Survive, Boy, Survive

Chapter 50

Sam said" What? This? Um, cattle deaths a few towns over? A demon possibility or something?"
Dean said" No, it says right there. It's probably just 'cause of the drought."
" So, what are we doing here?"
" Uh, reason's right on your plate. Lizardo's porterhouse- USDA prime. It's the only place between Connecticut and the bunker you can get a decent steak under 10 bucks." His phone was constantly dinging,
" Dude, you are blowing up. Who is that?"
" Ah, it's just, uh, you know, these alert thingies."
" For what?"
" You know, monster... stuff." Sam grabbed his phone," Hey, hey. Unh-unh. No. Give it back."
" What? Wh-Why?"
" Because privacy... and stuff."
" Oh, priv- You're on a dating app?"
" Yeah, and you know what? Don't knock it until you try it."
" Nice screen name, Dean-" Then in a deep voice," Impala67." I laughed,
" All right, give it back. Come on."
" Shaylene, huh? Dean, there are like a million messages here."
" Yeah, uh, check out her pic."
" Uh... oh. Wow. Okay. Um, okay. She's hot. But..."
" But, what?"
" But she seems, um... kind of... available. Like, too available. Oh, baby, whatever you want. I'm burning up just thinking about you." I laughed again,
" They get raunchier."
" Yeah. Yeah, I-I see that. It's like a, uh- like a penthouse letter."
" Yeah. Is that bad?"
" No, it's not bad, Dean. It's too good to be true."
" I'm sorry, is it- is it so hard to believe that an attractive, red-blooded, American female could be interested in someone like me?"
" You realize there's no guarantee Shaylene is even Shaylene. I mean, for all you know, it could be some... Canadian trucker n-named Bruce." He stopped talking as we saw the woman from the picture. Dean turned around and waved at her,
" That look like a Bruce to you?"
" We-We detoured eight hours so you could get laid?"
" Yeah. Yeah. Oh, and, uh, you know what? Lunch is on me. And, uh... don't wait up." He walked away after putting some bills on the table, then they walked out. My eyes glowed,
I said" I'mma kill him myself. Eight hours for a hook up!" Sam covered my mouth, chuckling at me," It's not funny, Sammy."
Sam said" I know, I know, hot shot. Wanna power down?" My eyes faded back to normal," You still wanna kill him?"
" No..." I pouted, he scoffed,
" Good. Great. How you doing anyways with your powers?"
" I'm fine."
" Besides the lack of sleep, and the uptick of thinking about murdering?"
" Shuddup." He chuckled, putting his hands up a little in surrender.

Dean called, demons are getting even dirtier at how they collect souls. The demon came in, Sam and I walked out as he stopped talking.
He said" Winchesters." We looked up at the trap, he did too,
Dean said" She told us everything."
Sam said" Abduction, forced prostitution- It's pretty gnarly, even for a demon."
The demon said" She's got her version, I've got mine."
She said" Liar."
Dean said" Let me guess- She came to you begging for you to pimp her out."
He said" Yeah, 'cause that Harvard degree was working out so well for her."
" How many girls are there, hmm? How big is this?"
" Just me and Shay."
She said" He's lying. There's a brothel. I heard him on the phone. They told me what you are- a demon from hell."
" Beats trash from the street. Face it, missy- Without me, you would've been dead of drugs or worse in a year. Frankly, this little ho should be thanking me." She grabbed the blade and stabbed him,
Dean said" Whoa!" The demon dropped, Dean took the angel blade from her. That's great..." Okay. Well, that just happened."
Sam said" Yeah, and he was our best shot at the location of the brothel. Do you have any idea where it is?"
She said" No, but, um..." She walked to the body and crouched down, grabbing a card from the body's pocket." I saw him give these out at the bars." She handed it to Sam.

We walked into the place, and saw bodies,
Dean said" Can't believe somebody got to kill this Raul tool before we could. Check IDs."
Sam said" All right." I flinched at the smell of sulfur then covered my nose. I looked at Sam," Uh, Dean, from the look and... smell of it, pure demon. I think this is Raul."
" What? Did he puke himself to death?"
" Yeah, literally."
" Okay, so... something went down here. There was a standoff. One demon smokes out and Raul... what can even kill a demon like this?" My eyes glowed, and a hexbag levitated in the air,
" Apparently... a witch."

Sam said" Here we go. Um, so it looks like in the 18th century, there were accounts of demons killed by witchcraft. Apparently they were vanquished by a spell called defigere et depurgare, which is latin for to bind and purge."
Dean said" You think that's the same kind of spell that took out Raul?"
" Sounds like it. But from what I can tell, that spell hasn't been used in over 300 years. And it was only ever known by one person, the witch who created it."
" That is?"
" Rowena."
———
Sam said" No, that is strange. All right, I hear you. Thank you." He hung up, as Dean walked up," Hey."
Dean said" So, it looks like our witch was here with two new friends."
" Really? Raul's girls? What does she want with them?"
" I don't know. What'd you get from the hunter network?"
" Uh, this guy Darrell's been working a case, a series of grisly hotel murders- One at the Kensington, another at the Waldorf in Cleveland- Bodies stabbed, impaled on the ceiling."
" Sounds a little more homicidal maniac than witchy."
" That's what Darrell thought, too, until the autopsy came back. Actual cause of death-"
" Let me guess- boiled brains."
" Yeah, same as our waiter."
" Well, I'll give this to the witch- She's got deep pockets. The Kensington, the Waldorf, this restaurant- That can't be cheap."
" Yeah. Let's get."
" Where we going?"
" Check out every five-star hotel in the area."
" Oh."

We found demons and the witch, Dean stabbed the demon woman, the witch and friends ran away. The other demon threw Dean, then punched Sam, my eyes glowed, black smoke circled the demon and he lit up as Dean stood up to stab him. We turned to the witch,
Dean said" Don't worry, ladies. Our beef's not with you. We're here for the witch. Rowena."
She said" Always nice to be recognized."
One woman said" Do something- A Spell!"
" That's an excellent idea. Impetus bestiarum." The woman screamed,
Dean said" What did you do to her?!" The girl looked back up, growling, she punched Dean, then Sam. I dodged her, but Rowena and the other girl ran away.
Sam said" Go! Go!" Dean ran after them, Sam and I were left with the guard dog. My eyes glowed, she levitated then was slammed into the wall, then into a closet. Sam leaned against the door,
She said" Let... me... out!" As she banged on the door,
" Look... whatever she did to you, you have to fight it." I pushed against the door,
" I... can't." She screamed again, she was tearing the door down, Sam got out his gun. Then the tearing stopped, Sam opened the door and her body fell, she was dead.

Sam and I got to Dean, who was at gunpoint, Sam got out his gun, and black smoke circled my hands.
Dean said" Put it down. Sam, put it down! River, power down! Cole, it's fine."
Sam and I said" Dean?"
" Put it down!" Sam put his gun down, the black smoke disappeared," Cole, hey, right here. We're talking, okay?"
Cole said" How can I believe you, huh? How can I believe you?! My whole life, I've been..."
" I get it. That was your story. Look, man, I got one of those, too. Okay, but those stories that we tell that keep us going? Man, sometimes they blind us. They take us to dark places- The kind of place where I might beat the crap out of a good man just for the fun of it. The people who love me, they pulled me back from that edge. Cole, once you touch that darkness... it never goes away. Now, the truth is... I'm past saving. I know how my story ends. It's at the edge of a blade or the barrel of a gun. So, the question is, is that gonna be today? That gonna be that gun?"
Sam said" You've got a family, Cole. I heard you on the phone that night. I'm guessing they need you to come back, and they need you to come back whole." Cole handed Dean his gun.

Cole drove away,
Sam said" He say where he's going?"
Dean said" Home."
" Rowena?"
" In the wind."
" What you said earlier, back there, about being past saving- were you really-"
" I was just telling the guy what he needed to hear. We better go." He walked away from us, I looked at Sam, then we followed Dean.