Dean was not in a good mood.
John was not only gone by the time they had reached the area he was last in, but the bastard was still running scams and Dean had almost gotten arrested.
Fortunately he only used fake ID's when he was pretending to be someone else...he made no bones that he was only there because he wanted to know what the hell his estranged birth father had done this time to screw things up.
The fact Dean had a car licensed properly, a real ID on him (he kept his fakes in his mole-skin wallet, one enchanted to be invisible from anyone but the magical authorities which these backwoods hicks were NOT) and wasn't impersonating any authorities meant legally they had nothing to hold him on.
All Dean got out of it was John's journal, something he viewed with open distaste.
"Well?" asked Sam at the car.
"Dad skipped town. Last message from him said that he had a lead on whatever killed Mary, right before it cut off without warning. He did leave behind his journal, and I've never known that ass to leave a hunt uncompleted," said Dean.
"Yeah... and why leave the journal behind? Something about this stinks," said Sam.
Neither of them relied on the journal before, and they preferred to make their own indexed books instead. John's journal was extremely out of order and it made looking for things a pain in the ass. The fact he left behind his journal and left a hunt unfinished?
Something was definitely wrong.
"What time is it?" asked Dean.
"About noon, why?"
Dean calculated the time. Bobby should be up about now. He took out his cell phone and hit the second number on his phone. The first was always Sam, and the third and fourth were Ellen and Jo.
"What?!" said Bobby gruffly. He was busy researching something.
"John's gone off the grid. He's left a hunt unfinished and his journal behind, not to mention he actually called me a few days ago," said Dean flatly.
"What."
There was no mistaking the hint of incredulity in Bobby's voice. The fact John would dare call Dean personally, not to mention leave a hunt unfinished along with his journal behind...there was something very wrong with that picture and it didn't take a paranoid hunter to see it.
"Has he called you to ask for information? The last thing he said was that he had a lead on Mary's killer," said Dean.
"Haven't heard from him in six months, and you know he's never dared call the Roadhouse. I'll start asking around and if I find anything more I'll call you or Sam. Dean, be careful," said Bobby.
"I have a furry protector with me. I'll be fine."
Dean hung up, but his attention was immediately on something else. Something that had Bear growling in warning.
Mort looked rather... confused.
Where in the Pit did you find one of his breed?
You know what he is?
A very rare breed of canine not often found outside of monasteries. They're known as very fierce guard dogs and they can even scare demons if trained properly. Where did you find him?
Rescued him from a dog-pit fight after the pound said they couldn't pay for his vet bill. He seems to like me well enough.
Mort nodded. He knew Dean had a soft spot for abused creatures. It would stand to reason he would step in and save a dog, even one as big as Bear...even if it meant he had to go the extra mile to help the animal recover from the trauma.
Now we have a new question. Just who or what is manipulating John Winchester? Because there is no way in hell that this is normal by any means.
That's actually why I'm here. I came to inform you that the events I warned you about before you were reborn have finally started. Soon the demon that killed your birth mother and tainted your brother's magic will reveal himself, and it will lead you and your brother through a long painful road.
And as usual, there is nothing you can tell me about what we're facing or why this is happening because events have to unfold naturally without your help. At least we know something bigger is up, said Dean.
He was used to Mort being unable to tell him everything he needed to know. He had come to accept that Mort couldn't solve everything for him.
It was why they were able to get along so well.
"Mort here?" asked Sam.
"Yeah. He said that Dad's disappearance is a part of something big, but outside of that he can't tell me anything else."
Sam was used to Mort's silence, and the hunters respected it. Just as they couldn't demand Dean kill Mort, they also knew that sometimes finding information out themselves was better than having everything handed to them. The 'reaper' was usually better for moral support and as a sounding board.
Something any lonely teen growing up could always use.
"So something is up?"
"I think the demon that killed her is coming back. At least that's what Mort's hinting at. Which means we better start keeping an eye out for signs... but first, let's gank us a white lady," said Dean.
Dean quickly found out what Mort had meant when he said Bear was descended from some sort of supernatural guard dog when his paws sliced right through the ghost woman trying to kill Sam in the car. Sam drove her right into the house and they watched as Bear kept her occupied long enough for her murdered children to deal with her.
As promise, Dean drove Sam back to Stanford.
However he was exhausted from the drive back since he hadn't stopped except for something to wake him up and allow Bear to stretch his legs. He was about to crash in the Impala when he saw the fire in Sam's window and raced up the fire escape to find his brother staring at the ceiling.
Clearly the demon that killed their birth mother was gunning for Sam now. And he had just made it very personal.
Death watched sadly as events began to unfold, wishing he could do more. His 'master' had been dealt a bad hand twice, but at least this time he had an actual support base to work from and something resembling a childhood. And he now had a very powerful familiar, one more capable of defending itself from the things they hunted unlike the first one he had.
Bear was an oddly appropriate name for such a large dog. Especially one of that breed.
Still, he did visit Dean when he could and Dean respected their usual agreement of him not asking outright what they were hunting. Yes, Death gave Dean little hints, but that was usually to speed things along.
It was because of this unspoken agreement that Dean didn't ask Death which demon they were hunting. He didn't want to risk their strange friendship by forcing Death to give him information he couldn't.
However this was one time he could ignore that little rule they had between them, if only because Dean could actually get the information himself if he knew where to look.
The thing was Dean had no interest in hunting down the demon that killed Mary originally, so he had never bothered to try and find it in the magical libraries. Magicals had an extensive list of things not to mess with, including demons. It wasn't self-updating, but new ones were added every fifty years.
And the yellow-eyed one was pretty high up that list.
So if Death just happened to knock over a book referencing the list itself right before Dean entered the room and disappeared, there was no one to call him on it.
"Azazel," said Dean two days later.
Bobby and Sam both looked up. Bear and Baxter were outside, sleeping off a large meal they had just eaten. The two had thankfully gotten along well enough that Dean didn't have to tie up one of them for fear that the other would get hurt.
"Who?"
"Azazel of the Yellow Eyes," repeated Dean, bringing out a very long and detailed list of known characteristics belonging to denizens of the pit.
It also came with a notation stating how active they had been and how long ago. That had cost Dean more than he was comfortable with, but the information was worth that price.
"Wait, how long did it take for you to find out his name?" asked Bobby.
"Mort just gave his usual cryptic hint in the direction I should look. Took me three hours to match this demon to the description we had for what John was hunting," said Dean flatly.
"So we finally have a name. How does that help us?"
"It helps because this demon is pretty high up in the food chain for what we usually run into, and he was active around the time she was killed. So we know who we're dealing with, even if we don't know what he's up to. And we know that she wasn't the only one killed in that bizarre way. There have been at least three others according to Ash," stated Dean.
"Which means this demon could have infected the core of others like Sam," said Bobby.
"Ash is tracking down anyone else who might have had contact with the demon. But I'm thinking we go to another source," said Dean.
"Who?" asked Sam warily.
"Another demon."
"Hell and no."
"Hear me out. I asked around the Magical Bounty Hunter Network and apparently there is a crossroads demon who isn't that fond of Azazel. Goes by the name of Crowley. I'm betting he might be favorable to anyone who's planning to off ol' yellow eyes for him. There's nothing to say we can't temporarily team up with another demon long enough to deal with yellow eyes without making a deal in the process."
"And the fact that the partnership would involve a second demon doesn't bother you?"
"He came after Sam. He could have killed Jessica before we even got back, but he waited until Sam was in his bed before he set the place on fire," said Dean with a growl.
Dean was fiercely protective of his small family, to the point one might call him suicidal if anything harmed them, especially Sam. If he thought teaming up with a crossroads demon would keep his brother safe, he wouldn't hesitate to do it.
"I don't like this," said Bobby flatly.
"Let's face it. If a bastard like John hasn't had any luck finding this thing, how are we supposed to? You know how obsessed he is about finding the demon that killed her," said Dean sensibly.
He wasn't about to go on a wild goose chase trying to find John Winchester, or the demon that killed his birth mother Mary and Sam's girlfriend Jessica. If Winchester hadn't found the demon in all these years, then trying to pick up where he had left off was absolutely pointless in Dean's thinking.
However, getting help from an unexpected source was perfectly acceptable. If Mort couldn't tell them where to find the demon, then maybe one of his enemies from Hell could point them in the right direction.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying went.
It took Dean five tries and four different crossroads before word spread he was looking specifically for the demon called Crowley.
After that, he wasn't the least bit surprised the demon came to him instead.
"I hear you've been looking for me. Imagine my surprise to hear that the Winchesters are asking for me specifically," said a demon sitting across from Dean. Sam tensed and Bear growled.
"Crowley, I presume?" said Dean dryly.
"You did ask for me. Now why would the Winchesters be looking for little ol' me? I thought you simplistic morons were after old yellow-eyes," asked the demon with a smirk.
"Cut the crap. We're not interested in making a deal, but we are interested in killing Azazel for you," said Dean flatly.
Crowley blinked.
"I didn't think you knew his real name," he said carefully.
"And I didn't think that a crossroads demon was that out of date with his information. Our last name is Harvelle, has been for nearly a decade since we cut ties with John," said Dean.
Crowley blinked twice. He looked, and really looked at the two brothers before him. Now that Dean mentioned it, he could see that their signature rejected the Winchester name completely in favor of a new one.
This could be worth a lot in hell, if he played his cards right. Though he would like to know why Dean's personality had shifted from what they had been told.
"So you want to kill Azazel for me. Why?"
"Let's cut to the chase. I heard you and Azazel weren't exactly on the best of terms, and I figure you might like the idea of offing a higher ranking demon with minimal effort," said Dean.
"So what do you need me for?"
"We have his name. We know he has been rather busy when he killed our birth mother and that he targeted Sam specifically recently by killing his girlfriend. What we need is information as to why he's going after my brother, and where to find him. If John gets to him first, then we can go our separate ways without trying to kill each other."
Crowley was stunned.
Dean was nothing like he had been told by the others. He was extremely pragmatic and not above asking for help from sources his father John would never dream of considering. He was also much smarter than anyone had expected.
At least Sam was exactly like he had been told.
Still, Crowley did have information the other demons didn't, and this could prove extremely profitable if he played his cards right. Besides, pissing off yellow-eyes amused him greatly.
"Agreed. Here's what little I do know about what yellow eyes has been up to lately. There was a rumor a few decades ago that he was using demon's blood to kick-start some brats in their natural psychic talents, about a hundred from what I heard. Some of the mothers were killed in a rather odd fashion, but nothing was ever said why. Another odd thing was that he was spending an unusual amount of time with Lilith during that period. The only thing I've heard recently is that he's out again and he's not alone. He's taken his two brats with him, a boy and girl," said Crowley.
Sam couldn't believe the demon was telling them even this much. It was more than Mort had during any hunt they had been on.
"Why tell us that?" he asked.
Crowley smirked.
"I like him," he said, looking at Dean specifically, "Do you know how rare it is that I actually like humans enough to even feel like telling you that much information without a deal? Besides, I can't stand Lilith, Azazel or his brats, and Dean's given me more information that none of the others have that I can use. Something tells me that if we work together now it will prove very profitable in the long run."
"Establish a good relationship now when things are calm and we might be more willing to make deals later," deadpanned Dean.
"Exactly. Besides, I get the feeling you're not entirely what we've been told and I intend to find out why," said Crowley easily.
He left his phone number with Dean, who gave him one of his business cards in return.
If becoming friends with a demon as sleazy as Crowley meant his brother would be safe, then Dean would make friends with a demon.