Chapter 3
Sensing eyes on him, Eliot looked up to find Dean smirking at him. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "What?"
"You're bleeding a little bit there, Champ," the hunter replied with a big grin.
"Ya think?" Eliot shot back, trying to get the bleeding to stop. He had pulled a chunk of broken glass out of his arm a few minutes ago only to have blood start gushing from it.
"Aww I'm sorry. Want me to get you a band-aid?" Dean asked, attempting to look very sympathetic. Eliot wanted to smack the guy already, now he was just pushing his buttons. Suddenly, it dawned on him that Dean wasn't bleeding or even hurt. And hehadbeen.
"Fuck you. You mean the angel can heal you up too? And you never thought to mention that?" Jumping off the bar stool, Eliot pushed Dean off his when he walked past, then over to Cas and waited a few minutes while the angel stared at Parker. The two had been staring at each other since they got back to McRory's though and he was starting to drip blood on his boots, so he cleared his throat loudly. Cas turned wide eyes to him and returned his impatient look with a blank look of his own.
"Do it." Eliot waved his hand over his wound. When the angel didn't reply, he growled, "Dude, just do your thing and make it stop bleeding, and I'll leave you alone to go back to staring at her."
If looks could kill, Hardison's expression would have killed Eliot on the spot, but Cas touched the wound and Eliot glanced down to see it had completely healed.
"Do that again!" Parker squealed. "His mouth is bleeding too." Her eyes were wide, and she had the typical goofy expression.
Without asking Eliot, Cas touched his mouth. Parker's expression made it clear that he had healed that as well.
"Can you heal the scars on his face too?" Parker started showing Cas Eliot's scars before the hitter grabbed her hand. With a glare, he turned around and walked away. He reached over the bar to grab a bottle of whiskey. He didn't care what time it was; he needed a drink.
Dean grabbed a glass and shoved it toward him. After pouring both of them a hefty glass, he resumed his position on the stool. His gaze wandered the room while he drank. Sam seemed to be trying to comfort Sophie at the same time he and Hardison were both typing away on laptops. Cas and Parker were talking softly.
"You're worried about her," Dean observed, leaning back against the bar. "I'm not going to bother telling you not to. I trust Cas with my life but then again…" The other man left the sentence hanging out there while watching Parker.
"Then again what? Man, if there's something more I need to know…"
"What? I should tell you?" Dean's quiet chuckle ended with a smirk. "Don't think we're at that level of trust yet bro."
Eliot glared at him silently until Dean turned his gaze to him. "Angel or not, Bro, if he hurts her…"
"You'll do what? Don't overestimate your skills, son. Sure, you're an okay fighter but he's a freakin' angel. Be like Godzilla and Jackie Chan."
Ignoring the dig at calling him an 'okay' fighter, Eliot stood up quickly, causing Dean to do the same. Not turning his back on him, Eliot strolled over to Parker and Cas again. He put his hand under her elbow grasping her arm and pulling her with him. "Come on. We need to talk."
"But…" Parker saw his expression and closed her mouth, allowing him to pull her over to the booth where the others were.
Sam stopped typing and glanced at him. Eliot pushed the laptop closed, barely missing Sam's fingers as he said, "I need to speak to my team.Alone." When the other man walked over to join his brother, Eliot continued, "Back room."
Dean tensed when he saw them entering the other room, but Sam said something that stopped Dean from saying anything. Cas just watched Parker, ignoring the others.
After shutting the door, Eliot sighed and shook his head. "I don't like working with them."
"Like it or not, we might not have an option, Eliot," Sophie pointed out. "They're demon hunters. We're grifters and thieves. One of those…things…probably has Nate or has done something to him. Unless you plan on Parker stealing another hunter, we don't have a choice."
"How do we know they're not worse than the demons?" Hardison mumbled. "That Angel is shifty. And I'm not feeling much love for their dumbed down version of Eliot."
"Wait…he's not me, at all. He's…more like… not me at all."
Hardison shrugged, holding his hands out. "I saiddumbed down. All attitude, no brains. You have some brains."
"Some…dammit Hardison…" Eliot grabbed at his arm, despite Hardison attempting to step away from him, before Sophie snapped 'no' at them. The two men looked at each other, then at her.
"Look, can you two resist the urge to break into a childish spat between you? We have no idea where Nate is, if he's alive, or what to do next. We don't know what the others want from us or where it is. We have no plans and we're in over our head. So, unless you think Hardison can hack the problem while you beat the hell out of it, Eliot, I suggest you two learn to resist the primal male instincts to be all territorial and realize weneedthem. If we're going to take on a demon or whatever we have coming for us, it might be handy to have an angel on our side."
"But he's not onourside. We don't know what their motivations are," Hardison pointed out. "They want something they think we have. We have no idea if they're willing to help us find Nate or if they even care."
"Cas is really fond of Parker. Maybe she could get some information out of him," Sophie asked, turning towards Parker. She had been sitting silently on a nearby table swinging her feet back and forth and ignoring the whole discussion.
"Parker.Parker." Jerking her head up, the thief looked confused, and Sophie adopted the calm motherly approach. "Do you know what they want from us? Has Cas told you anything?'
"No. But I could ask him. I think he'd tell me if I asked."
"You trust him? You don't even know him. Can I remind you that Lucifer was an angel too? Not all 'angels' are good." Hardison's jealousy was apparent in his tone of voice. "Besides, you never trust anyone this quickly. Maybe he's bewitched you."
They all turned and stared at the hacker for a moment before he sputtered, "Okay, well maybe notbewitchedin the literal sense but he could put a spell of some kind on her. Or trick her. How many angels do you know?"
"Three," Eliot stated plainly.
Narrowing his eyes, Hardison snarked back, "Notstrippersnamed Angel. I mean real angels. If he is even arealangel. For all we know, he's a demon with wings." The thought silenced them all for a few moments.
"That's just my point. We don't knowanyof this which is why we need them," Sophie exclaimed. "I'll talk to Castiel. I'll get the truth out of him."
"He's really an angel," Parker said softly. "I've dreamt of him."
Sophie glanced at Eliot and Hardison before turning to Parker. She gently put her arm around the thief and led her to sit down at the table, then took a seat opposite her. "Parker, tell me about these dreams."
"I can't…they're too private. I mean…" the blonde looked around nervously and Eliot sensed her defenses rising. "I just can't." She began staring a hole in the floor.
The silence in the room grew intense before Hardison cleared his throat. "Someone needs to find more information and obviously it's not going to be Parker."
"I'll do it," Sophie said standing up. "I need to get him away from the other two though. I think he's blunter and less secretive than they are. Hardison, you work on Sam. Eliot, that leaves Dean for you."
"That's just…awesome," Eliot retorted then rolled his eyes. "So how are you going to get Cas away from the other two. I can probably get Dean to drink a little with me and Hardison is already finding things out from Sam through their geek connection. Wait…does this mean I have an asshole connection with Dean?"
"Umm…" Sophie paused and thought for a moment before using her most persuasive tone with him. "I think you and Dean share a certain protectiveness and authority when it comes to the teams. I wouldn't say it was an 'asshole connection', I would say it's…"
"An asshole connection." Hardison grinned. "Parker, you can hang with me and Sam." Glancing towards her, he realized for the first time she was crying. He walked over and crouched down before her, placing his hands on her knees. "Mama, why the tears?"
She angrily wiped them away and shook her head. "Nothing. Let's get this over with." Rising, she brushed past him and walked over to the door, entering the main part of the bar without another word.
oXoXo
Nate allowed Meg to finish cleaning the wounds on his face. "So, you understand what you need to do now?"
"Yes." He nodded reluctantly, the guilt weighing heavily that he was betraying everyone.
"Once you get the sword, bring it to me and I'll take you to see my friend. Then you can have your son back. That's a fair trade. Your friend took something of ours, we'll trade your son for it." Placing her hands on his shoulders, she smiled. "And we'll even let you and your friends live through it. I think that's pretty fuckin' generous. You don't seem very grateful though. Can I get at least a smile, babe, to show me you realizeyou'rethe winner in this?"
Nate glanced away and she tightened her grip on his shoulders, painfully. He forced himself to smile, earning him a pat on the cheek before she finally walked away. Grabbing her bag, she turned back and pointed her finger at him. "Don't think that because I'm letting you leave on your own that I'm not watching you. If you don't get me the sword, I'll rip your pretty little friends apart. Got it?"
"Yes," he answered quickly. "I'll get the sword. Just give me some time."
"You got two days. If it's not in my hands by then, I'll start with your dark haired friend from the bar the other night and I'll make you watch. Or maybe, I'll just get one of my demon friends to wear her meat suit for a while…"
"No! I'll do it, I said I would. Just leave them out of it," Nate insisted, limping towards the door. "You'll have it in two days. You have my word."
"Good. Glad we got this settled." As he opened the door, she added, "And if you try to get the hunters and the angel to help you, things will only get worse for your friends. And your ex-wife."
Nate stopped cold and whirled around on her. Meg smiled evilly and continued, "Oh, I forgot to mention that didn't I? What can I say? I'm the prepared type. I like contingency plans. I heard you like them too."
"You have…where is she?" Nate snapped, ignoring the dangerous way she was watching him.
"Maggie is safe…for now. She doesn't even know she's in danger. Her new man was not so lucky but who better than a lawyer to possess? We're just keeping an eye on her. Besides, we thought she'd be the first person you'd call when we brought Sam back. Although she's moved on and replaced you, I can still see it in your eyes how much she means to you. If I had a soul, it might be touching or even make me shed a few tears about the tragedy of it all." Meg imitated a fake tear down her face. "Counting on you, babe. Bring me my plaything and everyone gets to live."
oXoXo
"They're plotting something, I can feel it," Dean muttered under his breath. "Can't you just find out where the sword is Cas? Parker seems willing to tell you anything."
"You want me to take advantage of her trust in me?"
"Hell yeah. I mean, we have to play on all the advantages we have. You get the sword from her, I'll deal with Sophie. Sam, you can talk to Eliot and Jake's doppelganger."
"Wait…why do I get the guy that likes to knock me around and the mirror image of the guy who killed me? That seems pretty fucked up if you ask me." Sam barely looked up from his laptop screen.
"No one asked you. Besides, I can get more out of Sophie than you can. She speaks my language."
Cas looked confused. "What language is that?"
Sam snorted and muttered "Con artist."
"Se-duc-tion.You should try it sometime. But since you got the two dudes, I'd prefer you not try it today. Unless…you think it would work," Dean retorted and smirked at Sam's glare. "I'm just saying."
"Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying: 'do whatever it takes to get what you want from them'," Sam stood up, watching Parker reenter the bar. "Alright, time to divide and conquer."
Taking one look at Parker, Cas shook his head. "I do not like this plan. She's upset."
"Go comfort her then," Dean tossed over his shoulder walking towards Sophie. They all stopped still when a man walked in the bar.
"Nate!" Sophie exclaimed and her steps quickened. Dean noticed how badly the man had been beaten up as the rest of his team rushed to his side asking questions.
"I'm fine. Seriously. I just got into a little bar fight last night. The details are kind of fuzzy to be honest," Nate muttered strolling to the bar. "I could use some coffee now. Is there any made?"
"Cora will be here soon to open for the afternoon crowd. Why don't we go upstairs and have a little chat about where you've been?" Sophie said, putting her hand on Nate's arm and steering him towards the elevator.
"Who are your friends?" Nate glanced at the other three men. "Do we have new clients?"
"Not exactly…" Hardison glanced over at Dean and Sam then towards Eliot, waiting for someoneelseto fill in the blanks. Eliot shrugged and turned to Sophie who seemed unsure on how to explain things.
"He's an Angel and the other two are Demon Hunters," Parker interjected cluelessly.
Nate looked the other three over closely then turned to Parker. "Yeah, perhaps you might want to expand on this one."
"Upstairs. Before Cora comes in," Sophie said, nudging him again. "I guess you guys can come with us although I'm not sure we need your help now."
"You need our help more than you know." Sam was staring at the door to the bar nervously. A man was standing there casually with a disgusted look and everyone turned to look at him.
"What are you…" Dean began only to be interrupted.
"The demon activity in this area of the world is blowing up. And there are other hunters and angels here too. Didn't think of the fact that you guys might not be the only ones looking for it didntcha? And you," he pointed at Nate and his team. "Everyone knows you have it so you're going to be getting plenty of visitors soon. Most of them, not very friendly." Bobby took off his hat and wiped his forehead. "I had to dodge a couple of them at the airport."
"You flew?" Sam asked, surprised.
"No, you idgit. I got from South Dakota to Boston in a day by flapping my arms."
"Dammit you people are bringing nothing but trouble into our lives," Eliot snapped, pushing the others towards the back door. "Thanks, but no thanks. We have enough problems without your help."
"I wouldn't go out there…" Bobby trailed off when the hitter glared and walked through the back room. Hearing crashing Dean shook his head.
Sam threw his laptop into a bag and headed after the others. "I guess we're going out the backdoor too. Hopefully they have a safe house that's not a stop on the Demon Expressway." Cas followed him with Dean reluctantly trailing after. He snickered when he heard Bobby.
"Balls!"