The following day the group had gathered everything they needed in order to seal away the Soul Eater. The brothers had insisted on Danny resting until the last minute, and didn't hear a word against it. Bobby, on the other hand, kept busy packing different materials and objects into a large duffel bag for the journey. It wasn't until around noon that the group was fully prepared to head to the nearby town of White Lake to finally put the Soul Eater away.
"Need any help walking to the car, kid?" Sam questioned, watching as Danny got up from where he was resting on the couch. The last thing he wanted was the kid collapsing and hurting himself.
Danny shot Sam a quick glare before reminding himself that Sam only wanted to help. He sucked in a quick breath and shook his head no. "I'm fine, I think all that 'resting' gave me most of my energy back."
"I'm still surprised you even managed that, no offense. You should still, at least, be unsteady on your feet. I won't use the word miracle, because we don't get many in our line of work, but it really is something." Bobby interjected, slinging the duffle over his shoulder. "Let's not wait for the damned creature to chase us out." He motioned for the others to get going.
Danny headed towards the door, only to be accompanied by the three men surrounding him. They had formed some sort of safe circle around him, at least until they got to the car. Danny couldn't help but feel awkward, not liking the feeling of being babied like this.
He slid silently into the backseat of the Impala, as the brothers occupied the front seats and Bobby took the opposite seat in the back. Dean started up the car as the engine flared to life, and turned on a music station fitting to his taste. Danny could hear the gravel give way beneath the tires of the Impala as they pulled out of the scrapyard. From there began the short drive to the town of White Lake. During the entirety of the drive, Danny couldn't help but feel eagerness swell in his chest. Eagerness to seal away that thing, eagerness to see his friends and family, and eagerness to put this all behind him and just go home.
White Lake was a small town, alike in size to Sioux Falls, which Danny had newly learned the name of, via a large billboard reading 'Now Leaving Sioux Falls'. White Lake seemed to also be very peaceful, with families walking down the sidewalks without a care in the world. As they drove through the town, Danny couldn't help but noticed everyone seemed so happy here; an odd contrast to the monster this town would soon be harboring.
Dean soon pulled the car into an alley way, turning it off once it had come to a complete stop. The alleyway was sandwiched between two tall, historic looking buildings with fire escapes scaling the sides. Sam held his laptop in his lap, looking over maps of the old sewer systems.
"According to these maps, we should be able to get into the sewer in a manhole near this alley. It looks like we can go from here," He tapped a spot on the screen and trailed it to a large opening. "to here. This is where the sewers lead to, and is deep enough that it shouldn't be bothered when they fill in the old system. We should be able to seal the Soul Eater there." He explained, in such a knowledgeable way that Danny could only assume they had done something like this before. Which wouldn't surprise him honestly.
"So this is it, right? Should be smooth sailing from here?" Danny asked, maybe a little too optimistic about their mission.
"Maybe, but we still need to be on our toes. That thing could come out and try and attack again while we're setting up the trap." Bobby explained. As if they could read each others minds, the three men popped open the doors and stepped out. Danny, not wanting to be excluded, followed suit.
The alleyway was filled with stale air, and smelled like week old trash, thanks to the dumpsters obscuring the group from the public. Dean followed the car until he met the trunk, propping it open to take out a couple of guns. He loaded silver bullets into each of them, tossing one to Sam. Bobby had taken his own out of the duffel he had brought.
"Do I get a gun too?" Danny asked, peeking at the arsenal Dean kept hidden in the trunk. Dean quirked a brow and barked out a heavy chuckle.
"Oh, you're serious. Sorry kid, but no." Dean slammed the trunk shut and lead the group deeper into the alleyway.
It only took a few seconds for one of them to find the manhole; the offset metal plate was a dead giveaway. Dean shifted down to the cover, expertly popping it out of place and shoving it to the side of the hole. He observed the hole for a moment before wiping his hands off and tucking his gun between his upper arm and his body. "I'll go first, then Danny, then you two. That way nothing gets him from up top or below." Dean explained before clinging onto the metal ladder cemented into the hole. He swiftly made his way down, the darkness soon swallowing him whole.
Cautiously, Danny made his way onto the ladder, and down into the depths of the sewer. Of course it smelled even worse down here, and he had to force himself not to gag. Luckily for him, he was pretty good at holding his breath. Once he was down far enough, he dropped off the ladder, hearing the soles of his shoes hit against wet concrete. A light snapped to life, revealing Dean had brought out his flashlight. The sudden light sent rats scattering around the two, some skittering over Danny's feet. He had half a mind to jump into the air and stay there. It wasn't long before Sam and Bobby joined the two in the dank undergrounds of the city.
Sam took the lead this time, flashlight in hand. He had studied the workings of the sewers and knew which ways to go. As they walked, Bobby took his place next to Danny while Dean took up the back. Danny couldn't tell if it was the sewage or what, but he was beginning to break out in a sweat. The only sounds shared between the three were their echoed breathing and wet footsteps. Without warning, Sam came to a halt causing Danny to nearly bump straight into his back.
"A little warning next time would be great." Danny whispered, before Sam began to.. descend?
"We just came to the top of some stairs. Looks like we found the opening." Sam explained in a hushed tone.
The group followed him down, before following the edge of the room to place a few candles and lights. Soon the room was dimly lit, just enough to make out where everything was. Without hesitation, the adults set into action. Bobby settled in the center of the room, emptying the contents of his bag onto the floor. Sam took to salting the entrances of the room, while Dean went around the room spray painting various sigils on the walls. The paint seeped into the walls, the cracks and grooves greedily sucking up the paint. Danny gravitated towards the center of the room, eyeing Bobby's collection. Among the objects were what looked to be a bowl, some random ingredients and stones, some chalk, a mortar and pestle, and a jar with something red inside.
"Is there.. anything I can do to help?" Danny asked, watching as everyone minus himself was doing something.
Bobby shook his head and kneeled down, taking the chalk in his hand. "No, for now you just need to wait. That thing should come track you down once it realizes you're in one place for long enough." He began drawing a large circle around the center, filling it with what looked to be even more sigils. "Stay inside the sigil. Once the Soul Eater steps inside the center, you can step out. It's a temporary hold until we can complete the rest. But this won't work unless we can get it in the center first." Bobby explained, starting to add his ingredients into the bowl.
"So I'm the bait. Fantastic." It wasn't something Danny hadn't done before, so it wouldn't be too much of a problem for him, but that wasn't something they needed to know about.
Danny stayed inside the chalk circle, watching as the boys worked. Once again, he felt useless. Boredom was nonexistent at the moment, instead replaced with a towering anxiety. A growing irritation at the back of his throat caused him to clear his throat. That was odd. He brushed the feeling aside, reaching up and tugging mindlessly at the collar of his shirt. A grinding sound filled his ears and he turned to find Bobby emptying the contents of the red jar into the mortar and grinding it with the pestle. The jar seemed to have contained petals of a red flower.
"What's.." He stopped to clear his throat again. "Sorry, what's that?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"It's a flower that's said to get rid of powerful spirits and creatures." Bobby explained as he continued to grind the petals to a near dust before pouring them into the bowl among the other ingredients. "What did the book call them again? Blood blossoms or something."
No one noticed the shift in Danny's posture. His shoulders went stiff and his eyes widened. Of course. Of course something was going to throw this whole plan off. He prayed that this would go off without a hitch, so that he could get as far away from that potion as possible.
"Done with the sigils! After that bastard appears, I just have to connect the lines on this last one and he'll be trapped for good. Easy peasy." Dean's voice made Danny jump. Easy peasy. As if anything ever came easy, to either party. Dean stayed next to the sigil, prepared to finish it.
"I'm nearly done with this too. I'll just have to light it up once it shows it's ugly face." Bobby stood up, dusting the chalk dust from his hands and knees. Sam rejoined the two as well, having finished salting the place. Before any of them could continue their little chat, one by one the lights in the room flickered out.
"Speak of the devil. Make sure to stay in the circle, boy." Bobby warned, striking a match and holding it just above the bowl.
The temperature of the room began to drop significantly, causing a chill to run down the men's spines. It didn't quite effect Danny the same. One of the candles, a few feet away from the center illuminated the grinning face of the Soul Eater, right before it pursed it's cracked lips, blowing the light out. As if on cue, Bobby dropped the match into the bowl, lighting the contents on fire. Red tinted smoke filled the air, swarming around both Danny and the Soul Eater. Danny began to feel his eyes sting and water, while his lungs began to seize and burn. He broke into a coughing fit, his throat threatening to close.
"Just a few more seconds kid!" Dean called from his spot in the room, his finger on the top of the spray can. He strained his eyes to see what was happening in the middle of the room, but was only able to see the strange flickering red light bouncing off of Danny, Sam and Bobby.
The Soul Eater was hesitant to get close, but pushed through, determined to finish off the boy. It had given too much energy to catch this meal, and he wanted to enjoy it.
Danny couldn't take it. His throat was closing, and he couldn't get any air. Panic settled into his chest and he gasped for air. He grasped at the collar of his shirt, feeling like it was choking him, pulling at his throat. "I.. I can't..!" He doubled over, feeling a warm liquid begin to trickle out of his nose and down his lips. He coughed again, the warm liquid filling his palm. It was a sickly neon green. Fire. He felt like he was on fire.
"Kid!" Bobby and Sam shouted in unison, both reaching forward to try and catch Danny before he fell. Confusion filled both Bobby and the Winchester boys' minds. What was going wrong? Was the Soul Eater doing this?
As much as Danny tried to stay in the circle, to lure the creature into it's trap, he couldn't. He collapsed, laying helplessly on the cold damp floor as it stalked towards him, the blood blossom smoke continuing to invade his lungs, his mouth, his nose, his eyes, his everything. Danny didn't even notice when the same sickly neon green that covered his palm began to show through his eyes.
Even from where Dean was standing on the very edge of the room, he could see the eerie glow emitting from Danny's eyes. He tossed the spray paint can to the side and pulled his gun from his belt. It took a couple shots, but one of the silver bullets he had loaded into the gun made contact with the Soul Eater, scaring it off once more, leaving a puff of smoke behind.
"Dammit."