Supernatural
"Family Ties"
Episode 7
Sam peeked over at Castiel and wondered what the angel was thinking. He sat quietly in the passenger seat as Sam drove the Impala through the torrential downpour. The rain was not making it easy to think and drive. Sam was spending too much time trying not to run off the road into a ditch. Castiel suggested they go back to town to see if they could catch a tail on one of them or possibly ask around. Deep down, Sam knew they were long gone, but he didn't want to give up hope.
"We're going to have to kill him, aren't we, Cas?" Sam asked.
"Who? Dean? I think so. He's much stronger and viler than I would've imagined. I'm sorry, but if I get the chance, I will have to kill him."
"I know. Sadly, I have to do the same. That's not my brother anymore. At this point, he's probably worse than Crowley."
Sam expected Castiel to agree, but the angel went back to his silence. The rain let up and the town could be seen on the horizon. Sam didn't know where to start other than the coffee house but even that was a long shot.
"What's going on in that noggin of yours, Cas?"
"I can't help but wonder why they didn't kill her on the spot. It only makes me think they wanted to keep her. Not sure why they would need a weapon against themselves." Castiel suddenly trailed off into another thought. "What if…what if they needed her for something else?'
"Such as?" Sam asked.
"I was thinking maybe Hannah can cast out more than just demons. Maybe she can cast out angels as well."
"You're joking, right? Cas, what are the odds of someone like her existing with that kind of capability? Have you ever known someone who could do both?"
They reached the first block of the town, and the storm was moving away from them. The windshield wipers scraped across the glass, and Sam flicked off the switch.
"No, I haven't, but you've seen stranger things, Sam. Why start speculating now?"
Castiel had a good point. Sam saw the coffee shop and pulled over when they reached the store front.
"So how do you want to do this? I'm at a loss. If you think she can cast out angels, then that's gotta be why Crowley and Dean want her. The next question is, where would they start? I can only guess it would be a place where lots of vessels congregate," Sam said.
"I would have to go back to heaven and ask around. They're still rounding up people after Metatron's mess. Maybe they would use her as bait to lure some in. I will have to warn heaven."
And just like that, Castiel was gone in a breath, and an empty passenger seat stared back at Sam. He got out and made his way into the coffee shop. He asked some of her coworkers to have her contact him at his number on the fake FBI cards.
He didn't know what he was doing. This was all pointless. He knew Crowley and Dean would never show their faces here for a second time. They got what they wanted and left. He threw the Impala door open and plopped down in the seat and slammed his fist down on the steering wheel. He clenched it and wrung his hands over it. He was getting close to admitting this might be the end after all. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. How could he have forgotten?
He reached under the seat and pulled out his father's notebook. He rifled through page after page looking for the spell Dean used to find Cain. As he was skimming over the page, Castiel knocked on the window of the driver's door.
"I thought of something, Sam. A location spell."
Sam chuckled loudly. "Cas, are you able to read minds now? That's exactly what I was looking for in my dad's journal. Dean told me that he and Crowley used this location spell to find the First Blade. One problem is, I definitely don't have any Essence of Kraken. Do you?"
Castiel shook his head. "Sorry, no. I'm sure Crowley would have loads of it, though." He leaned against the car and stared back at Sam.
"Back to square one again, Cas. I just –"
"Wait a second, Sam. I remembered something. When I was a human, I befriended a fallen angel that still had some grace. He once showed me how to perform a location spell using the blood of the person you're looking for. It's fairly easy," Castiel interrupted.
"There's another problem. We don't have Dean's blood, or Hannah's…or Crowley's for that matter."
"I think I have an idea for that. We summon Dean, and we get it from him."
Sam looked at Castiel with utter confusion. "Cas, did you hit your head recently? No way Dean would just hand over his blood to us."
"I know that, so we'll have to take it from him."
"You're asking for a whole new level of pain with that suggestion. He'll eat us for breakfast, Cas."
"Look, we don't have to beat him to a pulp to get it. We'll summon him, and I'll stab him with my angel blade. The spell only requires a drop of blood for it to work."
"A drop of blood may cost us our lives, Cas. You have to be sure you can get it."
Castiel gave a weak smile, but Sam knew neither one of them could promise something like that. They'd just have to hope for the best.
They gathered the simple ingredients of water, fish oil, and gunpowder. Castiel suggested they go back to the house where they saw Dean a few days ago. There, they painted a Devil's Trap to ensnare him, where they would then take his blood.
"Cas, you feel good about this, but I don't. There's too much margin for error. Dean's too smart for this."
"Sam, if you can think of a better plan, I'd love to hear it.
Of course Sam had no other plan, so he sat down in a chair outside of the Devil's Trap.
"I'm going to stand out of sight so you can distract him for me. At the right moment, I'll stab him to get the blood. Once I know we have some, we'll get out of here. My only hope is that he doesn't follow us. I don't have enough grace to transport us a long distance. I think maybe a hundred yards." We'll drive to some place out of the way and perform the spell there when we know Dean's not trailing us."
Sam wanted to fight this but knew he had nothing to refute it with. It really was their only option. He prayed his older brother was still in there.
"Ok, let's get this over with," Sam said. He leaned over and performed the summoning spell. The seconds that followed proved to be the hardest seconds he'd ever waited.
Moments passed and Dean didn't appear. Sam grew restless, and his anxiety was building with every passing second.
"I don't think he's coming, Cas," Sam whispered.
Out of the corner, Castiel whispered back, "He has, too. Be patient."
Sam didn't want to be patient. He wanted out of here. He wasn't stupid to think he could handle Dean if things got out of control. Dean was more powerful than anything they'd ever faced. With that last thought, Dean appeared in the room.
"I knew you'd eventually reach out, Sammy. So, how do you want to do this?" Dean said. He paced a few steps back and forth, as if in mocking fashion.
"I called you to try to talk you out of this, Dean. This is madness what you're doing. Let Hannah go and we'll all go back to the bunker to figure this out. I have to believe you're not stuck this way."
Dean grinned from ear to ear. A small chuckled escaped between his teeth. Clearly, he was amused by Sam's speech. Sam's unease rapidly grew as Dean inched closer and closer to him. Nervous, he stood up.
"What? Do I make you nervous, Sammy?" Dean reached inside his coat and slowly pulled out the First Blade. "Is this what you wanted? Or was it me?"
Dean lunged at Sam, but Sam held his ground knowing the Devil's Trap would hold him. When Dean's foot crossed the circle, Sam knew he was in for a world of hurt. Dean was on him fast, and because Sam wasn't expecting Dean to be immune to the trap, he stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet. His body fell hard on the ground, and Dean pounced on him. Dean raised the First Blade, but Sam threw his arms up to soften the blow.
Sam saw a bright, silver blade pierce Dean's left shoulder, and it almost went into his own. Castiel had jumped out of the corner and jammed the blade into Dean when they fell. The blow caught Dean off guard, and he dropped his own blade. Sam took that opportunity to break loose of Dean's grip. He got up to grab the First Blade, because he knew Dean was worthless without it. Seeing Sam go for the blade, Dean quickly pulled the angel blade through his shoulder and made an attempt to stab Sam with it as Sam reached for the First Blade.
Sam danced out the way to avoid being jabbed but missed his chance to grab the First Blade as Dean kicked it out the way simultaneously. Castiel wrapped his hands around the angel blade and pulled it out of Dean's hand. He jumped over Dean and clapped his hand on Sam's shoulder where they vanished from the house. Sam felt grass under his feet, and all he could think to do was run. Dean would be on them in seconds if he saw a glimpse of them. They headed for a batch of trees at the edge of the yard, and ducked out of sight behind some wild shrubbery.
Castiel sat next to Sam as they waited for Dean to follow, but he never came. He pulled out a plastic bag and dropped the blood stained angel blade inside.
"Do you think he's gone?" Sam panted. His adrenaline was pumping, and he couldn't catch his breath.
"I think so. I'm sorry it got that far, Sam. I had no idea the Devil's Trap wouldn't work on him."
"At least we got his blood. Let's get somewhere quickly to get this thing brewing. One thing, though, Cas. What are we going to do once we find him?"
Sam felt kind of stupid for not thinking that far ahead. He'd been so preoccupied with finding them, that he never considered what to do afterwards.
"I think only Hannah can help with that. I'm convinced she's the only one who can fix this problem. We just have to get to her first."
Sam wasn't sure what Castiel meant, but he trusted his friend. They'd just have to wing it as they went. They jogged a short distance to the Impala and drove to a nearby motel on the outskirts of town. Castiel grabbed a cheap area map from the motel lobby, as it was the last needed item of the spell.
He spread the map out over the floor of their room, and Sam stood by as Castiel mixed the ingredients together. With all the ingredients in a bowl, he used the angel blade to stir them up. When Castiel felt it appropriately mixed, he dumped the contents out onto the map. The liquid mixture slished and sloshed around on the map and then pooled over the top of an area called Copper Canyon in Arizona.
"You have to be kidding me? He's in Copper Canyon? How are we supposed to find him in a huge canyon? Are you sure that spell works?" Sam asked.
"Yes, I'm positive. It won't be as hard as you think, Sam. There aren't many places to hide in a canyon. Outposts, cabins, ranger stations."
"Maybe, but what about caves, Cas? Copper Canyon is huge. Dad took Dean and I there one year to hunt a rock monster. It took us forever because we had to look in so many caves."
Sam could tell Castiel was starting to get irritated based on the huffing and sighing in his responses. He shared that frustration. Sam wasn't looking forward to combing through the mountains again. Then it hit him. A vague memory appeared at the back of his mind of the time where Dean had gotten separated from him and their Dad while at Copper Canyon. They found him stuffed away in a cave ogling over Indian drawings the Tarahumara Indians had drawn years ago. In fact, Sam remembered exactly where the cave was, because they'd followed a construction route right to it. A local organization was in the process of turning it into a miniature museum. Sam figured since that had been almost twenty years ago, it would be finished by now.
He quickly pulled out his laptop and did a quick search for the museum, and he'd been right. They'd indeed finished it, but now it was abandoned after funding fell through to keep it open.
"I think I know where Dean is. He has to be there. It's too much of a coincidence if he's not." He pointed to the museum on the screen.
"All right, let's get going then. We have a long drive ahead of us."