Fight Fire With Fire

21. Lay Down This Curse

[The Bad Seed]

EXT. UNDERGROUND WAREHOUSE

Rowena was lighting a candle and looking at three witches as she said, "... and they shall know us far and wide and fear us. And we shall be known as the Mega Coven! !Mega!Coven! See, because it's greater than Grand Coven. So it's not grand, it's mega! It's the Mega Coven. I don't think you're followin'."

"And why ever would we join you in such a thing?" Witch One asked.

"Because that Grand Coven of yours is obsolete. Don't you see? And utterly falling apart since the high priestess Olivette disappeared."

"Which we hear you may have had a hand in," Witch Two stated.

"Idle gossip."

"Cut the crap, Rowena," Witch Three told her. "You're just looking for protection from the hunter Winchesters and all the rest of your many enemies."

"And, honey, you don't have the guts or the chops to pull this off, so let's not kid ourselves," Witch Two said.

"Really? It so happens, I killed the King of Hell. My own son, the King of Hell, and compelled an angel to do it. Guts? Chops? I'd say that qualifies."

"I have a friend who cut a deal with Crowley only yesterday," Witch Three informed. "Crowley didn't look so dead."

"What?"

"You're as delusional as ever. We'll be going."

"Delusional? We'll see." She removed the cover from her altar revealing the Book of the Damned which she placed her hand upon. "Vomicae, putramen, nex!" The three witches screamed and turned to ash. "He lives?"

EXT. OUTSIDE

Dean and Natalia were having a flashback of standing in the Black Fog with the Darkness. When she turned around and looked at them, the flashback ended.

INT. BUNKER LIBRARY

Dean and Natalia were sitting in the library with Sam, Castiel and Azrael.

"So that was the last of the neighbors, just like the rest," Sam said. "Dean? Natalia? Dean! Natalia!"

"Yeah," Dean and Natalia said.

"You two okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Just saying we got nothing. No one saw anything unusual going on at the house the day the baby disappeared."

"If this is truly the Darkness we're talking about, it's more of a time bomb than a baby," Castiel told them.

"Yeah, but it is still a baby, right?" Dean questioned. "I mean, the Darkness Nat and I saw was an adult. So it still has to, uh, grow up."

"The Darkness is almost infinite power. Azrael and I aren't sure what "growing up" means in this case."

"Well, God kicked this thing's ass once before, right?" Sam said.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if he put down the Mai Tai and show up for work," Dean added.

"I wouldn't count on it," Castiel and Azrael stated.

"It's possible he's around," Sam replied. "Closer than we think, you know?"

Natalia turned to him with a frown. "What makes you say that?"

"I believe he made a fairly definitive statement when we walked away," Castiel answered, standing; shackled to the floor.

"Sorry about those, Cas," Dean said. "Till we know what's going on with you, you're still a bit of a wild card, you know?"

Sam looked between the group. "I hate to point this out, but you all know who we might need to help deal with the Darkness."