Reckless [Dean Winchester]

24. The Murray Hotel

24. The Murray Hotel

"Humor me and take this," I say to Sam as I throw him a cold pack. I sigh heavily as Sam catches it but then puts it on the floor. "Dean told me you looked sore. Don't blame the two of us for trying."

"I'm fine," Sam insists.

That's bait enough, but with a stern look from Dean as he goes to sit by his little brother, I keep silent. I remain standing, but then head over to the couch and sit on one of the arms, the one closest to Dean. The closeness doesn't bother me like it should.

Cas comes into the living room. "The other demon escaped. I bound the one I caught in a Devil's trap. I'm gonna interrogate it now."

"Wait a second. Cas. How about you answer some questions first? Like, where the hell have you been?"

"You heard me, didn't you?" asks Dean.

"You prayed to him?" asks Sam.

"Yes, I heard you," Cas tells Dean. "But that's not why I'm here." He takes a spot on the chair across the room from us, sighing. "I've been hunting demons."

"So this is you. Why?"

"I've been searching for the other half of the Demon Tablet."

"Without us?" Dean sounds a bit offended.

"I've been trying to help, Dean. And in my search, I uncovered that Crowley has sent out demons to find Lucifer's crypts."

"Lucifer had crypts?"

"Dozens of them, apparently."

"But why the storage wars?" I say randomly. "I mean, what the hell are they all looking for?" It sounds strange, even to me, and I'm the least experienced in the room.

"They're looking for a parchment that would allow them to decipher Crowley's half of the Demon Tablet without a Prophet."

"A demonic decoder ring? In Crowley's hands?" says Dean. "Awesome."

"The crypts, were, uh, lost over time. Only those closest to Lucifer knew their whereabouts."

"Then how did Crowley find them?" I wonder aloud.

"His demons have been possessing locals who may have some special knowledge."

"That would explain the crazy room at Ann's house," Sam says. "But how did they know where to start looking in the first place?"

"I don't know," says Cas. "I'm hoping the strange-haired demon in the kitchen is more knowledgeable than the others I interrogated." Cas gets up and heads through the kitchen door.

"He's definitely off," Sam says in a low tone.

"Off?" Dean retorts. "He hasn't been right since he got back from Purgatory. We still don't know how he got out of there."

I'm hearing familiar things and new ones: Crowley (again); Cas (who supposedly is acting off); and now Purgatory (which I have no idea what the hell that is). How can the Winchesters keep up with everything in their lives?

"I don't know, Dean," says Sam. "If he's so sketchy, then why were you praying to him?"

"You know, I can hear you both," comes Cas's voice from the closed door. "I am a celestial being."