SMUT WARNING YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Ten hours of car ride with Cas is the only thing on Dean's mind as the four of them meander their way to the cars, that, and the way he can feel Cas's pissed off stare on him from a mile away. So Dean does what Dean does best, and deflects. Dean tells Sam to hop shotgun in the Impala under the guise of brother time, but really, it's because Dean's trying to keep himself at arm's length distance away from Cas's anger, which tails them the whole drive home.
Back at the bunker, Sam gives Rowena a call, and she flutters in through the front door, her maroon, sparkly dress willowing behind her as she floats down the stairs, the clip clop of her heels on each step. The metal box sits on the war room table, wrapped in Dean's flannel.
"Oh! What is this?" She asks, her accent lilting and flirty. Her hair is piled all in red curls at the top of her head, held together with what Dean thinks is a lot of hairspray and maybe a spell or two. "Did you all get me a wee present for Samhain? How sweet."
Dean rolls his eyes. "We found it. We want you to open the box."
Rowena pulls a metal rod from her hair, and it all cascades down her back in an orchestrated motion. She lifts a corner of the flannel, unwrapping it without touching. "Oh quite a find indeed. Whatever is inside it, boys?"
"A book." Sam says.
"No duh." Rowena huffs, flicking the flannel off of the box with her metal rod.. "I mean, the energy is dark and cynical. One might even begin to say that it's hostile, or malevolent."
Cas snorts. "You could say that." And Dean throws him a sideways glare, getting one in response.
"Hmm. I'm sensing a little spell on the box, and at least one inside it. But the box is designed to make the person who touches the box be faced with their own curse. One they already hold inside them."
Dean blinks. "A curse they already have?" He thinks of the darkness, the emptiness he felt as he held Cas's cold face. The voice resounded all around him. The curse of knowing and doing nothing... You'll stay exactly where you were.
Rowena makes a sound, hovering and fluttering her manicured fingers over the box. "Not quite an actual curse, dearie. More like the internal battle they have inside them, or what they think of themselves. A person who thinks they are inadequate at their job may see themselves failing at it. A person who wonders if they are good enough may see themselves not being good enough."
Dean swallows, but says nothing.
Rowena pronounces some complicated Latin, waving her hands this way and that, "Vade, maledic, libera hanc scientiam."
The box begins to crack along its seams, and Rowena's eyes widen, throwing her hands out and shouting more Latin. "Hunc circulum obice creo! " She squeezes her hands together into one fist, holding fast.
Dean watches on as the box quakes and splits, collapsing on itself. A puff of nasty, green smoke arises, forming into an opaque sphere around the box and Rowena strains, holding her hands tightly, shouting out. "Somebody open the bloody front door!"
Dean stumbles towards the stairs, the surprise making him clumsy, but Cas snaps his fingers and the door slams open.
With a yell, Rowena casts her hands towards the entryway, and the ball of nasty green smoke is thrown out the door and dispersed into the air outside. She heaves a breath, wipes her hands on the sides of her dress. "My! That was quite the warmup, shall we get to the main event now?"
YOU ARE READING
The Soul Burns Brighter Than The Sun
FanfictionDean's sitting at the kitchen table with Sam when his phone rings. Jody's name flashes across the screen and he considers not picking up, but Sam's there, and he'd start asking questions if he left the call alone. It's not like Dean doesn't want to...
