Losing Hope | {BOOK 4}

60| Return of the Fog

"Crowley," I looked at the demon expectantly.

"Useless," he shook his head. "Lucifer's hold on him is too strong."

"The fire!" Rowena cried, immediately hiding herself once more.

We all turned to see the ring of fire die out as Lucifer grinned.

"Ah. Trick me? You lied to me. You know, I could have been your warrior. Ah, who needs ya? Well. It's just like Crowley to leave right when the party's getting started. Have a seat."

He motioned with his hand and Sam, Dean and I were forced to sit on a bench against our will.

"As much as I get a giggle out of you three, and I do, there comes a time when every relationship has... run its course. So..."

Lucifer closed his fist and the brothers and I began to choke, gasping and struggling for breath as the archangel made his grip tighter and tighter. Suddenly, there was an explosion and a gaping hold appeared in the side of the church. Lucifer stopped choking us, turning to see Amos enter the room.

"Oh, Lucifer," the Darkness greeted him. "Dear nephew, my, how you've changed."

Lucifer smirked as Amos shifted his attention to Rowena.

"I was tracking her," he gestured to the witch, "when she left my side."

"You were safely sealed away," Lucifer said. "You're gonna wish you stayed there."

The archangel held up the Horn of Joshua and it glowed as he absorbed its power. His eyes glowed white and he produced a ball of fire in his hand, aiming it at Amos. A beam of white light engulfed him, but as the light died down, Amos remained standing there without a scratch. Lifting a hand, he drew Lucifer effortlessly toward him and the angel dropped the Horn. Amos fisted his hand in Cass's trench coat as he addressed Lucifer.

"I think you and I need to have a nice, long chat," he said.

"Cass?" Dean yelled.

Amos looked over at me and the brothers and I made a small whining sound at the back of my throat, my hand immediately finding Dean's beside me. He raised his hand, releasing us from Lucifer's grip. There was a flash of light, and when it had gone, Lucifer and Amos had vanished. Rowena made her exit as Sam and Dean exchanged a look of disbelief. I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes and Dean pulled me into his chest, holding me tight.

⁘

"Daddy, why is Mommy sad?"

Dean looked from Zep over to where I sat nursing a glass of whiskey and back. I'd been moping around the Bunker for the past two weeks ever since Amos took Lucifer away.

"Mommy's just upset about something one of the bad guys did, buddy," Dean told the young boy. "It'll be okay, though, I promise."

"What did the bad guys do?"

"They, uh... they took Cass. But we're working on getting him back again."

"Cass is in trouble?" Maddie asked, coming in and overhearing.

"He'll be okay," Dean assured her.

I vaguely registered as Zep came over and sat in my field of vision across from me at the table where I was zoning out.

"Mommy?" he asked gently.

I blinked, zoning back in as I stared at my son.

"Hey, bud," I greeted him.

Before he could say anything else to me, Sam came into the room holding a tablet.

"Oh, perfect, we're going to need our suits," he said, seeing Dean ironing one of their white shirts.

"Tell me you've got something on Amos," Dean said and I looked over.

"Uh, it's a long shot, but the clock's ticking, right? Whatever Amos is doing to Lucifer."

"Yeah, beating on Cass in the meantime..."

"What?" Maddie asked.

"D-don't worry about it, princess. Why don't you and Zep go watch a movie, okay?"

"Fine. Come on, Zeppelin."

"Go on, bud," I nodded when he didn't move, staring at me.

Sam waited until the kids had left the room to hand the tablet over to Dean and I stood up, walking over to read the article over his shoulder.

"Yeah. Uh, Hope Springs, Idaho. A guy named Wes Cooper killed himself after killing a co-worker. According to the reports, though, nobody knows why. Apparently he was a perfectly happy guy, and then... snap."

"Just because somebody seems perfectly happy doesn't mean they're not dealing with shit," I muttered.

"Yeah..." Dean swallowed, glancing over at me then looking at Sam. "So, what? Possession?"

"Or he was soulless."

"It ain't much, but given what we got, I'll take it," Dean handed Sam the tablet back.

"Yeah."

"There you go," Dean also handed him the shirt he'd been ironing before walking away.

"Thanks," Sam paused, sniffing the shirt quizzically. "Dude, quit ironing my shirts with beer!"

⁘

When we saw the pictures from the autopsy report, Wes had the same black veins that the rabids Sam and I encountered when Amos was first released had. The deputy who showed us the pictures said they hadn't had any strange phenomena in town like the fog that accompanied the rabids the first time. However, the next morning, we found out she had killed her husband and fled the scene and the sheriff mentioned that she had called in about fog rolling in the night before.

"Would you get in contact with your dispatch officer?" I requested. "Tell her to let us know if she gets any more reports like that again."

"You serious?" the sheriff asked.

"Yeah, just to be safe."

"And do you have any idea where Harris might be now?" Sam asked him.

"No. But we can track her vehicle from our office."

We headed back to the office, and Sam took over trying to find Deputy Harris since the sheriff apparently had no idea what he was doing.

"Sheriff?" the dispatch officer hung up the phone. "Matt and Emmy just called in. They said they saw some fog rolling in from Jasper Hills."

"Did they say where it was headed?" Dean asked her.

"West. Towards town."

"Okay, call them back, tell them to get inside, shut the windows and doors and seal it up, and stay the hell away from that fog. Then get the word out to everybody in town. They need to do the same damn thing."

"Hold on," the sheriff protested. "What are you talking about?"

"My partners have seen this before, okay?" Dean informed him. "Wes, Deputy Harris were infected by something in this fog. Now, I know it sounds crazy-"

"No, it sounds like we should call the CDC."

"There's no time for that," I shook my head.

"Found Deputy Harris," Sam piped up.

"She's on Main Street, heading right this way," the sheriff observed, looking at the computer screen.

"Alright, we'll handle Harris," Dean said. "Just please, get the word out, tell everybody they need to stay inside, seal up their windows, their doors- everything. Just do it."