Supernatural: War of the Sons (32 page)

A sizzling noise came from within the damaged structure, like a thousand tons of bacon frying. A blast like a mini atom bomb shot up into the air, crumbling the fifty-foot walls and sending flaming debris a hundred yards in all directions.

Dean looked at the destroyed shell of foundation.

“Sam?” he said in a small voice.

Then, against the light of the burning inferno, a silhouette appeared.
Sam?
The figure gradually revealed itself to be Eisheth. She strode up to them, dragging Sam’s body behind her.

Dean leveled his shotgun at her.

“He’s not dead, don’t worry. I’m as upset as you are. His body is so magnificent. I told him I can’t wait until I get to explore it
all over
.”

“Put him down,” Dean commanded.

Eisheth dropped Sam face first onto the gravel.

“What would you like to do now? I did my job. I stopped all those holier-than-thou hunters from killing the vessels.”

“You killed my father!” Julia shouted.

Eisheth regarded Dean with a smirk.

“Really, this whiney little mouse is attractive to you? Okay, listen sweetheart, I had a job to do. I had to stop all you blood-filled air suckers from thinking you are doing God’s work. If you only knew. From my perspective, God created a hot, dry, dusty, famine-filled world for you. Why would you ever want to help his cause?”

“Hey, Sigourney, can you stop playing Gate Keeper for a moment, and let’s get this over with,” Dean shouted over the roar of the fire.

“Just one more thing, then I’ll get out of your hair. I need the last pages of the scroll. My job is to protect those names, and I’m not letting anyone else get any crazy ideas about killing off the vessels, especially now I’ve met my husband’s. I’m talking to you, mouse.”

Julia stepped out from behind the car and leveled her gun at Eisheth. A lightning quick unseen force pulled Julia toward Eisheth. She flew through the air and landed unconscious at Eisheth’s feet. The demon knelt down and picked her up by the hair, examining her face.

“Nice face, but a little petite, don’t you think? Oh, and by the way, thanks for this. It’s like a token from my homeland. Makes me nostalgic for all those sacrifices people used to do.”

Eisheth held the demon knife at Julia’s throat.

“I know. She’s definitely not like me, but she will bleed regardless. I’m going to have so much fun with this knife. Do you know what I’m going to be able to do with it?” Eisheth dropped Julia and began ranting and gesticulating with the knife like it was a piece of chalk held by a professor. “I can kill off all Lucifer’s precious little demons. I’ll be able to slaughter each and every one. Then he’ll have to listen to me.”

Dean had to think fast.

“What’s your plan?” he said. “You reckon killing demons is going to make your absent husband take you more seriously? You can boil little bunnies Glenn Close-style all you want, Lucifer has bigger fish to fry. You’re just a distraction to him. Second fiddle. He’s Tiger Woods and you’re just another cocktail waitress to text message.”

“Are those the last words your true love is going to hear you say?” Eisheth spat. “Fine with me.”

Grabbing her hair, Eisheth lifted Julia’s body off the ground. She pushed her neck back and held the knife to her throat again.

“What if we could make you a deal?” Dean asked, eyeing the glinting blade as she pressed it to Julia’s skin.

“What could you possibly have that I would have the slightest bit of interest in?”

“We can take you to Lucifer. Now. You won’t have to wait.”

That made Eisheth pause.

“It seems like you haven’t had a face-to-face with your hubby in a long time. Maybe now is the time to try to get into couples therapy?”

“I don’t like the way you talk.”

“You’re a smart chick. Despite those 2,000 birthday candles on your cake, I know you get it.” Dean smirked.

“Someone broke the seals?” Eisheth asked.

Dean looked at Sam. Seemed everyone thought it was impossible.

“Someone broke the seals. Lilith did, to be exact, and she’s gone.”

Eisheth’s eyes glowed brightly, the thought of her husband unfettered, free of his favorite wife, was the consolation and redemption she had been waiting for.

Dean needed to rope her in quick.

“Lucifer is walking around just like you and me. But there’s a catch— it’s fifty-six years in the future. But we have a way to get you there.”

“How?”

“All things come to those who wait. You need to do something for us first.”

“I don’t do favors.”

Dean looked at her steadily. “You’ll do this one. Just let Julia go.”

Eisheth looked down at Julia’s limp body.

“Fine,” she said, dropping her to the ground. “What do I have to do?”

“First things first, we have a couple of stops.”

“Where’d you say you found me?” Leanne Keeny asked.

“Wandering around St. Louis. You don’t remember anything?” Dean shot her a sideways glance as he negotiated the country dirt road.

“I thought I went to New York. I got a job, I think. It was my first day. That’s the last thing I remember.”

“You’re a lucky girl. Is this it?” Dean turned the car up a long driveway leading to a white clapboard farmhouse. “Nice place. I’m sure your parents will be happy to see you.”

“They weren’t expecting me until Christmas.”

“Leanne, do me a favor. Stay here on the farm. Raise a family. You don’t need to go to New York to have a good life.”

She shrugged. “Guess you’re right. Besides, New York was awfully expensive.”

“There you go. Smart girl.”

Leanne flashed him a big smile as she got out of the car. She shut the door and leaned in through the open window.

“So,” she hesitated, “maybe you and me could go get a float sometime.”

“Sorry sweetheart, I’m not the settling-down type.” Dean winked, put the car into reverse and peeled off down the driveway.

Leanne Keeny took a long look at her parents’ farmhouse and then ran inside.

Hours later, Dean pulled into the Twin Pines Motel in Waubay. He parked the car. Julia appeared in the doorway of a cabin. Dean couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Where’s Sam?” he asked as he shut the car door.

“He’s in a cabin. Sleeping, of all things. Are you sure about all this?”

Dean shrugged. “I’m never sure about anything. But we had to take the risk. Besides, she had a knife to your throat.”

“Thank you for saving my life.” Julia looked up into Dean’s eyes.

He put his arms around her waist and gently pushed her into the cabin, closing the door behind him with his foot.

Dean gently slid onto the bed, pulling Julia with him.

“I’m so sorry for everything,” Julia said as she smoothed her hands over Dean’s chest. “Everything I believed in, everyone I’ve ever known... is gone.”

Dean gazed into her eyes for a moment. It was true that Julia’s life was forever changed. She had lost her father, all of the hunters who were her friends; she had lost her way of life. Dean thought about how hard it would be to go back to living a normal existence. Would there always be an itching to be on the road? Dean didn’t know any other life. But Julia, she was different.

“You’re free, Julia. You’re now free to do what you want.”

Julia pulled back to look at him. “What I want is to be with you.”

“That can’t happen. You know that.”

Julia nodded sadly and laid her head on Dean’s shoulder.

In the early dawn, Dean woke up. As quietly as possible, he crept out of bed, gathered his clothing up off the floor, lingered a moment at the door, then left.

He walked into the other cabin, where Sam was apparently still sleeping.

“You awake? We need to do this.”

Sam sat up in bed. He was already dressed. He nodded and followed Dean out into the parking lot. They walked west into a field by the motel. Dean took the last couple of pages of the War Scroll from inside his leather jacket. Holding them up by one corner, he lit his Zippo and the flame caught the parchment. In a matter of seconds the pages had curled up like black tongues licking up the fire.

As the last bit of the War Scroll disappeared into ash, there was a bright flash of light.

Castiel had told Dean many times about the difficulty of moving objects through time. How it exhausted him, and left him barely able to think, much less fight. Dean was beginning to learn, from first-hand experience, that it was also true for the traveler. As the 1954 world flashed out of existence around him, a deep, gurgling something bubbled up in his stomach. He mentally prepared himself for the possibility that he’d puke when they got back to 2010.
God, I hope it comes up as puke, not out the other side.

When the world re-formed, Dean was no longer standing. He was sitting in the back booth of the Waubay bar, a cheeseburger and a freshly poured beer waiting on the table in front of him. Sam was seated next to him, uncomfortably close.

“You want to give me some breathing room?” Dean scooted sideways slightly.

Sam didn’t respond. He just tapped the glass in front of him, as if it wasn’t real.

“Hey, you want to sit on a guy’s lap, wait till Christmas,” Dean said.

Finally, Sam slid out of the booth and stood up, surveying the rest of the room.

“Do you see him?”

Dean looked around the bar. Don, or Abaddon, or whoever the hell he was, apparently hadn’t stuck around to greet them.

“Dude zapped us back. Gotta be around here somewhere.” Remembering their earlier encounter, Dean looked toward the back of the bar. “Check the bathroom. Guy has a woman’s bladder. Then we’ll check outside.”

Unfortunately, the bathroom’s only occupant was a large Peruvian man, who incidentally did not like having his privacy invaded. Sam learned that lesson very quickly, much to Dean’s amusement.

As they left the bar, Dean saw something that nearly brought a tear to his eye. The Impala, in all its glory, rested under a nearby oak tree.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he said, running his fingers over the cool metal of the hood.

“Why are you stroking a car?” Sam asked.

“Give me a break, I haven’t seen her in weeks.”

“Her?”

Dean was distracted when he noticed a white spot on the windshield. That’s when it hit him —something was seriously wrong here.

“Didn’t park it here,” he said, mostly to himself.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“I left the car at the motel. We... we got zapped back from the motel, not the bar. The Impala shouldn’t be here.”

He pointed at the white spot. “And when have I ever parked her under a tree, where birds can...
do things
on her?”

“Sorry about that, Dean. I moved it for you,” Abaddon’s voice called out from behind them. “Thought you’d appreciate a welcome home meal, rather than a stuffy motel room.”

“That’s awfully nice of you, Donny, but why don’t you cut the crap?”

Abaddon hung his head, as if in shame.

“Ah. So I take it your trip didn’t go well?”

“You know exactly how it went. You knew all along what we were going to find, and what we’d have to do when we found it.”

“You know, Dean, you really should let your baby bro get a word in edgewise sometimes. I think he’d really appreciate it.” Don looked amused.

Sam was apparently speechless with anger. His face had contorted in rage at the sight of Abaddon.

“See, he looks a little... piqued.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Dean said. “Worry about me, and what I’m going to do to you. What the angels are going to do to you when they find out you’ve been batting for the other side.”

“Oooooh. I’m scared.” Abaddon shielded his face in mock alarm. “Don’t tell Daddy on me. Oh wait, my dad’s dead. Gone to wherever omnipotent but lazy deities go when they finally get bored with their creations and abandon ship.”

“So what, now you kill us? Put us through the funhouse and then slit our throats when we find our way out?”

“Buddy, you’re not getting the lesson at all.”

“What can I say. I’m a drop-out.”

“That’s fine, since it’s not really for you to get, anyway. It’s for our good friend over here.” He nodded toward Sam.

“Tell me if you’ve heard this before: You’re going to say yes. And it’s not because you’ll be tricked, or because you’ll be forced. It’s because the other options don’t work. Not for you.”

“You don’t know all our options,” Dean retorted.

“I just gave you a great one. And what did you do? You went out of your way to keep things the way they are. You got your friend killed to save Lucifer.”

“We didn’t kill anybody.”

“Honestly, it’s a win-win for us either way,” Abaddon continued. “If you’d tried to kill all those vessels, you would have failed. You would have moped and felt terrible for trying, and we would have ended up in this exact same place, only you’d be one step closer to damnation. Like it or not, all three of us know that the fight is inevitable. And that’s why you did what you did.”

Sam could no longer hold his silence.

“You pretend that you thought of everything, that the outcome was determined before you set things in motion.”