He got rid of the poltergeist, stayed until the regular bar-back returned, then booked it to New York. Looks like he went to Dad's lock-up."

"You been there to see what he was lookin' for yet?"

"I'm just pulling up right now," Dean answered, looking up at the neon sign for Castle Storage. "You mind trying to find out more about these Knights while I see if I can find what brought Sammy here? I tried lookin' myself, but no dice."

"I'm on it," Bobby promised, and Dean ended the call, heading inside. John's key to the lock-up was attached to the keys to his baby, which meant it was unlikely that Sam was going to be here anytime soon.

This really sucked.

Then he went in and had to stop. "Whoa."

Sam's neat-freak touch could be seen and felt everywhere. Whatever Sam had been looking for, it had involved a major overhaul of John's system (or lack thereof) in which he had clearly reorganized the contents of the lock-up. Sam's trail had him staying nearby for a solid week. That was plenty of Sam-time to fix up the entire contents of the room.

At first, it seemed that Dean wasn't going to have any luck, but then he found a piece of paper with Sam's scrawl, listing over a dozen sets of numbers. The one at the top ended with the letter T. With a frown, Dean looked down the list and saw two words written at the bottom: filing system.

There were filing cabinets in here, Dean realized, looking up and over at them. Maybe he could find what Sam was after by looking through them.

And find it he did.

"I got more for ya," he said as soon as Bobby answered his phone. "Add in something called the First Blade."

"The what?" Bobby sounded confused.

"First Blade," Dean repeated. "Dad and this Hunter named Tara caught a demon when I was twelve, I think at the beginning of December when Sam and I were with you for a couple weeks. The demon said he was a protégé of someone called Abbadon, and mentioned this blade before Dad exorcised him." He frowned. "I think this Abbadon could be a Knight of Hell, it's the only possible connection that could've led Sam here." He scrubbed at his face. "Any ideas what's goin' on here?"

"Not yet," Bobby admitted, "but I'll see what I can dig up. Take care of yourself, son."

"You, too." Dean spent the night at the nearby motel, and then he was off, following Sam's trail in hopes of figuring out what was going on.

"Okay, I think this is the place," Sam said, pulling up to the pawn shop that Tara apparently owned.

"I'll just wait here," Ruby said, shifting slightly. "I know you could make her be okay with me in there, but I'd just rather not deal with it."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I'll be back soon." He slid out of the Impala and made his way inside the store.

A middle-aged woman stood behind the counter. "Can I help you?" she asked, all pleasantness over curiosity and suspicion.

"I'm hoping you can," Sam said. "My name is Sam Winchester. I believe you knew my father, John?"

Tara stared at Sam before nodding slowly. "Yeah, I knew him," she said. "He said you were a shrimp of a kid."

Sam chuckled. "Puberty changed that," he said wryly. "Anyway, I found a file about a job you worked with my dad several years ago, a demon who said something about a knife called —"

"The First Blade," Tara finished. "Why you askin' about it?"

"I'm uh, I'm after a powerful demon," Sam admitted. "I haven't been able to find anything that could kill it yet, but I ran across a Hunt involving a group of people who worshipped the Knights of Hell, and from what I understand, this blade could work against the demon I'm after."

"How powerful of a demon we talkin' here?" Tara asked.

"Lilith, the first demon."

Tara whistled. "Wow, you Winchesters sure know how to aim high on the food chain," she said, shaking her head.

"I know it," Sam grinned. "So, d'you know anything else about this blade?"

Tara reached under the counter and pulled out a file. "The demon said the archangels used a weapon that could kill the Knights of Hell," she said to Sam, opening it to reveal her detailed notes. "We'd never heard of anything like the Knights of Hell or a First Blade. Your dad thought he was lying, trying to save himself. We took him out, and we had a lovely weekend together."

Sam grimaced a little at that. He knew his father hadn't been a monk after Mary died, but it was never fun to hear of him being with other women, let alone meet them.

"Then we went our separate ways," Tara continued with a shrug. "But I could never let the blade go. Something like that could really give a Hunter an edge, you know? I looked all over the world — destroyed my knee and my life. And all I found?" Turning to the wall behind her, Tara unlocked a wall safe and took out a tray full of spell ingredients. "A location spell for the blade that I could never finish." She sighed. "Couldn't find one ingredient — essence of Kraken."

"Wow," Sam said. "That's — that's really rare."

"Don't I know it," Tara chuckled darkly. She set the tray on the countertop. "Tell you what, Sam," she said after looking him over with a flurry of emotions, "if you can ever find the last ingredient, you're welcome to bring it here and help me finish finding that blade."

Sam nodded. "I might have a few avenues I can check, see if any of them pan out," he told Tara. "Thanks for being willing to talk to me about all this, Tara."

"No problem," Tara said. "Hey, where's your brother, Dean?"

Sam swallowed hard and looked away. "He and Dad are both dead," he answered quietly. "S'just me, now."

Tara's face slipped from the kind smile to sadness. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "You'll stay in touch?"

Sam nodded. The two Hunters exchanged numbers, and then he left without another word.

"So?" Ruby prompted when Sam slid back into the driver's seat of the Impala.

"Unless you've got a lead on essence of Kraken," Sam sighed, "this lead is a bust."

"Essence of…?" Ruby shook her head. "That's incredibly rare."

"Yeah, I know." Sam told Ruby everything Tara had told him.

"I might have some old contacts I can try," Ruby said thoughtfully. "You have any ideas?"

"Maybe Rufus," Sam said, "but I don't know that I wanna get him involved. He'd be just one more person I'd have to force to be silent."

"If nothing else pans out, he might be our best bet," Ruby replied quietly. "It'll take me a week, maybe two, before I'll know if I have any leads that could get us closer to this blade."

"Sounds good."

Ruby headed off the next day, and Sam began going through the few contacts he had outside of Bobby and Rufus. Most had never heard of essence of Kraken, two had no idea where to get it, and three told Sam to shove it.

Whatever.

Finally, Sam admitted defeat and went to go see Rufus. He let the older man chew him out for about two minutes for shutting out his family the way he had before insisting on getting down to business.

"Essence of Kraken," Rufus mused, staring at Sam. "That's an interesting request. Can I ask why you're wantin' some?"

"It's for a complicated tracking spell," Sam said, silently making Rufus accept that answer as enough information.

"Hmmm… I might be able to get some, but it's gonna take time, and I don't rightly know how much. There's a pretty good chance I won't know for sure until beginning of next year."

It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing.

As much as it pained Sam, he forced Rufus to keep silent about his visit and made him know that he was only to call Sam if he had a lead on the rare ingredient; no other contact was allowed.

It was best for everyone that way.

As soon as Dean said who he was, Tara had a shotgun in her hands. "Your brother said you were dead," she said tersely. "Tell me what the hell's going on right now!"

"Okay!" Dean said quickly, holding his hands up placatingly. "I was dead, made a horrible Deal and went to Hell, but an angel pulled my fat out of the fryer a couple weeks ago. I swear it's all me, do any test you like, I'll come up clean, I promise."

Tara glared at Dean before lowering the shotgun and throwing a splash of holy water in his face, followed by tossing a silver knife at him. Dean quickly made a small cut on his arm. "Any more proof needed?" he asked.

Tara hesitated, but then her shoulders relaxed. "What're you doin' here? And where's Sam?"

"I'm tryin' to find him," Dean told her. "I came back and tried to track him down, but he's gone completely off grid, so I thought if I could trace his steps while I was dead, I could figure out what he's been doin' and where he might be right now."

"Hmm," Tara pursed out, "that explains why I couldn't reach him last week."

"You tried to call him?" Dean asked, hope flaring.

"Yeah, he uh, he came here askin' about a job I did with your dad a few years back."

"Something about the First Blade, right?"

Tara nodded. "I told him all I knew. I tried tracking the blade down, but the best I was able to do was a spell to locate it. Thing is, I don't have one of the ingredients: essence of Kraken."

"That's a thing?"

Tara chuckled. "Rare, but yes." She shook her head. "Sam said he thought maybe the blade could take out this demon he was after, said he'd try to see if he could track down that last ingredient." She shrugged. "He alerted me to potential leads and dead-ends, but I hadn't heard from him for about four months, so I tried callin' last week, but the number's been disconnected."

Dean's shoulders slumped. "I was really hoping for better news," he admitted.

"Sorry I ain't got anything better for ya," Tara sighed. "If he ever drops by again, I'll call, yeah?"

"That'd be great," Dean replied, jotting down his phone number on a piece of paper. "How uh, how did Sam look when you saw him?"

"Tired," Tara said bluntly. "Desperate. A little hopeful. He seemed determined to keep on truckin'."

"Sounds like my Sammy," Dean chuckled. "Thanks."

Where are you, little brother?

"You know what I'm going to ask, Dean."

"An' you... you know what I'm gonna say."

There's a moment of silence as Sam watches the two stare at each other.

"No," Dean finishes, voice wavering from exhaustion, but strong in conviction.

Alistair clucks his tongue. "I'm sure you'll change your mind soon enough," he says, revealing his latest tool for torture. Sam begs for Dean to be shown mercy as his brother writhes, screams, chokes on blood —

"Sam, wake up!"

Ruby was almost clocked in the skull as Sam bolted out of bed, nerves flayed and breathing erratic. He stared around the room, trying to get his bearings as Ruby slowly rose and approached him. "Sam," she said, "what's going on?"

"Nightmare," Sam answered shortly. "About Dean."

"About when he died?"

No, but Sam nodded, anyway.

"Is there — d'you want a spell to sleep better, or maybe some pills —?"

"No," Sam said, shaking his head and shoving his hair out of his face. "I..." He sighed and blinked hazily around him. At a moment's thought, a bottle of beer was freed from its cooler and slid into Sam's hand. He drank it quickly, uncomfortably aware of the way Ruby was watching him, of the way her emotions shifted as she watched him. "Please don't," he whispered.

"Don't what?" Ruby asked quietly. "Ask you to tell me the gory details of what happened in an attempt to somehow make you feel better so you sleep better?" She snorted. "I'm not a shrink, Sam." She sighed and sat down on the bed. "I just... I worry about you. I don't need sleep to function, but you do, and you're not getting enough."

"I'm fine," Sam muttered. Ruby raised her eyebrows.

"Bullshit."

Sam blinked and looked up at the demon.

"You're not fine," Ruby told him. "You've spent the last four months jumping from one idea to the next in hopes that something will work and bring Dean back." A beat. "Or kill Lilith." Another beat. "You need to rest, Sam. I'm not saying take sleeping pills every night, but maybe... at least try it once a week, I know you'll function better when you're not plagued by nightmares."

Sam looked down at his beer. "Okay," he whispered. "I'll try."