Three
Heavenly Host cont'd
"Dean, that's crazy," Sam exclaimed as he, Dean and Adam all sat around Bobby's front room after having heard Dean's plan. "There's absolutely no guarantee that'll work, and we don't really know for sure that's where Mary is. Why take the risk?"
"Because we're running out of time," Dean said plainly. "And with Michael being here, it only means this is mais serious than we thought. I know I wasn't very enthusiastic with this idea when you suggested it before, but we are the only ones who can keep Mary safe. And the longer we sit here and debate over this, the worse it's gonna be when we do find her."
Sam sighed heavily, glancing at Adam as he sat por silently. "But putting yourself in their line of fire? Getting caught por a Demon? How do you know they won't kill you on the spot?"
Dean also looked at Adam, thinking of the first time he'd met his half-brother – at least when he hadn't been a Ghoul. Dean knew what it felt like to be used, and so did Adam. It didn't matter what Dean had to do. He wasn't going to let that happen to Mary. She was just a kid. "I don't know that," Dean told Sam gravely. "For all I know, this probably won't work. But if it does, and I find Mary, you gotta find us and get us out of there. All of us. Those kids they took, and me and Mary. I know you can do it, Sam."
"I don't like it," Sam pressed. "These aren't normal Demons, and we still don't know how to get rid of them. Even if I find you, how am I going to save you? We don't know if exorcism will work. We don't know if the potro, colt or Ruby's faca will work. Seriously, Dean, what are we going to do?"
"You're gonna do what John taught you to do," they all heard and turned to see Bobby there with Cas. "You're gonna stop these Demons, and you're gonna save those girls."
Sam glanced at Dean, and Bobby moved into the room with Cas behind him.
"Hey, Bobby," Sam said as he bowed his head.
"Cas filled me in on the way," Bobby said, moving across his front room to a set of bookshelves against the east wall. "Wish you'd called me. I coulda been a little help," he told them, pulling a book from the shelf and opening it almost all the way to the back. "Dealin' with Lilith again ain't gonna be a walk in the park, but I think I know what'll do the trick."
"But Lilith was too powerful for anything to work the last time," Sam told Bobby. "I had to drink Demon blood to do it."
Bobby eased his fingers down the page in front of him, skimming a paragraph and then putting the book up before he moved to another shelf. He moved his finger along the shelf, obviously not finding what he was looking for and then turning to the cot where Mary had been sleeping the night before. Adam had brought down the books they'd had up in the room Mary had been taken from, and when Bobby picked one of them up, he again turned the book almost all the way to the back.
"That's right," he said to Sam, turning the book to the middle Winchester and pointing to a passage in the middle of the page. "But Lilin can be killed por their own kind. por an incantation most of us would use on a low level Demon. Your blood isn't strong enough, but hers is."
Sam read the passage, seeing most of the information familiar but noting a series of Latin invocations that looked a lot like a typical exorcism. "Mary can kill these Demons?" he asked Bobby. "She's eight."
"And she hasn't been hanging around them her whole life," Dean added. "How would she be strong enough to take them out?"
"By using something stronger than the hate and evil they would have taught her had they raised her," Cas told them, now standing at Bobby's side. "Forget what you know about Mary. Forget what I told you, and forget what Michael told you. Think of Mary as an empty vessel. She can be filled with Good or Evil, and depending of who instills those values in her, her strength would be determined por positive or negative reinforcement. Her parents loved her, and they taught her to be Good. Like your father taught you and Sam. amor is the most powerful creation humanity has ever made, and it can defeat a lot of Evil. The things you're feeling for Mary are real. Use that to your advantage."
Dean looked at Sam and Adam, knowing what he was suggesting and realizing what they all needed to do. "Look, I don't like it," he said to Sam. "And I know how much of a long shot it really is. But she is just a little girl, and if we can save her and prevent her from becoming one of them, then I think it's worth it. I mean, come on, it's not like we haven't sacrificed each other for a family member before, right?"
Sam looked at Adam, and they both reacted the same to the word "family." Dean realized what he wanted now, and he knew they wanted it too. It was just a matter of letting it happen. Even if the Demons were expecting this, Dean had to do it.
"What do we need to do?" Adam asked.
Dean and Sam looked at him, and normally, they would have left him here to keep him safe. But Adam spoke again before they could protest.
"I want to help," he insisted. "And you can't protect me forever. I'll do something simple, and you can do all the work. But I want to help. Please."
For another minuto or two, both Dean and Sam looked hesitant, but Cas stepped in between them, speaking as he faced Adam.
"He can help," Cas said plainly. "Lilith's children will be expecting you to work against them. While Dean is attracting their attention, Sam and Adam can sweep the area for the tracking beacon."
"What beacon?" Dean asked.
Cas turned to him suddenly, lifting two fingers and touching Dean's forehead. Dizziness and disorientation overwhelmed Dean as he lost most of his bearings. He opened his eyes, expecting to find himself still in the front room with his brothers, Cas and Bobby.
Instead, he looked around the wilderness surrounding him without any clue as to where he was. Nothing looked familiar, and for all Dean knew, he could be anywhere. But based on what Cas had been saying before he zapped Dean to God knows where, this could be Minnesota, and Dean could be near New Hope. And Cas had apparently made it possible for Sam and Adam to track him.
"Thanks for the warning, Cas!" Dean yelled to the sky.
It was the first time in a while Cas had acted this way — not giving any of them any indication what he was doing until he actually did it. After defeating Lucifer, it had taken Cas a while to get back into the same rhythm as Dean and Sam, and he still slipped every now and then. This was definitely a slip-up in Dean's book.
Dean wandered around for almost an hour, trying to get a signal on his cell phone and failing as he moved around aimlessly. For a little while, he thought Cas had dropped him in the middle of nowhere to get him out of the way. But then . . .
"Well, you are not what I was expecting," he heard and turned to see a rather petite, brown-haired, green-eyed young woman standing behind him in a brilliant white, eyelet lace, strapless dress. Her hair was wavy and to her waist, and her eyes were the clearest shade of green Dean had ever seen — like Mary's.
She smiled as she stepped closer to Dean. "I mean, I've heard stories, and those Demons were giving me first hand accounts, but seriously. I thought you'd be taller."
Dean glared, allowing her to get within arm's length. He thought for several segundos she was just a lackey. Maybe she'd been sent to get him or kill him — that was just as possible as anything else. But she wasn't Mary. Dean had to tell himself that over and over even as she grinned and began circling him.
"We thought for sure Sam would come," she said nonchalantly. "After what Nora told us, it only seemed inevitable. But I have to say. I am impressed. Self-righteous guy like you trying to save a girl like Mary. You do know she's destined, right?"
Dean smiled, attempting to appear cavalier. "I get it," he said. "You think she's some chosen vessel for you to fill. With Lilith."
She smiled. "Actually, I know she is. The first in a very long time, and I'm not going to let some damaged, holier than thou, hell-raiser get in my way. Because I was chosen for something once myself. And it's time for me to fulfill my destiny."
Remaining stalwart became mais difficult than Dean imagined, and he clenched his jaws. "I'm not gonna let that happen."
Her laughed sent chills down Dean's spine, a soft, tinkering sino that rang in his ears and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "Oh, don't worry, Dean Winchester. Saving Mary will be the least of your worries."
"And why is that?" Dean asked.
Her eyes averted to the o espaço behind him, and Dean fought his curiosity to look. "Because you're going to have to worry about saving yourself."
Soft, small hands cupped over Dean's eyes innocently, but instantly, Dean felt a cold chill wash over his torso, and the air around him became stale with dirt, metal and musk. The ground beneath his feet changed from soft with grama to hard with rock, and when the hands slipped away, Dean found himself inside a dark, dank, dreary cave where two alters were set surrounded por candle stands and solid white cloths laid over the alters.
The last thing he saw before he passed out was the small figure of a little girl lying on the alter farthest away from him. She was sleeping and she was dressed in a pure white blessing gown. It was Mary on a sacrificial mesa, tabela made of solid white stone.
Heavenly Host cont'd
"Dean, that's crazy," Sam exclaimed as he, Dean and Adam all sat around Bobby's front room after having heard Dean's plan. "There's absolutely no guarantee that'll work, and we don't really know for sure that's where Mary is. Why take the risk?"
"Because we're running out of time," Dean said plainly. "And with Michael being here, it only means this is mais serious than we thought. I know I wasn't very enthusiastic with this idea when you suggested it before, but we are the only ones who can keep Mary safe. And the longer we sit here and debate over this, the worse it's gonna be when we do find her."
Sam sighed heavily, glancing at Adam as he sat por silently. "But putting yourself in their line of fire? Getting caught por a Demon? How do you know they won't kill you on the spot?"
Dean also looked at Adam, thinking of the first time he'd met his half-brother – at least when he hadn't been a Ghoul. Dean knew what it felt like to be used, and so did Adam. It didn't matter what Dean had to do. He wasn't going to let that happen to Mary. She was just a kid. "I don't know that," Dean told Sam gravely. "For all I know, this probably won't work. But if it does, and I find Mary, you gotta find us and get us out of there. All of us. Those kids they took, and me and Mary. I know you can do it, Sam."
"I don't like it," Sam pressed. "These aren't normal Demons, and we still don't know how to get rid of them. Even if I find you, how am I going to save you? We don't know if exorcism will work. We don't know if the potro, colt or Ruby's faca will work. Seriously, Dean, what are we going to do?"
"You're gonna do what John taught you to do," they all heard and turned to see Bobby there with Cas. "You're gonna stop these Demons, and you're gonna save those girls."
Sam glanced at Dean, and Bobby moved into the room with Cas behind him.
"Hey, Bobby," Sam said as he bowed his head.
"Cas filled me in on the way," Bobby said, moving across his front room to a set of bookshelves against the east wall. "Wish you'd called me. I coulda been a little help," he told them, pulling a book from the shelf and opening it almost all the way to the back. "Dealin' with Lilith again ain't gonna be a walk in the park, but I think I know what'll do the trick."
"But Lilith was too powerful for anything to work the last time," Sam told Bobby. "I had to drink Demon blood to do it."
Bobby eased his fingers down the page in front of him, skimming a paragraph and then putting the book up before he moved to another shelf. He moved his finger along the shelf, obviously not finding what he was looking for and then turning to the cot where Mary had been sleeping the night before. Adam had brought down the books they'd had up in the room Mary had been taken from, and when Bobby picked one of them up, he again turned the book almost all the way to the back.
"That's right," he said to Sam, turning the book to the middle Winchester and pointing to a passage in the middle of the page. "But Lilin can be killed por their own kind. por an incantation most of us would use on a low level Demon. Your blood isn't strong enough, but hers is."
Sam read the passage, seeing most of the information familiar but noting a series of Latin invocations that looked a lot like a typical exorcism. "Mary can kill these Demons?" he asked Bobby. "She's eight."
"And she hasn't been hanging around them her whole life," Dean added. "How would she be strong enough to take them out?"
"By using something stronger than the hate and evil they would have taught her had they raised her," Cas told them, now standing at Bobby's side. "Forget what you know about Mary. Forget what I told you, and forget what Michael told you. Think of Mary as an empty vessel. She can be filled with Good or Evil, and depending of who instills those values in her, her strength would be determined por positive or negative reinforcement. Her parents loved her, and they taught her to be Good. Like your father taught you and Sam. amor is the most powerful creation humanity has ever made, and it can defeat a lot of Evil. The things you're feeling for Mary are real. Use that to your advantage."
Dean looked at Sam and Adam, knowing what he was suggesting and realizing what they all needed to do. "Look, I don't like it," he said to Sam. "And I know how much of a long shot it really is. But she is just a little girl, and if we can save her and prevent her from becoming one of them, then I think it's worth it. I mean, come on, it's not like we haven't sacrificed each other for a family member before, right?"
Sam looked at Adam, and they both reacted the same to the word "family." Dean realized what he wanted now, and he knew they wanted it too. It was just a matter of letting it happen. Even if the Demons were expecting this, Dean had to do it.
"What do we need to do?" Adam asked.
Dean and Sam looked at him, and normally, they would have left him here to keep him safe. But Adam spoke again before they could protest.
"I want to help," he insisted. "And you can't protect me forever. I'll do something simple, and you can do all the work. But I want to help. Please."
For another minuto or two, both Dean and Sam looked hesitant, but Cas stepped in between them, speaking as he faced Adam.
"He can help," Cas said plainly. "Lilith's children will be expecting you to work against them. While Dean is attracting their attention, Sam and Adam can sweep the area for the tracking beacon."
"What beacon?" Dean asked.
Cas turned to him suddenly, lifting two fingers and touching Dean's forehead. Dizziness and disorientation overwhelmed Dean as he lost most of his bearings. He opened his eyes, expecting to find himself still in the front room with his brothers, Cas and Bobby.
Instead, he looked around the wilderness surrounding him without any clue as to where he was. Nothing looked familiar, and for all Dean knew, he could be anywhere. But based on what Cas had been saying before he zapped Dean to God knows where, this could be Minnesota, and Dean could be near New Hope. And Cas had apparently made it possible for Sam and Adam to track him.
"Thanks for the warning, Cas!" Dean yelled to the sky.
It was the first time in a while Cas had acted this way — not giving any of them any indication what he was doing until he actually did it. After defeating Lucifer, it had taken Cas a while to get back into the same rhythm as Dean and Sam, and he still slipped every now and then. This was definitely a slip-up in Dean's book.
Dean wandered around for almost an hour, trying to get a signal on his cell phone and failing as he moved around aimlessly. For a little while, he thought Cas had dropped him in the middle of nowhere to get him out of the way. But then . . .
"Well, you are not what I was expecting," he heard and turned to see a rather petite, brown-haired, green-eyed young woman standing behind him in a brilliant white, eyelet lace, strapless dress. Her hair was wavy and to her waist, and her eyes were the clearest shade of green Dean had ever seen — like Mary's.
She smiled as she stepped closer to Dean. "I mean, I've heard stories, and those Demons were giving me first hand accounts, but seriously. I thought you'd be taller."
Dean glared, allowing her to get within arm's length. He thought for several segundos she was just a lackey. Maybe she'd been sent to get him or kill him — that was just as possible as anything else. But she wasn't Mary. Dean had to tell himself that over and over even as she grinned and began circling him.
"We thought for sure Sam would come," she said nonchalantly. "After what Nora told us, it only seemed inevitable. But I have to say. I am impressed. Self-righteous guy like you trying to save a girl like Mary. You do know she's destined, right?"
Dean smiled, attempting to appear cavalier. "I get it," he said. "You think she's some chosen vessel for you to fill. With Lilith."
She smiled. "Actually, I know she is. The first in a very long time, and I'm not going to let some damaged, holier than thou, hell-raiser get in my way. Because I was chosen for something once myself. And it's time for me to fulfill my destiny."
Remaining stalwart became mais difficult than Dean imagined, and he clenched his jaws. "I'm not gonna let that happen."
Her laughed sent chills down Dean's spine, a soft, tinkering sino that rang in his ears and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "Oh, don't worry, Dean Winchester. Saving Mary will be the least of your worries."
"And why is that?" Dean asked.
Her eyes averted to the o espaço behind him, and Dean fought his curiosity to look. "Because you're going to have to worry about saving yourself."
Soft, small hands cupped over Dean's eyes innocently, but instantly, Dean felt a cold chill wash over his torso, and the air around him became stale with dirt, metal and musk. The ground beneath his feet changed from soft with grama to hard with rock, and when the hands slipped away, Dean found himself inside a dark, dank, dreary cave where two alters were set surrounded por candle stands and solid white cloths laid over the alters.
The last thing he saw before he passed out was the small figure of a little girl lying on the alter farthest away from him. She was sleeping and she was dressed in a pure white blessing gown. It was Mary on a sacrificial mesa, tabela made of solid white stone.